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Showing 1-25 of 39 results
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A Little Photoessay…Stories, Streets and History of Luang Prabang, Laos
Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 4 April 2012
The pace of life in Luang Prabang, Laos is so very charming. Charming is the only one-word description I can come up with for this low-slung city with wide streets (unnatural for much of Southeast Asia), French inspired post-colonial architecture, monks clad in sunny saffron robes, and a humming buzz of relaxed tourism. I wrote earlier about the changes three years and more tourism brought upon this sweet, sleepy country set between Vietnam and Thailand, but what cannot change in the intervening years between my visits, is the history. Laos was ...
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Lady in Luang Prabang
Blog: A Lady in London - 20 February 2012
Everybody loves Laos. I have read innumerable travel blogs extolling the country, its people, and its culture. So after visiting Siem Reap last week, I continued my Southeast Asia travels with a stop in Luang Prabang, Laos’ northern gem. Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is famous for its beautiful Buddhist temples [...]
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A Little Quandary…Ethics and the Elephants of Asia
Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 8 December 2011
Ana and I left the other tourists traveling on the slow boat down the Mekong River with their jaws agape when we nimbly jumped off the boat’s thin, rickety ramp onto a giant sand dune with just a small smattering of thatch-roofed houses sunk into the hillside several hundred meters beyond. The boat reached Tha Suang, a tiny blip of a town, and we were the sole tourists venturing into the more rural Sainyabuli province in Laos. Our target end-destination? Hongsa, a town I visited on my round the world ...
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Off the Beaten Track in Northern Laos
Blog: Never Ending Voyage - 17 November 2011
We are back in South East Asia, settled in Chiang Mai for the moment, but we can’t help our thoughts turning to Laos, just six hours away and one of our favourite Asian countries. Laos isn’t undiscovered but it certainly receives far fewer visitors than its neighbour Thailand.
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The Secret War in Laos is My Country’s Shame
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 17 June 2011
My first inkling that Phonsavan, Laos was not the sleepy little town it first appeared to be came when I walked past a row of rusty old bombs standing on the sidewalk outside Craters Restaurant. Curiosity and my growling stomach led me inside, where the owner was just putting on a documentary about the U.S. [...]
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How to Buy a Chicken with a Pig on the Side
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 13 June 2011
Hoping to get a better feel for the local culture during my short stay in Phonsavan, Laos I went in search of a fresh market. I found it just off the main road near the center of town, a large open-air shed where scores of vendors had set up stalls stacked high with fresh produce, [...]
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Of Ants and Giants
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 6 June 2011
I gazed down on hundreds of giant stone vessels scattered across the fertile Plain of Jars and thought of ants. Some lay crazily canted, as if abandoned in haste by an ancient race of giants whose dinner had suddenly been interrupted by invaders. Like ants to whom humans are invisible, I imagined that the jars [...]
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Three Rainy Days in Nong Khiaw, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 2 June 2011
Though the rainy season was months away, angry gray skies threatened on the morning I was scheduled to travel from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw, Laos. As if trying to outrun the impending rain, our maniacal mini van driver sped full bore through packs of children walking to school, straddling the center line as he [...]
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On The Seventh Day in Luang Prabang I Was Reborn as a Traveler
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 30 May 2011
On my seventh day in Luang Prabang, I rested. For the past week I’d rushed around, visiting temples and museums, attending cultural events and scouring the night market. Finally, satisfied that I had seen all the most important sites that the historic town had to offer, I plopped down at a street side table in [...]
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Sucker for Street Food
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 27 May 2011
Some travelers wouldn’t even think about eating street food while traveling overseas but I salivate at the prospect. In Bangkok, I snack throughout the day from vendors that line the major avenues and in Pokhara, Nepal I patronize steel food carts that prepare everything from Tibetan momos (similar to Chinese dumplings or pot stickers) to [...]
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The Royal Ballet Theatre of Luang Prabang, Laos – A Cultural Miracle Under a Communist Regime
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 24 May 2011
The Royal Ballet Theatre troupe in Luang Prabang achieved the impossible on the evening I attended a performance of Phra Lak Phra Lam, the Lao version of the sacred poem known as the Ramayana. Dancers in monkey masks sat on their haunches, scratching the backs of their necks. Tall men wearing hawk-billed masks and elaborate [...]
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All Rice Cakes Are Not Created Equal
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 21 May 2011
I’ve eaten my fair share of diet foods over the years (I tipped the scales at 275 pounds at one point) but by far the worst was rice cakes. Hoping to make them more palatable, I envisioned a svelte, sexy body each time I chomped into one but they always just tasted like cardboard. Rice [...]
