Cat leaning on foot:

We spotted a kitten who looked like he was wearing specs. He had quite a glare:
The Brain

Sleeping cat in a window of Wat Visounarath:

We went to the elephant village to meet some elephants rescued from the logging industry where they are worked to death. We had an elephant ride around the countryside. Our elephant’s name translated to Mother Lotus Gold. Her mahout had the softest, gentlest voice I have ever heard-we had to strain to hear him. As Mother Lotus walked along, stopping to deforest bits of countryside every few minutes, the mahout would gently tell her off, but she would pay no heed. It was clear theya dored each other.

At one point the mahout insisted I get off the howdah and sit on the elephant’s neck. I was terrified of falling off. But instead of swaying towards the plants as I was scared she would do, Mother Lotus stayed absolutely still and held my trembling legs behind her ears as if to reassure me. Was like two hot water bottles!

A, having a chat with Mother Lotus Gold

A visited a bear sanctuary where they kept Asiatic black bears rescued from bile farms. Some of them had been badly hurt.

Hand reared bear

Play

And finally, buffalos sitting bum to bum, spied from our boat, while sailing on the Mekong:

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Luang Prabang is a small, sleepy city in northern Laos, a former royal capital and a UNESCO world heritage site. Two rivers meet there, the Nam Khan and the mighty Mekong.

We started our introduction to Luang Prabang by touring some of the beautiful Buddhist temples or wats. The locals don’t visit them too often, only on ceremonial occasions.

Wat Haw Kham

A toothy temple guardian:

The wats are filled with Buddhas, old and new, brought there by devotees. These are Buddhas in Wat Visounarath:

A damaged Buddha. Probably vandalised for some precious metal:

I love gold in it’s many hues and the way it is used in Asian art. Here are some beautiful gilded temple walls:

Novice monks chanting:

Tree of Life at Wat Xieng Thong:

Tree of Life Detail:

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Xi’an-Pit1-Terracotta Warriors

Tang Dynasty Show, Xi’an

Tourists on a boat at the summer palace, Beijing

Mother lion with a cub held firmly under her paw. A recurring motif (Father lions have a ball)

Red is an auspicious colour and everywhere. None so beautiful as the ox-blood red

The Great Wall at Mutianyu. We went up by cable car

And came down in toboggans. Thrilling

Part of the roof of the Gate of Divine Might, The Forbidden City

To the Palace of Gathered Elegance, one of the places where the Empress Cixi lived. Don’t you just love the name? The tilting nature of the photgraph is an indication that I took it.

A beautiful part of the Summer Palace. Leaving the Building

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And some others:

Tang Dynasty Show:

Chariot:

They are, as usual, all taken by A.

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To distract myself some more, and to satisfy some meaty cravings, I had a lovely lunch in the winter sunshine, after which I played with a soft pug with a muzzle of wet charcoal called Freddie.

I haven’t been to Paris since I was a student and never with A. It’s the bother of getting a schengen visa. Though we have been eligible for British citizenship for some time we have not applied for it. Having a British passport would make taking the train across the channel so much easier. Another reason for not going there for so long, for me at least, has been the fear of racism.

I don’t encounter racism everyday in England, it is every now and then, but when one goes on holiday, one wants to be 100% sure that such things will not happen. Paris has always welcomed me with open arms and I’ve loved my times there. But it has not been so kind to others and A, having had a bad experience in France as a boy with his family, didn’t really look forward to returning for a holiday, though he visited R1 there while she was a student. So on our holidays so far we have tended to go outside of Europe, save for a very short trip to Spain, quite a few years ago.

I’m really looking forward to this trip. When I was alone in Paris all those years ago I thought that I had to come back with A some day since it was such a romantic city-every cliche about it is true. I sent him a series of postcards from the Rodin museum, each one showing sculptures of lovers entwined…!

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