Viva Vientiane, A survivor with style
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Andrew
Oct 4, 2012, 7:40:35 AM10/4/12
to Lao Cultural Heritage Forum
*Viva Vientiane, A survivor with style*
Despite communist rule and the march of modernity, the city by the
Mekong remains one of Asia's most laidback, sublime capitals, and it's
a convenient launch pad from which to explore gorgeous Vang Viang
Bangkok Post, 30/09/2012
On the evening before the first day of Khao Pansa _ Buddhist Lent _
last month, a full moon rising in the east magically complimented the
sun setting behind a bend in the mighty Mekong, smearing dazzling
golds, oranges and reds across the river that flows right alongside
the heart of the utterly unpretentious Lao capital. The sense of space
here is simply overwhelming, and enhanced by the fresh breezes giving
shape to the Lao national flag and an equally large red communist
banner with a yellow hammer-and-sickle motif, both of which stand on
the bank atop soaring flagpoles.
Vientiane’s majestically spacious promenade along the Mekong looks
more like a beachfront.
Who says Laos is landlocked? This vast promenade of Tiananmen
proportions possesses a more profound sense of place than many beaches
in countries that have actual seacoasts. For kilometre after
kilometre, strollers, cyclists and skateboarders savour the sheer
emptiness of waterside Vientiane, which nearby still sports the wide
and also most walkable tree-lined avenues that testify that this was
once a part (albeit a sleepy backwater) of French Indochina.
While neighbouring China and Vietnam pay deference to Mao Zedong and
Ho Chi Minh in their stately mausoleums, this breathtaking, sweeping
riverside expanse in the capital of the Lao People's Democratic
Republic, called Chao Anouvong Park, is named after not a communist
leader, but the last king of Vientiane, who was best known for
attempting to free his country from Thai rule.
Communism and Buddhism coexist in Laos without signs of contradiction.
Near the river, in a massive, attention-commanding statue, Chao
Anouvong looks out over and gestures with his right arm towards the
land he invaded in a botched rebellion he started in 1826. His fateful
attack on Siam motivated Laos' stronger neighbour to invade and
destroy much of the city in 1828. Elsewhere in town are the also regal
statues of Fa Ngum, who founded the first Lao kingdom of Lan Xang
(Land of a Million Elephants) in 1353, and 19th-century monarch
Sisavangvong.
On sale in the park are small talismanic photos, with "Red Prince"
Souphanouvong on one side and Lao revolutionary leader Kaysone
Phomvihane on the other, which are bought for the good luck they are
credited with bringing.
A few years ago the scenic riverside area where the park now lies was
awash with ramshackle restaurants and beer gardens, which the
authorities removed in order to beautify and reclaim the area. After
sundown, a lively night market sells everything from local-style
Buddhist images to Hmong pa ndau folk-style weavings to T-shirts
emblazoned with "LAO PDR" beneath the national flag.
After dark, a number of trendy restaurants in the city centre come to
life, many being situated in smartly converted old colonial French
houses with their pitched tile roofs, windows with shutters and thick
walls, which are found along streets with spacious footpaths that are
a joy to walk down and are marked on their signs with the French "rue"
rather than the English "road" below their names in the local
language. The bills for these restaurants serving Lao, French, Italian
and many other cuisines in this international city are often presented
with amounts stated in not only Lao kip, but also in baht, US dollars
and euros.
In the new multi-storey, architecturally Lao-accented Talad Sao
shopping mall, a T-shirt for sale bears an image of a colonial-era
postage stamp and the rather counterrevolutionary message "Royaume du
Laos: Union Francaise" (Kingdom of Laos: French Union). In the
centre's food court, cheap baguettes are offered with Lao-style pate.
