The Patuxai Arch is quite a monstrosity, a vulgar demonstration of power, and it was built with concrete donated by the Americans for use in building a highway, or was it an airport!

I had been living in Thailand for around a year, when I first visited Vientiane, and was very happy to find plentiful and french food and bread there, which wasn't so available in Bangkok at the time. It was the period when the communist Pathet Lao and the Royalists were sharing power, and I will never forget quietly eating dinner on my own in one of the better french restaurants when in came eight Pathet Lao in battle fatigues carrying sub machine guns.

They then sat down, slung their machine guns over the backs of their chairs, and settled in for a good meal! From the reaction of the owner this was clearly not an unusual event, which was reassuring.