Lao Voices

Some days the news is not what we had hoped for.
In a horrific bus accident with an obsolete Greyhound bus, 10 victims died and 38 were injured when the bus overturned near the Northern California town of Williams on Sunday night.
The bus, which had an invalid license plate, was traveling north from Sacramento on Lone [...]

I think I have seen quite a few Republicans under the Lao American population but I never expected Vannasone Keodara to be one. She wrote an article on Voa news that is simply appalling. She is apparently very infatuated with Republican candidate John McCain after his selection of Sarah Palin as a veep. Vannasone wrote [...]

According to the World Food Program (WFP), half the children in rural Laos are chronically malnourished. Many of these children are from ethnic minorities and it is also a fact that policies of LAO PDR contribute to the problem.
A study released by the United Nations food agency in November 2007 estimated that 255,000 children [...]

The 25th Southeast Asian Games is scheduled to be held in Vientiane, Laos, in 2009. This will be the first time the country has ever held a Southeast Asian Games. However, there is an important condition for hosting the games: if Laos fails to meet the qualifications to hold this event, the games will be [...]

These are hard times for Hayden Adcock, a traveler to Laos from the Sunshine Coast of Australia. Hayden survived a horrible 11 days in the thick and humid jungle of Laos and, at this moment, is fighting for his life in a hospital in Thailand.
How did this nightmare start for Hayden? The 40-year-old had just [...]

Last friday, the 15th of August, Lao athlete Souksavanh Tonsacktheva was scheduled to race in heat six of the men’s 100-metre sprint at the Beijing Olympic Games.  Born on the 12/08/1988, Souksavanh was age 20 when he participated in the sixth heat -of 10 heats total-  prelimenaries in Bejing. The first three sprinters in each [...]

After 33 years of Pathet Lao ruling, what is the present size of Lao’s army?  For a good indication of a country’s military force it is best to compare its size to direct “competitors”. The Bangkok post made an interesting comparison of Laos’ military power compared to two of its Mekong neighbors, Cambodia and Thailand. [...]

Named after cognitive scientist Richard Shepard, a Shepard scale is an auditory illusion composed out of a series of ascending or descending Shepard tones. To start the Illusion, hit the play button, and be sure to replay the video again and again and again.
Warning; might cause temporary insanity

NGO Friends International has started a new initiative to alter the life of Vientiane street kids in a positive way. Through a project named Peuan Mit street kids get help in the form of prevention, reintegration, outreach and vocational training. Based on the support of up Mak Phet restaurant, former street children get a new [...]

Normally, I am not a big fan of conspiracy theories. I came across a documentary about one car, the electrical EV-1 of General Motors, that pulled me over to the conspiracy perspective. General Motors marketed the car in the mid 90s because Califonia’s law prescribed that 10% of its cars should be environmental friendly. The [...]

Suppose you are interested to go to Laos but you do not have a clue where the most interesting tourist spots are? Then there are “Hobo Maps” to guide you around. Hobo maps are maps that provide the necessary tourist guide for finding the most interesting spots around. Based on a simple grid system you [...]

To quote a famous Dutch footbal player and coach, Johan Cruijff, “Every disadvantage has its advantages”. This could also become true for Laos. The people of Laos hunger for electricity to increase productivity and general comfort of life. Unfortunately, only 48 percent of Laotians are connected to the electrical grid.  High costs and a lack [...]

There is a new wind blowing through Laos and it feels like the wind of change. The old structures of Lao society have been set up more than three decades ago and the international environment around Laos is changing. Adoption of new developments is needed. Neighbors Vietnam and Cambodia are opening their markets at a [...]

Now and then it is useful to look back in history to see where the future will take us. A pivotal time in Lao history is the time between 1950 and 1975. During that time, the political regime in Laos was completely turned around. This was no coincidence. Laos was heavily [...]