Vientiane

Laos

Vientiane is the capital and largest city of Laos. Comprising the 5 urban districts of Vientiane Prefecture, the city is located on the banks of the Mekong, close to the border with Thailand. Vientiane was the administrative capital during French rule. The city had a population of 840,000 as of the 2023 census. Pha That Luang, an icon of Buddhism, is located in Vientiane.

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Country: Laos
Population: 754,000
Latitude: 17.97° N
Longitude: 102.6° E

Which way is Vientiane from…

From Paris, Vientiane lies at 71° to the east, 9,235 km as the crow flies.

Paris	71° east	9,235 km
London	69° east	9,299 km
New York	4° north	13,481 km
Madrid	66° north-east	10,029 km
Rome	76° east	8,694 km
Montreal	4° north	12,947 km
Saint-Denis, Réunion	53° north-east	6,712 km

Bearings as the crow flies (great circle), measured from north. From somewhere else, the bearing changes: that’s the whole game.

Oùcécap’s take

Forty-three degrees: that is the gap, from London, between the flat map and the compass for Vientiane. The map says 112°, the compass 69°, east, 9,299 km away. From New York it is even more baffling: due north (4°), over the Arctic, Siberia and China. A landmark: Vientiane lies on Kingston’s latitude, and its antipode falls 659 km from Lima.