As we are still at home and can not travel, I was writing about our last trip to the South Island of New Zealand that we’ve recently been to. In the middle of writing our diaries about that trip, I suddenly missed a particular trip that has a special place in our hearts. So just like that, I decided to park our New Zealand trip diaries and travel in time back to 2013 and to that trip in South East Asia.
The original plan was to visit Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia but everything changed as soon as we landed in Thailand and faced all sort of problems with our Iranian passport. Passport privilege and how it affects your travel plans and itinerary is another subject for another post, so I won’t get into that here.
It was middle of March, right before the Persian new year that we flew to Bangkok with two of our friends and from there took another flight to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. 30 days Visa on arrival was issued without any problem and we entered Laos. The plan was sorting out our visa for Cambodia and then decide to go south or north.
The next morning, after visiting Cambodia Embassy, we soon realized that we can not get a visa for Cambodia! We already informed that it’s almost impossible to get Vietnam visa if we are not travelling there with a travel agency and knowing that we can not even travel to Cambodia where everyone else can easily travel with on arrival visa was so annoying.
But anyway, we realized that we have now more time to visit Laos properly and think about where else to go from Laos. We left Vientiane, soon after we left the Cambodia embassy and headed north toward Luang Prabang with a short stop at Vang Vieng. The road quality from Vientiane to Luang Prabang is pretty bad and having a stop on the way was essential besides that Vang Vieng has amazing caves and rock formations which can not be missed. It’s also the party hub of Laos as well for tourists.
It was early in the afternoon , that we got off the small minibus that we got on, 4 hours earlier in Vang Vieng, just 180 km away. Covered in dust and extremely tired of the bumpy and dusty roads, we found ourselves in the middle of Luong Prabang.
Most of other travelers were backpackers like us and soon after we all got off ,disappeared to find a hostel in city center. We however had a place booked somewhere out of city center that I was really excited about. We got on a Tuk-tuk and got to our place and the moment we walked in, we fell in love with the view.
In Luang Prabang, there are lots of fancy and boutique hotels by Mekong river but we were on the budget trip and generally speaking, if you’ve read our other posts, we prefer small family run hotels and the Luang Prabang hotel was in the same category. A tastefully decorated hotel ran by a lao-swiss couple that we called it home for 4 days. We had a priceless balcony over the Mekong river that we were usually sitting after the sunset and watching the fishermen on Mekong river passing by.
Ok let’s get to Luang Prabang itself. Luang Prabang is a major tourist destination in Laos but it doesn’t affect the charm of this city. There’s a sense of calmness in most of places in town.
Luang Prabang has been the royal capital of the country until 1975 and lies in a valley at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. It’s known for its many Buddhist temples, French colonial building and the lush green environment. We’ve been there in March where all the trees were in full blossom and Magnolia trees were just adding another dimension to the whole city vibe.
One of the main reasons of staying in Luang Prabang for few days was experiencing Sai Bat. Sai Bat also known as morning alms takes place everyday early in the morning 5-6am and involves people placing food and personal care items into the alms bowls of passing monks. It’s a silent and sacred ceremony – one that is steeped in tradition. Among the monks are many child novices, also dressed in orange robes. The Alms giving is a known tradition in all cities and towns that Buddhism is practiced but in Luang Prabang, due to abundance of monasteries, 33 to be exact, it’s more highlighted and taken more seriously and won’t be missed even in rainy winter days and in last decades, it’s been a major tourist attraction in Laos.
We did attend at least three Sai Bat while we were in Luang Prabang. Attending the first one, you’ll realize quickly why this ritual is so popular by tourists mainly as a photo op. Luang Prabang is a beautiful laidback town with amazing architecture, lovely building and lush greenery backdrops for taking amazing photos of monks dressed in vivid mandarin-colored robes, marching down the empty misty streets of town in big numbers in line. But there’s much more to monks life in monasteries than a beautiful peaceful morning ritual that we see in the streets.
These monks normal day, starts at 3:30 am with morning prayer before marching out of their monasteries to collect their food for the day. They get only two meals a day, one in the morning and one at lunch time and that’s it. For younger kids starting as novice, it’s pretty tough to not eat from lunch till next breakfast. Watching the alms giving for few days, the main item on offer is usually sticky rice but because tourists are now allowed and even encouraged to sit on their knees and participate in the Sai Bat, there are some other items on offer. I noticed that younger monks start to put the lid on their alms bowl when they get to the people having only steaky rice on offer, if they already have enough. But what is important is what they end up with in their bowl is not theirs. all the alms offering will be shared amongst the monks of the same monastery for breakfast and lunch. In smaller town and villages, locals bring more food in batches to monasteries before lunch time for the good deed.
More than 60% of Laos population are Buddhists and as a Buddhist Lao boy, you need to spend at least 3 months of your life in a monastery as a novice. And here it comes the difference between a novice and a monk. A novice is generally a younger boy, normally younger than 20 who spends few months up to few years in a monastery. A monk however is dedicating his life to stay in the monastery. The kids from wealthier families with access to school, only spend few months during summer school holidays in monasteries but the kids from poor families in rural and remote regions will be sent to monasteries to get access to free education and mostly and spend most of their childhood there without visiting their families. It sounds sad and lonely to be away but it gives them the opportunity to have access to school education and also religious trainings when they is not enough food or school opportunities back home. Girls won’t get that chance!! A young boy we met in a monastery was from a rice farmer family in a remote village with 10 siblings. Parents normally send few to the monastery for the good deed and keep few at home to help with the farm.
Their daily life starts at 3:30 to 4:30 with a prayer and meditating session, followed by alms collecting ritual and then getting back to monastery for breakfast and the school sessions. In their free time, they help with housekeeping and sometimes construction activities and repairs if required.
In general, we found Lao people calm and gentle and I personally think that having a mandatory 3 weeks training in monasteries for showing them how to meditate and see the world can not be unrelated to this sense of calmness.
Also despite the presence of tourists in a city like Luang Prabang, it still has a great calming effect with lots of corners to discover. In the next post, I’ll get to the the daily life in the town and few small villages close to Luang Prabang that we have visited before moving north to visit Lao hill tribes.
Till then, take care.
