2025年10月6日星期一
2025年5月15日星期四
2024年12月16日星期一
2020年1月21日星期二
Lucky Air flies New Route from Kunming to Luang Prabang and Vientiane
Lucky Air flies New Route from Kunming to Luang Prabang and Vientiane
China’s low-cost carrier Lucky Air has launched its first route that connects China’s city of Kunming to the Lao city of Luang Prabang and the capital Vientiane.
The two flights, which began on December 22, are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays, departing from Kunming at 3:35 pm. The return flight departs from Luang Prabang at 5:30 pm.
Separately, flights from Kunming to Vientiane depart at 8 pm, while those from Vientiane to the Chinese city leave at 10 pm. Tickets are available at around THB 7,000 (USD 232).
Kunming-based airliner Lucky Air, which was established in 2004, is the latest foreign carrier that launched a new route to Laos.
South Korea’s T’way Air announced in early December that it would launch a new route connecting the Korean city of Daegu and Vientiane.
Meanwhile, Singaporean airliner Scoot also launched new routes in April connecting Singapore to Luang Prabang and Vientiane.
Laos saw more than 3.4 million international visitors in the first nine months of this year, an 11 percent increase from the same period of last year.
Among them, the number of visitors from China soared by 26 percent, according to the Tourism Development Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
The department projected that more than 1 million Chinese visitors would visit Laos in 2019.
~The Laotian Times~
China’s low-cost carrier Lucky Air has launched its first route that connects China’s city of Kunming to the Lao city of Luang Prabang and the capital Vientiane.
The two flights, which began on December 22, are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays, departing from Kunming at 3:35 pm. The return flight departs from Luang Prabang at 5:30 pm.
Separately, flights from Kunming to Vientiane depart at 8 pm, while those from Vientiane to the Chinese city leave at 10 pm. Tickets are available at around THB 7,000 (USD 232).
Kunming-based airliner Lucky Air, which was established in 2004, is the latest foreign carrier that launched a new route to Laos.
South Korea’s T’way Air announced in early December that it would launch a new route connecting the Korean city of Daegu and Vientiane.
Meanwhile, Singaporean airliner Scoot also launched new routes in April connecting Singapore to Luang Prabang and Vientiane.
Laos saw more than 3.4 million international visitors in the first nine months of this year, an 11 percent increase from the same period of last year.
Among them, the number of visitors from China soared by 26 percent, according to the Tourism Development Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
The department projected that more than 1 million Chinese visitors would visit Laos in 2019.
~The Laotian Times~
2019年1月28日星期一
Scoot to launch direct Singapore-Laos flight
Scoot to launch direct Singapore-Laos flight
VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) - The budget arm of Singapore Airlines, Scoot, is ready to launch Singapore-Laos flights in April with tickets starting at US$88, it announced yesterday.
Scoot will fly from Singapore to Vientiane to Luang Prabang on a circular route. It will depart from Singapore for Luang Prabang, followed by Vientiane, before heading back to Singapore, according to The Straits Times, the leading newspaper of Singapore.
These routes were transferred from its sister airline SilkAir with Scoot’s A320 aircraft.
Luang Prabang and Vientiane are the first two of the several new destinations the low-cost carrier will be adding to its network this year.
With the addition of Laos, Scoot’s network will span 68 destinations across 19 countries and territories.
Three weekly flights will connect to Laos from Singapore departing 9am on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving at Luang Prabang at 11.10 am and then on to Vientiane by 1pm.
The return flight departs Vientiane at 1.50pm, arriving back into Singapore at 6pm (all local times).
Scoot’s Laos sale includes one-way fares from US$$189 departing Perth, US$199 from the Gold Coast, and US$209 from Sydney and Melbourne.
Fares do not include excess baggage or meals and all flights have a stopover in Singapore.
The limited period promotion tickets are available on Scoot’s website from now until January 22.
SilkAir launched a service to Vientiane and Luang Prabang in October 2016. It has since stopped the service after poor passenger figures between October 2017 and February last year, according to Channel News Asia.
Lao Airlines also stopped direct Laos-Singapore flights from March 25 due to operational reasons and, as of now, has no plans to resume the flights.
This is the second time that direct flights between the two countries were halted, after Lao Airlines relaunched a Singapore-Laos flight in October 2017.
VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) - The budget arm of Singapore Airlines, Scoot, is ready to launch Singapore-Laos flights in April with tickets starting at US$88, it announced yesterday.
Scoot will fly from Singapore to Vientiane to Luang Prabang on a circular route. It will depart from Singapore for Luang Prabang, followed by Vientiane, before heading back to Singapore, according to The Straits Times, the leading newspaper of Singapore.
These routes were transferred from its sister airline SilkAir with Scoot’s A320 aircraft.
Luang Prabang and Vientiane are the first two of the several new destinations the low-cost carrier will be adding to its network this year.
With the addition of Laos, Scoot’s network will span 68 destinations across 19 countries and territories.
Three weekly flights will connect to Laos from Singapore departing 9am on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving at Luang Prabang at 11.10 am and then on to Vientiane by 1pm.
The return flight departs Vientiane at 1.50pm, arriving back into Singapore at 6pm (all local times).
Scoot’s Laos sale includes one-way fares from US$$189 departing Perth, US$199 from the Gold Coast, and US$209 from Sydney and Melbourne.
Fares do not include excess baggage or meals and all flights have a stopover in Singapore.
The limited period promotion tickets are available on Scoot’s website from now until January 22.
SilkAir launched a service to Vientiane and Luang Prabang in October 2016. It has since stopped the service after poor passenger figures between October 2017 and February last year, according to Channel News Asia.
Lao Airlines also stopped direct Laos-Singapore flights from March 25 due to operational reasons and, as of now, has no plans to resume the flights.
This is the second time that direct flights between the two countries were halted, after Lao Airlines relaunched a Singapore-Laos flight in October 2017.
