Luang Probang, Laos: Making Merit with Monks

On June 3rd, while cruising down the Mekong River in Laos, we made a stop at the Pak Ou caves, on the side of the river, inside a limestone cliff. the caves contain about 4,000 Buddha statues.

The view of our boat from the caves:

After the caves we got back on the boat and made our way to Luang Probang, one of the larger cities in Laos. After checking into our (air conditioned and wi-fi enabled) hotel, we set off on a tour of the town. Our first stop: The Vat Xieng Thong temple.

We then stopped at a street vendor that was selling Whisky with different snakes and lizards fermenting inside of it! It looked disgusting!! (I didn’t try it… but a few people did and they said it was really strong!)

We at dinner at a restaurant that had a cooking grill in the middle of the table, so we cooked our own food! It was really good!

The raw food:

The following morning (June 4) we woke up at 5am to make merit with the Monks during the Monks procession and we took part in the ritual giving of alms. Every morning the Monks walk down the streets in a line, collecting rice and food for the day from citizens, travelers, etc. We were all given rice for the Monks and we lined up on mats to prepare for the procession.

Me and Kate giving them rice:

There were about 200 Monks in the procession, and each got a small handful of rice from us. Their bowls were actually quite full; other people gave them crackers, bananas and meat.

It was really interesting, and it was well worth waking up at 5am!!