Vientiane riverside getting a facelift!

I was just up in Vientiane last week.. My Lao friends tell me that this Korean financed project is not just a "Promenade" along the Mekong riverfront in downtown Vientiane but actually a 14KM long "river road" that will start downriver from Vientiane and connect back up with RTE13 past the airport.. If done well and landscaped nicely, in a few years it could look great. If in usual Lao fashion it's done hapharzadly, it will make the riverfront look deplorable..

I only stayed for the day a week or so ago, but I was there as well. Sounds like we could have had a 'Friends of Udonmap meeting" if we had coordinated it!!
It should be a large improvement as I always felt that the Thai side of the river tried to maximise its attraction while the Laos side - it was just there & stopped tables being placed any further out.
It was also the first time that I had been along the new prom at NK.
I was greatly impressed with that, but not so impressed that the restaurants along it have decided to adopt the old Udon Soi Falang practice of almost, if not quite, "hello hansom man, you want eat"?? to entice people into their places.
Discretion, & a good Falang Menu as well as Thai, would probably increase trade far more than the Indian tailor approach to business..