Day 312 - Traditional Arts and Ethnology Center, Movie Night at Sanctuary Hotel

Wednesday, May 15. 2019

The morning was a little frustrating. OK, very frustrating, at least for me. I always get in this mood when we have to make decisions, or rather when we can't make a decision. Today we had planned to visit museums because the weather forecast was for rain, but we were also trying to decide which elephant experience to book. It took several hours of research. We asked the hotel manager to call Elephant Shelter Laos to see if they could get a better price. The elephant shelter finally agreed to $40 per person. The price seemed very reasonable compared to Mandalao that charges over $100 per person (Sunshine's note: The reason it was so hard to find a company to choose was that many companies allow tourists to ride the elephants. This is not healthy for the elephants and should not be allowed at all. However, the sanctuaries that take good care of their elephants are usually more expensive. Major Bummer).

The hotel had another company that was willing to charge us $35 and we were very tempted to take it, but they offered elephant riding. After going back and forth with text messages, we agree to go with the Elephant Shelter Laos. We told them that we would stop by the booking office after visiting the Traditional Art and Ethnology Center.

I was very frustrated because it seemed like no one wanted to see the museum. [Gregory's note: right.] When we got there, we didn’t have enough cash so Gregory had to run to the ATM  but when he came back, only Daniel and I wanted to go in. I’m glad we did because we learned about the many ethnic groups and the culture of each group. It was a small museum made up of only three rooms that didn't have very much information, which was perfect for us. The bummer is that it didn’t have any AC. When we finished, we met with Gregory and Sunshine who were at a cafe overlooking the Mekong. The view of the mountains, palms, vegetation, and the river was just beautiful. We fantasized about opening a funky cafe here in Luang Prabang.

At night, we walked to a fancy hotel near ours to watch Chang, a movie about Laos in 1927. We went because it was "free", but of course you had to buy a drink, which was fine. The kids weren't very happy because they don't like black and white movies (Sunshine's note: not true. Some Like It Hot is one of my favorite movies. This movie was just kind of boring). [Gregory's note: it was a silent movie from 1927, so it had more historical than dramatic value. Some Like It Hot is one of my faves, too.] They got antsy and left after finishing their drink, so Gregory and I watched the film alone. No one else was there. It was filmed on location here in Laos and northern Thailand. It was really impressive. The movie probably cannot be shown in the US because of all the animal abuse scenes but is a very realistic film about the life of a family living in the jungle of Laos in the 1920s. [Gregory's note: it's amazing how the perception of nature has changed! 100 years ago, elephants were hated for their destruction of crops. Tigers were hunted before they ate villagers. Leopards ate domestic animals. The film, like Nanook, pitted man against nature. Worth a look if only to see the ways things have changed and how absolutely primitive life was here not so long ago.]

For pictures please click here

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hrGfyLDfCppTZoKR8