Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Tick tock motherfuckers!

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

T R E 4 5 O N

I was promised a recession.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On the Road and In Your Backyard

On the Road and In Your Backyard

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

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Good Morning All,

This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.

So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.

You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.

For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.

Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!

 

Today, pictures from valued commenter Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes.

The real surprise of our trip was Luang Prabang in the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos. Traveling there was something like stepping back in time; the scenery and people were nothing short of a lifetime surprise.

This was the old royal capital city, and the history was tragic. It was not uncommon for royal siblings to parent children among one another, and the royalty was genuinely disconnected from society. The union of Laotian cadre to the Viet Minh set a course that would lead to an inevitable result once the French left the country.

Of course, US acts didn’t help – bumbling helped destabilize the place further, and a significant amount of violence occurred in the aftermath of revolution. Eventually, though secular civic Buddhist culture reasserted itself? And the country, with the help of China, is reaching its potential.

Morning Market

Taken on 2018-01-18

Luang Prabang, Laos

Textiles were amazing here. The colors were much brighter than those of Vietnam and Cambodia.

At the Palace Entrance

Taken on 2018-01-18

Luang Prabang, Laos

Literally everything was available up to the gates

Working the Rice Paddy

Taken on 2018-01-18

Luang Prabang, Laos

This was some incredibly hard work that we observed on an organic rice farm

Country Tranquility

Taken on 2018-01-18

Luang Prabang, Laos

The organic rice farm

Another view at the Rice Farm

Taken on 2018-01-18

Luang Prabang, Laos

Everyone her was really sweet, and we got to experience many aspects of rural life.

The interior of a Wat

Taken on 2018-01-19

Luang Prabang, Laos

We had the opportunity to participate in the lovely tradition of almsgiving to hundreds of Buddhist monks. I did not take still photos of them (too dark to get set without flash – I have a little video from the end, after my baskets were empty).

It was really special. We saw several lovely Wats, each special in its own right.

Another example of a more intimate prayer space

Taken on 2018-01-19

Luang Prabang, Laos

This was tiny, and quite peaceful

 

Thank you so much Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes, do send us more when you can.

 

Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.

 

One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email

Reader Interactions

17Comments

  6. 6.

    evap

    Thanks Le Comte! I spent a few days in Luang Prabang during a trip to SE Asia a year ago. It was one of the highlights of the trip.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    The level of workmanship that goes into building religious places always amazes me. I know that in Europe, it was in the hope of securing a better eternity, but the spaces above make the European craftsmen look like pikers!

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    @debbie:

    I know that in Europe, it was in the hope of securing a better eternity

    After touring too many spectacular cathedrals in Spain I was unable to even go in them, let alone appreciate them, knowing the ultimate source of the wealth that built them and filled them with gold and silver. When you have to destroy a civilization to get your own a better eternity, ultimately eternity will not be sympathetic.

  13. 13.

    laura

    The colors are so intense and beautiful. Thank you for having the forethought to travel to places I’ll never get to IRL.
    I’ve been on a reading jag of Colin Cotteril’s Dr. Siri Paiboun, the 70 yo coroner of Laos, set in the 70’s murder mysteries on audible -it makes walking a picket line for 6 hour stints bearable. Highly recommended.
    I can even see Poco in Laos if I squint.
    Wonder what he’s up to. I hope Poco got to attend the Rosebowl, so I’ll check back tomorrow.

  14. 14.

    Procopius

    Minor quibble, but Luang Prabang wasn’t the only Royal Capitol. It was the earliest one founded, but later there were three separate kingdoms in the region that has come to be called Laos. Luang Prabang, Vieng Chan (which is the current capitol of the People’s Republic, often given the French spelling, Vientiane), and Champasak, which was between Vietnam and Cambodia. I have long wished I could visit Luang Prabang. The first Wat pictured is astonishingly beautiful.

  15. 15.

    J R in WV

    @Gin & Tonic:

    This! We visited a couple of cathedrals in Spain, and the gold and silver from Mexican mines, dug by enslaved Native Americans who were worked to death, it was just oppressive. And the family altars with iron fences around them, and competitive races to the bottom for the most gold and ornateness. In many of them, there is no real room for regular people to worship, as most of the floor space has been auctioned off to the highest bidders for private altars.

    Beautiful in it’s way, but with a very grim history. Plus in many Spanish towns there is an exhibit of the tools of the Inquisition to remind everyone that the cruelty wasn’t limited to the New World, it started right there in Europe. And of course the first crusades were against other Europeans, we don’t remember those as much as the ones in the Holy Land later on, because the victims of those crusades were nearly completely wiped out in very successful genocide right there in France and Italy against the Occitans and Cathars.

  16. 16.

    J R in WV

    G&T got me off my first topic:

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes, wonderful pictures, what an educational trip you guys took, and Satby too. This is my favorite part of Balloon Juice, the photos and stories about travel from most all over the world.

    Well, and the Jackals tearing at politics, that too! Got to be honest with you guys about it. Especially late at night when the insomnia has one in the grip!

  17. 17.

    Denali

    Beautiful photos. Laos is truly off the beaten path and well worth visiting. I have a jacket made of indigo from the night market at Luang Prabang, as well as a scarf. The people were very friendly towards us, but our guide reminded us that the country is still under communist leadership. There are many ruined mansions in Vientiane left over from the french colonial period, and it is still possible to find croissants in the bakeries there. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

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