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.

Visiting Vientiane

Visiting Vientiane ... oh, how I love to alliterate ...

This is the land of many, many Buddhas

I started my Tết break a little early this year in order to have several more days in Laos. Laos has been on my ‘short list’ ever since I came to SE Asia ... my desire to come here was not accompanied by any form of research other than asking a couple of colleagues about their visits and seeing some misty photos of monks in Luang Prabang, , and so I really had no idea of what I was getting into. So typical ...

So I will be in Vientiane for about 3 days and so far it has been lovely ... gorgeous weather and the most beautiful blue skies! Well, it was a bit of a shock to discover that Canadians pay the highest fees for Lao visas than any other country in the world. Why would that be? Oh, yes ... back to Vientiane - for starters it is so much smaller and quieter than Sài Gòn; there are only 220,000 people in the city and the prefecture of Vientiane has 1/10th the population, just 750,000, so I guess it is tame in comparison! And although the street names are still difficult to remember, it is very easy to find things in the city. And it is a bit cooler, so it is very comfortable to walk, even in mid-day. I did break down and buy a guide book yesterday and it says that the Lao people are among the most laid back in SE Asia ... I cannot attest to that, but those I have met are very polite, friendly, and quick to smile. And those working in tourism are super sweet and have pretty good English ... although the average Lao person I have met does not have much English at all.


That Dam - Black Stupa

Yesterday I walked my foofoos off. I wanted to go to Pha That Luang, one of the most important cultural and religious sites in Laos, a 3rd C temple that has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, most recently in the 1930s, I believe. So, I set off and saw a few interesting sites on the way, That Dam, which means Black Stupa in Lao. Apparently, it had once been covered with gold, but had been burned in a Siamese invasion almost 200 years ago. And that was close to the US Embassy ... I had forgotten it is the capitol city and so there are a lot of government and foreign government offices. So I found myself on a very grand avenue, typical of a capitol city ... Lang Xang Avenue. I walked along until I came to Patuxai, which is a large and very grand victory arch. Apparently, concrete intended for an airport runway was diverted to this project, which was mostly finished in the 1960s. It is very grand and has a lovely park with dancing fountains.


Patuxai



Patuxai

After leaving this park, I zigged when I should have zagged, but I didn’t get too lost ... got to see a couple of embassies and then continued on for another kilometer or so until I got to That Luang. I could see the golden spire from a good long way off and so I knew I was on the right road. It turns out there is not just one temple here, but a whole complex, and like many Buddhist temples, it seems like spirituality, tourism, and lots of buying and selling go on simultaneously ... a different form of syncretism than the one usually discussed in religious circles. The temples seem more Cambodian than Vietnamese to my undiscerning eye and perhaps that is because it is a different form of Buddhism which is dominant here ... Theravada.


Pha That Luang



Pha That Luang

At any rate, it was very different and I was very glad to have had an opportunity to visit. I walked back to the city ... 4 km I later learned! I accidentally found another place, a shopping market called Talat Sao, or morning market, including a new building (with a parking garage). It was quite reminiscent of the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur. I continued traipsing around and found a fair trade craft store which has the most exquisite textile, weaving, embroidery, and quilting work done by Hmong women. I was so glad to have found it! Then I HAD to go for a foot massage ... I must have walked 12 or 15 km by this time.


Adjacent to Pha That Luang

Sleeping Buddha near Pha That Luang

OK, so this was my third foot massage. The first one was in Shanghai with Kim Cechetto at the Pearl Hotel (I think). We went on Dave Cechetto’s recommendation, and the two guys who worked on us were like twins in that their movements were tightly synchronized. Kim and I would both go, “OW” at the same time and they would ask, “OW, yes? or OW, no?” The answer was unimportant; the choreography was launched under the blinking red eyes of the stuffed toy pandas that decorated our massage stations, and nothing would get in the way of that particular dance of pain. Poor Kim had bruises for a week! The second foot massage I had was in Hải Phòng and it was an excruciatingly dry rub performed by people who kept laughing at me. It couldn’t have ended soon enough! Yesterday’s massage was much better than either of my previous forays into pedicular pommelling, thank goodness. I may go back for another if I am so foolish as to walk another 12 km on any given day!

Kunming - SE Asia Riders



Kunming - SE Asia Riders

Today has also been very interesting. I started out with breakfast in the garden. Several guys who have been walking around in biking shorts for the last day began gearing up ... I noticed they all had very coordinated outfits that said Kunming – SouthEast Asia Tour and they all had a lot of sponsors logos on their clothes. Their bikes and panniers all looked the same and very snazzy. It turns out they are a group that are on a 3 month ride and they started out in Kunming. One of them is a pretty famous guy ... Jin Feibao. Best wishes to them; they are delivering letters of peace and friendship throughout SE Asia (but they may not be allowed to go to Vietnam). Read about it here.


