Wats, Louangs, Monks, Heat and 160ft Buddhas
Hi all,
We have been having a good time in Vientiane despite the sometimes oppressive heat. Our first day here the heat index was about 106°F, and the next day here was even hotter (though we didn't check the temp). Walking across one of the parking lots that day we could feel the soles of our shoes becoming soft and tacky. To make it all worse it’s actually a bit humid here, and on the very hot days there was no breeze.
Yesterday was much better, warm rather than hot and there was a breeze to go along with it. Today is even milder (about 70°F with a breeze).
The day before yesterday we walked around the city some, in the very high heat, to see some of the sites recommended in the guide book. First we went to one of the Wats that used to house the personal shrine of the king and the emerald Buddha. Now it is more of a museum, but still holds Buddhas and is used by many as a temple. The rooms in the temples are not very big, making for a very small museum. Since it is also a holy place, no shoes are allowed. The artifacts there were quite interesting, all holy artifacts of Buddhism. They are supposed to be the best the country has to offer.
After the museum/wat we went on to That Louang (pronounced Tat Louang). This is the official symbol of Laos, and although all cities in Laos have a That Louang, this is the largest and most important. According to legend, enclosed inside the gold (painted) stupa which makes up the Louang there is hair from the Buddha. The structure is somewhat hard to describe, so you can take a look at this link for a better idea of what it’s like. (The parking lot of That Louang is where our shoes started to melt by the way). Since it was so hot this day, and it was pushing 4 in the afternoon we decided to head on back to our hotel.
We had a snack at a fairly popular beer garden that serves Lao, Indian, and Chinese food and has $1 pitchers of beer all day long. After our snack we crossed the street to another Southeast Asian restaurant for dinner. Nothing amazing, just some fried rice for Kelly and Pad Thai for me.
The next day (yesterday) we went to the Buddha Park. Although this is not listed as a "must see" attraction, it did make the cover of our guide book, and is listed several times in another guidebook we have along with us. The park was built in the 1950's by an eccentric monk/sculptor. His inspiration was supposed to be divine, and he guided teams of untrained sculptors to create a park of gigantic concrete religious sculptors. The parks biggest piece is the 50m reclining Buddha, though there is also a strange dome there (3 stories high and maybe 50 or so feet across). Each of the three levels of the dome represents the three plains, heaven, hell and purgatory (or earth by some accounts). Inside the levels there are sculptures depicting the people that belong in each place. We thought it was interesting that neither heaven nor hell had doors in from the outside, but did have doors in through purgatory.
The dome was the first of the sculptures we visited, and inside we met a novice monk named Thong (Tong). Thong, 19 years old, is from the north of Laos but is living in Vientiane to go to a Buddhist high school in the city. Currently he is on break while the other classes take their week long final exams, and his exams are coming up next week. He said that he is currently second in the class, but hopes after the exam he will become first. We both though it was interesting talking to someone who leads such a different life and yet has the same concerns any high school student would.
Thong joined us for the rest of our visit at the Buddha park (about 2 hours). He practiced his English with us and told us about some of the sculptures we were seeing. We also shared stories about traditions (he had heard about Thanksgiving and was anxious to ask us about it), language, and life. It was a very interesting experience.
He has only been studying English for a year, but has gone above and beyond to master it. Though they teach it at the high school he also takes night courses for more practice. He also seeks out extra practice with friends and teachers. All that practice has certainly paid off since his conversational ability is up there with the very best non-native speakers we have run into during the trip. He would like to go to a university when he is done with high school. He hopes to study about Laos there so he can become a guide in his province, working with one of his friends at home. He feels that there the tourist market is fairly untapped in his area, and being a guide could be a great opportunity.
Before leaving I took his picture with Kelly, and got his email address so we could keep in touch.
We had dinner back at the beer garden. I had some very spicy (and very good) lao beef. Kelly had Chinese honey pork that she really liked.
We checked out of our hotel around noon today, and just had lunch. Our bus to Bangkok leaves at 5 and will get there around 7 in the morning. In the meantime we will be going to visit one last Wat, buying some Lao Coffee, and maybe a t-shirt or two.
I'll be posting again once we do something interesting in Bangkok.