2017年9月19日星期二
Top 5 things to do in Luang Prabang, Laos
Top 5 things to do in Luang Prabang, Laos
In between Vietnam and Thailand, Laos is lesser-known and lesser-discovered, but no less interesting than its pair of famous neighbours.
As a long thin country that also touches China to the north and Cambodia to the south, the landscape varies wildly; from thickly-forested areas to more tropical surrounds with plunging waterfalls and thousands of islands.
No trip to this country would be complete without a couple of days in former royal capital, Luang Prabang, so beautifully preserved that it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
Make sure you’re camera-ready as you take it all in; there’s a photo opportunity around every magical corner. Gilded temples with sloping roofs gleam in the sunshine, faded French colonial villas line the streets, and the rolling mountains and the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers lay just beyond the town.
Everything ticks over at a leisurely pace, substituting the frenetic energy of nearby countries for a laid-back calm.
Most visitors only spare two or three days here, so it’s important to have a plan. There are more than a few ways to make the best of it.
1. Take an architecture tour
With a combination of traditional Buddhist temples (bathed in gold leaf), traditional stilted houses, and French colonial architecture around every corner, a trip to Luang Prabang is an architecture tour in itself.
But team up with an expert to get the stories behind these fascinating streets, and track the evolution of the town; from its ancient conception, through the colonial and royal eras, and right up to the present day.
2. Take a cycling tour
Why not see the sights atop two wheels? A bike gives you the freedom (and time) to see the best of the town, venture into the countryside and feel the wind in your hair – often a welcome treat in the humid months.
Wheel from place to place; the Wat Visoun, National Museum (previously the Royal Palace), the Wat Mai Temple and Wat Xieng Thong are all worth a visit.
Then leave the town behind to see the landscape just outside. Hop down to potter around the Phosy Market and see great pails with mountains of rice, a rainbow of fresh fruit and vegetables on offer, and bottles of fresh fruit juice to fuel your onward journey.
Visit non-profit organisations, chat to local villagers and peer over the waters of the Mekong. Certainly more than you could manage on foot.
3. Celebrate Songkran
To see an especially authentic side to Luang Prabang, visit in April during Songkran (Pi Mai Lao), Lao New Year. Celebrations take place across the country, with a lot of water-based events.
It’s a special time when the community, along with swathes of orange-robed monks, come together. The most important Buddha statues are carried through the streets, and Buddha images, temples and houses are washed down.
As are people! Find yourself doused in an enthusiastic water fight, or even the recipient of a bucket of water over your head – a good-humoured way of saying Happy New Year.
4. Take a cookery class
Lao cuisine is an unknown entity to many outsiders. It’s actually quite similar to some dishes in northeastern Thailand, and incorporates lots of fresh produce.
Any cookery class in Luang Prabang is likely to begin with a trip to the market to personally pick out your ingredients, and learn about a few of the area’s more unusual herbs, fruits and vegetables.
Work with skilled local chefs, discover the authentic methods that go into this delicious cuisine, and take your new found cookery skills home with you.
5. Walk to the top of Mount Phousi at sunrise or sunset
For panoramic views of the town and the lush areas in the distance, pay an nominal fee and take a gentle climb up the steps to Mount Phousi.
Spot the meandering Nam Kham and Mekong rivers, as well as the undulating horizon. You can rest your feet at one of the interesting temples or outside a Buddha statue along the way, but at only 100km high, it’s not a strenuous ascent. Plan your trip at sunrise or sunset when the views are at their most beautiful.
~Courtesy of a luxury travel blog~
In between Vietnam and Thailand, Laos is lesser-known and lesser-discovered, but no less interesting than its pair of famous neighbours.
As a long thin country that also touches China to the north and Cambodia to the south, the landscape varies wildly; from thickly-forested areas to more tropical surrounds with plunging waterfalls and thousands of islands.
No trip to this country would be complete without a couple of days in former royal capital, Luang Prabang, so beautifully preserved that it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
Make sure you’re camera-ready as you take it all in; there’s a photo opportunity around every magical corner. Gilded temples with sloping roofs gleam in the sunshine, faded French colonial villas line the streets, and the rolling mountains and the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers lay just beyond the town.
Everything ticks over at a leisurely pace, substituting the frenetic energy of nearby countries for a laid-back calm.
Most visitors only spare two or three days here, so it’s important to have a plan. There are more than a few ways to make the best of it.
1. Take an architecture tour
With a combination of traditional Buddhist temples (bathed in gold leaf), traditional stilted houses, and French colonial architecture around every corner, a trip to Luang Prabang is an architecture tour in itself.
But team up with an expert to get the stories behind these fascinating streets, and track the evolution of the town; from its ancient conception, through the colonial and royal eras, and right up to the present day.
2. Take a cycling tour
Why not see the sights atop two wheels? A bike gives you the freedom (and time) to see the best of the town, venture into the countryside and feel the wind in your hair – often a welcome treat in the humid months.
Wheel from place to place; the Wat Visoun, National Museum (previously the Royal Palace), the Wat Mai Temple and Wat Xieng Thong are all worth a visit.
Then leave the town behind to see the landscape just outside. Hop down to potter around the Phosy Market and see great pails with mountains of rice, a rainbow of fresh fruit and vegetables on offer, and bottles of fresh fruit juice to fuel your onward journey.
Visit non-profit organisations, chat to local villagers and peer over the waters of the Mekong. Certainly more than you could manage on foot.
3. Celebrate Songkran
To see an especially authentic side to Luang Prabang, visit in April during Songkran (Pi Mai Lao), Lao New Year. Celebrations take place across the country, with a lot of water-based events.
It’s a special time when the community, along with swathes of orange-robed monks, come together. The most important Buddha statues are carried through the streets, and Buddha images, temples and houses are washed down.
As are people! Find yourself doused in an enthusiastic water fight, or even the recipient of a bucket of water over your head – a good-humoured way of saying Happy New Year.
