>apparently the world of expats there at the time was very small?
Small is a bit of an understatement! All of us (Americans, Russians, and everyone in-between) were restricted to a few square miles in the middle of Vientiane. And if you weren't attached to an embassy in some manner, you weren't there, period. This does make me ponder, it is almost certain that my folks knew your friend's parents. Small world.
//
This was during the time when any Laotian who had any kind of education or wealth was desperately trying to leave the country before they got 're-educated' by a bullet to the head. The Vietnamese moved in shortly after the Pathet Lao victory, and the witch-hunt was brutal. There is a reason there were zero local doctors available for anyone.
As grim as this was, it also contrasted strongly with memories like you describe- an incredible degree of friendliness from most folks, even when at the time non-Lao were so rare in country that whenever we went outside, it was guaranteed that for most folks we'd met that day, we were probably the first caucasians they'd ever seen. During the water festival, it was hard to go outside, because everyone wanted to soak us, and it was all in good fun- they wanted to make sure we got to join in, and didn't feel left out.
One final vignette to share. A few times over the years we were there, when out at market with my Mom, a shop/stall owner would come over and (politely) pull us aside, and out of the crowd. Shortly after we would see ex-NVA or other bad news men looking for foreigners to take their aggressions out on. The shop owners were local people who were quite literally risking their lives, just to make sure that the odd-looking big-nosed people they'd never met before weren't hurt. That level of consideration was omnipresent, even with the background conflict in play.
And that is the way I choose to remember my time in Laos.
Small is a bit of an understatement! All of us (Americans, Russians, and everyone in-between) were restricted to a few square miles in the middle of Vientiane. And if you weren't attached to an embassy in some manner, you weren't there, period. This does make me ponder, it is almost certain that my folks knew your friend's parents. Small world.
//
This was during the time when any Laotian who had any kind of education or wealth was desperately trying to leave the country before they got 're-educated' by a bullet to the head. The Vietnamese moved in shortly after the Pathet Lao victory, and the witch-hunt was brutal. There is a reason there were zero local doctors available for anyone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathet_Lao
As grim as this was, it also contrasted strongly with memories like you describe- an incredible degree of friendliness from most folks, even when at the time non-Lao were so rare in country that whenever we went outside, it was guaranteed that for most folks we'd met that day, we were probably the first caucasians they'd ever seen. During the water festival, it was hard to go outside, because everyone wanted to soak us, and it was all in good fun- they wanted to make sure we got to join in, and didn't feel left out.
One final vignette to share. A few times over the years we were there, when out at market with my Mom, a shop/stall owner would come over and (politely) pull us aside, and out of the crowd. Shortly after we would see ex-NVA or other bad news men looking for foreigners to take their aggressions out on. The shop owners were local people who were quite literally risking their lives, just to make sure that the odd-looking big-nosed people they'd never met before weren't hurt. That level of consideration was omnipresent, even with the background conflict in play. And that is the way I choose to remember my time in Laos.