Day 17!

Whew! Made my way to Siem Reap in Cambodia...and I am really liking the vibe of this little city. I think that this is just the thing I needed...

I've been struggling a lot with my decision to leave, lots of mixed emotions and thoughts... "did i do the right thing" thoughts and feelings of guilt for different reasons. When I did make the decision, I did it with a sort of Buddhist inspired frame of mind, that life is here for our enjoyment sort of mindset... and I keep trying to go back to it. Anyway, arriving here I think has made things a little bit more solid for me...and I do not feel as if i have to work hard at enjoying myself

Ko Tao was a wonderful little day trip! I never thought about how wonderful and tranquil it is to swim amongst hundreds of beautiful tropical fish in crystal clear waters. From the moment I hit the water with the snorkeling gear, I was surrounded by various species of fish that seemed to swim and dance just to show me their beautiful colors. And the coral! Oh, the gorgeous coral...I really do wish I had a waterproof casing for my camera so that I could share the beauty of it all, as my words would never do it justice!

I know some folks were interested in hearing more about the trekking trip that I took before leaving Chiang Rai. Here are some notes that i scribbled down on my little journall.

8/14/08

• Met at 10am at the travel agency in downtown Chiang Rai
• Ride of back of pickup truck to riverside dock at the Kok River
• Long boat ride west on the Kok river
• Dropped off at a Karen village where there was an elephant ride around a little town built on tourism for the elephant rides
• Hopped back onto boat and crossed to the opposite side of the river
• Hopped back onto the back of a pickup truck that took us to a tiny little restaurant for lunch; operated from someone's house, we were served a bowl of fried rice and introduced ourselves to an Italian couple doing the first two days of the trek with us.
• Hiked for several hours, stopped 2-3 times at various little "rest stops" where our tour guide would cut up fresh fruits from around the area. Hiked through various rivers, thick jungle and lots of gorgeous rice fields.
• At the end of the hike for the first day, we made our way up to the top of Doi Maetang. At the top there is a Lahu village. At the village we showered and a great Lahu family made us dinner of rice, noodle soup, vegetable w/ chicken and eggs w/ garlic and pork.
• After dinner, many villagers showed up at our hut where they offered us a "four hand" traditional Thai massage for 100 baht!
• Our guide gave us a quick little intro to Buddhism
• Slept on mats on the floor within comfort of mosquito nets at the home of the kind family that also made us dinner.

8/15/08

• Woke up at 6:15am, other trekkers already up.
• The family made us breakfast of coffee and eggs, toast and fruit (very western...)
• While eating breakfast, many of other Lahu women came by to show us some of their crafts they have for sale. I purchased a little change purse to help support the tribe.
• Began hiking again soon after... trekked through mountain and jungle...saw wild beetles, wild flowers and mushrooms... even got to witness a snake in the middle of consuming a lucky frog that ended up getting away. Hiked through and along a leach infested river (DEET relent keeps leaches away)
• Hiked our way to a small town w/ electricity where we had the choice of eating fried noodles or noodle soup from a little restaurant.
• After lunch, hiked along a road past a Chinese village where Chinese farmers grow tea along the hill side.
• Past the tea farms in the valley is the waterfall (dont recall name). Hiked to the top of the waterfall. Because of the rainy season causing very strong currents, could not really swim,... quick cautious dips for photo ops were made.
• Hiked past the waterfall is the Akha Hill village, the very first bamboo structure seen at the top of the hill is the "bamboobar"which is a small store that sells tribe goods, drinks and serves as a place for trekkers to sleep.
• Italian couple left at this point
• Bamboobar had a small room in the back with simple mats and some mosquito nets.
• For dinner we were served cabbage w/ rice noodles and chicken. Along with pumpkin with ground pork, which, from what I hear, is an Akha specialty.

8/16/08

• Woke up at 6:20, just after sun rise.
• Our tour guide prepared some coffee for us and later the villagers served us breakfast of rice porridge w/ eggs
• Left the village and hiked till we reached a road, followed the road till we reached another small restaurant by the hot spring where we ate green papaya salad and fried chicken for lunch.
• After lunch, walked to the sulfur-smelling hot spring pool where we bathed in the mineral rich water
• Walked back to the restaurant where we met up with another group and were given rides back to town on the back of pick up trucks

Day 15

It's around 10:30pm in Ko Samui, a large tourist island on the south of Thailand. I made it here after taking a bus from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai, then an flew to Bangkok (after waiting standby for three hours) and flew to Ko Samui (flights prob cost 6k Baht). Spent way more money than I wanted.

All sorts of plans are very fluid right now. I spent the majority of the day today just figuring out what I will do. At one point, I had a grand idea of traveling Asia, but as it turns out, I've learned that even South East Asia will get expensive if flights and hostels are not booked well in advance. Now I am sort of piecing together what I can do with the time that I have and without burning up more money than I have. It's a delicate balance between taking advantage of the opportunity that I have and being careful with spending.

