at the temples this weekend ....

.... beautiful rainbows, laos people believe it's unlucky to point at rainbows, i said to the novices there's gold at the end of the rainbow and then they were gone!
Also this weekend; my regular medical clinic and the washing

visiting louksai BigVanh

working hard, asking difficult questions, practising what we've been learning, am proud of him

new puppies at Wat NaSong Wai

The villages give unwanted puppies and kittens to the temple and the novices look after them.
Their staple is sticky rice, these puppies haven't been potty trained yet, they were widdling all over me!

Laos language lessons

I'm learning Laos! It's not going very well
I have a great teacher, Sommai
But I'm a naughty student - I avoid (make him lunch), think it's ok to learn lying on the sofa - i fell asleep!
And it's so difficult - words have multiple meanings and 1 word in English translates to about 5 in Lao for example bye is pop gang mai, why can't it just be pop!

chanting tonight at Wat NaLuang

Great to visit the novice monks at Wat NaLuang this afternoon, they were curious to know how I found the boat racing festival and there's heaps of excitement about returning to school next week.
We read the Sunday papers, they asked lots of intellectual questions which I couldn't answer so suggested we look at the travel section, this led to a discussion about endangered rhinos, their horns are sold to Vietnam for medicinal potions making them more valuable than gold.
The bell rang signalling time for chanting, the novices dressed in full robes to pray to the Buddha, I sat at the back of the temple, tonight I simply relaxed and did yoga breathing exercises. The novices keep promising they'll teach me the words of their prayers and then i can join in, looking forward to that

an evening stroll around my village, Ban Xieng Thong ....

.... the monks are getting ready to chant, the fishermen are relaxing in hammocks or playing pertonk and the shop-keepers are gearing up for the tourists

boat racing festival day 1

There's been heaps of practicing in the last couple of weeks for the fiercely competitive boat racing festival. Villages from the surrounding area take part, the women prepare meals at the village hall or temple to fuel the 50 men in the boats. Crowds gather each day on the river banks to watch the training and discuss possible champions.
There was talk of forming an expat boat with us in dressing-up in drag (can't imagine who suggested that), maybe next year!
Day 1 of the festival was on the Meekong, Wendy's house is by the finish line, handy! she invited her friends and colleagues for a party - we shared home cooked food and beerlao