Laos is a slow, gentle country, but the famed Lao smile conceals one of the most paranoiac and repressive regimes of South-East Asia. Having completed their take-over in 1975, the Communists attempted to suppress the practice of Buddhism. They had to retreat, confronted with great popular discontent.

Today, one has to look hard to find traces of Communism, still the official ideology of the country : capitalism is triumphant, the country is swarmed with foreign tourists, many of them back-packers, Buddhist temples are as prosperous and as frequented as ever, Buddhist rituals are laced with shamanic...