Luang Prabang

A few days have seem to flown by in this town.

I spend the first lounging around L'Etranger bookshop, the only english bookstore in town, reading from their lending library. I also caught a film they were showing in the evening, Central Station, a brazilian film that was remarkably poignant and rich in its dramatic twists and turns. One of the side effects of extended travel is that some days, you just want to do nothing.

Tuesday, thousands of Lao from all the surrounding regions gathered for the annual boat racing festival. The town was filled with vendors selling Lao snacks, cloths, prize booths and apparently this is one of the biggest festivals for many in the area. Teams 30 or so men in colorful caps and T-shirts rowed long boats and competed. The races lasted all afternoon and it was hard to get a good view on the river bank but we managed to find a restaurant overlooking the starting line. Around sunset, the winning team paraded down the main street with their trophies in hand and singing jubilant songs.

Yesterday, I took a kyaking trip about 2 hours north of Luang Prabang. One of Lao's riches assets is its unspoilt natural beauty. We rowed about 23 km, for 4 hours down the river and braved some class 2-3 rapids. I got tossed at one point but it was refreshing to take a dip in the river and the skilled Lao guides kept us out of trouble. Along each side were spectacular misty mountains, and pristine lush forests dotted by the occasional village or fishing canoe.

It rained during lunch so we took shelter under a hut in a small village. The children in the village kept us company while we ate and 2 dogs fought over scraps that our guide toss out. Everywhere we went, small children would wave and smile. Children in Lao, while poor, seemed happier to their counterparts in Cambodia or Vietnam. In Cambodia, one is often hounded by poor children begging or selling trinkets - the poverty seems desperate. In Laos they were seen happily playing amongst themselves, pausing to wave at the occasional passing tourist, without agenda.

Of the 4 countries I've visited in the region, the Laotian that I've encountered have been the most down to earth, friendly and guileless. This is a testament to the character of its people as recent Lao history has been marred by colonialism, warfare and heavy handed power politics by its neighbors to the east and west.

Laos is also the most heavily bombed country in human history. The U.S. dropped 2 times as many bombs on Laos as in all of the Korean War. During the U.S.-Vietnam war, the U.S. conducted a covert, illegal operation to root out Viet Cong that were infiltrating northern Laos in an effort to seek sanctuary and establish alternate supply routes. Rural Laotians were caught in the cross fire and as a result, many continue to be maimed by mines and UXO (unexploded ordinances) in the countryside today. According to active deminng agencies, it will take another 100 years to clear the country at the present rate.

Today, Laos is still officially communist. Its original party leadership came out of radicalized movements for independence and freedom from foreign domination - a common pattern in the region. However, unlike Cambodia, its leaders were more pragmatic and quickly abandoned stifling, repressive practices such as collective farming and realized that a relaxed political posture was key to gaining foreign developmental aid. Corruption exists and today, the far north is a flashpoint for anti-government insurgency by the tribal Hmong minority. Just today in the Bangkok Post, there was an artical about a video smuggled out of the country that allegedly shows several dead teenagers that were victims of a government raid on a Hmong village.

On the way back to town from kyaking, we saw a group of Hmong men in their dark blue traditional vests. They toted long rifles. They smiled cheerfully and seemed to gesture to us that there was nothing to worry about. Our Lao guide noted that they were merely on a hunting mission.

A good account of contemporary Laos is Brett Dakin's "Another Quiet American" (not to be confused with Graham Greene's work of fiction). The author recounts his experience of graduating from Princeton and then working (as a volunteer consultant) in the Touris, Ministry in Vientienne. The cast of characters from all walks of life he illustrates paintd a rich picture of the dynamics and issues of contemporary Lao.