after phnom penh, we took a bus to siem reap...the town itself isn't any great shakes, but about 6km outside town are the ruins of angkor...angkor is actually several former royal cities, built by a number of different khmer rulers...
to see all the ruins you have a number of choices...first, how to get there...we decided to hire bikes, and pedal ourselves around...apparently this isn't a common choice, because we didn't see anyone else doing the same...we saw a lot of people who had hired tuk tuk drivers for the day...the second choice is what kind of ticket you want to buy...1 day, 3 day, or 7 day...we went with the three day...there are over 100 ruins in the area, and we figured 3 days would be good to see a few of them...(as it was, after three days, we were more than templed out)...the tickets were expensive, but angkor is easily the most well known thing in cambodia, so we didn't have much of a choice...
the city first built was called hariharalaya (yeah, you have to slow down and read it a couple times before saying it out loud, correctly) but the area is now called ruolos...there are about 3 temples worth seeing in that area...i did it on day 3 of our ticket...riding my bike out i missed the turnoff the first time, and rode an extra 5km or so...not a good thing, since that involved turning around and riding back, and the day was HOT...oh well...the ruins at ruolos were similar to all the others i had seen, but that was expected...not very crowded, which was nice...one of them has a still active wat right next door...it was on this day that i ended up with severe heat exhaustion...since the ruolos ruins are a bit farther than the rest, i rode farther on the totally exposed highway, in the 40-42 degree heat...HOT HOT HOT...apparently, drinking 6L a day of water wasn't enough, even with taking breaks under trees every now and again...i had to cut this day short because i realized i wasn't feeling well at all and still had to get back to town...i couldn't cool down, despite taking several showers, and sitting in front of a fan for a while...ugh...that night i couldn't sleep much, because i still wasn't cool...ugh...
the first day we went to the ruins we started with the most famous of them all...angkor wat...the profile of angkor wat is on the cambodian flag...it's beautiful, no doubt...but after all the hype, neither layna nor i felt it matched up...(or maybe we've seen too many temples during this trip)...angkor wat was built by suryavarman II, who was one of the greatest khmer rulers...it "only" took 40 years to build, and afterward was a city whose population was at least 750,000!! this guy was a pretty good ruler...he rewarded those who were good at their jobs, like artisans, ministers, courtiers, etc...he built up a good relationship with the chinese, but didn't like his next door neighbors, the chams...he wasn't so good militarily...he tried to go after some cham (current vietnam) lands and failed...anywho...not far from angkor wat is the former city of angkor thom...built by another ruler (one of the jayavarmans i think?) the most famous temple in the city is the bayon...with 54 towers on the third level with four faces each, you always feel like you are being watched...there are 216 faces in all, and it feels like you can climb all over the temple for quite a while...also in angkor thom are the elephant terrace, and leper king terrace...(and a bunch of others)
i could go on and on about all the temples i saw, but it gets a bit boring...lots of temples, lots of ruins...the ones i liked best were the ones that didn't have a lot of people hanging about...several of the ruins have trees growing in them, and through them, and under them, and over them...beautiful...i wonder if they'll ever do anything to stop the eventual takeover by the jungle...
one of the days i was riding around i met three peace corps workers...currently, the only peace corps program in cambodia is teaching english, though these three said some health care workers will be coming in july...they said it really was a good idea to wear long sleeves, but i just couldn't do it...too HOT!!
after three days of templing, we decided to stay in town and actually see the town...i read about a silkworm farm just outside town, so i caught a shuttle out there, and learned all about silk...a labour intensive process, to say the least...we got a chance to see the silkworms eating, you could even hear it!! they eat for 24 days, all mulberry leaves...yum...hee hee...walking around town was nice too, though there wasn't much to see...it's relaxing though...