4. Take a cookery class
Lao cuisine is an unknown entity to many outsiders. It’s actually quite similar to some dishes in northeastern Thailand, and incorporates lots of fresh produce.
Any cookery class in Luang Prabang is likely to begin with a trip to the market to personally pick out your ingredients, and learn about a few of the area’s more unusual herbs, fruits and vegetables.
Work with skilled local chefs, discover the authentic methods that go into this delicious cuisine, and take your new found cookery skills home with you.
5. Walk to the top of Mount Phousi at sunrise or sunset
For panoramic views of the town and the lush areas in the distance, pay an nominal fee and take a gentle climb up the steps to Mount Phousi.
Spot the meandering Nam Kham and Mekong rivers, as well as the undulating horizon. You can rest your feet at one of the interesting temples or outside a Buddha statue along the way, but at only 100km high, it’s not a strenuous ascent. Plan your trip at sunrise or sunset when the views are at their most beautiful.
~Courtesy of a luxury travel blog~
2017年7月21日星期五
Northern road cut by landslides
Northern road cut by landslides
The road from Kasy district in Vientiane province to Nan district in Luang Prabang province is currently cut by numerous landslides following recent heavy rainfall, authorities have reported.
Authorities said the road was cut on Tuesday night at about 7:45pm after heavy rain lashed the province since Friday last week.
Many motorists and tourists on the route needed a ride back to find somewhere to stay in Kasy district town guesthouses.
Officials urged the public to use caution when travelling in the area as poor road conditions may contribute to accidents.
Vientiane provincial authorities assigned officials to survey the collapsed road before preparing to repair the section.
Workers were scheduled to start their repairs this week but have found it difficult because of the weather, authorities reported.
At the moment, it is not easy for workers on the road because it is still raining. If there is no more rain the road may be reopened in the near future.
Road users and tourists can use an alternative route, Road No. 13 North via Phoukhoun to the northern provinces, authorities advised.
As of yesterday, the road from Kham to Phonsavanh district in Xieng Khuang province was also cut by flooding after heavy downpours, provincial authorities reported.
In Xieng Khuang the flash flooding inundated Road No. 7 in Paek district. Residents have been resorting to heavy vehicles to cross the flooded route.
Most of the swamped farmlands and households are in Yuanthong village of Paek district.
Heavy rainfall over several hours yesterday caused flood waters to inundate private and state property and cut off key roads in the province.
Some roads linking the northern districts are now difficult to travel on but passable while other routes have been completely cut off by landslides, authorities reported.
Motorists travelling to the northern provinces have been advised not to use the Kasy to Nan road and go via other routes, officials warned.
~News courtesy of Vientiane Times~
The road from Kasy district in Vientiane province to Nan district in Luang Prabang province is currently cut by numerous landslides following recent heavy rainfall, authorities have reported.
Authorities said the road was cut on Tuesday night at about 7:45pm after heavy rain lashed the province since Friday last week.
Many motorists and tourists on the route needed a ride back to find somewhere to stay in Kasy district town guesthouses.
Officials urged the public to use caution when travelling in the area as poor road conditions may contribute to accidents.
Vientiane provincial authorities assigned officials to survey the collapsed road before preparing to repair the section.
Workers were scheduled to start their repairs this week but have found it difficult because of the weather, authorities reported.
At the moment, it is not easy for workers on the road because it is still raining. If there is no more rain the road may be reopened in the near future.
Road users and tourists can use an alternative route, Road No. 13 North via Phoukhoun to the northern provinces, authorities advised.
As of yesterday, the road from Kham to Phonsavanh district in Xieng Khuang province was also cut by flooding after heavy downpours, provincial authorities reported.
In Xieng Khuang the flash flooding inundated Road No. 7 in Paek district. Residents have been resorting to heavy vehicles to cross the flooded route.
Most of the swamped farmlands and households are in Yuanthong village of Paek district.
Heavy rainfall over several hours yesterday caused flood waters to inundate private and state property and cut off key roads in the province.
Some roads linking the northern districts are now difficult to travel on but passable while other routes have been completely cut off by landslides, authorities reported.
Motorists travelling to the northern provinces have been advised not to use the Kasy to Nan road and go via other routes, officials warned.
~News courtesy of Vientiane Times~
2016年11月27日星期日
SilkAir's new route: Singapore to Vientiane & Luang Prabang
SilkAir is now flying direct to Vientiane and Luang Prabang
Care to visit the age-old Buddhist temples, French-colonial buildings and broad boulevards of Vientiane? How about the quaint ancient town of Luang Prabang, which was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1995?
It is now easier to get there with SilkAir. The regional wing of Singapore Airlines launched its inaugural flight to Vientiane and Luang Prabang, Laos, on Monday. The airline is flying to Laos on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, with same-day return, and the flights will be operated with the Airbus A320 aircraft, featuring both business and economy class cabins.
“There is an increasing interest in Laos, with more people wanting to get authentic experiences that are an escape from the usual cityscape. We see great potential in Vientiane and Luang Prabang for both leisure and business travel,” said Foo Chai Woo, chief executive of SilkAir.
“As the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, SilkAir has long been the champion of a diverse range of destinations in Asia, from major cities to popular leisure spots as well as places which are relatively untouched by mass tourism.”
He added that besides Singapore, SilkAir sees a great level of interest (in Laos) from travellers from Australia/New Zealand and Europe as well as Korea. “We hope that with these flights, we can promote traffic from the region and the world, in particular from SIA’s network, to visit Laos, via Singapore.”
~News courtesy of Today Online~
Care to visit the age-old Buddhist temples, French-colonial buildings and broad boulevards of Vientiane? How about the quaint ancient town of Luang Prabang, which was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1995?
It is now easier to get there with SilkAir. The regional wing of Singapore Airlines launched its inaugural flight to Vientiane and Luang Prabang, Laos, on Monday. The airline is flying to Laos on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, with same-day return, and the flights will be operated with the Airbus A320 aircraft, featuring both business and economy class cabins.
