Erin's Southeast Asian Peregrination

An Introduction to Laos

The though occured to me that most you you must not know much about Laos, so I though a brief introduction would be appropriate. Laos is a land locked country bordered by Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. The entire population of 5.8 million is smaller than Bangkok who clocks in at 6 million. In addition to having few people, 85% of Laos is unmanaged vegetation and the entire country is vibrant green. Poor Laos was also misnamed by the French who accidentally added an 's' to Lao, and within the country the 's' is usually dropped when written. This small country does boast to have the finest beer in southeast Asia - Beer Lao, which so far is true. Another important thing to know is that between 1964-1973 the US "carpet bombed" the country dropping 2 million tonnes of bombs each day ($2.2 million/day US) in efforts to combat and contain Northern Vietnam. This was one of the largest aerial sustained bombings in history, yet 30% of the bombs dropped failed to detonate. All in all a beautiful, and relaxing country which will be a wonderful break between Thailand and Vietnam. The photos are of the Kuang Si falls in Luang Prabang, a Indo-Chinese tiger they found abandoned and are raising, and the "green" of the countryside.

posted by Erin @ 8:06 PM