Relax - New audio tour recalls America's secret war in Laos

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VIENGXAY, LAOS – A new audio tour launched 18 November in a remote corner of Indochina brings alive the story of America's 'secret war' in Laos.

Between 1964 and 1973 America, which was at war with North Vietnam, secretly dropped more bombs on neighbouring Laos than were dropped on Europe in the whole of World War II.

Over 20,000 people in Viengxay in northeast Laos survived by living in an elaborate network of caves which are now open to the public. Many of the caves had specialist functions such as hospital, bakery, school, shop, theatre or government office.

A new audio tour of the caves, produced by a Sydney-based company, is now available to tourists visiting Viengxay, which is a scenic mix of abrupt limestone mountains and green valleys with rice paddies and hamlets.

"The creation of the audio tour is of historical significance," says Ms Penny Street, Director and Founder of Narrowcasters, which produced the audio tour. "Forty-nine survivors were interviewed including farmers, doctors, soldiers, nurses, and mothers who gave birth in the caves. It is the first time a large number of eye witnesses have been tracked down and their testament recorded for posterity and future use by historians."

The 90-minute audio tour combines eye witness accounts and a narrative that explains the wider conflict of the Vietnam War.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s as the cold war dominated geo-political thinking around the world, the 'domino theory' compelled decision makers in Washington DC who were trying to contain communism in Indochina.

The consequences were dire for Laotian villagers, most of whom were subsistence farmers.

Ms Pengsi today.

"We would shout at the planes flying overhead, 'Why are you doing this to us? Why are you trying to destroy us?'" recalls Ms Pengsi Sommany, who was part of the Xieng Xeu village defence unit during the war.

In the audio tour, survivors recall how for nine years under guidance from the Pathet Lao resistance, they built shelters in the mountain caves, worked the bomb-strewn fields and defended themselves in their grottoes and forest retreats as the earth shook around them.

Translated interviews, music, sound effects and archival recordings recreate the cave experience for visitors walking round this peaceful site today.

The audio tour pays homage to the villagers of Viengxay.

"Having survived the years of bombardment, I and other witnesses in the recordings describe what it was like," says Mr Siphan Vangdeuayang, Director of the Kaysone Phomvihane Memorial Cave Office in Viengxay.

"We remember our family members, friends and colleagues who did not live to tell their own stories."

The audio tour, priced at US$6.50 (S$9) per person, covers events from late 1950s to the end of the bombing raids in 1973 when peace accords were signed in Geneva.

The audio tour also explains the legacy of unexploded war bombs in the fields of Laos today.

The Laotian government says unexploded ordnance kills about one person a day in Laos. Many of the casualties are farmers, or their children playing in the fields.

Ms Street of Narrowcasters was invited from Sydney to Viengxay in 2007 by the Lao National Tourism Administration. She recalls how she was taken aback by the site, its extraordinary history, remoteness and poverty.

"What struck me most was the drama and significance of this unknown David and Goliath story – and the forgiving nature of the Lao people."

Because of events at Viengxay, the area is now deemed the birth place of modern Laos. The Pathet Lao took over the whole of Laos in 1975.

The extensive research, interviewing and translation of the interviews – which are also covered in a new Viengxay website – www.visit-Viengxay.com – required international sponsorship.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization, the PATA Foundation, SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation), the Australian Embassy in Laos, and private companies in the country all contributed funds or support in kind.

Despite its rugged beauty, Viengxay still receives very few tourists due to access problems.

However, flights are now available on 18-seater planes from the Laos capital, Vientiane, three times a week to Xam Nua, a 45 minute drive from Viengxay.

The nearest airport with daily flights from Vientiane is Xieng Khouang, a six-hour drive from Viengxay. An increasing number of budget travellers have been finding their way to Viengxay from both Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang on Laos' public bus system.

Some tourists prefer to be driven in from the Vietnamese border, 55 km away.

Visas on arrival are now available at Nam Meo, the nearest Vietnam border point to Viengxay.

The caves are a 300-km, eight-hour drive from Hanoi. With difficult access and accommodation choices limited to simple guest houses, Viengxay mostly attracts backpackers.

The audio tour has been developed to broaden Viengxay's appeal. A growing number of tour operators take groups through the region, many passing from Laos into Vietnam and onto Hanoi.

A comprehensive Viengxay website – www.visit-viengxay.com – has also been developed to mark the launch of the audio tour. The site offers dozens of archive photographs and excerpts of the audio tour.

New audio tour recalls America's secret war in Laos

AsiaOne | Thu, Nov 19 2009

Between 1964 and 1973, America secretly dropped more bombs on Laos than were dropped on Europe in the whole of World War II.

New audio tour recalls America's secret war in Laos

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