Pha That Luang – Golden Buddhist Stupa in Vientiane Laos

On December 5, 2019 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Laos1 Comment

Located in the heart of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is an enormous, golden stupa dedicated to Buddha. Built in the 1500’s, the stupa has a holy relic that is believed to be the breastbone of the Lord Buddha, making it a great national treasure of the Laotian people. At one time the entire stupa was supposed to be made of gold, but today only the top pinnacle is covered with gold leaf while the rest of it is painted gold.

Photograph on Display of the Buddhist Festival in November

Stupas are shrines that house relics or ashes of Buddhist monks or in special cases like Pha That Luang, the Lord Buddha himself. Several wars have caused significant damage to the stupa and it has been repaired and rebuilt several times. What you see today was rebuilt following WWII and is truly an impressive sight. In November, there is a Buddhist festival that brings thousands of people to Vientiane for three days of celebration. Our visit was actually about a week after the celebration had finished.

Walking the grounds of Pha That Luang only takes about an hour, but it is definitely a highlight of any visit to Vientiane. You will often find people making offerings to Buddha and praying as you visit this historic site. Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, Pha That Luang is beautiful and the architecture is quite fascinating.

Our First View of Pha That Luang from Outside of the Exterior Wall

Enjoying Our First Few Days in Hanoi, Vietnam

On November 21, 2019 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Vietnam4 Comments

It has been a hectic and yet satisfying start to our trip to Vietnam and Laos. We have only scratched the surface of all that we will see, but it is already an amazing experience. Until we get home and have time to provide all of the details, a few pictures of our first couple of days will have to do. We will do our best to share more over the coming days.

A924BF0E-85FD-4D8D-AC6A-52857FB27532 — Inside of the Temple of Literature

E74C61AA-03EF-4DF6-9101-E49C73CE7563 — Egg Coffee

DACB0336-F9B3-4EA8-8099-3116FFEEF53A — Temple on Sword Lake

1B939195-B525-403F-9812-F77FB8DA2212 — Saint Joseph’s Cathedral

008662F4-B301-4AAE-BE08-03141F9C4B6F — Enjoying Our First Full Day

96E6ECC0-82F8-4FA1-A725-0A92E2269627 — Entrance to the Temple on Sword

Multiple Obelisks at the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt

On June 21, 2019June 21, 2019 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Egypt5 Comments

Obelisks can be found throughout the world, many of them originally coming from Egypt. Almost always, you will find them as a single obelisk that stands out on its own. The obelisks at Karnak Temple in Luxor is an example of having multiple obelisks at the same site. There are two remaining obelisks of the four that originally existed at the site. We took many different photographs of the obelisks during our time touring the temple and the pair of obelisks provides some interesting symmetry in the pictures that we took. There were also time when they could be seen framed between different columns and doors, which was probably the intention of the ancient Egyptians when the obelisks were erected.