Luang Prabang, or Louangphrabang ( Lao: ຫ ຼ ວງພຣະບາງ, literally: " Royal Buddha Image ( in the Dispelling Fear mudra )," pronounced ), is a city located in north central Laos, at the confluence of the Nam Khan river and Mekong River about 425 km north of Vientiane.

The main part of the city consists of four main roads located on a peninsula between the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers.

Wat Xieng Thong was built 1559-1560 by the Lao King Setthathirath near where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers join.

The province is located in the valley of the Mae Nam Kong ( Mekong river ), which also forms the border with Laos.

The vast forests of the Nakai-Nam Theun Biodiversity Conservation Area are an important watershed that feed many Mekong tributaries as well as form the catchment area for Nam Theun 2, the largest hydropower project in Laos.

The Mekong river ( Nam Khong ) constitutes the NW border of the province.

Three large rivers drain westwards / southwards into the Mekong: Nam Tha, Nam Fa and Nam Long.

Nam Ngum, the largest river in the province originates from the mountains in Paek District and is one of the major tributaries of the Mekong.

The Phnom Penh version of kuyteav ( called hu tieu Nam Vang by the Vietnamese ) is the most extravagant, often containing some or all of the following toppings: pork belly, ground pork, pigs blood jelly, chopped pork offal such as intestine, heart, liver and lung, roasted duck, Mekong river prawns, fish cake and squid.

The Tha River ( Nam Tha ) is a river in northwest Laos, and one of the 12 tributaries on the Mekong River.

The scheme diverts water from the Nam Theun, a tributary of the Mekong River, to the Xe Bang Fai River, enabling a generation capacity of, from a difference in elevation between the reservoir and the power station.

Altitudes within the plateau area may reach 1000 m. Several tributaries of the Mekong drain in the plateau, such as the Nam Ngum, Ngiap and the Khan River.

The outflow of the lake is the Huai Nam Khan to the southeast, which mouths into the Mekong.

Steps to the lower cave from Nam Ou river / Mekong river.

Standing Buddhas overlooking the Mekong in Pak Ou caves | Pak Ou

Standing Buddhas overlooking the Mekong in Pak Ou

Near Pak Ou ( mouth of the Ou river ) the Tham Ting ( lower cave ) and the Tham Theung ( upper cave ) are caves overlooking the founder name Mekong River, 25 km tot the north of Luang Prabang, Laos.

Dominant features are the large, almost centrally located, Tonle Sap ( Great Lake ) and the Mekong River, which traverses the country from north to south and is the 12th longest river in the world.

* 1785 – Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong River by the Tay Son in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.

These mountains are sparsely populated by tribal minorities who traditionally have not acknowledged the border with Vietnam any more than lowland Lao have been constrained by the 1, 754-kilometer Mekong River border with Thailand.

The border marked by the Mekong is as liquid as the waters within it: at high water during the rainy season, the centre line of the current is the border, while during low water periods, all islands, mudbanks, sandbanks, and rocks that are revealed, belong to Laos.

** Vietnam War: U. S. and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta ( 235 of the 300-strong Viet Cong battalion are killed ).

* January 20 – Invading Siamese forces, attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong River by the Tay Son in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.

The Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He ( Yellow River ) all originate from parts of the Tibetan plateau that are geologically distinct from the Himalaya mountains, and are therefore not considered true Himalayan rivers.

According to a UN climate report, the Himalayan glaciers that are the principal dry-season water sources of Asia's biggest rivers-Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween and Yellow-could disappear by 2035 as temperatures rise and human demand rises.

Dates of the occupation are not known, but it probably ended well before the northward expansion of the Khmer empire under Indravarman I ( r. 877-89 ) and extended as far as the territories of Sipsong Panna on the upper Mekong.

Dates of the occupation are not known, but it probably ended well before the northward expansion of the Khmer Empire under Indravarman I ( reigned 877-889 ) and extended as far as the territories of Sipsong Panna on the upper Mekong.

