"More than 30 years international development assistance. There are 3 modern travel modes in Lao – air, high speed train, Vientiane Vang Vieng highway. That’s it.
"Roads are substandard everywhere with poor engineering and even worse construction. The jolting ride was navigating the potholes on Lao national highway. Potholes arise from poor compaction, substandard materials and no enforcement of load limits on heavy trucks chewing up the pavement. I could go on.
To be fair, Pakse is in the far south. You could have stopped a day or two in Thakek which is a nice little town too.
"Transportation – most lao are still grateful they don’t have to walk. Many can remember there were no paved roads and few unpaved roads 30 years ago. A bus was a truck chassis, usually Russian military, with a wooden frame and seats crammed with chickens and baskets of vegetables, hurtling down the laterite tracks ..."
1 comment:
"most lao are still grateful they don’t have to walk"
Sad.
Reminds me of a couple of my favorite Quran verses.
"We had also placed between them and the cities We showered with blessings many small towns within sight of one another. And We set moderate travel distances in between, saying, “Travel between them by day and night safely.”
But they said, “Our Lord! Make the distances of our journeys longer,” wronging themselves. So We reduced them to cautionary tales, and scattered them utterly. Surely in this are lessons for whoever is steadfast, grateful"
Post a Comment