Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Amantaka, Luang Prabang, Lao
Sabaidee (pronounced, Sab I D). Hello in Lao. We are into our last day in Lao and I must say I could stay here much longer. We are still experiencing excellent weather, although it is a bit hotter today, and we are very much enjoying the local people, the town, and the surrounding countryside.
Wat Xieng Tong. An important Lao temple with the roof coming close to the ground.
Yesterday, Mark did not want to see any more temples, so Pon and I went on a walk through town to the most important temple in the area called Wat Xieng Tong. It was not so different from many others except for the roof lines that shed the rain and intricate, inlaid, colored-glass mirror images on the walls of other nearby buildings. I mentioned this work at the Royal Palace in the National Museum, but could not photograph it there. Here it was outdoors and I was free to take all the images I wanted. I will share a few with you in hopes you get a sense of the luminous images that I found so appealing.
Inlaid colored glass mirrors on a small temple next to Wat Xieng Tong
Along our walk, we passed a number of examples of Lao and French colonial houses, appreciated the shade of the tree-lined streets, overlooked the confluence of the Khan and Mekong Rivers, and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the people—very little traffic, no crowds, no loud noises.
Close up of colored mirror inlay work
Examples of a Lao building and french colonial buildings in Luang Prabang
We talked about many things including politics and economics. He is not a member of the Communist party, but believes the Communists have provided the people of his country with a much better life than they had under the kingdom. When kings were in power, the people were basically slaves. They could not own anything and had to do whatever the king asked of them. They could not earn money or get ahead. Their work allowed them to have shelter and food. Schools and hospitals were scarce. His parents lived under the last king and his father was forced to leave his wife and young children and do three years of hard labor in a camp for no reason other than that he was fit and able. When the communists took over, people were allowed to own the house they lived in, earn money, borrow and save, buy other property and improve their circumstances. Schools and hospitals were built and now, according to Pon, there is 97% literacy and medical care is readily available. Given those choices, I would vote for communism too.
He told me that wages vary between $40 and $200 per month with janitors near the bottom and professionals at the top. Best of all, however, is to speak English and be in the travel business. As an English-speaking guide his salary is $100 per month and he makes enough on tips to put him well above the highest paid professionals. He, of course, would not give me that information. He did say that women make the same as men for the same job. He is determined for his 2 young children to become fluent in English. He owns his house, a plot of land in the country that he is thinking to sell and put that money into a rental in town. He is certainly an enterprising young man.
After awhile, I realized it was getting close to 10am so we grabbed a tuk tuk and got back to the Amantaka in a few minutes. Mark was waiting and we said our good bye’s to Pon, whose guiding service was complete. We, having appreciated his care of us, gave him a generous tip.
Heading off for an adventure on our rented scooter.
Meanwhile, Mark hired a scooter and had it ready to go. It seemed like the perfect way for us to be on our own, see the local countryside, visit a Bear Preserve and swim at the recommended Kuang Si Waterfalls. It was also a fun way to spend our 19th Anniversary. The Aman staff loaned us a backpack filled with water, lunch and a towel. We added our swimsuits and camera and off we went.
A rural farm not far from Luang Prabang
It was a super fun day. We made only one wrong turn and arrived at the Bear Preserve right on time. The Aman staff had arranged for us to be able to feed the bears and we did not want to miss that experience.
A rural scene near Luang Prabang, L
As it turned out, there are 25 bears in residence, all of whom are recovering from bad treatment of one form or another and a couple of whom are needing medical attention. Feeding them is not what you might expect. The bears are moved out of their environment into concrete enclosures, while we go out into their environment with buckets of food and hide it wherever we can, so they have to spend some time and effort finding it. The bear rep told us the bears are mostly bored and making them work a bit helps pass some time.
A moon bear at the Bear Preserve in Lao
The facility was a rather sad affair, but it appeared as though the staff were doing their best to help these animals have a reasonably normal existence. They would not be able to survive in the wild, so this is their best alternative. When the bears came out, we were pleased to find that we had done a good job of hiding the food. They were still looking for some of it when we left them and hiked up to the waterfalls, a short distance above the Preserve.
The lower level of the Kuang Si Waterfalls. Managed to capture the scene before swimmers inundated the place.
