Thirty minutes tuktuk drive back to my hostel later (it had been a long walk!), and I was happily washing the dust off my feet (they’d turned a browny sort of grey). I then had a very welcome hour-long siesta on my bed, as I was also still recovering from mild flu. When my feet were slightly less swollen, I headed out as promised to visit the sand art competition that I’d seen on my first evening.
Clambering down the steep sand dunes to get to the competition proved interesting and I was glad I was still wearing my walking boots! My favourite by far was the enormous sand yellow elephant which dominated the designated space for the competition. It sat majestically gazing out across the Mekong, small local children clustered at its feet. As the sun sank slowly, hugging the horizon line, the elephant was bathed in a soft, warm, golden light, its lines softened.
Car load upon car load of locals began to appear and wind their way to a sand headline in the middle of the river bank. Watching the sunset was evidentially a popular local pastime as by the time I’d got back to the far river bank to head back to the hostel, literally hundreds of mopeds, bikes and scooters had appeared – their owners clearly with the same intention.
I later headed out to find some street food with 3 peeps I’d met at the hostel, a fellow British chica from Birmingham and a French guy and a guy from Malta. The food we eventually chose, delicious spring rolls, glass noodles, spring onions sprinkled with peanuts with a peanut sauce, was interestingly cold, but absolutely yummy. After 90 mins or so I said goodbye to them and headed back to the massage place where I’d had a very good (if slightly overly friendly – they really mean FULL body!) oil massage the night before. This time I wanted to try a foot massage but they were fully booked so I had a traditional (no oil) Thai Cambodian one instead. Man it was painful! I didn’t know that my body could twist into some of the positions she put me in! There was a lot of petrissage, alongside lots of finger and toe pulling. I felt slightly like a stretched pretzel by the time she’d finished but as parts of it were still relaxing it was all good, and I’m sure I’ll feel the benefits. I’m recovering from a ripped ligament in my left ankle so I do think that will be a bit sore, but hey ho sure I’ll be fine :)
The main Wat Si Sasket is beautiful. A high wall surrounds it and you have to pay an entrance fee of 5,000KIP (about £4). The wat had an outer courtyard filled with golden statures of Buddhist deities and spirits, and of Buddha himself of course. The wat itself was protected by another inner walled corridor which was roofed over with dusky red brown tiles to shelter all the statues within its walls. The inner wall of the corridor had hundreds of pockets in which each sat a tiny statue, placed a regular intervals along the wall. These were guarded by large statues of spirits sitting in the lotus position and gently fragranced flowered bushes in pots.
The inner temple was protected at the rear by a long boat-like structure. At its bow, as the mast head, was a large dragon or narga, and over the stern sat a delicately carved swan. Inside the temple itself was an ENORMOUS golden bronzed Buddha which filled the far wall from floor to ceiling. You were forbidden to talk photos either inside the temple or from the door looking in as a stream of locals, monks and (mainly Asian) tourist entered the wat to pray, meditate and pay their respects. After another long slow walk around the gardens surrounding the wat, I’d drunk my fill, and so began the long hot dusty walk alongside a large dual carriageway to Laos’s answer to the Arch de Triomphe, Patuxai.
After about twenty minutes walking under the baking sun I was very tempted to get a tuktuk, but resisted the temptation as I always thing that you experience more by walking. I paid 3,000KIP (about £1.75) upon arrival to the tower to climb the four, mainly spiral, flights of stairs up to the roof which afforded excellent views of the city. After descending, I took a much needed 10 minute break sitting by the refreshing fountains to cool off. I then took a tuktuk to the incredible gold guilded, Pha That Luang,as it was another 30 minute walk from where I was, and my energy levels were beginning to flag and my feet were becoming increasingly swollen! The vista was well worth it. The entrance fee was 5,000KIP (around £4) and was so worth it. I was basically the only western tourist there, the majority were Asian tourists who were obviously also Buddhists and had come to pay their respects. The sun glinted deliciously off the bright gold of the temple roofs and made an idealistic picture against the bright baby blue of the sky and the lush green of the grass.
