Holiday snaps - Day 1. Wat Phu & 4000 Islands

Wat Phu Champasak

Northern Exposure - Sam Neua

Way Up North

A weekend up north, when you live in Vientiane, is never a decision taken lightly. There are mountains, clouds, storms, small planes, minibuses and overnight sleeper buses - all of which can mean lateness, uncomfortableness, slowness, danger and possibly even death.

Still, it sounded like a good idea.

The mountains of the north

A Week Off For a Water Fight

Lao New Year (Pi Mai)

It is a time of spiritual and physical cleansing, visiting temples and blessing statues. It's also all about drinking copious amounts of beer and shooting the crap out of everyone with a water pistol.

LOVE and other delusions

Last week was Macha Bucha Day. It was also Valentine's Day. Guess which one won Lao hearts?

Macha Bucha Day:

According to Buddhist tradition, about 2500 years ago Siddhartha Gautama had become the first Buddha after working out the meaning of life. He was wandering around northern India preaching and converting people to his new way of seeing the world when one full moon evening 1,250 men turned up spontaneously to listen in. These guys became his ordained monks. The Buddha taught them three basic principles: Cease from all evil; Do what is good; Cleanse one's mind.

The master and his apprentices

 So on the third full moon of the year Buddhists celebrate, go to the temple, walk around it carrying candles, pay respects to monks, the Buddha and the spirits of the area.

I saw none of this.

But I did see a lot of red hearts.

Known Unknowns

“	There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know.	”
Donald Rumsfeld 2002

Sometimes I think that knowledge has a different value in Laos than I am used to.

I don't mean the knowledge that's coded into dusty libraries, or big picture knowledge about how the world works - or doesn't work, or who Ghandi or Che Guevara were. I mean knowing what's going on and where and when: information, data, details.
(Although knowing who Ghandi and Guevara were doesn't seem important either).

Faces of Buddha

 

 

Glittering and Gleaming - Pha That Luang

These pictures are intended mainly for the other Julie S, who will get very grumpy if I don't post some glittery golden temple photos soon.

WARNING:  There are around 90 photos here and they might be quite boring for most. Feel free to just walk away and go put the kettle on.

I went to Pha That Luang this afternoon. It's full name translates as "World-Precious Sacred Stupa". I figured that while I am still feeling new and touristy, I should do some of the tourist attractions. This is not only a temple but a major symbol of Laos sovereignty (which in a country that no longer has a monarch seems like the wrong term to use).

The giant golden stupa on the hill was initially built on the site of a much older Khmer temple in around mid 1500s. This was around the same time that the Spaniards were killing off the South Americans, Elizabeth I was killing off her cousin Mary, and the English were inventing bottled beer.

The Siamese, Burmese and French have all had a go at pillaging and destroying. What's there now is kinda what it might have looked like back in the day.  I wandered around and took lots of photos.