Land of a Million Elephants

There is a buzz in the air at the Manoly, as people find the things that feed their souls. Sounds corny but its true. Some of the stuff going on here is really incredible; all of the people working here are here because they believe in what they are doing.

1 - Working Hard

One of the fellows is a retired doctor from Canmore that started running workshops here with a good friend over 6 years ago. More recently they have been helping the medical school with its curriculum. His wife, a retired nurse, works with the school for the blind and teaches English to willing medical students.

Two surgeons from Canada are working on an internship (training) program for doctors here after they graduate. The program will help them in rural situations and in emergency rooms where they must be generalists; capable of treating a variety of different conditions.

2 - Hardly Working :)

There is a Swiss pathologist here who has developed a program which is a virtual microscope. Users can view slides of different disease causing organisms (bacteria, viruses) and zoom in or out, as if using a microscope. They can label parts of the organisms, and use quizzes and tests built into the program to help them learn.

I have had the good fortune of meeting these people and seeing their enthusiasm. Many of the people here have been doing these kinds of things for 30 years, and I must say it is inspiring.

And I haven't even said anything about the Lao people. The Lao that I have met here are extremely kind; it really makes living here a pleasure. Its kind of like that small town feel, people are just plain friendly and happy to share a smile.

3 - Watermelon Anyone?

My first 10 days in Laos were mostly exploratory: checking out hospitals, talking to other health care workers, trying to set up meetings with NGO officials and whoever else would talk to me. NGO's, or non governmental organization's, like the World Health Organization, are responsible for funding a large number of health and welfare projects here. My aim for this trip is to find volunteer work of some kind to do and to see Laos.

So there I was, learning about the ins and outs of Vientiane...when along came one million elephants (just joking). Laos, was once called Lan Xang, or land of a million elephants. Due to great pressure on the populations, it is thought that only a couple hundred wild elephants still remain (although I have yet to see one).

4 - Colourful!

5 - President's Place

6 - Walmart...No Way!

7 - Better than Safeway

8 - And more selection

9 - Buddhist Monk

9.2 - Sculpture

9.2 - The Buddha