Meeting the monks
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Luang Prabang,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Saturday, April 26, 2003
24th - Another power cut! This one lasted most of the day. Spent the day wandering around taking in the atmosphere and seeing the sites. We first walked along the river road and couldn't believe how quiet the whole place seemed. People were just chilling and sitting about doing their own thing and would sometimes call out Sabai dii when we passed. We went to Wat Xieng Thong which is the principal temple in the town and were surprised at how different it was to the Thai temples. On some of the buildings there were mosaic stories made from little pieces of Japanese glass and the rooves had extra embellishments on too. There were many novice monks milling about and sometimes they would be daring and call out hello and sometimes we would be daring and take a sneaky picture. We then walked around a few more temples (this place had a lot!) and in each one there were more novice monks. In one, one of them came to talk to us and we ended up chatting for quite a while. His name is On and he is 18 but looked about 15-16 and has been a novice for 4 years and wants to do another year. His family live in a farming community (sticky rice only) and in order to escape from this he wanted to learn English so that he could get work in a restaurant or hotel. This is what the 5 years in this austere environment is all for. No food after 12 midday, only a razor and a cup and bowl as belongings, up at 4am every day and eating mostly sticky rice which the lay people give him on his alms rounds. The communist government tried to ban Buddhism years ago but people were not having this so they implemented lots of restrictions instead like only giving the monks sticky rice so that they had to work in the fields to get other food which is against their principles. Although many of these laws are now lifted, people still don't like to upset the government too much. As On was so keen to practise his English, we arranged to meet him later so that he could escort us to the holy hill to see the sunset.
In the afternoon we went to the Royal Palace museum. The royal family were exiled to a cave in the late 70's by the communist government where they died within 4 years of starvation and exposure. The remaining members now live in France somewhere. The palace itself seemed to have been stripped of many items although it reports to have been left as it was. There were some really regal looking areas and the same mosaic stories on the wall that we had seen in the temples but the living areas seemed simple and bare.
At 5pm we met On again and he wisked us up the many steps of holy hill and took us around all the different parts of the temples. Phil shook sticks to get a number to have his fortune told and On translated for us - he will make lots of money and go travelling again and have a wonderful career and be very successful but he will not have a girlfriend. I tried to look at this positively as him not having any extra marital affairs rather than not having a wife! We watched the sunset through the haze of the smoke and then walked back into town. As we went to leave On said in a sad voice "will you come visit me again tomorrow?" I just wanted to give him a big hug (but there is strictly no touching from women) as he hasn't seem his family for so long and seemed quite desperate for people to talk to. Wouldn't you though if you had nothing to do but sit about with a load of other novice monks from midday to 11pm with no means of entertainment?
On the way back we passed an Indian called Nazims and it looked good so we had a lovely dinner in there. It came out a bit too quickly but the chicken was precooked so we thought we would be okay.
25th - It was not okay! Poor Pip spent most of the night and the whole of the 25th in the bathroom or collapsed on the bed. I went out several times to get rehydration sachets and I nagged him to keep drinking but he seemed to be throwing up more than he was swallowing. It certainly felt weird to walk about on my own as we have been side by side for over 7 months now! I feel I did a good job on him though and kept making the sheets wet with cold water to lay over him and mopped his brow now and then.
26th - Still a poorly boy but not being sick anymore so we decided it was time to move on the next day as we were running out of time on our visa. We didn't get to see the waterfall which is the only other item of note in this town but we were very content just to soak up the atmosphere. In the evening we went back to see On and he was visibly delighted to see us again as I think he thought we had forgotten him. We chatted some more but Pip was still feeling very weak so we had to leave. We gave him some money towards his English lessons which they have to pay for themselves but they are not allowed any money for their own use which we couldn't work out. He seemed very embarressed and certainly didn't expect it but we wanted to help him out in some way as he had been so kind to us. He has an e-mail address so we can keep in touch.
Picture that... a novice monk in full saffron robes sitting at the e-mail terminal!
