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Published: December 10th 2010
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Day 23
The day started dark and early. The monks in Luang Prabang collect food and alms early every morning so we joined many other tourists to get up early and give sticky rice to the monks. About 100 monks participate in the ceremony. I was surprised by two things. First, many of the monks are little boys. Our guide explained that they join a monastery to get an education and then leave when they grow up. Second, if you walk around the block you see that local people (not just tourists) give food to the monks. It is a Buddhist tradition that women can’t touch monks, but the event is organized so this is unlikely. The monks walk in groups and when they pass they walk quickly so you have to put the rice in the bowls quickly. The guide broke the sticky rice in my basket into chunks to facilitate handing it out and this really helped.
We were back at the hotel for breakfast by 7.
Tiger Trails picked us up and 8:30 for our day long tour that began with a visit to and elephant preserve. Laos was once called the land of a million
elephants which might be an exaggeration, but nonetheless there were a lot of them. There are now fewer than 2,000 elephants and the species is becoming extinct. Elephants were used in the lumber industry which has now been outlawed and without this economic justification there is little incentive for anyone to keep an elephant. They require huge amounts of food and a lot of care. Wild elephants are dying from poaching and the encroachment of civilization that limits their access to food. The preserve we visited had 11 female elephants whose care is paid for by fees charge to tourists for the privilege of riding them. You may ask why only females and the reason is that males can behave unpredictably and even be dangerous. We boarded our elephant, and headed off. You can really feel the movement of the elephant as see walks along. After awhile, we were each offered the opportunity to guide the elephant. You get her to go by kicking her behind her ears and shouting “Pie”. She ambles along at her own slow pace which is comfortable for humans as well. Jack and I agreed that I was the better elephant driver, despite my lack
of expertise with automobiles.
We had lunch at the elephant preserve and headed back to Luang Prabang. Our guide was Hmong himself and he knew about a Hmong festival to celebrate the New Year that was taking place so we stopped by. The Hmong in Luang Prabang had integrated with urban life and only wear special clothes for festivals unlike the Hmong in Sapa. There is a tradition in which girls of what used to be marriageable age come to the festival with a ball. They select a boy they are interested in and the two play catch while they talk and get to know one another. Now that the age of marriage has changed the young people still follow this ritual, but it has more to do with dating than marriage. Our guide told us his wife selected him and they courted over a game of catch.
Our afternoon was a boat trip on the Mekong to a cave with 4,000 Buddhas. The boat ride was peaceful and I had a good mystery to keep from getting bored on the 2 hours to and 1.5 hours from the cave. The cave was not that exciting so in
many ways the best part was the coming and going.
We had dinner at the restaurant that the guide recommended to Jack. I don’t know why we did this since I couldn’t imagine that he was a particularly good food critic. I ordered the Lao special thinking that I would like at least some of what I was served. No such luck, I had a couple of Jack’s onion rings and a fruity drink like a smoothie for dinner. You never know until you try and for $6 I can be a sport. Beside the onion rings and smoothie were excellent!
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