Laos — The death of my faithfully travel umbrella
A sad, sad day
September 2015
With great sadness, I announce the death of my travel umbrella.
I bought the umbrella two years ago on a sweltering day in Singapore. I had seen many locals using umbrellas in the sun and thought I would try it. It was a revelation! Wow! (I once asked a Malaysian friend visiting the UK what his biggest surprise was about the UK. He paused, thought, and then said, “people don’t put umbrellas up to keep the sun off”.)
I went to a local stall and selected a small blue umbrella with a silver lining and an SPF rating of 50. It was cheap, and I wasn’t expecting it to last long. I was wrong.
The umbrella served me well, and I viewed it as an essential piece of kit in my travels. It had kept me dry in the rain and prevented me from getting burnt by the sun on many occasions. It worked far better than any sunblock cream.
Sadly, a freak gust of wind whilst visiting a temple in Cambodia damaged a metal strut, and then the strut broke.
The umbrella has been on trips with me to the UK, Switzerland, Singapore, France, UK, Austria, USA, Australia, Bali, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. It had also been all over Malaysia, both the peninsula and east Malaysia.
One well-travelled brolly that will be greatly missed.
