Shooting monks (by Joe)

Louang Phabang, Laos' former capital comes as a pleasant surprise after visiting the north. It's a cosmopolitan tourist centre of old French colonial two-storey architecture, cafes and trendy restaurants. It is actually a beautiful town, preserved through its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Tourists mingle throughout the town with the many monks (there are thousands of them in the several large monasteries).

Though it is not against their teachings or religion (we checked), the monks (at least many of them) are fairly unwilling photography subjects. It seems that several years of being snapped over and over by tourists has simply made them fed up with posing for pictures. Ask to take one, and more often than not they'll walk away - don't ask and they may try to dodge the camera.

Now I accept that this may not be entirely ethical, but like a lot of the tourists here, I seem to have become a little obsessed with taking their pictures. They are SO photogenic, with bright robes, shaved heads and often carrying black parasols (contrasting with the bright robes).

Photography IS a bit like hunting in some ways, and over the past few days I think my obsession has certainly put me in touch with some primordial instinct. In search of a good shot, I've run down streets; my ears have pricked up when overhearing conversations about there being groups of them 'down by the river' or 'in a certain part of town'; and this morning I actually descended to staking them out (for three hours) from a table at a cafe opposite one of the main temple entrances.

Shameful perhaps, but not unlike a fair number of other tourists around here (and I'd never shoot a monk from behind).

Anyway, here's few (quite a few actually) of the ones I bagged (... what I'd have given for a 100mm zoom lens!)

Also took a couple of pictures of monks' robes left out to dry:

Finally, a sight that amused me at the internet cafe:

Joe