Whatever name you call it, it’s a bizarre place.
One spelling is Xieng Khuan Buddha park, while another is Xiengkuane Buddha park; a few others are down near the directions. What makes it bizarre is both the quantity and quality of the eye candy.
The story begins in 1958. Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat, a priest / shaman with a following was aiming to integrate Hinduism and Buddhism into a single religion. After the revolution in 1975 forced the king to abdicate, the ‘Venerable Grandfather’ fled south of the river to Thailand, where he created a second sculpture park just over on the Thai side of the border. If you’re on a bike and have your passport with you, it shouldn’t be too difficult to jump across to the other side to see Sala Keoku in Nong Khai…
Ornate but bizarre, this entire area looks centuries old, but is in reality mere decades old. Depending on how much you know of Buddhist and Hindu beliefs, the names Avalokiteśvara, Shiva, Vishnu, and Arjuna may not mean much to you.
Upon arriving, the first one you’ll notice is the only one with a human-sized opening. This is the tallest statue around, a demon head featuring three levels worth of statues and climbing. Enter through hell, climb the stairs to Earth, and up the final steps to Heaven. These steps are steep and small, and ceilings get short quickly, so take it slow — once up top you’re rewarded with a panoramic view of the entire park (see above).
The story goes that many of the reinforced concrete statues were supposedly made by unskilled, untrained artists under the tutelage of our man Luang Pu, and that the iconography matches the mysticism he preached.
As for the sights themselves… Yep, they’re pretty out there. I’m sure a proper scholar could break down the various elements into the various religious meanings, but that ain’t me. The laying Buddha, however, is 40 meters long and one of the biggest I’ve ever seen.
Like I said, kinda bizarre. The reinforced concrete gives the impression that these are somehow centuries old, but are in fact a fraction of that.
Go on, get a photo op with your head in the crocodile. You know you want to.
Despite the supposedly untrained nature of the artists, it’s an intriguing walk-through of what can happen when people put their minds at some project. It’s well worth the visit, though it might be a bit small for some. It’s not a huge site, but the statue-to-grass ratio is nicely dense. Combine it with a tour of the BeerLao factory, which you’ll pass along the way, for a nice daytrip from Vientiane
Name: Xieng Khuan Buddha park (also called Xiengkuane, Wat Xieng Khuan, Xieng Khouan, and plenty of other spelling variations)
Address: About 6 kilometers down a dirt road off of Thadeua rd. (GPS: 17.912633,102.764289)
Directions: If motorbiking it, you’ll be leaving on the road going southeast out of Vientiane, Rue Setthathilath. This is a one way road, going the correct way. Just stay on this main road / expressway — drive / ride for about 26km. Note you’ll pass the Beerlao factory along the way, and it’s a good halfway point. At one point, the paved road will make a 90 degree left turn — you need to stay straight, which means a bumpy dirt road. Stay on — it’s about 6 kilometers from this right, and you’ll see the entrance on the right.
Hours: 8am-4:30pm
Admission: 5,000 kip admission per person, 3,000 kip ‘photography fee’ per person, and 3,000 kip for parking your motorbike.)
Phone: none
Website: http://www.tourismlaos.org
