Tag Archives: Patuxai Monument

Daily Life, Laos

International UXO/Mine Awareness Day

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Today is Easter, a day for Christians to focus on promises fulfilled and hope for the future. Here in Laos, we spent the morning focusing on the same concepts but in a different context: International UXO/Mine Awareness Day.

In the capital city of the most heavily bombed country on earth, Tony and I joined the crowd at the Patuxai Monument early this morning, dressed in our Team Dai “Ban Cluster Bombs” jerseys. Several organizations had set up informational displays about UXO (unexploded ordnance) and the efforts to rehabilitate bomb victims and educate communities at risk. Hundreds of people showed up to march in support of banning cluster munitions, so we paraded about 5K from the monument to the Presidential Palace and back.

According to the United Nations:

Throughout the Second Indochina War (1964 to 1973), more than 580,000 bombing missions (every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years) and wide-ranging ground battles dropped over 2 million tons of ordnance on Lao PDR. Additionally, over 260 million cluster munitions were used, of which an estimated 80 million remain live as a result of high failure rates. Today UXO litters vast areas of the country; approximately 25 percent of 10,000 villages are contaminated.

Tony and I cannot believe that we never learned about this in school. We feel fortunate to live here and witness first-hand the selfless work under way to excavate the bombs, reach out to bomb victims, and educate communities to prevent further casualties. These organizations from all over the world are living the message of Easter: promise and hope.

A quick speech. Every red dot on that map represents a load of bombs that were dropped there.
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Release some balloons (no need to address the environmental impact of that at this moment …)
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And off we go for the UXO/Mine Awareness March.
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We walked with friends Alison and Todd, teachers at VIS, and their kids Sam and Kira.
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We cheated a bit and crossed the median just short of the Presidential Palace.
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A sign at the monument. I just never get tired of quirky translations.
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Daily Life, Laos

Patuxai … sigh

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I realized this morning that I haven’t posted anything in about a week. That’s because I haven’t DONE anything. Well, I haven’t done anything INTERESTING.
Parent-teacher conferences … yawn.
Professional development workshops on the Primary Years Program … snore.
Mind-numbing exploration of the library’s teacher resources section in a futile attempt to find some ESL materials … snort, stretch, roll over.
Yeah, it’s all been about school lately. Sorry.
That’s why I decided we were going to do a little sightseeing on this beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. Tony and I jumped on the motorbike and headed across town to the Patuxai Monument. Also spelled Patuxay (and pronounced Patoo-sigh), the name translates roughly to Gate of Victory, which is close to “Arc de Triomphe,” so the locals often refer to the boulevard leading to the monument as the Champs Elysee.
(No, I’m not wearing a ping-pong-ball hat. That’s a street lamp.)

Patuxay Monument

Construction began in the early 1960s, and workers officially finished the job in 1969 using concrete donated by the United States for a new airport. Intended to honor Lao people who lost their lives in war, the monument is powerfully impressive from a distance. Not so much up close. You don’t need to read the sign to see that.

Sign

Draped in lights, the monument looks a bit shabby by day (much prettier at night!).

Detail

Stepping under the arch, we could see the colorful ceiling with lots of Lao motifs.

Fancy Ceiling

For just 3,000 kip (35 cents), you can climb to the top. So we did. On the way up, we had plentiful shopping opportunities as vendors sleepily displayed “Same Same” T-shirts and other souvenirs.

Grotty Shops

The rooftop was pretty disappointing with chipped concrete, broken steps, cracked walls, and big pieces of debris. We met another American up there who thinks the monument’s condition is an intentional political statement about the way the U.S. treated Laos during the Vietnam War. Maybe. Or maybe not.

Disappointed

Neglect

Tony was nearly impaled on this rusty ornamental arrow!

Danger!

Here’s a view looking toward the Mekong River (with Thailand on the other side).

View toward Thailand

Here’s a view looking inland. This park is lovely and well maintained, so locals hang out by the fountains to enjoy ice cream or spicy noodles.

Pretty Park

Final verdict: Enjoy the monument from the outside!

Cool Fountain