Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos

Having the whole day to kill, last night I did some research and decided to go see Buddha Park, which is this park filled with giant sculptures of Buddha and assorted other deities.  It was a long ride out there, I wasn’t paying too close attention but I’d say at least 45 minutes.  It cost 5000kip to get in, thank God the mini mart had given me change in kip.  It was crowded and pretty hot and unfortunately the time of day meant the lighting really sucked.  Most of my pictures as first were just black, couldn’t see any detail.

After walking around for 5 or 10 minutes, my bowels decided to protest and I got a bad case of cramps and diarrhea (did I mention I’m also on my period?  Great time to be traveling).  I thought I was going to shit my pants so I frantically looked around for a toilet, almost doubled over in pain.  I asked the lady "toilet?" and she pointed to a sign way on the other side of the field.  I hobbled over there, and they charged 2000kip to get in, which luckily was the other denomination the mini mart had given me.  I hastily handed it to the little girl, who couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 years old, and hurried into the toilet.  

First glance, nasty, wet, and squatty potty.  Great.  I tried to find the driest spot on the floor I could and placed my back pack carefully on it, and balanced my purse on that, and dug out my toilet kit.  This consists of extra pads and wet wipes, which come in handy more than I’d like to admit.  

I organized all my pants and shirts and money belt and did my best to squat in the right place, hoping I would have good aim.  By this time my bowels were screaming at me.  I finally got into position and let loose.  Relief was slow in coming, but eventually I did the deed and cleaned up without making a mess, amazingly.  

I got all my pieces and parts put back together and looked at the toilet to see what kind of damage I’d done.  Amazingly, my aim was perfect!  I gingerly took the scoop from the bucket next to the toilet (eeewww) and hand flushed (yuck).  I re-packed my kit, picked up my gear, sprayed my hands liberally with antibacterial spray and, feeling much better, headed out to try and get better pictures of the statues.  

It was much easier to concentrate when I wasn’t in pain, so I actually got some decent shots.  Out of about 100, I got 5 really great Instagram shots and about 20 more that I just saved for myself.  I also got nailed by what looked like a four year old with a giant water gun. 

Happy New Year.