Kimbo recently expressed an interest in visiting Luang Prabang and I described how I remember it... a quiet sleepy atmospheric town where you could stroll along the banks of the Mekong and visit beautiful old temples with hardly another tourist in sight.

Not any more it isn't....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/wo...in&oref=slogin

__________________
“Not all those who wander are lost.” Tolkien.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Hmm.. that's too bad Fio. Luang Prabang is on my list of places to see in the near future.
I guess it's one of the things that happens when tourism takes off.... I saw a tv documentary tonight and it was showing Vietnam. The economy is growing so fast that development and construction is at an all-time high - apparently the highest rate of construction in SE Asia (apart from the frenzy going on in Beijing).
Of course this all means that a lot of the 'character' of a place gets demolished in the process.