Wat Pak Huak
@ Wat Paa Huak @ Vat Pha Huak @ Wat Pa Huak @ Monastery of the Bamboo Forest, Luang Prabang, Laos
The sim of Wat Pak Huak, Luang Prabang.
Your base for this tourist attraction is the Unesco World Heritage town of Luang Prabang, Laos. For tourist information about Luang Prabang, go to Luang Prabang Travel Guide. To prepare for a trip to Laos, read also the Laos Travel Guide. Looking for budget accommodation there? Use AsiaExplorers Budget Accommodation Guide, the no-frills website to cover your budget accommodation needs.
Wat Pak Huak Travel Info
Wat Pak Huak is a small and rather neglected Laotian monastery located at the foot of Mount Phousi, along Sisavangvong Road, across the road from Haw Kham, the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang. It is slightly elevated from the road. To reach it, you need to climb up a short flight of steps.
Wat Pak Huak is surrounded by groves of frangipanni trees, making it look like a small country cottage. It has a two-tier roof and a wooden gable that is intricately carved with a sculpture of the deity Indra mounted on the elephant Erawan. The façade also shows that it has shiny mosaic tiles, many of which have already dropped off when I viewed.
The name Wat Pak Huak means "Monastery of the Bamboo Forest" - most temples with "paa" or "pak" to their names are forest retreats that were built deep in the forest so that monks can retreat to for meditation. Some of these forest monasteries have since became town temples as the towns grew in their direction.
Wat Pak Huak was built in 1861 by Phra Sri Mahanam, a nobleman during the reign of King Cyhantarath (1851-72) in Laos and King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) in Siam. As Phra Sri Mahanam has ties with the Siamese royal family, his monastery shows Siamese as well as Chinese influences - he had two artists working on the murals, one of which came from southern China while another may have studied painting in Bangkok.
Wat Pak Huak was restored during the 1990's with assistance from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Chiang Mai, Thailand.
If you're going to Luang Prabang, you'd be glad to know that the town is quite small. You can go to most places on foot if you want to. Otherwise, you can also catch a tuk tuk to take you around. As for accommodation, they range from very simple, basic beds to boutique hotels. You can visit the Luang Prabang Hotels guide for a list of budget accommodation.
Ornamentation of the gable shows Indra mounted on the elephant Erawan.
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