never trust a monk

I've just been scammed by a monk.

After lunch I went to visit Wat Tham Xieng Maen, which is on the opposite river bank to Luang Prabang. I arrived to find the temple locked up, but a monk spotted me wandering in the grounds, and went and got the keys and opened the place up so I could go inside. He accompanied me in and watched me looking at the walls and carvings. Under his gaze I felt under pressure, and thought I'd better leave a small donation. This I did. I then went to leave but he blocked my exit.

'Money please,' he said.

'I've just given some money. There. In the donation box. You saw me,' I said. I didn't feel embarrassed because I thought I'd done my bit, even if my donation had been nominal.

'That Buddha money. Need monk money now,' he explained. It seemed I was being asked to pay him off. He was a monk racketeer and I had walked into his monk protection racket.

'How much is monk money then?' I said slightly excaberated.

'One dollar please.'

An image of him putting me in a 'concrete overcoat' and disposing of me in the Mekong ran through my mind. I gave him the money, primarily so I could write this blog entry about the incident, and also so I could add 'the great monk scam' to my list of anecdotes. He took it and smiled. Did I see a hint of menace in his eyes? And then he moved to the side and waved me on.

Wat Tham Xieng Maen is one of four Buddhist temples I've been to see while I've been here. I haven't even been trying but it's such a compact town you just keep falling into them. I've also been to Wat Xieng Thong, the temples on Mount Phu Si (worth visiting for the view rather than the temples), and Wat Chom Phet today - seen whilst on my trip across the Mekong. Wat Xieng Thong is the only one worthy of note, and is a real beauty. It's small but magnificent. Built in 1560, the rear wall features an unusual 'tree of life' mosaic, and there are some beautiful flowers in the gardens outside which really complement and add to the look of the building.

I've also been to the Royal Palace, which is now a museum. It's modest in size, more of a stately summer house really, but worth walking around. It's been preserved as the last king left it before he was exiled and disappeared. There was an interesting photography exhibition in one of the out buildings: black and white pictures of monks at a retreat, honing their skills at extortion with menaces no doubt.

The Royal Palace is a lovely building in an outstandingly beautiful and unspoilt town. Lonely Planet describes Luang Prabang as 'an incredible collection of Buddhist and French colonial architecture clustered together on a small riverine peninsula surrounded by mountains.' This beauty became official when UNESCO named it a world heritage town. Luang Prabang is somewhere you can't help but relax and feel happy. You don't need too much to do, you just need a bit of good weather, which I've been lucky enough to have for the last day or two.