Traveling in Southeast Asia

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Saturday, 25 February 2023 - Explored Luang Prabang beginning at Haw Pha Bang and the Royal Palace shrine with its sacred Buddhist image, then visited the Wat Xieng Thong temple with its historic Buddhist architecture and mosaics, walked around Luang Prabang's charming streets and riverbanks along the Mekong River, saw temples and Buddha sculptures including Wat Wisunarat and Mount Phousi viewpoints over the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers, enjoying panoramic views and river scenes throughout the day.

southeastasia2023 — It was built in 1963. Haw Pha Bang hosts the most sacred Buddhist image in Luang Prabang, which is held in a pavilion. The shrine suffered hardships from 1975 until 1993, when it was restored.

southeastasia2023 — Detail of the entrance to the temple.

southeastasia2023 — Not sure if this is a dragon or a Naga - but it is fierce.

southeastasia2023 — Virginia Ann with staircase Naga.

southeastasia2023 — Cal at the staircase Nagas.

southeastasia2023 — While taking pictures we spotted this young lady striking a pose on the temple Naga.

southeastasia2023 — The Royal Palace was built in 1904 during the French colonial era for King Sisavang Vong and his family. The site for the palace was chosen so that official visitors to Luang Prabang could disembark from their river voyages directly below the palace and be received there.

southeastasia2023 — After the death of King Sisavang Vong, the Crown Prince Savang Vatthana and his family were the last to occupy the grounds. In 1975, the monarchy was overthrown by the communists and the royal family were taken to re-education camps.

southeastasia2023 — The king was the only one with a car in Laos, and he needed gas so imagine the Shell engineers who installed these on the Royal Palace grounds.

southeastasia2023 — Several blocks away is Wat Xieng Thong, "Temple of the Golden City", a Buddhist temple. Built from 1559 to 1560 by King Setthathirath, Wat Xieng Thong is one of the most important of Lao monasteries and remains a significant monument to the spirit of religion, royalty, and traditional art.

This building is the royal funerary carriage house, which houses the funeral carriage, which is 39 feet high and there are various urns for members of the royal family.

southeastasia2023 — Through the doors of the carriage house the front of the carriage is visible.

southeastasia2023 — Detail of the artwork on the door of the carriage house.

southeastasia2023 — A window panel of a woman and her faithful companion.

southeastasia2023 — Wat Xieng Thong was a royal temple under the patronage of the royal family. The wat functioned as a place for the king's coronation, a place of worship, a shrine to Buddhist relics, and a celebration space of religious rites and festivals.

southeastasia2023 — The Buddha inside the temple with many offerings arrayed before the dias.

southeastasia2023 — The temple Buddha along with smaller statues.

southeastasia2023 — Ganesha is a popular Hindu deity this is one of his popular forms with five heads called Heramba-Ganapati.

southeastasia2023 — Stupas in the temple complex.

southeastasia2023 — Pretty gold and green decoration on top of the temple.

southeastasia2023 — There is a reclining Buddha temple, which contains an especially rare reclining Buddha that dates back to the construction of the temple. In 1931, the image was taken to France and displayed at the Paris Exhibition. It was kept in Vientiane until 1964, when it was returned to Luang Phrabang.

southeastasia2023 — Day to day scenes in mosaic on the exterior walls of the reclining Buddha temple. These were done by Japanese artisans in the 1940s.

southeastasia2023 — A scene of daily life on the exterior walls of the reclining Buddha temple.

southeastasia2023 — A glass mosaic depicting the tree of life

southeastasia2023 — Buddha in a small shrine behind the main temple.

southeastasia2023 — Our next adventure was sailing on the Mekong River to the Pak Ou Caves.

Structure along the bank - might be a hotel.

southeastasia2023 — Very nice homes on the banks of the Mekong River.

southeastasia2023 — A little girl waves to the passing boat.

southeastasia2023 — A man with his cows - it looks like a cave in the river bank next to the man.

southeastasia2023 — A water buffalo who was interrupted by our boat - glad there is several yards of water between us.

southeastasia2023 — A small Wat (temple) on the Mekong River bank - did not see a village nearby.

southeastasia2023 — Noticed these trees and many others which seemed to be in rows or planted. Turns out they are - they are Teak trees Our guide said that they will need 25 years to mature before harvesting the wood.

southeastasia2023 — Home on the river along with a boat.

southeastasia2023 — This is the type of boat we were traveling the Mekong River.

southeastasia2023 — Laundry boat?

southeastasia2023 — It took about two hours sailing to reach a point on the Mekong River near the Ou River where there are two caves making up the Pak Ou Caves. The name Pak Ou means mouth of the Ou river. The two caves are the Tham Ting (lower cave) and the Tham Theung (upper cave).

Inside Tham Ting are hundreds (maybe thousands) of Buddha sculptures.

southeastasia2023 — A small Buddha holding a very small Buddha.

southeastasia2023 — All kinds of Buddha statues - upright, laying, sitting, protected by Naga....

southeastasia2023 — Buddhas everywhere. The cave was used to store temple valuables during wars and then became a place for pilgrims to deposit Buddha statues.

southeastasia2023 — We then hiked up to the upper cave, Tham Theung, which is also used to deposit Buddha statues. Although not as many as the lower cave.

southeastasia2023 — Row of little sitting Buddhas.

southeastasia2023 — Near the entrance to the cave is our friend the Naga keeping everything secure from evil.

southeastasia2023 — View across the Mekong River to the village of Pak Ou where we will have lunch.

southeastasia2023 — The view from our lunch restaurant in Pak Ou of the Pak Ou Caves. The lower cave is visible, the upper cave is not visible from the river.

southeastasia2023 — Heading back to Luang Prabang on the Mekong River. High on the banks a large home.

southeastasia2023 — The Mekong River is very wide but has a good flow.

southeastasia2023 — We thought this warning was cute - the Southeastern Asia vocabulary often has a mixed case in a word.

southeastasia2023 — Mount Phousi in the center of Luang Prabang on the top is the stupa of Wat Chom Si. We will climb to the top of the hill shortly.

First we will visit a temple.

southeastasia2023 — We visited Wat Wisunarat with a lotus stupa in front of the temple. The dome stylistically reflects a Sinhalese influence and is the only stupa of this shape in Laos or Thailand.

Lao people refer to it as the watermelon stupa based on its shape. It was built in 1515 and was originally packed with small Buddha images made of jade, gems, and gold which were looted long ago.

southeastasia2023 — Inside Wat Wisunarat is a large Buddha surrounded by several smaller Buddhas. Beautiful wooden ceiling.

southeastasia2023 — Buddha with the protective Nagas over his head.

southeastasia2023 — Several older Buddhas collected in the temple from other destroyed temples.

southeastasia2023 — A bridge over the Nam Khan River of bamboo - these bridges are temporary and are removed prior to the rainy season as they would be washed away.

southeastasia2023 — On the way to the top of Mount Phousi we passed Wat Tham Phousi where there are shrines and Buddha statues including this chubby Buddha.

southeastasia2023 — At the edge of the cave shrine is a little Buddha.

southeastasia2023 — From the heights of Mount Phousi looking up the Nam Khan River flowing through Luang Prabang.

southeastasia2023 — Looking to the other side of the hilltop is the Mekong River stretching into mountains in the distance.

southeastasia2023 — The stairs end right across from the Royal Palace and the temple of Haw Pha Bang which is so photogenic.

southeastasia2023 — Umbrellas for sale in the night market.

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