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Our local friends wanted us to know what is in the general area surrounding their village. They took us past the Ethnic Cultural Park, but told us we would not bother having a look as they thought it was very rundown and in need of repairs. They had read that the Lao government was looking for an international investor who may be interested in renovating and developing the park.
We went for a drive and looked at the the Buddha Park, Friendship Bridge and Thanaleng Railway Station. All within about 10 minutes drive of each other. The road was rather muddy and had a lot of large trucks on it, competing with the motorcycles and other traffic.
I noticed that Lao drivers are definitely not as chaotic as their Vietnamese neighbours. They also do not use their horns incessantly like the motorists in Vietnam. That habit really makes Vietnamese cities such noisy places and really serves little purpose as most people are so used to the sound of horns they just ignore them anyway. Lao drivers seemed to take to the roads at a slower pace and there was no where near as much traffic as other Asian countries.
In fact, the roads were almost relaxed.
The Buddha Park Buddha Park, is also known as Xieng Khuan and was conceived and built in about 1958 by a man known as Luang Pu Bunleua Sulila. The park is a mixture of Buddhist and Hindu statues. The park is on the banks of the Mekong, it is not huge, but none the less interesting.
The main structures in the park being a large reclining Buddha and what I would describe as a large pumpkin shaped structure which you can climb inside and on top of to get a view across the whole park. Safety standards in Laos are not what they could be, so the climb down is a bit dangerous and needs some care. The pumpkin has three levels which I was told represent hell, heaven and earth.
A lot of the statues are rather bizare looking, they are made of concrete and look a lot older than what they actually are. There is a Buddha in the park for each day of the week, and if you know what day you were born on then you can say some prayers at the statue for that
day.
Wednesday Buddha So if like me, you were born on a Wednesday in the daytime your Buddha is ....
Buddha: Pang Um Baatr, holding the alms-bowl.
Character: polite, musical and artistic, ambitious, emotional
Optimum profession: writer, clerk, secretary, translator, teacher, orator
Very lucky day/color: Wednesday (night)/light green
Lucky day/color: Thursday/yellow
Unlucky day/color: Tuesday/pink
For Lorenza, who was born in a Monday, her Buddha is ...
Buddha: Pang Ham Payath, making peace
The Monday Buddha image is standing with the right hand raised to shoulder height with the palm out and the fingers extended. Character: good memory, serious, love to travel
Optimum profession: trader, doctor, nurse, fisherman
Very lucky day/color: Saturday/black
Lucky day/color: Wednesday (day)/green
Unlucky day/color: Sunday/orange
Sunday Buddha The Sunday Buddha is a lot of peoples favourite and is the largest statue in the park, it is the reclining or sleeping Buddha.
The Friendship Bridge This bridge leads to Nong Khai in Thailand and was funded jointly by the Thai and Australian governments. It is a very busy border crossing, local Lao people can travel to Nong Kahi for shopping or visitng famliy with an ID card, as foreigners
we would need to present our passports and get another visa to re-enter Laos as our visas were fro single entry only.
Thanaleng Railway Station This is the rail link between Bangkok and Vientiane. You can get an overnight train for about US$50 in an airocnditioned sleeper. Our friends were keen to show us the rail station as it was a symbol to them that the country they love is beginning to grow and become more open. While it may not be one of Laos major tourist attractions it was defintely a place they wanted us to see.
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