Being on holiday from work and school, I find most days working on projects started in China by SJA that could use a lot of support and prayer from the US. Right now, I desperately need old Christmas cards (both sides attached. When Christmastime comes, each student needs two cards to fashion a "Christmas box" which I use as a teaching tool about giving during the holiday season. (Other cards or holiday paraphernalia (pictures, window clings, storybooks, activities etc) about special occasions like Easter, Valentine's Day, birthdays and Thanksgiving are also welcome as teaching tools.
I am also seeking new and gently used children's books (age 0-12) for the opening of a free English reading corner in the Hangzhou Public Library. Groups, establishments and individuals will be listed on a plaque in both Chinese and English at the opening of the reading corner.
To complete these tasks, I also am asking for donations toward postal fees (as we all know, postage has gone up quite steeply lately)to ship both the cards and the books to Hangzhou, donars will also be recognized for their contribution.
Thank you very much for your continued support and prayers. If you are interested in participating in any of these drives, please call, email, drop by or leave me a comment on my page. Thanks again!!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Shimenkan
Late this August, I will be travelling to Shimenkan with Cici. This is our general idea about our upcoming research trip to Stone Gateway (Shimenkan). Shimenkan is the home of the Miao minority people, which have held a very low status for generations, even amidst other local minorities. We have two main goals, local education and historical Christianity cultivation.
1. Local education.
- We will investigate the issues of poverty-stricken families needing their children at home to work rather than at school, endangered schools, and the quality of rural teachers. We have friend there who is a local teacher and devotes a lot of time and money to local charity work, she is already identifying families in particular desperation and making a list for our investigation. We will organize financial support in this field, using the resources of both OCEF (Overseas Chinese Education Foundation) and SJA, depending on potential funding.
2. Church Growth
-Furthermore, we plan to record local Christian history by contacting local church people (Miao Christians) particularly those persons belonging to the older generations. We will bring Stone Gateway stories and history to life to showcase Christianity in this area.
- We will investigate what is left of the church now, what sort of influence Christianity has on the community, and the possibility of creating a budget in order to build a new church.
- In order to raise money to support both the growth of the church and educational system, we will examine Miao handicrafts, such as Miao embroidery, in hopes that by selling local goods here and abroad, the community can rely on itself to create a better life for it's youth.
- We particularly plan to begin a women's class to learn the characters of the Miao written language, along with Christian vocabulary from the Bible or hymns. It is important to emphasize that classes will also be aimed at sanitation, childcare, family, health and agricultural practices.
We will investigate and survey the possibility, cost and requirements of the abovementioned projects. Many donations and volunteers are needed. This program should exist mainly on donations from abroad and the kindness of foreigners, as the program should be done in a covert manner in order to stray from political and social problems amass in China (beginning that it is such a sensitive subject).
Soon, we will open a webpage in both Chinese and English introducing Stone Gateway to the general public with general facts and information—not only concerning the village, but also the projects aiming at raising the living standard. Through the website, one will also be able to donate money toward the current projects and the overall local economic, education and spiritual development.
We are so excited to think about the come trip and all that the Lord might allow develop. We feel strongly lead (almost pushed!) to focus on Shimenkan. Please join us, there is much work to be done and we welcome you to join us.
peace:: Cici and Cammie
please see:
http://www.gydpx.org/yb/wn/smk/
and
http://www.guanhaitong.cn/features/stone%20gateway/000.htm
1. Local education.
- We will investigate the issues of poverty-stricken families needing their children at home to work rather than at school, endangered schools, and the quality of rural teachers. We have friend there who is a local teacher and devotes a lot of time and money to local charity work, she is already identifying families in particular desperation and making a list for our investigation. We will organize financial support in this field, using the resources of both OCEF (Overseas Chinese Education Foundation) and SJA, depending on potential funding.
2. Church Growth
-Furthermore, we plan to record local Christian history by contacting local church people (Miao Christians) particularly those persons belonging to the older generations. We will bring Stone Gateway stories and history to life to showcase Christianity in this area.
- We will investigate what is left of the church now, what sort of influence Christianity has on the community, and the possibility of creating a budget in order to build a new church.
- In order to raise money to support both the growth of the church and educational system, we will examine Miao handicrafts, such as Miao embroidery, in hopes that by selling local goods here and abroad, the community can rely on itself to create a better life for it's youth.
- We particularly plan to begin a women's class to learn the characters of the Miao written language, along with Christian vocabulary from the Bible or hymns. It is important to emphasize that classes will also be aimed at sanitation, childcare, family, health and agricultural practices.
We will investigate and survey the possibility, cost and requirements of the abovementioned projects. Many donations and volunteers are needed. This program should exist mainly on donations from abroad and the kindness of foreigners, as the program should be done in a covert manner in order to stray from political and social problems amass in China (beginning that it is such a sensitive subject).
Soon, we will open a webpage in both Chinese and English introducing Stone Gateway to the general public with general facts and information—not only concerning the village, but also the projects aiming at raising the living standard. Through the website, one will also be able to donate money toward the current projects and the overall local economic, education and spiritual development.
We are so excited to think about the come trip and all that the Lord might allow develop. We feel strongly lead (almost pushed!) to focus on Shimenkan. Please join us, there is much work to be done and we welcome you to join us.
peace:: Cici and Cammie
please see:
http://www.gydpx.org/yb/wn/smk/
and
http://www.guanhaitong.cn/features/stone%20gateway/000.htm
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sanjiang area investigation
The following is a translation from a Chinese link of a friend of Zheng SiSi (Cici), Hong Bo, who is the leader of the organization Ge Sang Hua (named after a common flower in Tibet). Ge Sang Hua organizes education-related support for Tibetan children. This post was written a few days ago about Hong Bo's trip to Yushu in Qinghai province to visit sponsored children, this May.
This photo is of a mother and child. You might not be able to imagine how they are suffering. The mother's voice box has been destroyed so she cannot speak clearly. When we visited her family she became distressed because she was unable to explain the family's situation to us. She has no husband, and her daughter no father.
When the mother opened her coat, we saw that she had two raw horrific sores on her leg. Despite her vocal disability, she was able to communicate that she had no idea what had caused the open sores, and had no money to seek medical care.
I couldn't bear seeing any more, I doubled over as if my heart had been cut in two. The only thing I am able to do for this small family is to record their story and publish it on our website. The daughter we sponsor is the one hope and joy that keeps the mother strong and alive.
