Laos as an example of globalization, sanctified by the opening of a factory for Coca Cola. Indeed, the global-as-asian, the mold of globalization throughout Asia, which in 2016 will be enshrined in the ASEAN chairmanship assigned to Laos. The signs of renewal are visible: they are the new premises, the large residential centers and dams that are transforming the ecosystem of the Mekong, the river running through it from north to south. Vientiane, the capita, has changed the very course of the river on the shore where once vegetables were cultivated, now is a promenade built by the Chinese, who are "buying" the country, for their strategic location. Luang Prabang, once considered a place for romantic dreamers, today is a magnet for expats in search of fortune in the new business of art and culture. Vang Vieng, until recently was sort of a Disneyland of drugs, sex and adrenaline for backpackers, today has become a holiday resort for families Korean and Chinese or neo trendsetters who worship the trendy new baguette bars. Through landscapes worthy of a vintage painting and with a driver who dodges potholes and Chinese caterpillars shouting ‘rock and roll’ Boten appears in the horizon. A surreal ghost city on the border with China, which has become part of China in many ways even the time zone is set to Beijing, whose history is a kind of metaphor of Laos: from village to city-casino and today, apparently abandoned and now converting to a hub of the Asia-wide trade.

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