Word: prabang
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...likely have been questioned and, after pressure was applied by foreign embassies and rights groups, released?albeit relieved of their notebooks and film. This, however, is Laos?a country that seems on the surface to be laid-back and peaceful. On the popular tourist trail between Vientiane and Luang Prabang, charming guesthouses serve fresh baguettes and coffee and offer unrestricted Internet access. Some journalists and diplomats have in the past dubbed the country's doddering apparatchiks "merry Marxists." Yet in reality, Laos has a long history of abusing human rights and ranks among Asia's most repressive states...
...They appear to have succeeded, producing the most deadly assault in Laos involving foreign victims since 1997, when five people, including a French tour operator, were gunned down on the same road: Route 13, a well-traveled thoroughfare that connects Vientiane, the capital in the south, to Luang Prabang, the former capital in the north. Foreign embassies in Laos had previously issued travel warnings based on fears of bandit attacks. Recently, however, those warnings were downgraded, and Route 13 was deemed safe...
This month Bangkok Airways is launching its Mekong World Heritage Tour, linking Sukhothai with the unesco-listed sites of Luang Prabang in Laos, the ancient Vietnamese capital of Hue and the Khmer ruins of Angkor in Cambodia. Travelers can visit all four sites in eight days for about $1,000 including hotels. Or they can purchase individual flights for a customized itinerary. Says Prasarttong-Osoth: "Even those traveling for a short time will be able to get an understanding of this area's incredible history." And get a taste of incredible Bangkok Airways...
BOOKS ON TAP Don't be fooled by the pretentious name?L'estranger Literary Salon is Luang Prabang's coolest bar, perched on the second floor of a gorgeous teakwood shophouse overlooking the Nam Khan river in Thanon Kingkitsalat. Paper lanterns cast a gentle glow over cushions scattered invitingly about the polished wooden floor, as a mix of funk and trip-hoppy sounds filter from the speakers. Marvel at the collection of old National Geographics lining the upstairs walls or browse in the secondhand bookshop downstairs...
...watch him work. Banging hammers, hissing flames and puffing bellows greet visitors to his studio, as Thithpheng and his apprentices turn lumps of silver into intricately patterned bowls, goblets, knives, ceremonial swords and jewelry. "My work symbolizes life and Lao culture," says Thithpheng. You can find him in Luang Prabang's silversmith precinct, off Thanon Chao Fa Ngum...