We realized we'd not yet seen a sure symbol of this country. The iconic temple is on all the new banknotes in Laos. After a nice little buffet breakfast in the hotel we walked out to the corner to flag down a tuk-tuk. From downtown it cost us 50,000 Kip to get there. We walked around the famous one and several new temples of the area.
For our last evening we walked around the night market before getting dinner. We bought a spoon. If that seems like an odd choice for a souvenir, it's really not. There's a town in Laos which makes its livelihood by melting down bomb casings and old military parts. They form dinnerware and now bracelets from the aluminum. We now have a new item to squeeze into the curio cabinet.