Wat Si Sasket, Arch de Triomphe/Patuxai, Pha That Luang - Vientiane, Laos

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.