I haven’t been in Bangkok for the Songkran festival for a few years now – usually I spend that time celebrating the New Year in Laos which is almost at the same time. The last time I WAS there, though, I spent the best part of three days solid helping at my friend’s noodle soup… Continue reading Songkran Fesival On Chakrapong Road
Three days and two nights. Solid. That was the time I spent at my friend’s noodle soup stall the last time I was in Bangkok for the Thai New Year, Songkran festival. Set up in its usual location in Banglamphu, on the corner of Chakrapong and Soi Rambutri, it also happened to be right in… Continue reading Songkran Festival At A Noodle Soup Stall
If you want to stay clean and dry during the time of Songkran (สงกรานต์) – the Thai New Year held from the 13th-15th April, just stay at home. In North East Thailand, we have just finished celebrating our mad month of May – the time where festivals are frequent and everyone runs amuck – usually… Continue reading Songkran Festival In Bangkok
On a slight incline on Road Number 13, stands the Champasak Palace Hotel. In former times – until not so long ago, it was one of, if not the tallest building in the southern Laos town of Pakse. Originally, it was constructed under the orders of Prince Boun Oum Na Champasak, one of the pro-French… Continue reading The View From Champasak Palace Hotel In 1998
Gone are the days when the market at Kilometre Two in Pakse was a fresh produce market, enveloped in an environment of shopping chaos, with rows of tables crammed together, people selling from a mat on the ground, and customers getting run over by market workers transporting goods In piles of woven bamboo baskets on… Continue reading Dao Heuang Market Complex, Pakse
Whilst I have never been a fan of shopping, I have always had an interest in history, and seeing how things change – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Shopping in Asia these days is often not that far removed from that of the Western world, but it has not always been like that. The… Continue reading The Changes In Shopping In Pakse
The changes in ways of travel not only affect the ease with which we can get to places, but also reflect changes in society and the way in which we live in general. During the first year or two that I began to visit Pakse, in the south of Laos PDR, the route was a… Continue reading The Old Ferry Point In Pakse
Working all through the night in order to complete two banana-leaf nagas, my friend was finally able to realise her dream of making this particular act of worship on the Mekhong River. Wat Ahong Silawas (temple) in Beung Kan province, North East Thailand, is situated on a narrow stretch of the river, that makes Laos… Continue reading Releasing Nagas On The Mekhong River
It’s funny how the sound of a name can change with translation. Sometimes I think it is better just to use its native name and forget about the English version. There is a place in Beung Kan province (จ.บึงกาฬ), North East Thailand, called “Kaeng Ahong” (แก่งอาฮง), or by its other name, “Sadeu Mae Nam Khong”… Continue reading A Visit To “Sadeu Mae Nam Khong”
I have often commented on how, when left to Nature’s own devices, the vegetation on our land continually evolves – changing in waves, appearing, disappearing, with no two years the same. I find it fascinating to observe, and – in the case of our cows and the food available for them to eat – I… Continue reading A Wealth Of Food For The Cows
