Laos

After 3 weeks in Laos, the pieces of the country begins to fall into place so while I enjoy the view of the Mekong River on the idyllic Don Khone Island – my last stop in Laos – I try to digest the information, the many impressions, and all my experiences. Of course, I had read a lot before the trip, but it is, as always, not until you are here that it really makes sense.

Laos is one of the world’s poorest countries, dependent on aid from outside. The country is about the size of the UK, and the population is almost 7 million people. It is a very mountainous country, and as the only one in Southeast Asia, with no coastline, on the other hand, there are many rivers. Except for the low areas close to the Mekong and a few plateaus such as Bolevan close to Pakxe and plain of Jars near Phonsavan – I don’t think there are many flat fields. There are beautiful green slopes everywhere. All flat areas appear to be used for buildings and houses. The villages are with hills either up or down in front and behind the homes and playground for children and animals is the road through the village. All towns along the roads have electricity, but they still do not have that in the most mountainous areas where they also do not all have sanitation.

The highest mountains are up to 2,800 m and are located in the area around Vang Vien. On my way to Phonsevan, I was up to 1500 m in height. To the north, it is not quite as high but just as hilly. In southern Laos, much of the border to Vietnam is the mountain range – Annamite Cordillera.

History

Laos was initially a kingdom that was often pressured by the much larger neighbors of Thailand, China, Vietnam. At one point, the country was divided into 3 kingdoms which France all incorporated in Indochina. However, Laos did not have any vital importance to France. Their goal with Laos was to get a route on the Mekong River from the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam to China; however,  it proved impossible. Large waterfalls here at Don Khon on the border with Cambodia makes sailing impossible. France has not left much impression in Laos. Apart from croissants and baguettes, there is not much French over the country today, and according to my information, only the older generation can speak French. After World War II, yet another turbulent period began for the country, and it has taken up to the beginning of this century to be solved. Internally, the country was divided between royalists and socialists, and when the Ho Chi Minh regime in North Vietnam created the trail through Laos with supplies and soldiers to the Viet Cong in the south, they were drawn into the Vietnam War. It became the secret war in which the United States heavily bombed Laos every single day. Secret because they did it without telling it to the US Congress and Laos could do nothing.

“It has been calculated that between 1964 and 1973, Laos – and especially the area around the former Ho Chi Minh Trail – was struck by one B-52 bombload every eight minutes, 24 hours a day. Many of the explosives dropped were cluster bombs, releasing a total around 250 million “bombie” anti-personnel mines. Experts in UXO clearance believe that around 80 million of these failed to explode.”

After the war, the population and the now new communist government had to pick up the pieces themselves. Hmong (mong) people opposed the Communist regime and fled to Thailand in significant numbers, and many later fled to the United States. Some of them hid in the jungle,  and the last one was found as late as 2003.

Among the highly educated, there was also opposition to the Communist regime, which ran a very tough line in the first years. There was a definite brain drain during that period. The country fell back on all fronts and could not follow the wealthy neighbors in Thailand. The socialist regime, which was closely linked to Vietnam, was pressured to change course both internally and externally. They also had to stop the fight against Buddhism. On the whole, Communism did nothing good for Laos as far as I can judge. Until 1991, they were supported by the Soviet both military and economically, the support now being taken over by other nations and where else they can get help. It is today the same regime with only one party: The Lao People’s Democratic Republic, but now the socialism is more of a name than the actual politics.  Throughout the 80s there were several clashes with democratic Thailand, but with the support of Australia, in 1994 the first bridge over the Mekong – the Friendship Bridge south of Vientiane – was built as a sign of a beginning friendship between the two countries. More friendship bridges have been constructed later,  and in 2009 a short railway was opened – so fare the only one in Laos – at the Friendship Bridge. For the last 20 years, they have gradually turned more against Thailand than Vietnam. It probably also helps that the population can see and many understand Thai TV. They do not understand Vietnamese and Chinese, they have to communicate in English.

In 1997, Laos became part of ASEAN. Unfortunately, it was the same year as the economy in Asia had big problems with the Thai Bath currency collapsing and pulling the KIP currency of Laos in free fall. Public salaries are here over 20 years later still behind from that collapse. Today friendship agreements have been established with the neighbors except for Cambodia, where occasionally friction occurs, and the last 10 years have been for the better for the country. In the last few years, especially China has supported them with a lot of money. Progress goes fast these years, but it will probably take some years before Laos is no longer counted among one of the poorest countries in the world.

