Like many others, for me Asia, even little old Laos, has long been a source of inspiration, especially photographically. However, more recently the inspiration has bottomed out and the on-again, off-again love affair has soured significantly. How come? Maybe I’ve just been here too long. Case study: Yesterday, a Sunday, I took a bike ride out to visit a friend in what might be called the new suburbs of Vientiane. Not so long ago it was rice fields. Now it’s a disaster zone: unplanned, uncontrolled development gone mad; everything’s under construction/destruction; cement/gravel trucks charge aggresively along the narrow pot-holed roads pumping out black exhaust fumes and forcing through swarms of motorcycles; Chinese factories take over the remaining wetlands, dust and ugliness everywhere even in the tourist area downtown where an embankment road is being built all along the Mekong. Goodbye Mekong views. Hello earth movers. Cynical, moi? Let’s just say I’m not inspired.