Thai Investor Builds Theme Park In Laos

[sabaijai]

Thai Investor builds theme park in Laos

March 31, 2011 by Rapeepat Mantanarat

TTR Weekly

BANGKOK, 28 March 2011 — A Thai businessman will invest in a cultural theme park in Luang Prabang, dubbed Old Town, that will illustrate court life during an era when the world heritage town was a royal capital.

A five-star resort with 300 rooms is also part of the Huean Luang Prabang project and should open next year. The entire project cost has been estimated at around Bt300 million excluding land.

In the past, Lao PDR communist government’s leaders were reluctant to give permission for projects that would popularise a period of history when royals ran the country.

However, that stance appears to have softened as the first generation leaders who fought to free Laos during the 1960s have been slowly replaced by those who recognise the economic benefits of highlighting the country’s former royal past.

Project owner, Apichart Suprakob, told TTR Weekly that work is in progress on what is dubbed ‘Old Town’, a reproduction of life in Luang Prabang’s during the town’s regal era late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Old Town is an additional feature to Huean Luang Prabang, a restaurant with a cultural show, that opened July last year.

“Basic infrastructure and structural buildings are ready, leaving only interior decoration work and details,” he explained, claiming the “Old Town could be opened as early as November this year” if all props and exhibits are sourced in time.

Taking up an area of 3 Rai (1.19 acre) next to the resort site, Mr Apichart explained Old Town would be divided into three zones – palace, town community and rural village.

The Palace exhibition will be set in a tall 15 metre high, single-level, wooden building constructed from drawings and historical evidence of regal buildings in the world heritage town. Inside, palace replicas and exhibits depicting court traditions relating to religion, cultural performance and palace cuisine will be on display.

The Town Community section will be a mock-up of an old community along the river, that was once called Ban Jek. It will feature a live museum as well as a market place. Themed “firsts” of everything, the zone will display the first noodle shop, first bank, first bookshop, first pharmacy, but most of décor and equipment will be replicas of the themed era.

They will operate as commercial entities for visitors to use to allow them to experience the old atmosphere. A research team has been collecting old items to create an ambience that is close to the past as possible.

The rural village zone will be an imitation of a drawing by a French explorer. Here, village life style will be depicted such as fabric weaving, rice spirit distillation, silverware production and farming traditions. Local products will be sold on site.

To enhance the retro ambience, staff will wear period costume copied from old drawings and photos.

Beside old style or local products, a duty-free shop, an actual first for Luang Prabang, will be opened on site.

Old Town will open 1000 to 2200, without any entrance fee. Revenue will be earned entirely from selling merchandise. Visitors will be handed a card for shopping and they will pay at counters on the way out.

Tour companies that feature the theme park will receive a form of commission. Independent visitors will be transferred by a free bus shuttle from the town to theme park which is about 4 km outside of town on the road to Guang Xi Waterfall.

Source: http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2011/03/thai-investor-builds-theme-park-in-laos/