Cluster Bomb Mobile at the COPE Center

Sttue at COPE Center that contains 500 kg of scrap metal from recycled munitions

Today I decided I would go to the COPE Center. Lonely Planet really does plug a few good causes in every book they publish and this is their major cause in Vientiane ... a centre where people who have lost limbs due to UXO (unexploded ordnances) can go for rehabilitation, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs. I had always heard that Laos was the most heavily bombed country in the world and in its effort to wipe out the VC, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the USA dropped two million tons (through carpet bombing – roughly one sortie every 8-9 minutes for years) and the munitions range from missiles, grenades, rockets, cluster bombs, mortars and landmines. Who in the world invents these weapons? A very unkind part of me wishes they would set their children to cleaning up the 80 million unexploded munitions; I am sure they would think twice about unleashing that sort of horror on anyone else. Of course, no child deserves to die or be maimed as a result of these weapons, and yet hundreds of Lao kids (and adults) every year are killed and crippled as a result of accidents occurring with UXOs or ‘bombies’ as they are called by some people here.

View from a tuk tuk

When I heard the centre was 3 km from my hotel, I decide to take a tuk tuk ... but I did walk back ...(^_^)... It was a moving experience to visit the center – a bit quiet because of the weekend – but I saw that they encourage people to buy legs as Christmas presents ... too late for that, but guess what, Mom? I bought you a leg for your birthday ... well, a leg for someone else on your behalf. Check out their website ... I am so surprised that Canada has still not ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It is a signatory, but has not ratified the treaty. It turns out Canada has or has had a stockpile of cluster munitions and it might prevent Canada from working with the US military in various operations ...  who knows? I guess I am not the only one who wonders why the Harper government has failed to act. here is a recent article from the Ottawa Citizen.


Walking back I saw many household shops ... these are to cook sticky rice, a staple in Laos




Cutie in a tuk tuk ... happy to say 'hello!'

 After walking back to town, I happened upon two temples that are pretty important in Vientiane ... the first is the oldest temple in Vientiane ... Wat Si Saket. It is filled with statues of Buddha (like more than 2000) and is quite an amazing place. I am not sure how terribly old it is – due to the turbulent history, many things have been rebuilt time and time again.


Wat Si Saket



Wat Si Saket



Wat Si Saket

Wat Si Saket



Haw Phra Kaew



Well, the second one is a former temple (now a museum), Haw Phra Kaew. Lots of tourists (both Lao and Farang/foreigner) but not to the point of being overcrowded. Continued my wandering ways until I came to a place where it looked like a lot of Lao people were eating and had a most enjoyable lunch ... spring rolls, and egg rice vegetables. I had no idea what to expect, but it was delicious ... cool rice with coconut and ??? that you wrap up in leaves. And some ice coffee to complete the meal. Lao coffee is a lot like Vietnamese coffee ... but seems to be brewed slightly differently. And the portions are slightly bigger, which is good for me, as I am always wanting just one more sip of cà phê sữa đá. OK ... so I blogged rather than napped ... now it is time to explore the evening in Vientiane! I will upload many more pics to flickr if you should wish to see more of Vientiane, from the lens of this sojourner.  Hope all is well wherever this missive finds you! Please write and let me know where you are and what you are doing!

I found Mr Thanh!

Just before Errol and I went back to Canada, I went to the corner to see if I could get a haircut. A few months ago, I came across a lovely man, Mr Thanh, who worked in a salon right beside  Sacombank. I don’t know how it happened, but he was free at that time and I loved the haircut I got and the salon is about a 43-second walk from my apartment and the cut was only 50,000 VND, so what is not to like? Whenever I went back, everyone knew I was Thanh’s client. I became a regular!

