Hoiesay / Huay Xai / Way Sigh

Names of Lao towns are hard :( The bigger cities, like "Vientiane" or "Luang Prabang", are established enough to only have one name version in the Latin-alphabet, but this doesn't apply to smaller towns, including "Hoiesay"/ "Huay Xai" (pronounced "Way sigh"). 

This was the town where the Gibbon Experience is based, and it turns out, there's not much else going on. It had a simple hotel, the "Riverview Guesthouse", recommended by the Gibbon Experience reception, right next door.  The rooms were spartan but also cheap- Thursday night we had an "air-con" room for 130,000kip ($16), and Saturday night we had a fan room (no A/C availability) for 80,000kip ($10). 

Weird seating- there were airplane seats everywhere...

For lunch the first day (and dinner the last day, since it was so good) we found this random riverside restaurant called "Houiesay Sabai". Seriously the most delicious morning glory I've had in Laos, and the pineapple fried rice had an incredible flavor.

Walking around Houiesay, we saw some interesting signs.

One night we went to "Bar How?", mainly because it was right across the street, looked pretty, and was playing Regina Spektor. They had a ton of (super clean looking) flavored lao lao (rice whiskey). We did not partake.

We split some mango with sticky rice and coconut for dessert, and while we were eating this cat came up and cuddled. Really he just wanted some of the rice. (I obliged.)

Our last day in Houiesay we climbed the dragon staircase to the Buddhist temple.

The temple was one of the prettiest I've seen, but I think what made it so interesting was the monks who were there. In SE Asia many of the sons from poorer families are sent to monasteries to get an education, and this temple had a bunch of pre-teen and teenage monks hanging out and talking in the stairwell. They were really excited to ask us our names and where we were from, and were super friendly!

If you look at the top left, there's a cat peeking over the Buddhas. 

There was also the Daawe (spelling?) House near the temple, which was highly recommended by Trip Advisor for the restaurants and the homestay, and I got a small patterned tapestry made by some Hmong women.

Like I said- not much going on, tourism-wise, in the town of Houiesay. I'm still confused as to why there is a daily flight between Vientiane and Houiesay.

Angkor Wat

Angor Wat is massive. We went to see the sunrise over Angor Wat on our last day because "all the guidebooks said to do it" (per Mom's request). So we were up and in a van at 5:30am so we could get there to watch the sunrise, along with practically every tourist in Siem Reap (a LOT of Asian tourists, not a lot of white people). 

My brothers, walking towards the main temple in the sunrise. 

Mi madre

Along the temple walls, there are thousands of depictions of Apsara, who's this minx-y little character who either represents a Hindu goddess or each of the Cambodian king's concubines. 

They (guides, book sales people, people who worked there) kept referring to her as "sexy". But they also calling tank tops, dresses, etc., "sexy", so I don't know if they actually meant sexy, or just racy, or just another word for female. I bought a fairly conservative dress (it was sleeveless and knee-length, but it had WRECK IT RALPH on it) and the lady wrote out the receipt as "sexy dress". Really not that sexy. (I'll probably post that on another blog post)

Library among the temples

Hiring a tour guide (set price of $15 for about an hour and a half) made the trip way more interesting because he pointed out little parts of the temple that had major significance. For example, this square that my mom is standing on (with her sandals and elephant pants) is the center of the very symmetric center temple in Angkor. Because the original inhabitants of Angkor Wat (which was a religious city back till the 1430s?) believed that Angkor Wat was the center of the universe, that makes this square the very very center of the universe. 

Buddha falling apart in a minor temple, in the "outlying" area of Angkor Wat. 

Tickets to Angkor Wat (as well as outlying temples) were $40 for a three day pass ($20 for one day, $60 for 7-day even though you can use that pass over a month long period) per person so it wasn't cheap. In addition, apparently practically none of that money actually goes back to Angkor, the people who work there, or the restoration efforts. The ticketing is managed by a private company, the owner of which is besties with one of the officials in the Department of Tourism.*

*This is all according to a guide, as well as some other locals, who seemed very accepting of the ongoing corruption in Cambodia. 

Wat Phu (Champassak)

Wat Phu is "Lao's Angkor Wat". Built in the 6th century by some guy obsessed with phallic symbols (apparently even the location was chosen because a nearby hill was phallic-shaped), it's at a weird level of tourism. There's a ticket entrance and a lot of people to sell tickets, to bus you to the temple, etc., but not a lot of signs and very little information for what you are actually seeing.

That being said, I was really happy we went. This is a view of the top temple from the cliffside. 

Climbing the staircase to get to the temple- how pretty are those trees?!

