Peaceful, calm, serene – these might as well be synonyms for Luang Prabang one of the main cities in northern Laos. The beautiful city on the edge of the Mekong river sometimes seems to be composed of more Buddhist temples than anything else and monks seem to comprise the bulk of the population.

The quiet streets rarely get more busy than the morning alms ceremony that sees hundreds of monks appear from the Wats to silently collect donations of food from locals aiming to make merit. Once finished, the monks slip back to their temples and monasteries where they carry on with their work, study and prayer. They are, however, all too happy to put those endeavours aside to practice their language skills with passers by.

My time in Laos was dominated by such conversations. These brilliant boys and young men often waved me over and quickly started to showcase their knowledge of English and before I knew it, I had some new friends and got invited to teach an English class at one of the local schools. Their varied backgrounds were fascinating and their senses of humour kept me entertained for hours and I’m happy to say I still keep in touch with one of them who’s now on Facebook!