People who know me know that I'm not a morning person and hate it when the alarm goes off! However, when my alarm went off today at 5.00am this was different and one that i jumped out of bed for. Luang Prabang in Laos is well known for the Lao tradition of the Buddhist Alms Giving ceremony. Despite being a highly revered ritual for locals, visitors are encouraged to be involved as long as a level of respect is maintained throughout. Alms giving takes place daily as the sun rises, beginning on the main street of Luang Prabang before spreading out to all the side streets. You can purchase offerings on the street beforehand which I did with a container of rice and some sweet snacks. I then perched myself on a stool and waited for the monks to come along.
Around 5.30am I started to hear the sound of the gong which I assumed was coming from one of the many temples in Luang Prabang and started to see a long line of orange in the distance, being the monks gowns. The guidance from the locals is to kneel or sit down ready to give your offering to the monks; most common gifts include rice, fresh fruit and traditional sweet snacks. The idea of the alms giving is for the Buddhist monks to make merit and also to collect food for their one meal of a day. As the sun rose, around 200 Buddhist monks departed from their various temples to gather their daily meal along the street. It was quiet and peaceful except for the occasional Chinese tourist snapping away loudly!! I made sure I was away from the main crowd so it was a lot more peaceful and rewarding experience. The hardest part was actually separating the cooked rice as it was sticky rice! The monks walk past quite quickly so there is no hanging around! They ranged from all ages including young monks which I tended to give them snacks.
By the time the procession had finished it was around 6.30am and light. Back I went to the hotel thinking what a great experience I had just had and had great respect for them getting up that early every day as part of their daily life. I couldn't do it!
