Luang Prabang: A magical mix of tradition and tourism

-

Luang Prabang sits majestically on a promontory over the confluence of the Nam Khan* and the mighty Mekong.

-

-
Only four blocks wide by a dozen blocks long, it was the royal, administrative and monastic capital or northern Laos for centuries. It's beauty spared it from destruction by rival kingdoms; it's right-wing, royalist loyalties protected it from American bombs.

-

-
-

-

-

Today, the Unesco World Heritage site is an A-list stop on the South-East Asian "tourism circuit". Travellers from around the world drop in on direct flights from Bangkok, Siem Reip (Ankor Wat) or Singapore to visit the famous monasteries.

-

The first stop is often Wat Xieng Thong, with it's famous "Sim", or ordination hall, built in 1560. (note, many of the photos are taken at sunset, when the temperature has dropped into a reasonable range).
-

-

-

The Sim is surrounded by smaller 'chapels', their exterior surfaces illustrated with glass mosaics of everyday life. This is the Haw Pa Maan, housing the "success" Buddha.

-
-

-

-

Wat Xieng Thong is only one of many wats that dot the small city. Each one is richly decorated and carefully maintained. This temple was referred to by the French colonialists as "la chapelle rouge".
-

-

-

-

-
-

The recent Wat Ho Pha Bang, built to house the gold alloy Bhudda for which the town is named, continues the tradition of multi-tiered, sweeping roofs and sumptuous gold and red ornamentation.

-

At sunset, it rises majestically over the glow of the night market.

-

-

-

Despite it's historical and architectural heritage, the city is hardly a museum. The local population continues to work and play in amongst the grandeur.
-

The dancers on the carved facade of this chapel seem to join in the children's game of one-legged tag.

-

-

A young citizen finds a sturdy perch to watch the fun.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Enveloping the monastic complexes is a well-preserved French colonial town, it's century-old buildings moldering in the tropical heat and humidity.
-

-

- Modern constructions, like this riverside hotel, must conform to the strict World Heriage guidelines. The same constraints that keep heavy vehicles out of the city centre.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Part of the magic of Luang Prabang is the gentle confluence of tradition and tourism. A lively cafe scene lines the main street - with smart French restaurants, excellent coffee houses and bakeries, and a wide range of accommodations - from back-packers' flophouses to exclusive boutique hotels.

-

-

-

The tourism doesn't seem to impinge on the timeless traditions of Bhuddist monastic life: the sun-rise procession of young monks collecting alms from the faithful...

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

... the on-going maintenance of the temples (this young monk is repainting the gold leaf facings on the roof)...

-

-

-

... and not-so quiet contemplation. These two young monks were amusing themselves by photographing the tourists with their cell phones.

-

-

-

-

-

Days can be filled with boat trips along the Mekong to caves and waterfalls, cooking and weaving courses, trekking, cycling or kayaking expeditions, even Mahout lessons (training and working with elephants). There's an ethnographic centre that introduces the 40+ local ethnic groups and a National Museum that explains the lifestyle of the local royal family (who died in a work camp when the Marxist-Lenninist Pathet Lao took control of the country in 1975).

-

-

And in the evening, the Royal Ballet of Luang Prabang revives the performance traditions that were banned for decades, for a small but appreciative audience of foreigners.

-

-

Luang Prabang is a city that has the potential to work magic on those who take the time to slow down and look up. Beyond a few fancy temples and a night market selling cheap souvenirs, it is an oasis of comfort and culture, a refuge for traditions that have survived an unsympathetic political dictatorship. A compact cluster of fascination set into a ruggedly beautiful landscape of grand rivers and forests.

-

-

After 7 days, I felt I was only beginning to appreciate it's magic.

- 30 -

-

-

-

-

-

* Khan River

Lao Cooking Class

-

Joy's excellent English was honed over 7 years of study as a Monk in a Luang Prabang monastery. His cooking skills were learned in his mother's kitchen. His gently warm, dry wit is all his own.

-

Today, he's my guide through the fresh gastronomy of Lao cooking.

-

As the co-owner of Tamarind, one of Luang Prabang's top rated restaurants... he offers a half-day cooking course at a specially built facility just outside of this Unesco World Heritage town.

