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Morning everyone, well it is here
I thought I would update you on what has been happening here before I move on to my next location and more travel stories.
A couple of days ago a few of us decided to head out to the Buddha park.
Buddha Park, also known as
Xieng Khuan (as well as other variations of the spelling), is a
sculpture park located 25 km southeast from
Vientiane,
Laos in a meadow by the
Mekong River.Although it is not a
temple (
Wat), the park may be referred to as
Wat Xieng Khuan since it contains numerous religious images. The name
Xieng Khuan means
Spirit City. The park contains over 200
Hindu and
Buddhist statues.The socialist government operates Buddha Park as a tourist attraction and public park.
A few of us were Simon, Raff, Ben, Freya and I. We decided to take the bus number 14,mso headed off in search of the bus station. About 45 minutes later rather tired hot and sweaty we found the bus station.mit was very noises and dirty and very busy with people coming and going and bussed arriving and departing also it was market day so on
the way we had picked our way through market stalls and they also lined the perimeter inside of the bus station. All very crazy. We of course were hassled by the tuk tuk drivers who span us yarns about how long it would take to get there and boarder crossings. But alert weighing up the pros and cons we decided to take the tuk tuk for 50k kip each return, a little more expensive than the bus but more convenient. So we all piled in the back and set off. This was a 3 wheeler rather than a 4 wheeler variety which made a change lol. It was nice to have a breeze as of late we have been experiencing a lot of humidity and huge down pours of rain thunder and lightening. Usually late afternoon or early evening for about 20 minutes or sO, quite impressive.
The tuk tuk ride was about 30 mins or so and was pretty smooth until we got to the mile or so when the Tarmac ran out and the dirt road complete with pot holes and dust began lol. Another bone rattler of a journey lol. However we got there shaken not
stirred and in one piece.
We paid our entrance fee, nipped to the loo and then went to visit the park. There were hundreds of statues of Buddhas, the biggest being a huge reclining Buddha and other figures including a beetle elephants and a crocodile . The first one was a huge round building shaped like a pumpkin with holes all,the way around it and a mouth which allowed you to go inside, walk round and climb up the stairs so you could sit on top and view the whole park.
We were there for about an hour Wandering round and taking photos and chatting, and then we sat in the shade and had an ice cream. bumped into Matthew who is from France and works in a ski resort in France. He works one of the skin lifts in the winter and helps build and maintain skin lifts in the summer. He was staying at our hostel and had taken the public bus & tuk tuk to the park after hiring a bike to explore the city. His tuk tuk back was leaving after ours as it had to wait for other people some was cheeky and
hitched a ride back with us for 20k kip lol.
We managed to get the tuk tuk driver to drop Simon off at the museum/hospital for artificial limbs called the copi museum. Matthew off at the market and the rest of us off at the hostel, although we got off a little away from the hostel so we could get some food. Raff headed off on his own as he didn't want food. The 3 amigos headed off back toothed hostel for a snooze and to regroup later for food. Simon, Federico and Jenny decided to go and watch Laos boxing, Raff was sleeping so 4 of us went out for food. Moira had pointed out a food court which had a fountain which was lit up,at night so we headed there. After choosing a restaurant we decided the food was too expensive and just opted for a drink and to sit back and relax and watched the two guys plating acoustic music. We then headed for the Danish bakery and Ben and I bought doughnuts lol. We then continued to have a wander and ended upmost theocrats kitchen for some very nice food. Later we headed back to
the hostel and played a very long game of pool which ben finally won Lol.
Yesterday I just spent doing not very much and in about 35 minutes we head off to our next destination.
xx
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