Ho Phra Keo, Si Saket Temple and Lao National Museum

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Kerry needed to do some work today so she sent us out sightseeing on our own. Kerry has been waiting on us to deliver some flash drives to her so that she can complete some work for the uni. Her colleagues attempted to mail these flash drives to her back in January, but after a trip around SE Asia the mail item was returned to the uni.

Rather than have her colleagues attempt to resend them to her, Kerry had the flash drives mailed to us so that we could deliver them in person. Since the work she needs to complete from the information on the flash drives is already late, Kerry was pretty keen to make a start. Luckily we are self sufficient enough to go out on our own!!!

We managed to pick up a tuk tuk again not far from the end of Kerry’s street and we asked to be taken to the morning market. The market is actually open all day and Kerry has not been able to work out why they call it the morning market??! The market was full of contrasts. The front area has been rebuilt with modern concrete buildings which Kerry says completely lack the charm of the original market, but are easier to decorate with fairy lights so that the building looks very festive at night time!!! Parts of the market sell electrical goods and sometimes the only hint that you are not walking through Harvey Norman’s is the lovely pastel colours of the fridges!!!! I don’t think you can buy green fridges in Australia??

From the modern, concrete section we ventured out into the older part of the market which is where they still sell most of the food items. There was not a lot of food on display - it would seem that most of the produce is bought and sold earlier in the day. As it was approaching lunchtime by the time we arrived, this section of the market was getting fairly quiet.

When we had finished at the market we walked to Wat Ho Phra Keo only to find that it was closed for lunch between noon and 1.00pm!! As was Si Saket Temple across the road - which serves us right for being so lazy and not making an earlier start this morning?! So, since it was officially lunchtime we decided to walk the rest of the way into town and have some lunch. We went to the Full Moon Cafe again where we had some samosas and some spring rolls. Rather than the iced cappuccino, today I opted for an equally spectacular iced chocolate beverage. Honesty, these beverages could just as easily be being served up on Chapel Street, Prahran as in downtown Vientiane!! It is very cosmopolitan here!

After lunch we returned to Wat Ho Phra Keo where we paid an exorbitant 5,000Kip/head entrance fee. This is about US$ 0.65 for foreigners!!! Laotians only pay 3,000Kip each to visit the Wat.

In 1565, King Sethathirat commanded that the temple be built to house the famed Emerald Buddha which he moved to Vientiane from Luang Prabang. In 1779 the Siamese stole the Emerald Buddha and took it to Bangkok. During these hostilities the temple was destroyed. The building that we saw today was rebuilt between 1936 and 1942 with the assistance of the French. Although it is supposed to have been rebuilt following the original floor plan exactly, apparently the building has more in common with 19th Century Thai architecture than 16th Century Lao buildings??!



Despite this question of ‘style’, the temple is very grand and houses an impressive collection of Buddhist sculptures on the surrounding terrace and inside the temple. Only those statues that are displayed on the terrace may be photographed as appropriately respectful dress and behaviour is required inside the temple as it is still a place of worship for the local people. Once again this monument is surrounded by a beautifully landscaped garden that is a welcome relief from the barrenness of the city streets.

From the temple we walked across the street to Si Saket which was built between 1819 and 1824 and restored by the French in 1924 and 1930. As this temple was spared by the Siamese when they destroyed most of the other wats in Vientiane it is considered to be the oldest surviving temple in the city. The temple’s thick-walled cloister contains hundreds of niches that house thousands of Buddha images. I am sure I read a notice that said there are more than 10,000 Buddhas housed at Si Saket.

On the verandah at the rear of the temple there is a long wooden trough carved to resemble a naga (mythical water serpent). The carving is actually an image watering rail that is used during Lao New Year to pour water over Buddha images for ceremonial cleansing.

Feeling rather footsore (I managed to develop some blisters around my heels when we were out and about yesterday! Just call me Paula) we took a tuk tuk from the temples to the Lao National Museum. We bought our tickets at about 3.10pm with a warning from the attendant that the museum would be closing at 4.00pm. The museum, housed in the former colonial police commissioner’s office, contains a small collection of historical and revolutionary exhibits. With the interpretative information mainly in Laotian it was difficult at times to piece together the significance of various exhibits. Fortunately, we managed to find just enough information that was presented in English to learn a little bit more about Lao history and ethnology than we knew when we went in.

From the museum we took a tuk tuk out to COPE where we met up with Kerry and Bridget. Kerry spent the afternoon providing Bridget with some orientation training ready for her to start work tomorrow. Before going back into town we walked across to the JoMa Cafe Bakery to pick up a snack for Kerry and Bridget to keep them going until dinner. If Kerry’s phone provider had not locked her out they could have arranged to meet us in town, but with everything being so close it was really no drama that we came out to COPE to turn around and go straight back into town!!

Kerry had promised to take us to the Sunset Bar to watch the sun set over the Mekong River so that is where we headed to next. The Sunset Bar is a very rustic little place that I think is best summed up by the old adage - location, location, location!! Honestly, what more do you need? So, feeling just a little bit nervous after Kerry telling us that some of the Sunset Bar fell into the river during the last wet season, we settled in to watch the sun set.
Hmmmn, sunset was a bit of a fizzer due to the excessive cloud cover and pollution!! Most of the entertainment this evening was actually provided by the locals with their remote controlled aircraft rather than Mother Nature.

Since Kerry had told us that the Sunset Bar doesn’t do great food we headed off along the river to find a good place to eat. Although Kerry had not eaten there, friends had recommended The Spirit House so we decided to take our chances there. After letting all of us order exotic meals - Massaman Curry for Bernie and Chicken Laap with sticky rice for Bridget and me - Kerry ordered a cheese and beetroot sandwich!!! The Chicken Laap was actually very good. I might even look for a recipe on the internet and try this dish at home? I’ll have to look into whether or not we can buy sticky rice in Australia because you have to eat your laap with sticky rice!!

After a brief stroll through the night market by the river we headed off home to the suburbs!

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Comments

[Sandra]

oh my god the sunset bar looks terrifying - I hat being able to see through the floor. the restaraunts here have sticky rice so I reckon you would be able to buy it in a good asian supermarket