Coffee shop stories Part II

Hell. Herbalife!!!! Help!

Ok it seems the virus spread from Vietnam to Laos now. I saw the first guys with Herbalife T-Shirts today in my favorite coffee shop. For those who don't know the scheme: Herbalife provides you with pretty useless yet expensive powder and call it kind of nutrition supplements. If you eat regular, you don't need it. But more important than the products is the Multi-Level-Marketing behind it. That means, they want you as a consumer becoming a seller. And that"s the point: You will not make a lot of money unless you become a very annoying person who sells this stuff to all friends and family - and try to recruit more sellers. So my advice: Don"t even think about buying or selling this product.

Students and business people
It seems that Joma is targeting only foreigners, since they don't have a Lao menu. But reality is different: Today I saw a lot of Lao students coming in, also many business men and women. The coffee shop office seems to get popular with Lao people as well - what isn"t surprising, since it was just a matter of time and availabilty of facilities. I just wonder how long it will take Joma to recognise this change in customers and offer a Lao menu (they never answered my e-mails, so I give up to ask them)

Nathan Kruse and his friends at Joma Cafe

There are not so many occasions for us to go out in Vientiane if it is not for eating and drinking. So we take whatever the cultural life gives us. Yesterday we attended a concert of a Nathan Kruse at Joma Cafe. It was one of the most disappointing events for me ever, and this was not because of the artist. Nathan is a young boy, playing pretty good guitar and piano. His voice is clear, he hits the tone, and although he still needs some development and confidence, he is a pretty good singer. At least, I guess. Because it wasn't really easy to listen. The crowd, maybe fifty people, did not pay any attention to the artist. Even worst, most of them were apparently friends and family.

Joma Cafe is not build as a concert hall, so the sound is pretty bad and echos are coming from everywhere. The wasn't a huge sound system (necessary). as long as you pay respect to the performance of a young artist. But for any reason most of the attendees preferred to talk to each other, not even giving applause, and if so, just because some others did.

I am not sure if this is a cultural thing since most people were form the US and there you just accept a singers performance as something in the background? But when you are friends and family?

I felt really sorry for Nathan Kruse, and I hope he will get another chance to perform in