Dams and Development Threaten the Mekong

A fisherman untangles his net on the Mekong River in Sop Ruak, Thailand. He said that dams in China have caused a decline in the number of fish in the river. More Photos >

SOP RUAK, Thailand — Basket loads of fish, villagers bathing along the banks of the river, a farmer’s market selling jungle delicacies — these are Pornlert Prompanya’s boyhood memories of a wild and pristine Mekong River.

Mr. Pornlert — now 32 and the owner of a company that organizes speedboat outings for tourists in this village in northern Thailand, where Myanmar and Laos converge — peers across the Mekong today at a more modern picture: a newly constructed, gold-domed casino where high-rollers are chauffeured along the riverbanks in a Bentley and a stretch Cadillac limousine.


The Mekong has long held a mystique for outsiders, whether American G.I.’s in the Delta during the Vietnam War or ill-starred 19th-century French explorers who searched for the river’s source in Tibet. The earliest visitors realized the hard way that the river was untamed and treacherous, its waterfalls and rapids ensuring it would never become Southeast Asia’s Mississippi or Rhine.

But today the river, which courses 3,032 miles through portions of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea, is rapidly being transformed by a rising tide of economic development, the region’s thirst for electricity and the desire to use the river as a cargo thoroughfare. The Mekong has been spared the pollution that blackens many of Asia’s great rivers, but it is no longer the backwater of centuries past.

China has built three hydroelectric dams on the Mekong (known as the Lancang in Chinese) and is halfway through a fourth at Xiaowan, which when completed will be the world’s tallest dam, according to the United Nations Environment Program.

Laos is planning so many dams on the Mekong and its tributaries — 7 of about 70 have been completed — that government officials have said that their ambition is to turn the country into “the battery of Asia.” Cambodia is planning two dams.

At the same time, the dashed dreams of French colonizers to use the river as a southern gateway to China are being partly realized: After Chinese engineers dynamited a series of rapids and rocks in the early part of this decade, trade by riverboat between China and Thailand increased by close to 50 percent.

The cargo passes through increasingly populated areas, erstwhile sleepy cities in Laos that are now teeming with tourists and defying the economic downturn with swinging construction cranes. Many parts of the Mekong were once a star-gazer’s dream; now nights on the river are increasingly aglare with electric lights.

Environmentalists worry that the rush to develop the Mekong, particularly the dams, is not only changing the panorama of the river but could also destroy the livelihoods of people who have depended on it for centuries. One of the world’s most bountiful rivers is under threat, warns a series of reports by the United Nations, environmental groups and academics.

The most controversial aspects of the dams are their effects on migrating fish and on the rice-growing Mekong Delta in Vietnam, where half of that country’s food is grown. The delta depends on mineral-rich silt, which the Chinese dams are partially blocking.

Experts say the new crop of dams will block even more sediment and the many types of fish that travel great distances to spawn, damaging the $2 billion Mekong fishing industry, according to the Mekong River Commission, an advisory body set up in 1995 by the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Of the hundreds of fish species in the river, 87 percent are migratory, according to a 2006 study.

“The fish will have nowhere to go,” said Kaew Suanpad, a 78-year-old farmer and fisherman in the village of Nagrasang, Laos, which sits above the river’s great Khone Falls.

“The dams are a very big issue for the 60 million people in the Mekong basin,” said Milton Osborne, visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney and the author of several books on the Mekong. “People depend in very substantial ways on the bounty of the Mekong.”

Some analysts see the seeds of international conflict in the rush to dam the river. Civic groups in Thailand say they are frustrated that China does not seem to care how its dams affect the lives of people downstream.

In August, the Vietnamese province of An Giang began a “Save the Mekong” campaign that opposes the construction of the dams in the lower part of the river, according to Carl Middleton, the head of the Mekong program at International Rivers, an organization campaigning against the Mekong dams.

Neither China nor military-ruled Myanmar, the two northernmost countries through which the river passes, are members of the Mekong River Commission, freeing them from the obligation to consult other countries on issues such as building dams and sharing water.

And yet, for now, the dams are not national preoccupations in any of the countries along the river.

“Most of the voices that are shouting in the wilderness about these dams are still very little heard outside of academic circles,” Mr. Osbourne said.

