Laos – After years of war and isolation, Southeast Asia’s most pristine environment, intact cultures and quite possibly the most chilled-out people on earth mean destination Laos is fast earning cult status among travellers.
Udomxai Province in Laos – This rugged province is wedged between Luang Prabang to the east, Phongsali to the north-east, Luang Nam Tha to the north west and Sainyabuli to the south, with a small northern section that shares a border with China’s Yunnan Province (less than 60km from Mengla in Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna District). Most of the provincial population of 211,000 is a mixture of some 23 ethnic minorities, mostly Hmong, Akha, Mien, Phu Thai, Thai Dam, Thai Khao, Thai Lu, Thai Neua, Phuan, Khamu, Lamet, Lao Huay and Yunnanese Chinese.
Udomxai Province
The Yunnanese presence has intensified recently with the influx of Chinese skilled laborers working in construction, as well as trades people from Kumming, the capital of Yunnan. In the 1960s and early 1970s the Chinese were appreciated in Udomxai because they donated a network of two-lane paved roads radiating throughout the far north, using Udomxai as the hub. These roads were very important in moving Pathet Lao and NV A troops and supplies around the north during the war. Following the 1979 ideological split over Cambodia (China sided with the Khmer Rouge, Laos with Vietnam), the Chinese withdrew all support until the early 1990s.
Udomxai People
The new Chinese influx is regarded by many Udomxai inhabitants as economic infiltration, since the construction and road building is no longer foreign aid but paid work for hire, using plenty of imported Chinese materials and lab our.
Because Udomxai has a road system of sorts (it has deteriorated considerably since the 1970s but is still the best in the north), this province is the most accessible of the country’s far northern provinces.
Udomxai Province
Udomxai Province in Laos
Laos Travel Guide
Laos Tour
Related Posts via Categories
