Jeffrey Tao's Travel Impressions

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LUANG PRABANG: ROYAL CITY

It was 1999 when I was last in Laos, visiting the capital city Vientiane, a quiet and pleasant city with quite a few places of architectural and cultural interest. But it was Luang Prabang, a smaller city to its north, which had all the cachet: it was the original seat of the Lao monarchy and the site of beautiful Buddhist temples and French colonial buildings; it was also renowned for its excellent food and a fine artistic and aesthetic sensibility. By 1995 it had attained UNESCO World Heritage status, and really put itself on the map. So I vowed to see this fabled city on my next visit to Laos. The opportunity arose in the fall of 2014 when my wife Margaret and I were scheduled to attend the reunion of my high school graduating class in Hong Kong. We seized the opportunity and asked a tour operator to arrange a visit to Luang Prabang from there.

Flight from Hong Kong

It was devilishly hot and humid even in late October early November, and the reunion involved tightly scheduled activities carried out at a hectic pace. The Hong Kong I grew up in was always a “city” city, but after an absence of seven years I now found it oppressive, with its office towers of concrete and steel, traffic-choked roads, congested sidewalks and exhaust fumes spewing from the endless stream of vehicles, all of which jangled one’s nerves and sapped one’s energy. So we were looking forward to a quiet respite at our next destination. There were no direct flights to Luang Prabang so we flew first to Hanoi, where we had enough time before our connecting flight to have lunch in an informal eatery in the airport transit lounge—fried seafood spring rolls and Vietnamese rice noodles with thin slices of beef (pho) washed down with cold beer followed by Vietnamese iced coffee. Immediately we felt we were in Southeast Asia and our excitement grew.

After an hour’s flight on a Vietnam Airlines propeller plane we arrived at a small but immaculate airport. We were met by a smiling guide named Phuong and our driver, and we were going to spend the next few days with them touring Luang Prabang. It was already mid-afternoon, so Phuong decided to schedule no activities and to leave us free to settle into our hotel.

Arrival at Satri House

Called Satri House, this boutique hotel is a gem—built in 1902, it was a villa once belonging to Prince Souphanouvong, and beautifully renovated to be a hotel in 2002. The walkway leading to the entrance was cobblestoned and lined with bamboo, presaging the calm and seclusion of the establishment. The lounge, library and dining room had brick-tiled floors and were furnished with Lao antiques and fabrics and textiles produced by local artisans and weavers. Our room was decorated in much the same way, with a retro ceiling fan and telephone to complete the journey in nostalgia. Everywhere was lush vegetation and understated elegance. There were two swimming pools and a spa, and if one were not sightseeing, one could happily luxuriate in these surroundings all day.

Before dinner, we took a walk to view the famous night market, which stretched all the way downtown, and was reputed to be the best in Southeast Asia—there was a dazzling display of silk and cotton fabrics, scarves, sarongs and dresses laid out in stall after stall. The vendors would accost the tourists as they passed by and invite them to inspect their wares, but on the whole there was very little hard sell or importuning. There was some bargaining, but not much compared with what I’ve seen at markets in China.

As we were tired after a day’s travel, we decided to dine in the hotel’s attractive dining room, which had tables outside on a terrace adjacent to the pool. The menu fully exemplified Lao cuisine—one could choose from the French menu or the Lao menu, which included appetizers such as Mrs. Lamphoune Salad (named for the person who designed and decorated the hotel and supervised its renovation) made with green papaya, green mango, fresh herbs, chicken and shrimp. Fried crispy coconut rice and sour pork salad was another starter. And main courses had offerings like steamed lemongrass stalk stuffed with pork and local herbs, steamed Mekong fish in a banana leaf, and fresh shrimp in galangal root and coconut milk. It was as if the cornucopia of vegetables, seafood, herbs and spices drawn from this rich and fertile land were ingeniously and deftly combined in these succulent dishes. And then there were desserts to die for: steamed pumpkin, coconut and pandanus leaf-flavored crème brûlée, and that old French favorite—apple tart with vanilla ice cream.

Before we set out for the day’s sightseeing the next morning we were treated to a scrumptious breakfast, again on the terrace, consisting of a basket of croissants and brioches, accompanied by jams in three delicious flavors: pineapple, tomato and tamarind. The coffee was excellent, Laos being one of the few countries in the region that produces its own coffee.

The Royal Palace Museum

The Royal Palace, now a museum, is a repository of religious and royal artifacts, furniture, paintings and other art objects. The most revered and important object is an 83-cm. pure gold statue called the “Pra Bang” or “Sacred Statue,” of the Buddha, housed until December 2013 in one of the rooms. The city of Luang Prabang is named for this venerated and precious statue, which is inextricably linked to the pride and identity of the people of the city and the country as a whole. It dates from the 14th century, and established the legitimacy of the Lan Xan (Kingdom of a Million Elephants) royal dynasty as Buddhist rulers in 1501 when it was first brought to Luang Prabang by King Visoun. The Pra Bang still resonates powerfully in the hearts and minds of the Lao people today.