-

Our day starts in the market, and as soon as he crack's a straigh-faced joke about river weed and congealed blood, I know I'm going to enjoy myself.

-

-

The vast array of green herbs and fresh vegetables spread out on low tables across the marketplace is astounding, but never before have I grasped just how many different types of rice there are. In stall after stall, plastic tubs are piled high with red, white, beige and brown grains - some shiny for steaming, others powdery for the ubiquitous sticky rice. And within each type, a range of qualities and grain sizes.
-

-

-

-

-

The juxtaposition of colours and textures is stunning. This is a woven basket of river weed resting on top of a pile of small tomatoes.

-

-
-

-

Even the simplest piles of banana flowers, tomatoes, eggplant peas, green beans, garlic gloves and coriander become pointalist works of art.

-

-

-

-

-

Arriving at the cooking school, we are introduced to our new best friend the woven conical steamer basket. We use it to rinse and strain the rice, and then lower it into a pot of boiling water over a charcoal brazier. We will use it later to steam the fish.

-
-

-

-

-

On a table at the front of the classroom, baskets of fresh herbs and mushrooms wait for our assignments.

-

-

-

-

Ever the studious pupil, I obsessively take notes... not aware that they'll give us a cookbook at the end of the session. On my work station is an important tool - a wooden mortar and pestle and a wooden chopping block. Behind me, the fish pond.
-

-

-

The class, mostly Australians, 3 young Dutch backpackers and another Canadian couple gather 'round as Joy explains the finer points of mashing shallots.

-
-

-

-

-

Here I'm sneaking a peek at our water buffalo and eggplant soup as it begins to boil over the glowing charcoal.

-
-

-

My stuffed lemongrass is a little disheveled, but delicious. I had mashed together fresh herbs and raw chicken, stuffed it into a "shattered" stalk of lemongrass squeezed open to make a basket, dipped in eggs ... and then deep fried. I'm planning to try it as a stuffed eggplant and bake it rather than fry it when I get home.

-

-

-

-

The Tilapia, steamed inside a softened banana leaf with an herb and hot pepper paste, tastes a lot better than it looks.

-

-

-
But dessert is always a favourite part. Steamed red rice, boiled in coconut milk I made myself, and served with a range of fresh local fruit, including a pod of tamarind.

-

-

-
And the best part ... sitting down together to enjoy the fruits of our labours, under the watchful eye of our instructor, Joy.

-

-

A cooking class is an exceptional way to understand any local culture. When the food involves fresh local ingredients and spices and and the outcome is this delicious... the learning is a bonus.

-

-

- 30 -

Moments along the Mekong

-

I stand at the top of the giant sand dune, my feet burrowed into the warm, white sand, a cooling breeze washing over my face. I can feel the rumbling surge of the mighty brown river below.

-

Behind me, a narrow dirt footpath connects a village of broad-plank, stilt houses to what was once it's livelihood and it's connection to the outside world.

-

The Mekong River rises in the Chinese Himilayas alongside the Yangtze and Yellow, and flows South, forming borders for Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before tumbling through into the storied delta.

-
Today, it's fish are few, replaced by farmed Tilapia; it's transportation duties supplanted by sinews of paved blacktop. The villages turn their backs on the river and face the world through rubber-wheeled and digital connections.
-
-
Today, a trip along the Mekong in a 'slow boat' is a collection of quiet, reflective moments. The boats are long and narrow, made of huge, heavy planks. A rumbling engine at the back pushes it noisily, steadily through the eddies and swirling pools.
-
Our pilot, Poan, bought his bright blue, red-trimmed vessel six years ago and waits patiently for fares at the bottom of the northern-most landing in Luang Prabang. For 300,000 Kip (just under $40) he'll take you on half-day cruise to the two main river destinations.

-

-- Two hours up-river, the Pak Ou Caves is a revered Bhuddist site - it's niches lined with offerings from past and current generations.

