Sunday. The end of week one and I am taking a prop Laos Airlines flight back to Vientiane where I will be collected and driven to the LCTW project. Initials for the Laos Conservation Trust for Wildlife. A timely reminder of the work to be done was the signage at customs (main shot) written in Lao, Chinese and English.

The LCTW project is located 60 km north of Vientiane, in the Phou Khao Khouay National Park. Its exact location has not yet been given, perhaps for obvious reasons given the work carried out there. Initially formed as a zoo in the 1990’s, it later, in the 2010’s, became a centre for conservation and, because of its positioning, a rescue and rehabilitation centre for trafficked animals in South East Asia.

Now, before leaving home I might have thought that, like those youngsters passing through Laos on their way to and from other countries, that the same would apply to Wildlife trafficking. Laos just suffers from being sandwiched between Thailand, Vietnam and China, but now that I have been here for a week and the little numbers of wildlife that I have seen might suggest that Laos itself is front and centre.

So maybe I have just had my last bug-free bedroom, bathroom and shower for at least the next week. And ready to shake my boots and clothes before I get dressed in the morning. Well, I must tell you, I am very excited by what comes next.