Drums and Alms
Luang Prabang is a very serene, tranquil, peaceful place. There is a lovely mix of oriental and colonial (French, admittedly) culture. I really like it there. There are 17 Buddhist Temples in the town centre and one often sees monks and novice monks around the town.
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| Serene |
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| Tranquil (to be honest this temple is on the other side of the Mekong from LP. But look at it. It's lovely!!) |
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| Peaceful. (But what is that Temple Cat lying on?) |
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| Monks laying concrete |
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| Monks climb to the temple on Mount Phousi |
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| Novice tidying up |
Most temples here have an open tower with a gong or bell at the top and a drum on the level below. The pictures below illustrate this but are from Vientiane and Moung Khoun.
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| Drum tower at Wat Mixay, Vientiane |
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| Drum tower at Wat Si Phom, Moung Khoun |
In Luang Prabang, before dawn at around 0500, when the wind is calm, every morning I am woken by the gentle sound of the drums from the local temples - I presume it is the “wake-up call” for the monks. The tempo starts slowly and quickly builds until it gets too fast to beat and so, stops. This "groove" repeats 3 times.
Later, at about 0630, the monks walk in procession to seek alms from local people. Bare-footed, they walk silently until they come to women kneeling or men standing at the roadside waiting to give them food - sticky rice, fruit and so on. Whilst they are receiving alms they chant quietly. This ritual may be seen every day, near every temple (in the world I suppose). I see at least two sets of monks whenever I am out running in Phonsavan. I avoid eye-contact, give them the Cop and wish them, “Sabaidee” (hello) as I pass. In Luang Prabang it has become somewhat of a tourist attraction with tourists lining the streets to watch the procession. This would be OK if the tourists would just stay at a respectful distance and behave unobtrusively. Unfortunately, there are too many who don’t understand the significance to both the monks and the donors and intrude rudely.
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| Monks receiving alms (I was behind a wall looking through railings using a zoom lens and an ISO of 1600) |
Jon Witsell, The Lone Buffalo Foundation and Mines Awareness Day
Jon
Witsell gave up his job in New York film industry to come here to
create a portfolio of artistic photographs of the Jars and to promote
mines awareness. he has some really great pictures and other interesting photographic stuff on his website - click here for Jon Witsell Photographic Arts
He became involved in the Lone Buffalo Foundation (you will see more about
this organisation soon on this blog and a lot more Jon’s website)
and I will not steal his thunder, suffice it to say you may have seen the “teaser" video I sent
round by email. If not, please take a look - click here for Teaser
The
ball-like object being held by the child in the photos and video is a BLU-42/B
WAAPM (Wide-Area Anti-Personnel Mine also known as a "spider"). It is
an anti-personnel fragmentation minelet. It was fitted with several surface and
trip-wire sensors for detonation, an anti-tampering device and some (presumably
not Jon's) had a self-destruct system. As the Cluster Bomb Unit shells separate
the bomblets or minelets (known locally as "bombies") scatter. The flutes
or vanes on the outside of the casing cause the bombie to spin and it is armed
by centrifugal force. After it hits the ground 8 trip-wires spring out of the
holes hence the nick name "spider". Diameter: 60 mm (2.38 in),
Weight: 500 g (1.1 lb), Explosive: 71 g (0.15 lb) Composition-B. These days, 40
years on, the wires have usually rusted away but the bombies often remain “live”.
Which leads me to the catchily titled...
I Was a Dog’s Breakfast
Early one morning in Vientiane I ran and when I was nearly back at the guest house there were 3 dogs at the side of the road at a noodle restaurant. As I ran past, one of the dogs ran out and bit me in the thigh. It didn't feel like much in that split second between realising I had been bitten and looking down at it but it started to bleed straight away. The endorphins must have masked how badly I was bitten. My blood was pumping from my runso it looked worse than it was. I got really angry for a moment and went back to try to kick the dog but he ran into the restaurant. There was nobody there who looked like the owner.
