The Monk Trail

14th day (20th March 2008)

My phone died sometime in the night, thank God for divine intervention, I woke up all of a sudden at around 6.20am. As in walang hilamos at bra, I put on a sweater over the clothes that I wore to sleep and went out to the Main Street. Please…. I hope the monks had not gone out yet.

I need to wake myself up so I had coffee (and the café has also a good balcony, perfect vantage point) while waiting for the monks to pass by. I saw some local ladies getting ready with their “sticky rice” baskets… after a few minutes, the young novices started coming and stopping by at the group of ladies for their alms.

This is what Luang Prabang is, a cultural heritage. Although very touristy, there is still that sense of Lao-ishness pervading the whole place. It is still unbelievably unspoilt. The monks, townfolk, and the tourists lived side by side without the latter changing the landscape of the town as is wont when the places become popular. It still retained its old world charm. What i found fascinating are the monks --- this is the only place that i've been to where you can meet monks in the street (as in, they walk about) or pass by their monasteries and dormitories, the temples are open also.... I again went back to the Royal Palace, which has been turned into a museum --- it is by far, the simplest Royal Residence I have seen so far! It’s so modest. Just like an old plantation house albeit with golden throne rooms (one for the King and another for the Queen). There are ornate designs all over the walls and a mural painting in the Throne Rooms and a very colorful glass mosaic mural in one of the Halls. Afterwards, I went back to Villa Santi to say bye to Sarah and Joy but they were not there, they were visiting another property about 35 minutes from town, another resort owned by the same company and where Joy will be based. I left a note with my contact adds, I hope we can still communicate. I really had a great time with them!

I had breakfast again at the super mahal “Three Elephants Restaurant”.

I’m off to see the Xieng Thong temple before heading back to get my bags. I will be checking out today at 11am although I won’t be boarding my bus till 7pm.

Hehehehe…. I wasn’t able to get there or actually I went as far as the gate but they have a dress code which prohibits “inappropriate dress”, and since I was wearing short shorts and spag straps talagang double jeopardy sya! I went back to my guesthouse to change into my drawstrings pero tinamad pa rin ako, I just wandered around the town taking pictures….till departure time!

(outside Thatsaphone Guesthouse)

I’m taking an Express Bus tonight so it wouldn’t be as comfortable as the VIP buses that I usually use but I’ve been in worse ones before like the last trip buses to Baguio that I used to take when I lived there (I lived in Baguio for almost 3 years!).

I have 3 more days to go before I have to resume my normal life in Maldives…. for the meantime, the guy next to me is really yummy --- the bad news is, he is only 22 yrs old and still in university. Am I really getting old? Or are the yummylicious guys just seem to get younger and younger????