Sight Seeing in Luang Prabang

Wat Xieng Thong

This trip we let Laos open up before us, more out of laziness than a travel strategy. A major challenge was to understand Laos' history and its current politics. We found two useful resources after we returned to KL. The Bamboo Palace: Discovering the Lost Dynasty of Laos, is not about uncovering an ancient civilization. Rather the author tries to learn what happen to members of the royal family who disappeared in 1975. Laos' politics are elusive. A January, 2013 New York Times article gave some insights into the current government in the context of the disappearance of Sombath Somphone, the retired founder of the NGO, PADECT;  we have followed his case closely with great concern and sorrow.

Palace - neither old nor grandiose

At the Royal Palace Museum (no need to search for it - it is on the main street) we hired a guide to fill in the many blanks in our knowledge (you need to ask at the ticket collector and they will find a staff member for you). The French built the palace between 1904-1909. Only one coronated king, Sisavangvong, who died in 1959, lived in it. He was succeeded by his son, who delayed his coronation until the country's civil war ended so that he would rule over a united country. Instead, when the civil war ended so did the monarchy.

Immediately behind the palace was the garage containing vintage cars, including a Ford Edsel, a gift from the United States. In another building was a photography exhibit, The Floating Buddha, a must see while at the palace.

A dance performance at the National Theatre (on the palace grounds) consisted of short pieces including a scene from the Ramayana. The dancers who played monkeys added a note of realism by scratching fleas and other vermin each time they entered the stage.

They put their masks on to please the tourist photographers, but clearly the cast preferred to be seen as their real selves when it came to accepting applause.

The cast unmasked

At the other end of the city near where the Mekong and Nam Khan meet is Wat Xieng Thong. This is one place where I wish that we had a guide. There was a lot to see, but what we were seeing and its importance was sometimes missed. The Wat's "campus" is large and restful. At the souvenir shop we bought refrigerator magnets and mobiles that cost less than in town.

For those dressed inappropriately

Mosaic on chapel's exterior wall

Carriage & urn to carry king's ashes
Need a guide to know more

The Traditional Arts and Ethnography Centre (TAEC) is a small, well done museum about the hill tribes. I found it particularly informative in describing marriage customs. For the most part the tribes prohibit marriages within a village. Village festivals serve to allow young men and young women meet each other other. The future brides and grooms are both in their mid-teens - no stories of daughters being "sold off" to old men. The museum had excellent videos that told stories to fill in the details. I was disappointed that I didn't see any discussion of death rituals, probably a sign of my age.

TAEC had a small gift shop - the proceeds go the tribal people - and a snack bar featuring regional snacks. While Doug took pictures I chatted with a man at reception. He was from a village and won a scholarship to prepare him for a teaching career. The next logical step would be to return to a village as a teacher, but he planned to continue studying so that he can find a career in a city. A conversation that could be had in both developed and developing countries.

Traditional clothes for sale at TAEC gift shop

Men at work - ticket sellers at TAEC

 Our visit to Ock Pop Tok showed us what community development can achieve. The Ock Pop Tok shop offers free tuk tuk rides to its living arts centre. It was a work place for local weavers. It houses a crafts school (half day and full day lessons), a guest house, a restaurant, and gift shop. The project is impressive and might serve as model for other developing countries. Their website, especially the blog, makes for good reading. We visited two Ock Pop Tok gift shops; they hire retail savy sales staff. At one as I was leaving, having vetoed the selection of purses, a salesman pulled out the perfect item from the pile of sale items. At another a woman's casual glance at a scarf ending up with a saleswoman tying it on her - it looked perfect and she bought it! Doug watched the demonstration carefully and we bought a scarf as well.

Ock Pop Tok workers - silkworms

Think about the difficulty of getting pattern colors right

Making Hmong Batik

No pics for Big Brother Mouse - too bad. as we fell in love with the project as soon as we walked in. They produce and distribute books to children in Lao villages. Included among their staff is an elephant who helps with jungle deliveries. Big Brother Mouse offers donors opportunities to fund the publication of a book, sponsor a village book party, or send an item from its Amazon wish list. Visitors in Luang Prabang can buy books to distribute during their travels, donate a pre-selected package of books for Big Brother Mouse to distribute, or help young people in the community practice English.

Wandering the streets of Luang Prabang

An arrangement of paper umbrellas

Luang Prabang grew on us - we opened our senses and took in what was around us. We walk along the Nam Kham and Mekong Rivers and checked menus at the numerous eateries perched on the banks of each river. The main street is easily walked, similar to Hoi An in Vietnam but without aggressive merchants and tuk tuk drivers.

Along the street were travel agencies (many offering elephant adventures), restaurants and cafes, food stalls, handicraft shops, mini-marts, a few art galleries, an elementary school, the library, the palace (now a museum) and wats. In short, a walk down main street covers culture, consumerism, and cravings.

