Hi everyone!
I'm carrying the same list from Korea over to my experiences in Kuwait.
*If you'd like to be taken off of the list, please let me know.
I've been in Kuwait for about a week after an amazing summer vacation! My flight got in around 3AM, and I was met by a woman who is originally from Palestine but has lived in Kuwait for over 40 years. We had orientation for 5 days and are going to start working at the school on Sunday. My work week is Sunday through Thursday and we'll start school September 27th as long as the H1N1 paranoia doesn't push the school start date back like it is predicted to do so. Kindergarten isn't starting until December because of the scare. We arrived at the time of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. It is illegal at this time to drink (even water), eat, smoke, and chew gum in public between the hours of 4AM and 6PM. I'll start trying to type in my blog again. I've changed the name and address to: www.stashiwanderer.blogspot.com
This summer I spent a few days in California visiting two friends of mine, Chris Cosner and Nick Kauffman. After that, I spent 3 weeks at home with family and friends.
From there, I traveled to the Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India. I visited friends in each of the countries for 10 days minus Malaysia. I spent only a day in Malaysia with a woman I met on Couchsurfing.com, a website that allows you to connect with people all over the world willing to house travelers that are passing through.
I'm going to break them down into three emails. Always so much to say. ^_~
PHILIPPINES
I arrived in the Philippines on August 3rd late at night. Having not booked a guest house in advance, I asked at the information desk for a recommendation. Because of that, I spent an interesting taxi ride trying to find a place to stay. I settled on a room more expensive than the "dorm" which consisted of bunk beds behind bamboo screens in what appeared to be the hallway of a building. When I realized there was A) a cockroach roaming around the community bathroom and B) there was no toilet paper, I decided to NOT go the bathroom. However, around midnight I finally gave in and decided to brave the cockroach. After getting semi-comfortable with the presence of a cockroach, I look over and there is a worm crawling on the side of the toilet tank. Ha! I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night.
I had coffee with a family who was on vacation in Manila from another part of the Philippines in the morning. The father and daughter offered to take me to meet my friend, Malcolm - a Kiwi friend of mine who I met in Korea while volunteering at the House of Sharing together. The traffic in Manila is HORRIBLE so we transferred to the metro.
After being late to meet my friend, I found out that we couldn't take the boat to the island we were headed to because of a typhoon. It had made the water unsafe for travel. We spent the night at a dorm where volunteers are trained for my friend's organization (Meaningful Volunteer - meaningfulvolunteer.org) and an organization called CERV. They work together on projects mostly based on the island of Romblon, in the village of Sugod (pronounced "So Good").
The next day after a taxi ride, a 2 hour bus ride, a 10 hour boat ride (I slept the whole time - there were beds provided), an hour and a half jeepney ride (a vehicle extended at the back to be made into a form of public transportation by the local population after Americans abandoned a large number of jeeps after the war), and a 30 minute walk, we arrived in Sugod at 4AM.
We had crabs! Ok...just one. Literally a little crab had wandered in from the ocean which was a 2 minute walk from our front door and was chillin' with us in the dorm. We also had a few cockroaches scurrying about and tons of geckos which are absolutely adorable!
Malcolm and I stayed in a "dorm" with two volunteers, Camilla, a 22-year-old from England and Emily, an 18-year-old Korean from Canada. Just down the road, two more volunteers, Ingrid, a 26-year-old from New Zealand (whom I also met in Korea) and Rita, a 20 year old from Cali, were living with Ma'am Tess (Mom Tess) and Felix. Mom Tess and Felix cooked all of our meals for us and are absolutely incredible people!
Although I had come to the Philippines to visit Malcolm, I was lucky enough to be able to do some volunteer work while on the island.
There are many projects that Malc has been working on. 1) Building a school and bringing in volunteers to teach students English. Currently the students are taking English classes at the school that already exists in the village. 2) Computer classes for teachers. 3) Mangrove replanting because a good majority of the mangroves which help protect against typhoon damage on the island have been cut down for firewood or made into charcoal. 4) Lifecycle project working to education women in a Catholic nation on a natural birth control method. *If you want to know more information, please don't hesitate to ask me or visit the website!
These amongst other projects are currently in the works in Sugod. Malc wanted me to interview and take pictures of students and their families to put on the Meaningful Volunteer website so that students can be sponsored in the future. In doing so, I interviewed nearly 35 students and their families and was able to take pictures of the homes of almost all of the students.
After getting 3 hours of sleep the first night, I headed home with two students, Baby Ann and Jude Ann. They were released from school to show me their home so I could interview their parents and take pictures of them with their house and family. Their home...is on the top of a mountain; it is over an hour trek up. This is the story of so many students; they hike down the mountain for school and back up after school. Many of the families living on surrounding mountains must do the same with the crops they have planted.
I also helped teach one of the computer classes for teachers. We were teaching how to use excel spreadsheets. Teachers, listen up! These teachers were spending hours upon hours calculating their grades by hand because that had no such technology to help them. By teaching them the methods of calculating standard deviation and simple multiplication, it will take HOURS off the work they have to do. The problem is is that they don't have a computer that can be left at the school to be used by the teachers. They are learning on computers that were donated to the organization and they will be transferred to the new school once it is built. A single computer will cost around $350 USD. *If you're interested in donating, especially teachers who can understand what a pain hand processing grades can be, I will be sending out an email soon about how you can help.
We had a going away party one night for a few of the volunteers who had been there for a while. We rented videoke (video karaoke)! All of the students came and we fed them each! ^_~ We sang and danced the night away. Camilla's students came down from the mountain (where she teaches) with hair cuts and their nicest clothes on. So cute!
Besides that, we swam in the ocean, climbed a waterfall, and took showers in our outside shower when we couldn't stand the heat.
Taking a shower in the outside shower with four walls and no roof was incredible! Especially early in the morning when you could barely make out the mountains and palm trees surrounding the dorm but had the sunshine on your shoulders and just before bedtime while gazing at the stars.
I am continuously amazed at how attached I can become to a place and to a people in such a short span of time. As I left the village after only a little over a week, I had tears in my eyes at the thought of leaving the incredible people who had my short stay so memorable.
I promised Camilla I'd visit her in England. You can hold me to that promise..."Inshallah".
I flew from the island to an area called Dau and met up with Malcolm's Philippino girlfriend, Sel, and one of her friends. They showed me a not so nice area of the Philippines. There was an active American Air Force Base in Angeles. And because of the base, a localized prostitution street grew around the area. Since the base was cleared in 1991, there are fewer Americans visiting the area, but the prostitution area is still thriving with men from all over the world frequenting the bars and strip clubs. I was disgusted to see the manner in which women are treated in the area. At one club, we waited for a male friend of Sel's to show up because women couldn't enter unescorted. Inside, the women who weren't dancing, were responding to men's signals to come over. After a man had "chosen" a woman, the others were dismissed with a flick of his hand.
I chose to go to this area because I believe it's important to experience different sides of a country; to see the beauty but also understand where the problems of a nation lie. I hope to return to the beauty of Sugod someday and see how the children have grown.
MALAYSIA
I flew from Clark airport to Malaysia. I spent a very short time in this country and don't have more to report. I made a rookie traveling mistake and paid WAY too much for a taxi to the apartment of a woman I had met through Couchsurfing.com. Once I dropped my stuff off at the apartment building, I wandered the city of Kuala Lumpur by foot while I waited for Zurin to get off work. She, her roommate, and I spent the night talking and hanging out around the apartment. The next day, Zurin and I had breakfast together at a small Indian restaurant and she dropped me off at the metro. I ventured out to find the towers of Kuala Lumpur before heading to the airport by bus (which cost 1/8th of what the taxi ride cost). I flew out from Kuala Lumpur to Bangladesh...
*I've been slowly trying to upload pics from my camera to my computer to PhotoBucket. I finally got my pics recovered from my memory card that isn't working. There are some pics from the Philippines up on PhotoBucket now but not all.
Peace and Love from the Middle East,
Stacey
Friday, September 11, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Kuwait: A New Chapter - Sunday September 7, 2009
I got into Kuwait 3 days ago. Today was my first day of orientation.
I've met many wonderful people. Very few are my age from what I can tell. My neighbor, Lisette, is very friendly and despite the fact that she looks 25, she is 30. Most of the teachers, like Lisette, are Canadian.
I have met 3 other people from the states. They are all from Michigan, one couple and one girl my age. The girl my age, Addie, is soon turning 25 and is a Korean adoptee. We have shared our passion for Korea. Even though she hasn't been back since she was adopted at the age of three, she hopes to visit one day soon.
My brain is all over the place right now because I'm exhausted. Sorry for the randomness.
Today we met our admins minus Diane who is my principal and my mom's friend. Diane is the one who recruited me to teach at ACA, American Creativity Academy. She was delayed a day because her flight was canceled without warning. She is coming with my two suitcases because I traveled directly before coming here. I will post blogs soon about my travels this summer.
