Audio tour of Viengxay caves

Viengxay’s historical caves, where a Lao government ruled in exile during the Second Indochina War, has a new audio tour feature that was launched earlier this month.

The audio presentation helps to bring alive history played out in this remote corner of Indochina during the America’s ‘secret war’ in Laos.

Between 1964 and 1973 the US, which was at war with North Vietnam,  dropped more bombs on neighbouring Laos than were dropped on Europe in the whole of World War II. The military onslaught was never officially recognised by the US government.  One of the targets was Viengxay where the Pathet Lao established a government in a maze of limestone caves.

History shows that over 20,000 people in Viengxay in northeast Laos survived by living in these caves which are now open to the public. Many of the caves had specialist functions such as a hospital, bakery, school, shop, theatre or government office. A new audio tour of the caves, produced by a Sydney-based company, is now available to tourists visiting Viengxay, which is a scenic mix of abrupt limestone mountains and green valleys with rice paddies and hamlets.

The audio tour is produced by Narrowcasters. The 90-minute audio tour combines eye witness accounts and a narrative that explains the wider conflict of the Vietnam War. Throughout the 1960s and 70s as the cold war dominated geo-political thinking around the world, the ‘domino theory’ compelled decision makers in Washington DC who were trying to contain communism in Indochina. The consequences were dire for Laotian villagers, most of whom were subsistence farmers.

Narrowcasters director and Founder, Penny Street said: “The creation of the audio tour is of historical significance. Forty-nine survivors were interviewed including farmers, doctors, soldiers, nurses, and mothers who gave birth in the caves. It is the first time a large number of eye witnesses have been tracked down and their testament recorded for posterity and future use by historians.”

In the audio tour, survivors recall how for nine years under guidance from the Pathet Lao resistance, they built shelters in the mountain caves, worked the bomb-strewn fields and defended themselves in their grottoes and forest retreats as the earth shook around them.

Translated interviews, music, sound effects and archival recordings recreate the cave experience for visitors walking round this peaceful site today.

The audio tour, priced at US$6.50 per person, covers events from late 1950s to the end of the bombing raids in 1973 when peace accords were signed in Geneva. The audio tour also explains the legacy of unexploded war bombs in the fields of Laos today. The Laotian government says unexploded ordnance kills about one person a day in Laos. Many of the casualties are farmers, or their children playing in the fields.

Despite its rugged beauty, Viengxay still receives very few tourists due to access problems. However, flights are now available on 18-seater planes from the Laos capital, Vientiane, three times a week to Xam Nua, a 45-minute drive from Viengxay. The nearest airport with daily flights from Vientiane is Xieng Khouang, a six-hour drive from Viengxay.

An increasing number of budget travellers have been finding their way to Viengxay from both Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang on Laos’ public bus system. Some tourists prefer to be driven in from the Vietnamese border, 55 km away. Visas on arrival are now available at Nam Meo, the nearest Vietnam border point to Viengxay. The caves are a 300-km, eight-hour drive from Hanoi.

With difficult access and accommodation choices limited to simple guest houses, Viengxay mostly attracts backpackers. The audio tour has been developed to broaden Viengxay’s appeal. A growing number of tour operators take groups through the region, many passing from Laos into Vietnam and onto Hanoi.

A comprehensive Viengxay website, www.visit-viengxay.com, has also been developed to mark the launch of the audio tour. The site offers dozens of archive photographs and excerpts of the audio tour.