Recorded at Owen's regular morning coffee spot in Luang Prabang, at 3 PM, because barmen keep their own hours.

Owen is Canadian, stubborn by his own admission, and has called Laos home on and off since 2016. He first arrived as an English teacher with an NGO, working with novice monks in Buddhist temples outside Luang Prabang, before helping build one of the city's first stable for-profit language schools. Then COVID hit, the borders closed, and he found himself in Hackney for five years, working long hours and saving up for fish and chips.

In this episode we talk about growing up feeling like you don't belong, what it means when a place finally matches your pace, and why the go-go-go mentality never quite sticks in Laos. We also get into the Lao village chief system, the honest directness he found here that he never quite got in London, and the difference between freedom in the UK and freedom in Southeast Asia.

And at the end, Owen shares a moment of kindness that wasn't soft or sentimental, just someone telling him the truth at exactly the right time.

If you're in Luang Prabang, go find him at La Cantina.