Market Merchants
The market was covered with corregated roofing, tarps,
and umbrellas. A tarp pulled aside gave me a view into
the market, like peeking into a world from outside.
This picture reminded me that plastic wrap and plastic
bags were everywhere in Laos, blowing in the wind,
littering the roads and villages. I asked why people
didn't throw this garbage away and I was reminded that
until very recently (less than 20 years ago) all garbage
was biodegradable. Plastic was new to Laos. And there
were no garbage cans or garbage dumps. There was
nowhere to throw something away!
When I noticed that Thailand had lots of garbage cans
and an infrustructure to deal with garbage, I was told
that Thailand was the same way as Laos was about 50
years ago. I will have to be patient and wait for the
infrustructure to catch up to the change; the same way
we are having to deal with global warming in the west.
