The title of this post is a bit of an oxymoron, as Lao is the poorest and least developed place that we’ve visited yet. Infrastructure is lacking, consumer services are noticeably absent, amenities are basic, and NGOs are omnipresent. I can’t say exactly why Lao is the way it is, but learning its history sheds some light on the subject. In the 19th century, Thailand (then known as Siam) pawned Lao off to the French in a successful effort to retain its independence and autonomy. Lao is like other French colonies I’ve visited, which is to say that the French did not do too much to develop the place. (Soapbox moment: The French were some of the worst imperialists, up there with the Belgians. Unlike the Brits and Americans, they did absolutely nothing for their territories, except exploit their resources solely for French benefit. And when the rest of the world gave up their colonies following WWII and France had just been liberated from foreign occupation, they hypocritically took back their colonies! Unfortunately, France still has colonies today that it neither develops nor grants provincial status.) The Japanese took control during WWII. Not surprisingly, after the US had finished off the Japanese in 1945, the newly-freed French enslaved Lao once again. The Lao nationalist movement finally did win independence for Lao is 1953. The next twenty years were mostly a violent civil war, as Lao was part of the proxy war that the Soviets/Chinese/Vietnamese and US fought for control of SEA. By 1975, the US had bombed Lao into oblivion and the communists (Pathet Lao) had taken control of the nation. Under Communist policies, Lao stagnated in its destruction and fell farther and farther behind the rest of the world. This went on for nearly 20 years until the early 1990s, which is when I think the Lao government saw the writing on the wall; the Soviet bloc had failed and crumbled, while Lao’s communist neighbors China and Vietnam were liberalizing. Lao first opened its borders fifteen years ago, which was the beginning of the tourism industry in Lao. Ten years ago, it first allowed travelers to visit anywhere in the country. This was a huge step, as tourism has become a relatively large industry in an agrarian and industryless land. And five years ago, the government began to allow foreign investment in Vientiane, which hopefully will allow the country to really industrialize and develop. Although still chronically underdeveloped, everyone we’ve spoken too about the matter has indicated that Lao is changing incredibly fast. But like I said, despite the rate of change, Lao is still pretty undeveloped. Aside from a handful of major cities, the only paved roads are two-lane highways. These highways are the single paved roads running through most towns and most roads throughout the country are rock/dirt/unpaved. Many of the highways have only been paved in the past several years. Not sure if the roadbuilding is a cause of this or an effect, but supposedly there were barely any motorcycles or scooters around two or three years ago; today, these are by far the most common vehicles. Oh, and by major cities, I mean Vientiane (pop 200,000) and several other cities with populations between 50,000 and 75,000. With a population of just under 6 million, these figures show just how rural Lao is. We’ve seen a lot of villages and most aren’t much more than a bunch of bamboo huts stilted on 4x4s on a couple acres of cleared land. Some are just huts strung alongside the road or a few huts clustered together. It seems like anywhere there’s 3 or more huts, it’s a village with a name. Most of the structures in Lao are wood and bamboo, although the larger cities (and more so in the south) have more concrete structures. One of the oddest things is seeing the prioritization of satellite dishes over other needs. Despite needing to be replaced about once per year, everyone at least has a basic bamboo shelter. The next expenditure it seems most people take is to get a satellite dish. People do this before they build a permanent home out of wood or concrete, as we’ve seen plenty of huts with sat dishes and a TV inside. It seems even more ludicrous to me that people would get sat dishes before running water or hot water. But we’ve also seen people bathing in somewhat dirty roadside water channels and under water pumped from wells, while their hut has a sat dish. And people worry about America’s youth being couch potatoes. In addition to the lack of infrastructure, Lao industry and commerce is extremely young and small. Of course, there’s all the nationalized industries run by the government, but actual commerce is barely existent. Ever seen a Visa commercial that closes with, “Visa. Its everywhere you want to be”? Well, apparently that does not include Lao. There was one ATM in Luang Prabang and one ATM in Vang Vieng and I saw about a dozen in Vientiane- three in Vientiane accepted international VISA cards. So barely anyone uses ATMs (except foreign tourists), credit cards, or debit cards (or even checks). It’s the first place we’ve been where its so hard to get cash- good thing we brought a few travelers checks and have some baht to exchange. Lao also has no coins and the USD equivalents of its bills are between five cents and five dollars, so everyone carries ridiculously massive wads of cash. Transportation in the country is slow and service is infrequent. Shopping for consumer goods like clothes is non-existent and most people wear worn, or old, or donated clothes like in much of the rest of Asia. Consumer goods are rather scarce, although the two growing industries seem to be telecom and scooters, as lots of people are getting cell phones, internet, and bikes/scooters. And besides Beer Lao, the only advertising I’ve seen for anything in the entire country is for autos or from one of the two telecom providers. Yet despite the growing number of people that own scooters or cell phones (and even the few that drive new Toyotas), most Lao are poor. Most live in villages, work the land, ride bicycles, and if the need ever arises take longer journeys in an overcrowded truck. And while the government museums made much of the ‘American imperialists,’ it’s the governments communist policies that have held the country back. How else can one explain why the nicest buildings in the country are Party ones, dedicated to military heroism, revolutionary struggle, or our dear leader, while the country starves? The government has isolated its population and economy from any development whatsoever. And now, it must turn to Thailand, Vietnam, and China to develop its infrastructure and who will make a lot of money doing it. Its whoring its natural resources, like the Mekong, in its aspiration to become the “battery” of SEA. I’ll get back to writing about the poverty of the people, but its sad and concerning as all the development projects I’ve read about don’t seem like very good ideas; most of them seem good for other countries but at Lao’s expense. But that’s the history of Lao right? Thai, French, Japanese, French again, and Communist rule has been good for anyone except the Lao people. Today NGO offices can be found all over the country and attest to the problems Lao faces. Lao doesn’t appear to be as poor as South Asia, but there’s a few key differences. One, South Asia has a lot more people, so its problems will be more visible. Two, the population and its poverty are overwhelmingly rural, so we don’t see it as much. And the rural places we have visited have benefited greatly from the influx of tourist money. Thirdly, as Joylani points out, urban homelessness is not the single indicator of poverty. It is clear that people in Lao do not have a lot, although almost everyone seems to have at least temporary shelter. This month is Lao has been really eye-opening. In my Nepali development post, I wrote that Nepal made India look like the US. Well, Lao makes Nepal look like a high-powered Western state. We’ve visited a lot of rural or remote places on this trip, but to see an entire country with so little is really amazing. I think I could live anywhere we’ve visited so far, but I’m not so sure about Laos. Limited access to internet/email, barely any ATMs to access my money from, and difficult transportation. These, of course, are trivialities compared to what most Lao live without.