OK, so it has proven somewhat difficult to keep up regular posts so Alfred has come up with a solution by putting a gun to my head (Alfred: Actually I put a knife to his throat - can't get my big, furry paws through the triggerguard) and insisting on daily - DAILY! - posts from now on. So, here goes.
Just got back from our local restaurant which we fondly call 'Mosquito Bar' in memory of the first night we went there and sat beside the bushes on the edge of the bar, a bad decision not just in retrospect but in immediate-spect. But it is actually a really nice place: good food, live music well sung and very friendly staff. Tonight they served us the best papaya salad we have had so far (and that is saying something in a country addicted to papaya salad) and had a fabulous rendition of Ronan Keating's 'When You Say Nothing At All' by the end of which we were still unsure whether it had been in Lao or English.
The last week has been a process of settling back in to 'home' or home as we call it. It is true that, once I arrived back in Ireland, I was immediately in a familiar setting and felt 'at home' but, having said that, there is no doubt that Vientiane is home for now. My crocked knee (Alfred: 'Crocked' is putting it strongly) meant I decided to postpone my classes for one week to give it time to heal up and not subject it to too much pressure so yesterday and today were my first days back at work (Alfred: Unlike Martine, back to the daily grind on the spot! And her dying of a cold and all - yes, only Martine could move from a wintry Irish August to a warm Laos and catch a cold!).
The other main news it that the roof is now leaking bigtime so we need to ring the landlord tomorrow and see what can be done. We spent over an hour this morning mopping up water in the sitting room (Alfred: Always something a bit unnerving about finding your extension leads, computer power cords etc lying in a pool of water) so the time has come to try and get something done about it (Alfred: Of course, this may explain why - in the middle of the embassy district - you are paying such a modest rent!).
My English class this evening got diverted onto the topic of emphasis and how to emphasise things in spoken and written English (underlining, capitals, tone of voice etc). We had good fun with the various nuances of 'don't', 'do not' and do NOT'. (Alfred: Diverted - well, that's one word for. Ruairí went off to class leaving all his materials sitting on his desk so I wonder who was doing the diverting??). We were also dealing with the different ways different English speakers complain (American: That was CRAP! British: It left something to be desired). They were a little surprised that the word 'satisfactory' on a customer satisfaction form was not necessarily a good thing (Alfred: Likewise 'fair' and 'adequate').
LAO TOURISM
Tourism is Laos' biggest-growing industry but one that faces various threats and difficulties. A massive rise in tourism figures in recent years has had the shine taken off it by analysis that shows a huge proportion are Thai visitors who come for a very short space of time and spend very little money. The numbers of US and European visitors are growing but more slowly and there is serious concern that the recent opening-up of Myanmar will eat into the numbers of people looking for an 'exotic' Asian holiday who would hitherto have picked Laos.
But in AVIS Rent-a-Car where I teach English to the office staff, things are flying. Normally after April business nose-dives but this year has been really busy right up until this month. And this seems to be borne out by government figures which are happily reporting higher-than-expected numbers across the board. (Alfred: And here the story peters out. Ruairí has been away for a month so he can't back this up with anecdotes of tourist sightings around town, hotels with no free rooms or whatever else he could use to bolster this -rather thin - line of argument. Maybe should have held this topic over until a later blog? Maybe. But too late now. Once the burning hand has written etc etc. Actually I just looked up the Book of Daniel and the hand doesn't appear to have been burning. Aha - it's not the Book of Daniel at all. It is the Rubiyaat of Omar Khayyam - presumably referring to the same incident.
"...The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it..."
Finger? Not hand? Well, paint me brown and call me an Oompa Loompa).
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Vang Vieng uncovered
Book and movie/TV reviews
And much, much more
TV Review: House of Cards (US version)
We watched this in one massive five-day binge of both Seasons One and Two and boy, was it brilliant!! Having seen the UK version I had a reasonable idea of what to expect but Martine was completely new to it all, but we both enjoyed it immensely. We did start to watch the UK version immediately after but had to stop. Twenty-five years of TV history later, things were just not sharp or cutting enough, too humourous and not nearly as believable. Kevin Spacey is amazing but so are almost all the cast. Can't wait for Season Three (Alfred: If Maryland can work out the change in the tax laws that is threatening the filming of the next season. This story from The Washington Post is really worth reading - it is almost like a script outline from House of Cards itself! http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/house-of-cards-legislation-fails-at-the-last-minute-in-maryland/2014/04/08/f4afea98-be84-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html
Book review: The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
An oldie but still the best book on the outbreak of the First World War ever written. The descriptions of the early battles and troop deployments are still the only ones that actually made any sense to me. Also reread 'Dreadnought' by Robert Massie on the Anglo-German naval race and 'The Proud Tower' (also by Barbara Tuchman - she is THAT good!) on the same period. The Proud Tower has a fantastic chapter on anarchism in the late 19th and early 20th century but is brilliant throughout - the chapter on the US abandonment of anticolonial policy as they grabbed Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Cuba is especially illustrative).
POEM
Don't worry, there will be further installments!! Along with photographic evidence!
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| Exhibit One: the concrete blocks I fell over. |
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