Laos through my eyes – Johnny Johnson

This article is part of a series of guest blogs contributed by Brits who have lived and worked in Laos, or who have other interesting links to Laos.

Having been in Laos over 47 years, both before, during & after the Revolution in ’75, I suppose I must be one of the oldest residents still around in a country that one would expect to have changed a great deal over this period but in reality, it has only in the last ten or eleven years.

When I arrived in Vientiane in September1966, Vientiane was completely submerged (as was Nongkhai & Udon Thani) with the exception of KM3 – Thadeua Road, That Luang and the Patouxay, then known as the Vertical Runway. British involvement in Laos was quite extensive at that time – Co-Chairman with the Russians of the Geneva Conference on the Neutrality of Laos – complete with a light aircraft for monitoring incidents breaking the ceasefire, it was a member of the five countries supporting the Lao currency, over 25 Voluntary Service Overseas workers working as teachers & engineers, the construction & personnel support under the Colombo Plan for Lao Radio in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet & Pakse. It also had an active Lao-British football club, participated in the rugby and had enthusiastic male & female boat racing teams.

The Embassy was housed in what is now the ‘Save The Children’ building, the Security Office was opposite, with the Ambassador’s residence around the corner, currently occupied by the Australian Ambassador, there was a British Club with a tennis court & pool beside the embassy, with ‘fish & chip’ lunches on a Sunday with a movie at night.

My first job was as a barman at the Lane Xang Hotel, the staff were all Vietnamese who spoke only French and with the continuing influx of Americans & other English speakers, the director Michel Theodas required someone who spoke English – so as a Scouser, I felt that I might qualify. He had originally run the old Settha Palace Hotel and on the completion of the Lane Xang, the government asked him to take it over, incidentally he was the father of the current director of the revamped Settha Palace Hotel – Billy Theodas.

Over the period of the next ten years, I worked for a number of companies, the infamous Third Eye Bar & Restaurant, financed by a New York psychiatrist, who also opened the alternative American Embassy at That Dam, flying a black & white Stars & Stripes which was a must-see for Russian journalists amongst others.

Later, I was at the Settha Palace Hotel, both at Monty Banks’s (a member of the UK’s Magic Circle) little bar there & also then for the two Americans that ran it, leaving there to work at the first Vientiane International School as a jack-of-all-trades. Further on, I worked for a German owned packing & shipping company – Van Service Worldwide (VSW) at That Luang, whose principal owner had a picture of two vultures over his desk covered by curtains, however whenever a customer or other irritated him, he would press a button, the curtains would open on the vultures, with one saying to the other –“Patience my arse, I’m going to kill somebody!” The situation was diffused pretty quickly especially when he pressed a bell, which with the requisite rings, would inform the coffee shop next door to bring the required number of beers. It rang pretty often during the afternoon sessions.

After the sale of VSW to a Thai entity, I ran a shipping company in Samsenthai until after the coalition government was established and on their pull-out from Laos, I joined Virachit Philanphandeth (ex secretary of the Lao British Association) in the take-over of his father’s furniture manufacturing company at KM5, Road 13 North. His father started one of the oldest Lao companies after WWII and supported the Lao Issara in their fight for independence against the French.

Virachit had a contact for building the main camp for the Nam Ngum 1 Hydropower Plant Extension and we made the windows & doors for the project and furniture required for the revolutionary forces until he was sent for reeducation in 1976.

At that point the company was forced to close due to the lack of wood, the government having banned all logging. Having been arrested as a suspected saboteur, though subsequently released (I was also arrested by the previous government for being a suspected communist), my wife decided that we should take an extended holiday abroad, which included the UK , Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Cyprus & Thailand, during which  time we visited Laos numerous times to see the family and check out the opportunities, eventually returning full time to Vientiane to work with Virachit again at Connell Bros (KP) Co., Ltd, the Lao distributor for Unilever, Kimberly Clark, SiamTyre & Bridgestone.

Since then,  I worked at Sepon for Lane Xang Minerals, then Australian owned and Phu Bia Mining, also Australian and both times at the construction start-up – an excellent & fascinating intro into the beginnings of the Lao mining industry and learning to work at a very high level of modern industrial safety & productivity compared with the norm.

Finally for the last seven years, I have headed SPS Export – Import Co., Ltd, otherwise known as Specialized Products Supply, a wholesale & retail distribution company representing various companies in the Lao PDR – Cormix International (Construction Chemicals), Lohaprateep Industry (Shelving & Racking), Jenbunjerd Company (Materials Handling Equipment), Stihl (Power Tools), Dormer Engineering  (Drilling Augers & Equipment), Pelican Products (Flashlights & Waterproof Cases), Pangolin (Safety Boots, Shoes & Equipment), plus Spill Control Absorbents and various other odds and sods.