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| laos |
| luang prabang |
| Flying into to Luang Prabang from Chiang Mai, Thailand was definitely a change. It looked tiny from the air, little tin rooved shacks and wats, a few palm trees, some ramshackle bridges, home to just 16,000 people. That was Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the north of Laos sitting tightly between the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. Opium, marijuana, crumbling French colonial architecture, a few hippies, Buddhism and a big hill. |
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| Sunset over the Mekong River. |
| The Nam Khan River. |
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| Luang Prabang alley. |
| Fancy old cars. |
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| Drying hand-made paper in the sun. They add flower petals, leaves and even spicy chilies for decoration and colour. |
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| Anna and Hanna in front of Luang Prabang Hospital. If you're sick, you stand by this sign and the ambulance will pick you up, just like at a bus-stop. |
| Children playing outside their school. |
| A monk under the Lao PDR flag, the other flag is the sickle and hammer of Communism. |
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| Haw Kham, the Royal Palace. |
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| A statue of King Sisavong Vong, the last King of Laos. |
| The Lotus Pond near the Royal Palace. |
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| Haw Pha Bang near the Royal Palace. |
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| The sim of Wat Xieng Thong, built in 1560, the most beautiful and important of Luang Prabang's 125 wats. |
| The Buddha of Wat Xieng Thong. |
| Door carvings. |
| Monks on their way to study. |
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| Talat Dala, the Night Market. |
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| Fruit shakes and donuts on the banks of the Mekong River. |
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| Boys playing khata. The object is to get a medium-sized wicker ball over a volley ball net without using your hands. |
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| By boat 25 km up the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves. |
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| Approaching the caves from the river. |
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| Making paper at the Paper Village. |
| Making lao lao whisky, at the Whisky Village. |
| Finished products, Snake Wine, with a cobra inside and Scorpion wine. |
| Hundreds of ancient Buddha statues with the Tham Ting cave. |
| The entrance to the second Pak Ou cave, Tham Phum. |
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| Green rice paddies on the way to the waterfall. |
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| Tat Kuangxi Waterfall, 32 km south of town. |
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| My hostel wanted me to "turn off the fun" before I left each day. |
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| Up Phousi Hill in the centre of town, over 200 steps. |
| That Chomsi, at the peak of Phousi Hill. |
| Me at the peak. |
| Looking east. |
| The Reclining Buddha at Wat Tham Phousi near the base of the hill. |
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| That Makmo, also known as The Watermelon Stupa because of its peculiar shape, at Wat Wisunulat. It's actually supposed to be a lotus flower. |