The workers are racing against time to get the site and its access route ready in time for the 50th anniversary of it being invaded by North Vietnamese commandos. The anniversary falls on the 11 March 2018 and will see the official unveiling of a staircase scaling the cliff.
From a new purpose-built information centre at the foot of the cliff, the stairway zigzags upwards to the spot the North Vietnamese soldiers climbed under the cover of darkness. The road from Houayma has been surfaced in preparation for the addition of Phou Pha Thi to Houaphan Province’s revolution memorials.
12GO ASIA says a look at local maps shows Phou Pha Thi is about 35kms west of Xam Neua, Houaphan’s provincial capital. In the opposite direction from Xam Neua, the huge warren of Viengxay Caves was a hideout for 20,000 Pathet Lao fighters and families during the Vietnam War.
Laos prepares for public opening of Lima Site 85
News in Asia
Construction workers in Northern Laos are busy preparing the Vietnam War era Lima Site 85 for its public opening. The site is a former US radar station and is perched on top of a 200-metre-high cliff at the side of a sacred mountain Lao people call Phou Pha Thi.