Laos: The Rough Guide (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

INTRODUCTION

Less than a decade ago, Laos was more or less unknown to Western travellers. Other than a brief period during the 1960s, when the diminutive Buddhist kingdom became a player in the Vietnam War, it has remained a backwater in tourist terms - a situation that only intensified after the 1975 revolution and the years of the xenophobic communist government that ensued, when the former French colony was largely forgotten about, at least by the West. However, when the Lao People's Democratic Republic reluctantly reopened its doors to the outside world in the 1990s, after its major source of aid dried up with the collapse of the Soviet Union, a trickle of visitors braved the travel restrictions and exorbitant visa costs to have a look. What they found was a poverty-stricken country stunted by war and politics and still doing things the old-fashioned way. The mighty Mekong and its tributaries were still the principal conduits for trade, and, for much of the population, a pair of legs was the chief means of transport. Only a handful of provinces were wired for electricity, and Vientiane, the capital, was a sleepy town of tree-lined avenues, decaying French villas and a surviving opium den or two. Tourist infrastructure was almost nonexistent, and the very inadequacies that made travel in Laos unique were also causes of exasperation.

In the past few years, however, Laos has become much more accessible. Visa prices have come down and restrictions on travel have been all but lifted. In the major towns and cities there is good-value accommodation and a surprisingly diverse array of cuisines on offer. Conditions in the countryside, however, remain primitive and challenging, but travellers willing to brave difficult roads and basic, candlelit accommodation will be rewarded with sights of a landscape and peoples not much changed from those that greeted French explorers a century ago.

Laos's life-line is the Mekong River, which runs the length of the landlocked country, at times bisecting it and at others serving as a boundary with Thailand. The rugged Annamite Mountains also run much of the country's length and historically have acted as a buffer against Vietnam, with which Laos shares its eastern border. Much of Laos is forested, and, despite the ongoing use of the slash-and-burn technique of agriculture, there are still considerable tracts of dense forest inhabited by myriad animal species. Tigers and other majestic cats, all but vanished from neighbouring countries, still stalk the hinterlands of Laos, and new species of large mammals are still being discovered, such as the deer-like soala or spindlehorn. There is even an endangered colony of rare freshwater dolphins inhabiting an isolated stretch of the Mekong.

For such a small country - its population is about five and a quarter million - Laos is surprisingly ethnically diverse. Colourfully dressed hilltribes populate the higher elevations, while in the lowland river valleys coconut palms sway over the Buddhist monasteries of the ethnic Lao. Laos also retains some of the French influence it absorbed during colonial days: the familiar smell of freshly baked bread and coffee mingles with exotic local aromas in morning markets. Economic reforms undertaken in the early Nineties gave the green light to Lao entrepreneurs, but recent economic woes - a plummeting currency and subsequent inflation - have hamstrung the fledgling capitalists. The future is unclear, as the revolutionary old-guard remains firmly at the helm but with little idea of which course to steer. For the visitor using US dollars, there are quite good bargains to be had, and while accommodation and modes of transport are often very basic, they give visitors ample opportunity to rub shoulders with the people of Laos: a gentle and fun-loving folk whose patience and resilience continue to help them weather tough times.

When to go November to January are the most pleasant months to travel in lowland Laos, when daytime temperatures are agreeably warm and evenings are slightly chilly, necessitating a lightweight jacket. However, at higher elevations temperatures are significantly cooler, sometimes dropping to freezing point - a heavy coat is a must. In February, temperatures begin to climb, reaching a peak in April, when the lowlands are baking-hot and humid. During this time, the highlands are, for the most part, equally hot if a bit less humid than the lowlands, though there are places, such as Pakxong on the Bolaven Plateau, that have a temperate climate year round. Generally, the rains begin in May and last until September. This is important to keep in mind, as the rainy season affects the condition of Laos's network of unpaved roads, some of which become impassable after the rains begin. On the other hand, rivers which may be too low to navigate during the dry season become important transport routes after the rains have caused water levels to rise.