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The Mekong begins its 4,000 km journey in Tibet, and then continues through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before ending in the delta of Vietnam and spilling out into the South China Sea.

On its way it passes Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR. In the monsoon season, May through October, the sandbar which you see here is completely covered, as is the strip of land on the right bank.

As you can also see, the skyline, as it were, of downtown Vientiane is not all that impressive. I took this picture from atop the Don Chan Palace Hotel, at 14 stories it remains the lone exception to the 7 story citywide law.

Cross the river and (to the left) you're in Thailand. If you were here in the 70s, when Thailand and Laos were not the best of friends, you might have heard sporadic gunfire at night.