Next, we visited another sponsored child's family. All three generations of women have lost their husbands to the various effects of poverty. The child we are financing and his mother live a bitter and hard life. The grandmother is elderly and trembling from sickness and the mother's children are still young and in school. The mother has never had a father-figure; she has never been to school and she has no husband. In this area, many single women raising families often leave government forms void of the children's father's names, rejecting the possibility of child-support preferring to bear the hardship of raising a child on one's own because the possibility that the child could belong to different men looms dauntingly. In this manner, many of the children we sponsor have no "official" fathers.
This is not unusual in Tibetan culture. In many Tibetan songs, most lyrics praise mothers but seldom fathers. I believe Tibetan women suffer more than we, Han people, can imagine. We cannot compare their strength and endurance of hardship to our own lives.
Tibet is such a beautiful and mysterious land. We believe that the lives of the children Ge Sang Hua sponsors will be much happier than their mothers' and grandmothers'. We know knowledge and education change change children's futures for the better. We hope for your prayers, thoughts, efforts and support.
This photo is of a mother and child. You might not be able to imagine how they are suffering. The mother's voice box has been destroyed so she cannot speak clearly. When we visited her family she became distressed because she was unable to explain the family's situation to us. She has no husband, and her daughter no father.
When the mother opened her coat, we saw that she had two raw horrific sores on her leg. Despite her vocal disability, she was able to communicate that she had no idea what had caused the open sores, and had no money to seek medical care.
I couldn't bear seeing any more, I doubled over as if my heart had been cut in two. The only thing I am able to do for this small family is to record their story and publish it on our website. The daughter we sponsor is the one hope and joy that keeps the mother strong and alive.
Next, we visited another sponsored child's family. All three generations of women have lost their husbands to the various effects of poverty. The child we are financing and his mother live a bitter and hard life. The grandmother is elderly and trembling from sickness and the mother's children are still young and in school. The mother has never had a father-figure; she has never been to school and she has no husband. In this area, many single women raising families often leave government forms void of the children's father's names, rejecting the possibility of child-support preferring to bear the hardship of raising a child on one's own because the possibility that the child could belong to different men looms dauntingly. In this manner, many of the children we sponsor have no "official" fathers.
This is not unusual in Tibetan culture. In many Tibetan songs, most lyrics praise mothers but seldom fathers. I believe Tibetan women suffer more than we, Han people, can imagine. We cannot compare their strength and endurance of hardship to our own lives.
Tibet is such a beautiful and mysterious land. We believe that the lives of the children Ge Sang Hua sponsors will be much happier than their mothers' and grandmothers'. We know knowledge and education change change children's futures for the better. We hope for your prayers, thoughts, efforts and support.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Foundations etc.
I am learning about grant-writing, and I've learned one of the first rules is to use networking in order to find foundations that have similar goals as your organization. As so, I am asking for any suggestion of foundations you know of interested in overseas work, especially in the rural areas concerning education and basic needs. Also, a children's English reading room is being organized at the Hangzhou Public Library. New and used books as well as funds are welcome, a foundation or philanthropic organization interested in overseas children's education/literacy would be a great connect. You can email me or leave a message if you have any ideas or know of anyone with any ideas. Peace.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
A day of Xiaolan
A DAY OF XIAOLAN
Shilan Kang, girl, 12 year old, address,
Family members:
Xiao lan’s parents have worked in city for many years, and they haven't returned home in for two years. Last year they sent home 2000RMB (approx.250 USD) home as the living cost for their children and Xiaolan’s grandparents.
Now at home, is Xiaolan’s grandfather, 65, is in good health, so he does all the field work. Now, he comes to feel his age and he is not strong as before.
Their land is 3 and half basic unit. (Each unit has a field and hillside land). The layout of their land can meet the family’s need. But no, the grandfather is not strong enough as before to work the land, so they have to buy most of their rice. They keep a pig and sell in the end of year.
They seldom eat pork, mostly green vegetable, some times pepper with rice.
Xiaolan’s grandmother, 61, hurt herself once working in the field several years ago, and not has still not recovered. She is sick and often coughing.
Older brother, 13, Guanyu Fan, is in the 6 grade in same school, he is not tall as Xiaolan because he has been weak since he was very small, so by the local culture’s tradition, he has his mother’s name along with his surname
Xiaolan’s younger brother Shishuang Kang is Xiaolan twin, and in the same school, 5grade.
Xiaolan’s father’s sister and her husband also work in city all year round, and leave their two young girls to live together with Xiaolan’s grandparents. One is six and another four.
Xiaolan is a diligent student; she is silent in school and gets along well with classmates. In the home she is a very helpful hand.
Xiaolan gets financial support from an organization, 125yuan (16 USD) each semester. In her home in on the wall she has many awards for study and sport. But recently she is lagging behind in study.
Her family is very popular in local area.
Her family is among the average class. Poverty is widespread in her hometown.
We told her one day ahead that we will take pictures of her day.
April 25, 6am when we arrived, she is already making breakfast. Grandfather and her older brother are not home, the day before he was hurt when play with friends and so Grandfather took him to the doctor in county hospital.
Xiaolan’s morning is very busy. Making breakfast, feeding pig, making sure her brother and cousins get up, have breakfast, wash and dress, and clean up. (most pictures taken in morning) Xiaolan does all this work in good order one by one.
Finishing morning work, she brings cousin to school, now still has one hour before class begin, so she cleans the classroom with the students and then begins to preview lessons.
In class, she raises questions and asks teacher’s help.
At noon, she, her brother and her cousin go back home for lunch. The older brother has arrived home earlier so he warmed rice; lunch food is pepper with rice. Xiaolan’s cousin is tired so she has to carry her back home. Grandfather and the older brother are home now, and he is ok. Grandfather has brought home a piece of port fat, which is the only oil for the family this year.
At , 3:30 back from school, Xiaolan does her homework first for about one hour. Then she brings her cousins to a hill to cut grass for pig…
Dark coming, grandmother is already waiting them home ……
It rained, so we didn’t photograph more, we didn’t want to disturb more of their quite life.
We can imagine, Xiaolan needs to prepare her family’s supper, feed the pig, and she might watch TV with her family for a while, (a small white and black TV) but not for long, because they can’t afford to use money on electricity. She might phone her parents, (they have telephone, but once again they can’t afford much for telephone costs; to them it’s expensive wasteful).
When with Xiaolan came back home, we asked her, “What you will do in future?” She said, “I never thought of that. We said,“ Set yourself a goal and work hard for that”. She said, “I see…”
Sometimes, Xiaolan will pick tea in the hills and sell it for stationery and family cost.
