Laos

[Old Hippie]

In my early years in Thailand, I would see vehicles tagged as Halo Trust or some other group dedicated to removing land mines. As I understand it, the Halo trust was bigger in Cambodia and maybe only in Cambodia? At one point in time, The area along the border between Cambodia and Thailand was the most heavily mined area in the world. I recall reading that xyz number of mines had been removed, but no idea how many had been planted “detonated in action” etc… I have, somewhere the video about the young KR child soldier who had helped plant mines for the KR and when liberated, went on to help a Japanese group remove them, well worth a look if you can still get it at the various places in or around Siem Reap.  

      If I have it right, the situation in Laos is different in that most of the UXOs are from cluster bombs and not mines. I think less of an effort to retrieve these UXOs  has been made for various reasons, the single biggest of which is politics, Laos didn’t want us there and we couldn’t have cared less either way. The other reason is many bombs were dropped “indiscriminately,” as in, not a detailed record of where and when these bombs were dropped or what kind and where and when. Additionally, no idea of what bombs detonated and if any or all of the “clusters” detonated. It is possible some detonated and others didn’t, and scattered over a very wide area. I have met people who were involved with the UXO project in Laos and they will tell you it is extremely difficult to solve other than through education as in telling people/kids “…this is what these things look like, don’t touch them…” then blowing them in place. 

[bust]

I remember when the world was hit with the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy outbreak some people were suggesting shipping all the cattle to Cambodia,Lao etc and herd them through the fields.

[Coss]

I had an idea that I sent to several of these outfits, the lack of response and disinterest in it, only further fuelled my distaste for "NGO Farangs trying to be wonderful whilst living off the pigs back', or in this case the buffalo's back.

idea

Big arse Helicopter, 50 -7 0 meters tether, to a 10 foot square steel plate of appropriate thickness - I dunno get engineers to specify - 3" or 4"?

Then mount some sort of transducer, powered by a small petrol generator on it, the transducer generating sound of a doof~doof dub n bass nature, at such a volume, that when the plate is on or within a few inches of the ground, would penetrate the substrate and detonate the mines/bombies.

The aural equivalent of hitting said bombies with a hammer.

The only flaw I now see in this, is it'd only work on relatively clear ground, trees and such would preclude the operation, mind you, 35 years ago it was clearing rice paddies that was the priority.

[Coss]

of interest

https://thediplomat.com/2025/06/did-the-lao-government-just-attempt-an-extrajudicial-killing-on-european-soil/

 

[Coss]

Laos-China Railway Transported Over 15 Million Passengers Since Early 2025

Jeez I thought, that's more than the entire population of Laos!

but:

The Laos-China Railway (LCR) transported 15.48 million passengers from January through 8 October this year, a 2.38 percent increase over the same period in 2024.

Cross-border travel totaled nearly 200,000 passengers, up 3.17 percent year-on-year, state media reported. The Lao section has served over 2.6 million passengers so far this year. 

The railway has carried nearly 60 million total passengers across 84,000 train operations, attracting visitors from 115 countries and regions. International ridership on cross-border services has exceeded 595,000.

Daily operations in Laos have expanded from four trains at launch to 18 trains per day, substantially improving travel efficiency. 

The Vientiane-Kunming service, launched in April 2023, has grown rapidly in popularity, with monthly passenger volumes along the full route surging from 600,000 to over 1.6 million....

LINK

So an awful lot of these bods are just using the China section. or just the Lao section of the route. Cross border is ~200k of the 15 million.

_____

 

I'm not sure how much quiet backwater will be left in Vientiane, I'll report back in Nov~Dec

[Coss]

Gents, Ladies, I give you Laos,      serenity…

[Coss]

Also frog nuggets.

[Coss]

gonna go on the Lao Chinese railway - need passport and such, like an international flight, even for a short Lao~Lao trip...

[bust]

5 hours ago, Coss said:

gonna go on the Lao Chinese railway - need passport and such, like an international flight, even for a short Lao~Lao trip...

Be careful 🐝

Father and son die after being stung by swarm of 'murder hornets' during Laos holiday

Wed 5 NovWednesday 5 November

The Asian giant hornet is also known as a murder hornet. (Washington Department of Agriculture via AP: Karla Salp)

In short:

A father and son from the United States have died after being stung by a swarm of "murder hornets" at a resort in Laos.

The pair were taken to a medical clinic showing no signs of allergic reaction, but later died in a regional hospital.

A spokesperson for the resort has described the deadly insect attack as an "unforeseeable and extraordinary natural occurrence".

An American father and son have been stung to death by a swarm of giant hornets during a holiday in Laos.

Dan Owen and Cooper, 15, were descending a tree after zip-lining at a resort near the northern city of Luang Prabang when they were attacked by the insects.

The incident occurred in October, but was only reported this week.

They were taken for treatment "covered in red spots" after the "very, very painful" attack, Phakan Arocavet Clinic doctor Phanomsay Phakan told The Times.

"A lot of stings, more than 100, over the whole body. I thought already that it's a very dangerous situation because I had never seen it as bad as that,"

he said.

The father and son arrived at the clinic conscious and did not show signs of an allergic reaction.

About an hour later, they were taken to a regional hospital where they died.

A Green Jungle Park spokesperson told the Straits Times the eco-park had reviewed its procedures.

"This event is unprecedented in our experience and, to our understanding, in Luang Prabang as well," the spokesperson said. 

"It was an unforeseeable and extraordinary natural occurrence."

In Laos, hornet stings were common but deaths were not, Dr Phakan told The Times.

"I have never seen a death and I have been working more than 20 years," he said.

Hundreds of murder hornets removed

 

Asian giant hornets are a major concern for farmers in North America, who fear important local bee populations will be devastated.

Mr Owen, 47, was a director at an international school in Haiphong in Vietnam.

"He was deeply loved across our community and will be profoundly missed," the school said in a social media post.

"Our sincere condolences go out to the Owen family and all who knew and loved them."

Asian giant hornets, which are also known as "murder hornets", can sting and spit highly toxic venom that causes tissue degeneration, anaphylactic shock and renal failure.

They grow to about 5 centimetres long, with stingers about 1cm, and prey on bees and other pollinators.

An entomologist told The Guardian being stung was like "having hot tacks pushed into my flesh".

[Coss]

Ouch!  I've not been to Green Discovery, but I was at Treetop Discovery yesterday, these and other operations linked by a guy, Inthy, well known local entrepreneur. 

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Turns out that the way to purchase a train ticket from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, is online. So far so good.

What happens is that, as soon as tickets for dates n.  become available for sale ~ Locals buy them in bulk.

They then on-sell them, purporting to be travel agents et al. We call it scalping.

So either you get in real early, in advance, to compete for the first tickets available, or you pay extra to a scalper, or you wait until a couple of hours before departure, when scalpers cancel and tickets are magically available online.

I tell you, MLG and her friends are at 1 on a scale of 10 when it comes to organising excursions.

Like herding chickens on a hot dusty afternoon.

So now we're looking at a journey to some other part of Laos, destination dependent, on whatever the tickets they can find, say.

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On reflection, the above practises may be also prevalent in LOS, and explain, why I couldn't buy a ticket from BKK to VTE in January,  by waltzing into the station on the day of the departure, like I used to do at Hua Lamphong.