Same same but different

After deciding to cook my own Lao style bbq on my first night I sweated by the heat of the charcoal in the hot pot, where I sizzled the meat and heated my soup. I knew I was somewhere quite  special.
I'm a millionaire!!!!! no my lottery numbers haven't come up, I just changed £100 to kip with the exchange rate of 12,800. Prices here are still really reasonable, having spent the grand total of £4.50 yesterday (excluding hotel), which included lunch and dinner, two large beers, a large water and a return trip across the bamboo bridge!!! Needless to say, those who know me well,  I never made use of my return ticket, as crossing it took me about 20 mins, probably 15 mins longer than everyone else. After heading to nearby temples and the paper making village,  I walked the longer way round to the old  bridge, where I followed a couple of monks as we headed across on the side of the bridge on planks and a slightly wobbly hand rail. Of course the monks that I followed soon became dots in the distance! 
 So to differences: long gone are the dusty roads, it's full tarmac through town and beyond. I've booked my 8 hour VIP bus to Vientiane, including lunch and hotel pickup and I've splurged out on a central boutique hotel, that fits into the top end of the lonely planet guide!  A local restaurant on the bank of the Mekong has 419 things on the menu and the night Market stretches the length of the main street. 
Luang Prabang has moved with the times of course, as tourism has increased this gem of a destination keeps its charm and remains so special. At 6 this morning I was watching the daily morning procession of the monks collecting offerings of rice from the devout across town. This truly is a special thing to see.  Later I chartered a boat to take me to a couple of villages up the Mekong and saw villagers make their own whiskey, weave and others collect the local water moss, making a local delicacy. 
Progress has brought more prosperity to many more people. From high end boutique hotels to local guest houses, from local food stalls to craft producers, there is always a steady stream of customers. I was reading earlier that the head brewmaster of beer Lao trained in the Czech Republic and wants to ultimately take this lager across the globe, emulating the incredibly successful business model of Corona, once unheard of outside of Mexico. Given its difference of using rice as malt and a 50% company ownership by Carlsberg, keep an eye out on your supermarket shelves!
One question - where does all the rubbish go? A strange thing to ponder on but when I visited a Lisu village near the Burmese border the reality of modern purchases enhancing a basic subsistence living meant that just outside the village of 15 houses,  daily fires tried to get rid of the paper and most notably plastics that come with a 21st century  way of life. Rubbish was taking over. With the necessity to consume bottled water across Asia and most developing countries I have only seen one set of recycling units which were in the grounds of a Thai temple. I won't lecture on our carbon footprint as my carbon footprint of air travel and hiring a long boat just for me isn't great - but I do use energy saving light bulbs!!!