Temples, Croissants and Suitcases

Our first stop in Laos was Vientiane. It was a small city that felt like it should have been hours away from the airport but was so accessible. It had a small town vibe, relaxed and a French influence. My favorite type of town!

Quick story for you all to enjoy. We got in late the night before since there are no direct flights from Manila so we had a layover through Bangkok and once we arrived we needed a visa. Thankfully the kind security guard saw that we had two little ones and let us go tot the front of the 25 people in line. There was ONE person processing all 25 visas so this was a huge help. When we finally got to the hotel all we wanted to do was get our pajamas on and get to bed. When I went to open up the boys suitcase (we brought three small carry-ons, one per adult and the boys shared one) we realized in our sleepy haze we had taken the wrong suitcase. While this stunk for us I felt even worse for the person whose bag we had. Randy had to head back to the airport (which was thankfully only 15 minutes away) and get our bag which was thankfully still there.

After a short night of sleep, we got our sightseeing gear on and headed out for a day on the town.

We had limited time to sightsee so we headed right out to cover some ground. Oh wait, that’s right we have two little boys. So first there was an hour long breakfast buffet and then we headed out and made it around the corner to a coffee shop. We were going to just grab coffees but we needed a break from getting lost on our way to the coffee shop that was literally around the corner. And besides, it was so cute we decided why not stay a while. After all who can say no to chocolate croissants!

And here is Adam and Randy’s band cover.

or maybe this one?

After fortifying ourselves with coffee and a croissant we headed out to see this beautiful city. There are beautiful temples everywhere you see.

We found an amazing store that sold beautiful antiques which had an amazing 60 year old Buddha from the northern area of Laos. There was even a cute little dog to keep the boys occupied while we negotiated.

This beautiful temple – Wat Si Saket is the Wat of a Thousand Buddhas and it really has a thousand Buddhas. We went to sit inside the temple and it was so interesting, both boys sat right down and were so calm for a good 20 minutes. They must have sensed what a spiritual place it was.

On our way back to the hotel after a long walking tour we decided to stop in one more temple. Malcolm was snoring away in his stroller so it was just us and Adam. Adam plopped right down and didn’t want to leave. When we finally got up to leave he turned around to sit down again. The monk motioned him over to say a prayer and give us a bracelet. It was such a sweet moment watching Adam take it all in.