While China and Sinicised Vietnam are not quite sure how to handle the
return of religion (and certainly not the legacies of past emperors)
to their increasingly less communist societies, the more pragmatic
communist leaders of Laos have for decades allowed the public to
freely practise Theravada Buddhism in daily life, and tout the
classical Lao faith and former monarchy as key symbols of Laos's
national heritage. While China and Vietnam doggedly stick to the
communist course, at least in terms of being officially represented in
state symbols by stars, the national symbol of Laos was long ago
changed; a hammer and sickle was replaced with an image of Vientiane's
gilded Pha That Luang, the elegantly, curvaceously Lao-style stupa
that is a must see for its embodiment of traditional local culture. A
stately statue of King Setthathirat, who ordered the edifice's
construction in 1566, stands nearby.
Peppering the provincial-like town of under a million inhabitants are
many traditional Buddhist temples that closely resemble those of
neighbouring Thailand.
At no time is Lao Buddhism's continuing influence more greatly or
elegantly manifested than on the first day of Khao Pansa. On Aug 2, at
temples across the capital like Wat Ong Teu and Wat Mixay, and
elsewhere in the mountainous country, Lao women in colourful silk
blouses and elegant pha nung sarongs with elaborately embroidered
hems, and their menfolk sporting pha biang shoulder sashes, made
monetary donations and offerings of candles, incense and flowers. With
the quietude and devotion of their ancestors, Laotians of all ages and
from all walks of life made merit and paid respect before golden
images.
Whereas most of their counterparts in Bangkok have turned to
international fashions, many young women in Vientiane also wear a pha
nung nung every day.
A unique destination for Thais is the attractively understated and
darkly hued Haw Pha Kaew, which, as its name indicates, once housed
the Emerald Buddha that now resides in Bangkok. It's a much more
subdued affair here; instead of the smartly, regally uniformed
attendants and guards in the Bangkok's most sacred wat, Vientiane's
Emerald Buddha holy site was locked up at the end of the day by a
young man in jeans and a Beerlao T-shirt.
Meanwhile in the Lao National Museum in central Vientiane, above the
creaking wooden floorboards in this converted colonial-era edifice,
images of Marx and Lenin stand testament to the land's political
ideology, which gradually yields more to capitalist global norms year
by year. A highlight here are many galleries of simple but powerful
black-and-white photographs of Laotians injured by "imperialist" US
bombings during the "secret war" in the 1960s and 1970s.
A block away and also on Rue Samsenthai is a popular branch of
Thailand's Black Canyon coffeehouse, one of many venues for relaxing
and reading in the mid-sized town. Another Thai chain, True Coffee,
also has a presence in the Lao capital. With few tourists in town now
during the daily rains of low season, Vientiane is even less populated
than usual, and small enough and easy enough to amble around, or catch
the occasional oversized tuk-tuk from laidback drivers who rarely
hassle or hustle potential customers.
There are several good French-style cafes such as Le Banneton on Rue
Nokeokoummane, and others on this street, as well as on or nearby Rue
Setthathirath, a few blocks from the water, where one can sip espresso
or a stiff Lao coffee (a cousin of Thailand's gafae boran) while
breakfasting with a piping hot baguette and leafing through a copy of
the Vientiane Times.
Vientiane is conveniently close to nature, and the best out-of-town
odyssey in the greater capital region as got to be Vang Viang, about
three hours to the north via the winding Route 13.
Often dismissed as little more than a wretched hive of drunken and
stoned backpackers, the riverside town remains a fine destination for
its magnificent position near emerald rice fields and Hmong villages
plus a stunning backdrop of limestone karst, which during the rainy
season are exceptionally beautiful, popping in and out of the clouds
as in a Chinese landscape painting.
In the off season there are as not many youngsters drinking booze
while tubing down the nearby rivers, and the area is ideal for
bicycling or kayaking. Nestled along the Song River are many secluded
guesthouses like the Maylyn Guesthouse or Le Jardin Organique
Bungalows, run by friendly locals and Europeans in rural environs not
unlike Pai in Thailand's Mae Hong Son province, but in an even
prettier environment.
Even here, in the so-called sin city, residents celebrated the first
night of Khao Pansa by visiting the town's modest temples. Other
locals just twirled their hands in ramvong motions and swayed to luk
tung tunes on the ground floor of their shop-houses around town,
saying "sabaidee" to passersby. Some simply lit candles and placed
them in the front of their modest homes.
