The saying goes that if the hard-working Vietnamese sew the rice, Cambodia's creative types would plant it in pretty rows, while their relaxed Laotian neighbours watch it grow. And nowhere is this south-east Asian stereotype truer than in Laos.

From lazy trips down the Mekong to sipping green tea against the backdrop of crumbling post-French grandeur in Luang Prabang, this rural gem of a country offers you the chance to step back and unwind on an active holiday with a supremely laid-back twist... more

Cross the Mekong from Chiang Khong in northern Thailand to Huay Xai and you can get a two-week visa on arrival, or you can arrange a month's stay before you leave Thailand. It will be two days on the slow boat with an overnight stop before you reach Luang Prabang, but well worth the effort. What this journey lacks in comfort - more than you can imagine - it certainly makes up for in scenery. Moody grey-brown waters carry you relentlessly forward through Laos' green hills.

However, if you would rather reach Laos in more comfort, a flight from Bangkok is the easiest way. Thai Airways and Lao Airlines will get you to the capital Vientiane in little over an hour.

It is hard to imagine a town more perfect than Luang Prabang. The elegant simplicity of the Buddhist temples stand in stark contrast to their golden counterparts in Thailand or India, and the crumbling opulence of the French era leaves a stylish atmosphere you will struggle to find elsewhere in Asia. Foodies should head down to the river where there is a great BBQ joint. Be bold, for this is the place to try buffalo, chicken's feet and all manner of insect-related delicacies.

The breathtaking Kuang Si waterfalls are about 40 minutes drive south of town and you can get a lift with a tour guide. Threeland Travel are most helpful, or alternatively you can take a local tuk-tuk at break-neck speed down a dirt track road to this postcard from paradise.

After a surreal walk through a mini zoo, you will find perfect blue-green lagoons for swimming and several tiers of waterfalls to play with. If you fancy yourself as a Herbal Essences lady, then test your endurance under one of the falls - you will not last long.

From Luang Prabang let the adventure take you to Phonsavanh and the plain of jars. The clue is in the name here and you can expect hundreds and hundreds of huge stone jars of disputed origin. Some believe they were used as burial sites, others that they were used to store rice wine - something of a national obsession.

Having tried this potent spirit, you may not want to imagine a container this size full of it, particularly since your guide is likely to have offered up a swig at breakfast time. You should note that a tour guide is needed for this trip and you should not stray from marked paths as Uncle Sam bombed the area heavily during the Vietnam War leaving a disastrous amount of unexploded ordnance as his legacy. Stone Henge this is not, but it is well worth a look.

From Phonsavanh, whether your active holiday takes you south to the 4,000 islands of Si Phan Don or west to the limestone peaks of Vang Vieng, count on two things: the omnipresent Mekong and natural treasures untold.

For more information on visiting Laos see the official Laos tourism website and the travelbite country guide.

Amy Morris
Source: www.travelbite.co.uk

Photo: Kayak in Vang vieng, Laos.

(KPL) Tourism sector attracted over 1.2 million tourists last year, increased by 11% from the year before.

President of National Tourism Administration, Mr Somphong Mongkhonvilay said “2006 was another year the tourism sector has kept its constant growth.”
Last year, the revenue raised by tourism sector was US$ 173.2 million, equivalent to five percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).
Forty-five tour companies were registered last year, while the number of guesthouses and hotels was increased by 17%. There are over 2,100 guesthouses and hotels nationwide.

“The constant growth of tourism sector in the recent years is due to the certain tourism promotion policy of the government,” said Mr Somphong. “The government has invested in the development of tourism infrastructure such as airports and roads accessing provinces and neighbouring countries. In addition basic facilities have been built to meet the demand of tourists.”
Laos has exempted visas for visitors from eight ASEAN member countries, and a non ASEAN country Japan.

LUANG PRABANG, Laos : World heritage status has turned the former Lao capital from a ghost town into a tourism hub, but too much of a good thing could soon prove the kiss of death, say experts and residents.

