Luang Prabang is a World Heritage Site, and the second-biggest town in Laos–population 30,000. (Vientiane, the capital, has about 300,000 people.) It’s full of small boutique-y tourist shops, beautiful temples, and the gorgeous scenery everywhere in Laos.
Wat's that? Yep, another wat (temple) ...this was quite a pretty one.
Monks praying in a wat. Laos, like Thailand, is mostly Theravada Buddhist.
The Night Market, where various vendors sell gorgeous Lao weaving, quilting, saa-paper lanterns (left), knives, knicknacks, and, well, stuff. (They also sell all kinds of food...I ate my roasted rat here.)
Closeup of one of the textiles.
I started giggling uncontrollably when I saw this. It's the "Office for Protection of Foreigners".
Some forms of transportation in Laos. This is a tuktuk, or three-wheeled cart.
And this is a cyclo-rickshaw...
And this is a midrange songtao, or pickup-taxi. These can be anything from the microvan here, to minivans, to actual pickup trucks, or glorified golf carts.
Knives being forged by hand. Here the blacksmith hammers away at a blade...
...and here are some of his helpers. Cute as the dickens, aren't they?
A young child pumping the bellows. He was quite gleeful about it, in classic four-year-old form...
Completely gratuitous...here is a piece of elephant jawbone, on sale in Luang Prabang. I'd have bought it, except for CITES regulations...it had fascinating crenellations.
