Vientiane – a brief history

Vientiane

We’ve run through our favourite see and dos in  Vientiane before so this post is more of an overall description and brief rundown on the history of the laid-back Lao capital.(1) Although of course growing, it is still by some distance the smallest of the various Southeast Asian capitals with an estimated 215,000 inhabiting the downtown area, increasing to some 800,000  if one includes the greater conglomeration. (Awkwardly named Banda Seri Begawan, capital of Borneo’s Brunei, is a lot smaller but as we currently boycott the sultanate for human rights reasons, we’re dismissing that one.)

In contrast, Cambodia’s Phnom Penh weighs in with some 2.5 million residents – although we would be somewhat sceptical of Cambodian censuses – while Hanoi’s administrative district counts 8.8 million. KL, or Kuala Lumpur, also claims between 8 and 9 million inhabitants with 11.5 million occupying Bangkok’s metropolitan area plus an additional 8 to 9 million in the sprawling suburbs. Jakarta city has a roughly similar 11 million or so to Bangkok although the greater urban area is estimated to house an absurd 42 million thus vying with Tokyo for the World’s largest urban agglomeration. Although not strictly, geographically, in Southeast Asia we’ll mention metropolitan Colombo’s 5.2 million as obviously Sri Lanka is included on our tours menu.  (Note that estimates vary enormously and our figures, simply grabbed from Wiki, are intended to merely give a rough idea and don’t lay claim to any accuracy.)

Firstly then, visitors to the Lao capital, who are perhaps used to arriving in one of the region’s more typically chaotic and congested cities, will immediately note the more laid-back and considerably less hectic feel to the place. The city centre lies along the left bank of the Mekong River which at that point describes a wide right angle with Thailand lying to the south and west. This limits expansion to mainly the north and east meaning that the older, central area has remained largely intact as well as compact and is still lined by a pleasant waterfront area with promenade and cafes. Beyond this lie seasonal sandbanks, the river and the Thai town of Si Chiang Mai on the opposite shore. Even in the suburbs there is a notable lack of the booming high-rise which have sprouted in recent times in Hanoi and Phnom Penh.

The oldest part of the city is considered to date back to Mon-Dvaravati times and occupies an area named Fa Daet, lying in another narrow bend of the river just south of the present-day centre. Vestiges have revealed a flourishing river port, occupying areas on both banks of the river. Vientiane also represents one of the northernmost outposts of the late Angkorian empire and ruined temples such as those at Wat Si Muang can still be seen dating back to the late 12th century Jayavarman VII period. The city’s most celebrated monument, That Luang, is also considered to have begun life as a Khmer sanctuary so for reasons best known to themselves, the Khmers had elected to relocate the settlement slightly northwards to what is today the downtown district.

The collapse of Angkor and subsequent power vacuum during the 13th century saw the rise of Lao’s own Lan Xang, (or Lan Chang) kingdom which from the 14th to 17th centuries governed much of what is today northeastern Thailand or Isan, from its capital at Vientiane. (Lan Xang translates as 1 million elephants which even then was undoubtedly a wild exaggeration. See elephants in Southeast Asia.) The 13th century also saw the mass migration south of ethnic Tai tribes, including what are today the Lao, so while during the Khmer administration the population was likely a majority Mon-Khmer, Lan Xang was an ethnic Tai kingdom. The capital had actually been relocated from Luang Prabang to Vientiane as it was considered safer, being further away from Burma, however this was out of the proverbial frying pan as it moved it a lot closer to the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Thailand which had also flourished and expanded in the wake of the the Khmer decline.

In 1827 the city was completely destroyed by an army from Ayutthaya and indeed by the time the French explorers arrived in the 1860s much of what is today Lao was ruled by the Siamese. Whatever the subsequent cons of French rule, a major pro was forcing the Siamese back across the Mekong and without the establishment of a French protectorate it’s doubtful Lao would exist today as an independent nation.

Mountainous Lao was however the most neglected region of what comprised French Indochina and with a tiny population of colonists and administrators Vientiane never saw the addition of grander colonial period buildings in the same manner as Hanoi, Saigon or even Phnom Penh. (You’ll search in vain for an opera house, fancy post office or row of yellow painted villas.)

Moving on to the 20th century, Vientiane was fortuitously spared the carpet bombing that devastated eastern parts of the country such as the Plain of Jars and route of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and in the late 60s to early 70s became a comfortable ‘R and R’ spot for US military advisors, CIA spooks and Air America pilots. (2) Some infamous establishments opened to cater to these guys and the city took on a reputation for drugs (opium), prostitution and general debauchery.

Ironically, after the communist Pathet Lao’s victory in 1975, business carried on as usual with Soviet and eastern European advisors simply replacing their US counterparts. When we first visited in the early 90s locals invariably spoke to us in Russian, mini-skirted Lao girls still worked the riverside drinking holes and Hmong women sold opium outside the morning market.

The town is of course today far more sedate and local families and selfie-taking teens mix with foreign tourists in the cafes and food stalls of the riverside promenade; the ancient temples that the Siamese didn’t destroy have been restored and opened to visitors and an excellent new national museum established.

It is a small city with an admittedly somewhat limited number of attractions so, while the casual visitor may not want to stay a week, Vientiane is certainly a delightful spot to explore for a few days.

(1) See here for a Lao versus Laos explanation.

(2) Air America was a CIA owned freight company which transported raw opium from the hills to be refined into heroin at the Coca Cola factory in Vientiane. (See Alfred McCoy’s excellent book, The Politics of Heroin – CIA Involvement in the Drug Trade.)