SE Asia Day 16: Luang Prabang

/ alliwanders

Early coffee at 5am to get me going for our morning alm’s giving. The monks of the local temples walk the streets at dawn and collect their day’s food as offerings from the public (mostly sticky rice; other food is brought directly to the temples by locals). It’s a strong tradition for the faithful as well as something us tourists can participate in.

We were given cushions to sit on, a basket of steaming hot sticky rice, and strict instructions on etiquette: golf ball sized portions, no touching monks, no looking at their faces, no pictures, bow to the last one. As Chai was on the sidelines he took photos for us.

Totally missed on the not looking…to be fair, he was the first
This was a bit later on our return from the market, this local was a pro as you have to be quick to get rice into every basket
Maybe the novices are last to get food?

Afterwards we walked down to the Morning Market which was largely fresh food for the locals plus some souvenirs.

A leisurely breakfast at our hotel with an hour or so of picture swapping, then the day was free till 4pm.

At 4pm we shuttled for our last activity of the tour: a Community Dinner and another Baci Ceremony. But first we had crafts to do! We split into 3 groups, one to do flower and banana leaf decorations, one to make Minced Pork on Lemongrass skewers for dinner, and my group was basket weaving. Well, more like snowflake weaving! I managed to get my first few bamboo strips in proper alignment but all of us needed assistance to make a finished product.

The Baci ceremony was just like the one of a few days ago in the village: the eldest member of the community prays for everyone present, then us guests receive white cotton strings tied on each wrist by each elder which represents purity and their prayers. Then gifts of food are made and fire whiskey is passed around(!).

Then they served us a traditional Lao meal with minced pork, the skewers made by our group, fried fish, soup, glass noodles with tofu, and sticky rice. Speeches were made to thank our hosts; Dao, our Laotian tour guide; and Chai, our fantastic G Adventures CEO. Hugs all round and all that was left was to take our trusty van back to our hotel.

Breakfast tomorrow then this particular tour is over. I’ve 2 more days here in LP then I’m off to Hanoi, Vietnam!