If I have any hope of finishing this blog in a reasonable time, I am going to refer to this place as LP. I could just call it deliciously special. LP is in northern Laos. Laos is bordered by China to the north, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand and Myanmar to the west.
LP is a beautiful place. The whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is surrounded by gentle mountains and slopes down to the Mekong River. There are dozens of wats (temples), many of which are decorated ornately in gold. The town has a languid feel - birds chirping, cyclists holding umbrellas to shield from the sun, saffron-robed monks gliding about....
We started our 6 AM to 10 PM day by participating in the tak bak ceremony at dawn. The monks in their beautiful flowing robes snake in a line down the street. Alongside the buildings, people line up with offerings to the monks. The vendors of the offerings are also on the street, selling the appropriate items to offer. We joined the group of people making offerings. We offered sticky rice in clumps, pink taffy candies, and something wrapped in little packets of banana leaves. The monks file by, holding baskets and they choose items from our offerings, to place in their baskets. Although the ceremony is spiritual and people are quiet and respectful, I couldn't help but see a similarity to Halloween, with the dressed-up monks holding baskets, taking candy and food from those offering it to them. Apologies for my irreverent thoughts. We noticed that between every five monks or so, there was someone carrying a basket that was being used as a slop bucket. Many monks were removing the sticky rice balls from their baskets and dropping them into the slop bucket. We later learned that the ritual relates to the new year celebration - giving back the spirit - or something I obviously did not catch correctly.
New Years in LP - a HUGE event! It is four days of festivities. Our day in LP is the last day of Pimai, the New Year's celebration. The ceremonies include buddah washings, Miss New Year crowing, and construction of little sand stuppas as requests for prosperity. The highlight is that people throw buckets of water on each other. People stand by the side of the road and douse every vehicle that goes by. It is great fun for the Laotians and visitors.
We chose to take a boat across the Mekong River to visit Wat Long Khoun. The boatman we found on the shore had a rickety longboat but we took it anyway. Being out on that quiet river was very special. We drifted by very few people or boats. We saw a few fishermen net-fishing and some children along the shoreline. We visited the wat, reachable by climbing a high hill. Our boatman also took us to another village scavenge in Ban Suan, and we found children playing petanque (a bocci ball game), and we had to join the game, which we did. We gathered that these villages are reachable only by boat. We did not see or hear any vehicles. We felt privileged to have the chance to discover and explore those remote places without a guide- two women alone - figuring it out.
Arriving back into LP by boat, we quicly visited the National Palace Museum and then set off out of town for the elephant ride in a teak grove. What fun! I have ridden elephants before but this was special. It was just Christine and I and the elephant and our driver in the forest. The driver was 20-ish guy. At one point his cell phone rang and he kept driving the elephant while talking on the cell. He carried a large saw balanced on the elephant's neck. We hoped it wasn't intended to saw off the heads of tourists once we got far enough into the woods. (just kidding-the place is an elephant conservation site, so we had some confidence it was legit). As we rounded a bend, we came across a large tree that had fallen across the path. The driver jumped down off the elephant with the saw and started to saw the tree that was about four feet in diameter. Are you kidding? One guy with a little saw? We motioned that we preferred to turn back. By the time we returned to the van, we had ridden for about an hour. That was plenty!
We drove to Phonesay, a small village with weavers. After the car could go no further, we walked, including passing over two rickety bamboo bridges. We found weavers with looms around the sides of their houses.
Next scavenge was to go to the Phousy Market and buy toothpaste, shampoo and cookies for children in an orphanage and deliver the items. We were surprised at how well the dormatories are maintained from the outside. Inside, the walls are lined with one long bed, the length of the room, with children sleeping side by side sharing the giant bed. A few teenage boys were napping when we looked in. Upon giving our bundles of 20 toothpastes and a dozen shampoo bottles, we learned that 500 children live there. We did not even make a dent in their needs.
Next was heading out to swim in the waterfalls. The area was crowded with people picnicing and celebrating the new year. Lots of joy of familes and friends enjoying each others' company.
We headed back into LP to do some final scavenges. The skies opened up into an intense thunderstorm. Ironically, this was the last evening of the new year's celebration, which also marks the beginning of the rainy season.
Next stop: Chiang Mai, Thailand