Photos

Luang Prabang is a place of mists and temples in the mountains of central Laos. It was one of the last pristine remnants of traditional culture, a Mecca for Theravada Buddhism, a heaven for monks...

It is 6 in the morning. The monks are doing an alms-round and people in town come out to the street and wait for the monks. Luang Prabang has approximately 16,000 people and around 1200 monks, almost 10% of the total population. The alms processions of Buddhist monks take place every day.

But as the sky grows light, it is no longer the quiet footfalls of Buddhist monks that herald the day but the jostling and chattering of hundreds of tourists who have come to watch them.

“Here they come! Here they come!” a tour guide cries over his loudspeaker. “Hurry! Hurry!”

The monks appear, a column of bright orange robes as far as the eye can see, walking quickly and silently with their begging bowls. The tourists cluster around them with their cameras.

Luang Prabang has saved itself from modern development by selling itself to tourists. O, preservation's paradox!

But there is hope. Posters and leaflets are increasing tourist awareness. They politely ask them
- NOT the disturb the monks' lines,
- NOT to take photos in the monks' faces,
- NOT to use flashes and
- NOT to stand looking down.

Also the UNESCO has warned Luang Prabang to stop building hotels or they might reconsider its World Heritage status. Trop is enough!

So, this picture was taken in full awareness of all this and amidst lots of ambiguity, not in the town's main street, but a bit further afield, where there was only one other tourist taking pictures.

The silent walking of the monks was one of the most impressive sights I've ever witnessed, but I was struggling with mixed feelings. Wasn't I just expanding the tourist area? And even when done as respectfully as possible, I was still another tourist taking pictures.

And then I post the image on TrekEarth, because I like the result, because I like the ghostlike, yet colourful apparition of the walking monks and I want to share the beauty of the image, but won't images like this one attract even more tourists taking pictures?

And I realise that, after all, I am a tourist complaining about tourism. O, curiosity's paradox.

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Thanks for reading my unusually long note.

For more on this, I recommend "Tourism saves Laotian city but saps its buddhist spirit", on http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/world/asia/15laos.html. An abstract of this excellent article is uploaded in the WS.