More than three decades ago, Amy Chanthaphavong's parents fled their home country of Laos.

Her father had been a fighter pilot in the Laos air force, supporting the Americans in their war on neighbouring Vietnam.

As communists tightened their grip on Laos, he decided it was time to leave.

Fearing punishment from the country's Marxist-ruled administration, he decided it would be too dangerous ever to return to the country of his birth.

But 35 years later, his daughter Amy made a life-changing decision.

She left San Diego, California, for the small South East Asian country of Laos, intent on becoming part of its rapid economic development.
Economic revival

As one of the world's last few remaining communist states, Laos was closed off to much of the world until the 1990s, when reforms started being introduced to tackle severe poverty.

It is still one of the poorest countries in East Asia. But over the last decade its economy has been growing rapidly - by up to 8% a year thanks to the construction of huge hydroelectric dams and a boom in commodity exports.

However, its people remain predominantly poor and unskilled.

Amy's mission is to help change that.

Europeans are there to enjoy the undeveloped landscape of Laos. They are tired of the hustles and bustles of city life from western civilization and wanted peace and tranquility from Laos. I knew a couple of German chicks I used to work with and they told me they did backpacking for 6 months straight right after high school in southeast Asia and did some hitchhiking through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

The European are not very materialist . They spent their money on travel . They are very open minded unlike
AMericans. These idiots wouldn't even eat fish with head
on it or duck .