Wat Umong

We took a songtaew to Wat U Mong to the east of the old city, a site that a monk from Laos described to me as the “forest temple”. The whole environment was much different from how I remember it from the dry season. Everything was lush and green, and jakkajahn insects no longer shrieked up in the trees.

Walking along the winding paths, we paused to read passages of Buddhist wisdom inscribed onto the trees. We continued through centuries-old tunnels with a damp musky smell leading to Buddha images surrounded with incense. Finally, we went to a pond where we fed popcorn and bread to the catfish and turtles.