Feb 22 – Cave Stupa, More Temples and an Arch of Triumph

We woke up to views of the beautiful mountains across the river from our hotel.  After breakfast and a few photos of the hotel grounds…

 and the nearby bridge over the river...

we were off on a very short ride to a stop just beside the river.  Here we enjoyed watching some of the boaters out for fun rides and the river…

a hang glider,

the gorgeous scenery,

and then took a walk across the rather rickety bridge to the other side of the river. 

From here we had a view of the entrance to Tham Chang Cave high up on the side of the mountain. 

There was a small market there for the tourists. 

Goods for sale included whiskey in bottles with various invertebrates added (apparently to add virility to the drink)...

lots of local honey in various recycled plastic bottles...

and honey combs wrapped in leaves, with the larvae still inside, and roasted.  We passed. 

We saw some durian (a noxious smelling fruit) growing in a tree (and a small green one on the ground).

The destination was the Tham Chang Cave.  The cave was used in the 19^th century as a shelter for local people fleeing from Chinese invaders.  There were a lot of steps up to the cave.

Entrance to the cave.

There were a few small shrines in the cave…

but the main attraction itself was the cave.

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More Tham Chang Cave
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Views of the city from the cave.

Mary didn’t climb the stairs.  She did find a small spring that pumps a lot of water out of the base of the mountain. 

After the visit, we headed back to the van for the drive to the capital city of Vientiane. 

Decorations in Vientiane for Chinese New Years. 

First stop in Vientiane was lunch.  Interesting menu options (we didn’t try any).

None of us tried the beer by the meter either.  Beerlao is a very popular brand in Laos and we have seen it everywhere.  But never served quite like this.

After lunch we went to the Ho Phrakeo Monumental Museum.  A temple that was now a museum.  It was a very beautiful structure.  

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside but we did take some time walking around the building and taking photos of statues and building details.

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More Ho Phrakeo Monumental Museum
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We then walked across the street to Sisaket Museum, also a former temple with not photos allowed inside as well. 

This temple had a large cloister that housed hundreds of Buddha statues, many in small niches, and other artifacts.

Here we also saw a bridal couple who were visiting the museum for photos.

The short drive took us past the government building that houses Laos governing body.

A short distance from the government building was the That Luang Museum, a beautiful golden stupa.  It glistened in the sun. 

It also had a cloister surrounding the stupa that contained more artifacts.

Then it was a drive to the Laos Arc of Triumph, a war monument dedicated to those who fought for independence from France.  It resembles the Arc of Triumph in Paris but was a Laotian architectural flavor. 

There were a lot of stairs up to the viewing level where there were good views of the plaza

and the city.

This was the last stop of the day.  We were in the hotel by late afternoon and the group headed out for dinner at a local restaurant.

On the way back to the hotel we saw this "fire" blazing away at a nearby restaurant.  Seemed silly to have a fire on such a hot evening.  Turns out it was a light with steam blowing out along the length of the light tube.