Two days in Luang Prabang

December 5, 2016

I'm staying at the Suan Keo Guest House, in the town center area. It's 100,000 kip per night. Before I let you wonder about my budget, I'll note that the Lao currency, the kip, uses too many zeroes. The 100,000 kip is about US$12.

I happened to arrive, without planning, during the Luang Prabang Film Festival, which celebrates films from SE Asia. I took advantage of the festival and watched several films, as well as seeing some sights around the town.

Luang Prabang Film Festival, daytime screening room at the Sofitel.

The night market, seen from low on Phou So mountain.

The Lao temples, or Vats, have a lot of paintings on the walls. It would be interesting to hear the stories!

UXO is unexploded ordinance, mostly "bombies" from cluster bombs dropped during the 2nd Indochinese War, what we call the Vietnam War.

The US dropped nearly 3 million tons off bombs on Laos. At the time, the population was 3 million people. A ton of explosives per person! About 30% failed when dropped, leading to the big UXO problem.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. There were only a handful of people watching, all foreigners.

Goodbye Luang Prabang. Dinnertime sunset from a riverside restaurant.

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