Luang Prabang Morning Market

Day 2 (11 Nov 2017) Saturday

It was not even 6:15 a.m. when I decided to leave the Alms Giving street. It was too early to look for the boat to Pak Ou, which was my intended destination today. The morning market was another place I wanted to go while in Luang Prabang itself.

I did not have a clear idea on where the morning market was. The OpenStreetMap (OSM) map which I used to plan my waypoints and route back in PNG was not clear about it. I just had a general direction to the market. Initially, my Garmin eTrex 20x, using the OSM map, indicated the direction to take was from Sisavangvong Road to Ounheuan Road. Half-way on Ounheuan Rd, the gps indicated it was the wrong direction.

I walked back to Sisavangvong Road. The gps direction continued along Sisavangvong Road, taking a right turn when there was no street in sight, but through Luang Prabang National Museum. I continued walking along Sisavangvong Road. 

At the next intersection of Sisavangvong Road/ Sathoutan Road, I turned right. At the same time, a girl who looked like she was going to the market turned towards Sathoutan Road. In the distant, I saw the tell-tale vehicles parked along the road. I was very sure I was on track.

Luang Prabang Early Morning Alms Giving

Day 2 (11 November 2017) Saturday

I woke up early at 4:00 a.m. It was still too early to go out to observe the alms giving by Buddhist devotees and decided to record down my Day 1 activities before I forget the cost and time.

At 5:30 a.m., I left my room. The door was still shuttered. The receptionist who was sleeping in the living room with her child woke up to open the door for me.

My destination was Sisavangvong Road which I read on the web is where the alms giving takes place (This is not true. It is actually at Sakkaline Rd).

However, I saw small groups of alms givers waiting at the pavement at Chao Fa Ngum Road near the oval Phothisarath Rd/ Chao Fa Ngum Rd roundabout. While taking some photos, I saw a group of monk coming from the nearby temple to collect their alms.

It was too dark to capture good photos. I continued to walk along Chao Fa Ngum Road to Sisavangvong Road. Small groups of alms givers, almost all of them tourists were interspersed along the whole stretch of Chao Fa Ngum Road to the Open Air Market at Sisavangvong Road.

In the town, I saw vans parked bumper-to bumper on both sides of Sisavangvong Road. Then, I saw people loitering and milling about at the end of Sisavangvong Road/ beginning of Sakkaline Road (N19.89327° E102.13884°).

The entrance to Sakkaline Road was blocked. It was approaching 6:00 a.m. and daylight was breaking.

As I mingled with the crowd, I realised that the rows of alms givers were almost all tourists. Most of the Asians tourists were Koreans. They came by the van loads. There was hardly anyone who resembled the look of a local.

The visitors were not showing signs of respect to this noble event. The few locals looked sombre, forlorn, focused, hardly moved and quiet and used their fingers to pinch morsels of rice for the monks, whereas the tourists, mainly the Asians, would be looking at their smart-phones,  looking left and right, active, unfocused and used spatula to serve the monks. Disgusting!!

The alms giving had been hijacked. Nevertheless, I stayed for a while to observe the monks collecting the alms and giving them away when their bowls filled up.

Genuine alms giving is no longer happening at Sisavangvong/ Sakkaline Road. I observed that the monks left their temple at about 5:30 a.m. so it may be a good idea to observe them at the temple entrances instead of going to Sisavangvong Road/ Sakkaline Road.

Luang Prabang Night Market

Day 1 (10 Nov 2017) Evening

At about 5:25 p.m., I left the hostel to go to the night market at Sisavangvong Street. The food street, or rather lane branched off from the main night market street, just 50 meters from the barriers at the entrance to Sisavangvong Street, coming from Khammany Hotel.

On the main street, the stalls were mostly selling similar products. There were T-shirts, bags, handicraft, souvenirs, etc.