I haven't forgotten you!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that good stuff! I am sorry, I've said it before, but it is much harder to blog when you have a travel companion! Claudia and I are having a wonderful adventure and we are sad that the end is in sight… We've left New Zealand behind us and we are happily nursing some hangovers and some sunburn in the beautiful country of Fiji.

New Zealand flashback: After the Catlins, we had a glorious three days off in Queenstown, which is a beautiful little city full of adventure. Unfortunately, we did not really partake in any of the adventures. We were so excited about having some time to ourselves that we just enjoyed the beautiful lake and spent time in the parks during the day and the bars at night. I was going to go skydiving but then I pussed out. Neither Claudia nor my new friend Edward would go with me and I think, in order to go skydiving, I need somebody to come along with me and push me out of the airplane… Its still on my 'to do' list so who's coming with me? I made a lovely British friend named Edward who has been traveling around the world for about seven months now. He spent a decent amount of time in South America and has been in New Zealand for about a month now. He's got a plane ticket that lasts for a year and I'm very jealous of all the traveling he has ahead of him! Hopefully, Greece will be added to his itinerary! Claudia, Edward and I bummed around for a few days until Claudia and I had to depart for Franz Josef where we had scheduled a glacier hike.

We didn't quite know what we had in store for us, but we were looking forward to getting to wear spikes on our boots! The hike was incredible! We had only signed up for a half-day excursion and we really wish that we had done a full day, because we were just getting into the heart of the glacier when we had to turn around… We were blessed with glorious weather, but it had been raining a lot the previous few days so the normal trails to the glacier were flooded. We got to hike on some crazy back-trails that involved ladders going up and over rocks and steep paths that had chains linked to the rock beside you so you hang on for dear life. We were given boots at the hiking center (my poor little feet are so small that I didn't fit into their smallest size and had to wear three pairs of wool socks to make up for the empty toe room) and a fanny-pack with crampons in it. Once we reached the base of the glacier, we were taught how to attach the crampons (think about the old-fashioned roller skates that you attached to your shoes but tons of crazy spikes instead of wheels) to the shoes and then headed up some icey stairs that had been carved into the glacier. Just stepping onto the ice was surreal… This giant chunk of ice lodged between two mountains and the farther and farther into the glacier you got, the more unreal the scenery became (that was an awkward sentence). We had to shimmy our way in between ice walls and through winding paths that led you up and up and up until there was nothing around you but ice and more ice. Mind you, the weather was so nice that we were wearing shorts and hiking in a valley of ice! Sadly, our hike ended sooner than we wanted to and we had to head back down the glacier. As we were shimmying our way back through the ice walls, Claudia somehow got her feet tangled up and fell forward onto her hands and knees (somehow she managed to miss sitting on her spiky shoes) and slid down until she got lodged between the walls. Precious sister laughed the whole way down, but was left in quite a precarious position when she finally came to a stop. She was literally stuck in between two ice walls and it took the woman in front of her and me from behind to help free her from between the walls… Aside from that minor mishap, the hike was incredible and the scenery was something that I'll never forget. I can't wait to upload the photos for all of you to see!

After our hike, we spent one more night in Franz Josef and then took a bus to Greymouth and from Greymouth took the most beautiful train ride to Christchurch. We rode through some of the most amazing scenery I've ever seen—mountains and valleys with rivers running through them that were the color blue that you only imagine in the Caribbean or Aegean Sea. Some of the scenery was so breath-taking that it was hard to believe it was real. This was a glorious way to end our stay in New Zealand.

 

Now we are happy in the Fiji sunshine, but I will have to wait until later to tell you about our adventures because I'm sick of writing…

 

Love to all!

A Slippery Slope

I may march to the beat of my own drum, but from here on out I will stick to the beaten path. What I'm trying to say is I HATE the literal act of trailblazing. Claudia and I just returned from a lovely stay with a wonderful couple in the Catlins, but it turns out doing conservation work is more up Claudia's alley than my own. Just as some people may not enjoy being thrust into the teacher's position in front of a classroom full of wee ones who do not speak your language with no lesson plan, I do not like being told to trek through the New Zealand bush with soggy feet and saw and have to make my own trail. Albeit, the bushwhacking was only one day out of six, but it was a miserable day. The Catlins is a beautiful basically uninhibited region of the south island that is unbelievably scenic with glorious beaches and lovely paths through some of the oldest surviving forests in the area (farmers have destroyed most of the old bush). I would compare the area to a summer in Maine. Unfortunately, we were not blessed with decent weather during our stay and went on a few soggy eco-tours, cleaned up and trimmed back a beautiful trail, did a lot of weeding, and counted penguins—all of which were fairly enjoyable, aside from the constant drizzle and occasional downpour. Sadly, the most memorable portion of the trip was trailblazing. We left early in the morning and had to follow some trail markers that a ranger had put up along a route that he wanted to actually become a path. Claudia and I were both equipped with belts that had shears in a sheath on one side and a saw in a sheath on the other. We were expected to clip back any plants in our way and saw down any trees or limbs that were too large to clip. Having had so much rain in the previous days and embarking into the bush with high grasses and other plants, my feet were soggy within the first thirty minutes. Within the hour I was walking in mini-marshes and this is when I decided I wasn't having very much fun. When we sat down for our lunch break, I realized just how wet and cold I was (did I mention it was FREEZING and we had both had to borrow long johns from the older woman we were staying with for the adventure?) and I decided not only was I not having fun, I wasn't enjoying any of it. Following lunch, we had to put back on our freezing and wet gloves and then started the ascent up the slimy, muddy, steep, steep path. The mud was so soggy that if there were no roots underfoot, the mud would just slide right down the hill bringing you with it. This is when I decided I was miserable. My arms stopped working so whenever I had to saw a branch it would take eons. The fact that the path was meant to become a path that rangers would use to set up traps to catch stoats and opossums (the opossums here are actually cute, not rat-like) to help save the rare yellowbird did nothing to encourage me. I would rather save the opossums and to hell with all their rare birds—they all look alike and you only get to look at them for three seconds before they fly away. I repeat, I only like freak birds like the emu, ostrich, kiwi and penguin. Oh, and the freaky extinct moa bird that is huge and pseudo-dinosaur-like (Hillary, you would love them…).  I also don't like hikes where you have to return on the same path that led you into the woods. What's the point? After four hours of trekking, we reached the point where the route stopped going uphill and started going downhill. Fergus, our main-man, asked if we were okay to go on, and I suggested a snack break. We sat and Fergus said that we would have to allow at least two hours to return and to me this meant that it was time to return. Six hours of unhappy hiking is enough for me. Once we finished our snack, Fergus said we'd carry on for another half hour or so before turning around. At this point, I thought I was going to start crying. I dropped the hint that I was losing feeling in my marsh feet and he said, "In that case, we'd better turn around." Thank god! I was trying hard to keep my bad mood to myself because I could tell that Claudia was actually enjoying herself, but I could not withhold the occasional "I hate this" whenever we made eye contact. The trip down was terrible on my crunchy knees and I fell about a million times, once landing completely on my back, causing Claudia and Fergus to stop to see if I was okay. All I could say is, "Just keep going," with no smile on my face. I was finally able to laugh at myself when I squatted down and surfed down the muddy slope on my feet for a good three yards or so. When we got back to the house I took a shower and climbed under my covers to thaw out for an hour or so until I could feel the warmth and a smile creeping through my veins. I went into the living and Claudia looked up at me, unsure of my mood and I said, "It turns out I HATE trailblazing," and we shared a good laugh.

