UNESCO celebrations

UNESCO are celebrating 20 years of Luang Prabang as a world heritage site. They've done a good job preserving the charm of this beautiful town as tourism can have a negative impact on local culture and the environment.

There has been heaps of excitement about the elephant caravan which travelled for 40 days across northern Laos to Luang Prabang as part of the unesco celebrations. Laos was once known as the kingdom of a million elephants, today there are only about 800 left, half in the wild and half working in logging. The elephant conservation project in Xayabouli pay mahouts to allow elephants to have a break from logging and instead have babies (2 years pregnancy and 3 years nursing) aiming to preserve the elephant population.

Come to Luang Prabang quickly, the Chinese are building a train line through here linking China, Bangkok and Singapore. It's going to be more difficult to maintain the magic of Luang Prabang, the western influence is already apparent.