Vientiane has to be the least impressive capital city in the world. Historically the Lao capital shifted between Vientiane and the far more interesting Luang Prabang, and you would have thought the flattening of Vientiane by the Thais in the 1800's would have settled the matter, but amazingly this small, dull city has regained the capital title. It's built in a lazy bend of the Mekong River, but a big mud flat usually separates the city from the river. It's got a population of about 300,000, but feels much smaller. Surprisingly for a communist country, it has almost no statues and monuments to various revolutionary leaders, or any architectural statements of any sort really. Shown here is the closest Vientiane comes to grand architecture. At left is Thanon Lan Xang, Vientiane's main thoroughfare and one of the very few paved roads in the city. It's modeled after Paris' Champs Elysses, complete with Patuxai, Vientiane's own version of the Arc de Triomphe, complete with some Asian flourishes. At right is the Presidential Palace, one of several French colonial buildings recycled into Lao government service.
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