Ok, where do I start!
Last night at the hotel a met a young German guy. Andreas has been travelling for two years. He picked up a small flyer from the tourism bureau asking for English speakers to donate some time to an English school. He explained this to me and I was keen to help. The small map showed the school located near the airport, which is walking distance from hotel so off we go. English classes are in addition to their normal schooling so they start at 5.30pm. By that time we were well lost and asking for directions that didn’t help. A tuk tuk driver rings the number on the flyer and we finally get there around 6pm. The school is run by Soumontha Panyasouk at his home. He volunteers his time because he loves teaching. He is on extended sick leave from his job as a graphic designer with an ingenious little publishing house here in town started by an American. That’s another story. Soumontha suffers migraines daily since turning 17 and his eyesight has deteriorated. He is 26 and married with a mischievous 3-year old daughter.
Andreas and I have fun with the kids. First class of children are young and beginners of English. The second hour is given to an intermediate class.
After classes, Soumontha invites us to some dinner. He has friends staying so we all sit around a cooking pot and start eating and drinking Lao beer. There are piles of fresh fish, vegetables, noodles and tofu, around the cooking pot that are constantly tossed into the pot while we are taking food out. The door was wide open and friends just wander in and join the feast. And the beer was kept flowing, too efficiently by Soumontha’s wife. Our glasses seemed endless. One of Soumontha’s friends joining us was a shy young man who was in the temple school with Soumontha. Soumontha was his teacher. They did 5 years together there. I wondered about the friendships that are made in their time at the temple school. You see the novice monks wandering around town in pairs or threes, often arm-in-arm and obviously closely bonded. And now I see this bond beautifully continues beyond life in the temples. These binds would last a life time I suspect, bonded in friendship and spirituality.
It’s 12am before Andreas and I walk back to our hotel. We are going back again tonight.
In the morning I visit temple caves. The Pak Ou caves are about 25km upstream from Luang Prabang, taking about an hour by slow long boat. The current in the Mekong is quite strong despite the river being reduced by the beginning of the dry season. As the river level drops, fertile banks become exposed and ripe for farming. Local villages make good use of this opportunity and you can see cropping right along the edge of the river. The lower water levels also expose rocks and other hazards. The river is wide but not so deep.
The caves are large natural limestone caves that are accessible from the river. These spaces have been turned into places of worship. The Tham Ting cave is full of standing Buddha statues. The standing Buddhas are particular to Luang Prabang I understand. There is another cave further up via stairs. It’s even bigger and lightless at its deepest point. It too has an impressive collection of Buddha statues.
On the return journey we stop briefly at a village that produces rice whiskey. The whiskey is potent and you could fuel rockets with it I’m sure. To add some spiritual potency to the whiskey they bottle it with powerful creatures like scorpions and snakes. This gives it added vitality apparently.
angusmccoll 