our last stop in cambodia after siem reap was sihanoukville...no one really comes to cambodia with the idea of spending time on a beach, but this is the place to find a cambodian beach...we came because we heard it was the quickest and fastest place to get a vietnamese visa...it was certainly fast, it only took about 10 minutes!!! i loved the market, sooo much good food to choose from:)
25 April 2009
16 April 2009
cambodia 1
our first stop in cambodia was more out of necessity than anything else...we took a bus from the border to a town called stun treng...it's the first real town after the border...most travelers don't stay more than one night...i met a cute irish boy who invited me out for drinks:)...a redhead:)
we did walk around stun treng for a while, during which time i ended up with heat exhaustion...my first of many times dealing with this...we learned that atms in cambodia dispense mostly dollars...and lots of prices are quoted in dollars...change is given in a combination of dollars and riel...they don't use US coins, only the paper money, so cambodian money is used in place of the coins...for stuff at markets, of course you pay in riel...(approximately $1USD = 4100 riel)...the next morning we caught a bus to kratie...
like stun treng, there isn't much to see or do in kratie...the reason to stop there is to use it as a base to go 15km upriver to see the irrawady dolphins...they're freshwater dolphins, and they're endangered...i hired a motorbike driver (i wanted to drive myself, but i wasn't going to drive a motorbike w/out a helmet, and the place i asked didn't have helmets!) and enjoyed the ride...the dolphins themselves aren't exciting and entertaining...they don't jump out of the water like flipper...they just come up to breath every 2-3 minutes, then go back down...i've gotta say, they're not very pretty...it looks like their noses and heads were smushed flat against something...you can hear them breath when they surface...females have a baby once every three years or so, and keep the baby with them until it reaches about 40kgs...(which happens to be about 2 years i think)...the guy poling my boat said there are about 50 dolphins in this pod, and that it's easier to see them during the dry season (now)...during wet season they head farther up river...
in kratie i tried my first kralon...a khmer food, it's sticky rice and red beans and some coconut put into a bamboo flute...soooooooo good!
from kratie we went to the capital of phnom penh...it's a whole LOT more lively than vientienne...there are a number of interesting markets around town, and it's easy to walk everywhere...(not that that discourages every single moto driver from slowing down to ask you want a ride)...we didn't know it when we arrived, but we arrived the day before the start of the khmer new year...it turns out that cambodia has the highest number of public holidays of any country, and it celebrates 3 different new years!!! the international new year, the lunar new year, and the khmer new year...both the lunar new year and the khmer new year are three day holidays, during which most shops close...fortunately, tourist sights don't close, and apparently neither does the post office...
i visited the royal palace, which was okay, but not outstanding...at least for me...the complex reminded me a bit of the complex of the royal palace in bangkok...in the royal palace complex of phnom penh is the silver pagoda...it had a sanskrit name until 1993, when they changed it to make it easier for tourists...the silver pagoda name comes from the floor tiles...i think there are supposed to be quite a few of them, all silver...as i walked in, i expected to be amazed...but i forgot that silver tarnishes, and as a result, the tiles that were showing, (most of the tiles had carpet laid over them, to protect them) weren't very shiny...they almost looked like tin...
phnom penh is probably better known as a city where pol pot (ruler of the khmer rouge) did some of his worst deeds...first he established a prison called S-21...it was a detention and interrogation center...some 20,000 prisoners spent time there...only 7 survived...the rest either died during "questioning" or were executed at the killing fields...as in some of the camps of the holocaust, records were kept in great detail at this prison...they took pictures of nearly all the detainees, and many of those photographs are displayed now...it's scary to look and see people who were at the same point in their lives as i am...there were pictures of kids, and old folks...seeing some of those pictures, you couldn't help but wonder "how on earth could they think that person could be a danger?"...you can wander in the rooms where torture ("interrogation") was conducted...they're fairly large rooms, with nothing but metal cots in them...you can wander through the cells where the prisoners lived...they're tiny...in addition to the "mug shots" they also have photo exhibitions of people who were involved at the time...its odd to realize that people who were involved, are still middle aged!!! they show a movie twice a day, the movie describes the story of a couple...it's really sad...all too often during the time, family members disappeared, (or entire families,) and were never heard from again...estimates vary, but the generally accepted number of deaths during the genocide is about 1.7 million...considering cambodia only has a population of 12 million, that's HUGE...relatively speaking, its the worst genocide the world has ever seen...the question a lot of people ask, is how did it happen...how did it happen after the world first said "never again" after WWII?
we also visited the killing fields, which are just outside the city...the area is quiet now, and nothing remains of the facilities that were once there to cause death so efficiently...there are big holes in the ground, where some of the mass graves have been discovered...they've found about 8000 sets of remains in the area, and it's expected that in the future they'll find many more...there is a sign telling about the killing tree...guards swung children against the tree...just reading that sign got to me...the only thing you see at the killing fields (other than the beggar children who run along the fence outside the area) is a tall building, filled with the skulls of the deceased...it's a moving area...and, we all hope, nothing like this will ever happen...
i investigated a couple wats in phnom penh as well...one supposedly holds buddha's eyebrow...another is on top of the only hill in the city...since it was a holiday while we were there, all wats were busy with locals dressed in their sunday best, bringing offerings...awesome people watching...
we did walk around stun treng for a while, during which time i ended up with heat exhaustion...my first of many times dealing with this...we learned that atms in cambodia dispense mostly dollars...and lots of prices are quoted in dollars...change is given in a combination of dollars and riel...they don't use US coins, only the paper money, so cambodian money is used in place of the coins...for stuff at markets, of course you pay in riel...(approximately $1USD = 4100 riel)...the next morning we caught a bus to kratie...
like stun treng, there isn't much to see or do in kratie...the reason to stop there is to use it as a base to go 15km upriver to see the irrawady dolphins...they're freshwater dolphins, and they're endangered...i hired a motorbike driver (i wanted to drive myself, but i wasn't going to drive a motorbike w/out a helmet, and the place i asked didn't have helmets!) and enjoyed the ride...the dolphins themselves aren't exciting and entertaining...they don't jump out of the water like flipper...they just come up to breath every 2-3 minutes, then go back down...i've gotta say, they're not very pretty...it looks like their noses and heads were smushed flat against something...you can hear them breath when they surface...females have a baby once every three years or so, and keep the baby with them until it reaches about 40kgs...(which happens to be about 2 years i think)...the guy poling my boat said there are about 50 dolphins in this pod, and that it's easier to see them during the dry season (now)...during wet season they head farther up river...
in kratie i tried my first kralon...a khmer food, it's sticky rice and red beans and some coconut put into a bamboo flute...soooooooo good!
from kratie we went to the capital of phnom penh...it's a whole LOT more lively than vientienne...there are a number of interesting markets around town, and it's easy to walk everywhere...(not that that discourages every single moto driver from slowing down to ask you want a ride)...we didn't know it when we arrived, but we arrived the day before the start of the khmer new year...it turns out that cambodia has the highest number of public holidays of any country, and it celebrates 3 different new years!!! the international new year, the lunar new year, and the khmer new year...both the lunar new year and the khmer new year are three day holidays, during which most shops close...fortunately, tourist sights don't close, and apparently neither does the post office...
i visited the royal palace, which was okay, but not outstanding...at least for me...the complex reminded me a bit of the complex of the royal palace in bangkok...in the royal palace complex of phnom penh is the silver pagoda...it had a sanskrit name until 1993, when they changed it to make it easier for tourists...the silver pagoda name comes from the floor tiles...i think there are supposed to be quite a few of them, all silver...as i walked in, i expected to be amazed...but i forgot that silver tarnishes, and as a result, the tiles that were showing, (most of the tiles had carpet laid over them, to protect them) weren't very shiny...they almost looked like tin...
