Vientiane, Laos Visa Run, a renegade monk sculptor and some site-specific work I did along the Mekong..

For a visa run we will cross over to Vientiane, Laos -stay there for a few days to regroup -then cross back over to Nong Khai to check out a grass roots volunteer organization called the Isara Foundation.

Below are two series of pictures first from Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan) in Vientiane -an amazing sculpture park built in 1958 by mystic Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat, who left the country after the communist take-over, and in 1978 he established a similar park (Sala Keoku or Sala Kaew Ku) across the river in Nong Khai, Thailand.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Vientiane

The next batch of photos are some sculptures that I made with Benjamin Maddox , both projects temporarily installed along the Mekong river.

Nong Khai: the Isara Foundation, and a big ole spirit house grave yard!

Back in Thailand I stopped in to check out the Isara Foundation- a grassroots non- profit school and volunteer program doing some great work in Thailand!
i met with the founder Kirk Gillock. He showed me around the school and told me about some cool projects -Like a boat made of recycled bottles that they sailed down the Mekong.
When Kirk found out I was studying Spirit Houses he took time out of his busy schedule to drive me to a nearby site of an very impressive Spirit House grave yard - the biggest one I've come across so far. Photos below:

Check out the Isara website and consider donating. All the money goes directly to teaching kids and community based projects.
http://www.isara.org/