2008/12/25

Wonderful Thailand - Land of Lush Wonder

Thailand is a kingdom in southeast Asia on the Indochinese and Malay peninsulas. Through most of its history Thailand was called Siam. The people call themselves Thai, which in their language means "the free people." In 1948 the Thai government changed the name of the country to Thailand.

Thailand has an area of about 511,770 square kilometers, which makes it not quite as large as the American state of Texas. About sixty one million people live there, which is nearly three times as many as the population of Australia.

The People of Thailand The first people in the region of Thailand were Negritos, a Negroid pygmy people. The Negritos became mixed with invading Mongols and tribes from China to produce the modern race of Siamese. There are two main groups in the population, the true Thai and the Lao. Thailanders are rather short, but well built. They have brownish skin and straight black hair.

Thailanders are an independent and courageous people, and there are no caste divisions in Thailand. All the people, including the women, have equal rights. Thailand is a very musical country, although its music sometimes sounds strange to Western ears, and the people are fine dancers.

Education in Thailand is provided mainly by the Thai government through the Ministry of Education. A free basic education of 12 is guaranteed by the Thai constitution, and a minimum of nine years' school attendance is mandatory.

Thailanders are noted for their artistic abilities, ranging from the making of jewelry to the architecture of the beautiful Buddhist temples. There are many religious festivals in Thailand, with colorful costumes and ceremonies.

The people speak the Siamese language, which is a member of the Indochinese family of languages. Religion plays a very important role in Thai life. Religion is considered an essential foundation of society, it is not only the major moral force of Thai family and community but has also contributed to the molding of freedom loving, individualistic, and tolerant people for many centuries.

Theravada or Hinayana Buddhism is the national religion of Thailand, but there is total religious freedom and all major religions can be found in practice. There is absolute freedom of religion - Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and other faiths are practiced and protected by the constitution. Buddhism is the faith of 95 percent of the population, 4 percent are Muslims, 0.5 percent and Christians, and the remainder Hindus, Sikhs and other religion.

Despite the fact that Buddhism is the faith of majority, both the king and the government uphold and support all the religions accepted by the people. Amidst rich diversity of beliefs, until recently people of Thailand have always lived together in peace and harmony.

How they Live Thailand is largely a nation of farmers, fishermen, and lumbermen. The principal foods of the people are rice and fish. Nearly all of the farm land is planted in rice. In addition to the large quantities eaten by the people, Thailand exports a large quantity of rice as well as electronic products. Other farm crops include cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, corn, soybeans, peanuts, and sesame seeds. The rivers of Thailand are full of fish, and large catches also are made in the Gulf of Thailand (previously the Gulf of Siam). Much of Thailand's wonderful food contains seafood dishes.

Three-quarters of Thailand is covered with forests from which come the country's famous teakwood, as well as bamboo, ebony, rosewood, boxwood, and Palmyra palm. The forests provide important quantities of lac (a resin deposited on trees by the lac insect) , rubber, oils, dyes. and tanning bark.

Amazing Laos surprises your eyes

Thought of as the most enigmatic of the three French Indochina states, Laos is definitely the sleepiest. At least for the moment. After years of isolation, Laos is now slowly opening its doors to the world - mainly a result of the Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River linking Vientiane with Thailand. these days you have to actually look both ways before crossing the road in Vientiane and the main road in Lung Prabang is lined with western restaurants. Having said that, tourism (and life!) is remarkably low key even on the tourist axis of Vientiane, Vang Vien and Luang Prabang. Off the axis life is much the same as it has been for years.

Vientiene, the capital, is emerging from hundreds of years of slumber and the centre now even boasts a number of restaurants and bars. The hotels aren't much with the exception of the Villa Manoli - a beautiful old villa in a sumptuous garden. It even has a small swimming pool - all for about $20 a night. After a day's wandering around the magnificent temples, there is nothing better than strolling up the river bank to the stilted restaurants and enjoying a great Mekong sunset over a cold Bia Lao and a spicy pork Laap (minced meat salad) or sizzling Mekong catfish.
Vang Vieng has become something of a backpacker centre in recent years.

Positioning has probably been the key to its popularity as it is half way between Luang Prabang and Vientiane and is therefore used to breakup an otherwise long day on the road. It is also prettily situated on the Nam Song river, the focus of the town.

There are a few riverside places (bars would be too flash a name) to buy a beer and watch people float by - either in inner tubes or canoes. There is also a small market and a few stalls off the river selling handicrafts and some travel agents who can organise day trips up the river or to local caves.

Luang Prabang is the jewel in Laos' crown and has been a UNESCO heritage site since 1995. It has recently seen a sudden influx of tourists resulting in an explosion of restaurants and handicraft shops along the main drag. Five star hotels have also started appearing along the fringes of town.

Despite this, there are so many temples to see they are never crowded. In addition, the back streets are usually deserted and if you are lucky enough to happen upon a temple festival you are more than likely to be one of only a few foreigners present. There is also the timeless view of the Mekong River, behind which the untamed jungle goes on into the distant hills.

Luang Prabang, Laos - Top Ten

1. Old Royal Palace

On Sisavangong Road lies the double-cruciform-shaped Royal Palace, which dates back to 1904 and displays religious objects and gifts from foreign envoys. In 1975, when the monarchy was overthrown and the Royal Family were taken to re-education camps, the palace was given the more Maoist name of the National Museum.


2. Wat Mai

Set beside the Royal Palace, Wat Mai was built between 1718 and 1788. One of Laos’ most beautiful temples, it once housed one of Asia’s key statues: Luang Pabang’s namesake statue, the 50 kg golden Pha Bang Buddha, now stored in a bank vault. Much Buddhist blood has been spilled fighting over this 2,000-year-old religious relic from Ceylon – captured twice by the Thais, it was eventually returned to the city in 1867 by the devout Buddhist and pacifist Thai King Mongkut. One can only wonder what the Buddha, who forbade people to make images of Him, would have made of people fighting to the death over them. Bereft of its top treasure, Wat Mai retains a magical and almost surrealistically hallucinatory feel, its perfectly-proportioned architecture complemented by decorative detail so exquisite that it seems to come from an Oriental fairy tale. A plaque commemorates 14 children of the penultimate King Of Laos, Sisavang Vong, who drowned in maybe the biggest accidental and simultaneous loss of offspring in history. The devastated King was comforted by some of his 15 wives (including the two who were his half-sisters) and by those 35 of his other children who he recognized as being his own.


3. Mount Phousi

To experience one of southeast Asia’s most spectacular sunsets, cross the road from the Royal Palace and climb the 328 steps to the top of Mount Phousi, the town's most prominent landmark. Serried ranks of hills march into the distance, etched in a palette of hues of blues, pinks and oranges, whilst temple spires still dazzle atop the growing gloom.