(Article and pictures approved by Xiaolan, copyright by SJA. )
Photo links in below:
http://photo.163.com/photos/gsjczzm/ 农村女孩小兰的一天
http://photo.163.com/photos/gsjczzm/121889573/
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Looking for Volunteer Summer ESL teachers in China!
SJA SUMMER CAMP
Looking for Volunteer Summer ESL Teachers in
1. TIME:
2007 summer, 2 week program, 4 week program, 6 week program.
2. PLACE:
3. CLASS
Each class 25 students, with one foreign teacher and one Chinese teaching assistant, possibly some student volunteers.
Class will be divided by students’ age, and lessons and events will be arranged correspondingly
4. CONTENT
1. Day-Camp: gathering for young children (below 9) fun games and English instruction.
Safety is the most important.
Lunch supplied.
2. English language and culture learning in lessons and games and events. (to Chinese students)
Improving skills as speaking, reading, listening and creativity.
l Use original English storybooks as lesson materials to learn new vocabulary words, understand stories and act through short plays. Especially geared for younger children (possible to collect enough English books donation)
l Program lessons teaching.
l Translate English stories （excellent American students writing collection）
l English songs and stages. performance
l Topic discussion. Chinese culture priority.
l Students prepare Chinese culture topics to present to foreigners.
l Guide provided to show foreigners around
Program will adjust per student levels.
Below 9 Day-Camp, English games and cultural crafts.
Age 10-15, homework instruction, raising interest to English and creative learning
Above 15, speaking, communication, group work translation, and creative learning
More brain storm to be expected.
5. BENEFITS AND DUTIES OF FOREIGN TEACHERS IN
l Free home stay, including food and family treatment. Experience real
l 8 hours a day (3-4 hours teaching and other hours with students. including 2 professional Chinese lessons,)
l Chinese culture lessons, organized in topic events such as, Chinese knot tying, hand-made flower, Chinese paper cuttings, Chinese boxing,
l Weekend city trip and exhibition and out of city trip two day trip every two weeks or four day trip every four weeks.
Teachers must pay for roundtrip air ticket (see www.flychina.com) from
Two night free hotel ( first day after arrive and last day before leave
6. PROFIT DISTRIBUTION
· We plan to start a new NGO field in Young Adult Development Service, aimed at inner-city teenager virtue, morality, healthy development, anti-social behavior correction and mentality guide.
· SJA summer camp will be an important event to incubate fund.
· Over 50% of the program profit will be as fund to support teenager growing service
7. NEEDED
l Foreign teacher volunteers with teaching experience preferred.
l Original English materials, new or second hand English books for children. Plans to collect enough to set up an English reading room in local community library.
l Sharing with us in English Summer camp program designs and experiences will be greatly appreciated.
Please contact Sissy at: sissyzheng@gmail.com for further information.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
BUY PRINTS TO SUPPORT EDUCATION IN CHINA
Overseas China Education Foundation (OCEF), registered in Texas and granted by IRS as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit charity organization, is dedicated to help less-privileged children in rural areas of China to finish their education up to 9th grade.Due to social and historical reasons, millions of school-age children in vast rural areas of China are still struggling for a chance to receive basic education. Local government and parents are too poor to help. Your care and generosity will help these children to get the basic reading and writing skills with which they need to push themselves out of ignorance and poverty.All proceeds will be used to help needy children. The supporting money is sent to each supported school directly from OCEF and delivered to students at an open conference attended and monitored by OCEF's volunteering coordinators in China.
-each 8x10 print 10$ available in color or black and white leave a comment or contact my email address, cammiebrennan@gmail.com if you are interested
-each 8x10 print 10$ available in color or black and white leave a comment or contact my email address, cammiebrennan@gmail.com if you are interested
DO SOMETHING
Dear friends, the organization OCEF provides the opportunity to sponsor primary and senior school students in rural "9th world" (third world county, third poorest province, and the third poorest area in the province). It costs 50$ to sponsor a primary student and 120$ to support a senior school student for one year. Please, I am begging you to do something for these students who desperately need education and education materials. This is something small you can do to make a huge difference in some child's life. Please contact me at my gmail address, cammiebrennan@gmail.com or see http://www.ocef.org/newocef/en/ for more information. The following are pictures of the school, school grounds, dormitories and the students. By sponsoring one you can receive a report of the school and student and correspondence with the student if you wish. Please do something. Please.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Lately, every time I open my email or facebook account I find another childhood or college friend is engaged, married, with child or has given birth. Besides making me nervous to open my internet accounts, with my 24th (25th in China) birthday looming in the near future (and yes, that is a hint...the 20th of March to be exact) I've started to worry that perhaps my life is substandard or dysfunctional on some level as I am single and definitely not pregnant. Naturally, I was much relieved to find that I have still not hit rock bottom. There's nothing else like someone else's absurdity to give your self esteem a boost.
Ananova.com:
Man marries himself
A Chinese man has married himself to express his "dissatisfaction with reality".
Liu Ye, 39, from Zhuhai city, married a life sized foam cut-out of himself wearing a woman's bridal dress.
"There are many reasons for marrying myself, but mainly to express my dissatisfaction with reality," he said.
"This marriage makes me whole again. My definition of marriage is different from others."
The ceremony was held at a traditional courtyard packed with more than 100 guests.
The 'couple' were led out by a bridesmaid and a groomsman and bowed to ancestors and senior guests for blessings.
Liu says he is not gay, but admits he's "maybe a bit narcissistic", reports New Express.
As one blogger on the faithful www.hangzhouexpat.com site commented, neither individual looks to pleased with the arrangement, but maybe they will fall in love eventually. Go figure. Wonder if it is legal in America.....secondly, how did the cardboard cutout bow to the ancestors. Thoughts?
Ananova.com:
Man marries himself
A Chinese man has married himself to express his "dissatisfaction with reality".
Liu Ye, 39, from Zhuhai city, married a life sized foam cut-out of himself wearing a woman's bridal dress.
"There are many reasons for marrying myself, but mainly to express my dissatisfaction with reality," he said.
"This marriage makes me whole again. My definition of marriage is different from others."
The ceremony was held at a traditional courtyard packed with more than 100 guests.
The 'couple' were led out by a bridesmaid and a groomsman and bowed to ancestors and senior guests for blessings.
Liu says he is not gay, but admits he's "maybe a bit narcissistic", reports New Express.
