Tag: architecture

Wat Xiengthong, Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang is a small city along the banks of the Mekong River in Laos. The city has a long, complicated history, having been a part of the various struggles between Thai, Khmer, Lao and other groups that long vied for control of this part of the world. The city was the capital of an independent kingdom for a period of time. When Laos eventually became a part of French Indochina, Luang Prabang was recognized as the royal seat, and after the French were driven from Laos, the king in Luang Prabang become the head of state of the Kingdom of Laos until the Pathet Lao seized power in 1975 and disbanded the monarchy.

The city is famous today for its Buddhist temples, traditional architecture that resembles the Lanna style one sees in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and the spectacular scenery of the mountainous countryside surrounding the city.

This image is of the principal temple at Wat Xiengthong, one of the city’s best known Buddhist sites.

Suburban Pioneers, Da Nang

Why do people choose to build and live in a raw, undeveloped area like this, remote from the city center and almost completely lacking in amenities and services? Money. That is certainly my first guess. Land costs closer to the center of Da Nang are prohibitively high for many Vietnamese families. An area with lower land costs like this one makes home ownership affordable to people who would be hard-pressed to buy in more developed parts of the city. You can be sure the families that have built the homes pictured here expect their investments to appreciate significantly in the years to come. And this will almost certainly happen as more people move to the area and businesses serving the new residents follow in their wake.

Buu Dai Son Pagoda, Da Nang

Chùa Bửu Đài Sơn, pictured here, serves as a useful reminder that the swastika is a religious symbol with a long and honorable history. In Buddhism the swastika symbolizes, among other things, the auspicious footprints of the Buddha. It also is an auspicious sign representing good fortune in Hinduism and other Eurasian religions.

The swastika’s modern history is rather less distinguished. It was co-opted by German Nazis in the 1930s and lives on today as an emblem of neo-Nazi vermin in the United States and elsewhere.