Swimming with Monks

Many of the best experiences we’ve had on this trip were unplanned. There is no tour or guide; they just arise out of being in a certain place at a certain time. Serendipity follows.

Today we were in Luang Prabang, walking the perimeter of the peninsula and just taking things in.  The peninsula is created where the Nam Kham and Mekong rivers meet. It was midday and 100+ degrees, and we wanted to cool off. We noticed a couple of local guys lounging in the Nam Kham river, and decided that looked like a fine idea. Nevermind that we didn’t have our swimsuits – Lao people swim fully clothed, so we would fit right in if we kept everything on. Laos is a very modest country, where women generally wear pants or skirts that are at least knee length, and seldom show any skin above the elbow. Sleeveless shirts are definitely not part of the Lao woman’s wardrobe.

As we walked down the dirt path to the river, we noticed a lot of orange clothing on the river bank. Monks’ clothing. Our first response was “Uh oh”, because Buddhist monks are not allowed to speak to or touch women outside temple grounds. If they do happen to talk to or touch a woman (or an unaware foreign woman were to do either to a monk), days of purification rituals are required by the monk. I didn’t want to make any poor monk do cleansing rituals on my account.

Fortunately, most of the monks were swimming in one part of the river. We chose a section where there was only one monk, and I kept my eyes averted as I waded into the cool river.

Swimming fully clothed, Lao style

The monk by us was probably about 10 years old. Most men in Laos spend part of their life as a monk; it is considered a rite of passage, and a young Lao man is not considered “ripe” for marriage until he has spent some time as a monk.

A few minutes later, another young monk joined the first monk. They struck up a conversation with Mark, asking where he was from (“United States”), and Mark asking them the same (“Laos!”).

And then the monk party descended. Fifteen monks, ranging in age from about 10-40 joined our small section of the river. Most of the monks swam out to a rock in the center of the river and then – to our surpirse – they started doing back flips off the rocks! Diving, laughing, playing as any young men would play in the river.

Look closely - there's a monk doing a flip!

This was one of our unexpected discoveries in Southeast Asia. The monks engage in many of the same activities as the rest of us: they play in rivers, talk on cell phones, ride bicycles, drink Cokes. They were children before they were monks, and most will leave the monkhood after a few months or years and re-enter secular life.

After an hour of swimming and drifting, we packed up our backpack and headed back up to the street. And no monks were inadvertently touched or spoken to by me!