After 3 days enduring the sun beating down on us while kayaked the Nam Ou river, Luang Prabang was a welcomed relax. With its many pagodas, temples and wats, it’s a great place to wander around and take in the religious life that thrives here.
We took our time wandering around the town for a few days. In and out of beautiful European-style constructed alleyways from river to river and meandering through temples. We ditched our sea legs in favor for some land legs.
Since our time in Laos was coming to a close, we chose to spend a day in this lovely city doing a cooking class. The standard market tour and class ensued. This time around, we got to watch the experts cook 5 dishes, and choose 3 to cook ourselves. This is the best time ever to play favorites.
There are more varieties of rice out there than I knew existed. Sticky rice (most expensive), steam rice, mixed rice (used mostly as feed for stock animals.) You can get it all here by the “bowl” – it’s not exactly an precise measurement.
I apologize in advance for this “series of pig parts.”
Back at the kitchen, we enjoyed some coffee with our fellow chefs-in-training and transformed into the good little students that we paid to be.
Stuffed to the brim with Laos food, we tried to walk it off a bit by crossing the bamboo bridge to the other side of town.
The nightlife here is 1 of 2 things. Backpacker bars or shopping. Theres a night market EVERY EVENING from 6 pm-10 pm. The locals here set up their tents and lay out a slew of crafts, whiskeys, toys – anything you can think of really. You cannot walk down the main street without walking through it – so don’t get caught! It takes 30+ minutes to walk through. Truly massive.
Although, if you do find yourself inside, make sure you find the side street with the street food buffet. I mean – $2 for a plate of food. And its amazing. You’re welcome.
Aside from the harrowing experience of being an ATM on legs as you walk through a night market, there are several challenges that go along with being a traveller.
We are here, traveling Asia, to experience the local culture and learn about the many different ways of life in our world. Obviously, in order to observe, sometimes you end up disrupting.
Nothing has made me more embarrassed to be a foreigner than the alms ceremony in Luang Prabang.
Every morning at sunrise, the temples empty out, and the monks walk the streets of their town collecting their alms. The receive their food for the day from the generosity of the local residents. The Buddhist people of Luang Prabang line the streets, and place balls of sticky rice and homemade foods of all sorts into the rucksack of each individual monk. The monks are in meditation as they collect their alms; a very humble, grateful and selfless ritual for both the monks and the townspeople.
This is a holy, selfless ceremony that all people of any religion are welcome to participate in. Travelers included. But, over the past few years, thoughtless foreigners get their flash cameras up in the monks faces, talk loudly during the ceremonies and wear disrespectful clothing that distract the participants. Its something that locals have started being so offended by that they’ve become reluctant to participate at all.
Things like this happen in tourist areas. I am completely and wholly disappointed and saddened by what we have done to a holy ritual. Where is the respect? Adam and I debated for days about going to see the alms giving ceremonies. In the end and after much deliberation, we decided that we wanted to observe.
We found out where the most popular places to observe where located, and headed for the opposite directions. We found little alleys where no foreigners were, and watched the ritual exchange quietly and from a distance. A moving, generous act that happens every day is one to not only be respected – but learned from.
As we were walking back to our hostel, we entered the main street of the town and found the crowds. We shamelessly snapped a few zoomed-in photos, and went on our way.
We felt a little ashamed of the photographing – and allowing ourselves to give in to our tourist sides. But, we felt that we participated in a way that was respectful. I hope that we did.
If you find yourself in a situation like this, please take a moment to think about what is more important than your perfect picture. This is a country’s sacred religion – they’re not doing this for your Instagram account. Just think about it – that’s all I ask.
We rounded off our time in Laos with a sunset yoga class on a huge deck overlooking the Mekong river. Content, calm, and happy, we reflected on the wonders of Laos. Being such a slow culture, I wasn’t sure I would be able to not hit my internal throttle and feel the need to bolt into something more challenging. But Laos kept a balance and a constant reminder that it’s all good – literally.