Further 30 billion kip is needed to boost Laos team prepare for 25th SEA GAMES

The Lao National Sports Committee (LNSC) is seeking a further 30 billion kip to boost the national team's preparations for the 25th SEA Games, to be held in Vientiane from December 9-18.

A budget of 50 billion kip has already been approved.

The LNSC announced it would seek the increase, to a total of 80 billion kip, at a meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.

The meeting was held to discuss the progress of sports complex construction, food provision, tours, security, transportation, athletes' preparations for the games and other related issues.

It was attended by Standing Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Lao SEA Games Organising Committee Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, Minister to the Prime Minister's Office and LNSC President Dr Phouthong Seng-akhom and senior officials from each sports federation.

Mr Somsavat Lengsavad said construction of sports venues was on track.

However, preparations to ensure Laos had the best possible results from its elite competitors and their teams was proving more of a challenge.

He said progress was being made on issues ranging from accommodation to training upgrades for referees and match officials.

Several teams will stay at live-in training camps after the Lao New Year festivities.

Meanwhile, Vientiane hotels and tour operators are preparing for an influx of official guests and visitors during the games.

Mr Somsavat said the Lao World Company would be responsible for providing food during the games and food imported from other countries would be banned.

He said agencies' work to coordinate preparation efforts was improving, and the LNSC hoped to continue working effectively to ensure smooth preparations for Lao athletes as they get ready to compete on home soil.

The LNSC, Chinese advisors and Lao officials would continue working together through the construction phase of the sports complex until the games were over.

The Ministry of Information and Culture promised to be ready with 8,000 performers for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Meanwhile, Naxaithong district's Sports Training Centre martial artists still require important equipment for training and competition

Currently in training at the centre are 30 Lao boxers, 20 wushu tao lu fighters, 34 taekwondo fighters, 25 pencak silat fighters, 23 wrestlers and 18 archers.

From the end of this month, they will be joined by their counterparts from the provinces, who will take up residence in the training centre in Sikeuth village, where they will also take part in warm-up competitions and other events.

Meanwhile, the National University of Laos will host 34 petanque players and trainers at its purpose-built centre. The team will live on-site during training.

Twenty-nine muay lao fighters and trainers will train and live at the Sokxay camp, while 19 table tennis players and trainers will be accommodated at the Lao Table Tennis Federation's live-in training centre.

The 29 judo fighters and trainers are in preparation at the national camp and living at the Lao Judo Federation's own accommodation.

At the 24th SEA Games in Thailand in 2007, the Lao team won five gold medals in petanque, judo and muay events, seven silver medals in taekwondo, wushu, judo, boxing and muay events, and 32 bronze medals in muay, sepak takraw, wrestling, taekwondo, wushu, petanque, judo, boxing, karatedo, pencak silat and rugby.

The 25th SEA Games will feature competitions in athletics, swimming, diving, water polo, archery, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, karate-do, sepak takraw, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, beach volleyball, weight lifting, wrestling, wushu, muay, pensak silat, petanque, fin swimming and shuttlecock.

By Sangkhomsay Bubphanouvong

Saythany to launch inspection campaign for 25th SEA Games

(KPL) The Tourism Service of Saythany district plans to launch an inspection campaign of hotels, guesthouses and restaurants in August, to prepare for welcoming athlete delegations participating in the upcoming of 25th SEA Games at the end of this year.

The plan was informed at a meeting took place on 18 March, Vientiane to local businessmen that was under the chairmanship of Head of Tourism Service of Vientiane Mr. Khamphadith Khemphanith.

The participants were informed on the inspection and security campaigns, and food management law during the SEA Games and they were urged to cooperate in the campaign.

The campaign will take into practice in the district due to the new SEA Games stadium is located in Saythany district will be used inaugural ceremony of 25th SEA Games.

New sports stadium for the 25th SEA Games is now 90% completed

(KPL) Ninety per cent of the construction work of the new sports stadium for the 25th SEA Games has been completed.

The next stage is to carry out the decoration work for this infrastructure.
This was reported during a meeting on the progress of the preparatory work on the Sea Games on 20 March, under the chairmanship of Standing Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad.

The sub-committees for organizing the Sea Games reported at the meeting that the inauguration and closing ceremonies of this sporting would be different
from the past Sea Games.

The Standing Deputy Prime Minister stressed on the policy of usage of local products at this coming sporting event and on the need to get the Lao national athletes to practice at the training centre after the Lao New Year.

He also said the financial sub-committee has approved 90 billion kip to fund other preparatory works.

For the senior sports officials, they would be accommodated in eleven standard hotels and 200 rooms had been set aside specially for them, said Mr Somsavat.

To ensure spectacular shows during the opening and closing ceremonies of this sports event, there will be 8,000 performers, and they would be rehearsing their sequences soon, said the Standing Deputy Prime Minister.