As one blogger on the faithful www.hangzhouexpat.com site commented, neither individual looks to pleased with the arrangement, but maybe they will fall in love eventually. Go figure. Wonder if it is legal in America.....secondly, how did the cardboard cutout bow to the ancestors. Thoughts?
Saturday, March 03, 2007
My dear friend SiSi Jie introduced me to her friend's amazing blog (mostly filled with pictures because otherwise it would be in Chinese). She volunteers for a small school focused on both academic and spiritual formation and education. She, as a Christian, is in charge of most of the spiritual formation education. She is in the first few pictures, but otherwise it is a great view of rural Chinese life and school children. Something about it just lifts my spirit...hope it does the same for you! Peace
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
After the arduous journey of my life, I am finally back in Hangzhou. Happenings in the last week included taking several 8 hour bus trips, seeing Nanning's bus station, seeing Guangzhou, chilling in Hong Kong, visiting XinXing (because there were no tickets out to Guangzhou to home) and finally flying home. I wanted to kiss the earth like pope whenever he gets off the plane in a new country. My 16.3 kilogram backpack prevented me from doing so however.
When I came back from vacation last summer, my house was, as Jackie described it, a virtual refugee camp. With several foreign and Chinese friends setting up camp in my apt. for the last 7 weeks to watch my cat, I had no idea what I would walk into this time. I was surprised. The place wasn't a wreck. My dvd player, tv, and computer were all intact. Mysteriously, however one wastepaper basket was missing, one toilet brush, and one drying rack for my dishes. While sweeping under the bed this afternoon, I discovered that my missing belongings had been replaced with a gift. From beneath my bed I swept out a hand-painted oil painting of a can of Colgate shaving cream on the back of a discarded piece of cardboard. The piece is nice, but hardly goes with my living room decor. I am not so sure the trade was fair.
When I came back from vacation last summer, my house was, as Jackie described it, a virtual refugee camp. With several foreign and Chinese friends setting up camp in my apt. for the last 7 weeks to watch my cat, I had no idea what I would walk into this time. I was surprised. The place wasn't a wreck. My dvd player, tv, and computer were all intact. Mysteriously, however one wastepaper basket was missing, one toilet brush, and one drying rack for my dishes. While sweeping under the bed this afternoon, I discovered that my missing belongings had been replaced with a gift. From beneath my bed I swept out a hand-painted oil painting of a can of Colgate shaving cream on the back of a discarded piece of cardboard. The piece is nice, but hardly goes with my living room decor. I am not so sure the trade was fair.
Friday, February 16, 2007
The day began normally enough. A calm Lao morning by the lazy MeKong, sipping thick Lao coffee and munching on french bread and cheese. We had decided to go to the Pak Ou caves for our last day of Luang Prabang, but, being as lazy as the river and as relaxed as the Lao culture, we bided our time, checking internet first. With surprising news from home under my belt, Jackie and I set off to hire a motorbike, tuk-tuk or jumbo to take us to the caves (the boats were tooooo expensive) "Tuk-tuk! Tuk-tuk!" the drivers called as we passed their waiting dilapidated cars. "Caves," I said, "How much?" The classic driver squinted his eyes and pursed his lips, "For you? 15 dollars." "Heck no," I replied, we want to go for three dollars a person." (other travelers had told us that was the going rate). "You need more people, then three dollars a person." The driver set out to corral more tourists and Jackie and I settled by the market to bring people into our scheme. I made a sign "Want to go to the caves? Three dollars per person. We need more people." and began calling out to the various foreigners of all ages who passed us. We got a couple nibbles, but no bites. Then I started asking Laos, just for the hell of it, maybe they had never been to the cave. Finally, a foreigner of an unknown origin came over. I was in the midst of persuading her to join us when she told us she'd lived in Luang Prabang for 4 months and the caves sucked. Oh. Well, so much for that plan. We snuck away from the driver....
Instead we spent the afternoon at the National Museum. Towards the end there was a special independent video exhibit on different parts of Lao life. Basically daily labor...not in the home, but for work. Hauling coal, making bricks, fashioning knives. By the end, I was my usual emotional self, distressed by the state of Lao (the most bombed country on Earth, if the UN and other organizations keep moving to clear the uxos at the rate they are, it will take over 100 years to clear all of Lao). As a new years resolution not to be completely emotional over everything I can't control. I kept in my tears. We stopped by the same outside cafe for lunch as we had for breakfast and ordered sandwiches. As we waited I watched a cat (the cat population must exceed the human population in Lao) under the next table. I usually pet them even though they are gross and dirty, they are so unloved. This particular cat, however, was gnawing the head off a recently killed rat. I sort of gagged. Eventually, one of the three other cats watching him moved in, not to eat the rat, but to toss it violently around underneath the table. "Bang" it would hit the top of the table. "Slap" it would land on the bench. Like a trapeze audition, the rat spun back flips and front flips until I knew I was going to be sick. The cat who was originally eating the rat came over to rub against my legs. "No" I thought "don't touch me, rats spread the ibonic plague (Jackie told me later it was the bubonic plague....I never knew) We went on and on about the grossness of the cats when I realized that they we just a small microcosm of of Lao's (and the rest of the world's suffering people) that no one wants to touch or help. And I could feed one cat my sandwich but what about the millions of others? That on top of the new news and the video sent me overboard into weeping as the cat began to gnaw on my leg...I couldn't look at Jackie's tuna fish meat sandwich any more.
Pulling myself together we went to check with a travel agency that was helping me retrieve my forgotten flash drive from the hostel in Vietiane. (it holds all the pictures of our trip up until...well...Vietaine....)The hostel owner had promised for 6 days to send to the agency on the day, bus but had failed to do so. I could only leave him my Chinese address hoping it would find me some day.
Just another day in Southeast Asia. We returned to the hostel to meet the Dutch friend, Bart, that we had met at the organic farm in Vang Vieng. We went to a free movie (Walk the Line) showing at an artsy bookshop but we had to by drinks to stay. We each settled on our favorites, mine,: lime, Bart's: chocolate, Jackie's: chocolate mint. In the end we all agreed that they were the most terrible and expensive shakes we had had in Southeast Asia (there are a lot of "shakes" here, basically flavor with ice and some condensed or coconut milk).
Foiled again by the tourism industry offering a "free" movie we set out to find something interesting. It was Jackie and mine's last night in Lao and we wanted have fun. We almost got it......
