When I was in Vientiane in year 2000 it had a lovely small town feeling with great ambience - mostly old houses and gravel roads and I remember staying at a small guesthouse by the Mekong River. Unfortunately, all that is long gone and to me the city has lost most of it's charm (though it's still not as bad as other Southeast Asian capitals). Just south of the city centre towards the river there are still vacant land which will hopefully be developed into a park instead of big hotels...