Having survived warfare and revolution, and, more recently increasing
globalisation and the intrusion of lowbrow tourists, Lao culture still
manages to shine brightly.
Despite communist rule and the march of modernity, the city by the
Mekong remains one of Asia's most laidback, sublime capitals, and it's
a convenient launch pad from which to explore gorgeous Vang Viang
Bangkok Post, 30/09/2012
On the evening before the first day of Khao Pansa _ Buddhist Lent _
last month, a full moon rising in the east magically complimented the
sun setting behind a bend in the mighty Mekong, smearing dazzling
golds, oranges and reds across the river that flows right alongside
the heart of the utterly unpretentious Lao capital. The sense of space
here is simply overwhelming, and enhanced by the fresh breezes giving
shape to the Lao national flag and an equally large red communist
banner with a yellow hammer-and-sickle motif, both of which stand on
the bank atop soaring flagpoles.
Vientiane’s majestically spacious promenade along the Mekong looks
more like a beachfront.
Who says Laos is landlocked? This vast promenade of Tiananmen
proportions possesses a more profound sense of place than many beaches
in countries that have actual seacoasts. For kilometre after
kilometre, strollers, cyclists and skateboarders savour the sheer
emptiness of waterside Vientiane, which nearby still sports the wide
and also most walkable tree-lined avenues that testify that this was
once a part (albeit a sleepy backwater) of French Indochina.
While neighbouring China and Vietnam pay deference to Mao Zedong and
Ho Chi Minh in their stately mausoleums, this breathtaking, sweeping
riverside expanse in the capital of the Lao People's Democratic
Republic, called Chao Anouvong Park, is named after not a communist
leader, but the last king of Vientiane, who was best known for
attempting to free his country from Thai rule.
Communism and Buddhism coexist in Laos without signs of contradiction.
Near the river, in a massive, attention-commanding statue, Chao
Anouvong looks out over and gestures with his right arm towards the
land he invaded in a botched rebellion he started in 1826. His fateful
attack on Siam motivated Laos' stronger neighbour to invade and
destroy much of the city in 1828. Elsewhere in town are the also regal
statues of Fa Ngum, who founded the first Lao kingdom of Lan Xang
(Land of a Million Elephants) in 1353, and 19th-century monarch
Sisavangvong.
On sale in the park are small talismanic photos, with "Red Prince"
Souphanouvong on one side and Lao revolutionary leader Kaysone
Phomvihane on the other, which are bought for the good luck they are
credited with bringing.
A few years ago the scenic riverside area where the park now lies was
awash with ramshackle restaurants and beer gardens, which the
authorities removed in order to beautify and reclaim the area. After
sundown, a lively night market sells everything from local-style
Buddhist images to Hmong pa ndau folk-style weavings to T-shirts
emblazoned with "LAO PDR" beneath the national flag.
After dark, a number of trendy restaurants in the city centre come to
life, many being situated in smartly converted old colonial French
houses with their pitched tile roofs, windows with shutters and thick
walls, which are found along streets with spacious footpaths that are
a joy to walk down and are marked on their signs with the French "rue"
rather than the English "road" below their names in the local
language. The bills for these restaurants serving Lao, French, Italian
and many other cuisines in this international city are often presented
with amounts stated in not only Lao kip, but also in baht, US dollars
and euros.
In the new multi-storey, architecturally Lao-accented Talad Sao
shopping mall, a T-shirt for sale bears an image of a colonial-era
postage stamp and the rather counterrevolutionary message "Royaume du
Laos: Union Francaise" (Kingdom of Laos: French Union). In the
centre's food court, cheap baguettes are offered with Lao-style pate.
