Before leaving Vientiane we had time for a quick excursion out to the Buddha Park. A monk from here went over to Vietnam and lived in a cave with a guru. He came back from being enlightened and made this massive park blending Hindu and Buddha images.
For this he was persecuted and eventually had to flee the country. Then the government turned his work into a park and make cash out of it. Nice.
Our bus to Vang Vieng was at 2pm, and we got a tuk tuk at 11am with Chris, Emily, Martijn, Mhairi and I. At about 12:10 we got to the park… our tuk-tuk had played cheesy music at full blast all the way, anyway, thought we had time to see the park for 40 mins and then head back again. I am not sure what all the sculptures are (please help me out anyone who knows!), but the pumpkins mouth symbolizes time devouring.. There were 3 levels inside, depicting hell, earth and heaven. The pic beside is hell – people getting impaled ‘n everyfink.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
So yes, well worth getting out to. The next two pics – are Martijn and Chris beside a 3 headed elephant, and Mhairi, Emily, Chris and Martijn all reclining beside the large reclining buddah.
 |
 |
Went to get the bus back. Tried to tell the driver to go fast, that we needed to get a bus at 2pm. He stopped to pick up locals… we decided to let whatever happen happen as regards catching our bus (but it was annoying)
Just got to our hotel at 2:05… apparently the bus had been and gone, but had only gone to pick up from the other hotels.. So we were fine.
5 minutes before the bus arrived to pick us up – our tuk-tuk arrived again (announced by the blaring of his music and the bright red seats). He picked up a suspiciously familiar shaped bag and walked towards the hotel. It was my camera bag!!. I’d totally left it on the tuk-tuk in the rush to get the bus (and had completely forgotten about it). IF the bus had been earlier I’d never have got it back – or if our driver hadn’t been so honest. What a guy. Totally restored my faith in everyone in the whole world ;) hehe, well.. it was a lovely surprise!
Leave a Reply