Laos: Final Words

In our short time here we have seen a stunningly picturesque country, packed with glorious scenery, some so beautiful as to be hard to believe. Mighty rivers flow through mountainous landscapes; lush green crop fields fill the plateaux between jungle clad mountains; unchanged tribal villages mix with developing visitor spots and peaceful laid back towns and cities. 

Laos remains a poor country in spite of increasing popularity and over 80% of the population are still farmers or self sufficient; fortunately this is a fertile land and food, particularly fruit and rice, is plentiful. Its people are happy and honest and eager to please. Yet the memory of the bombings must be so recent in the national consciousness. Here’s a few truly shocking facts:

Laos was never at war, yet is the most intensively bombed nation in history.
From 1964 to 1973 the USA made 580,000 bombing missions: an average of a plane load of bombs once every 8 minutes for 9 years, 24 hours per day.
Of the 270 million bombs dropped, around 80 million didn’t detonate.
Since bombing ceased, over 20,000 people have been killed or seriously injured by unexploded bombs.
Since 1993, the USA has spent 4.9 million dollars per year on UXB clearance. The total amount spent in all those years is less than it spent every TEN DAYS during the 9 years of bombing.
Laos still suffers more deaths from UXB accidents than the rest of the world put together.

This is the legacy of the so called Secret War, the dual aim of which was to stop Russian backed aid reaching North Vietnam, and to prevent the Pathet Lao Communist Party seizing power. Both aims ultimately failed, at terrible cost to a country which never declared war on anyone.

We are of course heading to Vietnam next; we have already visited a family grave at a WWII cemetery in Thailand. War will no doubt continue to be a historical theme of this trip.

On a lighter note, so will food. Both Thai food and Lao food have been delicious, there are so many great meals and great dishes in our diaries already. As ever we have thrown ourselves big time into the local cuisine. However, you can have too much of a good thing: no matter how good a cuisine is, three times a day every day reaches a level and for your own culinary sanity you have to take a break eventually. Nong Khiaw caters for backpackers. Different stuff is available. This is our way of admitting there’s been a cheese baguette on the agenda. And burger and fries. Oops.

So as we prepare to leave Laos and cross the border, here’s a few facts of our trip so far:

Days travelled – 41.
Countries visited – 2.
Beds slept in – 11.
Locations – 9.  Bangkok 5 days, Kanchanaburi 1, Klong Nin (Koh Lanta) 14, Chiang Mai 3, Nongtao 3, Chiang Rai 2, Pakbeng 1, Luang Prabang 7, Nong Khiaw 4. 
Different beers – 6 (Chang, Leo, Singha, Beerlao, Beerlao Gold, Beerlao Dark).
Mountains climbed – 8 (in terms of reaching summit or waterfall) Distance walked according to Fitbit – 266.8 miles.
Modes of transport used – 14.
Storms witnessed – 2.
Massages – Michaela 6, Phil 5.
Bouts of ‘travel tummy’ – One each.

And so, maybe a little prematurely, it’s a big goodbye to Laos, and kopchai lai lai…