Like tickles and lemons...
No matter how many toys and bubbles and stickers we take with us to the orphanages, do you know what the kids love the most?
Tickles.
Its fun, it's free and it's one on one contact for the kid as long as it goes on. It’s bonding and it's play and it's silly. And it's so so easy. I had one little girl follow me today trying to provoke me to tickle her some more after I'd gone on to do something else. She’s only lived at the orphanage a few weeks now and the only real contact she's gotten lately from us has been when we've been picking out her nits...so the tickles were a real treat for her!
And lemons
Tonight, I have a bit of a sore throat, so I decided to go across the road to the little fruit and veg stall to buy some lemons. But they didn't have any. The lady pointed over to the other side of the junction to another stall but she didn't have any either, she pointed me up the road away from the house.
As I was walking along a motorbike passed and then I heard someone calling my name. It was Chau, a girl who works as a translator for us in another city.She's here in Tam Ky visiting friends for a few days. She told me the market was probably closed but maybe I could borrow a lemon from our neighbouring coffee shop?
So I headed back to the house only to see Chau pull up her motorbike down the street a little in front of me. Her friend hopped off the back and had run into a grocer's shop I hadn't seen. Chau explained what was happening and how her friend would get them for me for a good price, double prices are rampant here!
So now I'm sitting here drinking my hot lemon and wondering how long I could be walking around Cavan or Dublin before I'd meet someone who, [a], would bother stopping or pulling over or [b], who would actually go out of their way to help me find a lemon!
It’s the simple things that make life good!
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
scars
don't always mean the wound is healed...
Today, we were at the hospital for disabled children with our visiting physiotherapist, Roz who is here for two months. All the parents knew she was coming so we had a big crowd already.
And then another visitor, a very very old looking lady.
She asked me how old I was, and I told her I was 24, [in Vietnamese] look at me go, understanding this old lady with a mouth full of betel leaf!
I asked her how old she was, ooh, she's 84 years old. Wow.
And then she started talking too fast for me to understand.
I looked to Mr. Tuan, our translator for help. He looked at the lady and then looked at me and said "your father..."
My father what?!
The old lady started rubbing her arm - my father sprayed Agent Orange and Napalm on this country....
The war is over, but never forgotten. It only ended 33 years ago.
If this was her instant reaction, who else thinks like this?
All the children call us "My" - every white person is automatically seen as American.
What do they think of us? They don't know anything of the war, they just know the 'Americans' come to play with them and give them food and teach them. When they learn about the war what will they think? Will it change how they feel about us and our work? Or will it affect how they feel about the war?
Only yesterday we went to a provincial conference celebrating international investments and foreign organisations. There were representatives from almost every NGO based in our province, there were expats and volunteers, there were Vietnamese colleagues of all these people. All of them victims of the war in some respect.
But still, no one forgets.
So anyway, I told her, no no no, I'm Irish, no no no no no!
As she was leaving she passed me by again;
Betel Leaf Lady: 'Where are you from?'
Me: Ireland.
BLL: 'Where are you from?' [expression says, "oh, the dumb American can't understand me!"]
Me: I-R-E-L-A-N-D
Me: ok ok, England, you know England?
BLL: 'Of course I do. Your nose is ugly.' [pointing to my piercing]
Nice!
Today, we were at the hospital for disabled children with our visiting physiotherapist, Roz who is here for two months. All the parents knew she was coming so we had a big crowd already.
And then another visitor, a very very old looking lady.
She asked me how old I was, and I told her I was 24, [in Vietnamese] look at me go, understanding this old lady with a mouth full of betel leaf!
I asked her how old she was, ooh, she's 84 years old. Wow.
And then she started talking too fast for me to understand.
I looked to Mr. Tuan, our translator for help. He looked at the lady and then looked at me and said "your father..."
My father what?!
The old lady started rubbing her arm - my father sprayed Agent Orange and Napalm on this country....
The war is over, but never forgotten. It only ended 33 years ago.
If this was her instant reaction, who else thinks like this?
All the children call us "My" - every white person is automatically seen as American.
What do they think of us? They don't know anything of the war, they just know the 'Americans' come to play with them and give them food and teach them. When they learn about the war what will they think? Will it change how they feel about us and our work? Or will it affect how they feel about the war?
Only yesterday we went to a provincial conference celebrating international investments and foreign organisations. There were representatives from almost every NGO based in our province, there were expats and volunteers, there were Vietnamese colleagues of all these people. All of them victims of the war in some respect.
But still, no one forgets.
So anyway, I told her, no no no, I'm Irish, no no no no no!
As she was leaving she passed me by again;
Betel Leaf Lady: 'Where are you from?'
Me: Ireland.
BLL: 'Where are you from?' [expression says, "oh, the dumb American can't understand me!"]
Me: I-R-E-L-A-N-D
Me: ok ok, England, you know England?
BLL: 'Of course I do. Your nose is ugly.' [pointing to my piercing]
Nice!
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Happy Advent Season
(that's what this time of year used to be called back in the good old days)
I know this video is Jesus oriented and all that jazz, even if you're someone who doesn't believe, you can still identify with the hassle and the craziness this time of year brings to us all.
And it's a pretty funky video anyway.
So................................................................
Now you've watched the video, well, where are you gonna spend that cash..............?
You could do Oxfam - which rocks - or maybe, just maybe, how about these guys?
One euro a day is all it costs to buy these guys milk or fruit. But altogether, in the town I'm working in now we spend US$500 (approx eu420) per month on food and education for these children.
It costs about $35 roughly per month to sponsor some random child that you won't really get the full story on, but I've got almost 100 beautiful children in need on some good nutritious food and education that I'd be more than happy to bore you to death about!
If you're interested, please contact me here or via email: ead.oreilly@gmail.com and I'll get you set up!
I know this video is Jesus oriented and all that jazz, even if you're someone who doesn't believe, you can still identify with the hassle and the craziness this time of year brings to us all.
And it's a pretty funky video anyway.
So................................................................
Now you've watched the video, well, where are you gonna spend that cash..............?
You could do Oxfam - which rocks - or maybe, just maybe, how about these guys?
One euro a day is all it costs to buy these guys milk or fruit. But altogether, in the town I'm working in now we spend US$500 (approx eu420) per month on food and education for these children.
How about sponsoring one?
It costs about $35 roughly per month to sponsor some random child that you won't really get the full story on, but I've got almost 100 beautiful children in need on some good nutritious food and education that I'd be more than happy to bore you to death about!
If you're interested, please contact me here or via email: ead.oreilly@gmail.com and I'll get you set up!
Friday, 7 November 2008
travelling, and travelling without moving
so i've returned to Viet Nam.
after three awesome weeks in northern Laos, three stunning weeks in northern Thailand and then three even more wonderful and amazing and fun weeks in Malaysia and southern Thailand with my boy i'm ready to get back into it. i think..!
it's been a manic week already, with a couple of networking meetings and all new volunteers and trying to catch up on everything that's going on, i've been hit with a horrible cold and sore throat to boot so that's not making things any easier. plus, as you can see from my previous post, some of the volunteers have had a rollercoaster of a week and a half with poor little baby Tam, may she rest in peace.
but i'm happy to be back. it's exciting already.
while i was in chiang mai i met a guy who insisted on completely disecting my personality (a little uncomfortable it's got to be said..) he wanted to know WHY i would want to volunteer. was it a previous wrongdoing i was trying to make up for? stereotypical catholic guilt? oh and the list went on...
"eh, no, no, no, no, i don't think so, no no no, definately not...." " well, why then?"
when i really thought about it and boiled it down, it came down to everything i'm learning here. and when i told my mum about this conversation she reminded me that she did a lot of voluntary work herself back when she was a shiny young lady. and that was in her home country! (yeah, i know, i'll work on that when i get home again!) so maybe some people just want to do stuff like that. and some people like him want to hoard all their money and not give a cent to anyone. which is also perfectly fine, i didn't give him a hard time for that...grrrr!
but anyway, now that i'm here as 'assistant operations manager' or whatever it turns out to be, i'm gonna be learning heaps more than i ever thought i would!
so i reckon it's like travelling without the hassle of having to move around. and guess what, while i'm here, i'm doing some pretty good work too for kids, young adults and families that need the help.
happy days.
oh, PS - i need to give a shout out to my friend Joanne, who i do believe is currently hosting a raffle for the benefit of my work here. she's responding to the email i sent out a few weeks back about needing a bit of support. so thanks so much Jo, you're on the list for big hugs when i get home!
and i guess i might as well take the time now to mention my folks, the fabaliss Pat and Kathleen and my bud from all the way back in junior infants, Ems who have already helped out so much with getting my fundraising together while i was still at home, and they're being roped in again in the near future i hope too!
i have a plan!
and hey, if anyone else would like to help? your small efforts would help me reap massive rewards but i need your help at home. let me know if you think you can spare a few hours for me babies, would ya?!
thanks again, to everyone
ead
after three awesome weeks in northern Laos, three stunning weeks in northern Thailand and then three even more wonderful and amazing and fun weeks in Malaysia and southern Thailand with my boy i'm ready to get back into it. i think..!
it's been a manic week already, with a couple of networking meetings and all new volunteers and trying to catch up on everything that's going on, i've been hit with a horrible cold and sore throat to boot so that's not making things any easier. plus, as you can see from my previous post, some of the volunteers have had a rollercoaster of a week and a half with poor little baby Tam, may she rest in peace.
but i'm happy to be back. it's exciting already.
while i was in chiang mai i met a guy who insisted on completely disecting my personality (a little uncomfortable it's got to be said..) he wanted to know WHY i would want to volunteer. was it a previous wrongdoing i was trying to make up for? stereotypical catholic guilt? oh and the list went on...
"eh, no, no, no, no, i don't think so, no no no, definately not...." " well, why then?"
when i really thought about it and boiled it down, it came down to everything i'm learning here. and when i told my mum about this conversation she reminded me that she did a lot of voluntary work herself back when she was a shiny young lady. and that was in her home country! (yeah, i know, i'll work on that when i get home again!) so maybe some people just want to do stuff like that. and some people like him want to hoard all their money and not give a cent to anyone. which is also perfectly fine, i didn't give him a hard time for that...grrrr!
but anyway, now that i'm here as 'assistant operations manager' or whatever it turns out to be, i'm gonna be learning heaps more than i ever thought i would!
so i reckon it's like travelling without the hassle of having to move around. and guess what, while i'm here, i'm doing some pretty good work too for kids, young adults and families that need the help.
happy days.
oh, PS - i need to give a shout out to my friend Joanne, who i do believe is currently hosting a raffle for the benefit of my work here. she's responding to the email i sent out a few weeks back about needing a bit of support. so thanks so much Jo, you're on the list for big hugs when i get home!
and i guess i might as well take the time now to mention my folks, the fabaliss Pat and Kathleen and my bud from all the way back in junior infants, Ems who have already helped out so much with getting my fundraising together while i was still at home, and they're being roped in again in the near future i hope too!
i have a plan!
and hey, if anyone else would like to help? your small efforts would help me reap massive rewards but i need your help at home. let me know if you think you can spare a few hours for me babies, would ya?!
thanks again, to everyone
ead
part of the family
we have all grieved for people we didn't know very well;
for the things they could have been and for the people they leave behind.
today i am grieving for a child i never even met, with a family i'm not related to.
when i arrived back into Da Nang on thursday afternoon, she was already in Saigon. while we were busy holding orientation for the new volunteers on saturday, she was going into surgery.
baby Tam lived at the Red Cross baby orphanage just outside the city. GVN doesn't work there anymore, but some volunteers went to hold a birthday party for another child. when they got there they realised that one of the babies desperately needed help.
Tam had blue baby syndrome, she was not getting enough oxygen into her blood and as a result her lips, fingers and toes were blue and the rest of her a skin very pale. she needed surgery but there was no one to get it for her. no one to care enough to fight for her or find the money.
GVN fought for her though. emails were sent out and money asked for from all directions. the surgery itself cost US$3,250, the total cost of her care would come to roughly $6,500. a very, very small price to pay for such an enormous operation but the money came in by and by.
