CONFLICTED--Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang is a really beautiful riverside city with an interesting history, including a strong French background, evidenced in the architecture around town.   I spent the first few hours of my time there dodging tourists in and out of restaurants and bars and not feeling like I was in Laos.  The next day, I went for a morning run around town and a local soccer field.  Later, we went out to see Kwang Si waterfalls which was stunningly beautiful and has a bear sanctuary in front.  It was a 45 minute ride through villages and rice fields to get there and it was lovely.  Had a great time exploring the falls, swimming, and trying to hike to the top in a dress, flip flops, all the while so lost we never made it.  Although I enjoyed seeing the nature, the place was full of tourists and I couldn’t help but feel conflicted over the strong tourist presence in Luang Prabang.  Where were the Laos people and the culture I had hoped to learn about?  On the one hand, I was glad to see that tourism could bring jobs to the area.  On the other hand, I was saddened to know the changes this brings, like the 300% rent increase in buildings around town in one year!

Kwang Si Falls

I was feeling quite melancholy about the town until later the next morning when I went to volunteer at Big Brother Mouse.  The publishing company promotes literacy and tourists donating books instead of candy or other handouts which encourage poor dental hygiene and begging.  As part of their initiative, they provide “Book parties” to villages and free English conversation tutoring to anyone interested.  My friends and I simply showed up, waited for a student to arrive, paired up and practiced speaking English.  It was a great way to give back while at the same time getting to know a local person and their culture. 

My guy, Joes, is studying to be a math teacher and is from a small village outside the city.  After talking for about an hour, he showed me around town to some temples (where they wanted to charge me to enter but not him—he fixed that).  Afterwards, we had lunch at the restaurant, Utopia, where he works.  Let me tell you, it is very aptly named Utopia! It sits hillside overlooking the Mekong and is set up with big cushions for lounging around and eating their delicious food, hookahs to smoke, and a beach volleyball court.  I learned a lot about Laos culture from him, including the education system, which always interests me.   And, I’m happy to report that my opinion on Luang Prabang changed after that encounter since prior to it, I thought it was only a tourist trap town. 

Joes, my English student

I still have mixed feelings on how tourism changes a culture, but I can see both the pros and cons that tourism brings.  You can see that Laos is making an effort to preserve some ways of life by the signs around town asking people to “Please cover your body” and not wear bikinis or go shirtless for males.  Likewise, there is a law that a foreigner and a Laos person may not have sex unless married, and a town-wide curfew of midnight so everything closes at 11:30 pm. There’s always one exception to a rule, and in Luang Prabang it’s the bowling alley which is allowed to stay open later so everyone goes bowling late night.  Nonetheless, I can only hope that these rules can help preserve some of their traditions.  If you are interested in learning more about Laos culture, please take a look at http://www.ecotourismlaos.com/dosdont.htm  for some tips on “Do’s and Don’t’s in Laos.

One tradition that does remain and probably has something to do with the midnight curfew, is the Alms of Monks.  Every morning between 6:30-7:30am, people line up on the streets with food (mostly rice but a few other items as well) and hand it out to the monks who parade the streets with baskets, collecting the food.  I arose one morning to watch and it was touching to see the devoted handing out the food.  As much as I tried to stand back and be invisible, I couldn’t help but feel bad as I watched the crowds of people gawking at the scene and intrusively taking close-up photographs.   I wondered if I was not helping the matter with my presence either. 

Monks collecting food

On my last night in Luang Prabang, I “hiked” up Mt. Phousi to watch the sunset.  Only problem was we grossly miscalculated the time it would take to climb it and arrived about an hour early.  We took photos and decided not to fight the crowds but to return down and eat.  Food is always a better option in my opinion.  We went to the night market which has streets of lovely handicraft items, including the beautiful silk sarong skirts the women wear and a street of food.  There, I ran into several more travel friends from Thailand and the slow boat and enjoyed catching up and swapping travel tips to places we had just been to and the others were heading towards.  It’s a fun little sub-culture this way and I love running into people along the way since we all do about the same route.

Views from Mt. Phousi