According to a couple sources (looked up BEFORE we went to the temple; of course there was no signage actually at the site), the "Alligator stone", archaeologists suspect, was used in ancient rituals of human sacrifice. It even looks like it's human sized... very creepy. When we moved in to get a closer look, a weird looking salamander all of a sudden came out of the water pooled in one of the hand/claws of the stone. Bad sign; I got out of there fast) 

Buddhist shrine within the temple

In front of the "library"

Also, we biked there. It was only 15 k from the hotel, but the bikes weren't really meant for (a) speed, or (b) dirt/ gravel roads. But a 30k bike ride with limited sunscreen = a bit of a sunburn on my arms and legs. 

Funeral for a Friend

On Saturday, we lost a coworker and a friend. Vanvilay was someone we worked closely with, and about six weeks ago she stopped coming to work. We found out a couple weeks later that she had gone to Thailand for treatment of leukemia.

She passed away on Saturday after spending her last days at home with her family.

In Buddhist tradition, her death was announced and friends and family from across Lao came to Vientiane to pay their respects to her family and to mourn Vanvilay.

We (as a office) went to pay our respects to her family on Tuesday,  and brought a large floral wreath and an envelope of kip we left with the family. (The donation goes to pay for things like the funeral ceremony, and the food that the family provides for those who visit them the week before.  We were unsure of what amount to donate, but were told that 50,000kip, or $7, would be more than enough.) The family hosts extended family and friends at their home between the death and the funeral, which can last any amount of time between one day and a week (but is typically three days). There were dozens of people at the home when we visited, eating and playing cards and telling stories about Vanvilay.  It was a time of mourning, but also a time of coming together, of celebrating and remembering her.  After all, Buddhism dictates that she is not going to the afterlife- she is traveling from this body to the next, until she achieves Nirvana.

The funeral was held on Thursday afternoon, at Wat That Foon.  The funeral customs are very different from those I've seen before, which is to be expected, but thankfully our office admin, who is Lao, sat next to me and would explain what was happening.

Around 1:30pm, the men in the family, dressed in monks robes, lead the procession, followed by the women in the family, dressed in the traditional Buddhist's nuns' garbs. The procession apparently lasts 500m, ending at the location of the ceremony in the temple. The truck brings in the casket, which built tall, and adorned in white and gold.

Over the ceremony, the Buddhist monks listed the names of Vanvilay and her family, and her employer "listed her history". We didn't understand any of this, as it was all in Lao, but we could watch the ceremony.

There were several men that had been hired to help with the funeral services. They dismantled the casket and the wood coverings in order to move them from the truck to the table, then covered the casket in coconut oil. This is to "clean" the spirit, to ensure it has a good start into the next life.

Then the close family came to lay gifts upon the caskets- things that would be cremated, along with her body. These things included mementos, or new clothing. While this was happening, a man came around with a basket collecting donations- the typical donation, from what we could see, was about 5,000kip (less than a dollar).

After the family gave their presents, the men in the family and the men hired to help with the funeral laid large floral arrangements on the casket, and then the guests of the funeral were invited to place flowers and candles (which were provided) along the casket.

After placing the flower and candle on the casket, we exited the casket area, "nopping" (or bowing your head in reverence) to the family members. I left after this, but there were more ceremonial traditions I missed.  Cookies and money are then thrown amongst the crowd, apparently as a good luck token. Guests are invited to stay for the lighting of the pyre,  though expected to leave right after.  The family then takes pictures in front of the burning pyre.

 In this way, Vanvilay's soul was sent from this body to whatever comes next.

Resource (with pictures) for Lao funerals:
http://www.laoworld.net/index.php?document_srl=10494&mid=culture

Vanvilay's pyre (I did not take this picture)

Buddha park photoshoot

I was worried we would get lost so I screen shot the directions before we left. The roads near the Buddha Park are covered with pot holes. 

And while Google Maps says it's 30min, it's closer to 50min.

A brief and potentially incorrect history of the Buddha Park (Katie-pedia)

The park was set up in 1958 by this venerable man who the fled the country for Thailand in the 70's and established a sister park across the Mekong. You can see the top of the pumpkin temple from Thailand. 

Even though the statues look ancient, they were made in the last one hundred years. However, they were fashioned by unskilled laborers with concrete and metal, so they started falling apart pretty quickly.

Pumpkin Temple 

From the top of the temple

Apparently the Sleeping Buddha in the park is the largest in Laos? Though to be fair, I didn't even know there were giant Sleeping Buddhas in this country.

From my wikipedia search, Buddhist monks come through pretty regularly. Even though the park is new, it is still considered sacred...

And a mix of Buddhist and Hindu images.