10 December 2008 - Happy New Year!

Laos Day IV - 04 December 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Luang Prabang is a town of about 30,000 people at the junction of the Mekong River and Khan River. It is at approximately 770 meters (2,400 feet) elevation and surrounded by mountains. Because of the higher elevation it is cooler than Vientiane. Now that it is in what goes for Fall or Winter here, it actually gets quite cool in the evenings and early mornings.

Luang Prabang was the capital of Laos until King Settathirat moved the capital to Vientiane in 1565. The city is where the last Lao Royalty lived during and after the revolution in the 1970's.

One of the tourist attractions in the city is the former Royal Palace.

Thursday morning I got up early, 4:30 AM to spend some time with the Monks making their morning rounds. When we checked into the hotel the night before I noticed a sign saying the the Monks would be around at 5:30 AM and guests could make merit by giving them sticky rice for their meal at that time.

The morning was cool and misty. Fortunately I brought a pullover and was comfortable. The hotel was located very close to Wat Wisunarat, the oldest operating Wat in Luang Prabang. It was originally built in 1513. It is one of the current 32 operating temples in the city out of a total of 66 temples. The city and area opened up to tourism in 1989 with the decline of the Hmong insurrection.

I walked over to the Wat at 5:00 AM and found no activity. At 5:30 AM a Monk appeared out of the mist and banged a large metal gong in the Wat courtyard. At first the bang was slow and deliberate but evolved into a frantic flurry before concluding - a sort of Buddhist Monk alarm clock. Immediately lights were turned on inside the little elevated wood bungalows where the Monks sleep. I could see shadowy Monk figures in the huts, leaving to go to the bathrooms, and to the shower building. It was somewhat eerie - all in silence except for the sound of falling water hitting concrete and shuffle of flip flops on the hard ground.

About 6:00 AM the Monks started forming up to make their rounds. I counted at least 42 Monks. They apparently have a system. I ended up at the little turnaround outside of the NE cornor of the Wat. Eventually there were 12 Monks - an elderly leader, a middle aged second in command, and 10 young Monks aged from about 12 to 25 years old. We headed off to the right walking silently in a single file. The elder Monk led and I trailed about 10 feet behind. The Monks walked barefooted. The younger Monks were definitely curious about the falang joining them so early in the morning. We passed my hotel but no one was interested in making merit that day. We turned the corner and passed the market that had not opened yet. There were still no people out to give the Monks their daily meal. Finally we entered a small neighborhood and encountered some people. At first we came upon individual people. They were on their knees with a small basket of sticky rice. As the Monks approached the people in a single file, the Monks removed the metal lid from their baht (metal urn shaped container suspended from a cloth slung over their shoulder). The people placed or tossed a small handful of sticky rice inside the baht in an assembly line process.

At this point I was not concerned about the Monks not having anything to eat but it was going to be rather monotonous and bland. Sticky rice, more sticky rice, and even more sticky rice!

We turned another corner and came upon a group of 8 people. These people in addition to more sticky rice had bananas, and small plastic bags of hot prepared food. Some of the people had stacked metal pots that they appeared to give to specific Monks. I suspected and later confirmed that they were relatives taking care of their son or nephew. I don't know if it was because they gave more than sticky rice, they were relatives, or because they were a large enough group but this group got a special blessing. The head Monk stopped and faced the people the other Monks lined up single file just passed the people. The head Monk started a chant at the appropriate time the other Monks joined him in the chant. After completing the blessing they turned and continued their walk down the street. Further along we came upon two more similar groups of people and the entire ritual was repeated. By now the sun was rising behind the heavy fog. Roosters and dogs greeted the new day. The entire valley was filling up with the sounds of barking dogs and crowing roosters. People were coming out of their homes and starting their wood or charcoal fires to cook their breakfasts. It was interesting to experience the awakening of the small city in a far away and exotic land.
The procession took a right and entered into the park like setting of Phu Si - a 300 foot high hill that dominates the city. We climbed and walked amongst the heavy vegetation along a well defined and manicured trail maintaining our single file configuration. At this point one of the Monks began to talk to me. He like other Monks I had met in Laos was a poor boy who became a Monk to get an education as well as to earn merit. He hopes to study a Monk after he completes his devotion as a Monk. He also had relatives and friends in the USA. In addition to living in Sacramento, Redding, and Fresno, he had relatives in San Pablo - 6 miles from where I lived before in Hercules, California. How strange it must have been for them to leave this peaceful, forested, and simple world to live in the hectic urban world of metropolitan San Francisco Bay Area. But then again I guess that I have done the same in the reverse direction. I guess you do what you have to in order to be happy and everything else is manageable.

