Showing 1-13 of 13 results
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Haw Pha Kaeo
Once a royal temple built specifically to house the famed Emerald Buddha, Haw Pha Kaeo is today a national museum of religious art. According to the Lao, the temple was originally built in 1565 by command of King Setthathirat, who on inheriting the Lan Xang throne moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane and brought with him the so-called Emerald Buddha (Pha Kaeo in Lao, which means Jewel Buddha Image - the image is actually made of a type of jade).
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Kaysone Phomvihane Memorial
Opened in 1995 to celebrate the late president's 75th birthday, the Kaysone Phomvihane Memorial, serves as a tribute to Indochina's most pragmatic communist leader. The memorial is actually two jarringly different sites. Kaysone's old house is a model of modesty suggesting he might have lived in less luxury than any other world leader. In contrast the museum is a vast Vietnamese-style celebration of the cult of Kaysone, a cult he never encouraged. Visit the house first.
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Lao National Culture Hall
Opposite the Lao National Museum, and dwarfing it, is the monumentally proportioned Lao National Culture Hall. The outsized and ugly hall was built by the Chinese government in the late 1990s as a 'gift to the people of Laos'. It hosts occasional cultural events as varied as French cinema, Lao classical dance and even beauty pageants, but with no publicly available schedule of events you'll need to keep a close eye on the Vientiane Times for an announcement.
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Lao National Museum
The Lao National Museum's limited collection of historical and revolutionary exhibits will never be confused with the Louvre. But it does serve to sum up the country's ongoing struggle to come to grips with its own identity, so it's worth a look. The museum is housed in a large administrative building originally built as the colonial police commissioner's office in the 1920s. It became a museum in the 1990s and until recently it was known as the 'Lao Revolutionary Museum'.
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Papaya Spa
In an old French villa west of town (follow the many signs), this is one of the classiest massage operations in town. Services include Lao massage, Swedish oil massage, facials, waxing, body scrubs, reflexology and sauna.
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Patuxai
Reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Patuxai is Vientiane's most prominent monument. The name is approximately equivalent to Arch ( pátųu , also translated as door or gate) of Triumph ( xái , from the Sanskrit jaya or victory), but unlike its Parisian namesake the Patuxai boasts four, rather than two, archways.
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Pha That Luang
The most important national monument in Laos, Pha That Luang is a symbol of both the Buddhist religion and Lao sovereignty. Its full official name, Pha Chedi Lokajulamani, means World-Precious Sacred Stupa, and an image of the main stupa appears on the national seal and in countless other places. Legend has it that Ashokan missionaries from India erected a thâat or reliquary stupa here to enclose a piece of the Buddha's breastbone as early as the 3rd century BC.
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That Dam
Sitting at the centre of a quiet roundabout near the centre of Vientiane, legend has it that the stupa now known as That Dam, or 'Black Stupa', was once coated in a layer of gold. The gold is said to have been carted off by the Siamese during their pillaging of 1828, after which the stupa took the 'black' sobriquet in memory of the dastardly act. However, another myth is slightly at odds with this.
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Wat Si Muang
The most frequently used grounds in Vientiane are those of Wat Si Muang. The grounds are the site of the lák meuang (city pillar/phallus), which is considered the home of the guardian spirit of Vientiane. The sǐm (destroyed in 1828 and rebuilt in 1915) was constructed around the lák meuang , which now forms the centre of the altar. The pillar itself is believed to date from the Khmer period, indicating the site has been used for religious purposes for more than 1000 years.
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Wat Si Saket
Built between 1819 and 1824 by Chao Anou, Wat Si Saket is believed to be Vientiane's oldest surviving temple. And it shows; this beautiful temple-cum-national museum is in dire need of a facelift. Chao Anou, who was educated in the Bangkok court and was more or less a vassal of the Siamese state, had Wat Si Saket constructed in the early Bangkok style but surrounded it with a thick-walled cloister similar to - but much smaller than - the one that surrounds Pha That Luang.
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Wat Si Saket Buddhas
Along the western side of the cloister is a pile of Buddhas that were damaged during the 1828 Siamese-Lao war. And in the sǐm (ordination hall) a slightly damaged Khmer-style Naga Buddha - which depicts the Buddha seated on a coiled cobra deity ( naga ), sheltered by the naga 's multiheaded hood - is also on display just in front of the main seated Buddha; it is believed to date from the 13th century and was brought from a nearby Khmer site.
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Wat Sok Pa Luang
In a shaded, almost semirural setting that is entirely in keeping with its name ( wat paa means forest temple), Wat Sok Pa Luang is famous for its herbal saunas and expert massage. The masseurs are usually lay people who reside at the temple. After a relaxing sauna, you can take herbal tea on the veranda while cooling off; then opt for a massage. You're not supposed to wash away your accumulated perspiration for two or three hours afterwards to allow the herbs to soak into your pores.
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Xieng Khuan
In a field by the Mekong River about 24km south of central Vientiane, Xieng Khuan is a park full of Buddhist and Hindu sculpture that is a monument to one eccentric man's quite bizarre ambition. Xieng Khuan was designed and built in 1958 by Luang Pu (Venerable Grandfather) Bunleua Sulilat, a yogi-priest-shaman who merged Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, mythology and iconography into a cryptic whole.
Showing 1-13 of 13 results