I also realized that the two boxes I sent from Korea to Kuwait may never make it; I have heard horrible things about postage to Kuwait. Things often disappear and/or never make it. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed.
I think the most surprising thing for me right now is that we live in a "concrete jungle." There is no nature. Not even sand. I have yet to really see much of the city or the country, so I'm sure I'll find nature in unexpected places still. Until then...concrete jungle it is. ^_~
As soon as I figure out how to get pics off of my camera, I'll put pics up on facebook and on photobucket.
I've met many wonderful people. Very few are my age from what I can tell. My neighbor, Lisette, is very friendly and despite the fact that she looks 25, she is 30. Most of the teachers, like Lisette, are Canadian.
I have met 3 other people from the states. They are all from Michigan, one couple and one girl my age. The girl my age, Addie, is soon turning 25 and is a Korean adoptee. We have shared our passion for Korea. Even though she hasn't been back since she was adopted at the age of three, she hopes to visit one day soon.
My brain is all over the place right now because I'm exhausted. Sorry for the randomness.
Today we met our admins minus Diane who is my principal and my mom's friend. Diane is the one who recruited me to teach at ACA, American Creativity Academy. She was delayed a day because her flight was canceled without warning. She is coming with my two suitcases because I traveled directly before coming here. I will post blogs soon about my travels this summer.
I also realized that the two boxes I sent from Korea to Kuwait may never make it; I have heard horrible things about postage to Kuwait. Things often disappear and/or never make it. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed.
I think the most surprising thing for me right now is that we live in a "concrete jungle." There is no nature. Not even sand. I have yet to really see much of the city or the country, so I'm sure I'll find nature in unexpected places still. Until then...concrete jungle it is. ^_~
As soon as I figure out how to get pics off of my camera, I'll put pics up on facebook and on photobucket.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Part 6: Cambodia
I forgot to post this email.
This is the final leg of my trip. From Pakse, Laos by plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia and down to Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.
SIEM REAP
In Siem Reap, I was met by a motorbike driver at the airport. It was $2, I think, for him to take me to a guest house. The guest house was great, and I kept the same motorbike driver for the day and the next day to take me around Angkor.
I was shocked at how westernized Siem Reap is. Everywhere accepts US dollars and when you retrieve money from any ATM, you receive US dollars. Everyone is trying to sell you something and foreigners everywhere. It was a long way from the laid back lifestyle in Laos.
The first night, I watched the sunset over a temple of Angkor. It was gorgeous. I slowly realized that I was again traveling alone. It was was a few and far between experience to see people traveling around Angkor on their own. That night, I went to see a traditional dance show at a hotel.
The following day, I was no longer on my own. With my motorbike driver, we traveled from temple to temple within the grounds of Angkor. At my favorite temple, Ta Prohm, I ran into an incredibly kind British couple in their late 40's/early 50's who let me tag along with them and their guide. I was lucky enough to run into them again at Angkor Wat! later on in the day. Despite the incredibly exhausting day of being in the sun, I knew where I wanted to go that night. I had found a flyer advertising a traditional dance show at an orphanage. I asked my motorbike driver to take me there. What an incredible experience! And, I guarantee, the dance show was just as good...scratch that...better than at the hotel. ^_~
I said goodbye to my driver because I was to head out to Phnom Pehn the next day; the last leg of my trip.
PHNOM PEHN
I met 3 British guys, 2 Canadian girls, and a Dutch guy on the bus ride to Phnom Pehn. We stuck together for the next two days.
The first night, after a game of charades at a restaurant to explain what we wanted to eat (amazingly we successfully explained one with no meat and 6 with meat...haha), we headed to a really awkward night club. Awkward in regards to the number of old foreign men hitting on younger Cambodian women.
The next day, I was relieved to have company as the two Canadian girls (MJ and Amy), the Dutch guy (Casper), and I headed to S21, the school turned torture camp/prison during the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge regime. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it turned out to be one of the most impacting experiences of my 2 months traveling. The things I learned...the things I hadn't known before made me angry at myself and ashamed.
Quick explanation for those that may not know what I'm talking about: During the years of 1971-1975, the communist party Khmer Rouge regime was in control of Cambodia headed by Pol Pot, a ruthless killer of 1/4 of the population of Cambodia in the span of a few years. Pol Pot believed that if you weren't from the country, you were "tainted." Anyone with education was killed first: teachers, former government officials, doctors, etc. Everyone who was living in the cities was forced to move to the countryside where they were forced to work producing rice; rice that was mostly sent outside of the country, despite Pol Pot's stance that the country was self sustainable, allowing "his" people to starve. Currency was banned, jewelry was banned, everyone was to wear identical black pajama-like clothing, individualism was banned. Besides S21 being used as a torture prison, the Killing Fields (much more "famous") was a place where those serving under the regime would take people, mostly those who has lived in the cities, and conduct mass murders.
After reading loads of information about the Khmer Rouge at S21, Casper and I continued on alone to the Killing Fields. Amy and MJ chose not to come along. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. A giant monument constructed in memory of those who had been murdered, filled to the top with skulls of the victims found. Remaining bones and clothes scattered about the ground. Emptied mass graves. A tree marked "Killing tree against which executioners beat children." Casper and I hardly spoke as we walked around, barely able to catch our breath under the weight of what we were seeing...all the while hearing the laughter of children at a school nearby.
That night, after a very heavy day, the four of us relaxed in our room and watched Slumdog Millionaire on MJ's computer.
The next day as the others headed out one way, I headed back to Bangkok for my flight "home," back to Korea.
It was a very sombering way to end my two months of travel, but it ended with new friends by my side. Not everything worked out perfectly or even the way I thought it would, but I wouldn't change any of it for the world.
Thanks for hangin' in there while it took me forever to get these emails out!!^^
Peace and Love,
Stacey
This is the final leg of my trip. From Pakse, Laos by plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia and down to Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.
SIEM REAP
In Siem Reap, I was met by a motorbike driver at the airport. It was $2, I think, for him to take me to a guest house. The guest house was great, and I kept the same motorbike driver for the day and the next day to take me around Angkor.
I was shocked at how westernized Siem Reap is. Everywhere accepts US dollars and when you retrieve money from any ATM, you receive US dollars. Everyone is trying to sell you something and foreigners everywhere. It was a long way from the laid back lifestyle in Laos.
The first night, I watched the sunset over a temple of Angkor. It was gorgeous. I slowly realized that I was again traveling alone. It was was a few and far between experience to see people traveling around Angkor on their own. That night, I went to see a traditional dance show at a hotel.
The following day, I was no longer on my own. With my motorbike driver, we traveled from temple to temple within the grounds of Angkor. At my favorite temple, Ta Prohm, I ran into an incredibly kind British couple in their late 40's/early 50's who let me tag along with them and their guide. I was lucky enough to run into them again at Angkor Wat! later on in the day. Despite the incredibly exhausting day of being in the sun, I knew where I wanted to go that night. I had found a flyer advertising a traditional dance show at an orphanage. I asked my motorbike driver to take me there. What an incredible experience! And, I guarantee, the dance show was just as good...scratch that...better than at the hotel. ^_~
I said goodbye to my driver because I was to head out to Phnom Pehn the next day; the last leg of my trip.
PHNOM PEHN
I met 3 British guys, 2 Canadian girls, and a Dutch guy on the bus ride to Phnom Pehn. We stuck together for the next two days.
The first night, after a game of charades at a restaurant to explain what we wanted to eat (amazingly we successfully explained one with no meat and 6 with meat...haha), we headed to a really awkward night club. Awkward in regards to the number of old foreign men hitting on younger Cambodian women.
The next day, I was relieved to have company as the two Canadian girls (MJ and Amy), the Dutch guy (Casper), and I headed to S21, the school turned torture camp/prison during the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge regime. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it turned out to be one of the most impacting experiences of my 2 months traveling. The things I learned...the things I hadn't known before made me angry at myself and ashamed.
Quick explanation for those that may not know what I'm talking about: During the years of 1971-1975, the communist party Khmer Rouge regime was in control of Cambodia headed by Pol Pot, a ruthless killer of 1/4 of the population of Cambodia in the span of a few years. Pol Pot believed that if you weren't from the country, you were "tainted." Anyone with education was killed first: teachers, former government officials, doctors, etc. Everyone who was living in the cities was forced to move to the countryside where they were forced to work producing rice; rice that was mostly sent outside of the country, despite Pol Pot's stance that the country was self sustainable, allowing "his" people to starve. Currency was banned, jewelry was banned, everyone was to wear identical black pajama-like clothing, individualism was banned. Besides S21 being used as a torture prison, the Killing Fields (much more "famous") was a place where those serving under the regime would take people, mostly those who has lived in the cities, and conduct mass murders.
After reading loads of information about the Khmer Rouge at S21, Casper and I continued on alone to the Killing Fields. Amy and MJ chose not to come along. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. A giant monument constructed in memory of those who had been murdered, filled to the top with skulls of the victims found. Remaining bones and clothes scattered about the ground. Emptied mass graves. A tree marked "Killing tree against which executioners beat children." Casper and I hardly spoke as we walked around, barely able to catch our breath under the weight of what we were seeing...all the while hearing the laughter of children at a school nearby.
