BUDDHA PARK

The rain finally let up around 10am today, thankfully, and it turned out to be a really nice day...light clouds, warm but not too hot, the sun was almost poking through but not quite.
 It was a good day for an out of town adventure.

I went to Buddha Park, or Xieng Khuan, which means Spirit City. It is a sculpture park about 25Km outside of Vientiane in a meadow beside the Mekong River. It was created in the 1950's by Bunleua Sulilat who was a scuptor and an eccentric spiritual leader with his blending of Buddhism and Hinduism. It is a bizarre mix of over 200 Buddhist and Hindu cement sculptures in various shapes and sizes...complete with this huge pumpkin shaped creation that is 3 stories high which is supposed to represent hell, earth and heaven. You can climb it by crawling in the demon's mouth and then twist your way  through these narrow steep staircases through 3 levels of circular rooms filled with more bizarre sculptures. It ultimately spits you out through a mouth at the top and a great view of the park.



The wierd pumpkin!





View from the top of the wierd pumpkin!



I decided to take the public bus because it was cheap(about 60cents each way) and seemed easy enough...If I can survive an Indian train station I can surely navigate a Laos bus station. I figured there would be more tourists on the bus so I'd know I was on the right bus, in the right direction, but they must have all been in the $20 tuk tuks because I was the only white person on there...feeling not entirely sure it was the right bus(there are no route numbers on the buses (and a lot of buses)so I just asked around for bus 14 until someone pointed to the one I finally boarded. I knew that Buddha park was supposed to be the last stop before it turned around so figured I couldn't really miss the stop. Thankfully, I made it to my destination in about 45mins, enjoyed about an hour in the park and just as I ventured out to wait for the bus to show up again it was literally just driving by, spotted me and stopped...such timing!

I finished up my afternoon with an hour long foot massage for $4...seriously, cheaper here than Thailand. The girl gave the best shoulder massage after!

Tomorrow morning at 10am I am taking a bus to the city of Vang Vieng which is a couple hours north of here. Hopefully the weather improves...Unfortunately, there is the worst flooding and mudslides in 30 years happening in southern Thailand right now. Ko Phagnan, the island I'm supposed to go to in 6 days, is shut down as is Ko Samui and the airports/trains in and out. Tourists are all trapped and I guess the Thai Navy had to rescue tourists in the hardest hit areas... It doesn't look like going there is an option at all night now. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do....I guess even Railay beach is under water and Krabi was hit by massive mudslides so that isn't an option either. I was supposed to spend 9 days on Ko Phagnan and have plane tickets/train tickets both ways purchased already so I will have to figure something out in the next couple days. I was really REALLY looking forward to 2 weeks on a beach!!!! Hmmmmph....that sucks. It really throws a wrench in my plans, if  I wasn't planning on spending so long there it wouldn't be such a huge deal but I can't really spend 9 days in Bangkok just waiting around for my next plane to leave...ideas anyone? Maybe I'll head to Malaysia early and bum around... I'll keep you updated!