for the uninitiated among my readers, the art of a visa run can be very important if you're planning on spending any significant time abroad. there are tons of different types of visas (each letting you stay in the country for a specified amount of time) and when your visa expires, you need to find a way to get a new one. there are a few ways to do this, including1) Go to immigration and apply for an extension and/or a new visa. this inevitably takes a decent amount of time (waiting at immigration, being told to come back later because they didn't get your number, them telling you your paperwork is insufficient) and also $$.
2) Leave the country and then come back into the country. When you come back, you get a new visa! chris is on a sort of spouse-visa where he can get a three month visa every time he leaves the country and comes back. since we last left the country in december for our weeklong trip to vietnam, his visa expired this past week. we decided to go to laos for a four-day weekend to renew it :)
on a tip from my college friend judy chen (who lived in laos for a bit, but is now back in the US), we booked a package through lao airlines that included a two-night stay at the villa santi , a converted french villa that also has a resort attached outside of the city. although i had stressed that i wanted to stay in the city, we were told when we arrived that the hotel was full and that we had to stay at the resort (about 6 km away and accessible by shuttle bus only). the resort turned out to be okay - bigger rooms, nice grounds, etc. the first night we were there we arrived around eight, ate lao food for dinner at the hotel restaurant, and watched some tv (yay cnn & hbo) before heading to bed.
First full day in Luang Prabang (3/24):
buffet breakfast at the hotel which included a mix of western and lao foods. i had some baguette with jam, an omelet with ham and local mushrooms, and homemade yogurt with fruit salad. chris (as usual) ate a little of everything in the buffet. :) the coffee is fantastic in laos and is made french style, carrying on some of the culinary traditions post-colonial times.
we boarded the 9 am shuttle to the city and then walked around for the next twelve or so hours. snapshots of the day:
luang prabang is a (somewhat) easy city to navigate once you get your bearings. it's located on a peninsula between two rivers (the mekong and the khan) and filled with temples, much like the old city of chiang mai. people aren't really into using names of roads to navigate, and the same stretch of road changes names every couple hundred meters or so depending on what temple is nearby. A former capital of laos and one of the cities that was essentially untouched by america's 'secret' war during the vietnam era ,luang prabang was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. im not sure what that means, but i think that it restricts the amount of development that can be done within certain zones of the city. some people are happy about this (preserving heritage, etc) but some are unhappy because they feel that they're not allowed to reap the rewards of development (ie concrete houses - you can't tear down old wooden buildings). interesting debate, for sure.in any case, some of the many places we visited on our first full day:
1) Temples. Two of the most famous temples we visited (among at least a dozen) included:
Wat Xieng Thong (a 16th century temple known for its glass murals, a small 'museum' area housing a former king's funeral chariot decked out with nagas, and its gold facades) and Wat Phou Si, one of many temples housed on Mt. Phou Si overlooking the city. I noticed that many of the wats had the Buddha standing with his palms at his sides and fingers pointing downwards. this is the 'Buddha calling for rain' stance and only found in Laos.
Temples in Laos function as homes (and schools) for young boys and many hundreds of them are sent to Luang Prabang to join a temple by their families at certain ages (some as young as six or seven). Most men in Laos have been a novice at some point in their lives, especially if they are educated. Novices participate in the morning alms ceremony (starting around dawn), where they walk barefoot through the city with their alms bowl and receive food (mostly sticky, or glutinous, rice) from Buddhists who wait on the sidewalk with offerings throughout the city. chris and i participated in this ceremony (or tak baht) on the third day we were in Luang Prabang.
2) Shopping! after discovering a cool booklet promoting sustainable tourism in Luang Prabang called 'Stay Another Day: Laos' , i led chris around to a bunch of cool shops/projects supporting local artisans, fair trade, and the preservation of Lao heritage. two of the shops we visited, ock pop tok (translated as east meets west in both lao and thai) & kopnoi (little frog) had free exhibits about lao culture as well. the first was an exhibit about hmong culture and hmong batik, featuring an elderly hmong woman painting batik onto hemp in the main room, a traditional hmon
g house, and great information and actual pieces of clothing from different hmong tribes throughout the two-story showroom. the second exhibit at kopnoi focused on sticky rice, its history, types, and how it is planted, harvested, and eaten in laos. both were really educational, interesting, and manageable (in terms of space and offered reading material). i think it's really hard to find a good blend between commercialism and education like that in chiang mai, but maybe im just looking in the wrong places.
