Hello everyone!
I have some questions to ask you before you will read through this content. They are…
– Do you Live in your Mother’s Birth Place Now?
-Do you know where your mother born?
-Have you ever traveled to your mother’s birthplace?
Share with me your beautiful location following the comment box. Here are my answers to those questions.
Day 1: Saturday, 11th Jan 2020
Yep. I have never visited my mother’s previous village. It is not far from where I live now, but I haven’t visited before. So, I want to share my adventurous journey and experience there today. We go there with a belief or purpose “to bring my nephew to see the head of monk at Sinxayyaram temple, Feaung district, Vientiane province. Because he can’t talk as normal even he is 7 years old.” my mother believes that the monk can help my nephew on this issue”.
Two days, we make one night trip without any plan.
It is A journey with my family. The starting location is in Vientiane capital to Vientiane province (Vientiane province is the same name with Vientiane capital, but it doesn’t mean the same place. This Vientiane province was separated from Vientiane capital in the past). You will notice the difference as per the Google map that I will show you as below.
This Google map is Nalang village, Feuang District, Vientiane Province, Laos (My aunt’s house)
This is the family’s journey; including my brother’s family and my family. First, we use our individual car. There are two cars. My mother, my son and I travel in my car. My husband is our driver, lol:). We start to drive out at 2:00 pm. My brother and his family left ahead of us. We didn’t plan to go there for long holiday, because we don’t have free time from work accept weekends. Of course, our mother has helped to make calls to make an appointment with our auntie for arrangement and she continued to connect with the head monk of Sinnxayyaram temple.
Today, we decided to through No 10 road. We passed by Ban Keun, Toulakhom district, Vientiane province at 14:00 pm. Our first destination is Namlin village, Phonhong district, Vientiane Province. This district is my birth land and also my brother. Why don’t we stop by Phonhong before heading to Feung district? Yes, because the road is under construction on the way and I don’t want to use my car to there. The low car can’t go there simply. So, I recommend you drive the pickup or adventure vehicle to Feung District. There are not many convenience roads, hmmm… the good road is around the city of Feaung district only. Anyway, we don’t have any choice. My sister-in-law was helped by my sister that she gave her a Vios car for borrowing.
Actually, we arrived in Phonhong district AT about 16:00 PM. Then, we change to my sister’s car and we continue to go to Feuang district with 6 people as one team. Our team has my brother, my sister-in-law, my sister-in-law’ younger brother, my nephew, and me(Ko, Nang, Khoud, Ko-Ko, Baiboun, Vannalee:).
The distance from Vientiane Capital to Feung district is 142 KM, about five to six hours if you go in the day time. It is our first time to travel to Feung district, my mother’s birthplace. So, our next destination is my aunt’s house because she still lives and works there with her husband. We continued to drive along 13th North Road, then We will pass by Hin Hoeup district. If we see the first three junctions of Hinherb District we will turn left (It is on the halfway to Vungvieng district).
For your information, it will be better, if we plan to arrive there earlier before the sunset. So you know, why? Because it is so dark on the way. We don’t know where her house is and we also don’t know the way, too. The roads are long, it still under the construction. Therefore, it is difficult when we drive there at night time. Furthermore, it is not suitable for low car driving. There are not many houses, not many people drive on the road from 16:00 PM– 20:00 PM at night we feel so lonely and drive into the darkness without any other light, except our car’s light. It is so dangerous, excited, adventure way to curve mountain road. We just notice that there are only many trees beside the way. The feeling seems like driving into the jungle.
We stopped in a village for a while before the sun sets, at about 17:30 pm. We reach a junction and did not know which way to go. Luckily, we saw a person next to the road. He helped and show us the way “you should go straight this way if you would like to go to Meuang Feung district”. Yes, his answer is correct! Do you know what question we asked our aunt for preparation? It is “can we drive the low car to your home? she answered yes”. You know I’m laughing now lol…wah oh! It cannot! I would suggest that tourists should use pickup with 4win, adventure car, car for off-road; and you should start the trip from Vientiane Capital early morning, so it should be about 6:00 am, 7:00 am, not later than 8:00 am. It takes 6-7 hours from Vientiane Capital to Feung district, Vientiane Province. If you arrive there lately, you won’t drive safely. Each village is far away from each other. Not many petrol stations, convenience stores, restaurants on the way. You should fill the gasoline and buy all the necessities in Vientiane capital or Phonhong District, Vientiane Province.
We felt better when we got into the city of Feung District. You know, we thought that we would arrive at our destination. We called our aunt, but she said no, it is not. We have to continue to drive again about 10 km from there. We guessed the way by our aunt’s information. We were looking for Na-Ang’s Primary School. She mentioned, “you will see the tree junction and then you turn right”.
Yes, our starting time was 16:00 pm, our arrival time was about 20:05 PM.
You will see my brother’s break time as below photo
yes! We finally arrived at my aunt’s house safely. The time was about 8:00 pm. This village’s name is Nalung, Feaung District, Vientiane Province. We all were hungry and were tired by a long journey. But, my auntie just came back from her garden and didn’t prepare any food for us, lol. Even though, we have already told her. Can you guess where my auntie’s house? Yes, her house is next to Nalang School at Nalang Village, Feung District, Vientiane Province. We stayed overnight here then go to Sinxayyaram temple the next day in the morning.
