Bats by the Bunch

The hot breeze wafts through the open double doors of the MCC Tha Thom office. The heat of the afternoon sun bakes the yard outside and has made all the cement walls of the office very warm. The ceiling mounted fan above the desk is sure a blessing! From our desk I can look out the front door facing the main road of Tha Thom.

Down the driveway come a group of women carrying a basket between them. They usually drop by at this time of day. “Su kurang, der,” they call (buy things, please.) It is always a surprise as to what they will be selling. Often times I am hesitant since many items are strange forest vegetables. Kaarina and I generally end up asking, “What is this and how do you cook it?”

Today is no exception. The ladies set down their load. It is full of wriggling black things. I double take as I stare at the basket, but no it really is what it looks like. The basket is full of bats! The bats are tied together with a piece of bamboo fiber, about ten per bunch. One bunch sells for just over a dollar. I ask one woman where they found them. She points to the mountain. “Over there, in a cave.” she replies, “It took us three nights to catch the bats.”

Bat Bartering

 The rest of the MCC staff are now inspecting the wares. They are excited and you can tell that various bat-dishes are on their minds. Soon neighbors arrive. News of bats for sale sure travels fast! One of the sellers asks if I will buy any. “My wife doesn’t know how to cook bat,” I answer. They laugh. We are really foreign indeed! Before I head back inside to work I notice the office cook making some purchases.

I pull out my cell phone to call Kaarina at home, “Can you guess what is on the menu for lunch tomorrow?”

Critters, Critters Everywhere!

Every place in the world has its own critters and Laos is no exception! Ever since arriving we have been mesmerized by the diversity and exotic elegance exhibited by the wildlife that surrounds us even in our own home! Words alone do very little to share the exotic-ness of these creatures...so in come the pictures. (Please note: This blog entry is in no way meant to be scientific or complete in the vast array of animals that frequent our home/yard/village/etc.)

 This isn't our chicken, but we thought that this 'butt-less' hen was worth a picture.

 Again not our pigs. Just some cute piglets being raising in a village near here.

 Here are some butterflies that frequent Kaarina's flower garden. They just wouldn't share the flowers...there really is plenty for all!

 You probably wouldn't consider this a critter. This is our landlord's dog 'Edam.' She loves to come by our house looking for scraps, loves her belly scratched, is very playful and thankfully we now have her trained to stay outside or on our porch and not to join us inside.

Guinea Fowl

 These funny looking birds sure are noisy! Louder than the turkeys next door, two of these strange creatures wander throughout the neighborhood. They are mean to the other birds, but very skittish when it comes to humans.

 Here is some camo for you!

 This is an alien.

 No wait, the sun blinded the camera. Just a leaf bug in the office kitchen.

 Here are some red ants on our clothes line. They constantly work to remove the bugs that die around our yard light. All their collaboration prompted me to make a poster!

 This creature is sometimes known as a 'rain spider.' They often come indoors during rain storms and at night. They are also known as huntsman spiders and can grow quite large. The largest ones grow to just under 12 inches from leg to leg! Thankfully the ones that are found in our house are only around 6 inches and frequently are reduced to 1 inch after some work with a flip flop. They enjoy eating cockroaches so they aren't that bad, but are an unpleasant shock to see in the middle of the night.

 The moths, butterflies and dragonflies here are stunning. This is one exquisite moth Kaarina found outside the office.

 Of course a house is not complete without geckos. They eat lots of small bugs. The only downside is the little presents they leave behind. How many geckos can you count?

And in a parting wave here is one of our favorites. We love seeing Preying Mantises around... especially in our garden!

Wet and more wet

On June 25th, 2011, Tha Thom district experienced leftovers of a typhoon coming over Vietnam. It dumped rain on Xieng Khuang province – and lots of it!

Early in the morning, I walked to the market in the falling rain. When I returned to our house, I looked down to the river and was surprised to see it had risen over night and was almost up to the bottom of our terraces. This is almost a meter (three feet) higher than normal!

The Swollen River

As the morning progressed, the rain continued and the river rose still more. At about noon Jeffrey was called to the MCC office because water was beginning to flood the bottom floor and staff had to quickly move all the electronics to the second story. When he came back, Jeffrey said, ‘You have to see this! Half of town is flooded!’

MCC Tha Thom Office Under Water

A walk around town later that afternoon proved this was definitely a flood. The lower area of Tha Thom, where the market, hospital and several district offices are, was under water (anywhere from a meter to six inches) The MCC office included!

The Office Pond

In all Tha Thom District was dumped with five days of steady rain. Here in the capital, we experienced major erosion, washing away the butcher shop and moving large amounts of sand and rock. Other areas of the district were also hit hard. A bridge on the way to one of our target villages was destroyed. Farmers are also suffering as seeds beds were washed away and whole fields are now covered with sand. We have heard reports that in other areas of the province, whole villages have been washed away!

Our Lake behind the Office

Preparing for the Second Flood

To make things worse the next weekend we had several days of heavy rain and the river rose again. This time people were more prepared, or at least we were at the MCC office. The staff joined together, filling bags with sand and building a dike in front of each door. The water rose, but thankfully stayed out of the office this time.

Filling Sand Bags

Wet and Happy

Teamwork

District Offices Flooded

The government has responded as well as a number of INGO’s, providing rice and supplies, recording damage and planning for rebuilding.

Since the rains have stopped, the rivers have receded back to their normal monsoon level. We are thankful to be dry again, and besides losing a large portion of our terraces, experienced little damage to our garden and home.