I decided this morning to stay in the hotel room all day with my feet up, taking naps and giving my afib a fighting chance to cure itself. If it doesn’t, well, too bad, it’ll just have to come along for the ride for the final 10 days of this 30-day trip. I feel fine; just get winded easily when climbing up to the top of pagodas and whatnot.
Today they visited three major monuments in central Vientiane. Rather than watching soaps from India or CNN or whatever other depressing daytime shows air on Lao TV I’m doing some googling to find out what I’m missing. Don’t worry; I’ll keep it brief.
Sethathirath V built Wat Sisaket in 1818 while Vientiane was a vassal state to Rama I in Siam (Thailand). Remember Rama I? He’s the guy who founded Bangkok and made it the capital of Siam. Wat Sisaket’s architecture followed Siamese styling, and a good thing it was. Because when Sethathirath revolted Rama I sent the boys over to destroy Vientiane. They did a good job. But because it was Siamese in style the invaders took it as their headquarters and it survived. The French rebuilt it in 1924 (botched job) and again in 1930. Today it holds 2,000-odd Buddha statues. Wat Sisaket is thought to be the oldest temple in Vientiane.
That Luang Stupa is thought to have been built as a Hindu temple in the 1st century; later Buddhist monks set it up their way including what is said to be the breastbone of Lord Buddha. It was rebuilt as a Khmer temple in the 13th century but fell into ruin. In the mid-16th century, King Setthathirat built a new structure but that in turn was badly damaged by Chinese, Burmese and Thai invasions, including the 1828 event noted above. The French rebuilt it but an air raid during the Thai-French War did it in again. It’s had a tough life. But now, after reconstruction after WWII, it is back in business. The main stupa and the surrounding 11 smaller stupas contain a total of almost 200 pounds of solid gold. And everyone assumes that Lord Buddha’s breastbone must be in there somewhere but no one’s looking real hard to be certain.
Patuxay, or the Victory Gate monument, has served as a victory monument for several causes. It looks something like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris but with a Laotian twist. It was built between 1957 and 1968 to commemorate those who died fighting for independence from, whom else, the French. It was built using money and cement furnished by the U.S. government, which were intended to build a new runway at Vientiane International Airport. The Communists repurposed Patuxay in May 1975 after their victory. There’s a lot of irony in there somewhere.
A monk gave the group instructions on proper methods of wrapping a Buddhist robe around oneself. He also led them in a five-minute meditation exercise. Good thing I wasn’t there; I would have become tangled in the robe and coughed for the entire five minutes. The group asked many questions of the monks about meditation, their lives and goals for the future.
Finally, the five of the group went to the COPE Center, an organization set up to provide prosthetic devices and services for people harmed by unexploded ordinance devices (most dropped from U.S. war planes during the Vietnam War). There was a movie showing the process of disarming the explosives and how they are training their people to do this. As I mentioned a day or two ago, UXOs, as their called, are a major problem in Laos today, especially along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
One somewhat worrisome item I failed to mention yesterday: Everywhere you go in Vientiane you see new shopping malls, casinos and condo complexes. The second language on the signs in front of the condo buildings is Chinese, because the Chinese are making a major investment (more that $6 billion dollars this year) in Laos. I read an article today announcing a new $US 1.6 billion toll highway that will eventually link Vientiane, Luang Prabang and beyond. Did I mention the rail line to China? The project will be 95% owned by the Chinese, reverting to Laos after some unspecified period of years. Xi and his buddies will own this place before too long.
Judy’s back, taking her nap and soon I’ll have to decide how far I dare wander for grub tonight. Tomorrow we’re off to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
We wandered around the corner to a nice little restaurant. They feature steak, American style. The beef mostly comes from New Zealand and Australia although the waiter apologetically noted that hers was from Thailand. She liked it though. Perfect medium rare. I had a lamb stir fry (from New Zealand) with sticky rice. It too was great until I bit into a big red pepper – spicy, not sweet as I’d assumed. I downed my water, grabbed Judy’s and said, “Emergency!” Thought I was gonna die.
Afterward we went around the other corner from the hotel to buy some bug spray. Unfortunately they sell our favorite: Magnum ice cream bars on a stick. It soothed my still-burning tongue and we’re pretty stuffed but hey, we’re on vacation!
Keep on reading after Judy’s pictures to read Judy’s information on Laos.