I should not make this blog such a negative one, because we really did have a lovely time. The couple that we stayed with, Fergus and Mary, were wonderful former hippies who live in a tiny village where only twenty people live year-round, while others come to holiday in the summer. Again, very Maine-like. Fergus and Mary seem to do everything for the community as well as the environment. They have taken over maintaining many trails through the un-disturbed forests and in more than one place they have essentially saved a few colonies of yellow-eyed penguins. Mary was an unbelievable cook and provided delicious meals and even better desserts for us the entire time that we were there. Fergus knew the name of every bird, plant, shell and mammal in the area (I'm sure Mary did too, but she did not join us on any of our eco-adventures) and was very patient with Claudia and my way of laughing through any adventure. In addition to hosting conservation volunteers, they also rent out homes to eco-tourists and Fergus takes his guests out on many nature walks in the area. Claudia and I got to join in the walks, but were not entertained because the guests were oldies with canes. While they strolled along the beach looking at shells and rocks, Claudia and I stomped on crab shells and had battles with the giant seaweed that covered the beach. I would be interested to hear what the oldies thought of us—in one spot a man turned around and said, "Be careful here, there's a dead cow and he really stinks, I'd walk that way." My response was, "Claudia, go pose with the cow so I can take a picture!" I've gotten into the habit of taking pictures of dead animals, so beware of future photo albums. We also got to get super close to sea-lions dozing on the beach and actually got to crawl into penguin dens to check out their cute little chicks.

Oh, and we made a delightful artist friend. On our first day there, we went to check out a shop called The Lost Gypsy Gallery. The shop was actually set up in a sort of antique caravan turned into a store. The shop owner is named Blair and he specializes in creating automatons. Automatons are little trinkets that can be wound or twisted or pressed with the result of some funny or delightful action occurring. For example, there was one called "The Pleasant Nose Pincher" mounted on the wall. You twisted the handle and two hands clapped together at about nose level (above mine, but average nose level). There were many little ones that you twisted and it would allow little metal sea animals to move or flowers to bloom or walnuts to fly. Claudia and I spent hours wandering around the little shop pushing all the buttons, pressing all the levers and winding all the winders. We spent such a long amount of time there that the artist, Blair, finally offered us a beer. We accepted and joined him outside (where he was juggling hammers) to ask how he came up with his ideas and what his inspiration was. He said he liked collecting junk and all the automatons were made of recycled materials so that allowed him to make a career out of doing so. He told us that he had grown up vacationing in the Catlins and his grandfather had done much to encourage people to come see the beauty, including building a camp for students and a ropes course (what he called a confidence course). He said that he would show us the course if we had time. We opted out of joining the oldies on one of their afternoon hikes so that we could go on an adventure with Blair. The course was ridiculous and there were no safety clips or harnesses or helmets involved. Blair had been playing on the course since he was a child, so he made each challenge look like a cinch and then made us look like fools. I ended up being dragged through the mud by a rope after attempting to slide across a wire while holding onto said rope. Claudia was injured in the grand finally when we were told to swing on a rope into a giant rope spider web. All in all, this was a much better adventure than walking behind a woman with a cane on the beach. I also kind of fall in love (am intrigued by may be a more conservative way of putting it) with all artists, so I encouraged us spending as much time with the lost gypsy as possible.

So, despite the marsh feet, we did have a lovely time and hope that the rest of the trip will be just as wonderful.

 

Love in your face.

I Hate Dial-Up

*the title of this blog explains what I have been doing for the past hour... I typed the blog on Claudia's computer, thinking that I would at least be able to slip in one blog while in the Catlins, but this has been a nightmare. No more blogging/internet until we depart!*

Hello, hello. I’m finding it a lot more difficult to blog now that I have a travel companion… Claudia and I are having a wonderful time together—even when asked to dig for oil in the Australian outback!
It’s been a bit of a culture shock being thrust back into English speaking countries, but I guess I’m being eased back into the idea of returning home. Having spent so much time in Asia where the customs are so incredibly different, it was strange to arrive in Australia where most of the blokes actually speak my language—even if they do abbreviate every other word (my favorite is brekky for breakfast or mozzy for mosquito). At least we spent the majority of our time with Australian Aboriginals who had their own language, so I was still being introduced to a new culture. Now we are in New Zealand and we are back in familiar territory culture-wise, but I must admit this is one of the most beautiful countries I have yet to encounter. The rolling hills and greenery are amazing!
We have been in New Zealand now for a week and had many adventures along the way. We arrived in Auckland on the north island and had our first free day scheduled the next day. We made grand plans to do a little shopping and then check out the underground aquarium. Unfortunately, we both spent the day grogging about hung-over… The previous night we had a delightful dinner accompanied by two bottles of wine (not unusual for the Padens) and were looking for a bar to hit up as we made our way back to our hotel. We stumbled upon a group of native Hawaiians who were staying in our hotel (they were here doing a sort of learning exchange with the northern Maoris) and they were also looking for a place to get a drink. They suggested taking us to a casino and the combination of two bottles of wine and never having been to a casino before made it sound like a delightful idea. Claudia and I did little gambling, and the gambling we did do simply lost our new friends’ money. However we enjoyed the drinks and the laughs and our new found friends. I believe the night ended somewhere around 4am for us, which did not bode well for the next day… I guess one could argue it’s quite impressive that I’ve made it this far without taking a day off to shake off a hangover…
The following day was much more eventful. We were picked up early in the morning and driven a few hours south to Waitomo where we embarked on our “Black Abyss” adventure—Claudia and I had been looking forward to this from the moment we starting planning our trip. The adventure revolved around a glowworm cave. Glowworms! Little worms that glow in the dark! However, this was not just stumbling into a cave, taking a look at the glowworms and exiting. This was a full-on wear-a-harness adventure. We were decked out in the most ridiculous gear—wet suits, harnesses, gumboots and helmets that had little lights on the front. In order to enter the cave, we had to repel down through a tiny little hole in the ground to an unknown depth (thus the “Black Abyss”) and then we had to stumble along in the dark for a while until we came upon some crazy contraption. I was leading the way and our guide made us all turn out our lights and then fastened something to my harness and said, “Now jump!” She had attached me to a zip-line, which I zoomed down having no idea where I was headed or when it would stop—in the pitch black! Finally, we all had our turn traveling down the zip-line and were then all handed a big black inner tube. We were standing about thirty feet over the water at this time and they told us we had to jump into the water and land on our inner tubes. I have been cliff jumping, but never have I cliff jumped with a huge inner tube into freezing cold water in a dark cave. It hurts your bum! Our guide had to countdown more than once to get Claudia to jump. Finally, we were all in the freezing cold water and got to float through the cave with our lights off and enjoy the beautiful worms. Claudia and I are still arguing over whether their glow was blue or green—I say green. Apparently, the glow is actually their poop that is mixed with chemicals to attract other insects to them so they can eat them. They are also not worms, but maggots waiting to turn into flies that don’t have mouths so they die after three lovely days of flight and fornication. After a lovely bought of riding on our tubes we then had to swim through the freezing cold water and wiggle our way through tiny places to get to the larger maze-like part of the cave. Here we were able to get out of the water for a while and wiggle through other small places until we came upon some pretty large waterfalls. To get out of the cave we had to climb up the waterfalls! I thought it was a joke at first. It wasn’t. We managed to climb up two waterfalls that looked like you would die if you attempted to climb them (again, I was the first to attempt the endeavor) before there was a tiny sign of light. Finally, we emerged through a tiny hole and there was day again. We survived after five intense hours in a freezing black cave.
The day was not over yet! We then went to check into our hotel, which, again, was one of the things most looked forward to by both Claudia and myself. We stayed in a hotel room that was a replica of a hobbit home!!! It was built into the side of a hill and had round windows and a round door and was just wonderful. We were a bit disappointed by the fact that there was not any hobbit paraphernalia in the hotel room (I was hoping there would be costumes involved), but the hairy black pig that was grazing on our roof made up for it.
The following day we drove farther south to Roturua, stopping along the way to hike through The Bog of Eternal Stench. It was a bit of a rainy day, but we really wanted to see the bubbling mud and geysers, so we embarked on the journey regardless of the weather. I was smart enough to accept an umbrella before leaving—Claudia was not. We sloshed through the rain and were bowled over by the rotten egg smell of the sulfur caves and mud holes. There were beautiful colors in the ponds created by all of the different sediments deposited by the hot springs and they kind of settled around the springs in a rainbow fashion. Many of the bubbling springs were florescent yellowy-green from the sulfur. Finally, our favorite part was the many bubbling mud pit that showed us where the inspiration for The Bog of Eternal Stench (from the movie The Labyrinth for any freaks who haven’t seen it) came from. The mud literally pooted up and splattered all over the place and it was impossible to not hold your nose. Stink, stink, stink! After this hike, we stopped at one last mud pit where I did a little filming action on my new camera while soggy Claudia waited in the car.
We finally arrived at our hotel and barely had any time to dry off before we set off for our Maori dinner and show. We were treated to a traditional Maori ground cooked meal with a traditional dance show beforehand. After supper, we embarked on a little nature walk, which ended in a closed-in sanctuary where we got to see kiwi birds!! They are the funniest birds ever. They don’t even have wings! They’ve got a long skinny beak and hop around in a very odd way and they’re wonderful.
The next day simply involved a long transfer from the north island to the south island, which I won’t bore you with.
We spent one day in Dunedin and went on what we thought was going to be an animal tour, but ended up being more of a bird-watching tour, and that’s not our cup of tea—unless, of course, you’re speaking of emus, kiwis or penguins. The highlight of the early afternoon was when we were stuck in a bird-watching tower with a stuffy British guide looking at the giant albatross (they look just like seagulls) sitting on their eggs and hoping to catch a glimpse of an albatross in flight. While we were waiting, an albatross flew into sight and the stuffy British woman yelled “ALBATROSSSSSS!” at the top of her lungs, after having lectured us all on being quiet while in the observatory. Claudia and I did not care about the sighting so much as the ridiculously excited outburst from this old fart. If anyone was in my environmental science class in high school, think of Mr. McLean shouting “BAAALLLD EAAAGLLLLLE!” on the back fifteen, and you’ll understand how funny this was. After a long day of boring birds, we DID get to see penguins. The rare yellow-eyed penguin lives in New Zealand and we were taken on a tour through weird tunnels that have been created throughout a penguin colony to allow tourists to check out the penguins without actually invading their territory. They waddle!
In Dunedin, Claudia and I were staying in a hotel that was way too fancy for us (Prince Charles has stayed there before) and we drank too much wine with our stuffy supper both nights and tried so hard to get the young waiter to at least laugh at us while we dined to no avail.
Now we are in a cozy little village where only twenty people live doing some environmental volunteering, but I will wait until the experience is over to write about it.

