Morning came very early today. The alarm went off at for us to be ready to get the hotel shuttle at to take us the short distance (but, too far to walk) to see the monks on their morning alms walk. This is a morning ritual in most Asian countries.
The driver took us down to the post office (the post office seemed to be the central meeting point during our stay in Luang Prabang 😊) where Katy had arranged a vantage point nearby, for us to be able to not only see the monks on their morning rounds, but had also arranged little stools for us to sit on. She had also organised two bamboo steam baskets full of sticky rice for all us to shape into little balls to place into the alms bowls of the monks as they walked down the footpath.
A carpet runner had been placed along the part of the footpath where we would be sitting; little stools had been placed on the rug with a cushion on top of that, for us to sit on. We were also requested to wear a sash across our chest and around our shoulders
We were all settled and ready by just awaiting the arrival of the monks who towards us along the street by about It had just light. They seemed in small groups of about a dozen or 15, with some of the monks no more than young boys who appeared to be no more than about 7 or 8. Many of them were young men from about to perhaps 20. They passed us first in one direction and then, a few minutes later, back from the other direction.
We had about past us altogether. Ted and I had used up our two baskets of sticky rice after about the 3rd group, much to Katys amusement, as we were supposed to make it last until the end which made that a bit difficult because we didnt know how many monks we had to feed. She laughed and said that we must have been too generous and made our balls too big! 😊
before we began rolling the sticky rice into little balls to deposit into the monks bowls when offered, we were smothering our hands in antibacterial solution, I must admit that I was still very conscious of this fact. Apparently, so were the government authorities because, during our visit to Laos, there was a proposed motion to stop this practice and only have packet food presented to the monks, although, fresh fruit would still be acceptable. At least you could wash, or peel, that. However, we dont know whether this practice was ever adopted, or not.
I always feel somewhat in situations such as this and I wonder how the monks themselves feel, with a whole bunch of tourists around, taking photographs. I know it is a tradition with them receiving gifts of food from the devout in but, what concerns me, is that, over time, these rituals have been added to the list of being considered as a tourist attraction. I can understand that want to give their clients the best possible cultural experiences that they can, of the country that you happen to be in at the time but, I dont know
Anyway, it was all over Red Rover within about 20 minutes so we walked around the corner to where our hotel shuttle bus was waiting to take us back to the hotel.
We werent leaving until so, plenty of time for another breakfast of cold eggs, bacon and sausages. At least the tea and toast was hot, as we did have a toaster this morning! Interestingly, the hotel would just put the cooked food out on plates on the buffet table so, consequently, the food got cold in no time. They didnt put it in a or anything to keep it warm, let alone hot.
Wed done most of our packing last night so, there was only a little to do this morning to be ready in time. Wed finished breakfast a bit before 7am so, had at least an hour and a half before we had to leave. We were to meet down in the foyer at
Giving our room one last scan to make sure that we hadnt left anything behind, off we went about 10 minutes beforehand to give us
time to get our bags down from 302 as, there are never any elevators in these provincial hotels/guesthouses.
