Sunday, January 11, 2009

07 December 2008 - Vientiane - Day 2



Vientiane - Day 2, Tuesday 02 December 08

We got up at 07:30 to another great and glorious day - cool, bright sun, blue sky and no clouds.


Right after breakfast we headed out on our walking tour of the city. From yesterday's efforts we had become rather well orientated. We hiked down to the Th Lang Xang and turned towards the Mekong River. At the end of the road is the Presidential Palace and across from it is Vat Si Saket.


Wat Si Saket was originally built in 1818. As we entered the Vat/Museum compound, we encountered a young Monk about 22 years old and his friend of a similar age studying. Running around between the Monk, her mother, and a street vendor was a 3 year old girl. I took pictures of the little girl who was not the least bit shy. The Monk spoke to me in English. He was studying English and wanted to ask me about some vocabulary. I ended up spending about an hour with him and his friend.


The young men were both from Luang Prabang, our next destination starting the next morning. The young man had been a Monk for 5 years. Like Vietnam and Thailand, people have to pay to go to elementary and high school. He was poor so he became a Monk - not to see the world as in the US Navy but to get a free education. Wats in Thailand and Vats in Laos are also educational as well as religious centers. He plans to remain a Monk for two more years and then study law. If I have a criticism for the places that I have visited in SE Asia, it would be that the countries do not provide free education to all students. Twelve years of free public education is a privilege and right that we in the United States are so fortunate to have. It is an opportunity that is not fully appreciated until you travel and realize that it is not universally available to all peoples of the world.


The Monk's friend spoke English well and was studying Japanese. The Monk had taught himself English from a book and did very well. As I have many times before while living and traveling in SE Asia I contemplated the loss and costs to people of not having a free education available to them. But it is a tribute to the human spirit that some people are capable and able to overcome the obstacle and to develop some of their potential.


The Monk stated, as I have heard others to say, that learning English was easy to learn. I remarked how difficult it was to learn Thai or Lao - there are 5 very different meanings for some words depending on how you say them. On a very good day, for which there are not many, I can 3 of the different ways of how you say some of the words. The remaining 2 ways - I doubt that I will ever be able to differentiate the sounds.


The Monk's friend replied that Japanese was easy. I quipped that of course it was easy - all words are short and not lengthy as in Thai. I then gave him my best impersonation of John Belushi's samurai hotel clerk or deli counter man from old episodes of Saturday Night Live. Perhaps my impersonation was more of General Tojo or some other evil Japanese military officer from all the WWII propaganda films that I watched as a young boy! No matter - they understood my joke and we had a good laugh. Duang was busy talking with the little girl and the street vendors so time went by quickly for both of us.


After our time with the Monk and the little girl, we toured the Vat. A unique feature of this Vat is the more than 2,000 siver and ceramic Buddha statues placed in little alcoves in the walls behind the larger 300 seated and standing Buddhas in front of them. It was not possible to determine which ones were silver - I doubt that they had been polished since they were made. I guess that just like other aspects of religions, you have to have faith that it is true - they are made of silver.


We crossed the street from Vat Si Saket to Haw Pha Kaew. Haw Pha Kaew is a royal temple built to house the famous Emerald Buddha. Emerald Buddha? Isn't there an Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand? Are there two? - Yes there is an Emerald Buddha in Bangkok. No, there is only one Emerald Buddha. As Paul Harvey, the famous radio commentator would say "And now, the rest of the story ..."


Haw Pha Kaew was built in 1565 by the Lan Xang King, King Setthathirat, when he moved the capital of his kingdom from Luan Prabang in the central highlands to Vientiane. He brought with him the Emerald Buddha. He installed the Emerald Buddha in Haw Pha Kaew as his personal place of worship.


In 1779 there was a fight between the Lao and the Thais. The Thais stole the Emerald Buddha and brought it to Bangkok where it remains today. It is a very revered statue in Thailand with the King of Thailand changing the statue's vestments at the change of each season in an elaborate ceremony.


On the terrace of the Haw Pha Kaew are several beautiful bronze Buddha statues. On all but one of the statues, the jewels that had been placed in the eyes are missing - taken by the Thais.


We entered into the temple which was crowded with people. I headed to the back and looked at the various religious relics on display. Duang went to the front and paid her respects, literally and figuratively, and prayed.


Signs in the Haw Pha Kaew state that the Emerald Buddha and the jewels had been stolen by "falang" (foreigners). In contemporary Thai and Lao society, falang is a term that was originally referred to the French but is now used to describe all Caucasians. It has some negative intonations but in my opinion no worse than calling Afro-Americans "Blacks". It doesn't bother me to be called a "falang" - I have been called much worse in my life.


However on this day, I gleefully informed Duang that when Laos was referring to "Falang" stealing their treasures, they did not mean Europeans. The Lao were talking about the "Thais" this time. We enjoyed the joke. As we exited, I told the staff that Duang was Thai, opened her pocketbook and showed them that she had not taken anything today. They laughed and we laughed.


It is very comfortable here in Laos. Duang is like amongst her family. The people love to joke and laugh. The Laos are very outgoing and curious. I am surprised at how many of them can speak some English.


From the Vat we turned the corner to the Mekong River. The Mekong River is one of the great and longest rivers in the world. It runs from China through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We walked along the levee bordering the river flood plain. Remnants of the sand bags remained from this year's spring flooding. Despite the threats from seasonal floods, some people have set up encampments on the flood plain. Directly in front of the Presidential Palace we saw a camp. A group of men playing pentanque - a game balled with metal balls - a sort of French style bocce ball. Several children were playing near the men. We walked down the sandy embankment to photograph and observe the goings on.


