Visiting Vientiane

Visiting Vientiane ... oh, how I love to alliterate ...

This is the land of many, many Buddhas

I started my Tết break a little early this year in order to have several more days in Laos. Laos has been on my ‘short list’ ever since I came to SE Asia ... my desire to come here was not accompanied by any form of research other than asking a couple of colleagues about their visits and seeing some misty photos of monks in Luang Prabang, , and so I really had no idea of what I was getting into. So typical ...

So I will be in Vientiane for about 3 days and so far it has been lovely ... gorgeous weather and the most beautiful blue skies! Well, it was a bit of a shock to discover that Canadians pay the highest fees for Lao visas than any other country in the world. Why would that be? Oh, yes ... back to Vientiane - for starters it is so much smaller and quieter than Sài Gòn; there are only 220,000 people in the city and the prefecture of Vientiane has 1/10th the population, just 750,000, so I guess it is tame in comparison! And although the street names are still difficult to remember, it is very easy to find things in the city. And it is a bit cooler, so it is very comfortable to walk, even in mid-day. I did break down and buy a guide book yesterday and it says that the Lao people are among the most laid back in SE Asia ... I cannot attest to that, but those I have met are very polite, friendly, and quick to smile. And those working in tourism are super sweet and have pretty good English ... although the average Lao person I have met does not have much English at all.


That Dam - Black Stupa

Yesterday I walked my foofoos off. I wanted to go to Pha That Luang, one of the most important cultural and religious sites in Laos, a 3rd C temple that has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, most recently in the 1930s, I believe. So, I set off and saw a few interesting sites on the way, That Dam, which means Black Stupa in Lao. Apparently, it had once been covered with gold, but had been burned in a Siamese invasion almost 200 years ago. And that was close to the US Embassy ... I had forgotten it is the capitol city and so there are a lot of government and foreign government offices. So I found myself on a very grand avenue, typical of a capitol city ... Lang Xang Avenue. I walked along until I came to Patuxai, which is a large and very grand victory arch. Apparently, concrete intended for an airport runway was diverted to this project, which was mostly finished in the 1960s. It is very grand and has a lovely park with dancing fountains.


Patuxai



Patuxai

After leaving this park, I zigged when I should have zagged, but I didn’t get too lost ... got to see a couple of embassies and then continued on for another kilometer or so until I got to That Luang. I could see the golden spire from a good long way off and so I knew I was on the right road. It turns out there is not just one temple here, but a whole complex, and like many Buddhist temples, it seems like spirituality, tourism, and lots of buying and selling go on simultaneously ... a different form of syncretism than the one usually discussed in religious circles. The temples seem more Cambodian than Vietnamese to my undiscerning eye and perhaps that is because it is a different form of Buddhism which is dominant here ... Theravada.


Pha That Luang



Pha That Luang

At any rate, it was very different and I was very glad to have had an opportunity to visit. I walked back to the city ... 4 km I later learned! I accidentally found another place, a shopping market called Talat Sao, or morning market, including a new building (with a parking garage). It was quite reminiscent of the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur. I continued traipsing around and found a fair trade craft store which has the most exquisite textile, weaving, embroidery, and quilting work done by Hmong women. I was so glad to have found it! Then I HAD to go for a foot massage ... I must have walked 12 or 15 km by this time.


Adjacent to Pha That Luang

Sleeping Buddha near Pha That Luang

OK, so this was my third foot massage. The first one was in Shanghai with Kim Cechetto at the Pearl Hotel (I think). We went on Dave Cechetto’s recommendation, and the two guys who worked on us were like twins in that their movements were tightly synchronized. Kim and I would both go, “OW” at the same time and they would ask, “OW, yes? or OW, no?” The answer was unimportant; the choreography was launched under the blinking red eyes of the stuffed toy pandas that decorated our massage stations, and nothing would get in the way of that particular dance of pain. Poor Kim had bruises for a week! The second foot massage I had was in Hải Phòng and it was an excruciatingly dry rub performed by people who kept laughing at me. It couldn’t have ended soon enough! Yesterday’s massage was much better than either of my previous forays into pedicular pommelling, thank goodness. I may go back for another if I am so foolish as to walk another 12 km on any given day!