As I mentioned, today I spent a good part of the day figuring out what to do, and I have a plan for the next 4-5 days... Tomorrow, I booked a day trip to the nearby island of Ko Tao to do some snorkeling. The following day I have booked a pair of flights that will get me to Siam Reap via Bangkok that also cost me way more than what I wanted to spend (prob over 12k Baht). I will probably spend a day and a half or so in Siam Reap (Cambodia) and I plan on taking a bus (trying to save money via buses) to the capitol of Cambodia, Phnom Penh (aka PP). From there I plan on getting a Visa and making my way to Saigon, Vietnam. From here is where things get fuzzy. I would love to spend a couple of days in Hong Kong, Korea and maybe even Japan, but this would all just be so expensive. I might just make my way into Laos since I hear it's so cheap. The thought of returning home early has also crossed my mind.

So there you have it....there's the makeshift plan I have so far...

Day...14

It's been a while since I have updated everyone... and quite a lot has happened! The first thing worth noting, Is that from the 14th through the 16th of August I took some time off from the orphanage and went on a trekking trip through the mountain jungles of northern Thailand with another volunteer. Once I have a bit more time I will go into details of the different parts of the trek, but for now I would like to get to an important bit of information.

After a lot of thinking, I have come to the decision to leave the orphanage and the organization I have been working with. The reasons are personal and I won't go into details here, nor will I mention the name of the organization in this post as to not sully their name. The children are great and are treated very well and the other volunteers have nothing but a good heart towards the children.

I understand this decision may disappoint some, but I hope that is not the case. I will talk with folks back home about the details as to why I left, but for now I will just keep it to "personal differences". Those who have donated money to me via Chipin for the specific reason for me to come to the orphanage and work, I will gladly refund your money if you feel I have not kept true to my intentions.

So... Once I have made the decision of no longer staying, I was faced with another decision... what now? Do I go back home? If not... where do I go? After some thinking and after talking to family back home, making it out to this side of the world is not something that happens all of the time, and I have made the decision to continue on in my trip and see some other parts of South East Asia... and who knows what else. I will keep an open mind and see where the road will take me and make the best of the remainder of my trip. And don't worry... I will be back home on the same day I was originally scheduled to be home... September 2nd.

I have a lot more pictures I will upload given some time and a high speed internet connection. There are some great pictures of the kids and lots of great pictures of the beautiful places I have been fortunate enough to visit.

Sending out big hugs and kisses back home to all my very supporting friends, family and my second family that's always looking out after me at VQ. I do miss everyone very much!

Day 6

Today we finally got a chance to head to the day market with the (beat up) truck so that I could buy a bike to get around town. A persistent Thai lady wanted to sell the bike to the farang for 1850 baht, but I was able to work her down to 1450, which was about 50 more than what I wanted to pay.

The bike itself, which cost me around 54 of the American currency, is of the cheapest quality possible. And the absence of tools at the orphanage made it so I cannot yet use it, for lack of proper height adjustments...hopefully sometime this week I will be able to adjust it and start using it around town.

Yesterday night, Friday night, the other volunteers and I went to the night bazaar here in town to grab some drinks and socialize for a bit. Near the bazaar is a night market where I picked up myself a new small backpack that will be great for treks and use around town. This is what my brother would call my "Man Purse"... more interesting than that, is the fact that I had my first real experience with a moped! Another volunteer at the orphanage gave me an awesome demo and explained how to ride it some days ago, and yesterday all that instruction came to fruition when I had the courage to get on the bike, at night and in the rain and take it for a ride down to the bazaar. Now... I am certainly no expert and a novice at riding is what I am, but it definitely took something more out of me to leave my "comfort zone" and take those sort of risks, as minor as they may be.

Everyone will be excited to know that I have began to upload a ton of pictures to Flickr. Anyone who is my friend on Flickr will be able to see all of the pictures as they are, everyone else will be able to see certain pictures I may make public over time. So, if you are in a hurry to see all of the pictures, than please make a Flickr account (which is the same as a yahoo account) and add me as a friend. Otherwise, you can just wait :)

The reason why I have chosen Flickr over Facebook to upload the photos is primarily because of the quality of the pictures on Flickr are just so much better.

Day 5

It's kind of hard to believe it's only been five days since I landed in Thailand. Time feels like it's gone at a very different pace.

Just wanted to thank everyone who's been commenting on the blog or messaging me on Facebook! It's great to hear from everyone back home.

Yesterday, for the first time I arrived in Chiang Rai, the sun actually showed itself! It was for a short time in the afternoon, but it painted the entire landscape a different more vibrant color. I can only imagine what this place is like during one of the dry seasons. I swear, it felt like the temperature rose a handful of degrees and it was actually "hot" and not just cool and humid. Of course, it did not last long. While the sun was out, the dark gray storm clouds were just waiting for the right time to move in and come in with another incredible thunderstorm. By nightfall, a field next to the orphanage became completely submersed in water! One would think it was a lake. After the kids went to bed, myself along with another volunteer hang outside for a bit just watching the light show spectacle that mother nature was putting on for us. It really was breathtaking.

At the orphanage, there is this beat up fountain that has seen better days. One of the projects that we've been working on has been to get a fountain working again. We are pretty close to getting it up and running and clean again, just need to seal up a couple more spots so the water can flow. I'll be sure to take some pictures of the fountain once it is working!