That night, after a very heavy day, the four of us relaxed in our room and watched Slumdog Millionaire on MJ's computer.
The next day as the others headed out one way, I headed back to Bangkok for my flight "home," back to Korea.
It was a very sombering way to end my two months of travel, but it ended with new friends by my side. Not everything worked out perfectly or even the way I thought it would, but I wouldn't change any of it for the world.
Thanks for hangin' in there while it took me forever to get these emails out!!^^
Peace and Love,
Stacey
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Part 5: Laos
From Chiang Mai, Thailand ---> Huay Xai/Luang Namtha/Luang Prabang/Vang Vieng/Vientiane/Pakse, Laos
I met a girl from Germany (Mari) on the border of Thailand and Laos, so we started traveling together. We took a mini van with a French couple up to Luang Namtha. We had planned to take a long boat down to Luang Prabang but changed our minds.
The day after we arrived, Mari and I decided to rent motorbikes to ride out to a waterfall near a village. She had ridden loads of times but had been in a bad accident a week before; it was my first time. They didn't have automatics, so we rode geared motorbikes.
We set off and soon realized the road was a dirt and gravel road that wasn't the easiest to ride on. The ride was gorgeous though. We rode through a few villages; the rice fields and mountains were amazing.
At one point there was a hill that my bike decided it didn't want to go up and I didn't gear in time, so it and me rolled backward down the hill and the bike landed on me. I just laid there for a bit while Mari helped get the bike off of me. I just sat while village children surrounded me as I tried not to black out. Luckily we had helmets, so that wasn't a problem. I scraped my left elbow and hurt my wrist pretty badly. We cleaned off my elbow, and I told Mari we should keep going. This was before my wrist really started to hurt.
So, it was just a short ways to the waterfall we were going to climb up to. We sat down at the small store in the village and an old medicine man immediately realized what had happened. He crushed some sort of plant in alcohol and spread it on my elbow (OUCH) and my wrist. He pulled my wrist a bit as well. I had hit my back during the fall, so he gave me a massage. Really, he was very very kind. They were all so worried for me.
Mari and I sat there a bit and decided to go ahead and walk up to the waterfall. It was a little less than incredible, but it was a nice climb. When we came down, there was a French man who had biked in. We sat and talked to him and the villagers for hours. The villagers allowed us to take pictures of the adorable children!
As we got ready to go, Mari asked me if I could ride the motorbike. I, being stupid, said yes. It was obvious after just pulling it out of a parked position that I couldn't. The medicine man offered to ride me back to the city and then Mari could bring him back and go back to the city on her own. We agreed, happy that he had offered. I didn't mention that this man didn't really speak that much English, but we were able to use hand gestures to figure out what was going to happen.
When he dropped me off, a really sweet 22 year old Laos man who works at the guest house we were staying at, held ice on my wrist for a while. I soon realized that I had to go to the hospital; I was afraid it was broken. He took me to the hospital where I learned that if I wanted an xray, I had to come back the next morning. I had planned on leaving the next day to Luang Prabang but decided to stay for the xray.
The next morning, the same 22 year old took me back. He really was so sweet, telling me not to worry and making sure I understood what was going on at the doctor's office. Luckily nothing was broken...just hurt like hell.
That day, Mari and I decided to do some trekking on our own. We went on the main road until we got off a bit and ended up sitting in a bamboo hut in the middle of a field for a few hours just talking. We headed out, and of course I was on a streak of bad luck, and my foot ended up in a giant mud puddle...mud covering my shoe. Haha! We walked back through some beautiful rice fields occasionally taking some scary chances by crossing sticks (they were sticks really...not even logs) across small streams. We walked through a village until we finally made our way back to our guest house. I washed my shoe and it actually ended up cleaner than the other one. :)
I decided then to go on a 2 day trek with Mari and a group of a 22 year old Israeli guy, a 28 year old French couple, and a dutch girl my age. The people at the agency asked me if I could go trekking with my wrist as it was (it was wrapped at this point). My response, "You trek with your feet, right?" Haha!
The trek was good. A little intense at times with a mountain to one side and quite a long drop at the other side. There was actually times where I had to use my arms because the climb was so steep, but I tried to use my left arm as little as possible. We had lunch on the way at a little bamboo shack. Lunch mostly consisted of rice and a few roots and some wet seaweed. It was quite nice. I'm not so used to wet seaweed as dried, but it was decent.
We arrived at the village around 4PM where we would spend the night. We walked around the village with our guide Keo while our guide Noi cooked dinner. Dinner was rice, cooked cabbage, some egg and tomato mixture, and a few other things. We met the chief of the village afterward and a few others from the village. It was a great time! Asking questions and laughing. The chief told the French couple they should get married while he told me I should move to the village and teach the children. He was fantastic!
Apparently as a way to welcome visitors to the village, they give massages. So we had a massage before bed.
The next morning I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and I walked into a bamboo shoot sticking off of the school. I had an "X" shaped injury on my forehead until just recently. Haha! Luang Namtha has been a rough area for me.
We had about 4 more hours of trekking, stopping to eat lunch and nibble on some amazing mint candies called Dynamite with a delightful chocolate surprise in their centers. :) Oh, to add to the ridiculousness that I experienced in Luang Namtha...the bag with all of the cabbage juice spilled and was all over my pants and sweater. HAHAHA! It was a sign that it was time to move on to a different city.
We arrived back at 4PM where we all moved into the same guest house down the road that was cheaper. We met for dinner and some beer. The group also tried Laos Laos which is something we were offered by the chief of the village as well. It's a potent rice wine. Similar to the soju some of you tried from Korea. It wasn't as strong in the village as it was in town. Yuck!
The next day Mari and I traveled 8 hours south to Luang Prabang.
The next day, we climbed to the top of a large hill to see Wat Phousi (a temple) and had a gorgeous view of the city. We also bargained our way into a tuk tuk (a taxi like vehicle) only to find out that the tuk tuk didn't actually have room for us. So we just went to a travel agent for the same price to go to an absolutely AMAZING group of waterfalls and to see black bears at the entrance (no fears...they were in a cage). I swam in one of the waterfalls. I'll try to get pictures on facebook soon or send them. It was a torquoise blue. We started climbing not knowing where it was going to take us. I was in flip flops and it was very steep and very dusty, but we made it to the top to find out that it was the top of the waterfall. We carefully walked across the waterfall happy to find that the descent on the other side was much less likely to die from. We both went down in bare feet.
We spent the rest of the day drinking nutella and oreo shakes, eating, and exploring the enormous night market.
We left the next day for Vang Vieng. It was, next to a ride in Kenya, the worst ride of my life. It was horrible! I sat in a fold down chair in a mini van thinking I would have window access and more leg room only to find that fold down chairs are the least comfortable seats ever. I was holding on for my life as we went through the mountains for 4 hours. Our driver made everyone in the van angry after 4 hours of no food and no bathroom breaks. A laos woman with us luckily said that if the driver didn't stop, she was going to go the bathroom in his van. So, where did he stop? Of course, on the side of the road. We all peed in a field. Eh...at least he stopped. We stopped shortly after that for lunch as well. I changed seats with a man in the back who was bigger and not so tossed around by the shittiness of the fold down seat.
Mari and I decided to stay outside of the city in Vang Vieng at an organic farm. It was very peaceful. We went into town and found a great little chill out bar (unlike the music thumping that was coming from most of the bars). It was called Bamboo Restaurant. We each had a bamboo bucket of mojito ( ~$4) and I ate at their vegetarian buffet ( ~1.50/plate). We had rented bikes to travel the 4km from the farm to town and back.
The next day, we ate breakfast on the farm (mulberry pancakes and laos coffee!) before heading into town. We had to walk b/c the woman we rented bikes from was a little crazy and didn't want to give us bikes again. Mari had laid the bike down instead of using the kick stand, and she hated us from that point on. So we walked into town and rented bikes. We met up with a Dutch girl (Fieke) who we decided to travel with to the caves. We wanted to go to Phoukam cave but got off track somehow and ended up at Lusi cave. The ride was not easy, especially with an injured wrist. We were riding through a dry rice field. Fieke and I decided to go ahead into the cave. It was cool, minus the guide we had to pay. After a few inappropriate jokes in his minimal English and some unecessary handling of our butts to "help" us in the cave, we had had enough of him. He actually wanted a tip after that.
We rode on to find Phoukam. We ran into a friend of Fieke's she had met the day before. His name is Tom, he's a model in Bangkok from the states. Well all headed to the cave together only to realize it was 7 km of utter misery. Rocky, dusty... When we finally made it there, we jumped in the blue lagoon at first chance. Mari went into the cave before us because she didn't have her swimsuit. Tom, Fieke, and I went in later. It was actual climbing around on rocks once getting into the cave...pretty far from the ease of the Mammoth Cave trails of Kentucky. It was amazing though. Huge!