GVN's biggest problem was getting permission to take her to the hospital to have the surgery - for some reason unknown to us volunteers, negotiations had to be made.
but after a few days, two of our volunteers accompanied the baby, our physiotherapist and a carer for Tam down to Saigon to have an assessment and then surgery. the surgery went perfectly and by the end of the weekend we were all celebrating a job well done by everyone.
but this morning we were told that 18 month old baby Tam passed away due to a lung infection. because she didn't get surgery months and months ago when she needed it first, she was simply too weak to fight off the infection. she tried her very best to hang on all those months but the struggle proved too much in the end.
so this morning as Herdis wept for the baby she had found and tried to save, as Anne, Mark and Phuc felt the overwhelming disappointment for the baby they had journeyed with and celebrated for, as we all experienced the sadness in the air, we grieved in frustration for what could have been done sooner, for who Tam will never be and for our friends who's hearts are broken today.
for the things they could have been and for the people they leave behind.
today i am grieving for a child i never even met, with a family i'm not related to.
when i arrived back into Da Nang on thursday afternoon, she was already in Saigon. while we were busy holding orientation for the new volunteers on saturday, she was going into surgery.
baby Tam lived at the Red Cross baby orphanage just outside the city. GVN doesn't work there anymore, but some volunteers went to hold a birthday party for another child. when they got there they realised that one of the babies desperately needed help.
Tam had blue baby syndrome, she was not getting enough oxygen into her blood and as a result her lips, fingers and toes were blue and the rest of her a skin very pale. she needed surgery but there was no one to get it for her. no one to care enough to fight for her or find the money.
GVN fought for her though. emails were sent out and money asked for from all directions. the surgery itself cost US$3,250, the total cost of her care would come to roughly $6,500. a very, very small price to pay for such an enormous operation but the money came in by and by.
GVN's biggest problem was getting permission to take her to the hospital to have the surgery - for some reason unknown to us volunteers, negotiations had to be made.
but after a few days, two of our volunteers accompanied the baby, our physiotherapist and a carer for Tam down to Saigon to have an assessment and then surgery. the surgery went perfectly and by the end of the weekend we were all celebrating a job well done by everyone.
but this morning we were told that 18 month old baby Tam passed away due to a lung infection. because she didn't get surgery months and months ago when she needed it first, she was simply too weak to fight off the infection. she tried her very best to hang on all those months but the struggle proved too much in the end.
so this morning as Herdis wept for the baby she had found and tried to save, as Anne, Mark and Phuc felt the overwhelming disappointment for the baby they had journeyed with and celebrated for, as we all experienced the sadness in the air, we grieved in frustration for what could have been done sooner, for who Tam will never be and for our friends who's hearts are broken today.
Friday, 3 October 2008
who knew cockroaches could fly?
and some people can't count to three...
i think i was about five years old when my aunt susan first asked me to give her a massage and boy did she made sure to coach me well! and now i'm taking a thai massage course here in chiang mai at the minute to, eh, further my education. there were only two of us started the course on monday and aree is a fantastic teacher. so happy days. and i think if you give a thai massage properly it should be almost as relaxing for the masseuse.
my classmate left today for a few days away so i had to practice on aree and aparently i ain't bad at all. which is great, i'm no perfectionist but i don't much like to take on something unless i think i'll be reasonably good at it - maybe a new career move when i get home if the property market stays on trend?
it's about the only thing keeping me here, i gotta say. chiang mai is pretty and all that but it's almost all couples, everywhere. this whole guesthouse is full of couples (and a couple of pure weirdos..) and worse still, most of them are mainland european so they don't even speak english, which means i can't shoe in on a conversation even if i wanted to. ever thought you'd hear an irish person give out about people not speaking english..?
and the ones who aren't in a couple? well they're mostly the kind of gentleman who thinks he can buy his company, and there are plenty of women in this city who think they have a price. eugh, the conversations i've overheard... they've ranged from banal smalltalk all the way up to vaguely interested smalltalk. over breakfast, over dinner, over coffee. maybe it's easier to make a fool of yourself where no one but your whore knows your name.
sorry to be so judgemental but it's difficult to get away from here and it's starting to get under my skin!
but i have met some nice folks, a couple of indian guys and their nepalese friend who seem to be the only other *appraochable* singletons in town and in a few days i'll be in tourist-couple status too so i guess i'll just keep practicing my massage til then.
and yes, cockroaches can fly as i discovered coming back tonight through the market!
hey, i come from the land where the only real threat or hindrance is the self same water of life that cures all that ails, it's all new to me!
[edit] so just as i posted this blog and logged off the computer, i met a fantastic couple who'd been in chiang mai almost as long as me and was sorry to hear they were leaving the next day. and then i met some more excellent people, one or two solo travellers included! so i was wrong, shame on me!
i think i was about five years old when my aunt susan first asked me to give her a massage and boy did she made sure to coach me well! and now i'm taking a thai massage course here in chiang mai at the minute to, eh, further my education. there were only two of us started the course on monday and aree is a fantastic teacher. so happy days. and i think if you give a thai massage properly it should be almost as relaxing for the masseuse.
my classmate left today for a few days away so i had to practice on aree and aparently i ain't bad at all. which is great, i'm no perfectionist but i don't much like to take on something unless i think i'll be reasonably good at it - maybe a new career move when i get home if the property market stays on trend?
it's about the only thing keeping me here, i gotta say. chiang mai is pretty and all that but it's almost all couples, everywhere. this whole guesthouse is full of couples (and a couple of pure weirdos..) and worse still, most of them are mainland european so they don't even speak english, which means i can't shoe in on a conversation even if i wanted to. ever thought you'd hear an irish person give out about people not speaking english..?
and the ones who aren't in a couple? well they're mostly the kind of gentleman who thinks he can buy his company, and there are plenty of women in this city who think they have a price. eugh, the conversations i've overheard... they've ranged from banal smalltalk all the way up to vaguely interested smalltalk. over breakfast, over dinner, over coffee. maybe it's easier to make a fool of yourself where no one but your whore knows your name.
sorry to be so judgemental but it's difficult to get away from here and it's starting to get under my skin!
but i have met some nice folks, a couple of indian guys and their nepalese friend who seem to be the only other *appraochable* singletons in town and in a few days i'll be in tourist-couple status too so i guess i'll just keep practicing my massage til then.
and yes, cockroaches can fly as i discovered coming back tonight through the market!
hey, i come from the land where the only real threat or hindrance is the self same water of life that cures all that ails, it's all new to me!
[edit] so just as i posted this blog and logged off the computer, i met a fantastic couple who'd been in chiang mai almost as long as me and was sorry to hear they were leaving the next day. and then i met some more excellent people, one or two solo travellers included! so i was wrong, shame on me!
Monday, 29 September 2008
an open letter
(in the hopes that it will pull on at least a few heartstrings)
hey everyone
in just over a month's time i'm returning to Viet Nam to pick up where i left off in august. i'm filling in as operations manager for about six weeks and then will be helping to run one of our placements in the south central provinces in the new year. i feel i need to tell you, in case you don't already know, what's keeping me here.
this boy, Phuc, has changed my life. the first day i met him i was afraid of him, afraid of his deformity and disability, of all i didn't know. now i know i should have been afraid of what he would do to my heart! he has changed everything and awakened in me some unknown feeling that can only be akin to maternal love. he isn't the only child i will be helping when i get back, but he was the first one to break into my heart and you know what they say, the first cut is the deepest...
this child has nothing. owns nothing. does not understand the concept of material possession or desire for such things.he celebrates loudly and joyfully the smallest things that we have all taken for granted everyday of our lives; being picked up, held, talked to, loved, just touched. every pore of his tiny nine year old body exudes the purest happiness and love, lust for a life we could never conceive of.
so this is why i'm staying. Phuc and all the children like him that GVN Vietnam is helping. and they're here for you to see in all their technicolour joy and sadness.
it's three and a half minutes of your life, please turn up the volume and watch. please.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRIHm6lv5bI
if you think there's anything you can do to help them or to help me help them, i'd love to hear from you. it doesn't have to be the $30 a month, it can be a contact who might be able to help, a one off fiver or tenner or something much bigger than all of that. (for example, one or two of you have mentioned parachute jumps, i'm liking that kinda thing! ;)
we always always always need more volunteers too, you could join us even for just a month and who knows what you could do...
even though i'm travelling right now i haven't forgotten these forgotten children.and now i'm hoping that once you've watched this video that you won't forget either.
i'm sorry, i feel like i'm always asking and so many of you have been so good already...but these children can't ask you themselves
hey everyone
in just over a month's time i'm returning to Viet Nam to pick up where i left off in august. i'm filling in as operations manager for about six weeks and then will be helping to run one of our placements in the south central provinces in the new year. i feel i need to tell you, in case you don't already know, what's keeping me here.
this boy, Phuc, has changed my life. the first day i met him i was afraid of him, afraid of his deformity and disability, of all i didn't know. now i know i should have been afraid of what he would do to my heart! he has changed everything and awakened in me some unknown feeling that can only be akin to maternal love. he isn't the only child i will be helping when i get back, but he was the first one to break into my heart and you know what they say, the first cut is the deepest...this child has nothing. owns nothing. does not understand the concept of material possession or desire for such things.he celebrates loudly and joyfully the smallest things that we have all taken for granted everyday of our lives; being picked up, held, talked to, loved, just touched. every pore of his tiny nine year old body exudes the purest happiness and love, lust for a life we could never conceive of.
so this is why i'm staying. Phuc and all the children like him that GVN Vietnam is helping. and they're here for you to see in all their technicolour joy and sadness.
it's three and a half minutes of your life, please turn up the volume and watch. please.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRIHm6lv5bI
if you think there's anything you can do to help them or to help me help them, i'd love to hear from you. it doesn't have to be the $30 a month, it can be a contact who might be able to help, a one off fiver or tenner or something much bigger than all of that. (for example, one or two of you have mentioned parachute jumps, i'm liking that kinda thing! ;)
we always always always need more volunteers too, you could join us even for just a month and who knows what you could do...
even though i'm travelling right now i haven't forgotten these forgotten children.and now i'm hoping that once you've watched this video that you won't forget either.
i'm sorry, i feel like i'm always asking and so many of you have been so good already...but these children can't ask you themselves
love and luck
eadaoin
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
one night,
in a monastery, in laos...
it's about 9.30pm, patrick and i are sitting on the steps of our 'bedroom' for the night.
we're in the grounds of a bhuddist temple about 90km north of vientienne, the capital of laos. i'm on a few days break from my work in vietnam and pat is on his way home from his two months with gvn.
how we got here is a result of our shared lack of any ability to make a proper plan and sheer luck. we've just spent the last hour and a half in the common room of the monks house sharing coffee and conversation with the visiting lao-born-france-dwelling monk.
earlier that evening we stopped across the road to watch a stunning sunset along the river. it just so happened that there was a temple across the road and we went in to have a look around, as we had done a few times during the day. it just so happened that gilbert, the french speaking monk, was visiting for a few days and it just so happened that pat speaks very good french. (i haven't spoken french in about seven years at this stage so even though i understood almost all of the conversations i said little, which in it's own way was quite nice.) somehow, through a misunderstanding as much as anything i think, we are invited to stay the night at the temple.
pat looks at me, did you get that? do you want to stay? the sun has set, we're a good two hours out of the city, i'm driving and we've just been invited to spend the night at a temple, do i want to stay?! this is the kind of experience you could never buy at any overpriced tour agent, the kind of thing you could never plan. and even though the monk tells us he doesn't think they have any moquito nets i'm not going anywhere.
well we did go, to the next village to buy some cigarettes by way of token of appreciation to the monks. we also bought them a pack of cards, not sure what they've done with them, i wonder if they play cards at all? it seemed better than washing powder or soap at the time anyway.
so here we are, sitting on the porch of one of the outbuildings. the monks are chatting upstairs in the house, we can see them, they can see us. our beds, two mats and two very square pillows under one of those cake cover mosquito nets, are behind us on the tiles. the porch is fronted by two roller shutters but the gables are only half walls. we're neither inside nor outside. we're sharing scotch out of a plastic bottle and the moment. the monks disappear and leave us in the quiet of the night. there's a sense of peace and contentment around that i could never describe or explain. no photograph could capture it, but it's there.
