Route 13, the road to Luang Prabang

Route 13 is the road that runs between Laos' capital, Vientiene and the northern town of Luang Prabang. In recent years, it has been unfairly mischaracterized as a dangerous road because of a single incident in early 2002 in which a local bus was held up at gunpoint. Several people were shot and killed, including two western tourists.

I've hesitated to put these photos on my website because the quality is about as poor as it can get. Most of these were shot from the window of a moving bus. But lately I've decided that even if the picture quality is poor, there is a lot of value in showing these photos. They tell a story about an area of the world that people from the west rarely see. They give a glimpse of life in the rural hills of Laos that few can imagine. For that, they have a beauty that I'd like to share.