james: i think the best restaurant view ever, are these women butchers. anthony: chef james syhabout earned his michelin star in san francisco. james: this is the first thing i eat. get off the plane and i i m just gonna find some khao piak sen. anthony: he learned to cook from his mother, and never looked back, until recently. james: that s crispy pork, sliced pork. anthony: blood cake? james: blood cake in it. anthony: beef broth? james: beef broth, yeah. ah, it s like steaming hot. anthony: james family, like many, fled the fighting in laos and the communist takeover that followed it. james: mmm! anthony: nowadays, things are looking up a bit and some like james are returning,.
the smell past rice paddies, water buffaloes, what feels like another century. anthony: laos is a kind of place that could easily capture your heart, and not let you go. anthony: it s what you do, right? i mean, if you re thinking of a place to open a bar or a restaurant, you re gonna put it by the river. right? french guy: yeah, yes, yes. anthony: nice breeze, nice view. french guy: and you see lao, lao people, they come here during the afternoon. they have a drink. it s nice. french guy: perfect. anthony: more than a few people came here for vacation, and never went home like ben. anthony: so how long have you been in laos? french guy: in laos, oh, around 15 years. i haven t been back to france for a long time. anthony: when you first came here, what was it like?
and local people they can earn money direct from the visitor and tourists. anthony: well, president obama was just here a few months ago. younger sister: he was here. a few months ago. yeah, he got off a lot of, ah, helpful, the education and for the anthony: unexploded ordinance removal. i 90 million dollars. it s both sisters: 90 million, yeah, that s a lot. that s a lot. anthony: that s a lot of money? both sisters: help a lot. it s a lot of money. this one, the local snack. anthony: ah, chicken feet. good. older sister: and, ah, buffalo tendon. anthony: oh nice, good. yeah, i m gonna try that. older sister: and the dried squid? anthony: dried squid. older sister: mmm. anthony: ah, i love this, this is delicious. older sister: when we eat and there, we enjoy food. in lao, we say seplai. anthony: seplai. older sister: seplai. anthony: your hotel. mama vaughn: my hotel. anthony: how long has it been open? mama vaughn: well, it s been abo
anthony: how was, ah, he injured? anthony: in the end, when the last choppers hurriedly left vietnam, laos, and many lao who fought with us, were largely left behind too. what had been a kingdom, was now a communist regime. yeah. the bad guys won. a few who d most directly associated with the american effort, unwilling to face rehabilitation camps or worse, never surrendered. and are, all these years later, hiding in hills like these. anthony: hmong were killing hmong, bitterly, for many years, if the same people who were trying to kill him and who he was trying to kill, came back now, how would he feel about
party marking the end of buddhist lent. the whole thing culminates a few days from now, on the last full moon in october, with a fire lantern festival. the symbolic casting away of your sins. anthony: but today, the lao are watching and drinking, as others pull at oars and race to the finish line. anthony: a boat festival? older sister: yeah, boat festival here. today is a the girl racing. anthony: each boat will be women from the same village? older sister: yeah, one boat, it s one village. anthony: for weeks, racing teams have been practicing on the mekong river, each team sponsored by a local buddhist monastery. older sister: eat, drink,