we decide it's time to hit the hay, we pull down the shutter, i'm not sure why but it seems like we should. i lie down to sleep shoeless and clothed, hot and happy.
i can't say i slept much though. cats, insects, goats, cars and motobikes are the stuff of the night in the middle of nowhere, laos. i can't say i really minded though, it was part of the whole experience.
then the drums started. 4am, the temple nearest this one. it's a particular rhythm and it's lovely to listen to. but then at 4.30 they started in the temple we were in. i didn't realise it was so loud! of course it's loud, it's supposed to call to all the people, land animals and fish for miles. but i didn't realise how loud that had to be!
there's a drum and a one stringed instrument which is thwanged at particular intervals. in the black of the night, with the reverberations all around it felt almost ominous, the soundtrack to a scary movie.
after that i slept again for another hour or two and woke to daylight. the monks were moving around so i got up. pat was still asleep, one of the best sleeps he's had in years apparently! the monks were in the temple having breakfast.
in the cities they have morning alms where the monks parade around the town and people give them food. in the country the food comes to the monks. the women from the local village carry bowls of fish, vegetables, rice and eggs and eat with the monks in the temple.
pat woke up and we were invited by gilbert to join them. it was delicious. i couldn't eat the fish and gilbert enquired as to my hesitance to eat but pat explained i was allergic and he pointed out all the 'non poissons', even going to get me more eggs. all the while gilbert is smoking, this morning it's a cigar. he explained to us the night before that there isn't really very much for a monk to do once the prayers are done and the novices take care of the grounds so they just mostly sit around smoking. what a life!
while we ate, a woman in her thirties sang. she was dressed in jeans, a vest top and camouflage shirt. she had a beautiful face, the voice of an angel and a crew cut with chunks of hair missing. she was smoking too. and burning bits of paper and fake money in a saucer (a bhuddist tradition) all the while she's singing sort of sean nos style lamentations. gilbert explains to us that she's crazy and gets a cup of water to put out the fire. i wonder how she came to be 'crazy'. was she born like that? did something happen to her? i wonder where her place is in this world? she is tolerated in the temple but i doubt she gets any help. maybe she doesn't need it. but the bald patches on her scalp remind me of a girl in our spc centre in quang ngai and it's obvious she's not happy.
after breakfast gilbert shakes pat's hand and we leave. monks are not allowed to touch women. gilbert was married but became a monk after his wife died. he has a son and i think i remember him saying a daughter too. i don't know if they're allowed to touch female family members. it was facinating listening to him tell us about life as a monk. how the core values are the same but the rules differ from region to region. how his life in france is much different to that of his lao counterparts. it seems a funny picture when i imagine him on the streets of his town in northern france with a jumper on under his bright orange robes.
it's about 9.30pm, patrick and i are sitting on the steps of our 'bedroom' for the night.
we're in the grounds of a bhuddist temple about 90km north of vientienne, the capital of laos. i'm on a few days break from my work in vietnam and pat is on his way home from his two months with gvn.
how we got here is a result of our shared lack of any ability to make a proper plan and sheer luck. we've just spent the last hour and a half in the common room of the monks house sharing coffee and conversation with the visiting lao-born-france-dwelling monk.
earlier that evening we stopped across the road to watch a stunning sunset along the river. it just so happened that there was a temple across the road and we went in to have a look around, as we had done a few times during the day. it just so happened that gilbert, the french speaking monk, was visiting for a few days and it just so happened that pat speaks very good french. (i haven't spoken french in about seven years at this stage so even though i understood almost all of the conversations i said little, which in it's own way was quite nice.) somehow, through a misunderstanding as much as anything i think, we are invited to stay the night at the temple.
pat looks at me, did you get that? do you want to stay? the sun has set, we're a good two hours out of the city, i'm driving and we've just been invited to spend the night at a temple, do i want to stay?! this is the kind of experience you could never buy at any overpriced tour agent, the kind of thing you could never plan. and even though the monk tells us he doesn't think they have any moquito nets i'm not going anywhere.
well we did go, to the next village to buy some cigarettes by way of token of appreciation to the monks. we also bought them a pack of cards, not sure what they've done with them, i wonder if they play cards at all? it seemed better than washing powder or soap at the time anyway.
so here we are, sitting on the porch of one of the outbuildings. the monks are chatting upstairs in the house, we can see them, they can see us. our beds, two mats and two very square pillows under one of those cake cover mosquito nets, are behind us on the tiles. the porch is fronted by two roller shutters but the gables are only half walls. we're neither inside nor outside. we're sharing scotch out of a plastic bottle and the moment. the monks disappear and leave us in the quiet of the night. there's a sense of peace and contentment around that i could never describe or explain. no photograph could capture it, but it's there.
we decide it's time to hit the hay, we pull down the shutter, i'm not sure why but it seems like we should. i lie down to sleep shoeless and clothed, hot and happy.
i can't say i slept much though. cats, insects, goats, cars and motobikes are the stuff of the night in the middle of nowhere, laos. i can't say i really minded though, it was part of the whole experience.
then the drums started. 4am, the temple nearest this one. it's a particular rhythm and it's lovely to listen to. but then at 4.30 they started in the temple we were in. i didn't realise it was so loud! of course it's loud, it's supposed to call to all the people, land animals and fish for miles. but i didn't realise how loud that had to be!
there's a drum and a one stringed instrument which is thwanged at particular intervals. in the black of the night, with the reverberations all around it felt almost ominous, the soundtrack to a scary movie.
after that i slept again for another hour or two and woke to daylight. the monks were moving around so i got up. pat was still asleep, one of the best sleeps he's had in years apparently! the monks were in the temple having breakfast.
in the cities they have morning alms where the monks parade around the town and people give them food. in the country the food comes to the monks. the women from the local village carry bowls of fish, vegetables, rice and eggs and eat with the monks in the temple.
pat woke up and we were invited by gilbert to join them. it was delicious. i couldn't eat the fish and gilbert enquired as to my hesitance to eat but pat explained i was allergic and he pointed out all the 'non poissons', even going to get me more eggs. all the while gilbert is smoking, this morning it's a cigar. he explained to us the night before that there isn't really very much for a monk to do once the prayers are done and the novices take care of the grounds so they just mostly sit around smoking. what a life!
while we ate, a woman in her thirties sang. she was dressed in jeans, a vest top and camouflage shirt. she had a beautiful face, the voice of an angel and a crew cut with chunks of hair missing. she was smoking too. and burning bits of paper and fake money in a saucer (a bhuddist tradition) all the while she's singing sort of sean nos style lamentations. gilbert explains to us that she's crazy and gets a cup of water to put out the fire. i wonder how she came to be 'crazy'. was she born like that? did something happen to her? i wonder where her place is in this world? she is tolerated in the temple but i doubt she gets any help. maybe she doesn't need it. but the bald patches on her scalp remind me of a girl in our spc centre in quang ngai and it's obvious she's not happy.
after breakfast gilbert shakes pat's hand and we leave. monks are not allowed to touch women. gilbert was married but became a monk after his wife died. he has a son and i think i remember him saying a daughter too. i don't know if they're allowed to touch female family members. it was facinating listening to him tell us about life as a monk. how the core values are the same but the rules differ from region to region. how his life in france is much different to that of his lao counterparts. it seems a funny picture when i imagine him on the streets of his town in northern france with a jumper on under his bright orange robes.
my motobike and me
two days in the mountains in northern Thailand
sadly enough, due to a seriously crappy internet cafe in chiang rai, i have lost the few photos i took of this trip. but most were of windy roads and the like so they probably weren't that interesting to you anyway. in an effort to illustrate this entry though, i have found a few pictures on the internet, so they're all stolen but are somewhat representative of what i did see.
what i did see was amazing, stunning. possibly the most beautiful countryside i have ever experienced. if i had taken a photo every time i had wanted to i would never have gotten anywhere. i left chiang rai at around 10am on saturday morning. after i got out of the city limits i pulled over to fix my backpack to the seat behind me only to notice this rather violent hissing noise which i quickly realised was coming from my back tire. oooops. i'd checked everything, the lights, brakes, indicators, all that jazz. i'd forgotten to look at the tires though, the back one was so bald that a tiny piece of broken glass had managed to rip it.
*insert expletive here*
so i went to a tire place that just so happened to be a little up the road, got the tire pumped to near bursting point and made my way back to the rental place as quick as i could. and i nearly made it! except by the time i was within 200m of the place i had to give up, get off the bike and push it. *insert stronger expletive here, about 10 times*
is this a sign, maybe i shouldn't go...? or maybeeeee, now that i've taken the bike back and the owner is more than happy to give me another one it's just luck that i'm getting a way better bike. even if it did cost me over an hour.
so back on the road, my vague plan is to head a community that has opened itself to tourists in a pilot scheme where they actually get some of the profits and the guides are actual locals. (may seem like common sense to you but see the bit the long neck karen people at the end). then i was going to go to mae sai for the night via doi tung and back to chiang rai via the infamous golden triangle.
first stop was a waterfall that just happened to be signposted and i figured i may as well have a look. for some reason the image of the venus razor ad popped into my head and i decided to shave my legs while i was here. i know it sounds daft but it was fun in the you-don't-do-this-everyday kind of way. and the water was so lovely and cold and i thoroughly enjoyed myself! if i had a picture of course i'd post it, but you can see me now can't you? long legged and suntanned....eh, yeah! well i have a great tan but my legs will never be long, only in my dreams!
on my way back to the bike a group of thai boys called me over to their spot by the river. as soon as i got there i was presented with a shot of thai whisky, well it was only small and it felt rude to refuse! so the usual, where are you from, what's your name and all that came next. they introduced themselves, names i cannot pronounce or remember. i noticed the almost empty 'water' bottle and then realised they were all pretty drunk. and it was still only 1.30
they had a guitar and after the photoshoot was over, they love the photos, they asked me if i knew zombie. hilarious, i couldn't name you one thai singer but they knew the cranberries and that they were irish and the guy almost knew the chords. (well, he may have known them but he was probably just too drunk.)
so after singing (all filmed by their impromtu camera man) and refusing about five more shots of whisky i left them to it. not before they'd asked me where i was going though. and like all the thai seem to do, they gave me directions. it's lovely. initially, i thought it was just conversation or curiosity, but this question is borne out of a genuine desire to make sure you're going where you want to go. they're all tourist information points by choice. i've never experienced that before!
at the village, ban lorcha, i was led around the village by a woman who kept insisting i take photos of everything. even though i knew this place was the best place to go to see the hilltribe people and feel like i wasn't intruding i still felt like i was intruding. as soon as i'd taken the picture off we'd go again. she doesn't speak any english, like most of the guides, but there are posters up at the relevant points to explain everything.
at the end i met a girl called nittya, a 17 year old local girl who studies in the next city and comes back at weekends. she was embroidering as we chatted and the work was beautiful. her english wasn't great but it was enough to get by; maybe a few months ago i wouldn't have been able to have a converstion with her but my simple english is pretty good now and i'm getting better at guessing what people are trying to say! best bit was when she was asking me if i was married and instead of the usual gesture to the ring finger she started to hum the wedding march, brilliant! she told me about how she was christian and how some of the people in the village are actually bhuddist, as if they were thick or something. it was funny, in a pretty judgemental way.
after that i headed up into the hills and this is where the fun started. i was up and down gears at the rate of knots. the roads inclined at ungodly degrees and the only variety in bends was between hairpin and 90 degree. i've never thought it was possible to have to break going uphill before but i now know that it is. and i wasn't even going that fast, i couldn't. i kept getting shocked by these absolutely arresting views down to where i'd just come from or the valleys on either side. it was so beautiful, i couldn't even show you many pictures if i did have them, i was too busy just enjoying them for myself to take any pictures.
i did stop to take a photo of the sun setting over the mountains but never got to take it. as i took the camera out of the case i realised i had almost no gas left. ooops, again. so, a little distracted, i put the camera away and headed off to find some gas.
eh, where exactly? i wasn't near any town, at all.
