Day 288: Rila Monastery

Rila Monastery is named after the hermit, Ivan of Rila who lived in a cave in the mountains above where the monastery stands today. We debated if we were going to check out the monastery on our own or go with a tour leaving from our hostel. It seemed easier to just go with the hostel (even if it was a bit more expensive) and they took you to the cave where Ivan of Rila resided. After a two hour drive, we began our tour by climbing up into the mountains to see the cave, and then had the afternoon to explore the walled in monastery below.

The walk through the woods was nice, a little bit tricky in flip-flops, but nice. It wasn’t a long climb up, about twenty minutes or so and then we stood before a closed church. Our guide kept apologizing for his poor English. We didn’t get much information on the little church that was standing, but instead were lead behind the church to the infamous cave. Our guide lit a few candles, and then told us there was only one way out of the cave. We had to climb through a tiny opening, a far contrast from the big opening we all walked through to get inside. We were told that all of our sins would be washed away by climbing out the smaller exit way. It was a tight squeeze, but we all made it out, cleansed of all of our sins.

We drove back down to the Monastery below and upon entering the walled in compound, I was impressed by the size and grandeur of the place. Sometimes, the religious really know how to live, you know what I’m sayin’? It was beautiful. and peaceful, even with the tourists milling about.

Andrew and I sat on the outskirts in the sun people watching for awhile. Then we walked around the courtyard. Wandered under the murals painted on the ceiling of the church in the center of the courtyard. We wandered in the church, and I wondered why the woman (and one of the monks) blew out prayer candles, throwing them out before they were burned all the way down. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed this. It happened in Greece as well- all in the Orthodox Churches. From my observations in the Catholic Church, they are always kept lit until they go out on their own. Am I missing something? I wonder if it has to do with the smoke and trying to preserve the ancient murals in these churches. Why not sell shorter candles?

Back outside of the church (I didn’t stay long inside as I was wearing shorts… and they were technically forbidden) I couldn’t take my eyes off of the murals and so, I give you one too many pictures of the murals with the contrasting monks’ cells in the background.

If you find yourself at Rila, I suggest getting some of the donuts for sale just across the entrance to the monastery. Made to order. Also, the little souvenir shop had such lovely bells for sale that I desperately wanted, but feared they wouldn’t survive five months in my backpack or being sent home. I’ll pick a few up next time…

Day 50: Almsgiving in Luang Prabang

Alternate titles for this post: Tourists suck. or: Reasons why not to use a flash inches away from a monk. or: Seriously? This isn't a parade. or: (upon Andrew's suggestion) You shouldn't be doing that…

"I don't want to get super close." I told Andrew as we walked down the street a little before six this morning to witness the almsgiving. "Right, I want to cross the street." Andrew replied. And so we did, immediately. At first we only saw the line of orange robes, standing, waiting to begin walking. By the time we got closer, the monks had already started, and the throng of tourists waiting, standing so super close to those giving alms was flat out shameful. Maybe standing around, in a small crowd is one thing, but standing so close and using a flash in monks' faces!?! Are you kidding me? I love getting a good picture. Sometimes it can make my entire day. And sometimes if I screw up taking a good picture, I might pout about it for a little while. But I refused to stand inches away from the monks firing off my flash in their faces during what is supposed to be a religious rite. 

Which is why, some (ok, a lot) of my photos are blurry or not the best, as I was generally across the street at dawn NOT firing my flash.

Before going out to watch the almsgiving, we knew that we were not supposed to participate unless "it had deep spiritual meaning." Before writing this post, thanks to my limited internet research, I discovered that giving alms is for the lay Buddhist in the community to pay respect towards the practicing Buddhist monks. In a way, it's to connect everyone in the community to achieve Dharma. I'm still learning what that means exactly, but I'm wondering exactly how many of the tourists participating in giving alms (or firing their flashes in faces) this morning were practicing Buddhists and how many of them thought it was an act of charity and then walked away feeling pretty good about themselves for the day. I know, I shouldn't judge. But it was simply appalling how many tourists were not only out to watch and see what it was all about, but the lack of respect towards the monks made me want to pack up my camera and go far far away from all of them. It made me feel dirty for simply being on the other side of the street taking a few blurry pictures. 