“There is an increasing interest in Laos, with more people wanting to get authentic experiences that are an escape from the usual cityscape. We see great potential in Vientiane and Luang Prabang for both leisure and business travel,” said Foo Chai Woo, chief executive of SilkAir.
“As the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, SilkAir has long been the champion of a diverse range of destinations in Asia, from major cities to popular leisure spots as well as places which are relatively untouched by mass tourism.”
He added that besides Singapore, SilkAir sees a great level of interest (in Laos) from travellers from Australia/New Zealand and Europe as well as Korea. “We hope that with these flights, we can promote traffic from the region and the world, in particular from SIA’s network, to visit Laos, via Singapore.”
~News courtesy of Today Online~
AirAsia's new route: Kuala Lumpur - Luang Prabang
AirAsia creates new link to Laos
AirAsia celebrates the launch of the new route
AirAsia has expanded its connectivity in Laos with the launch of flights between Kuala Lumpur and Luang Prabang.
Marking the first direct link between the two Southeast Asian cities, the new KL service will complement AirAsia’s existing Bangkok-Luang Prabang flights, and the direct services connecting KL and Bangkok with Vientiane.
“We are very happy to be the first and only airline to connect Luang Prabang to Kuala Lumpur directly,” said AirAsia’s CEO, Aireen Omar. “We are also pleased to be the airline that connects the people of Laos to two of the main cities in ASEAN, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, which are both major AirAsia hubs.
“We want to further champion connectivity to second and third-tier cities, and help to grow the market together,” she added.
The new flights will depart KL every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 0645 and arrive in Luang Prabang at 0840. The return services then leave the UNESCO-listed Lao city at 0925 and arrive back in KL at 1330.
~News courtesy of Travel Daily Media~
AirAsia celebrates the launch of the new route
AirAsia has expanded its connectivity in Laos with the launch of flights between Kuala Lumpur and Luang Prabang.
Marking the first direct link between the two Southeast Asian cities, the new KL service will complement AirAsia’s existing Bangkok-Luang Prabang flights, and the direct services connecting KL and Bangkok with Vientiane.
“We are very happy to be the first and only airline to connect Luang Prabang to Kuala Lumpur directly,” said AirAsia’s CEO, Aireen Omar. “We are also pleased to be the airline that connects the people of Laos to two of the main cities in ASEAN, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, which are both major AirAsia hubs.
“We want to further champion connectivity to second and third-tier cities, and help to grow the market together,” she added.
The new flights will depart KL every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 0645 and arrive in Luang Prabang at 0840. The return services then leave the UNESCO-listed Lao city at 0925 and arrive back in KL at 1330.
~News courtesy of Travel Daily Media~
2016年5月28日星期六
Tourist hordes put strain on Luang Prabang’s heritage
Tourist hordes put strain on Luang Prabang’s heritage
The enthusiasm of tourists for Luang Prabang’s heady charms has brought prosperity to the Lao town, but is the visitor influx damaging its cultural treasures?
The monks emerge shortly after six in the morning, smudges of flame in the predawn gloom. Alms bowls in hand, they walk silently through the town past Western-style cafés and restaurants. They pass boutique hotels with frangipani trees and soft white curtains covering the windows. Eventually, they turn onto Sisavangvong Road, Luang Prabang’s main drag, where a throng of tourists eagerly awaits.
Quick snap: tourists rush to take photographs of monks collecting alms in Luang Prabang. Photo: AP/David Longstreath
As the monks begin taking offerings from a line of Buddhist devotees, cameras are primed and the pack converges. One European man lights up the pavement with a huge flash on a tripod, filming monks as they step off a curb. Another walks up and down the line with a huge camera, pointing its black snout into the stream of saffron-clad novices and firing off machine-gun shutter-bursts.
For centuries, Luang Prabang’s monks have filed through these streets at dawn to collect alms from the local community. In more recent times, however, the morning ritual known as tak bat has ceded ground to another, noisier ritual – one of shutters and flashes and frenzied jostling for position along the crowded streets.
Each morning, tourism operators set up signs and tables, hawking coffee and overpriced sticky rice for tourists to ‘donate’ during the procession. Signs in six languages ask visitors to “respect the alms giving” and keep their distance from the monks, many of whom are novices, but these are routinely ignored.
For many, the tourist circus surrounding the tak bat encapsulates the negative side of a boom in visitors that has transformed the character of this Unesco-listed former royal capital. “It’s like a monkey troupe, it’s like a Disneyland,” says one prominent Laotian involved in cultural preservation efforts, who requested anonymity due to recent controversies over mass tourism and heritage issues. “We have [taken] action, we have made brochures, but I think it’s not enough.”
Luang Prabang’s old town, a temple-filled peninsula embraced by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, was once the capital of the Lan Xang kingdom, the fabled “Land of a Million Elephants”, and has remained the spiritual and religious centre of Laos in the centuries since.
Since being listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1995, the town has gone from an impoverished settlement with a stuttering electricity supply to one of Southeast Asia’s prized boutique travel destinations. In 2015, this town of 50,000 attracted more than 445,000 international visitors, according to provincial tourism authorities, an increase of more than 10% on the previous year.
That figure may soon rise further following the opening up of new international air routes to the city. In March, the cut-price carrier AirAsia commenced regular flights from Bangkok, and HK Express has announced that it will add a flight from Hong Kong. Two additional airlines are awaiting approval for direct flights, according to recent media reports.
Now, two decades on from Luang Prabang’s Unesco listing, a milestone the city marked with a lavish street parade in December, many wonder whether it can maintain its traditions under the intensifying pressures of mass tourism.
As early as 2004, Unesco noted in a report that tourism development had already put a “critical stress” on the town’s environmental and cultural resources. Without proper management, it warned, Luang Prabang could well become “another tourist town where soft-drink billboards dominate the landscape, where the sound of tour buses drowns out the soft temple prayers and where the town’s residents are reduced to the roles of bit-players in a cultural theme park.”
