Vientiane, Laos

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"On July 31, my dad's friend Jordan drove my dad and I to the airport. It was boring to wait for all the planes to come. Our first flight was to Frankfurt, Germany. Then we flew to Thailand. That was my favorite plane because it was purple. (I love purple) The blanket and pillow were really comfy. Oh, the food was delicious. The plane was called Thai Airways. After that plane ride we took another flight to Vientiane Laos. We went to the hotel and I was tired. We finally took a shower and brushed our teeth. (ewww) Then we went to a golden temple and that is when we first saw monks. Monks are boys who shave their hair off and wear orange or red robes. The temple was really fun and quiet. Finally we went to a really good restaurant. My favorite thing was purple sticky rice. Then we slept zzzzzz.

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On Aug 3rd, in Vientiane Laos, we 2 awesome Temples! The first had lots of Buddha statues in different positions. With one of them I played patty cake. There were tiny Buddhas in many holes. The second temple there was other Buddhas. After that we went to Buddha Park. It was awesome. We first climbed inside a big mouth. It was cool. Then we just walked around and practiced my karate. There was a huge lying down Buddha. We took a lot of pictures. We kept on walking around then I started doing cart wheels and it was really fun. Then we ate dinner at the same place. I was tired." - Sofia's Journal July 31-Aug 3

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Dad's Comments/Details:

This was Sofia's second trip to SE Asia, as we had visited Vietnam and Cambodia when she was 2. We left on Wednesday July 31 430 pm and did not arrive in Vientiane, Laos until Friday August 2nd at 1pm. 5 hour stop overs in Frankfurt and Bangkok. Sofia does awesome and unlike her dad, she prefers long plane flights than shorter ones (she loves the personal TV and food on plane). We stayed at Malinamphu Guest House . The room was just okay, but the courtyard/breakfast area was nice and it was in a good central location. The first temple we went to was Pha That Luang. This is where Sofia began here fascination towards monks as well as the many Buddha poses and statues. The very gold 130 ft reclining Buddha outside the temple amazed both of us. We both loved the food and service at Kua Lao restaurant near our hotel so much that we went there both nights. The first night there was music and dancing. Sofia met the dancer at the end of the show. Being that purple is her current favorite color and she loves rice, the purple sticky rice was definitely a hit. The other temples that we visited in Vientiane were Wat Si Saket and Haw Pha Kaeo. Wat Si Saket, with its 6400+ Buddha images, was probably our favorite of the three temples.

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Definitely the highlight of Vientiane was Buddha park(Xieng Khuan). A bumpy 40 minute ride lead us to this incredible park. Sofia and I had a blast playing and taking pictures in front of the many Buddhist and Hindu statues. Sofia did everything from cart wheels to Karate and loved making a similar pose when I snapped the pic. We heard some weird animal sound in a tree, but nobody knew what it was but just kept on staring at the tree. Sofia did several "interviews" We stayed there for a couple hours playing and laughing. This was a great start to our SE Asia trip, our next stop - Luang Prabang.

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Photos

Eaten Alive
Buddha Park

Too Cool
Buddha Park

Now that's gold
Reclining Buddha

My First View of Monks
Vientiane, Laos

First Meal in Laos
Delicious

"Sleeping with Buddha"
After about 40 hours of flying/airport time

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Exploring Laos
Good to see you on the road again. We loved the Buddha Park. The food in Luang Prabang is amazing so waiting for your next blog. Stay safe.