The next day we woke up at 5 am to watch the monks go on their alms round, which takes place every morning (because monks cannot work for a living, and are not supposed to handle money, they depend on the food offering of devotees, and in return, provide dharma teachings and other forms of education). It's a custom for the young men of Laos to live as monks for a period of time, to learn the teachings of the Buddha.
Luang Prabang is a world heritage-listed city, partly for traditions such as the morning alms round that has been going on for as long as Buddhism has been here. You could buy sticky rice from vendors and participate, but I read that it isn't appreciated. Luckily, I didn't see any horror scenes of monks being mobbed by hordes of tourists, probably because it was low season. Well I did take some pictures (it's hard not to!) but I kept my distance, mostly from across the road.
Like most tourists, I started out snap-happy in South-east Asia, but my interest in taking photos quickly dived. Two incidents triggered this reaction. We were in a village near Sapa, and someone tried to take a photo of two kids sitting on an earthern bank. The kids waved 'no' with their hands and one covered his face. Wow. They must be SO sick of having their pictures taken (and they weren't even wearing the traditional garb of minority groups). The second one happened in the same village. Our guide literally walked us through peoples' properties, even into one of the houses. Just so we can see how they live, and of course, take photos. I probably should have asked if the village people received any money for this, but I doubt it. The villagers were actually quite friendly, and one lady had a good time laughing at a guy carrying his daughter on this back. Still, it was a particularly bad example of ethno-tourism.
Still, it was great to get up early and experience the stillness, the alms round, and the much more tolerable temperature.
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it was way too hot to do anything, and we just languished in the front yard until Mr Shampoo and his staff decided to jazz things up. It was almost Tet, the Lunar New Year, which means it's time to start getting people wet! lol!
we had music to accompany our warfare on motorists and pedestrians, especially falangs ;)
tuk tuk LPB style
buckets were the best; i got a 'super-soaker' from Dara Market, and it just wasn't very satisfying because the nozzle's too small
The lady is protecting her mobile phone there; most people held their valuables above their heads when they saw us. We learned to do the same later on, when there were people like us on the street every 50 m, and people here are considerate enough not to soak them haha. Most people didn't mind being soaked, but if they signaled 'no' by shaking their head, then we left them alone, as they could be dressed up to go somewhere.
riding with an umbrella can protect you from the sun AND water!
these guys literally stopped the scooter just so they can pour water on the girls XD
that's a lot of beer lao on the back of the truck; little did i know at this time just how hard the locals party and how much they can drink!
young boys posing when they saw me taking photos
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no rest for the wicked! that night Mr Shampoo took us out to the only nightclub in town, again on the back of the ute. I REALLY love going places on the back of a ute...it's just so fun and free. The LPBH gang were joined by two newcomers, Bram and Andy. The nightclub only served beer lao and alcopops, the music was Thai, and the place was covered in funny green dots/strobe light...so retro it's cool lol. We had an awesome time, it was especially funny to see Hayley, a tall blonde girl dancing with a little blonde Laos guy haha.
afterwards we went to a noodle shop and had awesome duck noodles; man...I definitely needed something hot and hearty after all that drinking. Apparently shops are supposed to close by midnight (to keep the culture/ambiance of LPB) but this place braved the fines and stayed open.
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