so i ploughed on. this particular sign put me in mind of the art of freewheeling. saving gas and the environment all at once, fantastic! i was reminded of my dad as i turned off the ignition (with my left hand, right hand and foot firmly on the brakes). the night he did a 'magic trick' and drove most of the way home from cavan without the engine on. i thought it was amazing, how did that work? i think i was probably about four. it was probably that time when petrol got ridiculously expensive and families spent their sundays crossing the border to get it cheaper. 
by the way, i'm quite aware that the idea of the low gear is to get more traction than freewheeling could provide but it was 'E for eadaoin on empty' and the brakes were good so i went for it.
the needle was now below empty. below empty. i didn't know it could go below E, was i running on fumes or what? i pulled over at the bottom of a hill and checked the tank, there was still a bit left. a bit...
a big black chevrolet suv pulled over and a man got out to see if i was ok, a man on his holidays with some friends from bangkok. he looked in, looked at the reserve tank, told me i was ok for another 10 or 20 km at least and gave me his phone number to call if i was in trouble or just to let him know i was ok. i feel like i'm being disloyal to vietnam when i say this, but i think the thais are my favourite people in se asia.
so, i got gas, first a bottle of about 80c worth from a shop and then i filled the tank a little further on. remember how i mentioned that it was sunset when i'd noticed? well it was pitch black by now and i was nowhere near where i had intended to stay for the night. so i asked the guy at the petrol station where i could stay for the night and he pointed down the road a bit.
for a massive $10 i got the most beautiful double bed, clean, new looking white white sheets, a television, (i'd forgotten they existed!), a hot shower, a sink that didn't empty onto the floor, a fridge, and my very own frog to keep me company. we made an agreement, if he didn't hop up onto the bed i wouldn't bother him either. i think he kept his side, i think i was too tired to even notice.
next morning it was beautiful. i headed back about 15km to doi tung where the kings mother kept a villa while she was renewing the local area by replacing the opium plantations with forestry. i know little about the thai royal family but this was worth it just for the house.
teak floors, walls of pine salvaged from transport crates, stunning art work and there was a real sense of love for this woman in the whole house. she died around 10 years ago but the house is still used by her granddaughter once a year while she carries on her grandmother's work. this was an ordinary woman elevated to the status of the king's mother late in her life. she was the original celebrity do gooder, using her new found status to change thailand for the better; to encourage education, eliminate opium plantations and all the while cook for her family and garden and still be an ordinary woman. i think i'd like to have met her!
the weather had turned now and it was miserable, bucketing down. i asked a woman where i could buy a rain coat, she offered me hers for about $5! after she'd assured me she could get another one (well i hope that was what she was saying) i gladly took it off her.
i must admit, i regretted it a little when i got back on the bike and noticed it smelled sort of like a fart that no one i know would admit to....but it was raining and i could only smell it if i sniffed the coat, which, eh, i refrained from.
back down the hill (more freewheeling, just for the fun) and i was on my way to the golden triangle, the place where myanmar, laos and thailand meet. where most of the opium trading was carried out. it is, as the lonely planet describes it, 'an all out tourist trap', but it was intersting all the same and the town next to it had a fish market with hundreds of eels leaping up out of the water in the bottoms of buckets and crates and plastic bags. a sight in itself.
after that i headed back to chiang rai via mae sai, the most northern town in thailand. it was a town like any other, about ten seven-elevens and tons of guest houses and hotels. i had given my passport as collateral for the bike so i couldn't go to myanmar just for the stamp. it's starting to get a bit full anyway, what with all these vietnamese visas i keep having to get...
i got back to chiang rai at 4.30 so i decided to head south to see the white temple everyone kept talking about. this part of the world is full of temples. you've seen one wat, you've seen 'em all. so i don't know what i was expecting but this place definately wasn't it.
it's just surreal. like a fairytale, some sort of religious theme park or narnia's temple.
the entire building and surrounds are pure white, decorated with mirror mosaic. it was beautiful.
the inside was the strangest though, the mural inside depicted, as well as bhudda, aliens, skyscrapers, spaceships, wristwatches and i am not joking, neo from the matrix. are these the evils of this world today? that coupled with the wax monk sitting in front of the bhudda sort of compounded the theme park idea but it didn't detract from the sheer beauty of the outside of the building.
fin.
the long necked karen tribespeople in northern thailand:
burmese refugees rounded up and placed in to synthetic villages designed for tourists to see all the various tribespeople at once. a themepark, a human zoo. these people have escaped the war and refugee camps in their homecountry only to be led in to this equally redundant (albeit not as dangerous) life in thailand. they are bought by businessmen, taken to live in these villages and paid to sit around and have their picture taken, sell some trinkets maybe. the men don't get paid, they get food allowance. they're not photogenic enough to pay, they don't wear the brass neck rings.
it's difficult enough to be a responsible tourist, hard to know who's for real, but it's not hard to know that this sort of exploitation is disgusting. the thai hilltribe museums seem to be doing a fair bit of campaigning to stop this practice but it occurs to me that the only way it is still happening is if stupid tourists are still going. eugh.
TalesofAsiaPaduang
what i did see was amazing, stunning. possibly the most beautiful countryside i have ever experienced. if i had taken a photo every time i had wanted to i would never have gotten anywhere. i left chiang rai at around 10am on saturday morning. after i got out of the city limits i pulled over to fix my backpack to the seat behind me only to notice this rather violent hissing noise which i quickly realised was coming from my back tire. oooops. i'd checked everything, the lights, brakes, indicators, all that jazz. i'd forgotten to look at the tires though, the back one was so bald that a tiny piece of broken glass had managed to rip it.
*insert expletive here*
so i went to a tire place that just so happened to be a little up the road, got the tire pumped to near bursting point and made my way back to the rental place as quick as i could. and i nearly made it! except by the time i was within 200m of the place i had to give up, get off the bike and push it. *insert stronger expletive here, about 10 times*
is this a sign, maybe i shouldn't go...? or maybeeeee, now that i've taken the bike back and the owner is more than happy to give me another one it's just luck that i'm getting a way better bike. even if it did cost me over an hour.
so back on the road, my vague plan is to head a community that has opened itself to tourists in a pilot scheme where they actually get some of the profits and the guides are actual locals. (may seem like common sense to you but see the bit the long neck karen people at the end). then i was going to go to mae sai for the night via doi tung and back to chiang rai via the infamous golden triangle.
on my way back to the bike a group of thai boys called me over to their spot by the river. as soon as i got there i was presented with a shot of thai whisky, well it was only small and it felt rude to refuse! so the usual, where are you from, what's your name and all that came next. they introduced themselves, names i cannot pronounce or remember. i noticed the almost empty 'water' bottle and then realised they were all pretty drunk. and it was still only 1.30
they had a guitar and after the photoshoot was over, they love the photos, they asked me if i knew zombie. hilarious, i couldn't name you one thai singer
so after singing (all filmed by their impromtu camera man) and refusing about five more shots of whisky i left them to it. not before they'd asked me where i was going though. and like all the thai seem to do, they gave me directions. it's lovely. initially, i thought it was just conversation or curiosity, but this question is borne out of a genuine desire to make sure you're going where you want to go. they're all tourist information points by choice. i've never experienced that before!
at the village, ban lorcha, i was led around the village by a woman who kept insisting i take photos of everything. even though i knew this place was the best place to go to see the hilltribe people and feel like i wasn't intruding i still felt like i was intruding. as soon as i'd taken the picture off we'd go again. she doesn't speak any english, like most of the guides, but there are posters up at the relevant points to explain everything.
at the end i met a girl called nittya, a 17 year old local girl who studies in the next city and comes back at weekends. she was embroidering as we chatted and the work was beautiful. her english wasn't great but it was enough to get by; maybe a few months ago i wouldn't have been able to have a converstion with her but my simple english is pretty good now and i'm getting better at guessing what people are trying to say! best bit was when she was asking me if i was married and instead of the usual gesture to the ring finger she started to hum the wedding march, brilliant! she told me about how she was christian and how some of the people in the village are actually bhuddist, as if they were thick or something. it was funny, in a pretty judgemental way.
after that i headed up into the hills and this is where the fun started. i was up and down gears at the rate of knots. the roads inclined at ungodly degrees and the only variety in bends was between hairpin and 90 degree. i've never thought it was possible to have to break going uphill before but i now know that it is. and i wasn't even going that fast, i couldn't. i kept getting shocked by these absolutely arresting views down to where i'd just come from or the valleys on either side. it was so beautiful, i couldn't even show you many pictures if i did have them, i was too busy just enjoying them for myself to take any pictures.
i did stop to take a photo of the sun setting over the mountains but never got to take it. as i took the camera out of the case i realised i had almost no gas left. ooops, again. so, a little distracted, i put the camera away and headed off to find some gas.
eh, where exactly? i wasn't near any town, at all.
so i ploughed on. this particular sign put me in mind of the art of freewheeling. saving gas and the environment all at once, fantastic! i was reminded of my dad as i turned off the ignition (with my left hand, right hand and foot firmly on the brakes). the night he did a 'magic trick' and drove most of the way home from cavan without the engine on. i thought it was amazing, how did that work? i think i was probably about four. it was probably that time when petrol got ridiculously expensive and families spent their sundays crossing the border to get it cheaper.
by the way, i'm quite aware that the idea of the low gear is to get more traction than freewheeling could provide but it was 'E for eadaoin on empty' and the brakes were good so i went for it.the needle was now below empty. below empty. i didn't know it could go below E, was i running on fumes or what? i pulled over at the bottom of a hill and checked the tank, there was still a bit left. a bit...
a big black chevrolet suv pulled over and a man got out to see if i was ok, a man on his holidays with some friends from bangkok. he looked in, looked at the reserve tank, told me i was ok for another 10 or 20 km at least and gave me his phone number to call if i was in trouble or just to let him know i was ok. i feel like i'm being disloyal to vietnam when i say this, but i think the thais are my favourite people in se asia.
so, i got gas, first a bottle of about 80c worth from a shop and then i filled the tank a little further on. remember how i mentioned that it was sunset when i'd noticed? well it was pitch black by now and i was nowhere near where i had intended to stay for the night. so i asked the guy at the petrol station where i could stay for the night and he pointed down the road a bit.
for a massive $10 i got the most beautiful double bed, clean, new looking white white sheets, a television, (i'd forgotten they existed!), a hot shower, a sink that didn't empty onto the floor, a fridge, and my very own frog to keep me company. we made an agreement, if he didn't hop up onto the bed i wouldn't bother him either. i think he kept his side, i think i was too tired to even notice.
next morning it was beautiful. i headed back about 15km to doi tung where the kings mother kept a villa while she was renewing the local area by replacing the opium plantations with forestry. i know little about the thai royal family but this was worth it just for the house.
teak floors, walls of pine salvaged from transport crates, stunning art work and there was a real sense of love for this woman in the whole house. she died around 10 years ago but the house is still used by her granddaughter once a year while she carries on her grandmother's work. this was an ordinary woman elevated to the status of the king's mother late in her life. she was the original celebrity do gooder, using her new found status to change thailand for the better; to encourage education, eliminate opium plantations and all the while cook for her family and garden and still be an ordinary woman. i think i'd like to have met her!
the weather had turned now and it was miserable, bucketing down. i asked a woman where i could buy a rain coat, she offered me hers for about $5! after she'd assured me she could get another one (well i hope that was what she was saying) i gladly took it off her.
i must admit, i regretted it a little when i got back on the bike and noticed it smelled sort of like a fart that no one i know would admit to....but it was raining and i could only smell it if i sniffed the coat, which, eh, i refrained from.
back down the hill (more freewheeling, just for the fun) and i was on my way to the golden triangle, the place where myanmar, laos and thailand meet. where most of the opium trading was carried out. it is, as the lonely planet describes it, 'an all out tourist trap', but it was intersting all the same and the town next to it had a fish market with hundreds of eels leaping up out of the water in the bottoms of buckets and crates and plastic bags. a sight in itself.
after that i headed back to chiang rai via mae sai, the most northern town in thailand. it was a town like any other, about ten seven-elevens and tons of guest houses and hotels. i had given my passport as collateral for the bike so i couldn't go to myanmar just for the stamp. it's starting to get a bit full anyway, what with all these vietnamese visas i keep having to get...
i got back to chiang rai at 4.30 so i decided to head south to see the white temple everyone kept talking about. this part of the world is full of temples. you've seen one wat, you've seen 'em all. so i don't know what i was expecting but this place definately wasn't it.
it's just surreal. like a fairytale, some sort of religious theme park or narnia's temple.
the entire building and surrounds are pure white, decorated with mirror mosaic. it was beautiful.
the inside was the strangest though, the mural inside depicted, as well as bhudda, aliens, skyscrapers, spaceships, wristwatches and i am not joking, neo from the matrix. are these the evils of this world today? that coupled with the wax monk sitting in front of the bhudda sort of compounded the theme park idea but it didn't detract from the sheer beauty of the outside of the building.
fin.
the long necked karen tribespeople in northern thailand:
it's difficult enough to be a responsible tourist, hard to know who's for real, but it's not hard to know that this sort of exploitation is disgusting. the thai hilltribe museums seem to be doing a fair bit of campaigning to stop this practice but it occurs to me that the only way it is still happening is if stupid tourists are still going. eugh.
