Sunday, December 14, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Mae Hong Son
Hello all! I am now in the small, quaint town of Mae Hong Son in northern Thailand. I did not update at all while I was in Cambodia because our group was so busy with activities. Cambodia was incredible though! Matt lost his camera somewhere in Cambodia and since I was using his camera to upload pictures, I haven't been able to put much on my blog lately. I will hopefully find an internet cafe here in town that lets me connect my memory card to the computer.
Mae Hong Son is a beautiful city! It is literally surrounded by massive hills that you see from anywhere in town. There are not as many tourists as other parts in SE Asia, so English is less common to come across here. The House of Hope orphanage is great. The children are adorable and so polite. The house mom, Pasein, has been very hospitable and has tried to make me feel at home. I am staying at a guesthouse in town, which is pretty nice. My room in on the lake in the center of the city, so I have a peaceful place to relax in the mornings and at night. I start teaching the children English lessons today, which will be the majority of the work I do while I am there. Most of the children barely know any English, so it might be a challenge at the beginning to get across to them. I am excited to start the work though!
I will update everyone soon, hopefully with pictures on the next post!
Mae Hong Son is a beautiful city! It is literally surrounded by massive hills that you see from anywhere in town. There are not as many tourists as other parts in SE Asia, so English is less common to come across here. The House of Hope orphanage is great. The children are adorable and so polite. The house mom, Pasein, has been very hospitable and has tried to make me feel at home. I am staying at a guesthouse in town, which is pretty nice. My room in on the lake in the center of the city, so I have a peaceful place to relax in the mornings and at night. I start teaching the children English lessons today, which will be the majority of the work I do while I am there. Most of the children barely know any English, so it might be a challenge at the beginning to get across to them. I am excited to start the work though!
I will update everyone soon, hopefully with pictures on the next post!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Updates on the Bangkok airport situation
I have received quite a few concerned e-mails from people back home and thought I should post a quick explanation of my plans to hopefully ease some worries. The PAD protests are still going on strong, but they do remain unviolent in the sense that there have not been any reported murders. Basically, it is just a stressful mess for travelers who are stuck in Bangkok and want to get home. Personally I do not fly out of BKK until Christmas Eve, so I still have about 3 1/2 weeks for things to hopefully cool down and by then the airports should be open. In case you do not already know the gist of what is going on in Thailand, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) is protesting the current government in Thailand and demanding a complete change. PAD mainly wants the current Prime Minister out of office. The current PM is related (I believe the brother-in-law) to the prior PM, who was ousted in a coup in 2006, so the PAD despise him just as they did the last leader. The protesters outnumber the police force and so they have literally taken over the airports. The Thai army is not getting involved because so far the protest has remained peaceful and non-violent. The highly revered King Rama IX is not getting involved in the protests either. There was a court order today to ban the current PM from politics for 5 years (apparently he took money while campaigning and is now charged with electoral fraud), so that is progress for the protesters. PAD is waiting to see who the new PM will be and if he is pleasing to them, then I see no reason why the protests should continue so strongly. The British Embassy reported tonight that the PAD has announced they will withdraw from the Bangkok airports by 10:00am tomorrow, so I'm really crossing my fingers that they follow through with that.
