Deadliest Roads | Laos | Free Documentary

hey um nakai is a small isolated town in the middle of

laos

when the rainy season ends the street vendors can go back to the road salta is a typical saleswoman who walks around the remote villages selling her waves due to the tremendous downpours that she has not been able to stop reach your clients for three months I can't get in touch with them the phone doesn't work which is never a good sign the trip will be difficult but Kem Salter's husband has to make his new truck profitable the family agreed and got together it costs the equivalent at almost 22,000 euros a fortune in

laos

chem and salter can't afford to risk the family investment but the

roads

here are notoriously difficult for vehicles laos is landlocked and one of the last marxist leninist regimes on the planet which has the country been isolated from the rest of the world for a long time the recent introduction of limited capitalism has not yet improved the lives of the country's six and a half million inhabitants three quarters of the road system in laos are simply dirt

roads

we , you are not going to go To pass that way, some roads completely disappear under the monsoon rains.

I love driving fast in the face of fighting mother nature. Humans often have to resort to brute force and give up mechanics. I have to be very careful if the cable breaks, that could be it, but. other dangers lurk in the undergrowth the heart of the tropical forests a desert many days of walking as a sanctuary for various mysterious ethnic groups suta and kem wake up long before dawn to begin carrying their trunk it's a lot of work we're having chinese cakes and soups and beer, you can spread them out a little more, you don't need to stack them so high at home.

Now her 12-year-old daughter, who will also be traveling, is preparing enough sticky rice to last at least two days in the meantime. is to buy charcoal for when they camp at night how much does it cost five euros let's go to laos gas and electricity are expensive most families cook with firewood producing charcoal is a job that provides many in laos with enough to survive in may is 22 Her husband is 28 years old. They work from morning until night to earn enough to feed their children, make charcoal, they need to spread the wood so we can get something to eat, it's the only way we can earn money to buy our food. and mai little by little they are ruining their lungs with the toxic fumes and they barely earn 40 euros a month all day and that hurts my throat and I have a bad cough, your throat hurts yes, a lot in laos a quarter of the population He lives below poverty row with his truck loaded with goods his wine and his daughter headed to the jungle the father knows the route but every year his condition is not known the road will be very complicated since it has rained a lot lately after Monsoon season roads are ruined, very dangerous rains in the region have caused huge potholes and in some places washed away sections of the road.

Kem has to constantly slalom between the ruts and the road. Fortunately, power steering helps in these conditions, you couldn't drive without it. Hours later, the route becomes a roller coaster. Kem is mainly concerned about not damaging his precious truck. Oh, slowly, slowly, he's hitting things underneath, so the harder it gets, the less I want to force him. The 22,000 euro truck breaks down, it would mean disaster. for the whole family at the foot of the slope is the first stop the village of vang diem there is little here and the arrival of a street vendor is a long-awaited event come on, I have soup cigarettes shoes and beer the locals are a little shy but souta knows how to get the catch, take a look at these dresses, pretty, huh, look how everyone is wearing them in town these days oh, I really like the color oh, it's beautiful, yes, the sales pitch seems to be working, but She always seems to have something miraculous. products to sell buy some of these energy bars that will cheer you up don't you have flip flops instead of flip flops oh yeah i have some?

They cost a euro 60 a pair a euro 60 well, I charge 170 in my store, so this is a good price and I also need to live, you know, souta sets the prices he wants here, there is no competition, so customers They have no options, they are happy, it is not every day that sellers have to stop by here. the buyer is actually a tough business woman the profit amounts to less than 100 euros, that almost covers the gasoline they hope that the next village bantom will turn out to be more profitable on the way the impact of the monsoon can still be seen and felt by insisting on that kerm is increasing and more stuck you can't pass that way the solution could be to speed up and force the truck to pass, but about 30 minutes later you will see that there is nowhere to turn, maybe it won't pass my husband's path. to take a look, the plane is completely flooded, only the electricity pylons indicate that a road may have once existed, the monsoon has been particularly strong and it will be several months before the water recedes, in the meantime, cam and suta will need do business in new villages to make up for the lag Laos has many areas that are virtually unreachable including vast tropical forests, its precious woods attract fortune hunters to help reach the type of rare wood and humans have a powerful ally dating back 6,000 years ago, the elephants that were perfectly adapted to work in the ravines of the forest, goodbye, their driver directs them using their feet and the tone of their voice.

