We're here in Vientienne, the capital city. It's great...for a capital in asia. With a population between 200,000 - 250,000 it doesn't feel very big. It doesn't have any heavy traffic, any high rises, or any major tourist sites. It's pretty cool. That being said, there's not to much to do either. We spent yesterday just wandering around and checking things out. So since there's not too much to write about, I'll give you a little info on Laos itself.
So far it's a great country to travel in. The pace is so relaxed here. After leaving the hurry of Vietnam, you need to make a deliberate choice to slow down and be patient. Everything takes longer. Restaurants are very slow and you sometimes get your drink or rice 20-30 min before the main part of your meal arrives. When you show up at a guesthouse, you often have to find someone, and then the just sort of give you a nod and point towards where the rooms are. It's so laid back. They collect no $ or ID from you on arrival, unlike Vietnam where the hold your passport until you pay. We've learned to really like this, and we've even found ourselves walking extra slow everywhere we go.
Laos is the least developed country that we've visited in southeast asia...we'll it is the least developed in southeast asia. Here's a little of the history and some current events that we've learned.
Laos was made part of French Indochina in the 19th century. The Japanese had occupation after WWII for a little while and then Laos declared independence in 1945. It wasn't until 1950 though that the French allowed it to "govern" itself.
Laos was dragged into the Vietnam war since some parts of NE Laos were occupied by the Viet Cong. The US also thought that it was a key piece in the "domino effect". The Americans were worried that if one country in the region went to socialism, then they all would. So Laos got bombed. Hard. The US dropped more bombs on Laos than it did in the entire 2nd world war. It was recently reported that Laos was hit by an average of one B-52 bomb-load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, between 1964 and 1973. Of the 260m bombs that rained down, 80m failed to explode, leaving a deadly legacy.
In 1975 Laos turned communist and signed a deal with Vietnam. Vietnam forced Laos to cut it's trade relations with China. The US obviously didn't like this either and also did no trading with Laos, leaving the land- locked country in the dust. Laos slowly relaxed on it's policies with China and the US, and finally in 2005 the US ended it's high trade taxes on the country. Aid has been arriving for years...but the US actually spends 20x looking for MIA GI's than it gives in aid.
For the last number of years now, Laos has been racing to catch up with it's neighbours. There are some signs of economic growth in the 3 "big" cites, but much of the country survives on subsistence farming, and lives much the way it has for a century. But times are changing and it's unclear how good it is.
Laos has a lot to gain from hydro electricity. Hugging the Mekong river, Laos has a lot of potential to harness the power of the 2nd largest watershed in the world. But the Mekong is very fragile. It supports the worlds most important rice growing area and the vast fisheries of Cambodia and Vietnam. It's the least developed major river in the world, and 60m of the worlds poorest people live along it's banks and depend on it for survival as they know it. China has it's hands on the taps of the river, and they have plans to build 36 more dams near the source. It's not disputed that building dams along the Mekong will bring quick east money to Laos, since it can sell the power to the powerhouses of China and Thailand, but it's also not disputed that it will forever change the fisheries further south. Some fish from Cambodia's Tonle Sap, migrate all the way to China's Yunnan province to bread. Since Mekong fish don't jump, they won't be able to use fish ladders. Who know what will happen, but at least they're talking about it, and not just doing it blindly.
There is also some major road construction happening. With the recent friendship between China and Laos, Laos is going to let Chinese freight move across it's land into Thailand. After the new bridge is created it will cut the transit time from China's west to Thailand from one month to just a couple of hours. The main road which runs north south in Laos (hwy 3), is going to get a major overall, so that China will also have quick and easy access to Cambodia's port of Phnom Penh. The overall cost benefits are in doubt. Forests along highway 3 are being cleared to make way for rubber plantations for the hungry Chinese market, where latex is in short supply. According to some reports, land concessions granted by the Chinese gov. to Chinese companies are not always voluntary on the part of farmers, and villagers are being told by the gov. or army that their land now belong to a Chinese company. Commercial sex, drug trafficking and HIV/aids also follow major highways in Asia. A study in India showed a 16% aids rate along a major route in s. India, compared to 1% nation wide. The WHO also says that aids is already really high along major routes in China, spread by long haul truckers.
Despite the deep-reaching rapid changes that these new roads, and economic changes will bring the majority of Laos people are unaware of what is happening. What will happen down the road is really uncertain (on my part of course).
Decades from now when Laos is looking very different, and it's citizens are able to travel to neighbouring countries with ease, will it be for the better? I don't know. But, I think it's clear though that if you want to come to Laos before it's too far gone, you should come now. Perhaps, even we are too late.
