LOOK out Laos, the ugly American tourist is back. And this time, American money may prove more effective than its bombs.
At the height of the Vietnam War, US planes flew non-stop over Nong Khai, a northern Thai town on the Laotian border, from their base in Udon Thani, Thailand.
Planes still buzz the skies, but these days they are not instruments of war. Raids of destruction have been replaced by a frenzied construction boom that is transforming both shores of Southeast Asia's longest river, the Mekong.
Looking across the Mekong from Nong Khai, you can see the tops of new hotels and apartment buildings in the Laotian capital of Vientiane. The development boom is spreading north. Sweat-streaked labourers on both shores of the river hoist concrete blocks for a huge bridge, the first across the Mekong. The aptly named Friendship Bridge will connect landlocked Laos to Thailand. More importantly, it will connect Laos to the rest of the world.
Laos, for too long a recluse, missed the economic boom that swept the rest of Asia. But even as Laos emerges from isolation, its leaders fear growing prosperity in Thailand and nearby Vietnam could prove overwhelming for their economically backward nation.
For this reason, Laos is taking tentative steps towards contact not only with the West, but its immediate Asian neighbours. The Friendship Bridge, being built with Australian grants and engineering assistance, will be the first major test on its path towards openness.