There have been no major protests and for many people in the region the dams are the symbol of progress and avenues to greater prosperity. The development of the Mekong is also an affirmation of a new Asia that is no longer hidebound by ideological conflict.

Jeremy Bird, the chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission, says the dams are likely to even out the flow of the river, mitigating flooding and making the river even more navigable.

“You could have launches like you have on the Rhine,” Mr. Bird said. He added: “With dams there are always negatives and positives.”

For Mr. Pornlert, whose boyhood village of Sop Ruak has now grown into a town with five-star resorts and restaurants catering to tourists, the negatives seem to outweigh the good.

He says the river behaves unpredictably, it is more difficult to catch fish, and he is uneasy about swimming in the river because there is “too much trash and pollution.”

“The water level used to depend on the seasons,” Mr. Pornlert said. “Now it depends on how much water China wants and needs.”

Source:

PHILIPPINE TENNIS STARS PUT ON AWESOME PERFORMANCE IN LAOS

The Philippines put on an awesome performance in the individual competition in tennis at the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos with Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey guaranteeing a gold by arranging an all-Filipino finals in men’s singles and a doubles showdown with the famed Ratiwatana twins of Thailand .

Charming Denise Dy kept the ladies in the thick of the quest for gold by partnering Riza Zalameda in the quest for gold in the doubles finals.


An ecstatic PHILTA official Randy Villanueva stayed in touch with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports all throughout, to relay the news of the sterling performances of Huey, the Philippines No.2 and veteran No.1 Mamiit who continued to sparkle following their epic win over highly favored Thailand in the tennis team event.

Villanueva said Dy unfortunately suffered an ankle injury in the women's semi finals and lost 7-5/7-6. Villanueva said he was confident that if not for the injury which made it difficult for Denise to cover the court she would have won and also gone on to win the gold. However, he said she had recovered and would be ready for the doubles events on Thursday.

Huey who teamed up with Mamiit to shock top-seeds Thailand and win the gold medal in the men’s team competition, clinching a 2-1 tie in a gripping deciding set tie-breaker in the doubles, played superb tennis to score a stunning straight sets victory over Thailand’s No.1 seed and world rated hope Danai Udomchoke 7-6/7-6 on Wednesday afternoon at the National Stadium in Vientiane, Laos.

Mamiit played excellent tennis to whip French-Cambodian Tan Nysan in the second semi finals 6-1/6-2 to ensure an All-Filipino final and boost the last-ditch drive of the Philippines to move up from sixth place in the overall medal tally..

Tan had earlier defeated Thai No.2 Kittipong Wachiramanowong in back-to-back tie-breakers 7-6/7-6 to set up the clash with Mamiit while Huey who is seeded No. 4 in the men’s singles smashed Malaysia’s Ariez Heshaam in straight sets 6-0/6-3 in the quarter finals to arrange a battle with Udomchoke who had beaten Mamiit in their singles match in team competition.

Udomchoke appeared to struggle against unseeded Cambodian Ben Kenny in the quarter finals and said later that his performance was below par as he was saving his energy for the next round and his showdown with Huey. He also claimed he had a slight shoulder injury. But nothing helped the fancied Thai as Huey whose excellent physical condition has been a feature of his game proved too good for Udomchoke who in 2005 lost to Mamiit in the gold medal clash in Manila.


The Bangkok Post reported that another Thai player, Suchanan Viratprasert was not good enough to win a medal in the women's singles event when she lost 7-5, 2-6 and 7-6 (5) to the Philippines' promising Denise Dy.

The Thai girl lost the opening set 7-5 before taking the second set 6-2. But Dy who plays in the US NCAA collegiate circuit pulled through to win the deciding set 7-5. She later partnered Riza Zalameda to beat the Thai tandem of Suchanan Viratpraesert and Nudnida Luangnam to book a place in the finals.

The Filipinas dropped the first 3-6 but clawed back to take the second set 7-6 and push the match to a deciding third set in which they blasted the Thais in the tie-break 10-0.
Dy and Zalameda will face their women’s team conquerors, Thai number one Tamarine Tanasugarn and Varatchaya Wongteanchai in the finals .

In the men's doubles finals Mamiit and Huey will once again take on the deadly Thai twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana who easily defeated the Indonesian duo Ketut-Nesa Arta and Christopher Rungkat 6-2 and 6-4.

