I spent my Christmas in Laos this year; although I didn't see as much as I had anticipated (for a variety of reasons, not the least of which included that I fractured my foot on Christmas day) there are several things that stand out as memorable from my trip. Buddha park, or Xieng Khuan, is about 25 km outside of Vientiane, and it is definitely memorable. Odd, overwhelming and unique also come to mind. A large green space filled to capacity with concrete sculptures, everywhere you turn there is something different to catch your eye. My favorites included the pumpkin shaped structure with three levels representing hell, earth and heaven which you entered by scrambling through a mouth, a monkey like god eating a head, the oversized statue of a God with crocodile shoes, carrying what appears to be a dead woman with lightbulbs in his eyes, the enormous reclining Buddha and all of the multi-headed statues.
Containing over 200 statues the park was begun in 1958 Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat who was a priest-shaman that clearly had an interesting take on the integration of Hindu and Buddhist belief. It is said that all of the statues on the premises were cast by unskilled workers under his guidance. If that is indeed true, you'd have to admit they did an admirable and noteworthy job. In any case it was definitely a site worth exploring and climbing around.
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