phnom penh is probably better known as a city where pol pot (ruler of the khmer rouge) did some of his worst deeds...first he established a prison called S-21...it was a detention and interrogation center...some 20,000 prisoners spent time there...only 7 survived...the rest either died during "questioning" or were executed at the killing fields...as in some of the camps of the holocaust, records were kept in great detail at this prison...they took pictures of nearly all the detainees, and many of those photographs are displayed now...it's scary to look and see people who were at the same point in their lives as i am...there were pictures of kids, and old folks...seeing some of those pictures, you couldn't help but wonder "how on earth could they think that person could be a danger?"...you can wander in the rooms where torture ("interrogation") was conducted...they're fairly large rooms, with nothing but metal cots in them...you can wander through the cells where the prisoners lived...they're tiny...in addition to the "mug shots" they also have photo exhibitions of people who were involved at the time...its odd to realize that people who were involved, are still middle aged!!! they show a movie twice a day, the movie describes the story of a couple...it's really sad...all too often during the time, family members disappeared, (or entire families,) and were never heard from again...estimates vary, but the generally accepted number of deaths during the genocide is about 1.7 million...considering cambodia only has a population of 12 million, that's HUGE...relatively speaking, its the worst genocide the world has ever seen...the question a lot of people ask, is how did it happen...how did it happen after the world first said "never again" after WWII?
we also visited the killing fields, which are just outside the city...the area is quiet now, and nothing remains of the facilities that were once there to cause death so efficiently...there are big holes in the ground, where some of the mass graves have been discovered...they've found about 8000 sets of remains in the area, and it's expected that in the future they'll find many more...there is a sign telling about the killing tree...guards swung children against the tree...just reading that sign got to me...the only thing you see at the killing fields (other than the beggar children who run along the fence outside the area) is a tall building, filled with the skulls of the deceased...it's a moving area...and, we all hope, nothing like this will ever happen...
i investigated a couple wats in phnom penh as well...one supposedly holds buddha's eyebrow...another is on top of the only hill in the city...since it was a holiday while we were there, all wats were busy with locals dressed in their sunday best, bringing offerings...awesome people watching...
11 April 2009
lao 3
savannakhet was my first time in southern lao...it's one of quite a few border crossings with thailand, though i don't think foreigners are allowed to use this crossing...savannakhet is on the mekong river, it was an important center of commerce when the french still ruled the country...now, it's really quiet...REALLY QUIET...the whole time we were there i felt like it was sunday afternoon...the streets were quiet, there didn't seem to be many people, anywhere...
there wasn't much to see or do in savannakhet, save for walking around and enjoying the old colonial buildings...there is plenty more outside the city, in the province, but we didn't have time to explore, which is too bad...it's one of the provinces that has quite a bit of UXO, which is kinda scary...layna found a couple places that served up great BIG bowls of soup, she's been on a bit of a soup kick...the most exciting thing to happen happened in our hotel room...while layna was shaving, the sink dropped, and broke...for absolutely no reason...she had filled it partway with water in order to shave, but wasn't touching it at all when it dropped and broke...one of the pieces cut her toe quite badly when it fell, there was blood everywhere...it was loud, and i immediately asked what had happened...about 10 seconds after i asked, there was a knock on our door...turns out the owner of the hotel heard it as well, and knew it couldn't be a good sound...he insisted layna split the cost of a new sink with him, even though she hadn't done anything wrong...while they were out shopping for the sink, he took her to the doctor as well...it's a big cut though, and will probably scar...(to go along with her scars from the nasty mosquito bites in goa)...on their way back to the hotel after shopping and the doctor, the moto got a flat tire...layna told me later she wished she had had her camera then, as it would've been a fantastic shot...her, sitting on the back of the moto, holding a sink, while the guy worked on the tire...opportunities lost, oh well...
from savannakhet we went to pakse, which is basically a transportation hub...there isn't much here, save for a few wats...we stayed one night, in order to catch further transportation the next day...