Huey and Mamiit had beaten the twins in the Men’s team competition in a gripping third set tiebreak and look to score twin victories over the top-seeded brothers. In the men’s doubles semi finals Mamiit and Huey overcame Danai and Kittipong 7-5/ 7-6 (2) to set-up the rematch with the Rattiwatana twins.

Source:philboxing.com

Shell to sell Laos retail unit to PetroVietnam Oil

Royal Dutch Shell Plc will sell its Laos retail unit to PetroVietnam Oil Co., a unit of Vietnam's state-owned oil monopoly, which plans to expand into neighboring countries.

“Buying Shell's Laos business is the first step for PV Oil in its strategy of expanding market share in other countries in the region, including Laos and Cambodia,” Hanoi-based PV Oil said in an e-mailed statement today. It didn't give a value for the purchase.

PV Oil, which has representative offices in Caracas, Moscow and Singapore, is targeting “keeping pace with leading global oil trading houses,” it said. The oil importer and distributor's parent company, Vietnam Oil & Gas, has stakes in ventures in countries ranging from Algeria to Angola.

The company may also expand into southern China, Ho Tung Vu, PV Oil's deputy general director, said in an interview today in Ho Chi Minh City.

“PV Oil wants to compete with other regional and global players in the downstream business,” the statement said. Downstream is a term used in the oil industry to describe the refining, sale and distribution of petroleum products.

Crude oil produced in Vietnam is exported by PV Oil, which also imports petroleum products to meet domestic consumption. It also processes and distributes oil products.

Source:chron.com/

Laos Deputy PM Praises SEA Games Stars

The hosts had a good tournament

He said that the players should feel proud as making the semi-finals was already a historic achievement.

“The Laos footballers should be praised for reaching the semi-final round for the first time in a SEA Games competition,” said Somsavat.

“I can see that they have improved because of hard training and tried their best as the hosts of this event.

“But the fans should continue to encourage Laos athletes in the remaining days of the competition to cheer the athletes to win for their country.”

Laos had created history this year when they made the semi-finals of men’s football by beating Indonesia and also holding Singapore and Myanmar in the group stage.

But they lost out of a place in the final in the 25th edition of the SEA Games after losing to Malaysia 3-1 last night at the Main Stadium.

Source:goal.com/

Not so Pathetic Laos

The image most of us of a certain age are likely to have of Laos is a wildeyed, barefoot young Pathet Lao fighter scowling at the camera, dripping in an assortment of Soviet weaponry.

Or if there is one statistic they might know, it is that Laos is the most bombed country on Earth, a plane-load of ordnance being dropped every eight minutes by 1973 as the United States prosecuted a clandestine war against the Pathet Lao (literally Land of the Lao) and its North Vietnamese ally.

More recently, it may be an image of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, a one-party communist state, better known for its domestic purges, failed attempts at social engineering, bitter and largely forgotten war against the ethnic Hmong and North Korean styleeconomic policies.

Yet this landlocked country of seven million people and more than 130 ethnic groups, overlaid with strong French colonial influences, is now one of the hottest travel destinations in southeast Asia, an easy and staggeringly cheap option, especially for backpackers.

Tourists number 1.6-million annually, bringing in about half the country’s revenue. The rest is from mining (notably copper and gold), sales of hydropower, a small garment sector and
agriculture.

The economy has grown at about 8% a year during the 2000s, necessary for the country to realise its goal of escaping its status as one of the poorest 20 nations worldwide by 2020.

This has also partly been on the back of increases in labour productivity, up by nearly 20% in the past decade, resulting in an annual growth in agriculture output touching 5% over this period.

As a result, rural poverty has fallen from more than 50% to less than 40%, admittedly still a very high figure, and national poverty has been halved to less than 25%.

But, despite more than $400-million in annual aid flows, in the words of one specialist, “like in many countries, donors can always find a good project, but this often just embeds the status quo”.

The recent inflow of Chinese “aid” -- in reality, the linking of services (including the building of roads and a new national stadium to future contracts and mining and business rights -- has served to worsen this effect.

China’s pattern of “aid” should be all too familiar to African countries -- and just as there are concerns in Laos about mortgaging the country’s future wealth to short-term gains from China, Africa faces a similar conundrum.

No wonder then the promises of $10-billion in Chinese soft loans made at the November China-Africa summit in Cairo.