Steely eye: a tourist shops for souvenirs made of scrap metal from fragments of bombs and war material. Photo: EPA/Barbara Walton
This dystopian vision has yet to come to pass, but there’s no denying the transformative effects of the tourist dollar. Gabriel Kuperman, the founder and director of the Luang Prabang Film Festival, now into its seventh year, says one effect of the boom has been families selling their houses in the old town to be converted into guesthouses and hotels.
“On one hand, it’s a positive thing that those families benefitted from a major injection of funds into their households,” says Kuperman. “On the other hand, now that there are fewer and fewer Lao families living in the heart of Luang Prabang, a certain amount of charm has been lost.”
Indeed, pockets of Luang Prabang are akin to portals into a sort of transnational Asian tourist space – a generic zone of souvenir shops, cheap travellers’ cafés, and the sort of gimmicky exotica encapsulated by the sight, on one recent evening, of an orchestra entertaining a crowd of foreigners with a rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” played on traditional Lao instruments. “There’s a point where it sort of kills the local life,” says Andrea Vinsonneau, the director of EXO Travel in Laos.
Locals express satisfaction at the influx of cash that tourism has brought, but also worry that the character of the city and its people have changed. “Some is good, some is bad,” says Chanthanom Soulatda, the owner of Villa Ban Lakkam, a guesthouse on the banks of the Nam Khan river. “Luang Prabang people are very calm, but now they run to make business,” the 71-year-old adds, standing on the street outside the guesthouse, which stands on the site of her childhood home. “Before they walked slowly, but now they run.”
Despite the accretions of global tourist culture, Luang Prabang has generally adhered to Unesco’s regulations, which include bans on demolitions within the heritage zone and the use of pane glass on buildings. The town remains low-slung and quiet, characterised by a delicate blend of Lao urban architecture and French colonial forms.
The difficulty, says Montira Horayangura Unakul, a national programme officer at Unesco in Bangkok, is that Luang Prabang’s most valuable heritage extends beyond the physical buildings to include “intangible” cultural practices and traditions – like the tak bat ceremony – which are not officially listed by Unesco. “The living aspects of the site are the really indispensable part of what makes Luang Prabang so distinctive,” she says.
This explains local anger at the touristification of the alms-giving ceremony – the central part of a living Buddhist culture. Phonesavan Bilavarn, 70, a retired English teacher whose childhood home still stands just off Sisavangvong Road, is livid: “They use the flash,” she says, miming the ‘chk, chk, chk’ of the shutterbugs, “and very close to the monks.”
Of course, some argue that Unesco is itself to blame for the changes that happen to World Heritage Sites such as Luang Prabang. The Italian writer Marco d’Eramo has argued that whenever a city is listed by Unesco, it “dies out, becoming the stuff of taxidermy, a mausoleum with dormitory suburbs attached”. Has World Heritage status saved Luang Prabang, only to rob it of its soul?
Rik Ponne, a former Unesco staffer and advisor to the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, says that such views oversimplify the complex challenge of balancing economic growth with cultural preservation. Taking a fundamentalist view on heritage issues, he argues, runs the risk of romanticising the poverty that allowed Luang Prabang to remain so “untouched” for so many decades.
The devoted: a young boy places sticky rice into a monk’s bowl. Photo: EPA/Barbara Walton
On the whole, Unakul says that in response to past criticisms from the World Heritage Committee, the Lao authorities have been “very proactive” in taking action to address its concerns and extending the development buffer zone around the old town. One of the current strategies for handling rising visitor numbers is to draw visitors away from the old town by promoting attractions further afield. “It’s definitely an issue that’s on a lot of people’s minds, and an issue that’s getting attention,” she says.
Vinsonneau, who has been living and working in Luang Prabang since 2000, says tourism operators also have a duty to educate their clients. EXO Travel provides each of its visitors with a handbook instructing them how to dress appropriately, how to interact with monks and how to behave during cultural events.
But she says that despite all the negative effects of mass tourism, the death of Luang Prabang’s soul has been greatly exaggerated, at least when compared with some of the other tourist hotspots of Southeast Asia.
“There’s still an incredible ambience,” Vinsonneau says of the town. “It’s good to remind people it could be much worse than this. It could be better, but it could be much worse.”
~News courtesy of Vientiane Times~
The enthusiasm of tourists for Luang Prabang’s heady charms has brought prosperity to the Lao town, but is the visitor influx damaging its cultural treasures?
The monks emerge shortly after six in the morning, smudges of flame in the predawn gloom. Alms bowls in hand, they walk silently through the town past Western-style cafés and restaurants. They pass boutique hotels with frangipani trees and soft white curtains covering the windows. Eventually, they turn onto Sisavangvong Road, Luang Prabang’s main drag, where a throng of tourists eagerly awaits.
Quick snap: tourists rush to take photographs of monks collecting alms in Luang Prabang. Photo: AP/David Longstreath
As the monks begin taking offerings from a line of Buddhist devotees, cameras are primed and the pack converges. One European man lights up the pavement with a huge flash on a tripod, filming monks as they step off a curb. Another walks up and down the line with a huge camera, pointing its black snout into the stream of saffron-clad novices and firing off machine-gun shutter-bursts.
For centuries, Luang Prabang’s monks have filed through these streets at dawn to collect alms from the local community. In more recent times, however, the morning ritual known as tak bat has ceded ground to another, noisier ritual – one of shutters and flashes and frenzied jostling for position along the crowded streets.
Each morning, tourism operators set up signs and tables, hawking coffee and overpriced sticky rice for tourists to ‘donate’ during the procession. Signs in six languages ask visitors to “respect the alms giving” and keep their distance from the monks, many of whom are novices, but these are routinely ignored.
For many, the tourist circus surrounding the tak bat encapsulates the negative side of a boom in visitors that has transformed the character of this Unesco-listed former royal capital. “It’s like a monkey troupe, it’s like a Disneyland,” says one prominent Laotian involved in cultural preservation efforts, who requested anonymity due to recent controversies over mass tourism and heritage issues. “We have [taken] action, we have made brochures, but I think it’s not enough.”