our last stop in lao was the 4000 islands, or in lao, si phan don...the actual number of islands varies by the season (whether its wet or dry) and we wondered what constitutes an island...anywho, we stayed on the biggest of the islands, don khong...just because it's the biggest doesn't mean it's very cosmopolitan...all habitation was village style, there weren't any big areas of people or housing on don khong...we loved our guesthouse though...the room was HUGE, we both had HUGE beds, and the guesthouse had a giant wraparound porch...on the porch was my new favorite chair...too bad i couldn't take it home with me...the day after arriving, we took a boat trip to a couple other nearby islands...don det, and don khon...there is a waterfall on don khon, and you can walk there from don det...howeva, the walk is across open fields, which were HOT HOT HOT...but, we like walking, so we did it...we ended up walking for a while with a couple from austin, TX, so layna had plenty to talk about, just in terms of TX...the waterfall ended up not being very impressive...you couldn't see where the major fall was...given that the river was quite spread out, i climbed upriver a ways, out into the middle, and got to see a bit more of the falls...fun, but not easy...surprisingly, i didn't fall off anything while climbing around!!! after walking back to the boat, we swam around in the mekong for a little while...it wasn't quite refreshing, but it felt pretty good nonetheless!!
the next morning, we crossed the border into cambodia...crossing the border was an adventure, of course...first they have to stamp you out on the lao side...the fun part is when they won't give you back your passport until you pay them a dollar...all sorts of people show up at the border with no extra money, but they still wouldn't give back passports...it's clearly very shady, but seeing as they have actual possession of your passport at that point, you don't have much of a choice...then we walked down the road a bit, and filled out a form for our cambodian...conveniently, the handwritten sign said that cambodian visas cost $21, even though the visa itself says $20...again, you don't have much of a choice if you want to get in the country...they have no problem letting you just sit there and go nowhere...argh...
there wasn't much to see or do in savannakhet, save for walking around and enjoying the old colonial buildings...there is plenty more outside the city, in the province, but we didn't have time to explore, which is too bad...it's one of the provinces that has quite a bit of UXO, which is kinda scary...layna found a couple places that served up great BIG bowls of soup, she's been on a bit of a soup kick...the most exciting thing to happen happened in our hotel room...while layna was shaving, the sink dropped, and broke...for absolutely no reason...she had filled it partway with water in order to shave, but wasn't touching it at all when it dropped and broke...one of the pieces cut her toe quite badly when it fell, there was blood everywhere...it was loud, and i immediately asked what had happened...about 10 seconds after i asked, there was a knock on our door...turns out the owner of the hotel heard it as well, and knew it couldn't be a good sound...he insisted layna split the cost of a new sink with him, even though she hadn't done anything wrong...while they were out shopping for the sink, he took her to the doctor as well...it's a big cut though, and will probably scar...(to go along with her scars from the nasty mosquito bites in goa)...on their way back to the hotel after shopping and the doctor, the moto got a flat tire...layna told me later she wished she had had her camera then, as it would've been a fantastic shot...her, sitting on the back of the moto, holding a sink, while the guy worked on the tire...opportunities lost, oh well...
from savannakhet we went to pakse, which is basically a transportation hub...there isn't much here, save for a few wats...we stayed one night, in order to catch further transportation the next day...