Stalls selling crepes were common

A unique stall - we took a pass on this.  Out of view -
sign assuring customers that the snack is "good"

The library was buzzing with activity. On the grounds we watched the rehearsal of a puppet show. It was to teach about hygiene. The library recruits volunteers to have English conversations with young people. An apparent challenge isn't so much the English vocabulary as it is handling with accents from all over the globe. Pictured below are two rooster puppets we saw on the palace grounds - not part of the puppet show but this feels like the right place to include them.

Along the streets in Luang Prabang and Vientiane are spirit houses, where the household spirits dwell. Each house is different. It may have food, drinks, and other objects to keep the spirits happy. These spirits seem to have settled for devotional objects.

This fish cage was in the courtyard of our guest house. If money flies in it will never leave.

Less seen are beggars. They never go beyond making gestures that they want money or food. During our 2nd stay in Luang Prabang when most of the Chinese New Year tourists had left we were approached by young children selling nondescript trinkets. With the wave of hand, indicating "no," the children moved on.

Boy with his wares

We were in Laos during dry season. The entire trip we were impressed with how dry and dusty everything was. Wet or dry, day to day life in Laos can be a challenge. Pictured below is a bamboo toll bridge across the Nam Kham river. The bridge disappears during rainy season and is rebuilt during dry season. We didn't cross river - so no details about the toll.

The next picture is of the Mekong River - people walk across the sand and eventually link up with a boat to ferry them to the other side.

Buddha with arms down - asking for rain
(I just noticed figure on the left -  I have no idea)

Finally, here are some things that made up smile.

Not what I imagine wearing to a Lao wedding

What's a chea?

I guess that we are straying around the world

Observing Monks in Lao

I have concluded that the best way to learn about monks in Lao is to ask a tour guide if he was ever a monk. Chances are that he was - 2 of our 3 guides had been monks. The father of one guide had been a leader in the Pathet Lao and had done “bad things.” His son shaved his head and became a monk for a week to earn merit for his father (so his father could be moved to a better place in his afterlife). The other became a monk for three weeks after completing his studies. By being a monk he would earn merit for his very alive mother. Clearly being a monk is does not necessarily assume a life long commitment. A monk may return to “normal” life even after he has taken his vows. To do so a ritual is performed that takes just a few hours.

Both men reported that they ate two meals a day. Dinner was not eaten to control sexual desires. One man said that the hungry monks would be too tired to think of sex. The other claimed that if he ate dinner specific parts of his body would become "itchy." One man said that the hardest part was learning how to mediate. He said that his mind would jump from one thing to other - an experience that is probably universal. Here is a blog posting where one man shares the details of his 10 days of being a monk.

The young novice monks were said to come from poor families in the "north." At the monastery they could study and have more life opportunities. In Bhutan young boys may have been sent to a monastery if they did not show an aptitude for studying. As far as we could tell their education mirrored that of madrasas; although we were told that the education at large monasteries were better. A fellow traveler on this trip, who conversed with some monks, suggested that in Lao the monks were getting a reasonably good education.

When we walked into a wat in Vientiane we were surprised to see no evidence of monks beyond the hanging robes. Throughout the day and into the night in both Vientiane and Laung Prabang we saw one, two, or three novice monks walking along. We had little idea of how they spent most of their days. We did see a few monks doing work in the wats, e.g., planting flowers or helping with renovation.

Commonly seen drying robes - suggest a nearby monastery

A knot of monks - apparently studying

We had heard about the morning walk of the monks through Laung Prabang where devotee would put sticky rice in their alms bowls. The guest house had posters asking tourist to respect this tradition.Web sites remind tourists that this is "not a photo op" and Lonely Planet advises "if it is genuinely meaningful to you, you may take part in the ceremony."  (A blog posting and its comments summarize the ceremony and the mixed feelings of observing.)

We had decided not to seek out the procession; we assumed that we would be part of the problem. Unexpectedly as we waited for a tuk tuk to take us to a bus station along came a group of monks. We tried to be discrete, but I have to admit we gave into the temptation and grabbed a camera.

Basket on road so monk can discard unwanted food such as cookies

Devotees put a few grains of sticky rice in each alms bowl

Apparently the collection of food varies. One guide told us that in his village half of the families provide monks with food in the morning and half in the afternoon. We visited a Lao tribal village which had a drum house, stupa, temple, and monastary. The drum is beaten at festivals and to announce important events. Only 3 monks live in the monastry. They were from the village and sent to Laung Prabang to study with the expectation that they would educate the villagers when they returned. Rather than go out with alms bowls in the morning a window is opened to let the villagers know that they can bring food.

Drum house to the right of stupa