Mari rode back, but the other three of us decided to tuk tuk our way back. It was the best idea for my wrist. The four of us met up at the Bamboo Restaurant for dinner and mojito buckets and spent the whole night talking. Mari and I were a little lost trying to find her bike after walking Fieke back to her guest house but found our way eventually.
The next day, I went tubing alone after a goat cheese sandwich and laos coffee. Mari was sick and couldn't do anything all day. Tubing is getting a tube to float down the river while stopping at loads of bars along the way. The goal: To get drunk and stupid. It didn't turn out to be my thing. It was fun for the first few bars. I met loads of nice people and ran into an Argentinan couple that we met in Luang Prabang, but I guess I'm not the type to enjoy getting drunk while floating down the river. Not to mention, everyone who tubes gets injured somehow. They swing into the river and fail to avoid missing the rocks, they aren't careful while climbing out of the tube into the next bar and spear their foot with a rock, they (like the American model, Tom) are so drunk that they fall off the bridge while trying to cross the river at 4AM. Toward the end of tubing, I was very ready to be done. Most people get a tuk tuk back to the tubing place to get their deposit by 6PM. This is what the Argentinan woman and I did as well.
Mari was feeling a little better, so we met to return our bikes and eat dinner before walking back to the farm.
I headed out early the next morning to Vientiane, which is where I am now. I found a guest house and had way too much pizza for lunch. This might have contributed to why I'm sick now. Last night, I went to a laos traditional dance show which was fantastic, but I didn't feel well all day. I met up with some people, including Fieke from Vang Vieng and we went for Indian. I didn't eat because of how I was feeling and left early. It turns out that I left just in time; I definitely threw up all over the streets of Vientiane. I, just a step above crawling, found my way back to my guest house and slept all night minus the few times I had to wake up throughout the night.
I woke up finally around 11AM this morning having to check out by noon. I'm still not feeling great which is part of why I'm spending the day in an internet cafe. I'm leaving soon to go to a meditation session at a nearby Wat (temple). Tonight, I'm taking an overnight bus to the south of Laos and then a plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Peace and Love,
Stacey
I met a girl from Germany (Mari) on the border of Thailand and Laos, so we started traveling together. We took a mini van with a French couple up to Luang Namtha. We had planned to take a long boat down to Luang Prabang but changed our minds.
The day after we arrived, Mari and I decided to rent motorbikes to ride out to a waterfall near a village. She had ridden loads of times but had been in a bad accident a week before; it was my first time. They didn't have automatics, so we rode geared motorbikes.
We set off and soon realized the road was a dirt and gravel road that wasn't the easiest to ride on. The ride was gorgeous though. We rode through a few villages; the rice fields and mountains were amazing.
At one point there was a hill that my bike decided it didn't want to go up and I didn't gear in time, so it and me rolled backward down the hill and the bike landed on me. I just laid there for a bit while Mari helped get the bike off of me. I just sat while village children surrounded me as I tried not to black out. Luckily we had helmets, so that wasn't a problem. I scraped my left elbow and hurt my wrist pretty badly. We cleaned off my elbow, and I told Mari we should keep going. This was before my wrist really started to hurt.
So, it was just a short ways to the waterfall we were going to climb up to. We sat down at the small store in the village and an old medicine man immediately realized what had happened. He crushed some sort of plant in alcohol and spread it on my elbow (OUCH) and my wrist. He pulled my wrist a bit as well. I had hit my back during the fall, so he gave me a massage. Really, he was very very kind. They were all so worried for me.
Mari and I sat there a bit and decided to go ahead and walk up to the waterfall. It was a little less than incredible, but it was a nice climb. When we came down, there was a French man who had biked in. We sat and talked to him and the villagers for hours. The villagers allowed us to take pictures of the adorable children!
As we got ready to go, Mari asked me if I could ride the motorbike. I, being stupid, said yes. It was obvious after just pulling it out of a parked position that I couldn't. The medicine man offered to ride me back to the city and then Mari could bring him back and go back to the city on her own. We agreed, happy that he had offered. I didn't mention that this man didn't really speak that much English, but we were able to use hand gestures to figure out what was going to happen.
When he dropped me off, a really sweet 22 year old Laos man who works at the guest house we were staying at, held ice on my wrist for a while. I soon realized that I had to go to the hospital; I was afraid it was broken. He took me to the hospital where I learned that if I wanted an xray, I had to come back the next morning. I had planned on leaving the next day to Luang Prabang but decided to stay for the xray.
The next morning, the same 22 year old took me back. He really was so sweet, telling me not to worry and making sure I understood what was going on at the doctor's office. Luckily nothing was broken...just hurt like hell.
That day, Mari and I decided to do some trekking on our own. We went on the main road until we got off a bit and ended up sitting in a bamboo hut in the middle of a field for a few hours just talking. We headed out, and of course I was on a streak of bad luck, and my foot ended up in a giant mud puddle...mud covering my shoe. Haha! We walked back through some beautiful rice fields occasionally taking some scary chances by crossing sticks (they were sticks really...not even logs) across small streams. We walked through a village until we finally made our way back to our guest house. I washed my shoe and it actually ended up cleaner than the other one. :)
I decided then to go on a 2 day trek with Mari and a group of a 22 year old Israeli guy, a 28 year old French couple, and a dutch girl my age. The people at the agency asked me if I could go trekking with my wrist as it was (it was wrapped at this point). My response, "You trek with your feet, right?" Haha!
The trek was good. A little intense at times with a mountain to one side and quite a long drop at the other side. There was actually times where I had to use my arms because the climb was so steep, but I tried to use my left arm as little as possible. We had lunch on the way at a little bamboo shack. Lunch mostly consisted of rice and a few roots and some wet seaweed. It was quite nice. I'm not so used to wet seaweed as dried, but it was decent.
We arrived at the village around 4PM where we would spend the night. We walked around the village with our guide Keo while our guide Noi cooked dinner. Dinner was rice, cooked cabbage, some egg and tomato mixture, and a few other things. We met the chief of the village afterward and a few others from the village. It was a great time! Asking questions and laughing. The chief told the French couple they should get married while he told me I should move to the village and teach the children. He was fantastic!
Apparently as a way to welcome visitors to the village, they give massages. So we had a massage before bed.
The next morning I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and I walked into a bamboo shoot sticking off of the school. I had an "X" shaped injury on my forehead until just recently. Haha! Luang Namtha has been a rough area for me.
We had about 4 more hours of trekking, stopping to eat lunch and nibble on some amazing mint candies called Dynamite with a delightful chocolate surprise in their centers. :) Oh, to add to the ridiculousness that I experienced in Luang Namtha...the bag with all of the cabbage juice spilled and was all over my pants and sweater. HAHAHA! It was a sign that it was time to move on to a different city.
We arrived back at 4PM where we all moved into the same guest house down the road that was cheaper. We met for dinner and some beer. The group also tried Laos Laos which is something we were offered by the chief of the village as well. It's a potent rice wine. Similar to the soju some of you tried from Korea. It wasn't as strong in the village as it was in town. Yuck!
The next day Mari and I traveled 8 hours south to Luang Prabang.
The next day, we climbed to the top of a large hill to see Wat Phousi (a temple) and had a gorgeous view of the city. We also bargained our way into a tuk tuk (a taxi like vehicle) only to find out that the tuk tuk didn't actually have room for us. So we just went to a travel agent for the same price to go to an absolutely AMAZING group of waterfalls and to see black bears at the entrance (no fears...they were in a cage). I swam in one of the waterfalls. I'll try to get pictures on facebook soon or send them. It was a torquoise blue. We started climbing not knowing where it was going to take us. I was in flip flops and it was very steep and very dusty, but we made it to the top to find out that it was the top of the waterfall. We carefully walked across the waterfall happy to find that the descent on the other side was much less likely to die from. We both went down in bare feet.
We spent the rest of the day drinking nutella and oreo shakes, eating, and exploring the enormous night market.
We left the next day for Vang Vieng. It was, next to a ride in Kenya, the worst ride of my life. It was horrible! I sat in a fold down chair in a mini van thinking I would have window access and more leg room only to find that fold down chairs are the least comfortable seats ever. I was holding on for my life as we went through the mountains for 4 hours. Our driver made everyone in the van angry after 4 hours of no food and no bathroom breaks. A laos woman with us luckily said that if the driver didn't stop, she was going to go the bathroom in his van. So, where did he stop? Of course, on the side of the road. We all peed in a field. Eh...at least he stopped. We stopped shortly after that for lunch as well. I changed seats with a man in the back who was bigger and not so tossed around by the shittiness of the fold down seat.
Mari and I decided to stay outside of the city in Vang Vieng at an organic farm. It was very peaceful. We went into town and found a great little chill out bar (unlike the music thumping that was coming from most of the bars). It was called Bamboo Restaurant. We each had a bamboo bucket of mojito ( ~$4) and I ate at their vegetarian buffet ( ~1.50/plate). We had rented bikes to travel the 4km from the farm to town and back.
