A leasurely day today. Given that the Sport and Play team had done most of our video work last night, we had a bit of a sleep in this morning. We met for breakfast about 8:30 and then worked a little bit more on our video to finalise a few things. We then packed our bags for the hour long drive back to Phonsavan to catch a plane to Vientiane. Our ChildFund hosts who had been with us for the last couple of days and our Lao guides joined us. We stopped for lunch along the way and the headed for the airport. The flight was very short, only about 30 minutes. Once we landed, it was straight to the hotel to dump our bags and meet again for a hop-on/hop-off tour of the city.
The tour was also very rushed as we had a very tight agenda to keep. We visited the Laos version of the Arc de Triomphe. They call it Patuxay; Patu meaning victory and xay meaning gate. They aren't as proud of the their Arc it would seem, but maybe something has been lost in translation. There is a sign on the Arc that reads as follows
"At the northeastern end of the LaneXang Ave. arises a huge structure resembling the Arc de Triomphe. It is the Patuxay or Victory Gate of Vientiane, built in 1962 (B.E. 2505), but never completed due to the country's turbulent history. From a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete. Nowadays this place is used as a leisure ground for the people of Vientiane and the seventh floor on top of the building serves as an excellent view point over the city"
Having recently been at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, there are many similarities with this one. It shouldn't come as a surprise since the French had a massive incluence on the country and I believe actually built this one. There are nice gardens surrounding the Patuxay and inside has been set up as a market for all sorts of tourist trinkets to buy. Whilst it is less impressive than the Arc in Paris, I think it is actually quite impressive. We left there and went to see a building that some believe to contain the remains of Buddha. It is in the shape of a an object that our guide keeps referring to as a stupor. The custom here is that when people die, their cremated remains are contained in one of these "stupors" like an urn. The size if the "stupor" is proportional to the wealth of the person. The building itself was very large and covered in a golden finish. We took some photos and the was pretty much the end of the tour.
After freshening up at the hotel, we were out to dinner where we were going to view the videos each of the teams had made and a winner would be chosen. After each video was played, we had a discussion about the issues and our impressions of what we had seen the issues were in each of the areas. The videos were quite impressive given the short amount of time we had to put them together. I'm happy to say that the Sport and Play team, that I was credited as being the editor of, won the best video. As a prize, we were given a small bottle of the local rice whiskey. I'm sure it won't last long. We all had dinner together in an amazing Lao restaurant. It was Lao food from Vientiane and is a bit different from what we've had so far and it was sensational. After dinner, we had to say goodbye to our hosts from ChildFund that had been so great to us during our time here over the last few days. Thank you so much for your hospitality, time and generosity. We had a quick trip to the night markets before calling it a night. We have a very early start in the morning as we have a flight to catch to Pakse where we will get back on the bikes again.
The picture below was on the bus that picked us up from the airport and took us on the tour of the city. We felt very special.
The tour was also very rushed as we had a very tight agenda to keep. We visited the Laos version of the Arc de Triomphe. They call it Patuxay; Patu meaning victory and xay meaning gate. They aren't as proud of the their Arc it would seem, but maybe something has been lost in translation. There is a sign on the Arc that reads as follows
"At the northeastern end of the LaneXang Ave. arises a huge structure resembling the Arc de Triomphe. It is the Patuxay or Victory Gate of Vientiane, built in 1962 (B.E. 2505), but never completed due to the country's turbulent history. From a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete. Nowadays this place is used as a leisure ground for the people of Vientiane and the seventh floor on top of the building serves as an excellent view point over the city"
Having recently been at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, there are many similarities with this one. It shouldn't come as a surprise since the French had a massive incluence on the country and I believe actually built this one. There are nice gardens surrounding the Patuxay and inside has been set up as a market for all sorts of tourist trinkets to buy. Whilst it is less impressive than the Arc in Paris, I think it is actually quite impressive. We left there and went to see a building that some believe to contain the remains of Buddha. It is in the shape of a an object that our guide keeps referring to as a stupor. The custom here is that when people die, their cremated remains are contained in one of these "stupors" like an urn. The size if the "stupor" is proportional to the wealth of the person. The building itself was very large and covered in a golden finish. We took some photos and the was pretty much the end of the tour.
After freshening up at the hotel, we were out to dinner where we were going to view the videos each of the teams had made and a winner would be chosen. After each video was played, we had a discussion about the issues and our impressions of what we had seen the issues were in each of the areas. The videos were quite impressive given the short amount of time we had to put them together. I'm happy to say that the Sport and Play team, that I was credited as being the editor of, won the best video. As a prize, we were given a small bottle of the local rice whiskey. I'm sure it won't last long. We all had dinner together in an amazing Lao restaurant. It was Lao food from Vientiane and is a bit different from what we've had so far and it was sensational. After dinner, we had to say goodbye to our hosts from ChildFund that had been so great to us during our time here over the last few days. Thank you so much for your hospitality, time and generosity. We had a quick trip to the night markets before calling it a night. We have a very early start in the morning as we have a flight to catch to Pakse where we will get back on the bikes again.
The picture below was on the bus that picked us up from the airport and took us on the tour of the city. We felt very special.
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