Nilesh’s Posterous

25/12/2008 - After the morning market, I still had about 6 hours before my flight. Did not want to waste it being idle. So I decided to rent a bicycle and cycle around Luang Prabhang to the temples I had not yet seen (so many of them in LP). I got the bicyle for 20,000 kips and set off to visit some temples. I first stopped at Wat Xieng Thong, which was built by King Setthathirat in the golden days of the Lao Kingdom. The temple has the Royal Funeral Chariot which was used to carry the bodies of kings when they died. The charriot is pulled by golden red-eyes dragons. Gold Carvings along the temple walls depict the hindu stories from the Ramayana and there are many representations of the hindu monkey god Hanuman as well. The temple was very peaceful and beautiful and barely any tourists. I spent some time there checking out the nice architecture and serenity of the place. Aftert that, I biked around more to other temples, which i don't know the names, but they had very beautiful sculptures and wall murals and by then it was already time to return the bike, get back to the hotel and take a tuk tuk to the airport to catch my Lao Airways flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.

I GPSed my bike ride of today, click on the link below and press play to see the ride route, speed and directions in real time on a google maps.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/7517623


Pic 1 : Novice monk at Wat
Pic 2 : Monk's Clothes Drying
Pic 3 : Nilesh on Bicycle touring LP
Pic 4 : Funeral Chariot of King Sisavangvong at Wat Xieng Thong
Pic 5 : Buddha at Wat Xieng Thong
Pic 6 : Bridge over the Mekong
Pic 7 : Tree of Life mosaic at Wat Xieng Thong
Pic 8 : Ornate Temple Door and Mural depicting Buddha's story
Pic 9 : Nilesh being a tourist
Pic 10 : Monks Working in the temple yard
Pic 11 : Jade Buddha
Pic 12 : Buddha

                       

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24/12/2008 - After the elephant ride and kayaking back to Luang Prabhang, the tuk tuk dropped me at my hotel around 4:45p.m. It was perfect time to get a quick shower and go to see the Sunset on top of Mount Phousy. They have a wat on top of the mountain and also supposed to have beautiful sunsets reflected on the Mekong River.

Along the way down, they had numerous buddhas and a cave with a buddha footprint. They had buddhas for every day of the week and many other Buddha statues depicting various teachings of Buddha.


Pic 1 : Sunset on Mount Phousy
Pic 2 : Sunset on Mount Phousy
Pic 3 : Saturday Buddha
Pic 4 : Tuesday Buddha
Pic 5 :  Reclining Buddha
Pic 6 : Buddhas on Mount Phousy
Pic 7 : Buddha Teaching

             

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24/12/2008 - Luang Prabhang is considered a holy city in Laos. Within the city, there are maybe some 30 wats (buddhist temples) and Luang Prabhang is not even big. According to ritual and tradtion, the monks living in the wats are not supposed to work and are supposed to live on the alms of other people. Every morning, there is a ritual in Luang Prabhang, where the monks leave from their wats and go around the streets of Luang Prabhang to collect alms.

They usually start walking down the streets at sunrise. So, I got up around 5:30a.m today to be able to go and be sure not to miss the alm giving ceremony. I showered and managed to walk down the street to Santi Villa, where usually they start their procession. On my way there, many street vendors were trying to sell me alms to give to the monks.

The alms consist of sticky rice, fruits and something made of coconuts. The monks are supposed to eat only from the alms they receive. I bought some fruits and as everybody else was doing, I sat down by the side of the road to wait for the monks to come and give my offering. The crowd waiting to give alms was very mixed - many local people just sitting down in front of their porch with their offerings wearing a band across their body, and tourists that their hotels had brought and were explaining the rituals and etiquette and the backpackers like myself on our own, looking and learning from what the other people were doing and doing the same.

The monks started walking around 6:30a.m. Each procession starting from their own wats. The elder monks were in front, followed by the younger ones. There were little kids in the end of the lines - novice monks. Everybody was dressed in their saffron robes, were barefoot and each had their ceremonial alm receiving basket.  They passed by and it felt very good to be giving them the fruits I bought. As I had bought only one portion from the vendor, I did not have too much to give to too many monks :(

Beautiful ceremony and ritual.. serene.. selfless and feels good !

           

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23/12/2008 - Today, I had booked a Pak Ou Caves tour for 1/2 day by slow boat. Pak Ou Caves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pak_Ou_Caves) is famous in that all old Buddhas (buddha statues that become too old or break) go there to retire. It is a very sacred cave for Lao people.

Woke up early and had a quick Lao Coffee and French Croissant for breakfast and went to wait at the Slow Boat terminal where all boats leave to Pax Ou caves. There were numerous boats leaving and they divided us in group of 6 per boats. We boarded our boat and off we went for the 2 hour ride along the Mekong River to the Pax Ou Caves.

Before reaching Pax Ou Caves, the boat stopped in a Lao village where they make Lao-Lao (lao whisky) and we got to your around the village for 1/2 an hour or so. They had some interesting drinks - made by soaking up snakes, scopions, chameleons - on sale. Each of these had labels for what they were prescribed for. Some for better joints, some for better manhood, some for headache.. I guess each type of snake, insects have different effects on the body.

We finally reached the Pax Ou Caves. It consists of two caves - Tham Ting and Tham Theung. We had to climb a harsh set of steps in the burning sun to reach the upper cave. All along the way, little kids were selling caged birds. The idea was you buy them and set them them free and you get good luck.

Reached the upper caves and fortunately I had a headlight in my backpack, otherwise, they do rent/sell them in front of the caves. Went in to explore the cave and it was marvelous and very spiritual. Lots and lots of Buddhas all over the place, big and small, in all positions. Some were in very bad shape, eaten by moths or heads or limbs broken off, while some were in decent shape. Everything was in the dark cave and we could only see by flashlight. Enjoyed the serenity and spirituality of the place a lot.


Pic 1 : Snake Infused Drinks in Lao Village
Pic 2 : Scorpion Infused Drinks in Lao Village
Pic 3 : In the Slowboat
Pic 4 : Me inside the caves
Pic 5 : Buddhas
Pic 6 : Buddhas
Pic 7 : Little Girl Selling Caged Bird
Pic 8 : Slow Boats Waiting in front of the Caves
Pic 9 : Many Buddhas
Pic 10 : Happy Buddha and Little Buddha
Pic 11 : Reclining Buddha

                     

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