Country
Laos
Harry's only visit so far is to the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone — a Chinese-run enclave on the Mekong where the currency, the language and the law are not Laotian.
Laos
Harry has been to one part of Laos: the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone on the Mekong, opposite Thailand and within sight of Myanmar. Nothing on this page should be read as being about the rest of the country, which he has not filmed.
Obs: the video carries a long read-aloud eSIM sponsorship and a debit-card affiliate link. No provider is recorded here.
The Golden Triangle
- Three countries meet at the river: Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, with China’s influence running through the zone itself.
- The region’s history is opium — grown in the hills, especially on the Myanmar side, moved through Thailand and out along its trade routes. Heavily suppressed since, and, in Harry’s phrasing, replaced by other ventures.
- Crossing is by longboat across the Mekong, and is one of the more unusual borders he has done.
The zone
Detail is on the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone page. What belongs at country level:
- Sovereignty is nominal. The zone runs in Chinese, prices in yuan, and when Harry asks a resident whether this is China or Laos, the answer is China.
- It exists because gambling is illegal in Thailand and China, which is the legitimate half of the business: a casino for gamblers who cross the border to use it.
- Law enforcement bodies have stated publicly that what happens there is not legal, and reports describe hundreds of prison-like call centres where trafficked people are held and forced to run scams.
- The Laotian government has raided it, and Harry is told there has been violence recently — the state is described to him as either absent or complicit, and he doesn’t resolve which.