Last but not least, he asked all sub-committees to be conscientious, to complete their work on schedule and to take care of the welfare of the athletes.

Thai Visa at Embassy in Vientiane

Thai Visa at Embassy in Vientiane
So I know that visa regulations have just recently changed and crossing a land border only gets you a 15 day visa now :( So I'm planning on applying for a longer one at the embassy in vientiane laos. Anybody have any recent experience there (since the regulations changed in jan)? I'm looking to get a 60 day visa if at all possible (US passport). Also heard a rumor that visa fees have been waived until june because of the new land border visa changes, but can't find anything official about that. Anyone?

Vientiane capital to host 900,000 tourists next year

(KPL) According to the planners who wrote the Vientiane socio-economic plan, 900,000 visitors would be visiting Vientiane capital in the next fiscal year, 2009-2010.

To cater to their basic needs, there are 169 guesthouses, 69 restaurants and 37 tourism sites in Vientiane capital.

It is said that these might not be enough to cater to such a big number of domestic and foreign tourists next year and Vientiane capital is planning to expand its accommodation and tourism facilities.

Its expansion plan is to have 100 hotels, 175 guesthouses, 76 restaurants, 39 tourism sites, four cruise sites and 80 tourism companies.

According to the figures on arrivals at the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge and other local checkpoints, Vientiane capital welcomed more than 400,000 visitors during the first six months of 2008-2009 fiscal year and their total expenditure was US$40 million.

Based on the estimated figures, Vientiane capital is expected to generate US$88 million in income by the end of this year. For the next fiscal year, Vientiane capital is planning to increase investments in tourism infrastructure and to make them more attractive to foreigners.

Sightseeing in Vientiane

Laos is really starting to grow on me. It has loads of potential long term and it’s also a really beautiful country, well worth visiting.. It’s really opened up to tourists in the last 10 years and fingers crossed we don’t all F*&K it up (in the process of trying enjoying it) like we have with most of the other hot spots around the world already!
Vientiane is the capital of Laos and like all capitals in Asia it has all the usual things to do and see. Good food, loads of museums, all types of accommodation and about a million motor bikes running around the streets! I was only there for two nights and three days buts that’s enough to see all the main stuff and get a feel for it. Most people I talked to didn’t even stay that long, it seems to be kind of a transitional town in the land of backpackers. The only reason you go there is because its on the way to somewhere else.

My personal highlight in Vientiane was the food! Yes, I know this sounds a little strange but those guys know how to do western food extremely well! After three
Monk Dog
Monk Dog
months of living on rice and noodles it was simply awesome to tuck into too some familiar favourites. In fact I’m going to go as far as saying that the ‘BEST’ eggs benedict I have ever had (and I’ve had a lot!) was in Vientiane. At a place called ‘Sticky Fingers’. They only do it on weekends as it’s a special (and it’s a little expensive compared to the other food) but it was simply brilliant! Put it this was if it wasn’t just a special dish on weekends, I would have had it every day I was there. If I ever go back, I’m definitely going to have it again!

Vientiane also has a lot of temples or as they call them “Wat’s. We ( my travel buddy Carla and I) found a good way to see most of them in one afternoon. We simply hired a tuk tuk for a fixed price ( I think it was about 80,000 kip, that’s about AUD$14) for a couple of hours and he took us to all the main sites.

The other thing that’s really good about Vientiane is the tuk tuk’s (which is our version of a taxi)
more temples
more temples
as they all operate on a fixed price rate for all the main attractions around town. Each tuk tuk has this little A4 laminated sheet in it with all the main attractions around town listed on it. They all have to operate of those fixed prices (but you can still negotiate it you want to) which is really good as you know you’re not getting totally ripped like seems to happen everywhere else. I wish more towns in Asia would do this!

Other than that there’s not much else to report about Vientiane. Its definitely worth a visit, but not for too long. Stop off there on the way through if your even in the , but don’t plan to be there for weeks!

du Pain Du Vin Du Boursin

What a change Vientiane was!
The capital city has changed almost beyond recognition since we were here 6 years ago - then almost no cars at all. Now mercedes shoproom , traffic jams, traffic lights & cars everywhere!! However we were told by a bloke at a sauna at a temple in the forest that it was all chinese cars....

However its still a very small capital city & the Mekong festival was just beginning, sponsored by the French.
The lure of french cheese & red wine was too hard to resist after 3 months of NO cheese at all. Our cholesterol levels are now replenished!

So Boules & fromage on the bank of the Mekong, with views over to Thailand & sureal French/Lao farce. The local kids loved the funky chicken & golden shoed policeman & oversized flip flop children sketch - unfortunately it meant nothing to us!!!

The Buddha park seemed smaller than we remembered but was still as weird as ever & the Pataxuy, their Arc de Triomphe still as concrete as ever.

