MontanaRon

An English teacher's blog about his travels and his digital art.

Typhoon Wipha

July 22, 2025 /

Typhoon Wipha, now a tropical storm and soon to be a depression, is tracking north of us and is supposed to bring heavy rain to our area, maybe on the order of three inches or so. Yuk, just when my front yard was beginning to dry out from previous heavy rain. But, good luck to others who will probably be more heavily impacted than I. Here’s a full report from the Mekong River Commission, whose headquarters is in Vientiane.

As of 7 AM today, Tropical Storm WIPHA was centered around 21.3°N, 109.9°E—just off the northern coast of China’s Leizhou Peninsula, about 220 km east of Quang Ninh–Hai Phong (Viet Nam). The storm is bringing strong winds of 75–88 km/h and is moving west-southwest at 15–20 km/h.
🔜 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝟮𝟰 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: The storm is expected to strengthen as it moves west-southwest into the Northern Gulf of Tonkin, picking up speed to 20–25 km/h.
🔜 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝟰𝟴 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: It may weaken into a Tropical Depression over land in Thanh Hoa–Nghe An (Viet Nam), moving west-southwest at 10–15 km/h.
🔜 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝟳𝟮 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: The system will likely continue weakening into a Low Pressure Area as it moves over northern Lao PDR.
📅 𝟮𝟮–𝟮𝟰 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗨𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗠𝗕:
Widespread heavy rain is expected in the upper parts of Lao PDR and Thailand, with daily rainfall of 80–150 mm, and locally exceeding 200 mm. On 23 July, some areas in northern Lao PDR could see very heavy rainfall, ranging from 140–200 mm and possibly over 250 mm in some spots.
📍 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲:
🇱🇦 Northern Lao PDR: Bokeo, Luang Namtha, Oudomxay, Sayabouly, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Xieng Khouang, Bolikhamsai, Khammouane
🇹🇭 Northern Thailand: Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai
🇰🇭 Cambodia: Southwestern areas and the 3S Basin (Sekong, Sesan, Srepok)
⚠️ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘁: Heavy to very heavy rain may trigger flash floods, river overflows, and flooding, especially between 23–24 July. Please follow updates and local authority instructions.

Buddhist Lent Day in Laos

July 10, 2025 /

Today, July 10th, marks the beginning of the Buddhist Lent period, or Boun Khao Phansa, which lasts for approximately three months. It’s the time when Buddhist monks return to their home temples, there to stay for the length of the period to study, meditate and reflect for spiritual renewal. It happens on the first day after the full moon of the eighth lunar month and marks the beginning of the three-month rainy season. Well, the rainy season this year seems to have begun much earlier, and it’s been raining most of the morning. It’s been raining here since June and my yard at my house has been flooded for at least the past ten days, making it difficult to go jogging in the morning without getting my shoes soaked.

Anyway, at the end of the three-month period, on Boun Ok Phansa day, Lent finishes. The day after that is the final day of the Vientiane Boat Racing festival.

I’ve posted before about the start of the Lent period here, and here. Although it’s not an official national holiday, quite a few businesses shut down, especially local small mom-and-pop vendors.

Here’s a photo, taken this morning, of Nai preparing a goodie basket for the monks at a nearby temple. Most merit-makers include sweets in their baskets. I kid Nai that he’s going to make the monks fat. But, most people, including Nai, also include cooked rice and other food, like fruit, in their offerings to the monks.

Nai has a small shrine inside the house. He lit some candles and prayed to Buddha before he left for the temple. This evening he’ll probably light a bunch of candles on the porch and add some goodies to the outside shrine he also has.

Rainy Season Full Blast in Laos

July 8, 2025 /

Yes, rainy season has arrived in force in Laos. Many villages and towns have been inundated and flooded, if they’re near a river. I haven’t heard of any deaths, but there may have been a few, although nothing catastrophic. It seems, though, that the entire country has been hit quite hard by recent rainfall.

As for me, I’ve been unable to leave my house to go jogging in the mornings without getting my shoes soaked. For a week now, my yard has been under water, more or less, but today the water receded enough for me to get out and get some running in. It had started to recede earlier in the week, but when it did, we’d get hit with another torrential, overnight storm. Not much fun.

And this is just the start. Rainy season will usually run from now until the middle of October, so I suppose I can look forward to other periods of jogging being postponed due to a flooded yard. Sheesh. Here’s a view of the yard before the water went down. Of course, I shouldn’t complain too much. Compared to folks whose villages have flooded and whose houses are underwater, I guess I’m not too bad off. More later.

