After two days on the Mekong river, traveling from the Thailand border through the small village of Pak Beng, our photo tour group has now arrived in Luang Prabang. The city name of Luang Prabang literally means: “Royal Buddha Image it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in north central Laos, where the Nam Khan river meets the Mekong River about 425 kilometers (264 mi) north of Vientiane. It is the capital of Luang Prabang Province. The current population of the city is about 103,000.
The city was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the same name. Until the communist takeover in 1975, it was the royal capital and seat of government of the Kingdom of Laos.
The main part of the city consists of four main roads located on a peninsula between the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers. The city is well known for its numerous Buddhist temples and monasteries. Every morning, hundreds of monks from the various monasteries walk through the streets collecting alms, which is precisely why we are here…to photograph this amazing spectacle!
We did a walking tour of the main sights of Luang Prabang, including many temples, monasteries and Buddhist schools, like the one above and below, where we were able to photograph the monks studying.
But Luang Prabang also has many other wonderful photo opportunities, including the nearby Beautiful Tat Kuang Si waterfalls, which is approximately 30 km south of the centre of Luang Prabang.
To do it best, one needs a tripod to steady the camera for the long exposures needed to make the water look “silky”, but even without a tripod, getting good images is possible. I shot the above image hand held at 1/8 of a second.
Hi Karl,
I hope you encourage your group to be respectful while photographing the monks collecting alms. From memory of the time I was there, the custom is to keep your head lower than those of the monks. It looks like your photo was taken from a low down position, but you can see someone in the background standing up with camera poised.
There were some signs up in our hotel that were giving the tourists advice on what to do/not to do, with photos of monks with swarms of tourists standing all around them, cameras glued to their faces. It’s hard to look at that picture and not feel sad to see it happening, and at least on my part a bit of shame that we can often be unintentionally thoughtless while on holidays in foreign places.
For what it’s worth, the advice of our hotel was not to give food if it doesn’t mean anything to you (ie giving food isn’t meant to be a tourist novelty), to keep to the side of the road with the locals, keep a respectful distance, keep your head below the monks while they’re around (basically sit/kneel/squat). It’s not just for the monks, but for the locals that actually participate in the ceremony for more heartfelt reasons.
My girlfriend and I sat on the gutter of a quiet back street with a few ladies, and talked to them a little during gaps in the procession, and asked them if we could take a few photos. We ended up just using our little compact camera, and probably took around 20 photos. No doubt we didn’t get photos as good as we could have, but I hope we kept our presence there undistracting. It did feel like a privilege for us to be able to observe the ceremony.
Anyway, this wasn’t meant as a criticism. I hope you’re able to use your role as leader to educate people about small things on how to fit in with the local customs a bit better. I don’t think western tourists mean disrespect, but we’re often not thoughtful of what our impact is on foreign cultures, especially in places with a small population.
Thanks for bringing back memories! We loved our time in Laos.
Hi Karl,
I see you are back on the road again. I love the image of the monks studying. The backlight on their faces separates them from the background. It is a very intimate looking image. I wish you all the best. Have a wonderful voyage. I will be following your blog. I’ll be «virtually» on the road with you!
Hey Karl,
I’m sure you will have a great time in Luang Prabang!
It’s a shame we haven’t been able to meet in Cambodia or Laos during this trip, as we were there one month earlier.
Hope you found some time meanwhile to check out my blog (http://travel2photograph.wordpress.com/).
I posted an article about Luang Prabang on the 29th of January.
I really love your photography.
Keep up the good work!
Grtz,
Danny
Hi Karl – great shot on the water…can’t say I have hand held anything decent @ 1/8th!
Let me know if you want me to tweak a few things on the blog – like the light grey response names against the background…I’ll be happy to..
– Rob
Hi Rob,
Thanks man, I will contact you when I get back…I would love to have you tweak the blog a bit.
Cheers,
Karl