May 2008
It’s our last day in the city of Luang Prabang in Laos, we’ve stayed here 6 days to unwind and catch up, for me to sort through my photos and notes.
An UNESCO World Heritage Site…Laung Prabang is so small and calm that it feels nothing like a city. It’s beautiful here, relaxing…a slower pace of life with little traffic, great food, smiling people and a culture both welcoming and beguiling. The majority follow Theravada Buddhism with strong Animist traditions, a belief in traditional spirits known collectively as Satsana Phi. 47 distinct ethnic groups are officially recognised in Laos which in turn represent 149 sub-groups and 90 native languages, all within one of the least populated countries in Asia. It’s fascinating and bewildering to keep track of. Sadly due to the devastating wars against communism in the 1960’s and 70’s in Laos Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos holds the unenviable status of being the most heavily bombed country in the world. So much unexploded bomb ordinance remains across Laos that it is still maiming and killing people today, as farming turns active shells from the earth or they’re collected for the price of the metal.
We’re sitting right now in a small restaurant called something bakery…everything seems to have bakery tagged on the end but amusingly there is only one place good at making cakes. I originally ordered the papaya salad but it blew my head off. Apparently it only had one chili in it as they made it mild for the soft westerner…but chilis in Laos are powerful stuff. They graciously accepted an alternative lunch order and it was delicious. We’ve been staying at Sala Prabang near the river…one of the best places we’ve stayed this trip and wonderfully quiet.
Luang Prabang was the former Royal Capital and sits on the banks of the Mekong River. There are hundreds of Theravada monks dressed in saffron robes who spend their days in quiet study and their early mornings collecting alms from the local people. It’s a ritual I tried to capture on camera at 5.30am today but unfortunately due to being left in the room with air-con running overnight (it’s so humid)…my camera fogged with condensation. I’m steeling myself for another early rise tomorrow. In the meantime young monks can be seen enjoying time off, smiling, walking together under umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun… two laugh when I request a photo, happy to pose but immediately sombre in front of the camera.
We visited the National Museum on Ounheun Road, the former Royal Palace of Luang Prabang built in 1904 during the French Colonial era close to the river to receive disembarking official visitors. The grounds include the beautiful Haw Pha Bang Buddhist temple with its elaborate multi tiered roof. ‘The Floating Buddha’ exhibition in the museum gallery features black and white photographs by German photographer Hans Georg Berger of Laos Buddhist monks’ daily life. We wander to more Wats…forgetting to note all the names…all of them exotic to western eyes with their hand-carved and painted columns…rearing dragons on the roof lines. At Wat Saen Buddhist temple, built 1718 by King Kitsarath from stones taken from the Mekong River, two beautifully painted long boats are displayed.
Streets are closed at dusk for the start of the night market. There’s some great local handicrafts…the choice more varied and better quality than what we saw in Vietnam.
I found a wonderful spa called Aroma on the main street…been 3 times, pondering another visit today (3 hours later I went back for a head and neck massage). After undressing you change in to thin muslin pyjamas through which they massage you…bare hands not touching skin, (I assume in line with their customs) whilst lying on a bed separated from others by soft lilac muslin curtains. Everything feels delicate, serene. I convince Dave to join me but he finds the foot and leg massage excruciating, disrupting the serenity for everyone with a variety of exclamations. For the equivalent of £3 an hour in the nimble well practiced hands of Lao masseurs, I would be mad not to visit for a 4th time in 6 days (I did). We’re both eating well, lots of fruit for breakfast, lychees bristling pink and green in their hairy skins. We love it here despite the size of the terrifying spider we see at lunchtime. The warning posters for health risks associated with smoking are graphic but a poster for a Lao cover band of The Clash delights us.
We meet a couple of Irish girls Caroline and Sharon and hang out with them around town and in some favourite lunch spots where Sharon barters with local kids selling bracelets. She’s tough but very funny and she makes the kids laugh. We take tuk-tuks just for the fun of it because Luang Prabang is easily walkable…drivers catch a snooze between fares.
Multi headed carved dragons, this one unusually in silver where most are gold. A well know local character wanted to share his drink from his straw in a plastic bag…we kindly declined. An unnerving winged statue that bizarrely reminds me of my Dad…must be the nose. Repurposed bomb casings repurposed as plant-pots.
We go up the 100 metre high Mount Phu Si (also known as Phou Si Hill) in the centre of the old town, a sweating decent in high humidity for views across the Mekong River on one side and the Nam Khan River on the other. We see the reclining Buddha and a cave in which ‘Bhudda’s footprint’ is preserved. A Flame tree is so bright you could see it from 100 metres down on the street. A moral quandary along the steps as we continue up…women selling small birds in hand woven grass cages to release at the top of Phu Si Hill to “bring good luck”. I wanted to buy them all and set them free…but then didn’t want to encourage the selling of them to tourists. I caved in and bought two at 10,000 kip each (about 70p each) and we free them immediately.
We hire a guide called Kee, he’s from the Hmong tribe. He takes us in to the Northern hill villages. We wander among the simple grass roofed homes, by pineapple crops and women sitting on their haunches sorting rice, spreading it out to dry. Men fish from simple boats in a landscape which is so incredibly lush it dazzles. A discarded gun is a grim reminder of the wars fought in this beautiful landscape.
Children play…excited to see us, enthralled by Dave pulling faces for them they giggle and run, coming back for more. One little girl is helping her mother sort spring onions to sell at the market. Everyone smiles and encourages us to talk with them through Kee as interpreter.
We’re now in Cambodia in Siem Reap hopping into a tuk-tuk from one temple to another and getting foot sore and dreaming of beaches in Thailand. Before I post images of Cambodia, here are some last images of Laos. Every morning around 5.30am the monks file silently through the main streets from their monasteries to collect alms from the local people. These alms are usually small piles of sticky rice, fruit, sweet treats and other basic provisions; but not money. There are approximately 22,000 Theravada Buddhist monks in Laos in a total population of 6.4 million people. It’s a humbling experience watching them walk slowly through the streets stopping for donations placed in their alms bowls. There is reverence in the seated people and the soft morning light…we wait and watch, observing the silence until the monks leave to walk home.
The Travel Diarist 