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Published: December 4th 2007
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As my guidebook rightfully states, Laos is Southeast Asia's most relaxing country to travel in. In the north, rugged terrain of emerald mountains and beautiful limestone peaks are criss-crossed with rivers. And the south is flat with a vast variety of palm trees. Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in southeast Asia, bordered by Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Laos traces its history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang or Land of a Million Elephants, which existed from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. After a period as a French protectorate, it gained independence in 1949. A long civil war ended officially when the communist Pathet Lao movement came to power in 1975 but the fighting between factions continued for several years. The Lao government quickly recognised the shortcomings of the socialist experiment and since the 1980s socialism has been softened to allow for private enterprise and foreign investment. In 2004, the US promoted Laos to Normal Trade Relations, ending a trade embargo in place since the communists took power in 1975. the Laos government has set its goal to haul Laos out of the "Least Developed Country" bracket by 2020. While still heavily reliant
on foreign aid, Laos has committed to income-generating projects in recent years in efforts to increase its prosperity.
While Laos has historically been influenced by both Vietnamese and Khmer culture, its strongest cultural and linguistic links are with Thailand. You can see this influence in the way the country has begun to reassert themselves in a distinctly modern way, with Thai music and with Thai TV. The people here are also extremely laid back and getting annoyed in a situation is viewed to be very "un-Laos like". Most of the Lao population are Theravada Buddhists and many Lao males choose to be ordained temporarily as monks, typically spending anywhere from a month to three years at a wat.
The first city I visited in Lao was Luang Prabang. I instantly fell in love with this city. It is stunning with an incredible collection of French colonial architecture and delicately decorated Buddhist wats, surrounded by emerald green mountains. Since Unesco placed the city on its World Heritage list in 1995, restoration works and tourism boom are slowly undergoing gentrification. But the government has stated that restoration efforts will be done so in a way to preserve the original architecture
as much as possible. The city lies right on the Mekong River. There are slowboats in Luang Prbang that will take you up the river to the many nearby hilltribe villages and caves. I took one to visit the Ban Xunglini Village. Here, I learned how they make whisky and textiles. The hilltribe people are very poor and will desparately try to sell their handicrafts. Of course you have to buy some to support the village, but at one point I had to walk away in and effort to escape their aggressive sale tactics. Next I was off to see the Tham Theung and the Tham Ting Caves. The caves are noted for their impressive Buddhist and Lao style sculptures carved into the cave walls, and hundreds of discarded Buddhist figures laid out over the floors and wall shelves. They were put there as their owners did not wish to destroy them, so a difficult journey is made to the caves to place their unwanted statue there. The statues are brought every year during the cave's annual cleaning and restoration ceremony. There are supposidely over 4,000 Buddha statues within these caves.
Next I was off to the city of
Vang Vieng. This is another beautiful city surrounded by mountains but a bit more touristy than Luang Prabang. There are a number of restaurants along the main road, blarring episodes of Friends. Some find this irritating but after a few months of travelling without watching any TV, I found it comforting. It was also nice to see scenes from New York, as I have been getting a bit homesick. Besides watching the endless episodes of Friends, many people come to Vang Vieng for the tubing. At first, I didn't understand what all the excitment was about. What is so great about sitting in a tube and floating down a river? But I quickly caught on to all the excitement. Besides leisurely floating down the scenic Nam Song River, you make pit-stops at the many thatched-roof bars along the way. Okay, float down the river...stop at a bar...and repeat many times...ahhh, now I get it. And what a brilliant concept! Needless to say, it was one of the best things I've done on my trip.
After a few more episodes of Friends, I moved onto Vientiane. With a population of just over 200,000 people, the capital city of Laos is
quite attractive. It's neighbourhoods of traditional wood houses and avenues of colonial mansions are mixed with inner-city concrete structures and odd communist monolith. Since opening up to international investment, Vientiane has been slowly evolving. In 2004, it hosted the Asean Summit, placing it firmly on Southeast Asia's diplomatic map. One of the main attractions in the city is Wat Si Saket. Built in 1818 by King Anouvong, it is the oldest temple in Vientiane and is well worth visiting, even after being totally overdosed on temples. Wat Si Saket was constructed in Bangkok style, surrounded by a thick-walled cloister and its grounds are shaded with coconut, banana and mango trees. This temple also has many unique features. The interior walls of the cloister are riddled with small niches that contain more than 2000 silver and ceramic Buddha images. More than 300 seated and standing Buddhas of varying age, size and material (wood, stone and bronze) rest on long shelves below the niches. Most of the images are from the sixteenth to nineteenth century.
It was hard for me to move on from Laos. I really enjoyed exploring a country that can still be considered untouched. Although development and tourism
are good for the country's economy, I hope to return one day and enjoy this amazing country before it becomes more like some of it's neighboring countries.
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