Laos - Liebe zur Erde

Laos

Fascinating scenery , wonderful temples, tourist ghettos and introvert residents ...

There is a saying that says the Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians harvest it , the Thais sell the rice and the Laotians sit in the fields and listen how the rice grows . This picture describes well how quiet and withdrawn this small nation of not even 8 million people live in this from the Mekong and his tributaries coined, mostly mountainous landscape . Whether one looks in a cruise on the Mekong to Thai or Laotian territory on the west side - you can recognize it in the reaction of the most agriculturally active population: the Laotians hear the boat - and keep on working . Only when the boat passed , they take a brief look back (even in very remote areas, where there is little boat traffic, it is like that ) . The Thai people hear the boat , let their work go , straighten up and look curiously after the boat.















In Luang Prabang , the city of the 1000 Temples and up to 1975 the Kings Capital , the architecture of the temples and the kings buildings reflects an element that gives me the impression: the culture flows directly from the sky over the rooftops down to the earth: and all these temples , even the former Royal Palace, maintain a human scale and do not increase in size or height ! And every Laotian spends at least once in his life a few weeks as a monk and a novice in the temple.



For 15 years, I try to come to this country . Now that I am finally here, I realize that I am almost 10 years too late. The land of the Mekong , untouched by time, hustle and traditions in which the quiet life plays like hundreds of years ago - at least in the northern part of the country is this ancient element dying out . The gold rush that started with the incoming tourists, has fully grasped the places. From the north Chinese businessmen are urging in and cause a kind os "Tabula Raza process" with everything that grows. They transform the virgin , enchanted misty rain or monsun forests in rubber tree plantations after taking the timber away first ( http://www.laolandissues.org/2011/09/16/limits-set-on- future- rubber- plantations -in- laos / ).

And the people ? They are quiet as ever . But I have rarely seen so reserved and shy people who would do on the one hand everything for the stranger, the falang , to help - and yet remain true to theirself, do not mix , do not really encounter. Especially foreigners living in the country here can tell how they simply do not form friendships or closeness in the contact. This is reflected not only in the facial expression, for example, from the many people at the festival of lights of the boats, but I found it also in the way of sacred sculptures.

  


Unfortunately, we have to limit our travel and impressions on the north of the country. In Luang Prabang I experience the festival of lights of the boats, the temples and do suffer me through the tourist ghetto, to which the Laotians have made the old part of the former royal city. They theirselves can be seen only as a kind of extra:  as a restaurant owner, behind the counters of the shops or the agencies.

Wonderful boat trips on the tributaries of the Mekong: in simple longboats , they go partly without a roof and with me as the only tourist, I get an impression of the original wild beauty of the mountains and their original forests in the north and experience the life of the people there.



A visit to the Nam Tha National Park shows a strange silence of the animal world - there are still animals? Not even birds sing. More on the relevant page , when it is ready.









The most beautiful thing is a day with a local tour guide in the villages around the National Park. I have never encountered a country where I could not manage to get in contact with the people myself and without help - but here it is. My companion now goes ahead, careful questioning, and the ice is melting - slowly. The pictures which I may take after this are among the most beautiful that I have made: these people , especially the elderly - are SO nice that it especially touched me to be able to experience that. My special greeting goes to this 98 years old man who has managed to be almost twice as old, as his fellow countrymen on average get! Read more on the side of the village life -

of course, all this under the options that I already had the time to finished the pages. Other wise visit the German section of this website and see, if there in more. Top left of the page menu , it goes to the individual contributions.