From Luang Prabang to Vientiane

I postponed my departure from Luang Prabang for about three times, and in the end I stayed for a whole week with the weather being nice,  a serene ambiance in the air you never want to part. Even after a week I'd have found more things to discover and to do and enjoy another nice evening out in one of the countless restaurant all over town. On my last evening young ambitious amateurs performed traditional Lao dances at the towns heritage  center just opposite my guesthouse. This was a perfect farewell to this unique place.
The next morning I boarded a Lao VIP bus at the southern bus terminal. A Lao VIP bus is not as old as ordinary buses, has overhead air inlets that sometimes work and the bus doesn't stop as often en route as ordinary buses do.
For hours the winding road leads through impressive and lonely mountain regions with remote settlements and very few small towns, then, after about five hours the scenic limestone cliffs of Kasi and Vang Vieng appear on the horizon and set a another highlight in this mountain spectacle. After leaving the higher mountains the road winds down into the vast, now dry plains of the Mekong and into the Lao capital of Vientiane.
Vientiane is still one of the more laid-back of all asian capitals , albeit changing rapidly. Chinese and Korean money helps to develop part of the embankment and turn it into shopping malls and fancy appartement blocks, Whilst the northern parts of the riverbanks still retain their rustic bygone charm with an occasional temple, quaint wooden buildings, makeshift drinking shacks and fishermen that despite the heat throw their nets into the brown and quiet waters. Cycling the  river embankment in those areas gives an idea of how life must have been in the days before big money came in.

A couple seeks the Mekong which is quite far from its former banks due to massive broadening of the original embankment. At nighttime locals use the dry river bed as trial course

Further downstream a woman pulls her net out of the brown waters of the Mekong. If there's a catch it is used by the families or sold to restaurants and foodstalls

A man uses another fishing method. While I was there he did not bring in a catch

The original embankment of the Mekong River is an unpaved lane used as a roadway. This man sits in front of a restaurant and keeps down dust whirled up by passing vehicles

A young monk sits on the embankment high above the river being deeply absorbed in typing messages into his smartphone

Around noon and with a blazing sun in the sky four fishermen stand submersed in the shallow waters of the river and wait patiently for a catch

At the 'Sputnik Burger' restaurant Vientiane you can have your meal sitting in the carcass of an old VW Beetle

Entering a Lao home or Buddhist temple never keep your footwear on

Bikers line up on the esplanade for a show off night ride