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Published: March 14th 2007
After the disappointment of the slow boat, Louang Phabang (spelled in many different ways) proved to be a great place to relax. There was a general air of serenity and quiet about the town, an atmosphere reinforced by the presence of many saffron-clad monks and novices. The colonial French heritage extended not just to baguettes being on every menu, but also to architecture - the whitewashed walls and coloured window shutters some of the few European remnants of Indochina. Numerous restaurants overlooked the Mekong and provided an ideal venue for afternoon dozing, the puttering of the riverboats a lullaby in the lazy heat of the sun.
However it would be wrong to represent Louang Phabang as some sort of Shangrila. One thing I'm already noticing in Laos is that it's very different to the untouched image that the guidebooks give. Louang Phabang is positively awash with tourists, with the main street being one foreigner-frequented establishment after another. With the border only being about 250km away, rich Chinese tourists drive down here, as can be seen from their licence plates. Tuk tuk drivers accost you regularly - every single morning as I left the guesthouse I was asked by the same
guy if I wanted to go to see a local waterfall and every single morning I replied I had no desire to see any waterfalls. Pepperidge Farm biscuits are available here (though in the most godawful flavours), and every grocery store has several shelves devoted to Western foodstuffs (though why Snickers and Kit Kats have been chosen as the best representatives of foreign confectionery I do not know). The oft-quoted "fact" of there only being 1 ATM in Laos (in Vientiane) is untrue as there is at least 1 in Louang Phabang too, though the one I used only seemed to work about two thirds of the time. At night, offers of weed are whispered by slowly cruising motorcyclists.
Louang Phabang also furnished me with some examples of menuese that were so advanced they almost lacked any entertainment value. For your tasting pleasure, how about a humbarguer with scream bo eggs, accompanied by flain dentils and grwan feas, all washed down with a can of Cock? It worries me that this sort of thing brings such a smile to my face, especially as I wouldn't know where to begin if asked to spell "egg" in Lao.
However Louang
Phabang is not famous, and did not get its UNESCO World Heritage listing, through being simply a spot for lazing around in. It contains many Buddhist temples, the most impressive being Wat Xiang Thong at its northern end. This comprises a variety of different artistic styles - woodcarvings, gold stencilling, glass mosaics, bronze statues, etc - in one compound. The Royal Palace Museum in the centre of town is where the Lao Royal Family used to reside - when the communists gained power in the 70s, the royals were exiled to another province where the royal line eventually died out. Though it's not on display, the museum houses the Pha Bang, the most sacred Buddha image in Laos, whose powers are believed to protect the country. A reception room contains a mural with the property that the sun shining through the windows hits the various panels at the appropriate time of the day for the activities depicted on each panel. Another room contains cabinets displaying gifts from various countries, one of which is the US - I'm assuming these were given before they dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos.
The hill Phou Si dominates the town and
gives an all round view from its peak. It is itself home to several temples. Like elsewhere, you can find novices and monks sitting around, many of whom are looking for opportunities to practise their English. It was here that I met novice Khammouan. Though he started with the usual questions about where I was from and how long I was in Louang Phabang for (which I think do actually come from a popular booklet called "How to speak to tourists"), he also invited me to his monastery on the eastern side of town so we could have a Lao-English language exchange. I could hardly refuse.
Khammouan's monastery Wat Tao Hai was small, with only about 50 residents. It wasn't even on my map of Louang Phabang so I had to take a tuk tuk. Khammouan had a cell-like room to himself, containing a bed, chair, desk, whiteboard, and little else. There was an impressive stack of English books on the desk, the whiteboard was filled with words written in a neat hand, and his Lao-English dictionary had ticks next to many words - supposedly ones he'd learned.
Unfortunately these hints at some level of skill were not
borne out by our subsequent conversation. Maybe the pressure of the situation got to him, but it reached a point where he didn't appear to understand the question "You understand my question?" After about 30 minutes, a couple of the monks wandered in - since their English was much better, they essentially hijacked the conversation, leaving poor Khammouan to sit in silence for much of the rest of my visit. However I did get to learn a bit about how the monastery functions. Most Lao boys become novices, at the age of 14, and 6 years of training are needed to achieve monkhood. Amongst many facts I didn't know, monks and novices are not allowed to eat after midday, there are 10 animals they're forbidden to eat (including tiger, bear, and elephant, so probably not too difficult to stick to that rule), and they can't listen to music or play sport. The day begins at 4AM, which explains the drumming and cymbal crashing I've been hearing from Wat Pha Phai (next door to my guesthouse) every morning. After praying and cleaning the temple, the monks/novices go out into the neighbourhood to collect food and alms from the local people. 5
days per week they attend school, but the weekends are mainly for private study (or, by the sounds of things, surreptitious viewing of Premiership football).
After the long languid afternoon, Louang Phabang starts to stir again before nightfall. The market sets up on the stretch of road in front of the Royal Palace Museum. I found myself wandering through here at least twice every evening, as there were so many items of interest, apart from the people-watching opportunities. As well as Beer Lao T-shirts in every colour imaginable (an obligatory purchase for any traveller in Southeast Asia), there are all kinds of silk scarves, embroidered shoulder bags, elephant-themed goods, mulberry leaf lanterns, old Indochina money, parasols, etc. I usually followed an amble through the market with dinner by the river, accompanied by a large Beer Lao and a free side order of mosquitos.
I needed some new reading material so I trawled around town looking for book exchanges, with my pristine copy of "The Dice Man" in tow. The first place I found said they'd give me half price off the cost of the book I wanted, despite it being in significantly worse condition than my own offering.
The second place would only allow me to do an exchange if I spent money in their overpriced restaurant. Figuring that an exchange on my terms just was not meant to be, I instead donated "The Dice Man" to Big Brother Mouse, an organisation aiming to promote literacy in Laos, and bought a couple of their cheap books. One was aimed at 3 or 4 year-old kids learning the Lao alphabet, and so could be considered advanced level relative to my own ability to learn foreign languages. The other contained several stories in both Lao and English, one of which was a charming little tale of a group of small creatures in a forest who blind an elephant then lure it off a high cliff to its death, as revenge for it pulling down a sparrow's nest. This story was apparently designed to show that working together will lead to success.
After a week had slipped by, I reckoned it was time to shake off my indolence and hit the road again.
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Lesley Jones
non-member comment
Loved your blog !
Hi am Lesley from in England and I got into work this morning clicked travelblog because I have not long since got back from travelling myself and your blog was on the first page. I read about your time in Luang Prabang and it really made me smile and reminded me of my trip I have just done the Mekong river cruise and spent time in Luang Prabang and Vientiane. I enjoyed reading about your observations and you have some fantastic photos. I really needed that this morning so thank you. The memories fade so quickly when you get back, infact it feels like you have never been away after a couple of days. So thank once again for helping to keep my memories alive and enjoy every minute of your trip. Lesley