The Mekong is the 12th longest river in the world at 4,350km and is the longest river in South-East Asia. The river has its source in the Tibetan plateau, running through China’s Yunnan province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before flowing out through the Mekong Delta in Vietnam into the South China Sea.

Khonephapheng waterfall in Khong district of Champassak province has been recorded as the world’s largest waterfall, according to the website http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com.

Laos has many tributaries that flow down from the mountains into the Mekong. The rainy season causes all of these rivers to rise dramatically and they become fast flowing and brown, making them impossible swimming options.

The number of visitors typically drops in the rainy season as the roads become impassable and many places are difficult to access.

But the majestic Tad Kuangsi waterfall nearby the World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang remains a highlight as it has crystal clear water all year round. The rainy season is the best time to visit when this spectacular cascade overflows. Visitors can enjoy a swim, a picnic, walks, or a visit to an animal enclosure.

At this time of the year, Kuangsi waterfall is at its most stunning and is surrounded by many tall and verdant trees.

Mr Bounmee, who is Head of the Management Office under the provincial Department of Information, Culture and Tourism, said recently “The waterfall is now at its most beautiful as there is so much water. Tourists enjoy taking photos and swimming here.”

“It’s the low season now but we still get quite a lot of Asian tourists, mostly from China, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. In the past most came from Thailand, but in recent years their numbers have dropped.”

The waterfall is currently generating at least 6 million kip a day from entry fees (foreigners pay 20,000 kip each) and brings in more than 10 million kip a day in the high season from October to June, he added.

Making my fifth visit to the waterfall, I got chatting to some Vietnamese tourists who were visiting Luang Prabang and Laos for the first time.

Mrs Mai Kim Khuyen said “This is my first visit to Laos and Luang Prabang. I think this waterfall is truly spectacular and the water is very clear and cool. I think it’s the most beautiful waterfall I’ve ever seen. Laos is very lucky to have this waterfall as it’s very special, and I hope to return to Laos someday to explore more places.”

Mrs Mai described her impressions of her first visit to Luang Prabang.

“Although it’s not the peak tourist season, my two-day visit to one of Asia’s best natural wonders has given me an unforgettable experience,” she said.

After driving for more than six hours from Vientiane, she and her friends made it to Luang Prabang at about 6pm. To begin with she felt tired and tense due to the long journey but this feeling soon completely disappeared and was replaced by an overwhelming sense of relaxation and contentment.

“I was inspired by the Mao Pha Sok guesthouse which is full of traditional decor that would be difficult to find anywhere else in the world except perhaps right by the Mekong,” she said.

Stepping out of their vehicle, she and her friends were warmly welcomed by the owners of the guesthouse – a couple that she guessed might have been struggling to support both their big family and an ambitious business in the tourist hub of Luang Prabang.

As the guesthouse is located right by the Khan River, there is a panoramic view which is particularly striking at sunrise and sunset.  The rooms are large and simply equipped for a short stay by a group of two or three people.  The price is very reasonable and the hospitality shown by the owners especially impressed Mrs Mai.

After a short rest they went for dinner at a restaurant with a strange style of service and the surprising name of “Quiet”.

Mrs Mai was somewhat surprised when she read the request for quiet printed on the menu, which forbade loud talking, laughing and shouting.  But the reason for this soon became clear as she realised that noise would destroy the sounds of nature all around.

She was amazed to discover that when there was no human noise, the sounds of the frogs and insects and the fragrance of the surrounding plants and flowers intensified.

The food and service at the restaurant were quite unforgettable but the prices were rather high for ordinary tourists, she felt.

Mrs Mai also enjoyed her visit to the night market. The slow pace of walking through the many stalls and incessant chatter did not bother her in the slightest. Shopping at the market was a good choice and well worthwhile for any foreign tourist.

Another Vietnamese tourist, Mrs Luong Hoang Giang, said “This is the first time I’ve visited Laos and Luang Prabang and it’s a beautiful and friendly country. One of the favourite destinations for foreigners is the Kuangsi waterfall of course.”

“When you climb to the top of the waterfall and look down, you will really be amazed. It’s considered by many as the most spectacular tourist attraction not only in Luang Prabang but throughout Laos.”

The waterfall is located amidst thick and humid woodland and cascades over a considerable distance, creating several large pools suitable for swimming. Visitors feel relaxed here because they are immersed in the beauty and grandeur of nature.

