Home-cooking with the Family at Voen's House

Hong and Hans near fresh cement patch in front of Voen's house.

Hong on left with relatives as they grill meat and socialize.

As night falls in front of Voen's house.

Starting dinner at Voen's house.

Voen and Hans.

Marinated and grilled pork with rice noods and greens.

AN INVITE to Voen's house was one of my treats here in Vientiane. Last night many family members came together and supper consisted of grilled marinated pork. There were also pork patties and everything tasted delicious. The meat was eaten in salad wraps with rice noodles and a sweet spicy chile dip.This was washed down with Beer Lao, water or soft drinks.

Outing with Hans

Hans and I sharing Beer Lao at Khop Chai Deu Restaurant.

The lights of Thailand across the Mekong River.

Enormous sandbars on the Mekong River with the garish Don Chan Palace Hotel in the background.

Delicious charcoal grilled fish with stir fried morning glory greens.

HAVING MET with my friends Hong and Hans from Germany, first on Sunday, Hans and I went out on our own on Monday night. We began the evening drinking beer in the garden of the Khop Chai Deu Restaurant on busy Setthathirat Road (see: www.khopchaideu.com). From there we walked a block to Fa Ngum Road which fronts the Mekong River. We wandered through a night market and Hans convinced me to descend to the broad sandbar below the embankment. It was a long walk across the sandy expanse given that this was the dry season. Finally reached the present shore of the Mekong River where the lights from Thailand twinkled across the diminished river channel. Finally we went to a small restaurant for a later supper. The fresh fish grilled over a wood charcoal fire was delicious. That was served with stir fried morning glory greens, simple rice noodles and a spicy green sauce.

The People's Security Museum

Soviet Russian era military vehicles.

Soviet Russian era fire truck.

Soviet-Russian era Lada police car.

Entrance hall of the People's Security Museum.

"Regulations for visiting People's Security Museum."

WHILE DRIVING BY I happened to notice  The People's Security Museum. Seeing Russian vehicles out of the Soviet era, parked on pedestals in front of an imposing building, drew my interest. The next day I was able to locate this unusual site while visiting the nearby That Luang Stupa. As it turned out the vehicles in the front, seemed to my way of thinking, to be the most interesting exhibits of all. The displays inside were overt propaganda messages, presented through naive and static means. The present museum was opened in 2011 to commerate the 50th anniversary of Laos's revolutionary past and the founding of the Lao Public Security Forces.

It should be noted that Laos is a communist single-party socialist republic, at least in principle, and that the only legal political party is the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP). Not all however appears as it seems. Some kind of status quo exists between the Party and the Buddhist establishment as well as with very strong business interests. In any case I saw very few visitors here. For a rare change no admission was charged.

Temple visits in Vientiane

Video #1 - As the cord that binds, burns at one end, worshippers 

receive a blessing at Wat Si Muang.

Video #2 - Hans and Hong receive a monk's blessing 

before freeing two birds from captivity at Wat Si Muang.

Video #3 - Hans and Hong freeing the pair of Yellow-billed egrets

at Wat Si Muang.

Video #4 - the pair of Yellow-billed egrets freed at last,

at Wat Si Muang.

The beautifully proportioned cloister at Wat Sisaket.

Wat Sisaket, is the home of the Head of the Buddhist community in Laos.

Wat Phra Kaeo, much restored is the only remnant left of the former wat or monastery.

Pha That Luang is the national symbol of Laos.

Buddhas on the alter with a mandala behind.

Worshippers and sellers at Wat Si Muang.

As the cord that binds, burns at one end, worshippers receive a blessing at Wat Si Muang.

Hans and Hong receive a monk's blessing before freeing two birds from captivity.

Resident Wooly-necked Stork and one the freed Yellow-billed egrets.

Close-up of one of the freed Yellow-billed Egrets.

One of the freed Yellow-billed egrets, to the right of the Buddha statue, 
assesses its new freedom.

Hans and Hong at Wat Si Muang.

A VISIT to Vientiane would not be complete with seeing at least some of it's many temples. Included here are just a few. Wat Sisaket, built around 1818, is a beautifully proportioned monastery. It's sim, or ordination hall, is one of Vientiane's most important buildings. Inside, enclosed by a cloister, is the main building containing murals badly ravaged by time. Wat Sisaket is also remarkable because it is one of the only survivors of the Thai sacking of Vientiane in 1827-28.

Also of note is Wat Phra Kaeo across the road from Wat Sisaket, Originally built in 1565 it was a casualty of the Thai destruction of the Lao capital. What stands today is a lovingly reconstructed building, in the middle of a beautiful garden, from the 1940s and 1950s.

That Luang is Vientiane's most important site and the holiest Buddhist monument in the country. From a distance one approaches a golden stupa on top of a gently sloped hill..What one sees today is the heavily restored version from the beginning of the 19th century. According to legend a stupa was first built here in the 3rd century AD however the only early signs, found through excavation, date from Khmer times in the 11th to 13th centuries.

Wat Si Muang is without doubt Vientiane's busiest temple. The ordination hall was not large but very popular. Throngs of people come here for good luck or fortune. This afternoon, the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly. Inside, people prayed or received blessings in the front room of the hall, In the smaller rear room was an altar with many Buddha statues plus a large colourful mandala hanging behind. Above was a copper ceiling with some kind of relief pattern.

