Today was a relaxing day compared to most on this trip! The younger generation split off from the adults this morning. They went to Ockpoktok workshop, where silk is made and dyed and woven into beautiful patterns and materials. The kids dyed silk and learned how to weave the silk on the loom. I’ve included a picture of Sam taking his turn weaving a silk cloth. I understand that they learned all about raising silkworms and how the silk is harvested from the cocoon of the silkworm and spun into thread and then how the dying process is done and what plants are used to create the different colored dyes.
We adults went to the National Museum which is the former Royal Palace from the days before Laos was a communist country and was ruled by a king. The museum houses the Prabang Buddha. The Prabang Buddha is believed to have been constructed in Sri Lanka in the 1st century and was later presented to the Khmer King Phaya Sirichantha upon his intention to embrace Theravada Buddhism. By the 14th century there are records of the travels of the Prabang Buddha into and out of Laos, a couple of times to what is now Thailand. By the late 19th century it returned to Luang Prabang and has been here ever since, first in various “wats” and finally housed in the Royal Palace. It is now in a special room in the Museum which is the old royal palace. The statue is cared for by the monks here in the city and once a year is taken out to be cleaned and is processed during the Buddhist New Year festivities. The city was named Luang Prabang after this Buddha statue. The Pra Bang Buddha is believed to have extremely protective powers and he is depicted standing, with his arms raised, palms out in the “abhaya mundra” posture, a pose of assurance and protection. The museum houses other beautiful pieces from Laos’ days under a monarchy and many Buddha statues from various centuries of Laos’ history.
After our morning activities we had a free afternoon, starting with lunch. Sam and I opted for a simple “western” lunch today! Much as we love all this Asian food, we were in the mood for something considerably more pedestrian so we went to a little Swedish café down the road where we got sandwiches. Sam is easing back into a regular diet so this was a good re-entry lunch! He then spent the afternoon resting in the room, enjoying the air conditioning (it is VERY HOT here today and humid and, for once, the sun came out which is great but makes it even hotter!) I went out for a long walk, climbing the 320 steps to the top of Wat Tham Phu Si, a Buddha shrine at the top of a steep hill which offers a spectacular view of the city and the mountains and river. It was worth the climb. On the way down I visited another 19th century shrine that contains beautiful paintings on the walls of the shrine, even behind the Buddha statue. In front of that shrine is a huge Bodhi tree given to Luang Prabang by the government of India in honor of the Buddha some years ago. (The Bodhi tree is the kind of tree the Buddha was sitting under when he achieved enlightenment.)
Then I ventured out into Luang Prabang away from the tourist center and wandered through a market where the locals do their shopping. It was fun to get away from the tourist area and see a little of the local atmosphere. I walked for nearly two hours and came back along the Mekong Riverfront back to our hotel. I was greatly relieved to get into the air conditioned room after three hours in the heat of the day. I took to the local custom of putting up my umbrella to shade me from the sun because it really was exceedingly hot. Sam and I noted that here in Laos we’ve finally found a place in the world where McDonald’s is NOT. It suddenly struck us that there are no signs of any American fast food joints anywhere in Luang Prabang or the surrounding countryside. Refreshing to see a place that hasn’t been junked up with the worst of American exports!!
In the early evening we went to a local shrine room where a Buddhist spiritual leader led a Baci ceremony, which is a ceremony that both welcomed us to Laos and wished us well and safe travels on our journey away from here. There were six local townspeople taking part in this ceremony. The leader chanted a series of prayers, made offerings to the spirits in our honor and asking for our protection and for safety in our travels and safe arrival home, and then the leader and all the participating congregants gave us special blessings in a ceremony where they tie a white thread around the wrist. (Photo of Sam and I receiving our threads.) In this ceremony we got white threads for both wrists from all seven folks, so we walked away looking a little peculiar with both wrists adorned with white yarn! Sam said we look like a cult of some kind!! Of course in these Buddhist countries the white threads are not unusual sites and locals know they signify blessings. We have to keep these threads on our wrists for 3 days and then untie them and give them as an offering in a Buddhist temple, which won’t be a problem in Cambodia to be sure. Then after the strings were tied on both our wrists by everyone there, there was more chanting and music played on an instrument called a “kim” and then we were offered the food that had been blessed and offered to the spirits. We had bananas, rice cakes, a tapioca cake, a sweet made of coconut and rice and a kind of cookie. After the formal ceremony was over, the young people were invited to try playing the “kim”. I’ve included a picture of Sam taking his turn!
We ended the day with dinner at a very nice local restaurant, sitting outside on the terrace. Tomorrow we have an extremely early day – up at 5:30 AM to watch the morning ceremony where the monks go out collecting their daily alms. (Sam has decided to pass on this activity, not being fond of the 5:30 AM hour!!) We then get breakfast and leave for the airport to fly to Cambodia. Two countries down, one to go!!
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