Dear All,
My house in Vientiane is incredibly luxurious, indeed so luxurious that it has a swimming indoors; actually where the kitchen and spare bedroom used to be. Yes, it is flood season again, and the lower part of my house (the old kitchen and large spare bedroom Read More »
Dear All,
Almost every morning when I wake up, I wonder how did I ever end up in a comfortable bed in a plain house in a small poor obscure corner of South East Asia. After pondering that, all the other problems and questions that the day brings seem to be easier than answering that particular question. Read More »
Dear All,
Last week marked my 4th year in Laos and with it the happiness of remembering that this time has not been a failure. The work up-country, in Phongsaly Province, was not amazing but it was good and it helped many people. And now, in line with the vision when I left up-country; the work that I am doing is helping even more people in even more places. From policy work to project work, the Read More »
Dear All,
So I arrived back from a dreary hospital trip on a wet Saturday night, made some tea, and heard a strong and persistent miaowing from outside my back door. I opened the back door to find a young cat eager for some kind soul to let him in. His face was scratched and bloodied and he was very hungry indeed, even wet tot. So I quickly sorted out some food for him and he explained in great detail Read More »
Dear All,
I am safely and happily back in Laos after a genuinely special trip to Netherlands and the UK. Last weekend was my parent’s 40th Wedding Anniversary, so my sister invited them to a anniversary lunch, and she invited about 80 other people (obviously without telling my parents). The event proved to be better than any Christmas I have ever been at; classless yet classy and so brilliantly put together (even a childcare team for the young children there, and a lavish cream tea too); and 40 years on the Best Man and three Read More »
Dear All,
It is my great pleasure to be writing this bulletin from rural England, briefly back at my parent’s fine cottage for a few days, and it is my even greater pleasure that it is even sunny outside (which is rare in Summer in England).
Last week was a predictably long and tiring week, though hugely useful professionally. As I told people in clear and uncertain terms when I came to give my presentation at the training: “as you can tell by my accent, I am from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic”. Read More »
Dear All, I'm writing this from the frozen wasteland of the Netherlands, obviously experiencing something of a mini ice-age (one hopes that it will be so mini that it will finish by Wednesday). I'm on the road again at some strategic management training near Utrect. I'm here until Saturday, then Read More »
Dear All, It is the end of another weary wet week, and with it the usual mix of tiredness, joy about living in Laos, and peaceful confusion about life here. A couple of days ago I had a meeting in our office with a French person from a private company, and he was happily explaining he had now been in Laos quite a long time. Indeed to survive 8 months here is longer than some people manage. Perhaps it is only here in Laos, where being here 8 Read More »
Dear All,
This has been a very normal week: it has only rained on Saturday, my housekeeper has moved my furniture around in my house in mysterious and un-asked for ways, and my landlord’s dogs have decided to bark outside my bedroom window only at 4am, 5am, 6am, 7am, and 11.30pm.
Work has been the normal chaotic mix of try to get at some of the 5 nationalities on my team to speak to each other (we’ve had a little war between our French and German colleagues, which makes me wonder if I shouldn’t rename our team the “Alsace Coal Fields Read More »
Dear All,
The dark skies of July have come, and with it the strangely empty feeling of a kind of winter with the rains so deeply entrenched. Doing anything until October here is very unpredictable, literally you hear a crack in the sky and heavy rain just gushes over you with actually no warning.
This past week marked my first anniversary of working at Lao Institute for Renewable Energy (LIRE). I did not really leave up-country in a happy way; as I had left for a 3 1/2 week trip to Vientiane and Thailand but didn’t come back to my house for 7 1/2 months (and Read More »