Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Swimming
Non-residents can pay to swim at several hotels around the city. Nicest of all is
the deep-blue pool at the
Settha Palace Hotel
($28/day) but cheaper options include the
Best
Western
on François Ngin Road ($7.50/day, including access to the gym), and the
Lao Plaza
Hotel
, on Samsenthai Road (120,000K/day).
Tennis
Chao Anouvong Tennis, Nokeo Koummane Rd, near the National Stadium.
Courts
cost 20,000K for 45min during the day, or 30,000K after dark, when the floodlights need to
be switched on. Racquet hire is 20,000K per session.
SHOPPING
The Talat Sao area just off Lane Xang Avenue is the best place to begin a shopping tour of
the capital. Although there are still covered market stalls here selling Chinese electronics and
cheap consumer goods, most of these have been swallowed up by the imposing
Talat Sao
Malls
(daily 8am-5pm), which are growing together into one big shopping outlet, each hous-
ing a variety of jewellery shops, clothing outlets and banks. At some stage during their visit,
most tourists end up browsing the market stalls that occupy the new riverbank area just west
of Chao Anouvong Park, marked by dozens of red gazebos. T-shirts, toys, paintings, shoes
and gadgets are available, though nearly everything is mass-produced and plasticky, and true
bargains are impossible to find. The more interesting textile, souvenir and antique shops are
found on
Samsenthai
and
Setthathilat roads
and on the lanes running between them.
ANTIQUES AND REPRODUCTIONS
Antique shops can be found in the Morning Market (Talat Sao Malls) and elsewhere in the
centre of Vientiane. As ever, virtually all metal images or figurines of Buddhist or Hindu deit-
ies are reproductions from Thailand and Cambodia, though vendors won't admit this. Opium
weights, usually seen in antique stores but also found in upscale textile shops, are priced at
levels way out of line when compared to the rest of Laos, with merchants asking two to five
times more for weights than their counterparts in Luang Prabang and the other provinces. Re-
production opium pipes can be found in the antique shops on Samsenthai Road. The cheapest
are gaudy things made in Vietnam from tusk-shaped bone, but if you look patiently you may
come across bamboo and brass or silver pipes made locally by a couple of craftsmen who are
the sole remaining pipemakers in Southeast Asia.
positively sags under the weight of all the old watches, paintings, coins, medals and Buddhist
amulets filling its dusty cabinets. There's a cosy
café
upstairs and another branch in Luang
Prabang.
Daily 8.30am-10pm.
BOOKS
Big Brother Mouse
Phai Nam Road, just west of the National Stadium 021 264513,
bigbrothermouse.com
;
map
.
The Vientiane branch of
Big Brother Mouse
is run with the
