Dusty streets, slow transport, and a laid-back lifestyle -- must be Laos
March 30th 2007 My journey, or perhaps ordeal is a better term, to Laos began with a ten hour bus ride to the provincial city of Jinghong in southern Yunnan. Much of this first leg was on brand-new Chinese superhighways. Eventually, however, we reached the end of the finished freeway and were forced onto a two-lane highway that alternated between tarmac and dirt. Often I could see the under-construction freeway n
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Laos was under the control of Siam (Thailand) from the late 18th century until the late 19th century when it became part of French Indochina. The Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 defined the current Lao border with Thailand. In 1975, the Communist Pathe... ... read more 
