Savannakhet

I spent the day wandering round Savannakhet. There’s definitely more money in the town than the last time I was here. There are several showrooms selling expensive looking cars and there are more shops than I remember but it still feels like a sleepy town. (Ok it’s Sunday and it may be busier on other days.) I walked beside the Mekong looking across to Thailand, went to a couple of temples and to the dinosaur museum. That definitely wasn’t here 18 years ago. It’s a tiny museum and a few minutes after I arrived the man on duty started opening drawers and handing me dinosaur bones to hold! Dinosaur fossils have been found in two regions of Laos and the museum had examples of each.


This is the former French church, now used by Vietnamese Catholics in Savannakhet. I loved the bougainvillea in the grounds. In the street in front of the church there’s a night food market. Lots of street stalls set up for a few hours selling different food. According to a Swedish guy I was talking to, who lives in Thailand and comes regularly to Savannakhet on visa runs, the food market was busier today than he’d ever seen it. All the stalls had customers but it wasn’t packed out. I had difficulty choosing where to have dinner but was very happy with my choice!