We left the far North of Lao, only 40 miles from both the border with China and Vietnam, passing through villages of ethnic minority tribes who live a very different life to ours.

The better weather finally arrived and we have had no rain for 4 days as we travelled down the magnificant Nam Ou river to rejoin the Mekong.

These and other rivers have been the lifeblood of Lao for fishing, agriculture in their rich flood plains and the transport of goods. All that has or is about to change as the rivers will become another valuable resorce – electricity! Foreign countries, mainly China, have bought the rights to construct over 30 hydro-electric dams to generate electricity for their own country. These are being built with little thought for the environmental and social damage they will bring. Up stream of the dams, whole communities are being relocated and their farm lands will be flooded. Downstream of the dams, some communities are loosing homes which could be at risk of flooding if the dam was to breach. Their rivers will be much reduced and fish stocks will be lost as well as the migratory movements of fish which have been followed for generations. Much transport by river will be halted as there are generally no locks planned and water levels will change the size of vessels that can navigate the rivers.

On the plus side, many communities will get electricity for light, refridgeration and cooking. But how will these isolated communities cope with all of the downsides that electricity will bring? Television, mobile phones, internet… there will be no gradual transition from their life in the middle ages to that we are now accustomed to. Quite scary for them!

When we rejoined the Mekong we enjoyed our best overnight so far, staying in a tented resort with no electricity or wifi, linked to a remote village, called The Kamu Lodge see at www.kamulodge.com All of the staff come from the village, and much of the food is grown by the villagers. I helped plough their rice fields using ‘Bouboul’ the water buffalo donated to the village by the resort.

After 10 days of travelling we have now arrived in Luang Prabang, the Royal capital of Laos before communism, and are here until Sunday when we go South to Cambodia. There are multiple Buddhist temples, supported by the community with alms giving every morning before sunrise. It has a wonderfully laid back atmosphere and was a favourite of Ariane and Tom when they had their gap year travels.