We accidentally gatecrashed a buddhist funeral, thinking it was a fireworks display & got invited to the wake!
Cycled around - still the best way to see the city, ate gorgeous baguettes, pomelos & local fish. Have we mentioned how good the food is in Laos??

Chinese Dams and the Great Mekong Floods of 2008

By Geoffrey Gunn and Brian McCartan
Japan Focus

As major floods have coursed through the middle Mekong across Southeast Asia this August in what some describe the greatest flooding in one hundred years, governments have announced plans to step up flood control work. At the same time, many are asking whether China is responsible for the heavy damage, especially as its cascade of dams has in the past been blamed for holding back the natural flow of water and intensifying the historic patterns of flooding. Certainly greater transparency on China’s part would make for increased understanding of the issues. Yet transparency is in short supply all round if we consider the way that decisions are made in the downstream riparian countries, namely the Lao PDR and the Kingdom of Cambodia, especially the way that NGOs are given short shrift and where even armies are deeply involved in illegal logging and other nefarious ventures. For that matter, the current political crisis in the Kingdom of Thailand in part turns upon the lack of financial transparency that bedeviled the ousted Thaksin Shinwatra regime.

What has changed in the last decade is the way that the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has become a reified category in development thinking. Especially, one is struck by the way in which the Asian Development Bank, alongside the Mekong River Commission, and the ASEAN countries collectively, have imposed their institutional construct upon this zone with its “Corridors,” “Backbones,” and “Frameworks.” Everywhere earth is being moved, new roads are being cut, new dams and lakes are being set in place, while people – mostly powerless ethnic minorities – are being relocated, not only from the lowlands but also from the highlands to the lowlands. Planning is often ad hoc and it is always top-down. This vast sub-tropical zone of endangered species and of myriad cultures and traditions is no less in the vortex of irremediable change – and pillage - than the Amazon basin or the island of Borneo.


But one statistic stands out. The average GDP per capita in the GMS zone, within which some 60 million people depend on the Mekong for their livelihood, is about one US dollar a day, with the weight of poverty falling most heavily upon the ethnic minorities. Alongside globalization and regionalism, however, nationalism still holds sway (the ongoing spat between Thailand and Cambodia over ownership of a border temple is just one example). It also appears in the way that ethnic labeling or “taxonomic” control over national minorities takes precedence, above all in the communist states (China, Laos and Vietnam), as do powerful official narratives of common history. In a word, the concerned nations seek to assimilate their respective minorities while harnessing their territories to new developmental logics, at the same time seeking increased economic interaction across frontiers, often at the expense of traditional cultures. To test these insights we have to examine the recent experience of the Hmong, Mien, and Dai minorities, in respectively Thailand, Laos and Vietnam (as well as in China). Still, even tourism can become a vehicle for maintaining identity as with the Dai in China or the Hmong in Thailand, just as Laos has opened to forms of ecotourism. Geoffrey Gunn


CHIANG MAI - As Mekong River floodwaters in Laos and Thailand recede, indignation with China for its lack of transparency on upstream dam developments is on the rise. China has recently pursued a friendly policy of economic integration with Southeast Asian neighbors but in relation to Mekong River development it has taken what many see as a covetous and less than neighborly approach.

The Mekong in Laos

Flood waters in recent days inundated parts of Luang Prabang and Vientiane provinces in Laos and at least seven northern provinces in Thailand. The flooding was widely reportedly the worst in a century for some areas, with river levels reaching a high of 13.7 meters on August 14. Previous record high floods occurred in 1966, when river levels reached 12.4 meters.

Thailand has estimated damages at around 220 million baht (US$6.48 million), while the Vientiane Times, a state-controlled Lao newspaper, cited an unofficial government report that the floods would cost Luang Prabang province alone some 100 billion kip (US$11.6 million). Those figures may only be provisional, as flood waters in the Mekong Delta have already reached critical levels and Vietnamese forecasters have predicted more flooding before the end of the rainy season.

A woman guides bulls to higher ground in the Mekong near Phnom Penh

The larger cost has been diplomatic, as downstream neighbors suspect rightly or wrongly that Chinese dams were primarily responsible for the flooding. From the hard-hit Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong districts of Thailand's northern Chiang Rai province to its eastern Mukdahan province, many Thais believe waters released from the reservoirs of three upstream Chinese dams swelled the runoff from heavy rainfalls. They also blame China's recent blasting and dredging of upstream river rapids to make the river navigable for large cargo vessels for rising water levels.

Map of Chinese dams on the Lancang (Mekong)

That may or may not be the case, but China's lack of transparency is fueling suspicions. The Mekong River Commission (MRC), a multinational grouping made up of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam responsible for sustainable development and water resource management of the Mekong, said in a statement that the high water levels were the result of above average rainfall and not the result of upstream Chinese dams opening sluice gates. The situation was compounded by tropical storm Kammuri, which hit the region between August 8 and 10, the statement said.

