When Leah visited me here in Vientiane several weeks ago I dutifully carted her around to all of the city's main tourist attraction. Over the span of her three week visit I can safely say that she saw more Buddhist stupas, shrines and temples than she had in the entire 22 years of her life up to that point. But, when it came time to visit the country's most sacred site, we got more than the Buddha images, insence and gold paint that we'd bargained for. We chose to see the entire afternoon as a minor miracle.
For as we approached the Golden Stupa (said to house a fragment of Buddha's breastbone) I felt a tug on my arm and I turned around to find the familiar faces of three of my English students beaming up at me. As it turned out, their house backs on to the stupa grounds. And so, for the rest of the afternoon we benefitted from the company of three oh so adorable tour guides, eager to tell us everything they knew about the sacred site, a place where their ancestors had been worshipping for generations and where, even on this informal occasion, they knelt to leave on offering of flowers and prayers before running off to play.
As for the other tourists at the site, I think we must have given them quite the shock as we marched around with these barefoot children, singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and dancing the Macarena. My heart could not have been more full than it was on that lovely afternoon. I think Laos is turning me into a very sentimental person...
*To the best of my memory, Leah can take the credit for all of these pictures.
1 comment:
Can I come back and visit again?
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