Nam Khan River |
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) |
A little Akha bat doll |
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 |
Su Xong ... master batiker! |
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. |
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 |
2 comments:
Oh, I love that bat doll, mummy. And the batik class sounds very interesting! I did not know it was so difficult.
I KNOW ... so cute! Check flickr for another dollie I got. The batik was a lot different from other batik I have seen ... and different again from Indonesian or Malaysian batik. Who knew???
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