Skywatch Friday for 26 September

It's getting to the end of the rainy season so the skies are dramatic - gray mornings followed by clear skies. We have some great sunsets like this one:

I took the above picture of the Mekong River from the levee near my house.

The villagers built a wall of sandbags to protect these Buddha images from the floods. The hacked Bodhi tree and the sandbags give the temple a besieged look.

I took this picture in the early morning earlier this week. Rainy season is coming to an end.

This is my contribution to an international group of people who post pictures of skies over at Skywatch Friday

Tuesday morning

I can't believe it, stumbled out of bed at 4:30. I didn't realize the time until I had turned the computer on and slapped myself on my forehead. That action thoroughly woke me up so I decided to make the most of my extra hours awake.

The early morning is beautiful. I boiled up some more chicken pho and sat outside, facing east and the sunrise as I ate breakfast. Just as the sky was brightening, the halfmoon and some bright stars light up the east, with the foreground of palm trees, roofs of neighbor's houses, and TV aerials.

Now I'm off on a short walk.

Typical Monday

I arrived at work on time because I had an appointment to interview a job applicant at 8:30. He neither showed up or called. I'm scratching my head because we just talked on Friday. But we had two other job applicant interviews during the day - both with strong qualifications. Will check references.

We had our weekly management meeting, which now seems to get the week off to a good start. We're a small organization so the meeting is very relaxed and the dept. heads enjoy getting things off their chests so we can problem solve together.

Finally left office after 6 pm. I thought briefly about going to the gym, but felt too mentally tired. Stopped at the local market and bought fresh pho noodles and vegetables. Went home, played with the kittens, and make a fantastic chicken vegetable soup to combine with the cooked noodles. Drove the cats crazy with the smell of the chicken boiling.

Even in exotic places...

May seem strange that in exotic Vientiane, refrigerators still have to be de-iced, and the contents of the refrigerator have to be examined and kept or tossed. So that was done this weekend.

Going through clothing that I have dumped on the floor and put everything away. Or try to find things. My landlady sometimes gets into the main part of my house and puts things away for me (or maybe the preposition I should use is 'from' me).

And the high point of my day today - two of the kittens stayed out all night and I couldn't find them this morning. When they finally appeared around noon, I tried to lure them back into the house - they escaped under the car, but when I tried to find them on the other side of the car, they had disappeared.

I guess every cat owner should figure out what comes next. I opened the hood of the car, and there they were. The calico was sleeping on the battery and the black kitten was sniffing around the oil dipstick. I didn't think to bring my camera out with me.

Skywatch Friday for 19 September

Life has been too busy on this side of the world, so I'm catching up with some sky shots from the past two weeks.

The first set of pictures are from Salavan. On Monday, the 15th, the day after the full moon, Salavan had it's boat racing festival. More on that on the blog post. It was much nicer looking at the people, the boats, the water and the sky rather than looking at our feet. It thunderstormed the night before and most of the morning, just clearing before the boat racing.

This is the view looking downriver, towards the municipal water system.

Because of the crowds, the heat and the mud, we stayed only for two races. Vapy vs. Pakse is shown here.

And just past the finish:

A good time was shared by all.

September is the rainiest month here - constant rain, some clearing then thunderstorms. Here's the view behind my house one evening:

As soon as I saw the rainbow, I went running outside.

Although the double rainbow did stretch across the sky, by the time I was in a place where I could get a good picture of it, the rain started to come down harder and the rainbow had lost its glint.

This is my contribution to fun group of people who post pictures of the skies from all around the world. For more pix, go to Skywatch Friday

The floods in Lao

For most areas touched by the mid-August floods, the waters have receded and people have been getting on with their lives. I've seen people attempting to replant rice, even though there's no security that they will have enough water to last until harvest. Usually the rains stop by early October, then the rice dries out enough for cutting over the next few weeks. Most people start harvesting mid-October through end of November. The local variety of rice grows over a 4 month long period.

I flew back from Xieng Khouang and saw the flooded areas around the Nam Ngum area. Rains in the mountains flow into the reservoir and it was at a dangerous level in mid-August so they had to release water. Along with the water backing up from the Mekong, the whole area along the Nam Ngum flooded.





The Lao government responded quickly, with negotiations with Thailand for sand and donations of sandbags, as well as providing food, water and lodging for people displaced by the floods. There still is a lot of cleanup and repair to do now, as well as trying to prevent this from happening in the future.

Finally...

My country program's website is online at World Education Laos. I'd love some feedback from anyone who goes to visit the site. If you stop by, leave a comment here.

