Feeding the Monks in Laos

I feel like I am working in a soup kitchen but I can't keep up with the demand. I grab balls of extremely hot sticky rice and throw them into the offering bowls as quick as I can. Some of the rice falls and hits the foot of a passing monk, I murmur sorry as I try to put rice in the next monk's bowl. This is not what I envisioned I would be doing at 5:30 a.m. in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Every morning bright and early the owner's wife at the guest house we are staying at gets up to pass out rice to feed the monks and pray in the Wat behind the guest house. 

I read about this practice and had seen monks with offering bowls all over Cambodia and Laos but not witnessed the acceptance of food. When I asked our guest house about what time to get up and observe it, the owner's son told me that it would be more interesting to go with his mother and help pass out food. 

Early the next morning I was given a white silk scarf to drape diagonally over my clothes, a basket of sticky rice and a woven stool to sit on. I was then hurried out towards the street with Wes walking behind half asleep and confused.

We set up shop on the street and I was shown how to form small rice balls with my fingers to drop into the bowls. Less than a minute later a procession of about 20 monks from age 50 down to about 7 came breezing up. I tried to form the balls and drop them in but those are some quick-walking monks! All I could do to keep up was grab rice throw in the pot and grab more rice. 

When the first procession had passed my instructor started sticking more rice in my basket. Then suddenly the next procession was shuffling by. At the end of this group, my instructor set down her basket and motioned me to follow her. 

We hurried into the Wat discarded our shoes outside the door. We kneeled down placed our hands together and said our silent prayers to Budda. (I have to admit one of my prayers was to be able to keep up with the next set of monks.). Then we hurried out of the temple just in time for the next set of monks marching down the street.

 I can't say I was observing much in this experience, I was so busy making rice balls all I could see was a blur of orange robes breezing past my face and the hollow sound of the opening and closing of offering bowls -- All of a sudden I am out of rice and there are still monks coming! My instructor whispers that it is OK, so I sit quietly as the last of the monks pass.

My instructor motions that we are done and I breathe a sigh of relief. This experience was definitely more stressful than I was envisioning it would be.  But I am glad I did it. It's another skill I can add to my resume.

Home Stay in Cambodia

I try to lay perfectly still in the hammock with my eyes closed, the sound of pigs, chickens and dogs evident all around me, I have a BIG headache for the heat and I am trying to get it under control. I shift around and hear a murmur of voices speaking a different dialect. I open my eyes and peer to my left. About 20 children and adults are standing around staring at me, watching my every move. If I didn't have such a bad headache I would think this was really awkward, but at the moment... I don't care.

Wes and I and our guide, a local from Ban Lung had made the trek in the sweltering heat of the jungle, I thought the dry air of Colorado was bad but here... you sweat a gallon of water just walking a few steps. We passed through many types of terrain on our trek, through dense primary forest, secondary forest, farm land, orchards and of course rice fields.


We stayed in a small village about a 4 hour walk from the ferry crossing we started at. There was no electricity, no running water and apparently not a lot of blond haired individuals that passed through this area because the people keep their distance. But everyone is very curious. 


When we arrived our guide told us to go have a shower (which means to go throw water on yourself using a bowl.) The old village chief guided us down to the watering hole about a 15 minute walk from the village. The villagers had dug a wide hole into a hill, there was an underground spring feeding this hole, so the water was, ehh, cleaner than the water flowing through the streams... we think. The chief handing me the bowl and pointed to the stream. Our guide had said we would have privacy, but this wasn't happening, there was a small line of women and children waiting to use their bathing hole watching us. I didn't want to be improper, so I used the bowl to wash my arms legs and head, the chief laughed every time I rinsed an arm or leg, he then stripped to his underwear, squatted by the hole and poured water over his head. Wes did likewise... men have it easier sometimes! Through a lot of pointing and hand movements we figured out that their rice crop was not doing well this year, the rain had not come yet and they had to replant again.


After our "shower" I took a nap while Wes went around the village. Wes walked around the village, taking pictures (when the children were not running away from him) and talking to our guide. Our guide had brought a bottle of whiskey and Wes ate dinner and drank with the locals and had an awesome time.

During the night the sky lit up, you could see the Milky Way perfectly. I laid in my hammock and took in the scenery. I heard the quiet hum of something flying over me, a beetle. It was the size of my fist, no joke! I was glad of the mosquito net over the hammock. At about 4 a.m. Wes and I and the guide were awakened by the sound of a bell, the cows, for whatever reason had wandered under the house and were standing right next to use, their bells rattled. Our  guide got up and shooed them away.


The next morning we ate noodle soup for breakfast with the normal crowd of gawkers. What we did not eat the villagers heated back up and added to their small meal of rice. 

We packed up and headed out of the village. Along our route we encountered three more villages, all these villages are animist, they do not practice Buddhism, but instead believe in different spirits. They also believe in making sacrifices. Our guide told us they used to sacrifice people, but now just they wary trekkers they can snatch, just kidding. They sacrifice animals, they do this for a good crop, the start of a new year (which is determined on the start of the rainy season), for guests and also if a family is having bad luck. We saw evidence of this at every village we stopped at.

We finished our trek at the river. Our guide pulled out his mobile phone and called the boat driver to see if he was waiting for us... so much for being in a remote area... We took small boat down the river 45 minutes back to the ferry crossing. Our experience trekking in the area has really been a highlight from our trip, something we will never forget.