As the sun arose from the hills on the other side of the Mekong, Temples were very drowsy after a late night. The riveting news of the ‘yes’ vote came across to many people within the group, uplifting our spirits. We began our day with a leisurely bike ride along the corse, bumpy back streets of Laos. The wind brushed against our fresh faces for a short time releasing a rush of adrenaline. We arrived at the oldest temple is Luang Prabang, Wat Xiengthong, giving us an insight into the deep culture of Laos and the continuous and committed lives of Laos monks and nuns. We continued until we reached the local paper making community shop. We were taught the traditional ways of making paper using the bark of mulberry trees, soaked in water treated with ashes then creates a thin cotton like texture.
Further into our day we returned to base camp (or the hotel) awaiting the announcement of the amazing race. As groups exceeded the boundaries of the hotel, we were set on our way around the beautiful city of Luang Prabang. Each group was handed instructions on how to correctly complete the race. Our success depended on how well we worked as a team. Each group began with a tuk tuk ride to the nearby Phousi market. Soon after navigating to the Phousi mountain, at which we had a treacherous flight of stars leading us up to the mountain peak. Continuing with the task, we found ourselves in a speculator location with the connection of the Mekong and the Nankong. Our race concluded to the announcement of the win for group 2 (Ryan, Ashley, Jack, Emma, Liam and Angelique P).
Our evening ended with an inclusive blessing from some local Lao village elders. All six elders blessed us with the pleasure of a successful future and safe travels. As the elders sang to us everybody was willing to join in and pay our respects to their culture. We were given bracelets to remind us of privileged lives. We had a number of dances performed to the group by Lao teenagers. The movements were free flowing as their hands moved in sync to the music, produced by a traditional instrument similar to a xylophone. We were captivated by their intriguing dances so everybody wanted to indulge in the pleasure of dancing with the onstage performers. Temples were extraordinarily adventurous as everybody was enjoying carving up the dance floor. As our last full day in Laos has concluded the pleasure of being immersed in their culture has also come to an end.
Thomas. C. & Ashla. C