The original Palace was built in the traditional Lao style but that was destroyed in 1887 by a splinter group of the Chinese Taiping rebel army called the Black Flag which invaded Luang Prabang from China’s Yunnan Province.

The current Palace building was built in 1904 with brick and teak wood after the French colonized Laos in 1893 and made the Kingdom of Luang Prabang a Protectorate. The building is an amalgam of Lao architectural and French Beaux Arts style. In 1975 when the Communist Pathet Lao came to power, the royal family had to leave the Palace, which was subsequently converted to be the National Museum. The Palace site was initially chosen because it was on the shore of the Mekong River, so that the King could greet visiting dignitaries arriving by boat.

The grounds of the Palace are beautiful, with stunning bougainvillea gracefully framing the entrance on Sisavangvong Street, and majestic Palmyra palms lining the path leading to the main palace building. In one corner of the compound is the Haw Pra Bang, an ornate, glittering chapel with tiered roofs like the wings of a bird (see left). The Pra Bang was moved from the Palace building to this chapel in December 2013. In front of the chapel is one of the many frangipani trees in the compound with white blossoms emitting a sweet and heady fragrance.

Mekong River Cruise

Bright and early the next day, we were taken to the pier to board our boat for the trip to the Pak Ou caves down the Mekong, called the Mother of all Rivers and considered the life-blood of this region. Luang Prabang is a peninsula bordered by the Mekong on the west and a smaller river, the Nam Khan, on the east. Phuong, like many local residents, lives on the other side of the Mekong, and takes the ferry everyday to come to the city center.

Our journey was going to take us along only a short stretch of this mighty river. It has its source in the Tibetan plateau in China, roars southwards through Yunnan Province to mark the border between Laos and Myanmar, then bends east into Laos, reaching the shores of Luang Prabang. After that it turns south again, flowing parallel to the Lao border until it curves east again, to delineate the border with Thailand and forming the southern shore of the capital Vientiane and on southwards, before crossing into eastern Cambodia, and eventually flowing through the rich delta region of southern Vietnam near Ho Chi Minh City into the South China Sea.

In Laos, the Mekong is not only a major thoroughfare for passengers and freight, but also a source of abundant seafood and fertile soil for farming, all of which activities were very much in evidence during our boat trip. Tourists can take 3-day trips on larger and better-equipped boats all the way to the Thai border, and many do. But what struck us most was the scenic beauty of the sculptured, verdant hills flanking this waterway and etched against a clear blue sky. We also noticed the width of the river, so imagine how wide and expansive it would be further downstream!

Pak Ou Caves

“Pak Ou” means the mouth of the Ou River, where it meets the Mekong, so the caves, at that location, are named after it.

Just before reaching the caves, on the opposite shore of the Mekong was an extraordinary sight: rising sheer from the water was a massive karst formation of slate blue rock with a jagged peak, speckled with the green stubble of vegetation, and in the background, a jade green mountain with a flat, “cut-off” top, reminiscent of the unusual rock shapes in Halong Bay, Vietnam. One can see it from the boat from the far distance, but the close-up view is most impressive.

The Pak Ou caves embody the devotion and veneration of worshippers who, during the 19th and 20th centuries, have brought here statues of Buddha of different sizes, materials and styles. As our boat drew near, one could see the caves in the steep limestone cliffs. There is an upper cave above the main cave, but the climb up the stone steps to reach it can be difficult for some. And the large number of visitors crammed into in a small space like this takes away from the overall experience.

Wat Xieng Thong

After lunch at Pak Ou, we returned to town and visited the venerated Xieng Thong temple.

Dating back to the 16th century, Wat Xieng Thong is widely considered the most important and beautiful of the many temples in this city, having been fully renovated in the 60s. The ordination hall has sweeping multi-tiered roofs, each of which is decorated with pairs of elegant finials in the shape of nagas or mythical water serpents. Nagas, a traditional decorative element, have a special significance here, since the temple site is where the Mekong and the Nam Khan meet, as symbolized by the 2 Nagas, which have protective powers.

The entrance to the temple was crafted with gold leaf representations of nagas and floral decorative motifs, topped by a tapering spire or stupa. On two sides of the ornate doorway is fine stencil work, delicately contrasting gold against a dark blue background. Wat Xieng Thong enjoys the added prestige of having been the royal temple until 1975. Coronation ceremonies for Lao kings were performed here, similar to Westminster Abbey in London, where British monarchs have traditionally been crowned.

Behind the ordination hall are three small chapels, with La Chapelle Rouge or the Red Chapel being the most widely known. It has dark red walls studded with mosaics of colored glass, depicting idyllic scenes of village life: elephants in white and blue, villagers farming, riding, chatting with neighbors or worshipping at a shrine. The western exterior wall of the ordination hall has similar colored glass mosaics depicting “The Tree of Life.” The chapel houses an 18th century bronze reclining Buddha.

