Waterfall

Silky Water!
Originally uploaded by Taking5

I thought I should end this series of posts on Laos, with this photo of the Kouang Si Waterfall, near Luang Prabang.

It is my first photo with silky water, achieved through lengthening the exposure, but as I didn't have a tripod, I had to find a suitable perch to put the camera on.

This is of course not the full falls - those are far more impressive. But the water looks a lot nicer in this shot - do check out my Flickr set if you would like to see more photos.

This visit to Laos has been truly enjoyable, exploring the countryside, meeting the people, participating in the life here.

The Mighty Mekong

Almost twilight
Originally uploaded by Taking5

The Mekong river is the lifeblood of Laos. It flows from one end of the country to the other, connecting villages, towns and communities. It separates Laos from Thailand - in Vientiane, you stand on one bank of the river and look at Thailand on the other side. In Luang Prabang, the Mekong and the Nam Khan form three of the four city boundaries, forming a natural defensive barrier around the city. The view of the sun setting on the Mekong river is also one of the most beautiful and peaceful ways to end the day (as the photo above demonstrates).

Our first sight of the Mekong river was in complete darkness, as we went there the first evening we were in Vientiane and my friend brought us to see the river and the lights of Thailand on the other bank. There was reclamation work being done on the river bank, so we trudged through the soil to stand on top of the bank.  The row of shops and restaurants which must once have enjoyed great river views was now further back. The next day, we drove down to a house on the Mekong river - the house itself was nice but the road getting there was a small dirt track between the beautifully kept homes. But in Vientiane, a house on the Mekong is still very much a prized possession, something for only the wealthy few.

When we went to Luang Prabang, the Mekong was indeed all around. We had lunch, dinner beside it in the many restaurants on the bank (and made the acquaintance of a dear little cat, which was most interested in the fried fish we had for lunch). The best guesthouses also make much of their river view. But one day we decided to cross the Mekong, to visit the small little villages on the other side. This was indeed quite a world away from the touristy streets of Luang Prabang.

We hired a boatman to ferry us across the river, and walked around the villages there. The villages were small, but very clean and neat (the Lao are a tidy people). Dogs roam the streets, and occasionally skirmishes would break out but otherwise, they seemed to get along together. Chickens also pecked around the area , searching for food. Obviously, it was also a school holiday, as could be seen by all the children playing under the shade of the trees.

We walked up a hill to visit the wat right on top - Wat Chom Phet.  It was bare and poorly maintained, with the painted facade badly faded and decorations missing except for the altar with the Buddha on top. A group of children were playing outside - but with a little bribe from one of my companions, they were induced to go sweep the wat, provide a mat and some flowers so that my friend could pray there for a while. The view of Luang Prabang, however, was amazing - the sight of the Phou Si, and the golden spire of the That Chomsi on the other side of the river.

We walked further on, to reach a larger temple complex - with a much better kept temple, Wat Long Khun. There was a far greater sense of a living community here - the monks quarters, other outhouses and buildings surrounded the temple, saffron coloured robes were hung out to dry in one corner, rice was drying also on large flat baskets set out in the sunshine beside the temple. The children however were still following us and brought some flowers for us to offer at the altar.

Wat Long Khun is supposed to be a "counterpart" to Wat Xieng Thong, across the river in Luang Prabang, and one of the most beautiful temple complexes in the country. We had earlier visited Wat Xieng Thong and indeed, it completely outshines the humbler tempple in this little community. I thought however, that this smaller temple had a quiet beauty and serenity all its own compared to the grander buildings across the river.  It was quiet and peaceful - we were the only people here, aside from the children and the one person minding the complex and collecting admission fees (yes they had it even here!).  So it was a real contrast to the better known, grander temple just across the river.

We visited a third wat on this side of the river but there was no one in sight - obviously they were praying or eating. We walked back to the village and hailed the boatman to ferry us back. It was an insight into a different world, different lives.

As always, more photos on my Flickr page.

Making Merit

Even more than Vientiane, Luang Prabang is full of temples, and full of monks. My friend told me that besides the young men who go into the temple for a few months, poor families also send their sons there. It is a way for them to get a better life - access to education, whilst lessening the burden on the family. We are staying across the road from Wat Xiang Mouane.  I woke up one morning to the sound of a drum; it was the day of a festival and the drum was being sounded at something like 4am in the morning. 

