Spatafora Family - The Thailand Sabbatical

October 23rd
Well, we had a wonderful time in Luang Prabang and Vientiane, but today we had to leave Laos behind. Before leaving we decided to watch the morning ritual of giving alms, or making merit, to the monks. Every morning the locals wake up very early and prepare sticky rice, fruits and other foodstuffs. At 6am they lay out a mat on the sidewalk, sit on it barefoot and wait for the monks to pass. The monks then slowly move through the town in a silent line with their alms bowls and the people place food in them. I am not sure how to accurately describe it, but in Buddhism monks completely rely on their local community for food. It is not really a vow of poverty (I don't think) but they rely on the local community for their food. In turn, this provides Buddhists with a way of making merit, or doing good works, by caring for and feeding the monks. Monks are treated well in Buddhist society and most Thai and Lao males will be a monk for some period. It is often only for a short while (e.g., a month), but they are supposed to do so before they marry. It affords their mother special grace in the next life. (Sorry Mom.)

Elizabeth and I staggered our of our room around 5:45am with the plan of simply watching. No sooner had we reached the main street, however, when we were quickly surrounded by women selling all the goods one would need to make merit. Half asleep, we could not put up a good defense and quickly found ourselves on a mat, shoeless, surrounded by locals and Thai tourists waiting for the monks. We had left our room with very little money, which did not make the sticky rice ladies very happy. They took back half of the rice and bananas, but let us use the mat. The monks eventually showed up and, following the lead of people around us, we placed small amounts of food in each bowl until we ran out. It was interesting to see the different groups of people participating. There was a group of Thai tourists who reminded me of a family at Mardi Gras waiting on a parade, a few local women who were very reverent and really meant it, a couple of local girls who seemed to just be going through the motion, and then us - tourists pressed into participation by the early morning sticky rice women.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel to find Gioia and Nick were sick from last night's dinner. Ah, the traumas of traveling! After some chewable Pepto-bismols and fresh water, they were okay, or at least well enough for travel. It was good that our plane left at 1pm instead of the early morning. We flew back to Vientiane, retraced our footsteps across the Friendship Bridge to Nong Khai, rode back toUdon Thani, and flew back to Bangkok. We got back to the apartment late, thoroughly exhausted with slightly upset stomachs, but experienced one of the best trips to date. Great country. Great people. We love Laos.