Vieng Xai - Pathet Laos caves.

Laos has a very interesting history. The local people, made up of a number of ethnic groups, have suffered colonisation by the French (who left a legacy of great architecture and awesome coffee) and the Japanese (who were quickly kicked out after WWII).

What was fascinating to us is that Laos communists have also defeated the might of the US and the US-supported Laos capitalist regime (the 'US imperialists and thier puppets', according to the current official interpretation) in a brutal war that lasted 9 years.

While the US were waging their war against Vienam, they were also bombing the hell out of Laos in what they called 'the secret war'. Laos has the unfortunate distinction of being amongst the most heavily bombed country in the world (see our UXO entry) - the American bombing was equivalent to dropping a planeload of arsenal every 8 minutes for 9 years (1964 - 1973) !!!

High in the mountains, and in a remote corner of the country, the city of Vieng Xai lies in a valley of massive limestone outcrops. In each of these outcrops are a network of huge caves. It was from here that the Pathet Lao - the Laos communist army - coordinated thier resistance.

It was an amazing feat - more than 20 000 people at a time hid out in the caves during the war! They built a sophisticated wartime city, complete with houses for the Politburo, a market centre, a printing press, a textiles manufacturing house, and a theatre! People hid out in the caves during the day, and many came out to farm by night, when the air raids had stopped. Each cave was equipped with an emergency room to be supplied with filtered air in case of gas attack. Anti-aircraft guns were positioned on the mountains above, and many US planes were brought down. Otherwise, all evidence of habitation was hidden by the jungle.

Dignitaries from other (communist) countries came for meetings and to offer support, and performances were conducted for the people. Imagine, the US didn't ever twig on to the fact that there was a city hidden in the mountains! Even the identity of the leader was kept secret to all but the other members of the politburo!

The people of Vieng Xai are staunchly proud of the fact that they, fighting for such a small country, were able to defeat the US and all its 'might'.

The visit was made even more special by the fact that the caves have only been opened to visitors for 9 years, and appaerently only 5 - 10 people from outside the region visit daily. We were the only two people on our tour, and so had full access to Mr Bumisai, our guide, and all his local knowledge.

We couldn't help thinking of the contrast with the organised tourism of, say, Uluru or Angkor Wat, and were very grateful to have had the opportunity to visit the caves in such a low-key way. We highly recommend a visit to anyone who'll be in the area.