I ran on to the guest house where I rang Doug who had lived in Lao PDR for 30 years to ask his advice. He was brief and unequivocal - get rabies shots at the international clinic at the hospital. I showered, washed the wound - not as bad as I feared, dressed, went down to reception and asked them to write the name of the clinic in Lao on some paper. I jumped in a tuk tuk and as I went past noodle shop I saw the dogs and a lady standing there. I jumped out and said, "You have three dogs," and I pointed at them and gesticulated with barking and biting signs, "That one bit me!" and showed her my leg. She looked at me blankly.
I went on to the hospital, walked in through the front door and was greeted by a lady (doctor it turns out) behind a desk. It was about 0730. I said I had been bitten by a dog and showed her my leg and she directed me to a nurse’s station a few metres away. The male nurse wrote out a prescription and sent me a few more metres to the pharmacy. He looked at the prescription, put on it the appropriate and obligatory rubber stamp and sent me to the Cashier. I paid LAK148,000 (=$20). Back to the pharmacy where I was given the vaccine and returned to the nurse.
When I was having my course of injections, vaccinations and inoculations in Canberra before I came to Lao the doctor said that if I was bitten by a dog I would have to get myself to Bangkok within 2 days for the vaccination. This is because (a) rabies can kill you in 4 days and (b) there was a world-wide shortage of vaccine and there wasn’t any in Australia. The other thing he said was that I should get them when I arrive because, if I am bitten by a dog, the first injection has to go directly into the wound and is extremely painful. Oh, good.
So, it was with some trepidation that I presented myself back to the nurse. She prepared the syringe and I pointed first to my leg and then to my upper arm. Upper arm. Oh, good! Too easy.
Took some photos of the packaging (names, expiry dates etc), the doctor wrote on the back of the receipt the dates of the next 4 doses and told me that, yes, they would have the vaccine in Phonsavan. Good to go.
Tuk tuk back to hotel by about 0820 - it was probably only an hour since I got bitten!
Disabled in Vientiane
I met a lady, Meena, at the Vientiane Rotary Club meeting who said she might be able to help me find suppliers for our seamstresses. The next day I walked to the Morning Market which is a mall on 3 floors and where Meena runs a kiosk selling jewellery and beauty products. She also has a travel agency and currency exchange. Meena is a wheel-chair user.
She met me at the foyer and led me to her kiosk. She asked me for what sort of materials I was looking for my seamstresses and then we set off through the throng to 2 or 3 shops, none of which had Lao cotton. Back to the kiosk where she put on her jacket and collected her handbag. She wheeled herself briskly down the ramp, hand-brake turn at the corner, out of the mall across a rough access road towards the mall next door. "You will let me know if I can help won't you Meena," I said. "I need help now," she said as we approached a curb which was about 300mm (12") tall. I got her over the curb but then there were 6 steps into the mall next door. She waved at a man standing nearby and I suppose said something like, "Take the front" and I took the back and up we carried her. Off she went again at a great speed amongst the shoppers. At the lift she noticed a drinking straw on the ground so wheeled over, picked it up and popped in a nearby bin. I’ve never seen anybody in Lao PDR pick up litter!! I bought some Lao cotton cloth and we made our way back to the car park at the front.
Frequently she would stop briefly to exchange greetings or a few words with other stall holders, the man running the toilets, a tuk tuk driver. Then her phone rang. She tried to push herself along one-handed while talking on the phone. Unbidden, I started pushing, once she had finished I told her that in Australia it is against the law to talk on the phone whilst driving. I told her to let me drive while she talked. She laughed out loud!
We went to a taxi (I'd never noticed a taxi in Lao before this) and the driver seemed to know her. He allowed her to lift herself into the car and straighten her dress over her very thin knees, folded the chair up and put it into the boot. Meena gave him instructions and off we went to another shop. I went in to see if they had what I wanted - they didn't. We then went to the national stadium where Meena was meeting friends and I walked back to my guest house. What an amazing lady! One of the things I notice wherever I am when I am out running is the state of the pavements. In Lao, generally, they are not good. Certainly in Vientiane they are much better than Phonsavan. Nevertheless, Meena must have endless patience and determination not to let her disability slow her down too much.