Sometimes he is really busy and I have to come back another day, but that day he was eating his dinner; I told him I would come back but he assured me he was OK and to just sit down. As I was getting my hair cut, I got a very funny vibe from the shop owner, but I could not ask 20 QUESTIONS OR MORE TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS due to language difficulties. Sure enough, when I got back from Canada, the salon had closed. Now, in Canada, they might have an appointment book, and hairdressers can usually call clients and let them know when and where they are relocating ... but here? Not so much. I kept trying to figure out how to find Mr Thanh and I could never decide on how I could ask people where the various employees of that salon had gone.
I digress, but when I was looking for the restaurant in Wuxi that sold delicious bai che ji, I walked up and down the street asking people “Ding Ding Ji?" But I decided I just could not walk up and down Nguyễn Văn Linh Street asking pitifully, “Mr Thanh ở đâu?" I mean I was deperate for bai che ji ...(^_^)...
So, I had semi-resigned myself to looking for a new hairdresser, when by chance today I found him ... or rather, he found me. I was walking along Nguyễn Đức Cảnh to the Fujifilm store to get my Laotian visa photo taken when all of a sudden there he was!  He had seen me walking by while he was sitting at a table in front of a little beauty salon tucked right beside the Lotteria. I was so happy to see him, and he seemed very happy to see me. After getting my photo taken, I went back for a manicure and pedicure (don’t need a haircut just yet) ... so I have a new place and I am still (and again) a regular! Hẹn Gap Lại, Thanh!

Tết đến rồi



Drummers

Well, tết tết tết đến rồi, and everyone is getting very excited. At RMIT, the students are all finished their exams and the halls are pretty quiet. Staff are having a hard time concentrating ... reminds me of the last few weeks in June in Canada. People are making plans to visit their hometowns or go away for the break. A few people are staying in Sài Gòn, but not too many. A lot of my colleagues are going to India this year; others are going to Japan, Thailand, the States, Cambodia, Cyprus, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. Me, I am going to Laos. 

Lion Dance

As I know from last year, although this city pretty much closes down during Tết, it is in the midst of getting ready right now. All the Christmas lights and decorations are down and new ones are up (or almost up) for Tết. I see a lot of people cleaning house and stores are being scrubbed as well. Stores and store windows are being decorated. Being the south, shop windows are full of yellow apricot blossoms, called hoa mai. Flower sellers are starting to bring in large pots of flowering trees to place by the sides of the streets. The main flower streets are just starting to be worked on; they will soon be closed to traffic and transformed in 10 days. Lots of talk about red envelopes. It is very nice to see the preamble to Tết this year and know a little bit about what is going on.

My colleague Yen and her son, Xi Trun

 

My colleague Phoenix and son, Ian



RMIT had its Tết party last week. Each year the university puts on a bash. This year it was on the grounds, near the playing fields ... kind of like an evening garden party. There were lots of staff wearing traditional Vietnamese costumes, good food, lots to drink, and some good entertainment.


My colleague Fiona, the emcee par exellance

 

And of course, we all got red envelopes ... with REAL money inside. I neglected to bring my camera, so am inserting some photos from the RMIT newsletter; I think it’s OK. I didn’t stay too late, but heard that there was a lot of dancing and people had a bit of a wild night ... something about catnip in the grass ... perhaps locoweed...(^-^)...


My colleagues Bich Nhi and Trang



My colleague Vy

 

Calligraphy!

Saturday was my first chance to spend time with the kids from Mai Tam in a long while. Susana, a Norwegian volunteer (who lives in my apartment complex with her husband, Thuy, and kids, Leo and Noah) treated the kids to a playday at a kids’ indoor playground in Thiên Sơn Plaza in District 7.

She took them in two separate groups. One group went on the 8th; however, I only knew a couple of the kids last week, on the 15th, as the majority of them came from the Go Vap house. Still, they were pretty cute and just loved their time on the tramps and on the bikes and in the ball pits. And painting.  And eating!

To continue up my incredibly social week, I went to an Australia-Vietnam Gala concert at the Opera House this evening. It was in honour of Australia Day, which is on the 26th; apparently it is a travelling road show that will be in Hà Nội tomorrow. The performers were Vietnamese or Vietnamese-Australian young people, namely  Lưu Hồng Quang and Nguyễn Văn Anh, playing classical music on pianos. They were both very good and chose very challenging music; here is a video of Van Anh, who is a very pretty and quite talented 23-year-old pianist with a diverse range and here is one of Hồng Quang, a 20-year-old whose focus is really classical.  The concert also had some more contemporary singers, including Thanh Bùi and Hồ Ngọc Hà, who has quite an incredible voice. They sang a duet of Lặng Thầm Một Tình Yêu, which is here on youtube . Overall, it was a very eclectic performance that I quite enjoyed ... until the last number, which was a boy band that appeared to be lip synching.
To finish up the week, I am going to pass on Australia Day, which will be held at the RMIT playing fields on Saturday and head to Thủ Đức and see the kids at Mai Tâm. Think I’ll take some red envelopes ... my last visit before Tết. Chúc mừng năm mới!!!