1 February, 2024

Today was our first full day in Luang Prabang (also spelled Louangphrabang), a UNESCO World Heritage site. Each of the countries we are traveling to requires that tour guides be local, so we met our Lao guide, Mr Le at the hotel before heading out. (Our main guide from G Adventures, Tom Tom, is Thai and will be with us for the entire trip).

Mr. Le showed us the Royal Palace where the royal family lived from 1904, during the French colonial period, to 1975, when the Laotian War came to an end and the communist-led Pathet Lao took control over the country.

During the Vietnam War, which is referred to here as the American War, the CIA led a covert operation to stop the Pathet Lao and interrupt the flow of communist supply routes to Vietnam. As part of this operation, there were more bombs dropped on Laos than all of the bombs in WWII combined, killing one-tenth of the population or about 200,000 people. (Later note: Operation Barrel Roll started in 1964 and “by 1975, one-tenth of the population of Laos, or 200,000 civilians and members of the military, were dead.” – Why Laos Has Been Bombed More Than Any Other Country, History.com).

To this day, Laos remains the most heavily bombed country in the world. An estimated 30%, or about 80,000, of the bombs did not explode upon impact. These have killed or maimed about 20,000 Laos citizens. (Later note: “Since 1964, more than 50,000 Lao have been killed or injured by U.S. bombs, 98 percent of them civilians. An estimated 30 percent of the bombs dropped on Laos failed to explode upon impact, and in the years since the bombing ended, 20,000 people have been killed or maimed by the estimated 80 million bombs left behind.” – Why Laos Has Been Bombed More Than Any Other Country, History.com).

The Royal Palace was followed by Wat Xiengthong, a 16th-century temple. In 1887, bandits of the Black Flag army (Chinese) ransacked many of the temples across Laos so Wat Xiengthong is also one of the oldest surviving temples in Luang Prabang.

Like many of the walls inside the Grand Palace, the walls of the temple and surrounding buildings had beautiful mosaic designs using tiles from Japan. 

This chariot, located in one of the smaller buildings next to the temple, was used to carry the coffin to the cremation yard and then carry the ashes back when someone in the royal family passed away. The three large urns contain the ashes of the last king to hold the throne, his wife, and his mother.

We stopped at a French cafe for sandwiches to take on our river cruise on the Mekong to the Pak ou caves. We have noticed more French food and French people here due to the French colonial period in Laos, which extended from 1893-1953.

The Mekong is the 12th longest river in the world, stretching 3,050 miles. The cruise was lovely and at least half of the group napped at one point.

While we weren’t all that impressed with the caves themselves, the cruise was a nice way to get a glimpse of life on the river for some of the Lao people.

We had a little time to rest at the hotel before going to dinner with Mike and Linda from Vancouver and Bill and Joanne from Calgary. We chose a place that our guide wanted to take us last night but was booked, and it was truly excellent.

Lots of love,

Sarah and Spenser