4. Wat Xieng Thong (Golden City Temple)

One of Laos' most spectacular temple complexes, Wat Xieng Thong was built by the scourge of Burma, King Setthathirath, in 1560. A classic example of Luang Prabang style, it features a gracefully sloping roof, glass mosaic murals and legions of Buddha statues, large and small, whose abundance brings to mind the First Emperor of China’s Terracotta Army. Eight columns, richly stencilled in gold, guide the eye to the serenest of Buddha figures, seemingly challenging the visitor to attain such contentment for himself. This was the last King of Laos’ favourite temple and where he made his final devotions before being taken to a re-education camp in 1975. For those with the time and the inclination, this epitome of Oriental temple design can be a solace for the soul as well as a feast for the eyes: just devote a little time to sitting silently for a while and soaking up the serenity of the tranquil temple gardens of bougainvillea, frangipani and hibiscus, shaded by banyan and palm trees. Wonder whether such artistry can be other than divinely inspired as you watch the setting sun set the dazzling gold-leaf-overlaid Ramayana figures sculpted on the building’s exterior on fire.


5. Night market

Open until 10pm, the night market unfolds at 5pm. Don’t forget to buy some stamina-enhancing scorpion-and-cobra wine, for that occasion when you need that little bit more strength – just remember to ask a similar-sized shop assistant to taste it first, to make sure it contains the right proportion of poison. If you can’t find a similar-sized shop assistant to be your guinea pig, you’ll just need to try to find somebody back home who is daft or depressed enough to volunteer.


6. Fine Wine and Cakes

Wind up your day with dinner at one of the town's world-class restaurants, where full French flavours are showcased on light Laos backgrounds to sensational effect. Especially noteworthy is L'Elephant, which serves French and Lao food in an elegant yet still relaxed setting. The chef at Apsara fuses Lao and European cuisines in a unique menu that will delight even the most discerning tastebuds, whilst not forcing their owners to dig too deep to settle the bill.


7. Hill tribe villages

For the culturally curious no visit to Luang Prabang will be complete without a trip to its hill tribe villages. Especially noteworthy is the vivid finery on display at Ban Phanom, the cotton and silk hand-weaving village.


8. Wat Pa Phonphao

Built in 1959, during the reign of the last Lao king, Wat Pa Phonphao has a slightly odd ‘cabinet of curiosities’ feel, with the content of the murals ranging from the supernatural to the incongruously pornographic.


9. Pak Ou River Ride

The first French explorers arrived in Luang Prabang by boat, hoping to open up a new route for trade with China. Present-day travellers can shadow their adventures by taking day or overnight trips from the town. A popular daytrip is an excursion by covered wooden longboat along the Mekong River to Pak Ou Grottoes, 25 kilometres upstream from the town. The grottoes, sacred caves tucked into limestone cliffs and filled with hundreds of gilded and wooden Buddha statues, were once occupied by hermits, some of whom ended up spending their entire adult lives in isolation, contemplating the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Why anyone chooses to spend an entire lifetime in isolation is a mystery: maybe these hermits spent so long arriving at the answer that they forgot the question, so had to start over. Tham Ting cave, accessed directly from the riverbank by a stone stairway, is packed with hundreds of ancient Buddha images, all peering out over the river, their impact magnified by the peaceful remoteness of their setting.

After a picnic at the grottoes, travellers can detour up the Nam Ou tributary, with its soaring limestone cliffs. Lots of trade proceeds by boat in this direction, so if the river is in spate you will be treated to the sight of cargo boats running minor rapids. An excellent destination or stopping point up the Nam Ou is the village of Muang Ngoy, whose enchanting setting amidst lofty karst peaks makes it a beautiful place to stop for refreshment. If you decide to spend the night here, expect only basic accommodation.


10. Tad Sae Waterfall

When the baking heat becomes too much, relief is just a tuk-tuk ride away. Set 15 kilometres to the city’s southeast, Tad Sae Waterfall consists of a series of vividly turquoise step waterfalls in calm surroundings, which are perfect for picnicking and bathing. The water is bracingly cold, but perhaps the inviting colour and a swinging rope from a large tree will entice you in. If too indolent to wallow under your own steam, hire an inner tube to use as a float, then bob around, with a drink in one hand and, perhaps, a good book in the other.

Tubing the Mekong, Laos

The Mekong waltz

As sports go, in terms of sophistication ‘tubing’ is right up there with darts. Further similarities between tubing and darts are that, like darts, tubing is a sport which involves virtually no physical exercise and during which the ‘sportsman’ is encouraged to consume large volumes of beer.

If you want to go tubing, all you need is a tractor tyre’s inner tube and a river. Then you deposit yourself in the middle of the tube, legs dangling over the edge, and float downstream. The objects of the exercise: relax, drink as many cold beers as possible and flirt with the maximum number of strangers.

I know the ins-and-outs because I presently find myself in Vang Vieng in Northern Laos, the tubing capital of the world.

The Vang Vieng tubing experience lasts three or four hours and essentially entails soaking up sunshine and cold beers at riverside bamboo bars kitted out with music, rope swings, zip wires and jumps. Between bar breaks, the day-tripper floats down the Mekong’s majestic tributary the Nam Som, bumping into random strangers and admiring the spectacular scenery, which consists of limestone cliffs rising from rice paddy fields.

I am about to climb aboard one of the tyres, but before getting carried away down the river, I want to ensure that the river does not swallow my phones (I have more than one but not, I must repeatedly tell every Laotian I come across, because I have a ‘Mia Noi’ - ‘little wife’, or mistress). In theory, I should be fine because I have a dry bag: an elongated rubber pouch folded over seven times and fastened with a backpack-style click-clip.

Earlier, the dry-bag shop assistant had insisted that his product would do the job. I was dubious and cross-examined him - I examined him so much he got cross. Eventually I splashed out to the tune of 20,000 kip, suspicious I was paying a zero too many, before jumping in a minibus with six other travellers - a mix of middle-aged Koreans, gap-year British kids and goateed, dreadlocked Scandinavians.

Around 500 adventurers make the journey down the Nam Som every day. I notice that I am the 195th, according to the marker pen squiggle on my hand, as I kick my tube into the river.
The tube promptly takes off, forcing me to run after it. I jump in and fall out, scraping my knees on the stony riverbed, provoking several small children to snigger and whisper "farang ting tong" (crazy foreigner).

I climb back in. This time, the tube rears up like a malevolent horse and I collapse, backwards, back into the muddy Mekong’s tributary.

