What a difference a day makes when leaving Cambodia for Laos. While Cambodia is flat, Laos is a beautiful, lush and mountainous country, even though it is land locked. While Cambodia suffers from overwhelming poverty and illiteracy, Laos fares better, particularly as the influence of Vietnam has waned and that of Thailand has risen. Laos is notably well kept and absent the begging children common in Cambodia. On the other hand, Laos remains firmly within the sphere of communist totalitarian regimes. Like Cambodia, the French occupied and colonized Laos (90 years in Cambodia, about 50 years in Laos). After the French abandoned its colony in Laos, the royal family returned to rule the country. Under the Geneva Accord of 1962, Laos was officially recognized as a neutral state. The Vietnamese used Laos as a springboard for attacks on the French in Vietnam, ignoring Laos' neutral status. The Chinese and Vietnamese used Laos to supply loyal forces in South Vietnam, and the Americans launched a war known as the "Secret War" in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to stymie the Viet Cong. Nixon relied on airpower, dropping an average of one planeload of bombs, every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years on this tiny nation (with a population at the time of approximately 4 million). The U.S. dropped about half a ton of bombs per Laotian by 1973.
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