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Louang Phabang's old city is largely concentrated on a tongue of land, approximately 1km long and 0.25km wide, with the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers at its tip. This peninsula is dominated by a steep and forested hill, Phou Si ("Holy Hill"), crowned with a Buddhist stupa that can be seen for miles around. Most of Louang Phabang's architecture of merit - monasteries and French-influenced mansions - is to be found on the main thoroughfare, Xiang Thong , between the tip of the peninsula and Setthathilat Road. Beyond Setthathilat Road, near the Mekong, lies the old silversmithing district, Ban Wat That , centred on its monastery, Wat That. A good place to start your tour of the old city is the dry goods market, Dala Market , on Setthathilat Road. Wild chicken calls, resembling tin whistles, are on display beside bags of saltpetre and sulphur which, when mixed with ground charcoal, produce a homemade gunpowder. Stalls selling gold and silver jewellery double as pawn shops and usually display royalist regalia - brass buttons, badges and medals decorated with the Hindu iconography of the old kingdom. This is also a popular haunt of black market currency dealers. Near Dala Market, a small Hmong Market occupies a vacant lot on the corner of Setthathilat and Xiang Thong roads, selling traditional hats, bags and clothes. Further along Xiang Thong, Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham, or Wat Mai , dates from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, but it is the sim 's relatively modern facade with its gilt stucco reliefs that is the main focus of attention. Depicting the second-to-last incarnation of the Buddha set amidst traditional Lao scenes, the facade was created in the 1960s and recently restored, but is already starting to deteriorate.
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