Teak wood sculpture Laughing Buddha.

Laos has now graduated from a Land-locked country into a Land-linked country in this globalized world.

The many Friendship bridges will soon replace the river crossings and mountain pass access linked her neighbours.

 Expected to be completed in year 2015 will be the Trans-Asian Railway Network initiated by the UN Social Economic Commission for Asia (ESCAP) that will cover 114,000 km and travel through 28 countries in the region.

Vientiane will be linked to Mohan port in Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna,Yunnan Province.

China based road construction companies can be seen in most part of Laos.

 Savang-Phonetong Road Construction is undertaken by Qin Huang Inland Group of China which began the road upgrading in 2009.

The number of vehicles(all categories) on the road is gradually increasing and has topped 1,008,,788 in year 2010.Laos has a population of 6,000,000.

Visitors to Laos will be surprised that most of the vehicles exceed the 2.0 litres category.You don't find small budget cars.

Savannakhet is the second most vehicles populated city.

 





Made-in-China motorcycles were making inroads.
 Inexpensive Chinese products are flooding China’s southern neighbours like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

 The products are transforming the lives of some of the poorest people in Asia, whose worldly possessions a few years ago typically consisted of not much more than one or two sets of clothes, cooking utensils and a thatch-roofed house built by hand.

 The Jinlong 110 cc bike is a very beautiful and cheap toy.

While loitering around the Ban Savang area which is at the end of Rue Chao Anou road junction,noticed this Saisavang Guest House.
Rates 40,000 kips (fan).
A bit far out of town centre.Nearby many chinese hardware shops.

Smiling children of Laos but elder sister was too shy for the camera.

Her T-shirt carries the message,Love Laos and you're Happy.

Off Savang-Phontong road is the Wat Savang.
There was a school here that looked like a hut with no concrete structures.

The word Savang was named after Price SiSavang Vatthana(full name Samdach Brhat Chao Mavattaha Sri Vitha Lan Xang Hom Khao Phra Rajanachakra Lao Parama Sidha Khattiya Suriya Varman Brhat Maha Sri Savangsa Vadhana).

 Born on 13 November 1907 at the Royal Palace of Luang Prabang, the son of King Sisavang Vong and Queen Kham-Oun I.

Graduated with a degree from Paris's École Libre des Sciences Politiques (now called Sciences Po). In 1951, he served as Prime Minister, and when his father became ill on August 20, 1959, he was named Regent.

 On 2 December 1975 the King was forced to abdicate the throne after Pathet Lao came to power and later he was appointed supreme advisor to the President.

He refused to leave the country. In March 1977, he was arrested with the Queen and was put into an internment camp at Sam-Neua in northern Laos.

 It was called "Camp Number One", where all the important political prisoners were held.

About 1978, it was reported that he, along with Queen Khamphoui have died in a re-education camp near Sop Hao.
Laos has a constituitional monarchy system till 1975.








Young monk at Vat Savang.

Bell and drum tower.
In Chinese Buddhist temples, the Sangha starts the day at the break of dawn by sounding the bell, followed by the drum, 108 times each.

This process is repeated at dusk in the reverse order. It is also used for announcing special times throughout the day.

 It is said that when one hears the clear resonating chime of the bell and beat of the drum, one's troubles are dispelled in the moment, helping Wisdom to grow and develop.

 It also has a profound effect of inducing the thought of repentance for beings suffering in the lower realms.







A very unique bell different from the normal conventional type used in most of the temples.

Temple bells are a very significant part of the temple depending on how you approach the situation.

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states that if there is a temple, there is a bell and where there is a bell, there is a temple.

 It gives a sacred feeling of the sound that cries out the need and desire for peace and balance among all living things on earth.

The bells ringing have since long ago symbolized the purification that is taking place within the sacred place that houses the temple bells as well as the desire for balanced lives.

The Buddhist temple bells were created in his memory to continue on his amazing teachings with the spirit and the drive that he had and these bells are believed to bring balance and harmony.

