Unfinished Buisness

We haven't posted a 360 pan in a while...so here goes. The following is a pan of the river and unfinished bridge that will link Tha Thom to the south. When it is finished travel time to the capital will decrease to 4-5 hours! Right now travel is at the mercy of the water level. Sometimes we must cross by boat, but in the coming dry season it is possible to cross by project truck.

Click here for the full screen experience.

Feed Trough

Imagine sitting in a restaurant where all your food…all the food you can eat, is delivered directly to your table by conveyor belt. No, you aren’t at a feed lot getting fattened up for market; you are at an all-you-can eat sushi and hot pot buffet!

Menu Board

While at the ECHO conference we decided to scout out the area for restaurants. The Shabu Shi immediately caught our eyes. Rather than be presented with a menu when we entered, we were given a card with pictures of the various ingredients available on the hot pot conveyor and a pictured list of the sushi bar. Instead of paying a flat rate for eating at the buffet you are charged for each 1.25 hours (about 10 dollars). The waiter then asked what type of soup stock we wanted for our hot pots. I chose a spicy ‘tom yum’ and Kaarina a clear soup. We were then directed to our bar-stool seating along the conveyor belt that snaked its way through the restaurant from the kitchen. Raw ingredients (vegetables, meat, seafood, eggs etc.) occupied small plates resting on the conveyor. As a desired plate passed you simply take it off the conveyor and dump the contents into your personal hot pot nested into a hole in the table.

Food Conveyor

For sushi a separate bar was located along one wall (again all you can eat)! To boot, soft drinks and juices along with a fruit bar and ice cream filled in the cracks after the hot pot and sushi stuffing. Just keep track of your time…1 hour and 15 mins is just enough time for a nice meal…as long as you don’t talk too much and keep chewing. As soon as we got up to leave, our places were cleared and two more people took our seats! Who says efficiency can only be found in America?

2011 ECHO Asia Conference

Where can you find over a hundred professionals in various agricultural and developmental fields, representatives from numerous developmental organizations working in over ten different Asian countries, not to mention a nice bunch of plant nerds, but most of all where can you find a place to network with people who are as passionate as you are about helping others? One good place is at the ECHO Asia Agriculture and Community Development Conference held in Chiang Mai, Thailand!

Conference Hall

Jeffrey and I had the opportunity to attend the conference this past week, October 3-7, 2011.

If you have heard of ECHO before, you may be most familiar with their development center in Fort Myers, Florida. Shortly after moving to Laos, we were introduced to their first impact center on this side of the world, Chiang Mai, Thailand. In our first year of community development, ECHO Asia has been a great resource in our work – informing MCC of nutritious local vegetable varieties, connecting us with others working in rice growing so we could ask questions and learn, and providing us a big bag of seeds for this year’s school garden activity!

Some information that we are excited to take back to our work area includes:

A new nutrition curriculum, LANN, compiled by Lao based NGOs which is specifically geared toward rural Lao people. Jeffrey is excited to look through the curriculum and possibly introduce aspects of it to the nutrition team.

Techniques we can use when saving and storing seeds in the tropics. Hopefully some will be appropriate to use in MCC’s school garden activity.

Germination Test

A reminder that what is considered ‘pigweed’ (Amaranth), in most of North America, is actually one of the most nutritious green vegetables in this area! We also learned about the highly nutritious grain variety as well, but are not sure if such a grain would be applicable in Laos yet. We did receive some seed though, so we might try to grow grain amaranth and see if our neighbors like to eat it!

Other things we've tucked into our bags are techniques we want to try in our own garden/home someday!

Biochar Oven

Efficient Rice Husk Stove

One thing we appreciate about ECHO is not only their dedication to equip people with resources and skills to reduce hunger and improve the lives of the poor, but also to honor God in everything they do.We were impressed that people of many different faiths attended the conference both as delegates and as speakers. Jeffrey and I were refreshed by the morning devotions and worship times which reflected ECHO's christian values, and were inspired by connecting with professionals from so many walks of life.