Mellow Vientiane
Posted by Stuart at 01:09 PM on October 16, 2002So far our time in Vientiane has been very mellow. We walked along the Mekong River last night watching the sunset and sampling Thai/Lao food and drinking "Beer Lao". Later that night we met up with some friends of friends from Bangkok and they took us by motorbike to a bar/restaurant called "Smile Beer". It was a typical open-air establishment very similar to other places I have been such as the Riverview restaurant in Chiang Mai that I visited with Tu and Tee. This one was on the banks of the Mekong and was full of young Lao people (we were the only Caucasians there) eating and drinking beer and singing along to the loud American and Thai pop music.
Prices in Lao are even cheaper than in Thailand. We find it hard to spend more than $3 total for our two dinners, or more than 50 cents for a beer. Even having said that, I am sure the prices we are paying are outrageously expensive to the Lao people. Our friends who we hung out with last night (who both have college degrees) make about $25 a month, which according to our guide books, is an average salary here.
This morning I stood in line for an hour in a blazingly hot sun to get my Thai Visa, and this time they took my paperwork and money and promised to have my Visa ready by tomorrow. Perhaps this nightmarish red-tape fight will be over soon.
I think it is human nature. The people I have seen in SE Asia (esp outside of Bangkok) do not have much and they do not want for much. But as the people here make more money and have access to more and better things, then their desire for even more and even better things increases. That is human nature, I think. The more money you have, the more money you want. The more power you have, the more power you want. Sad, but true.
Hopefully it will!!!
By not ever venturing out into the world, I rarely entertain the thought that, i.e. $25 American dollars a month for a college graduate is considered average. But the people seem to be a happy lot. I have known that "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality is hard to avoid, besides its being rather petty, but it is so commonplace in our society. Does this attitude exist in the places you have visited, where wealth does not abound as it does in the U.S.? Is this strictly a capitalistic gain, or is it more human nature? What are your thoughts?
Love you!