Ancient Chinese store owners would often hang temple bells at the front door entrance to the store or restaurant to inspire and encourage the positive flow of energy both in and out of the store.
But in the case of this bell here,the physics is the longer the mass the sound echo reflected won't be that high pitch.








This is a temple with cremation facility as noted by the long chimney behind.
That's why we have a bell that produced low tonal sound.

There were seven nagas protecting Buddha as he sat meditating under a tree.

According to the Vinaya or Buddhist Monastic Rule, an animal cannot become a monk.

At one time, a Naga was so desirous of entering the Order that he assumed human form in order to be ordained. "Shortly after, when asleep in his hut, the naga returned to the shape of a huge snake.

The monk who shared the hut was somewhat alarmed when he woke up to see a great snake sleeping next to him!

The Lord Buddha summoned the naga and told him he may not remain as a monk, at which the utterly disconsolate snake began to weep. The snake was given the Five Precepts as the means to attaining a human existence in his next life when he can then be a monk.

Then out of compassion for the sad snake, the Lord Buddha said that from then on all candidates for the monkhood be called 'Naga' as a consolation. They are still called 'Naga' to this day."







Shrine with a blend of Hinduism and Buddhism.
The lower womb chambers have statues of some Hindu deities at four corners.
Hindus believe that their lives are merely stages in the progression to ultimate enlightenment and liberation.

 As in this shrine architecture,the pyramid ended with a pillar to enlightenment.
From temporal world to the eternal. The gods have always been attracted to mountains and they have great mountains for the symbolism and appearance of the temple.
There was an impulse to create soaring towers that looked like mountain ranges.





  An altar in the cremation chamber.

A guesthouse in downtown Vientiane that promotes teak wood handicraft.

Characteristics and Benefits of Teak 

 Teak (and other wood furniture) will not make you uncomfortable by holding either heat or cold.
Metal and even plastic patio furniture will be burning hot when left in the sun, while wood moderates heat and will still be comfortable to the touch.

Metal or plastic patio furniture will also absorb cold. The night may have been cold but the patio furniture will still be comfortable, if it is wood.

Wood improves your comfort level on any patio, or in any sunroom or garden.

1) Teak is durable in all weather. Teak has a natural oil content and a dense grain that resists rot. Many teak benches approach or exceed 100 years old.

2) True Teak (Tectona grandis) grows naturally in dry, hilly forests in Southeast Asia (India, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, North & South Vietnam, East Indies) and is a deciduous tree. Tectona grandis does not grow in rain forests but it has been over-harvested and should only be purchased from sources that can verify that it is from a Teak farm and not from natural forests.

3) Heartwood or sapwood. Teak furniture should only be made from Tectona grandis heartwood. The heartwood turns a rich brown when exposed to air. It is usually straight & has a distinctly oily feel. The heartwood has excellent dimensional stability and a very high degree of natural durability.

4) Teak does not cause rust or corrosion when in contact with metal.

5) Teak can be left outside all year. Whether you finish your teak furniture with Spar Varnish (recommended) or leave it to weather naturally, your furniture does not require the use of indoor storage space in the winter. No lugging furniture in and out. Simply wash with soapy water in the spring and repair any areas where the Spar Varnish may be worn or damaged. Sand with a fine sandpaper, remove all sawdust, then apply Spar Varnish as noted under 'Finishing'.

Laughing Buddha(chinese:Budai/vietnamese:Bố Đại) wishes all visitors to thailandbeyond.com "A very Happy Chinese New Year 2012" and "chúc mừng năm mới" (Happy New Year ) being Vietnamese Tet Festival also falls on the same day on the 23rd day of January 2012.

Chinese throughout the world will be welcoming the new Lunar Year of the Dragon.

May the new year brings good health and prosperity to all.






  Artistic design of furniture using teak wood.

Laughing Buddha with lots of wealth.

Laughter is good for your health Laughter relaxes the whole body.
A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.

 Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.

Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.

Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems. 'Laughter the best medicine'

A look at Wat Tongkhankham.

Stall at Tongkhankham market selling the prasat pheung which were decorated with chrysanthemum real flowers.

During the recent temple festivals they were made of wax flowers and the base is from the banana trunk.

The design resembles that of a small palace.

Bank notes will be fixed onto the white thin sticks and after the ceremony will be donated by devotees to the temple.

 Both Thai and Lao Buddhist culture are very similar.

  Behind Tongkhankham market was a mainland Chinese owned Hua Long Hotel.

Quite a clean hotel and family owned and the room rates was 500,000 kips (about 110 renminbi acceptable payment).

  A short distance from the hotel is Wat Tongkhankham.

The main entrance has an arch with statue of Buddha on top.
Laos National flag was in the centre flanked by two Buddhist flags.

Seated on the higher ground was the statue of Buddha shielded by a muiltiheaded serpent or Mucilinda,the naga king of a nearby lake that protected the Buddha from the torrential thunderstorm while Buddha was meditating under a tree.

Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree.

Silently he vowed, "Even if my flesh and blood were to dry up, leaving only skin and bones, I will not leave this place until I find a way to end all sorrow."

 He sat there for forty nine days. He was determined to discover the source of all pain and suffering in the world.

Mara, the evil one, tried to scare him into giving up his quest.
 For instance, he hoped to lure Siddhartha into having selfish thoughts by sending visions of his very beautiful daughters.

But the Buddha's goodness protected him from such attacks.






Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him.

This one is a bit related to Hinduism,most of the ladies seemed to have focus on a baby standing on a lotus.

She must be Lakshmi the Goddess of wealth and prosperity.
Lakshmi is the household goddess of most Hindu families, and a favorite of women.
She is being depicted as a beautiful woman of golden complexion, with four hands, sitting or standing on a full-bloomed lotus and holding a lotus bud, which stands for beauty, purity and fertility.
Her four hands represent the four ends of human life: dharma or righteousness, "kama" or desires, "artha" or wealth, and "moksha" or liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

 




Before dying, the Buddha gave his last sermon.
This last sermon had eight main points(8 fold noble path):
1) The more desires one has, the more they will suffer.
2) Be content with our state of being.
3) When the self and the external world become one, eternal serenity is enjoyed.
4) Without any interruption, practice meditation.
5) Do not forget what the Buddha taught.
 6) Everything is constantly changing, including ourselves.
7) Nonattachment is the essential wisdom.
8) When we reach enlightenment we and the world become one, and there is no duality.

  At the age of 29, Siddhartha began the homeless life of a monk.
From Kapilavatthu, he walked south to the city of Rajagaha, the capital of the Magadha country.
The king of this country was named Bimbisara.

This art has stories part of the Ramayana epics.

 Looked like the people celebrating harvest time.

 
The inside view of the main temple hall.

 
A small Buddha Park sculptures being part of the landscape.

Sculptures of devotees kneeling holding silver bowl with gifts.
You'll noticed that there were many smaller shrines near the temple's wall perimeter which has the names of those who had died.
I presume their ashes must have been kept in the urn inside these shrines.







Two years ago I was here and this new site was still under construction.
Today the whole temple has been completed solely built by the monks themselves.


















Soukrathsamy Center of English.

Laotian national and ethnic costumes

Talat Sao Mall II new annexed building beside the present one was officially opened on the 11.11.11.

 This is a modern shopping complex in Vientiane having frontage facing Lane Xang Avenue.

 Fully airconditioned with escalators and lifts covering a eight level building.
A basement for car park was also available.

The owner is Singaporean Dr Lawrence Leow,Chairman and CEO of the Crescendas Group.

 In fact the current old building was quite congested and is a very popular shopping area to the locals and tourists.

 They called it the morning market and opening hours are from 07:00 till 16:00 hours.

The tenure of this mall is till year 2049 after which the whole building ownership will revert back to the government.

