Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Laos → Alms Giving Ritual

Location: Luang Prabang, Laos

Time Required: 30 minutes – 1 hour

Red Tape/Notes: Begins daily at sunrise (and lasts for around an hour); the monks walk a standard route through various streets in the old part of town.

What’s Nearby?: Luang Prabang, Mount Phousi, Kuang Si Waterfalls

Every morning at sunrise, hundreds of monks emerge from over two dozen temples and monasteries to gather alms in the streets of Luang Prabang. Although this ritual is observed in other places, Luang Prabang is renowned for it, since the density of temples in such a small area means that the main streets here are a near continuous river of orange for an hour after sunrise. It is a fascinating ritual to observe, but it has become such a tourist attraction by this point, that I felt somewhat uncomfortable. Not only have the alms deteriorated such that everyone gives only sticky rice and wrapped sweets (despite the fact that everything you read tells you that fruit is often given, we saw no one doing this – tourists are sold a standard container of sticky rice and a tub of sweets, which is what the locals appeared to be giving as well) and there was such a profusion of these items that it seemed you could feed the monks ten times over with the food they were given (complete lack of nutritional value notwithstanding), but the number of tourists who lack the common sense to be respectful, using flash photography in the monks’ faces and crowding around them as if they’re watching some kind of show for our entertainment, was downright embarrassing. We opted to stand back and observe, rather than actually participating (because honestly, they didn’t need more sticky rice and sweets – I’d rather just make a monetary donation and hope they’ll be able to use it for some vegetables), and I used my zoom lens and no flash for pictures. I’m still glad we went, because it is quite beautiful seeing all those orange robes filling the picturesque streets of town, but it wasn’t really the cultural experience it’s made out to be.

Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Laos → Alms Giving Ritual