Posts Tagged ‘TEMPLES’

If you’re looking for an enormous cricket, the no-evil monkey triplets, a nasty concrete crone with a chicken cage full of scared people, and a massive reclining Buddha, have I got a temple for you! Wat Chom Phet, located at the southern edge of Vientiane, is not your run-of-the-mill Buddhist temple. Just a short bumpy [...]

After giving our bodies a good workout with the morning bike ride on Saturday, Megan and I gave our minds a good workout with an afternoon meditation at Wat Sokpaluang. Although I can barely maneuver the motorbike with just me on it, I nervously drove the two of us the short distance to the temple. [...]

This week’s installment of Wat ‘O’ the Week comes to you from Luang Prabang, where my sister and I celebrated Wat Wednesday. The historic little city in northern Laos boats 32 Buddhist temples built before the French showed up in 1887 for 58 years of colonization. Much to Megan’s relief, I didn’t make her visit [...]

The Lonely Planet guidebook tells you to “prepare for divine inspiration!” when you visit the temples of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer empire. Although this was my second visit and the throngs of tourists precluded any semblance of peace, I still felt a sense of awe and reverence faced with nearly 1,000-year-old structures, intricate carvings, soaring towers, [...]

I’m cheating a little bit with this Wat ‘O’ the Week post. I actually visited this temple on the same day I went to Wat Phia Wat with Catherine. We had hoped to visit with a monk she knew here, but unfortunately, we were told that he had gone to the States to study for [...]

I’ve been stalking one of our second-grade teachers, Catherine, an Aussie who has lived in Laos for several years and shares my love of the local temples. She seems to know everyone in town, and she has some beautiful stories about her experiences here. So I tagged her to be my tour guide today – [...]

Welcome to The Guide Hog’s new “Wat ‘o’ the Week” spotlight on Buddhist temples in Vientiane! I’ll try to visit a different temple each week with the goal of finding a unique angle or tidbit of information. All wats comprise a “sim,” the actual temple building where people pray and make offerings, as well as [...]

Adjusting to a new job and a new city and a new language occasionally takes its toll, and some days end in tears. That was Friday. But today is Sunday, and my culture shock schizophrenia has brought a sunny mood to match the weather and festive spirit in Vientiane this weekend. The That Luang Festival [...]

Thursday’s Vientiane adventure with Tony N. and Rand included stops at two local Buddhist temples: Si Muan and Si Saket. Wat Si Muang Various legends surround the original construction of Wat Si Muang, but here’s the gist of the story: King Setthathirat moved his capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in 1563, so a group [...]

Update on my weekly Dash-to-the-Friendship-Bridge bike ride: On Saturday, I beat my previous record by more than 2 minutes! 37:47 Sweet! I often use little mental tools to distract myself because I despise exercise with every fiber of my being. This week, I consciously focused on the colors I encountered on my ride. This may [...]