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The day begins in darkness, lit only by street lamps. As dawn breaks, a pale blue light reveals a silent line of orange-robed monks moving through the streets of the Lao city of Luang Prabang.
The city is located on a narrow peninsula between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, about 300 kilometers (186 mi) north of the capital, Vientiane. It was once the seat of the Lan Xang Empire and is now UNESCO World Heritage City.
The faint sound of bare feet touching stone during the morning Tak Balla in Luang Prabang, the daily alms ritual that remains central to life here.
Thailand, despite sharing a border with Vietnam, cambodia And myanmarLaos maintains a distinctive cultural atmosphere.
The soft greeting of “Sabaidi”, often performed by pressing the palms together, is accompanied by a small smile, which is naturally offered to strangers and neighbors alike.
At the morning market, shops are filled with fresh vegetables, herbs and local meat and fish.
Between 1964 and 1973, during the US-led “Secret War”, more than 2 million tons of ordnance were dropped on Laos, making it the most heavily bombed country per capita in modern history according to the Lao government. An estimated one-third of those bombs failed to detonate.
Decades later, unexploded ordnance still lies beneath farmland and villages, limiting agriculture and shaping the spaces where communities can live and build.
The surviving city is defined not only by temples and French colonial facades, but also by routine.
In predominantly Theravada Buddhist society, many boys from rural areas enter monasteries as novice monks. They receive education, food and accommodation, studying Buddhist scriptures as well as modern school subjects.
In the evening, the chants of young monks echo through the streets near Wat Zieng Thong Monastery.
TourismAgriculture and handicrafts sustain the local economy.
The afternoon sees travelers and locals climb Mount Fauci, a small hill in the center of the city, to watch the sun rise over the Mekong.
Time moves slowly in Luang Prabang, where it’s easy to surrender to the rhythm of the city and disconnect from the digital world without even trying.
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This is a photo gallery curated by AP Photo editors.