Lao Voices

NGO Friends International has started a new initiative to alter the life of Vientiane street kids in a positive way. Through a project named Peuan Mit street kids get help in the form of prevention, reintegration, outreach and vocational training. Based on the support of up Mak Phet restaurant, former street children get a new [...]

Normally, I am not a big fan of conspiracy theories. I came across a documentary about one car, the electrical EV-1 of General Motors, that pulled me over to the conspiracy perspective. General Motors marketed the car in the mid 90s because Califonia’s law prescribed that 10% of its cars should be environmental friendly. The [...]

Suppose you are interested to go to Laos but you do not have a clue where the most interesting tourist spots are? Then there are “Hobo Maps” to guide you around. Hobo maps are maps that provide the necessary tourist guide for finding the most interesting spots around. Based on a simple grid system you [...]

To quote a famous Dutch footbal player and coach, Johan Cruijff, “Every disadvantage has its advantages”. This could also become true for Laos. The people of Laos hunger for electricity to increase productivity and general comfort of life. Unfortunately, only 48 percent of Laotians are connected to the electrical grid.  High costs and a lack [...]

There is a new wind blowing through Laos and it feels like the wind of change. The old structures of Lao society have been set up more than three decades ago and the international environment around Laos is changing. Adoption of new developments is needed. Neighbors Vietnam and Cambodia are opening their markets at a [...]

Now and then it is useful to look back in history to see where the future will take us. A pivotal time in Lao history is the time between 1950 and 1975. During that time, the political regime in Laos was completely turned around. This was no coincidence. Laos was heavily [...]

I created this video for those, like me, who had to get used to the new way images are posted in Wordpress version 2.5 and above. It is not necessary to use linked images and, in fact, they lead away from good interaction design of the blog and basically “break” the user experience. It is [...]

Many rice fields that covered the mountainous North of Laos are gone. They are steadily being replaced by rubber trees. The Chinese are coming to Laos and they need their rubber products for their galloping economy. It appears nothing can stop the ever growing Chinese machine that seems perpetually hungry for manufacturing products supplies.
The Chines [...]

The U.S. Air Force wanted to use “nuclear weapons” against Vietnam in 1959 and 1968, and Laos in 1961, to obliterate communist guerrillas, according to newly declassified secret U.S. Air Force documents.
The 400-page document, titled, “The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia: The War in Northern Laos 1954-1973,” was written [...]

By now you will have noticed that something has seriously gone wrong in the US. Many banks have serious problems and are writing of billions of dollars in “bad loans” aka the “subprimal slime” . The most prominent recent example of that was Bear Stearns, a former triple A bank that fell down hard. The [...]

Simply enjoying my day off here and collected a portfolio of cool songs for you. It is a variety of rock and techno and yes, a few raps are in there too. Rockers are Hoobastank, Il Nino, KMFDM, The Cardigans (not real rock but hey) and Nonpoint.
Techno is represented by September, Paul Oakenfold, Bass [...]