Vientiane and the northwest - The Rough Guide to Laos - page 100

VIENTIANE ORIENTATION
Three main streets run parallel to the river to form the backbone of the old city centre, cut-
ting across narrower side streets to form an easily deciphered grid. Shaded by tall trees,
SetthathilatRoad is the city's most scenic thoroughfare, particularly the west end with its
four monasteries. Along this road and in the immediate area around Nam Phou , you'll find
the city's greatest concentration of accommodation, restaurants and shops catering to visit-
ors. Further north is Samsenthai Road , Vientiane's principal commercial district and site
of the imposing Lao National Cultural Hall as well as the Lao National Museum, an ana-
chronistic hangover from the days of banner-hoisting socialism. Restaurant-lined FaNgum
Road once ran beside the Mekong but is now separated from it by ChaoAnouvongPark ,
built on land recently reclaimed from the Mekong, and further south still, a busy bypass.
Fa Ngum Road roughly follows the course of the river as it bends southeast and skirts be-
hind the Presidential Palace. The palace is off-limits to visitors, but the Haw Pha Kaew ,
which occupies the western corner of the palace compound, has been converted into a mu-
seum, housing the largest collection of Lao art and antiquities in the country.
The eastern edge of the city centre is defined by Vientiane's principal thoroughfare and
the heart of today's commercial boom, Lane Xang Avenue , which begins at the Presiden-
tial Palace and marches away from the river past the two Talat Sao (Morning Market)
Malls . The broad avenue terminates at Patouxai , a massive victory arch, around which are
scattered numerous embassies, international organizations and government buildings. Just
beyond the Patouxai monument, the road forks, its right branch leading off towards That
Luang , the golden-spired Buddhist stupa and national symbol of Laos.
Brief history
Vientiane's history has been turbulent, as its meagre collection of old buildings suggests. An
old settlement, possibly dating back to the eighth century, Vientiane was occupied and sub-
sequently abandoned by the Mon and then the Khmer long before the Lao king Setthathilat
moved his capital here from Luang Prabang in 1560. Vientiane is actually pronounced “Wi-
ang Jan” (the modern Romanized spelling is a French transliteration), wiang being Lao for
a “settlement with a stockade”, while jan means “sandalwood”. The wooden ramparts of the
“City of Sandalwood” were evidently no match for invaders, for Vientiane was overrun or
occupied several times by the Burmese, Chinese and, most spectacularly, the Siamese . Dur-
ing one punitive raid in 1828, the Siamese levelled the entire city. For the next four decades,
Vientiane was almost completely abandoned.
French arrival
When French explorers arrived in 1867, they found the city all but reclaimed by the jungle.
Within a few decades, the French controlled most of what is now Laos, Cambodia and Viet-