So far it's a great country to travel in. The pace is so relaxed here. After leaving the hurry of Vietnam, you need to make a deliberate choice to slow down and be patient. Everything takes longer. Restaurants are very slow and you sometimes get your drink or rice 20-30 min before the main part of your meal arrives. When you show up at a guesthouse, you often have to find someone, and then the just sort of give you a nod and point towards where the rooms are. It's so laid back. They collect no $ or ID from you on arrival, unlike Vietnam where the hold your passport until you pay. We've learned to really like this, and we've even found ourselves walking extra slow everywhere we go.
Laos is the least developed country that we've visited in southeast asia...we'll it is the least developed in southeast asia. Here's a little of the history and some current events that we've learned.
Laos was made part of French Indochina in the 19th century. The Japanese had occupation after WWII for a little while and then Laos declared independence in 1945. It wasn't until 1950 though that the French allowed it to "govern" itself.
Laos was dragged into the Vietnam war since some parts of NE Laos were occupied by the Viet Cong. The US also thought that it was a key piece in the "domino effect". The Americans were worried that if one country in the region went to socialism, then they all would. So Laos got bombed. Hard. The US dropped more bombs on Laos than it did in the entire 2nd world war. It was recently reported that Laos was hit by an average of one B-52 bomb-load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, between 1964 and 1973. Of the 260m bombs that rained down, 80m failed to explode, leaving a deadly legacy.
In 1975 Laos turned communist and signed a deal with Vietnam. Vietnam forced Laos to cut it's trade relations with China. The US obviously didn't like this either and also did no trading with Laos, leaving the land- locked country in the dust. Laos slowly relaxed on it's policies with China and the US, and finally in 2005 the US ended it's high trade taxes on the country. Aid has been arriving for years...but the US actually spends 20x looking for MIA GI's than it gives in aid.
For the last number of years now, Laos has been racing to catch up with it's neighbours. There are some signs of economic growth in the 3 "big" cites, but much of the country survives on subsistence farming, and lives much the way it has for a century. But times are changing and it's unclear how good it is.
Laos has a lot to gain from hydro electricity. Hugging the Mekong river, Laos has a lot of potential to harness the power of the 2nd largest watershed in the world. But the Mekong is very fragile. It supports the worlds most important rice growing area and the vast fisheries of Cambodia and Vietnam. It's the least developed major river in the world, and 60m of the worlds poorest people live along it's banks and depend on it for survival as they know it. China has it's hands on the taps of the river, and they have plans to build 36 more dams near the source. It's not disputed that building dams along the Mekong will bring quick east money to Laos, since it can sell the power to the powerhouses of China and Thailand, but it's also not disputed that it will forever change the fisheries further south. Some fish from Cambodia's Tonle Sap, migrate all the way to China's Yunnan province to bread. Since Mekong fish don't jump, they won't be able to use fish ladders. Who know what will happen, but at least they're talking about it, and not just doing it blindly.
There is also some major road construction happening. With the recent friendship between China and Laos, Laos is going to let Chinese freight move across it's land into Thailand. After the new bridge is created it will cut the transit time from China's west to Thailand from one month to just a couple of hours. The main road which runs north south in Laos (hwy 3), is going to get a major overall, so that China will also have quick and easy access to Cambodia's port of Phnom Penh. The overall cost benefits are in doubt. Forests along highway 3 are being cleared to make way for rubber plantations for the hungry Chinese market, where latex is in short supply. According to some reports, land concessions granted by the Chinese gov. to Chinese companies are not always voluntary on the part of farmers, and villagers are being told by the gov. or army that their land now belong to a Chinese company. Commercial sex, drug trafficking and HIV/aids also follow major highways in Asia. A study in India showed a 16% aids rate along a major route in s. India, compared to 1% nation wide. The WHO also says that aids is already really high along major routes in China, spread by long haul truckers.
Despite the deep-reaching rapid changes that these new roads, and economic changes will bring the majority of Laos people are unaware of what is happening. What will happen down the road is really uncertain (on my part of course).
Decades from now when Laos is looking very different, and it's citizens are able to travel to neighbouring countries with ease, will it be for the better? I don't know. But, I think it's clear though that if you want to come to Laos before it's too far gone, you should come now. Perhaps, even we are too late.
2 comments:
Thanks for letting us in on what you've learned. Laos has been a nearly total unknown to me, except for occasional news about the challenges faced by the church there. If you'll recall the mission celebration that was happening at Southridge just before your Africa trek, Randy Friesen was scheduled to be there, but had a short-notice opportunity to meet the heads of the state in Laos, and of course did so. Building bridges of another sort!
Good read.
Post a Comment