Beerlao launched in 1973 is the best selling brand in Lao PDR
Beerlao Lager is a European Pale Lager style beer brewed by Lao Brewery Co. You can’t go anywhere in Laos without seeing the Beerlao logo, because it’s effectively state owned and has a near monopoly on beer sales.
5% alcohol by volume and brewed using local rice and imported hops and barley it is a pale amber colour with a pleasant and refreshing taste. It’s well suited to the South East Asian climate.
Best drunk cold, of course.
Restaurant price for a 660ml bottle was about LAK30,000 (= approx €1.30)
The Angkor National Museum, is located on Charles de Gaulle Avenue also known as Preah Sihanouk Avenue in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The main galleries focus on the art and culture of the Khmer civilization, with collections mainly dated from the Khmer Empire‘s Angkor period circa 9th to 14th-century. So they contain examples from the earlier Hindu period as well as later Buddhist ones.
A buddha at the Angkor National Museuma delicately carved Hindu friezeSeated statue at the Angkor National MuseumScale model of Angkor WatHindu deity at the Angkor National Museum
The wikipedia page wrongly states that the museum has a strict no-photos policy. This is out of date, you may, as I did, take photos but flash photography is forbidden.
Eventually the high speed line from Taipei will terminate here and the are preparing the station for this. It looks very promising so far. I also had to include the video taken in the entrance to the metro station. Trippy stuff.
Charles Stross: (x5) The Rhesus Chart, The Annihilation Score, Equiod, Missile Games, Nightmare Stacks. Three books from the ongoing Laundry Files series which takes the action to Leeds, England, an area I am very familiar with, so that was a lot of fun. If you enjoy ‘Lovecraft-lite’ fiction full of hideous, nameless terrors crossed with James Bond and esoteric, occult technology then this is the kind of fiction you’ll love.
Sci-fi:
(x10) Best of British Science Fiction 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, Best of American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021, The Android’s Dream & Starter Villain by John Scalzi, The Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow, The City on the Edge of Forever by Harlan Ellison. The Best of British Science Fiction series was an excellent find. Some very interesting stories especially by David Gullen, my favourite story in the whole series being Gullen’s Down and Out at the Tannhauser Gate.
(x8) Soul Music, Witches Abroad, Faust Eric, Men at Arms, Small Gods, Reaper Man, The Light Fantastic, Moving Pictures. I’ll keep it simple – Six Reasons You Should Read Discworld.
Classics:
(x3) Dio’s Rome Volume 1, Thucydides – The History of the Peloponnesian War, The Reign of Tiberius – Tacitus. They are called classics for a reason.
Non-fiction/Miscellaneous:
(x6) World Bank Group – Laos Railway Report, Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie, Raising Livestock, Easy Indian Cooking, The Nature of Oaks, Stoicism: A Very Short Introduction
The moat around Angkor Wat seen from the southPool at Angkor Thom, Siem Reap , CambodiaA different view of the pool at Angkor Thom
These GIFs of the pools at Angkor Wat were taken using the ‘Live’ option on my iPhone. They can be saved as GIFs although this does increase the file size (about 15MB), please be patient and let them load.
