My Lao friends then took me to their home in the village of Thaduea, which is the Mekong River crossing from Nongkhai, Thailand. I spent 5 days in Thaduea, meeting the relatives of my friends, and talking with them about Laos. Many people wanted to practice their English with me. Laos is considered a poor nation. Much of the country lacks paved roads, no railroads, electricity only in the low-land towns and villages, lack of safe drinking water, few telephones, etc.
Lao people work only to support their families.
In all, Laos contains about 130 ethnic groups and sub-groups. My friends in Thaduea own a company which sells purified bottled water along the Lao side of the river up to Vientiane. They held a picnic on the grounds of the water company, next to the river. My friend is a doctor, and is a high official in the Vientiane Public Health Department. He invited to his picnic the heads of the Public Health Depts. and hospital heads of the cities of Vientiane, Thaduea, and Nongkhai, Thailand.