The only defect of the animal is their immense appetite. The animal stops eating and bites off 250 kilos. of plants and the day is too slow come and help me the lumberjacks pay buntang and his elephant to go look for the wood they have cut in the most inaccessible places hey, he got hurt trying to climb a steep slope like this, he was It was raining and it was slippery and he sprained his foot. We have to overturn that tree, we will lift it up, so ah, on such steep slopes, the symbiosis between man and animal is vital, right, right, down, plus the elephant barely needs 10 minutes to release the 850-kilogram trunk, which makes its driver very proud.

We started training this elephant when he was only three years old, today he is 28 and we can force him to do anything. Taking down the huge piece of wood is a long and dangerous process. If the tree falls down the slope, it could break its back legs to prevent accidents. The assistants must act as counterweights to be able to cross the wildest forest and the most difficult to reach places, that is what the elephants are for in Laos, soon trucks will come and remove the rosewood collected by the elephant, the wood will be used in furniture luxury and accessories in beijing hanoi and other places come on, let's swim with the elephants swimming is more than just a pleasant rest despite its tough appearance the animal's skin is very sensitive water helps destroy parasites and prevents its skin gets too dry get on your knees, get on your knees, come on, get off, the maneuver soon becomes a game between humans and elephants, catch me, catch me, come on man, elephants are our livelihood without them, we wouldn't make any money, we love each other, come on together everywhere, here, come here, you.

The relationship dates back more than a dozen years. Man and elephant have similar life expectancies and, if all goes well, Kambu and Buntiang will continue working together into old age. Elephant drivers are itinerant and go where there is work. This time Boontang has had the good fortune to be able to rent a house in a nearby town, which is not always the case, many times she is my wife's mother, he is my uncle and she is my aunt, they borrowed money to buy kambu, it cost them the equivalent of eighteen thousand euros, almost the same as a The truck will stay here as long as they work, if there is enough to do, it could be another two or three months and when there is no more wood to throw, we will go to another place, to another operation.

An elephant can make its owners a lot of money. From 400 to 3,000 euros a month, depending on how hard the job is to earn a lot of money, drivers are willing to risk a lot in a few days. Boonchang will take on a dangerous job despite her strength. The elephants are slowly being replaced by machines even these old Soviet era trucks sang been driving one for four years the tires wear out all the time the engine is however reliable even if it doesn't look like it the truck was made in Ukraine in the 1960s is an accident 255 has been modified and is in part reduced to the basics and in others reinforced there is not much left of the original they saw it in my mind if we do not find spare parts we make them ourselves I lick my head we get scrap metal to make the parts we have just made to cope with an engine in those conditions, even filling the tank is an open challenge, it takes 300 liters of fuel to fill the tanks, how many liters per 100 kilometers is one liter per two kilometers, so 50 liters per 100 kilometers is a real The glutton Sen hits the road with his campaign assistant The truck is nine meters long, two and three-quarter meters wide and 3.6 meters high.

One of the largest trucks ever made by the Soviets. Driving this 12-ton pile of junk is no easy task during the Cold War. the power steering was weird the visibility is also not very good once in the forest the assistant has to guide the driver through the trees past a tree trunk has fallen on the track the two men are experienced and know how to deal with this saying in the The wheel of the truck acts much like an army tank cleaning everything in front of it 25 kilometers and five hours later seng and the store finally arrive at the loading place the pine forest is heading to a furniture factory each trunk weighs between three and five tons the hook and fix it there to move it all you have is the simple winch, okay, pull, moving such a volume with such basic equipment means taking one small step at a time once the front It's on the back you need to lift it up, attach it to the other end.