Meanwhile a huge five storey European architecture megamall with construction started on July 2011 and scheduled to be completed in 2013 will transform the city into a more lively and bustling place.

It's the Regal Megamall City to be located in Sikhai Village,Vientiane.There will be nearly 1000 outlets ranging from hypermarkets,boutique,children playground,restaurants to entertainment outlets.Parking bays will be on the highest level.

 The price will be from 23.2 million Lao Kips per square metres.

Interested investors may contact the office at km7 Road,No:13 North,Na-Hae Village,Sikhottabong District,Vientiane Lao PDR or fax:021 620 638. Available 70,000 square metres of retail floor.  
'The early bird catches the worm'







Textile weaving is traditionally women’s work. Men help with the planting of the mulberry, cotton, and hemp, and with the construction of the looms and spinning wheels, but the work of processing and preparing the yarn, dyeing, designing patterns, and weaving is done almost exclusively by women and girls.

So important are women’s weaving skills in Lao culture that traditional Lao songs, poetry, proverbs, and legends are full of references to them.
Even in the 21st century, a girl’s marriageability in some rural Tai-Lao communities still depends on her weaving skills.

 A Tai-Deang bride must prepare a trousseau of her own handwoven silk products: intricately woven and embroidered sinh (skirts), sarongs, silk cushions, silk blankets, cradle cloths, mosquito nets, bed covers, and door curtains.

 During the wedding ceremony, the products are publicly displayed and distributed to her husband, in-laws, and relatives.






The Tai-Dam and Tai Phoun weavers of Xieng Khoung in northern Laos are expert silkworm raisers, silk producers, and users of natural dyes.

 Since 2005, when Saoban began working with the Tai Dam weavers of Xieng Khoung villages, the Tai-Dam weavers have supplied Saoban with high-quality natural-dyed raw silk used mostly for men’s and women’s clothing.

The Xieng Khoung silks are also popular with Saoban’s Italian buyer who sells custom-made silk clothing and bags under its private label.





The Phuthai weavers of Song Khone District of Savannakhet Province are traditionally cotton producers and cotton weavers.

They grow the native variety of short-fiber cotton and weave the cotton to produce the rough indigo-dyed checkered cloth used as loincloths and sarongs for men, and as headscarves and household linens.

This rough-textured yet comfortable cloth was originally considered a cheap material for poor farming families, but in early 2000 Japanese development workers determined that it had broader potential.
With Japanese assistance, some Phuthai weavers started a business creating and selling natural cotton products under the Laha brand.








The older Tai-Phuan and Tai Deang ethnic groups of Bolikhan District were war refugees from northern Laos; recent settlers had migrated from land-scarce villages in the north to the newly opened lands of Bolikhan District.

Many have established rice farms; silk production provides supple- mental income for women.

The Bolikhan weavers specialize in producing sinh, tinh sinh (skirt borders), tablecloths, and scarves .




 A look at the ceremonial dresses.
Lao women wear the silk skirts,blouses and scarves.
Whereas the menfolks wore the sarong,big large pants or the peasant pants.

 Costumes of the men rural folks.
Men and women don’t have to wear the traditional Lao costume when they dance the 'lamvong' together at a general party, but women who attend a formal occasion such as a wedding have to wear the traditional “sinh mai” dress.


























 Wooden weaving handloom equipment.
Silk was introduced to Laos when the Tai-Lao peoples migrated from their ancestral lands in Southern China into present-day Laos, bringing with them the knowledge of silk cultivation, dyeing, and weaving on upright wooden looms.

In Laos they encountered the indigenous Mon-Khmer people, who used back-strap or body-tension looms to weave other types of fabric, mainly from raw cotton and hemp.

This cultural contact and has given Lao textiles the diversity and intricacy of designs that make them stand out today.





