PAKSE, LAOS

We were due to exit southern Laos into the Khorat plateau of eastern Thailand before reentering Laos via land at the capital, Vientiane. Unfortunately passport issues (never leave home without at least three extra pages in your passport than you think you need!) meant we were afraid of being denied reentry. As a result, we chose to stay in the provincial capital of Pakse and fly directly to Vientiane the following day. Pakse is not a place I recommend going.

Laos was originally a series of rural Buddhist kingdoms, aligned with more powerful neighbors. When the French seized Lan Xang (as the Lao kingdom was called) it was mainly as a springboard for aspirations of further expansion, and as a buffer against Siam. The colony remained the neglected step child of the French... in fact, even in 1940 it took longer to get from Luang Prabang (the former royal capital) down the river to Saigon than it did from Saigon to Paris via steam ship. In other words, Laos was isolated and without much infrastructure for most of its history. That remained the case right up through the communist victory in 1975. Now that Laos is opening up, the main players in development are Vietnam, Thailand and (most powerful of all) China.

Behold a Chinese contribution to former isolated provincial backwater, Pakse: the Champasak Grand Hotel. We seemed to be the only western tourists in town, which is developing its infrastructure to cater to Thai visitors who cross to gamble and karokee for cheap. The Chinese designed, Lao staffed, Thai patronized mix at this hotel is bizarre.

The Champasak Grand has mastered the communist-does-capitalist interiors of my nightmares.

I didn't know what a "slimming cryo massage" was, but I was NOT going to find out.

What you cannot garner from this photograph is the fact that a single Kenny G sax composition played on repeat at an unacceptable volume. The lobby was the only place to get internet access, so we heard Kenny in our dreams for the next few days.

All materials fabricated with off-gassing toxic chemicals and assembled in an unsafe manner by unlicensed contractors. All furniture made from old-growth Lao mahogany forests in factories over the border in China by children making $1 a day. Views of the water treatment plant.

The view from the other side of the hotel is of a humongous, tacky mansion being built by the Vietnamese owner of Laos' largest coffee producer. Pakse is a little glimpse into a Laos that will come about if the one party government, which sensors the press and freedom of speech, allows the country's more powerful neighbors to exploit the resources and labor of their country. It is a sad and scary vision.

OPEN HOUSE NEW YORK

Open House New York is a fun annual event that opens the doors of the city's most interesting places to the public for tours and educational events. This year, I went inside the nation's largest waste water treatment plant, and one of 14 in New York. The Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant was designed by the Polshek Partnership and is undergoing the finishing stages of a $4.5 billion upgrade project to increase capacity and effectiveness to meet Federal Clean Water Act standards.

The design of the plant is interesting. The architects color coded the different functions of the facility: orange for administrative, blue for water treatment, green for crew access. The entire project was designed to actually stand out in the neighborhood instead of hide from it. It actually harks back to the days when civic architecture was meant to educate the public, inspire trust in government, and foster interest in the technical workings of one's city.

These are the huge "digester eggs" that are actually modeled on the human stomach and detoxify the waste water. Kind of gross, but also totally fascinating.

The view from the top of the eggs down at the facility and Greenpoint beyond.

The original treatment plant was built in 1967 in what was then a declining industrial neighborhood on the shores of Newtown Creek. Since mid 19th century glue factories, oil refineries, ship builders, rope manufacturers, and tons of other industries also worked on the banks of the creek, making it one of the most polluted waterways in the entire country. There is an effort to clean it up, and part of raising awareness of the creek's plight (or just its existence) is the natively planted park along the shores of the treatment plant.

Here is a sculpture of the outline of the creek and surrounding watershed before it was developed. Today all of these inlets and creeks are channelized, filled with 80 year old toxic sludge and seeping oil, and can often be smelled from miles away. The good news is it is moving toward being cleaned up, slowly. Someday more parks like this one will exist along the forgotten, abused waterways of New York and people will marvel that we ever treated our own city, our home, with such disrespect.

Access for kayaking, which I someday hope to do to explore further up the creek, like these guys. No swimming yet though.