2/19–Vientiane morning explorations

The bed was great, the A/C even more so, and we wake up refreshed and ready to go.  Coffee out on the balcony – no, not for me – it’s still hot in the morning, plus the mosquitoes are annoying me, unfortunately. But we do have a lovely breakfast on the patio downstairs – with mangos – to which I have become addicted – and eggs and bacon for Ed.  Today we are simply exploring the city. Our goal is to walk down the main street, Rue Setthathilath, which is lined with Wats (another city with Wats on every corner), the Presidential Palace, and the Sisaket Temple.   We plan to continue on to the COPE institute, then, depending upon our stamina, to the Patuxay Monument, which will make a round trip of about 4 miles total.  Not bad for a day’s walk.

Saying goodbye to Sullen Boy, we hand over our keys to have our room cleaned, then strike out into the already hot and busy streets.  The walk down Setthathilath is interesting enough, passing by a myriad of storefront shops, convenience stores and restaurants – with Wats on the other side of the street – of course.  In due time, we reach the main intersection of Setthathilath and Lan Xang Road, the zenith at which sits the Presidential Palace.  There is no access to the Palace, but we can take pictures of the regal building through the wrought iron fence.

Moving on, almost directly across the street is the Wat Sisaket, possibly the oldest temple in Vientiane, built in the early 1800’s by King Anaouvong.  A  contemporary of Thailand’s King Rama I, Anaouvong ordered the temple built in the Siamese style with the five tiered roof and the terrace surrounding the temple. It was spared destruction (probably because of its Siamese architecture) in the 1827 rebellion when Siam sacked Vientane, and actually used the compound as it’s headquarters.  Today it is a museum, displaying more than 2,000 Buddha images. We pay our 10,000 Kip fee to enter, I don my little borrowed sarong (I really want to buy one of these sarongs, they are terribly handy at all the Wats), and we enter the complex with the Thai style temple.

No photos inside the main temple (darn it), but we do sneak some window shots from outside where you can see the alcoves for the many Buddha images, along with a nice shot of the ornate decoration outside on the temple pillars.

Walking around the temple, there are indeed thousands more Buddha images, all tucked into little triangular alcoves, some with larger gold Buddha images in the forefront.

One one side of the Temple, we find a gong that apparently will bring us luck if we rub it – so of course we hop up there to claim our luck.

On the other side, are archaeologists cleaning the Buddha images, which is a typical type task. But what gets us is the sign introducing the archaeologists – “We are the archaeologists”  - Sort of like “We are Penn State.”  Ok, got it!

Other Buddha images surround the temple, all in different Mudras (or postures, each depicting a different spiritual meaning).  We take a few extra minutes to walk through the images, which include a reclining Buddha and a few Stupas along the far fence wall.

Finishing our tour, we head back out onto the street to begin the long, hot walk to the COPE institute.