Lollygagging (and Getting Lost) in Luang Prabang

I spent five days in Luang Prabang, Laos and most of the time I had no idea where I was. Some mornings I would set out from my guest house heading toward the Mekong River ... and that would be the last time I really knew where I was until I somehow stumbled across my guesthouse later in the day. Luang Prabang is not a big town, and there are really just four main streets on a small peninsula, bordered by two rivers (the other one being the Nam Khan) but somehow my internal orienteering skills utterly deserted me and sometimes I didn’t even know which river I had ended up at. In my defense, there are tons of little alleyways that run parallel to main streets, but somehow or other I always ran into a temple in the middle of the block and had to detour and ended up goodness only knows where. And while I consulted a map from time to time, it didn’t seem to be so useful. I was starting to get more comfortable with the town’s layout by the time I left, but really! I thought I was beginning to lose it altogether ...(^_^)... In the end, I walked my foo foos off and ended up seeing some interesting sights!

Nam Khan River

Luang Prabang is famous for being a charming little French Colonial-inspired UNESCO World Heritage Site; it is very pretty with period (or renovated to stay traditional-looking) buildings. Most of the colonial buildings in Luang Prabang are white stucco with dusty blue trim and shutters, unlike Hoi An and other colonial places in Vietnam, where most of the old French buildings are ochre-coloured and the shutters blue or green.

And of course, Luang Prabang is very famous for and full of Buddhist temples or wats. And tourists. There were lots and lots of European tourists ... I heard lots of French, German, and Italian as I walked around town. I met a couple of young Australian women who swore the majority of travellers they’d met were Canadian and I did meet three or four very lovely Canadian women in my travels. And I met several delightful, spirited, and extremely good- humoured Chilean women who said they were travelling with a group of 30 people from Chile. The greatest number of visitors seemed to be from China, however. It was not so terribly surprising, as China shares a border with Laos ... in fact there is a high speed train in the works.  In addition, it was Chinese New Year and everyone has a holiday, but I was surprised, as traditionally, it is a time for people in China to visit their families.

Buddhist Temple at Haw Kham (Royal Palace)

Other things I did ... shopping ... there is such a wonderful emphasis on Lao silk and traditional ethnic crafts, especially textiles. There are dozens of stores selling handicrafts and then there is a big craft market, which runs on one of the main streets (which is closed to traffic) from 5-10 p.m. every evening. Although tourism is driving a lot of the traditional practices, I do feel there is much more evidence that the tribal peoples in Laos are living communities. The Akha people, for example, produce some very interesting dolls and toys that are extremely fanciful.  I love folk art dolls and felt very drawn to several ... owell, all economies need to be supported by consumerism, no?


A little Akha bat doll

Watching the different kinds of weaving at the OckPopTok Craft Center was a real treat. We met a lovely young Hmong girl, Mon, who used a backstrap loom. She actually seemed more interested in learning English and was a little sponge ... and granted, the day I spent the most time with her was on a Sunday and I think she felt she should have had a day of rest. We also had a bit of a lesson on silk production (a process that is maybe 6,000 years old ... can that be?), discovered the difference between Indian and Chinese silk, saw how the silk is produced and how the plants in the garden are used to make dye for the silk.

Mon, weaving a Hmong skirt with beaded design at OckPopTok Craft Center

Silk that has been died with natural dyes from plants on the Craft Center property

I went to a class and learned how to do a Hmong batik on a piece of hemp. The batik dye was indigo mixed with beeswax. We used tools that were pretty difficult to manipulate and I kept wondering how in the world they ever invented implements like that. And, who thought of putting a nail in with sappan in order to change the colour of the dye? And, how did they learn to create intricate patterns on looms? And who came up with some of these intricate patterns? The one I chose was a snail ... not sure the symbolic referent, but it is a lovely motif.

Su Xong ... master batiker!

