Laos Part 2: banana Boat, 800 Monks, and Magical Realism

My first day in Luang Prabang was spent doing a whirlwind tour of the sights. Luang Prabang is a slow and lovely historical city in the north of Laos. It's also home to over 800 Buddhist monks. You can't walk down the street in any direction for more than a minute without seeing one of these devotees.

First on our list for the day was the Royal Palace, which has been converted into a museum which shows off many Laos artifacts from the last two hundred years or so. It's strange to look at the old army uniforms displayed there because they're so, well... European looking. French to be precise. This shouldn't seem too out of place since Laos was occupied by the French for so long, but it's still striking to see old portraits of Eastern Kings wearing uniforms more suited to west than east.

We also visited Wat Xieng Thong which was yet another Wat. I'm pretty done with Wats at this point in my trip, and about the only really interesting thing there was a depiction of Buddhist hell on the wall inside the main building. I didn't know Buddhists even had any kind of "hell." I suppose it's something I'll have to find out more about.

After this I walked around the historical district, which is a large area right between the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers mostly made up of old French Colonial style buildings. It was very relaxing and I can certainly see why Unesco has earmarked this district for renovation. At sunset Ruby, Rumi and I met up with some Australian, Japanese and American travelers and climbed the 300+ steps to the top of Phu Si. Phu Si is a golden temple that sits atop a large hill in the center of town. The view is absolutely spectacular and we stayed at the top for quite a while.

On the way down we bumped into a young monk named Ling who was very eager to practice his English. He told us many stories about the troubles between Thailand and Laos, ghosts, Buddha, naga, and even his own death. It's easy to dismiss what someone says as quaint when they talk about the magical powers of their previous Kings, or an emerald statue, but such beliefs seem widespread and common in Laos, and really don't sound any stranger than 40 days and 40 nights of rain, or burning bushes when you think about it. We talked to Ling for a good ninety minutes of so until mother natures call became to strong and we tromped down the remaining 200 steps to the city below with dangerously full bladders.

The next day we rounded up a group to drive out to Kung Si Falls, a multi-tiered waterfall with limestone rock, and deep green pools to swim in. I really can't begin to describe how amazing it was to be there. I'll post some pictures up here when I get back because otherwise no one will believe me. You can actually swim a few yards and hang out underneath small waterfalls along the way. There was also a tree with a ladder you could dive off of the pool into. I would have jumped, but I'm not confident enough in my swimming skills to do so. Rumi and I climbed all the way to the top of the largest portion of the waterfall where you could peer off the top and look at all the majesty below. While we were up there we stumbled across a group of monks in a lower pool hanging out with their shirts off and smoking. What would Buddha do?

I finished the night off by eating a whole fish on a stick from the night market. It was easily one of the best pieces of fish I've ever had. Moist, juicy, and portable. What more could you ask for?

While, I'm out of time again and still four days behind on updates. I've got to catch a train. I'm back in Thailand and a national park awaits me.