In town, streets were full of water from the heavy rains. The roads, never in good condition, broke up in the rainy season. Construction gangs and their attendant snack sellers went to work to patch up the damage.

 

Heng Boun Street was the throbbing heart of Vientiane, where all the action was. In front of a Chinese joint we called ‘The Noodle Factory’ on Heng Boun Street, one could often find Carl Strock, Irwin Block and Don Ronk, three American journalists. Strock, Block and Ronk. They had the perfect names for a prog rock band, but sadly they were not musicians. On the other side of this street was the Cafe De La Paix. It offered a one-meal-a-day monthly ‘pension’ deal, which I indulged in for a while. The waiters were Vietnamese. They wore bow ties and white-ish shirts, and remained aloof. I once noticed a cockroach swimming in my soup and pointed it out to one of them. He looked at it, sneered and took it away. I would like to think he then brought a fresh bowl of soup, but I suspect he just removed the unwanted tenant. 

 

The Royal Lao Army was constantly recruiting, and they were down to kids in their early teens. Even some of the khai addicts were being picked up, although they drew the line at King Leer.  In Vientiane, we never saw any fighting. It was all out in the countryside, far from the city. It was said that actual ground fighting was often avoided by a consensus of opinion between the RLG troops and the Pathet Lao. They would meet and decide who had the numerical advantage, then act accordingly. A strategic withdrawal would avoid unnecessary casualties on both sides. However, it was apparent that many were still dying. I would see later, when I went further into the countryside, how young some of the soldiers were. My next door neighbour, in the fancy camouflage outfit, was an officer.

 

In the east, around Long Tieng, the fighting was intense, but most of the troops on the RLG side were Hmong. This was the so-called ‘clandestine’ or secret war waged by General Vang Pao with American support.