Bo pen yang

A guy from the UNDP responded to an email from me and says he'll try to help me get press credentials. We met this morning. He's interested in me doing a good job, because increased exposure of the UXO problem and the whole Lao history in America would be a good thing for them. He oversees the technical details of UXO Lao, and they've decided they need more knowledge of this in America. America is the land of funding. He says they get a lot of media students who want to do a little project of some sort as part of their studies, but adult americans trying write a book is much less common. So he called me and we met up.

Not to make too big a deal of it, but it was encouraging. He's not in the government, who will be a bit less receptive than he of the UNDP, but nonetheless, it's nice to have someone who's at such an influential organization somewhat on my side.

It feels a bit pressureful. Now that I've said that I'm writing a book, I really have to deliver. It can't suck. It has to get done. I have to do a good job.

One little frustration is that I haven't got much photgraphic support. I'm gathering mountains of background information, some of it quotable, but 'm not getting the meat on the table so to speak. It'll happen. But I guess its a good thing. The more I know, the more depth in which I can describe things and tell stories. Or provide commentary to personal stories. The heart of what I'm doing has to be the personal anecdotes and excellent photographs to illustrate them. And they will come, but it's going to take a while.

Hey wait, I thought ressearching and writing a book was supposed to be a walk in the park!! This is total bullshit! Why didn't people tell me it was this much work? What a pile of crap.

It's funny how few photographs I've taken, since this is ostensibly supposed ot be heavy on the pictures.

Aah, then there's the fun part, actually trying to get something published. Ha ha. A fight for another day.

Lesson on dealing with the way things work here from a local friend of mine, a former government employee: "You have to be very, very patient. Things may not go the way you want them to, or the way you think they should. Tell people who you are, where you're going, and what you want and perhaps they'll be helpful. If you are not open, then no."
He is the second guy I've met who resigned, partly because it was time to retire, but partly out of frustration with the slow, mellow, lackadaisical, and not particularly efficient way this place works. The phrase in Lao that says so much about th country is, "Bo pen yang". It means roughly, "No problem! No worries! Insh'allah! Don't worry about it! No biggie!" All of that rolled into one. They've got it much easier than their goal-oriented neighbors the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese have twenty times the population density of Laos. In Laos, you don't have to struggle too hard. It's not so hard. Just take it easy. The Vietnamese have always been subjected to a greater adaptive pressure than the Lao, and thus, they kick ass. They're tough and efficient. The Lao are much more Bo Pen Yang.

Is this blog getting totally boring? Writing about writing aaaagh! Schoolboy navelgazing! "Talked to a guy. Bla bla. Ok read some stuff. Bla bla. Went looking for some dude, but he wasn't there or wouldn't talk. Bla bla bla." I don't know, for me, it's everything that this trip is about at this point.

Cheers
T