Vientiane is the capital of Laos. Compared to other cities in Laos, it's quite modern and wealthy . The antique temples are the treasures of the city, though in number and beauty they are by far outdone by the ones in Luang Prabang. Pha That Luang is the most conspicuous one because it's all covered in gold and therefor it's on the cover of many travelguides and other publications about Laos.
Our favorite temple is Wat Sok Pa Luang. In the garden there is a wooden bungalow where you can get a one hour massage and there's a cosy herbal sauna. If it's saturday and if you like that sort of thing, you can join in a meditation workshop lead by a monk. When we were there, a bright and smiling novice introduced us to the principles of Theravada meditation techniques while and old nun supervised. It's not easy to find your first steps into Nirvana when around you intrusive flies and barking dogs keep reminding of the actual world. The mountain one is supposed to envisage inside in order to bring the madding train of thoughts to a halt, crumbles and the smell of a nice soup in the distance was the decisive argument to keep Nirvana waiting another bit. But after traveling in Lao for a while, one tends to see those ubiquitous monks as decorative 'couleur locale'. This workshop gives the participant a brief insight in what they are about. For those who would like to get more than a short peek into Buddhism, there are numerous courses and monasteries open to whatever kind of arrangement one should desire all over the country.
One night there was a Baci ceremony in Lao International Culture Centre. A baci is a cone made of banana leaf decorated with flowers and candles. Baci ceremonies are organized for saying "goodbye " to visitors after a wedding party. In the end of the ceremony, before leaving the scene, the well-wisher takes you by the hand, while with other hand he makes stroking movements down your arm, ordering the negative vibrations and evil spirits leave your body. After that is done, he will tie a white cotton string around the pulse while wishing you to be healthy, wealthy, happy, fertile and many other good things. Those wishes will not come true if one takes off the string before three days have passed. One could see people wearing dirty white straps around their pulses many days afterwards.
The baci ceremony in front of the Culture Centre was a very special one in the sense that it seemed to have Guiness Book ambitions. All around town there were banners saying this was the biggest baci ever, 5 metres height. On the square in front of the palace there were many chairs the best of which were given to the prime minister and members of government, ambassadors and other high ranking officials. Though many armed police and soldiers were present. We could approach all those people and ceremonies very close and compete for the best vantage points with the official media when taking pictures, which is respresentative for the relaxed and inclusive attitude of the Lao in general. After the ceremony, there was a free buffet donated by all the restaurants of the city, where could find oneself rubbing elbows with the prime minister or the ambassador of Vietnam while waiting in line for sate. After coffee and scotch, there were performances by singers, acrobats and the final act of that night was a fashion show where local girls showed dresses of local designers.
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