While China and Sinicised Vietnam are not quite sure how to handle the
return of religion (and certainly not the legacies of past emperors)
to their increasingly less communist societies, the more pragmatic
communist leaders of Laos have for decades allowed the public to
freely practise Theravada Buddhism in daily life, and tout the
classical Lao faith and former monarchy as key symbols of Laos's
national heritage. While China and Vietnam doggedly stick to the
communist course, at least in terms of being officially represented in
state symbols by stars, the national symbol of Laos was long ago
changed; a hammer and sickle was replaced with an image of Vientiane's
gilded Pha That Luang, the elegantly, curvaceously Lao-style stupa
that is a must see for its embodiment of traditional local culture. A
stately statue of King Setthathirat, who ordered the edifice's
construction in 1566, stands nearby.
Peppering the provincial-like town of under a million inhabitants are
many traditional Buddhist temples that closely resemble those of
neighbouring Thailand.
At no time is Lao Buddhism's continuing influence more greatly or
elegantly manifested than on the first day of Khao Pansa. On Aug 2, at
temples across the capital like Wat Ong Teu and Wat Mixay, and
elsewhere in the mountainous country, Lao women in colourful silk
blouses and elegant pha nung sarongs with elaborately embroidered
hems, and their menfolk sporting pha biang shoulder sashes, made
monetary donations and offerings of candles, incense and flowers. With
the quietude and devotion of their ancestors, Laotians of all ages and
from all walks of life made merit and paid respect before golden
images.
Whereas most of their counterparts in Bangkok have turned to
international fashions, many young women in Vientiane also wear a pha
nung nung every day.
A unique destination for Thais is the attractively understated and
darkly hued Haw Pha Kaew, which, as its name indicates, once housed
the Emerald Buddha that now resides in Bangkok. It's a much more
subdued affair here; instead of the smartly, regally uniformed
attendants and guards in the Bangkok's most sacred wat, Vientiane's
Emerald Buddha holy site was locked up at the end of the day by a
young man in jeans and a Beerlao T-shirt.
Meanwhile in the Lao National Museum in central Vientiane, above the
creaking wooden floorboards in this converted colonial-era edifice,
images of Marx and Lenin stand testament to the land's political
ideology, which gradually yields more to capitalist global norms year
by year. A highlight here are many galleries of simple but powerful
black-and-white photographs of Laotians injured by "imperialist" US
bombings during the "secret war" in the 1960s and 1970s.
A block away and also on Rue Samsenthai is a popular branch of
Thailand's Black Canyon coffeehouse, one of many venues for relaxing
and reading in the mid-sized town. Another Thai chain, True Coffee,
also has a presence in the Lao capital. With few tourists in town now
during the daily rains of low season, Vientiane is even less populated
than usual, and small enough and easy enough to amble around, or catch
the occasional oversized tuk-tuk from laidback drivers who rarely
hassle or hustle potential customers.
There are several good French-style cafes such as Le Banneton on Rue
Nokeokoummane, and others on this street, as well as on or nearby Rue
Setthathirath, a few blocks from the water, where one can sip espresso
or a stiff Lao coffee (a cousin of Thailand's gafae boran) while
breakfasting with a piping hot baguette and leafing through a copy of
the Vientiane Times.
Vientiane is conveniently close to nature, and the best out-of-town
odyssey in the greater capital region as got to be Vang Viang, about
three hours to the north via the winding Route 13.
Often dismissed as little more than a wretched hive of drunken and
stoned backpackers, the riverside town remains a fine destination for
its magnificent position near emerald rice fields and Hmong villages
plus a stunning backdrop of limestone karst, which during the rainy
season are exceptionally beautiful, popping in and out of the clouds
as in a Chinese landscape painting.
In the off season there are as not many youngsters drinking booze
while tubing down the nearby rivers, and the area is ideal for
bicycling or kayaking. Nestled along the Song River are many secluded
guesthouses like the Maylyn Guesthouse or Le Jardin Organique
Bungalows, run by friendly locals and Europeans in rural environs not
unlike Pai in Thailand's Mae Hong Son province, but in an even
prettier environment.
