Asia 2011: Luang Prabang (April 16) - the monks and the mountain

We were out of the hotel before 0600 to see the buddhist monks collecting their daily food from donors.

The monks go through the town every day collecting food, but today was special because it was the first day of the Buddhist New Year.

Two Laos kindly invited Pam to join them so that she could participate.

It was interesting to see the monks giving some of their food to people who had an empty bowl in front of them.

These were needy people. As they do every day, the monks only kept the quantity of food they would eat that day. The rest of the food they received they passed along to these needy people.

Given the special nature of the day, after the monks had passed people ascended Phou Si. It would take considerable poetic license to describe Phou Si as a mountain, but in the rapidly building heat of the day the 328 steps to the top made it seem like one.

Tradition required that all along the ways gifts of sticky rice and other foods be left for the gods and spirits, however, we saw many children picking up the treats in an atmosphere that seemed to be the USA equivalent of a cross between collecting Halloween candy and Easter eggs.

People also bought caged birds to release as a good deed.

As with the goldfish (cross-reference March 24) there is the question of whether the bird would have been caged in the first place if it were not for the money given to the vendor to buy the bird in order to release it and therefore is it in fact a good deed, but I'm not going to go there.

At the top of the hill was a Wat. Some people prayed...

...while others threw candy on top of it.

Although there was a lot of laughter accompanying the throwing of the candy, it would be a mistake to dismiss this as being done just for fun. For many, there is great symbolism in the act.

Descending the steps on the other side of Phou Si, we came across an array of Buddhas and other spiritual icons.