The MRC also noted that just half of the flood waters in Vientiane originated in China with the rest from Mekong tributaries, namely the Nam Ou and Nam Khan rivers. It concluded, "The current water levels are entirely the result of the meteorological and hydrological conditions and were not caused by water release from presently operating Chinese dams which have storage areas far too small to affect the flood hydrology of the Mekong," the statement said.

That view was supported by Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and the Thai Water Resources Department, which oversees Mekong water flows and Lao government officials also said Chinese dams are not at fault. Heavy rains had lashed Myanmar and Vietnam - lending credence to the nation's views - resulting in severe flooding that killed at least 130 in northern Vietnam and forced thousands from their homes in both countries. But the Thai People's Network on the Mekong, a grouping of several Thai environmental organizations, openly rejected the MRC's reasoning for the floods in an August 16 statement, calling for China to free up information on its dams. There also appears to be lingering doubts among some top government officials.

Thai Deputy Interior Minister Prasong Kositanond said on Wednesday that officials were studying the floods and that China may be asked to provide future warnings on the timings and volumes of water released by the dams. He noted that without the cooperation of China, Thailand's northeastern regions could face more severe flooding. Even the MRC in Thailand, in contradiction to the statement from the organization's headquarters, has said it will ask the Thai Foreign Ministry for help in requesting more information from China about its dams.

No dam evidence

China has remained reluctant to reveal information about its dams, including its own environmental and hydrological studies of their impact. This lack of transparency has continued despite heavy criticism from environmental groups and official pleas from Southeast Asian neighbors seeking more information.

Thai Water Resource Department deputy head, Thanade Dawasuwan, recently told the Bangkok Post that his department actually has scant information on the Chinese dams. Thailand's MRC coordinator, Burachat Buasuwan, told the same newspaper that Chinese officials only provide information on water discharges in the rainy season. The MRC, he claimed, had made requests for information from Chinese officials in the past, but had yet to receive replies.

China has so far completed three dams across the upper Mekong - the Manwan in 1993, the Dachaoshan in 2002 and the Jinghong in June of this year. The three dams have respective storage capacities of 920 million, 890 million and 1.2 billion cubic meters, meaning a total of over 3 billion cubic meters of reservoir. This is enough, environmentalists say, to significantly influence water flows on the upper Mekong. Chinese officials have countered that since only 18% of the Mekong's flow originates in its areas, the dams will not have an effect on the volume of water flowing downstream.

China's grand vision for the Mekong is to build up to fifteen power-generating dams on its upper reaches to fuel economic growth in its laggard southwestern territories. The Xiaowan dam, the world's tallest at 292 meters, is slated for completion on the upper Mekong in 2013. Scheduled to generate over 4,000 megawatts of electricity, that particular hydropower dam has downstream Southeast Asia concerned about the massive reservoir the dam is expected to create and its anticipated impact on river water levels. Chinese officials have said the 190 square kilometer reservoir will reduce the amount of water flowing downward by 17% during flood seasons and increase the flow by 40% in dry seasons.

What is certain is that there have been ecological and hydrological changes in the Mekong River since the construction of the Chinese dams, and more recently with the dynamiting of river rapids. Locals in Chiang Khong, Thailand, the closest major town of the MRC member countries to China, say that there is a noticeable rise in the river level when the water gates are opened on China's dams. Environmentalists say the dams have also affected the river's seasonal flows and caused the destruction of river islets. They also blame water blockages due to dam construction for unexpected and dangerous rapid rises and falls in downstream flows.

Until recently the main concern about the dams centered more on the lack of water flowing down the river. For example, the dams were criticized for exacerbating a drought in 2004 that left ships stranded mid-river and damaged crops and fishing in downstream nations. Halts in river flows for up to five days at a time due to Chinese dam construction inhibited trade, with angry cargo ship owners claiming journeys that used to take days instead took weeks.

China-first policy

The MRC said in 2004 that the Chinese dams had exacerbated the drought and sent an official letter to Beijing demanding information on the Chinese dams. In a seeming about turn, then-MRC chief executive officer Oliver Cogels wrote a letter to the Bangkok Post on January 9, 2007, claiming the impact of the Chinese dams was exaggerated in public opinion and not a factor in the drought affecting downstream countries.

He also noted, echoing Beijing's line, that because the Chinese dams are for power generation and not for irrigation, they do not hold water, but instead regulate flows, increasing them in the dry season and reducing them in the rainy season. Indeed, China's dams may not be directly culpable for either the flooding or drought, but the lack of transparency has stoked downstream fears and anger among its southern neighbors and environmental groups.

China's unwillingness to allow independent scientific studies on its dams' impacts makes it difficult to conclusively determine what impact they have had on water levels. Even within China there is very little public discourse on the dams, in part because the issue is treated as a matter of national security.