The falls are stacked like stairs and the water rumbles down from the surrounding hills, foaming as it hits the bottom and then spilling out in successively lower levels downstream.

Elsewhere in Luang Prabang, another special attraction of the town is the daily early morning almsgiving ritual when local residents line the streets to offer food to the monks and novices who live in the many monasteries.

Mrs Luong said “Thanks to a Lao friend who spoke Vietnamese, we had an unforgettable experience. We got up early to observe this ritual. Our friend took us to the roadside, where the orange-robed monks passed silently by.”

“Some of the tourists present were Buddhists so they joined with the local residents in preparing offerings of food including rice, cakes, fruit and some money, sitting quietly as they waited for the monks to come. It’s a way of showing respect to the monks who represent Buddhism.”

Although the Vietnamese visitors had seen pictures of this scene, they were awestruck when they witnessed it for themselves. A group of about 100 barefoot monks carrying large bowls processed one behind the other, with the youngest ones last in line.

Later that morning the group visited the Luang Prabang National Museum, then they climbed up the almost 300 steps to the top of Phousi Hill where the whole town was laid out below.

The local cuisine is also a focal point of this intriguing town. Visitors can enjoy Vietnamese noodles, grilled fish, dried seaweed, sticky rice, and especially the traditional stew cooked by the local people.

Luang Prabang is only 400 km north of Vientiane, with a history that reaches back to more than 1,000 years and is well preserved for enjoyment by the present generation.

Meo von nhau (Two cats), a 1979 lacquer painting by Vietnamese artist Nguyen Sang, has fetched US$101,000 at the 6th session of Chon’s Auction House in the capital city.

It is the first time an artwork has been sold for over $100,000 at a domestic auction event.

The 60x72cm painting belonged to art collector Pham Van Thong, who purchased it at Christie’s Asia. Its initial auction price was $41,000, also a record for a domestic auction event.

Works by artist Nguyen Trong Kiem were also sold at high prices at the event, including Duong lang ($12,000), Mai chua Huong ($12,000) and Pho mua ($10,000).

According to information on Chon’s Auction House’s official Facebook page, the total value of paintings by artist Nguyen Sang being internationally traded witnessed an increase and their average price also went up dramatically in 2016. They have received high evaluation from international collectors and specialists, leading to a dramatic increase in the demand in recent years.

Nguyen Sang (1923-1988) ranks among the four most influential painters in 20th century Vietnam, along with Bui Xuan Phai (1920-1988), Duong Bich Lien (1924-1988) and Nguyen Tu Nghiem (1922-2016). Sang was most successful with lacquer paintings, presenting an ingenious manipulation of the craft’s traditional methods to produce a modern twist on the ancient art form.

Two Cats was a breakthrough in Sang’s career, considered the most influential among his later works. The painting conceals many layers of meaning while imbibing the spirit of the East. In the painting, the two cats, in the position of tigers, stand against each other and form a closed circle.

In contrast to the smooth aesthetic effect that other ornamental lacquer painters strive to achieve with their work, Sang breaks the rules of what is expected from lacquer art, and instead presents a highly textured, expressive view of the artist’s creative eye and imaginative world.

The attacks in Rakhine state in western Myanmar have spiraled into chaotic violence, with more than 100 dead and villages torched.

At least 18,000 Rohingya have fled the violence and crossed into Bangladesh in less than a week, with hundreds stranded in a no man’s land at the countries’ border, the International Organization for Migration said.

The army, responding to last Thursday’s attacks, launched what it called clearance operations against the insurgents, but advocates for the Rohingya say they are attacking and burning Rohingya villages, shooting civilians and causing others to flee.

The government blames Rohingya insurgents and their sympathisers for the continuing violence. Government figures put the death toll since last week at a minimum of 103, including 12 members of security forces, 77 people described as insurgents and 14 civilians. There were reports of additional deaths on Wednesday.

Rohingya advocates fear the death toll for civilians is much higher.

Most of Myanmar’s estimated 1 million Rohingya live in northern Rakhine state. They face severe persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, which refuses to recognise them as a legitimate native ethnic minority, leaving them without citizenship and basic rights.

Longstanding tension between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted in bloody rioting in 2012.

That set off a surge of anti-Muslim feeling throughout the country.

Wirathu, a Buddhist monk and leader of the anti-Muslim movement who is known for virulent sermons, told yesterday’s protesters in Yangon that only the military can control the situation in northern Rakhine.

