Wat?

Buddhist temples are called wats. They are all over Vientiane. Literally, like every 3 blocks. I’ve only been in a couple, but if I wanted to go to one a week for the next year, I feel confident that I would not have to go back anywhere. The day I arrived, Christine took me to a wat near our house and showed me some monkeys she can hear at night. (I haven’t heard them, or haven’t recognized them as monkey sounds.) They were pretty cute, but unfortunately, I was so tired and disoriented from the 29 hour journey, that I have no idea which of the 3 wats within a 2 block walk of our house (one north, one south, and one east) they live in. In fact, I’ve found that while Christine showed me many useful places (the department store, the DVD store, and the book store amongst others) that afternoon, I have been unable to return to an of them without getting directions again. It was still a nice tour, though, and a good way to stay awake until sunset, so I didn’t have major jet lag. (I slept till 5AM the day after I arrived, which was a new record for sleeping in according to Christine)

(The monkey!)

Yesterday, I visited the That Luang, (Stupa Yellow) which is the national emblem of Lao and has a Wat on either side of it. The that is a tower that rises 45 meters and is painted gold. It is actually a temple as well, and the distances and heights are symbolic in Buddhism, as are the numbers of things (a certain type of stones, lotus petals on top of the walls, etc. There are also 4 prayer halls, one facing north, south, east and west. I got there at about midmorning and it was threatening to rain so there were lots of interesting lighting and cloud changes during my visit. My favorite part was the Naga, or giant snake, which seems to be a common theme, and aside from flat walls, there was pretty not many things that didn’t have a naga - stairs, roofs, etc.

(The That Luang)

Just as I was leaving the That Luang (which cost 5000 kip, or 62 cents to get into) it started to sprinkle, and it looked like soon it would be down-pouring. So I popped across the street to the wat to the south of the monument, where I took of my shoes and sat in the main temple building under the roof for 15 or 20 minutes while it rained. This wat had a high, steeply arched roof with wide overhangs, but only one side had a wall. So it was kind of like sitting in the rain, without getting wet. The wat compound had many other buildings - smaller, enclosed temples, a giant Budda statue on the second floor of an open walled pavilion-like structure below, several other pavilions with many buddha lined up sitting and standing, and some enclosed buildings that must be housing for the monks. (In fact, one of our residents is living at a temple, so I know there is housing in the compound.) Inside the main wat, there are beautiful paintings on the ceiling, which presumably depict stories from the life of Buddha. I will have to read more about that, so I can understand them better. In the middle of the one enclosed wall is and alter, and to one side is a sort of pulpit, though this one appeared to be used for storage currently. At least 2 other groups of falang joined me to wait out the rain, and we all sat in silent reflection, which was nice. After if stopped raining, I spent some time wandering around the temple complex and then over to the wat to the north of the That Luang. That one is enclosed, more like a traditional church or temple that I would think of, and I did not try the doors. There were some young hooligans setting off fireworks in a pop bottle, so I spent less time at the second compound.

On the way back to the bike parking, I detoured past a monument at the other end of the parking lot. It was a white pillar with friezes around the bottom, and a big bouquet of roses form the president of India (who I later learned is in town.) The friezes seemed to depict the history of Lao, including pre-industrial times, the civil war, and the new, communist state of harmony. It was pretty cool, but it was looking like rain again, so I got back on my bike and pedaled down the hill to the Swedish baking company, which serves the best pizza in town. I really need to get on their delivery map. I went past the market on the way home, succeeded in buying 2 pair of shoes, and felt like I had accomplished quite a bit.