XXVII - Lao P.D.R

Sunset over the Mekong - Nong Khai

I am now in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. A communist state apparently. I not sure what is actually communist here, seems all very capitalist to me although with very few beggers for a tourist area. There are lots of tourists but they seem to be a respectful bunch. A different breed than the bulk of the back packers in Thailand. More late 20s and 30s people here with a few old hippies too. I met my first ever Danish person although his accent is very London. He told me this is because Danes don't tend to travel. Vientiane is not unlike Phnom Penh, french colonial style but a bit neater with more European restaurants. French, Italian and a plethora of bakeries. There is an impressive arc d'triomphe style monument which provides an excellent view of a very green city. Along the Mekong there are tables set up on the grass for a pleasant evening meal.

I hired a decrepit old scooter which I was only prepared to do about 50kph on cos any more and the gearbox would emit the sound of imminent destruction. I headed out to the Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan) yesterday. This require my Sumatran style direction finding. "Sabai dee, Xieng Khuan?" [point]. Got there though, no worries. Not that diffcult seeing I had to drive down the Mekong until I found it. Xieng Khuan is the original location of the cult the mystic dude set up. The place is incredible, better than the new place on the Thai side. The statues at Sala Kaeu Ku are taller but Xieng Khuan has a better atmosphere. There is a lot more grass and it generally has a more park like atmosphere. Its right beside the Mekong so I enjoyed a beer lao there, looking out past a heard of cows, the river and Nong Khai on the other side. The cows all had bells around their necks which added to the atmosphere. There were quite a few monks hanging out in the grounds so I had a chat to them and a bunch of school kids working on their English.


The place was excellent for a bit of Qiqong although just as it was getting really intence some ants decided to attack my foot. This is an ongoing problem over here, it happens everytime I try to do some gongs on the grass. They gave up pretty quick due to sudden death however. After half an hour or so of gongs the sun was getting low and the whole place took on a surreal quality.


There is a strange umm, temple I suppose, there. There are steps up to the top affording an excellent view of the park. There is a hatch down into the 3 middle levels of the building with heaps of statues in there. It seems to represent heaven, earth and the underworld or what ever three levels of existence the dude is preaching. In the lower two levels there are no lights and very little light gets in the tiny windows. It is very creepy in there, especially the lowest level. Most of the statues are barely visible at all, although I saw a skull on one of the figures.


I'm off to Vang Vieng today by local bus. That'll be an interesting mission.