>> parts unknown tonight, the laos edition. thank you vefor joining us. happy mother's day. mom, i i love you. have a great week, everyone. in the early 1960s, three young cia officers arrive d in laos. a sleepy, mount announce country of barely over 2 million people, mostly rice farmers. their mission, stop the spread of communism. recruit warriors to fight the

shadow and the path at lau. the war in laos was secret. the russians knew about it. the chinese knew. the vietnamese. the laotians knew. the only people who didn't was the american public and congress. ♪

>> never at war with laos at the same time we were fighting in vietnam, the united states flew more than half a million missions over this tiny nation dropping more bombs here than on

germany and japan in all of world war ii combined. this only a part of the largest covert military operation in history. the conflict that became known as the secret war. there were three intelligence officers, key players in the secret war who depended on who you talked to were greatly loved or greatly feared and despited. en anthony also known as tony poe had an expentensive militar background. a texan vet was a an influential officer. lawrence was recruited out of princeton, even though he was an art history major. they succeeded at first in

impeding the flow of arms and troops on the trail. by the end, they were arming even children. what happened here presumably in the cause of freedom of democratic western values resinates still. ab estimated 30% of the bombs dropped on laos failed to detonate. these and other uxos remain in the ground and continue to take lives and limbs.

>> when you get off the plane, what's the first recognizable sme smell? >> the river. >> for the first time i heard of laos, i was hooked and filled with a desire to see the place. once a storybook kingdom of misty mountains and opium, a a protector of france, a landlock nation board bid china, thailand, kom bode ya and as fate would have it, vietnam.

>> chef james burned his star in san francisco. >> this is the first thing i do off the plane. >> he learned to cook from his mother and never looked back. until recently. >> clies slooised pork. >> james family fled the fighting that followed it. nowadays things are looking up, and some like james, are returning. >> it takes me to a a place. >> what's it like being back? what's it like?

>> it's like home. i totally get it. she say i want to go back to a relaxed life. >> is she happy? >> she's super happy. she looks a lot younger now after she moved back. >> stress, i guess. >> this village. >> rice farming? >> rice and growing some

vegetable. >> northern laos, enchantingly beautiful, sparsely populated by remote mountain villages. for centuries home to hill tribes. this is where the cia recruited, trained and armed over 100,000 fighters. >> before that, how did you w k walk? >> in these same mountains but on the other side of the conflict, there were people like mr. lee now in his 80s who fought for the communist. he is entering the secret war he fought other men. >> fantastic.

>> this is chicken. and this is chicken with inner heart. every family will know this. >> beautiful. >> when the french were here. >> how was he injured?

>>. >> in the end when the last choppers hurriedly left vietnam, laos was left behind too. what had been a a kingdom was now a communist regime. yeah, the bad guys won. a few who had been most directly associate d with with the american effort unwilling to face rehabilitation camps never surrender asked are, all these years later, hiding in hills like these. bitterly for many years. the same people trying to kill him and who he was trying to kill came back now. how would he feel about that?

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the whole thing culminates with a fire lantern festival. this symbolic casting away tr your sins. this morning watching and drink ing as others race to the finish line. boat festival? >> boat festival here. >> each boat will be from the same village? >> one boat is one village. >> weeks racing teams have been practicing. each team sponsored by a local monastery. >> enjoy boat. >> how old is this tradition? >> long time, many generations. maybe sixth century.

>> what do we do? >> we do some low low. it tastes good. it's quite strong. >> both of you born here? >> yeah. >> how has the country changed since you were little kids? >> the country change a lot. we open the tourism scene so it's good for the local economy and local people can earn money from the visitor and tour iists. >> president obama was just here a few months ago. >> he got a lot of help hadful indication. >> $90 million, that's a lot of money.

