Alms and Kuang Si Waterfall, Laos

I had another weird sleep – crazy dreams- in fact I woke up, opened my door and went for a walk. My body felt twisted and I was dreaming about being back in Thailand.  Anyway at 5:15 I was awake so thought I may as well go out and see the alms.  That’s when the monks walk around town with big bowls or bags begging.  They are fed at the monasteries so I think it’s an opportunity for people to give. I was very lucky because there is a huge wat just down the street from where I am staying however 50 meters away, people were already sitting on mini stools with sticky rice steamers in front of them.  I sat down and waited.   A drum was beating and soon, without a sound, monks were walking down the street.  They stopped at each person who put a little something in their bowl.  It reminded me of trick or treating at Halloween.  I visited with a woman from Morocco who had been on Main Street which is just a block away and she said it was lined solid with tourists - just like a parade.  I was lucky to watch a more private event.  Alms giving is a reciprocal relationship between people who give and monks who receive.  Monks are sustained by the offered food and they provide spiritual merit to the lay people who believe they gain merit by sustaining the monks.  The monks therefore generate good in their future lives-

My shuttle for the waterfall wasn’t coming until 11:30.  It’s very easy to pass the time drinking coffee!  I was the first picked up so got to sit in the front.  We drove around town for about an hour until the van was full, actually over filled but no one would squish over to fit a fourth person in their row.  To be fair, there wasn’t room.  So the driver disappeared and returned with a stool for the 17th person.  There were kids in the shuttle from Saskatoon and Regina.  The boy said he has worked at the NB fair as a carnie the last few years.   It took an hour to get to Kuang Si Waterfall, then another 30 minutes to buy a ticket and wait in the shuttle line.  Eventually I was at the top and the falls has a drop of 60 meters-

There are 3 tiers but there seemed like a lot more than that to me-

It was very crowded and there is only one place to swim-

I had a lengthy visit with a woman from Russia.  We used a translating app on her phone.  Her daughter works for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and is apparently moving to Canada.

There was no lineup to get the shuttle back to the parking lot and soon we were on our way back to Luang Prabang.  I went back to Sena-

the place I’ve eaten every night and ordered a different burger that was just as good as the one I had last night-

I came back to the hostel and visited with my Swiss neighbour and applied for both my Cambodian and Vietnam evisa.  You sure have to be careful because I was on a site that was going to charge me 80 US for one and when I googled it more and found the actual government site it was only 25 US.  My arm hardly hurt today – I don’t know if it was from the strong ibuprofen I took or if it’s just healing. I guess I will tell with tonight’s sleep. Tomorrow I catch a shuttle between 8-8:30 am for the train station (after watching Yellowstone, that’s kind of strange to say) as I’m moving on to Vang Vieng.  Time is flying!