Love to all!

Uncle Rossie's Mystery Tour

Hello internet world, Claudia here! This is my first blog post and I hope
I don't disappoint. I am in charge of telling you about our adventures in
Iga Warts and what adventures we had! If I could rename the place I think
"Crazy Farm" would be appropriate. Terry, later deemed Scary Terry, was
our main host with his wife Josie, who was not the nicest woman in the
world. When we first arrived Terry and the boys were not there so Anne
Meade and I got to chill out in our safari tent for a little bit, which
was surprisingly fancy and comfortable despite its name. When Terry
finally came to get us he said he would show us around the garden. Now, I
have to say the fact that he got lemon trees and vegetables and other
foreign plants to grow in the middle of the outback is pretty amazing but
the garden itself was a mess. There were plants everywhere, even in the
pathways. He showed us a section of three connected boxes that were
completely green with different weeds and plants that he told us he would
love for us to "turn-over" (which for all of you non-gardeners out there
is taking out everything and mixing the soil around). We asked him which
plants were the weeds, which looked an awful lot like his most prized
plant the Iga. As we walked around the garden Anne Meade and I were also
shocked by the whole horse leg bones with the hooves still attached and
the kangaroo legs with bits of fur still attached to them. After we left
the garden Terry took us into a shed where he dumped out three buckets of
miscellaneous parts and told us to look for the "connector" or the
"t-part" and other such terms that Anne Meade and I had never even heard
of before so this time consisted of us holding up random parts and Terry
muttering no and grabbing pieces off the ground or from our hands till he
found which pieces he was looking for. He then told us to put all the
parts back in the buckets and when we asked if he actually wanted us to
sort them out so they would be easier to find next time he replied, "No,
this is what I always do… I dump them out then make someone else pick them
up." Anne Meade and I could not even look at each other during this time
or we would start laughing at how absurd it was. I literally had to get up
and walk away a few times to stop myself from laughing in his face. That
night we sat down and had dinner with Terry and Josie and their daughter
Leah, her husband, and their two children. After dinner Josie grunted at
us that we needed to do all their dishes for them. Hmm… ok… Terry did not
give us a time to be up so being the Padens that we are we slept in till
around 10, which we thought was being considerate. Josie obviously didn't
as she took away the bread for breakfast as we were walking up to the
house and asked us if we had already been in the garden when obviously we
hadn't. We then trudged into the garden to "turn-over" the section Terry
told us about. This proved to be very VERY hard. The soil was incredibly
dry and each time we grabbed a weed it would just break off right at the
dirt, leaving the roots, which means it would just grow back. After an
hour and a half and a nasty blister on Anne Meade's hand later we were
done with the garden. We went to have lunch and Terry asked us if we
wanted to go on a drive with him and the boys after lunch, which we gladly
agreed to. We piled into the back of a truck with Uncle Rossie as the
drive, Terry in the front seat, and Phil and Andrew sitting in the back
with Anne Meade and me. Here is the time to mention that Uncle Rossie was
blind in one eye and that it remained closed most of the time. Obviously
we felt very safe as he drove us down a dirt road then into a creek bed,
the entire time the men kept saying, "We going on Uncle Rossie's mystery
tour". We stopped, got out of the car, were handed shovels, and started
walking through the bush where it had started raining. No one talked as we
walked, leaving Anne Meade and me giggling in the back saying we were
going on a treasure hunt, or they were going to make us dig our own graves
before killing us. Finally Anne Meade got up enough nerve to ask Terry
what we were doing and he replied, "We are looking for something Uncle
Rossie saw as a small boy that he has been talking about for years" then
walked away. Right. We actually were on a legitimate treasure hunt not to
mention Uncle Rossie was at least seventy! We got to another creek bed
where Uncle Rossie marked a spot on the ground and told us to start
digging. Anne Meade and I just sat there as we watched these men start
digging a hole. Terry kept asking, "Are you sure this is the spot" and
Uncle Rossie would reply, "Yes" until finally he started saying, "Well,
all of the creek beds look the same". Three holes that were about two and
half feet deep later and the men called it quits and we walked back to the
truck. Later we found out that we were actually digging for oil. Oil? In
the outback? Right… By the time we got back an actual tour group was
there, which was nice seeing that we had normal people to be around now.
Not so lucky… they were a mining group. Most of them were from all over
Australia, one girl was from Poland and one of the men was from New
Mexico. Most of them were boring, and the New Mexican was crazy telling
Anne Meade and me that he fought people often and wanted to run over
everyone in his mining group until there were tire marks all over them.
Great… Anne Meade and I avoided doing the dishes that night, instead
sweeping and mopping their entire building. The next morning we woke up
early to see more Aboriginal paintings where instead of listening to the
stories I mostly concentrated on not having flies fly up my nose and into
other orifices of my body. Came back, had lunch, then headed out again
where we visited the location of where the Aboriginal community had been
relocated by the missionaries back in the early 1900's. It was very sad to
hear how the white men just came in and decided they wanted the land for
grazing and kicked the Aboriginals off after they had been living there
for thousands of years, moving them to an area where each house was
crammed next to the other. The part that made it that much more real was
the ruins of houses we were looking at actually belonged to Phil's (who
was touring us around) grandparents and he had been directly affected by
the missionaries when they came in and started a school when he was young.
It was so crazy to think that this kind of cruelty and racism happened to
these men that were laughing and hanging out with us in such a relaxed
manner. We had dinner that night and this time really did avoid doing all
chores and instead got to go sit around a camp fire where Terry taught us
songs and Phil danced around with us. The next morning we had to wake up
even earlier and were taken to the ocre pits where the Aboriginals
gathered natural color from rocks to paint their bodies and walls with.
Phil painted us all up in white, yellow, and red paint, which was funny
and great. When we got back we said goodbye to the miners who were going
back to work and to Terry and Josie who were going to Josie's brother's
birthday. We relaxed until around two when I decided to go into town,
which was about an hour away, with the rest of the community to go see a
Christmas pageant. Anne Meade and I made friends with two young girls,
Tanisha (10) and Nikita (8) who were in pageant and wanted me to watch
them walk on stilts. Again, Uncle Rossie was the driver but this time he
was driving an entire bus with around fifteen Aboriginals and me in it.
When we arrived in town, Tanisha and Nikita grabbed my hands and started
pulling me around everywhere with them as they got ready to walk in the
pageant. When they were all set I went back up to hang out with the adults
who introduced me to about a million people who were all aunts, uncles,
sisters, brothers, cousins, and other family relations. I watched the
girls walk on their stilts in the pageant then got to meet more people and
drink beers and watch fireworks till around 11 at night when we piled back
into the bus and were driven home. The next morning Anne Meade and I were
picked up and driven back to Adelaide where I was happy to be back in
normal civilizations. So that is an account of our experience at Iga
Warta. It may seem like something out of a book but I promise you it is
all true. Crazy, but true.