Finally, I succeed in planting myself inside and, steering with my hands, start cruising slowly down the somewhat dirty green river, whose flow is interrupted by rapids which, thankfully, have less kick than a fengshui-inspired garden water feature.

Soon a skyscraper-high bamboo platform rears up on my left. Next to it the first bar looms into view, belting out Ricky Martin's La Vida Loca, a song commonly sung by drunk pirates en route to a firing squad, I once read.

Grabbing the bamboo barge pole that a barman extends, I reel myself ashore and meet a scattering of Brits led by Guy, a Home Counties type with air ace looks and not a hair out of place. While I sip my skittle-sized bottle of Beer Lao, Guy tells me that getting too drunk is a bad idea. Only the previous week a girl who jumped off one of the podiums crashed head-to-head into a tube-rider.

The tube-rider apparently escaped serious injury. But she “ripped her jaw off”, Guy says, lending credence to a blog posting I read, which reported a drowning. I squirm. Everyone falls silent.

Just to prove that I’m just as childish as the younger crowd which I’m drinking with, I feel obliged to pull at least one Tarzan stunt. So I finish my beer and make my way up the skinny bamboo ladder, grip the handle of the aerial slide and check that nobody is lurking below. I zoom down the wire and collide at speed with the river.

A rumble of bubbles. My body knifes through the water, experiences traction, hits a halt, gathers upwards momentum and then bursts through the surface. That certainly blew away the cobwebs.

Coaxed and cajoled by the boys, Guy's English rose girlfriend eventually heads for the ladder, looking like someone walking the plank. In the wake of her splash I move on, soon followed by Guy's squadron. The last time I see him, he is mounting another much higher platform with a cheery wave.

As I turn a bend in the river and he disappears, I imagine him executing the perfect swallow dive. Enticed by a barrage of Britpop, I head for the next bar, dip into my dry bag and rummage around for a wad of notes, only to discover that I am already down to my last 40,000 kip. Ouch!
Over the din of Faithless and The Arctic Monkeys, I ask the ruddy Liverpuddlian barman what that pittance will buy. "A small beer," he says.

After finishing it, I am obliged to go tee-total, which is maybe, in the light of Guy's observation, a blessing. As the party revs up and gets into full swing, I tire of the noise and all the tediously young and clichéd traveller-talk – how much this and that
bus/boat/plane/dinner/shirt/battery/box of matches costs. I continue downriver, then settle for a while into a peaceful riverside berth formed by an overhang of undergrowth.

I move on, sinking into a pleasant reverie which is only interrupted by the occasional bumping of the tube into underwater rocks. I float beyond the main strip of bars, then strike up conversations with a series of random female strangers. Tubing is a very pleasant way of meeting and getting to know members of the opposite gender. If you tire of someone, all you have to do to escape is to float away and ‘accidentally’ bump into someone else.

I fall into conversation with a Guangdong legal assistant who recently quit her job to go roaming. We bump together and become a double doughnut until, in the run-up to a series of rapids, she steers away and waves good-bye.

I do nothing – I just spin and watch a goat chew grass. It seems to do this in extreme slow motion, but maybe this is just an illusory effect of me having slowed down. The improbable happens – I relax. I am suffused by a pleasant and unusual sense of in-the-moment tranquility. I can see why some people become hooked on tubing and do the journey as many as 10 times in a row.

I slowly revolve through the haze towards a herd of buffalo taking a dip. They are disembodied, a surreal jumble of huge heads with ropes through their noses. As I near, they startle, then settle.

Beyond the buffalo, two locals wade across the river, looking statuesque with impossibly large bamboo bundles on their heads. One splashes my camera, reminding me that, here, if you want to take someone’s photo, you should ask first. Laotians are shy people.

All the more wonder that, during the 1960s, America saw fit to drop more bombs on their country than were used during the whole of the Second World War. Laos has the dubious honour of being the most bombed country in history. Thanks to the bombardment, people - often children - still get maimed in the fields of Laos today. But the little girl who now approaches me in the shallows at the end of the tube ride has an air of indestructibility.

She tries to take my tube off me, whilst demanding money. I do not pay as I have heard that, if I do, she will walk away with the tube and never return it to base, forcing me to pay a fine.
As I am returning my tube I bump into the Guangdong legal assistant and am not too surprised when she refuses my dinner invitation – well, it was a rather optimistic one, I suppose. Maybe I’ll take another ride down the river tomorrow.

What are the Famous Festivals in Thailand?

Songkran Festival in mid April

In Thailand, as also in the Dai People communities of Southern China [ where the Tai originated from ], the Tai Lao in Laos,and the Buddhist communities in Cambodia and Myanmar, the Calender New Year is occassioned between 13 and 15 April each year. The Thai use a lunisolar calendar [ both the Sun rotation and the moon phase rotation ] and the date was fixed on a solar calculation. The word ' Songkran ' is derived from the Indian sancript word ' Sankanta ' which means ' a change or move '. The dates are now fixed arbitarily but originally would move with the move of the sun on the vernal equinox. This occured as a consequence of ' precession ' and the tilt of the earth and the effect of its orbit. Over the past the dates have changed but are now fixed irrespective of the original rationale and what would otherwise be the astrological calculation. From a natural perspective the dates also signal the end of the dry season.


Loy Krathong Festival

Loy Krathong Festival is celebrated in all of Thailand in November. Loy Krathong celebrates the end of the rainy season which is also the full moon of the 12 th month of the Thai Lunar Calendar. Loy or Loi means to float and Krathong or Kratong means a raft the sive of ones open hand. The point of the festival is to prepare and then float at full moon down a stream, river or other water water, an elaborately prepared offering on the raft to be released and float away by water to release with it as a symbolic gester, ones bad feelings, anger, stress and grievances.
The festival has its beginnings in the Indianisation process of South East Asia and an original Brahmanical festival from Northern India. Many Thais also accept natural forces as spirits or ' gods ' and the floating of the Krathong is symbolic gesture to the Goddess of water, Phra Mae Khongkha. The Thais proclaim the festival originated in Thailand at Sukhothai at the time of the Sukhothai Kingdom, but here then also Indian and Brahmanical influences with powerful.


Bai Sri

The Bai Sri is a blessing ceremony performed to bestow happiness and prosperity to a person or place. The ceremony features a beautifully-shaped ornament called a khrueng bai sri ton, made of elaborately-folded banana leaves. A container is beautifully decorated with fresh flowers and banana leaves, It is often used during auspicious ceremonies. The popular forms of the Bai Sri offerings are the Bai Sri Pak Cham and Bai Sri Yai.

