Laos: Where's Communism ?

The Thai border fence at Chiang Khong overlooking the Laotian side of the Mekong
After a relaxed slow-boat trip from the northernmost Thai - Lao border along the Mekong at Chiang Khong - Houxay, we finally berthed at a small Lao village named Muong Pakbeng. It was my first encounter with Southeast Asian communism: raised hammer and sickle flags of the Lao communist Party on every guesthouse. It was just a couple of weeks since the Lao People's Democratic Republic commemorated its 30th anniversary of the successful Pathet Lao Communist takeover of the country on 2 December 1975 (it was Nixon's last fallen domino: Cambodia fell to the communists on 17 April 1975, South Vietnam on 30 April 1975) . But since entering Laos, I haven't met a single uniformed person yet, something one would expect bumping in anywhere in the once uniform-obsessed communist world.

Early morning view of the Mekong at Pakbeng


A group of locals came nagging (but less annoying than their Thai neighbours) promoting us the cheapest accommodations for the night or the best post-colonial Baguettes (usually filled with Tuna - canned in Thailand or pork chunks - canned in China.)
One guy came and asked "you want marijuana ? you want opium ? I can give you cheap price. Best quality..." A strange reminder that I'm near the (once) famed and mythologized Golden Triangle - easily forgotten when highways and karaoke bars are making inroads to the once-feared Sino-Thai-Lao-Burmese borderlands .


Back to Luang Prabang. A first stroll through the ancient city. It was the capital of the ancient Lan Na kingdom a few centuries back, and was the southernmost proxy to the famous Silk Road trading network where Chinese, Yunnan, Shan, Thai, Vietnamese and lowland Lao traders met. The French colonisers made Luang Prabang their typical European chill-out haven (think of Bogor or Bandung in Indonesia). The city was spared amidst heavy US bombing of northern Laos in the early 1970s when Pathet Lao guerrillas and North Vietnamese forces occupied the surrounding areas to wage war against the pro-US Laos government. It was bestowed a UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1995 thanks to the innumerable historical temples and french colonial buildings that made up the city.

Not long after, the first western backpackers came trickling in. The word was out.

"Cheapo Beer Lao !"
"Gotta go check my email"
"Hammer sickle shirts ? Cool, dude !"

Luang Prabang - 15 December 2005