luang prabang from mount phousi

Inside the temple itself are multiple statues of the Buddha

and various offerings, including a kind that is common in Luang Prabang: a cluster of marigolds bound together by banana leaves.

Lotus blossoms were also given there as offerings.

The back of the temple has an ornate Tree of Life design, beneath which various figures of Laotian folklore appear. On the lower left is the story of a tortoise who saves a deer from a trap, and then the deer saves the tortoise (who crawled into the hunter's pouch after he dropped it) by grabbing the pouch in its mouth and flying away. On the lower right, a cow persuades a tiger not to eat her calf.

After lunch, I went to the UXO exhibit. UXO stands for “Unexploded Ordinance,” a major problem in Laos. On display are cluster bombs

and “big bombs.”

The exhibit, which features signs and videos solely in English, makes it fairly clear who the intended audience is supposed to be.

Rather than ending today on such a tragic note, I’ll add two short accounts, one informative and one humorous (I hope). The informative account is about the name Luang Prabang. Luang means “capital,” and Prabang refers to one of those seven gestures of the Buddha I mentioned earlier. The Prabang pose is the “peace pose”: The Buddha holds out his hands urging combatants to stop and think about what they’re doing. A Prabang statue was the first Buddha statue seen in Laos, and the country’s entire Buddhist history originated here. So, Luang Prabang, loosely translated, means “Capital of the Buddha of Peace.”

The earlier name for the area was “Lan Xiang,” meaning “The Land of a Million Elephants,” referring to the number of wild elephants who lived in the area (now, however, being reduced to very few) and symbolized by three elements that appear commonly in designs in found throughout this part of Laos.

The funny story occurred as we were making our way up those 355 steps of Mount Phousi. An exchange went something like this.

GUIDE: We’ve had a very dry year this year. The farmers are all complaining.

ME: Not enough rockets at the spring rocket festival, eh?

GUIDE: What? You know about the rocket festival?

ME: Of course.

Now, the story behind that “Of course” is as follows. For my birthday this September, Sandra gave me all fifteen of Colin Cotterill’s novels about Dr. Siri Paiboun, a Laotian coroner who solves mysteries. Since these novels are on Kindle, I’ve been reading them during this trip. (You’ve already figured out the ending of this story, I’m sure, but I’m going to tell it anyway.) Last night at dinner, I was reading a section in the third novel where farmers were complaining about a dry year that reduced their harvest. They blamed it on not enough rockets having been sent up during the spring rocket festival, a festival intended to “wake up” the gods and bring fertility back to the land. So, my “Of course” referred to knowledge that I then had for slightly more than twelve hours.

My first full day in Laos began with a climb up the 355 steps to the top of Mount Phousi. (Phou = mountain; Si = sacred; so, Mount Phousi technically means “Mount Sacred Mountain” much like Sahara Desert means “The Desert Desert”).

Now, those who know me well will be aware of my aversion to climb to the top of anything, even if it’s 35 steps and not 355. So, why was I doing this? I suppose it was basically on the principle of “When in Luang Prabang … “

The journey did, I’ll admit, allow me to see a number of things I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. For instance, there are seven statues of the Buddha, one for each day of the week, in seven different poses, each with a different meaning. Today’s Buddha, the Tuesday Buddha, is the Buddha of repose, which I take to mean “What were you thinking climbing up 355 steps? You should rest more.”

At one point, a bomb casing was repurposed as a planter, sort of a “swords into plowshares” concept.

There is also a small shrine of the Buddha’s footprint. Throughout Asia, you find about as many footprints of the Buddha as you find “fragments of the true cross” in Gothic churches throughout Europe, so feel free to draw your own conclusion.

We also passed a monastic school where a class of novices was studying English,

as well as a group of novices on its way to lessons.

At the foot of Mount Phousi, we explored Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham (“The New Temple of the Golden Land”), which contains hundred of statues of the Buddha.

The Emerald Buddha that is now in Thailand was originally in this temple, so glass reproductions of it appear instead. I'd end up seeing that Emerald (actually Jade) Buddha later in my travels.

Since arriving in Luang Prabang in the heart of north central Laos, sabaideeis still the only Laotian word I have learned.  Meaning “hello,” it gets you pretty far here (along with a smile), especially since most everyone I have interacted with speaks English.  The people here are insanely nice and the vibe incredibly laidback.  Within hours, you find yourself not worrying too much about rushing…