Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Vientiane Is Too Hot For Me...
Henk and I arrived in Vientiane around 6:00 PM on the 11th after a long bus ride starting around 1:00 PM that afternoon. I slept most of the trip, while he read a novel he got off someone on one of our tours, and by the time we arrived we were starving. I had been feeling a bit run-down, and was pretty sure I was getting a cold on top of that, so Henk walked to the Swedish Bakery after we got checked in to our hotel. He picked up a pizza and tuna salad, and we relaxed the rest of the evening. The next few days (the 12th and the 13th) I was still sick… so while I rested up Henk would bring me back tasty surprises! And medicine.
On the 14th I was feeling quite cooped up so we went out for a few hours to see ‘Patuxay,’ which is the Laos equivalent of the French ‘Arc de Triumphe’ – looks similar too! We paid a small entrance fee before walking to the top for some views of the city, which weren’t that spectacular but it was something new after a few days of white walls for me. Oh!! We also spent the time I was sick watching the Hannibal Lecter trilogy, which I had never seen before. Can’t believe it took me this long to see them…
I was healthy again on the 15th and our day started out at the Wat Sisaket around 11:00 AM. According to the signage: the Temple “…was built on the order of Anou, the last King of Vientiane between 1819 and 1824. In the 1820’s, the Siamese razed Vientiane and forced most of the people into exile across the Mekong River. All the temples were destroyed except for Wat Sisaket…” We walked around the inside of the Temple for a while, admiring the many clay Buddha (which replaced the stolen silver Buddhas) statues and the original bits of mural left on the walls.
Next we walked by the Presidential Palace, but kept our distances as visitors aren’t allowed inside. Nam Phou fountain was a quick visit before stopping for an Indian lunch at the delicious (yet not cheap!) Rashmi’s. The place was nicely decorated, kinda “business-lunchy” and smelled like yummy baked bread. We ordered our food and were quite impressed by the outcome.
Finally: the National Museum! It wasn’t huge but there was information on the history of Laos, from the 5 dinosaur bone sites in Laos and the ancient people in Laos to the modern warfare Laos has faced. We were most impressed by the photography exhibit towards the end on the ‘Secret War’ that the US conducted spreading cluster bombs all over Laos’ countryside. Although we do have to say that the labeling on the photographs was heavy on the name-calling with a lot of use of ‘dogs’ and ‘puppets.’ Across the street from the National Museum was the Culture Hall, which was checked out but was still under construction. Same thing with the new ‘Pizza Company’ opening up next to it! So sad for me…
Walking back from the museum, we checked out some bus and visa prices and made a circle around ‘Wat That Dam’ also coming across a really interesting Japanese-style pagoda temple named ‘Pact Tich Temple.’ (At least, it looked that way to me!) The coolest thing about the temple was the bright yellow VW bug parked next to it. By this time it was almost 4:00 PM and dinner was on our minds. Henk took out the bike that evening to pick up dinner… pizza again!
Since the golden ‘Phra That Luang’ hadn’t been open on the 15th, we made it our main plan for the morning of the 16th. The original one had been built in the 3rd century and was a simple Stupa, but this one was quite grand! Yet although it looked elaborate, there really wasn’t much to see since there was no ‘inside’ to venture through. Thus we moved on to our next goal: getting some Laos Airline tickets for the next morning to Phonsavan! After attempting to haggle with them (we got a small discount, but those tickets were overpriced for foreigners for sure!) Joma Bakery was the final stop of the day. Henk and I indulged in soup, cream-cheese bagels, and a tuna foccacia and bought some extra sandwiches back with us for the evening. We stayed in bed and watched ‘Goodfellas.’ Interesting movie! Henk will now tell you about our adventure at the ‘Plain of Jars.’
On the 14th I was feeling quite cooped up so we went out for a few hours to see ‘Patuxay,’ which is the Laos equivalent of the French ‘Arc de Triumphe’ – looks similar too! We paid a small entrance fee before walking to the top for some views of the city, which weren’t that spectacular but it was something new after a few days of white walls for me. Oh!! We also spent the time I was sick watching the Hannibal Lecter trilogy, which I had never seen before. Can’t believe it took me this long to see them…
I was healthy again on the 15th and our day started out at the Wat Sisaket around 11:00 AM. According to the signage: the Temple “…was built on the order of Anou, the last King of Vientiane between 1819 and 1824. In the 1820’s, the Siamese razed Vientiane and forced most of the people into exile across the Mekong River. All the temples were destroyed except for Wat Sisaket…” We walked around the inside of the Temple for a while, admiring the many clay Buddha (which replaced the stolen silver Buddhas) statues and the original bits of mural left on the walls.
Next we walked by the Presidential Palace, but kept our distances as visitors aren’t allowed inside. Nam Phou fountain was a quick visit before stopping for an Indian lunch at the delicious (yet not cheap!) Rashmi’s. The place was nicely decorated, kinda “business-lunchy” and smelled like yummy baked bread. We ordered our food and were quite impressed by the outcome.
Finally: the National Museum! It wasn’t huge but there was information on the history of Laos, from the 5 dinosaur bone sites in Laos and the ancient people in Laos to the modern warfare Laos has faced. We were most impressed by the photography exhibit towards the end on the ‘Secret War’ that the US conducted spreading cluster bombs all over Laos’ countryside. Although we do have to say that the labeling on the photographs was heavy on the name-calling with a lot of use of ‘dogs’ and ‘puppets.’ Across the street from the National Museum was the Culture Hall, which was checked out but was still under construction. Same thing with the new ‘Pizza Company’ opening up next to it! So sad for me…
Walking back from the museum, we checked out some bus and visa prices and made a circle around ‘Wat That Dam’ also coming across a really interesting Japanese-style pagoda temple named ‘Pact Tich Temple.’ (At least, it looked that way to me!) The coolest thing about the temple was the bright yellow VW bug parked next to it. By this time it was almost 4:00 PM and dinner was on our minds. Henk took out the bike that evening to pick up dinner… pizza again!
Since the golden ‘Phra That Luang’ hadn’t been open on the 15th, we made it our main plan for the morning of the 16th. The original one had been built in the 3rd century and was a simple Stupa, but this one was quite grand! Yet although it looked elaborate, there really wasn’t much to see since there was no ‘inside’ to venture through. Thus we moved on to our next goal: getting some Laos Airline tickets for the next morning to Phonsavan! After attempting to haggle with them (we got a small discount, but those tickets were overpriced for foreigners for sure!) Joma Bakery was the final stop of the day. Henk and I indulged in soup, cream-cheese bagels, and a tuna foccacia and bought some extra sandwiches back with us for the evening. We stayed in bed and watched ‘Goodfellas.’ Interesting movie! Henk will now tell you about our adventure at the ‘Plain of Jars.’