Bai Sri Pak Cham is small and looks like a bowl. A section of banana trunk can be used to make this form of Bai Sri, which is often used in a ceremony to worship deities and in a ceremony to pay homage to teachers. Bai Sri Yai is generally used in significant events, such as a royal ceremony to strengthen the royal Khwan. According to ancient traditions, a nine-tier Bai Sri is for the King and the Queen, a seven-tier Bai Sri is for a prince or a princess, a five-tier Bai Sri is for the royal guest with the status of a president, a three-tier Bai Sri is for a minister or for use in the wedding of a royal grandchild.

Bai Sri rituals are often performed in Chiang Mai. Thai people preserve this rite as a legacy for future generations. You will find different kinds of Bai Sri Pak Cham at Tom Lamyai Flower Market, Vichayanun rd, Chiang Mai.

Mekon River Bridge China to Thailand

Mekon River Bridge to Allow Travel From China to Thailand


A new bridge across the Mekong River will make if possible for the first time in history to travel by road from China to Thailand, which should boost regional trade. In Japan, both exports and imports reached record levels in May. Claudia Blume reports business news from VOA's Asia News Center in Hong Kong.

China, Thailand and Laos agreed to build a bridge across the Mekong River linking Chiang Khong in northern Thailand with the Lao town of Houayxay. The bridge is the final link in a new road system through the Mekong region that will make it possible for the first time to travel by land from China's southwestern Yunnan province through Laos to Thailand.

John Cooney, director of the Asian Development Bank's infrastructure division, says the road link is not only significant from a historical point of view, but it is also important for the economic development of the Mekong region.

"What it will do is it will allow a much easier flow of trade, of tourism, of people generally between China and Thailand, and between both places and northern Laos," he said.
The governments of Thailand and China will finance the bridge, which is to be completed by 2011.

Japan's trade surplus rose for a seventh month in a row in May, gaining nine-point-three percent from a year ago to more $3 billion. The country's exports rose more than 15 percent compared with a year earlier to about $53 billion. The growth was mainly boosted by shipments to China and the European Union. Imports also went up about 15 percent in the same month, rising to a record $50 billion.

In other news from Japan, automaker Nissan says it is working on a small car with a rock-bottom price for the Indian market. The company says the car will not cost more than three thousand dollars. Nissan will produce the car with its French alliance partner Renault and an Indian partner.

Nissan is competing against India's Tata Motors, which had earlier announced it will introduce an even cheaper car in the country next year, costing about $2,500.
South Korea's LG Electronics filed a counter-lawsuit against Japan's Hitachi over patents related to plasma display technology. LG is a major manufacturer of plasma display panels used in flat screen televisions.

LG alleges that Hitachi, its U.S. affiliate and its plasma display unit infringed on seven LG patents. The South Korean company filed the lawsuit in the U.S. state of Texas. It follows a similar lawsuit that Hitachi filed against LG Electronics in the same court in April. The Japanese company accused LG Electronics and its U.S. unit of patent infringements on similar technologies.

Chaep Airfare From/To Laos Here !

Extreme Climbing, Laos

Off the Beaten Path – Rock Climbing in Laos

Article kindly donated by Volker Schöffl

It is February 2002 and I have come to Laos as a member of a German-American expedition to put up new rock-climbing routes. We are doing this mainly to encourage rock-climbers to come to the country, so that they will have a fabulous time whilst spending the cash that this lovely country so desperately needs.

I am apprehensive about being back in ‘Lane Xang’, the ‘kingdom of a million elephants and a white parasol’. My first trip here in 1996, reconnoitering Lao mountains for rock climbing potential, was somewhat less than a huge success. At that time the country was not yet fully open for tourism and was still in the process of shrugging off its fearful past. In Vang Vieng, where I am now, we saw more AK-47s than umbrellas. Armed men put paid, at gun-point, to one of our climbing trips. Whether they were terrorists or freedom fighters depends, of course, on your politics. I made one or two tentative attempts to try to find out who they were and what the grenade launchers were in aid of, but to no avail.

During another trip we found a human skeleton, right where we intended to start climbing. We debated what we should do. Finally we tried to ignore the skeleton and climb, but it didn’t feel at all right: we accepted defeat and returned to Germany. On the plane home the far-below clouds became a mirror for my feelings: I couldn’t resign myself to never again experiencing the beauty and tranquillity of Laos and the kindness of her people – I vowed to return.

Hopefully we’ll have better luck in putting up new climbing routes this time. The job consists of attaching a series of bolts to the rock-face, one every two or three metres. Alert and properly-equipped climbers who attach their ropes to these bolts can ascend in perfect safety as, when they fall off, their descent will be arrested by the attachment of their rope to the bolts.

When we climb a route for the first time there are no bolts to secure the rope to, so we must attach the rope instead to small metal nuts which we wedge into cracks and to loops of rope which we sling around rock spikes. It is a scary business, as the nuts and rope-slings can and sometimes do rip loose when a climber falls from too great a height.

We spent the last few days thrashing through the jungles around the little town of Vang Vieng, looking for steep, clean rock-faces. Eventually we found a huge cave called Tham Nam Them, whose stunning 50 metre-high walls are perfect for hard routes. Just getting to the rock-face was an adventure. After a 20 minute off-road ride in a truck we waded through a big river to reach a jungle trail, which led to the entrance of the cave.

The climb was on the other side of the 300 metre-long cave, in which there is a chest-deep river. We carried everything above our heads, while watching out for snakes; we saw lots of them, including some 15-foot-long king cobras.

My surgeon’s salary back in Germany enables me to live life in the fast lane, climbing, skiing and partying as much as I want. Until a few years ago this was enough for me, but more recently the pleasures of self-gratification have paled and, to find meaning in my life, I now like to take five months a year off to serve as a volunteer at a hospital near Vang Vieng. During the week I work hard at the hospital, and on the weekends I work even harder to get the Vang Vieng climbing scene started.

Right now, halfway up a new route, this work seems to be too much for me. My muscles scream in protest. I scream in protest, at what I can tell is about to happen. I have been hanging on by two fingertips to a tiny ledge for too long, trying to throw a sling around a rock spike. Lactic acid overcomes my muscles, my fingers uncurl and gravity takes control. Falling off rockfaces is something I’m used to and which I’m usually unconcerned about. But today is different, as I am setting a new route.

I have not managed to attach the rope to a bolt as there are none in place yet. Instead I have secured myself by wedging an 8-millimetre chunk of iron into a small downwards-tapering crack. I have already fallen off at this spot three times and on all occassions the small metal wedge has held my fall, but it is a scary experience to fall off onto such flimsy safety equipment, as I know that if the metal wedge is ripped from the rockface by the force of my fall, then I will hit the ground – at speed. A strangled whimper comes from my mouth. Two seconds later I am dangling at the end of the rope, with nothing wounded but my ego.