>> nice, good president bush. >> when we eat we said accept lie. >> how long are they open? >> about ten years. >> i'm having lunch. during the secret war, it was the offices for america's foreign aid mission. the building was also a cover for cia headquarters. >> that big building used to long to usaid. >> this is what i want to ask.

generally speaking in the '60s and '70s, usaid had a lot of overlap. >> she's making lunch, recipes left over from imperial times. what do we have here? >> this is fish. we cook with garlic and chili and coconut milk and pork. >> river crab? >> yep. >> it's good. you can eat the shell? >> yes. ask fish with pork. >> we have to have sticky rice. >> bon appetit.

>> this is an imperial dish. have these disappeared, these recipes, or are they still here? >> they are still here, but they do it not the way that not supposed to do it. they change ingredient a lot. my grandma teach me how to do this. >> in france. >> by the age of 11, i went to france to study. >> i came back in 1971. >> difficult times, 19 71. >> yeah, it was through the war. >> her friend michelle was a journalist, though what that means in a communist state like laos is necessarily different than what you and i might define it as. >> when i was in paris, i studied technology. when i came here, it can wait.

>> it's safl and taboo subject with the lau government. the united states president came here to visit. what do you think it means for laos? >> i think one important thing is ordinances here. they came on bombing missions in laos every day, every day, every day. after bombing, they had to cross back. but they are not allowed to land with bombs on board. so if they have bombs left, they would drop them at random. that's why we have so many provinces. >> what do you think it means that the president came here? this is a small country. only 7 million people. not a lot of mineral resource,

not a lot of oil. if you were a cynical person? >> i'm not. >> why do you think he came? >> you have china, russia. >> you think we need a friend in the neighborhood? >> i think everybody needs friends. so beautiful. what shall we call you? tom! name it tom! studies show that toms have the highest average earning potential

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you were born in the refugee

camp? >> yes. >> moved to the states at what age? >> 2. my dad never once talked about the secret war. never explained why we had to come to the united states. he was like, we're here, enjoy. >> it's a daily ritual, but this is special. >> people always sit out along the street and wait for the monk to comp. most give sticky rice. >> it means the end of months of isolated meditation. months celebrate with a once a year bo nan is a where all treats are offered.

>> i was nervous to leave my home village. >> the orange robe, the whole b bit. do most young men go to the temple -- >> to e get education. >> it's the only way to get public education. >> so everybody. >> that's where you learn english ask you speak french too. >> he lives with his extended family on the outskirts. >> it looks awesome. what have we got here? >> mushrooms and dill, these

wooden blocks have pepper. >> that infuses. >> it's like a real rich. >> unlike anything i have ever had. >> we have had one raw and one cooked. >> it's really good. >> this is fixed blood. so it's buffalo blood. it's a tricky way to prepare a dish because you want the blood to set. you just pour it over herbs and that's it. >> this is really, really good. >> the balance is so beautiful. >> this meal kind of represents like the laos table. you have to have a soup, a stew, some tieype of muddle salad, sticky rice and dip.

>> your parents left laos in when? >> '81. we migrated to a community of other laotians. it was pretty much a community like this. >> scratching on a living if you want to make money, you were cooking thai food. >> my mom worked in a thai restaurant. >> what does your mom think of your laos cooking? >> first thing she does when she walks through my kitchen is goes to the waste bin and looks in the trash and say whies are you throwing this out. cilantro stems. >> how many years? >> three years. >> what's the minimum? >> minimum is seven days. >> that's easy. >> easy. >> what's life like at the temple? sleep on the floor, sleep in a

bed? >> normally you sleep on the floor. later i sleep on bed. >> one meal a day. >> two. breakfast and lunch. >> you get a snack. >> drink. >> ovaltine. >> cheerz. can i give it to you straight? that airline credit card you have... it could be better.

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itbut one i think with quesa simple answer. we have this need to peek over our neighbor's fence. and once we do, we see wonder waiting. every step you take, narrows the influence of narrow minds. bridges continents and brings this world one step closer. so, the question you asked me. what is the key? it's you. everything in one place, so you can travel the world better.

the experience in this part of the world is something everyone wants to e pretend never happened. more bombs dropped here than all of world war ii. >> good for you.

