Still a quiet and gentle place on the riverside of the grand Mekong river. Life is slow paced in Vientiane. Next to it's big neighbour Thailand the border runs right through the middle of this artery of life. But even the mellow waterside front is changing fast as you can see in the background of this foto. During this dry season the Lao are building a new embankment against erosion and a big park. The foodstallfamily's wonder if they will still have their place in the new plan.

When I'm in Laos the S.E.A. Games are being played here. The government, which is still a central communistic one, goes to great lenghts to impress the visiting delegations. Police everywhere in their best uniforms. And the old Soviet flag on buildings and poles. It was a hard fought over communism. Allthough the Americans fought against the North Vietnamese they severely bombed Laos too, trying to destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail that ran along the border. More bombs were dropped on this quiet land than on Germany in the whole Second World War.