Not as developed as its Southeast Asian neighbors but with much of the same natural beauty—velvety green mountains dotted with temples, gorges and waterfalls that look like a miniature Niagara Falls, verdant rice paddies and rivers sprinkled with fishing boats. In the former capital Luang Prabang, where the mix of French Colonial and local architecture earned UNESCO World Heritage status, there are temples of unimaginable splendor, along with a procession at daybreak every morning of monks in orange robes receiving cups of rice from the citizens that is spare, reverent and moving. Then there are the Lao people, sweet, welcoming and not at all jaded by the tourist trade, increasing with the advent of world class hotels.
