Monks near the Mekong River, Laos -- Neil Emmerson/Corbis

Monks near the Mekong River, Laos -- Neil Emmerson/Corbis

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• No, they\re not drums--they\re covered bowls used for a humble, daily ritual.""Each morning, these pious men walk a line through the local streets collecting food and alms
• Roughly 2,500 years ago, Buddhist monks in this country made their robes from scraps of cloth and dyed them in water colored by vegetables and spices.""Today, their robes may not have begun as rags, but they\ve retained the traditional “saffron” color
• Some call this region\s massive river the Amazon of Asia, home to strange and marvelous creatures like the Irrawaddy dolphin and…""The largest freshwater fish in the world, pushed by humanity toward extinction
• Visitors to this country often land here, a colorful and sleepy town where most travel by foot, bicycle, or scooter…""But don\t come for the nightlife. A curfew calls for quiet at 11:30