The Nam Ngum dam was built with Japanese, American and World Bank funding. I went out to find it in the company of an American traveller who was passing through. She had to get off and walk up a few hills, but she didn’t seem to mind. She took a couple of these photos with my camera… obviously, the ones with me in them. I don’t remember her name. We had a little trouble finding the dam, but there were some nice little riverside spots on the way. And when we did find it, it was quite impressive—70 metres high and 468 metres wide. After the revolution, the Pathet Lao rounded up all ‘undesirables’ (young people with long hair, bargirls and prostitutes, and RLG government employees) and packed them off for ‘re-education’ on some of the islands in the Nam Ngum reservoir. They stayed there for years.

 

This dam is part of a hydro-electric project which accounts for most of the electricity produced in Laos. However, its environmental and ecological impact has been disastrous.