© Lonely Planet Publications 343 L a o s HIGHLIGHTS Luang Prabang – enchanted mystical city of treasured wats, French cuisine and Indochinese villas overlooking the Mekong River ( p368 ) Luang Nam Tha and Muang Sing – taking eco-conscious treks into the feral jungle of Nam Ha National Protected Area and ethnic Akha villages ( p385 , p387 ) Si Phan Don – a lazy maze of shady islands and rocky islets, home to the rare Irrawaddy dolphin ( p400 ) Wat Phu Champasak – Khmer-era ruins perfectly placed beneath a mountain facing the peaceful riverside village of Champasak ( p399 ) Bolaven Plateau – home to the best coffee in Laos and dotted with ice-cold waterfalls to relieve the heat of the south ( p398) Off the beaten track – visiting Vieng Xai caves, the remote and forbidding home of Pathet Lao revolutionaries and the prison of the last king of Laos ( p382 ) FAST FACTS ATMs two in Vientiane, one in Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Pakse, all with international facilities Budget US$15 to US$20 a day Capital Vientiane Costs city guesthouse US$4-10, four-hour bus ride US$1.50, Beer Lao US$0.80 Country code %856 Languages Lao, ethnic dialects Money US$1 = 9627 kip Phrases sábąai-dii (hello), sábąai-dii (good- bye), khàwp jąi (thank you) Population 6.5 million Time GMT + seven hours Visas Thirty-day tourist visas are available arrival in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and in advance in Thailand, China, Vietnam or Pakse international airports, and when Cambodia. On-the-spot 30-day visas are crossing the border from Thailand, China available for US$30 with two photos on and Vietnam. TRAVEL HINT Flat tyres, breakdowns and unexpected detours are a feature of Laos bus travel; take plenty of provisions and share them round. iPods and inflatable neck cushions may turn out to be your best friends. LAOS OVERLAND ROUTES Landlocked Laos has multiple entry points from Thailand and Vietnam, one from China, and an unofficial crossing from Cambodia. 344 LAOS lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com LAOS •• Current Events 345 0 200 km Were Laos, Thailand and Vietnam túk-túk drivers, the Thai driver would take you to your LAOS 0 120 miles destination via a silk shop, the Vietnamese would almost run you over for your custom, while you’d probably have to go find the Lao driver, wake him up and then persuade him to do some CHINA work. No teeming, smoggy metropolis, no aggressive entrepreneurialism, this is Southeast Asia’s most relaxing country to travel in. Mekong In the north, a rugged terrain of emerald mountains and dramatic limestone peaks, criss- crossed with rivers, makes travel impossibly slow. Flat as a pancake and sprinkled with palm River trees, the languid south is the quasi market garden of Laos; separated from the economic powerhouse of Thailand by the massive Mekong River. After 30 years of communist inertia, Laos is hurrying to play catch-up with its neighbours. MYANMAR (BURMA) And while economic reforms have spawned a new urban elite, for the rest of the country Phongsali subsistence village life remains virtually unchanged since the French sidled in more than a Mengla Nam Dien hundred years ago. Tay Bien Phu Son La Trang Muang Ou Sing Boten HANOI CURRENT EVENTS Finally, the problem of swidden (slash and Xieng Kok Luang 4 Nam Tha Eschewing the international arena since its burn) farming practiced for centuries by eth- Udomxai Nong Sop Hao take-over in 1975, the Communist regime nic farmers in the cultivation of coffee, rice 3 (Muang Xai) 1 Khiaw Sam Pak Neua Mong Vieng Xai learnt by the late 80s that further isolation and rubber, has led to extensive deforesta- Tha Huay Xai 2 Hua Muang Nam Xoi Pak Ou Seuang 1 Na Maew would be its downfall and gingerly opened tion of original growth forest. Environmen- Chiang Nam Nam Khong Pak Beng Luang Vieng its doors to foreign investment. As such talists are working in earnest to approach Prabang Khan Thong 6 Xieng Nam Laos has reinvented itself as the crossroads change through re-education, but reversing Ngeun Muang Kham Nong 7 Haet state. Major highways are being built be- tradition and convincing sceptical tribes is 7 Nam Khan Phu Khun Phonsavan Sainyabuli Nam Nam Can tween China, Thailand and Vietnam, trans- not an overnight process. Muang VIETNAM Gulf of Kasi Khun Ng Tonkin 13 forming the country from being landlocked On the plus side, literacy has risen con- um River Vang to land-linked. siderably; inter-country communication is Vieng Phu Bia Nam (2819m) San Vinh And while the government concerns it- improving; more hospitals are being built Ang Nam 6 Cau Treo MekongPhon Hong Ngum Paksan self over the falling standards of morality and life expectancy has risen incrementally. Kham S O U T H Keut Kaew with so much Thai TV invading the air- Pak Lai Neua C H I N A Mekong 8 13 Lak S E A waves, the world’s environmentalists are HISTORY VIENTIANE Sao 13 more anxious as to what’s happening to the The Kingdom of Lan Xang Kaen Chiang Nong Khai Thao Khan River 12 country’s wildlife, disrupted by the building Before the French, British, Chinese and Dong Hoi Udon Thani Nakhon Tha Khaek of 11 lucrative hydroelectric dams and the Siamese drew a line around it, Laos was a Phanom continued logging of huge swathes of for- collection of disparate principalities subject est. It’s a difficult balance, the preservation to an ever-revolving cycle of war, invasion, 23 Sepon Lao Dong Ha of one of the world’s richest ecosystems re- prosperity and decay. 