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Vientiane Travel Guide
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History of Luang Prabang Getting into Luang Prabang Getting Around Luang Prabang Sights in and around Vientiane: Accommodation in Luang Prabang |
Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is an elegant city by the banks of the Mekong River. The I shot the above photograph for AsiaExplorers from the Mekong River bank, where a group of AsiaExplorers members and I had our dinner at an outdoor cafe. The name Vientiane means "City of Sandalwood". According to the great Laotian epic, the Phra Lak Phra Lam, Vientiane was founded by Prince Thattaradtha when he left the legendary Lao kingdom of Muong Inthapatha Maha Nakhone because he was denied the throne in favor of his younger brother. Thattaradtha originally founded a city called Maha Thani Si Phan Phao on the western banks of the Mekong River, in what is today's Udon Thani in Thailand. According to the legend, one day a a seven-headed Naga told Thattaradtha to start a new city on the eastern bank of the Mekong opposite Maha Thani Si Phan Phao. The prince called this city Chanthabuly Si Sattanakhanahud, the predecessor of modern Vientiane. Contrary to the legend, however, most historians believe that Vientiane was an early Khmer settlement centered around a Hindu temple, the site of which stands Pha That Luang today.
Devotees at Vat Simuong in Vientiane.
In 1354, a Lao warload by the name of Chao Fa Ngum founded the Lan Xang Kingdom. He captured Vientiane, which was an important administative city, even though the capital at that time was Luang Prabang. King Setthathirath moved the Lan Xang capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in 1560. When the Lan Xang Kingdom collapsed in 1707, Vientiane became an independent kingdom. In 1779, it was conquered by the Siamese general Phraya Chakri and made a vassal of Siam.
When King Anouvong raised an unsuccessful rebellion, it was obliterated by Siamese armies in 1827. Vientiane then passed into French rule in 1893. The French rebuilt it, and made it the capital of the French protectorate of Laos in 1899.