Oh, so my sister-in-law and her brother cooked some menus for dinner at 9:00 PM. We all went to bed at around 10:00 PM.
Day 2: Sunday, 12th Jan 2020
Good morning! local people of Na-lang village. I got up early at 5:30 in the morning, because I can’t sleep well. So, I have a chance to steam sticky rice and wash dishes. I would like to explore the view of this village. After the sunrise, my first impression is the beautiful cliff; it is in front of my auntie’s house.
There are monks walking around the village for almsgiving every morning. Yes, I was a person who did this activity on behalf of my auntie at 7:00 AM, We gave cooked sticky rice, vegetables, and a few biscuits from my sister-in-law. Then, we visited my aunt’s small garden. The garden is far from her house about 1 KM. So, I collected some vegetables for my mother. My auntie would like to give it to her sister from her garden. The garden has some local organic vegetables, for example, chili, aborigines, papaya, etc… You know, I HAD A chance to drive her four wheels motorbike from the garden back to the house about 8:30 AM and we bought barbecue meat nearby the house.
At 9:00 AM after we had some breakfast, my auntie took us to tour and to see the head of monk (The monk is very respected by local people) at Sinxayyaram temple, Nonhinhae village, Feaung district, Vientiane Province. We passed by a village before arriving AT the temple. Na-Ang village is next to Nalang village. Yes, it is my mother’s birth village! Wow, what does it have there? Do you know? When I ARRIVED AT this village, I was propounded by a very long beautiful cliff! I guess the rock is about two to three KM Long, about 100-200 meters Height. We visited and stopped by a house at Na-Ang village for visiting our cousin. Many people still remember my mom’s name, even she left her birthplace for over 30 years!
Photo: The beautiful mountain between Na-Ang village to Nonhinhae village.
Our aunt gave us a lot of explanation along the way, for example where her other land is, suggested to me to our cousin, the temple bah bah bah… she can be a local guide, but she can’t speak English. She can speak Lao only lol J If you would like to visit there in the future, you can ask me. Then, I will suggest you to her if you prefer any help or any information around where her residence is.
We reached at Sinxayyaram temple, Nonhinhae village, Feaung district about 9:30 AM. My aunt’s name is Mrs. Som, she said that the Nonhinhae village is a new village from Na-Ang village. There are sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, grandsons, granddaughters of Na-Ang village and they are living here! Auntie, Mrs. Som brings us to see an uncle, Mr.Sung (Mr. Sung is a man who works in the temple, we call his position Salawat in Lao). Mr. Sung is our second guide for the temple tour. He introduced us to praying five-point at Sinxayyaram temple. I will show you five photos following. Before we enter the main area of the temple, there is a small shop like a souvenir shop, but it is not. It is a small shop for selling Buddhist for praying. I paid about 25,000 Kip to buy Friday Buddha’s statute. We will put into a hole for creating a big Buddha.
The Sinxayyaram temple.
Location: The Sinxayyaram temple, Nonhinhae village, Feaung district, Vientiane Province, Laos.
The Sinxayyaram temple is a very popular one in Feaung district, Vientiane province, Laos. Many local people know this temple very well. It located on the main road of Nonhinhae village, on the curve hill. So, it has a wonderful view and many interesting Buddhism zone. However, some area of the temple is still under construction. There are many small and fresh shops in front of the entrance. Those temporary shops sell yellow papayas, local snails, vegetables, etc… My favorite one is the yellow papaya because it IS sweet and delicious papaya. I recommend you support any kind of product for local people. The price is reasonable and it is not expensive.
Five zones of praying at Sinxayyaram temple.
1. The main area, Which has a big model of Buddha, many small Buddha, glasses stones, rhyme, flowers, etc…
2. This area called “Hor Pa Chan Tha Rou Pung” ຫໍພະຈັນທະຣຸປັງ
3. The “Hor La Sa Tham Ma Rod” ຫໍລາຊ໌ະທັມມະຣ໌ດ it is opposite of the Hor Pa Chan Tha Rou Pung
4. The Velouvan garden ສວນເວລຸວັນ. This garden has hundred of small yellow statues and a gray Buddha in the center of the garden
5. The “Hor Nak Fung Tham Sritaiphouvanathikabordeemaharaj”ຫໍນາຄ໌ຟັງທັມ ສິຣິໄຕພູວະນາຄ໌ທິກະບໍດີມະຫາຣາຊາ
Tourists should walk around the temple, starting from the front of the temple to the back of the temple. You will see many believe in decorous Buddhism and a wonderful view of Rock Mountain surrounding the temple.We spent about two hours at the temple. After that, we drove back home at 11:00 PM and had lunch at a restaurant near the Feuang market, we reached Vientiane’s capital at 7:00 PM.
Finally, I would like to suggest that you should prepare and wear a facemask to avoid dust when you would like to travel there. As I have told you before, many roads and streets are under construction. You should avoid travel at night time on the road. It will be great to start in the early morning before you enter to Feung district. I hope to visit this district again because there is a village called Sammeun Meung Feung, it is located along Namlik River and so beautiful. Let’s give me a comment for inspiration for my next article. Thanks a lot for your time reading my blog!
Have a nice day!