Woolly says – Having made our way to the central bus station we stood looking around for the number 14 bus, having checked the stands and realised that either our information was incorrect, or we were missing something, in our case a bus! A young man came towards us and thinking that he was a tuk tuk driver touting for business I turned away and continued to peer at the available signage.
He was a driver but having asked for the location of our bus, not only did he point to the opposite side of the road but lead us across, stopping the traffic as we went, the people of Laos are some of the friendliest and most helpful you could wish to meet.
Woolly says – Having found some seats and having no idea as to how long the journey would take I sat back and watched the city fall behind us as we started to pass thorough the countryside. Brown cows tethered to all available posts passed by as did stilted houses, given the state of the windows it was difficult to see much detail. The road got bumpier and to pass the time I decided it was time to bring the women up to speed on our destination. Buddha Park, also known as Xieng Khuan (which means Spirit City) was started in 1958 by Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat who was a priest/shaman who integrated Hinduism and Buddhism. It is a park of statues which are made of reinforced concrete and appear to be centuries old, though they are not, I would be able to judge soon enough for myself. As the bus pulled over and the driver shouted Buddha park I jumped down the steps and raced towards the gardens.
By the time we had paid the tiny admission price I could already see him at the top of the sculpture known as the pumpkin.
Woolly says – I could hardly contain myself as I entered the pumpkin through a demon mouth, I could take peeks of the outside world as well as the world inside through the slits in the walls. The three stories represented hell, earth and heaven and the statues on the ground level looked scary and best avoided, having clambered up some steps I admired mermaids and land humans which had been made to look so realistic, the top layer, after a tricky climb which involved a lot of holding on to scale the steps, led me to the top of the pumpkin and a view over the park, it looked incredible. All of the statues looked ancient and had been brilliantly made to make you think that, I starred out and waited for the rest of the group to catch up.
It looked amazing although smaller than I had thought, we helped each back down the tricky stairs and went to look around.
Woolly says – Sculptures of humans, gods, animals, and demons were everywhere as well as a whole army of Buddha’s in different positions. Each one had been beautifully made and with the green grass and flowers surrounding them it was a real treat. Passing characters of Buddhist beliefs like Avalokiteśvara and of Hindu gods including Shiva, Vishnu, and Arjuna it was an incredible display. The enormous 40 meter long (130 ft) reclining Buddha, looked regal and appeared to have one eye watching the visitors taking picture after picture. Groups of sculptures that told a story stood together whilst individual ones stood proudly looking down at me, which was also true of the gigantic demon that seemed taller than anything else in the park. A lovely lily pond was surrounded by more characters including a three headed elephant which was a new one on me, all to soon we had finished the tour, I so wanted it to go on but having had a couple of slurps of water I left the ladies in the shade and wandered back through the whole park again.
Like my small friend I would have loved more but what we had seen had been incredible and well worth the bouncy ride on the bus.
Woolly says – It was a wonderful experience and with everything else here that we have seen added to the rest of the city of Vientiane, I was so glad we had come, tomorrow we head off to our eighth country and another adventure to come.