Edward Allen

Dear All,

I’m back in Laos, terrifically jet-lagged and somewhat sore after my journey. But I’m back, and grateful, it is already incredibly lovely being back here.

The last few days before leaving to come back were hectic but very good indeed, I had some wonderful times with my family and all doctors letters that needed to come through came through; there are no medical issues with me being back in Laos in Vientiane. As part of my medical I had an hour long psychological evaluation and the report they sent me was so good I’m thinking of sticking it on my wall; I’ve never had such a good psychological evaluation. Indeed being in Laos has made me more sane, though that might not actually be saying very much.

Medically the problem remains that the outlook for my disease, reactive arthritis, is very unclear but it seems I have a form of it that flares up from time to time and those flare-ups can be very severe indeed. The advice that I’ve been getting from a lot of people is not to spend long periods of time up country, so I’m looking at renting a small house in Vientiane as a base. I’m allowed to travel anywhere, anywhere at all, but I’ve been advised against living long periods of time away from good medical care. The great news is that living in Laos is fine, that my medical care is superb, and visiting up-country for a few weeks at a time is fine too, but not living long-term up-country.

In 2 months in the UK, my mother worked out that I’d only actually had 2 sunny days, though I think I might actually have had 5 sunny days, anyway it wasn’t many. But it was a fabulous time in the UK, a really special time.

The journey back to Laos was unusually good too. For many years now I’ve been battling a rather acute fear of flying, it has sometimes taken huge amounts of medication to get me on a plane but the trip back was the first long-haul flight in years that I’ve actually enjoyed, I took less medication on it that I have for many years, and it was a turning point. Before the flight I went to the little multi-faith prayer chapel at the airport, in Terminal 3 at Heathrow, and spent a little time praying as I sometimes have done, and the prayers were beautifully answered. The fear of flying has been a huge handicap for me over recent years, caused me weeks of anxiety and fear, and it is a massive relief to be putting it behind me. On the flight back to Bangkok, I fell asleep when the plane was over Germany, and woke up over the Himilayas.

I had a layover in Bangkok airport, a place that seems to be improving rapidly every time I travel through it, and then the short 1hr flight in to Vientiane, in Laos. As we were taxying to take off, I heard a strange beeping sound. It was a sound I’d heard before many times, I felt sure of it. The Singaporean looking passengers seated opposite me started looking alarmed, but I tried to ignore it. Until I realised it was the alarm clock on my mobile phone (turned off) in my bag in the overhead locker. Then I stressed out, politely, and wondered what to do.  So I hoped it would go away, and after 5 minutes it did, only to go again 5 minutes after taking off, I ignored it again and was grateful that I was flying an noisy old jet that was louder than my alarm clock. And I’m kind of grateful I don’t have a mechanical alarm clock…

Stepping off the plane I went straight in to an overnight mens retreat just outside Vientiane, beside a river. It was such fun driving in Laos again. In the UK everyone expects you to obey the road rules and looks upset when you don’t, in Laos expects you to disobey the road rules and looks surprised when you do obey them. Actually the safe way to drive here is like a deranged psychopath; it is SO good to be back…

lots of love,

Ned