If you have chosen to visit Laos, the wildest country in South East Asia, you have made an excellent choice: it will be a life-changing experience! Your tour will probably start in Vientiane, the capital city on the banks of the Mekong.
Sorrounded by a great plain of paddy fields, this huge city of 200 thousand inhabitants incorporates also the sorrounding metropolitan areas. Here is a mini guide in order not to get lost!
Location, language and inhabitants
Vientiane is in Laos, on the border with Thailand on a bend in Mekong river. In the Lao language its name is Viangchan, while the name Vientiane comes from a mispronunciation by the French settlers.
Lao is the official language of Laos, even if it is spoken by about half of the population, while the rest speaks idioms of the ethnic minorities. Another common language spoken in the capital is English. French, being a legacy of colonialism, is also widely inderstood and spoken: the streets in Vientiane all bear a Lao and a French name.
The attractions in this fascinating metropolis are many. Here are the most significant ones.
Buddha Park
Buddha Park is a famous park containing about 200 Buddhist and Hindu statues representing Buddhas in various sizes and positions. It is located about twenty kilometers from Vientiane and it can be reached by bus.
The park was established in 1958 by a religious man, Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat, with the intention of uniting Buddhist and Hindu religions through art. The most imposing statue is a 40 meters long reclining Buddha.
Ho Pha Keo
Ho Pha Keo is a museum of sacred art, which used to be a temple called Wat Pha Keo, dedicated to the Emerald Buddha and dating back to the sixteenth century.
The building, destroyed by the Siamese invaders in 1828, was rebuilt by the French in the Thirties respecting the original features. The museum exhibits holy images, a Buddhist stele, manuscripts and a golden throne.
Patuxay
Patuxay is the arch of triumph built in honor of the soldiers fallen in the war for independence from France, erected between 1957 and 1968. It is said to recall the Arch of Triumph in Paris even if its design is Laotian and the decorations represent local mythological creatures.
Its name, romanized in various versions from the original Laotian, literally means "Victory Gate".
Pha That Luang
Pha That Luang is a temple complex built in the sixteenth century near the center of Vientiane, dedicated to Theravada Buddhism. The dome of the complex used to be covered in gold and it is regarded as the most important religious architecture in Laos. It was declared emblem of the nation in 1991.
It was built by king Setthathirat I: the king is represented by a statue sitting on a throne placed outside the main entrance. The architectural style is typcal of Lan Xang kingdom of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the age of maximum splendor of Lao art.
The greatest Lao religious celebration takes place annually in the That Lang, attracting a great number of pilgrims. The ceremony is held on the fourteenth day of the crescent moon in the full moon of the twelfth Laotian month. The complex hosts various relics, whose origin is debated.
