Today I went to Phou Si, the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Center, the Night Market, and several wats. I also took a riverboat cruise on the Mekong with all the Fulbrighters, Princeton in Asia Fellows, and Luce Fellows to celebrate Christina P.’s birthday. Tonight is Awk Pansaa, the end of Buddhist Lent.

Phou Si

Before I went to Phou Si, I went to a French café in the center of town. Luang Prabang is famous for its blend of French and Lao culture, which is especially present in the unique architecture that blends the two styles. There are also a lot of French cafés here and many of the signs are in Lao, French, and English (in that order). I had a quiche and a pain au chocolate for breakfast, which were very good.

Max, Janus, and I climbed to the top of Phou Si to see the wat at the top and the view of the entire town. The wat at the top was built in 1805, but legend has it that the site has been special for hundreds of years. According to legend, the great varana (monkey-human from the great Sanskrit epic, The Ramayana) Hanuman carried the hill from Sri Lanka to Laos long ago. Hanuman is revered throughout Southeast Asia. I found this particularly interesting since I am currently reading an abridged, poetic version of The Ramayana! (The full book is 20,000 pages, so I thought an abriged version would be better.)

Read more about Hanuman

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

The view from the top of Phou Si

Luang Prabang is surrounded by mountains, and the Mekong runs next to town. I had a beautiful view, and I enjoyed taking in the town.

People come to Phou Si to see the wat and to take in the view. Many people bring banana leaves with marigolds, hanging trees with money, banana leaf holders with marigolds and candles, small woven cages with birds, and food as offerings for the monks. Many people carry their offerings up the steps.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Examples of money trees (without money) and banana leaves with marigolds on the way to Phou Si (Notice that the naga statue behind the offerings is unfinished and that he has no heads!)

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Many people buy small woven cages with sparrows in them and release them at the temple. Then, people dispose of the cages. Notice the small bird cages in the small tree in the foreground.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Buddha statue at Phou Si

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Stupa at Phou Si

When we left Phou Si, we saw many golden Buddha statues on the way down. We also saw a naga with heads that needed to be painted, which was interesting since we saw a headless naga earlier in the artistic process earlier that day.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

The Traditional Arts and Ethnology Center (TAEC)

After visiting Phou Si, we went to the TAEC in Vientiane. They had a special event that focused on making biodegradeable boats for the holiday, so we wanted to participate. We made our boats before going through the museum. The event was very popular, so we wanted to make sure that we could get a spot. I will talk more about the significance of the boats tomorrow when I send my boat down the river.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

My completed boat

After I made my boat, I went through the TAEC museum. I saw many examples of clothing from ethnic groups throughout Laos.

Discover more about TAEC’s mission

Riverboat Cruise

At 6:00, all the Fulbrighters, Princeton in Asia Fellows, and Luce Fellows met at a boat on the Mekong. Our Fulbright researcher friend, Anna, has family in Luang Prabang who own a boat company. She and Christina organized a riverboat cruise and dinner for Christina’s birthday. There were traditional Lao foods served on board like sticky rice, pork knuckles, a Lao beef jerky, and papaya salad. There were also French fries.

We all sang karaoke and had a great time. Towards the end, they brought out two cakes that everyone could share for Christina P.’s birthday. The views from the boat were beautiful before the sun set. I’m happy that I got to celebrate Christina P.’s birthday with her in such a meaningful way.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

My Favorite Lantern Creations from Awk Pansaa

After we got off the boat, we walked around the Night Market and went wat hopping. I didn’t buy anything at the Night Market since I was focused on visiting as many wats as possible since they only have the paper lanterns up until tomorrow night.

We saw many beautiful paper lantern creations and probably visited 5 or 6 wats. I’ve included some of my favorite lantern creations below.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

The wheel with 8 spokes, a sacred symbol of Buddhism

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

A giant naga supporting 3 stupas with a lotus petal base

Read more about nagas

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Paper lanterns in a wat’s courtyard

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Me standing in a courtyard with paper lanterns

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

An elephant beast lantern

Interesting People I Met at the Festival

I talked to a monk at this wat this evening, he told me that he had wanted to become a monk since he was 10! He said his parents didn’t want him to become a monk since he was the only son. They wanted him to work at a company. He was a monk at the wat for 2 years, then worked for a company, and then went back to the wat to be a monk again. He said his parents finally stopped trying to convince him to quit being a monk after 10 years!

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

The Thai-style wat where I met the monk and the artist

We also met the artist who makes stencil paintings for the wats for Awk Pansaa. He spoke very good English, and told us that the tradition of stencil painting comes from China. He said the wat we were at was built in the 1850s, and that the Lao king had artists from China come to Laos and teach local artists about the process. Artists usually paint stencils on paper or fabric. He said Luang Prabang was the meeting place of culture since people traveled from China to Southeast Asia and from Southeast Asia to China with Luang Prabang as a stopping point. He said many people stopped and stayed in Luang Prabang during the rainy season before continuing their respective journeys. The artist told us that this temple was an example of culture spreading around Asia. He said this temple was in Thai-style and not in traditional Lao-style.

The artist said one of his trademarks is painting someone losing a shoe in the crowd from moving or dancing at the festival. He said that this little touch humanizes people in his works. He said that this festival procession image was supposed to remind people of tradition and symbolize that the figures were marching towards the future, uniting the past and future of Lao people. I had a great time talking to the artist!

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Notice the man missing his shoe

We met a woman named Pon tonight. She used to teach English at Dong Duk, and she ran the language lab there. She won a scholarship many years ago to study English in Hawaii. She got to meet Buzz Aldrin and Mrs. Nixon when Buzz crash landed in the Pacific in July of 1969! Pon is also the only woman who knows how to make kom pim, a type of Lao lantern that uses heat to spin. There is an inner layer of wire that has small cutout of people, animals, and buildings. The light from the candle projects the cutouts’ shadows on the spinning outer part. The top of the kom pim has holes so the heat can escape and make the lantern move. These remind me of German Christmas pyramids that use the heat from candles to make the blades spin.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

A Lao kom pim

Courtesy of Cuckoo4Design

A German Christmas pyramid that uses the heat from the candles to make the blades spin, which is similar to the kom pim’s method of movement

I really enjoyed celebrating Awk Pansaa in Luang Prabang. It truly was a magical celebration.