XIENGKUANE BUDDHA PARK!
John and I spent over two hours in a Tuk Tuk on our journey to and from Buddha Park today! And what an adventure THAT was! First off, might I mention, the seats in these Tuk Tuk’s are NARROW! And, might I mention, my buttae is NOT!
But the sights we saw were priceless and worth the pain! Loved seeing all the ways the locals ride their scooters!
We saw stands by the roadside selling just about EVERYTHING! But the vendor selling bags of golf balls was the best ever!
After about an hour of driving, we finally arrived at the XIENGKUANE Buddha Park, outside of Vientiane! We discovered, upon entry, that it was the month of love! Thank you for making that clear! Now that I think about it, I already knew this—February, Valentine’s Day, DUH!!! 🙄
Once outside that great big “pumpkin” we saw tons of Buddha sculptures, an impressive (and my favorite) reclining Buddha, and many mythological creatures. Here, if you can believe it, are photos of only a “few” of the statues we saw!
Right outside the park was the Mekong River...and John!
Right in front of the Mekong River was a beautiful field of Sunflowers...and me!
As we were leaving, we saw these eggs being cooked on a grill! That was a first (for us anyway)!
Then back in that darn Tuk Tuk we went, for the long ride home! Oh, but the sights we saw were worth it! (That became our mantra!)
This was the sign welcoming us back into Vientiane, after our long journey!
The local beer here is Beer Lao and it is GOOD! Cost is around $1.25 a can! How’s THAT for a bargain?
There appeared to be a traffic jam up ahead of us. No, just some cows walking in the street! I felt like I was back in India!
Once back at our room, WE RESTED! We were pooped! Who knew that a long Tuk Tuk ride could be SO EXHAUSTING!
In his research about the area, John read that there was a local Rum distillery that offered tours and a restaurant along the Mekong River (near the Night Market) that served said Rum. John made calls to book a tour, however, none of the numbers listed online worked! So finding the restaurant became our evening’s mission!
The walk there was wonderful! The streets were lined with plastic tables and chairs and the food stalls had everything under the sun to sell—much of which we had no clue as to what it was! And the smells, oh the smells were WONDERFUL!
Finally, we reached the restaurant, and it clearly didn’t look like much. But we ventured up the steps...
But the sights we saw were priceless and worth the pain! Loved seeing all the ways the locals ride their scooters!
We saw stands by the roadside selling just about EVERYTHING! But the vendor selling bags of golf balls was the best ever!
After about an hour of driving, we finally arrived at the XIENGKUANE Buddha Park, outside of Vientiane! We discovered, upon entry, that it was the month of love! Thank you for making that clear! Now that I think about it, I already knew this—February, Valentine’s Day, DUH!!! 🙄
The Friendship Bridge that is mentioned on the sign above is actually the bridge that connects Thailand and Laos over the Mekong River. We would have crossed over into Thailand, but we only have a single entry visa. Too bad—that would have been cool! But we passed the Friendship Bridge! That counts for something, right? This was the first thing we saw in Buddha Park!
We crawled into this mouth and this was the first sign we saw, “Old People And Illness Do Not Climb!” We decided that WE WERE NOT OLD and we weren’t sick, so up we climbed!!!
The steps, mind you, were the NARROWEST steps we have EVER seen! Seriously, even for us NOT OLD PEOPLE, it was treacherous! But, oh, so worth it! Apparently, the three floors we crawled up inside represent Hell, Earth and Heaven. Who knew?
Once outside that great big “pumpkin” we saw tons of Buddha sculptures, an impressive (and my favorite) reclining Buddha, and many mythological creatures. Here, if you can believe it, are photos of only a “few” of the statues we saw!
Right outside the park was the Mekong River...and John!
Right in front of the Mekong River was a beautiful field of Sunflowers...and me!
As we were leaving, we saw these eggs being cooked on a grill! That was a first (for us anyway)!
Then back in that darn Tuk Tuk we went, for the long ride home! Oh, but the sights we saw were worth it! (That became our mantra!)
This was the sign welcoming us back into Vientiane, after our long journey!
The local beer here is Beer Lao and it is GOOD! Cost is around $1.25 a can! How’s THAT for a bargain?
We saw even more fun on scooter shots on the way back! Here, they wear their jackets backwards, probably to protect themselves from bugs and road grime—certainly not from the cold! Actually, the weather has been PERFECT (low to mid 80’s) in Laos so far!
There appeared to be a traffic jam up ahead of us. No, just some cows walking in the street! I felt like I was back in India!
Once back at our room, WE RESTED! We were pooped! Who knew that a long Tuk Tuk ride could be SO EXHAUSTING!
In his research about the area, John read that there was a local Rum distillery that offered tours and a restaurant along the Mekong River (near the Night Market) that served said Rum. John made calls to book a tour, however, none of the numbers listed online worked! So finding the restaurant became our evening’s mission!
The walk there was wonderful! The streets were lined with plastic tables and chairs and the food stalls had everything under the sun to sell—much of which we had no clue as to what it was! And the smells, oh the smells were WONDERFUL!
Finally, we reached the restaurant, and it clearly didn’t look like much. But we ventured up the steps...
John enjoyed his shot of Rum (and got an updated number to call to book a distillery tour)...
I enjoyed this sweet little lady...
And we both enjoyed a delicious dinner! The restaurant was actually quite nice once it was totally dark outside! (Looks can be really deceiving over here!)
We walked through the Night Market (OMG) on our way back and it was the largest we have EVER seen! We’ll post more about it at a later date because, after walking well over 12,000 steps for the day, all we wanted to do was...
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