The karst landscape on the Nam Ou river
In the second part of our journey we travel from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang, via Nam Tha and the ‘Green triangle’ of the hill tribes. Continue reading
Flash-packing in Laos 2: Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang
Author Archives: vickyunwin
Flash-packing in Laos: 1 Vientiane to Nong Khiaw
We arrive in Vientiane after a disaster of a start to the holiday: first Ross can’t find our tickets online so he rebooks them, and then he gets shortchanged on arrival at the airport. But bad humour is soon dispelled by cousins Christine and Diego, who are waiting at the hotel, and the arrival of G&Ts and beers. Continue reading
Of headhunters, bat caves and apes in deepest Borneo
Kuching at sunset
Nicholas meets us at the airport. He is our Iban guide, descended from the legendary headhunters and heavily tattooed in traditional fashion. He will be looking after us for our few days in Mulu, in the heart of Borneo, bordering Brunei. Continue reading
Celebrating TWO years in remission
The majestic Dents du Midi from the little chuff chuff up to CHampery
Sorry for the long silence! Nothing amiss just…travelling back to London and Switzerland has proved extremely exhausting. I know it sounds curmudgeonly to complain – and I’m not really moaning – but being homeless while our house is being renovated is unsettling to say the least. We are turning it into two flats, one of which we shall rent out, but it involves the whole house being re-organised as you can imagine. Continue reading
‘Teaching the unreached’ Part 2: Banlung and Ratanakiri schools
Welcome committee at Blai
The second part of our journey will take us to Banlung, the hub for the 23 Ratanakiri schools and where the UWS journey began. Maxine and John have gone on to Siem Reap, so we are now five. It’s a 3 hour drive from Siem Pang to Banlung, and after an hour or so on the pitted murram the road returns to tarmac, and the scenery changes from scrub to row upon row of rubber plantations – the ecocide that has destroyed the rainforest and scarred the landscape forever. In between are cassava plants which leaches the soil so it’s all in all a no win situation for the future. Continue reading
‘Teaching the unreached’ – visiting the school we sponsor in Cambodia
This blog is dedicated to the memory of our darling daughter Louise, who would have been 26 on 7 December. Her spirit guides us in the work we do for UWS
Six months ago I became involved with a charity United World Schools, whose strap line is ‘teaching the unreached’. We build schools and provide basic reading, writing and counting skills to the world’s poorest children in Cambodia (30 schools). Myanmar (5 schools) and Nepal (5 schools planned). We aim to have 50,000 children in school by the end of 2018. Continue reading
My piece from today’s Sunday Times on bereavement
The grief will never go but I’m different — nicer [well, I like to think so!]
The pain was crushing when Vicky Unwin, like the musician Nick Cave, lost a child to drugs. But pouring energy into campaigning has helped heal her
‘Funny, vivacious’ Louise Cattell, pictured before going to hula-hoop at the Lovebox festival in 2010, died aged 21 when she drowned in the bath after taking the club drug ketamine
You can get away from it all in Ubud
Now we are in Ubud for the weekend, staying in the Komaneka Tanggayuda. I have booked a villa with an infinity pool as a birthday present to us both, and it is divine. The outdoor granite bath is something else!
Diving Granny-style in Wakatobi
I am gliding over the coral reef, like superwoman. Fan corals stand proud from the reef wall, pink and purple, hiding their pygmy seahorses, while the hard stag corals resonate in blues, oranges and greens, interspersed with waving fronds of anemones, complete with their Nemos, guarding eggs. Butterfly and surgeon fish dart in and out of the intricate fretwork and shoals of fusiliers dart by in a flash of silver before disappearing into the blue.
Girls have fun in Victoria Falls
Classic view from the Zimbabwe side
We leave Mana early in the morning, Fi and I in our four-seater, piloted by Sidney. As we near the Falls, he gives us a bird’s eye view, sweeping down low in a 360. We can see the rumours of low water are horribly true – Zambia seems little more than a trickle. They have been siphoning off the water for hydro power, leaving the Zimbabwean side horribly short. Harare has suffered 24 hr power cuts in recent days. Continue reading
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