Travel the Mekong countries - Lao

LAO PDR

The attraction of Lao PDR, smallest and perhaps least known of the Mekong countries, once known as “the Land of a Million Elephants”, lies in its quiet, traditional character and the glimpses it affords of “Old Asia”.

The attraction of Lao PDR, smallest and perhaps least known of the Mekong countries, once known as “the Land of a Million Elephants”, lies in its quiet, traditional character and the glimpses it affords of “Old Asia”.

Bordered by Yunnan and Myanmar to the north, Vietnam to the east, Thailand to the west and Cambodia to the south, Lao PDR is a tiny landlocked country. Most of the terrain are mountainous and the valley of the Mekong that largely defines the land, with major cities being located on its banks. Venerable temples and other monuments attest to a regal history dating back to the 14th century.

Wat Xiengthong, Luang Prabang

Thung Hai Hin, Phon Sawan

Situated on the left bank of the Mekong, opposite Thailand’s Nong Khai province, Vientiane is an Asian city with the ambience of a tranquil country town. Although modernising at an increasing pace, it remains a quiet, unhurried sort of place, quaintly attractive for its blend of Asian and French colonial architecture. Sightseeing possibilities include That Luang, the nationûs most sacred shrine which displays a religious architecture unique to Lao PDR, and Wat Phra Kaeo, which once enshrined the Emerald Buddha image now in Bangkok. Also worth visiting for absorbing the local ambience, as well as for shopping, is the morning market, where local hand woven textiles are a great buy.

Surrounded by high forested hills and set on a promontory at the junction of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, about 350 km. north of Vientiane, Luang Prabang was founded as a royal capital in 1353. Although it lost its capital status to Vientiane in the 16th century, it preserved its standing as the cradle of Lao culture and remains a treasure house of the nation’s fi nest architectural and artistic achievements.

Although a tiny town, comfortable to walk around, Luang Prabang has an abundance of exquisite temples, such as Wat Xiengthong, the former royal chapel built in 1560, and the late 18th-century Wat May with its magnifi cent fi ve-tiered roof. Beyond the town, a boat trip up the Mekong leads to Pak Ou Cave, a riverfront grotto stacked with hundreds of Buddha statues.

Located in the highlands between Vientiane and Luang Prabang, the province of Xieng Khouang is best known for the Plain of Jars, a remote spot scattered with huge stone jars at least 2,000 years old but of mysterious origin. Other attractions in the area include a hot spring, temples and villages of ethnic minorities.

Wat Xiengthong, Luang Prabang

On the Lao bank of the Mekong, opposite the Thai town of Mukdahan, Savannakhet is an important trade link between Thailand and Danang in Vietnam, which in the future will be greatly facilitated by the construction of a bridge across the Mekong. For the traveller, the town has a pleasant ambience though little in the way of sights, and is mainly a transit point.

Capital of the historic province of Champasak, Pakse is situated at the confl uence of the Sedon and Mekong Rivers, a strategic location that led the French to found the town as an administrative centre in 1905. A few colonial buildings survive to give the town a certain charm and sense of history in spite of its comparative youth, while the town’s principal sight is the highly ornate former palace of Prince Boun Oum of Champasak.

Located 36 km. downstream from Pakse, on the west bank of the Mekong, Champasak was once a major centre of the various empires that shaped the history of the lower Mekong basin. Later, in the 18th century, the town enjoyed a brief period of glory as the capital of an independent Lao kingdom. Today, Champasak is but a shadow of its former self.

Lying just 10 km. downstream from Champasak, Wat Phu is the most important historical site on these lower reaches of the Mekong, and recognised as a World Heritage Site.

Initially striking for its hilltop location overlooking the Mekong, the Wat Phu temple complex is distinguished as the oldest religious site of the Khmers, its earliest buildings dating back to possibly the Chenla period of the 6th to 8th centuries. The major buildings seen to today, however, were constructed between the 11th and 12th centuries.

Near the end of its 1,600-km. passage through Lao PDR the Mekong splits into numerous branches to form a labyrinth of 4,000 islands, known as Si Pan Don, while in between are a series of cataracts, the most spectacular being the Khone Phapheng and the Li Phi Waterfall, also known as Somphamit.