The people were obviously very poor but were enjoying themselves. The children, like children all over the world, did not allow socio or economic status to interfere with their fun. Two older girls, about 10 and 12, were playing checkers, or at least appeared to be checkers, with bottle caps as game pieces upon a hand painted piece of scrap wood. They were also looking after a very lively 10 month old baby. There were three other young children chasing each other and enjoying the day. We spent about an hour enjoying and relaxing there. The people were friendly and offered us seats to watch the game. I picked favorite player and cheered him on - they found it to be amusing. Near where the men were playing, their wives were at home preparing meals over small wood fires in front of their small elevated wooden huts. The next time that I read of Mekong flooding in Vientiane with the loss of life I will wonder if it was any of these poor souls.


We continued our walk north along the Mekong to the PVO Restaurant for lunch. PVO specializes in Vietnamese food in addition to renting motorbikes, and bicycles. I think that it woulld be humorous to apply for a loan in the USA to open up a restaurant that has a business plan to serve food, rent motorbikes, and rent bicycles. Despite the broad spectrum of services at PVO, the food was excellent - especially the spring rolls and Bo Bun.


After lunch we wlked to Vat Mixay. The Vat is under reconstruction. The entrance was obstructed by bamboo scaffolding and a large pile of sand. Two workmen were installing concrete filigrees to the roof line. I motioned to them that I would like to go in. They didn't seem to mind or perhaps they just didn't care. What a great sight! A new white marble floor had been installed. All the painted murals were bright, sharp, and extremely colorful. There were not any statues installed yet. Needless to say I had the place all to myself until Duang responded to my call and joined me.


Outside of the Vat, there were many precast concrete filigrees lying out in the sun to dry. Small diameter rebar was exposed out of the top of the ornate concrete moldings to allow them to be welded to horizontal rods in the roof of the Vat. The concrete moldings would later be painted and embellished with gold paint. It was very interesting to see how these ornate Vats are actually constructed. There is a great deal of work and monotonous labor involved in creating such beautiful structures.


Inside the Vat compound I saw a Monk working on a table. He was sculpting clay into a design to create a mold to precast sections of molding for the Vat. I went over to observe and photograph him. After about 5 minutes of work, he stopped and talked to Duang and I for about 1/2 an hour. He hopes to have the Vat finished in 2 more years. he and others have been working on it for 5 years already.


From Vat Mixay we made our way back to the hotel for a 2 hour break. On the way back to the hotel we stopped by the Black Stupa to see our little friend from the day before. Her parents immediately recognized us and showed us that she was sleeping. The little girl was sleeping on the bed in the corner of the barber shop. We made sure that they would let her know that we dropped by to see her.


We headed back out from the hotel at 4 PM to catch the water fountain show at the Victory Monument which starts at 5:00 PM. Duang stopped at a fruit stand to buy some mandarin oranges for our bus trip to Luang Prabang the next morning. The fruit vendor had her two children with her and I ended up taking their pictures. The little boy about 7 years old took a liking to us. As we were crossing the boulevard to enter the monument grounds, I noticed that the little boy had rushed up to join us, at the same time I saw out of the corner of my eye that a motorbike was coming towards us at a fairly fast rate. I yelled and grabbed Duang to stop her from crossing the street into the motorbike's path. She heard, understood, and stopped immediately. The little boy continued on into the path of the motorbike. Our hearts stopped at what we were going to next witness. Fortunately and luckily as Duang so often says "No pompain (complain). Buddha take care". Somehow and someway perhaps through divine intervention, the motorbike only clipped the back of the little boy's leg - not even breaking the skin. After checking him to determine if he was injured, I gave him a lecture about being careful and looking were he runs. Duang gave him a scolding in Lao. The boy didn't seem to mind our scolding and remained at our side for the next 90 minutes.


We came upon the photographers that we met the day before. They recognized us and came to talk to us. We told them about the boy's accident. They were very concerned and checked his leg to. I got the impression that the fruit sellers and photographers are all regulars and know each other. The boy's mother heard and saw the commotion and came over. She scolded the boy and tried to get the boy to come back to the fruit stand. He was having no part of that. He wanted to stay with us. His mother returned across the street to the stand, or rather cart, alone.


There were a couple new photographers so we had to go over how much I paid for the camera etc all over again. The people were interested in where I was from and it turned out that they had friends and relatives living in Fresno, Sacramento and Redding. After independence (Communist victory) in 1975, many Lao immigrated (fled) to the USA. They had supported the USA in its secret war in Laos.


The photographers take pictures of people in front of the monument and print them to sell. I decided to joke with them so I pulled out and wore my large floppy wide brimmed hat which is similar to the type that they wear, I hung my camera over my neck and struck up a stance like they do. I was trying to drum up customers to photograph. They immediately caught on to my joke and pointed out that I was not like them - I did not have the small battery operated printer hanging off my neck to be exactly like them. We laughed and laughed.


Soon two very beautiful young women came to the water fountain. They were dressed in full Hmong dress. A precursor of things to happen. A photographer and an apparently wealthy man was with them. They posed and modeled for the photographer. It appeared that the group were professionals and were on some type of publicity shoot. It was very interesting to see the models react to the people. The people came over to where they were and took their own photographs. The models even posed with ordinary people for photos. They even modeled for some of the private citizens. I am fairly certain that this would not happen in the USA - models interacting with ordinary people for no fee, and professional photographer allowing others to shoot his models - no way!

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