I was just lying there; wide awake at 5am in Luang Prabang. I knew that the Buddhist monks receive alms in these early morning hours. In fact, Trip Advisor has it as a top attraction so naturally tourists line up like paparazzi. I had seen the photos. Signs in town remind tourists to be respectful of the giving of alms ceremony and not get in the way of the locals or the monks; not take photos etc. So after 20 minutes of lying there, I decided I would wander and see what I could see. Washed and dressed, I put on my white jacket so I would be completely covered. I took my room key and my phone.

In my walking, I saw vendors selling offerings and thought how dumb I was for not bringing some cash – if for no other reason than to be able to take a tuk tuk back to the hotel should I get lost. After half an hour of walking around our hotel’s mostly residential neighborhood, I found myself outside a small local wat or temple – one that is not on the tourist route. Inside the gates four women sat on their bamboo mats, or cardboard remnants, their shoulders wrapped in a white shawl, a basket of sticky rice and water in front of them. Mindful and unsure, I wasn’t sure I should stay. I walked to the interior buddha, bowed respectfully to a religion not my own, and decided I would kneel behind the ladies and stay out of the way. A fifth woman arrived and saw me kneeling several feet behind her mat. She decided for me that that would not do. She went inside, got a sticky rice bamboo basket and put in it a portion of her rice. The other women followed suit. She invited me to sit on her mat with her gave me a bottle of water. Within seconds, I looked up to see that the monks had arrived.

I have no idea how many there were; I am guessing there were roughly 25 young men with ages of 6 to 16. As I knelt there, they walked in front of us and chanted. I closed my eyes and took it all in. When they finished, I followed my companion in washing my fingers with the bottled water, giving portions of sticky rice to each monk as he passed. When the line was finished and the basket exhausted, the women rolled up their mats and turned for home. I thanked my companion “Kop jai li li” and did the same.

As I did so, I was completely overwhelmed by the generosity I had been shown. The walk back was long enough for me to dry my eyes and resolve to sit down immediately to write about it.

Time to wake the kids and get ready for our flight to Siem Reap…