Newer Car
In Phonsavan, MiVAC has a 1995ish Mitsubishi Pajero. It is a heap. It has done literally countless kilometres (the clock stopped long ago at 340,000km), it makes thick black smoke from the exhaust when accelerating, it is often going wrong, the driver’s seat and one other have collapsed, the tailgate rattles loudly and there are suspicious knocking noises from various parts of the steering and suspension. And the hand brake doesn't. And a tyre keeps losing pressure. What? Yes, I do expect it to go on forever!
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| Old Pajero crosses the ford going to Hinmou Peung - end of the dry season so the river is VERY low |
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| New Pajero at the MiVAC house in Phonsavan |
One reason for my recent visit to Vientiane was to collect our newer car: a 2000 Mitsubishi Pajero with only 160,000km on it. Just nicely run-in! We bought it from a lady at the Australian Embassy who was returning to Oz and I thought I was just going to meet her and drive it back - you know - a day, maybe 2 max, to do the paperwork? Errr, no. What was I thinking?
It is a very long story which involved at various times: visits to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (twice), Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transport, Australian Embassy (thrice) and internet shops, many tuk tuk rides, much frustration with the Lao and Australian bureaucracies in 40 C temperatures.
One anecdote…. Mr Poo, from the Australian Embassy, came with us the the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We went to the Asia/Pacific Office (on the first floor) and a lady gave me a ticket which said that the letter we need as part of the process to hand back the Australian Embassy Diplomatic Plates on the car would be ready in 4 to 7 days. Mr Poo translated that she said we would then need to return to this office to take the letter to the Protocol Office on the ground floor. I looked at Mr Poo steadily and said, “I have to drive 400km from Phonsavan in a week’s time to carry a letter from this office to another office downstairs?”
“Yes,” he replied, “Normally that is what happens but I will come and do it for you.” What a kind man!
The Journey to Phonsavan
The journey involved driving a 14-year old car which, apparently had never been outside the local area of Vientiane 400km to Phonsavan over some pretty impressive scenery up and down some significant hills. We stopped for lunch at the bottom of the climb to Phoukhoun in Kasi where it was 38 C. There is a climb of about 1,400m (4,500feet) and naturally the old car didn’t like it and started to overheat. We pressed on climbing more slowly. There was a downhill section for a few kilometres after Phoukoun and the temperature dropped. At this point we heard the front, nearside brake binding. So we stopped and let everything cool off for a few minutes. There was nothing we could do but press on because we were way out in the middle of nowhere. I went very slowly up the hills to try to avoid overheating the engine and very slowly downhill using the engine braking in low gear on the automatic transmission to try to save the brake.
The temperature went up and down quite quickly with the climbs and descents and, at this stage. However, the temperature gradually climbed and eventually didn’t come down. We stopped, as it turned out, about 3km from the final summit before the drop into Moung Souy and the Plain of Jars which is at about 1,100m (3,600feet). Once the temperature had dropped we set off very slowly up the hill. The temperature immediately went to max but came off the peg as we crested the summit and got some air through the engine. It was getting dark and the temperature gauge light didn’t work - a blessing that I couldn’t see it?
I drove at about 60kph thinking that I would maximise the flow of air with the minimum expenditure of fuel/power/heat. It seemed to work and the temperature sat just off the max for a while. However, every hill we climbed drove the needle back to the Max peg. The last hour or so in the dark was a test with so many unlit bikes, people, cattle and the Pajero had rubbish headlights. I thought the journey would never end. We made it to Xang’s house at about 1930.
He lent me his motor bike and to round off a relatively stressful day I had my third motorbike ride in my life and my first in the dark!
Ever Seen 63 million Kip?
= USD7,833 or AUD8,468 or GBP4,709
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