Ban Peng is one of the oldest Lao village in that area and has for long specialized in fluvial trade, connecting overland tracks in the Rmet hills with the Mekong banks. It is (or rather was) nested at the foot of a spectacular cliff, at the bottom of which a Buddha image is carved in the lime and covered with gold. When we arrived, the village was already of the move. Photo: Olivier Evrard

Ban Peng is one of the oldest Lao village in that area and has for long specialized in fluvial trade, connecting overland tracks in the Rmet hills with the Mekong banks. It is (or rather was) nested at the foot of a spectacular cliff, at the bottom of which a Buddha image is carved in the lime and covered with gold. When we arrived, the village was already of the move. Photo: Olivier Evrard