View saysana13b's mapTaken in (See more photos here)Ever hear the legend of Chao Fa Ngum? The first King of "Laos", actually Lan Xang, the Kingdom to predate Modern Laos? Lan Xang was on the scale of Ayutthaya. The two Kingdoms shared such a close bond, because both Royal Families came from the same bloodline. Well King Fa Ngum's story is that he was born with all 32 of his teeth. The day he was born, the sun did not shine. So the current King of Muang Sua (Luang Phrabang) exiled him and his father (the King was their Father and Grandfather respectively). Some say it was Chao Fa Ngum's dad that seduced the King's concubine and was exiled, but who knows. Some stories say just King Fa Ngum was exiled. Well they were exiled to the Court of Angkor in Cambodia. Chao Fa Ngum grew up there and years later with Khmer help brought an army of 10,000 men north. Along the way, he conquered or annexed the modern Lao states, because back then they were separate small tribes. Places like Champassak, Savannakhet, Ubon Ratchathani, and a lot of Thai Issan today. He extended the Kingdom to push towards the China Sea to the East, taking parts of modern day North Vietnam. Then he conquered Muang Sua, changed the name to Luang Phrabang, and started the Lan Xang Kingdom. Luang Phrabang got it's name because of the Buddha statute of the same name.
IT IS TIME NOW TO RECOVER OUR PROVINCE OF ISAN or ESAN back to the LANXANG !!!!!!!!!
NOTHING IS UNACHIEVABLE !
Remember the Berlin's wall and also the almost-century Soviet Suprem Reign has collapsed.
If weapons are unwised to be heard , we should use our Economic weapons such as our Lao Dams powers that Thais need for their growths more and more....
Ahahha thats me, Saysana13b! I took that pic in the spring of 2007. when I was there, the park was clean, I admit, but the fountain opposite of Chao Fa Ngum looked... horrible. It looked like paper-machey. It was a three headed elephant, and supposedly water flows through the trunk. When I was there, it was dead. It'd be so nice if they renovated it. The Chao Fa Ngum statue was one of the things I wanted to see, to maybe almost feel the presence of Somdej Phra Chao Fa Ngum himself.
But Everyone has to understand this, Kingdoms back then were NOT united. What I mean is that there was a King, but he had many lands and vassals under him with governors to control each parts of the land. Thus, the governor of say Nan in Issan, could allign itself with either Ayutthaya or Lan Xang.
Since both Royal families of Ayutthaya and Lan Xang stem from the Khon Borom bloodline, there was not a huge arguement of what vassal state went to what King.
But when Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese, and the rise of General Chakri and the current Chakri dynasty of modern day Thailand, the attitude of Siam towards the "old" Royalty changed, thus after the 1828 invasion of the Siamese in Vientiane, the two former Kingdoms have strained relations.
