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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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 Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:29 am Post subject: |
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Sabai Dee Lao  |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 5:59 am Post subject: |
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| kurtz wrote: |
I am more familiar with the north. It seemed to me that the northern border was quite porous with Chinese coming across the border for the day and out competing the locals at the market. The Lao don't seem capable of findinga pair of flip flops in Kuta, Bali; let alone having the know how and money to start any kind of industry; they seemed such a passive bunch; it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Chinese slowly took iver the place.
Can someone start up a decent school in Luang Prabang?; I was gutted at the quality of the staff at my boutique guesthouse. These people need English and customer service training; surely there is an opportunity there for someone to put their hand up. |
Boy, where have I heard disparaging talk about a people like that before? Oh yes, in a documentary about what some of the lads in the Japanese Imperial Army had to say about the Chinese they encountered. Guess a people who don't do things in straight lines are a bunch of retards.
Sure, why not? Westernise the place now! Quickly! Why preserve ANY of that laid back life when you can have investors creating thousands of meaningless jobs and destroying the environment to boot. And $300 a night bungalows with satellite TV to boot. Cheerio. |
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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 9:13 am Post subject: |
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Yes I agree...greedy investors are Laos worst enemies..they and the EFL Edutainer backpackers from Kao Sarn Road!!!  |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:10 am Post subject: |
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| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Yes I agree...greedy investors are Laos worst enemies..they and the EFL Edutainer backpackers from Kao Sarn Road!!! |
Sad sad sad. They are ruining Vientiane, no question.
Sorry Kurtz if I ragged on you. I just didn't like seeing the Lao's compared to idiots. Isn't it refreshing that there are still people unfamiliar with our greedy consumer economy? Do our standards and values apply to them? What do we know about the trees in the hills? How long could you survive by yourself if you got lost?
Knowledge is relative. And I don't particularly fancy people gaining the knowledge of how to wait hand on foot to others for a stupid wage.
Ooops- I ranted again. Nothing personal. Sorry~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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kurtz
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 518
Location: Phaic Tan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 5:30 am Post subject: |
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| bluetortilla wrote: |
| kurtz wrote: |
I am more familiar with the north. It seemed to me that the northern border was quite porous with Chinese coming across the border for the day and out competing the locals at the market. The Lao don't seem capable of findinga pair of flip flops in Kuta, Bali; let alone having the know how and money to start any kind of industry; they seemed such a passive bunch; it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Chinese slowly took iver the place.
Can someone start up a decent school in Luang Prabang?; I was gutted at the quality of the staff at my boutique guesthouse. These people need English and customer service training; surely there is an opportunity there for someone to put their hand up. |
Boy, where have I heard disparaging talk about a people like that before? Oh yes, in a documentary about what some of the lads in the Japanese Imperial Army had to say about the Chinese they encountered. Guess a people who don't do things in straight lines are a bunch of retards.
Sure, why not? Westernise the place now! Quickly! Why preserve ANY of that laid back life when you can have investors creating thousands of meaningless jobs and destroying the environment to boot. And $300 a night bungalows with satellite TV to boot. Cheerio. |
You've got some real issues, lad. Comparing my observation about a lack of Lao knowhow to what, the Japanese Imperial Army, wtf?
If the locals want to develop parts of their country, let them; I dont like how foreigners like to keep places just how they want them to be, like some kind of pet. Perhaps consider things like employment opportunities and an increase in standards of living; maybe you'd like to see them kept dirt poor while you can enjoy a life they can only dream of. |
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plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011
Posts: 1652
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:34 am Post subject: |
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| bluetortilla wrote: |
Isn't it refreshing that there are still people unfamiliar with our greedy consumer economy? Do our standards and values apply to them? What do we know about the trees in the hills? |
North Korea, now there's a group of people that are more than just unfamiliar but actually hostile to our consumer economy in the West. Unfortunately they don't have any trees in the hills to know anything about anymore. People cut them down and tried to eat the bark during the last famine. |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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Well if Plumpy Nut can contrast my sentiments with North Korea then I'm sure it's fine for me to compare kurtz' statement with the IJA. 
Seriously, why do we want anything from people other than for them to benefit from the better parts of technology and evolve in their own way? I'm just saying I'm strongly opposed to this consumerism cancer of more factories, more cars, more chemicals, more oppression, more misery. To me, all that kutrtz is saying is (and no offence you're entitled to your opinion as are we all- let's just not any of us get self-righteous about it) that let's take toiling peasants out of the feudal age and put them into the fear-driven neo-colonialist age. When you see Akka people leaving a pretty nice life in the hills (yes, short by modern standards but nice) to live a miserable, marginalised existence in the valleys where they're not wanted- because modern entrapments have given them misconceptions that life must be better in the valleys- then something is wrong. I am not saying that modern technology should not benefit all of the people (it should) and I don't think anyone that I know wants people to stay as they are as 'pets.' Integration into the larger culture is fine but i also believe strongly in conservation. In Yunnan many tribes have been stripped of their whole identity and yet there are not 'Han' either- second class Han at best. They're alienated in other words. I would just want what's best for the people over a well-planned phase. The jobs that consumerism brings: working at Starbucks, driving taxis, packing souvenirs in factories, always selling selling selling crap to tourists- these jobs aren't good. They really suck. Teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers. biochemists, and all the technicians and workers that support these people; these are good jobs. Jobs they can be proud of. And they are jobs that come with education and development, not with consumerism and retail crap.
