Laos

Laos was once a patchwork of principalities, invaded by a Khmer King in the 14th century who installed Buddhism as the state religion, and later the Siamese and then the French in the 18th century. The French made it a protectorate of France and there was a king right the way up to the 1960s. I read it finally gained its independence from France in 1958.

From then a period of chaos followed where the communists backed by the North Vietnamese and the wealthy right-wing elite backed by the US fought it out.

From the mid 60s - 70s, the US led a secret war, carpet bombing large areas to the north east of Laos (towards the border with Vietnam) to combat the communist backed Pathet Lao army and southern Laos to disrupt the North Vietnamese army and their arms routes to Vietnam. US strategy was to carpet bomb huge areas as most of the routes and bunkers were hidden from aerial view. When i was younger, a documentary I watched in the UK stated that Laos had more ordinance dropped on it per square metre than any other country. This was the first time I had ever heard of Laos. I later read 2 million tonnes of bombs had been dropped and 30% failed to detonate, leaving large areas of land unusable. It has also taken its toll on the civilian population of which more than 10,000 poeple have died (according to the Lonely Planet). I'll be visiting the east later during my travels as this period of history interests me greatly.

After the US withdrew from Vietnam in the mid 70s, the communists finally took over the country and the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos was born.

The population is small, probably about 7 million, 70 % are still subsistence farmers with little or no cash income and they are so laid back as a paople, they are almost horizontal...