Hayden and the Padens

Holy smokes! Claudia and I have just returned from quite the Outback adventure! We met up in Adelaide and had a lovely dinner at a Greek restaurant (I missed cheese so much!) and left early the next morning with Hayden, our aboriginal tour guide. Our first stop was at a camel farm where we embarked on a camel-back ride through a native pine forest. I spotted my first kangaroos and let out a yelp of excitement, Claudia simply shrugged. Turns out kangaroos are like deer in the wilderness over hear and they are a dime a dozen, though they never got less entertaining to watch hop away. We drove up into the outback and stayed two nights at a lovely eco-lodge outside of Wilpena. We spent the days bushwalking through the lovely mountain range, spotting crazy lizards, birds, kangaroos, emus and wallabies and hearing wonderful aboriginal stories explaining how the mountains and animals were created. We also had the wonderful opportunity to access aboriginal rock paintings and carvings that date back as far as 50,000 years ago, which is impossible for me to even fathom. It is quite sad because Hayden was only able to explain only the basic aspects of these painting sights despite the fact that they were painted by his own ancestors. The stories painted in these sights were only allowed to be known by initiated Aytanamatana people and the last initiated person died in 2003. They could not continue the initiation process because once the missionaries came in their people were punished for even speaking their native language. The terrible stories that we heard about the way the aboriginal people were treated by "white man" equate to the stories we may be lucky enough to read about in our history books regarding Native Americans, though these stories actually happened in our story tellers' lifetimes. The Australian Aboriginals did not receive equal rites here until 1967. This trip has made me question the enthusiasm that I expressed in regards to teaching English in Asia because so many bad things are associated with the English language and 'white man' entering into another populations' native land. This is something that I will have to think long and hard about before I set out to teach the rest of the world my native tongue… We had a really wonderful time with Hayden who was the perfect tour guide. He has led journalists from National Geographic on tours and has recently won a prize for having the best Aboriginal Tour company. Every afternoon he would pull out a table and chairs from the back of his car and set up a table in the middle of the outback for 'tea' where we would have the opportunity to sample native bush foods while sipping our tea or coffee. He had such a keen eye for wildlife and would actually grab the slower lizards that we encountered on the trail and allow us to hold and inspect them! Our last afternoon with him, we set up our tea in the late afternoon below a wall of rocks where a colony of yellow-footed rock wallabies are known to live. This is a variety of rock wallaby that was on the endangered species list just ten years ago. The people have managed to multiply the population of the animals by raising some in captivity and then breeding them with the wild wallabies and slowly reintroducing them back into the wild. While we sat under the rocks, we saw nearly fifty of the beautiful creatures emerge from within the rock wall and bounce their way down and across the way towards the nearby water hole. The kangaroos and wallabies hide in the shade all day long and only come out once the intense sun has resided to feed and drink—smart animals! Lord, this sun is intense—Claudia and I have acquired such a tan that you might not even call us pale any more! The outback is a very crazy place. Its strange how these animals only live in Australia. You are hiking along and a kangaroo hops out of the bush or as you drive emus race you on the road. Its getting late and I have yet to even touch on the most adventurous parts of our outback adventures… As soon as possible I will write again about "Uncle Rosco's Mystery Tour." 

Last Day in Thailand

* so sorry that it has taken so long to post... the computers in the outback have not allowed me to sign into the blog. i am on a sneak mission connecting claudia's computer to the computer in dude's office. have written one blog about last day in thailand on the computer which i will upload now and will write more tomorrow when we return to a real city*

*for some reason i could only get the blog to show up in the comment section. read the comment on this blog for actual blog...*

Fak you!

I will not write for long because I'm in a bad mood and nobody needs to read about that... I had a terrible experience at my hotel this morning after I complained about the fact that my phone was broken, the internet stopped working in the midst of my use, and my room was next to a construction sight that started working so early this morning. The manager was so rude to me that he made me cry and while I was crying he said "shat up, shat up" because I was drawing attention from other customers. When I couldn't take it any longer, I chose to check out of the hotel, despite the fact that they refused to give me a refund. As I walked out the door, the manager mockingly said, "Good luck, Annie" and then as I drove off in the taxi he shouted after me "fak you!" It was horrible. Then a lizard fell on me out of a tree and soon thereafter a huge green snake slithered in front of my path. I was also unable to go to the tsunami orphanage that I was so looking forward to because there is a chickenpox and mumps outbreak there and they don't want to take the risk of exposing me despite the fact that I had my mother contact my family doctor to ensure that I was up to date on all my vaccinations... I checked into a super cheap hotel/motel in town and the staff has already treated me better than they did at the "swanky" hotel that I was previously staying in. Note to all readers: when travelling to Thailand, NEVER stay at the Baan Krating Resort!!!

