Monks and the Mekong
Trip Start
Dec 21, 2003
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Trip End
Dec 27, 2003
Luang Prabang,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Friday, December 26, 2003
What I¡¦ll remember the most from my time here is the monks, or rather ¡§novices,¡¨ aka monks in training. You see them walking around everywhere by the dozens, draped in bright orange robes and holding colorful little satchels. If you wake up early enough you¡¦ll see them walking in procession down side streets collecting alms (their food for the day) from the towns people. Out of this world. I got to know a novice named Thong Si really well, a 15 year old boy studying at the Wat Sop who came 100 kilometers from the north to study in Luang Prabang. He¡¦s a pretty amazing kid, speaks incredible English and has a huge heart. We hung out for a few hours every day I was here, visiting his school and temple, chilling in his room, and going to daily prayers with him. He actually skipped out of prayer the first day after they took role (he¡¦s just a kid!) so we could go to his room to hang out. Yeah, he lives a pretty Spartan and regimented life, but he¡¦s still a teenager, with teenager tendencies! He wants to listen to pop music, go to university, hang out with friends, etc. Don¡¦t get me wrong, he, along with all of his friends, is pretty serious about his studies and Buddhism itself.
Blackboard
It¡¦s just that I realized that he still has to face the same shitte we did when we were teenagers, all while trying to clear his mind at 4am each morning to meditate and learning how to read and write in chicken scratch Pali Sanskrit. This morning he gave me one of his satchels as a gift, I¡¦m pretty touched because only the monks are supposed to carry those around (he asked that I not use it until I got out of Laosfº. Pretty cool experience. Oh, but it gets better. Other than getting to know Thong Si, I ended up meeting another monk from another temple who asked me to teach English to a class of about 15 monks. It was awesome! I ended up going the last two nights to their temple, writing on a barely legible chalk board and pronouncing words like ¡§ear, hear, tear, rear¡K¡¨ I don¡¦t think I¡¦ll ever forget the smile on my face as I stood in front 15 young, fully robed monks in that classroom. Being around monks just makes me feel good. No worres mom, I've got no plans to join the monkhood, though I think I'll shave my head again (i think i forgot to tell you all that i shaved my head 2 months ago, i've got a pretty good 2.5 inch afro going on now).Christmas was great too. My travel buddies (Rachel, 30 yrs old, teaching English in Japan; and Cath, 35 yrs old from Australia, helps produce educational programming) and I recruited 6 other ¡§orphans¡¨ that were traveling solo and decided to have a huge Christmas day dinner. Funny because none of us really celebrates Christmas (nor does Laos), and all of us had different impressions of how Christmas dinners are ¡§suppose¡¨ to be because we all live in 6 different countries! Having Christmas in a country that's predominantly Buddhist helps too, no real signs of Christmas to make you feel homesick (though my familiy doesn't really celebrate Christmas at home, i still love watching a Christmas story each year and checking out all the lights on the houses, and SNOW!!
I don¡¦t think sitting along the river bank will ever get old, it¡¦s just so soothing, especially with a $.25 cent mixed fruit shake. I¡¦ll be seeing a lot of the river for the next two days as I take a slow boat up the Mekong to the Thai border. Staying the night in Pakbang, then onward to the Huay Xai and eventually Chiang Mai, Thailand!