I'll make it easier so I put the cable around the trunk first and then buckle it tightly and then yell at him to turn on the winch. Oh, it's a dangerous procedure, especially when the cable comes off, the trunks are unstable, be careful with worn equipment. it only increases the risk, I have to be very careful if the cable breaks, that could be if you had accidents, oh yes, what happened has happened, well the track can tip over if the cable breaks, go ahead and lift the giant set of truck sticks stretch for three hours the trunks are twice as long as the trailer to prevent the truck from tipping backwards the load has to be as far forward as possible forward sang, whoever is not exactly big can lift your head to carry 30 tons of wood and scrap in such road conditions as a real test when going downhill it is not good to use the foot brake use the engine brake otherwise it would overheat due to the weight of the wood In the back I have to go up the slopes and in low gear, otherwise the engine doesn't work, it's a matter of experience because I know my truck and that's why I can keep going.

The two men charge by the cubic meter of wood they can transport. This trip will earn you 37 euros for two. a third for the driver the rest for his assistant is well paid even if the risks are significant most people in Laos get by on just one and a half euros a day on average 700 kilometers away, in the heart of the jungle, the elephant driver searches kambu his elephant to undertake a dangerous mission keeping an elephant close to the village is not possible, there is not enough to eat there, so we keep it further away, otherwise it will eat all the plants and trees of the village gardens we need. to keep it away, untrain it the trunk of an elephant contains about 40,000 agile and powerful muscles they can pick up a coin or maneuver a tree that weighs several hundred tons today and your team is looking for a rosewood of exceptionally good quality the crew is worth 1,200 euros only an elephant can do that job the stump must weigh about five tons or one and a half times the weight of the kambu the problem is that an elephant can only pull its own body weight hey, let's go fast, faster to the left despite of your efforts, it is too much for the cambuur, usually the chain is around the trunk so the elephant can lift it, but we have a problem here, the chain does not go underneath, leave enough room for the chain to fit, pass it through the another side and we will take it out from this side here it is he comes cutting the stump into several pieces the men will save themselves considerable trouble later we will get less money from the property after 40 minutes of hard work the elephant has finally managed to extract the wood but the ordeal barely It starts now you need to drag your load for three kilometers to the town.

How are you going up there? there is a very large rock after a desperate three-hour fight the elephantThe stump is about to collapse. It has barely moved a dozen meters or so. It is ready to throw in the towel. We couldn't move the trunk. Uh, today we will cut it in two and then we can lift it and that is for tomorrow. is too tired, the wood will lose some of its value and, although stacking might have been difficult, the consequences could have been serious for the kambu. Other drivers are not as considerate. William Yvette, who works for the Elephantaisia ​​charity, is about to treat his The first patient of the day, three weeks earlier, this driver was forced to shoot his elephant.

It was the only way to calm him, as he had gone into a violent frenzy that male elephants sometimes fall victim to. He had broken the chain of him and me. I couldn't do anything, he was going to kill me, what did you have as a weapon? A rifle, the elephant must have felt pain, what did you do? Yes, it hurt, so I took a rope and made a rope, why didn't you have fear? Oh yes, so this elephant was quite difficult to deal with, he is quite a nervous character, he can change very quickly and become a bit aggressive, so you have to be a little careful with him.

Elephants never forget when humans have treated them badly. I think we can leave it there for now. So obviously the elephant is so big and so powerful that if it grabbed me with its trunk, if it put its head on top of me, it could be potentially fatal, you're not afraid, I'm afraid, sometimes I'm nervous. I am not afraid of the elephant because I cannot do my job, but I have a healthy respect for it, known in the Middle Ages as the kingdom of a million elephants. Today, there are only about 800 left in Lao traditions and elephants may be disappearing. but laos is still a largely rural society two thirds of the population survives by growing rice with methods that have barely changed over the centuries there is not much rice the harvest is not very good there are many of us in my family we barely have enough to eat work Thankler's is fraught with other risks.