Khao Lak has done their best to defeat me, but I will not allow it. The dive company that I had arranged to go on a three day dive trip rejected me when I arrived to take my refresher course because I am on anxiety/depression medication. This was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. It took a lot of persuasion from many doctors to get me to go on meds, and it is simply because I have suffered from so many bizarre plights over the last seven years and need to allow my body to adjust to all the emotional distress I have been through. I'm not embarassed by the fact that I'm on meds, I've had some bad things happen to me and need some help getting through them. However--these medications are NOT debilitating. Nothing has ever stopped me from moving forward and on this trip alone I have had many experiences much more intense than a recreational dive trip. However, this experience set me back a day and I had to spend an entire day setting up my own dive trip through another company that turned out to be a German company, so I had an interesting three day trip with an unexpected language barrier. Fortunately, this was not a problem under the water.

I had not been diving in six years, and to be honest, this was the part of the trip that I was most concerned about. My father was my dive partner and it was very difficult for me to remove my gear from the bag that we shared, leaving his behind, and read all the wonderful things that my father had written in my dive log. However, I know that he would not want me to miss such a beautiful opportunity just because I have lost him, so I moved forward and planned on updating my license. The encounter with the first company almost threw me off, but I knew my father would never let something like that prohibit him from diving, so I didn't let it stop me either. I spent two nights aboard a boat in the Similan Islands and went on nine spectacular dives. I'm fairly certain this was the best diving I have ever done, though Belize may beg to differ. I saw so many spectacular things and had no problems with my goggles (in the past I have always had fog issues) and I even got to see a dozen or so nudibranchs (sea slugs) which are my favorite sea creatures ever, and, prior to this trip, I had only seen them in photographs and nature films. I can't even begin to list the many spectacular fish that I saw... I also saw a sea turtle, many stingrays, and so many different varieties of corals, anemones, and starfish. If I can keep my license up to date (have to dive at least once a year), I will invest in an underwater camera, because I would love to be able to share the things that I have seen with others. One German man took a photo of me under the water and has promised to email it to me when he returns home. If he follows through with said promise, look forward to a good laugh. Diving is a very meditative sport because you have to focus on your breathing and the only noise that you hear is your own breath and the only things that you see are beautiful wildlife that has not yet been tainted by humans (and other divers who look just as foolish as yourself in their dive gear). Fish and other sea creatures have not learned to be afraid of humans, so it is easy to find yourself in the middle of a school of hundreds of fish, or face to face with a sea turtle. Also, the way that all the creatures interact is just beautiful. The little nemo fish hide inside the anemones, the christmas tree worms hide inside the coral, the pipefish camoflage themselves by hovering just above fish of the same color so that their prey will not see them, and the stonefish and scorpionfish are almost impossible to see amongst the rocks that they hide in. The diving community is also a very nice one. Despite the language barrier, the other divers were very happy to see me diving again and not at all frustrated by being slowed down by some of the reminders that I needed. I do miss my dive partner and the way that his eyes would smile at me under the water, but I will always have those memories and he will be with me on every dive I go on in the future.

Apologies for the somewhat sad and bitter blog, but I don't know how to write without emotion. Two more days in Thailand and then I'm off to Australia to meet up with my sweet, sweet baby stista! So many adventures behind, and so many adventures ahead. Love to all of you who take the time to read the words that spill out of my fingers!

ps I have read over some of my previous entries and I apologize for the numerous spelling errors. I blame spellcheck for never letting me learn and then abandoning me in Asia!

* as you can see, the German gave me my photograph! I actually ran into him as I was going to supper and happened to be carrying my cds with me so that I might be able to upload more photos (check the photo link entry for another link...). Proof that I still dive!

Also in better mood!

