Lao PDR - Rural life - Nam Ou river

Afternoon at the Nam Ou riverside in the remote and roadless Laoseng minority village of Ban Phouxom, Phongsaly Province, Lao PDR. The Nam Ou river (a tributary of the Mekong) connects small riverside villages and provides the rural population with food for fishing. It is a place where children play and families bathe, where men fish and women wash their clothes. But this river and others like it, that are the lifeline of rural communities and local economies are being blocked, diverted and decimated by dams. The Lao government hopes to transform the country into “the battery of Southeast Asia” by exporting the power to Thailand and Vietnam.

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Filename: A0020930cc_1.jpg
Copyright: Tessa Bunney
Image Size: 4000x3000 / 2.1MB; Asia Bunney Lao Lao PDR Laos Nam Ou PDR Phongsali Phongsaly Southeast Asia Tessa tributary Mekong village villages ethnic minority minorities environment rural river woman women child son female Ban Phouxom Phouxom village villages electric electricity hydropower roadless remote countryside washing hair clothes wooden boat transportation family families dog afternoon children play Laoseng men man
Contained in galleries: Lao PDR - Nam Ou River, Tessa Bunney - All pics

Afternoon at the Nam Ou riverside in the remote and roadless Laoseng minority village of Ban Phouxom, Phongsaly Province, Lao PDR. The Nam Ou river (a tributary of the Mekong) connects small riverside villages and provides the rural population with food for fishing. It is a place where children play and families bathe, where men fish and women wash their clothes. But this river and others like it, that are the lifeline of rural communities and local economies are being blocked, diverted and decimated by dams. The Lao government hopes to transform the country into “the battery of Southeast Asia” by exporting the power to Thailand and Vietnam.