Laos, discreet and seductive pearl of the Indochinese peninsula

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 guards its authenticity while warmly welcoming visitors eager for discoveries and respectful human encounters. It can be discovered along the majestic Mekong, from Luang Prabang, the former capital with its royal palace, its temples, its hills, 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 rapids isolating "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 wonderful temples, the picturesque Nam Ngum Lake known as the "inner 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 bewildering, picturesque, seductive journey... in a country that affirms itself as communist but practices astonishing capitalism. Lecture by Edmond Debouny PRACTICAL INFORMATION Date and time: Tuesday, January 12 at 2:00 PM Location: Passage9 - Cultural Center of Waremme Prix: €7/person - €1.25/Art27 Duration: 1h30