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    Laos - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
    Laos - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
    Laos - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
    Ebook232 pages3 hours

    Laos - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

    By Nada Matas-Runquist and Culture Smart

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    About this ebook

    Culture Smart! Laos offers in-depth information to visitors seeking a genuine experience, including essential insights and advice on local customs and lifestyle. The information, collected through research and the experience of living and working in this beautiful country, is also of great use to businessmen and prospective investors.

    Once known as "the Kingdom of a Million Elephants under the White Parasol," Laos is a landlocked country of great contrast and beauty in the heart of the Indochinese peninsula.

    Visitors quickly relax and enjoy the vibrancy and color of bustling marketplaces with their aromatic spices, tropical fruits, and huge wicker baskets containing many varieties of rice. You may glimpse a group of monks of all ages wandering past in flowing orange robes, and later hear their chanting emanating from within the temple walls. Passing a line of children in school uniform, chattering and laughing noisily, you will always be greeted with a gracious bow and "sabaidee."

    Whatever the purpose of your visit, in Laos you will always be greeted with warmth, courtesy, and hospitality, and feel completely safe.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKuperard
    Release dateJan 2, 2019
    ISBN9781787029330
    Laos - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

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      Book preview

      Laos - Culture Smart! - Nada Matas-Runquist

      chapter one

      LAND & PEOPLE

      Until just a few years ago Laos was isolated and frozen in time as one of the world’s last communist states. Bordered by Myanmar (Burma) and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west and southwest, it remains one of Asia’s poorest and most under-developed countries.

      Laos has a fascinating multiethnic mix of people and heritage and, for diverse reasons, although war has played a major role more than once, is only now opening up to the world. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has struggled to establish its position and identity within an ever-changing and challenging political and economic context.

      Some Laotians born during the Indochina Wars have never known their date of birth. There were no official records, and everyone was caught up in the tragedy of war and violence. Today, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are of the utmost importance in Lao PDR. The UN’s SDG18 has the specific objective of reducing the impact of unexploded ordnance (UXO) that is still in the ground from that terrible period.

      Laos and its people are now experiencing the impact of foreign enterprise and massive investment in tourism, rail links, and hydropower. With economic and social progress, many fear that essential traditional values are in danger of being lost.

      GEOGRAPHY

      Laos is smaller in area than the United Kingdom. It has a total boundary length of 3,158 miles (5,083 km) and is dominated by the Mekong River. Its capital is Vientiane, established in 1563. Approximately 80 percent of the country is hilly or mountainous, with many remote and inaccessible areas. The remaining 20 percent is lowland, where more than half the country’s population live.

      A huge range of limestone mountains lie to the north, with peaks as high as 8,200 feet (2,500 m). The Bolaven Plateau in the south is home to coffee plantations, and the flat rice fields stretching from the southeast to the northwest are rendered fertile by the Mekong River. However, the diversity of landscape is rapidly diminishing in the face of major agrarian transformation, in which large, monoculture plantations are changing both the physical setting and the daily lives of people. Only 25 percent of the country’s land area is considered cultivable. Despite the fact that just over 70 percent of the total cultivated area is still dedicated to rice, Laos relies heavily on food imports from neighboring countries.

      The country is geographically varied and beautiful, from high, mist-capped mountains to grassy plains, plateaus, dense forest, and paddy fields flanking the Mekong. Its people are gentle and welcoming.

      CLIMATE

      Laos has the typical wet–dry season of the region, with the wet season ranging from April/May to September/October. The best time for a visit is considered to be during the dry season, as the weather isn’t too hot; however it tends to be busier then, and even during the rainy season the rain is not generally heavy for long periods.

      Because Laos is far from any sea it is rarely windy, as the mountains on the east block the wind coming from the coast of Vietnam, which means that it gets very hot during the monsoon months, especially in low-lying Vientiane. On the plateaus and mountains, the weather is milder, and it can be really cold in winter. There is a great contrast between day and night temperatures, and warm clothing is essential.

      During the months preceding the monsoon, the dry, fertile areas along the river banks are planted and, with the arrival of the rainy season, the rivers completely flood again and this cherished water revitalizes the soil for growth.

      Life in Laos is still essentially based on seasonal tasks to be completed from dawn to dusk. Despite the standing joke about there being only two seasons in Laos—hot and hotter—winter does exist in all parts of the country, and lasts several weeks. Around the time of the Western New Year, night temperatures can drop as low as 50°F (10°C), even catching people out in Vientiane and elsewhere by the Mekong River. During this cold snap, people rarely go out after nightfall, food stalls are not open, and entertaining is based in homes, with large servings of warm soup for everyone, or small fires laid outside for all to sit round. Temperatures are much more extreme in the mountains, with winters lasting considerably longer and people ensuring that they are home before dark.

      THE ENVIRONMENT

      Laos is tropical and mountainous, with many limestone formations and dry, tall, hardwood dipterocarp forests. There is not a great deal of primary forest left, as there is a lot of illegal Siamese rosewood logging and conservation laws are not administered efficiently. Protected forests are not heavily guarded, and trees are felled to supply the manufacture of massive wooden furniture. The only effective deterrent for poachers is UXOs (Unexploded Ordnance).

