More than 20,000 people have been killed or maimed by these unexploded ordnance and currently, 50 people are still killed or maimed every year by them. Decades after the end of the Vietnam War, it is estimated that there are 80 million unexploded bombs and landmines left in Laos. No one knows how many people died but estimation are one-tenth of the population – about 200,000 Lonely Planet Guide to Laos 2020. The total cost was US$7.2 billion, or $2 million a day for nine years. According to official figures, the US dropped 2,093,100 tonnes of bombs in 580,944 sorties. As a result, from 1964, the Americans began an air war over Laos. During the Vietnam War the North Vietnamese began to infiltrate into Laos. Laos is the most heavily bombed place in history.It shares borders with China, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia.I VIRTUALLY KNEW NOTHING ABOUT LAOS before I went and here are some things I found out that may surprise you too! I should probably just have called this post eating your way round Luang Prabang – but more of that later! I’m so glad I found my brave – as my grandson would put it – and went What a wonderful, interesting and relaxing, time we had. So to say that I was feeling rather raw and anxious about this trip would be putting it mildly – like a turtle without a shell – like jumping without a parachute. We hadn’t seen each other for seven years and I hadn’t travelled overseas since 2019 – the last trip I had taken was with my husband Michael before he died in 2020. She offered to organize everything and lead me by the hand and, bless her, she did. She has travelled extensively in this part of the world but, because of COVID, hadn’t been for a few years. My holiday pal, Victoria, is an American who lives in Bali where I met her more than twenty years ago. LAOS IS A COUNTRY I HAD NEVER BEEN TO BEFORE – the same for THAILAND where we started off so how did I end up here?

We were very quickly dubbed the Princess and the Queen by the waiter in our LUANG PRABANG guesthouse, Villa Chitdara– and we did our best to rise to our newly elevated royal status! Sunset trip up the Mekong River with Diana and Victoria. ASIDE FROM LOVE, few activities seem to promise us as much happiness as going travelling taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather, customs and landscapes ……… So says Alain de Botton in his book The Art of TravelĬHRISTMAS DAY 2022.

Ant Egg Soup by Natacha Du Pont de Bie