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Penang button The Road to Luang Prabang

The dream city

Smiles

Luang Prabang can be reached by air, bus or boat, but the five of us had driven from Penang, and we decide to continue our journey in the vehicle that had brought us to this very friendly country.  We leave Ventiane and head for the cultural centre of the Laotian people, which lies northeast of the capital.  Luang Prabang is 367 km away and we follow Route 13 which is helpfully marked by regular milestones.

After a few hours driving someone wants to go to the loo. We stop at a stall along a lonely road. We smile at the woman and her daughter and say "suam?". More smiles. The daughter, who is blessed with sparkling eyes,  hands me a glass of water in a welcoming gesture. One by one we head for the back of the house which obviously belong to the mother. As in Thailand, the lavatory is very clean and supplied with a good flow of water. "Suam" (loo) is a useful word to remember when travelling these parts.

We notice the heavy western style sofa and arm chairs which occupy the front of the house;  a TV set forms the boundary between the front and the highly polished floor of rear portion of the house; a large mattress on the floor indicates that this is the bedroom.  I notice that as in other houses we have seen there are no fruit trees as is the habit at home where householders are sure to have rambutan or jambu or mango or lanka in the garden and I tell myself that next time I visit I will bring rambutan and jambu plants to this warm and friendly family. We are told that if we stop at a house and the family is having a meal they will invite you a stranger to eat with them.

We say thank you and goodbye pressing our palms together in traditional manner and drive on. Soon we are crawling up the mountain range several thousand feet up through Hmong territory. It is the rainy season, and in some parts the road has been destroyed by landslides. We bump and slide through the mud and stones, praying our tyres will not give way under the strain. We pass little kids carrying water in small containers from the hill streams as well as bundles of sticks and whatever else they have been told to gather. They do not even cast a glance at us.  Huts along the ridges of the hills are windowless and remind us of the Orang Asli.


A postcard picture

At one of the highest points of the road we are surprised to see a large bus and lorry station. We see one or two "Guesthouse" signs, a sure indication of a tourist presence. We are told some come here to smoke pot, which is freely available. Downhill we negotiate the dangrous corners with caution, having been warned by the sight of a wrecked car, its side torn off. At last, we come to a crossroad and, turning right, find ourselves in Luang Prabang.

Temple, Luang Prabang

It is a dream town, sitting pretty like a postcard picture. Serene and withdrawn and without the advertisements and grossness that shouts at you from hoardings in Georgetown. This ancient capital city of the Lan Xang kingdom was made between the 14th and 20th centuries; astonishingly, the blend of architectures manages to avoid the calamity of harsh and jarring contrasts.  Some 32 temples going back half a millennium, old Lao architecture and French colonial structures coexist peacefully and in tranquility.  In the words of a UN report: " .. Luang Prabang represents, to an exceptional extent, the successful fusion of the traditional architectural and urban structures and those of the European colonial rulers of the 19th and 20th centuries.  Its unique townscape is remarkably well preserved, illustrating a key stage in the blending of two distinct cultural traditions."

 Luang Prabang  derives its name from the gold image of the Buddha, the Prabang. This graceful city stands on the confluence of the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers 700 m above sea level. The Mekong is an added attraction because boat trips are organised along its great length.   The town offers  very good coffee, French bread as well as local and French food.

Unesco pronounced Luang Prabang "the best preserved city in South-East Asia and in 1995 put the city on the World Heritage list. This was because the town had fulfilled three conditions of Unesco to qualify for listing:

 Condition (ii): exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design

Condition (iv): be an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history

Condition (v): be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement or land-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change

 We have to confess to viewing the well kept temples, the heritage treasures of Luang Prabang with some envy. We would be happy to see George Town liberated from its loud and cheap advertisement signboards; we would be glad to see it saved before the Acheen Street area is destroyed by "development". #

Lim Kean Chye

Photo by John Borthwick - lonely planet


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The Penang File Issue 24