AsiaSpa - July-August 2017

104 AsiaSpa July/August 2017

Tr avelDestination

I

t’s 6am and I’m sitting cross-legged on a cushion. I’m waiting,

bamboo rice pot in front of me, to take part in tak bat, giving alms

to Luang Prabang’s monks. It’s not yet fully light, the roads are

empty, and the quiet, inside my sleepy mind and out in the street,

is comforting. From the gloaming a dog trots into view, followed

by saffron-clad monks and novices as they tread their barefoot way

towards us. Curious, I want to search the faces and eyes of these men,

learning calm, enlightenment, the Buddhist meaning of life, by visual

osmosis. But alms etiquette demands I lower my gaze. So instead, a

steady stream of alms bowls and swaying robes above bare feet pass

slo-mo across my vision, and I focus on this privileged opportunity

and the act of mindful giving.

I’m sitting at a pathway, set off Luang Prabang’s main street. We

are the only people in sight giving alms to the groups of around 15

monks each from four nearby temples who pass by in their daily

ritual. When the final string has passed we place rice on the hotel’s

two pillars for the animal spirits, and then pour water on the trunk

of a tree in their grounds to remember our ancestors. Giving alms

brings good karma, and I head to breakfast feeling calm, content and

compassionate, grateful to be in this spiritually alive town.

BELMOND LA RÉSIDENCE PHOU VAO

My first evening in Luang Prabang and I feel I’ve returned to a bygone

age. The sun has dipped below the distant, hilly skyline only interrupted

by the roof of the Phou Si Pagoda. The balmy air is still but for the faint

breeze of the ceiling fans, and a barely audible tune from yesteryear

plays. Candles flicker as staff glide by with sweating beers accompanied

by cassava crisps. There’s an expectant waiting, that sundowner pause

between day and dusk. The butterflies and dragonflies are retiring and

geckos emerge from behind pictures and tiptoe along beams. I sink into

an atmosphere of tropical peace, heavy and seductive. Dinner does

nothing to break the spell, tables set up beside the pool, the menu a

delicious combination of Lao and French dishes. And then I drift to

sleep in my petal-strewn, majestically netted bed.