Beijing has made clear its stance that, since it is developing the Mekong on Chinese soil, it is not responsible for downstream impacts. Appeals to China by non-governmental organizations to compensate people living downstream whose farming or fishing livelihoods have allegedly been impacted by the recent changes in the river have been scornfully rebuffed.

China's lack of cooperation and responsibility is seemingly at odds with its broader soft power policy of forging greater economic integration with Southeast Asia, including through preferential free trade agreements and generous infrastructure loans. Seen from Beijing's point of view, its participation in the Greater Mekong Subregion is less about an altruistic desire to see its southern neighbors develop and more about gaining access to export markets for its industrial and agricultural goods and securing a strategic, alternative passage for fuel and other imports for its inland industries.

China is not a member of the MRC and critics say that without Beijing's participation the grouping is powerless to accomplish organizational goals related to sustainable development on the Mekong. If China were to join, it would have to conform to various mandatory standards and come under pressure to accept water management norms that are less harmful to downstream communities, a prospect it clearly wants to avoid.

The MRC has however recently incorporated China and Myanmar to some extent, as non-member, dialogue partners. While the MRC's most northerly monitoring station is in Chiang Saen, Thailand, in 2002 it convinced China to commit to exchanging some information from two of its monitoring stations, including the Jinghong station located below its three standing dams. Flood forecasting first became an issue after floods in 2000 killed some 800 people in the Mekong Delta. In 2005, China agreed to hold technical discussions with the MRC, including flood management and alleviation.

Last year, Beijing also agreed to begin supplying the MRC with 24-hour water level and 12-hour rainfall data for flood forecasts in return for monthly flow data from MRC stations on the lower Mekong. However the incentives for China to become a full-fledged member of the MRC are still few and far between. As the Mekong's most upstream nation, it is geographically in a position of power. And with its growing hunger for new and alternative energy sources to imported oil, it will likely remain loathe to enter into a multilateral mechanism which may attempt to put a brake on its ambitious dam building program.

For China, the Mekong is now viewed more as a potential source of energy rather than a trade artery as the river has been quickly supplanted by a more efficient network of roads leading south from China's Yunnan province into Southeast Asia. The newly completed Route 3 in Laos that connects Yunnan with northern Thailand through Laos means trucks can complete a trade journey in hours which used to take days by river.

Once a bridge is completed across the Mekong between the northern Thai town of Chiang Khong and Laos' Huay Xai, where Route 3 currently terminates, Yunnan's goods will have direct access to Southeast Asian markets, and perhaps more importantly, to seaports on the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. Close relations with military-ruled Myanmar have already provided China with another southern trade route, with a soon to be upgraded port at Sittwe on the Indian Ocean.

Of course cross-border river issues pose diplomatic problems and challenges in many regions of the world. Although a Law of the Sea treaty exists to govern disputes on the world's oceans, there is no comparable global law for rivers to mediate disputes over water resources. Until such a mechanism exists, and more importantly until China agrees to a more multilateral approach to managing the Mekong, the issue will remain a contentious one with its Southeast Asian neighbors while life for people living along the river's shifting banks will remain highly uncertain.

Brian McCartan is a Chiang Mai-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net

Geoffrey Gunn is author of Rebellion in Laos: Peasant and Politics in a Colonial Backwater White Lotus reprint, Bangkok, 2003) and a Japan Focus coordinator.

This article was published at Asia Times on August 22, 2008. It is published at Japan Focus on August 31, 2008.

Nestlé Member Club ลุ้นรางวัล และสิทธิพิเศษ มากมาย

ที่ Nestlé Member Club แจก รางวัล พร้อมรับสิทธิลุ้นรางวัล และสิทธิพิเศษ มากมาย ลองเข้าไปสมัครดูนะครับ หากคนไหนชอบทำอาหาร รับลองคุ้มค่าครับ เข้าไปที่ NESTLE

Sports bodies against sending second-liners to Laos

SEVERAL sports bodies are at odds with the proposal of Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to send second-liners to December's Laos Sea Games.
Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) deputy president Karim Ibrahim said sending the second-liners to Laos does not make sense as they would not be able to compete at that level.

As such, senior athletes should be sent to represent the country to gauge their performance.

Moreover, senior athletes have long been preparing for the Games and a decision not to send them to Laos would only upset them.

"We can send the second-liners to other championships like the Thai Open, Philippines Open and Indonesian Open since they are not that competitive," Karim said yesterday.
Karim, however, said the MAAU will not prevent second-liners with good prospects from going to the Asian or Olympic Games.

Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) secretary Edwin Chong said it was still undecided whether to send second-liners to Laos.

He said it was not a problem for ASUM as the swimmers were a young group between 15 and 25 years.

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) general secretary Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad said the ministry had given positive feedback to its decision to send the under-23 squad to Laos.

"It all depends on the Sea Games contingent committee meeting in June. We will make adjustments if necessary," he said.

