Access to one of the most secret sites from the Vietnam War era was allowed in 2008. The caves at Viengxay, in north-eastern Laos, once hosted the country's communist revolutionaries as they plotted the final US defeat in Indochina. Even now. it takes more than a day to drive to Viengxay from either Vientiane or from Luang Prabang.
During the secret war in Laos it was almost impossible to access that area. The remoteness of this "hidden valley" was one reason that the communist Pathet Lao chose it as its headquarters. The other was that the valley is full of natural caves - nearly 500 of them.
Per head of population, Laos remains the most heavily bombed country ever. In a nine-year-long undeclared war the US dropped half a ton of bombs for every inhabitant. It was a desperate attempt to prevent the North Vietnamese communist forces using Laos to supply their forces in South Vietnam and to prevent the Lao communists taking over the country.
At one point, there were around 23,000 people living in the caves. And the community had everything from factories to make uniforms, to hospitals, to rooms in which the war was planned.
Not all the caves are open to the public, but it is possible to visit the leaders' caves and some of the other more significant places - such as the theater cave where visiting song and dance troupes from friendly socialist countries came to entertain the revolutionaries.
Conditions were basic at best, even for the senior leadership. The Communist Party bosses - the politburo - lived on camp beds in one room, while the leader of the party, Kaysone Phomvihane, had slightly more spacious accommodation through a tunnel which he shared with his children.
After the war, the area remained off-limits to foreigners because it was used to "re-educate" senior officers of the former anti-communist army.
Laos is the poorest country in South-East Asia, and the caves are in the poorest region of Laos. The local community, hopes that by opening up the former "secret city" of Viengxay to travelers, the area will have a chance to benefit from what, until now, has been an unhappy legacy.
I wish them the best of luck as I love to visit "adventure destinations" like this one.
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