G week

It's been a tough few weeks and I'm just catching up on blogging. Well, I have to deal with all this stuff because what else would I write about? I think my NaNoWriMo novel will be about a free-spirit kind of person having to take on the responsibilities of country director in a small country in Asia.

On to my G's -

Garlic is a major cash crop during the dry season. I visited a friend's village for Lao New Year - this is the underside of their house. They gave me a gift of three bunches of this garlic - the cloves are small and a bit difficult to peel but the taste is both sweet and strong.

From ABCs

Garlands for sale next to the Hindu Temple in Bangkok. This whole street has Indian restaurants, Northern and Southern, with booths selling garlands between them.

From ABCs

Also from Xieng Khouang Province - Grazing Water Buffalo. This picture was taken at the beginning of the year. Although Laos is a tropical country, it gets cool between December and February with early morning fog:

From ABCs

Garden in the early morning. This was also taken in Xieng Khouang during the cool season.

From ABCs

A picture from Salavan Province - Goats out for a stroll. People raise many goats here, mainly for the meat. This part of the country is very hot so I imagine it would be difficult to try to milk the goats and make cheese.

From ABCs

For more of ABC Wednesday contributions, go to ABC Wednesday

Situation to the south of here

A certain neighboring country has just been a mess. Since a coup in September 2006, followed by a military government and then elections at the end of last year, the previous situation of corruption has not gotten any better. Looks like there's violence and who knows how things will end up.

Events in my news

Today was the first day of school, and crazy to navigate the streets with parents driving their children to school, or kids running across the street in front of cars, and other kids showing off their new skills at riding bicycles. 13 year olds riding motorcycles are the worst.

After a morning meeting, I caught the plane to Xieng Khouang, where I'll spend the week working with staff and attending a quarterly planning meeting. The weather here is just so nice, starting to feel autumn cool, with the rain starting to taper off.

Chinese supermarket

The Chinese mall has been open for over six months and it's starting to show its wear. While people had initially gone there to gawk at the curtains and the matching bedroom sets, few people go there now. Around the fringes of the mall, shops selling heavy machinery and office furniture have sprung up. At night, the shop people sit in a small park surrounded by weeds, cooking their dinners outside. I noticed the other day that a row of Chinese restaurants has opened up. Might have to try them out some day. I'm not sure where people sleep - possibly in their stores. Some new row houses have sprung up, like mushrooms or bad dreams, while people weren't looking overnight.

Well, I was there to buy a frying pan and Chinese toilet paper. In support of globalization...

A walk and some thoughts

I decided to get myself in gear now that I had bought a new pedometer. So I left around 11 am, fortunately armed with an umbrella, so I could check out the sandbagging scene further down the river. I got down to the Mekong River Commission and felt fine, then turned back. Crossed the T2 road and noticed they had graded a new section of the irrigation canal, so went along there, returned by the Northern Bus station to T2 road and finally the last two miles to my house. 19,467 steps at 60 cm. per stride, 11.8 kms. or just under 8 miles.

Usually that's not quite a trek, but I was walking at noon - and was unhappy to notice that people had cut trees along most of the route. Some friends tell me that the branches and break off and smash houses. I guess so... but there's more.

A few years ago, my former landlady had cut her leg while cutting brush around my house. A few days later, I noticed that a nice little tree in the front of the house was gone. I asked my neighbor about it and she hemmed and hawed and finally told me that kind of tree can have snakes in it, and if you do under the tree the snake can fall on your head. I thought that was strange, as I would have to crawl on hands and knees to go under the tree and since was next to the fence, it was unlikely that anyone would go under it.

The truth was revealed two years ago when I was drinking beer with some friends and I heard them talking about the incident of my landlady cutting her leg, so I asked what the real story was. She had dreamed about the tree and believe that a spirit in the tree had caused the knife to slip. By making an offering elsewhere, and cutting down the tree once the spirit had been lured out of it, she hoped that it wouldn't cause any more problems. I asked them why they hadn't told me this at the time. "We knew that you believed these traditions and were afraid that you might move out." I wished I had known at the time, I would have helped them with whatever ceremonies. And I had to smile to think that something like this would make me move out - I've rented this house in Xieng Khouang for 12 years now.

People of Myanmar

People of Myanmar, originally uploaded by rolnero.

Beautiful set of portraits of people in Myanmar.

We hear about the disaster of Cyclone Nargis and the crackdown by the junta last year and we come away with a sense of grey. These photos show the resilience of every day people. Rolnero's set also has portraits of people in Mexico and Peru.

Skywatch Friday - machines and skies

There's a Chinese mall near my house. Inside the mall, you find curtain, appliances, clothing, and foods, etc. Outside, they sell the heavy machinery. I haven't seen any of these in use and since there's so much grass growing between the tires, I'm not sure how many they sell.

