The Best of Cambodia & Laos

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