Kong View Bar

About this place Kong View Bar

Kong View Bar occupies one of the better stretches of Vientiane's Riverside promenade for sunset viewing — the wide Mekong here faces directly west, and the bar's open terrace makes it a natural gathering point in the late afternoon as the sun drops over the Thai bank of the river. The bar is resolutely local in character: Beerlao on draught, modest food menu, tuk-tuk drivers socialising at the bar alongside NGO workers and travellers. It is gay-welcoming in the practical Vientiane sense: the international crowd that makes up the customer base creates a tolerant social environment without any formal gay identity. Same-sex couples drinking on the terrace will be unremarkable. The sunset is reliable; the Mekong's slow, enormous presence does what it always does in riverside Laos — produces a kind of profound calm that makes the concerns of the wider world seem distant. A good early-evening option before moving to other bars or dinner in the Nam Phu area.