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Information
Laos
Laos is the only country in southeastern
Asia enclosed by other countries. Laos has no coast which is one of the
reasons why the country has been in isolation for many ages. The country has a
population of five million inhabitants. About seventyfive percent of its
inhabitant live in the fertile valleys near the Mekong river and its affluents.
The other part of the population lives in mountain areas and high plains. The
population can be divided in three groups according to the altitude of their
territory:
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The Lao Loum (Lao of the valleys) live in the valleys near the Mekong
river and its affluents. In the past they lived in the south of China but in the
sixth century A.D. they migrated to Laos. They settled in the valleys of
the Mekong river and expelled the original inhabitants to the mountains.
Their nuclear families live together in woorden houses in small
settlements near the river. The houses are built on poles and the roof is made
of rotan. Conspicuously the women have a strong position within the family.
Their economy is primarily based upon the cultivation of wet rice. Most of them
are buddhists. They speak the official Lao language.
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The Lao Theung (Lao of the mountain slopes) live on higer altitudes. They
are desendants of the original inhabitants. They live on the mountain slopes in
the north as well as in the south. Their extended families live together in
wooden longhouses on poles, each nuclear family having an own compartment
and fireplace. Many Lao Theung are half nomads living on shifting cultivation.
They cultivate dry rice, cotton, coffee and tobacco and leave when the soil is
exploited. Other means of existence are livestock-farming and hunting. They
trade forest fruits and animal skins to get iron tools and salt. Their standard
of living and cultural development is less compared to other ethnical groups.
Most of them are animists, although some are converted to christianity and
buddhism.
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The Lao Soung (Lao of the mountain tops) live in the mountains in the
northern part of the country. They migrated in the 19th century from
southern China, Tibet and Birma to Laos. They are the most recent group of
immigrants in the country. The group is divided into several subgroups like
Hmong, Yao, Lenten and Akha. The Lao Soung speak a Tibeto-Birman language and
are animists.
In the fourteenth century A.D. a
trustee at the royal court of Angkor founded a kingdom in Laos. The authority of
the monarch was inherent in the buddhist belief of a divine ruler with many
virtues from previous lives. Symbol of his authority was a statuette
called Pha Bang, a gift from the royal court of Angkor. This golden statuette of
buddha was kept in the capital city named Luang Prabang or Big Pha Bang. Because
of foreign invasions in the sixteenth century king Setthathirat moved the
capital to Vientiane. Since the second half of the 19th century
Laos came under influence of French colonialism. In the beginning France was
only interested in the region because of the Mekong river which offered an
opportunity to penetrate into southern China. A survey proved however that
navigation was not possible on parts of the river. Later Laos was considered an
appropriate buffer for the defence of French possessions in Vietnam and a
completion of French colonisation in Indo-China. At the end of the 19th
century the largest part of Laos was in hands of the French. Although the king
was still in power, the vice-consul represented French interests. After
the Second World War the country returned to an independent constitutional
monarchy under the royal dynasty of Luang Prabang. A fierce revolution flared up
between communists and royalists supported by China and Northern Vietnam on one
side and the United States on the other side. On 2 december 1975 a people's
congress abolished the agelong monarchy and proclaimed a republic. At
present the political climate in Laos has relaxed. An important goal for
the communist government is to improve the country's infrastructure and to
improve relations with neighbouring countries in order to speed up economic
development.
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Luang Namtha
Luang Namtha is a thinly populated province
in the northwestern part of Laos. The landscape consists of mountains, forests
and wild rivers. The various ethnic groups are partly Lao Soung and
Lao Theung. The concentration of tribes and minorities is much
larger than in other provinces. Prevailing minorities in the province are
Hmong, Yao (Mien), Lenten and Akha (Iko). Many tribal villages lie scattered
along the route of Xieng Kok to Muang Singh. They are inhabited by minorities
living in isolation and preserving their customs. High up in the mountains close
to Xieng Kok is the Akha village of Ban Ta Sommai. The Yao village of Oudom Sin
is close to Muang Singh, a colourful market centre in the high plains. Both
places are near the Chinese border.
The Hmong live in the high mountains where
red poppies thrive well. The poppies are an ingredient for the production of
opium, the most important means of support for the Hmong. They slash and burn
the forest trees to cultivate dry rice, and they keep live-stock like pigs,
chickens and buffalos. In addition they go out hunting to complete their meals.