A little later than 4am, the monks leave their temples, and walk the streets to beg for food.  The morning ritual in Luang Prabang is as follows:

• Rise and shine before 6am
• Wait outside the house : with a scarf over the shoulder
• Carrying: a basket of food: sticky rice, or some biscuits or whatever.
• Kneel, if you are a lady, or stand, if a man.  Wait for the monks.

The monks then walk down the road, in single file.  They carry a begging bowl strapped over their shoulder.  They walk by the rows of people, we put food in their bowls. 

The line can seem endless; you can run out of food.  At last, it stops.

Charity, giving to others.  The humility of having to beg for your meals every day.  This is an example of how the giving helps both the giver and the  recipient. 

The Market Economy

It is said that Dr Goh Keng Swee liked walking through cities to look at their shops.  Not for purposes of shopping, mind you, but because he felt that this gave a good sense of the state of the area's economy.

I was reminded of this when I visited the morning markets in Vang Vieng, and Luang Prabang.  For us in Southeast Asia, the morning market is where all the housewives go first thing in the morning, to buy the food to be cooked later in the day. So it is a good place to find out what people eat.   

In Vang Vieng, there were lots of vegetable stalls.  There were also a few stalls selling meat - I really do not know what type of meat and I did not want to ask.  There were a few stalls selling a few fish each.  But there were many people seated on the ground, with a small pile of food in front of them - some vegetable stalls but others sold more "exotic" products, including a basin of insects, of live frogs each tied by the leg with a little piece of string, and bats.  These were women from the nearby villages, who had gleaned a few vegetables from their gardens, or who had sent out their children to see what could be caught, to sell or trade at the market. 

My friends bought duck eggs, to be boiled in the guesthouse and eaten for breakfast, rice cooked in banana leaves and a huge comb of gigantic bananas. 

By contrast, the morning market in Luang Prabang had more stalls selling meat and fish, in addition to vegetables.  One stall had a large tank of fish, in fact. Others sold crabs, tied together with rattan.  There was the one stall which sold what looked like maggots (or worms?).  There was also one stall selling some 6-7 types of rice - ordinary slash-and-burn rice (referring to the mode of cultivation), early harvest rice, sticky rice, black rice, brown rice, amongst others. The Laotian people really know their rice.  A number of stalls sold ready-cooked food- my friend bought a few packets of mixed black and white sticky rice, which we would eat with a little coconut and sugar (it was delicious). In short, the signs of a more vibrant regional economy.

For more photos on Laos, see my Flickr page.

By the Nam Song River

The Nam Song river wends its way through mountainous terrain; these limestone karsts tower over the river and continue beyond it.  We were on our way from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, from the new capital to the ancient capital.  Much of the journey would be spent driving through these mountains.  And we would be spending one night on the road, in Vang Vieng, a little town nestled beside the mountains, by the river.

Vang Vieng today is a sort of backpacker paradise.  It has many restaurants and guesthouses for backpackers, with the restaurants essentially comprising raised seating areas with lots of cushions.  There the backpackers sit, snacking and drinking and watching TV - largely reruns of American sitcoms.  We would be staying somewhere else - in one of the older guesthouses, which had been redeveloped a few times and catered to (ahem) a higher class of tourist.   Right by the river, it had fabulous views of the mountains and was within walking distance of the toll bridge and small tribal village.

We visited the village briefly (it was getting late, and the cows were already on their way home).  After a good dinner (pork ribs, papaya salad, a soup of young bamboo shoots, fish, and vegetables),we returned to the guesthouse.  There, we were greeted by the strains of "Blowing in the Wind".  The owner of the guesthouse was no mean guitarist and singer - some folks in our group knew him. We spent the evening by the river, singing away.

The next morning, we woke early and after a visit to the morning market visited a series of limestone caves (filled with stalagmites and stalagtites), again by the river.  We were early, so had the caves mostly to ourselves.  Then, we continued on our journey through the mountains to Luang Prabang. 

Spectacular, majestic scenery was all around.  The winding road took us up and down the mountains. It was an exciting journey, though a little worrying at times, particularly after we had to stop because one driver, going too fast, had gone off the road into a ravine and the car was being winched up.  Fortunately, we also had a good driver who didn't speed, kept his eyes on the road and tooted his horn every time we rounded a corner.  We arrived safely at Luang Prabang that evening.

