The Best of Cambodia & Laos

where a shrine of the royal spirit protector Haw Phi Khon is located. The interior of the
sim is bright and very colorful. The pillars and beams are painted in reds and gold, while
the interior walls are covered with murals depicting Buddhist hell. These are scenes of
torture and suffering experienced by those who inflicted evil on others in their lives getting
a good karmic going over after death. There are also scenes reflecting the historic
past of the city. The wat, does in fact, have an interesting past. The founder of the Lan
Xang kingdom, Fa Ngum, established a shrine here for worshiping the guardian spirits
of Luang Prabang (devata luang), Pu No, and Na No (Phou Nheu and Nha Nheu). Fa
Ngum also made Theravada Buddhism the state religion. Beginning in 1527, however,
the devout ruler of the Lan Xang kingdom, King Phothisarat began a concerted attack
on the worship of these guardian spirits. He banned religious ceremonies in their honor,
smashed their shrines, and erected a Buddhist monastery on the site of the former spirit
shrine. Some discrete worship of the guardian spirits continued despite the ban. Shortly
after the attacks on the guardian spirits the city was beset by a number of crises, including
disease, drought, and crop failure; in the popular mind the destruction of the shrines had
brought the disasters. After King Sai Setthathirat moved the capital to Vientiane in 1563,
the spirit shrine was rebuilt. The spirit gods and Buddhism lived together until the mid–
20th century, when the spirit shrine was destroyed. The spirits of Pu No and Na No by
this time had achieved embodiment in the two large banyan trees that stood on the
monastery grounds. For much of the 19th century, Wat Aham also served as the residence
of the Sangkhalat, or the supreme patriarch of Laotian Buddhism.
Visunarat Rd. Admission 10,000 kip. Daily 8am–5pm.
Wat Chom Khong The small but attractive Wat Chom Khong Sourintharame means
the “Monastery at the Core of the Gong,” is located northeast of the Royal Palace. The
name comes from the raised boss in the center of a bronze gong, from which it is said
the wat’s central Buddha figure was partly made.
Choum Khong was founded by Phakhu Keo in 1843, during the reign of King Sukaseum
(1836–51). The sim was restored in 1933 and 1951, and its decoration was entirely
remade in 1962. It shares a wall with Wat Xieng Mouane, and the sims of the two monasteries
have a lot in common in terms of style and decoration. The grounds of the wat
are beautiful.
In front of the monks living quarters or kutis are two Chinese stone statues. In 1861
these were presented to King Chantharath (1850–72) by the Chinese ambassador from
Kunming during his visit to Luang Prabang. They represent the elements of yin and
yang, and the Vajra (the lightning or thunderbolt representing masculine principles) and
the Ghanta (representing the bell, or feminine principles). These statues had a bit of a
rough ride under the French. In the 1890s the interim high commissioner, Joseph Vacle,
placed them in front of his residence. After World War I they were placed in the Royal
Palace. In the 1930s, the Lao prince and director of culture, Tiao Patasavong Sisouphan,
presented them to Wat Chom Kong. They used to guard the central stairway of the sim.
Now they flank the doorway of the nearby kuti.
Wat Ho Xiang Wat Ho Siang Voravihane or the “Lottery Pavilion” is next to Wat
That on a small hill southwest of Mount Phousi. There is a naga-flanked stairway going
up the hill to the temple. The wat was named in a 1548 ceremony by King Setthathirat.
The sim is simple with a central pillarless hall and a single highly decorated doorway.
Stylized murals, some of which depict the karmic and really quite brutal punishment
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