The historical symbol of Laos gets a brighter future. In a tangled teak forest, a short drive from Luang Prabang, I cross a cold mountain stream behind a giant matriarch elephant and a trailing tot. Majestic Mahn leads the way through trickling water ahead of three-year-old baby Kit. I pinch...
Quality comes first at the Meuang Nong banana plantation. In Meuang Nong, banana plants sprawl as far as the eye can see, leafy and vibrant green, until they meet with the wild shrubbery of surrounding mountains. In the fields, one planter gingerly inspects a comb while another diligently takes...
During the three-month period of Buddhist Lent, monsoon rains have swollen the rivers, allowing mythical water serpents, known as Nagas, to swim into the irrigated paddies. As the Lao wait for their rice to grow, they organize longboat races between neighboring villages in an attempt to lure...
A Lao clay artist makes his mark as he molds his future. Saturday evening at i:cat, a small gallery in central Vientiane. Visitors siphon into an upstairs screening room. Projected inside, a herd of colored buffalo, cheerfully rendered in clay animation, circle around a barren white plane. At...
Annabelle Cafe brings a certain je ne sais quoi to Vientiane’s dining scene. When Vientiane’s second branch of Annabelle, a French bakery and patisserie, opened earlier this year, the restaurant’s management planned to limit the first week’s customers to family and friends, choosing not to...
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