Deadliest Roads | Laos | Free Documentary

[Applause] [Music] every day somewhere in the world normal people risk their lives just getting from A to B in far-off countries and isolated forgotten villages our camera crews follow the journeys of those brave enough to travel on the world's toughest most dangerous and deadly roads buckle up for a hell ride this is deadliest journeys [Music] nakai is a small isolated village in the middle of Laos [Music] when the rainy season ends the traveling salesman can hit the road again suta is a typical vendor hiking through the remote villages selling her wares [Music] boom you said none because of the tremendous downpours she hasn't been able to get to her customers for three months told what I the phone isn't working which is never a good sign the journey will be difficult but cam suta's husband has to make his new truck profitable human capital interior defacing I'm gonna be sued doing on capital e for capital Cobra kudiye nakhre na kar Bhoomi move who meet the copper dome connect okapi - okapi see ya it cost the equivalent of nearly 22,000 euros a fortune in Laos chemin suta can't afford to risk the family's investment but the roads are notoriously tough on vehicles Laos is landlocked and one of the last Marxist Leninist regimes on the planet the country has long been isolated from the rest of the world [Music] the recent introduction of limited capitalism has yet to improve the lives of the country's 6.5 million people three quarters of the road system in Laos is simply dirt roads some roads completely disappear under the monsoon rains a wire faced with battling mother nature humans often have to resort to brute force and give up on mechanics [Music] suta and cam are awake long before daybreak to begin loading up their truck not me like a bin be for our Lillian graboid DeLeon grab bacon soup with their truck loaded up with goods suta cam and their daughter head off into the jungle the father knows the route but every year there's no knowing the condition of the road yeah I'm on photo Oklahoma and I'm in honking whooping come yeah [Music] ferocious rainfall in the region has caused huge potholes and in some places washed away whole sections of the road Khem has to constantly slalom between the huge holes the book come with pigs awake at night wait hang up on me little problematic no fiber I have to write but they're not 3495 alright two hours later the road turns into a rollercoaster CEM is mainly concerned with not damaging their precious truck boy [Applause] if I didn't go so [ __ ] phone thank you know I would only point by what airport by if the 22,000 euro truck gets broken it would spell disaster for the entire family at the bottom of the slope is the first stop the village eveng gem there is not much here and the arrival of a traveling salesman is a much anticipated event the locals are a little timid but suta knows how to land the catch so sorry Duke they're putting deck mayor here morning we all know the signal the sales pitch seems to be working suta never sells medicine but she always seems to have some miraculous products to sell the take comes to under 100 euros just about enough to cover the petrol they hope the next village band Tom will prove to be more profitable [Music] along the way the impact of the monsoon can still be seen and felt by trying harder and harder CEM is getting more and more the solution just may be to take a run up and force the truck through but about 30 minutes later [Music] the thing [Music] now I know how by were able to pay Yahoo number the plane is completely flooded just the electricity pylons indicate a road might've once run along here come take a spoon and the monsoon has been particularly heavy and it'll take several months before the water recedes in the meantime chem and suta will need to drum a business in new villages to make up for the delay Laos has many areas that are virtually unreachable including vast tropical forests precious wood attracts fortune hunters to help reach the sought-after and rare woods humans have a powerful ally that dates back 6,000 years [Music] elephants are perfectly adapted to work in the ravines of the forest [Music] by right Jambu is a male elephant age 28 boon chang his driver directs him by using his feet and the tone of his voice the animals only failing is its immense appetite the animal chomps its way through 250 kilos of plants and leaves each day the Lumberjacks pay boon Tang and his elephant to fetch the wood that they've cut in the more inaccessible places [Music] Hey Nakara ki dhaara [Music] not an appealing offer inevitable income that might boy later on such steep slopes the symbiosis between man and animal is vital the elephant needs barely ten minutes to release the 850 kilo tree trunk what kambou makes his driver very proud human car home cook the recipe in my heart at the bottom is a pet peeve Nikolas I'm Nana Nana right [Music] but getting the huge hunk of wood down is a long and perilous process if the tree hurtles down the slope that could break can booze or rear legs to avoid accidents the assistants need to act as counterweights [Music] being able to get through the wildest forest and the hardest to reach places is what elephants are for in Laos wait su and trucks will come and remove the rosewood tree gathered by the elephant the wood will be used in luxury furniture and fittings in Beijing Hanoi and elsewhere two elephants a swim is more than just a pleasant break despite its tough appearance the animal's skin is very sensitive the water helps destroy parasites as well as preventing its hide from becoming too dry [Applause] the manoeuvre soon turns into a game between human and elephants their relationship goes back more than a dozen years man and elephant have similar life expectations and if all goes well kambou and boon tang will continue to work together into old age despite their strength elephants are slowly being replaced by machines even these ancient Soviet era trucks Sangha has been driving one for four years paid their golden couple Yong what's up that one move even higher SiC there this truck was made in the Ukraine in the 1960s it's a crass 255 it's been modified and in parts stripped down to basics and in others reinforced not much is left of the original they saw out of my mind that the other thought even boo me and I lick my head but no