The hosts' decision to drop several Olympic events from the Sea Games had prompted Ismail Sabri to propose sending only second-liners to the Games.

The events dropped included gold medal prospects for Malaysia like bowling, cycling and squash.

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi was against the proposal saying senior athletes should compete in the Sea Games as many lacked exposure.

Laos confident national stadium ready for 2009 SEA Games

Bangkok - Laos, which will host the South-East Asia Games in November 2009, has received assurances that the Chinese-constructed National Stadium will be completed by March, a Lao foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

'The Chinese contractors have assured us that the stadium will be completed by March,' said the ministry's spokesman Yong Chanthlangsy.

'This will give the Lao government enough time to rehearse all the things we need to do to prepare for the games,' said Yong in a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Land-locked Laos, one of South-east Asia's poorest countries with a population of less than 6 million, will host the SEA Games for the first time this year in mid-November.

To help Laos prepare for the games, China has provided government loans amounting to 80 million dollars to its communist neighbour to build a new National Stadium Complex in Vientiane, the capital.

The SEA Games' planned 390 events in 25 different sports will be held in Vientiane's two sports stadiums and several venues in the capital.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsawat Lengsawat, who heads the National Preparatory committee for the SEA Games, was informed of the progress on the main stadium at a meeting in Vientiane on Monday, said Yong.

Vientiane - Broken Bikes & Worlds Best Food

Vientiane - Broken Bikes & Worlds Best Food

So, a shortish bus journey to the capital of Laos, Vientiane, supposedly the worlds most laid back capital city, and it really is. We found a decent guesthouse, checked in, and i went for a look around. Roy was still rough from Vang Vieng, so stayed in. Had some good Vietnaese food, and went back to get ready for the night.

We heard about a good rooftop bar, so ventured there, and it was pretty decent, Roy came out, but felt rough, so went back to sleep it off. I decided to stay out, and walked along the river in search of more food, and stumbled across the greatest eating experience ever. Little outdoor restaurant, sat on cushions by the Mekong. I noticed tey served soup, which i can't get enough of over here, so pointed to noodle, as it said chicked, beef, veg, pork, fish, noodle. No, no, no he said, you cook yourself. For little over a pound, he brought over a basket full of herbs, veg & salad, fresh noodles, raw beef, pork, chicken, fish, an egg, fresh garlic, fresh chillies & a fresh chilli paste. Then a terracotta pot full of burning wood, and another pot

DSC01087

on top of the fire filled with broth........and left me too it. I sat for a good hour, making all sorts of noodle, veg soups, first with beef, then chicken, then pork, then fish. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, thats how everyone should eat.

Happy with myself i mooched back over to the rooftop bar, and got chatting to 2 girls from York, who were about to go up to Vang Vieng for tubing, then up to Bokeo for The Gibbon Experience, i was a little jealous to say the least. I then went to, and i'm embarrassed to say this, the Hare & Hounds to watch the football, only place showing it, so had no choice!

Nexy day we were up early and hired bikes to see all the sights, not mountain bikes, proper city bikes with bells & baskets, they were great. Until i was flying down a busy road surrounded by traffic and the pedal decided it couldn't be arsed anymore and just gave in, and flew off into the road. What followed was a good 50 yards of panic wobbling all over, but i somehow managed to get to the pavement safely, and go back for my

Best meal ever

lazy ass pedal! Now i was stuck miles from the hotel, still with stuff to see, in the searing heat, and with a very old heavy bike to push around. Managed to see everything, then walked my bike the 4km back to the hotel, balanced the pedal back on, and handed it in. No way i was telling the guy, he would have probably charged me.

That night, after the best dining experience ever, i had one of the worst meals ever, absolute shocker. Anyway, had a few beers, and had an early-ish night.

Back up early again, and i had a walk round the city, but decided i needed a baki again, so hired one from the same guy, took it round the corner, got off it and gave it a good kicking, just to make sure nothing fell off it, it didn't, so i happily continued.

Went back to the Arc d' Triomphe replica i saw the day before, but this time went to the top for some great city views. Carried on up to the National Football stadium, again, no real security, so walked onto the pitch, not much too it really, i've played

and again

in bigger...... o make sure i saw a lot, i purposely got lost so i could have a good look around, and found a Folk Bar serving tapas. I was starving, but they told me they only had 1 tapas left off the whole menu. It was a Croquetas type of deal, and it turned up frozen in the middle, i was starving so instead of complaing, lapped it up!

That night was another cracking meal, really popular kitchen place, where you get all sorts of ingredients and you make up your own dishes, really nice. I also tried the Laos Beer Dark, which is very tasty, and a shocking 6.5%!

Currently in Malaysia, christ its the most humid of humid places you can imagine

Rush to deport the Hmong could be an ugly mess

Rush to deport the Hmong could be an ugly mess

Rush to deport the Hmong could be an ugly mess
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Published on March 12, 2009


The Internal Security Operation Command (Isoc) is waiting for new instructions from the government over Hmong refugees being held in Phetchabun as the military's budget for the camp is running out.

