Street Meat and Monks
Pak Beng, Mekong River & Luang Prabang, Laos
My two days chugging ever so slowly down the Mekong River were coming to a close. Two days on an overcrowded water-taxi of sorts was broken up by a one-night stopover in the Lao village of Pak Beng. Slowly chugging down the chocolate milk waters of such an awe-inspiring river had been wonderful. Despite the pushing, the shoving and general discomfort of sitting on the wooden plank floor for countless hours, I was in bliss. Although only having the chance to travel a short distance along this legendary river, I was about to reach my intended destination.
Luang Prabang, the ancient and historic capital of Laos, stood above the Mekong River on a small rocky precipice. Like every other stop we had made during the previous two days, there was no jetty or wharf of any type on which to dock. The captain of our overloaded taxi simply, and very skilfully, was able to make our boat slide parallel to the rocky shore. Then it was a matter of quickly scrambling across to the dodgy gangplank and onto to shore where I found myself greeting by groups of curious onlookers. Boats like the one I had just scurried off arrive in Luang Prabang daily so these skilled young men so intently watching us were both spectators and entrepreneurs. I stood there in astonishment at the number of people who exited such a small boat. I had realized that the interior of the boat was crammed with passengers, but I had no idea that the roof was covered with luggage and people as well.
No sooner had I retrieved my bag and made my way up the steep incline to the town I was approached by a group men and boys from the town. Some wanted to act as a porter and carry my bag, but most waved business cards I my face, the most popular catch phrase being, “Stay at my guest house. For you good price.” A small group of decided to take one of these gentlemen up on his offer. He claimed he had enough rooms in his “clean” guesthouse for our small group that had met on the boat (bonds grow quickly among travellers, especially when sitting on the floor of a boat for two days). Upon arriving at the guesthouse I found out that there were not only not enough rooms for us, but also the place was actually quite revolting. At this point in my travels something had to be truly impressive for me to find it revolting!
Once one climbs the steep set of stone stairs from the boat jetty and finds themselves standing in downtown Luang Prabang, finding a guesthouse is easy: they’re everywhere. I was able to eventually find a quite nice little guesthouse somewhere on Ban Vat That, close to the water. In the race to find accommodations before dark, our newly formed little group had already splintered in every direction. It was already early evening, so I quickly cleaned myself up and decided to find something to eat.
As I walked up the road and towards the main market I noticed several things immediately. First of all, as the second largest city in Laos, Luang Prabang is quite small with a population of only about 17,000 and it’s also very poverty stricken. There is a stark contrast between Laos and other countries like Thailand and Malaysia, which have become the economic darlings of Southeast Asia. Laos, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been under the control of an ultra-secret communist government since the late 1970s. With almost no formal education system (only one university in the entire country) it has been difficult to make positive economic changes. While other countries boom economically, most people in Laos still have no running water, electricity or telephones.
Leaving my guesthouse, I walked along a series of gravel side streets and made my way to one of the main arteries. Once on a main road, the streets seemed to bustle with activity. Standing there and looking at the Wat Ho Siang, I realized how beautiful this place was. I realized that I had plenty of time for sightseeing, but my stomach was not so subtly telling me that it needed food immediately. As dusk was quickly approaching I made my way towards Talat Dala, the city’s main market. On my way there I was able to use some of the motorcycle dodging skills that I had first developed in Vietnam the previous summer. I find that the ability to quickly get out of the way of a moving wall of motorcycles comes in handy anywhere in Asia.
Talat Dala is both a day and night market. During the day, women sell anything from hand-woven blankets to opium pipes, from stalls set up in a small park area beside the street. At night, motorized traffic is blocked and the street becomes a pedestrian thoroughfare. The day market area is closed and new groups of female vendors lay out their wares on the street illuminated only by small flickering light bulbs. I slowly walked along admiring the brilliant colors of the clothing and jewellery for sale. I also found it refreshing that the vendors weren’t nearly as pushy and “in your face” as they are in so many other places I had visited. Occasionally the lights would flicker intensely and then the entire street was in darkness. Several minutes later the lights would suddenly spring back to life triggering a round of applause from everyone on the street.
After some shopping it was time to finally time to put something in my stomach. It was time to eat some “street meat” (a term I used to use while living in Korea). I have always enjoyed trying the wares of street-side food vendors even though I realize you have to be careful. I found a vendor that sold a beautifully barbequed chicken breast on a stick with hot pepper sauce (the hottest I had experienced in Asia!). This particular vendor always seemed to be popular with travellers. There were always one or two backpackers sitting on small plastic stools, guzzling water as they fought to finish their volcanic chicken on a stick. Three chicken breasts and a couple of Beer Loa later, I decided it was time to head back to the guesthouse and bed down for the evening.
I rose bright and early the next morning to get the most out of the beautiful Wats that Luang Prabang is peppered with. With a recent resurgence in Buddhism in Laos, the Wats are being restored and more young men have the opportunity to become novice monks. In a county who’s education system is in tatters, this gives many young men new opportunities to become educated. These beautifully ornate gold wats not only give the ever-growing number of tourists a chance to be shutter happy, but offer new opportunities to the people from and around Luang Prabang.
Very close to my guesthouse was Wat That. As I crossed the street and started up the stairs leading to the Wat, I was greeting by a pair of ornate, silver dragons on either side of the stone staircase. They shone brilliantly in the early morning sun. The Wat itself, like most in this region was astounding and in comparison, the nearby cells in which the monks lived were quite meagre. A group of young novices, no more than 10 years old, watched me intently as I wandered throughout the grounds. I was playing the roll of the “shutter-happy” tourist.
In the following few days I would find myself exploring more of the countryside. I would visit more Wats, have lovely conversations with some young novice monks about their lives, deal with a motorcycle that constantly broke down and get a nasty sunburn. I would have liked to spend more time in Luang Prabang, but my schedule didn’t allow it. I would have a harrowing ordeal on a Loa Aviation flight to Vientiane, and then I would say farewell to Laos. During my brief time in Laos I discovered that both Luang Prabang and the country itself are both intriguing and infectious. Laos is definitely a place I need to spend more time exploring.
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