Lao P.D.R. - Part 2
1.1 That Luang Stupa
The entrance to That Luang
That Luang, the Grand Stupa, was built by King Setthathirath in 1566. The monument, built on the location of an older stupa, is believed to contain a relic of Buddha. The 45 meter high structure was damaged several times by foreign invaders but was each time restored with caring love by Lao ppl.
A statue of King Setthathirath stands in front of the Stupa which used to be surrounded by 4 monasteries of which only two subsist.
That Luang has become the symbol of Lao nation and is depicted in the country's coat of arms.
Me with my students..
Worshippers praying earnestly...
1.2 Patuxay (Victory Monument)
Took this in the van, while heading towards That Luang...
I thought this is a very pretty picture of the Patuxay.
I like this one even more...
We visited Patuxay after That Luang.
And the weather was much cooler then. The heat actually drop drastically by at least 10 degrees or so. (Bear in mind that it felt as if it was closed to 40 degrees during the day. Compared to Lao, Malaysia = Genting).
Many locals and expats were seen jogging around/chilling in this area in the evening..
Life here is indeed relaxing...
Patuxay was built in the late sixties to resemble the Paris Arc de Triumph, formerly named Anousaovary Monument.
Patuxay ends the Lane Xang Avenue, which starts from te Presidential Palace, and is the gateway to That Luang Stupa.
We were given 30 mins to climb up the 7-storey high building to have overview of the city from the top of the monument.
The park...
Ground floor
The ceiling was adorned with pictures of Hindu deities.
View of the ceiling from a window on the 1st floor.
I thought I've reached when I saw this...
But no...I had 2 more levels to climb before reaching the top. Gosh, I have chronic vertigo ok? *faint* Nearly wanted to give up you know.
Awww...the view was amazing from here :)
Not-so-over.. yet
Apparently, there's one more flight to go...
I almost didn't wanna climb that flight of stairs cos it looked rather scary. But Nan urged me on, so I obliged.
What I saw was this.. *Quite potong steam*
It's an enclosed area actually.
1.3 The Inter City Hotel
Since we didn't really see many attraction sites, I thought I might as well include our boutique hotel in the list.
From the outside, the exterior of the building certainly didn't look impressive at all.
Upon arrival, we were told that that's our hotel (refer to the red arrow below).
Facing the hotel is the Mekong river, the dried up version that is.
The lobby area...
We could climb up the stair well to our rooms, it's only a 5-storey building.
Room 414.
I shared a room with my colleague, Bee Lian. She actually paid to participate in this programme.
The coffee house where we had our breakfasts.
#2 Lao people
This lady was selling incense in That Luang. She was very tiny, so I decided to bend down/hunch to reduce the height difference, and by seeing me hunched, she hunched even lower. Alamak.
Kids selling flowers and incense at That Luang
This looks like a fun ride to me..
I chanced upon this booth selling hand phone skins when I was shopping at ITECC.
Call me 'ulu' but I didd't expect to see so many ppl manually sticking on the skins.
#3 Service Learning
Based on altruism and selflessness, the best form of service learning involves the desire to serve others.
What we saw in Lao was the realisation that instead of considering this as something you do for people who are not as fortunate as yourself; our students began to think of it as an exchange. It was very touching.
In a way, instead of us helping them, it became a 2-way thing.
Day 2 - At the Handicap Center
It seems the Japanese has done a lot in helping to set up schools and handicap centers in Lao.
The earlier part of the day saw our students playing with the handicapped children from the center.
We were introduce to this game where you have to use a brinjal (tied around your waist) to move the lime towards the finishing line.
Before coming, we all had this perception that the kids would be quiet and reserved. However, it turned out that they're happy and full of life. In fact, some students commented that the children here can outrun them!
We were honoured to watch Lao National team Goal Ball players in action. All players need to wear a mask and use their other sense to attack/defend.
Our students giving Lao Goal Ball a try. It was the Msian vs the Laotian team!
The boys practising how to drop and use their bodies to block the ball. Great job guys!
Come lunch time, our students (though hungry) all helped to serve the food to the children, all 75 of them.
We were later informed that the children haven't been eating meat for months. :(
They were so happy to be eating meat again.
We actually catered enough food to cover their dinner as well.
Some students actually broke down and cried (not these boys la) when they heard about the children's situation.
Time for some serious work out after lunch...
We cleaned the classrooms (the kids were so attached to our students that they too 'bergotong-royong' together with us).
The toilet.
I'm really proud of the group who cleaned the toilet. There was this one particular toilet that was clogged and the students (not the girls above, but 4 boys) had to keep pouring water into the bowl to flush it (yes, there's no automated flushing system here).
At one point, everything in the bowl overflowed...and kena-ed our students' feet. Ughh...Bravo guys!!!!
We helped to repaint the kitchen and canteen.
Most of the boys were stained with paint.
Time to say goodbye to the kids..
The woman standing in the middle is a volunteer teacher. She's using sign language to translate whatever we've said to the kids.
Isn't this lil girl just so adorable?
Day 3 - At Saphanthong Neu Primary School, a government school in Vientiane with a total student population of 140 (including special children).
On arrival, each of us received a flower garland as a special welcome.