If no more money comes in, the shelter for more than 5,000 Hmong from Laos will be shut down by the end of September, according to a military officer who oversees the camp.

The Isoc spends some Bt20 million annually on the camp in the far Northwest. Most of the budget is for military operations. The Hmong get no Thai funds - they receive food and medical care from Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), the French non-government group.

Closing the camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao would mean that having to repatriate all the Hmong to Laos against their will.

Groups of Hmong have been sneaking across the Mekong River from Laos to Thailand since late 2004. They mixed in with Hmong who went north after being forced to leave Tham Krabok monastery in Saraburi, where thousands of Hmong lived since the end of the Vietnam War.

The closure of Tham Krabok and a resettlement program to the United States in 2004-2005 is seen as a major reason for the influx of Hmong from Laos, who have been accused of seeking to be resettled in the US as refugees.

The Hmong wandered around the mountains in Phetchabun's Khao Kho district for a period before gathering in Ban Huay Nam Khao. From early 2005 they lived along a road to the village, until being evicted and the military built a new shelter for them in mid-2007. This site kept them a few kilometres away from Ban Huay Nam Khao village.

Thailand and Laos agreed in early 2007 to repatriate all of the Hmong to their places of origin in Laos, as they were regarded as illegal migrants, rather than asylum seekers, as they claimed.

In practice, repatriation of the Hmong had already begun. A first group of 29 was quietly sent back in December 2005. This deportation led to a minor conflict with Laos as Vientiane said Bangkok sent the group without notifying any Lao authority.

Screening Hmong refugees is complicated and having to deport them is not a sweet job.

The Hmong at Huay Nam Khao camp could be classified in three groups. Most - more than half - are regarded as normal migrants from Laos. Some 100 or so have a strong connection to the "secret" army funded by the United States' CIA to battle the Communist Pathet Lao before the fall of Vientiane in 1975. Some claim to be ex-fighters while others say they were their relatives left in the jungle.

The last group is ethnic Hmong living or born at Tham Krabok who missed the US resettlement program in 2005.

Aside from those in the camp at Phetchabun, some managed to sneak into Bangkok and obtain legal protection as "persons of concern" from the United Nations refugee agency before being arrested and nearly deported. This group has been detained at Nong Khai since late 2006. With 11 new-born babies, the number of Hmong at Nong Khai's detention centre now stands at 158.

Initially, Thailand planned to shut down the Hmong camp by the end of 2008, but grouping them together for deportation was seen as unfair and a tough task to manage, as they have always resisted repatriation.

A total of 2,057 Hmong have been repatriated since May 2007, but 5,474 remain at Ban Huay Nam Khao. And some 25 babies are born every month, an official said.

Trying to deport 5,000 human beings within the next six months, before the military's budget runs out, is a tall order given many appear determined not to be sent back. The task is impossible unless Thai authorities are willing to violate their basic rights.
from : nationmultimedia

Vientiane - a Failure to Exert Power?

Vientiane - a Failure to Exert Power?

Walsh, John and Nittana Southiseng, “Vientiane – A Failure to Exert Power?” City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, Vol.13, No.1 (March, 2009), pp.95-102.

This is the abstract:

Vientiane is a city that has always stood in opposition or contrast to its surroundings. When first established, it contrasted an urban centre with surrounding rural areas from which surplus was extracted to support the activities of the urban elite. Through its existence, it has provided a centre of power to counter or be opposed to Ayutthaya, Luang Prabang and Chiang Mai. This could be aligned along ethnic lines or, internally among the Lao people, between the religious and political division between Vientiane and Luang Prabang. In the Communist world, the city contrasted its religious and ceremonial role with the temporal state and its monuments to legitimacy, which remain half-built and lifeless in the cityscape. The city also acted as a symbol of the competing Communist ideologies prevalent in the region. In the emerging post-Communist world, Vientiane represents once again a central organizing function and a surrounding environment which is supposed to be the subject of direction but which more commonly wishes to establish space in which to pursue income gathering opportunities and entrepreneurial activities. It also exists as one of the 10 capital cities of ASEAN and has acted as a location in which cross-border state level agreements are made which the Lao state has little technical capacity to enact without considerable external support. In each manifestation of opposition, remnants of the opposition have lingered, notwithstanding regular episodes in which the city has been almost completely destroyed. Many of those remnants are also symbolic of the external power which has been called upon to substantiate and legitimize the claim to power that the city controller has made and tried to enforce. Hence, the city’s markets, monuments, temples (wats), fields and roads are evidence of the divisions in the past.

For more details: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a909288188~db=all?

Netherlands to help Laos develop SMEs

HANOI -- The Lao Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion and Development Office (SMEPDO) and the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) agreed to work together to promote the development of the small and medium enterprise (SME) in Laos, the Lao newspaper Vientiane Times reported Wednesday.