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In Luang Prabang, All That Glitters Is Gold
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 19 May 2011
After the final packets of biscuits and dollops of sticky rice had been dropped into the monks’ pots during Luang Prabang’s daily alms giving ceremony, I followed the saffron robed procession through the rear gate of Wat Xieng Thong. A bold sun rode majestically into a robin’s egg sky, igniting the gilt facade of the [...]
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Earning Merit on the Path to Nirvana in Luang Prabang, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 14 May 2011
In the grainy gray light just before dawn I stole from my suite at the Luang Say Residence and walked the silent streets of Luang Prabang to witness Binthabhat, the daily practice of giving alms to monks. I was conflicted over this event. As a photographer I desperately wanted to take photos of the spiritual [...]
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Living in the Lap of Luxury at Luang Say Residence in Luang Prabang, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 9 May 2011
The white yacht that had so majestically delivered me from northern Thailand into Laos pulled into Luang Prabang on day two and was immediately assaulted by a pack of urchins who crawled through the windows and battled over our luggage. My instincts were not fast enough; before I knew it a disheveled boy barely larger [...]
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Scrap Metal and Tourist Scars in Phonsavan
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 3 May 2011
On a small stand in the Phonsavan tourism office, bracelets are for sale. So is flatware. They sit beside a postcard that reads “Make Spoons Not War.” Beside cartoon posters depicting the Dos and Don’ts of respectable Lao tourism, posted leaflets encourage you to purchase items made by villages out of metal scraped from the [...]
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Cruising the Mighty Mekong from Pakbeng to Luang Prabang, Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 29 April 2011
Though I resisted the idea of climbing out of my cloud-soft king size bed and leaving Luang Say Lodge, my cruise boat beckoned for a second day of sailing down the mighty Mekong River in Laos. As the captain expertly piloted our white yacht through rippling rapids encased by jagged rocks, I swayed with the [...]
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Not Your Typical Slow Boat to Laos
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 24 April 2011
Over the years I’d heard all the horror stories about crossing from northern Thailand into Laos and taking a slow boat to Luang Prabang. Each day hundreds of travelers cross the Mekong River and join the crush at Lao Immigration, where they wait to be stamped into the country. Once approved, they’re herded like cattle [...]
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Photo of the Week – Laos
Blog: Ottsworld - 31 December 2010
Young Monks – Luang PraBang, Laos Purchase this print As I walked with the morning alms procession in Luang Prabang and took photos, I eventually came to a temple where the monks were finishing their procession. One of the monks said that it was ok if I came in as it was a good chance [...]
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A Little Travel Memory…Where Do all the Buddhas Go?
Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 17 November 2010
Travel Memories: Reassessing Pak Ou Caves Near Luang Prabang This is where I admit that my initial assessment about a travel experience was wrong. When I wrote my opinion about the Pak Ou Caves near Luang Prabang, Laos nearly two years ago I noted that ” although it was cool, I personally think it was fairly skip-able in the long run.” Ouch – harsh assessment at the time – but it was my honest opinion back then…in the craziness of traveling and constantly moving locales, the Pak Ou caves weren’t “Holy cannoli, ...
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A Little Travel Memory…A Puppet and a Green Guitar
Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 18 October 2010
Travel Memories: A Puppet and a Green Guitar My friend Laura is perhaps the most randomly happy person I know – she spotted this puppet at the night market in Luang Prabang, Laos and simply had to buy it. At that time I couldn’t imagine how she would use it enough to justify carrying but she insisted so I bought a stuffed monkey to play alongside the puppet. We carried that puppet alongside the green guitar nearly everywhere we went in Southeast Asia and although the kids often didn’t have a clue ...
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Lao Village Life – Reality Check
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 20 April 2010
If you hope to go to the countryside for some quiet time, you might be in for a surprise. We passed by this traditional village between Luang Nam Tha and Muang Sing in Laos – and it definitely didn’t sound like our dream getaway! Watch this short clip about the acoustic reality of Lao village [...]
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Cave Collage
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 16 April 2010
Thomas and I have been crawling (and boating) our way through the caves of Laos, including: Kong Lor, Tham Phu Kham, Thom Pha Thok, Bank Cave, and Kao Rao. The country is full of caves. In fact, quite often while hiking through the forest, we’ve felt huge gusts of super-cooled air shooting out of the [...]
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The Akha
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 13 April 2010
The first time I went to Thailand in 1990, I had the opportunity to trek through portions of the North to visit many of the hill tribes. At that time, traditional clothing and culture were still very intact. Yes, there were already too many tourists, but there was still much to be seen and experienced [...]