Seeing this brought back fond memories of my primary school years. Oh how simple life was back then!
I remember I was very shy and I hated being called out by the teacher to read aloud to the class.
Sabaidee (Hello in Lao)
This is their canteen. A very tiny one.
i saw lotsa kids eating these jambu. Their much smaller and flatter than the ones we have in Msia.
Another adorable darling.
Our students were initially briefed that they'd be teaching the children in this school. When asked what they wanted to teach, they said English. Their contingency plan was to teach them some arts n craft if they failed in the language department.
I was so impressed.
These kids were saying this to me, "Yo yo yo! What's your number?". Complete with the rapper-style hand action some more!!!
All thanks to Adnan. He's such a child magnet. The kids all loved him.
Playing with the kids during recess.
Prior to coming, our lecturers donated RM750 (from their own pockets) to buy stationeries for the children in this school. Our students distributed the stationeries towards the end of the visit.
Some of the kids actually kissed the colour pencil boxes. It was very very touching.
We dressed this special girl up as part of the activity. Our student, Kah Fai (second from right) was dressed by the kids, he looked like the Statue of Liberty. He's such an angel!
Time to say goodbye!
Khob Cai (Thank you in Lao)
Some students showing us the "I love you" sign, while some drew little heart shapes for us. It was heart wrenching to leave this place.
#4 Food....(again)
I think the food here deserve more mention...
We went to this place for buffet lunch on Day 3, after the school visit.
What a great way to eat!
You get to eat overlooking plane after plane of greeneries.
Another must try!
Lao ppl like to steam glutinous rice using woven baskets. The rice is soft and fragrant.
The steamed glutinous rice is best eaten with papaya salad.
Larb (the dish of the left) is a very popular dish amongst Thais and Lao ppl.
These white bulbs are eaten together with larb. It tasted quite raw to me. It's definitely an acquired taste.
The small basket of steamed glutinous rice is enough for 2 to share.
Was so happy they were serving crepes.
I ordered a savoury crepe.
The guy smothered my crepe with red chilli paste (sambal), lotsa butter, mayo and ham pieces. It was yum.. :)
Another noteworthy place..
Rashmi's Indian Fusion Restaurant.
I have to admit that I've tasted the best Indian food in Lao. Yes, I'm serious! :P
The best dhal I've eaten!
Instead of the typical lentils, there were kidney beans, baked beans as well as other beans in there. It was delish!!
If fusion can make the food this much better, then fusion it is for me!
Can't remember what soup this was but it was really good.
My plate was full!
The chicken masala, fish curry, samosa and tempura chilli were all fantastic. I cannot praise the food here enough.
Desserts
The carrot pudding (orangey stuff next to the papaya slices) is not for everyone. Again it's an acquired taste.
I had my 3rd cup of coffee for the day. Dao Heuang coffee is da bomb!!
Rashmi's Indian Fusion Restaurant
316, Samsenthai Rd (Opposite Lao Plaza Hotel)
Tel: (+856-021) 25 1513
#5 French influences
You'll notice a lot of French elements/influences here in Lao.
Prior to Lao gaining independence, she was one of French's colonial possessions.
Most of the present road signages are still in French.
French dolls (yeah, I bought one home too!).
Yen Yen (my Nanyang reporter) bought this. She got me started on the dolls.
#6 Thai influences
Besides the food..
And the language (even the counting of 1-10 in Lao is similar to that of Thai)
The traditional costumes look fairly similar to Thai.
#6 Vietnamese touches..
Remember the vietnamese baguette in the previous post? Well, it's sold in most areas in Lao. How lucky for me :)
Look at these vietnamese dolls. I was tempted to buy them all.
I forgotten the name of this vietnamese hat already.
It's nice, isn't it? About RM4.
#7 Chinatown
The shops here close pretty early. It was after dinner at one of my colleagues wanted to buy some coffee powder and snacks. The only place that was opened are the shops in Chinatown. Shops in Chinatown close at 10pm.
This mini mart was the most happening store we visited that night.
We were checking out some snacks and we stumbled upon this.
Nan asked, "Carrie, what does smelling in cream mean?"
I, too was flabbergasted.
"Err..tastes creamy?" I guessed.
Then we found another one..
Smelling in Garlic & Sauce.
Gosh..guess I was right, the Chinese was trying to say "Garlic & Sauce flavour". LOL!
I bought some giant Caplicos with my leftover kip. It's from Thai Glico. The next time I go Bangkok I'm gonna sapu heaps back.
Giant caplico in Oreo n cream. :)
Besides coffee, there was nothing much to buy in Lao.
So I ended up blowing my USD at the airport buying more coffee and these Absolut miniatures.
L-R: Absolut Raspberri, Vodka, Vanilia, Kurant, Apeach, Mandrin, Citron.
Thus end bits n pieces of my short adventure in Lao.
2 comments:
Detailed and interesting.
Enjoyed reading it :)
(eagerly waiting for the sotong-reporter's post)
Muahaha~
I love that you had the opportunity to interact with the children. So touching that they even kissed their pencil boxes. Guess it's another reminder of how we really need to count our blessings and extend generosity to those in need.
May
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