Birds Flyin' High...: Luang Prabang: wats, alms-giving, cooking, talking and... rain

Luang Prabang is often described as one of the most charming towns in South-East Asia and I'd heard nothing but glowing reviews from those who had visited, so I was pretty excited to get there.

Unfortunately, as seems to be a recurring theme these days, it was pouring with rain when I arrived and didn't really let up for the next 48 hours. People had told me that the rainy season in Asia typically just means a couple of hours' downpour in the afternoons and blue sky the rest of the time. Those people were ~~lying~~ mistaken. Or maybe this season is atypical. But it's been at least 2 weeks since I saw a blue sky. Still, it does mean that everything is a really lush green, and Luang Prabang is set in the confluence of two rivers, with huge trees all along the banks, so the greenery really adds to the character.

The Nam Khan River, in Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO heritage site, so although it's a major tourist hotspot, it's been developed in a tasteful way with cute, colourful villas, French cafés and bakeries and high-end shops and restaurants. A nice place to spend a few days, despite the rain!

The main street, lined with shops and restaurants

The first full day was also my Birthday and I'd booked onto a cooking class at one of Luang Prabang's top restaurants. This would guarantee me a delicious Birthday lunch and other people with whom to enjoy it!

We started off with a trip to the local market to buy produce and then went to their lakeside pavilion to prepare the food.

Delicious fresh ingredients, about to be transformed!

It was an excellent class - we made 6 different dishes, completely from scratch. Recipes were simple enough - no need to measure of weigh anything, just a pinch of this and a sprig of that - but the end result was pretty impressive! We made spicy tomato jeow (dipping sauce), lemongrass stuffed with chicken & herbs, buffalo laap (minced meat salad with herbs), mok pa (steamed fish in banana leaf), sticky rice and sweet purple rice with fruit for dessert. It was a great meal and just perfect with a lovely glass of Sauvignon Blanc!

Yep, I actually made this

After a quick rest at the hotel (catching up with emails and Facebook messages - thanks everyone!) I headed back out. I'd heard of a local charity called Big Brother Mouse which produces Lao children's books and distributes them to poor children in remote villages (a brilliant initiative - apparently many children in Laos will never own a book). Aside from that they also hold English conversation sessions every day, where local schoolchildren drop in to practice their English with visiting foreigners. I had been all ready with some basic questions, about name, age, family, typical daily routine, etc but somehow got paired up with this mini genius who wanted me to define words like "onomatopoeia", "polyglot" and "contraband"! Eventually about 10-15 boys turned up - they were all between 15 and 21 years old and most of them go there every night to practice English for two hours. Many of them do extra conversation classes at the library during the day too - and this is during their summer holiday! It was a great little set-up: both sides got so much out of it and it costs nothing at all. I don't know why it doesn't exist in more towns around Asia.

Then I went out for dinner - on my own, but for my loyal companions of Steak and Wine. The French influence on this part of the world has resulted in some excellent restaurants and I treated myself to somewhere a bit posh, with really delicious steak and wine and a cheeky "boule" of coconut ice cream to finish. Who needs Birthday cake?!

Pretty much my perfect Birthday meal!

The following three days were fairly quiet. I made a trip back to Big Brother Mouse but didn't have quite as much success. At the opposite end of the scale this time, I was paired with two boys who barely spoke a word of English between them, which made for quite a slow and frustrating two hours, and confirmed my suspicions that I am not a naturally gifted teacher!

I also visited some of the local monasteries including the beautiful Wat Xieng Tong, which is one of the most important "wats" in Laos.

Wat Xieng Tong

In the grounds of Wat Xieng Tong

Buddha at Wat Xieng Tong

Another beautiful Wat - not sure of the name

I also visited the Royal Palace, which is now the national museum. The monarchy was overthrown by the communists Pathet Laos in 1975 and the royal family were taken to re-education camps in the jungle. It's believed they died there, although this has never been confirmed. Perhaps they'll come back and re-claim their gold and jewels one day!

The (former) Royal Palace

Haw Pha Bang: a temple in the Palace grounds

There was also a colourful night market each evening, which made for a good bit of souvenir shopping.

The night market

One of the nicest parts of the week was attending the morning alms ceremony. There are 150 monasteries in Luang Prabang and each morning at dawn, local people prepare food for the monks and take it out onto the streets to offer as alms. Although it sounded nice, I'd heard that it had become a bit of a zoo with tourists crowding around the monks and snapping photos in their faces, so I was a bit dubious about it. Luckily the owner of my guesthouse, Mr Vong, invited me to accompany him to a quiet area away from the main street. At 5:30am we set off, with a big pot of rice in hand. We went to the local temple where Mr Vong made an offering of rice and prayed to Buddha. We then went just outside the temple, where Mr Vong joined a few other local people lined up along the pavement, and I sat quietly opposite, to watch. Happily there were no other tourists! Finally a long line of orange-robed monks appeared at the end of the street and as they reached us, the local people each put a small ball of rice into the bowl of each monk. As the first line of monks took their offerings and passed by, another line appeared in the distance. It was quite a sight.

Another long line of monks approaches

A local woman hand out balls of rice (local men may stand but women must sit)

I also visited the UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) Centre. During the Vietnam War, the Americans dropped more than 2 million tons of ordnance on Laos, mostly on the Ho Chi Minh trail which the North Vietnamese used to transport supplies to the South. To put it in some perspective this is more tonnage than was used during the whole of World War II! It's unbelievable really.

Amongst the bombs were 260 million sub-munition 'bombies' (cluster bombs), of which an estimated 80 million failed to explode on impact. They're still lying hidden in the countryside, where they kill one person almost every day. The presence of UXO in an area is also directly linked to poverty: the people are unable or too afraid to farm the land. People are so poor that they also risk death to collect the ordnance to sell as scrap metal.

UXO Lao is a humanitarian organisation which tries to reduce the casualties by educating villagers on the dangers as well as of course clearing the ordnance. It's a dangerous and long task. In ten years they have been able to clear around 400,000 bombies, but this is still less than 0.5% of what is out there. It was a very interesting and moving place to visit.

On my last evening, I climbed Phu Si hill in the centre of town, to see some smaller temples and a beautiful almost- panoramic view over Luang Prabang.