Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang
Photo provided by www.etravelphotos.com
Luang Prabang is a city located in north central Laos, on the Mekong River about 425 km north of Vientiane. The city was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the same name. Until the communist takeover in 1975, it was the royal capital and seat of government of the Kingdom of Laos.
It was made a WHS because it is a well preserved and outstanding example of the fusion of traditional architecture and Lao urban structures with those built by the European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Year Decision Comments
1995 Inscribed Reasons for inscription

Reviews

Frederik Dawson (Netherlands):
I have to admit that I really do not want to write this review as I do not want Luang Prabang to be changed by influx of tourists that may decided to visit this one of the most stunning places in Southeast Asia after read this review. Luang Prabang as I mentioned one of the best places to visit in this region was the former capital of ancient kingdom of Lan Xang or the land of million elephants, Luang Prabang was one of the cultural centers of this region; many temples in such small town are the greatest testimony of local wealth and civilization. Sadly that Luang Prabang as present is just the shadow of its former glory as the town had been destroyed by Chinese invasion, most of the temples and town were rebuilt in 19th and 20th centuries, so this town is quite unique as the town had been rebuilt in the time that French had started its influence in Indochina, so this town has unique blend of local and colonial architectures as well as urban layout.

For amazing local architecture and art, temples are the places to see, Luang Prabang has many temples, although the town can not compete on the number of temple like Bangkok or Chiang Mai in Thailand which has more than 300 temples in each city, the art of Luang Prabang temple is in the same league of beauty and maybe more appreciated to admire. The top three of the must see temples are Wat Xiang Thong, the former royal temple and the sole survivor from the town destruction is famous for it graceful main chapel called “sim” and colorful mosaic decoration, the tree of life mosaic behind sim is one of the best art in Asia. Wat Sene, this stunning temple has beautiful golden decoration and is one of my favorite. Wat Mai with its 3-cm thick golden coated wooden wall is maybe one the most stunning art in this small town.

Not only temple the town offered, its old palace and colonial quarter are also interesting. The palace’s main hall and its chapel that build to keep Prabang Buddha, the holy Buddha statue that the town named after, are the must see. However for the colonial quarter is not a top sight, the buildings are pretty, but most of them have been turned to be restaurants or shops for backpackers. Actually the colonial area is easily divided into two areas to serve two groups of tourists, backpackers and well spend tourists – a real tragic of tourist business for this town. In the palace area, many small tour agencies and restaurants making this area to be liked the infamous Khaosan of Bangkok, while in Wat Sene area is full of beautiful restored colonial houses that turned to be boutique hotels, spas and really nice art galleries!

Tourism has already changed this town; everywhere seem to be for tourists, the old colonial buildings become hotel complexes, daily well organized night market for tourist to shop with no product for locals, double price for foreigners, Buddhist ceremonies have been treated like cultural shows and etc. Luang Prabang is suffering since its soul is gradually destroyed by tourism; UNESCO only can keep the buildings, but can not protect the town characteristic. In my opinion, Luang Prabang is not so such special or unique in terms of architecture; there are many similar beautiful temples or towns in nearby northern Thailand, the former Lanna Kingdom, the sister kingdom of Lan Xang, but Luang Prabang is maybe the last bastion of this region that still can perfectly keep its bygone age atmosphere of Indochina, and that is the uniqueness of this town that should be kept and the only thing that we can help this town is being a responsible tourist with lots and lots respect to its glory heritage. Luang Prabang is truly depended on our decision while we are in this fragile jewel.
Date posted: June 2009
Renee (Holland):
From Chang Khong (Northern Thailand) I travelled by slowboat over the Mekong river to Luang Prabang. The beautiful trip took two days, with a stop for the night in the dirty town of Pak Beng.

I arrived late in the afternoon, and it was quite hard to find budget accomodation. Not that there weren't any, but the lonely planet had very old entries apparently.Found a place anyway, and then walked through town.

The old colonial buildings were very pretty, but severely neglegted it seemed. Here and there houses were being renovated by UNESCO, which I thought was a good thing. Luang Prabang needs it.
At the night marked beautiful handcrafted items were being displayed, and I bought some really marvellous tapestries.

The people were all very friendly, and I heard these old men talk in French to each other; they apparently had still seen the french colonists here!

Later at night, there was a power-outage in the entire city. It occurred to me that this must be happening quite frequently, because in no time people were back out again, lighting candles everywhere, illuminating the old buildings... I never saw anything more beautiful than this. I really felt like I time-travelled back to colonial times.

The next days I went to the wats (temples) that there were to see in Luang Prabang and went to see the waterfalls close to the city. The wats were very beautifully detailed and really worth a visit. Also I climbed the only hill Luang Prabang has. It seemed easy, but with the august heat, it was in fact quite a climb! The gorgeous view from the top was well worth it though.

This is really a place you want to have seen, before mass tourism finds it. For now, the 'land of the million elephants' is a tranquil place and backpackers paradise. Go there!
 
Cem & Diana Schipper Elmacioglu (Turkey):
At the end of January 1997 Cem (Turkish) and Diana (Dutch) met during a sunset overlooking the Mekong river in Luang Prabang. Since that day we have stayed together. We got married, built our own special place in Turkey (oldbridgehouse.com) and on 15 November 2000 our lovely daughter Alexandra Beste was born. Luang Prabang has a very special meaning for us and we will never ever forget this magic place. One day we will return with our daughter (when she is old enough) to show her the roots of her existence.
 


Have you been to Town of Luang Prabang ? Share your experiences!

Add your own review