We’ve visited Vientiane before and had already seen most of the main sights this sleepy capital has to offer. This time we were only in town for two nights — just long enough to do some laundry, find a post office, and enjoy a meal at our favourite restaurant, Aria.

Aria is an Italian restaurant that serves fantastic homemade pasta. After months of eating rice and noodles across Southeast Asia, it tasted absolutely divine. I’m never sure whether the food is genuinely that good, or if it just seems incredible because we’ve been deprived of proper Western food for so long. It reminded me of an Argentinian steak restaurant we visited in Brasov, Romania a few years ago — I still remember that steak as one of the best I’ve ever had, probably because I’d been eating goulash for weeks.

Vientiane feels more like a large country town than a capital city. It’s quiet, laid-back, and has a surprisingly large French expat community. At times we felt like we were back in France. The pace of life is slow and gentle, which is exactly what we needed after weeks on the road.

Unfortunately, our previous favourite hotel, the Mali Namphu, had gone downhill quite a bit. We couldn’t get our laundry done there, and to our disappointment, Aria appeared to have closed. On the positive side, we found a good French restaurant across the road that served an excellent pizza.

After two short nights we were ready to move on. Next stop was Thakhek, about 6 hours away by bus. We just hoped the tuk-tuk driver would actually show up on time to take us to the bus station — in Laos, that’s never guaranteed!