Sunday, July 6, 2008

Lao Now!

Mr. Lao - Des Teso
 A fleet of Tuk Tuks at the ready.
 My shaky ride.
 Nice quiet streets.
 Not very commercial.

A quiet monastery.
 Kids at play.
 Nice Buddha
 Doors and walls tell the story.
 Golden repose.



Studying with the master.
 Beautiful ironwork.
 Mmmmm - hot soup.
No traffic jams here.
 A market.



Local delicacies. Love the sticky rice!
 Best fried frog skin....ever... (click on picture to enlarge).
 Not the locals.
 Beer Lao can't be beat.

That Dam (Black Stupa) is said to sit above the cave of a dormant seven headed dragon.


Approaching the Arch.
 French with many Asian accents.
 Entry to That Luang, the Golden Stupa.
 The national symbol of Laos and the most religious site in the land.
 Where Des is establishing himself as the number one singles player in the country.


From poor Kraft employee to wealthy ore baron.

By Tod Gimbel


I've been on the road a lot recently. The past few weeks I've been to Laos, Taiwan and Indonesia. Finally have a few minutes to do an update. I will debrief....

I had the opportunity to travel to Laos on a business mission in association with the annual meeting of the Director Generals of Customs of the ASEAN countries (basically all the countries of Souteast Asia http://www.aseansec.org/Bulletin-Jul-08.htm ). Of course I do spend much of my work life dealing with tariff and trade issues here in the region so I had a very legitimate reason to attend. I also wanted to add another country to my running visit list and link up with my friend and former colleague Des Teso who had just left Kraft to take a job with a mining company in Vientiane.

Laos, or the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country stuck between Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia and China. I notice that when a country has the word "Democratic" in it's name, it usually isn't. This is the case in Laos. It is ranked among the lowest counries on lists of personal freedom and economic conditions. Bombed heavily during the Vietnam War, Laos is known to most people over 40 in the US who have memries of the 60s and 70s.



So basically, its kind of a throwback communist country still waiting to break out and enjoy the growth that neighbors like Vietnam and Cambodia are enjoying.


Despite all this bad stuff, or maybe because of it, Laos is a very nice place to visit. The big city, Vientiane, isn't too big. My hotel, at 13 floors, is the tallest buiding in the country, there is no sign of Prada, Louis Vuiton, GAP, Fendi, Starbucks, McDonalds and all the other signs of sameness found in virtually every other place in the world. There are some very nice humble people, lovely old temples, colonial buildings from the French days, some really good food both local and international and prices that will make you smile.


I was only there for a few days but with Des as my guide I got to see the sights, taste the tastes, drink the good local brew and even meet few of the natives.


The Don Chan Palace Hotel http://www.donchanpalacelaopdr.com/(the skyscraper) is a 5 star (but more like 3) behemoth on the banks of the Mekon. It is big, relatively new but already old and empty feeling. The view of the river was nice. Lots of open space, cows and goats grazing, a few wooden boats floating by and the flickering lights and small building across the way in Thailand. Yes there was hot water, cable tv and even a balcony but I was a little afraid if I stood on it it might crumble and I would plummet 10 floors to an anonymous death.


They did have a very happening indoor/outdoor club where after 11PM the beautiful people and wannabes could drink Beer Lao and dance to the latest US, Thai and Lao hits.


A note about Beer Lao http://www.beer-lao.com/ . It seems every country in Souteast Asia has a really good local beer. Chang in Thailand, Tiger in Singapore, Bintang in Indonesia, San Miguel in the Philippines, Angkor in Cambodia, to name a few. Beer Lao is a very good one and appears to be one of the few big local compnaies in Laos. Hangover inducing but very easy to drink.


So night one Des took me to a very cosmopolitan restaurant/ pub right in the center of town called Khop Chai Deu. http://www.khopchaideu.com/ It's in an old colonial house and is kind of a modern day Rick's Place. Expats mingle with local drinking beer, playing pool, listening to music eating bar food with local and international tastes. One of Des' friends opened the place 10 years ago and it keeps growing and getting more popular. I just noted on the website that in addition to many daily specials, every night is insect night!


By day I attended meetings (a necessary evil of actually being there for work) but I also managed to walk around and look at some of the temples, shops, markets and peek into the daily life of the city.


Night two Des took me to a very local restaurant for dinner. We feasted on Tom Yam soup, Lao style, bbq beef tongue, crushed beef, fish, veggies and my new favorite dish - fried frog skin. Everything was tasty and spicey and the frog skins were delicious. We later stopped at a very local bar where there was a live band playing some great music. The beat was great, the musicians were good and everyone seemed to know the words and the special dance staps. Kind of like being at secret society where I wasnt in on the secret.

The next morning, on the 15 minute ride to the airport, Des showed me all the historic sites - an Arch de Triomphe type place donated by the French, the Golden Stupa, The President's house, the Legislative buiding and the Vientiane Tennis Club.

I would love to go back.




















































































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