The next day, we ate breakfast on the farm (mulberry pancakes and laos coffee!) before heading into town. We had to walk b/c the woman we rented bikes from was a little crazy and didn't want to give us bikes again. Mari had laid the bike down instead of using the kick stand, and she hated us from that point on. So we walked into town and rented bikes. We met up with a Dutch girl (Fieke) who we decided to travel with to the caves. We wanted to go to Phoukam cave but got off track somehow and ended up at Lusi cave. The ride was not easy, especially with an injured wrist. We were riding through a dry rice field. Fieke and I decided to go ahead into the cave. It was cool, minus the guide we had to pay. After a few inappropriate jokes in his minimal English and some unecessary handling of our butts to "help" us in the cave, we had had enough of him. He actually wanted a tip after that.
We rode on to find Phoukam. We ran into a friend of Fieke's she had met the day before. His name is Tom, he's a model in Bangkok from the states. Well all headed to the cave together only to realize it was 7 km of utter misery. Rocky, dusty... When we finally made it there, we jumped in the blue lagoon at first chance. Mari went into the cave before us because she didn't have her swimsuit. Tom, Fieke, and I went in later. It was actual climbing around on rocks once getting into the cave...pretty far from the ease of the Mammoth Cave trails of Kentucky. It was amazing though. Huge!
Mari rode back, but the other three of us decided to tuk tuk our way back. It was the best idea for my wrist. The four of us met up at the Bamboo Restaurant for dinner and mojito buckets and spent the whole night talking. Mari and I were a little lost trying to find her bike after walking Fieke back to her guest house but found our way eventually.
The next day, I went tubing alone after a goat cheese sandwich and laos coffee. Mari was sick and couldn't do anything all day. Tubing is getting a tube to float down the river while stopping at loads of bars along the way. The goal: To get drunk and stupid. It didn't turn out to be my thing. It was fun for the first few bars. I met loads of nice people and ran into an Argentinan couple that we met in Luang Prabang, but I guess I'm not the type to enjoy getting drunk while floating down the river. Not to mention, everyone who tubes gets injured somehow. They swing into the river and fail to avoid missing the rocks, they aren't careful while climbing out of the tube into the next bar and spear their foot with a rock, they (like the American model, Tom) are so drunk that they fall off the bridge while trying to cross the river at 4AM. Toward the end of tubing, I was very ready to be done. Most people get a tuk tuk back to the tubing place to get their deposit by 6PM. This is what the Argentinan woman and I did as well.
Mari was feeling a little better, so we met to return our bikes and eat dinner before walking back to the farm.
I headed out early the next morning to Vientiane, which is where I am now. I found a guest house and had way too much pizza for lunch. This might have contributed to why I'm sick now. Last night, I went to a laos traditional dance show which was fantastic, but I didn't feel well all day. I met up with some people, including Fieke from Vang Vieng and we went for Indian. I didn't eat because of how I was feeling and left early. It turns out that I left just in time; I definitely threw up all over the streets of Vientiane. I, just a step above crawling, found my way back to my guest house and slept all night minus the few times I had to wake up throughout the night.
I woke up finally around 11AM this morning having to check out by noon. I'm still not feeling great which is part of why I'm spending the day in an internet cafe. I'm leaving soon to go to a meditation session at a nearby Wat (temple). Tonight, I'm taking an overnight bus to the south of Laos and then a plane to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Peace and Love,
Stacey
Monday, April 13, 2009
Part 4: Chiang Mai
From Burma, I headed back to Thailand.
I arrived in Bangkok where, the same day, I took a 10 hour overnight bus to Chiang Mai. The AC was BLASTING the whole way.
When I first arrived, I nearly unsuccessfully found a cafe that I was meeting a woman I was to later take a cooking class with. The class was to be a three day cooking course held at a community outside of the city on an organic farm. Uuuunfortunately, she came to the meeting to tell me that I was the only person signed up and she wouldn't be doing the class.
I had lunch with her and few other people she knew before spending the day wandering around getting lost in Chiang Mai. ;)
For the first time, I realized exactly how long a month traveling alone could be. I had chosen very specifically to travel on my own during the next month. I have traveled a bit before, but I wanted the experience of traveling totally on my own...figuring it out on my own...making decisions on my own...and making mistakes on my own.
What I soon realized was, when you travel "alone," you are never really alone. There are so many other solo travelers out there and friends are so quickly made when we're all out of our element, that I never went more than a day without a friend.
Although that first night, I definitely wondered if I would make it through the next month. After getting lost multiple times, urging myself to leave the comfort of an internet cafe, getting lost again a few times, and finally finding a place to spend the night, I sat down at a bar to read a book and drink a glass of wine. I deserved it, I decided.
The next day, a Thai guy (nicknamed Bell) the same age as me randomly talked me into a 2 day trek at a guest house I wasn't staying at. Haha! I signed up with a group of random strangers. Strangers who became fast friends. On our trek, we had 3 Aussies (18 and 19 years old), a Korean couple (26 years old), 2 Dutch girls (27 years old), and a Swiss couple (26 and 27 years old). The first day, we visited a gorgeous waterfall, relaxed in a natural hot spring, and trekked through the jungles of Chiang Mai. We stopped at two hill tribe villages on the way to our final village destination for the night. After a quick dip in the river to wash up, we had dinner and ate sticky rice by the fire. The second day, we started with an elephant ride through the jungle...segue into a fantastic story.
While on the back of an elephant in the middle of the jungles of Thailand, I heard someone screaming my name. Tim Polakowski, a friend of mine from college who is in his first year of Fulbright in Korea, was shouting to me from a raft with 3 other Fulbright friends of ours. Their trekking group was only the second group I had seen while trekking. Small world, right?!
So, anyway, after elephant trekking, we also rode/surfed on bamboo rafts down the river. It was very relaxing. The adventure came in when one of our two rafts got stuck between rocks and was quickly sinking. Our guide jumped off of our raft to rescue the raft that was sinking. The girls on the other raft were in the process of climbing to safety and rescuing the bags that nearly met the same fate as the raft when the guides were able to pull the raft back to the surface. After lunch, 6 of us decided to do whitewater rafting. We learned the basics and had a guide. The rapids were only at about a 3 because of the low water level, but that didn't stop 2 of our 4 members in the raft from falling overboard. ^_~ It was a good time minus an annoying guide.
I spent the rest of my time in Chiang Mai, experiencing a motor bike ride for the first time with Bell as we sneaked a peak at the flower floats for the flower festival, meeting up with Timmy and the other Fulbrighters I saw during my trek, hanging out with the amazing group of people from my trek group, meeting up with a good friend of mine from Burma, and eating INCREDIBLE food!
BTW...Chiang Mai is a vegetarian's PARADISE!!^^
I arrived in Bangkok where, the same day, I took a 10 hour overnight bus to Chiang Mai. The AC was BLASTING the whole way.
When I first arrived, I nearly unsuccessfully found a cafe that I was meeting a woman I was to later take a cooking class with. The class was to be a three day cooking course held at a community outside of the city on an organic farm. Uuuunfortunately, she came to the meeting to tell me that I was the only person signed up and she wouldn't be doing the class.
I had lunch with her and few other people she knew before spending the day wandering around getting lost in Chiang Mai. ;)
For the first time, I realized exactly how long a month traveling alone could be. I had chosen very specifically to travel on my own during the next month. I have traveled a bit before, but I wanted the experience of traveling totally on my own...figuring it out on my own...making decisions on my own...and making mistakes on my own.
What I soon realized was, when you travel "alone," you are never really alone. There are so many other solo travelers out there and friends are so quickly made when we're all out of our element, that I never went more than a day without a friend.
Although that first night, I definitely wondered if I would make it through the next month. After getting lost multiple times, urging myself to leave the comfort of an internet cafe, getting lost again a few times, and finally finding a place to spend the night, I sat down at a bar to read a book and drink a glass of wine. I deserved it, I decided.
The next day, a Thai guy (nicknamed Bell) the same age as me randomly talked me into a 2 day trek at a guest house I wasn't staying at. Haha! I signed up with a group of random strangers. Strangers who became fast friends. On our trek, we had 3 Aussies (18 and 19 years old), a Korean couple (26 years old), 2 Dutch girls (27 years old), and a Swiss couple (26 and 27 years old). The first day, we visited a gorgeous waterfall, relaxed in a natural hot spring, and trekked through the jungles of Chiang Mai. We stopped at two hill tribe villages on the way to our final village destination for the night. After a quick dip in the river to wash up, we had dinner and ate sticky rice by the fire. The second day, we started with an elephant ride through the jungle...segue into a fantastic story.
While on the back of an elephant in the middle of the jungles of Thailand, I heard someone screaming my name. Tim Polakowski, a friend of mine from college who is in his first year of Fulbright in Korea, was shouting to me from a raft with 3 other Fulbright friends of ours. Their trekking group was only the second group I had seen while trekking. Small world, right?!
