Susan's Shanghai Blog - Week 118

Still in Vientiane .. Wat Si Saket was built in 1818 in a very Siamese style of Buddhist architecture instead of using a Lao style. It is thought to be the oldest temple still standing in Vientiane. Some say that it was not damaged by the Siam armies when they destroyed most of the rest of the city due to having a Siamese style. Again, there are some lovely naga's around.

Around the walls of the cloister are more than 6,000 Buddha images, made of ceramic, silver, bronze, and wood.

Look at the detail for the nails on the hand of this one!

This is called a Hang Hod, which is a long, narrow wooden trough carved in the form of a naga, which is used for water blessings. This one is unique in Vientiane because it only contains a naga, where many others include other mythical animals as well.

Then more pictures of the grounds with the lovely decorations, Buddha's, stupa's, and side buildings.

This is the Wat Phra Keo (meaning Altar of the Emerald Buddha), which some people say is the most impressive and most interesting of all of the temples in Vientiane. It was originally built in 1565 as the personal chapel for the royal family. It also housed the Emerald Buddha for awhile after it was "snatched" from Thailand. It was reclaimed in 1778 and now is in the What Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) in Bangkok. The temple is adorned with carved wooden features, a 16th century lacquered door with Hindu carvings, numerous Khmer stone carvings and a variety of Buddha statues. The stone balustrade of each of the temple stairs features a naga with its head facing the grounds, guarding the sacred building.

There were some really amazing wood carvings

This is supposedly one of the jars from the Plain of Jars, which is between Vientiane and Luang Prabang (we didn't go)

We then stopped by the visitor center for COPE. COPE is a non-profit organization in Laos which provides prosthetic limbs, mobility assistance, and rehabilitation for people in Laos who cannot afford it. Between 1964 and 1973, about 2 million tons of bombs were dropped in Laos and about 30% of them didn't explode. These unexploded bombs have been causing problems for the Lao people for decades now. For example, in 2012, 4 kids died when they made a fire in their garden and the heat of the fire detonated an unexploded bomb which had been buried for years.

In the visitors center, they had a display of one type of cluster bomb, which is a casing containing hundreds of small bombies or bomblettes. Dropped from the air, they spread to cover a large area. 80 million active bombies/bomblettes remained in Laos after the war.

This was a bit interesting .. it is a boat made from a B52 fuel tank which dropped during the war.

From there, we headed to a traditional Lao lunch nearby.

We started with cooked peanuts and then a vegetable and pork soup.

Then chicken curry and sauteed vegetables.

These are little fried rice-papers stuffed with pork with a spicy Lao dipping sauce.

We did lots of fresh juices in Laos, mostly because fruit juices were everywhere! This was a fresh Banana smoothie. And then we ended with a fresh fruit salad.

We then stopped by an area where they were spinning silk and then weaving silk fabrics. We didn't take too many pictures since we've been through silk factories and weaving places several times already (like in Thailand).

Before heading to the airport for our flight, we stopped at the Wat Inpeng, situated on the banks of the Mekong River. It is one of the least visited temples, which is a shame since I thought it was the prettiest. Built in the 16th century, the temple was destroyed in 1827 during the invasion by the Siamese (as with most of the town) and has been rebuilt and renovated several times.

Coming in the gate, we came across this tiny white temple and another pinkish one that was guarded by two huge guardians.

This is actually the main gate of the temple, with green seven headed Naga snakes guarding the temple.

The large gable decorated with wood carvings with inlaid mosaics show a Buddha, a Dhamma wheel and floral motifs in gold on a green background. At the center of its roof is a Dok so faa, an ornamental element consisting of 9 miniature pagoda’s topped with multi tiered parasols.

The sim’s main attraction is its porch. Its murals in very bright colors depict several Buddhist scenes including the Buddha teaching a number of followers, the Buddha subduing the elephant Nalagiri and a reclining Buddha.

This was another really nice shrine on the grounds.

Other items around the grounds...

Then we headed back to the airport for a short flight to Luang Prabang .. which we'll cover in the next couple weeks!