Tag Archives: laos

ສະບາຍດີທຸກຄົນ!

Let me continue my tourism tales in and around Vientiane – the capital of Laos. Located 25km from the city center by road (15km as the crow flies) is a rather curious little place that goes by the name of Buddha Park. Here, on a relatively small patch of land (180x100m), stand around two hundred assorted Buddhist and Hindu statues, sculptures, and all sorts of other stone installations.

They look pretty ancient; however, the park was built either in 1958 (if the internet is to be believed) or in 1959 (if our guide is to be believed). Not that it matters. Anyway, these aren’t historical artifacts but relatively recent “faux antiques” made of… reinforced concrete and, in places, simply brickwork under a layer of cement. But don’t let that put you off; the place is still very charming and visit-worthy.

Read on…

With our tourist weekend in Luang Prabang over, it was time to get down to business. The next couple of days in Vientiane were pretty much all work, work, work (meetings, introductions, handshakes, negotiations, and so on – business as usual), but we still had some time left over for sightseeing: perfect! And the highlight, without a doubt, was the Lao Art Museum.

I’d say it’s a very strange place…

First, it’s sumptuous – a real masterpiece:

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ສະບາຍດີ folks!

Back to Laos – for a continuation of my tales (and pics) from the Luang Prabang side…

Curiously, the city is the country’s alternative capital (the government hopped back and forth between Vientiane and Luang Prabang several times), which is why traces of investment in urban infrastructure from days of yore remain here. And since back in those ancient times it wasn’t all about buses and subways, what they built were temples – some of which have survived through to today.

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In Luang Prabang (Luang Phabang) in Laos, the Kuang Si Falls should be first on any visiting tourist’s itinerary! It’s an utterly unique-looking cascade of waterfalls and travertine terraces. Here’s the main waterfall (50+m high) ->

And the terraces farther downstream:

You can even swim:

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If you ever have the chance to choose exactly how to get, in daylight hours (ideally in the morning), from Vientiane, the capital of Laos, to Luang Prabang (which was the capital roughly half a millennium ago), then… well, first let me explain why I’ve started this post with that… incomplete conditional clause (oof)…

Now, Vientiane is home to the country’s main international airport (the one we flew into). But the really interesting tourist activities are in Luang Prabang, which is 200+km north of the capital. There are various ways of getting there: 1) taking the new Chinese railroad (two hours; lots of tunnels – 75, I just peeked – and you can’t see a thing in those); 2) bouncing along in a car for 300km, which takes some 10–12 hours (with stops); or 3) flying – merrily and with gusto – by helicopter, from airport to airport, in an hour-and-a-half (and in Luang Prabang the airport is within the city limits). So, back to my first rush-in sentence: if you ever do need to get from Vientiane to Luang Prabang – make sure you take the chopper option! Yes, it’s fastest, but also – the views along the way will simply knock your socks off!…

My dearly beloved wife was so thrilled that she even commented, “It’s like Kamchatka!” Well, that’s the highest possible accolade for the contemplativeness of the scenery around us )

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Not sure why, but during this busy-busy… business-travel season, boat trips on Asia’s great rivers somehow keep dealing themselves into my hand. Yesterday I was telling you all about the amazing boat trip we took on the Pearl River at night; today I’m telling you about the contrasting impressions we got on the mighty Mekong near the town of Luang Prabang in Laos. The scenes on show there are no less colorful and no less contemplative – just in a very different way:

And a lot more down-to-earth here:

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