Peacefulness Temple, Luang Prabang
The Peacefulness Temple, or Pra Tard Kong, is a recently built temple just outside of town. It has become a favorite of locals and SE
Wat Pa Khe & Wat Paphane
Two small wats stand together in Luang Prabang. I only spent a short amount of time at each, in fact I have 2 pictures of
Wat Tham Phousi, Luang Prabang
Wat Tham Phousi is located on Mount Phousi. It is an unremarkable wat except for the tall cupola topped with a single parasol and surrounded
Royal Palace, Luang Prabang
The Royal Palace was home to the royal family until 1975 when the communist Pathet Lao took over. The last crown prince of Laos, Savang
Wat Thakmo and Wat Aham, Luang Prabang
These two wats are situated very close together and share the oldest archway in Luang Prabang. I show two pictures of it where you may
Wat Nong Sikhunmuang, Luang Prabang
Wat Nong Sikhunmuang is located on Kounxoa Road, in the next block from Wat Sene. The roof colors are vibrant yellow and orange and the
About Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang is a beautiful little city nominated as a UNESCO heritage site in 1995. Once this happened, the tourists came in larger numbers. Sitting on the balcony of Villa Santi drinking a cold Beer Lao under a warm sun, watching the city pass by is hard to beat, I’ll admit. I wish I was there right now!
When we visited Luang Prabang in 2002, this small town, sitting on the Mekong River and home to at least 34 wats, or Buddhist temples, still felt a little undiscovered. While walking along the main drag, though, I sometimes felt as though I was in a European city with the French colonial buildings lining the street. There were more dogs than vehicles on the quiet streets with scattered backpackers going into pizza parlors and internet cafes.
Fast forward to 2008 and from what I am reading and learning from people visiting today, this small river town is becoming much more tourist laden.
I suppose I am partly to blame simply due to the fact that I visited there 6 years ago and put up pictures its coolness on my web site. And, ok, I was also a tourist. And sure, as much as I’d like it to be so, I know that 60 – 70,000 people who visited Luang Prabang in the last year have not visited my website, so I guess I can’t take even a little bit of the credit, or blame, as the case may be. However, once I got off the main street and onto the side roads, I saw almost no tourists. Even though I am one, I like being apart and finding areas where I can see and feel, although briefly and surely not as authentically as I would like, daily living in a culture so unlike my own.
How do I know what’s real and what isn’t? This is probably a uniquely American question.
Everything felt real beyond any experience of real I get at home. I walked past houses where grandmas were outside cooking dinner or kids were playing in the schoolyard or monks were walking along the road or sausages were hanging out to dry or any number of things that couldn’t possibly have all been staged for my benefit. It’s truly a ridiculous notion.
This is my dilemma as a tourist and a visitor to another’s home city, though. Being an American I stand out. In some places, although not in Luang Prabang in 2002, I am, ohhh, how to say this nicely, begged upon. The locals see me as a wealthy individual and compared to them I am wealthy. Sometimes I just want to give everything I have, but at the same time I don’t want to perpetrate begging and low-brow marketing (i.e., paying $50 for something that cost someone $0.25 to manufacture because I am completely clueless). This happens all the time and it’s happened to me because I am a sucker and because I hate saying no to people who look like they really need the money.
Anyway, I digress. While we were there a favorite activity was visiting the wats. And even though we were there for 6 days and visited a couple or more wats a day, we did not get to them all. Along the way we met young monks, some joining for the long term and some doing their 3 month service as Buddhists. They were all delightful and curious and respectful, as we were in return. Normally, monks do not talk with women but these were young initiates and I guess it was ok. Besides, we were practically old enough to be their grandmothers. The other reason that we saw so few older monks is that many of them who would have been our age or even a little younger had were lost to the Pathet Lao re-education camps, as was the royal family in 1975.
I did my best to describe each wat with the enormous help of Ancient Luang Prabang by Denise Heywood
4 thoughts on “Luang Prabang, Laos”
I know the feeling! I spent some time in the Czech Republic back in 2001 (I know, it’s not he far east), and it was great – and cheap! Now I here that it is full of tourists and prices have risne dramatically! Oh well. When a place is beautoful, people will find it!
Oh, and by the way – for some reason the Google ad was sitting over the comment box in my previous comment – so I couldn’t see what I was writing. It seems to be fine this time, though. Just an FYI!
Hi Moe, thanks for your comments. The Czech Republic is on my list of places I’d like to visit but maybe I have waited too long! And thanks for letting me know about the google ads, I’ll have to see if I can fix that. I’m glad you persevered and left a comment anyway.
I hear Hungary is the new Czech Republic. Cheap and no tourists 🙂
Google ads thing is fine, again. Just the one-time prob.
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