In early 2000 I went for the first time to Luang Prabang. the former capital of Laos on the banks of the Mekong, surrounded by verdant mountains. At 5am in the morning, I got up, the town with its golden Buddhist temples and traditional small houses still lay silent. Slowly the morning mist was rising. Dozens of women with huge baskets of sticky rice were setting up their spots on the river street where they soon would offer alms. thus earning auspicious merit. At sunrise hundreds of monks came slowly out of the temples and walked barefoot in their orange-clad robes slowly towards the river,  to collect food from the almsgiving ladies.It was a procession to behold, to be repeated every day, since centuries.

Luang Prabang is still the most enchanted place in Asia where I have ever been Life has not always been easy for the gentle Laotians: In the course of the Vietnam war between1964 and 1973 260 million bombs were dropped on Laos Laos – while it had been, in contest to its neighbour Vietnam, never been at war with nobody. Barack Obama called it „the most heavily bombed nation in history“. Even nowadays there are thousands of unexploded ordnances sprinkled in Laos beautiful rice paddies. I could see the heavy legacy when visiting an implant manufacture in Vientiane. No wonder it still had many customers. The future will be exiting and challenging, too, I thought. China; big neighbour to the north, had 1,4 billion people, 2000 times more than Laos. High speed stains will once connect Beijing with Singapore, running through Laos. Will the gentle Laotians keep up with the pace?