Jay and Jena Vee Smith: Our special visit to the Country of Laos

The major destination for our July trip was Laos. After we spent three days in Thailand, we flew in a two prop plane to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. You can see its location in the center of the map right next to a border with Thailand. The eastern border country is Vietnam and part of the Northern and Western border is next to Myanmar (Burma)and China. It has no seaport, and thus has many economic challenges. It is considered to be one of the poorer Asian countries.

It's history is one of tribal warfare and more recently, great devastation from the Vietnam War. During that war, many military supplies came from China through Laos. The trail that brought the goods became known as the Ho Chi Minh trail. Laos had declared its independence from the French after World War II. A great civil war ensued between the Communist Pathot Lao Party and the Royalists with its historic royal support. The North Vietnam government supported the communist counterpart and this led to great bombing by the United States. Laos is said to be the most bombed country in the world. It is estimated that between 1964 and 1973, every 8 minutes an American B-52 bomber dropped a load of bombs on Lao. About 1/3 of the bombs dropped did not explode leaving a dangerous legacy on the ground even today.

The original Laos people came from China. There are many different ethnic groups in the country. One of these, the Hmong, were driven out in large numbers as refugees at the end of the war. 69% of the Lao people are Buddhists. Christians make up only 2% and are regulated by the Government. Muslim populations are centered near Myanmar in the North.

The plane ride took less than two hours from Bangkok. We flew on the Laos Airlines. This beautiful Laos woman on the airline folders has the traditional colorful scarf over her shoulder

We stayed at a lovely hotel in Vientiane know as the Parkview Suites. We were on the 2nd floor. The currency is the "kip". The current exchange rate is 8500 kip to a dollar. The largest bill is 50,000 kip, or about $6 US. They do not use coins, only bills. Our suite was $75 US, a real bargain compared to other countries. The couples live across the street from the hotel in apartments. The road is one way, but 4 lines wide. No stop lights, just watch for a break in traffic and move quickly. There are many motorcycles and motorcyle taxis known as "tuk tuk's"
that can take up to 15 in the bed of the motorcycle. There are no tall buildings in Laos. The law indicates that no building will be taller than a government monument in town of about 10 stories.

The Missionary couples live in apartments to the right of the picture.

These are the wonderful couples serving in Laos. The middle couple are Scott and Jolene Riser from Roosevelt, Utah. They have been in the country a year. The other couple on the two ends are Edward and Joy Fountaine from Veloy, Utah, near St. George. They replaced Elder and Sister Oldham in June. These two couples are the only LDS missionaries in the country. The Church is known here as Deseret International Charities, or DIC. That is the name on their badges. They are allowed into the country to teach English and do humanitarian work for the people. There is one branch of the church in Laos with about 200 members. No proselyting is permitted by their visas. We spent several hours in their apartments training them on the new computer humanitarian database systems and helping them to know how to develop new projects. We were able to visit some of the ongoing projects. (See separate blog on these projects,) We stayed over Sunday so we could attend the branch. It is part of the Thailand Mission. (See separate blog on the Church visit.)

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and entertainment one night. The couples are helped greatly by a native member who is the branch president and a driver and interpreter for DIC in Laos, President Khamphee. He knows many influential people in the country. He speaks English well. He is on the left above with his wife who joined us for evening dinners.

President Khamphee is retired and is an extremely valuable asset to the Church. He was converted from Buddhism five years ago, and was called to be branch president 3 months later. The DIC has been in Laos since 1994.

Another dinner visit. The bill at a nice restauarant for 8 came to about$65 US.

These are rice fields. 80% of the agricultural farmland is devoted to growing rice. It grows in flooded fields as shown above.

There are many vendors on the streets with their carts. We purchased some delicious pineapple from this vendor. for 10,000 kip ($1.15)

We were able to meet with two members of the Laos Government that work with our DIC projects. The man on the left is Sayamang Vongsak. He has a Ph.D. in agronomy from Moscow University in Russia. He speaks very good English. The other gentlemen second from the right is Khampheuy Vannasopha. We discussed the clean water projects and the goal the government has to diversify its crops more. We had an enjoyable hour long visit with these men.

The man second from the right is the Executive Secretary to the Prime Minister in the Laos Front Government, Phayvanh Chandavong. His interpreter is on the left. This was a more formal visit. I sat next to him in the front of the room. His background is Hmong and he wanted some help with a school he is helping build with donations for his people in the North. We didn't promise anything, but said we would consider some project to help. Normally, we keep the projects closer to the center of church strength.