After a while you will find a lot of spots that are “off the beaten track”. In the following lines I would like to introduce some places that I discovered during my stay as an Intern for Tiger Trail in Luang Prabang.
Where is a good place to see the Dag Bat, the morning alms giving?
Well, it is definitely not only on Sisavangvong Road, the main road on the Luang Prabang peninsula!
Luang Prabang is the Buddhist spiritual center of Laos.There are numerous monasteries and temples that make it to the city with the perhaps highest monk population density in the world.
Just after sunrise, Luang Prabang is glowing in saffron colors: Every morning a couple of hundred monks and novices are walking along the streets and follow an old tradition that is called Dag Bat. They are collecting alms that are given to them by the Buddhist population. Especially on the peninsula where several monasteries are located, you can watch this truly intense hour quite closely.
These days, Sisavangvong Road which is probably the starting point of the Dag Bat is occupied by truckloads of tourists and when you arrive there you can see the flashlights of cameras in the distance already.
As you approach the first temples you should skip the crowds by going to Kounxoau Road which is the street behind the Luang Prabang Primary School. Just a few tourists come here but the queue of the monks will definitely pass by, making the place to one of the best ones for photography.
When I was there it felt like in a dream! The big queue of monks looked really majestic as they walked barefoot and in a hierarchical structured order of novices and monks through the streets! It is truly an amazing experience and worth visiting.
