@Magnifico: repeating 'modernization' & 'development' mistakes made everywhere, originally, primarily, in the US. They didn't know then - now everybody should - all a bad idea, the planet can't afford it. Bicycles are progress.

@Alex: maybe I'm wrong, but I think the entire road to Huayxai was built by Chinese companies. In fact the road south from the border to Luang Prabang was originally (? I don't know what was there before) built by the Chinese in the 60s to aid the Pathet Lao & Viet Minh in their war effort (the north of Laos had not been under the control of the central government, or the Americans, for years. It's winding and indeed rather tiring - the road to Huay Xai is much better.

@Alex: yeah, I don't know what I was thinking - pinyin in restaurants is indeed not common, tho there are plenty of restaurants (not the majority, of course - the majority of Chinese restaurant owners surely cannot be expected to go around worrying about the minority of their customers who might not speak or read the national language) that have English on the menu.
Frankly I think all these concerns are pretty minor - does anyone expect to go to a foreign country and NOT have some problems adjusting? And obviously it's only the foreigners who can reasonably be expected to do the great majority of the adjusting. Cultural differences are indeed just that, and if there weren't any the world would be pretty damn boring and very mono-brain unidimensional. Is it all always convenient or 'fair'? No. Life is so damn hard!!

Strongly suggest that you learn at least basic spoken Chinese once you get here, if you haven't already - you shouldn't think of the difficulty of 'mastering' the language, unless you're a real enthusiast, as that daunting prospect will keep you from even leearning how to say 'sige baozi'. Why would anybody want to live someplace where they couldn't speak to people? Karina, until you learn some characters, there are plenty of restaurants with menus written in pinyin, and/or in English.
As for learning to live in 'the real Chinese way', that's okay if you want to, although what that means is not quite clear to me, and I don't think the only alternative is to insist on re-creating 'the West' in China. So do what you want, but I strongly suggest you not close yourself off to everything to the point where you don't quite know where you are or how to do what you want, or for that matter not quite know what you want. Otherwise, why come here at all - for the money???

@HFCAMPO: Odd comparison.