Wat Xiengthong

Traveling Laos on a High-speed Train

"I wandered through the temple’s central shrine as a group of novices in orange robes filed into a pavilion to play massive drums—the largest about three feet across—part of a twice-monthly full-moon and dark-moon ceremony performed to ward off bad spirits, and I even interviewed a 15-year-old novice who said he loved drumming both as music and as an expression of Buddhist practice." - Kevin West Kevin West Kevin West is a writer, food consultant, and “canning evangelist” (according to NPR). He’s the author of the cookbook “Saving the Season,” and his work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, Martha Stewart Living, Condé Nast Traveler, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines