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!

Home Contact

Today I arrived at the Internet Cafe very early. I was the first on here. I was able to get in some phone calls back home, which was pretty awesome. Skype is working out really well too... I think the rate i am getting is something like 2.1 cents a minute which seems great to me.

I am now starting to get around the town a bit on a borrowed bike, though I will be trying to buy my own bike today... I've been told it will cost me around US$30, which does not seem so bad. I am looking forward to getting my own bike and being able to wonder around the town without depending on anyone.

The kids are great! Some are more shy while others will open up to you right away. The girls in particular seem to be the hardest to get to know. Yesterday I think I made good progress with them by sharing picture of family back home with them (which turned into a neat little English lesson; "this is my SISTER", "this is my BROTHER") . They were very interested in my family and some of the places I have visited. The boys are also a ton of fun. They want to run around and jump on your back and just horse around. It's just a lot of fun.

It's been raining just about every day. Sometimes light drizzles and other times, man, it just pours! Thick fat drops of rain. Actually, looking outside, I would not be surprised if it started raining any minute now.

Pictures will come soon! Maybe even tomorrow.... but no promises yet.

What day is it again?

I safely arrived in Bangkok after a marathon traveling "session". I have been trying to get to a computer to let everyone back home know this, but it just hasn't worked out that way.

There was a computer and Internet available at the hostel that i stayed at in Bangkok, but when I made attempts to use it, either I did not have the right coins for it, or it was already in use.

I arrived late on Sunday night (local time) and spent a good chunk of Monday walking around and checking out Bangkok. I was able to visit some temples and see some of the sights and even eat some great food from a friendly street vendor. I will try to post up some pictures soon!

I arrived in Chiang Rai late on Monday night where I met up with the other volunteers. Woke up this (Tuesday) morning bright and early at 6:30 and saw all of the commotion that was 30 kids running around, eating breakfast and getting ready for school.

It's Tuesday afternoon... but I only know that from looking at watches, since It really feels like Monday. The time difference makes it so there is a loss of an entire day.