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TRAVEL
MEKONG
KINGDOMS
Cruising Laos in style. TEXT BY CLAIRE BOOBBYER PHOTOGRAPHS BY MEKONG KINGDOMS MORE INFO For more info or bookings visit mekongkingdoms.com GETTING THERE Lao Airlines has daily flights to Luang Prabang from Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Hanoi, Vientiane, and Siem Reap.
M
ist wreathed the mountain tops like candy floss beards as we pulled away from the riverbank below the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang one late-year morning. The Monsoon, one of an elegant couple of boats from Mekong Kingdoms’ flotilla, nosed out into the Mekong flow as we headed on our downstream journey. We settled into the ample day beds, all taupe bases with lime green dividers and cushions colored in pops of tangerine, rose pink, and sunflower yellow. At
35 meters long, she’s a lean beauty, and fitted with huge, deep rectangular window frames for panoramic views and watching life on the river. Looking back to the ancient former royal capital we spied the crowded glossy greenery which provides cover for temples and monks and shophouses and dreamy hotels but caught glimpses of raised roofs and stupas as our distance from the city grew. The golden glint of the stupa on Mount Phousi flashed in the morning sunlight like a lighthouse emitting signals to the faithful. As the Luang Prabang peninsula disappeared from sight, and evidence of the taming of land and jungle for human life vanished, the river grew wider and its banks grew wilder. Towering chiseled limestone