As a rule they are half nomads who leave when the soil is exploited. Usually a
Hmong village is located in an open space on a mountain slope. The houses are
made of wood or bamboo and built on the ground in stead of poles. Each house has
a living room, one or two bedrooms and a guestroom. The fireplace and the altar
have a prominent place in each house. The Hmong are divided in subgroups because
of the colour of their dress. The best known group are the black
Hmong. The women wear a black cotton waistcoat, a blue skirt down to the
knee with an embroidered apron on top and black leggings wrapped around the
calves. Women and men highly appreciate silver jewelry representing the family
capital. Boys and girls marry at the age of eighteen after having spent the
night together. Polygamy does occur, but only with approval of the first wife.
Most Hmong are animists revering their ancestors. They have no writing of their
own so their history and culture is passed on orally from one generation to
another. The Hmong are known for their independence and their assertivity. Many
of them left the country after the communist take-over in 1975 when the
communist government planned to relocate them in lower territories. The official
reason was to restrict the cultivation of opium, but political motives also
played an important role in this decison.
The Yao or
Mien are originally from southern China and related to the Hmong. The Yao
cultivate dry rice, maize and opium. They are excellent craftsmen making their
own guns and knives. The silver smiths make superb jewelry. The extended
families live together in large wooden houses on a mountain slope near a forest
and a river. Their villages can be recognized easily. Everywhere women with a
black turban sit on a small stool in front of
their house making embroideries. Almost all older women wear glasses in order to
make a fine handicraft. They embroider from the backside of the frame so they
cannot see the pattern. Girls learn this this technique from the age of five.
The women wear a black turban, a waistcoat with a red collar and a skirt down to
the ankles. Underneath the skirt they wear wide trousers. Skirt and trousers are
decorated with fine embroidery. The children can
be recognized by their embroidered cap with little red pumpkins. The Yao marry a
partner of their own choice. The marriage takes place after the birth of
one or more children. They have their own writing in Chinese characters. Their
religion is a unique mixture of ancestor reverence, animism and traditional
Chinees taoism.
The Lenten
are closely related to the Hmong and the Yao. But in contrast to their relatives
the Lenten only live in the lower river valleys. They cultivate rice on
irrigated fields. They grow opium only for their own use. The extended
families live together in large bamboo houses covered by a rotan roof. Every
house has stacks of firewood in front and pigs root the ground. The name
Lenten (“bluedressed”) comes from the colour of their dress. Men as well as
women wear cotton clothes dyed blue in indigo. The women wear a silver coin in
their hair and have no eyebrows which are
depilated at the beginning of puberty. The Lenten are excellent paper
manufacturers. They mix the marrow of a bamboo plant with water of the river
into pulp. They spread it out on a cotton frame and let it dry. The result is
high quality paper.
The Akha come
from the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. In Laos they are also known as Kaw
or Iko. Akha wear cotton clothes woven by hand. Almost constantly women and
girls are busy spinning cotton: even on their way to the fields or to the market
place they have a coil in their hands. They dye the cotton in indigo blue and
black and decorate it with appliqué. The women wear a cap
on their heads trimmed with ornaments and coins. They wear a waistcoat on top of
a vest, a hipster skirt and leggings. They live in houses without windows built
on poles or on the ground. Each house has two sections, one for the men and one
for the women, each with its own fireplace. The altar is in the women's section.
Each village has a community centre where single couples meet and just married
couples live until they have a house of their own. Typical for each Akha village
is its gateway. It is the dividing line between the human world and the ghosts
surrounding them. By entering the village through the gateway the Akha leave
behind the evil spirits ruling the outside world. Visitors are not allowed to
touch the gateway. The Akha have no name for their religion. They live the
“Way of the Akha”, a coherent construction of traditions and habits
regulating ordinary life. Dissidents are expected to leave the village. The Akha
succeeded in preserving their traditional way of life. But because of the
increasing contacts with the outside world their culture is under pressure. Many
of them are disoriented and take refuge with the opium pipe.