-

-- Two hours down river, the xxx falls tumble over limestone ledges hundreds of meters, pausing in cool, impossibly turquoise pools, inviting visitors to soak away the heat of the day.
-
-
-
But this is one place where the trip is more interesting than the destination.
-
-
-

As the dry season approaches it's searing end, the air is filled with a brown-tinged white haze that you can taste. It hangs heavy in the air obscuring the landscape and diffusing the sun. Rice fields, dead-fall in teak plantations, new fields for planting are all being burned to prepare for the new planting season.
-
(This will, I hope, explain my 'out-of-focus' scenery shots.)
-

Along the river, we pass a number of villages, it's fishing fleet beached by a lack of fish, it's work-force shifted into Luang Prabang to service the growing tourism industry or further south to resource extraction and construction.
-

-

-

Of course, the river is still where families bath, where clothes are washed and where children play. These young gamines were skipping stones towards boats from the edge of the muscular current.

-
-

-

-

-

-

Saffron shrouded monks are a common sight. Young boys as playful as their village counterparts, smiling shyly and waving as the passing travellers.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

And occasionally, a cluster of women, shrouded in heavy work clothes to protect them from the unrelenting sun, pan for gold in the shallows.
-

-

-

-

We are exhausted when Poan drops us back at the Quai in the fading evening light. We watch as he pulls his slow boat back out into the current, and reflect on a trip that isn't about departure and arrival, but about a wash of moments captured along a timeless river.

- 30 -

Jordan and his travelling companions at the Pak Ou Caves (for Mia and her brothers).

A brief glimpse into Laos Village Life

The Dragonfly travels close to the ground, pausing to hover when it senses something of interest; never hesitating when it's time to move on.

-

It has been my guide as I've travelled the world on this fragmented sabbatical. Here in Laos, it left it's roadside puddle and hovered at my side as I biked towards Ban Konglore, opened a brief window into the still traditional lives of the Lowland Lao.
-
-








Lao villages are clusters of sturdy stilt homes made of the rot-resistant tropical hardwoods (e.g. teak).
-
-

There are five main components to the families living quarters.

- An open living space, sparsely furnished with a TV, a mat to sit on and a single florescent tube attached to the ceiling. (Below: children doing their homework under the one light).

- An open, raised platform where guests (e.g. me) are accommodated.

- Two closed rooms - one for the family to sleep in, and one for storage.

- A closed kitchen, where food is cooked over an open fire - set apart so it's less likely to burn the whole house down if it catches fire.

- a back porch for washing up and food preparation - waste water and unused morsels are tossed over the edge for the chickens, goats, pigs and dogs that root around under the house.

At a safe distance, a separate stilt shed protects the rice harvest from destruction should the house catch fire. A small brick building in another corner of the yard houses the toilet.
-
-
-


A nearby river provides water for washing and flushing. Increasingly Unesco is providing wells for drinking and cooking.
-
-

In dry season, it's sometimes necessary to dig into the dry riverbed to find water.
-
-
-
-
-
Most work in the village is communal and everyone gets involved. In the villages that I visited, the wet season brings the hard work of planting, tending and harvesting rice from the paddies.

In the dry season, tobacco is heavily irrigated, harvested, tied into bundles and dried in tall, banana-leaf structures that ring the fields.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-Logging provides another source of income, and is starting to iminge on many of the protected forests that Laos has set aside in the central provinces.

-
-
-
-
Charcoal is another threat to the forest. Hardwood trees are cut, and burned in underground ovens to produce the smokeless fuel for cooking. This young woman is riding a load of charcoal loaded onto the back of a rice paddie tractor.

--
-
-
-
-
-

-
-
-There is time to play for the children, but rarely any toys. This young boy has fashioned a vehicle of some sort out of a tube and a piece of wire.







-
-
-
-
-
-
-And there is always time (and money) for a celebration. I was lucky enough to be invited to a wedding reception - and while a viscious, out-of-season downpour put a damper on the outdoor feast for 750, I had a chance to admire the finery of the local women at their most beautiful.

-
-
-
And to admire the handsome young couple as they led their families in the shuffling welcome dance. (If only I could get that infernal Lao music out of my head ... electronic wails and temple block: "aaah kaboodle dahly bing bing").
-
-
-

I'm lucky that the dragonfly was with me - allowing the briefest glimpse into everyday life in a part of the world most of us never get to see.


- 30 -