Luang Prabang’s old town, a temple-filled peninsula embraced by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, was once the capital of the Lan Xang kingdom, the fabled “Land of a Million Elephants”, and has remained the spiritual and religious centre of Laos in the centuries since.
Since being listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1995, the town has gone from an impoverished settlement with a stuttering electricity supply to one of Southeast Asia’s prized boutique travel destinations. In 2015, this town of 50,000 attracted more than 445,000 international visitors, according to provincial tourism authorities, an increase of more than 10% on the previous year.
That figure may soon rise further following the opening up of new international air routes to the city. In March, the cut-price carrier AirAsia commenced regular flights from Bangkok, and HK Express has announced that it will add a flight from Hong Kong. Two additional airlines are awaiting approval for direct flights, according to recent media reports.
Now, two decades on from Luang Prabang’s Unesco listing, a milestone the city marked with a lavish street parade in December, many wonder whether it can maintain its traditions under the intensifying pressures of mass tourism.
As early as 2004, Unesco noted in a report that tourism development had already put a “critical stress” on the town’s environmental and cultural resources. Without proper management, it warned, Luang Prabang could well become “another tourist town where soft-drink billboards dominate the landscape, where the sound of tour buses drowns out the soft temple prayers and where the town’s residents are reduced to the roles of bit-players in a cultural theme park.”
Steely eye: a tourist shops for souvenirs made of scrap metal from fragments of bombs and war material. Photo: EPA/Barbara Walton
This dystopian vision has yet to come to pass, but there’s no denying the transformative effects of the tourist dollar. Gabriel Kuperman, the founder and director of the Luang Prabang Film Festival, now into its seventh year, says one effect of the boom has been families selling their houses in the old town to be converted into guesthouses and hotels.
“On one hand, it’s a positive thing that those families benefitted from a major injection of funds into their households,” says Kuperman. “On the other hand, now that there are fewer and fewer Lao families living in the heart of Luang Prabang, a certain amount of charm has been lost.”
Indeed, pockets of Luang Prabang are akin to portals into a sort of transnational Asian tourist space – a generic zone of souvenir shops, cheap travellers’ cafés, and the sort of gimmicky exotica encapsulated by the sight, on one recent evening, of an orchestra entertaining a crowd of foreigners with a rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” played on traditional Lao instruments. “There’s a point where it sort of kills the local life,” says Andrea Vinsonneau, the director of EXO Travel in Laos.
Locals express satisfaction at the influx of cash that tourism has brought, but also worry that the character of the city and its people have changed. “Some is good, some is bad,” says Chanthanom Soulatda, the owner of Villa Ban Lakkam, a guesthouse on the banks of the Nam Khan river. “Luang Prabang people are very calm, but now they run to make business,” the 71-year-old adds, standing on the street outside the guesthouse, which stands on the site of her childhood home. “Before they walked slowly, but now they run.”
Despite the accretions of global tourist culture, Luang Prabang has generally adhered to Unesco’s regulations, which include bans on demolitions within the heritage zone and the use of pane glass on buildings. The town remains low-slung and quiet, characterised by a delicate blend of Lao urban architecture and French colonial forms.
The difficulty, says Montira Horayangura Unakul, a national programme officer at Unesco in Bangkok, is that Luang Prabang’s most valuable heritage extends beyond the physical buildings to include “intangible” cultural practices and traditions – like the tak bat ceremony – which are not officially listed by Unesco. “The living aspects of the site are the really indispensable part of what makes Luang Prabang so distinctive,” she says.
This explains local anger at the touristification of the alms-giving ceremony – the central part of a living Buddhist culture. Phonesavan Bilavarn, 70, a retired English teacher whose childhood home still stands just off Sisavangvong Road, is livid: “They use the flash,” she says, miming the ‘chk, chk, chk’ of the shutterbugs, “and very close to the monks.”
Of course, some argue that Unesco is itself to blame for the changes that happen to World Heritage Sites such as Luang Prabang. The Italian writer Marco d’Eramo has argued that whenever a city is listed by Unesco, it “dies out, becoming the stuff of taxidermy, a mausoleum with dormitory suburbs attached”. Has World Heritage status saved Luang Prabang, only to rob it of its soul?
Rik Ponne, a former Unesco staffer and advisor to the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, says that such views oversimplify the complex challenge of balancing economic growth with cultural preservation. Taking a fundamentalist view on heritage issues, he argues, runs the risk of romanticising the poverty that allowed Luang Prabang to remain so “untouched” for so many decades.
The devoted: a young boy places sticky rice into a monk’s bowl. Photo: EPA/Barbara Walton
On the whole, Unakul says that in response to past criticisms from the World Heritage Committee, the Lao authorities have been “very proactive” in taking action to address its concerns and extending the development buffer zone around the old town. One of the current strategies for handling rising visitor numbers is to draw visitors away from the old town by promoting attractions further afield. “It’s definitely an issue that’s on a lot of people’s minds, and an issue that’s getting attention,” she says.
Vinsonneau, who has been living and working in Luang Prabang since 2000, says tourism operators also have a duty to educate their clients. EXO Travel provides each of its visitors with a handbook instructing them how to dress appropriately, how to interact with monks and how to behave during cultural events.
But she says that despite all the negative effects of mass tourism, the death of Luang Prabang’s soul has been greatly exaggerated, at least when compared with some of the other tourist hotspots of Southeast Asia.
“There’s still an incredible ambience,” Vinsonneau says of the town. “It’s good to remind people it could be much worse than this. It could be better, but it could be much worse.”