I was expecting a nice waterfall, similar to many I have seen in the Sierra and was blown away by what we found. As we walked up the gentle hillside, we encountered a large swimming hole with a series of broad 20 feet high spills into the pool. It was the perfect place to swim and we joined dozens of others with the same idea. The bottom was full of sharp rocks and the water was pretty cold, but we got in anyway and enjoyed the experience while watching other people jump from a rope swing. We ate our lunch and thought we had seen a nice falls.
The upper falls with mist filling the air.
Mark suggested we continue up hill and that is when we began to realize the best was yet to come. There are cascading terraces of falls from small to large and as wide as 50-200 feet or more. Eventually we came upon a bridge and looked up at a huge cascading stream that fell and bounced off boulders and fell again and bounced again. There was a constant mist in the air that gave me the sense of being in a primeval water world. We did the best we could to capture the scene on the camera, but there is nothing like being there.
Eventually we headed back down hill, took one last look at the bears and headed for the scooter. The drive home was uneventful, although I got Mark to stop for a few photos I had spotted on the way up. Not quite the end of a lovely day.
We got home in time to have a swim in our pool and clean up for dinner at a place called the Tamarind, which was highly recommended. The Aman staff gave us a tuk tuk ride there and we enjoyed a delicious, traditional Lao meal including a wonderful soup, appetizers with lots of different spices, and 2 strange but tasty dishes of minced chicken and chopped frog meat. Desert was black sticky rice with coconut milk. Good, but rich. The air was still very warm and we did not feel like working up another sweat so we had the tuk tuk take us home. Now it was the end of a lovely day.
The artist, V Hai, and the oil painting I could not resist. The old Hmong lady’s eyes followed me around the gallery.
Well, all the above was yesterday. Today, we had our “day at leisure”. We had breakfast beside the resort pool, walked several blocks of town and identified a few things we were interested in checking out further. Came back to the Aman and went out again on resort bicycles. This time we headed directly for the art gallery we liked and I bought a painting I had admired earlier. It is not often that I see something I cannot resist, but this painting really captured my emotions. Mark gave it a 7-8 out of his 10 points. That, coupled with my 10 points clinched the buy option. The next time you visit our house, you will see this painting in the gallery. Not sure what will have to go yet, maybe some of my own photographs. We also purchased several scarves to give away and then had our second lunch at to Blue Lagoon. We were back in our suite by 2pm and spent the rest of the day lounging around and dipping in the pool.
The Baci Ceremony in honor of our Anniversary.
At 6pm we were met at the lobby by a gentleman who planned to perform a private ceremony in honor of our anniversary. The Aman staff had arranged it for us so we had no idea what we were getting into. We were ushered into a small space that had been prepared with floor cushions in a circle for six people. In the center were three silver urns stacked together and filled with candles, flowers, bananas, rice and other cakes in the shape of a pyramid. Long fabric threads were placed in such a way that each of the six people could hold onto 2 ends and thereby be attached to everyone else in the circle. On the side were 2 smaller urns filled with small arrangements of flowers and thread cut into short pieces. We were introduced to the other people, who were familiar with the ceremony and there to assist . The man explaining the ceremony told us that Baci, or Sou Khounan, is a pre-Buddhist ceremony performed on significant events such as our anniversary.
The ceremony itself lasted about 15 minutes and included prayers spoken in Lao while we held onto the long threads in the large urn. While other prayers were said, two people tied the short threads onto our wrists. Finally we were each presented with the small flower bouquets and told to place them at the head of our bed for additional blessings. The purpose of the ceremony is to call back wondering spirits and charm them into staying and providing good health and protection. The whole event was very touching and we did indeed feel honored. Afterward, we had a drink and nice visit with the General Manager followed by a private dinner prepared for us poolside. After dinner the chef came out to meet us and Mark remembered him from the Aman we had stayed at in Bhutan. Apparently the higher up staff move around within the chain as needed.
Anyway, it was another end to another lovely day. Tomorrow we fly to Bangkok and cool our heels there for 5+ hours before flying on to Myanmar.
I received only one response regarding my question about which three other countries are Communist besides Lao. Thank you Rick Copeland. You named too many countries, but did include the correct ones. They are Vietnam, Cuba and China.
Good night everyone. Sweet dreams. Julia
Adventures with Julia 