Laos - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 354

find the greatest concentration of
accommodation, restaurants and shops
catering to visitors. he fountain, which
once created a pleasant public space for
locals and foreigners to cool off after the
sun goes down, has now been converted
into a tacky outdoor food court with live
music most evenings.

king's personal Buddhist temple, now
functions as a museum of art and
antiquities . he temple is named for the
Emerald Buddha, or Pha Kaew, which
was pilfered by the Siamese in 1779 and
carried off to their capital where it
remains to this day. he museum houses
the finest collection of Lao art in the
country, one of the most striking works
being a Buddha in the “Beckoning Rain”
pose (standing with arms to the sides and
fingers pointing to the ground) and
sporting a jewel-encrusted navel.

5

The Lao National Museum
North of Nam Phou, on Samsenthai
Road, the dingy Lao National Museum
(daily 8am-noon & 1-4pm; 10,000K)
deals primarily with the events, both
ancient and recent, that led to the
“inevitable victory” of the proletariat in
1975. Inside, scenes portray Lao patriots
liberating the motherland from hai and
Burmese feudalists, and French
colonialists bull-whipping villagers.
Black-and-white photographs tell the
story of the struggle against “the Japanese
fascists” and “American imperialists”.

Lane Xang Avenue and Patouxai
Lane Xang Avenue , leading off north
from Setthathilat Road, is reputedly
modelled on France's Champs Élysées
and Patouxai , standing at one end, on the
Arc de Triomphe. Popularly known as
anusawali (Lao for “monument”), this
massive concrete victory gate (daily
8am-4.30pm; 3000K), 1km from the
Presidential Palace, was built in the
late 1950s to commemorate casualties
of war on the side of the Royal Lao
Government. he view of Vientiane from
the top is worth the climb. A handful of
hawkers shelter by a ceiling adorned with
reliefs of the Hindu deities; the walls
depict characters from the Ramayana,
the epic Hindu story of battles between
good and evil.

Wat Sisaket
Towards the southeastern end of
Setthathilat Road, the street running
parallel to and just south of Samsenthai
Road, stands Wat Sisaket (daily 8am-
noon & 1-4pm; 5000K), the oldest wat
in Vientiane. Constructed by King
Anouvong (Chao Anou) in 1818, it was
the only monastery to survive the
Siamese sacking ten years later.
Surrounded by a tile-roofed cloister, the
sim (building housing the main Buddha
image) contains some charming, though
badly deteriorating, murals. A splendidly
ornate candle-holder of carved wood
situated before the altar is a fine example
of nineteenth-century Lao woodcarving.
Outside, the cloister holds countless
niches with diminutive Buddhas peering
out from them.

COPE Visitor Centre
Around 1km southeast of the Talat Sao
bus station is the superb COPE Visitor
Centre (daily 9am-6pm; donations
appreciated), set up by a non-profit
organization to document the devastating
effects of unexploded ordnance (UXO)
left over from the Second Indochina War.
he main exhibition, housed in an old
store room, starts by describing how
America's secret bombing campaigns
during the Vietnam War left Laos littered
with unexploded “bombies”. But the
centre isn't only about looking back; here
you can find out how prosthetic limbs
and rehabilitation programmes are giving
victims another chance at life, and see
how those advances are helping other
people too, including those injured in
motorbike accidents.

The Presidential Palace and
Haw Pha Kaew
Opposite Wat Sisaket stands the
Presidential Palace , an impressive French
Beaux Arts-style building built to house
the French colonial governor, now used
mainly for government ceremonies. Next
to the palace, Haw Pha Kaew (daily
8am-noon & 1-4pm; 5000K), once the