~News courtesy of Vientiane Times~
2016年5月13日星期五
Life in the slow lane - Luang Prabang
Life in the slow lane
How to spend 36 hours in Luang Prabang and still see everything without rushing
Amidst the breakneck pace of the surrounding region, Unesco-protected Luang Prabang is a haven for anyone wanting to escape a hectic lifestyle and discover the art of slow living. Dotted by faded villas and gilded temples, Luang Prabang, the ancient royal capital of the Lan Xang Kingdom, is the heart and soul of Laotian culture. The small town, where most locals are asleep by 11, is a fusion of traditional Lao architecture and the villas built by the European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Sitting at the confluence of the Mekong and Khan rivers, Luang Prabang promises to wreck any tightly planned itinerary thanks to a way of life that allows residents and visitors to soak in the luxury of time.
FRIDAY
Dinner under the mango tree: 7pm
3 Nagas, a charming boutique hotel in the centre of Luang Prabang, is home to the award-winning "Best Lao Restaurant" in Luang Prabang. If there is no rain, dine outdoors under the huge mango tree and savour the beauty of the three restored historical houses. The restaurant serves one of the best Salad Pak Nam (watercress salad) in Luang Prabang. Another snack not to be missed while in Laos is river weed or kai with jaew bong, a sweet-and-spicy chilli paste made with chilli, galangal and water-buffalo skin.
Time to bargain: 9pm
Luang Prabang Night Market runs from 5 to 11. The street is closed off to vehicles from Sisavangvong Road to Settathilat Road in the town centre. The contrast between the sea of colourful knock-down stalls and the glittering backdrop of Haw Pha Bang and the Royal Palace Museum came as a shock to this visitor, who remembers a much more laid-back night stroll through a handful of vendors just 10 short years ago. The entire street is filled with vendors selling embroidered bags and purses, T-shirts, silk, cotton pants and shirts and paper lanterns. If walking and bargaining re-ignite your appetite, then head to the Night Food Market down the narrow lane at Settathilat Road where you'll find noodles, snacks, juice and the famous Beer Lao.
SATURDAY
Giving alms to monks: 6am
Giving sticky rice alms to hundreds of monks from more than 30 temples in Luang Prabang is a fascinating experience that shouldn't be missed, no matter what religion you may adhere to. Once the monks go back to their temples, the locals will take other dishes to eat with the rice to the temple so do not put any other comestibles than sticky rice in the bowl. Long sleeves worn with trousers or long skirts are recommended for all alms givers.
Coffee coffee coffee: 7am
Introduced by French colonialists in the early twentieth century, coffee has secured its place as the country's most famous drink and is also its largest agricultural export commodity. Pasaneyom Coffee Shop is one of the best places to enjoy an authentic Lao coffee, with a baguette (khao ji) or rice congee with youtiao (pah thong ko). If you prefer a more Western breakfast, check out Joma Bakery Cafe or Le Café Ban Vat Sene and enjoy your coffee while watching the world pass by.
Laotian whiskey and Pak Ou Cave: 9am
Ban Xang Hai or Whiskey Village, 29 km north of Luang Prabang, is a common stop on the boat ride to Pak Ou Cave and is just 30 minutes away by car. Laotian whiskey, or Lao Lao as it's known locally, is traditionally used in important blessing ceremonies and to greet visitors, so don't be surprised to be offered a shot of Laotian whiskey (or a jar with drinking straws to share!) as a welcome drink. Whiskeys bottled with snakes or scorpions, believed to have some medicinal benefits, are not for the faint-hearted. Taking a boat from Ban Xang Hai to Pak Ou Cave, a spot also known as Tham Ting, is a great way of recovering from the Laotian whiskey tasting. Tham Ting is a pair of centuries-old caves that are home to hundreds of small wooden Buddha images brought there by the boatmen for good luck.
Strolling or cycling, your choice: 1pm
With all the charm of a European town infused with the spirit of Asia, Luang Prabang is best discovered with a walk about town. A bicycle ride will speed up the travel time, giving more chances to visit attractions but less opportunity to enjoy the slow pace of the town.
> Places not to be missed are Wat Xiang Thong, Wat Wisunalat and the Royal Palace Museum.
Founded in 1560 by King Settathilat, Wat Xiang Thong, which sits alongside the river, is the finest example of Lao monastic architecture. The highlight is the Sim - the congregation hall - with its low, sweeping, three-tiered roof.
The original wood structure of Wat Wisunalat, alternatively known as Wat Visoun, was destroyed by the Black Flag invaders, but the That Makmo - the "watermelon stupa" - was rebuilt in the late 1920s.
The Royal Palace Museum or Golden Hall was built in 1904, when the French ran the country. A blend of European and Lao designs, the museum was the home of Sisavangvong, the last king of Laos, until his death in 1959. Haw Pha Bang or Royal Palace Chapel, located at the northeast corner of the Royal Palace Museum, houses Prabang, a golden Buddhist statue after which the town is named.
Sunset at Phu Si: 5am
Wat Phu Si or Pra That Phu Si is opposite the Royal Palace Museum, on the hill in the heart of Luang Prabang. The walk up, 328 steps, isn't easy, but is supposed to signify a test of faith. The summit offers some wonderful city views.
SUNDAY
Morning market: 6am
Don't miss the morning market in a web of alleys off Sisavangvong Road. You will find fresh vegetables, fruits, river weeds, buffalo skin, huge river fish, live and dead chickens (still with their feathers), beehives and honey bees, barbecued paddy mouse, snakes, bats and other, not always recognisable, produce spread out on bamboo mats on the sidewalk for good prices.
Ock Pop Tok: 10AM
Choose your favourite silk or learn how to weave your own fabric at Ock Pop Tok Living Crafts Centre, a place where weavers, spinners and batik makers produce top-quality fabrics. A tour of the centre gives a superb insight into silk production and dye making. Lunch at the centre's river-view cafe or try a cup of the pleasant silk-worm droppings tea.
IF YOU GO
ThaiAirAsia operates a daily flight between Bangkok's Don Mueang and Luang Prabang.