Digital Art — Vientiane Presidential Mansion

June 26, 2025 /

Here’s a new piece of digital art that I made just experimenting with various filters and textures in Photoshop. This is a view of the largely ceremonial Presidential Mansion, which is rarely used, in Vientiane, Laos from the top of the Patuxai Monument looking down Lane Xang avenue. Not my best effort, but at least I’ve got something to post after such a long layoff. Enjoy.

Day One Journal App

January 2, 2025 /

I’m pretty much into journaling, whether it’s keeping a physical daily journal in my paper notebook or writing morning pages in another notebook.  I started my daily journal as a modified bullet journal and I still keep it that way. In it I keep ideas for digital art projects, resources, things to do that relate to art or things to do around the house, movies to watch, books to read and other items. Unfortunately, I don’t keep up with it daily and, in fact, I only add an entry maybe once a week. My morning pages journal I just began a few weeks ago, and I write in it every morning, quite happily. Click on the links above if you’re not sure what kind of journals these are.

Although I enjoy writing with pen on paper, which has many advantages, I recently found out about a digital journal app that I’ve completely fallen in love with. It’s called DayOne. . It’s digital journal app that can be used with an Android or iphone, with a Mac or Mac tablet and with a web browser, which I mostly use because trying to type on my phone just drives me crazy. If you’ve always wanted to journal but just hate the idea of writing with pen and paper, give DayOne a try. You can do almost any kind of journaling with it. It’s free, but paying $34.99 a year for the premium version gives you so many more options on how to use. Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with DayOne in any way whatsoever, so I get no compensation for touting this product.

Day One App logo

Merry Christmas to All

December 25, 2024 /

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you have a wonderful, happy day, and also, in advance, have a Happy New Year.

Today in Laos it’s a nice 76 fahrenheit (24 celsius) at around 11 a.m. No snow, but plenty of sunshine. LOL Christmas isn’t a huge celebration here, but plenty of people celebrate the season and there are plenty of decorations in various businesses, but no religious connotations. Still, it’s nice. Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Recent Health Checks

December 24, 2024 /

I’ve recently had a few health check-ups and here are the results:

High Blood Pressure Check

I’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure for more than three years now, and it’s under control with blood pressure medications and eating a fairly healthy diet. This check up on November 29th was a routine visit to my doctor’s clinic to renew my three-months supply of the meds. While there I also had a semi-annual blood test and an annual EKG check. I also, for the first time ever, had an ultra sound check of my liver, kidneys and bladder. The blood test showed everything was within the normal range, no high cholesterol, no high sodium intake, and all the other items on the blood test were great. The EKG showed no problems, and the ultra sound also showed no negative results. I got my meds and paid the bill for the check up. It was 2,719,000 Lao kip, which, at current exchange rates is around $125. Great

Colonoscopy

On December 19th I went in for colonoscopy. It had been more than 20 years since I’d had one, so I thought that at my age, 76, it was time to make sure that there were no problems inside. Luckily, my GP doc, he from whom I got the meds and the check up earlier, has a colleague who does colonoscopies at one of the local hospitals, so I set up an appointment with her. Got the laxatives and cleansing solution, which saw me on the toilet for a while, and then off to Mahosot Hospital here in Vientiane for the procedure. It didn’t take long, perhaps 20-30 minutes, and I was able to make my way back home on my motorbike with no anaesthetic wooziness. The results came back showing no problems at all, no polyps to remove and, of course, no signs of cancer. Yahoo! I was certainly relieved.

Total Costs

The total cost of the procedure was around $250, so, all-in-all, the cost for every thing over the past few weeks was around $375. Great price and the service was also excellent. I’m not insured, since I have a pre-existing condition–I’m over 70. LOL The school gives me and a few other teachers who have other pre-existing conditions $1000 a year. Almost all the other staff and teachers at the school get regular health insurance from the school. At any rate, compare that $375 cost with what you might pay in the United States. I’ll wait. Yeah, no comparison, it’s a fraction of what U.S. costs would be.

Intestine Photos

Have you ever seen what the inside of a healthy intestine looks like? If you’re a bit squeamish, I wouldn’t click on the next link, which shows a few photos of my intestines. You have been warned!

Colonoscopy Photos

Digital Art–Purgatory

October 15, 2024 /

Here’s a new piece of digital art, just a whimsical piece, a small one more like a finger exercise. I haven’t really decided on a title, yet. I’m pondering whether to call it “Purgatory” or “Life Goes On.” I didn’t use any AI, like Midjourney or such, just some content from one of my digital art courses.

« Older posts

© 2025 MontanaRon

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