Luang Prabang, Laos (Sights): February 12-15, 2007

I am way behind on this, but I am trying! Anyway, on to the sights of Luang Prabang, which, as you can see from the picture above, include lots of Buddha statutes. As you can see from the picture below, nagas (the snakey dragony things at the edges of the rooftops) also hold a prominent place in the local architecture:

I took way too many pictures in Luang Prabang. I filled up my memory stick and had to get it burned to CD. When I was in the photo place in town checking over the CD with the guy who burned it for me, the photo guy turned to me and said, "Many temples." I asked if he was just bored to death looking at temple pictures from tourists all day long and if he wouldn't prefer if someone would come in sometime with pictures of something else. He just laughed at me.

The sight I saw the most had to be Wat Sene, because it was right across the street from my guesthouse:

Wat Sene, and many other sights in Luang Prabang, are located in the old city, centered on a thin peninsula bordered by the Nam Khan and Mekong Rivers.

It is not a bad walk, though it can be brutal in the afternoon heat. Wat Sene is about midway down the peninsula. A block further toward the end of the peninsula brings you to Wat Sop.

There are a variety of shops, restaurants, and guesthoses on the main drag, Xiang Thong Road. Tourists appear to have overrun this area, which isn't surprising given the concentration of cool things to see. Also present among the shops? Kitties:

Cats hang out at the wats, too -- or, at least, one cat hangs out at Wat Xiang Thong, toward the end of the peninsula. The main temple of Wat Xiang Thong (aka, the Golden City Monastery) was, according to my Rough Guide, built in 1560 and, unlike a number of other temples in town, never got smashed up by the Chinese. As you can see in the doorway that the cat is peeking through, the walls of the temple may be responsible for the "Golden City" moniker.

This cat, in addition to taking in the sights within the temple, also spent some time sniffing around tourists' sandals (Tevas were legion outside most temples). He also, once he checked me out from a distance with his nifty orange eyes, got friendly with my feet:

Yes, it is another cat with a clubbed tail. No, I have no idea why my feet look so puffy in that picture. Here, cleanse your palate with a Buddha statue from within one of Wat Xiang Thong's temples:

Outside of the old town, across from the place where I had breakfast most days I spent in Luang Prabang, sits Wat That, at the top of a hill. You reach the grounds by climbing a long staircase. The "rails" of the staircase are huge stone multi-headed nagas!

The monks at Wat That, in addition to doing their laundry on-site, seem to have obtained some sort of satellite technology:

In addition to not destroying Wat Xiang Thong, the Chinese stand guard at Wat Choum Khong, which adjouns a gorgeous garden area filled with various Buddha statues:

A short distance toward the center of town from Wat Choum Khong is the Royal Palace Museum. It is well worth a visit! It sort of reminded me of Iolani Palace in Hawaii, in that it wasn't some huge Buckingham Palace-type structure, but more of a very grand house where the royal family once lived (the French built it in 1904). You have to check your shoes on the porch before going inside; I am pleased to report that the floors are smooth and pleasant to walk upon. Probably the most impressive room is the Throne Hall, which has walls covered in a multicolored mirror mosaic, but the entire museum is a really cool repository of memorabilia relating to Laos' monarchy (which, what with the Communists and all, is no longer extant).

Across Xiang Thong Road from the Royal Palace Museum looms Phou Si ("Sacred Hill"). It's quite a hike to the top after you pay the 8,000 kip fee, and if you get the conversion from dollars to Lao kip screwed up in your head, the lady who takes your entry fee will talk smack about you and your cheap bastard ways to the woman sitting on the other side of the path. Despite this setback, I did pay my fee and make it to the top, where I was rewarded with a crowd of Buddha statutes, a lovely view of the Mekong, and a less-than-impressive oversized, gold-painted footprint of Buddha.

There are nauseating amounts of additional pictures where these ones came from, but I will spare you and move on to Angkor Wat in the next post.