At this point, I still plan on going to the orphange on December 10th and coming back to Bangkok on the 24th and flying home then. I cannot change my flight just yet because everything is up in the air right now and it is too early to make a decision on whether I will need to fly out of a different location. The Intrepid tour ends on December 10th and I will be going to Chiang Mai from there, where the founder of the House of Hope orphanage will pick us up and drive us to Mae Hong Son. Things really should be cleared up by then and airlines are saying that standing reservations will still go through as planned, if the aiports are open at the time of the flight. Even with all the back-up of flights for currently stranded travelers, they are saying that other passengers should be able to fly out on their originally scheduled flights (if the airports are open by then). If things are not cleared up within the next week I will make other arrangements and possibly fly out of Cambodia while I am there next week. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, but please know that I am safe where I am and the protesters have nothing against foreigners traveling in their country. Love and miss you all! I cannot wait until Christmas, where I WILL see you all! :)
At this point, I still plan on going to the orphange on December 10th and coming back to Bangkok on the 24th and flying home then. I cannot change my flight just yet because everything is up in the air right now and it is too early to make a decision on whether I will need to fly out of a different location. The Intrepid tour ends on December 10th and I will be going to Chiang Mai from there, where the founder of the House of Hope orphanage will pick us up and drive us to Mae Hong Son. Things really should be cleared up by then and airlines are saying that standing reservations will still go through as planned, if the aiports are open at the time of the flight. Even with all the back-up of flights for currently stranded travelers, they are saying that other passengers should be able to fly out on their originally scheduled flights (if the airports are open by then). If things are not cleared up within the next week I will make other arrangements and possibly fly out of Cambodia while I am there next week. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, but please know that I am safe where I am and the protesters have nothing against foreigners traveling in their country. Love and miss you all! I cannot wait until Christmas, where I WILL see you all! :)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Vientiane, homestay, Halong Bay, and Hanoi
Riding cyclos in Hanoi; Sunset in Halong Bay; Cave in Halong; Some of the girls out in Hanoi; Beautiful Halong again; Riding in boats made of old B52 fuel tanks on a lake near the homestay; Children at the village; View from the lake; Riding in the boats; Beautiful limestone mountains; COPE UXO exhibit- All Americans should learn about this...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Lovely people, great food, and beautiful scenery- Wonderful Laos!
We crossed into Laos about 6 days ago. As soon as we crossed the Mekong into the country, I immediately fell in love with this country. Usually the government officials you encounter in any country's immigration department are intimidating people, but not in Laos. The police officers were smiling and asking about my trip. Coming from America, where it's scary even coming back into my own country, I was astonished at the friendliness of the Lao people. We traveled down the Mekong River for 2 days, stopping overnight at a hillside village. Although it might sound boring to be on a boat for 2 days straight, this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The countryside here is so incredible that I could just stare out at the scenery for ages. Laos just started letting tourists into their country around 1995, so the culture remains still somewhat uninfluenced by Western culture. Contrast to many parts of Thailand, you can still find the genuine Lao culture here. This probably will not last for too much longer, as more tourists here of how wonderful this country is, but for now, it truly is beautiful.
We got off the boat at Luang Prabang. Everyone in our group loved this city. There is a wonderful night market that stretches all the way down the center of the city, where you can buy hand-made jewelry, bags, t-shirts, and anything else you can think of. A few of us hiked up to a nearby waterfall, which turned out to be much more beautiful than I was expecting. The following morning a few of us woke up at 5:30am and went into the city to watch the monks receive their morning alms. It is beautiful to see all of the devoted Lao people wake up early and cook food to give to the procession of monks. The Lao people are so devoted to their religion and family. After watching the morning alms giving, some of us went to volunteer with a program called Big Brother Mouse. It is an Australian-run program that promotes literacy among Lao people. I worked one-on-one with a college student who is studying English. This was an entertaining and rewarding experience because the boy had so many questions for me about America and my life. Lao and Thai people are very interested in your personal life, so getting asked questions regarding your age, marital status and whether you have children is very common. The first question my student had was weather I was married, then it was weather I enjoy the Beer Lao. He was obviously a typical boy in his late teens. :)
We are in Vientiane right now, which is the capital city of Laos. A couple girls and I just got a massage and it cost a whole $3.50 for an hour. Although the "spa" doesn't have the typical serene environment with soothing music, I couldn't pass up an hour of physical bliss for only $3.50. We head to a homestay tomorrow for our last night in Laos. I am sad to be leaving this wonderful country, but I'm very excited for our upcoming adventures in Vietnam.