TalesofAsiaPaduang
Thursday, 18 September 2008
I'm a little mahout
that's an elephant handler to you
so the internet in Laos just ain't great. therefore there has been absolutely no time in the last two weeks when i could have possibly published a blog. i've written a few entries into my old fashioned journal but i'll type them up another time. for now i'll just tell you about my two days learning to be a mahout.
well, travelling solo has it's ups and downs. it's great being able to make your own plans without anyone else to consider. but it's a pain not having anyone to discuss your plans with. it's great being able to do whatever you want to do but it's a pain having to pay extra because you're alone or worse still, as i found out, being somewhere during low season where they won't accept just one person to do a trek. it's also fantastic meeting new people, it sucks when you can't shake them off too though, as i've learned just once so far! but then there's the whole "well at least it's someone to talk to thing..."
anyway, after saying a rather quick and unexpected goodbye to my now ill soundboard, i wandered the streets of Luang Prabang hoping the rest of the people i encountered wouldn't be quite so boring...oh to be lacking such basic comforts as a decent conversation!
i had planned to go to the jungle in the far north west of Laos in bokeo province to do the gibbon experience tour, a three day trekking and ziplining adventure where i was unlikely to actually see any gibbons but i'd heard about how much fun it was from quite a few other travellers. after booking it and paying for it, it turned out i'd booked the wrong month (travelling seems to have reduced me to being unable to tell time or date...) and the program is closed for september due to heavy rains. so defnilly defnilly no gibbons for ead.
so i took myself into the fair trek booking office to see if i could find me some elephant friends instead. and lo and behold, there at the counter was another solo lady interested in the same thing but being told she couldn't go unless at least one other person signed up. i piped in to let them know i was interested too and it all took off from there. sandi and i booked ourselves into a two day mahout and kayaking tour, a shared room and unknown adventure and then introduced ourselves! how etiquette and common practice disappear in strange countries!
turned out sandi wasn't nearly as boring as her predecessor and we had a great few days. we were joined on the trip by a new yorker called adam and we made a great team.
the tour started with a very brief introduction to the elephants and their lifestyles before we took off on a one hour ride on the elephant bench.
so the internet in Laos just ain't great. therefore there has been absolutely no time in the last two weeks when i could have possibly published a blog. i've written a few entries into my old fashioned journal but i'll type them up another time. for now i'll just tell you about my two days learning to be a mahout.
well, travelling solo has it's ups and downs. it's great being able to make your own plans without anyone else to consider. but it's a pain not having anyone to discuss your plans with. it's great being able to do whatever you want to do but it's a pain having to pay extra because you're alone or worse still, as i found out, being somewhere during low season where they won't accept just one person to do a trek. it's also fantastic meeting new people, it sucks when you can't shake them off too though, as i've learned just once so far! but then there's the whole "well at least it's someone to talk to thing..."
anyway, after saying a rather quick and unexpected goodbye to my now ill soundboard, i wandered the streets of Luang Prabang hoping the rest of the people i encountered wouldn't be quite so boring...oh to be lacking such basic comforts as a decent conversation!
i had planned to go to the jungle in the far north west of Laos in bokeo province to do the gibbon experience tour, a three day trekking and ziplining adventure where i was unlikely to actually see any gibbons but i'd heard about how much fun it was from quite a few other travellers. after booking it and paying for it, it turned out i'd booked the wrong month (travelling seems to have reduced me to being unable to tell time or date...) and the program is closed for september due to heavy rains. so defnilly defnilly no gibbons for ead.
so i took myself into the fair trek booking office to see if i could find me some elephant friends instead. and lo and behold, there at the counter was another solo lady interested in the same thing but being told she couldn't go unless at least one other person signed up. i piped in to let them know i was interested too and it all took off from there. sandi and i booked ourselves into a two day mahout and kayaking tour, a shared room and unknown adventure and then introduced ourselves! how etiquette and common practice disappear in strange countries!
turned out sandi wasn't nearly as boring as her predecessor and we had a great few days. we were joined on the trip by a new yorker called adam and we made a great team.
the tour started with a very brief introduction to the elephants and their lifestyles before we took off on a one hour ride on the elephant bench.
we then fed the elephants some bananas and took off for our own lunch. after a very tasty meal we headed back to our ellies and found them unsaddled with chains around their necks. it was time to take them off out to jungle for the night. what a fun ride. what a fun time trying to get up on the elephant in the first place!
it was scary at first, there's nothing to hold on to! but it was also just mesmerising. being elevated to that height in the jungle and plodding along with the elephant, feeling her shoulders move and the earth move beneath her. it took a little while to get used to it but i soon found myself moving in time with 'me ton khong' and feeling more and more comfortable on her back. her driver was sitting a little further up on her back and provided a beautiful Lao soundtrack to our 30minute journey.
then it was back to the lodge to get our gear and head to the Tad Se waterfall. i didn't take my camera with me but there was a lady with us who took a few excellent photos of us jumping off the waterfall, hopefully she'll mail them on soon. it's a beautiful waterfall with tumbling ledges that are great fun to climb. we went all the way up to the top, how very adventurous of us! adam had already jumped off the main waterfall a couple of times when he asked us if we wanted to. both sandi and i said no at first but then i thought, hey, why not, i'm only here once yada yada yada. so up we went. getting up there in the first place was difficult enough, the water cascades so fiercely that you can't keep your eyes open during the climb up.
so up to the top with us. and off the edge with adam. so now he and sandi are over by the far edge of the pool waiting for me to jump. waiting. waiting. waiting...
soon enough our guides have cottoned on to the fact that i've been standing up there for a good five minutes. then the rest of the, thankfully small, crowd do too. ah jaysis... now, if i'm fairly sure i'm going to be good at something i have no problems giving it a go. however, if i have any doubt in my mind, well that's just another thing altogether. i started thinking, didn't i... what if i don't jump far enough, i'm not very good at this sort of thing...
anyway, the power of the people, i couldn't disappoint the crowd so i eventually jumped! it was fantastic! adam did mention that i didn't look like i'd jumped very far so at least i was right about my doubts! but then i got the feel for it and all three of us headed up for one last jump before we went. this time i did a tandem with sandi so i wouldn't hold the whole show up again! (just in case!)
that took us to the end of day one and after a delicious meal and the last of my scotch that doreen had left me in june, we all headed to bed. up at 7 to go and pick the ellies up in the jungle to take them down for a wash. so we had another 30mins saunter back down to the river. when i say saunter, me ton khong must have been in fine form that morning because she was lamping it down the track. as i might have mentioned earlier, there's nothing to hold on to! but i felt safe and the guide said that no one has fallen off yet so...
little did i know what was yet to come though, the incline down into the river must have been about 45degrees. yikes. i felt so sure i was going to go toppling over my ellies head as she squelched down the mud trail. deep breaths, deep breaths. is everyone else still intact on their charges? yes, ok, lets keep going here. i concentrated on how the elephant's skin felt against my own bare feet, even though her head and face are very bristly and her skin is so thick, it felt soft and warm and safe.
and then into the water. it was all fine until she was told to sit down. no offence to me ton knong but she's a big girl, whump! down into the water, i felt as if she'd just left me sitting in mid air! but down i went too and we commenced the morning ritual of scrubbing. it was so much fun, both sandi and one of the real mahouts fell into the water. we all got thoroughly wet, the elephants got clean and we all emerged from the water dirtier than we had been going in!
after saying goodbye and goodluck to our elephants and their mahouts we went back for a well deserved breakfast before kayaking back up to Luang Prabang. it was a four hour trip, lackadaisical as it was, through beautiful landscape and the most timid of rapids with lunch enroute at the site of Henri Mohout's grave (french explorer, all round great guy apparently).
so there you have it, i'm not quite a mahout but it was fun learning to be one all the same!
i'll update you on the rest of my journey another day.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
out of sight, out of mind
some things i miss from home...
my baggy jeans, butlers soya hot chocolate, my cons, the red shoes i bought just before i left, mam's soda bread and griskins, cheddar, kerrymaid-sliced!, my bicycle - with it's gears and brakes, having my own set of keys, delicious kisses when i'm half asleep, mc cambridges, cooking, having an iron - if i chose to use it, hugs only a few people can give, back scratches, holding hands, my music, watching syllian rayle play, watching a live show fullstop, a pint or three of great guinness in doyle's, the shortcut, peace and quiet, red wine, hot water anytime i want it, coffee on a wednesday evening with whoever's around, sweating only when i choose to - and always feeling great after it, wearing a hoodie, talk radio, the news, the chips from beside fibbers, mass, mashed potatoes, the 75 at 9.40pm, cider, skinny jeans, a drawer full of underwear, knowing where things are already, brown rice, taekwondo, perfume, knowing who'll take me home at the end of the night, sending texts and knowing they'll get there, bagels on a saturday morning, not being afraid to breathe through my nose, jameson, reading the newspaper, having more than one piece of jewellry, whelan's, random post party sing songs.........................
but i'm staying here anyway! it's as definate as it will ever be, my flight is valid until may 15th 2009 so i'll be home sometime before then.
doesn't mean i don't miss you all. out of sight doesn't always mean out of mind.
my baggy jeans, butlers soya hot chocolate, my cons, the red shoes i bought just before i left, mam's soda bread and griskins, cheddar, kerrymaid-sliced!, my bicycle - with it's gears and brakes, having my own set of keys, delicious kisses when i'm half asleep, mc cambridges, cooking, having an iron - if i chose to use it, hugs only a few people can give, back scratches, holding hands, my music, watching syllian rayle play, watching a live show fullstop, a pint or three of great guinness in doyle's, the shortcut, peace and quiet, red wine, hot water anytime i want it, coffee on a wednesday evening with whoever's around, sweating only when i choose to - and always feeling great after it, wearing a hoodie, talk radio, the news, the chips from beside fibbers, mass, mashed potatoes, the 75 at 9.40pm, cider, skinny jeans, a drawer full of underwear, knowing where things are already, brown rice, taekwondo, perfume, knowing who'll take me home at the end of the night, sending texts and knowing they'll get there, bagels on a saturday morning, not being afraid to breathe through my nose, jameson, reading the newspaper, having more than one piece of jewellry, whelan's, random post party sing songs.........................
but i'm staying here anyway! it's as definate as it will ever be, my flight is valid until may 15th 2009 so i'll be home sometime before then.
doesn't mean i don't miss you all. out of sight doesn't always mean out of mind.
Monday, 18 August 2008
stories from the other side
the bio's of two of the children i have been working with for the last fortnight that i wrote for the website.
Luong (aka "Chuckles") is three years old. She has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Her right side is most affected, causing blindness, deafness and very limited mobility in her leg and arm. Volunteers believe she may also suffer from a blood disorder due to unexplained bruising on her torso and legs.
She lives at the Social Protection Centre in Tuy Hoa and has spent the vast majority of her life on her back so far.
Currently, volunteers are helping her to learn how to swallow, doing daily physical therapy on her on her ragdoll-like limbs and providing mental and sensory stimulus.
Luong, along with her fellow SPC residents, is in need of paedeatric care, nutritious food, physical therapy and mental stimulation and also, the attention and affection provided by GVN volunteers which she is unlikely to recieve from the overworked and understaffed* SPC employees.
(*note: i used those euphamisms for the website only, there are stories i'm still contemplating whether to broadcast..)
The 'street kids' in Tuy Hoa number up to 1,000. Their families all live in daily hardship with most of them outside the normal 'family unit'. Most of them have never attended school and many cannot read, write or even draw a picture. They have been working to earn their keep and maintain their place in the family since they were very young. To do this, they take jobs as tin can collectors (30 tins = USD$0.50), selling flowers on the street and at the graveyards, tending to graves and selling gum and cigarettes, while some just beg on the streets. Their working day has no end.Tron is one of these children. He has a mother and sister, his father is unknown. He is about 12 years old and has been attending GVN's program at Home of Affection since July '08. He never misses a class and is one of the brightest students there, always eager to learn and entertain!
GVN's program at Home of Affection provides meals and English lessons to 35 children and young adults three nights a week.
Just two out of too too many
a mother's love
sometimes knows no beginning...
in case i haven't actually been sharing enough stories of what i've been working at over the last while i'm going to share a few now, starting with what happened today, and i'll try to keep it short.
Judy, a volunteer who was here in june and july, returned yesterday after two weeks in Laos and Cambodia to say her last farewells and keep a promise she had made to two young girls at a children's shelter here in Tam Ky.
Le and Thao had been promised dolls and never forgot for one moment that Judy would be back with them.
so today when we went to visit she took the two dolls with her. the girls were elated, these were fancy dolls. beautiful hair, little voice messages etc etc. Le's mum was there when we arrived. she said something in Vietnamese to Le and Judy noticed a look of fear glance across Le's face. is her mum asking her for the doll?
well, Judy, knowing what some people are like in this world and that Le has siblings at home and really shouldn't be in this shelter, kept an eye on Le and the doll.
Le's mum left on her motobike and Judy turned to me and said, 'good, the mum's gone and Le's still got the doll, i was a bit worried'
two minutes later, the doll is nowhere to be seen...
Le's mum had driven out onto road outside the centre, called Le over to the fence and made her hand over the doll.
it's probably been sold by now.
Le is nine years old.
it was her doll...
she was a bit quiet and a bit sad but held it together alright for a while. only until Judy told the women who run the centre how angry she was at Le's mum. then the poor child bawled for an hour.
the frustration, anger, bitter disappointment and embarassment poor Le must have felt. her own mother, flesh and blood. has abandoned her in a shelter for homeless children, even though she lives in Tam Ky she only visits once a month at most.
her own mother, who abandoned her, steals from her.
in case i haven't actually been sharing enough stories of what i've been working at over the last while i'm going to share a few now, starting with what happened today, and i'll try to keep it short.
Judy, a volunteer who was here in june and july, returned yesterday after two weeks in Laos and Cambodia to say her last farewells and keep a promise she had made to two young girls at a children's shelter here in Tam Ky.
Le and Thao had been promised dolls and never forgot for one moment that Judy would be back with them.
so today when we went to visit she took the two dolls with her. the girls were elated, these were fancy dolls. beautiful hair, little voice messages etc etc. Le's mum was there when we arrived. she said something in Vietnamese to Le and Judy noticed a look of fear glance across Le's face. is her mum asking her for the doll?
well, Judy, knowing what some people are like in this world and that Le has siblings at home and really shouldn't be in this shelter, kept an eye on Le and the doll.
Le's mum left on her motobike and Judy turned to me and said, 'good, the mum's gone and Le's still got the doll, i was a bit worried'
two minutes later, the doll is nowhere to be seen...
Le's mum had driven out onto road outside the centre, called Le over to the fence and made her hand over the doll.
it's probably been sold by now.
Le is nine years old.
it was her doll...
she was a bit quiet and a bit sad but held it together alright for a while. only until Judy told the women who run the centre how angry she was at Le's mum. then the poor child bawled for an hour.
the frustration, anger, bitter disappointment and embarassment poor Le must have felt. her own mother, flesh and blood. has abandoned her in a shelter for homeless children, even though she lives in Tam Ky she only visits once a month at most.
her own mother, who abandoned her, steals from her.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
six things
so Cathal's mammy, the very wonderful Sylvaine, tagged me in her blog (see link on right hand side) to name six things that i can be happy about in my life, so here goes:
my independence
it means so much to me to be able to do my own thing in my life. i'm not a loner but i do like to have the power and the support to be my own person. there was a time when i wasn't. but those days are long gone!
my family
having lived with close to 40 people in houseshares over the last few years, it's always so nice to be able to come home. my folks are the most quietly inspirational people i know. i love them with all my heart. they tell it like it is and never stop giving. and my brother and sister are two of the funniest, cleverest, most annoying people i've ever met!
my boyfriend
wow, nothing short of amazing. i ask a lot of him sometimes but he never stops giving. and to have his support now in what i'm doing just makes everything so much easier. i wish i could write more but it would only end up being an understatement.
Viet Nam
right now, having been here for almost 12 weeks, i feel like i've learned so much. i've gained so much. honestly, i don't know how much i've given but i do know what i've gotten out of it. made some of the most amazing friends, met some truly inspirational people, had a chance to explore and develop skills i never even knew i had. and, a greater appreciation for what i have in my life already.
friends
to those of you who have kept in touch, kept me up to date on home, kept track of my stupid ramblings. to those of you i've met thus far on the road, thank you, thank you, thank you.
my education
this is something i've always appreciated but only lately begun to really understand the true value of. for one thing, without it, i would never have been able to make the money i needed to take this trip. one of the girls in our street kids class here in Tuy Hoa is 22. she can't read or write properly, or even draw a picture. life could always be worse but it could often be a lot better for some....
please feel free to add your own six things here as a comment if you feel like it..i'd like to hear 'em
my independence
it means so much to me to be able to do my own thing in my life. i'm not a loner but i do like to have the power and the support to be my own person. there was a time when i wasn't. but those days are long gone!
my family
having lived with close to 40 people in houseshares over the last few years, it's always so nice to be able to come home. my folks are the most quietly inspirational people i know. i love them with all my heart. they tell it like it is and never stop giving. and my brother and sister are two of the funniest, cleverest, most annoying people i've ever met!
my boyfriend
wow, nothing short of amazing. i ask a lot of him sometimes but he never stops giving. and to have his support now in what i'm doing just makes everything so much easier. i wish i could write more but it would only end up being an understatement.
Viet Nam
right now, having been here for almost 12 weeks, i feel like i've learned so much. i've gained so much. honestly, i don't know how much i've given but i do know what i've gotten out of it. made some of the most amazing friends, met some truly inspirational people, had a chance to explore and develop skills i never even knew i had. and, a greater appreciation for what i have in my life already.
friends
to those of you who have kept in touch, kept me up to date on home, kept track of my stupid ramblings. to those of you i've met thus far on the road, thank you, thank you, thank you.
my education
this is something i've always appreciated but only lately begun to really understand the true value of. for one thing, without it, i would never have been able to make the money i needed to take this trip. one of the girls in our street kids class here in Tuy Hoa is 22. she can't read or write properly, or even draw a picture. life could always be worse but it could often be a lot better for some....
please feel free to add your own six things here as a comment if you feel like it..i'd like to hear 'em
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
home is not where you live, but where they understand you
Where we love is home,
Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
it's strange, home is home. even after living there for seven years, i would never call Dublin home.
i've always been a nomad there, lease to lease. i have people i love there and who's homes and understanding i have shared. but i've never really considered it home.
home was always where i grew up, where my family is, where i go home to.
but somehow, in the way that Dublin has been a home to me, home is becoming here too.
and i'm not even sure if i have the reason why.
some days here are shit. really crap. but honestly, the good days are little short of amazing.
this weekend alone was a rollercoaster that ended on a really high note.
i'm leaving GVN in two weeks. i'm leaving Viet Nam in about one month.
yet i'm already planning to come back.
am i being selfish?
am i just playing a game to wait out the recession at home?
is it achievable?
can i actually make a difference if i do stay here?
when will i go home this trip? when will i return from here?
what will have changed when i get home to Ireland?
what will i do when i get there?
so many questions. so little answers.
but i left home without a plan so there's little point in trying to draw up anything to detailed at this point i guess.
there are a few people from home that i would really love to see right now.
to talk to, to talk things through with, to talk face to face with, see your faces.
you should know who you are and you should know that i miss you, and your beautiful faces!
on that note though, there are a few people i have met since i got here who i feel so incredibly at home with. people who i am honored to have met and shared time and experiences with. i suppose this whole volunteering thing is a pretty intense experience and relationships grow at a faster pace. or maybe it's just that there's a certain mindset that is attracted to this sort of thing and it's those people with whom the connection is made.
i'm not sure about any of these things right now except that i already have a beautiful home but i may have found a second one.
Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
it's strange, home is home. even after living there for seven years, i would never call Dublin home.
i've always been a nomad there, lease to lease. i have people i love there and who's homes and understanding i have shared. but i've never really considered it home.
home was always where i grew up, where my family is, where i go home to.
but somehow, in the way that Dublin has been a home to me, home is becoming here too.
and i'm not even sure if i have the reason why.
some days here are shit. really crap. but honestly, the good days are little short of amazing.
this weekend alone was a rollercoaster that ended on a really high note.
i'm leaving GVN in two weeks. i'm leaving Viet Nam in about one month.
yet i'm already planning to come back.
am i being selfish?
am i just playing a game to wait out the recession at home?
is it achievable?
can i actually make a difference if i do stay here?
when will i go home this trip? when will i return from here?
what will have changed when i get home to Ireland?
what will i do when i get there?
so many questions. so little answers.
but i left home without a plan so there's little point in trying to draw up anything to detailed at this point i guess.
there are a few people from home that i would really love to see right now.
to talk to, to talk things through with, to talk face to face with, see your faces.
you should know who you are and you should know that i miss you, and your beautiful faces!
on that note though, there are a few people i have met since i got here who i feel so incredibly at home with. people who i am honored to have met and shared time and experiences with. i suppose this whole volunteering thing is a pretty intense experience and relationships grow at a faster pace. or maybe it's just that there's a certain mindset that is attracted to this sort of thing and it's those people with whom the connection is made.
i'm not sure about any of these things right now except that i already have a beautiful home but i may have found a second one.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
a quick update
i'll bore ye all more later, i promise, this will be brief for now
so, we're leaving Quang Ngai.
problems. i'm not sure if i even know all the details but our placement here closes indefinately on Thursday next week.
i've written about it before, you know the score.
these kids need people to help them.
they need physical therapy and mental stimulation and native english speakers.
i'm working really hard this week on finding another NGO in the vicinity to help bridge the gap.
it's slow work but i'm not giving in.
trying to find a doctor from the Agent Orange Victims Association too. if we can get Little Phouc identified as an AO victim we can start making moves to get him transferred to the rehabilitation hospital in Tam Ky. there's a place and a carer there waiting for him. he's not getting any physio any more since we left. hope he doesn't have to wait too much longer.
I've been to Laos since i blogged last. it was great. a total mental rejuvination. i've started writing a blog about it, i'll finish it another day. one thing though, just ask me how much i want my own motorbike...!
the 47 hours it took to get there and back sort of took it's toll on my body but i'm planning on getting a massage on saturday. a whole hour, in my hotel room. for about eu7. nice!
next stop for me after we leave Quang Ngai is two weeks in Tuy Hoa. it's another placement further south. i'll spend two weeks there doing some intensive physical therapy with a pair of five year olds who currently spend their days lying down on a bed. if i can help them, how amazing would that be?! exciting times.
i've also been asked to stay on here on a more long term basis. i haven't said yes or no yet but to be honest, i've no job to go home to, it's the best time to do it if i ever will.
first of all though, i spend the first two weeks of August in Tuy Hoa, then seven weeks travelling northern Viet Nam, northern Laos and northern Thailand. then Moe is coming to meet me in Thailand and we'll travel Cambodia too.
then?
stay tuned for further posts!
ps- if i do stay, i'll need to do some fundraising!
if i do stay, i'll want some visitors! ;)
so, we're leaving Quang Ngai.
problems. i'm not sure if i even know all the details but our placement here closes indefinately on Thursday next week.
i've written about it before, you know the score.
these kids need people to help them.
they need physical therapy and mental stimulation and native english speakers.
i'm working really hard this week on finding another NGO in the vicinity to help bridge the gap.
it's slow work but i'm not giving in.
trying to find a doctor from the Agent Orange Victims Association too. if we can get Little Phouc identified as an AO victim we can start making moves to get him transferred to the rehabilitation hospital in Tam Ky. there's a place and a carer there waiting for him. he's not getting any physio any more since we left. hope he doesn't have to wait too much longer.