There are no mountains within Nakhon Phanom itself ; the limestone mountains are concentrated in the city of Thakhek of Laos, which is on the other side of the Mekong.

They subjugated central and upper Laos, annexed portions of the Mekong Delta, and brought what are now western Cambodia and southern Thailand under their direct control.

Within the geographic setting of Xieng Khouang, the jar sites may reflect a network of intercultural villages, whereby the locations of the jars are associated to long-distance overland routes which connect the Mekong basin and the Gulf of Tonkin System.

Probably the most popular means of transport are boats ( speed and slow boats, freighters, luxury cruisers for tourists and others ) running down the Mekong to Pakbeng, Luang Prabang and other destinations.

Rice fields in Vietnam ( ruộng, cánh đồng or điền in Vietnamese ) are the predominant land use in the valley of the Red River and the Mekong Delta.

Some of today's notable neo-classical metal performers are Vitalij Kuprij, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mark Wood, Cacophony, Symphony X, Mekong Delta, Rata Blanca, Narnia, Rhapsody of Fire, Time Requiem, At Vance, Galneryus, Mastercastle, Versailles, Sound Horizon, Necrophagist, Heavenly, Concerto Moon, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Pier Gonella, Luke Fortini, Adagio, Dark Moor, Warmen, Ayreon, Artension and Obscura.

Academic institutions in the city are Cần Thơ University, Cần Thơ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Tây Đô University, Cần Thơ College, College of Foreign Economic Relations-Cần Thơ Branch, Medical College, The Economic and Technical College and Vocational College, with its well-known College of Agriculture and Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute.

Many of the fish types eaten in Cambodia are freshwater fish from the Tonlé Sap or from the Mekong.

The Naga fireballs (; ), also referred to as Mekong lights, are a phenomenon seen in the Mekong river — in Thailand ( Nong Khai province in Isan ) and in Laos ( Vientiane Province )— in which glowing balls rise from the water high into the air.

The Hau Giang and Tien Giang branches of the Mekong are the dominant geographical features of the province.

Although the Mekong was established as a border by French colonial forces, travel from one side to the other has been significantly limited only since the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( LPDR, or Laos ) in 1975.

Together, the alluvial plains and terraces of the Mekong and its tributaries cover only about 20 % of the land area.

For centuries these topographical features not only rendered north-south communication difficult but also formed an effective natural barrier for the containment of the people living in the Mekong basin.

At this time, Vietnam was only just beginning to occupy the Mekong Delta, former territory of the Indianized kingdom of Champa which they had defeated in 1471.

The Mekong Wagtail was described as new to science only in 2001.

Nowadays the site where Phra Loup Lek would submerge himself beneath the earth has been overtaken by the waters of the Mekong and washed away ( presumably leaving only the shrine rescued and preserved at the front of the vihara at today ’ s Wat Sri Mongkol South ( ว ั ดศร ี มงคลใต ้)).

Their condition ( and the government's ) only worsened when Khmer Rouge forces gradually gained control of the banks of the Mekong.

Sainyabuli is the only Laotian province that is west of the Mekong River.

It is estimated that only twenty percent of the hamlets in the Mekong Delta area were controlled by the GVN by the end of 1963.

The political, social, and economic conditions of the Mekong River basin countries have evolved dramatically since the 1950s, when the Mekong represented the " only large river left in the world, besides the Amazon, which remained virtually unexploited.

Although China contributes only 16 – 18 % of the Mekong ’ s overall water volume, the glacial meltwaters of the Tibetan plateau take on increasing importance during the dry season.

In July 2003, MRC CEO Joern Kristensen reported that China had agreed to scale back its plans to blast rapids by implementing only phase one ( of three ) of its Upper Mekong Navigation Improvement Project ; however, China ’ s future intentions in this area are far from certain.

Sa Dec then with a favorable geographical location, did become the most crowded trading centre of Mekong delta at that time, only smaller than Sai Gon ( Sài Gòn ), Cho Lon ( Chợ Lớn ).