carbon and that's how you get a potato with a heap in that condition even filling the tank is a challenge it takes 300 liters of fuel to fill the tanks namely projectile or they sold you know so 50 litres per 100 kilometres mommy likes you saying hits the road with his assistant tent the truck is nine meters long 2.75 meters wide and 3.6 meters high one of the largest trucks the Soviets ever built [Applause] driving this 12 ton heap of scrap mil is no easy matter during the Cold War power steering was very rare visibility isn't great either once in the forest the assistant has to guide the driver through the trees [Applause] [Applause] further on a tree trunk has fallen across the road the two men are experienced and know how to deal with this with sang at the wheel the truck acts in much the same way as an army tank clearing all the foreign 25 kilometers and five hours later saying intent finally reached the loading site the Pinewood is on its way to a furniture factory each trunk weighs between three and five tonnes Nobunaga normal aha to move it all they have as a simple winch yes moving such bulk with such basic equipment means going one small step at a time once the Front's in the back end needs lifting goodnight Omar Dahlia blonde Fire Nation Cove in Covina but we could mother Neal Oliver good [Music] good it's a dangerous procedure especially when the cable comes off the trunks are unstable the worn-out equipment only adds to the risk got macaque cotton the problem by me what Camille Gramercy not be enough not being our family cars I min ma a giant game of pick-up sticks stretches on for three hours the trunks are twice as long as the trailer to stop the truck from tipping backwards the loading has to be as far forward as possible Tsang who's not big can barely get his head above the dashboard transporting 30 tons of wood and scrap metal in such road conditions is a real test Wow something about a couple lies about my night all right the two men are paid by the cubic meter of wood this journey will net them 37 euros two thirds for the driver the rest for his assistant it's well paid even if the risks are substantial most people allow us get by with barely one and a half euros a day on average in northwest laos the former royal capital luang probang is celebrating a daily ritual the tack bath ceremony every morning the monks walk the streets looking for donations from the public glutinous rice fruit even soup the Buddhists depend entirely on begging for survival some sack visits the temple before each of his trips quantify rent though my my white card stock bylaw yharnam would he type it out very much Kim ahem woman become super how I didn't hang up on pot pie he looks sweet calm and pious and yet this 42 year old lives a life that's far from safe he's a speedboat pilot the boats are used to travel at high speeds up and down the Mekong River for those in a hurry it's an ideal solution so long as you have the physical and mental guts for the ride some sack has been doing this for 14 years his boat is a basic [ __ ] shell with a powerful outdoor motor [Music] to live each other to Utara done your part tourtelot man come here come here conceive ICC combined a hoax experiment not yet super marisa more such power costs more than 3000 euros and a good deal of resourcefulness my mother Chuck did I ever call my I can hear some kind cannot even move meal about five or me about being a man who put on what about your Sedona can something I'll put on okay to call by my side my side the speedboat corporation is well organized sets the fares and imposes the traffic regulations for the pilots the number of customers is limited to those who can afford the fares between 14 and 30 euros a trip the equivalent of several weeks salary for most farmers so while they wait the pilots passed the time playing the national sport an activity reminiscent of the South of France the pastime is a legacy of French colonialism the arrival of some customers cuts the game short some sack casts off what I'm hopefully having cook I'm sincerely after distributing the safety equipment he sets about making sure his fragile vessel is well balanced no no going up [Music] their destination is Pak Beng a village 150 kilometers to the west the pilots should be able to get them there in a bit less than three hours compared to a normal load that takes the best part of a day and some snack is speeding at 70 kilometers an hour every minute counts and it's the reason the passengers are willing to pay so much despite the noise and the bumps Boyan Allah Karim Allah Hidell Boyan Kagawa kilo one bikini on 9news keep I'll call my tie I don't let a guy all you can do is put yourself in the pilots hands the speedboats aren't renowned for the responsiveness hop in love and golf ball good now me let you have home and beaucoup cup load load nipple a big chick Padilla any hotel or gentlemen have a meet you Ronnie hobo who have difficult I'm Larry [Music] depending on the level of the Mekong the rocks disappear or reappear some sack has to remember where they all are [Music] Concha calm Kaneko a pending Nora Tommy wake up wake up hace para la paga por hoy y my melancholy got you to to Balu but preparing for the unexpected like tree trunks and other obstacles carried downriver is also a useful trait the speedboat is the taxi of the river and drops off passengers along the way [Music] ohokay later some sect then continues his race against time how many more years does he think he'll do this dangerous job that's uncertain as the road network slowly improve the number of speedboats is falling the country has seen a decade of change [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 1,321,602

Rating: 4.8075767 out of 5

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, most dangerous roads, most dangerous journeys, worlds most dangerous roads, worlds most dangerous journeys, deadliest roads, deadliest roads in the world, dicing with death, deadliest journeys, dicing with death laos, most dangerous roads laos, deadliest roads laos, dangerous roads laos, dangerous laos, deadliest journeys laos, laos

Id: BqybaZFNKXc

Length: 25min 56sec (1556 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Grandpappy7298]

Love these Documentaries!!

[u/DX_Kidjal]

Cool 🍿🍿🍿

[u/cocoscrappy]

I demand an elephant mod right now

[u/Stan_Halen_]

Jungle Runner next?