Lunag Nam Tha, Laos

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Laos Terrible Legacy

Although officially a neutral country, Laos was host to a secret and terrible war between the USA and Vietnam. As a result, Laos earned the distinction of being the most bombed country in the history of modern warfare.- Staggering Statistics - The USA conducted over 10,000 missions during the nine-year war and dropped over a million bombs. This equated to one ton of explosives dropped for every man, woman, and child living in Laos at the time.

The war in Laos was so secret that the country's name was never included in any of the original US records; it was referred to as "the other". Neutral Laos was off limits according to the Geneva agreement. As a workaround, the US sent CIA agents and soldiers in under the guise of civilians; the air raid missions were fought off by men in cut off shorts and cowboy hats!

Lunag Nam Tha

After the 36 hour train and bus journey which turned into 54 hours from Xian we eventually reached the Chinese/Laos border town of Mahon. Being the only tourists here, we were quickly stamped out of China and made the 'short' walk to Laos. The border crossing into Laos was painless, hassle free and it wasn't long before I was some how fast asleep on a very bumpy bus headed to our first destination Luang Nam Tha.

After the hustle and bustle of the huge overcrowded cities of China, Luang Nam Tha was a complete contrast. This small sleepy farming town provided us wtih a couple of much needed relaxing days to recharge our batteries. The local people were incredibly friendly, all offering big similes and eager to talk to us.

We like to explore, so again we hired a couple of mountain mikes and followed our nose. We rode through dozens of small villages, passing kids shouting 'sabaidee!' (hello in Lao) at the tops of their voice and running alongside the bikes. After a taking one of my famous short cuts we almost got lost amongst the seemingly infinite fields of corn, as the bright day full of sunshine was interrupted by the approaching black clouds and the crack of thunder. Picking up the pace on our bikes we made it back to our hotel just as the heavens opened up!

Looking back we did very little here but the town, people and views make this place a very pleasant stop for a couple of relaxing days.

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