I also found some empty bird cages in the trees up there - so I was happy to see some birds had been released!
As I left the temple I enjoyed watching people carrying their goods to the morning market, both young..........
......and old.
I also really enjoy seeing little oddities like this - I'm not sure if the person was just drying out their umbrella, or wanted to provide shelter for their shrine. I saw many women walking around with umbrellas (myself included) to protect themselves from the sun. Some even rode motorcycles with an umbrella in one hand and the handlebar in the other - but this was the only umbrella-clad shrine that I saw!
The evidence of the French was everywhere.
It almost felt like an Asian New Orleans!
I loved the simple decorations in this window - made with shells.
There were charming alleyways........
.........and some not so charming!
Flags reminded me that this is a communist country.
When I found out there was a bamboo bridge across the tributary river here - the Nam Khan, I knew I had to cross it. Instead of reading my map properly, I relied on directions from a store-owner and found myself instead crossing an old metal bridge that was a motorbike bridge. They call it the 'Old Bridge'.
It was VERY busy.
I was glad there was a walkway, although it was a bit scary as it jutted out with only horizontal supports . Fortunately the engineering supported me OK.!
It gave me a nice view of a distant temple.
This is not the bridge I crossed - it was another one close to the mouth of the Mekong, but it gives you an idea of what a bamboo bridge looks like. It is designed to just wash away during monsoons, but when it can be used, the builder charges a tariff.
Here's me on the other bridge.
Finally sunset over the Mekong River......
......and the colorful lights in the restaurants began to appear.
Saturday morning had us up at 5:30 am to witness the famous 'feeding of the monks' here. This is an event that occurs all over Asia - the monks walk around town with their begging bowls for the people to offer food. With over 200 monks in Luang Prabang, it is provides an opportunity for many people to give alms and earn 'merit' by doing so,
It has also become a tourist event, with vendors providing sticky rice and other packaged bars for outsiders to participate.
This lady sold us trays of snacks and sticky rice.
I bought some food with another person from our group, but I didn't want to offer it to the monks myself. I was unwilling to kneel - partly because my knees don't kneel so well any more, partly because it felt fake and partly because my relationship to the monks is insufficient to induce me to kneel. So I was glad to watch.
I noted that the monks were almost expressionless as they took the food - no indications of gratitude or greeting toward the donor. Perhaps it is Buddhist non-attachment that leads to this, and I found it interesting to observe and wonder about.
The monks walked around in discrete groups. Our guide said they order themselves from oldest to youngest and that each group comes from a different temple in town.
The littlest monk at the tail end of this group was very cute, but seemed to have a bit of trouble staying in step and in line. The weight of his bowl and bag of food seemed heavy for him.
Clearly it is more food than the monks can eat in a day and the nutritional quality seemed rather empty to me. Our guide said that they give food to the poor and the monks will also go to other households for hot, nutritious food. However, one of the rules is that the food must have been cooked that morning and cannot be food that has been kept from overnight.
The color of the monk's clothing is a delight to the eye. The robes in different parts of Asia depends on the local availability of dyes. If I recall what our guide told me, these use teak leaves and part of the jack-fruit.
With this activity, our time in Luang Prabang was over. Now it's on to Vang Vieng - more on that next.
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