We left Calgary in early December. Andy left a week before me as I was wrapping up my contract at Mount Royal. He had a pretty rough drive back with our fully loaded car during the first few days of winter weather with multiple highway closures. We met in Vancouver to fly out to Laos for a few months – I had 2.5 months before starting at UBC and Andy had 4.5 before heading to the UK for the London marathon.
We rented a small apartment near to the MRC and close to the river in Vientiane and has a very nice few months riding our bikes and enjoying all the good things that life in Laos has to offer. Vientiane has changed and become more developed since we first visited more than 10 years ago but it is still charming with the feeling of a large town rather than a capital city, and is a very easy place to live.
We also visited friends and colleagues in Indonesia, in Bogor and Jakarta. It was great to be back and be so warmly greeted by everyone there. Bogor has changed a little since we were there, with the addition of walking paths round Kebun Raya, the arrival of Uber and other ridesharing apps, and the building of many new hotels. But lots of things were still the same and it was a pleasure to see so many friends. Ten days wasn’t really long enough and all too soon I was on a plane to Vancouver, and Andy was on a plane back to Vientiane.