Silk yarn in multiple color range.
Natural silk is produced by silkworms that spin fine filaments into cocoons.
It takes 24 days for a silkworm to mature from egg to cocoon.
To extract the silk the cocoons are plunged into pots of boiling water to soften the silk.
Lao silk cultivation,dyeing and weaving is still very popular in central and northern Laos and the ethnic groups like the Tai Dam,Tai Daeng,Tai Moei,and Tai Phuan ethnic groups are keeping the tradition alive.
 



Saoban (village) weavers are mostly rural girls and women.

A wholesale shop with very well stocked silk weaving equipments,silk yarn,embroidery threads and anything concerning weaving.

Business was thriving in this shop which seemed to be the main supplier in town.

Look at the handloom gadgets stocks,this implied that the cottage industry is very widespread over here in Laos.

Laos owned something very exclusive and rare,the rural population with their expertise in handweaving skills that has been an ancestral tradition.
They are highly skilled knowledgeable artisans.
Laos remains one of the few places in the world where cottage weaving is an important part of everyday subsistence, a necessary and recognized skilled trade.
The cottage industry is predominantly female, with the silk processing skills traditionally handed down from mother to daughter for generations.
 In this way, the history of Lao women’s home spinning and weaving of silk goes back thousands of years. Even today, weaving is an important part of many rural Laotian women’s daily life.

Embroidery threads in smaller spool and cone form. Buying Lao silk handicrafts and garments will help villagers preserve their ancient tradition.Some of the proceeds also donated to schools in improving education and to further community and cultural de  velopment.

Tai-Kadai populations (approximately 66 percent of the population) came into Laos from what is now northern Vietnam, probably originating in southern China, during the last millennium and a half. Tai women brought with them the freestanding frame loom, silkworm cultivation and yarn preparation, and a three-part design for women's sarongs or wrap-around skirts (sinh).
 
The adoption of Theravada Buddhism by many Tai speakers had a major impact on textile production and meanings.

 Theravada Buddhist monks may neither weave nor cook. Thus women's work includes not only the preparation of cloth for secular and ritual purposes but also the provision of textiles to members outside the family.

 Tai women provide white cloth to monks, who cut, sew, and dye it for the robes (siiwon) they will wear.
Women's sinh display traditional designs abstracted from the natural and mythological worlds; men wear sarongs with blocked or checked patterns. 

The man's sarong is an elegant garment. Woven in plaid two-ply silk heavier than that used in a woman's skirt, or in cotton, it produces a shimmering color. 

The man's longer wraparound skirt (yao or hang), with its ends twisted together in front, pulled between the legs, and fixed into the waist band at the small of the back, is the product of many months of labor, with heavy plied silk forming both warp and weft. Utilitarian textiles, such as blankets and shawls, are usually without design, but can be checkered or have subdued patterns.

During the nineteenth century, European travelers recorded that everyday men's clothing was skimpy at best, and women were often bare breasted, wearing drab skirts. 

The biang(hom), made of two or more two-meter warp lengths sewn along the selvage, which could be draped around the shoulders to keep warm during chilly nights and mornings, was a major garment well known even in early colonial Cambodia and Saigon. In the early nineteenth century, large quantities of English textiles began appearing in Lao markets.  

 Lao highland groups (11 percent of the population) include the Hmong, Mien, Lahu, Akha, and Lisu, and their traditional dress is basically the same as in Thailand. 

During the war in Indochina in the 1960s and 1970s, the lives of many of these groups were disrupted.
 Many Hmong and Mien were resettled internally in camps at lower elevations, and others eventually fled the country as refugees to camps in Thailand and then to third countries.

 Ethnic dress was largely exchanged for lowland sarongs, partly due to the hotter climate and partly to disguise identity in a strange environment where their ethnicity might cause problems.

 Life in the camps brought more free time, commercial marketing of textiles, and exposure to new designs and styles. Hmong and Mien who fled as refugees to other countries such as the United States and France began ordering traditional clothing from refugee camps in Thailand or from relatives in Laos. 

These costume components ordered from abroad were executed in much finer stitches and with more elaboration of appliqué, silver, and other ornamentation than had previously occurred in Laos.