Thursday 24 January 2013

Rosie's school excursion

Rosie says...
Today we went to the Luang Prabang National Museum as homeschool with Mum and Dad.


We're nearly out of Laos and it's good to find out about the history of a country and how the king and queen lived. Dad went to the museum before Tom, Mum and me so he could think up the questions which you can see below. Tom and I worked together to find out the answers to all the questions and took it in turns to write answers. These are the answers I wrote, you can see the ones Tom wrote, in his blog.
Q.
Prabang Room - What was Luang Prabang named after?
A. The Pha Bhang Buddha from Sri Lanka made in the 1st century and is the most respected Buddha in Laos. We saw it but we couldn't go in past the big metal bars or take photos. King Sisavangvong used to pray to it.
Q.
Protocol Room - Did monks have special chairs? Describe them.
A. Yes, Monks did have special chairs. It's a square shaped chair that has colours of red and gold. It has golden leaves at the back of it and two golden dragons at the front. It's about 90 cm tall and half way down there's a little step that they could stand on to get on the chair. Next to the chair there is two tables one on either side, one has a palm-leaf manuscript, on the other table there was a face screen for Bhuddist monks used so no one could see monks faces in important ceremonies.
Q.
Reading Room - who was the Queen of King Khamsouk?
A. Queen Thongdee.
Q.
Reading Room hallway - What where the smallest and largest of the very first bank notes in Laos? What are the smallest and largest today?
A. The largest banknote was 1000 kip, the smallest was 1 kip. Today the largest is 100,000 kip and the smallest is 500 kip (which you can't use on anything!)
Q.
Reading Room hallway - What did Laos people write on around five hundred years ago? There were two things they wrote on.
A. Palm leaf manuscripts (these looked like scrolls folded like a fan) and they also engraved letters on stones.


Q.
Children's Bedroom - What were the main musical instruments in Laos?
A. Drums and cymbals
Q.
Children's Bedroom - What dance did the royal dancers perform?
A. The Ramayana
Q.
Queen's Reception - When did King Sisavangvatthana rule Laos?
A. 1960-1975


Summary.
Altogether I think it was a great experience to learn about the history of Luang Prabang.
Rosie

Location:Souvannabanlang Road,Luang Prabang,Laos

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