Report - Talat Sao Mall – Laos, December 2015

[elliot5200]

There is literally nothing to do in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. I got very bored one day and went to, probably the only mall in the country. Not a very good one either, but the top few levels were abandoned, so this is what I found. (Again, sorry for the phone camera!)

Some families were squatting up here too:

Merry Xmas!

This part used to be an arcade. Now it’s just creepy:

The architect’s model:

Some nice art deco too. Smile!

And below:

 

[mrwhite]

whoa a report from the future

 

[elliot5200]

Yep, Laos has its own time zone, a year ahead.
Mods can change it to 2014 though if they wish

 

[mrwhite]

 

[The_Raw]

Ahh I'm well jealous of this, looks like fun, weren't you tempted to go all dawn of the dead on our asses? Also, I disagree there is nothing to do in Vientiane - opium

 

[norfolkexplorer]

Ahh I'm well jealous of this, looks like fun, weren't you tempted to go all dawn of the dead on our asses? Also, I disagree there is nothing to do in Vientiane - opium

Here here to that

 

[Bertie Bollockbrains]

Agreed I was there last year, Vientiane is by far the most sleepy SE Asian capital. We lasted just 2 days there before moving on. Interesting fun fair somewhere in town that had no health and safety at all. It was a scream in the literal sense. Long story but basically we were on a pirate ship ride that the operator couldn't or wouldn't turn off. Wasn't funny after the first 30 minutes and we did break the hour barrier. My kids loved it though. After that was the dodgems where every bit of padding had been removed from the cars leaving sharp jagged metal positioned just inches from your chest. It made those bumps err interesting.

I hope you found the more interesting bits of the country and Laos certainly does have them.

Not sure if you still out in this part of the world, but if you are then from an urban exploring point of view, the New World shopping mall is within walking distance of Khao San Road in Bangkok. PM me if you need the exact walking route.

 

[elliot5200]

Haha sounds like the carnival of horrors - surprised they let you out alive! No, didn't manage to see that. I noticed there was a circus in the sticks-end of town but no one seemed to know anything about it so I assumed like most things, it had shut down.

No longer in Asia I'm afraid but I did check out New World Mall (mentioned it in my Sathorn Unique Tower report) - it's sealed now and even worse, all the fish have been removed Some cool graffiti on the outside though

Ahh I'm well jealous of this, looks like fun, weren't you tempted to go all dawn of the dead on our asses? Also, I disagree there is nothing to do in Vientiane - opium

Obviously I was dressed as a zombie when I took all these snaps