~News courtesy of The Nation~
How to spend 36 hours in Luang Prabang and still see everything without rushing
Amidst the breakneck pace of the surrounding region, Unesco-protected Luang Prabang is a haven for anyone wanting to escape a hectic lifestyle and discover the art of slow living. Dotted by faded villas and gilded temples, Luang Prabang, the ancient royal capital of the Lan Xang Kingdom, is the heart and soul of Laotian culture. The small town, where most locals are asleep by 11, is a fusion of traditional Lao architecture and the villas built by the European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Sitting at the confluence of the Mekong and Khan rivers, Luang Prabang promises to wreck any tightly planned itinerary thanks to a way of life that allows residents and visitors to soak in the luxury of time.
FRIDAY
Dinner under the mango tree: 7pm
3 Nagas, a charming boutique hotel in the centre of Luang Prabang, is home to the award-winning "Best Lao Restaurant" in Luang Prabang. If there is no rain, dine outdoors under the huge mango tree and savour the beauty of the three restored historical houses. The restaurant serves one of the best Salad Pak Nam (watercress salad) in Luang Prabang. Another snack not to be missed while in Laos is river weed or kai with jaew bong, a sweet-and-spicy chilli paste made with chilli, galangal and water-buffalo skin.
Time to bargain: 9pm
Luang Prabang Night Market runs from 5 to 11. The street is closed off to vehicles from Sisavangvong Road to Settathilat Road in the town centre. The contrast between the sea of colourful knock-down stalls and the glittering backdrop of Haw Pha Bang and the Royal Palace Museum came as a shock to this visitor, who remembers a much more laid-back night stroll through a handful of vendors just 10 short years ago. The entire street is filled with vendors selling embroidered bags and purses, T-shirts, silk, cotton pants and shirts and paper lanterns. If walking and bargaining re-ignite your appetite, then head to the Night Food Market down the narrow lane at Settathilat Road where you'll find noodles, snacks, juice and the famous Beer Lao.
SATURDAY
Giving alms to monks: 6am
Giving sticky rice alms to hundreds of monks from more than 30 temples in Luang Prabang is a fascinating experience that shouldn't be missed, no matter what religion you may adhere to. Once the monks go back to their temples, the locals will take other dishes to eat with the rice to the temple so do not put any other comestibles than sticky rice in the bowl. Long sleeves worn with trousers or long skirts are recommended for all alms givers.
Coffee coffee coffee: 7am
Introduced by French colonialists in the early twentieth century, coffee has secured its place as the country's most famous drink and is also its largest agricultural export commodity. Pasaneyom Coffee Shop is one of the best places to enjoy an authentic Lao coffee, with a baguette (khao ji) or rice congee with youtiao (pah thong ko). If you prefer a more Western breakfast, check out Joma Bakery Cafe or Le Café Ban Vat Sene and enjoy your coffee while watching the world pass by.
Laotian whiskey and Pak Ou Cave: 9am
Ban Xang Hai or Whiskey Village, 29 km north of Luang Prabang, is a common stop on the boat ride to Pak Ou Cave and is just 30 minutes away by car. Laotian whiskey, or Lao Lao as it's known locally, is traditionally used in important blessing ceremonies and to greet visitors, so don't be surprised to be offered a shot of Laotian whiskey (or a jar with drinking straws to share!) as a welcome drink. Whiskeys bottled with snakes or scorpions, believed to have some medicinal benefits, are not for the faint-hearted. Taking a boat from Ban Xang Hai to Pak Ou Cave, a spot also known as Tham Ting, is a great way of recovering from the Laotian whiskey tasting. Tham Ting is a pair of centuries-old caves that are home to hundreds of small wooden Buddha images brought there by the boatmen for good luck.
Strolling or cycling, your choice: 1pm
With all the charm of a European town infused with the spirit of Asia, Luang Prabang is best discovered with a walk about town. A bicycle ride will speed up the travel time, giving more chances to visit attractions but less opportunity to enjoy the slow pace of the town.
> Places not to be missed are Wat Xiang Thong, Wat Wisunalat and the Royal Palace Museum.
Founded in 1560 by King Settathilat, Wat Xiang Thong, which sits alongside the river, is the finest example of Lao monastic architecture. The highlight is the Sim - the congregation hall - with its low, sweeping, three-tiered roof.
The original wood structure of Wat Wisunalat, alternatively known as Wat Visoun, was destroyed by the Black Flag invaders, but the That Makmo - the "watermelon stupa" - was rebuilt in the late 1920s.
The Royal Palace Museum or Golden Hall was built in 1904, when the French ran the country. A blend of European and Lao designs, the museum was the home of Sisavangvong, the last king of Laos, until his death in 1959. Haw Pha Bang or Royal Palace Chapel, located at the northeast corner of the Royal Palace Museum, houses Prabang, a golden Buddhist statue after which the town is named.
Sunset at Phu Si: 5am
Wat Phu Si or Pra That Phu Si is opposite the Royal Palace Museum, on the hill in the heart of Luang Prabang. The walk up, 328 steps, isn't easy, but is supposed to signify a test of faith. The summit offers some wonderful city views.
SUNDAY
Morning market: 6am
Don't miss the morning market in a web of alleys off Sisavangvong Road. You will find fresh vegetables, fruits, river weeds, buffalo skin, huge river fish, live and dead chickens (still with their feathers), beehives and honey bees, barbecued paddy mouse, snakes, bats and other, not always recognisable, produce spread out on bamboo mats on the sidewalk for good prices.
Ock Pop Tok: 10AM
Choose your favourite silk or learn how to weave your own fabric at Ock Pop Tok Living Crafts Centre, a place where weavers, spinners and batik makers produce top-quality fabrics. A tour of the centre gives a superb insight into silk production and dye making. Lunch at the centre's river-view cafe or try a cup of the pleasant silk-worm droppings tea.
IF YOU GO
ThaiAirAsia operates a daily flight between Bangkok's Don Mueang and Luang Prabang.
~News courtesy of The Nation~
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