Population

The majority of people live in the countryside and many of them in rural areas. Officially, they are divided into 3 groups. Lowland, Midland, and Highland. Lowlands are located in the low regions at the Mekong River, this is where you find the towns, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, and Pakse. They are not big cities, the largest Vientiane with the surroundings have a population between 7 to 800,000. In the town itself, it is only 2 to 300,000. The others are somewhat smaller.

The inhabitants of the low area speak the official Laotian language which is very similar to Thai. They make up just over 50% of the population being native Laotian speaking. 

The Midland residents are mainly Khmer and live in mid and southern Laos while the Highlanders in the north are Hmongs. Everywhere there are many other minorities, and while the majority are Buddhists, there are also many Christians and some other religions.

It is according to my tour guide no problem for the young people to cross the minorities; however, all parents would of course like their children to marry to a better rank. The system is that the girl follows the man, so if a Khmer girl marries a Laotian, she rises in position and become Laotian, if she marries a Hmong, she falls in rank and becomes Hmong.

After my drive through the Hmong area, there is no doubt that they are the poorest in the country and were for years persecuted. They live more in isolation, and it is a hard life to obtain food in the mountainous areas. There were, however, many new houses of stone under construction to replace old wooden huts so some may have got a better life in recent years.

There are smaller groups of Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai living in Laos, while large groups of people originally from Laos are living in neighboring countries. Immigration has happened over periods, and in northern Thailand, there are more native Lao people than in Laos, besides there is a large colony in Bangkok. There are also some in the neighboring countries of China and Vietnam as well as in the United States.

Education

Lack of highly educated and proper knowledge is a significant problem for Laos. As a low wage country, many moves abroad when they have graduated. That means Laos needs to get expertise from the nations around them. Most children go to school in the villages where there is a lack of teachers and those who are there are poor and very poorly paid. Also, schools and school materials are miserable. In some places, the children have to go to school alternately either morning or afternoon. Hmong and Khmer have their own language, which means many are relatively weak in the official Laotian language. There is still a relatively large group that is illiterate.

The government has initiated several projects, which means that several villages have been moved to new larger communities. New villages with new houses, better schools, and health service, and although not everyone is happy to be forced to move, it must be the way forward. On my trip I saw a lot of schoolchildren on the road, heading home for lunch or on the way back after lunch. They were all nicely dressed and easy to recognize. It’s not children they lack, as far as I can see. It is not unusual for families to have +5 children. With 21.7 in average age, Laos has a very young population

Of course, as parents themselves have to pay for tuition, this means that not everyone can afford to pay for all children. Some send their boys to the temples where the monks train and educate them, but there are alternatives. One of my young guides told me that he is the youngest of six siblings and had been sent from his home in the mountains to Luang Prabang as an 11-year-old. For the first two years he lived with an older brother, but he left, and after that he had stayed alone. He only had contact with the parents if they went up to a hill where they could get a telephone connection. He thought it had been hard and had been very homesick, but now as a 20-year-old, he felt “very strong”. He studied IT at university and was very good at English. The last seems to be the key to success in Luang Prabang, where there are many tourists.

Mekong

The largest river is the Mekong which runs through the country from the border to Myanmar in the northwest and down to Cambodia in the south. Part of the river borders west to Thailand. In addition to the countries mentioned, there is a border with China in the north and Vietnam to the east.

In Laos, the Mekong river is relatively narrow and in the dry periods it is not deep enough for larger cargo ships. The water is relatively clean, and there is a lot of fish. Regarding transport, it is not used so much today, when it is faster to drive by car, bus, motorcycle. For tourists, it is an attraction to take slow-boat trips on the river, which can range from an hour-long tour around, for example, Luang Prabang to several day cruises.

Industry

Laos does not have any industry, which is probably why so many people still live in the countryside. There are no factories to give them jobs.  Export of electricity to the neighboring countries is the most significant export product. The stream comes from the rivers and dams. I visited the first established dam Nam Ngum north of Vientiane. It was established over three peers starting in 1968 with support from many countries incl. Denmark, but most recently the Chinese have built several new dams, which is the reason for the relocation of many villages. I drove past a new dam near Luang Prabang. Unfortunately, both the newly created lake and the new village were utterly covered in clouds from a usually beautiful viewpoint, but when passing the new houses looked fine. All identical and equipped with everything necessary.

Laos has their own beer and coffee, the last one tastes excellent, the first I believe is also ok. BeerLao is exported to many countries worldwide. Laos has a lot of forests, so wood and wood products are also an industry, but in recent years they have become more careful about shedding the trees. Of minerals, they have copper, tin, zinc, gold, and iron. I do not know if it is an export product, but they make some incredibly beautiful iron gates which are everywhere in front of their houses. Laos also exports bananas, coffee, grain, rice and rubber from rubber trees. On a tiny scale, they have exported processed goods as accessories for electronics, clothing, and shoes, but they lack investment and expertise to educate the people and to improve the production.