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Ban Ta Sommai
A small path from Ban
Sompanmay leads to the Akha village of Ban Ta
Sommai high up the mountains of Luang Namtha province. The path is used by
Akha women and children to carry supplies of food and water to their village. In
doing so the Akha make use of a basket on their
back. The basket is strapped to their forehead. A yoke in the neck divides the
weight and keeps the basket in balance. In the village women are sewing,
spinning, embroidering or busy with some other kind of handicraft. The houses in
Ban Ta Sommai are made of intertwined bamboo and the roof is made of dried leafs
or bark. The houses are built on poles. Each
house is surrounded by a bamboo fence. In daytime the livestock of chickens and
pigs scratch and root the ground of the village. In the evening they are forced
into the enclosure of each house. Men and women have a separate section in the
house. Many houses have a high veranda for familymeetings. From this veranda
they have a view over the fence at the other houses in the village. The
chieftain of the Akha community in Ban Ta Sommai is a hospitable man who
receives his guests with a cup of tea or lao-lao (Laotian whiskey) on his
veranda, while curious children anxiously examine the strangers. Young children
carry their little baby brother or sister in a cloth on their back keeping the
baby away from the camera. They fear the camera might take away the soul of the
baby.
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Muang Singh
Muang Singh is situated in the northwestern
part of Luang Namtha province. This small city
near the border to China is a prime trade centre for the mountain tribes. The
morning market of Muang Singh is considered the most colourful market
in the northern part of Laos. The minorities descend from the mountains to the
city to sell products and buy necessities. The market is frequented by Lao Loum,
Hmong, Akha, Yao and Chinese. These ethnic groups are conspicuously different in
appearance, clothing and haircut. The Lao Loum and the Chinese buy and
sell vegetables, fruits, meat, fish and Chinese import in the market. The
mountain people sell forest products like tamarind and buy tools and household
products. Food stands serve soup, noodles and rice.
Close to the Chinese border in the rural
environment of Muang Singh is a Yao settlement by the name of Oudom
Sin. Older women with black turbans sit in front of their houses making an
embroidery. Most of them need glasses for the fine handicraft. Not far from the
Yao village is an Akha settlement. The women wear
a head ornament decorated with coins. They have it wrapped in coloured cloths
for protection.
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Luang Prabang
The old royal capital city of Luang Prabang
is founded in the place where the Mekong river and the Khan river come together.
The city has many wooden houses built in traditional Lao style and many
historical temples as well as colonial buildings. Despite wars and revolutions a
large number of historical temples has been left intact. Wat Xieng Thong and Wat
Mai are among the finest examples of temple architecture.
Wat Xieng Thong
is founded in 1560 by king Settathirat and is one of the few sanctuaries which
survived the many ransackings of the city. Since its foundation until the
communist take-over in 1975 the temple was under royal protection. The wat is
enclosed by a wall. The sim of the wat is built in classic Luang Prabang
style characterised by overlapping tiled roofs reaching almost down to the
ground. Eight gilded wooden columns support the roof. The interior is decorated
with frescos and dharma wheels on the ceiling. The exterior of the sim's
back wall has a decoration of glass mosaic representing a Thong tree with deer,
peacocks and tigers .
Wat Mai or
“new temple” is situated within the enclosure of the royal palace. The
construction of the temple was started in 1821. It took seventy years before the
temple was open for service. Until 1975 the wat was a residence for the
patriarch of Laotian buddhism. The sim has a fivefold roof in Luang
Prabang style. A gilded bas-relief tells the story of Phravet, one of the last
reincarnations of Buddha. Furthermore the temple shows scenes from the Ramayana
epic. It has conspicuous pictures of ordinary life with traditional houses, wild
animals and elephant processions. In the sim black pillars with golden
decorations attract one's attention. The sim was the residence of Pha
Bang in the period between 1894 and 1947. In april, during the new year's
festival, the statuette is taken from the royal palace to Wat Mai for ritual
cleansing.
A steep stairway on a forest hill slope
opposite the royal palace museum leads to the top of Phu Si or “miracle
mountain”. This hill in the centre of Luang Prabang is considered to be the
residence for the gods and guardians of the city. In the past the slopes of the
hill were covered with temples, but most of them did not survive the ages.
The top of the hill offers a panoramic view over the city, the royal palace and
the Mekong river. It is a unique place to watch the sunset.