After we ascended to almost the top of the hill, we came upon several wooden cabins constructed along the edge of the hill. There were also some wash facilities. The Monks went into their separate cabins to have their meal. They eat one meal a day and it must be completed by 11:00 AM. I nodded so long and retraced the route back to the hotel. The Monk procession had lasted one hour.

After Duang and I finished our breakfast, we headed out to check out the town on foot. We retraced part of my earlier morning walk and ended up on one of the main streets that runs parallel to the Mekong River. We came upon a market set up on both sides of the street. This market was simpler than the night market. It was basically blankets on the ground upon which fish, fruit, vegetables, textiles, and prepared foods were for sale. We spent a good deal of time talking to the vendors - especially the ones with children. As is typical the people were all very pleasant and friendly. Duang ended up buying two skirts.

I have admired Hill Tribe fabrics and textiles for a long time. Fabrics from trips to Maehongson, Chang Mai, Chang Rai, Cambodia, Vietnam, and now Lao decorate our home here in Thailand.

Skirts or semi completed skirts are sold in markets and on the streets. They are tubes of fabric about 40 inches long and about 40 inches wide. The base fabric is either dark silk or cotton with embroidered intricate bright trim design borders. It is very elegant in its simplicity. A skirt is completed from the tube of fabric by hemming the top and the bottom of the tube. A hook and eye assembly is sewn at the appropriate location approximately at the top midpoint of the tube. A second hook and eye assembly is sewn in at the end of the tube. A woman steps into the tube and wraps it around her waist, hooking the tube together at the midpoint, and continuing to wrap the cloth around her waist until attaching the end together with the second eye and hook assembly. The fabric costs between $7.00 and $10.00 USD depending upon the material and your bargaining prowess.

From the market, we walked to the Mekong River. The river is wide and following fairly fast - I estimate 1/2 mile wide and flowing at 4 to 5 miles an hour. This is impressive considering we are in the dry season. We came upon a river crossing and climbed down the stairs to the river bank.

Now I got very impressed. There were sign boards mounted from the top of the embankment down along the stairway to the river. The highest number was 25 - 25 meters (80 feet). When the river floods, which it does, the water is 80 feet higher than it was that day! Awesome!

People were carrying fuel in 5 gallon containers - one on each dise of a bamboo slat across the shoulders of the porter. Some of the people that we saw and talked to in the market were returning home with their unsold goods. Again these were being transported on their backs. It made some interesting photos. The people boarded long narrow wood boats that resembled dugout canoes. The boats had a gasoline engine a little larger than a lawn mower engine that drove a small propeller at the end of a long shaft. The boats carried about 10 people at a time across the river.

From the river crossing we continued our walk and stopped at the Royal Palace Museum. As we entered the compound we saw many workers taking care of the landscaping. There was a small truck parked to the side with two women and a baby sitting and waiting for the workers to complete their work. We checked out the 7 month old baby. We hit it off immediately - a very happy and not bashful child wearing a winter hat about 1/4 as long as the child was tall. I spoke what little Thai and Lao that I know and the baby responded well. I found out through Duang that the baby could not speak yet. I decided to teach him to speak in Lao. I got animated and tried to teach him to say "Augh Augh" This is a Lao expression used to emphasize what you have previously said. After about 5 minutes, the little baby said "Augh Augh" not necessarily speaking but making sounds that all babies everywhere make in their development of talking in their native tongue. Not matter, I made a big deal of it and we all had a good laugh. The baby when we left gave us a Thai wai (bowed head and hands raised to forehead in a praying position) he also waved.

We toured the Royal Palace and it was very interesting. On display were gifts that had been given to the Royal Family of Laos by various nations. Gifts from the United States were not very impressive or pretty and only slightly better than from the former USSR. One of the USA gifts was a flat engraved disk stainless steel or nickel with a PLASTIC Lunar Lander sticking out of it. Hopefully we have better gift selectors today than in those days.

