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>> anthony: in ventiane? >> mama vaughn: yeah. >> anthony: have you lived here all your life? no, ah -- >> mama vaughn: in france. >> anthony: in france. >> michel: by the age of 11 i went to france to study. i came back in, in, in 1971. >> anthony: in difficult times, 1971. very, very difficult. >> michel: oh yeah, it was still the war. >> anthony: mama vaughns' 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...

All your life? no, ah -- >> mama vaughn: in france. >> anthony: in france. >> michel: by the age of 11 i went to france to study. i came back in, in, in 1971. >> anthony: in difficult times, 1971. very, very difficult. >> michel: oh yeah, it was still the war. >> anthony: mama vaughns' 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 vaug...

>> james: it's a little 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 blocks wit...

>> 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, monks are offered all manner of treats. >> 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: now, do most young men go to the temple to ah -- >> mr. see: to get education, yes.

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: not a 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. >> anthony: you think we need a -- we -- you think that maybe we think we need a friend in the neighborhood? >> michel: i think ah, everybody needs friends. [ laughter ] >>...