chris and i also stopped in at this really cool NGO project called Big Brother Mouse started by an american expat (previously a publisher) in conjunction with local Lao college students to address the lack of children's books available in the Lao language. basically, college students and recent graduates learn all different aspects of publishing (writing, translating (many books are in lao and english), illustrating, layout, etc.) and have published a series of books for readers at all different ages. they're really awesome and chris and i donated some money to help put books in two local children hospital's waiting rooms so kids could have books to read while
they were watiing. if you ever go to luang prabang, you can stop in at their office, check out their books, and also help them with english practice/proofreading.
i noticed that there were a lot of really cool local ngo's trying to help encourage either community-based education initiatives (like Big Brother Mouse, which also has cool signs up around the city encouraging reading, responsible tourism (give books away instead of candy to kids!) or help preserve local traditions/artwork. many of these initiatives are started by or staffed with young people and it's exciting to see how passionate they are about their work and country.
3) Chill-out places. chris and i had a snack (tuna cakes with lime aioli mayo, yum!) and drinks at l'etranger, a cool cafe/tea room/library/bookstore before heading to a show at the royal ballet. l'etranger rents books for travelers to read at 20 cents an hr and allows local lao to borrow books for fiv
e days at a time for free (to encourage reading!). they also sell books, many relating to southeast asian and lao history, politics, travel, etc, and screen hard-to-find movies (like wordplay!) upstairs in the evenings. i really loved the place and we ended up visiting it twice while we were in luang prabang. :)
4) Art. i convinced chris to go see the royal ballet with me after we saw kids practicing at a summer camp run by performers at the National Museum (the King's old palace grounds, also home to a series of art exhibits in the Royal Lao Ballet Theater). it's really similar to thai classical dance, where people wear elaborate costumes (and masks) and act out scenes from the ramayana. none of the participants talk during the actual performance, with music and song being provided by musicians who sit on the side of the stage. we saw a scene from the ramayana showing how a princess was saved from a giant (who had kidnapped her) by a monkey general, who brought back the princess back to the king (who refused to take her back because he thought she had been unfaithful to him). the princess maintained that she had been chaste and submitted herself to a 'trial by (sacred) fire' to prove her innocence, the authenticity of which was confirmed by three sages who were called to monitor the proceedings. in the end, she passed the sacred fire test and became queen. overall, a decent story, but kinda frustrating that she was the one that had to prove anything (after she was KIDNAPPED by a scary giant!) - it's like women were being held responsible for anything that happened to them (whether it was in their control or not) starting thousands of years ago. ugh.
we weren't able to take many pictures in the theater, but overall, chris and i enjoyed the show (especially the little monkey kids!).
i also super enjoyed this exhibit at the national museum called 'Quiet in the Land'. this was an exhibit that paired mostly American artists with local artisans in Luang Prabang and allowed them to create different types of artwork reflecting their experiences. some of the features of the exhibit included portraits (done in pencil) of different monks and novices, hmong-style embroidery depicting important scenes from one's life, a boat that was built to house meditation in silence, and a short film highlighting different scenes in and around luang prabang with music and short thoughts/commentary. example: 'he said that in laos, there never used to be any written thing marking a person's grave. if people still remembered the dead person, they would come visit the grave and lay flowers and incense on it. when they ceased to remember, then he would cease to exist." the film at this point showed a clearing in the woods where there was a massive pile of flowers and incense (no grave/head stone or indication of who was buried where).
5) Food. aside from tuna cake snack at l'etranger, chris and i grabbed yummy sandwiches and fresh lemon soda for lunch at the scandinivian bakery (french bread & pastries are amazing in laos!). after the ballet, we also ate a fancy lao dinner at the three nagas where we enjoyed sausage, mushrooms and veggies steamed in banana leaves, pork & eggplant curry, and spring rolls.
more updates (on days 2-4 in laos) to come!
