FROM THE ASHES

Once caught in the cross fire of America’s “secret war,” Laos and Cambodia have carried the imprint of generational trauma alongside indomitable beauty and strength.

- BY PILAR GUZMÁN

“Remember not to make eye contact,” said the night watchman as I knelt nervously outside the front gate of my hotel, a basket filled with sticky rice at my knees. At 5:30 a.m. on my first morning in Luang Prabang, I was getting ready to participate in the daily ritual of Tak Bat, or morning alms, in which hundreds of barefoot monks—some as young as 7—walk in saffron-colored robes from their local temples through the main streets to receive food offerings from locals and, in this case, tourists. I was wary of a certain kind of “cultural immersion” that can verge on commodification—or worse, appropriation—especially in a ceremonial context. But with guidance from the staff at Amantaka, I felt appropriately invisible. As instructed, with a shawl draped over my shoulder and my gaze turned downward, I emptied the basket one handful of rice at a time until the end of the procession.

This quiet ritual was my introduction both to Luang Prabang, the spiritual capital of northern Laos, located near the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, and to this unlikely 24-room hotel. Occupying a former French colonial hospital just south of the city’s sacred Mount Phousi, the Amantaka lovingly and meticulously reimagines the original 1923 structure as a peaceful garden sanctuary. Like so many buildings in this jewel of a town, the hotel’s design deftly commingles Buddhist mysticism and European charm: White stucco structures with green shutters and casement windows give way to spare guest rooms that blend colonial French details with Laotian teak and rattan furnishings. There is a graceful continuity between property and place; located within walking distance of the night market, restaurants, and the Mekong River, the hotel, with its lush gardens and gracious pool and dining patio, is both an extension of and a retreat from the surrounding activity.