To end off, here is a little video of the singing session that evening in Vang Vieng.  I asked for a traditional Lao song.  This one, is about the national flower of Laos - the frangipani.Here he is singing it together with others in our party. 

Temple-Hopping in Vientiane

Big and small
Originally uploaded by Taking5

I had been looking forward to visiting Laos for some time, after my classmate invited me over. Finally, 4 years after our first invitation, we made it over! I've decided that I'm not going to do the day by day updates which I used to do after my previous holidays. Instead, over the next few posts, I hope to share a few highlights of our stay.

Laos is a deeply religious Buddhist society. Like Thailand, Burma and Cambodia, young men go through the rite of passage of becoming monks for a while. My friends called this the equivalent of national service for them!  Indeed, there is merit for all of us to take a few months off to pray, reflect, and to learn what it is to depend on the charity and compassion of others. This can only inculcate these virtues in one's own life.

According to my friend, we had arrived the day before a major festival - when 450 monks would gather at Wat Ong Teu, a major monastery, to celebrate Vientiane's 450th Anniversary as the capital of Laos.  Indeed, when we arrived, the temple was crowded.  Large containers had been set out for people to "make merit" and donate to the temple.  The central prayer hall, or "sim", was also filled with groups of people dressed in their best - praying, checking on their fortunes, and taking photos of themselves before the altar on this important occasion. 

The large crowds were thankfully missing from the next two temples we visited that day - Wat Impeng, Wat Sisaket - and the Ho Phakeo temple.  Presumably, every one was at the big festival.  Wat Impeng is just next to Wat Ong Teu, and the sim was opened whilst we were standing there taking photos of the exterior. My friend told me that the brightly coloured murals on the front wall of the sim had been restored through donations, as were the two smaller shrines facing the temple. But beyond just helping preserve and maintain the buildings, the temples receive other forms of support from the community -  each household is also assigned to a particular temple and they will support it financially and with food. 

Later, we visited two other temples - Wat Si Muang, where people pray for their requests to be granted, and the Pha That Luang, the majestic stupa which is a symbol of Laos.  Wat Si Muang (as would be expected) was crowded.  A number of children were there (my friend says that they are praying for good exam results!), parents with a newborn, and so on.  For those whose requests have been granted, they return to the Wat, buy a marigold-decked "tree" from one of the stalls outside the sim, to offer it at the foot of the Buddha in thanksgiving.

But the highlight of the day was definitely Wat Sisaket, the oldest wat in Vientiane - because it was the only one left standing by the Siamese following their invasion of the city in 1828. The old sim was being restored whilst we were there, and we could not take photos of the murals in the interior.  But the cloisters were amazing - they were lined with statues of the Buddha, with small niches in the walls each containing 2-3 miniatures (see starting photo). Altogether, there were over 10,000 statues of the Buddha in the whole temple complex with over 6,000 in the cloisters alone.  The sim and cloisters were surrounded by a quiet, green park which hosted its own large shrine as well as a number of stupas, some containing the relics of some Laotian dignitaries.

We had just visited a handful of the many wats in Vientiane but all of them were well-maintained and cared for.  For a nominally Communist country, the deep religious roots of the society and the people of Laos are evident for all to see.

More Laos photos on Flickr.

Martia

Back for her portrait
Originally uploaded by Taking5

Something like a month ago, Martia went missing. She had a run-in with the dog next door, and ran off thereafter. We could not find her, we did not know if she was injured or not. But she never came back. So we can only imagine the worst.

She was a shy, sweet cat, who was very much the lowest cat on the rung. The other cats would bully her and try and steal her food (she was always the one who got her food last as a result). On the rare occasions I fed the cats, I would stand above her and protect her whilst she ate.  She trusted so few, it was a privilege indeed that our driveway became her home.  I don't have many photos of Martia, largely because it is difficult to get her to pose (she is scared of the camera).

Ah, Martia. Our only consolation is that apparently she gave the dog a few nasty scratches before my mother and neighbour separated them.

On a more cheerful note, we were temporarily fostering Bonnie (or Sookie as she is now called). We found Bonnie on the roadside, much like little Smudge. But unlike Smudge, she was skittish and it took a few nights to capture her. She got used to us pretty quickly and I managed to find a home for her. Sweet little Bonnie! 

Adorable little Bonnie photos on Flickr.

P.S. It breaks my heart but the day after I put this up, Bianca too went missing.