When travelling to Laos, it will be an amazing experience for any traveller to observe the morning alms giving ceremony. This is a culturally stunning heritage and a highlight of Laos as the monks in yellow robes walk calmly from their Wats (pagodas) to the nearby streets around the Wat for morning alms offered by locals. This alms offering practice had began from the ancient time when Buddha was still alive and today it has been a long-standing tradition of the Southern Buddhism sect and practised in some of the Southeast Asian countries including Laos and Luang Prabang is one of the most well known place for observing the practice. Travel to Laos and attend in this sacred ceremony will be one of your highlights and will help enrich your Laos travel experience and for sure this will not be soon to forget.
Everyday in early morning, at the certain time around 5:30, regardless of the weather conditions monks would leave pagodas for their calm and peaceful journey along the street sides where the locals respectfully offer their cooked vegetarian food. As a traveller, it would be totally accepted for you to attend in this meaningful alms ceremony. There are different areas where you can participate in the Alms ceremony in Luang Prabang however Orientskyline suggests the best place you should come to observe is Sisavangvong and Sakaline street as along this boulevard there are stunningly, well known Wats such Wat Mai, Wat Sene and Wat Xiengthong which are all among some of the biggest and most beautiful wats in Luang Prabang.
The Alms ceremony is the sacred and ancient tradition and is a rare chance for you to be there and observe. At Orientskyline, our itinerary is carefully crafted to include as much and wherever possible this type of cultural activities so that our guests could enrich and full fill their orient travelling experience. However in order to conserve the ceremony as a sacred one as it has always been for thousand of years and minimize the negative impacts from our attending or our observance, Orient Skyline Travel recommends a few tips, as listed here under, which will enable you to have a meaningful cultural observance while helping to conserve the beautiful culture of Laos.
If you would like to offer alms to the monks then you should
- Do this only if you feel the alms offering is meaningful to you but not just for "been there done that" experience
- Dress respectfully, should not wear opened top shirt and short shorts
- Prepare for alms in advance, you should buy this vegetarian cooked food from the morning market or from the food shops on the streets near the walking routine of the monks
- Sit in a row next to a local and observe the way he or she offering and follow to to do it in appropriate manner .
If you just would like to observe then please take Orient Skyline Travel's suggestions
- Keep a minimal distance of at least 3m away from the monks walking path
- Keep quiet, act with respect, not to make noise as the monks are in their alms ceremony
- Do not use flash when taking photos of the monks and locals as it would be annoying and disturbing for both the monks and the locals
- Do not try to get into the procession of the monks
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