I am desperate to give up, but can't. I know it’s only my pride, but my wife Isa is with me and last night I bet her a month’s washing-up duty that I could do it. She starts to sound panicked. She tells me to forget my silly one-sided bet, that when we get back to Germany she will be on permanent washing-up duty, if I will only agree to come down.

Eventually I do what she says: what we are doing is quite dangerous enough without making it more so by succumbing to silly testosterone displays. Today has scared me witless, bashing my slightly-superannuated bones against the spikey, almost untouched and so loose limestone, whole chunks of which often come off in my hand, sending me on not-so-leisurely and unplanned trips southwards.

I have got as used to falling off when a handhold gives way as it is possible. What I will never get used to is a huge big lump of limestone falling off from under my feet. It‘s a uniquely scary feeling to be following a bike-sized boulder down a rock-face. It feels as though both you and the boulder are destined to continue the plunge to its conclusion and it is the hugest of reliefs when you feel the rope tighten around your waste and arrest your descent. It’s even more of a relief to then look down and see that your wife has not been squashed flat.

Many people have asked me why I do something so dangerous. Other than the opportunity to get into the outdoors with a good group of friends and undertake a physically and mentally challenging sport, I have a theory. I know that, while climbing, I totally forget about everything except the problem at hand. This is a common thread in adventure sports: by intense concentration and involvement in the present moment you achieve a release from everyday problems and worries.

I personally prefer the longer release afforded by climbing to the much briefer moment which for example sky-divers gain. I regularly spend hours in this state of self-forgetfulness through intense concentration. Maybe the sky-divers’ and base-jumpers’ brains are wired differently from mine. Perhaps their brains need adrenaline in an intense, short burst, while I prefer my terror to be a lengthy and drawn-out experience.

The way I see it, why should I be content with only being scared witless for a few moments when I can choose to be petrified for most of the day? I suppose I ought to point out to those of you who were, until you started reading this article, considering climbing in Laos and are now thinking that you'd rather climb into Parkhurst jail or maybe don a straight-jacket and then free-climb London's Post Office tower blindfolded, that the rock-faces there are now as safe as anywhere, thanks to the assortment of intellectually-challenged adrenaline-junkies who have done the scary stuff for you already.

You can now climb in Laos without wading chest-deep across snake-infested rivers, and you won’t get hurt unless you behave foolishly. There are about 100 bolted routes of all grades, including some spectacular multi-pitch routes. I hope you will come and enjoy the climbing, not just so that the Laos economy can benefit from your spending power, but because both novice and experienced climbers will love the climbing here, in SE Asia’s most unspoiled country, peopled by the friendliest people it’s ever been my privilege to get to know.

Laos, old kingdom, past and present

Laos, a time forgotten

Mist shrouded mountains surround the village in the morning, a slight chill is in the air. During the day temperatures reach to the 40 C centigrade. I sip a cup of "Lao" coffee, and enter a second.

The French left their legacies in form of "Cafe aux lait", milk coffee, and an added surprise, baguette (French white bread for those who are unfamiliar with the word).

Sitting on the Veranda I order a Vegan baguette, it comes with a variety of garden fresh vegetables. Amazingly good, served by the proprietress of the guest house I live, the hearty smile adds to the beauty of the morning.

The sun rises, with it comes the heat. The jungle surrounding us is now steaming. I rent a bike for the day, and set off to my discovered place, "MY" private jungle pool, a few miles from where I lodge.

A cave that was discovered long ago, a Buddhist temple adjacent; the hermit Buddhist monk who passed away years ago, his skull has been placed into the cave for those who want to admire it.

A small paradise in a foreign land, amidst of lush tropical foliage. The daily plunge becomes a ritual, an experience that leaves me refreshed and invigorated. My thoughts wander to Hungary, Budapest, where I spa in a five star property. In stark contrast to the daily underwater massages, the mud packages, the Bio Sauna, here I have it all, and for nothing. I would not exchange with Acapulco, nor with Biarritz at this moment.

Tiny fish swim curiously around me, the bottom is a few meters deep, and I set out to explore the cave underground. Deep from inside the mountain the spring has its beginning, and rushes out in powerful force. Difficult to overcome its current, swimming against is difficult. I manage into the dark, unknown cave, grabbing on the rocks that protrude from the side.
Not being exactly a cave explorer I return when it gets darker. You never know what you may encounter here.

Many years in Africa have taught me many lessons, and one them is not to take unnecessary risks. Challenging nature is unwise, in any form. I enjoy the sight and return to my fishes companions, who are playing in the current.

I could stay the whole day here, enjoying the wonder of god's creation, for it is nothing less than a wonder. So I lay back, float in the pool till lunch time. I notice by then that my body temperature must have dropped significantly. I step out finally sit on a wooden bench nearby the cave, and drench myself in the sun.

I cycle back through rice paddies, the farmers waving friendly towards me, standing knee high in the paddies. Water buffaloes plough the fields, a unforgettable scene.
In another episode : Laos with its many surprises ....

Adventure travel in Laos and Vietnam, when to go.

When to go Laos

Laos has three distinct seasons, all with their advantages and disadvantages. The best time to visit overall is the cool season, between November and February. By November, the rains are usually over, all rivers are navigable and roads are pasable. The hot season, from March to May is very dry, but in some places, around Lao New Year, 14th - 16th April, accomodation of your choice may be harder to find. During this time, some rivers are harder to navigate, and boat journeys in remote places may not be possible. The rainy season, from June to October, whilst the country at its most beautiful and lush, can be difficult to get around in remote places by road.


When to go Vietnam

Vietnam is large enough to have several distinct climate zones.
* The South is hot, humid and tropical, with temperatures hovering in the 25-30°C all year round, but it rains the most from May to November. * The North has four distinct seasons, with a comparatively chilly winter (temperatures can dip below 15°C in Hanoi), a hot and dry summer and pleasant spring (March-April) and autumn (October-December) seasons. However, in the Highlands both extremes are amplified, with occasional snow in the winter and temperatures hitting 40°C in the summer. * In the Central regions the weather is somewhere in between, only just to confuse things here the rainy season is in the summer, not the winter.

Speed-boating the Mekong River in Laos

It was early morning when we left the village of Huay Xai in Northern Laos for the Mekong River, planning to get to Luang Prabang the same day. The 150 km journey along the river by speedboat would take half a day, breaks included.

