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Tag Archives: Laos
A Faded Image Where The Land Lies Wild
Sunlight slants through verdant jungle and illuminates a simple white painted tomb on a hillside overlooking the Nam Khan River. Someone has hacked back the growth to open a view of the smooth brown waters, but vines are encroaching yet again. A square brass plaque, tarnished by constant moisture, reads simply “Henri Mouhot 1826-1861″.
Mouhot is credited with “re-discovering” the ruins of Angkor Wat and with popularizing them in the West. His 1858 to 1860 expedition, chronicled in Travels in Siam, Cambodia and Laos, ended with his death at age 35. In that very same spot on the riverbank 7km outside of Luang Prabang, Laos, he scratched out his final fever-ravaged journal entry: “Have pity on me, oh my God!“
Posted in Asia, Travel stories
Tagged asia, Henri Mouhot, Laos, Ryan Murdock, travel, travel stories, travel writing, vagabond dreams
2 Comments
Two Postcards from Laos
Laos is a jungle country of rural villages with wooden stilt houses and smoky cooking fires. Karst hills obstruct the journey, jutting up like horribly broken teeth, unbrushed and moss-covered. Distances are not great, but winding roads make journeys into marathons. The highway between Vientiane and Luang Prabang is like a footpath that–over time and purely by default–became a highway. Modernization goes no further than the edges of the pavement.