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Vientiane
In present times Vientiane is the cultural,
commercial and administrative capital city of Laos. The city still breathes a
rural atmosphere. Bicycles and scooters are a common sight in the streets. But
the number of cars in the streets is on the rise. The remains of French colonial
villas stand next to traditional houses, buddhist temples and monasteries.
Pha That Luang, Wat Si Saket and Patuxai are the most important attractions of
the city.
Pha That Luang
or Grand Stupa is the most important monument of Vientiane. It is an eminent
symbol for national independence. According to a legend five buddhist monks went
on a pilgrimage to India in the third century B.C. and took a bone of Buddha
back home to Laos. On their arrival in Vientiane they built a stupa to enshrine
the bone. In 1566 king Setthathirat constructed Pha That Luang on the same
spot. At the time the stupa was state of the art in buddhist architecture. In
the past the gilded stupa was in the centre of four wats. Only two wats are left.
In front of Pha That Luang is the statue of its founder king Setthatirat. A
monastery wall surrounds the stupa. This wall is constructed in the 19th
century to keep away invaders. The stupa has three levels connected by a
stairway. Each level has a gallery. The first level is a square basement with
four sides. In the middle of each side is a gate for prayer or haw wai.
From this gate a stairway leads to the second level surrounded by sima or
sacred marker stones. The stones mark the various sacrimonial spheres. The third
and highest level is surrounded by sima and lotus buds. The bud of a
lotus flower is the symbol of awakening life. The third level also has thirty
smaller stupas. The central stupa is based upon the third level and has a bowl
shaped base with a quadrilateral peak. The peak is bordered by lotus buds and
topped by a stylistic parasol.
Wat Si Saket
is constructed in 1818 and the oldest temple left in Vientiane. In 1827 looting
Siamese invaders spared the temple because it resembled temple architecture in
Bangkok. The main building or sim is in a courtyard surrounded by a
monasterial gallery. Small niches in the gallery walls contain over sixthousand
buddha statuettes made of terracotta and silver. Underneath these niches
there are hundreds of larger buddha statues. The gallery surrounding the sim
is typical of architecture in Bangkok. The inner walls of the sim have
small niches with over two thousand buddha statues made of bronze, wood and
stone. Not much is left of the original wall paintings depicting episodes in the
life of Buddha.
Patuxai or
Gate of Victory is the Laotian version of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The
monument was constructed in the sixties of the twentieth century to remember all
Laotians killed in the wars before the communist revolution. Many consider the
monument boring and ugly. The view from the top of the Patuxai over the
city is impressive.
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Plain of Jars
Hundreds of giant jars lie scattered in the
central high plains near Phonsavan. Their origin is unknown. The jars are made
of sandstone, limestone and granite, materials not to be found in the area. It
is believed that a long time ago people rolled the jars over a large distance by
means of bamboo canes to their present location. French archaeologists concluded
that the jars were urns to store the ashes of the deceased and that the plain
was a huge prehistoric cemetary. The largest urns were meant for the nobles and
the smaller ones for the common people. The jars are probably more than 2000
years old.
The jars are concentrated in three locations.
Location one is near an airforce base. This
location has 273 jars and has the largest jar known as the victory goblet of
king Khun Chuang with a weight of six tons. Location
two consists of two opposite hills with a total of 68 smaller jars. Location
three has 88 jars concentrated in three places. According to legend the
heroic southchinese king Khun Chuang liberated the people of the high plains
from a cruel dictator Chao Angkha. The king celebrated this victory with a
magnificent party consuming enormous amounts of ricewine from large jars. The
same legend describes the people as giants.
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Champassak
Champassak is the
southernmost province of Laos and was part of the large Khmer empire in the
past. The provincie is considered to be the cradle of traditional Laotian
culture. This certainly is true for the valley of the Mekong river populated by
Lao Loum. The most important attractions are Wat Phou and Si Phan Don - a
conglomerate of many islands in the Mekong river.
The temple complex of Wat
Phou is constructed by the Khmer people at the foot of mountain Phou Passak. The
Khmer considered the mountain sacred because of a giant rock on top of the
mountain, the Linga Parvata. The rock in the shape of a lingam was the symbol of
the hindu god Shiva. Not much is known about the history of Wat Phou. Evidence
suggests there was a sanctuary in the 6th century. Inscriptions make
notice of human sacrifices to Bhadresvara, a manifestation of the hindu god
Shiva. Every year the king came to the mountain to bring a human sacrifice.
