I like ghetto in the alley food stall.lol
Seriously though for us in the state . We wanna
eat like the local not like the tourtist. All good though
for the people who like clean . hahaha

We have hundreds of guests who visit this forum every day, they may not be posting but they are here for information.

I'm very busy at the moment with the ruby slippers so I will have a discussion later. All I can say is you many not visit the "Hi-So" restaurants but obviously there are people who do otherwise we wouldn't have them.

If people want to drive around in a Lamborghini, that's their business, let them, they obviously have the money. Don't be jealous of them, when they die they can't take anything with them.

To say that people are worthless because the choose to eat at nice restaurants or own a nice house and car, I mean really?

I don't condone people who are corrupt, but I can accept Hi-So people who make a living the right way, and they are entitled to live a luxurious life.

It's just all talk from you, and I can't really take you seriously.

If your parents owned a Lamborghini, I'm sure you would prefer to drive in it than ride a bicycle or catch a bus. You're not seeing things from other people's perspectives.

I can say I don't want a million dollars and it means nothing to me, but if Bill Gates offered that money to me, yep as if I will decline it.

Like I said, it's just all talk from you. If you were born in a Hi-So family, you wouldn't trade that sort of lifestyle to be on the streets of Laos collecting bottles for sale.

I didn't say living in the streets was good. I never said I wanted to live on the streets

Do you even know what Hi-So is? It's just like the Indian Caste system where the rich look down upon the poor and flaunt their wealth.

In America it's not like that, you actually have to work and earn your way up. I don't consider most American people Hi-So. There are some Hi-So people though.

And I wouldn't want to drive a Lamborghini anyways, I'd pick some other car.

Yes, I wouldn't mind having money, but do you really think you can make that much money honestly, without exploiting other people or exploiting the Earth?

It's possible, but it's unlikely.

I can live any way, as long as I have enough money to sustain myself. I don't need a Lamborghini. I don't even care what car I have as long as it works. Why does it matter what kind of car you drive? Some people just want to show off.

If I was born into a rich family I'd use that money for meaningful things like education and not useless things like luxury cars just to show off to people.

I would pay for college, and a lot of things to better myself.

What Hi-So means to me is just the Asian people who think they are better than everyone and shows off their luxury items, kind of like Thai people.

I'm typing this poorly because I am a bit annoyed that you don't get my message.

Right now I'm not rich but I have some money and no, I'm not jealous of anyone who has a Lamborghini. That's not something to be jealous of, like I said any car that drives well and works is fine with me.

If I had a Lamborghini I would just sell it, because I don't have a gated home to park it in and if I parked it on the streets around here it would get smashed.

If given a choice between driving a luxury car or riding a bicycle, in most cases I would choose the bicycle.   Why would I operate a heavy, complicated piece of machinery when I could manually peddle a bike and get some exercise? Why should I want to show off my wealth and what benefit would it be for me to garner attention because of the vehicle I drive? People who flaunt their wealth do so because of an insecurity and because it is in the instincts of the species to make displays of resource abundance. People at a higher level of consciousness see this flaunting of wealth as pointless and do not feel the urge to conspicuously consume luxury and status products.

The administrator poses the question: "Would you rather drive a lamborghini and come from a hi-so family or live on the streets and recycle cans for a living"

I would rather take the middle way. Why should one human-being have the option to drive a lamborghini while another suffers from abject poverty? I would rather have the lamborghini because I can sell it and then start a business or charity to develop my society and allow the poorer classes to have a more dignified existence.

What the administrator and many Lao people often times don't understand is that many Westerners are not interested in generating or consuming excessive wealth and resources. Many of us live by the ethic that the more things we own, the more imprisoned we are to those possessions. Many if not most Westerners strive for a simple, dignified middle class existence that includes adequate food and nutrition, a suitable home, access to functional medical facilities, and the opportunity for children to pursue an education. Traditionally in the West, there was an expectation that people would pay a ten percent tithe to their local church. The church organization would use the tithe money to maintain the church, possibly to expand, and also to take care of the needy. We did not donate because we hoped to increase our karma and prospects for a future life, we donated because we genuinely cared about the well-being of our fellow humans.

Westerners generally do not respect the wealthy because of their wealth. We might respect them because of their personality or because of their talents and skills involved in generating the wealth but we do not respect them simply for being wealthy. We respect people who obtain prosperity through hardwork and diligence and who use their wealth to cultivate themselves and to benefit their society.

Members of the high society class often times lack education and discipline. Everything has been given to them since they were children and they have never had to work for anything in their whole lives. Thus, they have no appreciation for the , blood, sweat, tears, and toil that sustains their lifestyle. While the high society kids party and drive drunk in the streets of Vientiane in their daddy's Bugati, any number of farmers toil everyday to produce the food that ultimately makes its way into the bellies of the high society class. How is this rich kid's existence at all beneficial to anyone else? What are his talents and merits to deserve such a lavish lifestyle? If he is Laotian, there is a good chance that his wealth is due to his family's connections. Because he is connected to the right people, he can profit from the destruction of the environment of Laos.

Another reason why the high society deserve to be held with contempt is because members of the high society in any country determine the direction and future of their country. Instead of guarding the environment and planning for a sustainable economy that will protect the nature of Laos, real estate is being auctioned off to foreign companies and there is little oversight with how they manage their projects. What is more: all of the foreign investment and immigration from China and from Vietnam means that the Lao people will always have to rely on foreign workers to manage their economy and they themselves will never have or be able to take the opportunity to rise to the occasion on their own. This means that the wealthier classes will increasingly be comprised of Chinese and Vietnamese as it is ultimately the educated and skilled who generate and accumulate abundant wealth. Laotians will become a minority in their own country and they will have to pander to the Chinese and the Vietnamese. This development is already underway.

If you don't believe me, look at the case of Thailand. Less than 20% of the population is comprised of Chinese Thais and yet they own more than 90% of the manufacturing sector. All of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small minority of Chinese.

But ultimately the Lao people have themselves to blame. Stupidity, cupidity, and laziness are too intertwined in the culture for the high society to make anything but shortsighted decisions.

Is the true Buddhist culture even alive? Everything in Laos seems more and more to be about money these days.