2) Shopping! after discovering a cool booklet promoting sustainable tourism in Luang Prabang called 'Stay Another Day: Laos' , i led chris around to a bunch of cool shops/projects supporting local artisans, fair trade, and the preservation of Lao heritage. two of the shops we visited, ock pop tok (translated as east meets west in both lao and thai) & kopnoi (little frog) had free exhibits about lao culture as well. the first was an exhibit about hmong culture and hmong batik, featuring an elderly hmong woman painting batik onto hemp in the main room, a traditional hmon
g house, and great information and actual pieces of clothing from different hmong tribes throughout the two-story showroom. the second exhibit at kopnoi focused on sticky rice, its history, types, and how it is planted, harvested, and eaten in laos. both were really educational, interesting, and manageable (in terms of space and offered reading material). i think it's really hard to find a good blend between commercialism and education like that in chiang mai, but maybe im just looking in the wrong places.chris and i also stopped in at this really cool NGO project called Big Brother Mouse started by an american expat (previously a publisher) in conjunction with local Lao college students to address the lack of children's books available in the Lao language. basically, college students and recent graduates learn all different aspects of publishing (writing, translating (many books are in lao and english), illustrating, layout, etc.) and have published a series of books for readers at all different ages. they're really awesome and chris and i donated some money to help put books in two local children hospital's waiting rooms so kids could have books to read while
they were watiing. if you ever go to luang prabang, you can stop in at their office, check out their books, and also help them with english practice/proofreading.i noticed that there were a lot of really cool local ngo's trying to help encourage either community-based education initiatives (like Big Brother Mouse, which also has cool signs up around the city encouraging reading, responsible tourism (give books away instead of candy to kids!) or help preserve local traditions/artwork. many of these initiatives are started by or staffed with young people and it's exciting to see how passionate they are about their work and country.
3) Chill-out places. chris and i had a snack (tuna cakes with lime aioli mayo, yum!) and drinks at l'etranger, a cool cafe/tea room/library/bookstore before heading to a show at the royal ballet. l'etranger rents books for travelers to read at 20 cents an hr and allows local lao to borrow books for fiv
e days at a time for free (to encourage reading!). they also sell books, many relating to southeast asian and lao history, politics, travel, etc, and screen hard-to-find movies (like wordplay!) upstairs in the evenings. i really loved the place and we ended up visiting it twice while we were in luang prabang. :)4) Art. i convinced chris to go see the royal ballet with me after we saw kids practicing at a summer camp run by performers at the National Museum (the King's old palace grounds, also home to a series of art exhibits in the Royal Lao Ballet Theater). it's really similar to thai classical dance, where people wear elaborate costumes (and masks) and act out scenes from the ramayana. none of the participants talk during the actual performance, with music and song being provided by musicians who sit on the side of the stage. we saw a scene from the ramayana showing how a princess was saved from a giant (who had kidnapped her) by a monkey general, who brought back the princess back to the king (who refused to take her back because he thought she had been unfaithful to him). the princess maintained that she had been chaste and submitted herself to a 'trial by (sacred) fire' to prove her innocence, the authenticity of which was confirmed by three sages who were called to monitor the proceedings. in the end, she passed the sacred fire test and became queen. overall, a decent story, but kinda frustrating that she was the one that had to prove anything (after she was KIDNAPPED by a scary giant!) - it's like women were being held responsible for anything that happened to them (whether it was in their control or not) starting thousands of years ago. ugh.
we weren't able to take many pictures in the theater, but overall, chris and i enjoyed the show (especially the little monkey kids!).
i also super enjoyed this exhibit at the national museum called 'Quiet in the Land'. this was an exhibit that paired mostly American artists with local artisans in Luang Prabang and allowed them to create different types of artwork reflecting their experiences. some of the features of the exhibit included portraits (done in pencil) of different monks and novices, hmong-style embroidery depicting important scenes from one's life, a boat that was built to house meditation in silence, and a short film highlighting different scenes in and around luang prabang with music and short thoughts/commentary. example: 'he said that in laos, there never used to be any written thing marking a person's grave. if people still remembered the dead person, they would come visit the grave and lay flowers and incense on it. when they ceased to remember, then he would cease to exist." the film at this point showed a clearing in the woods where there was a massive pile of flowers and incense (no grave/head stone or indication of who was buried where).
5) Food. aside from tuna cake snack at l'etranger, chris and i grabbed yummy sandwiches and fresh lemon soda for lunch at the scandinivian bakery (french bread & pastries are amazing in laos!). after the ballet, we also ate a fancy lao dinner at the three nagas where we enjoyed sausage, mushrooms and veggies steamed in banana leaves, pork & eggplant curry, and spring rolls.
more updates (on days 2-4 in laos) to come!
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