Contrary to the advice given by our Lonely Planet guidebook we had decided to take a speedboat, because our hostess at Chiang Mai had recommended this alternative. Traveling on a big, slow river boat would have taken two days and required an overnight stay at the village of Pak Peng.

There were a lot of people at the pier when we arrived and the small speedboats set out one by one as soon as they were full. We were among the last to board and when stepping on the boat we saw right away that we had made the wrong choice. There was no turning back however; the low, narrow boat was packed full of people and off we went.

The boat flew on the surface of the water at high speed, at times reaching 80 km/h, and we sat on the hard benches with our chins on our knees, space for each passenger being about 40 x 50 cm. After only half an hour's travel our muscles were cramped and we felt miserable. We watched the passing scenery with our earplugs on, because the noise from the motor was deafening. The Lao passengers also wore helmets and lifejackets provided by the boat driver.

When the river is low, as it was then, accidents happen when speedboats bump into sandbars or sunken logs. Those who have not survived have been mostly local people who cannot swim.
Water splashed on our clothes and soon we were soaked to the skin. The sun was shining and the air was warm but I felt cold. Andy had a pained expression on his face; there was definitely too little room for a big man, particularly for one with occasional but severe lower back problems. I got a cramp on my left leg, but there was nothing I could do about it.

We had been promised that there would be a break every sixty minutes or so and after what felt like an eternity, the boat stopped. We discovered that our feet had gone to sleep and Andy's right foot was totally numb for at least ten minutes.

Luckily there was an additional stop when the boat motor suddenly started to act up. After landing on a sandbank our driver began to repair it and we hoped that he would not get it fixed too soon.

Stepping onto the golden sand dune and warming our sore muscles, we enjoyed our freedom. But then we came to think that we were in the middle of nowhere, only forest on both sides of the river. If the driver were not able to repair the motor, when would there be other boats coming to our rescue? We had not brought any food with us. And how long would our drinking water last?
We then saw two hunters walking on a ridge with guns on their shoulders. One was also carrying what to us looked like a wild boar. He came to the shore with his dog, threw down the boar and, unconcerned about our presence took off his clothes and plunged into the water.

The dog remained watching over the boar but could not resist the temptation, started to bite into it greedily. When the man got out of the water, he raised hell, and the dog moved aside with his tail between his legs, waiting for his master to calm down. Finally the hunter left with the boar, the dog walking close behind him.

Our trip continued. One more hour of speeding down the Mekong and we would reach the next stop, the village of Pak Peng. Our minds were made up; we would get off there and rest our limbs.

Laos Plain of Jars

Plain of Jars

Considered one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia, you may think that Laos has nothing to offer being a tourist destination. That didn't hinder tourists to discover this archaeological wonder that has the makings of being an asia travel spot. Haven't you heard, there's this historical landmark that consists of thousands of jars scattered in the highlands of Laos called Plain of Jars. Situated at Xieng Khouang plain, this Laos pride consists of thousands of stone jars big and small distributed in the place.

It is believed that this stone jars ages from 1,500–2,000 years and older. According to a local folktale, the emerging of jars began when the king of the giants Khun Jeuam fought and won a battle against the evil ruler Chao Angka. The king, whose fond of throwing parties brew and store huge amounts of lao lao rice wine in this huge stone jars. When the archaeologists studied the jars, they have found burned bones, beads and iron tools leading them to the conclusion that these jars were used as giant urns to bury the dead. Another mystery yet unsolved is how the jars are made. Locals believed that these jars were made from clay, sand, sugar, and animal products mixing together to form a cement-like mixture.

Since the time of Pathet Lao-American war began, most of the jars were destroyed by bomb explosions leaving bomb craters and trench systems in the area. This makes the area dangerous until today due to unexploded bombs that was a result of massive bombardment of the recent wars. In fact only three sites of the plain is safe for visitors and locals alike. Aside from the huge stone jars, you can also found original artifacts like Buddhist statues, colonial items and scraps from the exploded bombs in the US war. Like no other, Plain of Jars is the mute witness of Laos' historical occurrence in the past and in the years to come.

Luang Prabang - Laos' Saffron City

Laos’ Saffron City

Luang Prabang has a habit of putting paid to planned itineraries, so be sure to allow at least five days to take in this wonderful town.

The town’s main attraction is its breath-taking cultural heritage. Increasingly popular as a base for exploring the surrounding area, Luang Prabang is also an equally good spot, after changing down a couple of gears, to totally unwind by the mighty Mekong and just watch life glide by.
The 1995 UNESCO report which declared Luang Prabang a World Heritage site described the town as the best-preserved traditional town in SE Asia. It was also recently voted the world's top destination for the third successive year by Wanderlust magazine, whilst Laos was judged the best destination country by The New York Times.

Cradled in its mountainous eyrie, the town’s location is as stunning as its temples are resplendent. Like an earl’s fading finery, Luang Prabang’s somnolent streets slumber on, largely unchanged since its ancient royal capital days.

Aside from smelly drains, Luang Prabang, whose name means ‘Golden Buddha Capital’, exhibits few flaws. Tourists are usually reluctant to leave the bicycle-paced cradle of Lao culture and often tarry longer than planned. The attraction stems partly from the terrain, as the one-time royal seat of Laos sits at the junction of the Mekong with one of its tributaries and is encircled by an amphitheatre of limestone peaks. It even has its very own mountain right in the town, which rises steeply up behind the main street. The town is occasionally busy but rarely frantic and, thanks to strict planning regulations, is devoid of eyesores.

Time seems to have stood still in this special and serene place. In this respect it resembles the unique Italian city of San Gimignano, whose tightly-packed sixteenth century stone skyscrapers were left untouched for four hundred years when all the inhabitants died of the Black Death. Due to its isolation, Luang Prabang has preserved an older and slower way of life: old Asia, Asia without the crowds, Asia without the traffic, Asia where people have enough time for each other, enough time for themselves.

Luang Prabang seems almost camouflaged by palm trees and dense tropical foliage: from above, only golden-spired stupa roofs are visible, shimmering above the greenery. First-time visitors to this treasure trove of Laos culture are advised to devote at least the first day to taking in the stunning architectural display, with French-colonial chic married to Buddhist splendour to elegant effect.

At dawn scores of saffron-robed, alms-hungry monks file from the monasteries into the streets in a ritual that has become emblematic of the city’s identity. The orange in the monks’ robes is accentuated by the soft morning light in a scene framed by russet monastery roofs, palm trees and whitewashed colonial housing. Within an hour, the monks have completed their rounds and melted back into their monasteries. Although this daily ritual can be seen all over southeast Asia, it’s particularly striking in Luang Prabang because of the density of temples and the concentration of monks: out of a population of 15,000 residents, there are over 500 monks.