our last stop in lao was the 4000 islands, or in lao, si phan don...the actual number of islands varies by the season (whether its wet or dry) and we wondered what constitutes an island...anywho, we stayed on the biggest of the islands, don khong...just because it's the biggest doesn't mean it's very cosmopolitan...all habitation was village style, there weren't any big areas of people or housing on don khong...we loved our guesthouse though...the room was HUGE, we both had HUGE beds, and the guesthouse had a giant wraparound porch...on the porch was my new favorite chair...too bad i couldn't take it home with me...the day after arriving, we took a boat trip to a couple other nearby islands...don det, and don khon...there is a waterfall on don khon, and you can walk there from don det...howeva, the walk is across open fields, which were HOT HOT HOT...but, we like walking, so we did it...we ended up walking for a while with a couple from austin, TX, so layna had plenty to talk about, just in terms of TX...the waterfall ended up not being very impressive...you couldn't see where the major fall was...given that the river was quite spread out, i climbed upriver a ways, out into the middle, and got to see a bit more of the falls...fun, but not easy...surprisingly, i didn't fall off anything while climbing around!!! after walking back to the boat, we swam around in the mekong for a little while...it wasn't quite refreshing, but it felt pretty good nonetheless!!
the next morning, we crossed the border into cambodia...crossing the border was an adventure, of course...first they have to stamp you out on the lao side...the fun part is when they won't give you back your passport until you pay them a dollar...all sorts of people show up at the border with no extra money, but they still wouldn't give back passports...it's clearly very shady, but seeing as they have actual possession of your passport at that point, you don't have much of a choice...then we walked down the road a bit, and filled out a form for our cambodian...conveniently, the handwritten sign said that cambodian visas cost $21, even though the visa itself says $20...again, you don't have much of a choice if you want to get in the country...they have no problem letting you just sit there and go nowhere...argh...
03 April 2009
lao 2
vang vieng is a backpacker town in between luang prabang and vientienne...there is no culture here, only outdoorsy stuff, and a LOT of restaurants with cushions and tvs showing friends/simpsons/family guy...there are a lot of caves nearby, some are interesting to explore...some, not so much...
one day i explored several caves with the same group i had hung out with in luang prabang...our first cave had a big buddha in it, but that was all...our second cave allowed us to do a bit of exploring...thankfully the money taker guy had given us head torches, or we would've had to come back out...(i'm not sure why we didn't think of bringing our own, it's not as if caves have natural light, hee hee)...it was slippery, but still fun...our explorations took longer than expected, so i don't think anyone did anything that afternoon...(layna spent hours in a sauna and loved it)...dinner that night was pizza...i didn't think anything of it, but it kept me in bed for over 24 hours...i couldn't walk straight, not fun at all...thankfully, it didn't affect layna nearly that badly...that's the first "wasted" day of our trip...
we had wanted to go tubing the afternoon after i explored the caves, but due to my late return, we didn't...and i spent the next day in bed, so it didn't happen then either...the third afternoon we finally went tubing...it's basically a backpacker ritual...you hire a tube (the deposit was more than the hire price!!) and they take you about 3km up river...you float down, stopping at any of the bars alongside the river on your way back...there are quite a few bars, and it seemed as though several people were intent on stopping at every one!! i put suncream on my face, but forgot my arms and legs, so i got roasted...one girl we saw along the way said she had used coconut oil, so i can only imagine her condition when she finished...we only stopped twice, and not for long, and we still took 3.5 hours!!! according to another traveler who had done this before, the river was quite low, lower than he had ever seen it...i suppose that explains the slowness...
our next city was vientienne...the capital of lao...quite possibly the only capital i've ever visited where there seemed to be no movement...there were very few people walking around...of course, that's cause it was HOT HOT HOT...apparently april is the hottest month of the year in lao...lucky us...we visited the most famous wat in the country, pha that luang...it's not all that big, but it's covered in gold...it's important enough to be on the seal of the country...on our way to the wat, we walked under a memorial arch...it memorializes the lao people who have died during war...ironically, the memorial is built with cement donated by the US...the cement was supposed to be used for building a runway in 1969...considering the US was dropping a LOT of bombs on lao at the time (in what was at the time a secret operation) i don't blame the people for using the cement for another purpose...the memorial was never finished...it's a bit like the arc de triomphe in paris, but uglier...a good spot to people watch...the other wat i visited in town had over 10,000 buddhas inside!! most of them very small, set into niches in the wall...it is the only wat in town not destroyed by invaders over the years, and needs some renovation...
