My World: Welcome to Vientienne.

First..after a grueling journey thru malaysia and various transit points..here we are.

Second. I arrived. Not my luggage. Guess those are two different items!

My camera charger is in the luggage. Why? Cause of my last minute stupidity.

So my ipad has to do.

Laos....embarrassingly courteous people..at the airport, at the hotel, in the city. First impressions last long! But I am not mistaken at all.

Slept in the late afternoon. Night. Went to see outside.

Backpacker's heaven.

No George Cinq here. Love it. Being transported back in a time warp.

Forgot my Omniprazole! Son has found a shop that has Nexum and Rentidine as a temp substitute.

Got to get organized here. Conserve cam battery power, till luggage is found..hopefully. Else ipad and iPhone it is.

Next to where I am shacking is a fashion design studio. I went to have a look.
Got to meet the owner ( tomorrow ), if luggage arrives..should not be in shorts. Got to make a good impression.



French architecture abounds..with a Laotian twist. The Mekong flows..a little dry now. What history it could tell me. I wonder. I have to find out. I hear the roar of planes. I walk into Starbucks, to remember the history.

Good luck with the luggage, Fahim. Things going astray and forgetting things are part of the deal, unfortunately. I know omeprazole only too well; there has got to be a good way out of that routine.

Thanks Tom.

I am having massages to compensate for the Omniprozole.

Regards.

Leica ME, lux 50 asph.

Wonderful composition and wonderful colors! It is hard to resist those mysterious smiles, isn't it?

Omeprazole, (alias Prilosec), has made many many friends! I'm a loyalist to the brand! Should have it's own calling plan! Hope you're managing fine.

Asher

fahim mohammed said:

Next to where I am shacking is a fashion design studio. I went to have a look.
Got to meet the owner ( tomorrow ), if luggage arrives..should not be in shorts. Got to make a good impression.

Click to expand...

As always, the visitor gets a view that has little memory of history at it's surfaces. Here the scene is quiet and inviting to stop by.

fahim mohammed said:

French architecture abounds..with a Laotian twist. The Mekong flows..a little dry now. What history it could tell me. I wonder. I have to find out. I hear the roar of planes. I walk into Starbucks, to remember the history.

Click to expand...

Fahim,

You'd have no trouble acting as a tour guide anywhere there was colonialism as you have a good sense of what delusion and greed does. The people seem pretty resilient. BTW, do they speak French in the stores or have they all learned English?

Asher

Tom Robbins said:

Wonderful composition and wonderful colors! It is hard to resist those mysterious smiles, isn't it?

Click to expand...

Hi Tom.

Mysterious smiles..yes indeed.
Tom courtesy to the ' T '. Lovely people.

I sense I am back in the 60s..Woodstock with IPhones and IPads!!

I do really accord the greatest respect to other people's beliefs. But it is a visual sensation for me and nothing more.

Behind, in the alcoves, are miniature Buddahs.

Thanks for stopping by.

Asher Kelman said:

As always, the visitor gets a view that has little memory of history at it's surfaces. Here the scene is quiet and inviting to stop by.




Fahim,

You'd have no trouble acting as a tour guide anywhere there was colonialism as you have a good sense of what delusion and greed does. The people seem pretty resilient. BTW, do they speak French in the stores or have they all learned English?

Asher

Click to expand...

To be honest Asher, neither.
In hotels etc. yes. But else, just Laotian.

I am now in a different city. Having caught an early morning flight and missed a sight tourists would pay anything to witness..the procession of monks. It was 0500 hrs, and I was half asleep rushing to the airport to catch a flight full of shall we say members from the organization of economically developed countries.

A lady turned to me and with a patronizing smile said ' namaste '. I was not in the mood. Just ignored her. I felt sorry afterwards for my behavior. But I cannot suffer fools easily specially when I am deprived of sleep and pants!

The luggage arrived in the hotel I had left. So it seems to be chasing me!

I am staying right on the banks of the Mekong. On the other side is Thailand. A bridge spans the river.
Rusty and old. They are building a new one not far from it, but leaving the old one intact..as a reminder
For their young ones. The bridge has a history and deaths associated with it.

At last..the kind of images I like to spend hours trying to make.

Making a connection. With another person. Young or old. Female or male.

Laos is growing..fast. Everyone seems to be tripping over themselves to provide the investments required.

But make no mistake. All others pale in comparison to the one next door neighbor..PRC.

The people remember...their memories are long..but they are also forgiving. They need the money, many have the finance required. Along with the money comes back the memories.

Not far from here, an average of 1 bomb fell every 10 minutes on the population, continuously. For four years!

On similar fishing villages...welcome to the Mekong.


Their children and their grandchildren are taught what happened then
and from where the help came.

Now another type of help is being provided. To clear the vast remnants of unexploded bombs and aerial mines. Guess it is help of a sort. Better late than never. No? Especially if there is money to be made.

fahim mohammed said:

Now another type of help is being provided. To clear the vast remnants of unexploded bombs and aerial mines. Guess it is help of a sort. Better late than never. No? Especially if there is money to be made.

Click to expand...

Fahim,

This reminds me of the Alaska spill from the Exxon Valdez. The clean up became an industry in itself!

Asher

Fahim,

I would love to see more like this. The action on the left really energizes the image and we feel like we're watching something happen. The composition although with a totally different subject, does have in common a weight and balance distribution similar to the fine B&W image, post #16, here. In that case, the active element that attracts our attention, (corresponding to the net here), is a curved shadow of a ladder.

Asher

Different..

This is National Geographic for free guys.

I chase the light. Or it chases me.

The Leica digital Ms are not known for their low light performance. So I put it to the test.

Sunrise over the Mekong, from my window..


What about sunset, you might ask?. I am chasing the light, so it has to wait.

btw, my two cams are the ME and the Sony RX100. I left the Fuji at home.

p.s. if all you see are the dust bunnies..move on.

And a last one from me of this trip...


Thank you for stopping by.

Thanks for sharing these, Fahim. I'd say you successfully got away from it all with this trip.

Tom Robbins said:

Thanks for sharing these, Fahim. I'd say you successfully got away from it all with this trip.

Click to expand...

Tom appreciate your comments and the support.

Best regards.