Photo. One of many villages in Laos which Chris past through. © Chris Tharp.
Laos is officially called the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The country is a communist state in southeast Asia, bordered by Myanmar (Burma) and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west.
Laos traces its history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang or Land of a Million Elephants, which existed from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. After a period as a French protectorate, it gained independence in 1949. A long civil war ended when the communist Pathet Lao movement came to power in 1975.
To get a real taste of the nature and the village life a motorcycle could be a good alternative. It`s a challenge to find a stabile motorclycle, but driving on the pure roads is also a challenge. As Chris writes: "The road heading west out of Tha Khaek was two-laned and mostly paved - a luxury in road-challenged Laos". Read about Chris Tharp`s experiences in a 4 parts travel tale on our global travel guide www.TravelExplorations.com.
Laos has two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Luang Prabang and Wat Phou. The government is seeking the same status for the Plain of Jars, which is considered as one of the world`s biggest mysteries . The Plain of Jars is a large group of historic cultural sites in Laos containing thousands of stone jars, which lie scattered throughout the Xieng Khouang plain in the Laotian Highlands at the northern end of the Annamese Cordillera, the principal mountain range of Indochina.
In the context of the Vietnam War and the Secret War, the Plain of Jars typically refers to the entire Xieng Khouang plain rather than the cultural sites themselves. Hmong Girls climbing on one of the jars at Site 1Archaeologists believe that the jars were used 1,500–2,000 years ago, by an ancient Mon-Khmer race whose culture is now totally unknown. There are total of more than 400 sites across the whole Plain of Jars that centers on the area of Xieng Khouang.
Laos is for genuine adventurers!
Stein Morten Lund, 16 September 2007
Additional information
Presentation of the author:
Chris Tharp is a former actor, comedian, and playwright from Seattle, Washington. He currently lives in South Korea, where he teaches at Busan Kyungsan College. He spends his spare time writing, fishing, playing music, motorcycling, performing, hiking, drinking, and eating still-moving seafood, though not necessarily in that order. Check out his blog: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tharp42
For more information about Laos, check out Lonely Planet`s website: www.LonelyPlanet.com
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