After visiting just about every part of South Asia over a number of years, I discovered that I had overlooked one of them – Laos. But, now I have made sure that I have brought this country sandwiched between Thailand, China, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam to my attention. A country with no access to the sea. It was not until the 13th century that Laos was established as a state with a king. The kingdom was named Lan Xang or Land of a Million Elephants. At that time, Buddhism was also introduced as the state religion. Vientiane, which is the capital, is located by the Mekong River, which also forms the border with Thailand. The river is no wider than we can look across to Thailand. I think the best thing was to walk along the shore in the evening. Then we could see the lights from Thailand.
We didn’t spend much time in Vientiane, but enough to visit a couple of Buddhist temples. Wat Si Saket is a monastery, built in the early 19th century. In Vientiene it is the oldest of all the temples that still has its original form. A beautiful temple and one of the few that has survived when the city was set on fire by the Siamese army in 1827.
The temple is still active with monks living here. But the cloister function as a museum that are housing more than 10.000 Buddha images. They have different ages and the oldest are from the 16th century. On one side of the building that make up the cloister, we noticed damaged Buddhas. We found out that this happened during an incident of rebellion years ago.
The inner walls have a multitude of small niches containing more than 2,000 Buddhas. Here there are sitting and standing Buddhas, but in different sizes and materials, from wood to stone, silver and bronze. Most are in the Laotian style. Wat Si Saket is located in the city centre, near the Presidential Palace and another temple called Haw Phra Kaew temple. Also worth a visit if you are already in the neighbourhood. Haw Phra Kaew temple was undergoing renovation when I was here, so I don't have photos that will do the temple any justice. If you are staying in the city centre, it's easy to reach this place either on a bicycle or on foot. All these temples are peaceful, pleasant places to spend some time.
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