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♪ >> anthony: almsgiving is a daily ritual, but this is special. >> mr. see: people always sit out along the street. >> anthony: right. >> mr. see: wait for the man coming and give sticky rice. most people they give sticky rice. >> anthony: with wan ok phansa approaching, today is super alms day. a once a year halloween-like bonanza, where in addition to the usual sticky rice, all manner of treats are offered. >> mr. see: i was a novice, come from my home village to live in the temple in luang prabang. i finish a monk. >> anthony: in orange robes, the whole bit? >> mr. see: mm-hm. >> anthony...

With bombs on board. so they have bombs left, they would drop them at random. that's why we have so, so many and in, in so many provinces. >> anthony: what do you think it means though, that the president came here? this is a, look, this is a small country. only 7 million and change people. >> mama and michel: yes. yeah. anthony: noa lot of mineral resources. >> michel: no, not really. >> anthony: uh, no oil. if you were a cynical person. >> michel: i'm not. [ laughter ] >> anthony: why do you think he came? >> michel: well you have china, you have russia, you have, ah -- lots of things. >> an...

>> anthony: mm! >> mama vaughn: see? >> anthony: it's good. >> michel: mm-hm. >> mama vaughn: it's only in luang prabang. >> anthony: you could eat the shell? >> mama vaughn: yes. >> anthony: mm. >> mama vaughn: and fish with pork grill. >> michel: all in banana leaves. >> mama vaughn: banana leaves. mm. and then this is ginger sauce. eat the pork skin. >> anthony: pork skin, of course. and we have to have sticky rice. >> michel: yeah, sticky rice. >> mama vaughn: okay, bon appetit! >> anthony: food like this, uh, this is an imperial dish, a royal dish? >> mama vaughn: mmhm. >> anthony: have t...

>> james: it's the only way to get like public education, just to become a novice. >> mr. see: yes, yes. >> anthony: ahh! >> james: yeah, unless, unless -- >> anthony: so everybody. >> james: everybody, yeah. that's where you learn english. >> mr. see: yeah. >> james: and you speak french too? >> mr. see: no, no. >> anthony: mr. see lives with his extended family here in this compound, on the outskirts of luang prabang. >> anthony: looks awesome. so, what do we got here? >> james: or lamb is in a iconic lao dish. with mushrooms, and dill. the key ingredient is the pepperwood. these, ah, wooden...

>> anthony: mama vaughn's long time friend michel is a journalist, though what that means in a communist one party state like laos is necessarily different than what you and i might define it as. >> michel: when i was in paris, i studied ethnology. when i came here, they said, ethnology can wait. what we need it journalists. >> mama vaughn: journalist. that's why you get your job. >> michel: that's how i became a journalist. >> anthony: american involvement here remained a particularly painful and even taboo subject with the lao government. >> anthony: obama, the united states president, just ...