Local Transit Stop

[The_Traveler]

Many villages in Laos have little or no connection by road to anywhere. This is a typical boat landing; the road swoops down to the unfortunately shallow river where long, narrow boats carry cargo and people up and downstream.
The laterite pulverizes easily in the dry season and gets embedded in one's clothes and skin; in wet weather, these clay-like slopes are immensely slippery and it is difficult to get up or down without slip.

(Pardon the mediocre image; shot from a passing boat on a very dull day.)

 

[JoeW27]

Cool. Nice vista that captures the feel of that setting.

 

[Soocom1]

In the US we call it caliche. Not exactly the same stuff, but behaves the same.
When dry it can be an irritant and clumped together, like concrete.
but get it wet and it turns to slime.


Interesting on how other nations have little infrastructure, yet thrive just nicely.

 

[The_Traveler]

Sometimes these boat landings double as fords for trucks.
A bridge is a huge capital investment and if there is a road on the other side, trucks will ford the river.
The road on the other side is the 'main' artery from Vientiane to Dien Bien Phu in Vietnma and is thus semi-paved.

In the case below, the bridge costs the equivalent of 25 US cents and actual cash is in short supply.

In this case, the bridge flexed a good deal, the slats of the bridge were quite loose, dried out and cracked and I was uneasy even walking across.

 

[Jeff1548 48]

Very interesting shots......

 

[K9Kirk]

Agreed, very interesting! It looks very much like the small mountain villages outside of Teokgeo-Ri, Korea, a village next to where I was stationed. (Camp Hovey) If I ever get around to digging up my old pics from there and running them through the scanner I'll put some up some day.

 

[The_Traveler]

Laos hasn't changed much since my first visit in 2005.

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

I really like the last shot on the bridge.

 

[The_Traveler]

I really like the last shot on the bridge.

Those planks that you see are the only floor except for the occasional metal cross beam.
Quite a feeling to bounce across.