Guide to Vientiane, Laos

Vientiane, Laos

Unlike other southeast Asian capital cities, Vientiane is not a 24/7 frenzy of commerce. Its relaxed atmosphere makes it feel like a small town, which makes a kind of sense, for that is exactly what it is.

If there were a ‘Mellowest Capital in the World’ competition, Vientiane would win hands down.
Backpackers head south to get drunk and float down the river that skirts the village of Vang Vieng. More sophisticated travellers zero in on Laos’ luxurious capital, Vientiane, usually before a visit to Luang Prabang.

Unusually for a capital, Vientiane lies just over a border – the one with Thailand, just across the Friendship Bridge. The influence that shines through most brightly, however, is French.
For a start, the name is gallicised. The original name, Viangchan, which means ‘City of the Moon’ in the native Lao language, proved too tricky for the French tongue.

Expect French food, French flowers (marigolds), even the Arc de Triomphe – well, a monstrous concrete mockup, known as the Victory Arch. Dubbed the Vertical Runway because it was built with cement donated by the United States in 1969 for airport construction, the arch is a touch taller than the original, to spite the French, but unfinished.

A sign blames this on Laos’ tumultuous history, presumably meaning the punishment inflicted by the French, Japanese, Chinese, Burmese, Vietnamese, Thais and Americans. But all that was a while back. Even the sign itself recognizes the monument’s deficiencies, calling it a ‘monster of concrete’. No spin here. Cynics may wonder why the landlocked Communist state still cannot get its act together and finish the job. The decrepitude which the arch epitomises also extends to the streets, so be careful not to step in a pothole or sewer.

Be careful too of the tuk-tuk drivers, who are as enterprising as any you will meet in Asia. Always fix a price and clarify your destination before you jump in. Otherwise, expect to be taken to the wrong side of town for rather more Kip - the not-quite-worthless currency - than you care to cough up.

The perfect remedy for a white-knuckle tuk-tuk ride is a session at one of Vientiane’s many excellent and ridiculously cheap spas. For a flurry of Kip you can experience a massage far less brutal than the kind meted out by Thai pampering pugilists - and in much more atmospheric surroundings.

Blessed with bags of Indochinese style and with the cheeriest of residents, Vientiane blends Gallic flair with Asian mystique. This style also influences and permeates the sauces and aromas of the exquisite cuisine available in the world-class French restaurants at Fountain Square. For those travellers who are heartily sick of the sweet and sickly white wheat products falsely posturing as ‘bread’ across almost all of SE Asia, the lunch baguettes and breakfast croissants available throughout most of Laos will make a most welcome change.

The culinary alternative to Fountain Square is the Mekong. Its near bank is lined with scores of cheaper but still good Asian restaurants where diners lounge on mats and watch the sun set over the river while sipping a cold Beer Lao, the default and delicious state brew.

If you can tear yourself away from Vientiane’s culinary attractions, then maybe visit the Lao National History Museum. Set on the high street, it sounds and looks boring, but is brought to life by its jargon of jingoistic rage against the invader. Check out the photos of sniper peasants and the displays of chunky guns. ‘Weapons ordered by the US imperialists for its puppets,’ one caption screams.

If your spine can handle the bone-jarring 24 km ride, then take a trip from Vientiane to maybe the area’s most memorable attraction: that memory card-consuming icon, Buddha Park sculpture garden. There, tilted at crazy angles, mammoth concrete statues of Buddhist and Hindu gods jostle with fantastical likenesses of real and imaginary beasts. The highlight must be the three-storey giant pumpkin-like representation of Hell, Earth and Heaven, which is entered through the jaws of a demon head. More kitsch than religious, but a fun day out.

Apparently designed by Salvador Dali while drugged beyond his eyeballs, Buddha Park dates back to 1958 and owes its existence to the mystic seer Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat, who left Laos after the 1975 communist takeover. The park cuts a contrast with the golden and gorgeous downtown temples that stick to the rulebook more but, like Buddha Park, also have a slightly hallucinatory feel about them.

Whilst these attractions are worth a visit, Vientiane lacks the truly monumental and instead captures the senses by its tranquility and idiosyncratic charm. It’s a place to eat, people-watch, relax, get a massage, maybe visit one of the respectable night-clubs. Vientiane lacks vibrancy but, for so many visitors with enough energy expenditure in their everyday lives, this is just what the doctor ordered.

“Vientiane is exceptional, if inconvenient”, wrote Paul Theroux in 1975, “the brothels are cleaner than the hotels, marijuana is cheaper than pipe tobacco, and opium is easier to find than a cold glass of beer”. A lot has changed since 1975: Vientiane is no longer, after a thorough purge by the communist regime, in any way a seedy or a druggy place. Whether this could have been achieved without sending so many people on decade-long sojourns in re-education camps is not something we can give an opinion on, as we would like to one day get visas to visit the country again.

Why You Should Go to Laos

Laos

Imagine a sleepy French village on a drowsy afternoon at the end of summer. That is how Laos feels. Only less vibrant.

The land of crawling broadband and dawdling monks shatters – or at least quietly snuffs – the myth that southeast Asia is all tiger economy hustle and bustle. Every time a ripple of thunder breaks the stillness of the former French colony sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam, the electricity goes down. Forget that fruit shake you ordered, which requires a blender’s input. Better make it a Beer Lao.

Careful how you handle the currency, as Kip are next to worthless, meaning that it’s necessary to keep track of lots of zeros.

All these surplus circles mean it’s easy to get confused and tender an insultingly small amount or a fortune, then only realise the gaffe because of the look on the cashier’s face. It’s easy to feel rich with all those zeroes in your pocket, but beware, you may not notice that you accidentally blew a billion, until you don’t have the million or so necessary to buy a packet of chewing gum. Relax.

Spend a while in Laos and you may find that you start to adopt the dreamy expression worn by many of the inhabitants. Aside from the non-too-insistent pestering of hawkers and tuk-tuk drivers, pressure scarcely exists. Time elapses at the speed of a lolloping ox.

Thank or blame Communism. No reason for rush exists in a state where enterprise is vaguely frowned upon. Just like sex outside marriage. It is illegal for a man to sleep with a woman who is not his wife in this, the highly regulated People’s Democratic Republic, which even has a midnight curfew. Not that you would necessarily notice, because the curfew is enforced ever so softly and by the subtlest of soldieries.

Many travellers return repeatedly, hooked on a country that regularly wins prizes for being so laidback and enchanting, the epitome of oriental charm. Few observers have a bad word to say about Laos.

