Chilling French Colonial Style

It's now day four in Luang Prabang. Originally I had been planning on heading out to Phonsavan today but I decided to chill with Emma and Maria for an extra day as they wait for their Vietnam Visas so we can all go up together. It's actually kind of funny; most people from my slow boat seem to still be in town. Perhaps it simply takes a full 3 days before anyone wants to sit on transit again, but the town also does also have a great vibe. The French Colonial roots seem to have infused it with a relaxed culture that includes some very taste non-asian foods. My only dislike as I expressed before is that you do pay for that vibe in dollars. I figure that so far Laos has been two to four times more expensive than northern Thailand with less infrastructure. Even this isn't a breaking point, but it does irk me a little to be paying four times as much to get to see their temples which thus far have not been as nice. I guess clearly people pay for it, so good on the Laos people for getting that price, but something still feels wrong about it.

On that wave length, I've found that one thing us Frang / Flang love to argue about is cultural respect. There are clearly some people who have done some research on the subject and other who show up to a temple in super short shorts and a bikini top which is a little more clear cut on the rudeness scale, but many other things are simply a big grey void. Because of this foreigners seem to want to try and one up each other to prove they are the most respectful traveler. One of my favorite examples was a couple of comments on foreigners taking slightly silly pictures in and around temples or next to monuments. The argument seems to be that you wouldn't do it in a church in Europe so why do it here? Personally I think I'm actually more likely to do something like that in Europe as I have a bit better understanding of the culture and don't take it all that seriously. The 'far east' however still seems to have a small cloud of oriental mysticism attached to it. The question is, I think, should it? I'm not really so sure. Clearly I'm not going to go out of my way to offend anyone, and yet as I say that I think I'd make a Christian joke without a second thought. Yesterday as I was walking through one of the temples I ran into a monk talking on a cell phone who was proudly displaying a sponge bob square pants towel outside his house. For 30 seconds I thought to myself, a monk on a cellphone, that doesn't seem right. Then common sense kicked in and said monks of course are people as well, and everything, including the mystic eastern religions evolve over time. I can't help but think that we are almost taking other religions more serious than the people that are actually practicing them. It's like we are hoping to create this frozen-in-time anthropological other that we see as true enlightenment that for some reason we cannot find in our own modern culture. It is our safety net if capitalism doesn't work. Overall it is just a silly thought, but one that many people seem to have. That being said, I'm still not going to go give Buddha a noogie.

Totally changing gears, yesterday was a nice chilled walking tour of some of the local temples. It was neat to talk to some monks and eat some great food from places alongside the river. I think it's safe to say that the rainy season is in full swing though as it's rained every day I've been here. I suppose being from Vancouver is actually an advantage here as I'm used to it. At least the rain here happens at 26C.

On a sad note I've noticed that here seems to be more beggars and small children selling stuff on the streets. I have yet to buy anything, and odds are I won't, but you do hope that the ones trying to sell stuff are too young to be in school. I did happen to have my Frisbee on me the other day though so instead of buying something I played with some of the boys for about 30 minutes. I keep hoping I'm going to stumble across a soccer game as well that I can join into. It was great to see the kids having fun, of course once it was over the went right back to trying to sell me something again which breaks your heart.

Another sad side note, and thankfully not about me, one of the couple's I had been traveling with had their wallet stolen yesterday. We had just been talking about how so far it had seemed pretty safe and it makes you want to let your guard down, and then later that day something gets stolen. On the upside, which is how they are both trying to look at it, it was only money and credit cards that they lost so they still have their passport and camera. It was kind of their own fault as Chris left his wallet on a table in plain view, but you always like to think people are better than that. Morgan for example got really lucky in Bangkok when he accidentally left his backpack in a store. I've also noticed here that vendors like to try and short change you when you pay. I've had it happen to me four times now and I've got my full change each time but you have to get into this argument about how much you actually gave them and it is just no fun. Overall though everyone has been very friendly and these have been quite isolated experiences.

Alright, this is getting far to long so I'll finish up on a positive note. It's raining again which makes me think of home. Not that I am anywhere near ready to come home or really miss it - in fact if anyone wants to send me money so I can stay longer I'll gleefully accept it - but it does bring a smile to my face. :)