Far From The Madding Crowd

Escape to a land that time forgot and explore the charming French colonial town of Luang Prabang in Laos.

- Kenneth Goh

It’s five o’clock in the morning and I am up in the ancient royal capital of Laos to give alms to the monks. Surrounded by mountains, Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed town that’s resplendent with Buddhist temples, crumbling French colonial architecture and the remnants of royal Laotian culture dating back to the 14th century. As the sun begins to rise from the jungle, barefoot monks step onto the streets with brass alms bowls in shoulder slings to collect their meal for the day. This tradition began centuries ago, and has outlasted every political upheaval in Laos’ history, surviving colonisation, civil war and the current communist regime.