Page 5 - Laos Destination Guide - Alluring Asia

THE LAND Laos is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia and the Annamese Cordillera to reach the Gulf of Tonkin; the thickly forested landscape consists mostly of rugged most important of these is the Ma River, which rises in mountains, the highest of which is Phou Bia at 9,242 feet Xiangkhoang province. (2,817 m), with some plains and plateaus. The Mekong River forms a large part of the western boundary with Laos has tropical rain forests of broad-leaved evergreens Thailand, whereas the mountains of the Annamite Chain in the north and monsoon forests of mixed evergreens form most of the eastern border with Vietnam. The and deciduous trees in the south. In the monsoon forest capital and largest city of Laos is Vientiane and other areas the ground is covered with tall, coarse grass called major cities include Luang Prabang, Savannakhet and tranh; the trees are mostly second growth, with an Pakxe. abundance of bamboo, scrub, and wild banana. The forests support a rich wildlife, including elephants, Dominating the landscape of Laos are its inhospitable, gaurs (wild oxen), deer, bears, tigers and leopards, forest-covered mountains, which in the north rise to a monkeys, and a large variety of birds. maximum elevation of 9,245 feet (2,818 meters) above sea level at Mount Bia and everywhere constitute an Laos is predominantly rural and agricultural. The impediment to travel. The principal range lies along a numerous isolated valley communities preserve a northwest-southeast axis and forms part of the variety of different traditions and dialects. Villages Annamese Cordillera (Chaine Annamitique), but usually are located close to rivers and roads that give the secondary ranges abound. Three notable landscape people access to itinerant traders as well as to each other. features of the interior of Laos may be mentioned. In the Most villages are laid out around a main street or open northern province of Xiangkhoang, the Plain of Jars area, farmlands being adjacent to the residential areas. (Lao: Thong Haihin; the name derived from large Every village, if it can, has a Buddhist temple and prehistoric stone jars discovered there) consists of supports at least one monk. The temple compound extensive rolling grasslands rather than a true plain and usually includes a public building that serves as a school provides a hub of communications. The central and a meeting hall. Village leadership is usually divided, provinces of Bolikhamxay and Khammouan contain the headman having authority in secular matters and the karst landscapes of caverns and severely eroded monk in religious. limestone pinnacles. Finally, in the south the Bolovens Plateau, at an elevation of about 3,600 feet, is covered by The hill peoples usually are organized on tribal lines and open woodland and has generally fertile soil. The only live in smaller groupings. They are hunters and extensive lowlands lie along the eastern bank of the gatherers of forest products, as well as farmers, but their Mekong River. practice of shifting cultivation prevents them from establishing permanent villages. Hill peoples living close The general slope of the land in Laos is downhill from to the lowland areas tend to acquire the languages and east to west, and all the major rivers--the Tha, Beng, Ou, cultures of their neighbors and to engage in limited trade Ngum, Kading, Bangfai, Banghiang, and Kong--are with them; those living at higher elevations remain tributaries of the Mekong. The Mekong flows generally unacculturated. southeast and south along and through western Laos and forms its boundary with Myanmar and most of the border with Thailand. The course of the river itself is severely constricted by gorges in northern Laos, but, by the time it reaches Vientiane, its valley broadens and exposes wide areas to flooding when the river breaches its banks, as it did in August 1960. A few rivers in eastern Laos flow eastward through gaps in the