Human sacrifices are now replaced by buffalos butchered ritually during a
festival in february. The largest construction works took place in the twelfth
century under the rule of king Suryavarman II who was also the initiator for the
construction of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. At the end of the period Wat Phou was
turned into a buddhist sanctuary. In 1866 the Frenchman Garnier discovered by
chance the ruins of the temple overgrown by the surrounding jungle. Heavy
monsoon rains have damaged the temple complex. Many walls have collapsed and the
moss-grown bricks are corroded. Still the ruins breathe a mysterious atmosphere.
Wat Phou has three levels
connected by stairways. In the past the stairways had rails and props
shaped like nagas or mythical dragons, but these have vanished at most places.
In the complex plumeria or temple trees bear white flowers. In the past
the king sat on a platform in front of the pond to attend the official
ceremonies. From the platform a procession lane
leads to the pavillions. The rectangular pond
near the lane was used for boat races and ritual baths. The lane leads to two
opposite pavillions or lodging houses for the pilgrims: the women slept in the
building on one side of the lane and the men in the building on the other side
of the lane. Only the outer walls of the pavilions
still stand vertical. Nevertheless these buildings are part of the best kept
remains of Wat Phou. The sculptured windows and sandstone beams show pictures of
Vishnu, Shiva and Parvati. Behind the women's pavillion are the remains of the
Nandi temple. This little temple was dedicated to the bull Nandi, the riding
animal of Shiva. A stairway leads to the second level. At the foot of the
stairway is a statue of Phaya Kammatha, according to legend the founder of
Wat Phou. In the past there were six brick buildings on the second level.
Only their fundamentals remain, the rest has been destroyed. The purpose of
these buildings is not sure, but because of the used brick material (an
expensive construction material at the time) the archaeologists think they were
probably temples. The main sanctuary of Wat Phou dedicated to Shiva is on the
third level. The facade of this temple has sculptures with scenes from Lak Pha
Lam, the Laotian version of Ramayana, and pictures of Shiva and his wife
Parvati. The lingam in the temple has vanished. In the time of the Angkor empire
stone pipes transported water from a nearby well to the temple to clean the
lingam. The holy water was used by the pilgrims for ritual cleansing.
Nowadays the believers wash themselves with water straight from the well. In a
rock behind the sanctuary an image is carved of Trimurti or the tripple
unity of the hindu gods Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma.
Near the border to Cambodia
the Mekong river splits into many river arms. In the dry season, when the water
level drops, thousands of islands and sandbanks arise - hence the name of Si
Phan Don or “four thousand islands”. The larger islands are permanent above
the water level. On these islands people live in villages cultivating rice and
vegetables and catching fish. The largest island Don
Khong has various villages. The landscape on the island is adorable with
ricefields, waterbuffalos, rustic villages and friendly people. The island Don
Som
is a little more south in the Mekong river. The island has a superb
natural environment. The ricefields on the island are bordered with
palmtrees. Bamboo bushes and again palmtrees grow along the riverside. The
villagers on the island built their houses in the cool shade underneath the
trees along the riverside. They are not only farmers but craftsmen and fishermen
as well. Further to the south is the
island of Don Khone. This island close to the Cambodian border has many
kapok trees, coconut palmtrees and bamboo bushes. The village Ban Khone has some
ruinous French colonial villas and simple restaurants. Near
the village is a French stone bridge connecting the islands of Don Det and Don
Khone. Close to the bridge is a small rusty locomotive,
a solitary souvenir of the only railway the French built in Laos. The railway
went from the south of Don Khone over the bridge to the north of Don Det.
Boats sailing the Mekong river up north could not go further at Don Khone
because of the waterfalls. Hence the cargo was loaded on a train wagon and
transported to Don Det where boats were waiting to take it further north to
Vientiane. After the departure of the French the inhabitants of Don Khone
dismantled the railway and used the rails and beams for building bridges.
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Literature
Diverse
- "Reisroute", information of travel organisation Sawadee
Diverse authors
- "Te Gast in Laos", edition Informatie Verre Reizen V.O.F.
Peterse, Leon and Joke Petri
- "Laos", edition in the Dominicus series of travel guides
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