while in vientienne i took a local bus about an hour out of town and visited buddha park...it's not big at all, but it's absolutely chock FULL of buddhas, and shivas, and other hindu deities...most are pretty interesting, especially the sculpture that allows you to climb up and look out over the whole park...a few monks were exploring as well, it was interesting to see where they were taking pictures...
vientienne is expensive compared to the rest of the country...i guess that's normal for a capital city, but this city didn't have anything justifying the higher costs!!! we ended up sleeping in dorm beds for the first time during our entire trip...unfortunately, mosquitos ate layna each of those nights...(but they left the rest of us in the dorm alone)...mosquitos love layna, she doesn't know why...and i'm surprised they haven't eaten me, as usually they love me...
one day i explored several caves with the same group i had hung out with in luang prabang...our first cave had a big buddha in it, but that was all...our second cave allowed us to do a bit of exploring...thankfully the money taker guy had given us head torches, or we would've had to come back out...(i'm not sure why we didn't think of bringing our own, it's not as if caves have natural light, hee hee)...it was slippery, but still fun...our explorations took longer than expected, so i don't think anyone did anything that afternoon...(layna spent hours in a sauna and loved it)...dinner that night was pizza...i didn't think anything of it, but it kept me in bed for over 24 hours...i couldn't walk straight, not fun at all...thankfully, it didn't affect layna nearly that badly...that's the first "wasted" day of our trip...
we had wanted to go tubing the afternoon after i explored the caves, but due to my late return, we didn't...and i spent the next day in bed, so it didn't happen then either...the third afternoon we finally went tubing...it's basically a backpacker ritual...you hire a tube (the deposit was more than the hire price!!) and they take you about 3km up river...you float down, stopping at any of the bars alongside the river on your way back...there are quite a few bars, and it seemed as though several people were intent on stopping at every one!! i put suncream on my face, but forgot my arms and legs, so i got roasted...one girl we saw along the way said she had used coconut oil, so i can only imagine her condition when she finished...we only stopped twice, and not for long, and we still took 3.5 hours!!! according to another traveler who had done this before, the river was quite low, lower than he had ever seen it...i suppose that explains the slowness...
our next city was vientienne...the capital of lao...quite possibly the only capital i've ever visited where there seemed to be no movement...there were very few people walking around...of course, that's cause it was HOT HOT HOT...apparently april is the hottest month of the year in lao...lucky us...we visited the most famous wat in the country, pha that luang...it's not all that big, but it's covered in gold...it's important enough to be on the seal of the country...on our way to the wat, we walked under a memorial arch...it memorializes the lao people who have died during war...ironically, the memorial is built with cement donated by the US...the cement was supposed to be used for building a runway in 1969...considering the US was dropping a LOT of bombs on lao at the time (in what was at the time a secret operation) i don't blame the people for using the cement for another purpose...the memorial was never finished...it's a bit like the arc de triomphe in paris, but uglier...a good spot to people watch...the other wat i visited in town had over 10,000 buddhas inside!! most of them very small, set into niches in the wall...it is the only wat in town not destroyed by invaders over the years, and needs some renovation...
while in vientienne i took a local bus about an hour out of town and visited buddha park...it's not big at all, but it's absolutely chock FULL of buddhas, and shivas, and other hindu deities...most are pretty interesting, especially the sculpture that allows you to climb up and look out over the whole park...a few monks were exploring as well, it was interesting to see where they were taking pictures...
vientienne is expensive compared to the rest of the country...i guess that's normal for a capital city, but this city didn't have anything justifying the higher costs!!! we ended up sleeping in dorm beds for the first time during our entire trip...unfortunately, mosquitos ate layna each of those nights...(but they left the rest of us in the dorm alone)...mosquitos love layna, she doesn't know why...and i'm surprised they haven't eaten me, as usually they love me...
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