Christmas Scenes from Vientiane, LAOS

In Vientiane, we see signs of Christmas. There are various types of Christmas trees and other symbols.

Kris and Andy light the Advent Wreath at Church.















A Christmas tree at the Morning Market and the only snow you see in Vientiane is on this poster in front of the Market.

Poinsettias are abundant around town.















And this is the most unique Christmas tree that we saw. It's made out of beer cans from Beer Lao factory.


Andy is trying on his goalie gloves that he got as a present.

Christmas Carols At The US Ambassador's Home

On Saturday afternoon (Dec. 17), the people from Kris' church were invited to the US Ambassador's home to sing carols. The Ambassador, Karen B. Stewart, attends the church along with her personal secretary. We were treated to homemade cookies and soft drinks. This was a real treat for us.

This is the front entrance to the residence.

We had our photos taken with the Ambassador and her Secretary.







Kris and Nancy Ambassador's Secretary












Kris, Ambassador Karen, Ruthann, & Chet








There were several art pieces in the house on loan from the artists. There was a series of fabric wall hangings. One is behind us in the above photo. One wall hanging was make by Nancy Reno from Lancaster, PA.






Table with the goodies








Some scenes from the caroling.























Wendy, MCCer, GC Grad at the piano

Note that Wendy is barefooted. All our shoes were left at the front door. A list of all the attendees needed to be submitted a week before the event so that the list could be checked by the Embassy.

Our First Morning Walk in Vientiane

This morning, we took our first walk in Vientiane. It's not a good idea to walk until after 8:30 AM due to the traffic. Even at that time, we noticed significant increase in traffic volume. We also noticed the amount of construction that was occurring around the city. One of the walks that we do is to the monument That Luang. It has a large parking lot that many people use to walk, jog and exercise. However, 3 policeman stopped us and indicated that we couldn't walk in the parking lot. The reason, Parliament was in session today. So we said thank you and went to the sidewalk.

This building pictured above is the new police museum.

The large parking lot is where we usually walk, but today, not to happen. The buildings are the Parliament. This is as close as we could get today.

That Laung the most important national monument in Laos. It is a symbol of both Buddhist religion and Lao sovereignty. It is a large stupa, which is a burial place, and was built in the 3rd century BC. In all the temples, you can see stupas on the grounds since the bones of Lao peoples are buried in them after cremation.

Here are photos of some of the other sights that we saw this morning.

This is a reclining Buddha constructed out of cement and below is the model of what the Buddha will look like when completed.

Ice Cream delivery!!!

We met this woman who was selling brooms when walking home to Kris' house.