Welcome to Laos - Luang Prabang

First time to Laos. What is Important to know about Laos?

1. System/ Population: Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It was part of former French Indochina. Gained independence as Kingdom of Laos in 1953 and in 1975 a One party socialist republic was established. Laos is one of the few remaining communist states in the world. There are 132 ethnic groups in Laos. The country has a population of about 7 million people.
2. The Laos Psyche (Lonely Planet): Buddhism is defining factor. Strong emotions are taboo. The Lao tend not to get to worked up over the future. „Too much work is bad for your brain“. The Lao are very good at enjoying the „now“.
3. Bombing during the Vietnam war. From 1964-1973, Laos was the target of history's largest bombing campaign by the United States. The country has since been ranked as the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world. A planeload of munitions every 8 minutes, twenty-four hours a day for nine years orover 500,000 planeloads dropped on the country. The problem nowadays is that around 80 million bomblets remain as
Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in Laos and are creating are massive risk for the population in Laos.

Our first stop coming from Hanoi was the jewel of Laos, Luang Prabang. We could see on arrival the high water of the Mekong caused by opening of the dams on the Chinese side which over the next few days went steadily down. After the hussle and noise in Hanoi it was a totally different world here. All very calm, not much traffic, very clean and very welcoming. LP is a Unesco Heritage with 33 wats.

We visited the UXO Information Centre to learn about death or injury from unexploded ordnance (UXO), the TAEC Museum (Traditional Arts & Ethnology Center) and finally the National Museum which was the former Royal Palace till 1975.

Trip to see the Kang Si Waterfalls with 16 other tourists in the Mini Bus was an interesting experience.

Getting up at 5.30 am to see the monks call to alms.

And finally the river, the Mekong.Read more