The National Museum is the former royal palace and they have restored many of the rooms to how they were under the monarchy – the throne room was fantastic. The bedrooms and dining rooms had portraits of the last king and queen and in the stables were the last king’s cars. In the grounds is a new statue of the last king’s father and the city tour took us to a temple where we were shown the urn that had the ashes of the last king’s father and then we were taken to a remote little village to see the temple where the last king retired to at some stage when he became a monk.
When I asked the guide about the king I was told that he was a very caring and gentle man and when the people asked him to stop being king he went off to retire to a small village to tend to his vegetables (I think history has shown a slightly different story!). But the young guide knew that some of the Lao royals live in the USA and pointed out a hotel in Luang Prabang that is run by the last surviving daughter of the last king who is now quite old but very respected (her daughter also runs a hotel in the same street). I had got it into my head that they would paint over the monarchy period in Laos but they seem to be openly acknowledging the role it played and in a positive manner.
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