And when your guides are animists, who whole-heartedly believe in the spirits of the forest, the experience is deeper. When hiking in Europe you might lay a stone upon a cairn, as a good luck sign and mark of your travels. In the Nam Ha protected region of northern Laos you lay an offering of leaves at a sacred place. Continue reading
Spirits of the Forest
18 JunThe Good Life?
18 JunHer name means “Be Loved”. Be Loved’s younger sister is called “Be Happy” and the baby’s name means “General”. Appropriately since, like many youngest children, she isn’t shy about asserting her needs.
Sing chose his daughters’ names before he was married — late for Laos, at twenty-eight. His wife and he were working in business administration in Vientiane, the capital, when mutual friends set them up on a blind date. On their second date, five years ago, they married.
Their eldest is four and a bit. You do the maths. Continue reading
Babysitting, Hmong Style
12 JunThis little girl is six, and had been carrying her eighteen-month old little brother in a sling on her back for most of the day.
The forlorn look? Continue reading
Global Time = Quality Time
10 Jun
[tweetmeme source=”@mummy_t” only_single=false]My son and I set out to travel the world together in January. I’d imagined many wonderful things about the journey. What I hadn’t imagined is the sheer quality and quantity of time together.
Or, for that matter, the absolute, unalloyed luxury of starting every single day with a complete free rein.
Where shall we go today? What shall we do? What shall we see?
All, as it happens, for less than the rent or mortgage on a one-bedroom London flat. Continue reading