17-11-05

Well, I am sitting here in my guesthouse room in Luang Nam Tha with the intention of writing about my experience in Muang Sing for this blog. But perhaps it is too soon since I have been there to really process the information. I went to Muang Sing because ever since reading about it I had a hunch that it might be a good place for research, for seeing about banners and Tai Lue weaving in general. I went at this time specifically because I knew there was an important festival held at the nearby stupa. This festival comes on the same day as other notable festivals in Thailand and Laos, and I believe they relate to the end of the rainy season and the rice harvest. Regardless, I was excited to get to Muang Sing, a tiny town not even 10 km from the Chinese border. Once there, the sun was shining, a welcome respite from the rain and intense amount of mud I had been dealing with for the past couple of days. I settled into the Muang Sing Guesthouse, a nice guesthouse where I could have a clean room with 2 small beds complete with mosquito nets and an attached bathroom all for $3. The guesthouse was owned by a couple who also owned the Tai Lue Guesthouse across the street – they were very nice and friendly. The room had a window overlooking a wat (temple), I thought that would be a good thing, especially since the banners I was looking for would be in the wats, and because I really enjoy being in or around the temples. Well, perhaps being next to a wat during an important festival isn’t the best idea in the world. Needless to say that one night after an important day of merit, the monks (or someone) started chanting over the loudspeaker and banging on the large drum at 1 AM! Apparently (as confirmed by my wonderful neighbors) they didn’t take a break until 5 hours later! Didn’t get much sleep that night. But it was good. No, it was great. Who can complain about celebrations?

I ended up spending 6 nights in Muang Sing. And I hardly regretted a minute of it. Sure, there wasn’t a whole lot to do in the town. Only one street is paved! Most tourists stay for one night, maybe two, but I have noticed that the longer you stay in a place, the better you get to know it. Each day (or nearly every day) I rented a single speed bicycle and conquered the surrounding area looking for temples to wander into. At first I was very unsure and shy about everything – wandering up to a temple, al the novice monks just staring, what if it the main building was closed, etc. But I learned immediately that such worries were unnecessary. And it is very rewarding. The monks (or usually novice monks) are so incredibly welcoming, and make a point to open the main building for me if it is locked. And each one has had gorgeous banners hanging in them. Excellent!

I can honestly say that traveling alone does get old at times. It can be lonely, especially when most travelers are in pairs or larger groups. And the Lao are always pointing it out because they don’t particularly like it. But I was very fortunate in Muang Sing to meet many wonderful people. My first night I ate dinner with a small group of tourists from all over – Spain, Italy, Brazil. It was fun. A couple of nights later I met a woman from Holland spending a couple of weeks in Laos before going scuba diving in southern Thailand. Then a few of us who had been in town for a number of days formed kind of a small group at the first temple festival and we ended up eating together pretty much every meal after that. It was good meeting them. The group consisted of: Michael and Fiona, from New Zealand; Otto, a nuclear scientist from Germany who has done quite a bit of work in China and is quite a well traveled man; Mathilde, a French girl who had been interning in Luang Prabang for the past 5 months; and me. We had a lot of fun.

Needless to say, by the day after the main festival, the day I had scheduled myself to leave Muang Sing, I didn’t want to go. All of my new friends had left already – at 5:30 in the morning, no less! – so that helped motivate me. I went to the market early and bought a plastic basket like the ones the women in the area used daily. Then when I ate breakfast, the woman who runs the guesthouse brought me my food and told me I was welcome to stay in Muang Sing as long as I wanted. I felt so bad! Oh how I wanted to stay! But I told her that I was planning on leaving to go to Luang Nam Tha that day and so she left and came back to my table with a bag of fried banana chips for me to eat on the bus. How sweet is that?! So, reluctantly, and with tears in my eyes, I left Muang Sing to return to Luang Nam Tha and more explorations of local wats!