The Mekong River with Sue Perkins

Laos (1x3)

Air date: Nov 23, 2014

Sue reaches Laos, one of the poorest and least developed of all the Mekong nations. It's a country shaped by both Buddhism and Communism and has hardly changed for centuries. Today, the beauty of its landscapes and people is bringing in foreign tourists. Sue meets Bounsom, a fisherman who's turned to tourism. Next, she visits Luang Prabang, once the Royal City of Laos and now a Unesco World Heritage site, famed as the centre of Buddhism. Thought to be the home of more monks than anywhere else in Asia. Laos is on the verge of huge and irreversible change - massive dams are being built to harness the power of the river. Sue visits the Xayaburi hydroelectric dam, south east Asia's biggest and most controversial engineering project. It's the first dam to be built across the Lower Mekong and will block the flow of the river, changing water levels, blocking fish migration and destroying fish stocks. Sue is told about the merits of the dam by the vice minister for energy and mines. When the waters rise, thousands of people will be forced to leave their homes, so she is given a tour of their new village, complete with electricity. Having seen the effects of damming in Vietnam and Cambodia, Sue grapples with the complexities of projects such as this. While the Xayaburi Dam will bring economic benefits to Laos and beyond, the industrialisation of the Mekong will harm the livelihoods of tens of millions of people downstream. Foreign investment is coming to Laos on projects beyond the dams. The government has tempted Chinese developers with tax incentives to create tourist playgrounds in an area branded as the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. Sue visits a Las Vegas-style casino, built for Chinese VIPs who aren't allowed to gamble in their own country.