Some rice fields are littered with fragmentation bombs. When I dig I find some, sometimes they are just below the surface, so I grab them and throw them somewhere else. I need the field for a rice field and I don't want it. They explode under me and my car, so I throw them further away every year. Bombs continue to maim or kill civilians during the Vietnam War. American warplanes dropped 200 million tons of bombs on Laos. The Americans wanted to destroy the so-called Ho Chi. minh trail a series of roads used by the vietnamese to supply weapons through laos for ten years the laotians were attacked for an average of seven minutes, making them the most bombed town in history it is common to see relics of the war turned into objects of daily use Laos has asked for international help to help demine its territory.

Michael Dulk, a Swedish army veteran, now works for a British NGO's mine advisory group, so he's a blu-26. We have a rice field just a few meters away, probably the farmers here. I found it in the rice field and then I picked it up and put it there and that's pretty common and does that mean it's not dangerous anymore? No, absolutely not. You can pick it up 10 times and the 11 times it will pass are a growing number of female bomb disposal experts. Nang is in charge of about 30 young women who earn about 170 euros a month. It's a good salary for Laos, but the work is, of course, dangerous.

Every square inch must be inspected when the bombs explode. send small ball bearings everywhere anyone within range the deadly cloud of shrapnel can travel up to 400 meters the work is tedious as the detectors constantly sound the alarm there is a lot of shrapnel around here it may take two or three days to clear only a small area in each alert young women have to stop and begin the delicate task of digging by hand they never know what they might discover in the 12 months to summer 2012 disposal experts destroyed more than 15,000 bombs and cleared 100 hectares in northwestern Laos the former royal capital Luang Prabang is holding a daily bat attack ritual ceremony every morning monks walk the streets seeking donations from the public glutinous rice fruit even soap Buddhists depend entirely on begging to survive somsek visit the temple before each of them, a prayer to our ancestors to bring me luck and happiness.

I do it so that nothing happens to me during the trip. He seems sweet and pious, and yet this 42-year-old man lives a life that is far from safe. He is a speedboat pilot. The boats are used to travel at high speeds up and down the Mekong River for those in a hurry. It is an ideal solution as long as you have the physical and mental guts for the trip. Sunset has been doing this for 14 years. His boat is basic. cockle shell with a powerful outboard motor the engine is a Toyota car it has 1440 cubic centimeters it can travel 70 kilometers per hour that energy costs more than 3,000 euros and a lot of ingenuity m the speedboat corporation is well organized sets the rates and imposes traffic rules for pilots, the number of customers is limited to those who can pay fares of between 14 and 30 euros per trip, the equivalent of several weeks' salary for most farmers, so while they wait, Who is what?

The pilots spend their time playing the national sport, an activity reminiscent of the south of France. If not this week, it will be next time. You touch one of their bulls ahead. You can knock out this ball. The pastime is a legacy of colonialism. French if you play That one would have come in and we would have gotten the point. The arrival of some customers interrupts the game. Some jackets will have to be put on given the black helmet. That way everyone will have the same thing. those who distribute the safety equipment, he is in charge of making sure that his fragile boat is well balanced, come here a little, please, you should sit next to him.

His destination is Pak Ben, a town 150 kilometers to the west, the pilot should be able to take them there. a little less than three hours compared to a normal boat that takes up most of the day. I love driving fast. A sack accelerates at 70 kilometers per hour. Minutes count and it is the reason why passengers are willing to pay so much despite the noise. the bumps my passengers are not afraid and they have already been on the speedboat yes of course now the first time it's always scary then you get used to it in fact you love it in fact all you can do is get in your hands as a pilot, speed boats are not famous for their responsiveness to break the propeller has to stop spinning it is not like a car where you can stop more or less so that takes us more time depending on the level of the mekong the rocks disappear or reappear sometime sack has to remember where everyone is I was born into a family of speedboat pilots my whole family works in the business when I was little I accompanied my father I traveled back and forth along the Mekong for years and I know it like the back of my hand, but preparing for the unexpected, such as tree trunks and other obstacles washed downstream, is also a useful trait.

