It was an early morning as we had to be up for breakfast at 6am and the bus was picking us up at 6.20am to take us to the airport. I was awake every half an hour checking the time last night, thinking I had slept in. Our flight to Vientiane in Laos wasn't until 9.40am and we were there super duper early, think its the earliest I have ever been to an airport for a flight so we had a lot of waiting around.

We flew with Vietnamese Airlines and there was so much space it was brilliant. One of the nicest planes I had been on, just a shame it was only for an hour or so's flight. I was next to Eddie and Adrian so we had a good laugh trying to fill in our visa forms then I managed to sleep for most of the flight. Getting our Visa's on arrival at the airport took forever, we had more forms to fill out when we got there but the questions weren't translated properly and it was impossible to know what they were asking. My visa was $35 and I managed to get through relatively quickly compared to everyone else. It just meant I had to wait at the other side for the rest to get through.

By the time we reached our hotel it was 1.30pm and again we literally just dumped our bags in the hotel and headed out. I had a room to myself tonight but it certainly wasn't nothing like last nights hotel. Vientiane is the capital of Laos and it had such a nice feel about it compared to Vietnam. The people seemed much more friendly and it had a laid-back kinda feel about it. It was really nice to be back in the heat too and wear my shorts and t-shirts again, even though by the time we walked down to the main street we were all sweating buckets haha. We are never happy.

There seems to be a lot to see and do here, and we only had this afternoon and tomorrow morning to see the city. Charles gave us a short walk and then recommended some places for lunch as we were starving since we hadn't eaten anything since 6am. Nikki, Lauren and I went to Jomas Cafe, which has to be one of the best bakers I have every been in. I had a salmon with cream cheese bagel and a cheese scone, and it was so yummy. The cafe had free wifi, so we spent a short time catching up on emails and just chilling before we went and explored the capital. Dad also phoned on viber for a short time so caught up with him too.

We headed along to the Government buildings first, which were a sight in itself with huge white and gold gates and the decor on the building walls were also covered in gold. We were only allowed to stand at the gates but it was an impressive sight. Since we weren't dressed appropriately to go to the temples we headed up to the Patouxay Monument which was a replica of the Arc de Triomphe that was built by the French when they set out to rebuild the city in 1877. It was an amazing monument, we climbed right to the top and got a view out over the city. It looked right down the main Lanexang Avenue to the government building. It was really hot by the time we had walked to it so we had an ice-cream at the bottom before the climb to the top :)

Next we walked past the That Dam Stupa which was the Great Black Stupa and took some photos, Stupas are built here to remember the dead. They are all cremated therefore the Stupas signify the place where the ashes are for each person. We saw the National Cultural Hall and the National Museum on our walk back. The buildings here were magnificent and there's no way that Laos can be in the top ten poorest countries in the world, especially after the countries I visited in Africa. I googled the top poorest countries and Charles's information was totally false considering Laos didn't even reach the top 50!!!

We had passed a crazy about of massage places on our walk around town, so the three of us decided to get a treatment. Nikki went for a traditional Laos foot massage, Lauren went for a full body oil massage and I chose the foot spa with an oil foot massage. Well.... I had never been in so much pain. My one was awful, I don't think the girl knew what she was meant to be doing at all and obviously she didn't speak English so I put up with a whole hours of agony. She hardly spent anytime on my feet and exfoliated from my knee down to my ankle for ages which was the worst part. I really should have had the guts to tell her to stop and walk away but I was stupid and put up with it.

Charles had recommended we went to see the That luang Stupa at sunset, it was Laos most important national monument that was a symbol of sovereignty and Buddhism that was built in 1566. We got a tuk tuk to go and see it as it was on the outskirts of the city. It was a massive golden structure and looked stunning at sunset. It was surrounded by loads of active temples with monks everywhere. We still weren't dressed to go into the active temples and the That Luang Stupa was closed by the time we got there so we planned to go back in the morning if we had time.

It was such a chilled out place, with the local kids playing football in front of the temples, loads of people out for walks and doing exercise. The place had an amazing vibe. I could have stayed there much longer but we were running out of time as we were meeting the group at 8pm for tea. We got a tuk tuk straight back to the hotel to shower and change quickly before heading out again.

We walked back down to the centre to a really busy restaurant, where Charles had a table booked out on the balcony. It was all lit up by lanterns which made it a gorgeous setting. One of the main dishes in Laos is Laab which is finely minced meat blended with fresh herbs and lettuce with sticky rice. I chose the Pork Laab which was quite bland compared to the other Asian dishes I've tried, but it still was nice and glad I tried it.

We were all shattered after our early morning leaving Hanoi so it was straight back to the hotel for an early night. I have only been in Laos a few hours and I am already absolutely loving this country xxx