Exhausted, we agreed to meet the next morning so I could use my visa, not the mastercard, to pay Bart back for the good times he showed us. The next morning Jackie was laying in my bed, pale from throwing up all night. She had food poisoning. I had to shower and get the money before we had to leave for the plane. I went to bathroom, and noticed the lights weren't on and the water heater wouldn't light up. Going to the front desk I asked "Electricity?" "The city is out of electricity" the man behind the counter slurred nonchalantly as if it happened every Sunday. Great. Surely, I thought, the whole city can't be out, just our quarter. Bart and I head out for the mile walk to the second atm. 20 minutes later, we read the sign pasted across the machine "out of order" Bart asked if I had my passport, then I could just withdraw from the counter, but of course the passport was in the hostel. We headed back, staving off venders and tuk-tuk drivers at every turn. Back again to the bank with passport. As soon as we stepped inside the darkened room, we say, for the first time, the sign on the counter window "no cards today". Why we thought the computer would be working inside the bank if not outside was beyond me. Back again (I got my exercise). Jackie was well enough to walk to we packed, grabbed a tuk-tuk and headed toward the midget airport.
One hour later, we landed in Vietnam. We were happy to know that our hostel driver was picking us up. No fighting for a bus or taxi. Just a man with our name on a sign, like rich people. We had applied been accepted for "visa upon arrival" which just meant we showed them a letter emailed to us and they gave us a visa for $25. Forms filled out and pictures stapled on, I passed over $50 in Lao kip. "We don't take kip. Only USD." Of course. we had $20 between us. "Can I change money somewhere?" I asked. "Yes, come with me. Leave your bag and your friend here, (communists!) I followed his rapid pace through the arrival gate and out to the lobby. "Can I just look and see if my driver is here? I don't want him to think we didn't show up" I pleaded. "Not my problem," was the stiff reply. "Do you have your mastercard?" he asked as soon as we reached the money exchange. "No, you told me to leave my bag...it is in the bag." I took the kip out of my pocket and handed it over. It came out to 35 USD which meant with Jackie's 20 we were fine (we had planned it that way). The guard looked worried. "Where is your mastercard?" "Its in my bag," I said through my teeth. "Plus my friend has 20 USD so we don't need it." We headed back into the arrivals gate. "Come with me." he said. We will get your luggage. "What about my friend?" I pointed, we don't have tons of luggage, but I am a small girl. "No. We need to get your mastercard." "Its in my bag, " I cried desperately, feeling like I was on an SNL skit or candid camera. The guard watched me struggle with my backpacking-backpack and Jackie's luggage on wheels.
We came to a random location and he said "Leave it there, put your Mastercard with it." I gasped. First of all I didn't want to leave my luggage unattended in a Vietnamese airport and second, I didn't have the card. I wasn't like they needed it for collateral, we were certainly going to pick our bags back up--they are our lives right now. Luggageless and cash in hand we headed back toward Jackie. "Mastercard?" he asked. Without bothering to reply,I grabbed Jackie's 20 and counted out $50 USD. "OH!! Friend has money, no need mastercard!" he exclaimed. I wanted to bang my head on the table. I picked up my carry on, paid for the visas, received the visas, gathered the luggage and head into the lobby, desperately seeking our driver, who was, of course gone. Other drivers tried to get us to come with them. "No, we have reservations here. We need to go here." "Oh," said the driver, "I know him, I will call him." Minutes later the driver returned. "My friend said to bring you into town for him, he waited but you never came. Just wait outside here for a moment."
Thirty minutes later, Jackie and I were just about to climb in a public minivan headed towards the center of town when the driver came whizzing around the corner in a taxi. "Get in, get in!" "Is this ride still free?" I questioned. After all, we were suddenly in a taxi. "Yes yes of course!" Ok, he said as we pulled into the old quarter where we were staying, you own the taxi driver 15 usd for the toll and the taxi fee. Jackie and I gapped. Ok, the toll, maybe but he had just said the ride would be free. "You don't understand," I said, voice shaking with anger. "We have exactly 3 USD to our names and you said it would be free!" "The hotel manager will pay you back." he promised. The taxi stopped at an atm and I withdrew half my life savings to pay the hellman. Back in the car, the driver handed me his mobile. It was our hotel manager. "We are now full, no more room." Speechless with frustration a moment passed before I calmly said, "We made reservations last month, you can't be full." "We are, but I can send you to a hostel that belongs to my company. Same standards and same price." Too tired to fight I said fine. We arrived, paid the men and settled into our room, happy to lay down and have hot water for the first time in weeks.
The next day, however, we were evicted from the hostel for not booking a tour with them. I demanded a discount, which after awhile of fighting I got (China has taught me to bargain and fight). Their counter clearly had a sticker for Visa and Mastercard, but as soon as I passed over the Visa, he said coldly, "We don't take cards." Grrrrr! We then the stormed off to the original hostel where I once again demanded a discount on the room for the money we lost by not having the "free ride" included. I am so tired of hostels and credit cards!!
Instead we spent the afternoon at the National Museum. Towards the end there was a special independent video exhibit on different parts of Lao life. Basically daily labor...not in the home, but for work. Hauling coal, making bricks, fashioning knives. By the end, I was my usual emotional self, distressed by the state of Lao (the most bombed country on Earth, if the UN and other organizations keep moving to clear the uxos at the rate they are, it will take over 100 years to clear all of Lao). As a new years resolution not to be completely emotional over everything I can't control. I kept in my tears. We stopped by the same outside cafe for lunch as we had for breakfast and ordered sandwiches. As we waited I watched a cat (the cat population must exceed the human population in Lao) under the next table. I usually pet them even though they are gross and dirty, they are so unloved. This particular cat, however, was gnawing the head off a recently killed rat. I sort of gagged. Eventually, one of the three other cats watching him moved in, not to eat the rat, but to toss it violently around underneath the table. "Bang" it would hit the top of the table. "Slap" it would land on the bench. Like a trapeze audition, the rat spun back flips and front flips until I knew I was going to be sick. The cat who was originally eating the rat came over to rub against my legs. "No" I thought "don't touch me, rats spread the ibonic plague (Jackie told me later it was the bubonic plague....I never knew) We went on and on about the grossness of the cats when I realized that they we just a small microcosm of of Lao's (and the rest of the world's suffering people) that no one wants to touch or help. And I could feed one cat my sandwich but what about the millions of others? That on top of the new news and the video sent me overboard into weeping as the cat began to gnaw on my leg...I couldn't look at Jackie's tuna fish meat sandwich any more.
