Use the links above to see more photos.

If you're looking for the usual tell-tale signs of a city's downtown you won't find them here in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. It's more like a dusty frontier town, with few street lamps and not many buildings over 3 stories.

Small storefronts line the sidewalks, selling food, clothes, and motorbike parts, side-by-side with restaurant stalls displaying a couple of plastic tables and chairs where smiling women will put together a pretty good lunch for a couple of bucks.

Go a few kilometers in any direction and you'll be in farm country or forest. The name Vientiane is a French bastardization of Wieng Chan, the Lao word for sandalwood.

Population: 234,000