Last of Laos..Vientiane

Very hot here in Laos this week. Temperatures hovered around 40 degrees C all week until Friday evening when it turned surprisingly cool overnight. Sunday today and temperatures are heading up again.
The locals say that April is usually the hottest month so they are dreading the prospect of it being even hotter. Vientiane is an inland city and Laos is totally landlocked so very little influence from ocean breezes. The Mekong is very low at present so no influence there either.

Motorcycles outside a College

I took this photo on my walk to my office one day this past week. As I had said earlier, motorcycles are the preferred mode of transport by most young people here, and especially younger women and students. The motorcycles are predominantly very cheap Chinese-made imports as well as the usual Japanese standard models. Note the way that helmets are left on the cycle, along with other gear like jackets, gloves etc. I understand there is no stealing of property. Very refreshing to see this.

street cart selling food

All female students, government employees and shop assistants in general wear a dress called a “sinh”, which is a wrap around long skirt as you can see in the photo here to the left.

The sinh is worn at variable lengths but usually down to just above ankles, and they are available in a wide variety of colours and designs. They are usually worn with a simple blouse, usually light coloured (white, beige, yellow etc), again as can be seen in the photos.

Two more examples of sinhs

My office is situated in the ground floor of one of the Ministry of Education buildings. We have effective air con with wifi internet link so the working conditions are good.

My office is just inside this door

sign outside the office

Something unrelated to Laos.
I just read a series of stories about the Saturday concerts in Sydney and Melbourne for the “Fire relief” funds for the bushfire victims in South eastern Victoria.
Amazing reunion of several of the really great Australian bands and other icons of pop music. I became positively nostalgic to read some of the names and playlists. I have every one of these songs on my iPod and this music is a great way for me to link back with Australia.
Midnight Oil (Redneck Wonderland, Read About It, a Jimi Hendrix-style version of Advance Australia Fair, and, of course, Beds Are Burning”
Hunters and Collectors (When the River Runs Dry, Do You See What I See?, Holy Grail, Throw Your Arms Around Me and the classic, The Slab).
Split Enz aka Crowded House (History Never Repeats, Poor Boy, I See Red, Six Months in a Leaky Boat and, rather appropriately for Melbourne, Four Seasons in One Day).

Another story from the weekend press in Melbourne left me feeling VERY sad too. Lou Richards is set to retire from the Sunday AFL sports show. I grew up through the 60s and 70s with Lou’s crazy newspaper columns and of course his antics on Sunday “World of Sport” with the late Jack Dyer, Ted Whitten and others. He is 86 now and slowing up so I guess it is no surprise that he has to stop but I still feel sad. Lou is a Magpie legend.