This year the Obama administration declared that Laos had “ceased to be a Marxist-Leninist country” -- this, in terms of the US memo, a “centrally planned economy based on the principles of Marxism-Leninism”.

This move lifted a ban on Lao companies from getting financing from the US Export-Import Bank. But Laos is a land of contradictions.

Even though the hammer and sickle still flies alongside the Laos national flag on most buildings and although officially a one-party state -- only members of the Communist Lao People’s Revolutionary Party are allowed to contest elections -- with a politburo where the writings of Marx and Lenin still sell well and Soviet style posters exhorting the people to great things are a common sight, the country plans to open its first stock exchange in 2010.

Although the captions in the National Museum berate the “imperialist” US and its “puppets” at every turn, today US visitors and firms are warmly welcomed.

President Barack Obama’s decision was clearly prompted by the way the economy, not the politics, are being run. New thinking -- jintanaakaanmai -- on the economy has been encouraged by reforms in neighbouring Vietnam, Laos’s big brother.

Like Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos faces a difficult challenge in this process: dealing with rising inequality, especially between the capital of Vientiane and a handful of other towns and the poverty of the countryside, between the obvious consumption of the politically connected and the barefoot poverty of the rest. This points to the biggest challenge of all.

Unlike Vietnam and China where liberalisation followed investment in the health and education of their citizens, thus ensuring they possessed the means to make full use of the fresh opportunities globalisation offered, in Laos and Cambodia this has not been the case.

In both the benefits are mostly accruing to a tiny elite and to foreigners.

Whereas in Cambodia the process has been driven by a predatory regime, there is greater naivety in Laos, where, as one donor argues, “people are being left increasingly behind in a liberalisation process before they have the means to capitalise on the opportunities and get a slice of the pie”.

A lack of transparency doesn’t help. Despite recent improvements in the ease of doing business, on the Index of Economic Freedom, Laos ranks well down in 137th (of 157) place.

Transparency International rates it at 151/180 on its corruption perceptions list, and it comes in at 163/174 on press freedom rankings. Put simply, Laos cannot be considered to be open and it’s unfree.

There are other parallels with many African countries -- a heavy dependence on agriculture and the challenge of moving from subsistence to commercial agriculture, a growing divide between rural and urban areas and, most notably, a very low capacity to implement programmes.

The absence of capacity also plays out in poor qualitative and quantitative data and, thus, weak planning. But there is no gainsaying the benefit of 8% average annual growth.

The impact is visible in the number of cars in Vientiane, the spread of cellphones and even the number of ATMs -- from just four three years ago to 144 today.

This will bring other issues: traffic, pollution, a still widening urban-rural bias, which will need to be managed, though these are problems you do not have without development.

Lao live for the moment, less reliant on Marx and Lenin than the teachings of Siddhartha in their Buddhist wats. Most of the country studiously knocks off between noon and 2pm each day, their feet to be found poking out horizontally from under their tuk-tuk canopies.

More importantly, this karma enables them -- like the rest of the region, so blighted by war and violence -- to look forward, not backwards, to making a plan and generally getting on with things. That, too, is a lesson for Africa.

Source:mg.co.za

Little Laos awaits its big moment

Long after the misadventures of the United States in Indochina, landlocked Laos evokes golden temples, golden smiles and, in the business world, golden mining prospects. But it is a different type of gold that will occupy the nation when the region's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games are for the first time staged in the country, from 9-18 December. What's in it for little Laos?

The SEA Games may not register much outside the region, but this year celebrating their golden jubilee, they are a big deal for the 11 countries involved. These are Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The previous games, in Thailand in 2007, featured more that 5,000 athletes and almost 2,000 officials across 43 different sports.

Laos, a tiny country of just six million people, is understandably excited at hosting the 25th games for the first time in the event's 50-year history. Local news reports in the state-controlled media refer proudly to the "honor" of playing host, while organizers boast the event will "put Laos on the map", attract tourists and draw foreign investment.

Just as important, the ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) sees the games as a boost to the regime's prestige at home. This is not just a sports event, but probably the country's biggest state extravaganza since formally gaining independence from France in July 1949.

Underlining the party-state's involvement, the president of the organizing committee is Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad.

