It is well worth your while to spend a few days in Vientiane. The weather is magnificent, and the architecture, a mix of French colonial buildings with golden Buddhist temples, makes for one of the most unique cities in SE Asia. The real beauty of Laos, however, lies outside the city centers in the vast, sparsely populated countryside. There is only one major road that crosses the Northern half of the country, linking the capitol with Luang Prabang to the North. It is best to do this drive in the daytime, because the road passes through an area inhabited by a particularly unhappy group of Laotians that like to take pot shots at tourists.
Incidents are rare and usually take place at night.
All the same, the transports usually include a soldier for protection. The road winds through thick jungle. The animals run free among the children and all you can hear is the laughter of the groups of kids as they chase the animals. Luang Prabang is the Northern capitol. It has a remarkably slower pace than Vientiane, which is rather hard to beat.