-Tim
We have been having a good time in Vientiane despite the sometimes oppressive heat. Our first day here the heat index was about 106°F, and the next day here was even hotter (though we didn't check the temp). Walking across one of the parking lots that day we could feel the soles of our shoes becoming soft and tacky. To make it all worse it’s actually a bit humid here, and on the very hot days there was no breeze.
Yesterday was much better, warm rather than hot and there was a breeze to go along with it. Today is even milder (about 70°F with a breeze).
The day before yesterday we walked around the city some, in the very high heat, to see some of the sites recommended in the guide book. First we went to one of the Wats that used to house the personal shrine of the king and the emerald Buddha. Now it is more of a museum, but still holds Buddhas and is used by many as a temple. The rooms in the temples are not very big, making for a very small museum. Since it is also a holy place, no shoes are allowed. The artifacts there were quite interesting, all holy artifacts of Buddhism. They are supposed to be the best the country has to offer.
After the museum/wat we went on to That Louang (pronounced Tat Louang). This is the official symbol of Laos, and although all cities in Laos have a That Louang, this is the largest and most important. According to legend, enclosed inside the gold (painted) stupa which makes up the Louang there is hair from the Buddha. The structure is somewhat hard to describe, so you can take a look at this link for a better idea of what it’s like. (The parking lot of That Louang is where our shoes started to melt by the way). Since it was so hot this day, and it was pushing 4 in the afternoon we decided to head on back to our hotel.
We had a snack at a fairly popular beer garden that serves Lao, Indian, and Chinese food and has $1 pitchers of beer all day long. After our snack we crossed the street to another Southeast Asian restaurant for dinner. Nothing amazing, just some fried rice for Kelly and Pad Thai for me.
The next day (yesterday) we went to the Buddha Park. Although this is not listed as a "must see" attraction, it did make the cover of our guide book, and is listed several times in another guidebook we have along with us. The park was built in the 1950's by an eccentric monk/sculptor. His inspiration was supposed to be divine, and he guided teams of untrained sculptors to create a park of gigantic concrete religious sculptors. The parks biggest piece is the 50m reclining Buddha, though there is also a strange dome there (3 stories high and maybe 50 or so feet across). Each of the three levels of the dome represents the three plains, heaven, hell and purgatory (or earth by some accounts). Inside the levels there are sculptures depicting the people that belong in each place. We thought it was interesting that neither heaven nor hell had doors in from the outside, but did have doors in through purgatory.
The dome was the first of the sculptures we visited, and inside we met a novice monk named Thong (Tong). Thong, 19 years old, is from the north of Laos but is living in Vientiane to go to a Buddhist high school in the city. Currently he is on break while the other classes take their week long final exams, and his exams are coming up next week. He said that he is currently second in the class, but hopes after the exam he will become first. We both though it was interesting talking to someone who leads such a different life and yet has the same concerns any high school student would.
Thong joined us for the rest of our visit at the Buddha park (about 2 hours). He practiced his English with us and told us about some of the sculptures we were seeing. We also shared stories about traditions (he had heard about Thanksgiving and was anxious to ask us about it), language, and life. It was a very interesting experience.
He has only been studying English for a year, but has gone above and beyond to master it. Though they teach it at the high school he also takes night courses for more practice. He also seeks out extra practice with friends and teachers. All that practice has certainly paid off since his conversational ability is up there with the very best non-native speakers we have run into during the trip. He would like to go to a university when he is done with high school. He hopes to study about Laos there so he can become a guide in his province, working with one of his friends at home. He feels that there the tourist market is fairly untapped in his area, and being a guide could be a great opportunity.
Before leaving I took his picture with Kelly, and got his email address so we could keep in touch.
We had dinner back at the beer garden. I had some very spicy (and very good) lao beef. Kelly had Chinese honey pork that she really liked.
We checked out of our hotel around noon today, and just had lunch. Our bus to Bangkok leaves at 5 and will get there around 7 in the morning. In the meantime we will be going to visit one last Wat, buying some Lao Coffee, and maybe a t-shirt or two.
I'll be posting again once we do something interesting in Bangkok.
-Tim
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on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at 12:34 AM.
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