Laos - Vientiane (2 - 4 April)

This has got to be the quietest capital city in the world: its quite big but really spaced out, with huge avenues, a riverfront and an Arc de Triomphe lookalike that was made out of concrete in the 60s and looks pretty ugly close up. Also visited some really holy temple that is a massive bunch of towers coated in gold (paint). Went to a really good curry house here (like an English one) while the Thai prime minister resigned on TV.

Saw a Communist-style military/police parade in the national stadium from our guest house balcony. Laos is kind of officially Communist, but the people are free and capitalism is flourishing. There's a few communist flags around but that's about it - no status or giant posters of the leaders and no police or military around. It feels more free than Thailand, where there are pictures of the king everywhere and people stand to attention when the national anthem is played at 6pm. The only problem is that there is only one political party here, so they need to sort out the democracy bit and then Laos will be sorted.