Personal life in Maesot

My nice little house. 1 bdrm, 1 bthrm. Home away from home! The building behind is a hotel. My little house is in a group of 6 with two of the others VSO people and one other a western person from UK.





Socially, ex-pat life is also fascinating. This week I have been to 2 farewells and 1 birthday party all for people I did not know 6 weeks ago. It is a very transient place because all expats are on contracts - often quite short term. A number of people so enjoy it here they either extend or find other employment here when their contract is over.

I have got my motor cycle under control now and get out and about exploring the countryside. The border is amazing. I have visited it so many times. The armed military are in full view as the migrants cross over the border river illegally and constantly on truck tubes. That is just how life is here. It is so busy.

My little house is fine. It is sparsely furnished but I sleep comfortably on my mattress on the floor until the construction workers next start door 7 days a week.

Thank goodness for Internet. Skype is erratic but I can listen to classic hits Chch and watch Al Jazeera news. Everyone has their windows wide open to catch every draft to try to keep cool so I am concerned about my noise annoying the neighbours.

Here I am watching Aljazeera on my little notebook laptop with my head phones on wondering why I ever needed that great big TV at home.

I had a long weekend recently but none of the other volunteers had the same holiday. I decided to go to Vientiane, Laos. It was an amazing adventure to get there - about 16 hours on buses which were totally OK. I was amazed how little English was spoken and there were no signs in English in some of the big cities in Thailand that I had to change buses at. That was a bit scary - not being able to communicate. But Vientiane was lovely - a little bit of evidence of the French past, a little bit of evidence of a capital city, the mighty Mekong, a lot of obvious Asia and a growing tourist industry - it was a fascinating mixture. I understand there are many gorgeous places to go to in Laos.

Eating is still a great occupation here. I was really pleased with myself as I cooked dinner 3 times last week. It probably cost more to do that than to to eat out though. There is such a huge variety and it is all such an adventure. The food is amazing. I haven't tasted anything nasty but sometimes it is too spicy - I am getting better with that though. I have looked at the live frogs and live eels at the market and hope I have not had those in a meal. The thought is not nice. The food is often not recognisable when it is served but I do usually know what it is. I'll certainly eat a lot more rice when I return home. Fried rice - great with so many foods.