Tag: Luang Prabang

Photos: morning alms giving, Laos

A line of monks pass locals seated outside the entrance to Wat Nong Sikhounmuang temple. Each monk gets a handful of rice in their bowl.
© Andrew Brown/2024/Laos

On my last morning in Laos, my alarm went off at 5am. I’d spent the last week visiting UNICEF nutrition projects in rural Nan District during the hottest month of the year, and I was very tempted to hit snooze and go back to sleep. However, I also knew that if I did, I’d beat myself up about it later. So I dragged myself out of bed, grabbed my camera, and headed out to the front of my hotel, where I got a tuk-tuk through the gradually lightening streets to the main temple district of Luang Prabang. My objective was to see Tak Bat, or the morning alms giving ceremony, which I’d first witnessed a decade before, during my first time living and working in Asia.

Continue reading “Photos: morning alms giving, Laos” →

Luang Prabang: monks procession at dawn

Joyce at Wat Xieng Thong. Having lost my camera memory card in January,
all these photos were taken on a return trip in October
© Andy Brown/Laos 2012

Luang Prabang is like a city adrift in space and time. The old royal capital of pre-communist Laos, it now feels like a cross between a suburb of Paris and a rural Thai village. It occupies a peninsular between the Mekong (see part two of this blog) and Nam Khan river, which takes a hairpin bend off the larger waterway. The main roads are lined with French restaurants, cafes and bakeries in colonial era buildings: brightly painted villas with wooden shutters on the windows. French tourists cycle lazily around between the cafes and sights, conversing in Gallic tones.

Continue reading “Luang Prabang: monks procession at dawn” →