Mekong & Nam Khan fingerpoint

Mekong without fog

Remember how I told you Mum was right about the water vapour in the air evaporating when the sun warms it? well, here are some photos of the Mekong River without the fog. 

Let me tell you where Luang Prabang is located in Laos. I have drawn a map by hand, which you can see below. LP is in a valley surrounded by forest, jungle and mountains which are too steep to build towns on. Only about 15% of Laotions live in towns, so 85% live in rural areas. We are going to head out on bikes tomorrow into the deeper countryside. 

Luang Prabang is situated on the confluence of the Mekong River and the Nam Khan River (I know about confluence of rivers because Phnom Penh is on the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap Rivers). When you look at the town on a map, it’s like a finger point. Imagine your pointy finger, look it, the rivers meet where your nail is. And the finger is where Luang Prabang is, and there is one main street down the centre. We walk from the Mekong to the Nam Khan River A LOT during the day as we see different things in Luang Prabang. 

The Luang Prabang finger point - confluence of two rivers

BUT, look at the photos and you can see where the Nam Khan River flows into the Mekong (the Nam Khan is a tributary which flows water from the mountains into the Mekong). BUT, the Nam Khan hasn’t got much water in it, because of the dry season, and it’s got a lot of silt, rocks and sand in it. It’s not just the dry season causing this. There are other reasons:

1. Deforestation is becoming a big problem in Laos. The Government is logging a lot of the forests to sell to other countries such as Vietnam. Laos is thickly forested, and the government knows that if they sell the wood, their economy will increase. BUT, when trees are cut down, the soil loosens because it doesn’t have the support of the roots, and when it rains it washes down into the rivers. The land gets eroded and can’t support vegetation. SO, the rivers get filled with rich soil. 
2. Dams are also a huge problem. The Mekong flows from Tibet, through China, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and meet the sea at the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. What’s been happening is that China has built many dams for hydro-electricity. I’ll tell you more about this in another post, but the dams are taking water from the Mekong so all the people who rely on the water for their crops are losing their livelihood. I will explain later.

The confluence of the Mekong & Nam Khan - not flowing much

Locals cross the Nam Khan by bamboo bridges.
Mum & I will walk across it tomorrow (she won't let me ride a bike across!)

This is the Nam Khan River