Someone has been reading my blog...

.....or so it would seem.  For there has been a mass cull of dogs in the village.  I never conducted a head or tail count before, so I cannot be sure just how depleted their number is, but there are only about half as many a week or two back. Chinese New Year is only a week away; might that be relevant? I only witnessed the removal of one, and that did little to solve the puzzle. A couple of days ago there was a terrible yelping and wining noise from the adolescent dog next door. Usually I just ignore such things, but the noise went on so long that eventually I peeped over the fence. The neighbours were engaged in trussing up the dog, tying its paws together. Once that was done the dog was put in a bag, the bag was put in a sack, loaded onto the motor bike and driven off.  Any suggestions?  

Sadly the particular dog which I would be happy to pop in a sack remains alive and well and in 'good' voice.  He is also smart enough to have worked out how far I can throw a decent sized stone with any accuracy, takes up his position about 5 metres beyond that and stands there barking nonstop, confident that no harm will befall him. But it will...one of these days, or nights, I will get him.

The cold and wet spell has passed and the weather has settled back into misty mornings, warm afternoons and cool evenings. There are a few more mosquitoes around, which seems strange, because the evenings really are cool leaving a heavy dew in the morning.

There was a lovely, and to be honest, unexpected display of Lao financial ingenuity at the weekend. Our whole area had a power cut....no, I and my hot shower are not taking the blame for this one.  The power cut knocked out the pumps at the local filling station but within no time at all several stalls had opened around the filling station, each selling 2 or 3 litres of petrol in plastic and glass bottles.  I was intrigued about where they got their supplies but maybe they store the petrol at home, awaiting such an occasion. Hm, another case for the Lao Health and Safety Officer maybe?

For some reason that reminded me of some less attractive ingenuity displayed last year when my sister and I walked up to Wat Chomphet. At every step we were followed by children trying to sell us flowers for the temple. Had they been less demanding and annoying I guess that we might have bought some .But you only needed to spend a short while at the temple to discover that the flowers you bought 5 minutes ago are now back down the hill being sold on to the next group of visitors!  It was also apparent that any donations put in the temple collection box, would also be promptly “recycled”.

I read some months ago that there were 2 theories about whether you can grow a grape vine from seed. One, said, yes, but it’s very hard. The other said, it’s very hard and not worth the bother.   I have opted for the former.  Having planted the seeds and then kept them in the fridge for 2 months as instructed, (which sounded an odd thing to do) I have now placed them in a warmer spot....and I have seedlings!  Whether they really are grape, or whether they are grass or some local weed only time will tell, of course. But right now they are doing better than the orange seeds which I planted 2 or 3 weeks back. 

On the subject of fruit, there is a still a decent variety but nothing really outstanding right now.  Grapes, as ever, as shockingly expensive, and no doubt I shall discover why as my own attempts founder dismally.

We are gearing up for our next New Year. This week is Chinese New Year when we shall celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. I wonder what impact that will have on the local birth rate? The shops are full of rather expensive sweets and rather nasty looking decorated plastic oranges, and I have been prevailed upon to buy what seems to be almost 100 kilos of sticky rice to be made into sweets and puddings.  I am not sure that shall I shall eat my fair share, since rice sweets never seem very enjoyable. Oh !  Now it seems I am expected to fork out 100,000 kip for more ingredients for   the wretched sweets; I shall feign lack of understanding, or if that does  not work, illness. I cannot hide under my bed, because there are currently 3 Lao young ladies sleeping in it....oh, don't ask; it's all to with Chinese New Year apparently, though whether all men in Laos get to have their beds taken over by Lao ladies I am unsure. (No correspondence will be entered into on this item.)

 I understand that Khamphone might soon have time to return my camera so that, by way of a change, next week’s blog can include some photos. I wish I had taken a thorough selection of photos of the village as I moved in, as already there have been so many changes, with the road being paved, houses sprouting up and a ghastly corrugated iron factory being demolished, along with the hut/cafe next to the well. Maybe I will do a 6 monthly photographic review, which, over time might become of some interest to the village.

Alerted by means of an invitation to the news that there was to be a party a few doors from me on Sunday, I made sure that I had my headphones in readiness. I got quite a good deal on them. The girl asked 180,000 kip at which I laughed and walked away, whereupon she offered them for 80,000. Then, mishearing my offer of 65,000 kip she accepted 55,000. But they come with a mike....what am I am going to do with a mike?  OK, well let’s try it....Hello, Hello...can you all hear me? Hello?

On the whole, I continue to avoid village parties, which I am sure must mark me down as being unsociable. But they are just so frequent and so noisy. (There were to my knowledge three on Sunday.) And there is rule here which I find a little awkward. You do not bring a bottle or a gift, but you bring the envelope which contained the invitation. This has your name on it, and you leave a donation in it and pop it into a box.  I have no idea, and nor will anyone give me clues as to how much I should leave. As a falang of course I am fabulously wealthy,so almost any amount will have me marked down as mean. I have always rather taken the view that if you can’t afford a party, then don’t have one. To have a party which others pay for seems an odd way of doing things. There seems to me the world of difference between bringing a courtesy gift and being asked to underwrite the event.

We are, as you know, I think, soon going to have a new airport, new sports stadium, new bus station, a bridge over the river and a railway line. Yes, yes of course we are. We are not, I suspect, going to have pot holes on the main road mended. Which is by way of asking a favour.  If anyone is coming out here in the next few weeks, would they bring me a gift?  An egg box....well to be greedy, maybe two egg boxes.  Eggs are sold here in bags. And there is a pot hole on my way home which it is seemingly impossible to avoid, and how ever much one prepares oneself for it, it always spells doom for one or more eggs. Maybe it is sponsored by the local egg producers?

Still no school; the small children are out in the long grass trying to catch lizards for as snack. But they have also found a large cardboard box, which makes a fine plaything of course. The road building materials have now been wholly removed...for infilling house foundations, I am told, and of course the goat is now very much a thing of the past.

Oh correction...the school went back this morning. And the Chinese sticky rice sweets are not sweets at all. They banana leaf wrapped  parcels  very elegantly done, containing, rice, beans, and raw pork and they each seem to weigh about a kilo.

Best wishes

Alan