Thankfully I had a good 10 hours sleep thanks to exhaustion and the great massage id had down the road – only $6 for an hour! The private room at Dream Hostel 2 was dark, quiet and clean with a comfortable bed. I made sure I got up in time for the excellent free breakfast (choice of pancakes, French toast, omelette, scrambled or fried eggs with toast and bacon and tea/coffee). Once my hunger was sated, I set off to explore. I’d seen on a map at the hostel that it was pretty much a straight line of wats (temples) leading to the main temple, Wat Si Saket(Vientiane’s oldest and most important wat – the rest were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge during the late 1970s).
Boy it was hot, after the first few temples I took out my umbrella to use as a parasol. The pagados (temple buildings) were so beautiful and majestic under the scorching sun. high inverted V shaped rooves with elongated sections reaching towards heaven. They had nagas (dragons) and garuda (a large bird-like creature that appears in both Hinduism and Buddhism) standing guard under the eaves. Nagas and garudas are natural enemies but when they are depicted together it represents peace.
The sky overhead is mainly a grey cloudy haze with the bright sun periodically busting through, drenching everyone with roasted light. The range of russet reds to earthenware browns picked out with white and gold stood out in sharp contrast with the wide variety of bright luscious greens of the palms and vegetation surrounding the wats. The heat is omnipresent, with the oppressive sun still streaming its way through the cloud cover.
Most of the wats are complexly void of tourists, making photo taking an absolute pleasure. This enabled me to choose the exact angles I wanted without having to carefully choose shots which excluded my fellow camera-slung rucksack-ridden tourists. Every now and then, the vivid orange of a monks robe caught my eye. They were generally sitting under trees or in doorways by the wats. Either praying or just sitting in quiet contemplation. In Buddhist culture monks are forbidden to eat after midday, so I imagine they want to conserve energy. I did my best not to disturb them.
I have to say I was very relieved to check in and take a much needed shower. The private bedroom was clean, quiet and comfortable with AC, large wardrobe, a TV (not that I would be using it), a fridge and en-suite bathroom. All for a tenner a night with a yummy free breakfast included. I then laid on the bed for 30 minutes with my feet in the air as they were somewhat swollen from the 14 hour flight, even though I’d done my best to get up and move around. After unpacking a few things I decided to walk to the Mekong River and stretch my legs whilst walking past the local nightly riverside market. I deliberately didn’t take my camera as I wanted to soak everything up unobstructed. As much as I love taking photos I think that sometimes the photo taking can get in the way of just being in the moment. Also, the first time you visit somewhere I think it’s good just to allow your senses to soak up everything without your brain having to think about camera angles etc.! Plus, even though my cameras are gradually getting larger and/or more expensive as I get older, no photo cannot accurately describe what it was like actually being there. Sometimes it’s best to just carpe diem.
Upon arriving at the (raised concrete enforced) river bank I had a slight sudden shock. Where was the river? I had arrived at the beginning of May, so at the end of dry season. It was clear by the contours of the landscape of the river bed that by half way through rainy season the river would become a wide vast flowing rampage of water hurtling its way southwards towards the Cambodian border and then beyond to Vietnam and the Ocean. Currently, from where I was standing, over half to two thirds of the enormous river bed was a dry dusty sandy yellow, only interrupted by small irregular fields of some sort of long green grasses and bulrushes and the occasional large pool of water. The ribbon of water was just visible through a late afternoon haze coasting along the far bank. The diminished river was ebbing its way slowly along the opposite bank, at least it looked slow moving from a distance. I couldn’t see any boats moored or otherwise so I could only presume that the water must be rather shallow.
On a raised sand bank in the middle of the ‘river’ sat several large sand sculptures. As I watched, a jeep and several motorbikes were winding their way towards them from about 500 meters further down the river from where I was standing. My stomach was beginning to growl with hunger so I promised myself I’d come back the following evening for a closer look.