I've been to Laos since i blogged last. it was great. a total mental rejuvination. i've started writing a blog about it, i'll finish it another day. one thing though, just ask me how much i want my own motorbike...!
the 47 hours it took to get there and back sort of took it's toll on my body but i'm planning on getting a massage on saturday. a whole hour, in my hotel room. for about eu7. nice!
next stop for me after we leave Quang Ngai is two weeks in Tuy Hoa. it's another placement further south. i'll spend two weeks there doing some intensive physical therapy with a pair of five year olds who currently spend their days lying down on a bed. if i can help them, how amazing would that be?! exciting times.
i've also been asked to stay on here on a more long term basis. i haven't said yes or no yet but to be honest, i've no job to go home to, it's the best time to do it if i ever will.
first of all though, i spend the first two weeks of August in Tuy Hoa, then seven weeks travelling northern Viet Nam, northern Laos and northern Thailand. then Moe is coming to meet me in Thailand and we'll travel Cambodia too.
then?
stay tuned for further posts!
ps- if i do stay, i'll need to do some fundraising!
if i do stay, i'll want some visitors! ;)
some photographs
these are links to my facebook albums, hey, look if you want to!
Life in Quang Ngai
Hoi An
A day on Mr. Viet's farm
Laos
Hue
Life in Quang Ngai
Hoi An
A day on Mr. Viet's farm
Laos
Hue
Saturday, 19 July 2008
our life stories and the history of the world are written by the same hand
in other words, what's for you won't pass you by...
incredibly, this week has been almost exactly what i predicted it would be but yet so much more.
there's just no escaping the truth sometimes and i'm enjoying every moment of it. now if only i had the brain power and patience and logic to think it all through and answer all my questions....i guess time will sort that one out for me.
there's no point in going into details because i'm not sure i can even vocalise it anyway but right now i feel like everything in my life is right and good and that just makes me very happy.
fin.
incredibly, this week has been almost exactly what i predicted it would be but yet so much more.
there's just no escaping the truth sometimes and i'm enjoying every moment of it. now if only i had the brain power and patience and logic to think it all through and answer all my questions....i guess time will sort that one out for me.
there's no point in going into details because i'm not sure i can even vocalise it anyway but right now i feel like everything in my life is right and good and that just makes me very happy.
fin.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
suil, suil eile
the famous eye, any ideas of what might have happened? you're as likely to know as me...
day one, thursday night, the orange is iodine
Day three, saturday morning, bloody painful and swollen..!
Day four, i've got one on my left shoulder as well...damn rat. or jellyfish. or whoever it was.
can you see my tan line on my shoulder?! yeah baby!!!
I've only got a tiny scar left which is nice, i can sort that out when i get home.
these are the things that happen, eh?!
day one, thursday night, the orange is iodine
Day three, saturday morning, bloody painful and swollen..!
Day four, i've got one on my left shoulder as well...damn rat. or jellyfish. or whoever it was.can you see my tan line on my shoulder?! yeah baby!!!
I've only got a tiny scar left which is nice, i can sort that out when i get home.these are the things that happen, eh?!
a history of violence
a tale of unintentional self mutilation and downright bad luck
i thought Tuesday's child was full of grace...?!
my new nickname here is pretty much calamity Jane, so i would like to present to you a list of the injuries i have sustained since arriving in Vietnam...
eh, that's it for now. i'll keep it up to date i promise......
i thought Tuesday's child was full of grace...?!
my new nickname here is pretty much calamity Jane, so i would like to present to you a list of the injuries i have sustained since arriving in Vietnam...
- incredible bruise from climbing out of a boat at Cham Is. it was blacker than Ozzy's soul and looked horrific (i have pictures!)
- numerous coral scratches
- almost lost two toenails from bashing it off coral (yeah, i know it's endangered, i didn't do it on purpose)
- badly bruised and cut ankle from a moto falling on it (the bike came off a little worse!)
- very strange scratch marks on my right eye, i maintain it must have been a jellyfish but i didn't notice it at the beach or until the next morning. the doctor maintains it could have been a rat. so now i'm on a course of post exposure rabies vaccines. nice.
- numerous electrical shocks from the computer (shoulda worn shoes..)
- a 2.5" scar on my left leg after a lighter exploded beside us on the roof terrace and ripped up my leg
- a badly bruised tushy and water trapped in my good ear after falling in Dave's bedroom while it was flooded (the ground floor of the house floods when it rains...)
- very badly sprained toe due to messing too much with a CP boy at Binh Hoa, we fell over each other. (He's probably more graceful than me, yikes...)
eh, that's it for now. i'll keep it up to date i promise......
ode to the Moto
the Vietnamese motorbike. what a trooper!
the moto is: city runaround
the moto is: family car
the moto is: city to city travel
the moto is: tractor
the moto is: with a basket on the back, how you transport your cow or pig to/from the market
the moto is: the local travelling shop
the moto is: furniture removal truck
the moto is: how you get a coffin to the house where your family member will be placed in it
the moto is: school bus
the moto is: useless above 40km/hr because you'd have to break too quickly
the moto is: completely useless without a good horn
the moto is: still perfectly roadworthy without indicators
the moto is: third in the pecking order on the roads (1-bus, 2-car, 4-bicycle, 5-human)
the moto is: how this country keeps going
the moto is: where you conduct a Spanish Inquisition with a westerner...oi Troi oi!
the moto is: a really fun ride, but don't let it run away from you and fall on your foot
the moto is: usually a complete rustbucket, but if you're young and have a good job, it is p-i-m-p-e-d
and the horn, what does that mean?
well it goes something like this (regardless of vehicle)
passing on the right
passing on the left
hurry up
move over
light's gone green
hi i'm here
i'm bored what are you doing?
i'm coming through this junction now
i'm coming round this bend
i'm singing a song in my head and it goes with the tune
(ok, maybe not strictly speaking, but sometimes feels like it)
the last piece of this blog was brought to you courtesy of my fellow volunteer (and Irish-blooded lady) Jen, you can read her story here
the moto is: city runaround
the moto is: family car
the moto is: city to city travel
the moto is: tractor
the moto is: with a basket on the back, how you transport your cow or pig to/from the market
the moto is: the local travelling shop
the moto is: furniture removal truck
the moto is: how you get a coffin to the house where your family member will be placed in it
the moto is: school bus
the moto is: useless above 40km/hr because you'd have to break too quickly
the moto is: completely useless without a good horn
the moto is: still perfectly roadworthy without indicators
the moto is: third in the pecking order on the roads (1-bus, 2-car, 4-bicycle, 5-human)
the moto is: how this country keeps going
the moto is: where you conduct a Spanish Inquisition with a westerner...oi Troi oi!
the moto is: a really fun ride, but don't let it run away from you and fall on your foot
the moto is: usually a complete rustbucket, but if you're young and have a good job, it is p-i-m-p-e-d
and the horn, what does that mean?
well it goes something like this (regardless of vehicle)
passing on the right
passing on the left
hurry up
move over
light's gone green
hi i'm here
i'm bored what are you doing?
i'm coming through this junction now
i'm coming round this bend
i'm singing a song in my head and it goes with the tune
(ok, maybe not strictly speaking, but sometimes feels like it)
the last piece of this blog was brought to you courtesy of my fellow volunteer (and Irish-blooded lady) Jen, you can read her story here
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Oi Troi Oi!
the vietnamese for "oh my God!"
we use it a lot!
so my vietnamese is improving slightly, slowly but surely!
if only i could stay for longer!
well i haven't been blogging much coz i'm kinda busy, kinda lazy, kinda not much time to sit in front of the computer.
but life here is going really well. some children from a placement up the road from us called Tam Ky recently had 18 of their children moved to an orphanage in a tourist town a little further up the coast called hoi an. it's the main tailor town and it's where we go for a few weekends coz it's pretty easy to get to and reasonably cheap.
so some volunteers from there are spending every weekend there so they can see their kids who were moved (because they were too old to stay at Tam Ky). i was rooming with one for the weekend and ended up going to the orphanage too.
oh man, it was so much fun and so so sad.
there was one baby girl there who's maybe a year or so old and has hydrocephalus. one of the volunteers this month is a nurse and she measured her head, it's the same as Suzy's waist. which i'm guessing is maybe 25 inches or so. the baby is just tiny.
i honestly wished her death as i left on sunday evening, it was the most horrible sight in the world. they won't do anything to help her and it's just going to keep getting bigger....
but i also made a few lovely little friends and had some fun with them. now if only the women who work there would treat the kids with some respect and dignity it would be great.
i wish...
this country will break my heart. the children are all so beautiful and get shortchanged in life so much for no reason at all.
any other news???? well i have a list of injuries i've sustained over the last few weeks the length of my arm. nothing major but they keep adding up
my left little toe is currently the same colour as my passport!!!
i think i might keep that as a separate blog, stay tuned for updates!
i'm off to Laos on saturday for a week and very excited about it.
one of our volunteers from Quang Ngai has decided not to continue with the program and seeing as she was supposed to stay two months there are now no volunteers to carry forward into August.
so guess what, i'm going to stay for a couple of weeks in august too! there's no obligation on me to stay but it will be a great help to our interpreter here (the wonderful Mr. Tuan) and it means i can skip off to Laos for a week now in clear conscience.
i'm a little angry at the volunteer who has left but at the same time i understand her situation. she seems to be very disappointed by our program here which makes me sad and frustrated. maybe she just didn't think it all through properly, i don't know.
c'est la vie. guess you just never can tell.
oi Troi oi she exclaims in exasperation...
we use it a lot!
so my vietnamese is improving slightly, slowly but surely!
if only i could stay for longer!
well i haven't been blogging much coz i'm kinda busy, kinda lazy, kinda not much time to sit in front of the computer.
but life here is going really well. some children from a placement up the road from us called Tam Ky recently had 18 of their children moved to an orphanage in a tourist town a little further up the coast called hoi an. it's the main tailor town and it's where we go for a few weekends coz it's pretty easy to get to and reasonably cheap.
so some volunteers from there are spending every weekend there so they can see their kids who were moved (because they were too old to stay at Tam Ky). i was rooming with one for the weekend and ended up going to the orphanage too.
oh man, it was so much fun and so so sad.
there was one baby girl there who's maybe a year or so old and has hydrocephalus. one of the volunteers this month is a nurse and she measured her head, it's the same as Suzy's waist. which i'm guessing is maybe 25 inches or so. the baby is just tiny.
i honestly wished her death as i left on sunday evening, it was the most horrible sight in the world. they won't do anything to help her and it's just going to keep getting bigger....
but i also made a few lovely little friends and had some fun with them. now if only the women who work there would treat the kids with some respect and dignity it would be great.
i wish...
this country will break my heart. the children are all so beautiful and get shortchanged in life so much for no reason at all.
any other news???? well i have a list of injuries i've sustained over the last few weeks the length of my arm. nothing major but they keep adding up
my left little toe is currently the same colour as my passport!!!
i think i might keep that as a separate blog, stay tuned for updates!
i'm off to Laos on saturday for a week and very excited about it.
one of our volunteers from Quang Ngai has decided not to continue with the program and seeing as she was supposed to stay two months there are now no volunteers to carry forward into August.
so guess what, i'm going to stay for a couple of weeks in august too! there's no obligation on me to stay but it will be a great help to our interpreter here (the wonderful Mr. Tuan) and it means i can skip off to Laos for a week now in clear conscience.
i'm a little angry at the volunteer who has left but at the same time i understand her situation. she seems to be very disappointed by our program here which makes me sad and frustrated. maybe she just didn't think it all through properly, i don't know.
c'est la vie. guess you just never can tell.
oi Troi oi she exclaims in exasperation...
