Laos Local Custom Tips by magor65

Sinh - traditional skirt

Although in cities a lot of women, especially young ones, wear western style clothing, traditional skirts - so called sinh, can still be seen everywhere. A school uniform for a girl consists of a white blouse and blue sinh. Any religious occasion or formal gathering requires wearing sinh.
So what is "sinh"? It is a traditional full-length wraparound skirt with a wide elaborately woven bottom part. It often comes with a matching shoulder-sash. The colours and patterns differ, I'm not sure whether they depend on regions or not. A sinh can be quite expensive (the cheapest I saw cost almost 30 US dollars). No wonder, though. Making it involves a lot of work: spinning the silk or cotton, dying the textile, weaving the patterns and designs. And it's all made by hand.

Monks collecting alms

Collecting alms by monks is a long-lived tradition in various places where buddhists live, but in Luang Prabang it has a special appeal. It is estimated that there are over 1000 monks living here in monasteries. In accordance with the tradition every young man in Laos should become a monk, usually for a couple of months. They lead a simple life depending for food on local people. Every morning at dawn they leave monasteries holding alms bowls which are then filled by locals and visitors with food, mainly sticky rice. Women giving away food kneel on bamboo mats because they can't stand higher than monks.

It is an unusual experience to witness this ritual. The rows of saffron-robed men, often merely boys, with serious faces, walk barefoot along the alms-givers, seemingly not paying any attention to the outside world and especially to curious tourists taking photos. They collect food and then disappear as noiselessly as they came and the life comes back to normal. When you meet them later during the day, as it is impossible not to bump into monks in Luang Prabang, they will appear a completely different bunch of young men - ready to smile and exchange a few words with forigners and often occupied with various works such as f.e. roof construction.

Some people claim that the tradition of alms giving is changing into a theatrical performance for the sake of tourists. I would say it isn't. But we should keep in mind that we are only guests so let's stay in the background without being pushy.