Pics of Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang has been amazing. An enchantingly charming town. UNESCO found it to be "the best preserved city in Southeast Asia" and declared it a World Heritage Site in the late 1990s. Practically, this means money for architectural and environmental protection, and a lot of recognition and attention from tourists. So, it's becoming a tourist town like Venice or something, but very slowly, and very Lao-ly. I mean, the country has only been open to any tourism since 1989, so it's still very unimpacted, even in this town where one can see the potential tourist mecca. Besides it's dozens of temples, it's located at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Kahn rivers, and was the historical royal capital and major trade center. It's definitely the country's second city, and probably its first most culturally rich.

Today we did the in-town tourist thing, visiting temples and museums. It's incredibly hot and humid here. We're exhausted and soaked after ten minutes of walking.

Today was a day of temples. Luang Prabang is a city with some dozen Buddhist temples, most gorgeous and very interesting. Then there's the Royal Palace Museum, with it's collection of ancient and international religous art. So - lots and lots and lots and lots of Buddha figures today. Here's one from one of the most famous temple.


Emilie diggin' the temple


Luang Prabang style temple architecture at the Royal Palace Museum.


Temple detail


A quiet narrow street typical of Luang Prabang.


Monks relaxing in the shade. We were just entirely melted at that point - Sunday was the hottest day so far.


This is a reclining buddha on Phu Xi, a hill in Luang Prabang with a little wat on the summit and older wats on the sides.