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
month two, day one
what a sad sad day
today i said goodbye to Shae, Doreen and Karen, three of the lovliest Australian ladies ever made!
it was tough, they've all been here for three and four months and they've done so much hard work, i'm anxious about carrying on their work and how it will work with just four volunteers for july (we had 7 last month)
i look forward to getting to know my new housemates but our new house is awful compared to the one we lived in last month and i'm in bad form already!
we are however getting a western toilet installed tomorrow hopefully, we'll lose a squat, what a shame...
and the shower does have hot water afterall, you just have to flick the switch...doh
i'm completely exhausted after only two hours sleep last night and i feel sick (after the rum last night) and i'm worried about what this month will bring to our plates
oh well, always look on the bright side, eh?
today i said goodbye to Shae, Doreen and Karen, three of the lovliest Australian ladies ever made!
it was tough, they've all been here for three and four months and they've done so much hard work, i'm anxious about carrying on their work and how it will work with just four volunteers for july (we had 7 last month)
i look forward to getting to know my new housemates but our new house is awful compared to the one we lived in last month and i'm in bad form already!
we are however getting a western toilet installed tomorrow hopefully, we'll lose a squat, what a shame...
and the shower does have hot water afterall, you just have to flick the switch...doh
i'm completely exhausted after only two hours sleep last night and i feel sick (after the rum last night) and i'm worried about what this month will bring to our plates
oh well, always look on the bright side, eh?
Friday, 27 June 2008
rollercoaster
what a day. what a week.
ok, so a quick recap, we have lost our contract at the orphanage we work at. we have however managed to retain our placement in the hope that the contract will be renewed and in the meantime we can continue the work we do at the rural rehabilitation centres and english teaching. we are now under the banner of a community program rather than orphanage program.
there are four orphans who we tend to prioritise in light of the fact that they have disabilities. we intended to take them with us to our rural placements each morning. give them the stimulation and physical therapy they need.
nope. not happening.
ok, just one, just Little Phouc. he needs his physical therapy each day or he will regress. so we'll just take him for now and see how we go.
ok.
actually, nope. not happening.
he's too weak to travel.
bullshit.
bullshit.
bullshit.
i HATE the director of that orphanage and i've never even met her.
i HATE the state of this stupid corrupt system.
and i'm afraid.
i'm afraid for him. what will happen to him? he's made so much progress in the last three months, sure, in the last four weeks i've seen him improve. if he goes without physio he'll just end up back the way he was, a little ball of a body lying on his bed 24 hours a day in pain and bored.
i'm so disappointed and frustrated and so so sad for my little darling. he's such an amazing little being. my heart swells with love and admiration for him every time i just think of him.
the saddest thing of all is that if we had just known sooner we could have somehow made efforts to bridge the gap and make sure he gets his physio somehow...
however, i am here for another four or five weeks and who knows what will happen before i leave. i know you don't know this boy but please, if you read this, send me some positive vibes or pray for him or do whatever it is that you do in times of need.
he needs.
ok, so a quick recap, we have lost our contract at the orphanage we work at. we have however managed to retain our placement in the hope that the contract will be renewed and in the meantime we can continue the work we do at the rural rehabilitation centres and english teaching. we are now under the banner of a community program rather than orphanage program.
there are four orphans who we tend to prioritise in light of the fact that they have disabilities. we intended to take them with us to our rural placements each morning. give them the stimulation and physical therapy they need.
nope. not happening.
ok, just one, just Little Phouc. he needs his physical therapy each day or he will regress. so we'll just take him for now and see how we go.
ok.
actually, nope. not happening.
he's too weak to travel.
bullshit.
bullshit.
bullshit.
i HATE the director of that orphanage and i've never even met her.
i HATE the state of this stupid corrupt system.
and i'm afraid.
i'm afraid for him. what will happen to him? he's made so much progress in the last three months, sure, in the last four weeks i've seen him improve. if he goes without physio he'll just end up back the way he was, a little ball of a body lying on his bed 24 hours a day in pain and bored.
i'm so disappointed and frustrated and so so sad for my little darling. he's such an amazing little being. my heart swells with love and admiration for him every time i just think of him.
the saddest thing of all is that if we had just known sooner we could have somehow made efforts to bridge the gap and make sure he gets his physio somehow...
however, i am here for another four or five weeks and who knows what will happen before i leave. i know you don't know this boy but please, if you read this, send me some positive vibes or pray for him or do whatever it is that you do in times of need.
he needs.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
i'm sorry, i know it looks long, but i use small words for you, i promise! ;)
i'm having to learn how to use simple english as well as trying to learn vietnamese!
also, i don't expect any of you to read it all, but this really is the very least amount information i could commit to this blog.
so, last time i wrote i had experienced one day in this lovely town.
there's a lot more to the people, the places and the life that i hadn't seen then, and God knows, i probably still haven't.
i could go into even brief detail about each placement but still have you all bored to tears! in short, these children are all beautiful. apart from the three english groups we teach, our work is exclusively with disabled children. in the rehabilitation centres and in the social protection centre. we give them attention, affection, physio therapy, facilitate the community support and hopefully give them a sense of importance in this world and society where disability is regarded akin to the old notions of leprosy.
it has been a massively gratifying week and a half so far and i'm enjoying every aspect.
so much so that i've decided to stay another month!
when i initially applied, i though one month would be a long time, but now, 8 working days in i can see that it will pass in the blink of an eye and there is so much more i could be doing here instead of seeing statues and famous buildings and beaches and monuments [all of which i can see in the two months afterwards!]
but today was a particular roller coaster of a day.
last week we were informed that the program would possibly not continue to run here in Quang Ngai due to difficulties with contract renewals at one of our placements, SPC.
Mr. Viet, our boss, Toan, our translator and all the volunteers even met with the dept. of foreign affairs on tuesday to try to plead our case. [a fun excursion were it not for the gravity of the matter]
the work we do at SPC concentrates on 4 children. one in particular, 'Little' Phouc, is left lying on his rattan mat on bare wooden slats for twenty two and half hours every day, he has cerebral palsy, an unfunctioning left arm [possibly agent orange defect], is blind and at 9 or 10 years old, stands at a little under 3 feet tall.
and he's beautiful, oh is he beautiful!
we had to fight for him. he needs someone to care for him and do his physio therapy with him. [two months ago his muscles were so constricted that they could barely pry him from his 24 hour foetal position, today, wearing leg splints he can stand for great lengths and is even beginning to try to take steps, amazing and exciting!]
anyway, without the SPC contract, we couldn't have this placement operating. simple as.
so today, with our hearts heavy with fear and grief for all the children we try so hard to help, we went off to teach english at the local kindergarten. almost certain in the knowledge that our days were numbered as a volunteer presence.
we returned to find Mr. Viet in the house waiting to tell us the bad news. the SPC contract was not renewed and without an orphanage at the placement, they could no longer operate the program...
but what about little Phouc, and all the other children too?
the physio, the support, the attention?
what about the bright young things who gather for english conversation every week who can truly benefit from talking with the 'only westerners in town'?
we talked about plan B's, questioned the situation, threw out suggestions and pleas. searched for answers and tried to hold back the anger, frustration and tears. thoughts of Little Phouc lying practically unattended in the backs of all our minds especially.
so guess what, if the program can't operate as an orphanage program with no orphanage, how about we call it a 'community program'?!
yep, it was simple as that!
the relief, the joy, the cheers! the creativity!
we will take our three disabled orphans with us to the rehabilitation centres and the work can continue!
it is quite possible that i am not relaying the full facts of the situation to you, for reasons of discretion and to keep your interest! it is impossible for me to describe the work and the people justly but know this, simply put, i am very happy here, learning new things about the world and myself everyday. i'm teaching and learning new skills and i believe that the work being done by the volunteers here is really making a difference. both today and for the future.
and even though it was never the plan, i'm already excited about the second month!
in other news, the mosquitoes have found me, ouch... we went to Hoi An at the weekend, swam in the sea, ate a lot and i got a dress made. it's 1.30m and i've been up since 5am for my run. we went to the beach here this evening to celebrate our victory and then sat up on the terrace listening to music and talking and drinking strawberry wine and cheap orange rum!
the geckos are still singing away to each other but i think it's time i called it a night
i promise i will get some photos uploaded soon. i miss you all and love you.
[i'll send postcards too, soon hopefully!]
[moral of the story? expect the unexpected!]
also, i don't expect any of you to read it all, but this really is the very least amount information i could commit to this blog.
so, last time i wrote i had experienced one day in this lovely town.
there's a lot more to the people, the places and the life that i hadn't seen then, and God knows, i probably still haven't.
i could go into even brief detail about each placement but still have you all bored to tears! in short, these children are all beautiful. apart from the three english groups we teach, our work is exclusively with disabled children. in the rehabilitation centres and in the social protection centre. we give them attention, affection, physio therapy, facilitate the community support and hopefully give them a sense of importance in this world and society where disability is regarded akin to the old notions of leprosy.
it has been a massively gratifying week and a half so far and i'm enjoying every aspect.
so much so that i've decided to stay another month!
when i initially applied, i though one month would be a long time, but now, 8 working days in i can see that it will pass in the blink of an eye and there is so much more i could be doing here instead of seeing statues and famous buildings and beaches and monuments [all of which i can see in the two months afterwards!]
but today was a particular roller coaster of a day.
last week we were informed that the program would possibly not continue to run here in Quang Ngai due to difficulties with contract renewals at one of our placements, SPC.
Mr. Viet, our boss, Toan, our translator and all the volunteers even met with the dept. of foreign affairs on tuesday to try to plead our case. [a fun excursion were it not for the gravity of the matter]
the work we do at SPC concentrates on 4 children. one in particular, 'Little' Phouc, is left lying on his rattan mat on bare wooden slats for twenty two and half hours every day, he has cerebral palsy, an unfunctioning left arm [possibly agent orange defect], is blind and at 9 or 10 years old, stands at a little under 3 feet tall.
and he's beautiful, oh is he beautiful!
we had to fight for him. he needs someone to care for him and do his physio therapy with him. [two months ago his muscles were so constricted that they could barely pry him from his 24 hour foetal position, today, wearing leg splints he can stand for great lengths and is even beginning to try to take steps, amazing and exciting!]
anyway, without the SPC contract, we couldn't have this placement operating. simple as.
so today, with our hearts heavy with fear and grief for all the children we try so hard to help, we went off to teach english at the local kindergarten. almost certain in the knowledge that our days were numbered as a volunteer presence.
we returned to find Mr. Viet in the house waiting to tell us the bad news. the SPC contract was not renewed and without an orphanage at the placement, they could no longer operate the program...
but what about little Phouc, and all the other children too?
the physio, the support, the attention?
what about the bright young things who gather for english conversation every week who can truly benefit from talking with the 'only westerners in town'?
we talked about plan B's, questioned the situation, threw out suggestions and pleas. searched for answers and tried to hold back the anger, frustration and tears. thoughts of Little Phouc lying practically unattended in the backs of all our minds especially.
so guess what, if the program can't operate as an orphanage program with no orphanage, how about we call it a 'community program'?!
yep, it was simple as that!
the relief, the joy, the cheers! the creativity!
we will take our three disabled orphans with us to the rehabilitation centres and the work can continue!
it is quite possible that i am not relaying the full facts of the situation to you, for reasons of discretion and to keep your interest! it is impossible for me to describe the work and the people justly but know this, simply put, i am very happy here, learning new things about the world and myself everyday. i'm teaching and learning new skills and i believe that the work being done by the volunteers here is really making a difference. both today and for the future.
and even though it was never the plan, i'm already excited about the second month!
in other news, the mosquitoes have found me, ouch... we went to Hoi An at the weekend, swam in the sea, ate a lot and i got a dress made. it's 1.30m and i've been up since 5am for my run. we went to the beach here this evening to celebrate our victory and then sat up on the terrace listening to music and talking and drinking strawberry wine and cheap orange rum!
the geckos are still singing away to each other but i think it's time i called it a night
i promise i will get some photos uploaded soon. i miss you all and love you.
[i'll send postcards too, soon hopefully!]
[moral of the story? expect the unexpected!]
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