The park was built by a Laotian mystic named Luang Pu. The story is that as a child, he fell down a hole where he met a mystic who imparted the sacred knowledge to him. He became a charismatic leader and began making his world vision concrete, literally, in a park of giant sculpture.
When the communists took over Laos in 1975, he moved across the river to Nong Khai, Thailand and started over.
The result of his life's work is truly one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen, certainly in a religious context. There are hundreds of sculptures blending Buddhism, Hindu, Islam and more, the tallest being over 25 meters in height.
No description actually prepares one for the strangeness of the place, including Luang Pu's corpse on view in a big plastic bubble complete with flashing Christmas lights.
I bicycled to the park, a feat made possible through the miracle of modern medicine. After another very rough night and fearing the effects of dehydration I broke out the antibiotics about 1 am.
I am still weak as a kitten but things are looking up. Hey, it's all part of the journey.
Sent from my iPod
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