My second visit to Vientiane, was a short and sweet one as i was on my way to Thailand. I had the good fortune to stay with my friend Marion again, and this time it was a quieter occasion – only one game of tennis and hockey! I had been on the overnight bus from Luang Prabang, and as i did not have a wink of sleep, i caught up on my first day by sleeping until 2pm...
On the Sunday, Marion and I took Whiskey for a long walk in this lovely area outside of town – it clearly had some spiritual significance as there where religious images in and around the rocks, and the view was spectacular!
There were a few touristy things which i had left out in my previous visit to Vientiane, one of them being the Buddha Park and the other That Luang.
I finally managed to figure out the public bus system, and managed to catch a bus to the Buddha Park – instead of paying the tuk-tuk fare which is quite costly if you’re on your own... The Buddha Park was designed and built by a yogi-priest-shaman who merged Buddhism and Hinduism to create these unique sculptures. It was strange, yet lovely, to walk through the park and i had memories of The Owl House in Nieu Bethesda coming back to me...
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| View from the top of the round building... |
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| The strange building you can climb inside of. |
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| Inside the strange round building... |
I then took the bus back home for lunch, and in the afternoon i visited the most important temple in Loas – That Luang. The museum itself was closed but i did managed to walk around the Wats. I am still highly confused at the amount of buildings they have and what they are used for – there was a huge new building (which looked like a temple), which is apparently being used for administration... and it is bigger and more beautiful than the nearby temples... mmm? Why does one need such a building for administration, surely a little concrete block would suffice??
On the day of my departure i bought a load of eggs to boil up to take with me.... i then piled all my lugguage on and headed for the bus stop where the bus was practically waiting for me to take me to the border 6km down the road. Crossing over was a breeze, and when reaching the otherside i decided to walk instead of taking local transport... i had thought to take the bus, but as the train station was closer i took the train. 12 hours in 3rd class with the locals... not as bad as India, but still not sleep enducing...mmm... And so this is how i found myself back in Thailand.
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