ວຽງຈັນ

looking up through buddha at pha that luang, the great golden stupa representing both buddhism and symbolising lao nationalism in its capital vientiane. could've done with a lick of fresh paint if you ask me. no disrespect intended.

stone dragon

a grand dragon bannister on a set of stairs leading up to another vietiane wat, which was chockers full of buddhas. there is a plethora of buddhas and wats in laos. by the end of an extended trip it has you thinking that there is possibly an over-saturation, similar to that of churches and museums in europe. i wonder if there is an equivalent in australia - that has tourists going "oh here we go, another - ".

wooden dragon

i'm 'dragon' out the dragon theme a bit. boom boom. this wooden carving was in the wat which was featured in the previous post. so wat? i just like dragons, and i'm providing some context. that's wat.

unhidden dragons

ornamental wat roofing in vientiane. there were dragons on the roof and (not shown in photo) eaves support struts which were carved to look like elephant head and trunk. mands couldn't see the elephant head and trunk but i am still convinced of it. maybe it's like how some people can't see those stupid magic eye pictures. personally, i could only see them inverted while giving myself a massive headache going cross-eyed. anyway this is not the point. the dragons are obvious and indisputable are they not.

butterfly orgy

i don't know what was in this muddy puddle of water but these laos butterflies were going crazy for it! there was a literal cloud of them above it and they littered the ground as they bustled for pole position, taking little notice of me even when i reached out to touch them. we came across this amazing sight by a natural spring after hiking for hours through the beautiful countryside just outside of luang prabang.

where life moves slowly in a good way

one of the most stunning sunsets i have ever seen was watching the sun set behind the mekong river, sitting on the top of a hill in luang prabang, in northern laos. life is laos moves at a slow and leisurely pace compared to other south east asian countries, you truly cannot help but feel relaxed there and just happy to be. what a wonderful place it would be to live.