My 11 day jaunt through Laos is drawing to a close. Its been a very revealing trip. I have to confess I knew pretty much nothing about Laos before this trip. It is not a place you hear a lot about in the news and while my school has students from all over Asia, there haven't been any Laotian students that I'm aware of.
Thanks to King of the Hill, I knew that it was a small landlocked country between Vietnam and Thailand with a population of 4.7 million (actually almost 7 million now).
I also knew that it was one of the five "technically" Communist countries left in the world (along with China, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam). And that it is not in the habit of holding free and fair elections to determine the leadership of the country. And that it was one of the poorer countries in ASEAN. But that was about it.
Having braced myself for a transition from relatively well off (by regional standards) Thailand to still poor Laos, I was pretty impressed by my initial observations in Laos. Electricity is available all the time, major roads are paved, the customs officers at the border didn't ask for bribes, the police don't appear to harass the citizenry unnecessarily, the local currency is available and in good repair, etc. All small things I know, but when you've been to a few countries you start to look for little things that tell you how well the country is doing. And Laos, based on my scant observations, is at least doing some things right.
What most struck me is how Laos is caught between all of its neighbors. Most significantly, Laotians are very close to their Thai neighbors; I once heard that there are more ethnic Laotians in Thailand than in Laos itself. Laos spoken and written language is very close to Thai, and perhaps because of this most of the Laotians I saw watching TV had a Thai channel on. The majority of people in both countries also practice the same form of Buddhism (Theravada, Vietnam and all countries further to the north practice Mahayana). Finally, almost every food product I seemed to pick up was manufactured in Thailand. Aside from the omnipresent Beer Lao, nothing much else seems to get made in Laos. I seriously can't think of another country I have been in where even the Coca-Cola is imported. This reliance on outside imports was a source of irritation that I heard repeated several times: Thai goods had to imported, duty paid, then resold for less than the going rate in Thailand in order to satisfy more thrifty consumers in Laos, all creating razor thin margins for local entrepreneurs.
Laos' political connections with Vietnam have been strong ever since the Second Indochina War. While the US intervention in Vietnam during the 1960s and early 1970s is common knowledge, Washington's involvement in Laos was kept secret at the time, even while it carried out one of the largest bombing campaigns in history. Nevertheless, the Communist-backed Pathet Lao eventually triumphed with the assistance of their Vietnamese allies and established the Lao People's Democratic Republic. This alliance has continued to the present day; officials in both countries dress in similar looking clothing and display Communist imagery, while at the same time urging their citizens to make as much money as possible in the free market. A large number of ethnic Vietnamese also live in eastern Laos, even halfway across the country near the Plain of Jars I started to notice more and more restaurants serving Phở style soup.
There are also notable connections with Laos' southern neighbor, Cambodia. Laos is home to Wat Phou, which is supposed to be one best preserved Khymer temples outside of Cambodia. My tour guide at the Plain of Jars mentioned that his brother went to college and worked in Phnom Penh, which was yet another unexpected reminder that the ASEAN countries are slowly tying themselves together in unexpected ways.
Finally, it is impossible to mention contemporary international relations in Asia without discussing the role of China. I actually can't say that I saw much in the way of Chinese influence during my trip. I saw a sign for a Chinese funded hydro-power project and there were plenty of Chinese restaurants. There was also the occasional Chery automobile and other manufactured good, but there was no obvious indication that Laos (southwestern Laos anyway) is being overwhelmed by Chinese imports.Of course this could begin to change rapidly if the new railway line between Kunming in southern China and Vientiane is completed. If properly built and utilized, this link could dramatically impact the economy of ASEAN's only landlocked country. Most of the Laotian roads I traveled on were paved and in decent repair, but they were by no means fast or high capacity.
Given all these diverse outside influences, the Laotian authorities have their work cut out for them if they are to maintain a unique national identity. At least they seem to recognize the presence of this challenge. The one Laotian TV channel I did see was constantly broadcasting local feel good news and demonstrations of the national government's competence. The government for its part seems to understand the importance of maintaining its legitimacy through action. Only time will tell if it is doing enough, fast enough.
Having braced myself for a transition from relatively well off (by regional standards) Thailand to still poor Laos, I was pretty impressed by my initial observations in Laos. Electricity is available all the time, major roads are paved, the customs officers at the border didn't ask for bribes, the police don't appear to harass the citizenry unnecessarily, the local currency is available and in good repair, etc. All small things I know, but when you've been to a few countries you start to look for little things that tell you how well the country is doing. And Laos, based on my scant observations, is at least doing some things right.