Pulling myself together we went to check with a travel agency that was helping me retrieve my forgotten flash drive from the hostel in Vietiane. (it holds all the pictures of our trip up until...well...Vietaine....)The hostel owner had promised for 6 days to send to the agency on the day, bus but had failed to do so. I could only leave him my Chinese address hoping it would find me some day.
Just another day in Southeast Asia. We returned to the hostel to meet the Dutch friend, Bart, that we had met at the organic farm in Vang Vieng. We went to a free movie (Walk the Line) showing at an artsy bookshop but we had to by drinks to stay. We each settled on our favorites, mine,: lime, Bart's: chocolate, Jackie's: chocolate mint. In the end we all agreed that they were the most terrible and expensive shakes we had had in Southeast Asia (there are a lot of "shakes" here, basically flavor with ice and some condensed or coconut milk).
Foiled again by the tourism industry offering a "free" movie we set out to find something interesting. It was Jackie and mine's last night in Lao and we wanted have fun. We almost got it......
Exhausted, we agreed to meet the next morning so I could use my visa, not the mastercard, to pay Bart back for the good times he showed us. The next morning Jackie was laying in my bed, pale from throwing up all night. She had food poisoning. I had to shower and get the money before we had to leave for the plane. I went to bathroom, and noticed the lights weren't on and the water heater wouldn't light up. Going to the front desk I asked "Electricity?" "The city is out of electricity" the man behind the counter slurred nonchalantly as if it happened every Sunday. Great. Surely, I thought, the whole city can't be out, just our quarter. Bart and I head out for the mile walk to the second atm. 20 minutes later, we read the sign pasted across the machine "out of order" Bart asked if I had my passport, then I could just withdraw from the counter, but of course the passport was in the hostel. We headed back, staving off venders and tuk-tuk drivers at every turn. Back again to the bank with passport. As soon as we stepped inside the darkened room, we say, for the first time, the sign on the counter window "no cards today". Why we thought the computer would be working inside the bank if not outside was beyond me. Back again (I got my exercise). Jackie was well enough to walk to we packed, grabbed a tuk-tuk and headed toward the midget airport.
One hour later, we landed in Vietnam. We were happy to know that our hostel driver was picking us up. No fighting for a bus or taxi. Just a man with our name on a sign, like rich people. We had applied been accepted for "visa upon arrival" which just meant we showed them a letter emailed to us and they gave us a visa for $25. Forms filled out and pictures stapled on, I passed over $50 in Lao kip. "We don't take kip. Only USD." Of course. we had $20 between us. "Can I change money somewhere?" I asked. "Yes, come with me. Leave your bag and your friend here, (communists!) I followed his rapid pace through the arrival gate and out to the lobby. "Can I just look and see if my driver is here? I don't want him to think we didn't show up" I pleaded. "Not my problem," was the stiff reply. "Do you have your mastercard?" he asked as soon as we reached the money exchange. "No, you told me to leave my bag...it is in the bag." I took the kip out of my pocket and handed it over. It came out to 35 USD which meant with Jackie's 20 we were fine (we had planned it that way). The guard looked worried. "Where is your mastercard?" "Its in my bag," I said through my teeth. "Plus my friend has 20 USD so we don't need it." We headed back into the arrivals gate. "Come with me." he said. We will get your luggage. "What about my friend?" I pointed, we don't have tons of luggage, but I am a small girl. "No. We need to get your mastercard." "Its in my bag, " I cried desperately, feeling like I was on an SNL skit or candid camera. The guard watched me struggle with my backpacking-backpack and Jackie's luggage on wheels.
We came to a random location and he said "Leave it there, put your Mastercard with it." I gasped. First of all I didn't want to leave my luggage unattended in a Vietnamese airport and second, I didn't have the card. I wasn't like they needed it for collateral, we were certainly going to pick our bags back up--they are our lives right now. Luggageless and cash in hand we headed back toward Jackie. "Mastercard?" he asked. Without bothering to reply,I grabbed Jackie's 20 and counted out $50 USD. "OH!! Friend has money, no need mastercard!" he exclaimed. I wanted to bang my head on the table. I picked up my carry on, paid for the visas, received the visas, gathered the luggage and head into the lobby, desperately seeking our driver, who was, of course gone. Other drivers tried to get us to come with them. "No, we have reservations here. We need to go here." "Oh," said the driver, "I know him, I will call him." Minutes later the driver returned. "My friend said to bring you into town for him, he waited but you never came. Just wait outside here for a moment."
Thirty minutes later, Jackie and I were just about to climb in a public minivan headed towards the center of town when the driver came whizzing around the corner in a taxi. "Get in, get in!" "Is this ride still free?" I questioned. After all, we were suddenly in a taxi. "Yes yes of course!" Ok, he said as we pulled into the old quarter where we were staying, you own the taxi driver 15 usd for the toll and the taxi fee. Jackie and I gapped. Ok, the toll, maybe but he had just said the ride would be free. "You don't understand," I said, voice shaking with anger. "We have exactly 3 USD to our names and you said it would be free!" "The hotel manager will pay you back." he promised. The taxi stopped at an atm and I withdrew half my life savings to pay the hellman. Back in the car, the driver handed me his mobile. It was our hotel manager. "We are now full, no more room." Speechless with frustration a moment passed before I calmly said, "We made reservations last month, you can't be full." "We are, but I can send you to a hostel that belongs to my company. Same standards and same price." Too tired to fight I said fine. We arrived, paid the men and settled into our room, happy to lay down and have hot water for the first time in weeks.
The next day, however, we were evicted from the hostel for not booking a tour with them. I demanded a discount, which after awhile of fighting I got (China has taught me to bargain and fight). Their counter clearly had a sticker for Visa and Mastercard, but as soon as I passed over the Visa, he said coldly, "We don't take cards." Grrrrr! We then the stormed off to the original hostel where I once again demanded a discount on the room for the money we lost by not having the "free ride" included. I am so tired of hostels and credit cards!!
Friday, February 09, 2007
Lovingly written and shared by Jackie M. Kleist...........
“One of the most scenic boat rides in Laos” the brochure claimed. “A tranquil and relaxing 6 hour ride down the Mekong; observe native bird and fish species in their natural habitat.” The five of us gazed around the tour agency office thoughtfully, trying to discern from the faded posters and piles of glossy pamphlets if the tour was worth two days and $12 (keeping in mind that a large pizza is less than $3.) “Let’s do it,” we agreed, and forked over the money, looking forward to our short and pleasant river journey.
