Ho Phra Keo Museum & Si Saket Museum In Vientiane, Laos

Rest and Relax.

The best way to travel with bestie.

I can always count on my dear friend Anna and it only took me one phone call to tell her my mood swing and the need to rendezvous out of Malaysia. The next thing we both know, we were boarding an airplane to Vientiane, Laos. Our silly adventure begin.

More stories on Laos here :
Pha That Luang & Patuxai In Vientiane, Laos (UNESCO) 
Hotel Review | Mandala Boutique Hotel Vientiane, Laos

When you have 2 girls on an ad-hoc trip, it will head to the extreme direction; either too many shopping excursions or spending long hours in the room (playing games or Social Media-ing). Us, the later. Definitely.

Ho Phra Keo - a Buddhist Museum
Built in 1565, Ho Phra Keo or Haw Phra Kaew is a Buddhist museum as well as a place of worship.

The temple was destroyed 3 times, once was in 1778 when seized by Thailand, again by the Thais when King Annouvong attempt to regain independence. The 3rd time was rebuilt by French in 1936 to 1942, when French colanize Indochina region.

Ho Phra Keo means ‘Altar of the Emerald Buddha’ describing "an altar remained when the statue was removed" - this is referring to the sacred jade statue reclaimed by Thailand back in 1778 and now resides in Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok, Thailand.

You can stroll as there's a few sightseeing places along this street, alternatively take a cab or tuk-tuk from any part of the city, as for us, we chartered the whole tuk-tuk for the whole day to get us around Vientiane (kiasu I call us girls).

There wasn't anything silly we did here but I did run around to take pictures as I like their walkway, convinced Anna to be my prop model and she willingly oblige, sweet heh. We managed to cover the whole area in 30 minutes while eavesdropping at the same time (to tour guides explaining the history at their respective group).

Address : Setthathirat Road, Vientiane, Laos 
Cost : 5,000 kip 
Hours : Daily 8:00am - 12:00pm, 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Si Saket Museum - a Buddhist Temple
Dated since 1818, Wat Si Saket too was built under the orders of King Anouvong (Sethathirath V.). Having a Thai architecture have kept it safe during the Thai invasion as the Thai armies uses it as their headquarters. This temple was restored by the Fench during its colonization, once in 1924 and again in 1930. There are over 2000 ceramics and Buddha images being housed here at Wat Si Saket.

This is when I realised that you can easily get postcards and stamps at the entrance of most sightseeing places (and not just at the post office which was no where in sight). Aside from that, most of the sightseeing places in Vientiane are clean, in fact its very clean and there are also signages everywhere forbiding public to smoke at these compound. 

There wasn't any paid guide available at the entrance for us to engage, however brochures and boards detailing and describing the history are made available for travelers.

Wat Si Saket also known to hold over 6000 Buddha statues of all sizes dated as far as 15th to 19th centuries ago.

The other highlights here is the mural paintings which once covered the wat's interior walls are now destroyed by the test of time, faded remains can still be seen. The wooden ceiling and doors of Wat Si Saket are all carved with intricate detailing are still intact. There are also a wooden library storing palm-leaf manuscripts which can be visited by public.

Address : Setthathirat Road, Vientiane, Laos 
Cost : 5,000 kip 
Hours : Daily 8:00am - 12:00pm, 1:00pm - 4:00pm