Performance Artist or Quintessential Buddhist Monk
We're back in what I've always said is the loveliest town in SE Asia and even though hundreds more guest houses and shops have been built since we were last here, it's still a lovely town. Because the entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, every new or refurbished building is required to be built in the French Colonial style, which is actually a beautiful style. All the sidewalks are now paved with red bricks. The dozens of temples have been spiffed up but not overly so as the Thais tend to do. All the tiny alleys have also been bricked and have terracotta containers with lights inside making for a quaint and beautiful lighting at night . Luang Prabang is on a high peninsula with the Mekong River on one side and a much smaller river, the Nam Khan, coming out of the hills and winds around the high area where the town is, heads north a bit, and then joins the Mekong. The town is endlessly lovely, wherever one looks. It's a peaceful mellow place.
Laos is the best country we know of for seeing butterflies.
Bruce LellmanTo John SolemHahhaha. Yes, you would love stuff over here. But, I can't buy anything much being on a bike. Plus, you can't bring ten pounds of peppers into the States. The pepper sniffing dogs will catch you at the airport. One time a banana sniffing dog found that I had a banana in my daypack. I didn't even know I still had a banana in there! Reply to this comment 1 month ago
Andrea BrownTo Charlotte FloryRiver weed is a nutritious green that they harvest from the streams, kind of a long ropey algae. Often they will flatten it and add sesame seeds and salt, then dry it. It is then fried up and eaten as a tasty snack. We haven’t seen it in its raw form often, but we haven’t watched them harvest it. Reply to this comment 2 weeks ago
Bruce LellmanTo Charlotte FloryI grew up on a lake in Minnesota and there was this same algae near the shore. It was like a green cloud in the water but if you swiped your hand into the cloud it would all stay together and your brother would throw wads of it at you. It stuck to my back like a spit ball. We didn't know we could have eaten it but my brother would always have rather thrown it at me. Reply to this comment 2 weeks ago
Charlotte FloryOh this is amazing! I think in know this type, also having grown up near a lake in Minnesota. Is a diaphanous green cloud. And I’m sorry your brother threw it at you🤣 Reply to this comment 2 weeks ago
The river weed is spread out on screens and dried with flower petals and sesame seed and other seeds spread on it as it dries. Pieces are cut off and roasted slightly. It's delicious.
The reason Luang Prabang was not completely ruined by the Lao government is because UNESCO and a whole lot of other Western NGOs and individuals from the West saw how special a place it was 25 years ago and have worked hard to preserve what was there and to build on that. If it had been left up to the ignorant old men who completely control the government of Laos, all the charms of Luang Prabang would have been destroyed. I'm absolutely certain of that because the rest of the country has been destroyed by them in various ways. I'm usually not pessimistic or this critical but the Lao government is one of the worst in the world, along with Cambodia's. All the controling, ignorant old men have been concerned about for the last fifty years is how rich they can get by raping the country of all it's resources and destroying the most beautiful things Laos used to possess such as gorgeous little rivers, huge trees, wildlife, environment in general and interesting old buildings. Some 70 dams have been built in the last few years. The government promised the local people they would have cheap electricity but after the dams were built all the electricity went to either China or Thailand. The old men who make up the Lao government care nothing for their own citizens. Nothing. China took advantage of these stupid old men, as China does all over the world, and has eaten Laos, as well as Cambodia. It's such a shame and ultimately such a disaster.
But at least Luang Prabang was saved and is Laos' gem. Although the town is filled with tourists, the charm remains. The first thing we wanted to do was return to a small coffee place across the street from the Mekong. It was largely unchanged with its three teak benches and the old style Lao coffee made over open fires. The owner has seen too many tourists to recognize me but her father would have if he hadn't died too young many years ago. The place is called Pasaniyom but we have always called it Pomachan's, her father's name and who was a beloved person in Luang Prabang. His daughter still runs the place and it has boomed. Thai tourists flock to it in order to feel a bit of the past of their own culture, with the old style coffee in a setting that can't be beat overlooking the Mekong. Thais and Lao have a lot in common culturally including languages which are mutually understandable, readable with numbers being identical. They say that every third word in Lao is the same word in Thai.
My spot at what we call Pomachan's Place is on the bench with my back against the post. The post used to be more comfortable because it was wood.
So, we were there enjoying our Cafe Lao, as it is called, and an older Western man sat down next to me on the bench. He said, "What brings you to such a place as this?" I just started laughing and eventually said, "Twenty seven years!" And then we talked about a myriad of things. I have had so many interactions at that very spot on the worn teak bench through the years. It seems that every time I go to sit at Pomachan's I meet someone interesting or at least I watch something interesting happening from that spot. This man was no exception. He was originally from Wales, "Two blocks from where Dylan Thomas had lived", he added. The man had lived in or near Luang Prabang for many years and was married to a Lao woman. We got along as if we had known each other for years. He must have liked us because he invited us to have dinner at his house. He said we could camp at his place 10 kilometers upstream but I wasn't clear if he lived there full time or if it was just a getaway cabin. He said his wife would be intrigued if he brought home two foreigners on bikes. We were not sure of what our schedule would be since we had just arrived in Luang Prabang and he wasn't sure about his schedule either so it was a loosely made commitment by each of us. I was hoping it worked out because I really liked Gerry.