Even here, in the so-called sin city, residents celebrated the first
night of Khao Pansa by visiting the town's modest temples. Other
locals just twirled their hands in ramvong motions and swayed to luk
tung tunes on the ground floor of their shop-houses around town,
saying "sabaidee" to passersby. Some simply lit candles and placed
them in the front of their modest homes.
Having survived warfare and revolution, and, more recently increasing
globalisation and the intrusion of lowbrow tourists, Lao culture still
manages to shine brightly.
Keith Barney
Oct 4, 2012, 8:31:33 PM10/4/12
to lao...@googlegroups.com
aaaaahaha... I love it....
fewer ratty colonial firetraps... more Thai coffee houses!
And Vang Vieng is charming, not a death river.
As for Chao Anou... well... it was his own fault in the end...?
[NB i am using some irony here]
keith
-----------------------------------------------------------
fewer ratty colonial firetraps... more Thai coffee houses!
And Vang Vieng is charming, not a death river.
As for Chao Anou... well... it was his own fault in the end...?
[NB i am using some irony here]
keith
-----------------------------------------------------------
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marion ravenscroft
Oct 5, 2012, 12:30:56 AM10/5/12
to lao...@googlegroups.com
It's a pity that "promenade" is about to become a major highway !!
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marion ravenscroft
Oct 5, 2012, 12:25:18 AM10/5/12
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so true
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Eisel Mazard
Oct 26, 2012, 10:14:28 AM10/26/12
to lao...@googlegroups.com, marion ravenscroft
There's no lower limit to bad journalism…
"Communism and Buddhism coexist in Laos without signs of contradiction."
Cf.
Martin Stuart-Fox
Buddhist kingdom, Marxist state
http://books.google.ca/books?id=XXluAAAAMAAJ
Re:
"While China and Vietnam doggedly stick to the
communist course, at least in terms of being officially represented in
state symbols by stars, the national symbol of Laos was long ago
changed; a hammer and sickle was replaced with an image of Vientiane's
gilded Pha That Luang, the elegantly, curvaceously Lao-style stupa
that is a must see for its embodiment of traditional local culture."
The That Luang was designed and built by the French. It is not representative of traditional local culture, on the contrary, it is precisely a reflection of French colonialism and modernism (of the time). That's why it doesn't look anything like a traditional temple found anywhere in the Lao or Northern Thai world, from any prior period of history!
This was discussed somewhat on my blog, along with the factoid that the changing of the national emblem "long ago" = 1991.
"1991 was also the year when the image of a Buddhist temple quite literally replaced the hammer-and-sickle at the centre of the national insignia/coat-of-arms (appearing on the currency, and seen on official buildings, publications, etc. etc.)…"
http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.ca/2012/05/on-learning-lao-fascicle-1.html
The claim (made by the Bangkok post here) that Lao is "less Communist" than China or Vietnam is difficult to defend. They have elections in Laos, but there is only one political party on the ballot, and that is the Communist Party, folks.
E.M.
"Communism and Buddhism coexist in Laos without signs of contradiction."
Martin Stuart-Fox
Buddhist kingdom, Marxist state
http://books.google.ca/books?id=XXluAAAAMAAJ
Re:
"While China and Vietnam doggedly stick to the
communist course, at least in terms of being officially represented in
state symbols by stars, the national symbol of Laos was long ago
changed; a hammer and sickle was replaced with an image of Vientiane's
gilded Pha That Luang, the elegantly, curvaceously Lao-style stupa
that is a must see for its embodiment of traditional local culture."
This was discussed somewhat on my blog, along with the factoid that the changing of the national emblem "long ago" = 1991.
"1991 was also the year when the image of a Buddhist temple quite literally replaced the hammer-and-sickle at the centre of the national insignia/coat-of-arms (appearing on the currency, and seen on official buildings, publications, etc. etc.)…"
http://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.ca/2012/05/on-learning-lao-fascicle-1.html
The claim (made by the Bangkok post here) that Lao is "less Communist" than China or Vietnam is difficult to defend. They have elections in Laos, but there is only one political party on the ballot, and that is the Communist Party, folks.
E.M.
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