Thursday, May 21
Aaaaaaah
My last week in Thailand is going to be totally self indulgent. While traveling I was really quite disciplined with my money. Generally I was very good at sticking to $20/day or less. Now that I've made it to the end of the trip I've decided to enjoy a bit of what Bangkok has to offer. NOT the seedy stuff (get your mind out of the gutter). Rather, Bangkok has great spa treatments: Thai massage, oil massage, foot massage, facial, mani- pedicures etc all for cheap cheap cheap. Tomorrow, though, is shopping day. It's going to be a good week. :-)
Monday, May 18
Driven Out!
It was a manic decision. But we needed to leave Laos. We tried to like it, but in the end Laos just didn't do it for us. Maybe we're just tired of traveling. Or perhaps there is only so much sticky rice a person can handle. But what ultimately made us leave were the ants.
They invaded at night. In the morning they were everywhere. Even in our beds as mosquito nets are completely useless against ants. We spent two hours murderously cleaning out our packs. We became increasingly vexed by the situation, and by association Laos, and decided it was definitely time to go to Bangkok.
They invaded at night. In the morning they were everywhere. Even in our beds as mosquito nets are completely useless against ants. We spent two hours murderously cleaning out our packs. We became increasingly vexed by the situation, and by association Laos, and decided it was definitely time to go to Bangkok.
Friday, May 8
A Note About Tuk-Tuks
*CLAP*CLAP*CLAP*CLAP*CLAP* (a loud and obnoxious clap probably best used to scare a raccoon from your garbage cans or in some other similar human-animal interaction.)
I glare (through my sunglasses) in the man's general direction. Though I know he can't see me it makes me feel better.
"HEY LADY! YOU WANNA TUKTUK!?!?!??!"
What do you think? I think to myself probably more bitterly than the situation really requires. I'm walking towards Pub Street. It's about 20 feet. Do I really need a tuk tuk?!
"WHERE YOU GOING?"
Not really any of your business.
"TUKTUK!?TUKTUK!?"
Whatever happened to hailing a tuk-tuk when you need a tuk-tuk?
It's not really an impulse decision.
You either need a tuk tuk or you don't need a tuk tuk.
I am aware of the possibility of taking a tuk tuk.
"TUKTUK PLEASE?"
Gaah!!! As soon as I get to Bangkok I am making a t-shirt: I DON'T NEED A FREAKING TUK-TUK!
For three weeks, whenever I left my guesthouse, a restaurant, store, or go anywhere near the outside world I'd go through this interaction at least a half dozen times. Today, at the Pakse International Airport, there wasn't a single tuk-tuk for hire. I'm serious. Zero. Nada. None. It's like they don't have tuk-tuks in Laos, which is obviously just silly. It was a totally freaky experience.
I glare (through my sunglasses) in the man's general direction. Though I know he can't see me it makes me feel better.
"HEY LADY! YOU WANNA TUKTUK!?!?!??!"
What do you think? I think to myself probably more bitterly than the situation really requires. I'm walking towards Pub Street. It's about 20 feet. Do I really need a tuk tuk?!
"WHERE YOU GOING?"
Not really any of your business.
"TUKTUK!?TUKTUK!?"
Whatever happened to hailing a tuk-tuk when you need a tuk-tuk?
It's not really an impulse decision.
You either need a tuk tuk or you don't need a tuk tuk.
I am aware of the possibility of taking a tuk tuk.
"TUKTUK PLEASE?"
Gaah!!! As soon as I get to Bangkok I am making a t-shirt: I DON'T NEED A FREAKING TUK-TUK!
For three weeks, whenever I left my guesthouse, a restaurant, store, or go anywhere near the outside world I'd go through this interaction at least a half dozen times. Today, at the Pakse International Airport, there wasn't a single tuk-tuk for hire. I'm serious. Zero. Nada. None. It's like they don't have tuk-tuks in Laos, which is obviously just silly. It was a totally freaky experience.
Friday, May 1
One More Week
I don't really want to leave. Julia doesn't really want to leave. So why leave?
This evening at around 7 pm Julia had a magnificent brainwave for a fundraiser for New Hope. At 8 pm we had changed our flight to Laos giving us an extra week in Siem Reap. I know it may appear we've gone a little mental for this organization. But honestly, is that bad?
Julia's idea involves our kids, simple art projects, her friend's gallery, her brother's band, and hopefully a whole lot of revenue for New Hope. The finer points have yet to be nailed down (they'll probably be formed and fueled by many ice coffees over the weekend).
What tipped the scales, really, was our walk through the village today. The school itself is in the "better part of town" meaning the buildings have walls and roofs. About 100 meters down the same road, the shacks are made primarily of palm leaves, walls are optional. "Kitchen" is used to refer to the one pot in a household -wherever it happens to be put down.
We've seen the same kids come to school every day for a week. They all wear the same thing everyday and they are all pretty grubby. In a classroom setting it is more difficult to tell who comes from a poor family and who comes from a desperately poor family. It's a different story out in the village. It's easy to see that the family living in a corrugated steel building (four walls and a roof) is far better off than the mother and her kids squatting under s palm leaf roof with no walls.
We saw how much rice families had to feed 4-9 people for the next six days. Not much. Malnutrition is rampant. We saw a 14 month old baby no bigger than a healthy 6 month old. Most infuriating of all, the Cambodian government actively bans, and will destroy, vegetables grown on their land (the majority of the huts are essentially squatting on government land).
Here's why I am staying. Kids from sponsored families were so obviously so much healthier and better off than kids with no sponsor. Considering the miniscule cost to keep a family alive we can't not at least try.
This evening at around 7 pm Julia had a magnificent brainwave for a fundraiser for New Hope. At 8 pm we had changed our flight to Laos giving us an extra week in Siem Reap. I know it may appear we've gone a little mental for this organization. But honestly, is that bad?
Julia's idea involves our kids, simple art projects, her friend's gallery, her brother's band, and hopefully a whole lot of revenue for New Hope. The finer points have yet to be nailed down (they'll probably be formed and fueled by many ice coffees over the weekend).
What tipped the scales, really, was our walk through the village today. The school itself is in the "better part of town" meaning the buildings have walls and roofs. About 100 meters down the same road, the shacks are made primarily of palm leaves, walls are optional. "Kitchen" is used to refer to the one pot in a household -wherever it happens to be put down.
We've seen the same kids come to school every day for a week. They all wear the same thing everyday and they are all pretty grubby. In a classroom setting it is more difficult to tell who comes from a poor family and who comes from a desperately poor family. It's a different story out in the village. It's easy to see that the family living in a corrugated steel building (four walls and a roof) is far better off than the mother and her kids squatting under s palm leaf roof with no walls.
We saw how much rice families had to feed 4-9 people for the next six days. Not much. Malnutrition is rampant. We saw a 14 month old baby no bigger than a healthy 6 month old. Most infuriating of all, the Cambodian government actively bans, and will destroy, vegetables grown on their land (the majority of the huts are essentially squatting on government land).
Here's why I am staying. Kids from sponsored families were so obviously so much healthier and better off than kids with no sponsor. Considering the miniscule cost to keep a family alive we can't not at least try.
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