Phonsavan to Luang Prabang

We got in the tuktuk, a moped with a cage like box qith benches inside, and we were off to the minivan station. It turned out to be a one minute ride, and we lifted the bags up to the man on the minivan roof. After aking sure thatt everything was secured under their net, we got in the minibus. I was lucky enough to get two seats, and was able to keep my legs straight. THe next six hours would turn out to be amazing, in many ways. Yes, Norway has a lot of winding roads going on the top of high cliffs. But hands down to Laos. I have never ben in a place with so wild terrain, and so many and so few danger signs. At the most I think we drove 200 meters straight road, and that was from the parkinlot to the first intersection. The road was like spaghetti, coiled up around the wild topography. I wonder how they built these roads, and it would not surprise me if many of them were first made by man labour. Boats have traditionally been the main transport in Laos, and as a result, all cities are located along the Mekong river, or other waterways. There have been more 180 degree turns in the first hour out of Phonsavan than I have ever driven in my entire life, and when it comes to 90 degree turns, there are probably more of them between Phonsavan and Luang Prabang than there are on Manhattan (counting every possible turn)..
Along these roads there are people. On every hill and in every valley there are houses made out of bamboo, with poor people trying to make aliving out of some handcrafts of chopping vegetables to sell on the markets. Many of the kids are only wearing a t-shirt, but no pants. They are all working, and many places in between the villages in the on the hills and in the vallies, there are young boys and girls, maybe 5 years old, trying to seperate the grains from the plants by whipping them to the asfalt. The drivers here are very used to it, as they just blast passed them eith only inches of clearance. THere are also something huge going on in these remote areas, that I suspect only the government can be behind. Everywhere we drive, there are people digging diches. I cant believe how many people they have gathered. In most places it looks like the whole village is digging. It is often boys and men digging, and women carrying the dirt away in baskets. The baskets are equipt with a strap they put on their forhead, so they carry all the weight with their heads. This t technique is very common up in the highlands, and only a few are using the bamboo stick with buckets hanging on both sides. Maybe because what they are carrying is too heavy to bring more than one at the time? Whatever the methoods, I guess they are digging these 3 feet deep, 2 feet wide ditches to put down telephone wire. But it could be anything really. Maybe electricity?
Most of these houses have no electriciity, even if they live right below the grids, transporting the power between the big cities. Everywhere you could see the slash and burn process being used to clear off land to grow food and hold live stock. This is very bad for the environment, and not all that good for the pesants themselves.