"Laos, discreet and seductive pearl of the Indochinese peninsula" Lecture by Edmond Debouny

Le Laos is unquestionably less known than some of its neighbors: China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma)... but, like a jewel box, it jealously protects its authenticity while warmly welcoming visitors eager for discoveries and respectful human encounters. It can be discovered along the majestic Mekong River, from Luang Prabang, the former capital with its royal palace, its temples, its hills, and its authentic local markets, all the way to the Cambodian border at Khone Phapheng in the south, where the river plunges into a multitude of isolated rapids forming "four thousand islands." A dazzling, grandiose spectacle! And, along the river in the center, the capital Vientiane, a lively city more marked by Western influence, its Buddha Park, its marvelous temples, the picturesque Nam Ngum Lake known as the "inland sea of Laos," the city of Vang Vieng and its multiple caves, and then in the south Pakse, a region where ethnic minorities practice basketry and cultivate coffee and tea... Lush nature, a disorienting, picturesque, seductive journey... in a country that claims to be communist while practicing surprising capitalism. Lecture by Edmond Debouny ________ PRACTICAL INFORMATION Date and time: Tuesday, January 12 at 2:00 PM Venue: Passage9 - Centre culturel de Waremme Prix: €7/pers