>> motorbike, the only way to see this part of the world. the thick, unmoving air, the smell, water buffalos, what feels like another century. laos is the kind of place that can easily capture your heart and not let you go.

>> if you think of a place, put it by the river. nice breeze, nice view. >> people come here in the afternoon and have a a drink. it's nice. >> more than a few people came here for vacation and never went home. >> how long have you been here? >> 15 years. i haven't been back to frabs for a long time. >> when you first came here, what was it like? >> it was just beginning of 2000. >> what do you mean just open? >> it was very difficult to travel. if you have a a permit to travel, you can only visit there. you want to fwo to another province, you need a special permit. and i had a friend and he said let's go to laos. it's more natural and authentic. i said, why not. the first time i arrived, i was feeling like ind indiana jones discovering a beautiful city. i fell in love and couldn't go

back. >> what's your typical day here? if you're not working, on a good day. >> you have a party. friends, that's what it's for. there's nothing special to do. it's just the way of life. >> how has it changed over the years? you go to saigon ask there's money coming in, foreign ownership of everything. that's not happening here? >> yes, i can see there's when you go to the market and say where is it from, they say thailand, vietnam, china it and to find local foods is difficult. but if you talk to it old people, they say we are like the bamboo. when there's too much wind.

i was a a monk for one month. i sign for three weeks. i wanted to stay livid. to learn how to disconnect the important things in life. people drink a lot, they like to enjoy, share. it if you don't, the more you give. you go up and down, it's never a good feeling. it's always in the same way. at the end, it's the end. (burke) at farmers, we've seen almost everything,

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the intelligence officers who served here, of the pilots who ran mission over laos. that they were doing their duty as they saw it, that they believed they were serving the interests of their country. so this banana plantation. >> and lemon grass. >> that still leaves us with the inarguable fact that generations later, exexploded ordinances remain a huge problem. >> yes, yes. >> organizations are tasked with cleaning up the mess. >> you go with the metal detector and dig them out by hand. detonate them. >> the technology we use nowadays is the same.

>> wow. that's a big bang. >> heavily bombed country per capita in the history of the world. 80 million is the number of cluster bombs that did not detonate since the war in vietnam ended and we left our secret war here behind, 20,000 people, many of whom were not even alive during the conflicts, have been killed or maimed.

most of the people who are blown up, who are they, mostly farmers? >> the pictures change. the children is good for praying as a toy for children. >> so far only half of 1% of the country has been cleared. >> 80 million cluster bomb are still left in the country. 20 years, 1.4 million. i have no answers. >> three, two, one.

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>> so this is bamboo soup. it's very fresh because they get it from up here. normally the bamboo is a little bit bitter, but he has to boil it and then take out the water and change the water and cook it again with chick b or duck. >> for flavor. >> so what year was he born? 1960. so born at the beginning of the war here. >> yeah.

>> while these days the effects of the secret war are receiving more attention, much of how we got here remains off limits. the cia and their relationship with the monk in part insurgents deep in the jungle is a sensitive subject with the laos government. >> are where did the doctors come from?

actually, i think this is another question. >> in a communist one-party state like laos, it can be dangerous to talk politics. >> you tell me whether we can talk about this or not, whether it's a comfort comfortable subject or not. here on one hand we have americans dropping bombs that blow this at the time child up. then there are american doctors putting them back together. given that, is he angry?

>> all of the bombing, all of the suffering, all of the death, what did he think it was all for? >> there's always more to the story. for a world of stories, travel and recipes of the road, head to the all new explore parts unknown.com. you know who likes to be

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♪ /s [cheering and applauding] >> this is the episode we did about the indigenous people of this country. [cheering and applauding] >> a lot of times black people feel in america we own the deed to the suffering. every time i talk to indigenous people in this country, i'm just like, i'm not saying we haven't suffered, but you, you really -- you've more than done your part. i mean, even some of the expressions that come out of the history of native people in this country. indian giver? yeah, there you