TUN Day 5: 01/02/09 - Nong Khai -> Vientiane

The bus from Bangkok reached Nong Khai in the wee hours of the morning but the first bus bound for Vientiane leaves only at 7.30am, so we had lots of time to spare. In the meantime, we were approached by lots of tuk-tuk drivers offering to take us to the border. But we decided to do as the locals do and wait for the bus patiently instead.
Laos, being once a French colony as part of Indochina, had noticeably French influences. Our first breakfast there was in a French cafe. Not that cheap as compared to local food. And that was our first experience with the local money exchange. Anyway, three currencies can be used there: Lao Kip, US Dollar and Thai Baht. The conversion between the Dollar and Kip is quite standard at $1=1000K8000K but that between the Baht and Kip is mind boggling.
The highlight of the day was the visit to Putaxay, which you can see below. This plate on the wall has a very niao caption on it.
One of the gates with the two angels guarding it.
This's the view from the top of Putaxay.
Putaxay  at a distance. This was taken on the road divider. By the time we were done there, there wasn't much time left to visit other sights. We spent quite a bit of time earlier in the day cycling around town to the Northern bus terminal to get tixs for our trip the next day to Luang Prabang. Though some sights were missed out, this was compensated by a trip to the non-touristy Vientiane.
Drivers drive on the left hand in Laos, so by right the fastest lane is on the left side of the road and cyclists should cycle on the right. But i was kinda confused so i lead Junyuan to cycle on the left side of the road. Luckily, the cars in Vientiane were not fast.
We went to two temples which were still open by the time we got there.
Dinner was by the Mekong river. Everyone was lazing there, admiring the view and waiting for the sunset.
We had Beerlao (which i didn't really like);
and the bbqed fish with lots of salt on the skin, that was recommended by my sista. 
The sunset was rather nice. =)