Visas

I recently got my passport back in hand with needed visas for my trip to Southeast Asia in a few weeks. I worked with a local visa service rather than having to deal separately with three different embassy offices in SF or DC. When I got them back, I looked over the documents from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and definitely approve of the graphics. Very Official. Vietnam is actually the only one that requires me to get a visa prior to leaving the US, but I went ahead and got all now to head off any potential hassles when making entry. I'll be in Thailand too, but they don't require a visa for entry.

After I scanned them so I could carry a copy (just in case), I thought they would make a nice collage...

Sadly, the story of the national flags for these countries contains remembrances of all the blood shed in struggles throughout that region.

It is interesting that Cambodia, which was devastated by the murder of millions under reign of the insane Khmer Rouge in the 1970's, chooses to look beyond that in the description of their flag. (I've never seen a flag that attempts to represent the structure of the universe - I rather like that.)
I picked up this from Wikipedia:

Thailand 

The red stripes represent the blood spilt to maintain Thailand's independence. The white stands for purity and is the color of Buddhism which is the country's main religion. Blue is Thailand's national color and it represents the Thai monarchy. The blue is also used to honor Thailand's World War I allies, Great Britain, France, United States and Russia, who all had red, white and blue flags.

Laos

The Red stripes represent the blood shed in the country's fight for independence. The blue stands for Laos' wealth and prosperity and the white symbolizes unity and justice. Another interpretation of the Laotian flag states the white circle symbolizes the full moon over the blue Mekong River, which runs through and alongside the majority of Laos.





 
 Vietnam 

The red base represents blood spilt during the country's fight for independence. The star represents Vietnam's unity and the points on the star represent the union of the workers, peasants, soldiers, intellectuals and young people working together in building socialism.





 

Cambodia 

The blue color symbolizes the country's royalty. The red represents the nation and the white represents the religion, beginning with Brahmanism, and the current major religion - Buddhism. The emblem of the temple represents the structure of the universe.