A few steps away, the owners of a little stall cleared away their wares from a little table outside the front of their home. Two guys waiting for onward transport to Vieng Kham & Sam Neua took over the table & sat down to a simple dinner of a small plastic bagful each of sticky rice & what looked like reddish beans. Younger guy invited the cat to share their little meal & sit with them while

Obe on the stove ready for a long simmerIt’s hard for me to start talking about obe without first trying to explain how to say it. I always thought it was pronounced ope like in the word dope but without the d. I don’t think we have a short b sound…

The cat spent the journey peering over the roof of the ‘driver’s cab’ of the songthaew as it wound & wound its way past villages busy celebrating the Hmong New Year. Girls dressed in their best finery tottered down rutted slopes from their wooden houses & along the road in shiny gold & silver high heeled shoes, protecting their faces & make-up from the sun with umbrellas. Music boomed from beside