Life as a Legal Consultant

I have been very pleased with my work experience here. I work for Lao Law and Consultancy Group, a Lao-owned and operated law firm. My other coworkers and I advise on Lao law for foreign investors and NGOs who are doing or are interested in doing business in Lao PDR. As a US trained attorney, and a junior one at that, I have found it challenging to practice law in a jurisdiction so different from the one that I have been trained in, but also a great experience. Lao PDR has a civil law system which differs from common law in that court cases do not have binding precedent over other cases. In addition, there is no requirement here that judicial opinions, or even laws and regulations at times, are made public so sometimes it can be difficult to determine how a judge might rule on a certain issue. I have had the opportunity to not only advise on Lao law in the form of opinions and letters, but also meet with foreign investors in meetings, conferences and dinners. My boss often brings my fellow foreign coworkers and I to client dinners and conferences. Last week our firm donated 15,000,000 kip to the flood victims in southern Lao PDR and we all attended a donation ceremony. We were greeted by the Deputy Prime Minister, seen in the photos shaking Alex’s hand.

Houey Hong Vocational Training Centre for Women

Last weekend I took a little trip out to the Houey Hong Vocational Training Centre for Women to do some textile dyeing and take a tour of the center. A lovely girl named Noy showed me around and explained about the work that they do. The center's website states:
The Centre was established in response to a growing awareness of the need to provide vocational training and employment opportunities to the disadvantaged sectors of the community, especially women, minority ethnic groups and people with disabilities.
The Houey Hong Vocational Training Centre for Woman has three main objectives:
- To provide training for various skill levels, in weaving, dyeing and tailoring for women from rural areas who are disadvantaged, poor and/or who have a disability
- To revive and support Lao’s traditional crafts, such as natural dyeing and traditional weaving
- To introduce other suitable skills, such as tailoring, to women who have little education

I got to dye a scarf in red beetle dye.

weaving

weaving

scarves drying

scarf tied up for dyeing

scarf in the red dye

rinsing the scarf

scarves- mine is on the right

my scarf and me!

Where all the lights are bright.... unless the power goes off!

I am feeling really lucky this week because I really do have some amazing friends and family. Even though I live in a place that most people cannot even point to on a map (just tell people that Laos is next to Thailand, it is the easiest way), I have already had two friends visit and I am having two more visit- Lacie next week and Juliet in October- and Dad and Cindy will be here for three weeks in November. I know that they are excited to see what Southeast Asia has to offer but I also like to think that they are coming because of my excellent tour guide skills :) [refer to Lacie's Freedom Trail excursion of 2009 or Juliet's Christmas tour of NYC of 2008]

In preparation for these visits, I wanted to give everyone an idea of what the brilliant lights of downtown Vientiane look like. These are day time shots but suffice it to say that there are no bright lights.

city signs

rows of houses, cars and shops

obligatory mekong sunset pic

this is the main road

french is still prevalent here

more city signs. and a tuk tuk!

main stretch

temple construction with bamboo scaffolding

Tad Moun Waterfall

Rural gas station or rural soda fountain? I would stay. away.
Ceci, Kat and Na
Na, Me, and Ceci
Lao Traffic

Morning Market

I spent my first two weeks in Vientiane looking for the grocery store. I am sorry, I know that I should have realized that Lao PDR is a least developed country and that I would not be able to go down to my local Shaw's to pick up my weekly groceries..... but I didn't. And, let me tell you, the markets are fun to walk around and stand in amazement of all of the things, both recognizable and not, to buy but it is daunting to do your weekly shopping at first. On Saturday, some friends from Lao language class went to the market with our classmate's wife, who is Lao, for some explanation.
The meat area of the market is basically a gymnasium sized open area hall with tables lined in rows. The tables are covered in cardboard and then any and all kinds of meat are lined up open area for inspection and purchase.
Whole chicken or partial disemboweled chicken for dinner? The half plucked chickens were dunked in boiling water right behind this stall, plucking was completed and then heads were cut off, guts were removed (or not) and it was all put on display. You definitely know it is fresh.
Crickets make a tasty snack.
All types of asian almond, uncured olive and other delicacies whose names could not be translated into English.
Flowers are sold as well.
The vegetable market
Veggies!

I later purchased some of my favorite- morning glories and tonight I plan to tackle preparing them with some garlic and chilis. I have never been known for my stir frying skills (I tend to make veggie-mush) so we shall see how it goes!

UPDATE (8pm):
The cooking went pretty much as plan..... which is to say, not well at all. I need to figure out the proper way to use this electric wok that everyone here seems to use. When I put the chilis in the oil, the air filled with spicy smoke (and I am still airing my apartment out). I definitely loaded up on the oyster sauce and I tried frying an egg after taking the morning glory out of the plan, which, needlless to say, ended up being gross. Disaster. It all went in the garbage and I bought 9 fresh rolls for $1.85 at the night market next door. . . .

Perfecting my tour guide skillz

Dan and Kana came for a visit this weekend and I made sure that they saw absolutely everything that Vientiane had to offer. Luckily, they seemed strangely enthusiastic about seeing temples considering they were coming from Japan, land of temples and shrines. Unfortunately flights to Luang Prabang were booked so they were not able to get up there for a day trip as they planned so they had another day in Vientiane. Having literally seen every corner of the city, there was nothing left to do on their last day but eat and get massages. Rough life :)

It was great to see them and also great to have a good excuse to get out and see some of the things that I have not yet seen in Vientiane.

Wat Si Saket

The Mekong from the 4th floor of Bor Pennyang
Dan and Kana


Wat Si Saket again.... the clouds put on a good show for them that day!
Wat Si Saket
Haw Prah Keo Museum
Haw Prah Keo Museum
Cluster bombs at the COPE Museum
Prosthetic limbs at the COPE Museum
Tad Moun Waterfall area
Tad Moun
Buddha Park
Monks at the Buddha Park


Last weekend's tropical storm caused major flooding across the country and a lot of areas are still drying out. Normally the entrance to the large mouth on this statute is not flooded. I heeded my father's advice though and avoid wading through any standing water..... will have to go back and see the view from the top another time!
Reclining Buddha
Elephants, elephants everywhere!

Wats all around

There are temples, or wats, all over Vientiane- all more ornate and beautiful than the next!
No day out would be complete without a delicious meal. This is penang curry at Kop Kap, a favorite of mine!