Opium is also grown in Laos. However, this is not allowed.

Unfortunately, the export is much less than the import of cars, tractors, scooters and all other necessary products.

infrastructure

There are not many roads in Laos, and the once they have are with two lanes. There is not much traffic, but the roads are also shared with cows, buffaloes, dogs, goats, etc. Not all cities are connected to a proper way. There is, for example, no road directly from Phonsavan to Vientiane so on my tour I had to go halfway back to Luang Prabang before catching the road to Vientiane. There are 3 international airports and some smaller airports for national flights only.

As mentioned in my postcards, there is currently a new railway under construction. A railway from China in the North to Vientiane, from where it will continue to Bangkok and Singapore. It is supposed to open in 2021.

It is one of many railway projects that China has planned in Asia. (Other projects are trains in the west through Myanmar, Thailand, and east through Vietnam). Later, the central line through Laos is expected to continue down south in Laos and through Cambodia to the Mekong Delta. The idea is also to make a connection to the port in Da Nang in Vietnam. There is already a road from Da Nang to Savannakhet at the Mekong. The railway project has been envisaged since French colonial times, and Laos has several times planned to build the railway but has had to give up due to lack of money, so when the neighborhood between the Asian countries became good, and China got the opportunity they struck, and they are financing it with 70%. The construction through Northern Laos is insanely expensive, as it includes bridges and tunnels in large quantities and it does not become a high-speed train on that stretch. This project also involves the relocation of villages, but hopefully, it will be positive for Laos when it opens in 2021. It is Chinese who build the tracks, tunnels, and bridges. They live in specially created “camps”, are poorly paid and do not interfere much with the local people; however, prostitution has become a growing problem.

The wildlife

The conditions for the animals in Laos, like animals elsewhere, have deteriorated with the reduced amount of forest. Today, 40% of the country is covered by forest that figure was 70% in the 60s. The trees include teak and rosewood. Due to the slower development in Laos, conditions are better than in neighboring countries. Today, trees must not be cut without planting new ones, and the animals are protected as well as they can now. Large areas about 21% of the forests are turned into national parks, where nothing must be touched and here in the jungle are elephants, black bears, red pandas, jackals. There are smaller numbers of rhinos, leopards, and tigers. Here are also animals like gibbons and big barking deer + other animals I don’t know

Here are also many colorful birds and snakes, and if you are lucky,  you can see the Irrawaddy dolphin in the Mekong Delta at Don Khone.

However, everything is not rosy for the animals. The Hmong people have always lived by shooting animals, and they are not going to stop that. At the entrance to the Kuang Si waterfall close to Luang Prabang, there was a rescue center for black bears, and I have seen more of these centers on my way through Laos. At the Plain of the Jars, I wondered why we did not see any birds. My guide told me that children would kill them with stone slings, so they are staying in the close by jungle. In this area, everything can be eaten incl. field rats and squirrels. I did not see any rats, but at one of the village markets, there were dried squirrels for sale.

Besides fish from the many rivers, there are also many fish farms in areas away from the natural streams.

Tourism – good and bad.

The country is happy and dependent on the income that comes from tourism. Luang Prabang and an old Hindu temple close to Pakxe are Unesco world heritage. The Plain of Jars will probably be the next when more areas are cleared for unexploded bombs. Si Phan Don means the 4000 islands are also a popular tourist area and if / when the train connection comes, it will attract even more tourists. However, it is not only good. The government is not happy with the many tourists’ morals. Vang Vien was a paradise for backpackers for several years. The area on and along the Nam Song river offered many activities on land and on the river, but unfortunately, many young people got killed doing the activities after consuming too much alcohol and drugs – a dangerous combination. They had to close the place, remove bars and the possibility of hazardous activities and today it is a lovely place for families with children. Some of the life from Vang Vien has moved to Don Det. The neighbor island to Don Kohne and now a prominent place for the backpackers. Luckily it is not as bad as in Vang Vien. Opium has been cultivated for many years, especially in northwestern Laos. It is not allowed and is not used as much as before by the locals, but in the city of Muang Sing, for example, it is sold on the street to tourists to much regret of the government.

Summary

The above is what I would like to remember about Laos. A significant input is from the book Insight Guide Laos Cambodia which also describes Laos food, culture, the many areas and places of interest as well as much more. Besides, I have used many different websites and collected as much information on the trip around the poor but beautiful country with fantastic sweet and friendly people.

Khop Jai (thank You) Laos