December 20
It's Tuesday.
It is very cool this morning, around 9 degrees Celsius. But the temperature will change in the day. We had a soup at 8am to warm us up for breakfast. Then at around 9:30, we went to the Education Office of Oudomxay Province. We talked with the deputy director and the head of construction. Our one-hour conversation proved rewarding. We are expecting up-to-date statistics on school attendance. Moreover, there seems to be a positive response to our priority criteria: maintenance of a school after its construction and assistance during a project staggered over several months. It looks promising so far.
After having obtained our plane tickets at the airport in preparation for our trip back to Vientiane, we had time to visit a nearby school that had just benefited from the support of the humanitarian organization Human'Isa. We talked with teachers to learn more.
Then back to the airport, we boarded our plane as scheduled at 12:30 noon. The flight lasted 50 minutes. FYI -- taxis are cheaper than the Jumbos, the Laotian Tuc-tucs. At the Douang Deuane Hotel, we rested briefly before strolling downtown to check out the tennis courts and the stadium used by runners and soccer players. At 6 pm, at the front of the hotel lobby’s Christmas Tree, we met Mr. Somphet Leenthasone, our travel agent, who found us tickets at good prices for our trips over the last few days, By this time, the temperature had reached a fine 30 degrees Celsius.