He criticised the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi for not responding quickly to the army’s call Tuesday for a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, which could declare a state of emergency in Rakhine and give the military absolute authority to enforce it. The military holds a majority on the council, which was created by the 2008 military-drafted constitution.

“Only the military’s commander in chief can protect the lives and the properties of the people,” Wirathu said. “The military is the only one that can give a lesson to tame the Bengali terrorists.”

Myanmar nationalists use the term Bengali for Rohingya because of a belief they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, even though many families have been in Myanmar for generations.

Wirathu also denounced international aid groups that the government has accused, without evidence, of giving assistance to the Rohingya insurgents. The allegations have circulated widely on social media.

The Information Ministry yesterday said that 45 homemade bombs were detonated and seven villages, one security post and two neighbourhoods in the township of Maungdaw were burned down on Sunday and Monday.

Maungdaw, in the northern part of Rakhine state, is a centre of the violence, though villages over a much wider area were also hit.

Sanjukta Sahany, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on the border with Myanmar, said the Rohingya crisis was not just an issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh but of international concern.

At the United Nations, the Security Council got an emergency, closed-door update Wednesday on Myanmar, at Britain’s request. The council didn’t issue any statement as a whole, but British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said members condemned the violence and called on all the parties involved to de-escalate tensions.

The UN refugee organisation on Tuesday urged Bangladesh to continue to allow Rohingya fleeing violence to seek safety.

It said it was ready to help Bangladesh with assistance for the refugees.

Ali Hossain, Cox’s Bazar district’s top government official, told The Associated Press that its resources were under huge stress after some 87,000 Rohingya entered Bangladesh since October last year and another 18,000 since last Friday.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the United States on Wednesday to pressure Myanmar so its government would stop pushing Rohingya toward Bangladesh, her spokesman said.

Hasina made the request during talks with Alice Wells, US acting assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, said Ihsanul Karim, Hasina’s press secretary.

The insurgent raids last Thursday were deadlier than an attack by the militants on three border posts last October that killed nine policemen and set off months of brutal counterinsurgency operations against Rohingya communities.

Human rights groups accused the army of carrying out massive abuses, including killing, rape and burning down more than 1,000 homes and other buildings.

With the recovery of the 17 bodies, the death toll from Rohingya boat capsizes rises to 21 as four bodies of Rohingyas were recovered from the river yesterday after a boat, carrying around 25 people, capsized.

Local sources said hundreds of Rohingyas from Myanmar entered Shah Pori Dweep, an island, riding boats last night.

When the fleet reached Majhir ghat point, one of the boats capsized around 11:30pm yesterday and all the passengers went missing.

Later, locals and newly intruded Rohingyas spotted 17 bodies floating at several points of the Naf river in the morning and informed police, said M Mainuddin Khan, officer-in-charge (OC) of Teknaf Police Station.

A team of police rushed in and recovered the bodies that include 10 children and seven females, said the OC.

The identity of the victims could not be known immediately.

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“The priority here must be civilian protection,” Indonesian MP Eva Kusuma Sundari said in a statement, adding “urgent measures must be taken by all parties to protect all individuals caught up in this violence, regardless of their ethnicity or citizenship”, Efe news reported.

“This isn’t about politics, this is the most fundamental responsibility of safeguarding human life, an obligation under international humanitarian law,” Sundari said.

Since August 21, at least 110 people have been killed following a wave of coordinated attacks by Rohingya Muslim rebels on several police outposts in Rakhine.

Over a hundred militants, belonging to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), armed with knives, machetes, axes, catapults and other homemade weapons last week carried out attacks on various areas located near the border with Bangladesh.

ARSA claimed responsibility for the August 21 incident, saying the attack was in retaliation to an army offensive in the region which began following a similar assault in October 2016, in which nine border patrol officers were killed.

The rebel group also condemned the authorities’ indiscriminate attacks on civilians and their alleged abuse by raping women, looting properties and slaughtering domestic animals.

The Myanmar government called the Rohingya rebels terrorists, claiming that they were responsible for murders and arson.

Thousands of ethnic Rohingya seek protection in neighbouring Bangladesh, but the Bangladeshi authorities prevent displaced refugees from crossing the border.

“The Bangladeshi government should allow the Rohingyas to take refuge, and cease pushbacks, which put vulnerable civilians directly in harm’s way,” urged Philippine Representative Teddy Baguilat.

More than a million Rohingyas live in Rakhine, where they face growing discrimination due to sectarian conflict, which killed at least 160 people since 2012 and displaced nearly 120,000.

Myanmar considers the Rohingyas as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and imposes multiple restrictions on them, including limiting their freedom of movement.

The training follows a curriculum developed by the Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in the Industry (PSES) project.

PSES is a joint project of the governments of Bangladesh and Germany, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which works on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“GIZ has been immensely cooperative and practical,” said Jacob Clere, SMART Myanmar Team Leader. “They have provided us with expertise and knowledge resources which PSES developed over more than 10 years.

“With this programme, we aim to help Myanmar dodge the environmental destruction which so many of the world’s other garment and textile industries have faced.”

SMART Myanmar is the largest not-for-profit technical-training initiative in Myanmar’s industrial sector.

It has trained hundreds of managers and dozens of garment factories on various social and environmental topics.

The Chemical Management and Detox programme is the newest addition to the project’s several on-site consultancy and training modules.

The Ministry of Science and Technology published two reports on Wednesday about China’s innovation status in 2016 and 2017. One evaluates the overall innovation capability, and the other is a detailed ranking and analysis of each province’s innovation conditions and resources, from funding to market.

According to the reports, China’s top five most-innovative municipalities and provinces on a scale of 100 are Beijing, 85; Shanghai, 84; Tianjin, 80; and the provinces of Guangdong, 77, and Jiangsu, 76. Last year, Shanghai topped the list with 84.57 points.

The points are calculated based on the area’s R&D spending, industrial productivity, commercialization of research findings, economic structure, talent pool, number of patents, environment and other factors affecting science and innovation.

The bottom five areas are the provinces of Qinghai, 42; Yunnan, 41, and Guizhou, 40.83; and the Xinjiang Uygur, 40.75; and Tibet autonomous regions, 31. The 2017 average innovation index for all provinces is 67.57, a 1.08-point increase from a year earlier.

“In general, the whole nation’s innovation capability has improved remarkably over past five years,” said Xu Jing, director of the ministry’s Office of Innovation and Development, adding that the nation’s average has increased by 7.3 points in the past five years.

“The coastal provinces are taking more than half of China’s overall innovation output, but the central and central-western provinces are catching up fast,” he said. Some notable examples include Hubei province, seventh place; the municipality of Chongqing, eighth place; and Anhui province, 15th place, all of which jumped several ranks in the past five years.

As for western provinces like Sichuan and Shaanxi, “their overall innovation capability is growing at breakneck pace, but they still lag behind other more developed provinces,” Xu said.

“Innovations from western provinces are also more closely linked with the Belt and Road Initiative, which can be a unique and fruitful development opportunity.”

To help western regions catch up, local governments have increased funding for basic research and commercialization of technologies, said Wu Yishan, vice-president of the ministry’s Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development.

In the past five years, western provinces saw a 68.6 percent growth in funding, slightly higher than eastern provinces’ 67.3 percent. At the same time, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has quadrupled its patent outputs, while the Tibet, Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, and Qinghai have doubled theirs.

Although China’s patent and innovation outputs are rising, the reports also pointed out some issues, such as the average wages for researchers in 24 out of the 31 survey provinces, are below the national line.

At the same time, funding from governments and companies is starting to slow down in 2017, and pollution in more than a dozen provinces still fails to reach national standards

The CASIC hyperloop will be a maglev line on which a streamlined, engineless train will travel on partly elevated tubes or tunnels at superfast speeds reaching 1,000 kilometres per hour, according to a news release published by the company at the Third China International Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan.

CASIC is the first Chinese enterprise and the world’s third, following the United States’ Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Hyperloop One, that has started developing a hyperloop system capable of reaching 1,000 km/h. The project will benefit from the company’s experience in systems engineering and supersonic vehicles, CASIC said.

Mao Kai, chief designer of the system at CASIC, said his company is working with more than 20 domestic and foreign institutes on the project, adding that technicians are striving to develop key technologies like those used for building an elevated tube.

“In the future, we will develop technologies that allow a train to travel at 2,000 and even 4,000 km/h,” he said. “Once our development is successful, we plan to construct a short-distance line for trial runs.”

The 1,000 km/h and 2,000 km/h versions could be used for intercity networks while the 4,000 km/h version could form part of a transnational ultrafast transportation network, CASIC said.

China’s fastest bullet train travels at about 350 km/h though its designed maximum speed is 400 km/h, according to the China Academy of Railway Sciences.

The nation has also tested an ultrafast bullet train that is able to travel around 600 km/h, but its designers said it was built to test next-generation railway technologies rather than for commercial operation.

The maglev’s acceleration and deceleration in the tube would be slow and smooth for passenger comfort, Mao said. Landforms and engineering considerations would determine whether a line is built aboveground or underground, he said.

The idea of using magnetic levitation and a low-pressure tube to transport people or cargo was floated by scientists years ago. It gained new traction in 2012 when tech tycoon Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, made public his aspiration to build a hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Hyperloop One have designed and produced prototypes and have inked agreements with several nations to perform feasibility studies, reports say.

The North set off global alarm Tuesday when it fired an intermediate-range missile over the Asian island nation, triggering condemnation from world leaders including the US and Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denounced the launch as an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat” and agreed with US President Donald Trump to “further strengthen pressure against North Korea”.

The North’s official KCNA news agency decried the former colonial power in a commentary, saying: “Japan has now come out with its sleeves rolled up in supporting its master’s anti-DPRK war moves.”

The allies’ “military nexus” had become a “serious threat” to the Korean peninsula and Japan was “unaware” it was “accelerating self-destruction”, the statement late Wednesday said.

It made a specific reference to US forces being based in Hokkaido — the island that the North’s missile flew over.

“The DPRK’s toughest countermeasures include a warning to Japan going wild, being unaware of its imminent destruction,” and blindly following the US, it added.

Pyongyang has warned of more similar tests to come.

The authorities in North Korea are highly nationalistic and promote resentment of the US and Japan as part of their claim to legitimacy.

KCNA said earlier that the missile launch was timed to mark the 107th anniversary of the “disgraceful” Japan-Korea treaty of 1910, under which Tokyo colonised the Korean peninsula.

According to the WHO estimates tobacco kills around 6 million people annually around the globe causing a damage of trillions of dollars to the world economy. Countries across Asia project gloomy trends when it comes to the prevalence of smoking amongst various demographics.  The Asian continent is home to more than 30 per cent of world smokers with more than 80 per cent of these smokers coming from lower income groups.

With feeble commitments to curb the smoking trends, Indonesia has the highest male smoking percentage in Asia at 76 per cent. The annual cost of treating the tobacco related diseases in the country is estimated to be 0.29% of the country’s GDP.

Laos has higher smoking rate compared to other adjacent countries. 57% of its male population is addicted to tobacco beginning as early as 13- 15 years of age. In South Korea male smoking rate is 50%, contributing to country’s 21.4 per cent deaths caused by tobacco annually.

Realising the toll of rising smoking cases in the country, China signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control much earlier than other countries to reduce the prevalence of smoking. However it is still on the higher side when it comes to puffing by Chinese men.

In Vietnam 47% of men smoke and 22 per cent of men die due to tobacco related diseases. Of late there has been some reduction seen in the consumption of hand-rolled cigarettes, however the reduction is not as high as expected.

Although Cambodia banned the use of smoking in public places and work places still the male smoking percentage is 44%. Malaysia has been a long term signatory to the  WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobaco Control and in lieu of that it has banned smoking in public places. However the male smoking percentage in the country is still 43%.

Philippines, the second most populous country in South-east Asia, has the male smoking percentage equal to Malaysia. Recently the president signed an executive order banning smoking both indoors and outdoors. The order covers ban on advertisements and promotion of smoking making it the most stringent anti- tobacco law in the region. Thailand has lower male smoking percentage than other countries at 41%. Tobacco Products Control Act (2017) is the most recent legislation governing tobacco control in the country.

With 34% of male smoking rate prevalent in the country smoking kills almost 15 thousand people in Japan every year. Myanmar has been a soft market for tobacco industry after its government began the reforms. The country has seen marked rise in the smoking percentage. With male smoking percentage at 32% the sophisticated strategies of Big Tobacco industry is estimated to increase the tobacco consumption in the country.

Singapore introduced smoking prohibition in 1970. With the effective implementation of the ban, male smoking percentage is 28%. Male smoking percentage in Pakistan and Bangladesh is 42% and 40% respectively compared to India which is at 20%.  Nepal and Sri Lanka have male smoking percentage of 37% and 28% respectively.

The considerable profit that the countries earn from tobacco industries has deterred them from taking stringent steps towards curbing the tobacco epidemic.