We reunited with our three Israeli friends (Angel, Erez, and Helly) early the next morning, fueled with Lao coffee the color of motor oil and armed with baguettes (since Laos was once a French colony, French architecture and cooking are prevalent.) Anxious to begin our journey, we paced the boat dock, looking for Boat 25.
“That one looks good!” I pointed out a boat with cushioned car-style seats.
“Ooh that one has a bar and a restaurant” Erez gestured to another.
Most of the boats, though weathered, looked comfortable, and all featured comfortable looking seats, ample space for walking around, and a restroom. All of them, that is, except for one forlorn looking craft near the end of the dock. Our worst fears were confirmed; it was 25.
Climbing reluctantly aboard, we settled ourselves on the damp floor of the boat (so much for cushioned seats), which was canoe-sized and slowly filling with water. Various undergarments were hanging from the plywood roof above us, and our female driver motioned to us to “just brush those aside.”
“At least it’s only a six hour ride,” Helly smiled; “it’s 8:30am now, so we should be off here by 3:00.” We settled back on the mats, prepared for departure. All around us, more river-worthy vessels filled with older (and richer) tourists were swiftly departing the dock. The middle aged men and women, most wearing clean white tennis shoes and expensive sunglasses, smiled and waved happily at us as they pulled out of the dock, food, water, and bathrooms easily accessible.
Forty-five minutes later, we were still docked. “I wonder what we’re waiting for,” Angel commented. Our driver, who had made no attempts either to start the engine or recollect her underwear, was perched happily in the back of the boat, spitting sunflower seeds over the side. Suddenly, we spotted the reason for our delay. Six MORE tourists were making their way unsteadily over the rocks, descending towards our canoe.
A half hour later, all eleven of us had managed to wedge ourselves and our belongings into the boat, and we were finally headed down the Mekong, ready for some of that tranquility. Unfortunately, our boat motor was deafening- similar to a Blue Angel jet-making conversation more or less impossible. “LOOK AT THE WOMAN DOING LAUNDRY!” one of us would scream intermittently. “WHAT?” the others would answer. The woman driver spent much of her time crawling around in the boat (for no apparent reason,) forcing all passengers to try desperately to slide themselves and their luggage all out of her way. I suspect she was enjoying this immensely.
Not long after departure, however, the engine began to smoke, slowly sputtering to a stop and leaving us adrift in the middle of the Mekong. The driver, crawled once again towards the back of the boat, picked up a filthy plastic tube, and stuck one end into her mouth, attempting to siphon river water into the overheated engine. This was beginning to remind me of one of our infamous family vacations. After numerous attempts, the woman finally gave up and we pulled over to the side of the river.
A few hours later, (the engine had eventually been revived) the driver dropped us off on a sandbar along the side of the river “to use toilet.” As soon as all eleven passengers were off the boat, she sped off down the river, all of our luggage in tow. She turned around and waved one last time. (Fortunately, I was wearing the money belt-passports and credit cards safely tucked inside.) A group of small children were bathing in the river nearby as their mothers, heads wrapped in tribal cloth, did laundry. Does anyone take Visa?
Fortunately, the woman eventually returned with our luggage (apparently she had gone to visit a “friend” downriver), and, after a little more engine trouble, and SEVEN more hours in the boat, we arrived at the tribal village, ten hours after departure. Ears ringing, we staggered off the boat. I don’t know how much more tranquility I can take...
Aside from the boat journey, Laos has been wonderful. We attended a real Lao party (at a Buddhist temple, no less,) explored a couple caves, and helped teach village children English at an organic farm. Tomorrow it’s onto Hanoi, famous for boat trips to Halong Bay....
“One of the most scenic boat rides in Laos” the brochure claimed. “A tranquil and relaxing 6 hour ride down the Mekong; observe native bird and fish species in their natural habitat.” The five of us gazed around the tour agency office thoughtfully, trying to discern from the faded posters and piles of glossy pamphlets if the tour was worth two days and $12 (keeping in mind that a large pizza is less than $3.) “Let’s do it,” we agreed, and forked over the money, looking forward to our short and pleasant river journey.
We reunited with our three Israeli friends (Angel, Erez, and Helly) early the next morning, fueled with Lao coffee the color of motor oil and armed with baguettes (since Laos was once a French colony, French architecture and cooking are prevalent.) Anxious to begin our journey, we paced the boat dock, looking for Boat 25.
“That one looks good!” I pointed out a boat with cushioned car-style seats.
“Ooh that one has a bar and a restaurant” Erez gestured to another.
Most of the boats, though weathered, looked comfortable, and all featured comfortable looking seats, ample space for walking around, and a restroom. All of them, that is, except for one forlorn looking craft near the end of the dock. Our worst fears were confirmed; it was 25.
Climbing reluctantly aboard, we settled ourselves on the damp floor of the boat (so much for cushioned seats), which was canoe-sized and slowly filling with water. Various undergarments were hanging from the plywood roof above us, and our female driver motioned to us to “just brush those aside.”
“At least it’s only a six hour ride,” Helly smiled; “it’s 8:30am now, so we should be off here by 3:00.” We settled back on the mats, prepared for departure. All around us, more river-worthy vessels filled with older (and richer) tourists were swiftly departing the dock. The middle aged men and women, most wearing clean white tennis shoes and expensive sunglasses, smiled and waved happily at us as they pulled out of the dock, food, water, and bathrooms easily accessible.
Forty-five minutes later, we were still docked. “I wonder what we’re waiting for,” Angel commented. Our driver, who had made no attempts either to start the engine or recollect her underwear, was perched happily in the back of the boat, spitting sunflower seeds over the side. Suddenly, we spotted the reason for our delay. Six MORE tourists were making their way unsteadily over the rocks, descending towards our canoe.
A half hour later, all eleven of us had managed to wedge ourselves and our belongings into the boat, and we were finally headed down the Mekong, ready for some of that tranquility. Unfortunately, our boat motor was deafening- similar to a Blue Angel jet-making conversation more or less impossible. “LOOK AT THE WOMAN DOING LAUNDRY!” one of us would scream intermittently. “WHAT?” the others would answer. The woman driver spent much of her time crawling around in the boat (for no apparent reason,) forcing all passengers to try desperately to slide themselves and their luggage all out of her way. I suspect she was enjoying this immensely.
Not long after departure, however, the engine began to smoke, slowly sputtering to a stop and leaving us adrift in the middle of the Mekong. The driver, crawled once again towards the back of the boat, picked up a filthy plastic tube, and stuck one end into her mouth, attempting to siphon river water into the overheated engine. This was beginning to remind me of one of our infamous family vacations. After numerous attempts, the woman finally gave up and we pulled over to the side of the river.
