An Around-the-World Travel Blog for Independent Travellers

Buddha Park: It’s concrete and it’s wierd.

Buddha Park, or Xieng Khuan, is located about 25km outside of Vientiane, the capital city (or town, really) of Laos. To get there, we hired a tuk-tuk from the centre of town. The journey took about 45 minutes or so.

The park was built in 1958 by Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat, a priest-shaman who attempted to integrate Hinduism and Buddhism into a single religion. After the communist revolution he fled to Thailand where he built another sculpture park in Nong Khai.

To put it mildly, Xieng Khuan is one of the most bizarre collections of statues we've ever encountered. Amongst the reclining Buddhas and three headed elephants you'll find all sorts of crazy monsters, some with multiple heads, some multiple tails. Others with abducted maidens in their hands. Everything is made from concrete. Unfortunately we didn't have a guide; it would probably make much more sense if you did. As it was, we didn't have a clue about what it was that we were looking at. It was puzzling but still extremely interesting to visit, and we would highly recommend visiting it.

Buddha Park Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
Reclining Buddha at Buddha Park Reclining Buddha at Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
Three Headed Elephant at Buddha Park Three Headed Elephant at Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
Buddha Park Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
Statues, Buddha Park Statues, Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
View of Buddha Park View of Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
WTF? WTF?
Statue at Buddha Park Statue at Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
Statues at Buddha Park Statues at Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
Kate at Buddha Park Kate at Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos
Want to see more photos or want to see bigger versions of them? Visit our Vientiane Photoset on Flickr, or view a Slideshow.
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This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 4:43 pm and is filed under Laos and tagged with , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

  • flamester

    looks flippen amazing :) !!

  • http://newdigate.me/2010/05/laos-travel-tips/ Travel Tips for Laos | many moon honeymoon

    [...] exhibition on unexploded ordnances (UXOs). For a day trip outside of Vientiane, head to the bizarre Buddha Park (aka Xieng Khuan) which is about 25km away. Life of a Slowboater, Mekong River, [...]

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