March 17th - Alms, Waterfalls, "Pet the Tiger"

The group met at 6 AM so we could give alms to the monks. Every morning, the monks will leave the temples as the rooster crows (actually, the damn roosters woke up around 4 AM, and there were lots of roosters in Luang Prabang) and line the streets receiving alms from the common folk. It's a sacred tradition that allows one to earn brownie points with God and earn a place in paradise. I was a bit unclear about the idea of paradise however, as we had been told by our guide in Vientianne, "Asyoumayknow, in my conetryyy, we believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation, which we believe in my conetryyy..." So do I come back as an eagle or go to paradise? Anyway, we woke up early and headed into town to purchase some sticky rice. Kneeling on the side of the road, the monks walk past and we quickly grab a ball of rice and drop it into their bowl, taking care not to touch the monk OR the bowl, thus relegating you to hell or a future life as a cockroach. Two things struck me during this ritual. The rice was extraordinarily hot, so attempting to get the burning grain from your hand while passing it into the speedy monk's bowl required the utmost concentration. Secondly, I was fairly certain that I saw some Power Bars in a few of the bowls. Asking Bom about this later, he said, "Yeah, you can put anything in there I guess." If I had known that, I would have bought some bagel eggers and really upped my credit with the big guy.

After breakfast we hopped in a tuk tuk and took a bumpy one-hour ride to the Kuang Si waterfalls. On our way to this serene destination we decided to stop and take an elephant ride. It was a bit depressing. For one, we found the two aged elephants chained to a tree aside a construction site. The "handlers" possessed both a wooden stick and a claw-like device resembling a sickle. The stick was used to thwap the poor beast when he/she didn't want to move and the claw was hooked into his forehead and yanked side to side as a makeshift steering device. After Karen and I boarded our elephant he became startled when forced to move past the cement mixer (they were dirt roads!!) and the combo claw/club was employed to scoot the beast along. Two minutes into the ride we wanted off. The big guy eventually made it past after the mixer was turned off and the remainder of the trip was tolerable. I found the elephants quite agile despite their lumbering gait and was impressed as they tore up entire bushes as a snack with a yank of their trunks.


The falls were beautiful. We waded in the pool at the base and trekked to the top where strange signs were posted warning you of the danger. After relaxing for some time we found a wooded restaurant located next to the tiger and bears.



Bom had told us that while at the falls we could see some bears and pet the tiger. All rescued from the hands of poachers as infants, they are too domesticated to be released into the wild. In the morning he had purchased a few pounds of raw meat and a bunch of bunches of bananas. During lunch, much to my chagrin, it was discovered that the tiger was named Phet. Phet the tiger. Whether this is some sort of running joke with the owner, I'll never know. Regardless, we found Phet (an Indochinese tiger) in her cage. She has a much larger enclosure where she spends the night. We were shown how to take a slab of beef and slap it on the bars while Phet's massive jowls snatched it away inches from your hand. Many of us were too skittish and our meat would fall to the floor for Phet's big paw to swoop out and grab. One of us insisted on making sure the meat was in the perfect spot as the jungle cat nearly chomped off her hand. She was later scolded by her husband for this display of bravado (she insists that Phet appreciated not having to eat meat off the grimy floor). The funny thing was, we did get a chance to pet the tiger. Karen partook, but for some reason, I just watched. Next we took our bananas out back to the cage of Asiatic Black Bears. Bears? Bananas? Who knew? As soon as the scent of our fruit hit the enclosure, the bears all stood on their hind legs and made limp Chewbacca-like noises as we tossed them banana after banana. Man those bears were funny. We then cruised back to town through rolling hills and rice paddies.

Back in town Karen and I got ourselves a traditional Lao massage. It was one of those painful experiences that you tell yourself is gonna feel great later on. We had a nice dinner after an exhausting day at which point I realized I'd lost one of our credit cards (fed inadvertently to Phet perhaps?).