Monks asking for Alms

On our third day, we were asked to meet Phuong at the hotel lobby at 5:30 in the morning to view a daily occurrence at dawn: monks from temples all over the city walking through the streets asking for alms from the community. During this walk, the head monk from each monastery leads his group, with the youngest novices bringing up the rear. In their saffron robes and carrying metal alms bowls in which devotees place their offerings of sticky rice and other foods, they gave the appearance of ascetic discipline.

According to our guide Phuong, it was common for poor families in the countryside to send their young boys to monasteries in the city to pursue a religious calling and to be schooled, since this was a less expensive way of educating them than through the conventional or formal education system. The novices are allowed to keep their cell phones but only to call their families occasionally.

Phousi Morning Food Market

It was perfectly timed by Phuong—soon after viewing the monks, the food market started to liven up, and it was the biggest and most varied outdoor food market I’ve ever seen. There were many kinds of local fruit, including Dragon Fruit (see left), several kinds of rice, fish of different sizes, slithering eels, masses of green vegetables, mushrooms, peppers, garlic and little packets of food wrapped in pandanus leaf. If you haven’t had breakfast, you can order a bowl of noodle soup or a plate of grilled sausages to eat with a baguette!

The Baci Ceremony

We were then driven to a private home, and led into the living room, where an elaborate marigold pyramid had been placed in the center of a piece of white cloth laid on the floor. Around this centerpiece were gathered women from the community. This is a traditional Lao welcoming and well wishing ceremony for visitors, which has been practiced for hundreds of years. It is intended to enhance or invoke the spirits and protect against misfortunes. One by one, the women proceeded to tie white cotton strings around our wrists, while chanting blessings appropriate to out visit here. Upon completion of the ceremony, we were toasted with Lao whisky and asked to partake of snacks and sweets. It was imperative that the strings stay on our wrists for at least three days.

Dinner at L’Eléphant

That evening, after a full day’s sightseeing, we enjoyed the unique gastronomic experience of excellent French food in the heart of Southeast Asia, at a restaurant called L’Eléphant. We feasted on terrine of venison and duck breast roasted to perfection, and drank a bottle of delicious red wine. The restaurant is in a 60s colonial building with ochre walls and wooden shutters; it has its own garden and a verandah extending from the indoor hall. The polished wood floors, ceiling fans and rattan chairs, together with the balmy tropical night outside, evoked a scene of languor and decadence straight out of a Somerset Maugham book.

Heritage Museum or Villa Xieng Mouane

On our last day, we spent a pleasant hour visiting the Heritage Museum (also known as Villa Xieng Mouane), which can be reached by a quiet, brick-tiled footpath from busy Sisavangvong Road. The museum is in a well-preserved traditional Lao timbered house on stilts, built during the 1900s, and has exhibits of Lao furniture, musical instruments, pottery, wicker baskets and other objects. The house is set in a secluded, charming garden with trees, bamboo and flowering plants. We were shown an informative video about the diverse peoples of Laos.

Traditional Arts and Ethnology Center

Throughout our stay we were keenly aware of the contributions of the many ethnic groups in this area to local and national culture. Housed in a renovated mansion, the TAEC, a private and non-profit museum, is one of the effective means by which the art, heritage and craftsmanship of ethnic minorities are showcased, explained and promoted. The aim is to inform and educate the public but also to stimulate their interest and enlist their support. The Center has permanent exhibitions that help visitors better understand the artistic and cultural traditions of the Akha, Hmong, Tai Lue and Kmhmu. Opening in October 2014 is an exhibition having a broader social context: “Caregivers to Culture Keepers: Stories from Women in a Changing Laos.” A past exhibition had this fascinating theme: “From Courtship to Kinship: Wedding Celebrations of Laos’s Ethnic Groups.” We were very impressed with the way the exhibitions were curated and were delighted to purchase some of the beautiful handmade textiles in the museum shop. The Center provides loans, training and market information to its artisans. And, to enhance the total experience, visitors can stop at the museum’s Le Patio Café for a cup of coffee and read relevant books from its library.

Lunch at the Coconut Garden

We ended our stay very pleasantly at an attractive restaurant on Sisavangvong Road called the Coconut Garden, which has the same management as L’Eléphant. We would have sat outside, but the dark clouds looked threatening, so we settled for a table in the upstairs dining room, which had open French windows, and a view of the courtyard and the street. I had delicious steamed chicken with herbs wrapped in a pandanus leaf, and Margaret and I shared a large bottle of Beer Lao, which we found thirst quenching after the morning’s sightseeing.

It was here that Phuong formally said goodbye to us, before taking us to the airport. We resolved to return to this gem of a city, and to spend more time savoring its ambience, wandering down its quiet lanes and alleys, and sampling food at the many eateries and bakeries in a leisurely manner. Luang Prabang has a powerful allure, and exploring it would no doubt be a delightful and endless process of discovery.

Jeffrey Tao

December 2014