We left the museum and came upon another man offering to drive us somewhere or anywhere. There are many of these people throughout town, but they are polite. They ask you once, accept your refusal and leave you alone - it's just that there are so many of them. For some reason we talked to this guy. He was interested in taking us to a waterfall. I told him that I was interested in taking pictures of people - interesting, and different types of people. I showed him a couple examples of my photographs.

I had inquired the previous day about the dressed up Hmong girls that we had glimpsed on our bus trip. The hotel clerk told us that Hmong New Years Festival had completed the day before but that maybe some villages might still have some activities for the next day (information isn't always or rather is actually often vague, uncertain and not true - that is what makes travel such an adventure). The clerk did mention one village "Tongching" or something like that.

I mentioned that to the tuk-tuk driver. He stated that the village was nearby and was having a festival for the next three days and offered to take us there. We asked how much and he quoted a reasonable price in Thai baht. He suggested that we stop for lunch first. We were hungry so we agreed. He took us to a small Mekong River side open restaurant. He refused our offer to join us because he had eaten already. Duang and I had an excellent inexpensive lunch - another great meal in Laos.

He drove us a short ways out of town to the aforementioned Tongching village. The village is located on Highway 13. We had to cross the highway on foot, cross a small and narrow bridge over a stream to the festival grounds. Many people dressed up in Hmong costumes were walking with us or coming down other dirt trails to the festival setting.

The harvest has been completed so the Hmong celebrate New Years now. It is a great spectacle. Everyone is dressed in their best clothing. You could see many parents escorting their teenage daughters to the festival grounds. The parents were visiblely proud and happy.
The festival ground was filled with all kinds of small booths selling food, drinks, music CDs, trinkets, gambling games and fruit. Lao music was blaring. On the edge of the grounds were large painted backdrops of waterfalls, gardens, and other romantic type motifs. Couples were posing in front of them for photographs.

There were two large groups of people. One group was young people and the other group were middle aged and older people. Within the groups the women were in one long line opposite a long line of men. The two lines were passing several oranges and old tennis balls between them. Some of the women were singing songs. There was a great deal of flirting going on.

A big part of the Hmong New Years celebration is the pairing off of unmarried men and women. Passing the balls or oranges back and forth is an icebreaker. If two people are interested in each other, they will start tossing the objects between themselves. One thing leads to another and the boy or man will stand by the girl he is interested in. He whispers things - I imagine sweet little nothings in her ear. If she is interested, she whispers back. They then leave the ball/orange toss and buy something to eat or drink. Some go up and have their picture taken together. Others sit and chat for awhile before leaving together. I have read that apparently there is no waiting for a 5th date before getting "TO KNOW" each other really better , so I can imagine where they are headed and what they are planning on doing .
The older group is women who have lost their husbands and looking for another one. I am not sure if the men have lost their wife or just looking for another one.

So it is - "The Dating Game - Hmong Style"

Children and babies are everywhere running around and all excited. Love is in the air. The urge to merge is strong. People are singing. People are drinking. People are gambling. It is a wonderful sight and I can't believe that we were so lucky to experience it. I should be accustomed to such serendipitous opportunities - it is a common experience with Duang but I am continually amazed.

From this festival, the driver took us to another village to experience another New Years Festival. This was similar to the first one and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves interacting with the people and sharing their joy.

The driver then took us to another village. This village was a handicraft village specializing in silk weaving and saa paper making. There were many weaving workshops where women were weaving silk into beautiful fabrics. The designs were in their heads and it was very interesting to watch them change threads and weave the designs into their work. I ended up buying a beautiful black silk brocade piece with white Lao Batik style design ($42 USD). The piece is 15 inches wide and 6 feet long.

Saa paper is made out of mulberry bark. I had seen it made before but at this village they were adding sunflower petals into the water-pulp mix to create very pretty paper - very interesting to watch.

By now I was enthralled with the driver. I asked him to think about where he could take us the next day to make us as happy as today and how much he would want to be paid.

We went back to the hotel around 5:00 PM agreeing to meet the driver the next morning at 9:00 AM for a full day of touring.

After a visit to the night craft market, we were back at the hotel by 8:00 PM - concluding a very eventful and rewarding day.