There is always an upside though and despite the early hour, upon arriving at our hotel, we were able to check in and have a shower before setting off to enjoy a hearty breakfast. The next few days were to be shared with some good friends, Pip and Joe, who were holidaying in Thailand and who had popped over the border to spend some time with us in Laos. We could post several more photos of temples and wats but we won't because there are some more to come and we don't want you to be 'watted' out. What was unique was the Garden of The Buddhas or Xieng Khuan, which was rather like a theme park filled with Buddhist and Hindu sculptures created in the mid C20th by an artist monk.
We were extremely fortunate when visiting Wat Sisaket to witness part of a ceremony to mark the promotion of a senior monk. There was a substantial attendance of monks and lay people and no concerns about tourists and photo taking. We had held back from leaning over the canvas screen for some of the photos until we saw that several monks as well as Laos lay people were doing so.
The procession made several circuits around the Wat (monastery) |
Lay people were part of the procession and some carried a small pavilion bearing gifts at the back of the procession. Also they had prepared and layed out a celebratory meal |
Two young monks beating the temple drum and gong throughout the procession. |
Glad that you are still travelling well and doing so much. It has seemed a long time since you last blogged. All well here but J&F still not in their house.
ReplyDelete