The agreement for the cooperation was signed in the Lao capital of Vientiane between SMEPDO Director General Somdy Inmixai and Country Director of SNV Lao and Cambodia Nicolette Matthijsen, said the daily.

The three year cooperation is to promote the development of the SME sector in Laos in accordance with the Lao SME Development Strategy, with the ultimate goal of poverty reduction and good governance, according SNV.

Lao provinces of Huaphan, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet and Khammuan will receive support of SMEPDO and SNV to promote SMEs and enhance the capacity-building of provincial industry and commerce departments.

SMEPDO is a national body in charge of coordinating and supporting all SME promotion and development programs in Laos.

SNV is an international non-governmental development organization based in the Netherlands with the goal of supporting organisations to strengthen their capacities to improve performance towards poverty reduction and good governance.

from : chinadaily

High HIV prevalence amongst men who have sex with men in Laos

HIV prevalence is significantly higher amongst men who have sex with men in Laos (Lao People’s Democratic Republic) than any other group in the country, according to a study published in the January 28^th edition of AIDS.

The study was conducted in the capital, Vientiane, and found that 6% of men who have sex with men were HIV-positive, and that attempted suicide was associated with HIV infection, a finding that the investigators believe “may point to the mental health needs of men who have sex with men.”

HIV prevalence in Laos is low compared to neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Research has suggested that 0.1% of the adult population in Laos are HIV-positive, and that approximately 1% of female sex workers are infected with HIV.

Investigators were concerned that there were no data on HIV prevalence amongst men who have sex with men in the country. They therefore designed a cross-sectional (or snapshot) study involving men reporting sex with other men recruited from commercial venues in Vientiane in 2007.

Men attending these venues were approached by trained peer educators and asked to complete a questionnaire. All the men in the study reported oral or anal sex with another man in the previous six months.

After completing the questionnaire, the men had oral HIV tests. Participants were instructed how to obtain their test result from a clinic one week later. All the men who returned received counselling and HIV-positive men were referred for confirmatory testing and medical follow-up.

A total of 540 men were included in the study. Exclusive sexual attraction to men was reported by 40% of participants, 58% reported ever having sex with a woman, and 39% reported sex with a woman in the previous three months. Sex with more than one male partner in the previous three months was reported by 42% of men.

Anal sex with another man was reported by 84% of men and, of these, 42% said they were usually the insertive partner and 44% reported usually being the receptive partner.

Receiving money for sex was reported by 22%, and 28% said they had paid for sex. Sex with a foreigner was reported by 16% of men and 29% said that they had been coerced into having sex.

Condom use was low. Only 14% of men reported using condoms with a regular partner, 24% with a casual partner and 50% when having sex with a foreigner.

Alcohol had been used by 96% of men in the previous three months; 59% smoked and 21% reported the use of illegal drugs.

Attempted suicide was reported by 17% of men. A history of symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection was reported by 42% of men; 81% expressed concern about contracting HIV, but only 6% of men had ever had an HIV test.

A total of 30 men (6%) were HIV-positive, but only four of these men returned for their test result.

The investigators’ first set of statistical analyses found that two factors were associated with a higher risk of testing HIV-positive: suicidal ideation (p = 0.02) and inconsistent condom use when selling sex (p = 0.03). However, in subsequent multivariate analysis, only suicidal ideation remained significant (OR = 2.91, 95% CI = 1.26-6.72, p = 0.01).

“HIV prevalence of 5.6% is the highest documented HIV prevalence for any group in the country. This elevated HIV prevalence compared with the general population is consistent with data from neighbouring countries,” comment the investigators.

A number of factors are noted by the investigators that suggest that the HIV epidemic could accelerate amongst men who have sex with men in Laos. These include the number of reported sexual partners, the number of men reporting anal sex, high levels of drug and alcohol use, frequent buying and selling of sex, large numbers of reported sexually transmitted infections, and low rates of condom use.

Suicidal ideation was the only significant factor associated with HIV infection. The investigators believe that this indicates the mental health needs of men who have sex with men in Laos. They do not believe that prior knowledge of HIV infection could explain this association “as only one HIV-positive person in our study reported having previously tested for HIV”.

Recruitment of the men participating in the study from public entertainment venues means that the men may not be representative of the wider population of men who have sex with men in the country, caution the investigators.

Nevertheless, they conclude, “this survey documents an HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men in Vientiane. The risky behaviours exhibited by these men indicate the potential for further transmission within this group. The sexual networking with women suggests that there may be transmission of HIV to the broader community unless action is taken.”

Reference
Sheridan S et al. HIV prevalence and risk behaviour among men who have sex with men in Vientiane Capital, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, 2007. AIDS 23: 409-14, 2007.

from http://www.aidsmap.com/