{"id":10588,"date":"2018-01-15T05:30:55","date_gmt":"2018-01-14T22:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiasafari-laos.com\/laos-a-country-beyond-mainstream-tourism-overview-and-history\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T14:32:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T07:32:23","slug":"laos-a-country-beyond-mainstream-tourism-overview-and-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.asiasafari-laos.com\/en\/laos-a-country-beyond-mainstream-tourism-overview-and-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Laos: A Country Beyond Mainstream Tourism – Overview and History"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Discover Laos \u2014 Complete Guide by Asia Safari, Local Agency in Vientiane<\/h1>\n

Laos is one of the last Southeast Asian countries to have preserved its soul. Between dense jungle, the lazy Mekong, Buddhist temples, and ethnic villages, the “Land of a Million Elephants” offers a unique travel experience \u2014 far from the crowds, close to the essentials. This complete guide is written by the Asia Safari team, based in Vientiane since 2002. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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Laos<\/a><\/strong> is not a mass tourism destination. Its ambition is sustainable tourism, and it has a reputation for having turned its back on the frantic globalization at work in neighboring countries. The trade-off for this smiling authenticity is accepting a degree of unpredictability. With only 7 million inhabitants, half that of Bangkok, Vientiane, the capital, feels like a small town on the Mekong. One is quickly charmed by its human scale, its wide French-style avenues, its fountains, and its traffic lights. The hotels have a colonial whiteness, the gardens are a deep green, and the golden stupas gleam under the sun. <\/p>\n

Throughout the country, you interact with a population that greets strangers with a “Saba\u00efdee” hello that is always cordial, joyful, and most often disinterested. Spirituality, very present in Luang Prabang, has spread throughout the country, including in the remote lands of northern Laos where many ethnic minorities live. High up on the peaks, animist rites harmoniously coexist with Buddhism, represented in the villages at the bottom of the valleys. In total, more than 60 ethnic groups coexist in this small country, on the fringes of classic tourism. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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History of Laos, the Land of a Million Elephants<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Laos remains to this day the least known country in Southeast Asia<\/strong>. It is also marginal and somewhat enigmatic: the 250 jars of the Plain of Jars, carved from monolithic blocks, puzzle experts who have been unable to precisely date these ancient remains attributed to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The penetration of Hinduism and Buddhism into the south of present-day Laos is attributed to the Chams and Khmers. In the 13th century, Buddhism supplanted Hinduism in Southeast Asia, and the Lao prince Fa Ngum was raised at the court of the Khmer sovereigns. He founded the largest kingdom in Southeast Asia, Lan Xang Hom Khao, and seized Luang Prabang, which became the first spiritual, political, and administrative city of the kingdom of a Million Elephants<\/strong>. In 1550, Vientiane, founded by King Photisarath, became the capital of the kingdom. Vientiane and Champassak were annexed by Siam in 1768, and only Luang Prabang maintained Lao sovereignty until the 19th century.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

In 1893, France imposed on Siam the recognition of its protectorate over Laos, which was integrated into Indochina<\/strong>, becoming a province. King Sisavang Vong remained on his throne, with the French presence being primarily administrative. The schools of the Republic educated Laotians in French culture and practices. Temples maintained traditional education in the Lao language. The colonial administration mandated road construction. With World War II, France’s prestige collapsed, and on April 8, 1945, independence was proclaimed under Japanese pressure. In 1947, a Laotian constitutional monarchy was formalized within the framework of the French Union. Following the Geneva Accords of 1954, the French returned full sovereignty of their country to the Lao. Adding sixty years of protectorate to twenty years of strong French cultural presence, eighty years of relatively strong ties unite France and Laos.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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