The city is quiet but busy, the markets are clean(er) and the vendors are much less pushy, the weather was hot and crisp and the roads perfectly inviting for a day-long bike tour of the city. I visited some beautiful Wats, including the most famous Wat in Vietntiane Wat: Wat Pha That Luang:
This temple seemed to be made entirely from gold, or at least covered in gold flakes. It's color and brightness was overwhelming and made the day seem hotter than it was. Never have I seen a better color combination between architecture and sky--each color made the other much more dramatic.
We got lost on our way back and took an easy night. I think we may go to Vang Vien tomorrow afternoon or late morning. I might not go because I might have a party to go to... got the invite son!
Well.. didn't end up attending. Instead we met up with Laura and Nathan who were finally able to catch up with us. We took the late morning to explore one of the last sites in Vientiane and that was the Buddha park, home of the famous reclining Buddha, 25km from city-center.
This place was filled with statues, ranging from both the buddhist and hindu traditions. It is a very interesting place, full of photo opportunities. My favorite sculpture was of an orb, symbolizing the entirety of life on earth; on the insde were three levels: one depicting hell, the others, heaven and life on earth. When you reached the top of the sculpture was an opening which stood 10 meters abover everything else in the park. And on top of this orb was the tree of life--definitely a great piece.
After we were filled with the many buddhas and multpile faced gods we went back to Vietntiane and head off to Vang Vien.
Not only did we spend, and exhaust, two days in Loas' capital city of Vientiane, but we did so with the company of Laura and Nathan who were finally able to catch up with us.
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