Dr Siri and the UXO Centre

Thursday 20^th December

And then I discovered Colin Cotterill. .. Colin is to Laos what Alexander McCall Smith is to Botswana. He writes very readable fast-paced murder mystery novels set in 1970s Laos, with a main character called Dr Siri – a coroner. A couple of very pleasant days passed me by as I was engrossed in Dr Siri and his escapades.

Meanwhile, we walked up the road beyond the village; we visited new restaurants; met new fellow guests; drank BeerLao in bars.

Typical countryside around us.

In the flat river valley bottom fertile fields are neatly laid out with salad crops, pak choi and herbs. The crops are watered in the early evening with watering cans.

It got very cold in the mornings for a couple of days – and chilly at night. An extra blanket was called for – and a slight change of routine. We now get up earlier and walk or visit places in the cooler mornings so that we can relax in the heat of the afternoon at the bungalow.

Our bungalow in the afternoon sun.

Leah cooking lunch for the family.

Just a wooden house in a little village that took my fancy. Contrast between rich and  poor evident.

Yesterday we went to Phosy Market, the big local market. Fascinating range of foods, clothes, household goods, etc. Trevann bought two shirts. Quite expensive at 80,000K each ($10; £6.50), but the shop keeper wouldn’t budge.

Today we visited the UXO Exhibition Centre. A sobering reminder of the sad fact that Laos is the most bombed country on earth. From 1964 to 1973 the Americans dropped over 2 million tons of ordnance on Laos, including a large proportion of cluster bombs, in an effort to stop supplies passing along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and reaching the insurgents in South Vietnam.

Much of the ordnance is still there, killing and maiming over 300 people a year. One story told of a small boy visiting relations in a rural village. He was from the city and so didn’t realise the danger of picking up a bright tennis=ball-sized object in the field. His friends shouted at him; he threw it away but it exploded, killing the boy and two of his friends.

The Clapping Red Prince. Monument to the President who ran Laos when the communists took over after the civil war in 1975.

So it's Christmas - here's a roadside Poinsettia!