Despite the difference in scale, there are parallels to the Summer Olympic Games held in China last year. Just as Beijing leveraged the event to proclaim China's emergence as a global power, the games in Vientiane represent a regional coming-out for the Lao one-party state, a symbolic culmination of the over three decade-long "revolutionary struggle" for independence and development under the LPRP.

Undertaking the complex task of the hosting a major international event, in that thinking, demonstrates the country's modern credentials.

Perennially the "smaller brother" to its regional rivals, hosting the event constitutes nothing less than a symbolic coming of age for Laos. A government spokesman told the Bangkok Post, "The SEA Games in Laos is a magnificent example of what sports can do ... and Laos has joined the giants in this respect."

Here the issue is less about showcasing the nation to attract tourism and investment, than demonstrating the munificence of the ruling party-state.

More unexpected, perhaps, is the widespread transnational support for the games among the Lao diaspora, formed from the mass exodus of refugees after the party's 1975 rise to power when it overthrew the royalist government, forcing King Savang Vatthana to abdicate.

Fans discuss the games in a Facebook group and websites, some set up even before the official games site. Many contributors plan to travel to Laos for the event, one enthusing, "I have built my whole year around this." Identified online by the flag of the pre-1975 royal regime, such posts suggest the Lao national pride of hosting the event may be linking Lao communities usually separated by distance and politics.

Yet, many questions also surround the event. Due to a lack of infrastructure, the Lao version of the games will consist of only 25 sports, little more than half the number held in Thailand. The omission of standard sports such as basketball, gymnastics and track cycling has outraged some competing nations, particularly Malaysia and the Philippines, while the addition of novelties such as finswimming - a speed competition in which swimmers don a large, dolphin-like fin - has aroused chuckles of dismay.

It matters little that these countries are aggrieved at the loss of medal opportunities, nor that all SEA Games' hosts nominate their own, often quirky events. Press coverage has focused not on Laos' unprecedented national achievement, but on the games' loss of "glamour" and reduced "priority" for these countries. The poverty and lack of development of Laos - one of the region's poorest nations - has attracted particular attention, the exact opposite of what the Lao government is trying to promote.

Most symbolically, perhaps, Laos is able to host the games only through massive assistance from its larger, richer allies in the region. The Chinese Development Bank has provided financing for the US$100 million main stadium complex, which is being built by Chinese contractors on the outskirts of the capital, Vientiane.

A Vietnamese company has built the $19 million athletes' village and Thai funds have been used to refurbish the existing National Stadium. Dozens of smaller financial agreements with countries like Japan and South Korea will provide everything from training to tracksuits.

Strategic patronage
There are good reasons for these countries to contribute their patronage. First is the simple commercial benefit. In return for building the stadium, Chinese developers were reportedly granted 1,640 hectares of prime land near the That Luang stupa, the national symbol, on which to develop a "Chinatown" complex in Vientiane. The Vietnamese company that funded the athletes' village is opening a wood-processing factory and hotel in Laos.

Second is regional influence. Thailand, Vietnam and China have long competed for influence in Laos. While socialist Vietnam has held political sway since the 1975 revolution, China has aggressively expanded its economic presence and soft power in the region, and some in the government, notably the Chinese-educated Somsavat, have increasingly turned to the regional giant. Thailand, meanwhile, considers Laos a natural part of its sphere for cultural and historical reasons, a perception boosted by the flow of goods, people and information across the Mekong River that separates the two countries.

Third is regional friendship and cooperation. For half a century, the SEA Games and their predecessor, the Southeast Asian Peninsula Games, have been the region's major cultural expression of regionalism, providing opportunity for friendly cooperation and rivalry without the risk of political fallout.

But despite all the pluses, the huge foreign assistance required to host the event has raised stubborn questions about Laos' national autonomy. For every article invoking the "spirit of ASEAN", others scoff at Laos' inability to fund and organize their own event. (The 11 participants at the SEA Games comprise the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus East Timor.)

The New York Times recently summed up the feeling in the headline "Laos stumbles on Path to Sporting Glory". Reinforced in the region's own press, such views emphasize Laos' dependence on foreign aid, undermining the games' perceived benefits at home and abroad.

This ambivalence is also evident in the country. Opposition to the Chinatown deal, which saw the original development plan significantly scaled back, was framed in xenophobic nationalist terms, with residents questioning how the government could give up land to foreigners in the heart of the capital. With the deal pared back, questions linger as to how the Chinese will be compensated, raising the specter of massive government debt at a time the financial downturn has already applied added pressure on the games.