I was also with my friends Hans and Hong today. They bought two sad looking Yellow-billed Egrets, at a country market east of town, with the intent of freeing the birds as is the custom here. Normally small birds are released here to earn better karma but Hong's compassion was moved by seeing these much larger specimens crammed into a small cage. The tuk tuk driver, who was completely in tune with what was unfolding, suggested we take the egrets to Wat Si Muang. There my friends could receive blessings and earn merit in the process. So through the tuk tuk driver I too stumbled upon the Wat Si Muang. First Hans and Hong sought blessings from a temple priest. Then the two birds were carefully removed from a cardboard carton and freed in a special area, behind the ordination hall. The whole afternoon seemed to resonate in this trail of little acts of kindness.

As an aside there were Khmer era ruins nearby where the two birds took flight.

Family Outing

Video #1 - family outing, driving through Vientiane

Video #2 - family outing, in a restaurant lakeside pavilion, near Vientiane

Video #3 - family land near Vientiane

Hong's sister stopping to top up on groceries for the blind residential school.

Tomb designed to look like a car as the deceased enjoying drving so much.

Chapel at the Vietnamese Buddhist cemetery - note Gecko high up on back wall.

Donations from Hong's sister for the blind at this residential school.

About to leave on a family outing, Vientiane

Family outing, driving through Vientiane

Gazing out at an artificial lake, east of Vientiane

Family gathering in a lakeside pavilion.

Family gathering in a lakeside pavilion.

Neighbouring pavilions.

Visiting family property on the Eastern outskirts of Vientiane.

MEEING FRIENDS began this morning with my seeing Hans and Hong, from Ruesselsheim, Germany. Hong is originally from Vietnam however the family moved to Laos long ago and her sister now has a house here in Vientiane. I last saw Hans and Hong  when I stayed with them in Germany back in July of 2010.

Here at the family home we relaxed through the mid-morning before leaving in a tuk tuk. The tiny taxi was loaded with groceries which were being donated to residents in a home for the blind. En route we visited a Vietnamese Buddhist cemetery were many of Hong's relatives are buried. After that we continued to the residential school. The groceries were handed over and we stayed for awhile before returning to the house.

More family members joined us and then we drove some 25 kilometres to an artificial lake Northeast of the Laotian Capital. On this Sunday many well-off families retreated here as well. We were shown to a thatch roofed pavilions, on posts, which was by the water's edge. It was the perfect place to catch a breeze off the water while eating and relaxing on this sticky hot afternoon. We stayed for hours here with the women to one end of the pavilion and the men to the other. The food was delicious and included water buffalo, some small roasted birds, local fish, green mango salad and many other interesting dishes.

On the way home we stopped at piece of property owned by one of the family members. This was purchased on speculation one can only suspect, with talk of a freeway being planned through the area. The property was on the Eastern periphery of Vientiane and one could see some large pretentious family homes in the area that has just gone up. As an aside Laos is also experiencing in excess of 6% GNP at the moment so big changes are coming as some of the new wealth trickles down.

Villa Manoly in Vientiane

My room at Villa Manoly.

My room at Villa Manoly.

One of the two resident dogs.

Breakfast at the Villa Manoly

Lobby at the Villa Manoly.

Garden at Villa Manoly.

Orchids at Villa Manoly.

Interesting details in the front entrance.

Entrance to Villa Manoly.


AN OASIS of tranquility is what comes to mind at the Villa Manoly. The former mansion lies on the outskirts of Downtown Vientiane. The front building is from 1960 with an annex added much later. I stayed here for one night on the recommendation of a Swedish tourist. He couldn't have been more accurate. My room was huge and the idiosyncratic furniture suggested an atmosphere very much from the past.

Out in the Valley

Video #1 - Multitasking on a bike with wobbly ride through Ban Na Som.

Video #2 - A butterfly show in the gardens of the Maylyn Guest House, Vang Vieng

Tham Pu Kham with garden and karst formations in smoke haze.

Blue Lagoon at Tham Phu Ham

Blue Lagoon residents at Tham Phu Kham.

Easy Rider on his Chinese motorbike at Tham Phu Kham.

Lane to the creek in Ban Na Som.

Monk slicing up cucumber for the two of us in the Wat in Ban Na Som.

With a monk who invited me to his quarters.

Weaver in Ban Na Som.

Stream crossing.

GOT UP EARLY and rented a little Chinese motorbike for the day. It was available for 40,000 kip or $5.00 but if anything went wrong, with the exception of an engine breakdown, the customer was completely responsible. I started out by crossing a foot bridge over the Nam Song River. It only had a banister on one side but I made it to the other shore and proceeded for 7 kilometres over a very bumpy road. Passed a couple of hamlets and villages en route. I could have visited a cave, or two, but as the local caverns could only be viewed by flashlight I decided to stick to touring. Visited a temple in the village of Ban Na Som where I met a friendly monk. He invited me into his house, elevated on posts, where there was a cool cross draft. He also shared a couple of delicious local cucumbers that were gourd-shaped. Came back in the dust and heat by midday.

Vang Vieng is a notorious party place for young backpackers. For my second night here I was able to get accommodation, across the river. That put almost out of earshot of the noisy strip with it's chill lounges, drug laced fruit smoothies and endless runs of the sitcoms "Friends" and "Family Guy," played on video loops. Maylyn Guest House provided basic accommodation and featured a beautiful garden with small clouds of butterflies.