Well, that's my opinion anyway. |
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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Tourist backpackers arriving from Bangkok's Kao Sarn Road in droves to Vientiane and in Luang Prabang in Laos...a case in point of the effects of rapid tourism consumerism which will create another Kao Sarn Road on the Mekong River very soon in Laos. Greedy investors from China and Thailand now creating a culture of consumerism for the Lao people. You don't need to be a fortune teller with a crystal ball to see what is now happening in Laos...and yes....[b]EFL Edutainment backpacker instructors are looking to settle and teach in Laos in droves permanently from the former land of of sm???]...as the visa restrictions in Laos become more lax than their more stringent neighbour to the south.....the result of all this is Laos will soon loose its identity and traditional way of life...and the whole country will become another SE Asian megalopolis sooner than you think!!! |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 5:31 am Post subject: |
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| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Tourist backpackers arriving from Bangkok's Kao Sarn Road in droves to Vientiane and in Luang Prabang in Laos...a case in point of the effects of rapid tourism consumerism which will create another Kao Sarn Road on the Mekong River very soon in Laos. Greedy investors from China and Thailand now creating a culture of consumerism for the Lao people. You don't need to be a fortune teller with a crystal ball to see what is now happening in Laos...and yes....[b]EFL Edutainment backpacker instructors are looking to settle and teach in Laos in droves permanently from the former land of of sm???]...as the visa restrictions in Laos become more lax than their more stringent neighbour to the south.....the result of all this is Laos will soon loose its identity and traditional way of life...and the whole country will become another SE Asian megalopolis sooner than you think!!! |
Not the main reason but a good part of the reason I'm back in Japan with my permanent residency. Lordy lordy. |
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kurtz
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 518
Location: Phaic Tan
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:50 am Post subject: |
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And another snobby ass know it all from Dave's ESL. 1st year university student? Really? And what are 1st year uni students like? Do they ramble? Is that their characteristic? Now that we're not holding punches, you haven't struck me as anything close to enlightened yourself.
YOU are the one that made locals in Northern Laos seem like retards (couldn't buy thongs in Bali). That's the same exact thing solders in the Japanese Army said about Chinese, hence MY reference which you apparently could not understand. YOU are the one dehumanizing people- so don't give me that crap about having a sophomoric attitude. You don't like people, if I can take what you write at face value. Take a look in the mirror before you give others a hard time.
Personally, I HATE consumerism like the plague. Because in fact it is the plague and it is quickly destroying all the resources we have. Anybody who cannot see that is either blind, an idiot, extraordinarily selfish, or all three. YOU are the one talking about the stupid nowhere jobs that people get from commercial development. And you're a grade above the rest of us?
What do you know about life that fills you with such disdain? Glad you got it right while others are just fools. Guess that makes for a happier, better life doesn't it?
So yes, please insult me. No need to thank me for sharing my experiences in English teaching in Laos. Sorry to have offended you. Seems that's mostly what goes on in this forum full of snobs. They're just everywhere. |
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kurtz
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 518
Location: Phaic Tan
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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Consumerism in Laos? Are you for real??
Perhaps you want to see people living in the jungle and it is nice to know there are people living with nature. However, if someone wants to perhaps improve their quality if life, let them. Maybe that dead end job in a restaurant can lead to something better or perhaps a family can pool their money resulting in someone getting an education and a good job. Does that mean that those who have a decent income will flock to the nearest designer clothes outlet? I doubt it.
Let me speak more politically correct for you. I was saddened to see the lack of capacity shown by the locals which has led to foreign powers, namely China and Thailand, to take advantage of Lao and slowly destroy its culture and environment.
Sorry to ruin your 15 minutes of fame. You posted some useful information, but it seems to have been hijacked by Mr Evil Backpackers are coming to ruin Asia; I would be more worried about Chinese investment and its side effects, but what would I know. |
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plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011
Posts: 1652
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| Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:16 am Post subject: |
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| Laos being a sustenance economy (or whatever the hell it's called) has done very little to damage the world ecosystem unlike the more modern countries. Wouldn't that make Laos the kind of country you would want to live in? How much are the backpackers and the Chinese and Thais flocking to Laos going to change things in regards to really modernizing Laos and making it a damaging country at least for the time at hand. |
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kurtz
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 518
Location: Phaic Tan
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| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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| plumpy nut wrote: |
| Laos being a sustenance economy (or whatever the hell it's called) has done very little to damage the world ecosystem unlike the more modern countries. Wouldn't that make Laos the kind of country you would want to live in? How much are the backpackers and the Chinese and Thais flocking to Laos going to change things in regards to really modernizing Laos and making it a damaging country at least for the time at hand. |
You're rather letting the team down with those comments.
Firstly, it's subsistence, not sustenance economy; a 10 second google search would have sorted that one out.
Secondly, a quick click on the link provided above will provide some insight into how the environment is being exploited by foriegn powers.
Lastly, look into deforestation in Laos which might prove interesting to you.
I don't have a lot of confidence in the long term future of Laos which I think will extend into China's expansionism of the region.
I think the issue goes a little beyond backpackers providing B grade EFL training.
Forgive my tone as I have just been reading the watchsnob. |
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ieltsteacher102
Joined: 24 Jun 2014
Posts: 37
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