Philip Malone

This article is part of a series of guest blogs contributed by Brits who have lived and worked in Laos, or who have other interesting links to Laos. Little did I know in 2004 when I first set eyes on the place I described as ‘Nearly Heaven’ in my blog, how tragedy would lead me […]

This article is part of a series of guest blogs contributed by Brits who have lived and worked in Laos, or who have other interesting links to Laos. I arrived in Laos on a dusty old tuk-tuk rattling down the main road from the Thai border into Vientiane for a 2 week holiday.  Eight years later, […]

This article is part of a series of guest blogs contributed by Brits who have lived and worked in Laos, or who have other interesting links to Laos. I was the Second Secretary in the Embassy in Vientiane from early 1966 to late 1968. It was an interestng time as the extension of the Vietnam […]

I moved to Laos from the UK 6 months ago with my partner James. We both work in the travel industry and Laos offered us the opportunity to work in a location where tourism is still very much developing and arguably in its infancy.

I arrived in Laos as a Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) volunteer on 28 April 1997 thinking the 2 years I was planning on spending in the country would seem an eternity. Now, 16 years later I am just two days away from leaving Laos. It has been an eventful, sometimes frustrating and life changing experience but it is time to leave, although not forever as my wife is Lao so we will be back for sure.

It was almost by chance that I first visited Laos in 2008. My plan to visit Myanmar with my wife Catriona had been cancelled at the last moment due to changed advice from the Foreign Office.

Having originally come to Laos on a working holiday in February 1995, I count myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to make my life here. A young man not long out of university, I was asked to visit two ex-college mates working for Houakhong Trading, a fuel company set up by a British investor.

The British Embassy plane, a de Havilland Beaver piloted by Major Alan Calder, Assistant Military Attaché, delivered me to Pakse in September 1972, together with my motor bike. As a volunteer with VSO, my job was to oversee the technical running of the Lao National Radio station in Pakse, and to continue the training of the Lao technicians.

This article is part of a series of guest blogs contributed by Brits who have lived and worked in Laos, or who have other interesting links to Laos. My first visit to Laos was in 1983 when I was part of a young professional scheme funded by the British Aid programme. I had been attached to a regional UN […]