Something you notice in pretty much all the SE Asian countries we’ve been to are monks. Laos is no different. I suppose the fact that you really don’t see many monks wandering your average Canadian street means that when we do see them in our travels it is noteworthy. In these countries however sights like these are simply a part of daily life.

I was fortunate enough to speak to this young fellow and his buddy for about ten minutes or so after snapping this pic. They both were very nice kids with quite passable english. Both were from villages quite far from Luang Prabang and were in the city because their families were not “well off” (poor). In this case families (if they can spare them) tend to send at least one child to a monastery because they can get educated for free there and most of the boys don’t have to be monks, instead returning to their villages to work. Both of these guys were totally homesick and really looking forward to heading home a few weeks hence for a festival. I asked if they were more excited to see their families, or friends, or to have home cooked meals. With HUGE grins, both responded “The girls!”. Monks indeed.

Morning Alms

One of the things Luang Prabang is famous for is the daily ritual of the monks receiving morning alms. This is both a fascinating and troubling situation. It is a wonderful happening in that the hundreds of monks residing in the city all leave their wats and parade through the city at dawn. The residents line the streets to pay their respects to them and offer them alms - essentially an offering of food, most commonly the ever-present sticky rice. This quiet ritual in the morning streets is an honorable practice and one that makes existence of the system possible. It’s also a very beautiful and awe inspiring thing to watch happen.

Unfortunately, like many things in countries that are heavily touristed (as Laos is more and more), the very thing that brings the tourists into the area is threatened by their presence. In this case, many visitors rise at dawn to observe the ritual subtly from afar. This is considered an acceptable practice.

The problem arises when the tourists begin to interrupt the participants. Some decide to participate by joining the residents, kneeling and offering alms. This wouldn’t be too bad except many don’t understand the significance, meaning or importance of the whole thing. This cheapening hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Lao people. One of the side effects of tourists participating in this manner is the emergence of hawker ladies plying the tourists with little packets of sticky rice or flowers to offer to the monks. The locals (a group these women belong to) REALLY don’t like this development. These women are aggressive to tourists, literally running at you, thrusting their baskets of wares into you face at six in the morning. It is considered a rather uncouth way to behave. At least, being Lao, they back off pretty quickly when you say “no thank you”.

The other problem of course is the photographers. I had to wrestle with this one myself for obvious reasons. I took my photos on two different mornings. On both occasions I took pains to remain inconspicuous, taking my shots from afar and of course without flash. It was pretty tough actually as the light was quite low. Sadly though, I watched others get right into the faces of monks and residents with their cameras, as well as using flashes. I heard reports of people actually getting in the way of the long monk lineup. Yeesh. It has gotten so bad that some of the guest houses have taken to posting signs explaining to tourists the etiquette, most of which is common sense. Some people are morons. You can see both tourists and hawker ladies (counting the morning profits) in the video. Sorry it is so shaky - I hadn’t had my morning Lao coffee yet!


Anyway, I did approach a few locals both before and after the monks had been through. They very much appreciated that I took the time to ask their permission to take shots, that I did so respectfully, and that I thanked them afterward. I didn’t see anyone else do that. I didn’t get a chance to talk to monks about it. Obviously I was a part of something they dislike, but I hope they did recognize that I was doing my best to be respectful about it.

So should tourists just stay away from things like this? I don’t think so. Nor do I think the locals feel so either. They see the value of foreigners in their country and are happy to share their customs and culture with them. They just don’t like to see those customs and culture tread upon though.

Can’t blame them for that.