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It has been my guide as I've travelled the world on this fragmented sabbatical. Here in Laos, it left it's roadside puddle and hovered at my side as I biked towards Ban Konglore, opened a brief window into the still traditional lives of the Lowland Lao.-
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Lao villages are clusters of sturdy stilt homes made of the rot-resistant tropical hardwoods (e.g. teak).
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There are five main components to the families living quarters.
- An open living space, sparsely furnished with a TV, a mat to sit on and a single florescent tube attached to the ceiling. (Below: children doing their homework under the one light).
- An open, raised platform where guests (e.g. me) are accommodated. - Two closed rooms - one for the family to sleep in, and one for storage.
- A closed kitchen, where food is cooked over an open fire - set apart so it's less likely to burn the whole house down if it catches fire. 
- a back porch for washing up and food preparation - waste water and unused morsels are tossed over the edge for the chickens, goats, pigs and dogs that root around under the house.
At a safe distance, a separate stilt shed protects the rice harvest from destruction should the house catch fire. A small brick building in another corner of the yard houses the toilet.
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A nearby river provides water for washing and flushing. Increasingly Unesco is providing wells for drinking and cooking.
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In dry season, it's sometimes necessary to dig into the dry riverbed to find water.
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Most work in the village is communal and everyone gets involved. In the villages that I visited, the wet season brings the hard work of planting, tending and harvesting rice from the paddies.
In the dry season, tobacco is heavily irrigated, harvested, tied into bundles and dried in tall, banana-leaf structures that ring the fields.
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-Logging provides another source of income, and is starting to iminge on many of the protected forests that Laos has set aside in the central provinces.
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Charcoal is another threat to the forest. Hardwood trees are cut, and burned in underground ovens to produce the smokeless fuel for cooking. This young woman is riding a load of charcoal loaded onto the back of a rice paddie tractor.
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-There is time to play for the children, but rarely any toys. This young boy has fashioned a vehicle of some sort out of a tube and a piece of wire.
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-And there is always time (and money) for a celebration. I was lucky enough to be invited to a wedding reception - and while a viscious, out-of-season downpour put a damper on the outdoor feast for 750, I had a chance to admire the finery of the local women at their most beautiful.
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And to admire the handsome young couple as they led their families in the shuffling welcome dance. (If only I could get that infernal Lao music out of my head ... electronic wails and temple block: "aaah kaboodle dahly bing bing").
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I'm lucky that the dragonfly was with me - allowing the briefest glimpse into everyday life in a part of the world most of us never get to see.
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