2011 - NZ To SF - Day 83

Day 83: (4 August 2011):
- Walk to the old vat. Nice, old. Primitive murals, much damage, restoration work planned. Smell musty & like bats. Small nooks with Buddhas inside. Raised stupa for Buddha.
- Wall around has lots of statues. Small library pagoda. Monk quarters look like they are in-use. Work crews on walls.
- Comment how it is not impressive, especially after Thailand & Cambodia.
- Walk to the Emerald Buddha temple. Current is a not-so-accurate French(?) reconstruction. Larger. Nice statues. Raised platform inside. Some artefacts on display. many placed on statues, some in holes, ane in neck of a Buddha missing head. Mix of currencies. Notes & coins. Metal Buddha statues lining outside, all different, especially faces. Some have pattern symbol at foot. Steles.
- Buy postcard (2000k) & send at post office (12000k!). Rock for umbrella (to hold in open).
- Walk to victory arch. Go up. Bump into ppl. we know. With many tourists, say they bump into same people often, as many take same route.
- Nice carvings on internal windows, can see down inside of arch on landings.
- Rough & unfinished. Nickname of “the runway”: story behind it.
- 2 Floors of souvenier shops.
- Nice view: large boulevard. Spiral staircase to drippy tiny room. Metal Buddha images on bars over window.
- Kids running around & playing.
- Sit for Beerlao under the arch. Talk. 3 bottles, buzzed.
- Walk to the golden pagoda. Stop to examine a white stupa-monument holding a gold star. 3 paths blocked off, one is not. Bas-releif carvings of Laos history. Some industrial motifs for modern times.
- Cafe for Laos coffee & cakes for lunch. Reminice of pastries in Spain.
- Golden stupa. Looks like painted concrete (it is). Rebuilt many times. Paint falling off in parts. Neither one of us impressed. Newer wat & some bld. beside site more impressive, which we checked out later. Reclining Buddha at vat.
- Gallery around stupa has Buddha statues, although most are pile of rocks or a large brick or two. We must be missing something. It feels like we are incessently insulting their monuments.
- Walk back to hotel. I get extremely tired for some reason. Effect of alcohol?
- Vietnamese wat. Tall. Buddha statue at top. Hear chanting.
- Market. Lots of flies. Juices on ground. Mud outside. Some people we met described a market in Vientiane as “too real.” Is this it?
- See vats on way back. Cool construction at city pillar. Can’t see anything else.
- Wandered around another vat. Monks busy burning something.
- Smoothie place suggested by LP. Small stand. Not impressed.
- Felix work on Internet. I nap & write / TV.
- Felix come back @ 7:30 for dinner (a bit late).
- Walk to LP restaurant along riverfront road. Small shop stalls, section with food & lounge tables, etc. Looks & smells good.
- Restaurant: one of the best laos meals. Papaya salad very spicy. Pungent & fishy, tasted like fish gut smell, but then really like it. Sausuages in Laos surprisingly good. Stew also tasty. Not sure what to do with cabbage: prob. for laap. (Later learned that it in indeed for lap, and actually makes it much better when used correctly!)
- Tintin pic. the European guys on Sav. tuktuk were drinking there!
- I get bottle of ABC stout to try, Felix work more in Internet. I write/TV.
- Discover day’s photos at low res. Punishment for making fun! Felix: if any low res, this is the best. I think so too.