Laos: Despite capitalist bombing and communist oppression, still a great place for a cup of tea
In an effort to stop the glorious onward march of communism, between 1964 and 1973, the USA dropped over two million tonnes of bombs on non-communist Laos — a planeload every eight minutes, 24 hours a day — more than was dropped on Germany and Japan in the entire World War Two. The effect? Today Laos is one of only five remaining communist states.
This fact recurs regularly in this week’s book, One foot in Laos by Dervla Murphy –most effectively when she compares the $US2 million per day the government found to bomb the communism away with the $US2 million per year offered to remove the unexploded remains. For those who don’t know Murphy, she is political, fearless and has cycled the world in search of freedom and stories. I have always loved her books, but this is tinged with sadness, as she grumpily hobbles around complaining about every tourist and modern innovation she meets. It’s a great time capsule though, a reminder that in the 1990s people like me were complaining about the IMF, the WTO and US Aid, and now we are complaining about Trump’s destruction of them. I guess that’s because US$2 million for mine clearance is better than nothing at all, and debt relief is better than a 48% trade tariff. A reminder that when you think things can’t get any worse… they often do!
For example, this week’s film The Long Walk, is set in a dystopian future when the government has injected Laotians with surveillance chips (something I could imagine Laos’ paranoid government doing). Strangely this has little to do with the main bulk of the film, which, like the Goonies, starts with a boy discovering a dead body. Things then take a turn for the weird as her ghost appears and somehow gives him the ability to time travel… he tries to use this power for good, to ease his terminally ill mother’s suffering, but each time he returns to the present day, he finds he’s made the future, and himself, far worse. It’s a well-made and interesting film, but I still wish I had managed to watch The Rocket, a “heartwarming, heart-felt, feelgood, success.” It is advertised as being on Apple TV, but unfortunately I have recently become 50 and so no longer have the technical nous for understanding new streaming services…
Having found both Thailand and Vietnam to be vegan paradises, I was excited by thought of Laotian food… it was hard to find recipes though so I was delighted to discover London’s Lao Café. The website warns that this is not Thai food, but nothing prepared me for the disappointment that awaited. Most customers seemed to have recently returned from the sort of backpacking adventure that would make Dervla Murphy turn in her grave; they had run out of Laos beer; and vegan options were few… but enough to fill a table. “Delights” included dry brown noodles with tinned sweetcorn and a papaya salad that seemed to have never met a papaya. The only glimmer of light was the sticky wild rice… I guess there is a reason so few Laos restaurants exist.
My search for Lao Lao — rice whisky — came to naught, but luckily the Curious Tea co exists. They offer a lovely white Laos tea that is fragrant, mild and a beautiful colour. Finally a Laos treat worth blogging about… As is Lao music, it may be hard to find, but when you do, it is well worthwhile, thanks to an avid reader I was pointed in the direction of Nouthong Phimvilayphone, perhaps the world’s best proponent of Khaen music. The Khaen is a mouth organ that resembles panpipes but made with bamboo tubes of varying lengths, each with a metal reed. I’d pay good money to hear someone doing Simon and Garfunkel on one of those but for now I shall leave you with this playlist on Spotify. See you next week in Latvia!