      Laos has a reputation for its beautiful and unspoiled environment. Tourism and the impact of economic and industrial progress, however, are changing the ecological balance. It is still sometimes called the Land of a Million Elephants, but this is no longer the case, and the magnificent Asian elephant Elephas maximus, once used for heavy work in the logging industry, has become an endangered species.

      What used to be the country’s largest nature park, Nam Theun, on the Nakai Plateau, was flooded by a dam to create two hydropower projects. NT2 is the largest hydroelectric project so far in Laos.

      Flora and Fauna

      Northern Laos has tropical rainforests with broad-leaved evergreens, while in the south there are monsoon forests with a combination of evergreens and deciduous trees, where the ground is covered with tall, coarse grass, wild banana, and bamboo. There is a stunning variety of orchids and palms.

      Look out for the cannonball tree Couroupita guianensis, an amazing tropical tree of religious significance in India. These trees have beautiful, fragrant flowers and large, round fruits that bang loudly when they drop off—hence their common name! You can still find them by temples that have become part of urban areas over the years, such as Wat Si Muang in Vientiane.

      Laos is home to nearly 200 varieties of mammals and more than 700 species of birds. Monkeys, rats, and deer dominate the mammalian part of the jungle fauna, elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, and leopards being some of the most endangered species in Laos. Gibbons and the snub-nosed langur are endemic. Exotic animals are usually found in greater numbers in Laos than in neighboring countries because there is more forest and the human population is smaller. They include the leopard, tiger, Asiatic black bear, and even the Javan mongoose. The endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin lives in the Mekong River on the Lao and Cambodian border, easily observed from boats (for hire on Don Khon island).

      There are countless varieties of insects, frogs, lizards, snakes, and other reptiles. Many water birds live in the lowlands of the Mekong, with other birds, such as parrots and songbirds, keeping to the jungles.

      The Mighty Mekong

      The Mekong, also known in Lao as the Mae Nam Khong, is the world’s twelfth-longest river, flowing 2,700 miles (4,350 km) through the heart of Southeast Asia. The river’s source is on the Tibetan Plateau, and it runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The Mekong has extraordinary biodiversity and is difficult to navigate because there are extreme seasonal variations in flow, and many rapids, waterfalls, and dams. In the rainy season, enormous amounts of natural debris, such as tree trunks, make navigation and even swimming dangerous. Only local village children swim in the river. The mythical water snake known as the naga originates in the Mekong, and its image features often in Laos, from woven textiles to temples, and many businesses have it in their name.

      The Mekong Basin boasts the richest area of biodiversity in the world after the Amazon. Estimates include about 20,000 plant species, 430 mammals, 1,200 birds, 800 reptiles, and 850 fish species; 87 percent of the fish species are migratory. It is home to more giant fish than any other river on Earth.

      River transportation and fish migration are frequently impeded by the construction of dams, on the Mekong itself or its tributaries. There are currently more than fifteen hydropower projects in Laos that use dams to store or divert water for electricity generation. This is not without controversy as, although the dams are promoted as a vital source of economic growth, the flooding and water diversions are affecting both the environment and long-standing local industries. To allow the free migration of fish, fish ladders or elevators have been constructed alongside the dams; these are a series of watery shelves that allow migrating species to make their way upstream unimpeded by obstacles. However, this measure is not fully effective; for example, the protected Mekong catfish is endangered through lack of the deep water it needs for migration. The Mekong River Commission manages the river for commercial purposes, but there are no conservation laws in place. Six huge bridges span it at various points.

      The riverfront in Vientiane has changed completely in the last decade. A few charming local restaurants clinging to the sandbanks remain, but now there is a concrete esplanade (built also to protect the city from flooding), complete with jogging paths and exercise machines. Gradually, the traditional unspoiled charm in the cities and urban areas close to the river is being replaced with a skyline of more and more high-rise buildings and numerous electricity pylons.

      THE PEOPLE

      Although this region of Asia is home to more than half of humanity, the population of Laos is small—only 2 million in 1960, though it has now reached 7 million. It has the youngest population of any country in Asia, with a median age of 21.6 years. The population is very unevenly spread, with most people living in the valleys of the Mekong River and its tributaries.

      Life expectancy has grown from 54 in 2007 to 60 for men and 65 for women in 2016, as more people gain access to clean water and health care. According to NAFRI (National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute), more than 70 percent of the population live in small villages, averaging about 300 inhabitants, in rural areas.

      One probably unique situation is that, while there are 7 million Lao in Lao PDR, there is a closely linked ethnic Lao population living across the Mekong River in an area of Thailand called Issan (also spelled Isan or Isarn) that is three times larger than the population of Laos itself. These people are sometimes referred to as Issan Lao, Thai Issan, Thai-Lao, or Lao-Issan. This situation stems from the Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1907 that formalized the Lao border with Thailand.

      The Main Ethnic Groups

      There are forty-nine officially recognized ethnic groups in the country, but many sources mention up to or more than a hundred. Each preserves its own language or dialect, local customs, culture, and ancient traditions. Lao Loum, or lower-land Lao, form more than half of

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