This post is my contribution to Skywatch Friday.

ABC Wendesday: The F's

Well, of course the theme of the last two weeks has been "F" is for "Flooding." Since I've posted so many flood pictures, not sure if I want to do much more of that.

This is a Ferris wheel at the Mekong riverfront last October. At the end of the Buddhist Lent, which is marked by the end of the rainy season and the full moon of the 10th lunar month, the main boat racing festival is staged on the river.

A fence by the bank of the river in Ta-Oi District, Salavan province - and beyond it, the forest. I'm looking forward to getting back out there in October. It's difficult to get there during the rainy season - few bridges and the dirt road turns into the worst kind of mud. It takes at least five hours to reach the district capital - and it's only 80 kms (about 50 miles) from Salavan town.

Fish tank in a TV set. Brilliant.

Football match at the sports field in Xieng Khouang, northern Laos. There's a big fair and sports tournament for the Hmong New Year.

So those are some F's for my week. For more of ABC Wednesday contributions, go to ABC Wednesday.

More flood news

I came to work with a list of things to do, and the energy to do them. Had a schedule for six major things to take care of... and then I found an invitation for a meeting about the flood damage and the ongoing needs assessment. I tried to get my #2 to go, but he insisted that I should go. Finally, we decided we both should go.

I tried to do some of the work on my 'to do' list and remembered I hadn't written someone's letter of reference, which they needed right away. Then other staff came in with problems large and small - my tack is to make them decide what they should do rather than telling them what they should do. Better for capacity development but worse for time management.

So after finally getting the letter written, printed by my secretary, signed and stamped... it's nearly noon. Meeting's at 2 pm, and since it's an official meeting I had to return home to change into a nicer blouse and sinh (the traditional Lao skirt). My landlady was puttering around my kitchen so I started talking to her... lunch hour was up.

The meeting was very sobering - in fact, horrifying to see the flooded areas from the air - animals wandering, lost, in the high water, villages cut off by being surrounded by water, flooded fields. Even as the waters recede, the problems worsen - most people use communal wells, which are now contaminated of river water entering from the top (with 10 meter-deep wells, lined with concrete rings, water is mostly purified by percolating up through the soil). Destroyed crops and grasslands mean livestock will have problems foraging. Roads have been washed away or damaged - a big problem for remote areas. Older schools have been destroyed. The list goes on.

From the Vientiane Times (http://www.vientianetimes.org.la):

Govt lists urgent needs of flood victims

Food, clean water, medicine and household items are urgently needed for more than 178,000 people affected by recent flooding in Laos , Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dr Thongloun Sisoulith said yesterday.

Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Thongloun Sisoulith ( third right ) speaks at the briefing in Vientiane yesterday.

Dr Thongloun was speaking at briefing about the impact of recent flooding in 679 villages of 53 districts in eight provinces of Laos .

The briefing was held to inform diplomatic corps and international organisations about the impact of the flooding in Vientiane capital and the provinces of Huaphan, Bokeo, Xayaboury, Luang Prabang, Borikhamxay, Khammuan and Vientiane .

“Although the water level in the Mekong River and its tributaries is subsiding, the impact of the recent flooding remains widespread and the rainy season is continuing, so we are still under threat of further flooding,” Dr Thongloun said.

Dr Thongloun said the water level in some areas remained at alarming levels and teams were working tirelessly to collect accurate data on the extent and cost of damage, while also assessing communities' medium and long-term needs.

Vientiane Mayor, Dr Sinlavong Khoutphaythoune, said flooding had devastated eight districts in the capital.

He said the cost of damage to agriculture had reached 206 billion kip, with more than 15,000 hectares of rice and 314 ha of fish ponds destroyed. The cost of damage to the communication sector, including roads, had reached 22.2 billion kip and the cost of damage to the electrical network was 1.5 billion kip.

“We need funding to buy rice, clean water and medicine for our victims. We also need 3 billion kip to fix 64 schools for our children,” Dr Sinlavong said.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Sitaheng Latsaphon, said at least 40,000ha of rice had been destroyed, but this figure was expected to increase because some areas remained under water.

“We need 3 billion kip to buy seeds and medicine to treat animal diseases,” he said.

“Our most urgent task is to encourage people to keep supplying vegetables to markets in Vientiane . We also need 80 billion kip to repair 528 irrigation systems.”

Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mr Sommath Pholsena, said his ministry needed 144 billion kip to repair highways, especially Road Number 13 and needed billions more to repair roads linking districts and villages.

Minister of Health, Dr Ponmek Dalaloy, highlighted the urgent need for flood victims to have access to adequate sanitation systems and toilet facilities.

This year's flooding is considered the worst in history. Up until now, the worst flooding had occurred in 1966 when the Mekong River in Vientiane rose to just above 12m. Flood levels this year reached 13.8m in Vientiane .

Speaking at yesterday's briefing, Dr Thongloun listed the assistance offered by friendly countries and international organisations and expressed his thanks on behalf of the government for their assistance.

Thailand has given emergency relief assistance totalling 15.3 million baht (US$464,000), Japan has given 12 million yen (US$111,000), America through the Lao Red Cross has provided US$50,000 and World Vision has informed the government of its intention to donate 1,145 tonnes of rice worth US$700,000.

By Somsack Pongkhao
(Latest Update August 26, 2008)

By the time I returned to the office, it was late; however, I got a chance to talk with staff and we decided to put together a small donation. They were rattling off figures so fast I couldn't keep up but I think they estimated they'd need about 50 million USD to make repairs of roads, schools and irrigation systems; provide seeds for next years crops and provide rice for this year's mouths. While people coped with a smile during the flood itself, I'm not sure how many people will cope in the coming months.

Sunday morning

The builders are making progress on the temple, and at the same time, the Buddha images are being prepared. This is the original Buddha image, which has not been moved during all the construction, but it's being repainted and other Buddha images are being moved into the building.

It's been raining on and off over the past weeks. I woke up this morning to the rumble of thunderstorms. I see people looking nervously at the sky, wondering how hard it's going to rain here.

People are just getting used to living around the sandbags and have been rearranging them so they can get in and out of their businesses easily.



This family's house is on the other side of the levee and I guess their kitchen got flooded out, so once the sandbags were in place, they rebuilt their kitchen.

This section looks very nice in the early morning light:

Skywatch Friday - Floods along the Mekong

There's been flooding along the Mekong in Laos. It has been raining heavily since the beginning of August, and there have been flash floods in the north, wiping out rice fields and corn fields along the rivers. Along Route 13 north, a couple of sandy slopes flopped onto the road; even when cleared out, they cover the road again. In spite of the difficulties, it's actually a lot better than in previous years - the highways dept. has shored up a lot of the unstable grades in Xieng Khouang and Huaphan and there haven't been as many landslides as before.

Along the southern parts of the river, the river rose up and over the Route 13. Many of these villages get flooded every year - people are accustomed to the bottom floors of their houses getting flood and most people build houses on stilts. However, this year, the waters rose up over the road and wiped out large areas of rice fields. This is the main rice growing areas of the country so the impact on many people's lives will be great. One indicator of poverty is how long people can survive on the rice they farm - the most poor don't have the land to grow enough to last them through the year, and many people sell rice if they have a problem with health or other immediate money need. People can make up the short fall by going to Thailand and working as unskilled and exploited labor, or migrate within Laos for other forms of work.

We started off early in the morning, under gray and threatening skies.

By the way, this village has the best coconut trees in the district. People sell coconuts by the road and you can sit in a bamboo hut and drink fresh coconut juice while taking a break. We had to pass on this trip.

View along the road (above). We decided to try to get to Vientiane on Sunday because we heard there would be more rain, and we worried about more flooding. The skies stayed like this for some time.

Around Tha Khaek, the sun came out. The waters on either side of the road lapped gently at the edges. A lot of people from the city had gone to the road for picnicking and fishing. One of the basic principles in Lao life - if you can't do something immediate about the situation, at least have fun. Once things were either cleared from the houses or left as lost, just get on with life!

But the floods still were not good.

When we drove along this section of the road, just the week before, these rice fields were healthy. If the head of the rice plant is underwater for more than 48 hours, it's dead.

This was the worst stretch of the road - the depth of the water was about 2.5 feet and the width was 4 kms. We still had 121 kms. to go.

Other sections weren't too bad, for cars and trucks at least:

Meanwhile, back in Vientiane, people had been sandbagging the length of the levee from west to east Vientiane. Hatxaifong District, the agricultural area of the capital, was entirely underwater and I'm sure most of the crops from there will be lost.

This is the levee in my village:

This is the area at Wat Sribounheuang, about 2 km from my house. They sandbagged both the levee and the area around the Buddha images. I don't know why they did it, but this beautiful Bodhi tree got trimmed. The branches on the river side extended far over the bank. I have some links to the views of the tree in better days here.

Anyway, this long winded entry is my contribution to Skywatch Friday. It's been getting bigger and better every week - this week, my number is 375. That means that there are 374 entries before mine. Impressive!

More sandbagged Vientiane

Across from the Lane Xang Hotel, PVO which has great Vietnamese food and sandwiches. My stop for a quick dinner.