Laos Opens Wartime 'Cave City' to Visitors
Photos and map courtesy of SNV Lao PDR
Media and fam-trip queries:
Dr Paul Rogers, Senior Tourism Advisor, SNV. E-mail: progers@snvworld.org. Tel: (++856 20) 5526 166. Fax: (++856 21) 414 068. Websites: www.snv.org.la and www.snvworld.org.
Laos National Tourism Administration www.tourismlaos.gov.la and www.ecotourismlaos.com
Information about the Lao Ecotourism Forum
www.ecotourismlaos.com/forum2007.htm
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): www.unwto.org
Information on UNWTO's Sustainable Tourism - Eliminating
Poverty (ST-EP) programme: www.unwto.org/step/index.php.
Viengxay area map.
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The Secret War in Viengxay (PDF 43 KB)
A background paper by Dr Paul Rogers
To view hi-res image, click thumbnail or link. Right click link and choose "save Target As..." to download hi-res version.
The actual pictures below are not square. The thumbnails are just a section of the image.
Shop and houses in Viengxay.
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Pathway leading to Keysone Phomvihane's cave. He was Pathet Lao leader during the Indochina war.
Keysone Phomvihane's wooden house constructed outside his cave after signing of 1973 Paris Peace accords.
Underground theatre in the army cave.
Theatre Cave complete with stage and bandstand.
Table inside the dining room of Keysone Phomvihane's cave.
Passage ways inside the army cave.
Passages and bedroom inside the army cave.
Hotsprings at ViengThong on the road between Xam Nua and Luang Prabang. The trip is Laos' most scenic drive.
A young boy shows his forest catch.
Laos' 'Stonehenge': 2,000 year old standing stones at Hintang between Xieng Khouang and Xam Neua.
Bronze age circular burial stones at Hintang.
Entrance to the meeting room of the Party's Central Committee, at Keysone Phomvihane's cave.
Bust of Keysone Phomvihane constructed outside his cave during the 1973-75 peace accords.
Lenin bust and Che Guevera picture above Pathet Lao leader Keysone Phomvihane's work desk.
1974 calendar hanging on the wall of 'Red Prince' Souphannouvong's house immediately outside his cave.
Rice paddies close to the Lao-Vietnam border at Nam Meo.
Rice paddies and forested slopes close the Lao-Vietnam border at Nam Meo.
Limestone karst scenery of Viengxay.
Morning mist on road from Xam Neua to Viengxay.
Hospital constructed in 1973 outside the labyrinth of tunnels that make up the hospital cave. Today a school is housed in many of the hospital's outbuildings.
