July 18th and 20th: all about food (and a little bit about China)

July 18th:

Karen (Bill met her at his cooking class) from England who lives in Australia, Bill, Sheila and Rachel at our new favorite restaurant - Rosella Fusion, on the Nam Khan River

July 19th:

chocolate and cream Croissant from La Banneton French bakery

I met Bill in the morning at our French bakery before his flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand. He took a bite of the chocolate cream croissant and said, "That is so good, it is bringing tears to my eyes."

dinner again at Rosella Fusion restaurant: beef noodle salad  - so delicious!

I met a French woman who was here on work for an French NGO. After describing a little about her work and projects, I commented on what good work she was doing. "Sometimes," she replied. "But sometimes, they say 'yes, yes, yes' but change not at all, not even one inch." I told her of Muang Ngoi and the new dirt road project to the east. I suggested that this was probably good for the villagers, who were now connected to a larger village and would have some opportunities that weren't there before. Then she explained to me the situation in Laos form her perspective. How the Chinese were buying up and taking over the country. "It is like a Chinese colony. Similar to what the French did when Laos was a French colony." She explained how the communist government owns everything, even all of the land. "So the Chinese propose big projects. The Lao communist officials put a little bit in their pocket when they approve the project. The villagers lose their land to the project, have no means of supporting themselves, and have no recourse. The community must maintain the project, but the project is too big and is unsustainable. So the villagers lose their land and the Lao government owes China a lot of money. The only ones who benefit are China and the corrupt Laos officials who approved the project. It all goes for nothing." She was afraid to think of what Laos will be like in 10 years.

July 20th:
My last full day in Luang Prabang. Tomorrow morning Sheila and I will take the slow boat to Thailand - two days up the Mekong River. We will end up in either Chiang Mai (maybe we will get to see Bill again - yea!) or Chiang Rai (a little north of Chiang Mai) on July 23rd.