Vientiane Day 5

Well it's the last day in Vientiane so I couldn't stay in bed while I heard the chanting outside. 

I took the last opportunity to record the rituals outside the hotel..

 Very early in the morning the real workers are out and about.

 The sun rose brilliantly to see me off.

There was still a bit of time to catch up on some of the sights that we hadn't seen, 

so we walked down to the Wat Sisaket. Wat Sisaket is a Buddhist Wat it is situated 

on Lan Xang Road, on the corner with Setthathirat Road.

When the armies of Siam (Thailand) sacked Vientiane in 1827 this was the only temple 

they didn't destroy. The theory is that it looked like a Thai temple and was spared.

The army used this compound as their headquarters. 

It is the oldest temple still standing in Vientiane.

 Wat Sisaket features a cloister with more than 2000 ceramic and silver Buddha images 

around the four walls. The variation on a single theme is well worth the visit.

 A lot of the wall paintings have given way to the ravages of time and weather but the 

wooden carvings remain intact.

 The compound itself has many different temples and homes for the monks. 

The gardens are beautifully tended to and in the surrounding area are

many interesting burial stupas.

 On the way back to the hotel we saw the Patouxay Monument in the distance.

It is also known as the Victory Gate. It was built with cement that was sent there by

the Americans to build a runway during the Vietnam War so it is also referred to 

as the vertical runway.

 Finally packed we headed off to the airport.

I think the monks followed us to be sure that I left the country with my pesky 

telephoto lens that had been recording them for the last week.

 Finally in the air again for transit in Bangkok. 

 The clouds were magnificent but I wasn't looking forward 

to flying down through them.

 After a tedious three hours at the Bangkok airport we were on our way to Singapore.

 And something completely different than the charming, sleepy town of Vientiane.

Finally checked into the Regent Singapore. We don't normally stay in large hotels because 

we don't like the lack of personality. This was a hurried trip and the hotels that we preferred 

were all booked out. We chose this one because it had free Internet. 

Why do large hotels still charge for it.? In today's electronic age the Internet is like water. 

A necessity.

We booked this on the Internet and it stated "free Internet". You can imagine our surprise 

when we were told that was for one appliance. One!!!!!!!!! Two people travelling together

means at the least two computers and two mobile phones. That's four appliances to start with.

As it was nearly mid-night time to sleep.