Luang Prabang: Alms and Rainy Day Movies

Every morning at six o’clock sharp, the monks from Luang Prabang’s various wats silently file through the streets collecting alms from the faithful. Usually it comes in the form of khao nio, little balls of sticky rice doled out from wicker containers. I think khao nio must play a significant role in Lao spirituality because I see balls of it everywhere, from the tops of household staircases to window sills to temple walls to entryways and dashboards. But I digress. For a brief ten minutes while the event takes place, the town’s roads take on a saffron hue and a muted silence subdues the ambient street noise.







By the time the procession ended, I could feel the throbbing bags beneath my eyes, weighed down by several nights of sleeplessness, dragging my eyelids shut. I think everybody else was in the same boat - we agreed to go back to our respective rooms for some shuteye before meeting back at a more reasonable hour.

A steady drizzle had developed by the time we met later in the morning, giving us our first glimpse at the Lao rainy season. It was hardly a torrential downpour, I know, but it was still sufficient enough to throw a wrench into our plans. So, after breakfast, we found our way to ‘le cinema’ (essentially a house set up with three home theatre systems) where we enjoyed our own private showing of Ice Age.

The remaining hours of the afternoon were rounded off at the old royal palace/museum, where suspicious members of staff constantly checked to make sure we weren’t taking any photos (with good cause – I was running distraction while Andrew snapped a few quick shots).



As travel philosophies vary wildly between backpackers in the area (I've run into quite a number of unsavory characters in recent weeks), I feel I’ve really lucked out in meeting this group. Andrew, Thien An and Caroline are all easy going and great bunch to hang out with. Ado seems to have slipped off the radar though, showing up briefly only to go off on his own again.

Are they doing what I think they're doing?