Pumpkin at the start of the Buddha Park
Three headed elephant
A hodge podge, great shot I thought!Spent a night here, this city is the equivalent of Thailand's Bangkok but on a much smaller scale. Plus in Laos, being a communist country, most of the bars close down early by 11:30 or midnight by law. There are a few that can somehow bend the rules and stay open later, not sure how must have something to do with the laid back attitude. It has it's 'lady boys', bars, restaurants and Wats (temples) and the busyness of the traffic.
Funny I was only here an hour and I ran into 3 different people/couples I'd met in my travels so far. Small world or what?
Being here on a Sunday, lots of things were closed but I did manage to get to the Morning Market, which had a few shops open with their handicrafts and then hopped onto a local bus to go an hour out of town to Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park). I have seen so many Buddhas in my travels but I had to check this out as it was listed as one of Laos highlights even though they say it's quote- 'The flowering of one man's bizarre spiritual vision'. It's a mix of Hindu and Buddhist statues done by an artist with the name of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat who had a large local following for his teachings that merged the religions in the 1950s. It consists of 200 sculptures of humans and animals in a chaotic display. (okay I copied this as I am running out of time and imagination on here!)
I took about 50 pictures and stood at the top of the giant pumpkin statue (in which you enter by climbing thru it's mouth) after climbing a series of stairs inside and thru chambers of even more statues. Alot of these statues have humouristic qualities to them as well as some very serious ones.
Well off south to Pakse/ Tadlo tonight on a new adventure called a 'sleeper bus', I'll see if I sleep more on this than the trains!
Funny I was only here an hour and I ran into 3 different people/couples I'd met in my travels so far. Small world or what?
Being here on a Sunday, lots of things were closed but I did manage to get to the Morning Market, which had a few shops open with their handicrafts and then hopped onto a local bus to go an hour out of town to Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park). I have seen so many Buddhas in my travels but I had to check this out as it was listed as one of Laos highlights even though they say it's quote- 'The flowering of one man's bizarre spiritual vision'. It's a mix of Hindu and Buddhist statues done by an artist with the name of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat who had a large local following for his teachings that merged the religions in the 1950s. It consists of 200 sculptures of humans and animals in a chaotic display. (okay I copied this as I am running out of time and imagination on here!)
I took about 50 pictures and stood at the top of the giant pumpkin statue (in which you enter by climbing thru it's mouth) after climbing a series of stairs inside and thru chambers of even more statues. Alot of these statues have humouristic qualities to them as well as some very serious ones.
Well off south to Pakse/ Tadlo tonight on a new adventure called a 'sleeper bus', I'll see if I sleep more on this than the trains!
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