Vieng Xai (31 Oct - 1 Nov 12)

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Wow.

Laos saved the best for last for me.

For my last night in the country, I made the short trip eastwards towards Vieng Xai, en route to the border crossing into Vietnam. On the surface it doesn't look it at all, but this little idyllic and picturesque village was the site of the heaviest bombing that Laos suffered during the Secret War. It is also the site of the labyrinth of caves that housed members of the revolutionary Pathet Lao, including their Politburo members, as well as the community that built and rallied around their cause.

The superlatives escape me, but the landscape here is simply so beautiful that it's absolutely gut-wrenching thinking about the horrors that occurred not so long ago, and the years of suffering that had to be endured by a people that rightfully wondered why. The tragic irony of the beauty and destruction the took place here can perhaps only swallowed along with the reminder that ultimately the Laotians were victorious in their resistance. In fact, Vieng Xai means exactly that, "City of Victory".

I can't help but also reflect over the past month I've spent in the country, certainly one of, if not the most peaceful and tranquil I've been to, which just makes their painful recent history even more incomprehensible.

Five years on, and I fully remember now why I told myself to come back. Thank you Laos for reminding me. And I hope I will see you again...

Stayed at the Sailomsay Guesthouse, a lovely wooden-stilted guesthouse-restaurant-fish farm built on a lake, against the backdrop of the imposing limestone karsts and vegetation of Northern Laos.

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Photos

Pathet Lao Caves
This was the cave of Kaysone Phomvihane, the Secretary-General and leader of the Pathet Lao.

Sailomyen Guesthouse
Lovely wooden-stilted fish farm-restaurant on a small lake.

Inside Kaysone's Cave
He was a scholarly leader, and deep communist believer. Yes that's Lenin's bust! He was also proficient in English, French, Vietnamese, Russian and of course Lao, and read books in all those languages.

Inside Kaysone's Cave
This was the meeting room for the seven members of the Politburo, complete with designated seats.

"Hohm Daeng"
Aka Red Flower, believed to possess medicinal values, especially to nursing moms, and also symbolises the blood of fallen comrades. There are many, many planted around the caves.

Pathet Lao Caves
It looks so serene now, but this was the crater from a one-tonne bomb dropped just outside one of the caves.

Pathet Lao Caves
The beauty of the cave environs, simply unimaginable to juxtapose with the horrors of relentless bombing over nine years.

Pathet Lao Caves
The inside of the largest cave, which included the military barracks, and housed up to 2000 troops.

Vieng Xai
Wow.