Mar 31, 2010 | Vieng Xai

Back in the 1960s and '70s, the U.S. dropped about 2 million tons of bombs on Laos in what is now known as the Secret War. The goal: to prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. The result: Laos has been a communist state for 35 years. The area around Vieng Xai took a particularly hard pounding, so the party leadership and 20,000 people hid for 9 years in a network of limestone caves. The caves had schools, a large theater, and an army barracks, and the people did their farming at night to avoid air assaults. Visiting Vieng Xai was a sobering experience, not least because nobody held it against me that I'm an American. I did some volunteer teaching at a local ESL school, and roped in some girls from Surrey, England, to do the same.