18/07/2018
TRAVEL TRIVIA UPDATE!
Where in the World?
Question: Where in the world is a monument to multiple wars decorated with a prize for being “most peaceful”?
Answer: Patuxai, Vientiane, Laos
Cross the Arc de Triomphe with a Buddhist temple and the result might look something like Patuxai in Vientiane. Taking its name from the Sanskrit patu jaya, “victory gate,” the massive squared-off arch is as much a tribute to loss as to success. The memorial honors the soldiers who died during occupations by Siam and Japan, and the eventual battle for independence from France.
Despite being a war memorial, Patuxai clearly has peace on its mind. The structure is composed of five towers—four on the corners and one in the center—meant to invoke the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: mutual respect; mutual non-aggression; mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs; equality and cooperation; and the titular peaceful co-existence.
In this way, the presence of the World Peace Gong makes perfect sense. The original World Peace Gong is found in Indonesia and only a few replicas have ever been cast. Laos was awarded its gong by Indonesia in 2008 as a tribute to decades of political stability and security. The World Peace Gong committee praised Laos for two things: its continual efforts to keep good relations with its neighbors, and the way it promotes connections among its diverse cultures at home.
While war and peace associations may both define the monument in the eyes of the world, the tower is just as well known locally as proof of the government’s cleverness. The concrete and steel used to build it was paid for by the U.S. military and was supposed to have gone into expanding the Vientiane airport. But U.S. officials never put in writing that the material had to be used that way—an oversight that the Laotian authorities happily capitalized upon. As a result, locals have taken to calling the arch by its cheeky nickname: the Vertical Runway.