Tuesday 12 November – Luang Prabang

I visited Big Brother House today. This is the invention of an American publisher, Sasha, who sold up is businesses back in America to set up a publishing house in Laos. He was initially thought mad because “people don’t read in Laos”. There was a desperate need for entertaining books to get Laos reading. Prior to this there were just cumbersome text books in Lao language. Sasha engaged local writers and illustrators to start producing readable books in Lao language for all ages. He aimed to make literacy fun. There were many people in the villages who had no idea of even knowing how to physically read a book, how to start at the beginning or even know how to turn a page.

Www.bigbrothermouse.com

I also visited the Royal Palace Museum. It was built in 1904 by the French as a residence for King Sisavang Vong and his family. It’s right on the river so that official visitors could step off their river journeys and into the palace. The building is a mix of French architecture with Lao motifs. It’s beautiful. The royals were eventually exiled at the end of the war and the locals believe the building is haunted by the spirits of the royal family.

The government has preserved the old palace and turned it into a museum. It’s interesting that this Marxist communist government do this considering it is the system they fought hard to destroy. It’s beautifully preserved and the stories of past royalty are explained. On display in one of the rooms are gifts given to the royal family over their time. One of the gifts is a boomerang labelled as donated by Australian Aborigines from Queensland. During the French occupation the royal system was maintained but only as a puppet of the French colonialists.

As I promised Soumontha last night, I returned to help with another English lesson tonight. Andreas, my co teacher, was a no-show, perhaps still hungover from the amazing hospitality forwarded us by Soumontha and his friends. Or perhaps he was frightened off by potential marriage proposal by one of Soumontha’s beautiful young guests! They were both drunk and playful. There were two novice monks in the class tonight. I’m so intrigued by these kids. They seem so mature and humble for their age (perhaps with the exception of the one I sprung smoking behind a stupa the other night). There were some clowns in the class but all were attentive and wanted to learn, particularly the two novice monks. They sat up the front. My part of the lesson was to help with pronounciation while Soumontha translated and explained the grammar. Soumontha has grand plans to expand the school, what with I’m not sure. He doesn’t get paid for this and the running costs of the school rely on some money from the parents and donations from visitors. I’m going to send him teaching aids and books from Australia. This has been a priceless experience for me. You can’t help avoid being completely humbled by these people.

Soumontha comes from a poor rural family. He has one brother and two sisters. Fortunately for him, he and his brother could get a good education and board at the Buddhist temple school in Luang Prabang. The school literally adopts young boys from rural areas and provide a fantastic opportunity for education and spiritual guidance. Unfortunately for his sisters, they remain at home and without education.