What most struck me is how Laos is caught between all of its neighbors. Most significantly, Laotians are very close to their Thai neighbors; I once heard that there are more ethnic Laotians in Thailand than in Laos itself. Laos spoken and written language is very close to Thai, and perhaps because of this most of the Laotians I saw watching TV had a Thai channel on. The majority of people in both countries also practice the same form of Buddhism (Theravada, Vietnam and all countries further to the north practice Mahayana). Finally, almost every food product I seemed to pick up was manufactured in Thailand. Aside from the omnipresent Beer Lao, nothing much else seems to get made in Laos. I seriously can't think of another country I have been in where even the Coca-Cola is imported. This reliance on outside imports was a source of irritation that I heard repeated several times: Thai goods had to imported, duty paid, then resold for less than the going rate in Thailand in order to satisfy more thrifty consumers in Laos, all creating razor thin margins for local entrepreneurs.
Laos' political connections with Vietnam have been strong ever since the Second Indochina War. While the US intervention in Vietnam during the 1960s and early 1970s is common knowledge, Washington's involvement in Laos was kept secret at the time, even while it carried out one of the largest bombing campaigns in history. Nevertheless, the Communist-backed Pathet Lao eventually triumphed with the assistance of their Vietnamese allies and established the Lao People's Democratic Republic. This alliance has continued to the present day; officials in both countries dress in similar looking clothing and display Communist imagery, while at the same time urging their citizens to make as much money as possible in the free market. A large number of ethnic Vietnamese also live in eastern Laos, even halfway across the country near the Plain of Jars I started to notice more and more restaurants serving Phở style soup.
There are also notable connections with Laos' southern neighbor, Cambodia. Laos is home to Wat Phou, which is supposed to be one best preserved Khymer temples outside of Cambodia. My tour guide at the Plain of Jars mentioned that his brother went to college and worked in Phnom Penh, which was yet another unexpected reminder that the ASEAN countries are slowly tying themselves together in unexpected ways.
Finally, it is impossible to mention contemporary international relations in Asia without discussing the role of China. I actually can't say that I saw much in the way of Chinese influence during my trip. I saw a sign for a Chinese funded hydro-power project and there were plenty of Chinese restaurants. There was also the occasional Chery automobile and other manufactured good, but there was no obvious indication that Laos (southwestern Laos anyway) is being overwhelmed by Chinese imports.Of course this could begin to change rapidly if the new railway line between Kunming in southern China and Vientiane is completed. If properly built and utilized, this link could dramatically impact the economy of ASEAN's only landlocked country. Most of the Laotian roads I traveled on were paved and in decent repair, but they were by no means fast or high capacity.
Given all these diverse outside influences, the Laotian authorities have their work cut out for them if they are to maintain a unique national identity. At least they seem to recognize the presence of this challenge. The one Laotian TV channel I did see was constantly broadcasting local feel good news and demonstrations of the national government's competence. The government for its part seems to understand the importance of maintaining its legitimacy through action. Only time will tell if it is doing enough, fast enough.
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| The Thai/Laos border from the Thai side. |
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| A good filled Thai truck crossing into Laos by ferry. |
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| Old colonial era building along the main street in Luang Prabang. The entire old town has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in order to protect the historic buildings and the result is something that every other historic town in Southeast Asia should try to emulate. |
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| Communist countries always have the best markets. |
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| Wat Xieng Thong in Luang Prabang. One of the most historic and beautiful temples in Southeast Asia. |
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| A typical Laos inter-city bus station. Nice, clean, convenient, safe, etc. |
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| A typical site at the Plain of Jars. Hundreds of huge stone jars, approximately 2000 years old. No one knows exactly who built them or why. |
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| Hwa Phra Kaew. It housed the Emerald Budda from 1564 until 1779 when a Thai army sacked Vientiane and took it to Bangkok, where it still sits. Apparently many Laotians have still not gotten over this. |
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| Patuxai, a huge concrete edifice supposedly made by the old royal government with cement that the the Americans had provided for a new airport runway. Apparently it is based on some other gate in Paris or somewhere. |
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| There is a noodle shop in the center of the arch. Awesome. |
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| And a T-Shirt stand halfway up the stairs. Super awesome. |
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| The authorities are building a huge park/flood barrier along the Mekong. Its actually pretty nice, lots of young Laotians and families come out to walk along the river on weekends. |
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| The mighty Mekong, Thailand on the right side. The first big hotel in town is on the left. |
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| The main parade ground. I decided to walk all the way across it in the afternoon sun, big mistake. The National Assembly building is on the right. |
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| Vientiane's first big mall, under construction. Things will never be the same? |
Nice brief on Laos!
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! Reminds me of the couple of days I spent in Vientiane. Did u get a chance to go to the museum? It has some interesting pictures of the Laoatian revolutionary history.
ReplyDelete