anthony: let us assume the best of the intelligence officers who served here, of the pilots and bombardiers who ran missions over laos. guide: watch your step. anthony: that they were doing their duty as they saw it, that they believed they were serving the interests of their country. anthony: so, this is a banana plantation? guide: yes, banana and lemongrass. anthony: that still leaves us with the unarguable fact that today, generations later, uxos or unexploded ordinances remain a huge problem. anthony: what s here? a cluster bomb, mostly? or bombies? guide: yes, yes. in this area of 66,000 square anthony: organizations like uxo laos are tasked with
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 with has like ah, white peppers. anthony: that infuses the dish, you don t eat it? james: it s like a you don t eat it. it s a very herbaceous, peppery, really rich. mr. see: yeah. anthony: unlike anything i ve ever had. james: mmhm. we have two types of larb, one s raw, one s cooked. anthony: mmhm. so it s cooked buffalo, raw buffalo. james: buffalo. but yeah. anthony: man, it s really good. james: yeah. this was kinda improvised. um, lut bang. lut bang translates to, ah, fixed blood. so, it s buffalo blood. it s a really tricky way to prepare the dish, because you want the blood to set, so the way you do it is to dilute the blood with water. anthony: right. james: and just pour it over herbs and that s it. laos panna cotta. [ laughter ] anthony: mmm, this is really, really go
cleaning up the mess. you go with a metal detector, dig them out by hand, no machines? expert: yeah. yes, yes. anthony: uh, detonate them? expert: the technology we use nowadays is the same that 20 years ago. anthony: right. [ explosion ] anthony: wow. [ explosion ] it s a big bang. wow. man: imagine how the children pick it up. anthony: yeah. laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the history of the world. 80 million is the number of cluster bombs that did not detonate. since the war in vietnam ended, and we left our secret war here
some kind of muddled salad. sticky rice, of course, and dip. anthony: and beer lao. james: and beer lao. yes. anthony: let s get some beer. mr. see: beer lao. anthony: your parents left laos, in what? ah james: ah, 81. anthony: 81. james: and you know, we migrated to a community of other laotians. and you know, it was pretty much a community like this. we all share, we barter. anthony: scratching out a living. i mean, if you were laotian and you wanted to make money back then, you were cooking thai food. james: exactly. my mom worked in thai restaurants, and anthony: what does your mom think of your lao cooking? james: i think she s pretty impressed, surprisingly. she s like, first thing she does when she walks through my kitchen is she goes to the waste bin. and she goes, looks in the trash, and goes anthony: why are you throwing this out? james: yeah. yeah, she s like, cilantro stems. anthony: so how many years were you a novice?
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: 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 ] anthony: nice answer. best battery ur comps can match the power of energizer. because energizer ultimate lithium is the longest lasting aa battery in the world. [confetti cannon popping] energizer. backed by science. matched by no one. don t worry. travelocity is there for you with 24/7 customer service. now, if your flight runs out of those mini bottles? then, you can worry. t