My last full day in Luang Prabang was indeed full. I originally intended on having a relaxing last day, but certain activities just weren’t available until this end.

The first activity was getting up quite early to attend and participate in the almsgiving ceremony with the local monks. This is where the monks get up very early each day and walk the nearby street looking for alms. This has become one of the staple tourist scenes where people line up nearby to see the monks, some of whom get to participate in offering items to them, and this is what I did.

After being greeted by my guide, he took me to the street, where the stools were set up for the participants on one side. I was also asked to remove my shoes. I was then handed some items to give to the monks. One of them was rice, but it was the other item that puzzled me. They were cookies of sorts. I didn’t understand why this would be given as an offering, though I didn’t ask.

As the monks began to arrive and the tourists snapped their photos, I noticed that the monks weren’t wearing shoes! Even though this was the dry season, it was still quite chilly in the morning, and I was amazed at how they could get used to this, especially since I was having a hard time while wearing my gym pants, socks, and rain jacket.

The rice was sticky and had dried a bit, which made serving it difficult, so I had to try to make little portions that I could quickly scoop into their basket. While serving them, I noticed some other things in their dishes, like money and other treats. I wonder if they really eat the rice straight from their baskets. The line moved quickly, and when I thought it was over, I was told that there would be another line of monks arriving soon. Eventually, I ran out of rice and only had the cookies to give, which I felt strange giving, but I didn’t have anything else to offer them. And then it was actually finished, so I put my shoes back on and went with my guide through one of the popular morning market streets.

By now, the sun was starting to come up and the sky was becoming lighter. We quickly strolled through the market area, and my guide pointed out some things here and there. I wanted to photograph more, but there wasn’t enough light yet for my camera to get good focus.

After the morning market, my guide then took me to the last part of the tour, which was to a temple to speak to a local monk and discuss meditation for a bit.

During my talk with the monk (who was just nineteen years old), he spoke about the point of meditation and the need to practice focusing and to be able to shut out the rest of the world and reflect. I thought he might go into further detail about it, but it didn’t last as long as I thought it would. I don’t know if it was because his English was perhaps limited or if it was because I didn’t ask many questions.

We then sat for ten minutes trying to meditate (and when I say “we” tried, I mean my guide and I tried, but I’m sure the monk had no problem tuning out and focusing). It didn’t help when my guide’s phone went off twice. When it was over, my guide asked if I wanted a photo. I felt weird about asking the monk myself, but since the guide asked, I said, “Okay.” There were several dogs roaming around the wat earlier, and one of them came inside the temple while the monk was speaking. I thought it was cute.

After we finished, I headed back to my place, as it was still pretty early in the morning and I wanted to try to get some rest. Later, in the afternoon, I had some time to walk around and look at some of the nearby temples.

One of the famous temples here is called Xieng Thong.

Also part of Xieng Thong…

After that, I walked back towards my place and stopped off at another wat.

Finally, I made it back to my place, or rather, the National Museum across the way from my place, so I decided to stop in to look.

I had planned to go inside, but when I got to the entrance, I was told that I had to leave my backpack in a storage locker in another building. By this point, I was feeling too hot and tired to bother with trekking back and forth just to walk through this place, so I just decided to forget about it and leave. As I left, I noticed a sign near the entrance that mentioned a traditional dance performance of sorts that is sometimes shown here. I wish I had known about it; I would have loved to have seen it. This made me think back to when I was in Phnom Penh and saw a traditional Cambodian dance show at their national museum. It was great. Oh well.

I still had a bit of time (but not much) to go back to my room for some A/C and to charge my battery. The last thing on my schedule was to take a painting class. I had read that I could either choose one of the standard pictures that the artist had to paint or I could bring my own picture. Earlier, I had hoped that maybe I would take a photo of something unique that I could later use to paint. I’m the kind of person who really strives to get unique, original moments on camera, if possible. I also enjoy a challenge, at least when it comes to something creative-oriented, so I decided which photo of mine to use. I opted to give both the painter and me a challenge.

The painting class was located outside of town at the home (on the porch) of a woman named Pan. Her kids were running around and playing during the class and occasionally came over to see what we were painting. The type of paint we were supposed to use was oil, but she told me that it would take about three days for it to dry, and obviously, I didn’t have three more days, so I decided to use acrylic paint instead. She did the majority of the painting (per my request), but she also let me do some of it myself. Together, this is what we created.

Before moving on, I also wanted to quickly show some other food that I had while in Luang Prabang.

And, of course, the all important iced Lao coffee.

I was happy to end my trip with activities like these. But this was not the last adventure that I would have in Laos. There was still the river cruise toward my final destination, which was a national forest park area in Houayxay to see some gibbons.