The Little Village That Could

I have just had one of the most incredible and humbling experiences of my life. I returned yesterday from a four day homestay in a village that was completely destroyed by the tsunami. The village is still in the process of being rebuilt close to the sight of the old village, but much farther away from the sea. It is sad to hear the stories of how the children used to play in the sea, but now never return to the sight of their old village. There was one temporary school built where the new village is being constructed, but even this was too close to the ocean for the village's comfort. The new school, funded by a German man, is built at the farther possible site from the sea and up a hill, but still within walking distance from the village. The village, which consisted of around 200 people lost 47 villagers, 17 of whom were children. For those of you who need to refresh their math skills, that's about one fourth of the community. Yet somehow, the villagers all seem happy and capable of moving forward and making the best of what they have and have received from others willing to help them. The agency that I did this through, Andamen Discoveries, is one of the best organizations I have heard of in relation to the tsunami. Instead of coming into the village and simple building one building or giving one lump sum, the agency asked the villagers what they wanted to do to help improve their community. A group of older women have gotten together and created a soap-making business and Andamen Discoveries has helped to promote the soap internationally. This is very important, because other companies have come into the village and offered means of creating business, but not helped to promote the business outside of the community. For instance, coca-cola has this big fancy sign in front of an abandoned building boasting about how they are always helping others. The building was a bakery that was funded by coca-cola, but they simply built the building and moved on their way. Obviously, the community itself does not need nor can they afford to buy baked goods and the village has never learned the way of taking their goods outside of the village. Now there is just a tacky coca-cola sign boasting about a failed donation. Another request of the village was to establish a homestay for tourists so that people can come into the village and see the many things that they are still in desperate need of and share the word to the rest of the world. Though the village has never depended on tourism as a means of finacial stability, there was a resort close to the village before the tsunami and people would occasionally wander through the village and buy homemade goods from the villagers. Now this homestay has been established as a means of supporting the families who host the tourist as well as establishing a continuous flow of volunteers who can help with many of the things that still need to be restored as a result of the destruction. We (I met up with my Belgian friend in Phuket before the homestay began) arrived in the village in the evening time and met my "parents," my two "siblings" and the adorable litter of wee little kittens that roamed the house. Before supper we were taken to the sight of the old village by the beach, and it was a very sad and somewhat haunting feeling. The only sign that there was ever any buildings here is a concrete square on a patch of grass that used to be a basketball (or some other sport) court at the village school. Now there are signs everywhere with tsunami warning and there is a big sign with a tsunami evactuation route located on it and every hundred feet or so there is a sign with an arrow pointing the way of the evacuation route. We stayed on the beach and watched the incredible sunset, and it was a very quiet moment of reflection and memories for the villagers who had accomanied us. We shared supper together with out family on the floor and then it was time for our 'cultural experience.' The village (and many villages around the area) is Muslim, so my 'mother' and Pink, the village hostess, helped dress me in traditional Muslim garb. I was covered from head to toe, and boys, let me tell you, I am one hot Muslim--photos soon to come. The next morning we woke up and were taught how to make traditional Tai pancakes, which are pretty similar to crepes, but made from a dough that has to be made the night before rather than a batter. The woman who taught us how to do this used to sell the pancakes every evening in the village, but now cannot because she has many new obligations as a result of the tsunami. My favorite little boy, Hareem (Pink's son) joined us for the demonstration and gobbled down most of the pancakes. Following this demonstration and delighful meal, we were taken into the community center and taught how to make batik sarongs. I got a little overzealous and made a very detailed daisy pattern and had a little trouble tracing my pattern with the wax after I had created the pattern. However, I was pretty satisfied with the finished product and the ladies seemed relatively impressed by my first attempt. Following our batik lesson, we returned to our house for lunch and then set out to plant some baby mangroves to help restore the mangrove forrest that was damaged during the tsunami. We were showed many crazy water creatures along the way and taken to the point where the fresh water from the mangrove forrest meets the ocean--a strange sight. We passed the location of the former village and there is absolutely no sign that any building ever exhisted there. While we were riding our boat through the mangrove forrest, there were many boat remains stuck high in the trees, left over from the destruction of the tsunami. We also stopped for coffee in a little hut where the fishermen wait for the tide to be right before they go out for the catch. Tui, our guide/translater from Andamen Adventures, helped us share a conversation and what they were most surprised about was how small I was as an American. Their concept of Americans is large people and they did not believe my age or nationality at first. After this trek, we returned to the community center and had a little English workshops with the children. This turned out to be quite crazy because they were not in school and wanted to run around. We danced the hokey-pokey for a while and then played duck duck goose which turned into dog dog cat and then finally monkey monkey snake. Before supper, Tui, our guide from Andamen Adventures, had to leave us to go to Phuket to receive an award for her company and we were joined by Tony, the attractive (aside from his snaggle tooth--those of you who knew me as a wee one, imagine my front teeth before braces) boy who had picked me up at the airport. Tony was supposed to take us shrimping, but complained about the mosquitos and said he was too tired, so we stayed and played with the kids who lived nearby. I cannot explain to you how adorable they were. It is very interesting playing with children with whom you cannot communicate and not being in the teacher position. It involves a lot of laughing and chasing and tickling and pointing and being climbed on. The next morning we were allowed to sleep in an extra thirty minutes (woke up at 8:30) but to no avail because the roosters and monkeys started crowing and screaming in the wee hours of the morn. I was actually quite dissapointed that I had not spotted a monkey yet, so I asked Tony if he would take us into the animal santuary that the village has set up to protect their wildlife. People who have adopted wild animals as pets will bring the animals to the sanctuary when they realize they cannot be tamed and the employees work hard to reintroduce the animals to the wild. I loved all the monkeys and tried to scream back when they spoke to me. I don't think they understood me. I was then satisfied that I had seen my monkeys, even if they were still in a cage. However, we jumped into the back of a truck to go down to the beach and were forced to stop because there were a dozen or so monkeys on the road, including little bitty babies!! I cannot tell you how excited I was about this! I love monkeys and I have never before seen them in the wild. Once at the beach, we waited for our longboat to arrive and were then transported to a nearby island where we spent the morning cleaning the beach of the rubbish that had washed up since the tsunami. We picked up many lonely shoes, which was haunting to me because I imagined where and who the shoes could have come from... We had also stopped at a squid trap on the way and collected four large squid to barbecue for our lunch. I obviously immediately picked up the biggest and got inked all over. On the beach, Pink took the bucket of squid into the ocean and washed most of the ink away and then placed the squids between two sticks to roast alive. Cha (another village hostess) peeled me off a piece of fresh squid, and I ate the animal that had inked me not one hour before--very tasty! After cleaning the beach, we went out for a little snorkeling and Tony pointed out impressive fish and an eel. We got back to the village during low tide and got stuck in the shallow mud and the boat driver swam in and got a little row boat to come pick us up and deliver us to dry land. On the way back we spotted ANOTHER monkey on the shore, crashing shells together trying to get the meat out. We also had the luck to see two or three dolphins surfacing nearby, and there were these wonderful little fish that swam next to the boat and continuously leapt out of the water and looked as if they were simply skipping on the surface of the water. We got back on mainland and spotted more monkeys and I chased after them for a photoshoot and then we went home for a lovely supper of snails in coconut milk. Another night of mosquitoes and another morning of crowing roosters and screaming monkeys and wonderful breakfast (the Tai eat rice and leftovers for breakfast, but our mother prepared us traditional tai desserts every morning). Our last adventure was to return to the community center and have a soap making demonstration. We were allowed to melt the soap fat in a big pot and add the natural scents to the stew, and then we watched as Pink spread the concoction into a baking tray to let it dry. It takes up to a month for one batch to dry to the point that it is ready to be cut and shaped. Next, we got out a dry tray and cut out shapes with cookie cutters and poked holes in the shapes and strung them on little strings to make soap-on-a-string that will be shipped to other countries for distribution. All the while, Tui was translating a conversation between the women and Helene and myself. Two of the women shared their stories from the Tsunami. One of the women had been working in a factory inland and returned to the village to find it destroyed and her husband missing. Her brother found her husband's body in the cashew forrest located where the new village is being constructed--probably a mile away from the sea. The other woman was not in the village either (I am not sure where she was) but her son survived by climbing a tree. The women were so sweet and open and asked us many questions about our own lives and countries. Every product that is used in this process is created by women who needed a source of income after the tsumani. The string and fat (from oil, not from animals) comes from another village and the rest is done in our village. There are also some nice homemade boxes that are crafted in another village and some coconut soap dishes made by the village men. I did not buy any of the products at the time, because I could not travel with the amount that I want to order. I hope to order a large quantity of their goods once I return home and take them around to local shops and encourage them to make orders for the future. I documented the entire process through photographs and will create a little book of photos to take with me to show how much work these women put into their business. If anyone reading this blog is interested in helping me, please let me know. I do have the website for the company, but not handy at the moment. We had our last lunch and then said our good-byes and we returned to the Andamen Adventures office for a debriefing and I showed Tui a few websites that had free English worksheets and flashcards that would be useful for future English lessons. Finally, Tony drove us to Khao Lak where I had a very discouraging encounter with the dive company that I had booked my tour through. I don't want to get into the details now, but I will write more about Khao Lak tomorrow. Helene has just appeared and told me she is starving, so I will end this now and quickly go and change clothes so we can go out for supper.

My favourite colour is...