Meanwhile, web-board contributors ask how the new facilities can be "Lao" when they are adorned with banners in Chinese or Korean. Others wonder why developers have imported their own workers from China, rather than employing local Lao labor. Others still ponder why Laos cannot even produce its own merchandise for the games.

Such criticisms point to the central paradox of the SEA Games: how can they be a national achievement when the nation is so dependent on others to host them? Ultimately, factors which seem to mitigate the positive impact of the games need to be viewed in historical perspective.

The Lao nation and nationalism have always emerged from the intersection of national, regional and international ideologies and interests. In pre-colonial times, minor Lao kingdoms paid tribute to one or more overlords, allowing them to retain a substantial degree of autonomy in the process. Likewise, the peculiarity of French colonialism was that, rather than destroying Lao identities, it actually created the modern idea of Laos as a political and cultural entity.

The post-colonial Royal Lao Government was the heir of this national identity, which further solidified despite, or perhaps because of, Cold War rivalries, the Vietnam War and a budget largely underwritten by US assistance. After the US withdrawal and the communist revolution of 1975, the new regime looked to the socialist bloc, especially Vietnam and the Soviet Union, to plug the financial gap.

The enduring theme in this history has been the inability of Laos to pay its own way; its engagement with and dependence on foreign powers. The country's current strategy of market-based development underwritten by foreign investment, foreign aid and ASEAN integration continues the trend.

Far from being undermined, the party-state represents itself as the all-powerful and benevolent conductor of these forces. This explains why state-run newspapers are filled constantly with photographs of "handover ceremonies", and never more so than in the lead-up to the games. In this worldview, hosting the games demonstrates not the government's lack of independence, but its consummate skill in harnessing aid from the region.

The general population might not be completely convinced, but this does not matter in the wider view. The 2009 SEA Games' limited size and dependence on foreign help merely accords with the self-image of Laos as a small country with limited resources. Last year, for instance, the country sent a tiny team of four athletes to the Beijing Olympics, thanks to funding from the International Olympic Committee. While there was certainly some criticism on the Internet, more comments focused on the positive.
"Four is better than nothing," said one, while another suggested plaintively, "When we are poor, we have to accept that we are poor."

This may not be how the government sees its hosting of a scaled-back games, but, together with positioning itself as a benevolent conductor of foreign assistance, such views help to explain how the event is being seen as a success inside the country when those outside see mainly dependence and poverty. Laos' little SEA Games are a big deal for the poor country, foreign-funded or not.

Simon Creak is a PhD candidate at the College of Asia-Pacific, Australian National University, with a specialization in the history of Laos. He may be contacted at simon.creak@anu.edu.au.

(Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

Source:atimes.com

Sea Games tours to Laos lacks attraction due to high cost

VietNamNet Bridge – Even though the 2009 Southeast Asian Games, or the 25th Sea Games, is drawing near, few Vietnamese tourists have put their names down for the regional sports event due to the high costs.

Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing executive of Saigontourist Travel Service, said only 50 people had come to register with her travel firm for tours to Laos on this occasion.

High cost is a hindrance, preventing people from attending Sea Games, said another tour operator in HCMC.

“Though lots of people have come for information, no one has registered till now,” said Ta Thi Cam Vinh in charge of Ben Thanh Tourist’s outbound section. The price is at US$375 exclusive of the return air ticket per person for a tour to Laos within seven days compared to a tour to Thailand costing only US$300, she told the Daily.

Vo Dong Hai, marketing executive of SPSC Tour under Saigon Petroleum Service Company, predicted that around 40 people will register to go to Laos for this Sea Games.

It is the first time Laos ever hosts the Southeast Asian Games from December 9 to 18. This event will take place in its capital city of Vientiane, Prabang and Savannakhet, where athletes from the region will compete in 25 sports.

The opening ceremony will take place at the New Laos National Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 25,000 people.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

Laos Twitter

Laos (pronounced /ˈlɑː.oʊs/, /ˈlaʊ/, or /ˈleɪ.ɒs/), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of 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 14th to the 18th century.

After a period as a French protectorate, it gained independence in 1949. A long civil war ended officially when the Communist Pathet Lao movement came to power in 1975, but the protesting between factions continued for several years. 10.6% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.