12 km

We rode around and were regular tourists this morning. First we saw Wat Si Muang, the site of the city’s lak, or pillar, so it’s well-used by locals and has an active monastery. There’s also a crumbling stupa that is probably of Khmer origin, atop which a nice old stork was hanging out. It looked like he had a damaged wing, so the monks must feed and take care of him. The monks this morning were busy carving wood panels, probably for a renovation project. Behind the monks quarters there was an aviary with two huge birds, as well as a cage with two monkeys swinging and howling. I noticed a lot of the statues were of female Buddhas and other female characters, more so than at any other temple we’ve seen.

Then we rode to the Arch we saw when riding into the city yesterday. It’s called Patuxai, and was built in the 1960s with cement bought by the United States that was supposed to have been used for a new airport. Thus, some people call it the Vertical Runway.

We paid 3,000 kip each to climb to the top and had a great view of the city.

After being tourists for a while we got down to the business of shopping–grocery shopping. We have one week left of riding in Laos and we must not leave this town without peanut butter and whole-grain bread! And more, much more.