Kunming - SE Asia Riders



Kunming - SE Asia Riders

Today has also been very interesting. I started out with breakfast in the garden. Several guys who have been walking around in biking shorts for the last day began gearing up ... I noticed they all had very coordinated outfits that said Kunming – SouthEast Asia Tour and they all had a lot of sponsors logos on their clothes. Their bikes and panniers all looked the same and very snazzy. It turns out they are a group that are on a 3 month ride and they started out in Kunming. One of them is a pretty famous guy ... Jin Feibao. Best wishes to them; they are delivering letters of peace and friendship throughout SE Asia (but they may not be allowed to go to Vietnam). Read about it here.


Cluster Bomb Mobile at the COPE Center

Sttue at COPE Center that contains 500 kg of scrap metal from recycled munitions

Today I decided I would go to the COPE Center. Lonely Planet really does plug a few good causes in every book they publish and this is their major cause in Vientiane ... a centre where people who have lost limbs due to UXO (unexploded ordnances) can go for rehabilitation, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs. I had always heard that Laos was the most heavily bombed country in the world and in its effort to wipe out the VC, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the USA dropped two million tons (through carpet bombing – roughly one sortie every 8-9 minutes for years) and the munitions range from missiles, grenades, rockets, cluster bombs, mortars and landmines. Who in the world invents these weapons? A very unkind part of me wishes they would set their children to cleaning up the 80 million unexploded munitions; I am sure they would think twice about unleashing that sort of horror on anyone else. Of course, no child deserves to die or be maimed as a result of these weapons, and yet hundreds of Lao kids (and adults) every year are killed and crippled as a result of accidents occurring with UXOs or ‘bombies’ as they are called by some people here.

View from a tuk tuk

When I heard the centre was 3 km from my hotel, I decide to take a tuk tuk ... but I did walk back ...(^_^)... It was a moving experience to visit the center – a bit quiet because of the weekend – but I saw that they encourage people to buy legs as Christmas presents ... too late for that, but guess what, Mom? I bought you a leg for your birthday ... well, a leg for someone else on your behalf. Check out their website ... I am so surprised that Canada has still not ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It is a signatory, but has not ratified the treaty. It turns out Canada has or has had a stockpile of cluster munitions and it might prevent Canada from working with the US military in various operations ...  who knows? I guess I am not the only one who wonders why the Harper government has failed to act. here is a recent article from the Ottawa Citizen.


Walking back I saw many household shops ... these are to cook sticky rice, a staple in Laos




Cutie in a tuk tuk ... happy to say 'hello!'

 After walking back to town, I happened upon two temples that are pretty important in Vientiane ... the first is the oldest temple in Vientiane ... Wat Si Saket. It is filled with statues of Buddha (like more than 2000) and is quite an amazing place. I am not sure how terribly old it is – due to the turbulent history, many things have been rebuilt time and time again.


Wat Si Saket



Wat Si Saket



Wat Si Saket

Wat Si Saket



Haw Phra Kaew



Well, the second one is a former temple (now a museum), Haw Phra Kaew. Lots of tourists (both Lao and Farang/foreigner) but not to the point of being overcrowded. Continued my wandering ways until I came to a place where it looked like a lot of Lao people were eating and had a most enjoyable lunch ... spring rolls, and egg rice vegetables. I had no idea what to expect, but it was delicious ... cool rice with coconut and ??? that you wrap up in leaves. And some ice coffee to complete the meal. Lao coffee is a lot like Vietnamese coffee ... but seems to be brewed slightly differently. And the portions are slightly bigger, which is good for me, as I am always wanting just one more sip of cà phê sữa đá. OK ... so I blogged rather than napped ... now it is time to explore the evening in Vientiane! I will upload many more pics to flickr if you should wish to see more of Vientiane, from the lens of this sojourner.  Hope all is well wherever this missive finds you! Please write and let me know where you are and what you are doing!