In recent years a trickle of backpackers has turned into a flood of tourists coming to the sleepy town of glistening Buddhist temples and palm shaded French colonial mansions sitting pretty on a Mekong river peninsula.

Camera-toting visitors now follow saffron-robed monks on their morning alms rounds and foreigners are transforming quiet neighbourhoods into rows of cafes and hotels, say those who worry about the town's fragile beauty.

"People are surprised at the pace of change," said Francis Engelmann, a former UNESCO advisor and current resident of Luang Prabang. "There are more cars, there is more noise. Behind my house three new guesthouses are going up." ... more info

The 700-year-old town, seen as the jewel of ancient Lao heritage, threatens to turn into "a mono-industry where everything depends on tourism," he warned.

By the standards of many Asian tourist sites, Luang Prabang retains much of the tranquil charm that led the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to list it as a world heritage site in 1995.

Nestled below lush hills between the Mekong and Khan rivers, it was once the capital of the Lan Xang kingdom, the Land of One Million Elephants, and remained the spiritual and religious centre of Laos in the centuries since.

The town's fortunes took a dive during the Vietnam War, when US forces fought communist troops in Laos, and in the post-war years from 1975 when the new socialist regime shuttered most of the country's Buddhist temples.

From the late 1980s a few hundred intrepid travellers per year returned to Luang Prabang as Laos re-opened to the outside world, but the years of neglect had taken a heavy toll on Luang Prabang's former royal beauty.

"When I first came here in 1988-89, it was a ghost town," said Engelmann.

"There were only old people and it was a sad place, like a town after an epidemic. Everything was closed and roofs were caving in. The young people were all in Vientiane. Now they have all come back."

World heritage status has placed Luang Prabang firmly on Indochina's tourism map alongside UNESCO-listed sites such as the Angkor Wat temples of Cambodia and the karst islands of Halong Bay in Vietnam.

The UN body imposed strict preservation guidelines, which banned demolitions within the heritage zone and mandated the use of local materials for repairs, overseen by the local Heritage House foundation.

In 2000 UNESCO launched the Monk Project, in which elder craftsmen passed on skills such as wood-carving, mural painting and lacquerwork to young Buddhist monks to maintain the authenticity of temples here and across Laos.

By 2003, the tourism boom was bringing 600,000 visitors a year, says UNESCO, as guesthouses, riverside restaurants and handicraft shops mushroomed, increasing the strain on the town's electricity, water, sewage and garbage services.

The UN cultural agency warned in a 2004 report that development pressure had placed "critical stress on both the environment and the historic cultural resources of Luang Prabang and threatens to overwhelm them".

It warned of a future where "billboards dominate the landscape, where the sound of tour buses drowns out the soft temple prayers, and where the town's residents are reduced to the roles of bit-players in a cultural theme park".

"Today business is good," said Gilles Vautrin, a seven-year resident and owner of several restaurants here. "But the quality of life is not so nice anymore. It's faster and faster and there is more noise."

Vautrin said tourists wearing shorts now crowd out many of the 34 temples that are the core of the town's spiritual heritage and which have always been financed by the Lao residents, some of whom are now leaving town.

"It's become a falang city," he said, using the Lao word for foreigner.

"Many falangs rent houses for 30 years, but who's going to give food to the monks now? The alms-giving round is more like a show, like theatre. The Lao people don't say anything, but I think they don't like it."

He added: "Now the problem is the mass tourism. We're worried about the impact of large Chinese tour groups coming down the Mekong River.

"I think one day the monks will disappear to another retreat, and then we'll lose a lot. The spirit of the town will disappear."

Engelmann agreed that tourism has been a double-edged sword here.

"If you ask businessmen, they'll say it's fuelling business," he said.

"If you ask environmentalists, they'll say it's destructive. If you ask locals, they may say it's bringing jobs, but also driving up prices."

UNESCO listing, he said, "has been good for the 'hardware' - the architecture - but not the 'software' - the people, the monks, the rituals." - AFP/ch

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com