So, anyway, after elephant trekking, we also rode/surfed on bamboo rafts down the river. It was very relaxing. The adventure came in when one of our two rafts got stuck between rocks and was quickly sinking. Our guide jumped off of our raft to rescue the raft that was sinking. The girls on the other raft were in the process of climbing to safety and rescuing the bags that nearly met the same fate as the raft when the guides were able to pull the raft back to the surface. After lunch, 6 of us decided to do whitewater rafting. We learned the basics and had a guide. The rapids were only at about a 3 because of the low water level, but that didn't stop 2 of our 4 members in the raft from falling overboard. ^_~ It was a good time minus an annoying guide.
I spent the rest of my time in Chiang Mai, experiencing a motor bike ride for the first time with Bell as we sneaked a peak at the flower floats for the flower festival, meeting up with Timmy and the other Fulbrighters I saw during my trek, hanging out with the amazing group of people from my trek group, meeting up with a good friend of mine from Burma, and eating INCREDIBLE food!
BTW...Chiang Mai is a vegetarian's PARADISE!!^^
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Part 3: Burma
Hello all!
* Sorry it's taken so long to get Part 3 out. My computer's hard drive crashed taking with it all of my files and my ability to do anything at home. OTL
Anyway...
From Bangkok --> Israel/Palestine --> Egypt --> Bangkok --> Burma/Myanmar
I first went to Burma in January of '08. The year before my first year of Fulbright, two Fulbrighters began a small non profit organization (Opening Possibilities Asia) that I am now working with. My first year was led by one of the founders of the organization. Our main focus of last year was to create and teach a workshop to teach teaching methodology to teachers at a free education monastic school in Mandalay, Burma. Confusing enough? Haha
PDO (Phaung Daw Oo) is the school we volunteer at. It is a school that literally started under a tree and has grown to over 7000 students. There is also a monastery within its walls. The principal's newest project was to take children affected by Cyclone Nargis into the school as residents and students. Many students graduate at the age of 15 or 16. Some want to give back in anyway they can, so they become teachers. The teachers who participate in our workshop consist of new teachers who have never had any training before and veteran teachers who want to continue education as well as help train new teachers.
Our leader from last year, Margaret, is now living in Burma. With her away from Korea, I led 3 Fulbrighters in creating a similar workshop to teach in January of this year. We spent 3 months writing and revising the workshop and planning our visit to the school in Burma. Margaret met my group in Yangon/Rangoon to take them to Mandalay on a 12 hour bus ride. I flew to Mandalay to prevent missing the first day of the workshop after leaving Israel.
It was great to be back. So many familiar, friendly faces. It took me a few days to adjust to being back, but I soon fell in love with the country and the school all over again.
Three of the four of us from the first year were back together (Margaret, Rebecca, and me) and three new workshop leaders (Anna, Raisa, and Josh)! It was a great group this year. My group focused on teaching the workshop, while Margaret and Rebecca taught a children's English camp.
The workshop went very well, and we definitely see where we can make positive changes for next year. Beyond the workshop, we also observed the teachers from our workshop to better understand where they need help, I helped with the English camp from time to time, we led a nightly debate for whomever wished to participate, we visited the Golden House where the chidren affected by Cyclone Nargis live, we visited Mingon and Ubein Bridge with friends (teachers, novices, and office workers) from the school, we visited the Mandalay zoo with children from the school's orphanage and Golden House, and watched Wa monks play with a pinata that they helped us make.
For some reason or another only part of the pictures made it onto my photobucket site. I'll have the link for the rest of the pictures next time I email.
Hope everyone is doing well! Miss each and everyone of you!
Peace and Love,
Stacey
* Sorry it's taken so long to get Part 3 out. My computer's hard drive crashed taking with it all of my files and my ability to do anything at home. OTL
Anyway...
From Bangkok --> Israel/Palestine --> Egypt --> Bangkok --> Burma/Myanmar
I first went to Burma in January of '08. The year before my first year of Fulbright, two Fulbrighters began a small non profit organization (Opening Possibilities Asia) that I am now working with. My first year was led by one of the founders of the organization. Our main focus of last year was to create and teach a workshop to teach teaching methodology to teachers at a free education monastic school in Mandalay, Burma. Confusing enough? Haha
PDO (Phaung Daw Oo) is the school we volunteer at. It is a school that literally started under a tree and has grown to over 7000 students. There is also a monastery within its walls. The principal's newest project was to take children affected by Cyclone Nargis into the school as residents and students. Many students graduate at the age of 15 or 16. Some want to give back in anyway they can, so they become teachers. The teachers who participate in our workshop consist of new teachers who have never had any training before and veteran teachers who want to continue education as well as help train new teachers.
Our leader from last year, Margaret, is now living in Burma. With her away from Korea, I led 3 Fulbrighters in creating a similar workshop to teach in January of this year. We spent 3 months writing and revising the workshop and planning our visit to the school in Burma. Margaret met my group in Yangon/Rangoon to take them to Mandalay on a 12 hour bus ride. I flew to Mandalay to prevent missing the first day of the workshop after leaving Israel.
It was great to be back. So many familiar, friendly faces. It took me a few days to adjust to being back, but I soon fell in love with the country and the school all over again.
Three of the four of us from the first year were back together (Margaret, Rebecca, and me) and three new workshop leaders (Anna, Raisa, and Josh)! It was a great group this year. My group focused on teaching the workshop, while Margaret and Rebecca taught a children's English camp.
The workshop went very well, and we definitely see where we can make positive changes for next year. Beyond the workshop, we also observed the teachers from our workshop to better understand where they need help, I helped with the English camp from time to time, we led a nightly debate for whomever wished to participate, we visited the Golden House where the chidren affected by Cyclone Nargis live, we visited Mingon and Ubein Bridge with friends (teachers, novices, and office workers) from the school, we visited the Mandalay zoo with children from the school's orphanage and Golden House, and watched Wa monks play with a pinata that they helped us make.
For some reason or another only part of the pictures made it onto my photobucket site. I'll have the link for the rest of the pictures next time I email.
Hope everyone is doing well! Miss each and everyone of you!
Peace and Love,
Stacey
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Part 2: Israel/Palestine/Egypt
Here's part 2 of my travels this winter.
My last email left off at me flying from Bangkok to Israel/Palestine. I spent 2 weeks in Israel/Palestine with an organization called CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams) on a peace delegation to learn first hand about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and to participate in nonviolent action in support of ending the Palestinian occupation.
Before I begin, please understand that I speak from my experiences only. The history between Palestine and Israel goes far beyond my current understanding and there is always more to learn.
I landed at Ben Gurion airport two days before most of the members of my delegation were set to arrive. I met our fantastic delegation leader, Rick Polhamus. He and I spent the first day touring Jerusalem and chatting with an incredible Palestinian man, who I now consider a dear friend, Saleh. Saleh is the owner of the hotel we stayed at a portion of the time. My new Palestinian friend spent the first day and second day, for that matter, teasing me about how I would probably go to jail because I had asked the airport not to stamp my passport as I was entering the country. So, technically, I didn't have a visa. ^_~ A woman from the delegation arrived late that first night, Sharon (a 56 year old former army radar repair technician - a quarky woman who marches to the beat of her own drum.)
Upon arrival back at the airport the next day to make sure that I wasn't going to be deported from the country, Rick and I met two new arrivals, Greg (a 61 year old pastor from Canada with a very distinct laugh) and Jerry (a 34 year old Brethren pastor from Ohio). Jerry and I hit it off right away and became good friends over the course of the delegation.
Jerry, Sharon, and I made our way to Kalia beach to visit the dead sea. The dead sea is apparently slowly disappearing due to the selling of the sea's salts and mud. It is still gorgeous though, and we had a great time! Take a look at the pics! That night, the remaining delegation members arrived. Christina (a 26 year old community lover), Renee (a 43 year old strong and independent married woman), Melissa (a 44 year old hilarious, spunky mother of 4), Betty (a 76 year old woman with an incredible life story), James (a 50 year old Canadian living in Germany as a Mennonite church director), Nate (a dumster diving 29 year old who is quiet, passionate peace worker), and Neil (a sweet, incredibly knowledgeable 75 year old retired Wilmington professor).
In the next few days we met with human rights and pro-Palestinian groups as well as pro-Palestinian Israeli activists. They all helped to explain a bit about the conflict and occupation both currently and historically. One being B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in Israeli Occupied Territories (B'Teselem). We visited the wall constructed to separate Israel from the Palestinian West Bank. Graffiti found on the wall portrays the feelings of most people who visit.
We visited Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem. 11,000 Palestinians living there remain after 750,000 Palestinians were displaced in 1948. More information can be found at their website. (Dheisheh). Upon arrival at the camp, we witnessed a protest march in support of the people of Gaza completely comprised of children. Children have been taught how to express their frustration and thoughts through non violent action, an incredible skill to have at a young age.