A few hours later, (the engine had eventually been revived) the driver dropped us off on a sandbar along the side of the river “to use toilet.” As soon as all eleven passengers were off the boat, she sped off down the river, all of our luggage in tow. She turned around and waved one last time. (Fortunately, I was wearing the money belt-passports and credit cards safely tucked inside.) A group of small children were bathing in the river nearby as their mothers, heads wrapped in tribal cloth, did laundry. Does anyone take Visa?
Fortunately, the woman eventually returned with our luggage (apparently she had gone to visit a “friend” downriver), and, after a little more engine trouble, and SEVEN more hours in the boat, we arrived at the tribal village, ten hours after departure. Ears ringing, we staggered off the boat. I don’t know how much more tranquility I can take...
Aside from the boat journey, Laos has been wonderful. We attended a real Lao party (at a Buddhist temple, no less,) explored a couple caves, and helped teach village children English at an organic farm. Tomorrow it’s onto Hanoi, famous for boat trips to Halong Bay....
Monday, February 05, 2007
in laos and loving it. its a bit, surprisingly, like the artic but we are dealing. we've been staying on this organic farm which thrives of the mulberry plant and the community who lives there teaches englishs to the village across the street and together they have built a youth center, a community center and a library (which is quite an accomplishment, there are only 3 universities in Lao and only two have any kind of library......) more to come, pictures etc. when i am not paying one million dollars a minute to use the internet. love yall.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
FromJackie'sBlog because I am too lazy to write:
Recent activities: Hosting my first multi-cultural Christmas partyLocation: Cammie's apartment (I insisited I would help her clean up afterwards...little did she know)Highlights: Realizing that inviting 50+ people under the assumption that only half of them will come is wishful thinkingHearing people from ten different countries, (none of them Hispanic,) attempt to sing "Feliz Navidad."
8th Annual International Ice FestivalLocation: Harbin-city of 5 million on the Russian borderHighlights: Surviving the 30 hour train ride en route to Harbin. Aside from sleeping and wandering the higher priced areas of the train where we were not supposed to be, much of our time was spent teaching our fellow passengers how to play "Go Fish."Climbing ice sculptures-the tallest was more than ten stories high- This year's festival featured replicas of Notre Dame, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Great Wall, a Korean City Gate, and....Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Journey to the Matriarchal Society of Lugu LakeLocation: Yunnan province, Southwest ChinaHighlights: Leaving the tour group in attempts to discover any remaining fragment of "the real China"...land away from hostals and internet cafes. After hours of disappointment and wandering at high altitude, we tracked down a local Mosuo man in a cowboy hat (think "Marlboro Man") and convinced him to drive us over dark mountain roads so we could drink fermented apple-beer with a local family. The tour guide seemed extremely surprised when we staggered into the hostal, hours late for dinner. "Hmmmm" he smiled. I can imagine the hundreds of foreign tourists who must still be wandering near Lugu Lake, freezing and woozy with apple beer.
Gorging on all of the wonderful food we can't get in China!(Present) Location: Chiang Mai, ThailandHighlights: Auntie Annie's pretzels, mango ice cream, papayas, spinach lasagna, Mexican food, avacados, microwave popcorn, assorted juices, Ben & Jerry's, french bread, real hot chocolate, lime shakes....the list goes on.
Why can't any of these things make their way across the border? After days of high altitude and unheated hostals (I've never slept in a hat and gloves before!) We were overjoyed to descend into Thailand-current temperature 78 degrees at 8:43pm, home of palm trees, tuk-tuks (3 wheeled bicycles), elephants, mountain villages, and Asia's largest night markets. Aaaaaahhhhh, vacation. The next few days will include jungle trekking, trying not to get my hand bit off while feeding elephants, and as many mangoes and papayas as I can eat before heading to Bangkok on the 23rd.
Recent activities: Hosting my first multi-cultural Christmas partyLocation: Cammie's apartment (I insisited I would help her clean up afterwards...little did she know)Highlights: Realizing that inviting 50+ people under the assumption that only half of them will come is wishful thinkingHearing people from ten different countries, (none of them Hispanic,) attempt to sing "Feliz Navidad."
8th Annual International Ice FestivalLocation: Harbin-city of 5 million on the Russian borderHighlights: Surviving the 30 hour train ride en route to Harbin. Aside from sleeping and wandering the higher priced areas of the train where we were not supposed to be, much of our time was spent teaching our fellow passengers how to play "Go Fish."Climbing ice sculptures-the tallest was more than ten stories high- This year's festival featured replicas of Notre Dame, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Great Wall, a Korean City Gate, and....Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Journey to the Matriarchal Society of Lugu LakeLocation: Yunnan province, Southwest ChinaHighlights: Leaving the tour group in attempts to discover any remaining fragment of "the real China"...land away from hostals and internet cafes. After hours of disappointment and wandering at high altitude, we tracked down a local Mosuo man in a cowboy hat (think "Marlboro Man") and convinced him to drive us over dark mountain roads so we could drink fermented apple-beer with a local family. The tour guide seemed extremely surprised when we staggered into the hostal, hours late for dinner. "Hmmmm" he smiled. I can imagine the hundreds of foreign tourists who must still be wandering near Lugu Lake, freezing and woozy with apple beer.
Gorging on all of the wonderful food we can't get in China!(Present) Location: Chiang Mai, ThailandHighlights: Auntie Annie's pretzels, mango ice cream, papayas, spinach lasagna, Mexican food, avacados, microwave popcorn, assorted juices, Ben & Jerry's, french bread, real hot chocolate, lime shakes....the list goes on.
Why can't any of these things make their way across the border? After days of high altitude and unheated hostals (I've never slept in a hat and gloves before!) We were overjoyed to descend into Thailand-current temperature 78 degrees at 8:43pm, home of palm trees, tuk-tuks (3 wheeled bicycles), elephants, mountain villages, and Asia's largest night markets. Aaaaaahhhhh, vacation. The next few days will include jungle trekking, trying not to get my hand bit off while feeding elephants, and as many mangoes and papayas as I can eat before heading to Bangkok on the 23rd.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Hey everyone, this is Katie, Cammie's sister. She wants you to know that she is unable to access Xanga right now due to the earthquake in Taiwan which supposedly interrupted internet lines b/w China and America. She will be traveling for the next 5 weeks, but will stay in touch as much as possible. Happy Chinese New Year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)