Source: CCTV.com

04-23-2008 10:08

With more than 1.6 million visitors in 2007 alone, Laos is no longer a country where tourists go just to see the pagodas. The country is now allowing tourists to go inside forbidden caves that once served as secret shelters.

With more than 1.6 million visitors in 2007 alone, Laos is no longer a country where tourists go just to see the pagodas.
The caves underneath and around the limestone mountains of
Vieng Xay province used to be the homes of Laos' top communist
guerrilla leaders.

 

For more than 30 years after the war ended, Laos kept these caves off limits. Now, they are open to visitors.

The cave complex has various rooms serving different purposes, including an emergency room built to withstand gas bombs.

The room was airtight, so an oxygen machine has to be used to pump in air from the outside. But the room was never used. The gas bombs never came.

The largest cave, nicknamed the "elephant" cave, was used as a theater, where everything from musical and dance performances to rallies and meetings took place.