Dear All,
A week ago I was sweating it out with a stomach bug and intense pervasive windless heat really making being in Bun Tai somewhat ghastly. And I had 800kg of rice in my living room. And I still do as apparently the government here locally thinks it might be the wrong kind of rice […]
Dear All,
Yes indeed I do have 800kg of seed rice in my living room and jolly good it looks too. Indeed who needs a coffee table when you can have a pile of creaking pink leaking rice sacks that have transformed my house into even more of a barn than it already was. I just […]
Dear All,
I’m safely back up in Bun Tai, in Phongsaly province, after a really great break in Vientiane and some meetings in Thailand. I dearly love being back up here, but I really can’t say why I love it so much.
The journey up had a slightly strange moment, when I lost control of my truck […]
Dear All,
On Monday morning I start the long drive back up to Bun Tai, in Phongsaly province; this time I’ll split the drive over 2 days (the drive takes between 18-20hrs usually).
And I’m nervous. It is a little like how when you go in for dental work the first time is scary because it is […]
Dear All,
It has been an odd week, no I mean a really odd week. Some weeks here are merely a little odd, but some like this past one really push the boundaries a little. It all started last Sunday with some pork I’d bought in the market the previous day. My cleaning lady didn’t come […]
Dear All,
I’m tired, really horribly tired at the moment, and finding life up here pretty tough at the moment in lots of ways. I struggle with all the obviuous things, singleness is like a sore that doesn’t heal for me and it is quite an isolated life up here. But I’m learning a lot about […]
Dear All,
Life up here really is rather hectic at the moment, but I adore working up here and adore the work so much. I’m very happy indeed being up here, working with the hill tribes. We have a disease outbreak in one of our villages, it is nasty disease called Leptospirosis (sometimes known as Weils […]
Dear All,
I’ve just got back in Bun Tai, after the Christmas break; it is very nice indeed to be back here. Christmas proved rather too memorable for my ordinary liking, with so much family illness, so being back in Laos felt rather like a break. I was delayed getting back up here, from Vientiane, as […]
Sent 11th December 2008
Dear All,
This is my last day in Bun Tai this year, as I drive down the 450 miles
tomorrow and Saturday to Vientiane. I’m leaving for the UK on Wednesday,
back to a land flowing with milk and honey and bankrupt banks.
I’m exhausted, this year has caught up with me. About the only […]
Sent 6th December 2008
Dear All,
The last few days have been some of my more unusual in my rather odd life
up here in Laos, I know that must sound strange but let me explain…
The focus of my work here in Phongsaly in recent days has been to try and
stop a major horrid Buffalo disease from wiping […]