Every morning in much of Southeast Asia monks can be seen out on the roads collecting alms. This is an ancient, religious tradition and those who give alms earn merit for their next life. In Luang Prabang the alms gathering ceremony is simply spectacular because it involves almost 30 monasteries and several hundred monks. The alms ceremony is an early morning event with people starting to gather along the main road (Sisavangvong) around 6:00 am. At that time it's still dark and the only light is coming from a couple of shops selling coffee and a string of white lights wrapped around a tree. A handful of street vendors wander around trying to sell small, round bundles of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves. Another has a big pot of sticky rice and she just scoops it out and sells it as is. As you can see from the photo of the Alms giving instructions, we were not encouraged to buy rice from these street vendors. We noticed a long group of about 80 places being set out with a kneeling mat, a larger bamboo rice container and a sash. We photograph this setup and then all these mini vans start arriving and we were discouraged with the number of people getting out. Then we recognized them as our Thai tour boat friends so we chatted and learned that it is more respectful to donate your food with a sash on and that is why they have been provided for the group, and the mats make it more comfortable to kneel while putting your rice into the monks bowls. When your offerings are finished you get out of the line. There are a couple of obviously needy people (non-monks) seated by the sidewalk, each with an empty straw basket, and we notice monks passing some of their alms on to them.
As the sun starts to rise a long single line of men and boys in saffron-colored robes make their way down the sidewalk from another temple. They stand and wait as the monks from Wat Sop Sickharam go ahead of them in the alms line. Their feet are bare and each is carrying a bowl. The oldest monk from each monastery leads his line with the youngest at the end, but the lines are so tight that it is difficult to tell when one monastery ends and the next begins.
We were back having another excellent breakfast overlooking the river by 7am. We then headed off to the small but excellent Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre where the exhibits explore the unique cultural aspects of four of Laos' most well known ethnic minority groups: Akha, Hmong, Kmhmu and Tai Dam. There is currently a special exhibition on the Wedding Celebrations of the Hmong, Tai Phuan and Mien. Our friend Victoria (tribalmusicasia.com) has loaned a Yao Mien horn to the Centre for this exhibition. We bought some Lenten cotton at the gift store and had a coffee and lemon tart at the cafe there. After browsing in the Dara market we had lunch at the Scandinavian Bakery. David went back to Villa Somphong to rest and read his book and Leslie went to Ock Pop Tok's Living Craft Center to enjoy her Hmong batik class.
This was a one on one class with an interpreter working on preparing bamboo sticks while not needed to translate the Blue Hmong teacher's directions. The cloth used by the Hmong is hemp and the motifs come from nature, such as snail shell, rice and pumpkin seeds. Beeswax is melted in a pot together with indigo paste which gives a color to the wax so it can be seen on the hemp. Bamboo pens with metal nibs are used for drawing the wax onto the hemp. Holding the pen feels strange because the drawing nib for all the lines is at your wrist! For the central motif the teacher used a different bamboo pen and held it more like a normal pen but she scored the hemp for the curved lines first. The wax marks will resist the dye when the cloth is dipped in the indigo pot and left to dry. To achieve dark shades of blue a cloth must be dyed more than 20 times over a period of two weeks. When the cloth is in the sun drying, care must be taken that the was doesn't melt. After the last dye bath has been completed, the cloth is boiled to remove the wax. The batik process is finished and bold designs in white are set against shades of blue indigo. Leslie was 4 hours working on her 18 inches of cloth.... She bought 6 meters at the night market for 290,000 kipp ($28) for a purpose still to be determined.
Dinner was at a local Laos bar-b-q, for which this shared cooking is known in Laos as Sin Dat, on the Khang river across from the Apsara hotel. It was excellent and has always been full of locals and tourists when we have walked by on previous evenings. We had Sin Dat with chicken, pork and beef. The meat is first grilled on a directly heated griddle from hot coals in a clay pot. Any juices are caught by the surrounding annulus to which has been added a simple stock. The bar-b-q sauce that you get separately in a little bowl is made from a fermented product of glutinous rice with chili and mixed with fermented soy bean sauce.
You get a plastic tray holding: a bundle of cellophane noodles; mushrooms and funghi; selection of green leafy vegetables; a few raw eggs; tofu skin; tomato sections; green onions. You place a piece of lard on the top of the griddle. You may rub the entire griddle surface with the lard and then return it to the top.The fats will slowly drizzle down the griddle and maintain the greased surface. You crack the eggs into the stock, and place some mushrooms and other veggies in the broth around the ring.
Gently submerge the contents with a chopstick or fork. It was a very a fine shared eating experience but the coals did make you warm!
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