Today I am in Oudoxomy (I think that's what its called...) in the North of Laos and we are volunteering at a school created to support Lao minorities. There are 22 different minority groups that attend the school. This allows children from very tiny villages to come together and get an education. Considering the fact that most of the minority groups speak their own language, this is quite an accomplishment. Y'all, I don't mean to brag, but I'm a wonderful teacher!!! There was one high school class to be taught and the rest of us were to paint the gate at the entrance to the school. There were no questions asked, our guide just said I would teach and that was that. The students loved me. Perhaps a little too much. During one of our breaks, the English teacher (who does NOT speak English) told me that the students wanted to stay and ask me questions. The first question was whether or not I was single! The students all volunteered to come to my class because it is a Saturday and they do not have school on the weekends, they were all around the age of 17 and 18--the oldest students I have had thus far and they were so eager to learn that it was a joy to teach them. I was immediately corrected by my students when I started my color lesson because I had mispelled the word color and the word favorite on the board. The students learn the English version of these words and spell them 'colour' and 'favourite'. After lunch, the number of students had doubled and there were a few timid students lingering outside the door that I invited into the classroom. Because I have been working with adults for the last year and a half, it has taken some adjusting to get used to working with kids, but I am actually much better with the kids than I was with the adults. I don't have to worry about insulting the kids if they do not understand something. At the end of the day, the students asked if I would start the class earlier tomorrow so that they will have more time with me. Hurrah! It is very sad how little English the English teachers speak and it is quite amazing that the students are able to speak at all. I think some of the students speak better English than the teacher. Perhaps after I have had my fill of Greece I will venture back to Asia to teach. This is what is wonderful about getting my international teaching license--travelling around the world will become justified! Yesterday we left Luang Prabang by boat and travelled down the river to a cave where there are literally hundreds of Buddhas tucked into every nook and cranny. It was quite an amazing sight! It was also the first time that I saw children being exploited though... Apparently, it is good luck to release birds into the wild as a Buddhist and there were a dozen or so children outside the caves trying to sell little captured birds. This seems a bit ironic to me, because wouldn't it be bad luck to catch the birds in the first place? I will admit that I stopped and took many photos of the children and gave them a few kips, despite the fact that I do not agree with sending the children out to do the begging. I have actually not run into many beggers at all on this trip. In Luang Prabang there was one old man who did rounds up and down the one main street all day long, but that's about it. After our boat ride to the Buddha caves (I'm sure the caves have a different name, but I'm not sure what it is) we got out of the boat in a small village famouse for the rice wine production. We watched them cook the rice wine and then had a sample--tastes like rubbing alchohol! Then we were off up the mountains to the Oudoxomy. The first part of the ride was quite beautiful. We stopped at a small Hmong village to take photographs and I gave toys to all the children that I ran into on the street. However, the trip stopped being fun soon after this stop. I became incredibly carsick as we travelled up the bumpy, twisty, turny, horrible roads. Fortunately, I did not feel nauseous, my head just felt like it was going to explode. I had to lean forward with my head in my lap and press my temples with my hands as hard as I possibly could. I am listening to The Dark Materials trilogy on cd (I miss my little daemon Daphne!) so I tried my hardest to concentrate on the story and ignore the intense pain in my head. I have not suffered from motion sickness since I was a wee one, and I forgot just how horrible it is--at one point I was even crying it was so bad. When we finally got to the village, I got out of the car and it felt like I had been twirling in circles for hours and hours and I had to go to bed immediately. Even this morning, I had a bit of a headache... I am DREADING the ride back down the mountain tomorrow. Thank goodness I am having such a wonderful time with these children because otherwise I would have completely regretted the venture up the mountain--three hours of pure hell. Tomorrow we teach in the morning and then head back to Luang Prabang. We leave Laos early the next morning and I part ways with my travel companions, which I will not complain about. I have heard from Helene and she will join me for my homestay in the Andamens, but she must head north in Thailand after this to attend a course that she wants to take. I honestly can't believe what an amazing time I am having and I don't ever want to stop travelling. Loves to all of you!

Photo links

So far, I have only been able to create one album. Follow this link to see photos from my rice barge adventure in Thailand:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013094&l=62f93&id=55100678

Will upload more as soon as possible.

Laos:

http://guilford.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013324&l=40e64&id=55100678

teaching at minority school (not all the photos uploaded... more to come):

http://guilford.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013325&l=fdb80&id=55100678

Saiba di

I am about to have an anxiety attack because this computer is being so frustrating!!! I have downloaded all of my photos onto a disk and therefore should be able to upload them onto this here blog, but to no avail. I may have to download them onto my facebook account and post the links here... Another day of teaching at the SOS school here in Luang Prabang. Apparently SOS Children's Village is a worldwide organization created to support orphans and troubled children all over the world. (There is one in Greece that I will look into and see if they need an English teacher, though I'm fairly positive it will be located on the mainland which is not as appealing to me as the islands...) I had a younger class today than yesterday and the head master asked me to teach my own class because I was so successful yesterday! The rest of the group worked together in another classroom of older children. I had a wonderful time with the children and they are all so sweet and smart. They have the most incredible manners and bow to you and greet you with "saiba di" whenever you pass them by. If they walk past you, they lower their heads as a sign of respect. I don't think that teachers around here ever do anything silly because the children were unbelievably amused when I made animal faces and noises during my animal lesson. Today, the children learned animals, colors, body parts, opposites, the head and shoulders song and the itsy-bitsy spider. One of the school's English teachers (none of them can actually speak English) came into the classroom to observe at the end of the day and I was trying to get the students to read the lyrics of the itsy-bitsy spider off of the board for me. The children were perfectly capable of learning how to read by themselves, but the teacher answered every single one of my questions before the children got a chance! It was very frustrating. I think he was just as excited to practice his English as the children were. I have decided that I never want an assistant teacher because they are nothing but a pain in the ass and a distraction to my lessons. I am on my own for the rest of the day and will probably grab a quick supper and do another quick sweep at the night market. Last night was quite successful. You will be amazed at the amount of Laotian crafts that I will bring home! I am perfectly content to have the evening to myself because dinner normally consists of the couple (Audrey is french, Christopher is from New Zealand) and the journalist competing over who has been on the most exotic trips. I appreciate Amar (the journalist) for his dry, British sense of humor, but he could easily help steer the conversation away from business to something a bit more entertaining if he wished. Fortunately, there is enough all around me to keep me more than entertained and I'm fairly positive that I'm having a lot more fun than any of them! I'm not sure when I'll be able to write next because we head north tomorrow to a more obscure part of Laos. After that I return to Thailand for a homestay and then a dive trip--neither of which will provide internet access. I'll write again as soon as possible and hopefully provide a link to my photos soon. Love to all!

Practice Make Perfect

Today we volunteered at a local orphanage/boarding school. Upon entering the school there is a sign in English that says, "Practice Make Perfect." I taught year six which is all children between the age of 9 and 12. Amar, the British journalist was my teaching partner. This morning we were supposed to have an introduction to the school and be given information on what the kids have been studying in English. The introduction was being thrust into the classroom with 34 children blinking at me, and me blinking back at them. Fortunately, I have already encountered this problem, and I taught the body parts and the head and shoulders knees and toes song. However, I had this class from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm instead of just one class period. We played some games with animals and I had all the students make animal noises and it was wonderful. Then we did some color and number studies, family stuff, bla bla bla. Amar was not very helpful. While I was teaching the students about clothes, he would say trousers instead of pants and other little diddies that did not but confuse the children. Then he wrote on the board with all caps but dotted his eyes and that is also confusing if you are trying to learn how to speak/write in English. This afternoon I taught them about opposites (Amar chimed in by bringing up obscure opposites that might not be understood such as fire and water and ceiling and floor--I was doing up/down, on/off, left/right, in/out etc) and then taught them the itsy-bitsy spider song and they loved it. We sang the itsy-bitsy spider over and over again for about an hour and they did not tire of it. Teaching makes me feel like a grown up. Tomorrow I have a class that is even younger and I have no idea what we will do. Its difficult when you can't even explain the rules to a game... Must run along to the night market and spend some kips.

Cross your fingers and hope for photographs in the near future. I have found a place where I can get my pictures downloaded onto a cd, however I don't have my camera with me this evening...

On belay!

