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Fluting for Funding LEOT in Luang Prabang
Lao Educational Opportunities Trust (LEOT) and friends of Music for Everyone School (MES) are teaming up for a fundraiser at Heuan Chan Heritage Centre in Luang Prabang on 4 November, with Eric Walter and his Native American wood flute taking centre stage at 19:00. LEOT is a local NGO school providing English Language and Computer Studies courses for disadvantaged students in Luang Prabang. “We have recently started a new course to help youngsters focus their plans for the future to enable them to find careers at the end of education,” said LEOT Trustee Peter Banwell. “Many work as waiters or receptionists and see their jobs as a way of paying for their education, (but) few see them as long-term career opportunities.” He explained that jobs for youngsters in the public sector are limited, and LEOT is working with students to develop skills to enable them to find jobs in other sectors. “Tourism is the biggest employer in Luang Prabang and offers the best opportunity for many.” LEOT is funded completely by donations and provides free education for around 300 students each year. To help raise funds, LEOT and MES are holding a performance by Eric Walter, who has been playing the Native American wood flute for more than 25 years. For the evening, he will be playing the flute and guitar, and singing his own compositions along with American folk and pop songs. WES students will play before Eric Walter’s performance. Admission is LAK 50,000 for foreigners, LAK 30,000 for Lao nationals, and LAK 10,000 for students. A raffle will also be held, and LEOT is seeking prize donations and advertisements from local businesses. For more information, please contact Peter Banwell: peter@leot.org.uk
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Khiri refreshes Laos tours
By TTR Weekly Khiri Travel has introduced five new ‘Signature Experiences’ for travellers who want to go local in Laos. The full or half-day trips in Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang and southern Laos allow guests to interact with villagers in local food markets, family kitchens, paddy fields, cave temples, coffee plantations and on Mekong river fishing boats. There is an opportunity to learn about food, animism, handicrafts, while tasting noodles, desserts, cold beer and rice whisky – all against a backdrop of karst mountains and changing Mekong river vistas. In Luang Prabang, guests enjoy a full day of fresh market shopping and a boat trip across the river to Ms Noy’s family kitchen for a cooking lesson. The culinary session is followed by a boat trip down stream with snacks such as river weed, prawn crackers and rice whisky being served. In Vang Vieng, Khiri guests enjoy two hours of down-stream kayaking on the Nam Song river, followed by a Khamu lunch in a family garden, a lesson on how to make Lao Hai rice wine and an informative walk through paddy fields. Guests meet a knife smith in his workshop. He forges a personalised knife for each Khiri guest. A half-day in Vientiane allows visitors to visit a local fresh market, drink Lao coffee, eat laughing noodles and buffalo eye cookies and learn how to cook Kao Piak noodle soup and papaya salad. This is followed by homemade ice cream and sticky rice made by a grandmother who has perfected her recipe over the last 40 years.For an insightful late afternoon and early evening in the ‘4000 Islands’ area guests can practice fishing on a fisherman’s boat on the Mekong. At dusk there is a riverside bonfire and barbecue with tasty local Lao specialities accompanied by story telling. For guests interested in Buddhism and spiritual blessings, Khiri’s new signature experiences in Laos include a half day in Luang Prabang participating in a Bacci ceremony in a local home. A trip to a quiet temple follows. Here guests learn the fundamentals of meditation, practice some Buddhist chanting and have an opportunity to ask monks questions on Buddhism and daily routine.“Khiri’s signature experiences encourage Khiri guests to engage with local Laotian people, food and culture in an educational yet fun way,” said Stefan Scheerer, general manager of Khiri Travel Laos. “Lao people and their culture have great beauty and character,” he added. “Khiri wants to share these wonderful insights and experiences with our guests.” The Khiri Travel half and full-day trips are flexible. They can be combined with other Khiri itineraries in Laos and with those linking Laos to Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. Meanwhile, Khiri Travel Laos’ new assistant general manager, Connor Bedard will liaise with travel agents to ensure specific agent requirements in Laos are fulfilled. Before joining Khiri Travel Laos, Bedard, a Canadian national, worked for an NGO advising on tourism development in southern Laos. Bedard will support the Khiri Travel sales team in quickly creating personalized itineraries for partner agents. Khiri Travel Laos
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Chinese Tourism Benefits Few in Laos, Sources Say
Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Moves in Laos to promote Chinese tourism in the coming year will benefit mainly Chinese businesses already established in the impoverished Southeast Asian country, with ordinary Lao citizens less likely to cash in, Lao sources say. According to Radio Free Asia Laos, Laos and China are now preparing together to launch a 2019 Visit Year campaign, Lao Minister of information, Culture and Tourism Bosengkham Vongdara announced following a meeting of the Lao government’s cabinet in September. Planned activities are expected to bring at least one million Chinese tourists into the country during the year, the Minister said, quoted by local media. Lao National Radio meanwhile welcomed the move, predicting that Chinese money will help support and strengthen the Lao economy. Speaking to RFA’s Lao Service, however, the manager of a guesthouse in Luang Prabang city in northern Laos said that most of the money brought in will go to Chinese hotels and tour groups, with little benefit seen by Lao residents themselves. “A lot of Chinese are coming, but the problem is that most of them will not stay at Lao guesthouses or hotels,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Most of them use their own services, and stay at hotels and use tours run by other Chinese,” he said. “They even have their own tour guides.” ‘Zero Dollar Tours’ Also speaking to RFA, the owner of a hotel in the capital Vientiane agreed. “The Chinese buy hotels, open their own restaurants, and run their own tours,” he said, also speaking on condition he not be named. “When Chinese tourists come, they stay and eat at those facilities.” “They won’t go to Lao restaurants or businesses,” he added. Some Lao tour operators call the Chinese-led tours “Zero Dollar Tours” because Lao businesses get nothing from them, sources say. Chinese hotels and restaurants pay taxes to the Lao government, however, an official of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism told RFA. “And many Chinese businesses are joint ventures, with Lao partners sharing 30 percent of the profits,” the official said, adding, “We don’t lose any advantage to the Chinese.” Chinese investment has ramped up in Laos in recent years, and with it have come several murders of high-profile ethnic Chinese businessmen and women.
