Lao is a predominantly Buddhist country. Most of her people follows the Theraveda Buddhism, similar to countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar in the region.
In this temple lies one of the 3 legendary Buddha statues. One of the trio is none other than the Jade Buddha in Bangkok for whom the King of Thailand changes clothes for every season with much pomp. The final of the trio is lost beneath the Mekong River during the war. The legend goes that the 3 statues together will bring great prosperity to the country that owns them. For the longest time, many countries have been trying to lay their hands on them. I wonder if modern technology will actually help locate the missing statue under the murky waters of the Mekong River. According to the tour guide, this statue was made entirely of gold!
Statues...
Erm.. statue too.
Painting on the wall of a temple depicting the life of the Buddha. Reminds me of the Sistine Chaple in Vatican City.
More beautiful paintings.
Along Mekong River.
Here we arrive at a cave along the Mekong River where the locals kept their precious Buddhist artefacts during the war.
Giant flower!
Our fabulous host in Lao. This is Daniel, he is from Nagaland. Nagaland is by right part of India but if you look it up on the map, it's actually very far from the Indian Peninsula. According to Daniel, it's only recently that India included Nagaland to be under the adminstration of the Department of Internal Affairs. A sign that shows that the Indian government is trying to exert political control over that region. Before this, I never knew Nagaland existed. So ignorant!
A beautiful sight on our last morning there. These monks set off every morning around 4-5am to collect alms and along the roads, you'll see locals sitting crosslegged on the roadside, offering alms to the monks. The monks here eat meat because they are not suppose to be choosy of what people have to offer them. I think I've read this somewhere before.
Home sweet home!
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