Lao Saunas
Laos wouldn’t seem the most obvious place for a sauna, particularly not in the lowlands, during dry season, but after a pedicure from doctor fish...
Category: Places
On Eating Insects
So Z and I have eaten our first round of insects on this journey — in Vientiane, Laos. Baby crickets, deep-fried to a quite delectable...
Age-Appropriate Reading (Again)
Z is scrutinising Lonely Planet South-East Asia with an expression I can only describe as panic. “Mum,” he says. “I really don’t think it’s a...
Swimming Lessons
When it comes to swimming, the Mekong (at least in the dry season), is the don. And the swimming off Don Det, in Si Phan...
Messing About in Boats — Part 3
We’d clearly got lucky with our choice of stopping places the day before, because my firm belief that hardly any village in Laos will be...
Messing About in Boats – Part 2
It is pretty much a given, in rural South-East Asia, that falang (and, I guess, locals too) in need of a bed for the night...
Messing About in Boats – Part 1
They don’t call Si Phan Don Four Thousand Islands for nothing. At this time of year, with the Mekong nine or ten feet below its...
Buses and Boats
One of the pleasures about travelling with a child is the joy Z takes in the various vehicles involved. We are fresh off a Lao-style...
Winged Creatures
When it comes to bugs, even European ones, let alone rattling, flying, two-inch-long South-East Asian roach-type creatures which convention insists one refer to as “beetles”,...
X Marks the Spot
When staying in a guesthouse whose name is variously transliterated Xayamounghkhoun, Sayamungkun, Xayamunghkhung, etc., in a town where almost no one speaks English, and you...