A Laotian Epiphany

In my charmed life as a globetrotting freelance travel writer, I’ve been blessed with

countless eye-opening, life-changing experiences around the world. That’s the joy of my

profession — being able to learn from cultures far and wide that are very different from my

own and share those revealing experiences with my readers.

I’ve visited more than 110 countries on all seven continents, reporting from many of them.

Along the way I’ve slept in a cave in Greece, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, learned to cook

from a master chef in Tuscany, camped out in Antarctica, ridden the world’s tallest sand

dunes in Namibia, partied with Fidel Castro (yes, really!), hunted alligators in the Amazon,

and crossed the Sahara by Land Rover.

Among my many seminal experiences, one stands out. At the end of a recent inaugural

cruise on board the five-star Bohème riverboat along the upper Mekong River, I

overnighted in Luang Prabang, Laos. After a day of exploring this UNESCO World Heritage

town’s ancient temples, French colonial architecture, and vibrant night market, I awoke

before dawn the next morning to participate in the daily alms giving tradition for the local

Buddhist monks. The bowl-carrying, gold-robed, barefoot monks parade through town

each morning to collect their daily food rations for that day.

As I knelt on the sidewalk before the steady stream of monks — some as young as eight, the

youngest age for monkhood — and doled out small sticky-rice balls just like the

townspeople, this reverend ritual gave me a new understanding of the concept of humility.

After all, begging for your food is the ultimate act of humility, as you’re completely

dependent on the generosity of strangers for your daily sustenance. At the same time, those

who provide the alms must also humble themselves by kneeling before the recipients —

some of whom are mere children — in an act of symbolic subservience. This simple gesture

of shared humbleness, of giving and taking, gave me a precious sense of honoring the

spiritual essence within all of us — and immersed me deep into the sacred heart of Laos.