Long before we got to Luang Prabang, in the north of the country, we met two French girls who had just come back. When we asked them to tell us about it they answered, "It’s like a good film that just can’t be told". This is the best description of the place I have ever read or been able to write.

Like a great film you get lost in it totally. You believe its story line and are swept along in its music; every turn of events is right, magical and exactly as it is supposed to be. The lighting is sublime in that it sublimates reality: stones and plants take on an inner life of their own. And the backdrop! The stage settings! Temples as old as earth stand in testimony to man’s highest yearning. Like Esphahan in Iran we were dazzled by the sober repetition of the sacred. Here there are not two or three temples, but a myriad of temples; a community of temples, a planet populated by temples.

Thanks to history and geography, strategy and tactics, Luang Prabang was an important city for the masters of the French Empire. Between temples there are delicious French provincial homes of white plaster set in darling gardens. Most of the streets are unpaved and I hope they stay that way forever. All of Luang Prabang is tiny, built as it is on a small peninsula between the Mekong and the Nam Khan. Yet even this tiny space has a mountain in it and the city is surrounded by mountains which sweep cool air down at night giving relief from the heat of the day.

The happiest are the children who have this film as a life. They run between the temples and between the animals grazing on the streets, their play is on ancient walls and their friends are ancient monks. Theirs is a childhood of enchantment, of wonder.

For once somebody in the United Nations has had a great idea. The UNESCO has named Luang Prabang a World Heritage site which means that no two stones can be erected there without prior approval by a committee of architects. The UNESCO also funds restoration work on the older buildings. This is one of the most optimistic uses of money we have seen in a long time.

A word about the photos on the site. The light in Luang Prabang is very intense and ours is a sorry digital camera. The nicest time of day to wonder around is in the late afternoon, but most of the temples are built facing East so it is impossible to get a good shot of the front. The early evening is pure magic. The monks are in prayer, and when the prayer is over they spill out into their monasteries and take advantage of the evening cool to clean the flag stones of the court yards or just sit around enjoying tea.

Unfortunately, we are disappointed by our pictures because they don’t convey the atmosphere we experienced.



Mair