While we were talking with Gerry we were witness to yet another appearance from the local resident whom we call, The Performance Artist of Luang Prabang. We have a bit of vague knowledge of this person's story. He was a child of a prominent, well-to-do family in Luang Prabang and was quite successful in his 20's. I can't remember if he was brilliant in math or medicine or the arts. For some reason I think he was possibly a concert pianist or violinist or something like that but he had lots of other abilities. Then he contracted meningitis and his entire character/life changed. He never spoke again and he just wandered the streets as he does to this day. He wears old rags or even nothing at all. Everyone in Luang Prabang knows him and accepts him for who he is. Everyone knows his family background. He lives in a narrow lean-to, shed-like addition to a beautiful old house on the main street right in the heart of town. It must be the old family house where he grew up. We have seen him every time we've been in Luang Prabang except the last time eleven years ago and that's why we've been worried he wasn't still alive.
We had a personal experience with this man one time. We were in a bank getting ready to change money and he came in wearing his normal tattered rags, barefoot, and stood in front of us. He held out an old ratty, limp 1000 Kip note (worth pennies), as if to say, 'If you need money, here you can have this. I don't need it.' He stood there holding out the note with the funniest look on his face. It's true, his family has taken care of his every need for the rest of his life I'm sure. He may not use or need money. It seems he doesn't need much.
The thing about this person is that I see him as still being brilliant. His 'performances', as we call them, are brilliant in some way or just plain funny. One time two people on the main street got on their motorbike and The Performance Artist ran over and flipped down the footrest for the passenger. The way he does things is non-interfering and some people maybe don't know what to make of him, his looks, or the things he does but we have always very much enjoyed his ways.
Another time we were in the morning market and he was eyeing a pile of sausages and finally went over and took the one on top. He took a bite and walked off slowly and as he left he raised the sausage in the air as if to say that it was a pretty tasty sausage and, of course, to thank the "seller". Everyone just shakes their head. He's a fixture in Luang Prabang and is totally harmless. The way I see him is that he dances at the edge of being a Buddhist monk - the sausage being the alms he desired that morning. In a way he is the quintessential Buddhist monk!
So, while we were drinking our second old style Lao coffees an old man approached the coffee stand holding an old umbrella and started babbling not words but sounds in a repeated babbling. I took one look and knew it was The Performance Artist. He was much older looking but that was him! Gerry also knew of him but hadn't seen him in a long time. He stood there with his umbrella, babbling sounds like a baby and the woman-owner just laughed. He chanted his babbling baby sounds for a minute or two and then calmly took the top fried donut-like thing (pa thong ko) from a plate and walked off. He was basically mimicking the monks who go from house to house begging for alms every morning. They, too, often hold umbrellas while they walk the streets. And, they too chant or sing a little song either before or after they receive alms from each person. The amazing thing was that we have never heard him utter a single sound. I was under the impression his vocal cords didn't even work. We were thrilled that The Performance Artist was still alive and although looking quite old and possibly with no teeth left, he was looking pretty healthy and with much nicer clothes than in the past.
The Performance Artist begging for a pa thong ko donut-like thing.
Just one of the many temples on the main street of Luang Prabang. A couple of the reasons Luang Prabang is so well preserved is because it is on a peninsula well above the two rivers so it has never had serious flooding. And it was never bombed by the U.S. in the war.
We walked around town all day simply enjoying being in Luang Prabang once again. I can't describe what a special place it is. The main thing that has changed in terms of all the tourists is that there are hordes of Chinese tourists on tours. They are in huge, fairly self-contained, groups/tours and all seem to be doing the same few things in Luang Prabang: Watch/participate in alms-giving to the monks early in the morning, visit Wat Xieng Thong and go on sunset cruises on the Mekong. They may do other things which I'm not aware of. I think there must be huge hotels quite a distance from the center of town where all the Chinese stay and eat. They are most certainly owned and run by Chinese and I wouldn't be surprised if they only accept Chinese Renminbi (currency) which the Lao government lets the Chinese do here and there. All the Chinese tourists are transported throughout the town in white minivans. There are possibly a hundred of the minivans! Maybe more! But, in my attempt to always be positive, I like that the huge idling buses tourists used in group tours in the past are gone. They were an awful air and sound polluting menace. Now, the minivans need to go electric, which I bet they will in short order since China will be anxious to sell them to Laos.
Minivans that ferry the Chinese tourists all over town.
After all the walking around all day we were in need of mango smoothies. The most relaxing place to sip such smoothies is down on the banks of the Mekong. There is one after another restaurant overhanging the banks of the river and after some consideration as to the perfect view, we finally chose one.
We sat there for quite some time and eventually the sunset was ready to put on a show. It's still the perfect time of year in that there is no smoke pollution yet. We were amazed by all the very large boats that suddenly appeared on the river. Most of them turned out to be filled with the Chinese tourists and we heard Chinese music coming from all of them. It also turned out that karaoke is a very popular thing for the Chinese. There was much merriment going on in those boats. They slowly plied up and down right in front of Luang Prabang as the sunset colors grew. We had never seen anything like it in Luang Prabang. The whole scene put big smiles on our faces the entire time. The last time we were in Luang Prabang the Chinese tourist phenomena was not yet a thing. We talked about how most of those Chinese tourists were older and most likely had never left their country before. Being a tourist was a new thing for them and they were living the life, the good life. We were happy for them and we had no complaints about their huge numbers. As I said, they were pretty much self-contained and didn't bother anyone. And that sunset wasn't bothering anyone either. Lovely lovely Luang Prabang keeps on giving. We were happy we had chosen to come back one more time to find out for ourselves the changes good or bad. So far all we have seen is pretty good.
lovebruce
Chinese music and karaoke coming from nearly all these boats.
Charlotte FloryWhat a wonderful story. I love the Performance Artist and the beautiful photos of the stages of light to dark.
Happy New Year, too! Just getting into my lunchtime stories with you after a break from work. Reply to this comment 2 weeks ago