The speedboat is the taxi of the river and drops passengers along the way and then continues its race against time. How many more years? he believes he will do this dangerous job it is uncertain as road networks slowly improve the number of speed boats is decreasing the country has seen a decade of changes here the only political party propaganda starts at five in the morning from morning until the night the national the radio service feeds the public with an endless litany it is the largest city in northern laos near the border with china and vietnam at the market among the meats fruits and vegetables it is some more exotic items it is good oh it is delicious you have to try it about sixty thousand kips, about six euros given this price it must be a popular food it is located in a basin at about 1,400 meters above sea level these are the foothills of the himalayas for centuries the wild ravines and jungles have served as a refuge those who have been hunted and persecuted in Tibet, China or Burma, dozens of almost forgotten ethnic groups still live here.

Tong is a primary school teacher. He is preparing for an arduous journey when I set out. I always bring clothes and supplies, especially Packard soups and of course what. I need to teach with the young man he leaves his family behind for four weeks he is going to teach in Chacampa an isolated mountain village he has just become a father but the goodbyes seem impassive the custom in Laos is not to show feelings okay, well, I am Then, take care to the kids. His journey begins in the small port of Hatsa. He heads towards the Namu River.

The only means to reach isolated areas. The 50-minute drive takes you to Vatai village. This is one of the least populated regions of Laos and this is where the hike to cha kampa tong begins a hike that will take many hours it's mid-morning and you want to start before it gets too hot love, love, it could be weeks before someone more warn This way, if you slip in a ravine or get hurt, there is no one around to help you. The humidity is at eighty percent, making the hike even more difficult and danger lurks beneath the dense, rich foliage.

Look there, look at this over here. Look, hey, now it's a big centipede. that's dangerous his bite is highly toxic his pincer avoids danger with a deft kick but he's not always so relaxed he was only 20 years old when he first faced this hostile terrain the jungle was thick and oppressive, he was actually afraid of them and yes, there are all kinds of parasites here what is that a leech there are many oh yes many look the leeches can reach the most intimate parts of the body their bites can cause serious infections after having gotten rid of about 20 of the leeches the clamp comes out again to Through the jungle three hours later you enter the territory of the Akka, one of the least known ethnic groups.

Here, uphill, is the village of Chat Kumpa. The Akka people jealously maintain their traditions. The women wear loose indigo robes and ornate headdresses. The clothes represent your status as married or single. Up here, a pig is a valuable commodity and they are only slaughtered on special occasions. Today they are celebrating the return of the school teacher, but when Tong first came here four years earlier, things were quite complicated, persuading the men that their children would be better. It wasn't easy going to school instead of going to the countryside. I had to consult the council of the seven wise men and the village chief.

I told them: how do you expect me to do my job? What do they expect from me? I listened to them and followed their advice Akka society is patriarchal cuisine growing rice on the slopes of the mountains cutting wood for the fire spinning clothes and making wool means that women have very long days and in the morning they are the first to get up before that the fogs have dispersed the The women go to look for water from the wells that are several tens of meters from the mountainside. A bamboo container like this can easily weigh more than 20 kilos.

Tom prepares for his work day. He lives here in a small hut built by the villagers. At eight the bell rings for the start of classes, five days a week, he teaches Laotian language and culture to about fifty children between six and fourteen years old, everyone here calm down, the school director does not take discipline lightly, come on, what is it? that what is that button this up inspects each of your students as they enter the classroom you need to wash your feet continue, sit down, tong teaches six different classes, stand up, what is this? This school adorned with the colors of the popular democratic republic of Laos is a political tool for 20 years that the government has been trying. to impose their authority on the minorities, even forcibly displacing thousands of people, the fate of the Akka of Chat Kampa is already sealed in three years they will have to abandon their mountains and move near a village, abandoning their lands and their traditions.