http://news.yam.com/afp/international/200804/20080428077051.html
寮國開放戰時地下防城 革命領袖避難處曝光
法新社╱張仲琬 2008-04-28 14:35
（法新社寮國永賽二十八日電）寮國北部石灰岩山區、叢林舖天覆蓋的地底下，深藏著一座秘密洞穴城市。寮國的革命領袖曾在越戰時，在此地躲避美軍長達近十年的轟炸行動。
現在，寮國這個共產國家，在戰爭結束三十餘年後，已向觀光客開放這座遙遠的戰時藏身地穴，希望為這個飽受槍彈蹂躪、窮困至極的地區帶來發展。
這個近五百個洞穴連結而成的地下網，曾經是兩萬三千人的家，同時擁有一切城市必須具備的設施，裡頭不只有防空壕，還有商店、學校、一所新聞機構、以及古巴醫生駐診的醫院。
「象洞」是能夠容納數百名軍隊與村民的防空洞，大小約等同於大型教堂。象洞裡播放宣傳片，來自其他社會主義國家的劇團，也會在此登台表演鼓舞士氣。
與隧道相連的較小洞穴，是共產黨領袖凱宋與政治局官員的住處，位於緊急庇護所的附近。為了防範瓦斯攻擊，緊急庇護所配有俄羅斯製的氧氣輸送機，不過從未派上用場。
范度亞揚目前是當地遊客中心的經營者，他大半童年都在洞穴裡度過，他說：「這裡是當代寮國的誕生地」。
「大部分的革命領袖成員都住在這裡、在此地讀書。」
他回憶道，美軍在一九六四至一九七三年間，鎖定寮國左翼民族主義集團巴特寮戰士與北越的輸送線，寮國詩畫般的石灰岩地景與稻田因而成為世界上遭受最慘烈轟炸的地區。
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080428/lf_afp/laosusmilitarycavecitytourism_080428035128
Laos opens secret wartime cave city to the world
by Frank Zeller
Sun Apr 27, 11:51 PM ET
VIENGXAY, Laos (AFP) - Hidden deep inside the jungle-covered carst mountains of northern Laos lies a secret cave city where revolutionary leaders survived nearly a decade of US bombing during the Vietnam war.
Now, over 30 years since the conflict ended, the communist country has opened up the remote wartime hideaway to tourism, hoping to bring development to this explosives-littered and dirt-poor part of the country.
The network of almost 500 caves was home to 23,000 people and boasted all the facilities of a city, including not just bomb shelters but also shops, schools, a printing press and a hospital cave staffed by Cuban doctors.
Hundreds of troops and villagers could shelter in the cathedral-sized Elephant Cave, where propaganda movies were screened and visiting theatre troops from socialist countries performed to bolster battlefield morale.
Smaller caves connected by tunnels were the homes of Communist Party chief Kaysone Phomvihane and his politburo, set near an emergency shelter with a Russian oxygen generating machine in case of a gas attack, which never came.
"This is the birthplace of modern Laos," said Siphanh Vandouayang, who spent much of his childhood here and now runs the local visitors' centre.
"Most of the members of the revolutionary leadership lived and studied here."
The picturesque landscape of limestone peaks and rice fields between 1964 and 1973 became the most heavily bombed place on earth as US jets targeted Pathet Lao fighters and North Vietnamese supply lines, he recalled.
"Every eight to 10 minutes the American aircraft bombed, between 6am and 5pm," he said. "At 7pm they came back to fire rockets and for surveillance for the next day's bombing... People farmed only between 4am and 6am."
For decades after the war, which ended in communist victories in 1975 in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the area remained off limits to foreigners and the site of political re-education camps that are still shrouded in mystery.
As Laos has opened up since the 1990s, the occasional backpacker has strayed to Viengxay, two days' drive from the capital Vientiane, in northeastern Houapanh province, and 55 kilometres (34 miles) from the Vietnamese border.
Laos is hoping to change this and, with the help of foreign development groups, turn the historic site into a war-theme tourist stop, similar to the Cu Chi tunnels of southern Vietnam and Cambodia's horrific Killing Fields.
Laos has so far opened only seven caves, most of them the former homes of communist leaders, where busts of Lenin, kerosene lamps and weathered communist tracts are among the few historical artefacts on display.
But the mountains hide more secrets to be opened and discovered by outsiders as more funding and tourist dollars arrive, including an underground sewing factory, bank, bakery, fuel depot and a radio station.
"Not many foreign tourists have come to Viengxay over the years because it's so remote. We call it a hidden city," said Janet Pontin, a heritage expert with the UN World Tourism Organisation working here.
"What Viengxay needs is economic development because Houapanh is the poorest province in Laos. The great thing about what happens when tourists come to visit Viengxay is that their visit benefits local people."
As part of the project, run by Dutch development agency SNV, historians are now recording oral histories of people who survived the war years, such as garlic farmer Bounthong, who lives near the Cuban hospital cave.
"During the war, US planes flew intense bombing missions," said Bounthong, who like many Lao people has only one name. "Many soldiers and villagers died, 300 in my district alone. If not for the caves, many more would have died."
Despite the war's deadly legacy, he said he now welcomes foreign visitors.
"I am not angry with the foreigners who visit here because now our country is open," he said. "In the past I knew only foreigners who were armed to make war in Laos. My ideas have changed since the war ended."
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