Category Archives: Laos “The mosquitos are our friends.” These were the words of Beatrix, our pranayama (breathing exercise) teacher as we sat in a small, hot, darkening room in Nong Khai, Northern Thailand. Her voice embodied calm, as only a yogini’s can, as it floated through the buzzing, humming, mosquito-filled evening. These words spun around my head as I sat […]  I received a postcard from friends this week: a picture of women in Laos on their knees giving alms to the monks. It reminded me how much I love Laos: the songs, dances and smiles of the people, the brilliant hand-woven fabrics, the colourful markets, the ethnic villages, the beautiful countryside… I’m less fond of the border […]  “By the way, you DO have your passports with you, don’t you?” our guide asked (in Thai) after the van we were in had pulled away from our hotel. At least, that is what I finally figured out she had said – by which time we were already five or ten minutes down the highway. Negotiating […]  Some trips are such a jumble of colours and textures that they more closely resemble a crazy quilt than a tidy tapestry. So it was for me on the short trip to Attapeu Province in Southwestern Laos in January: a mix of Wats (temples), waterfalls and monuments; rural plantations and rough-board housing rubbing shoulders with […]  I was in Japan several years ago with three other reasonably well-travelled adults. We had arrived into Tokyo late in the evening and were tired and hungry. We went to a shiny restaurant of chrome and formica across the road from the hotel and were met at the door with a “Hai!”, given menus, and shown to […] |
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