We toured the camp and stayed with a Palestinian man and his family. I was disgusted to see the bullet-riddled walls of the girls school, bullets left over from the second Intifada where Israelis attacked the homes and schools of this refugee camp.
This was not the only story that made my stomach turn while I was in Bethlehem. After a brief tour as a delegation, we were given time on our own. Some of you may have read this story already.
Jerry, and I were walking around Bethlehem with the bit of free time we had. We walked past a man trying to convince us to shop in his store. We said "maybe later" and kept on where we were going. We were walking back by and this man reminded us that we had said we would come in and look around. We agreed and headed inside. Assuming the man would simply try to start selling items to us, we were a bit hesitant. He didn't try to sell us a thing. He wanted us to listen to him. He wanted us to hear his story. We soon learned that this "man" was 23 years old. His father had lost his leg in the 2002 Intifada. He was the man of the house now. He told us how the soldiers stormed the town and how he was beaten by an Israeli soldier for standing in the doorway of his home instead of remaining inside. As this man lie bleeding from his mouth on the street, the soldier said, "Fuck you! If I see your face again, I'll kill you." He told us of how he felt helpless as a soldier held a gun to his 8 year old sister. He told us his story. He didn't once ask us to buy anything. After telling us his story, he offered us tea while trying to hold back the tears of his memories. This young man, Allah, said that he could break off a piece of his heart and we still wouldn't understand what he has had to face. He wants to believe in peace, but he just can't. He has seen too much, experienced too many times the hatred of Israeli soldiers.
To make this as brief as possible, our delegation also joined the Women in Black who gather every Friday to demonstrate against the occupation of Palestinians. Israeli women began the organization in 1988. (Women in Black)
We also joined a march in support of medical aid support in Gaza. Two members of our delegation gave interviews to news reporters.
A week of the delegation was spent in Hebron. A few nights were spent at the CPT apartment in the old city, one night I spent with one other delegation member in the home of an incredibly friendly Palestinian family, one night was spent in a small village called At'Tuwani, and one night was spent in an even smaller village Gwynn (I don't think that spelling is right).
The old city of Hebron has been left quite destitute after the most recent Intifada with many Palestinian shops being warned against their re-opening. Israeli settlements have been built almost entirely to control the Palestinian population. In the old city, Israeli settlers as well as an israeli military base set on top of Palestinian shops. There were fences placed above the shops to "protect" Palestinians from the rocks, glass bottles, and bleach the Israeli settlers are throwing down at Palestinians.
On a day spent touring the old city, we faced Palestinian children who were causing trouble. They fired a rock with a slingshot toward our group, nearly hitting a member. Most Palestinians find relief in the CPT group, but some Palestinians have a hard time trusting foreign faces. That day was the first time I had ever experienced tear gas. It burns the eyes and stings the nose so that water runs from both uncontrollably. Relief came from a group of young Palestinian men who offered us tissues with scented spray to cut the burning. The city is a very different place on days when Palestinians shut all shops to pray at the mosque, desolate and a little eerie.
The most memorable part of staying with the Palestinian homestay family, was something that happened while trying to learn Arabic. There was only one member of the family that spoke English, a 30-something female teacher. She lived with her father, mother, 2 of her sisters, and 2 of her brothers. I couldn't for the life of me remember how to say "welcome" in Arabic. He jokingly said, and for this the teacher translated, "You must remember or he will kill you." At the time it was off-putting, but I understood what was meant by the cruel joke. I had been welcomed into this family's home, I had eaten with their family, I had sat around a single heater and huddled for warmth just as they do...and these are the types of people who are portrayed by the media as terrorists. He was making a point, a point I will never forget.
In the village of At'Tuwani, we learned why it is necessary for a CPT team to be present. Israeli settlers have been attacking children who walk from one Palestinian village to another in order to attend school. CPT set up a camp there to ensure the safety of the children and the people of this village. Settlers have gone as far as to poison the drinking water well with dead chickens and kill shephards sheep while taunting the shephards themselves.
In the second village, we visited families who live in caves, talked with villagers about how they were cut off from their jobs when Israelis dictated which roads they could travel on and which they couldn't, slept in a tent-like structure with a cement floor, and used rocks as "bathrooms". We looked for the biggest ones!^^
All in all, the experience was one of the most incredible of my life. Some members of the delegation left before me and some left after me, but I headed from there to Egypt for a day.
The day I spent in Egypt, I decided to get out of the airport and travel to the pyramids and the sphinx. I had met a guy on the way out of Israel who had just as long of layover as I did in Egypt, so we spent the day together.
From there, I flew back to Bangkok where I spent a day. I flew out the next morning for Yangon, Mandalay.
To be continued...
My last email left off at me flying from Bangkok to Israel/Palestine. I spent 2 weeks in Israel/Palestine with an organization called CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams) on a peace delegation to learn first hand about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and to participate in nonviolent action in support of ending the Palestinian occupation.
Before I begin, please understand that I speak from my experiences only. The history between Palestine and Israel goes far beyond my current understanding and there is always more to learn.
I landed at Ben Gurion airport two days before most of the members of my delegation were set to arrive. I met our fantastic delegation leader, Rick Polhamus. He and I spent the first day touring Jerusalem and chatting with an incredible Palestinian man, who I now consider a dear friend, Saleh. Saleh is the owner of the hotel we stayed at a portion of the time. My new Palestinian friend spent the first day and second day, for that matter, teasing me about how I would probably go to jail because I had asked the airport not to stamp my passport as I was entering the country. So, technically, I didn't have a visa. ^_~ A woman from the delegation arrived late that first night, Sharon (a 56 year old former army radar repair technician - a quarky woman who marches to the beat of her own drum.)
Upon arrival back at the airport the next day to make sure that I wasn't going to be deported from the country, Rick and I met two new arrivals, Greg (a 61 year old pastor from Canada with a very distinct laugh) and Jerry (a 34 year old Brethren pastor from Ohio). Jerry and I hit it off right away and became good friends over the course of the delegation.
Jerry, Sharon, and I made our way to Kalia beach to visit the dead sea. The dead sea is apparently slowly disappearing due to the selling of the sea's salts and mud. It is still gorgeous though, and we had a great time! Take a look at the pics! That night, the remaining delegation members arrived. Christina (a 26 year old community lover), Renee (a 43 year old strong and independent married woman), Melissa (a 44 year old hilarious, spunky mother of 4), Betty (a 76 year old woman with an incredible life story), James (a 50 year old Canadian living in Germany as a Mennonite church director), Nate (a dumster diving 29 year old who is quiet, passionate peace worker), and Neil (a sweet, incredibly knowledgeable 75 year old retired Wilmington professor).
In the next few days we met with human rights and pro-Palestinian groups as well as pro-Palestinian Israeli activists. They all helped to explain a bit about the conflict and occupation both currently and historically. One being B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in Israeli Occupied Territories (B'Teselem). We visited the wall constructed to separate Israel from the Palestinian West Bank. Graffiti found on the wall portrays the feelings of most people who visit.
We visited Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem. 11,000 Palestinians living there remain after 750,000 Palestinians were displaced in 1948. More information can be found at their website. (Dheisheh). Upon arrival at the camp, we witnessed a protest march in support of the people of Gaza completely comprised of children. Children have been taught how to express their frustration and thoughts through non violent action, an incredible skill to have at a young age.
We toured the camp and stayed with a Palestinian man and his family. I was disgusted to see the bullet-riddled walls of the girls school, bullets left over from the second Intifada where Israelis attacked the homes and schools of this refugee camp.
This was not the only story that made my stomach turn while I was in Bethlehem. After a brief tour as a delegation, we were given time on our own. Some of you may have read this story already.
Jerry, and I were walking around Bethlehem with the bit of free time we had. We walked past a man trying to convince us to shop in his store. We said "maybe later" and kept on where we were going. We were walking back by and this man reminded us that we had said we would come in and look around. We agreed and headed inside. Assuming the man would simply try to start selling items to us, we were a bit hesitant. He didn't try to sell us a thing. He wanted us to listen to him. He wanted us to hear his story. We soon learned that this "man" was 23 years old. His father had lost his leg in the 2002 Intifada. He was the man of the house now. He told us how the soldiers stormed the town and how he was beaten by an Israeli soldier for standing in the doorway of his home instead of remaining inside. As this man lie bleeding from his mouth on the street, the soldier said, "Fuck you! If I see your face again, I'll kill you." He told us of how he felt helpless as a soldier held a gun to his 8 year old sister. He told us his story. He didn't once ask us to buy anything. After telling us his story, he offered us tea while trying to hold back the tears of his memories. This young man, Allah, said that he could break off a piece of his heart and we still wouldn't understand what he has had to face. He wants to believe in peace, but he just can't. He has seen too much, experienced too many times the hatred of Israeli soldiers.
