I've seen the end of the world...

And it looks like this!

AHHHHH!

GAAAH! Phra Rahou is eating the moon!

AHHH! Some multi-armed, furry-bearded cat-man is pinning down another guy and it looks uncomfortable!

Though I thought there'd be more magma, and the earth-splitting in two... I guess our visit to Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park) was not as prophetic as it appeared to be. We waited for the axe to fall all day, but these freaky and awesome sculptures were as close as we got.

But first a note about getting there. The Banana Pancake Trail is littered with backpack-toting, Lonely-Planet-thumping numskulls, of which I am most certainly one. When the 14 bus from Vientiane stopped at a bus station partway to Buddha Park, it emptied of all but 8 tourists and a handful of locals. The bus sat for 10 minutes, before a guy got on, did a quick head count, and said "no Buddha Park." After which ensued a confused conversation where we tried to get to the bottom of this increasingly suspicious situation. But our Lonely Planets all say that the 14 goes all the way to Buddha Park!, the eight of us cried. "Bus go Vientiane, no Buddha Park." So you're telling us that these people who got on with us in Vientiane, are just going right back? "You take other bus. Wait 5 minute other bus." And how much will that be? "2,000 kip." But we've already paid for this bus to take us there! So we waited 5 minutes, and there was no other bus, but there were lots of very helpful tuk-tuk drivers. "5,000 kip each go right now Buddha Park." No way! 2,000! "Noooo, 5,000. Go right now." And back and forth it went, the 8 of us holding out, until finally we said Ok, 5,000 each. To which he replied "no, 15,000 each." Whaaa?

But enough about that, we got there, the Banana Pancake Trail got a little more trodden, and we got to see some seriously awesome Hindu and Buddhist statues, and: the world didn't end. Big picture, right?

...by Mr Ear-Kim-Ou with his madam.

Our new friend, Daow, single, and looking for love. Ladies? He's really nice!