Laos, trip#2

View of the Mekong in Vientiane. Those specks are people walking out in the huge area of land that appears in the river during the dry season. The strip of land on the horizon is Thailand.

I know those of you at home are enjoying my photos and my blogs, so I thought I would definitely include something about my most recent trip to Laos, although I have to be totally honest in saying there isn’t a whole heck of a lot to write about. I spent a lot of my time in Vientiane, the capitol city of Laos, waiting to talk to people or stressing about funding for next year. I don’t necessarily think it was the most productive of times for me, but that is all about timing, which I had no control over.
I traveled to only three places on this trip: Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Nong Khiaw. Not much to say about it. In Vientiane I met with some very helpful people and stayed at a fabulous (although pricey, for me) guesthouse.

I was only in Luang Prabang for probably a total of 2.5 days. The afternoon of my only full day in Luang Prabang, I wasn’t quite sure what to with myself, but I knew if I traveled around the main wat area, I would eventually be invited to help a novice or young monk practice their English and thus would have a chance to practice my Lao (I am always in desperate need to do that). I was right, and spent probably 3 or 4 hours at a wat chatting with a group of novices. The group size varied throughout the time I was there, averaging between four and eight novice monks who really got a kick out of talking to me all at once while speaking Lao very quickly. They knew I had no idea what was going on when they did that. One of them was even speaking Khamu at times, a language not even related to Lao. I think they got a kick out of the farang trying to practice her Lao. The novice I spoke with the most would immediately switch to speaking Thai if I spoke Thai to him instead of Lao, which was actually quite startling – I could tell the difference immediately even though the two languages are so closely related.

Later that evening, I was walking down the street near my guesthouse and saw one of the novices I had spoken with earlier in the day. “Rebecca!” he yelled. “Pai yuu sai?” (where are you going) rather than answer, I responded with a “jau pai yuu sai?” (where are you going?) and he responded that he was going to study. I said “dii lai” (very good), gave him a thumbs up, and we were on our way. A group of Lao next to where I was standing just broke out into laughter. How enjoyable. I think there are few things more wonderful about Luang Prabang than the numerous novices and monks walking the streets heading to school, to study, or to wherever they may be going. It is very beautiful, and a very good reminder that although Luang Prabang can feel like it has been totally overrun by tourists, it is still a very important Buddhist city, with novice monks coming there from around northern Laos to get a better education than they could ever receive at home.

Nong Khiaw, the other place I visited is about 3-4 hours north of Luang Prabang. It is a very beautiful area with limestone cliffs, caves, and the Nam Ou river. I didn’t get much done there but it was quite relaxing and I did get to see some banners. I had wanted to explore villages around Nong Khiaw, but it proved a difficult task because no one was of any help to me in the town. But at least I finally made it there. I thought I would get to Nong Khiaw on my last trip to Laos, but things did not quite turn out as I thought they would, with the lost wallet and all. Oh well.