My object d’art is not too impressive, but I was sincerely impressed by our teacher, Su Xong, who has more than 100 patterns for these intricate batik patterns in her head. The entire pattern was done freehand. We ran out of time and so the piece is unfinished and Su Xong did the centre part, but we put in a few solid hours into our projects. I couldn’t believe how complicated and backbreaking the work is.
I climbed a hill and saw lots of wats from above and then I visited lots of them on the ground ... some more than once (because of being so lost all the time). I rode on a few tuk tuks and that was fun (although I have to say I like xe oms better. And I had two foot massages ... highly recommended at about $4 each time. My Chilean friends asked whether or not the massages were so cheap and good in Vietnam and I wondered if I should tell them about the places that offer massages with “happy endings”. In the end I felt forewarned is forearmed and we all had a good laugh.

Oh, and I went to some beautiful waterfalls. One of the young men in my hotel, Lae, took pity on me one day and asked if he could come with me to practice his English. He was good company. He told me he lives in a village about 3 or 4 hours (by bus and boat) from Luang Prabang and that he came to Luang Prabang to be a monk for 2 years. It is customary for young men to be monks for a period of time; they study English while they are in the wat. I am not sure how their programs work, as you see monks wandering around the streets at all time of the day, often carrying parasols. But I guess there are supposed to be more than 1,000 monks in Luang Prabang, which is about 10 percent of the city’s population, so there are a lot of them around. And while I didn’t have an opportunity to spend time with any monks, apparently they really like speaking English with tourists. The Kuang Si Falls were really lovely and filled with tourists ... lots of young people swinging off a rope and jumping off cataracts. Although all the guidebooks encourage cultural sensitivity and being somewhat modest, their advice is not always heeded. At one point, Lae told me Lao people would not go around in public in their underwear. He did seem somewhat enamoured of the heavily tattooed ... he said he wanted a tattoo, but he didn’t have one. He was very sweet and kind to go to the waterfall with me.

This grandmother and her granddaughter were giving sticky rice to the monks who collect alms at dawn every morning.

These are monks, as opposed to novices, as both their shoulders are covered.

I wasn't sure whether or not I should go to see the alms-giving that takes place every morning.  Traditionally, the monks collect alms (usually sticky rice), but with Luang Prabang becoming such a tourist mecca, the practice has become a bit of a papparazzi nightmare.  People forget that the practice is essentially a spiritual one and monks don't like cameras shoved in their faces.  And some unscrupulous people often give food that can make the monks sick.  Wikitravel says the monks would actually like to discontinue the practice, but the government said they would hire people to dress as monks, as it brings people to Laos.  At any rate, the procession goes directly in front of the hotel where I was staying, and I did watch, and the tourists were dreadful ... and this is on a small street.  I can imagine what it was like on the major roads. Oi, the side effects of tourism! I did take a couple of pictures with my zoom (and no flash).  Overall, it was a mixed experience ... the upside was that there were a few older women who obviously offer alms every day and one of them had her little granddaughter with her.  Several of the monks gave the child cookies or oranges from their bowls.  In fact, in the picture above, you can see a small child with a cardboard box in front of him ... he was looking for handouts from the monks!
In the end, I didn’t go to see any elephants. I had heard several horror stories about terrible elephant treks and unscrupulous sanctuaries mixed with recounts of places where former logging elephants and their mahouts are treated very well. But I didn’t know which outfit was reputable and did not exploit the animals (or humans) ... I could have done some more research, but alas, I didn’t get around to it. And I didn’t have a sunset cruise on the Mekong River ... owell, maybe another time. I certainly feel like I saw and did lots during my time in Laos and I am very satisfied with my trip. I would definitely recommend Laos as a place for people to see a quieter and gentler side of SE Asia ...

Sunset on the Mekong River, Luang Prabang, Laos

But I also missed Vietnam and it was good to get back. Thank goodness the Tết traffic was still mercifully light on the way home from the airport, so the bloom could stay on the rose for a little while.  As always, I hope this note finds everyone well, and please check out flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick if you care to see more pics of Laos.