We got off the boat at Luang Prabang. Everyone in our group loved this city. There is a wonderful night market that stretches all the way down the center of the city, where you can buy hand-made jewelry, bags, t-shirts, and anything else you can think of. A few of us hiked up to a nearby waterfall, which turned out to be much more beautiful than I was expecting. The following morning a few of us woke up at 5:30am and went into the city to watch the monks receive their morning alms. It is beautiful to see all of the devoted Lao people wake up early and cook food to give to the procession of monks. The Lao people are so devoted to their religion and family. After watching the morning alms giving, some of us went to volunteer with a program called Big Brother Mouse. It is an Australian-run program that promotes literacy among Lao people. I worked one-on-one with a college student who is studying English. This was an entertaining and rewarding experience because the boy had so many questions for me about America and my life. Lao and Thai people are very interested in your personal life, so getting asked questions regarding your age, marital status and whether you have children is very common. The first question my student had was weather I was married, then it was weather I enjoy the Beer Lao. He was obviously a typical boy in his late teens. :)
We are in Vientiane right now, which is the capital city of Laos. A couple girls and I just got a massage and it cost a whole $3.50 for an hour. Although the "spa" doesn't have the typical serene environment with soothing music, I couldn't pass up an hour of physical bliss for only $3.50. We head to a homestay tomorrow for our last night in Laos. I am sad to be leaving this wonderful country, but I'm very excited for our upcoming adventures in Vietnam.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Bamboo rafting and visit to Wat Phrathat in Chiang Mai
It is 11:15pm on Friday night here. We took an overnight train to Chiang Mai and got in early this morning. On Wednesday I met up with my Intrepid Travel group and we stayed in Bangkok until yesterday night. Matt and I are the only Americans out of the 12 travelers! The rest are from London, Denmark, Australia, Austria, and more. It's great having such an international group but I think the English accent is rubbing off on me a little much... I absolutely love their accent and their vocabulary is so much more polite than American slang. Anyway, the group seems great so far!
Thursday we went on a boat tour of Bangkok and got to see the hot spots of the city followed by a tour of a nearby temple. It is incredible how large and grandiose the temples are built. It is stunning just to walk through them and see all the time and money the people put into their religion. It really is admirable how faithful they seem to appear. Our local tour guides have been very informative on the Thai faith and lifestyle. The food is pretty good, but having rich Thai meals 3 times a day gets to be a little much, so most restaurants have "Western food" selections for us tourists. The curry dishes are wonderful though- very spicy and "savory", as one Thai server explained to me.
Today we went trekking about an hour outside of Chiang Mai and followed that with some bamboo rafting down a small river. It was pretty simple rafting but they insisted we wear life jackets... The men taking us down the river were having a fun time splashing us and making us think there were snakes in the water. We visited another temple this afternoon called Wat Phrathat. The temple sits above the city with the most beautiful view of Chiang Mai. We got there in time to see the monks enter the temple for their nightly hour of prayer chants. This was an inspiring thing to see, even for non-Buddhists like myself. Their absolute devotion to their faith is quite apparent.
We are headed down the Mekong River for a 2-day boat ride on Sunday, where we will then cross over into Laos. Unfortunately I forgot the USB cable for my camera so I can't upload photos tonight. I will use Matt's camera soon and post some! I think it's time for me to leave because there was a fight between some foreigner and the Thai owner of the internet cafe where they started throwing coins at one another... Thank goodness an English guy stepped in and told the foreigner to leave. On that note, I miss you all and I will post again soon!
Thursday we went on a boat tour of Bangkok and got to see the hot spots of the city followed by a tour of a nearby temple. It is incredible how large and grandiose the temples are built. It is stunning just to walk through them and see all the time and money the people put into their religion. It really is admirable how faithful they seem to appear. Our local tour guides have been very informative on the Thai faith and lifestyle. The food is pretty good, but having rich Thai meals 3 times a day gets to be a little much, so most restaurants have "Western food" selections for us tourists. The curry dishes are wonderful though- very spicy and "savory", as one Thai server explained to me.
Today we went trekking about an hour outside of Chiang Mai and followed that with some bamboo rafting down a small river. It was pretty simple rafting but they insisted we wear life jackets... The men taking us down the river were having a fun time splashing us and making us think there were snakes in the water. We visited another temple this afternoon called Wat Phrathat. The temple sits above the city with the most beautiful view of Chiang Mai. We got there in time to see the monks enter the temple for their nightly hour of prayer chants. This was an inspiring thing to see, even for non-Buddhists like myself. Their absolute devotion to their faith is quite apparent.
We are headed down the Mekong River for a 2-day boat ride on Sunday, where we will then cross over into Laos. Unfortunately I forgot the USB cable for my camera so I can't upload photos tonight. I will use Matt's camera soon and post some! I think it's time for me to leave because there was a fight between some foreigner and the Thai owner of the internet cafe where they started throwing coins at one another... Thank goodness an English guy stepped in and told the foreigner to leave. On that note, I miss you all and I will post again soon!
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