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228<br />
VIENTIANE<br />
11<br />
VIENTIANE ATTRACTIONS<br />
ride here provides clear views <strong>of</strong> Thailand across the Mekong. To get there, take a bus<br />
from Talat Sao for 40¢ or hire a tuk-tuk for round-trip.<br />
Admission 5,000 kip. Camera fee 5,000 kip. Daily 8am–4:30pm.<br />
Haw Pha Kaeo Constructed in 1565, this temple was built to house the celebrated<br />
Emerald Buddha. This was later appropriated by Siam in 1779, and still resides in Wat<br />
Phra Kaew in Bangkok. According to legend, the Emerald Buddha was originally found<br />
when lightning struck a chedi at Wat Phra Kaew Don Tao in Chiang Rai province,<br />
Thailand, in 1434. Discovered inside the chedi was a statue covered in stucco. <strong>The</strong> stucco<br />
was removed to reveal the Emerald Buddha itself. It is actually made out <strong>of</strong> a form <strong>of</strong><br />
jade. Later the statue was moved to Lampang where it remained until 1468 when it was<br />
moved again to Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai. King Setthathirat bought it with him<br />
from Lanna to Luang Prabang (his mother was a princess <strong>of</strong> the Lanna Kingdom in what<br />
is now northern Thailand). He ordered the building <strong>of</strong> Haw Pha Kaeo when he moved<br />
his capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane and bought the Emerald Buddha with him.<br />
Now Haw Pha Kaeo is a museum containing religious art. This, however, is not the<br />
original temple. That was destroyed by the Thais in the Siam-<strong>Laos</strong> war <strong>of</strong> 1828. This<br />
version was rebuilt by the French and completed in 1942. <strong>The</strong> original wat is unlikely to<br />
have very much resembled the present structure, which has a distinctly Thai feel to the<br />
architecture rather than the sweeping curves <strong>of</strong> Lao design. Despite that it still has an<br />
impact, largely because it is so large. <strong>The</strong> surrounding grounds are also very pleasant.<br />
It houses some exquisite artifacts including Buddha images dating back as far as the<br />
6th century.<br />
Setthathirath. Admission 5,000 kip. Daily 8am–noon and 1–4pm.<br />
Kaysone Phomvihane Memorial This man was to <strong>Laos</strong>, in many ways, what Ho<br />
Chi Minh was to Vietnam or Fidel Casto is to Cuba. Born in 1920, his father was from<br />
Vietnam while his mother was Lao. Kaysone Phomvihane became involved with the<br />
Indochina freedom struggle while studying law at University in Hanoi during the 1940s.<br />
He left college before completing his studies to join the Pathet Lao. In 1955, he was<br />
influential in setting up the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) at Sam Nuea in<br />
northern <strong>Laos</strong>, and after that was effectively the Pathet Lao leader, although the “Red<br />
Prince,” Souphanouvong (p. 183) held the position <strong>of</strong>ficially. After the Pathet Lao victory,<br />
Phomvihane served as prime minister between 1975 and 1991 and president after<br />
that until his death in 1992. This museum was opened in 1996 and is made up <strong>of</strong> his<br />
house with a variety <strong>of</strong> artifacts and objects from his daily life and a museum (about<br />
1km/ 1 ⁄2 mile away) built in monumental style with financial assistance from Vietnam.<br />
<strong>The</strong> exterior is designed in traditional Lao style but the interior layout is strongly reminiscent<br />
<strong>of</strong> that <strong>of</strong> the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi. <strong>The</strong>re are two stories: the upper<br />
story comprises a central statue hall, surrounded by exhibition rooms with dioramas and<br />
displays that trace his life and career in the context <strong>of</strong> the Lao revolutionary history.<br />
Outside is a huge bronze statue <strong>of</strong> the man himself (looking rather self-effacing in a tightfitting<br />
suit) flanked by Soviet-style heroic statues depicting tough revolutionaries doing<br />
tough revolutionary things.<br />
Rte. 13 heading 6km (33 ⁄4 miles) south toward the Friendship Bridge. Admission 10,000 kip. Tues–Sun<br />
8am–noon and 1–4pm.<br />
Lao National Museum This slightly haphazard museum is housed in an interesting<br />
old colonial structure built by the French as the <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>of</strong> the police commissioner.