Laos Part Trois
Here is the third posting about my trip to Laos. As to the economy, since I was only in one place, it's a bit hard to make any conclusions. Luang Prabang is booming, at least during 'high season' when the tourists are plentiful. The streets were swarming with a variety of people with varying amounts of money to spend. The internet cafes were busy as were the restaurants and tour operators. There are many businesses that seem to be flourishing. Not all businesses catered to tourists which is always a good sign. Additionally there is a vast amount of work being done on streets, electric, drainage and sewer projects. Much of this is no doubt due to the World Heritage site designation. Opportunities? I think there are lots of relatively low end opportunities here for people interested in relocating to this lovely place, but I didn't perceive too many opportunities to really do well by USA standards.
The locals seem quite happy. There certainly a few beggars, but far fewer than here in Bangkok or most other places I've been in Thailand or even in Cambodia. After carefully determining that I could get a legitimate massage, I went to a place for a "Traditional Lao Massage". I put this in quotes since I could not see any difference between the traditional Thai, Lao or Khmer massages I got. The massage girl turned out to be a 16 year old girl. It seems that most of the massage in Luang Prabang is done by girls between 15 and 20. Fortunately it WAS a totally legitimate massage. Between my Thai which is not too dissimilar than Lao and her fairly good English I was able to determine that she works from 8 until 10 6 days per week. That's about 84 hours a week give or take a few. For this she gets about $25 a week plus tips. Despite this, she seemed like any happy 16 year old girl, giggling and chatting with her coworkers while they worked. In my short time in Luang Prabang and environs, my impression is that most people there work very hard, but find time to spend with their families. They smile and laugh alot. I can't imagine that it's all an act to deceive the farangs.
Politics? I was never really in a position to hear any comments or get a feel for the way the locals feel about politics. The few local farangs that I chatted with seemed quite content with things and I heard no complaints about the 'communist' regime. I had the very definite feeling that people in Luang Prabang are quite insulated from global politics as well as to at least some extent national politics. I had less question and comment about Bush and Iraq here than any other place I have been in Asia. I'll talk more about the absolute 100% negative reaction to Bush and Iraq in a later post.
After we left the Hmong village, we headed back down the mountain and stopped at several more villages. The villages were mostly Khmu. Again Hai O had taught in many of them. The magic of Thay Ruup continued. The children and even many adults were endlessly fascinated with seeing their images after I took their pictures. On one stop Hai O told me how he had helped bring a new well, school house and town hall type meeting place to a village. He was quite popular there needless to say. At our last stop, we were invited to drink some local home brew. Hai O declined for us, and I didn't press him.
The locals seem quite happy. There certainly a few beggars, but far fewer than here in Bangkok or most other places I've been in Thailand or even in Cambodia. After carefully determining that I could get a legitimate massage, I went to a place for a "Traditional Lao Massage". I put this in quotes since I could not see any difference between the traditional Thai, Lao or Khmer massages I got. The massage girl turned out to be a 16 year old girl. It seems that most of the massage in Luang Prabang is done by girls between 15 and 20. Fortunately it WAS a totally legitimate massage. Between my Thai which is not too dissimilar than Lao and her fairly good English I was able to determine that she works from 8 until 10 6 days per week. That's about 84 hours a week give or take a few. For this she gets about $25 a week plus tips. Despite this, she seemed like any happy 16 year old girl, giggling and chatting with her coworkers while they worked. In my short time in Luang Prabang and environs, my impression is that most people there work very hard, but find time to spend with their families. They smile and laugh alot. I can't imagine that it's all an act to deceive the farangs.
Politics? I was never really in a position to hear any comments or get a feel for the way the locals feel about politics. The few local farangs that I chatted with seemed quite content with things and I heard no complaints about the 'communist' regime. I had the very definite feeling that people in Luang Prabang are quite insulated from global politics as well as to at least some extent national politics. I had less question and comment about Bush and Iraq here than any other place I have been in Asia. I'll talk more about the absolute 100% negative reaction to Bush and Iraq in a later post.
After we left the Hmong village, we headed back down the mountain and stopped at several more villages. The villages were mostly Khmu. Again Hai O had taught in many of them. The magic of Thay Ruup continued. The children and even many adults were endlessly fascinated with seeing their images after I took their pictures. On one stop Hai O told me how he had helped bring a new well, school house and town hall type meeting place to a village. He was quite popular there needless to say. At our last stop, we were invited to drink some local home brew. Hai O declined for us, and I didn't press him.