LUANG PRABANG, Laos -- Surrounded by thickly forested hills, the UNESCO-listed town of Luang Prabang stands on a peninsula carved out by two rivers in northern Laos, with the Nam Khan streaming past wooden houses and colonial-era French residences to merge with the mighty Mekong, which meanders 1,835 kilometers through the country.
Bordered by China to the north, Cambodia to the south, Vietnam to the east, Thailand to the west and Myanmar to the northwest, life in this landlocked Southeast Asian nation is inextricably linked to its rivers. Streams cascade down hilly gorges that are home to tribal villages and coffee farms, winding past terraced gardens and flowing through plains to irrigate rice fields feeding the country's 7.5 million people.
