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The Lao People's Democratic Republic is a communist country, like China to the North and Vietnam with which it shares its Eastern border.
And like the bordering communist countries, the government has embraced limited private ownership and free market capitalism, in theory. But there remain powerful vested interests, and residual pockets of political power, particularly in the agricultural sector, and corruption is a significant issue.
During the past decade tourism has become an important source of income and is now generating around a third of the Nation's domestic product. Tourism is centred on Luang Prabang and to a lesser extent the Plane of Jars and the capital, Vientiane.
The Craft is an e-novella about Witchcraft in a future setting. It's a prequel to my dystopian novella: The Cloud: set in the last half of the 21st century - after The Great Famine.
Since writing this I have added a preface, concerning witchcraft, that you can read here...
The stereotypical Australian is a sports lover and a gambler. Social analysis supports this stereotype. In Australia most forms of gambling are legal; including gambling on sport. Australians are said to lose more money (around $1,000 per person per year) at gambling than any other society. In addition we, in common with other societies, gamble in many less obvious ways.
In recent weeks the Australian preoccupation with gambling has been in the headlines in Australia on more than one level.