Prose

Narrative writings: essays, reviews, polemics, short stories, etc

May 28. What is ten dollars?
We have a brunch with a German lady, Dagmar, who tells us her compelling story: she is editing and publishing an autobiographical book about a Lao monk. It's what keeps her here, and what keeps us listening. It is really nice and I hope she will publish the book.

I pick up my Vietnamese ...
May 27. COPE-ing with UXOs
Our arrival in Vientiane should be different than Vientiane, I think, and stick obstinately to my idee fixe when we arrive at the bus station. NO tuktuk, we are FINE, we know our way around. We walk a couple of miles and indeed, reach central Vientiane and lose about an hour. We make ourselves comfortable ...
May 26. A very nice man.. not!
Rather than niceness, it are the events of flat bluntness that stick to a traveler's memory. I have this experience this morning at "bigbrothermouse". This is a small ngo aiming to increase literacy in rural Laos by publishing and distributing bilingual children's books. It is and remains a wonderful concept, and so we visit their ...
May 25. Hey. Pssst. Motorbike?
Countless curves await us on the eight-hour busride to Luang Prabang. The scenery is pretty as we expected, and makes up for our diet of dry cookies and sodas. I remember having a can of beer during the break, but apart from that, don't expect any events from the busride.
Arriving at Luang Prabang comes ...
May 24. Of motorbikes and hospitals.
We almost miss our morning ride to Namtha. I have the bus tickets and the bus (there are only a few daily) stops at Bryan and Leila's house early. We rush to the streets and take our seats in the crammed minibus. Quick handshakes and best-of-luck constitute our goodbye to these wonderful people. I want ...
May 23. Easy bashing German state aid.
We have a delicious noodle soup for breakfast in a place that looks like what you would expect of a Lao eatery: the wooden terrace was built in the field, and farmers are ploughing in sight. This valley has always played an important cultural role as many different hilltribes interact here. Even today, local schoolchildren ...
Missionaries of Charity
Missionaries of charity, CalcuttaKolkata, India. March 25th, 2010Mother Teresa's Missionaries of charity offer volunteer opportunities in the poorest parts of Calcutta and other cities for every visitor who is willing to help.

We donate food for the orphans resident at the center.


NameMissionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa), CalcuttaAimThe Mother Teresa of Calcutta ...
February 3. Streetkids.
The plan is to organize an exhibition of the art created by the children at Muodjo. Potential benefactors will visit that display of the streetkids' interesting drawings and might chip in. So Oswaldo and I take a bus to the city and look for materials. Since we can't find them, we end up hanging out ...
February 1. Rolling on to Maputo.
We take a comfortable bus to Maputo. The roads on the South African side are what you would expect in the European Union and as the road cuts through the large cultivated fields we realize that South Africa is a rich country with a poverty problem - not a poor country with a rich upperclass ...