Capital Stop
Trip Start
Nov 05, 2007
1
11
58
Trip End
Jun 22, 2008
Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Friday, December 7, 2007
Our first full day we caught a tut-tut into the center of town (cost more here then in Thailand-$4). Job one-get local currency (Kip) via ATM. Our American Express did not work, so we had to use our Visa card. The machine maximum is 700,000k per transaction, sounds like a lot (about $73). So we kept taking money out one transaction at a time, 3 was the maximum. Our driver had to wait since we had no money to pay him.
He dropped us off at the "Patuxai" (Victory Monument) it is Vientiane's haughty Arc de Triomphe replica, which dominates the commercial district. We walked down the road about ½ of mile or so until we came to the "Wat Si Saket. This temple was built in 1818 by King Anouvong and is the oldest in the capital. The King was educated in Bangkok and therefore the wat was constructed in the Siamese style.
During our visit we stopped to talk to some monks and learn about their daily life. I was told that I looked like a monk because of my hairstyle! I told them that it was not done on purpose, there just was no hair.
Our next site was Pha That Luang which is the most important national monument in Laos. Legend has it that missionaries from India placed a piece of Buddha's breastbone here as early as the 3rd century BC.
Our last stop was the "Buddha Park" or Xieng Khuan was as you would guess and park of many Budda's. On our way we stopped at a silk factory called Phaeng Mai Gallery where that had about 40 women and 10 man working with silk from the start of the process to its finish.
