Buddha Park

Looking towards the river, Buddha Park.

 

Buddha Park.

Sometimes you find yourself caught up in a series of events without  control . My bus ride to the Buddha Park outside Vientiane was one . Arriving at the bus station ,simply to enquire about the time table, I was suddenly bundled through a crowd  of Tuk-Tuk drivers and bus passengers onto a bus marked Thadena  Road. Before being able to explain why we were there, we found ourselves on a bus heading out of town. The bus had been hailed by our helper as it was pulling out of the station. Anxiously, I asked the conductor to let us off on arrival at the Buddha Park, she assured me everything would be fine.

Eventually, we arrived at the Friendship Bridge, a road link across the Mekong to Thailand. On alighting, we were whisked once more by a friendly Lao to a very old bus that had seen better days. Our assistant this time told me not to pay more than 12000 kip. This may sound  a lot, but in fact was only $1.50. During the next twenty minutes ,we were treated to a display of pot hole avoidance The dirt road was used by many heavy trucks, and had deep pits and gullies every few metres. The springs of our old bus also were in need of urgent attention, we spent a greater part of the time air born above its torn and battered seats, hanging on as best we could.

I have always had a fascination with what is often called Fantasy Parks, no doubt my interest in using recycled materials in my work  helped .Luang Phu Bouneua Soulilat, a Lao sculptor of considerable note, created this collection of sculptures on the banks’ of the Mekong a number of years ago. He claimed his imagery was inspired by the teachings of a Hindu holy man he had meet in a cave in Vietnam. Regardless of the origins, this park is the result, and it is quite over whelming. In all such situations, is difficult to convey the overall feel of this imaginative undertaking. Dozens of Hindu and Buddhist images , demons and animals all  standing in an open field .Luang Phu  fell out with the Government in 1975, left the country , and  some  how  found the energy to recreat another similar park on the Thai side of the river.

The first image a visitor meets when arriving at the park, is a large spherical Stupa like structure. You enter through the large gaping mouth of a demon. Once inside you follow the circular path around and around to the top. On the way up you may view an internal chamber through openings to see  the  independent  diorama within. Each level tells a different story, starting with hell, then earth, and finally heaven were you emerge onto the domed roof .Great care is required as you walk around this dome as several areas are fairly slippery, and the ground seems a long way down. The low concrete rail wall running around the edge does not give great confidence.

Despite my vertigo, I decided to make a number of drawings of the park from the roof, some of which I have included here. Most sculptures were of Buddha, and various Hindu Ramayana characters .The whole collection is extraordinary, even with the assistance of amateur artists under Soulilates’ direction the park must have taken many years to build. This eclectic collection, also includes elephants, crocodiles, enormous  insects, along with vestal virgins dancing on giant coiled cobras. Most of these sculptures have been constructed with an internal brick core, then rendered with concrete and  have tool  textured surfaces. Others have been built over metal armature, that is also rendered with concrete. Unfortunately, many works have not been well maintained resulting in missing arms, legs, and serious fractures in the concrete.

                                                                     View from dome top.

When I first read about this park, I imaged Luang Phu had created a critical vision of Buddhist and Hindu belief, but in fact the park has a strong religious feel, and many locals pay religious respect to the various images. At the far end of the meadow, past a large reclining Buddha running down one side of the park, there is a small cafe that serves lunches. The day we were there a young musician was playing plaintive music on his flute under a banyan tree. Both visitors and the contented cows grazing at the river’s edge much appreciated  his efforts. It seemed to create an atmosphere of a harmonious and peaceful world.