Target Practice
Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
April 15, 2009
Day 2 of Pi Mai Lao. We are told that it will not be as bad today, so we shall see.
I had cornflakes and fruit. Bill had fried eggs and croissant. It already feels really hot and humid.
We walked down Luang Prabang Road to find a pharmacy. Then we went to a few Wats in the area near our hotel. I think we went to Wat Khounra - similar to 1 in Chiang Mai with red and gold, Wat Sieng Vat - had a Naga fountain, and Wat Sithan Neua - we bought our flower garlands here, it had balloons for sale, lots of food for sale - sticky rice grilled on a stick, corn fritters, donuts, banana chips, meatballs, kebabs... We basically just walked in and out to see what was going on there.
We were doused with water before 10 am.
We went to the morning market looking for a place to get a cash advance, but nothing is open. Behind the market is the main bus station. We found a place to exchange money to keep us afloat. As we walk around we see that many restaurants and businesses are closed. Most of the market is empty.
I was starving and bought something from a small shop - sesame crackers that were sweet (of course). We circled back toward the touristy area to find an open restaurant.
At Manivanh (small place with a sandwich cart out front) I had a chicken kabob with cucumber, tomato and garlic spread. Bill had fried rice and BeerLao. After our meal, Bill gave the lady his flower garland.
We took a tuk tuk to Pha That Luang. This large golden stupa is a National Monument with Religious and Laos sovereignty significance. It is shown on the Laos coat of arms and their currency. It is believed to have been a Religious site since the 3rd century. It was the site of a That in 1566 that was destroyed by treasure hunters after it was sacked by the Siamese in 1828. The current structure was constructed by the French in 1900, but no one liked it, so was rebuilt in 1931.
It took us over an hour to get to Xieng Khuan ( Buddha Park), 25 kms away. Along the way we saw the Friendship bridge that connects Laos and Thailand. People were lined up all along the highway for our journey. Since our driver was the slowest vehicle on the road, each and every person along the way dumped water on us. I really did not have a problem with it until some IDIOT dumped a huge pail of water with purple food colouring on us. My Baby Milo t-shirt and Title Nine skort are ruined.
Buddha Park is very cool. It has many Buddhist and Hindu statues was designed and built under the direction of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat, a yogi-priest-shaman. There are statues of Vishnu, Arjuna, Avalokiteshvara, Buddha and more.
We left the park at 3:30 and got wet all the way back again (over an hour). In addition to the purple colouring we were also hit with pink and black. Another fun thing is getting your face smeared with talcum powder. Luckily we did not get talcum powder in the eyes, but it really does not taste good at all. When we got back into the city people were all over the riverfront and we got really doused again. Today people are even lined up down our dirt road and we got drenched at the entrance to our hotel. We left soggy foot prints all the way up to the 3rd floor and puddles in our room.
I took a long hot shower and rinsed out our clothes. We watched the end of a movie, put on clean, dry clothes and went back outside.
We took a side street to avoid the mud and people, but did not even get a block before we were drenched again. Now I am pissed. I had to zip the legs off my pants because the legs are clinging to me and it feels awful. My sandals are wet and dirty and I have a foot cramp. I am not sure what people see in this holiday.
We went to Bor Pen Nyang roof top bar on the riverfront for sunset. It was a nice view of the water and Thailand. Thailand is as close to Laos here as Detroit is to Windsor. I had humus and salad, Bill had a chicken pita. The food was OK.
I did not want to get wet after dinner and some people were still going. I refused to follow Bill after he got wet, so he had to come back my way and get wet again. He was not impressed. We had to cross through a dark alley to avoid people.
We picked up our laundry and Bill had to scout out the path for us so our clothes did not get wet. We went to an internet spot from 7:30 until 10:00. Bill passed his test to fulfill his CMA requirements and I did some blogging. On the way home we had to dodge some people with water.