The Story So Far ...

We said farewell to our work friends at the RSPCA and BBC on 14 September, farewell to our families on 3 October, and set off for Africa to save cheetahs, decorate school buildings, and look around a bit. After a trip home for Christmas, we headed for South East Asia on 6 January -- where we were stunned by Qatar and Cambodia, taught novice monks in Laos, and acted as security guards at an Elephant Festival. It was back home for four weeks to look after John's dad, before we tangoed our way through five South American countries in fifteen days. We then snooped our way through New Zealand, dipped our toes into Fiji, drove-thru California and were home from home with family in Vancouver.

Now, we are home itself. Fulfilled, happy, and ready to earn the respect of our friends and family by knuckling down and earning some money once again ...

Monday, 21 February 2011

Scenes from the River 1: The Dinner Party (with apologies to Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Terrence Rattigan et al ...)

Henry didn't have his camera on him to show you what it was like,
so here's a photo that shows what it wasn't like. 

The Scene:
A bamboo curry house after sunset, in the mountain country nine hours by slow boat north of  Luang Prabang, Ancient Capital of the Kingdom of Laos.  Chinese Lanterns hang from the beams.  Thirteen travellers sit around a dimly lit table, dishes of rice and sauce amidst the bottles of beer.

The Cast:
Sean: 29, from Toronto.  Laughing eyes, full of stories, a broken engagement behind him.  We'd got chatting on the boat, bumped into him the next day, and had just spent an exhilarating afternoon kayaking with him.
Jana: hippy dippy from Munich, grasping my arm to reassure me that no, really, my German is very good.
Dom: 30, we'd met him an hour ago in a herbal steam room, discovering that he's an old boy from the same school as Henry, a good ten minutes before the lemongrass steam cleared and we discovered that he actually looked like one too.
Alex: from Kentucky USA, showing us all some time lapse video he'd caught on his iPad.
An Aussie: didn't catch his name, learning Mandarin and running two hotels in China.
Emily & Jennie: both Welsh, off to Cardiff University soon, lapping it all up before they hit their early twenties,
Adam: their friend, English, a bit under the weather.
Another Aussie: mid twenties?, arrived late, declared he'd be climbing a tall mountain the next morning.
Cory & Chris: both from Vancouver, young enough to be our sons, and making the most of it thousands of miles from the Lion's Gate's embrace.

The Action: 
These thirteen people, many of whom barely knew each other 48 hours before, chatting as if in the university canteen.

The Point:
Next time Henry and I host a dinner party and some of our friends can't make it, perhaps we should just pop out into the street and see who can.

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