... but I was there in the '90s as a tourist. They were just beginning to open up to foreign investment, so there was a welcoming feeling in the air. That said, there was still a strong police-state vibe. When we visiting a monastery that had been known to be critical of the government, we were shadowed by obvious government agents, and when I saw "shadowed," I really mean it. They dogged our every step and inserted themselves directly into our conversations with the monks. One of them followed us right to the boat as we were leaving and stood at the top of the stairs leading down to the pier, staring at us as we boarded. I snapped a picture of him.
Bourdain's experience is much more recent than mine. I didn't see a lot of private cars -- lots of motorbikes, though: the ubiquitous "Honda 50" that I remember from my childhood in the '60s ("You meet the nicest people on a Honda!"
was still the dominant means of private transport.
One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to a beach resort that had been built by the Russians but now was virtually deserted. Dinner was a semi-formal affair, with music by a string quartet and a menu that had obviously been done on a manual typewriter and featured incredibly low prices, listed in American dollars. IIRC, foreign currency was much preferred as a form of payment.
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