Power Play

On the roads of Laos you see dramatic global change in action – the fellow communist country of China becoming a superpower. But all Laotian truck drivers care about is whether they can make a decent living

- Richard Kienberger

One of the main thoroughfares of Laos is the Mekong, one of the biggest rivers in Asia and one of the top dozen longest rivers on earth. Its headwaters partly mark the border between Laos and the neighbouring countries of Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Thailand.

People who live near the river transport everything they need on its muddy waters: sand and other materials for construction work, fuel, food and, of course, people. If they are in a hurry they will use one of the speedboats, and most of the speedboat passengers are wearing a helmet – quite astonishing in this country, where helmets are a rarity on ‘real’ highways.

But, as one Laotian explains, people wear them not because of the fear of an accident. “There are many insects on the water. It is very painful if at this speed they hit you or crash into the eyes. So people use helmets with the visor down.”

Whoever heads down south from the notorious Golden Triangle along the Mekong will, after some 150km, pass the tiny village of Pak Beng, nestling between hills and the river.

Although freight and passenger boats stop here, there is no real quay and no loading cranes or conveyor belts, so some of the freight vessels are tied to the three trucks parked on the riverbank. Handling of goods is done by human labour. Labourers use shaky walkways to empty the belly of the boats and fill the loading platforms of the trucks with heavy sacks or boxes.

Three trucks, three brands: both the blue and red one were produced by Japanese manufacturers; the white one, a two-axle tipper and the newest of the trio, was built in China and on the front of the truck badged Chenglong.

Brand awareness