Enough of Begging and Expecting Donations

I read this article earlier this morning and it is disturbing to see that Laos continue to seek $15 billion dollars from donors in the next five years.  All these years money has been pouring into Laos and yet not much has changes.  Yet, the poor people in Laos continue to suffers.  No one project in Laos is fully funded by its own government.  All the projects are mostly funded by the Koreans, Japaneses, Vietnamese and other countries.  One could only ask, where did all those money that been pouring into Laos for the past 10 years went to?  Few years back, most of the donors would just handed over the funds and let the Laos government build the infrastructures.  Most of the infrastructures was build sub-standards and portion of project funds are in someone else pockets.  Now, all the countries that helps fund the project would bring their own people to over see the works and handling the funds.  It is gotten better but the corruption is still there, it is like bad disease that you can’t get rid off.  Which is sad to see.

Wow! Let’s hope I wont be getting in trouble by voicing my opinions.  I just feel like the Lao Government is exploiting the poor people of Laos.  Most of the poor folks out in the country side will not even get a dime out of a dollar.  The poor folks will continue to suffer and all the high ranking officials will continue to prosper, thanks to all countries that continue to donate money to Laos.  So most of them can send their kids to school in U.S. and other countries.

Well, enough of my ranting for today.  Here is the link of the article I read earlier.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1590737.php/Laos-needs-15-billion-dollars-for-next-five-year-plan-report-says

Laos needs 15 billion dollars for next five-year plan, report says

Oct 12, 2010, 7:17 GMT

Vientiane, Laos – Laos will require 15 billion dollars to finance its next five-year development plan in 2012-16, of which 26 per cent is expected to come from foreign donors, media reports said Tuesday.

Laos’ goals for the plan are to be discussed next week between 300 government officials

and 80 representatives of international aid agencies, the Vientiane Times reported.

The meeting was to be co-chaired by Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark, Minister of Planning and Investment Sinlavong Khouthphaythoune told a press conference Monday.

Laos was to present its development goals and projects for the five-year plan at the meeting.

UNDP Laos representative Sonam Yangchen Rana said the communist state would need an estimated 127 trillion kip (15 billion dollars) to implement the plan.

Around 26 per cent of the funds were expected come from official development assistance, another 50 to 60 per cent from foreign direct investment, 10 per cent from domestic credit and 10 per cent from the government.

Laos, which opted for a communist system in 1975, is ranked as one of the world’s poorest nations. Foreign aid has financed on average more than 50 per cent of its annual budget for decades, but that proportion has been declining steadily in recent years according to estimates.

Between 2006 to 2010, Laos received overseas aid for 2,251 projects amounting to 2.4 billion dollars, according to a report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Sunday Night Football and BBQ

Last night my beloved San Francisco 49ers (0-4) hosted the Philadelphia Eagles (2-2) at the Candlestick Park.    It is been a tough year so far for the 49ers, the team that most people picked to be the winner of NFC West this year.  Obviously things didn’t turn out the way it suppose to for the SF 49ers.  I can go on and on about the weakness of the team, it is so frustrating to be the fan.  Here goes another miserable season again.

Well, let’s shift the focus other topic.  I decided to have a big cookout and invites families and cousins to the dinner.  I went all out this time, I bought about 14 lbs of baby-back ribs and spareribs.  Also picked up some chicken thighs too.  This will be my 3rd time cooking the baby-back ribs and I think I got it down now.

the baby-back ribs are on the left side and spareribs on the right.. above are some chickens.

little close up.. i still have about 4 more racks of ribs waiting for their turns at the grill

I got all these ribs from Costco.  Before applying the dry rubs to the ribs, I trim off some of the extra fat from the ribs.  Most people probably will not even bother with that.  After giving it a good rub down with some dry rubs, I simply sealed it and throw it back in the fridge for over night.  Four hours prior to the dinner, I preheat my oven to 300F and wrap each individual piece with aluminum foil.  By wrapping it with aluminum foil allows all the moisture to stays in while cooking.  Some people added marinate sauce, wine, apple juice or chicken broth into the wrapped ribs.  This will enhance the flavor of the ribs during the cooking process.  Since I have about 8 racks of ribs to cook, I used orange juice and Kona beer for my sauces.

i also heated up some bake bean i picked up from Costco... this stuff is so good 🙂

another item i picked up from Costco is this Hawaiian Sweet Rolls.. this thing is so good and a must have item..

Now, getting back to the game.  OMG!!!  As a fan, I am sick and tired of seeing Alex Smith giving a game away.  The turn overs killed our chance to be (1-4), but instead we are now the pathetic (0-5) team and laughing stock of the NFL.

Oh well, the Sunday Night Football game was terrible but the foods and company was awesome.  It was nice to see my families and cousins enjoyed the ribs.

Kao Jee Pa Tae (Vietnamese Sandwich)

On my recent trip to Paris, France, friends of ours insisted that I must try this vietnamese sandwich which they think is the best anywhere.  I was somewhat skeptical and went along with them.  This sandwich shop is locate in front Tang Freres supermarket in Paris Chinatown.  I’m thinking to myself, this place must be pretty good because the line is very long.  After about 3o minutes of waiting, I finally got my hands on this sandwich.  It is not the typical vietnamese sandwich I’ve eaten all these years.  I notices right away that the sizes and shapes are different from what I usually had.  This place use the long tiny baguette which gives you that crunchy texture.  I didn’t get a chance to open up the sandwich and take a picture of it.  I was busy eating as we are walking back to the car.

Hands down!!!! This is the best kao jee pa tae in Lao or best know as vietnamese sandwich I ever ate.  Throughout the years I ate so many vietnamese sandwiches in various part of countries.  I always thought the two best vietnamese sandwich I ever eaten is from San Jose, CA and the other shop one in Laos across the street to Lao Plaza Hotel.

this is the best vietnamese sandwich i ever had...

After a long afternoon touring the city of Paris, we went back to the house for some bbq dinner.

fruits from chinatown.. so hard to find fresh tropical fruits in the U.S.

drinking beer with ice reminds me of Laos... i had a few bottles of that beer:-)

the custom bbq grill.. the meat was awesome