Long, slow boat ride to Laos, part II--Wat encounter

Went for a walk in Prabang at night after checking into my guesthouse. Interesting thing about Prabang--electricity is rationed by street. Each street gets power on a different day, and that day was not Main St's turn. The store fronts were romantically lit by candle light, and the street itself was visible only by the light of the slender quarter moon. Again following my heart, I meandered through the last few open market stalls packing up their food and goods and continued on towards where the locals live. There was a bit of a gap (500m?) between the market and the beginning of the main Laos neighborhood, and a group of four 8-11 year-olds giggled and hurried as they passed me walking home. I have nearly gotten used to this and it made me smile. As I approached the generator lit homes of some locals, something gripped my heart and told me to turn around. I did, and a set of stairs caught my eye heading towards the river. The dark, barely legible sign read Wat something-or-other, so I walked down a bit and sat on the landing half-way. My reward for this exploration was about 10 minutes of beautiful chanting. Sounded like a chorus of monks chanting in harmony, though I could only see one adult and one child of about 10.

About 5 minutes after the monks finished chanting, the monestary dog noticed me and began barking. I tried to will him quiet, but to no avail. After a few minutes, I figured I was probably disturbing the monks and got up to leave. This startled the dog, who then ran away and I figured maybe I could stay...A monk came out to investigate and climbed up the dark stairs tentatively. I greeted him "Sabaidee," which is pretty much the extent of my Lao, so far. I tried to ask if it was ok that I was there, or if I should leave and I think he implied it was ok. He sat down a stair above me and asked me my name and I his. We discussed where we are from (he has lived in Prabang his whole life, from what I gathered) and tried to think of a way to communicate--I wished I knew more Lao. Another monk came to investigate, guided by the light of his cellphone's screen. They exchanged some Lao conversation and I think I caught the Lao word for foreigner...the second monk spoke less english than the first, but he asked me how I was twice and we exchanged names. He made a phone call and we three sat together in the stillness of a non-electrified jungle for a while, watching the moon over the river.

A local man came up the stairs, winded as though he had been running and sat right next to me--arm to arm. He spoke a fair bit of english and laughed a lot. He taught me some Lao (thank you, beautiful, and tastey (which is about the extent of my Thai))...offered me some opium and asked for a kiss. I laughed and refused, noticing that the monks had wandered back downstairs to their evening routine and I decided to leave. My opium smoking friend used his lighter to guide me up the stairs and I was a little worried he would follow me back to my guest house, but we parted ways and I laughed all the way home. Ran into a few friends from the day's boat-ride and decided to have dinner together at an indian restaurant next to my guest house. Delicious! Fresh chick peas, potatoes and spinach, and tofu and spinach. Naan, chiapatti, rice, and a yogurt, tomato, cucumber, onion side dish completed the meal and we left full and happy having splurged due to not yet being used to a new currency (10,250 kip to the US dollar, versus 40 Bhat:dollar--definitely a new way of thinking)--a whopping $2 per person! 2-4 times what I have been spending per meal. My hostel was clean, though my room again boardered the porch where some housemates were drinking and singing and chatting for the next hour+ until the generator went off. We all have our own style of travel and I did not begrudge them their socialization.