Word: prabang
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...United States and its ally, the Royal Lao Government headed by Prince Souvanna Phouma, control about six cities, including Vientiane (which is officially neutral), Luang Prabang, the royal capital, and several small "strategic hamlets." The rest of the country, or about 98 per cent of the area, is subject to continual bombardment from U.S. jets...
...only way to travel between the enclaves of American control is to fly. There are two airlines that link the cities of Laos--Royal Air Lao and Air America. Via Royal Air Lao the 150-mile flight between Vientiane and Luang Prabang, on a DC-3, costs about five dollars. On Air America it is free, if you are a persuasive and persistent hitchhiker. I was lucky enough to get on one of Air America's cargo planes going to Luang Prabang. The plane was stuffed full of crates and peasant refugees, being readied for resettlement in "strategic hamlets...
...Luang Prabang, City of the Golden Buddha, is officially the "royal capital" of Laos. Except for the king's palace there is little that in any way seems royal. It is Laos's second largest city with a population of 45,000. Only two of the streets have any paving at all, and on these it is very thin and cracking. All others are dirt roads. There is one hotel and within it the only Western-style restaurant. In addition there are about five Chinese restaurants. When I was there the city's only movie theatre was showing Clint Eastwood...
...monsoon came while I was in Luang Prabang. One rainy night I went with a young USAID agricultural worker to try out the area's traditional specialty, opium. Laos's opium, which is legal, is reputed to be the best in the world...
...LAST night in Luang Prabang I ate dinner in the bamboo shack of a Lao translator I had met in the U.S. Information Service office. We ate a typical meal of tasteless "sticky rice." coated vegetables and soup. We talked about the war, the Americans and the Pathet Lao. "Do you know what Pathet Lao means?" he asked...