To make this as brief as possible, our delegation also joined the Women in Black who gather every Friday to demonstrate against the occupation of Palestinians. Israeli women began the organization in 1988. (Women in Black)
We also joined a march in support of medical aid support in Gaza. Two members of our delegation gave interviews to news reporters.
A week of the delegation was spent in Hebron. A few nights were spent at the CPT apartment in the old city, one night I spent with one other delegation member in the home of an incredibly friendly Palestinian family, one night was spent in a small village called At'Tuwani, and one night was spent in an even smaller village Gwynn (I don't think that spelling is right).
The old city of Hebron has been left quite destitute after the most recent Intifada with many Palestinian shops being warned against their re-opening. Israeli settlements have been built almost entirely to control the Palestinian population. In the old city, Israeli settlers as well as an israeli military base set on top of Palestinian shops. There were fences placed above the shops to "protect" Palestinians from the rocks, glass bottles, and bleach the Israeli settlers are throwing down at Palestinians.
On a day spent touring the old city, we faced Palestinian children who were causing trouble. They fired a rock with a slingshot toward our group, nearly hitting a member. Most Palestinians find relief in the CPT group, but some Palestinians have a hard time trusting foreign faces. That day was the first time I had ever experienced tear gas. It burns the eyes and stings the nose so that water runs from both uncontrollably. Relief came from a group of young Palestinian men who offered us tissues with scented spray to cut the burning. The city is a very different place on days when Palestinians shut all shops to pray at the mosque, desolate and a little eerie.
The most memorable part of staying with the Palestinian homestay family, was something that happened while trying to learn Arabic. There was only one member of the family that spoke English, a 30-something female teacher. She lived with her father, mother, 2 of her sisters, and 2 of her brothers. I couldn't for the life of me remember how to say "welcome" in Arabic. He jokingly said, and for this the teacher translated, "You must remember or he will kill you." At the time it was off-putting, but I understood what was meant by the cruel joke. I had been welcomed into this family's home, I had eaten with their family, I had sat around a single heater and huddled for warmth just as they do...and these are the types of people who are portrayed by the media as terrorists. He was making a point, a point I will never forget.
In the village of At'Tuwani, we learned why it is necessary for a CPT team to be present. Israeli settlers have been attacking children who walk from one Palestinian village to another in order to attend school. CPT set up a camp there to ensure the safety of the children and the people of this village. Settlers have gone as far as to poison the drinking water well with dead chickens and kill shephards sheep while taunting the shephards themselves.
In the second village, we visited families who live in caves, talked with villagers about how they were cut off from their jobs when Israelis dictated which roads they could travel on and which they couldn't, slept in a tent-like structure with a cement floor, and used rocks as "bathrooms". We looked for the biggest ones!^^
All in all, the experience was one of the most incredible of my life. Some members of the delegation left before me and some left after me, but I headed from there to Egypt for a day.
The day I spent in Egypt, I decided to get out of the airport and travel to the pyramids and the sphinx. I had met a guy on the way out of Israel who had just as long of layover as I did in Egypt, so we spent the day together.
From there, I flew back to Bangkok where I spent a day. I flew out the next morning for Yangon, Mandalay.
To be continued...
Part 1: Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand
Starting out with 3 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 1 jacket, a few odds and ends, and two months of traveling ahead of me, I arrived in Bangkok on January 2nd not really knowing what I had gotten myself into but knowing the next two months were sure to be an adventure.
At 2AM, the streets were clear enough for taxis to easily make their way through the city; in fact, taxis were the only cars on the road.
After only a few hours of sleep, I woke to meet 4 of the 5 other girls I was sharing a hostel dorm room with: Two 18-year-old British girls, Harri and Brit, who had set out on a 7 month journey, a 32-year-old German woman named Frieda, and a 27-year-old Korean American woman named Victoria. We spent the day together. The Sky Train conveniently took us to a boat taxi that would then take us to the Old City. Within the Old City, we visited the Grand Palace which contained the Emerald Buddha and a museum and then headed to Wat Pho which housed the largest reclining Buddha. The two places took the entire day of exploring. When we returned to the hostel, I met a 40-year-old woman named Michelle from LA. She talked me into going to see a Lady Boys Cabaret with her; it was an INCREDIBLE show! Lady boys are an entire culture of men who dress like and/or become women. A funny story about these beautiful lady boys: After the show, they descended the staircase before the audience in order to clap for us as we came down the stairs. Michelle and I had our picture taken with a few of these gorgeous women, and then of course, they asked for a tip. Michelle, having just come from Vietnam a few days earlier where 1000s of Dong equal only a few dollars, gave the women what they asked for...1000 Baht. As I pulled her away from the greedy lady boys, I explained that she had just given them a $40 tip. In between Michelle's bits of cursing, we laughed all the way back to the hostel.
The next day, I went on a tour to Kachanaburi, a province outside of Bangkok, with Michelle and Jane, an Irish woman from my dorm room. We visited the war cemetery that was constructed for those who died during the forced building of the Death Railway between Burma and Thailand during WWII by the Japanese military. 90,000 Asian workers and 16,000 POWs died during the bridge's construction. We took a boat ride down the River Kwai and under the reconstructed bridge. The original wooden "Bridge over the River Kwai" remains partially in the JEATH War Museum (JEATH = Japanese, English, Australian, Thai, and Holland: The 5 main nationalities involved in the construction of the bridge). After leaving the museum, we hopped on some elephants for a ride through the jungle which ended up being sadder than I thought. Our mahout (elephant trainer) didn't treat our elephant very nicely. The mahouts aren't all like that. Finally, the tigers at the Tiger Temple were definitely one of the highlights of the day. They were so precious; we spent an hour or two getting our pictures taken with the them. The tigers are taken care of by volunteers and monks. That night, we ate at a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. A portion of the money spent on dinner goes toward AIDS education and research. We got condoms instead of dinner mints! Haha!
The next day I spent the day at an amazingly overcrowded weekend market with THOUSANDS of stalls. It was quite the sight and experience. I had to take a breather, so I hung out by a pond the rest of the afternoon until I had to make my way to the airport to fly out to Israel/Palestine...
...to be continued. :)
Starting out with 3 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 1 jacket, a few odds and ends, and two months of traveling ahead of me, I arrived in Bangkok on January 2nd not really knowing what I had gotten myself into but knowing the next two months were sure to be an adventure.
At 2AM, the streets were clear enough for taxis to easily make their way through the city; in fact, taxis were the only cars on the road.
After only a few hours of sleep, I woke to meet 4 of the 5 other girls I was sharing a hostel dorm room with: Two 18-year-old British girls, Harri and Brit, who had set out on a 7 month journey, a 32-year-old German woman named Frieda, and a 27-year-old Korean American woman named Victoria. We spent the day together. The Sky Train conveniently took us to a boat taxi that would then take us to the Old City. Within the Old City, we visited the Grand Palace which contained the Emerald Buddha and a museum and then headed to Wat Pho which housed the largest reclining Buddha. The two places took the entire day of exploring. When we returned to the hostel, I met a 40-year-old woman named Michelle from LA. She talked me into going to see a Lady Boys Cabaret with her; it was an INCREDIBLE show! Lady boys are an entire culture of men who dress like and/or become women. A funny story about these beautiful lady boys: After the show, they descended the staircase before the audience in order to clap for us as we came down the stairs. Michelle and I had our picture taken with a few of these gorgeous women, and then of course, they asked for a tip. Michelle, having just come from Vietnam a few days earlier where 1000s of Dong equal only a few dollars, gave the women what they asked for...1000 Baht. As I pulled her away from the greedy lady boys, I explained that she had just given them a $40 tip. In between Michelle's bits of cursing, we laughed all the way back to the hostel.
The next day, I went on a tour to Kachanaburi, a province outside of Bangkok, with Michelle and Jane, an Irish woman from my dorm room. We visited the war cemetery that was constructed for those who died during the forced building of the Death Railway between Burma and Thailand during WWII by the Japanese military. 90,000 Asian workers and 16,000 POWs died during the bridge's construction. We took a boat ride down the River Kwai and under the reconstructed bridge. The original wooden "Bridge over the River Kwai" remains partially in the JEATH War Museum (JEATH = Japanese, English, Australian, Thai, and Holland: The 5 main nationalities involved in the construction of the bridge). After leaving the museum, we hopped on some elephants for a ride through the jungle which ended up being sadder than I thought. Our mahout (elephant trainer) didn't treat our elephant very nicely. The mahouts aren't all like that. Finally, the tigers at the Tiger Temple were definitely one of the highlights of the day. They were so precious; we spent an hour or two getting our pictures taken with the them. The tigers are taken care of by volunteers and monks. That night, we ate at a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. A portion of the money spent on dinner goes toward AIDS education and research. We got condoms instead of dinner mints! Haha!
The next day I spent the day at an amazingly overcrowded weekend market with THOUSANDS of stalls. It was quite the sight and experience. I had to take a breather, so I hung out by a pond the rest of the afternoon until I had to make my way to the airport to fly out to Israel/Palestine...
...to be continued. :)
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