LAOS photos 1

Zen Harper next to the Thai-Laos border on the Mekong River, near Nong Khai (Thailand) and Vientiene (Laos) - but I can't remember which side it's on... As far as I could see, Laos (officially, the Lao People's Democratic Republic) is a quiet, peaceful, little talked about, landlocked, undeveloped country, bordering Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma), China; as with Cambodia, some parts of it were part of Siam (Thailand) in the late nineteenth century, until the French enlarged French Indochina by nicking these bits off Siam. Of course the US is partly responsible for the poverty; Laos is officially the most bombed per square km country in the world [more non-atomic explosives than during the whole of World War II according to the BBC, although I find that hard to imagine], dating back to the "Vietnam" war [which of course also involved Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, China(?) in various ways, to some extent]. Still, the corrupt Laotian government doesn't help matters. [But which SE Asian government is NOT massively corrupt?!] The Lao language and writing system is very similar to Thai (apparently), but the Thais don't seem particularly fond of Laos; although they seem to hate Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma) a lot more. [To be fair, the Thais don't seem to like anyone else, including farangs and tourists of all types...they take your money and kick you out whenever they can! "Land of Smiles" Thailand definitely ISN'T...] Ah, enough ranting for now.

A temple in Vientiene, Laos - similar but subtly different to Thai temples.

A monument in Vientiene, the capital city of Laos, which apparently they built to commemorate freedom from French rule (previously, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam were all part of French Indochina). It is supposed to be vaguely reminiscent of the L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

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