I'm in Switzerland...

...and it sure feels quite surreal. I've been loving the streets of Zurich, the snow-capped mountains I see from my parents' terrace where I have breakfast, the good bread and cheese, seeing my family and old friends. But other than that, I'm not entirely here yet. The Indians apparently believe that after a long journey, it takes a while for the soul to catch up. Mine is on its way, and I think it should be here anytime soon. At least it shouldn't have a jetlag, since it seems to have taken its sweet time.

Laos, I love you

Laos moments to remember:

- Getting into an overly full local bus and being waved to the back by five giggling Laos women. I climb over bags of rice and vegetables, kids, cardboard boxes and people's legs and take a seat between a few bags of coriander, mint and spring onions and the five friendly women who offer me some of their food.

- Eating laap (minced fish mixed with fresh herbs, lime juice, chillies and fish sauce) and drinking a Beerlao at a small little family restaurant where I am the only guest and have the whole family look after me as if I was their long lost daughter, although nobody speaks a word of English. When I leave, the grandfather gives me a banana as a present and the baby blows me kisses.

- Driving past a beautiful temple in a local bus and seeing a few women silently lift their closed hands to their foreheads in a prayer-like motion and nod peacefully in acknowledgement of the temple.

- Visiting a tribal village where four little two- or three-year-old girls crowd around me, half curious, half shy. One of them steps forward and touches my hands, and then gently takes my face into both hands and runs her fingers down my cheeks as if to tell me that she trusts me.

- Being invited to sit with a table full at locals at a village festival and then spending the next few hours drinking, eating and dancing the traditional dances with the locals.

- Walking through a garden behind a temple and finding out it is an art school for monks where a group of them work with a beautiful concentration on creating clay Buddha figures.

- Spending two days gliding down the Mekong river in a slow, peaceful boat, reading, thinking and watching the world go by.

- Mountainbiking through hills and little villages and having the kids race to the street in every village, waving at us, screaming "hi", stretching their hands out for high-fives as we ride past and making us feel like they are so happy to see us.

- Getting up at five in the morning to watch the long lines of monks barefoot and in burnt orange robes silently and peacefully wander the streets to collect rice and other donations.

- Realising just how full of beauty, magic and wonder the world is and finding myself incredibly lucky to be able to discover some of it.

Nothing whatsoever

There is a passage in the Majjhima-nikaya in which someone approached the Buddha and asked him whether he could summarize his teachings in one phrase, and if so, what it would be. The Buddha replied that he could, and he said "Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya": Nothing whatsoever should be clung to.


My dear friends,
I'm alive and well. I have arrived in Luang Prabang, where I will spend my last few days in Laos, before flying into Bangkok and eventually to Europe from there. Laos has been amazing and I have completely fallen in love with the country- I'm already thinking about coming back. I will write more soon. I hope you're all well.

Much love, B.