I was also surprised at how many women approached us to buy food for the monks. Do they not care that we're not Buddhist? Do they not know that you should be Buddhist? Do they simply want to make a buck or two from their bananas? 

After the almsgiving, we went ahead and climbed up to a temple perched on top of a hill right in the middle of the town to take a few pictures before it got too hot.

We walked through the morning market, and then slipped into a coffee shop for the day- and by day, I mean morning, because it was only around 8:00 in the morning by this point.

Day 49: Kuang Si Falls

Kuang Si Falls is a beautiful three tier waterfall an hour outside of Luang Prabang. Not only is the actual waterfall a beautiful sight, but the water that collects in turqouise pools down the mountain is equally breathtaking. It's a bit on the tourist side, but there are different pools you can seek out to get away and swim in the cool mountain water. There's also a fun rope swing that attracted quite the line by the time we walked back down to go swimming. The night before we ate dinner next to a girl who broke both of her middle fingers (she enjoyed showing those injuries off) jumping off of the rope. Her double bandaged middle fingers scared me a bit from jumping off the rope, so I wimped out and headed for another pool instead of breaking anything today. 

On our way back "home" we heard lots of drum beats and cymbals crashing around from a few steps up into a wat near our guesthouse. We decided to investigate, after all, last time we checked out drum beats, we encountered a dragon in Vietnam. This time around, it seemed like a monk jam session. I have no idea why, but in two different structures, housing big drums, several monks were inside each, beating the big drum, as well as other smaller drums, triangles, and cymbals. It was beautiful, but ended rather abruptly, as if both sets of monks in their respective drum structures had a count going or something, and they all disappeared. Oh Buddhism, so many questions I have for you!

Day 48: Lotsa Buddhas in Luang Prabang

You know you're going to have a good day when you start it off with a chicken, avocado, bacon, and cheese sandwich from a street stall followed by an afternoon strolling around the wats, chatting with monks, cooling off at a pool only to circle back to another street stall: buffet style! Luang Prabang is my favorite city in Laos. It's the one city so far in our travels that I could imagine living in. It's small, but there is quite a bit to do and if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a sucker for street food. Luang Prabang is full of it. Sandwiches, crepes, noodles, fruit shakes, you name it, it's here and it's delicious! Oh yea, and a night market every night? Full of beautiful silver jewelry and handmade tribal clothing? Yes, please!

We strolled through town with bigger sites circled on a map, a map that was tucked away in a pocket, while we ducked in and out of smaller wats on our way to the bigger, more famous one. While we were taking pictures of one giant gold Buddha, some monks said hello and let on that they were studying English. We sat with them for a little bit in the shade, practicing pronunciation and involuntarily teaching new vocabulary just from our conversation. They were really sweet, three of the four very shy, the outgoing one surprised me when he said he wants to study banking after he finishes secondary school. I wanted to ask so many questions about Buddhism, and being a monk, because I can't speak Lao, I stuck to "Do you like being a monk?" To which he answered, "Yes" and elaborated that it's quiet (except for the morning alms full of tourists and flash photography) and he gets to study a lot.

Wat Xieng Thong is the biggest, perhaps most famous in Luang Prabang. Built in the 1500's by Lao King Setthathirath, until the 1970's it was a royal temple where kings were crowned. It is said to display traditional Lao artwork and is one of the most important monasteries in Laos, even though we only saw one monk there. The wat felt old, and while some details were certainly eye-catching, I preferred the many statues of Buddha within one of the many buildings within the temple walls. 

Over breakfast, a girl staying in the same guesthouse told us she had stayed in Luang Prabang longer than planned (obviously easy to do) mostly because she had been going to a local swimming pool for the past five days. We haven't had enough beach time on this trip, so I've been itching for some sunbathing and swimming. La Pistoche swimming pool is a big fat MEH in my book, but it was better than taking a nap in our guesthouse. After the pool, we headed straight for the night market and the 10,000 kip (a little over $1.00) buffet, and maybe a little bit of market shopping.