Wat Lao Siribuddhavas

Beautiful wat compared to where I came from (Georgia). I attended during Lao New Year 2014. You can tell the community put a lot of time and money it this temple. The buildings were beautiful and the vendors were plentiful. There was a huge open space for the vendors, eating area, and partying. I also thought it was clever that they brought the Buddhas out so people could wash them, which is a tradition during LNY. I was impressed. The only thing I didn’t like was it was so far and you have to go trough a gravel like road to get there. But it’s tolerable.

I am so disappointed in what this place has become.
My dad helped build this temple and we stopped by with some people from the fam for Laos New Years late on Saturday. First off parking was horrible, the lot doesn’t have enough gravel and the rain from earlier that day made it really muddy. There were some people leaving as I was getting there and their cars were stuck in the mudd.
The temple itself is beautiful so don’t strike me down for giving a place or worship 3 stars but I was just overwhelmed at how much trash there was around the place. The temple just recently started allowing beer on the property to be sold on New years and there were empty bottles everywhere AND drunk buffoons.
They did have more boothes this year so I loaded up on all the homemade foods that I missed: papaya salad, sour mangos with spicy dipping sauce, bbq meatballs with a sweet plum sauce, spicy bbq wings, phở, shredded bamboo with herbs, Asian beef jerky, meat sticks, sweet sticky rice in sugar cane and LOTS of Thai tea and Thai coffee. They also had craw fish, lots of other soups like rice porridge and udon noodles but I was too stuffed to give those a try. Bring lots of cash as hardly anyone takes cards and go earlier in the day when people are sober and you’ll also get to check out the parade. New Year’s is celebrated around the 2^nd-​4^th weeks of April and I wouldn’t bring your children if you are coming in the evening as sadly the crowds are older people drinking, dancing and smoking. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint either but I think getting drunk off your ass at a temple is a bit wrong.