The so-called Jewel of the Mekong may, however, seem a bit constricted, given that it has a smaller population than urban Paris and few places to visit. Tourists flock to three main towns: Vientiane, the temple-infested cultural capital with the strange rhyming name, Luang Prabang, and Vang Vieng. First-class accommodation can be obtained in only the first two of these destinations – see the listings sections on page xxx for hotels, food, spas and nightlife.

While Vientiane and Luang Prabang ooze style and atmosphere, Vang Vieng is rather ramshackle. If you miss the TV show ‘Friends’ and like it broadcast louder than the thunder that regularly deafens the village, this is the place for you. Younger and/or boozier travellers will enjoy its wildly popular signature activity, ‘tubing’, which entails drifting drunkenly downriver, slotted inside a tractor tube. Tubing is worth trying once, even if you are t-total, just for the peacefully panoramic views of the mountain-lined Mekong tributary, the Nam Som.

Also for the amusement of watching the antics of the young and foolish, who swing from ropes across the river and do all sorts of inadvisable and dangerously daft things with ropes and ladders.

Alternatively, board the plane to Luang Prabang and be spellbound by the radiant temples and their saffron-clad incumbents. Watch the Mekong go by between drowsy spells half-reading a book in a river-bank restaurant, or just wander the streets absorbing the unspoiled antiquity.

Laos ranks as one of the world’s poorest countries. What a pity it is not easier to throw money around, there being a limit to the number of silk scarves, stone Buddhas and bottles of snake wine you want to stuff in your luggage. Unlike most of southeast Asia, this place makes you want to spend your money.

The biggest draws are the charm of the people, the French colonial influence on the architecture and the mystique that enshrouds the old Indochinese outpost.

Laos’ landmarks, for example Buddha Park, Vientiane’s twisted sculpture theatre, are hard to fathom. Then there is the Plain of Jars. Laos’ answer to Stonehenge, this Highlands plain is peppered with giant stone urns that defy conclusive explanation but serve as vehicles for informed speculation and fanciful guesswork. Be warned that this area contains a large amount of unexploded ordinance.

Laos has been conquered and occupied by pretty much every country on the planet except Monaco, in a history almost as blood-soaked as neighbouring Vietnam’s. After the communist Pathet Lao finally took complete control of the country in 1975 and sent the last King and Queen of Laos on a terminal visit to a re-education camp in a cave in the northeast of the country, they enforced a rigid closed-door policy that was to last more than a decade. The country has only recently opened up to tourism, so the inhabitants have yet to start to think of the visitor as no more than a mobile ATM. Laos is one of Asia’s last tourism frontiers, a country with a fascinating and largely intact cultural heritage, peopled by mostly friendly, funny and gentle folk. It can not be more highly recommended as a rewarding and relaxing destination for all travellers, regardless of the depth of their pockets.

Laos has great adventure sports possibilities, with fantastic rafting, mountain-biking, kayaking, trekking, rock-climbing and motor-biking available on www.greendiscoverylaos.com. Laos’ newest and greenest eco-adventure is at the Gibbon Experience, where guests stay in tree-top bungalows and use zip line cables to glide through the canopy of Bokeo Nature Reserve, in search of the elusive and playful Black Gibbon - www.gibbonx.org. Most visitors to Laos, however, do nothing much more energetic than knocking back a few cold Beer Lao while watching the sun set on the Mekong. Such people will simply explain the attraction of this lovely country lost in time by revealing the true meaning of ‘Laos PDR’:

Check Airfare Laos at http://www.laos-airtickets.com/Lao-Airlines/index.php

History of Laos

Laos traces its history to the kingdom of Lan Xang, founded in the fourteenth century by Fa Ngum, himself descended from a long line of Lao kings, tracking back to Khoun Boulom. Lan-Xang prospered until the eighteenth century, when the kingdom was divided into three principalities, which eventually came under Siamese suzerainty. In the 19th century,

Luang Prabang was incorporated into the 'Protectorate' of French Indochina, and shortly thereafter, the Kingdom of Champasak and the territory of Vientiane were also added to the protectorate. Under the French, Vientiane once again became the capital of a unified Lao state. Following a brief Japanese occupation during World War II,

the country declared its independence in 1945, but the French under De Gaulle re-asserted their control and only in 1950 was Laos granted semi-autonomy as an "associated state" within the French Union.

Moreover, the French remained in de facto control until 1954, when Laos gained full independence as a constitutional monarchy. Under a special exemption to the Geneva Convention, a French military training mission continued to support the Royal Laos Army. In 1955, the U.S. Department of Defense created a special Programs Evaluation Office to replace French support of the Royal Lao Army against the communist Pathet Lao as part of the U.S. containment policy.

Laos was dragged into the Vietnam War, and the eastern parts of the country were invaded and occupied by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), which used Laotian territory as a staging ground and supply route for its war against the South. In response,

the United States initiated a bombing campaign against the North Vietnamese, supported regular and irregular anticommunist forces in Laos and supported a South Vietnamese invasion of Laos. The result of these actions were a series of coups d'état and, ultimately, the Laotian Civil War between the Royal Laotian government and the communist Pathet Lao.

In the Civil War, the NVA, with its heavy artillery and tanks, was the real power behind the Pathet Lao insurgency. In 1968, the North Vietnamese Army launched a multi-division attack against the Royal Lao Army. The attack resulted in the army largely demobilizing and leaving the conflict to irregular forces raised by the United States and Thailand.

The attack resulted in many people losing their lives. Massive aerial bombardment was carried out by the United States (The Guardian reported, on Wednesday 3rd December 2008, that Laos was hit by an average of one B-52 bomb-load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, between 1964 and 1973. US bombers dropped more ordnance on Laos in this period than was dropped during the whole of the second world war. Of the 260m "bombies" that rained down, particularly on Xieng Khouang province, 80m failed to explode, leaving a deadly legacy.)

In 1975, the communist Pathet Lao, backed by the Soviet Union and the North Vietnamese Army, overthrew the royalist government, forcing King Savang Vatthana to abdicate on December 2, 1975. He later died in captivity.

After taking control of the country, Pathet Lao's government renamed the country as the "Lao People's Democratic Republic" and signed agreements giving Vietnam the right to station military forces and to appoint advisers to assist in overseeing the country.

Laos was ordered in the late 1970s by Vietnam to end relations with the People's Republic of China which cut the country off from trade with any country but Vietnam.[citation needed] Control by Vietnam and socialization were slowly replaced by a relaxation of economic restrictions in the 1980s and admission into ASEAN in 1997.

In 2005, the United States established Normal Trade Relations with Laos, ending a protracted period of punitive import taxes.

More info..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos