A Taipei photographer: Beyond Taipei - an assignment on unexplored bombs on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Laos
One of the great things about being based in Taipei is that it’s a fantastic hub for South East Asia. Last month I travelled to the Philippines and Laos with Australian journalist Margaret Simons to photograph assignments for a British newspaper, The Sun and Australian magazine, The Monthly.
The trip to Laos was the follow up of a visit I made to the country last year for Nature.
I’ve wanted to do a story on unexploded bombs in Laos for a long time, on my previous trip, I’d learnt that the country’s latest UNESCO World Heritage Area, Hin Nam No National Protected Area is also the most heavily bombed area on earth.
Hin Nam No, which means ‘mountains as spiky as bamboo shoots’ in Lao, was given UNESCO status due to its spectacular geomorphology. However, its rivers and limestone mountains were chokeholds on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, making it the most intensively bombed area on earth.
During the United States's nine year secret bombing campaign, more bombs were dropped on Laos than the Allies dropped on Germany during WWII. In terms of sheer explosive force, it suffered worse than Nagasaki, or Hiroshima. On average, there was a bombing every eight minutes.
More than 400 million of the bombs were cluster munitions, around 30% of which failed to detonate. Fifty years later, despite continuing clearance efforts, most of it remains. There are still about 300 casualties a year in Laos from unexploded munitions, 40 percent of them children.
Although the bombs stopped falling more than 50 years ago, Laos is still haunted by war. This is story about the lingering consequences of conflict and its true cost.
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) still contaminates vast areas of the country. Children lose limbs playing. Farmers die planting rice. Entire communities are trapped in poverty because their land is too dangerous to use. This documentary will give a voice to these people
In a remarkably quick turnaround, the story is already out in the current issue of The Monthly. https://www.themonthly.com.au/march-2026/essays/deadly-steps
I’m currently trying to develop this as a video documentary project. Hopefully I can get back to Laos for that later this year.
