I ❤️ Laos!
We’ve been back in Luang Prabang since July 21. We’re here until the 27, when we fly to Bangkok for a couple of days.
LP is a charming city. I mentioned before that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its well preserved architecture. Here you can find pre-colonial Lao architecture and post French Colonial architecture. To add to its beauty are the many temples and the rivers. LP is surrounded by the Mekong and the Nam Khan Rivers. There are quaint alleyways here and lots of bakeries, baguettes, and coffee shops (all French influence). Tuk tuks - I mentioned that when we first arrived. Love them and they’ve been our primary mode of transportation in LP.

Luang Prabang UNESCO world heritage site

Pak Ou Caves

Tuk Tuk Ride

Life on the Mekong River

Kuang Si Falls. Fish were nibbling on our feet here.

Pak Ou Caves

Buddhist offerings sold on the street daily

Yes people bike around holding umbrellas during the rain

Early morning market

Because there are so many Buddhist temples, there are also many novices (pre-monks) and monks. The deal with monks. About 95% are comprised of villagers. All boys get a choice to become monk/novice. Most village boys choose to do this so they can complete school (up to high school). If they stayed in village it wouldn’t be possible. By the age of 20 a novice has to decide whether he wants to become a monk.  Most choose not to. So they leave and continue on with life. Youngest to enter is 10 yrs.

There is a daily alms giving ceremony each morning at 5 am where you can watch (and/or participate) as the monks walk the streets to receive food from people (sticky rice is placed in their bowls). Mike and I woke up at 5 am one morning to check it out. Participating seemed disrespectful and touristy so we went out to just observe. I had read about it being a bit of a shit show so we wanted to avoid that. Unfortunately our first glimpse was in the tourist area where foreigners were handing out rice to the monks while others were right in their faces taking pictures. It was a disgusting display and felt uncomfortable so we left to find a quieter street. We happened upon one with just a few locals sitting and waiting so we sat and waited too (from across the street). We were the only foreigners. When the monks came by to receive their alms it was a humbling experience. And I’m glad we were able to witness the real thing. I took a photo once they had passed but even that felt odd and a bit uncomfortable to me. But I really felt like I wanted to capture this amazing moment.

Alms Giving starts every morning at 5:30 am

In order to do something a bit different we decided to sign up for some classes. Backstreet Academy offers a boatload of classes in and around LP. Everything from rice farming to weaving. We all got a chance to pick based on our interests. N chose paper jewellery and bow making, Mike chose knife and cross bow making and I chose cooking. We all experienced 2 classes as some were kid friendly and others not.

Making paper beads for necklaces and bracelets 

Bow making

Bow and arrow and cross bow

Cooking class!

The rains are now here. It helps with the humidity which has been greatly reduced. Only sweating once a day for short periods. With the rains though bring some slick walking surfaces and sometimes doing the old lady shuffle is necessary. There’s a night market every evening here. Each night it’s rained while vendors scramble to keep their stuff dry. You’d think after all this time they’d have a better system in place.

Daily night market

We visited the bamboo bridge. It goes over the Nahm Kahn river. We were lucky to experience it as usually by this time it’s swept away by the river which rises to street level. They rebuild the bridge every year after the rainy season is done which looks like an incredible amount of work.

In LP we were approached by many students wanting to practice their English skills. They just approach you and ask you if you want to speak English with them. This was great for us too as we were able to ask lots of questions about the culture and their lives. On our last day there we decided to go to the local English school - Big Brother Mouse. It’s a non profit that offers free English to anyone who wants it by encouraging foreigners to drop in from 9-11 or 5-7 to talk with students. On the day we went it was a slow day even though there were about 20-30 participants there. All walks of life. Many students visiting from villages and even a few monks.

Striking up conversations at Big Brother Mouse

We have discovered that many foreigners open up businesses here. You can tell by the decor if it's a restaurant or by what they are doing to add value to the community. Although the latter isn't exclusive as there are locals with businesses who contribute to the community as well (LaLa Laos - locally made t-shirts with proceeds going to educate secondary school children who have moved to the city from the countryside).

The ECC was French owned but employed 90% Lao. The Buffalo Farm we visited was started by American and Australian families. They rent buffalos from farmers, provide vet care, breed them, educate the farmers on how to properly take care of the animals and give the buffalos back to the farmers with calf. They introduced the concept of milking buffalos, something Lao people never considered. They are also making dairy products (cheese - which they sell to restaurants - likely foreign owned as Lao folks don't eat cheese - and ice cream). They run farm tours which help with funding and education.

We've talked to a number of foreign Lao based restaurant owners who charge high prices and cater to tourists. Opportunity is ripe here (if you can handle the weather!)

The sweetest water buffalo ever

Laos people are the best. Smiling, happy and very hardworking. So impressed by the students who show such dedication to studying English all day during their summer holidays.

Hanging with some students who asked us to practise English 

Workers here and in Vietnam work more than 8 hours a day. In fact we learned in Vietnam if you offered an employee an 8 hour workday, the employee would be looking for a second job!

One more story. One day we walked out of our hotel to find a bunch of men busily working on what looked like a small parade float but made from bamboo and banana leaves. We stopped to watch as they worked on the structure and the decorations all made from scratch.
They noticed us taking interest and proceeded to pour us shots of Lao whiskey followed by a spoon of meat that they shoved at us. It was 10 am. Mike and I each took our portions hoping to god we wouldn't be violently ill. Turned out to be raw beef or buffalo in a sauce which I suspect was bile. It wasn't bad tasking, and nothing an Imodium or two didn't fix the next day! So worth the experience. Found out later they were preparing for a funeral. The next day there were tons of people brining offerings of food, money, flowers, lots of monks blessing and taking some of the offerings. And drum beats at all hours of the night. All was back to normal about 3 days later. This is what travel is all about. Learning listening, observing, respecting and being open.

All made from scratch

Monks coming and going from the funeral ceremony

We have left Laos and on our way to Bangkok. I will miss it here and will definitely come back as there are so many places to see and experience. Until next time.

❤️

On our way to Bangkok. Good-bye Laos.