9 Bao 9 Khe Sanh Savannakhet sources versus Laos’ need to financially sup- Laos’ earliest brush with nationhood was Mukdahan Hué Se Pon port itself and keep up with other members in the 14th century, when Khmer-backed 23 of Asean. Lao warlord Fa Ngum conquered Wieng Kong THAILAND Se Rural poverty – and the skyrocketing scrap- Chan (Vientiane). Se Don Salavan metal trade in China – has also seen a rise in It was Fa Ngum who gave his kingdom unexploded ordnance (UXO) fatalities. A last- the title still favoured by travel romantics Ubon Sekong man Vang Tao (Muang Ka ing legacy of the US-led Secret War, UXOs are and businesses – Lan Xang, or (Land of a) Ratchathani Se Pakse Lamam) Nakhon Chong Mek another factor in Laos’ slow development as Million Elephants. He also made Theravada Ratchasima Champasak land is virtually unusable until it’s cleared – an Buddhism the state religion and adopted the 18 Attapeu 18 (Samakhi Xai) expensive and time-consuming process. symbol of Lao sovereignty that remains in 13 Se Kong Government-forced resettlement of use today, the Pha Bang buddha image, after Si Phan Don Siempang Hmong villages, in an attempt to rein in which Luang Prabang is named. Don Khong Voen Kham more than three decades of minor insurrec- Lan Xang reached its peak in the 17th tion, is having mixed results; security alerts century, when it was the dominant force in BANGKOK CAMBODIA Stung Treng are frequent – though often unpublicised Southeast Asia. LAOS – around Xieng Khouang and Xaisamboun LAOS LAOS Provinces (Special Zone). Don’t be surprised French Rule Gulf of to see the odd gun-toting guard knock- By the 18th century, the nation had crum- Thailand ing around on bus journeys to Phonsavan bled, falling under the control of the and around. Siamese, who coveted much of modern-day 346 LAOS •• The Culture lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com LAOS •• Religion 347 Laos as a buffer zone against the expansion- Southeast Asian countries known as Asean how to dress and behave in a way that will not troublesome spirits preside at important ist French. It was to no effect. Soon after in 1997, two years after Vietnam. offend or encourage irresponsible behaviour Thai Dam festivals and other ceremonies. taking over Annam and Tonkin (modern- In 2004 the USA promoted Laos to Normal among the young and impressionable. The Khamu and Hmong-Mien tribes also day Vietnam), the French negotiated with Trade Relations, cementing the end to a trade practise animism; the latter group also adds Siam into relinquishing her territory east of embargo in place since the communists took Population ancestral worship. the Mekong, and Laos was born. power in 1975. The Lao government has set its The government has been at pains to encour- The country’s diverse ethnic make-up and goal to haul Laos out of the Least Developed age national pride and a ‘Lao’ identity, despite ARTS short history as a nation-state meant nation- Country bracket by 2020. While still heavily the fact that more than 30% of the country Lao art and architecture can be unique and alism was slow to form. The first nationalist reliant on foreign aid, Laos has committed to is made up of non-Lao-speaking non-Bud- expressive, and mostly religious in nature. movement, the Lao Issara (Free Lao), was income-generating projects in recent years in dhist hill tribes with little connection to tra- Distinctively Lao is the Calling for Rain created to prevent the country’s return to a bid to increase its prosperity. ditional Lao culture. Government education Buddha, a standing image with a rocket-like French rule after the invading Japanese left also ensured that knowledge of the outside shape. Wats in Luang Prabang feature sĭm at the end of WWII. In 1953 France granted THE CULTURE world was very limited, though Thai TV and (chapels), with steep, low roofs. full sovereignty, but 20 years of chaos fol- National Psyche the growing accessibility of the internet are Traditional Lao art has a more limited lowed as Laos became a stage on which Lao people are generally very laid-back and changing that.