I am filthy! Just returned from a glorious day trip rock climbing in the Laotian mountains! Today was our scheduled 'free day' and yesterday, as we toured Luang Prabang, I noticed an adventure package that would take me on a climb! Its probably been over three years since I've been on the rock, but it's just like riding a bike. Those of you who knew me in my youthful days (aka before I started smoking) know that I used to be quite the climber. I had forgotten how meditative and good for the soul climbing can be. I feel kind of at home on the rock and more myself than I do anywhere else. So much concentration has to go into every move you make that you can only think about this moment and the important things in life. At least that's what the rock does for me. Now my fingers are chopped up and my legs are wobbly, but I have no regrets. My guide was a Laotian village boy who has come to Luang Probang and has only been climbing for seven months, whereas I have been climbing since I was ten! It was slightly scary because this is not America and they do not take any of the safety precautions that we take in the US. Dude didn't even bring me a helmet to wear and I was slightly terrified each time he kicked a leaf off the rock. As a belayer there is nothing you can do if a rock falls because you can't let go of the rope and you are hooked to it anyways. You just have to lean in towards the rock and hope that it bounces over you. I got to lead belay which was a good experience that I haven't had in a while. Its quite an art--not too much tension or you will pull the climber off the rock and not too much slack or the lead climber will not only fall twice the distance between him and the last bolt he has hooked into, but also all the slack you have left him. My guide told me that I was a great climber and said he was impressed with how fit I am. I neglected to tell him that I have done little besides dwell on a couch for the last few years... Yio was the name of my guide and he was quite good looking. Before he became a climbing guide, he was an iguana hunter in the woods! He also told me about the way that the village people fish (including himself), which is by waking up at three or four in the morning, going to the river, placing a ball of sticky rice on your nose and diving in. The fish will come at your face to eat the rice and you catch them with your bare hands!!! People also hunt monkeys and make their jobs a little easier by leaving whiskey in the forrest to get the monkeys drunk! He also told me my favorite joke so far: There is a Laotian man who has gone into the woods to hunt, but returned unsuccessfully. As he crossed the river to return home, he removes all of his clothes and carries them above his head. While he is crossing the monkeys all laugh at him from the river bank. Why? Because they think it is silly that man's tail is in front instead of the back! Good one, no? Anyways, yesterday we had a lovely tour of Luang Prabang and saw many more temples along the way. My favorite stop was in one of the monestaries where the novice monks had a load of fresh puppies running around and let me cuddle with the smallest one who made little piggy noises. There is a lovely night market with so many arts and crafts and I am very excited to return this evening and make many a purchase. The folks that I am traveling with here are fine, but the couple has not cracked one joke the entire time and I'm not quite sure what to think of people that have little to no sense of humor. The journalist is at least full of conversation, though my wish for him to be good looking is irelevant considering he is over forty and married with children. That's all for today. They're charging me a dollar for every fifteen minutes on the computer and I must also check my email. I'm not sure whether or not I'll be able to upload photos until I meet up with Claudia, because I can not download all my pictures onto the public computers... Anyone more computer savvy than myself with suggestions how to do so?? Must go shower and look into getting a traditional massage.

traveling alone, little girl?

I made a friend! I had a tour of Bangkok this morning that I could have skipped. Despite the tourist overload, the royal palace was beautiful and I bought a gigantic book that explains the entire mural that surrounds the palace, but it was so hot and touristy and I was forced to wear my jeans to respect the king and I was slightly miserable with the combination of the heat and my cold. Nevertheless, Willy kept me entertained, and spoon fed me some lovely information. We also visited the Jim Thomson House, which is a museum of a former American's home in Thailand. He had combined six traditional Thai houses to create one beautiful abode on the river bank and he was the one to introduce Thai silk to the rest of the world. He provided the costumes for the movie 'The King and I' and immediately helped Thailand become world renowned. However, Willy and I were forced to go on a group tour of the house and I was absolutely miserable and claustrophobic to be around so many tourist at once. Nothing good came of this tour--I ended up splurging on beautiful silk in the gift shop afterwards. Next, I treated Willy to a farewell lunch and we parted ways. At last, I felt as though I could explore the city on my own, because I don't mind getting lost as long as it is daylight (which I did). I wandered through the local streets, as opposed to the touristy markets, and stumbled upon a school supply store that felt a little like home once I stepped inside. I wandered through the school book section for an hour, flipping through the pages of the books, despite the fact that I had no idea what they said. Then I went upstairs and wandered through the art supply and musical instrument section and finally ended up in the English teaching section where I came across many wonderful items. I settled on a poster with all of the Thai fruits written in English and Thai. After browsing the school supply store, I made my way to a toy store where I was able to pick up way too many small notebooks and stickers that had silly English translations on them--look forward to a present if I love you (Lilly, Lauren and Jenna, I have wonderful presents picked out just for you!). I returned to the hotel and was supposed to go and finally meet up with the folks I will travel to Laos with, but ran into many complications along the way. As I walked back from my shopping spree, I was stopped by the police (being as spacey as I am, I failed to notice the fact that every person around me had stopped and the traffic was stopped in the middle of the road) because the royal family happened to drive by as I was trying to get back to my hotel. I am staying close to a traffic circle where at least five streets intersect and the police stood in the middle of the road blocking each street. First, about five police cars passed with their sirens blaring, next came three or four elongated Mercedes, followed by about ten identical red cars, more long cars, more red cars, and finally twenty or so cops on motorcycles concluded the party train. I had absolutely no idea what had just occurred, but traffic soon continued as normal and the people around me carried on as though nothing had happened. I returned to my hotel and asked about the incident to discover I had just witnessed the royal family. I went upstairs, powdered my nose, and went back downstairs to go and meet up with Christopher and his wife for the supper that we had arranged. Christopher had left me a note telling me where to meet him and I asked the lady at the front desk to help me tell the taxi where to go. Every taxi that she stopped, including the tuk-tuks, had no idea where I was headed and I was unable to get in touch with Christopher via the phone number he had given me. I went back inside the hotel rather upset that I was going to spend another evening alone only to meet a wonderful Belgian woman who is also traveling alone. She had just chosen a spot that she wanted to dine at and asked me to join her. We hailed a tuk-tuk and were on our way. Turns out she is in Thailand until January with no set plan ahead of her. I explained my itinerary and she expressed interest in joining me once I returned to Thailand after Laos. After supper, we proceeded to the nearest bar and naturally talked about boys and makeup for the next three hours (not really). We grabbed one last large Sangha to go, and returned to the hotel. Finally, the discreet Christopher Hill and his wife returned from their mysterious supper and at last we were able to meet--they seem like good people. Helaine (pronounced Ellen or Elline) came out with me to meet him and we discussed the possibility of us reuniting when I returned to Thailand. Christopher said it was no problem and he would start inquiring immediately. I returned to Helaine's hotel room to finish my brewsky and exchange phone numbers/email addresses and now I am supposed to be asleep, but I'm too excited about the prospect of a travel companion to not write about it... She is absolutely lovely and has been on many similar adventures as myself and seems like the perfect travel companion. While I am in Laos, she will travel north and will then meet me in Phuket once I return. Tomorrow I am off to Laos with Christopher and his wife, Audrey (she has a French manicure and I'm not so sure what I think about that on a trip where we are supposed to be getting dirty, especially considering she has already been traveling for a week) and we will meet up with the Financial Times journalist, who I am hoping will be good looking and full of conversation. Wish me luck carrying all the shit that I purchased today in addition to all the shit I already have on my back!

Missing all you lovelies, but so happy to be on a new adventure. There is a little twinkle in my eye that has been missing for a while...

Let's do the time warp again...

Holy smokes, ladies and gentlemen, I have stepped through the looking glass! After a seventeen hour flight next to a drunk bear, I stepped out into another world. Are you aware that there is a twelve hour time difference between Thailand and the US? I was not.... The time warp has worked to my advantage because those around me believe that I am a morning person happy to wake up and offer alms to the monks at 6am. They also believe that I enjoy riding a bike for hours and hours a day, and all I can say about that is my fanny hurts and I am glad there will be no more biking on this trip! However, I just returned from the most amazing adventure and if the rest of my trip compares to what I have just done, I am in for quite a ride! I was greeted at the airport by my new friend and tour guide, Willy. He showed me my hotel for the night, gave me directions to the town center where I could get food and told me he would meet me in the morning. I was too tired to get lost (which is inevitable if I do not have Collette around to guide me...) so I ate some oatmeal cookies and passed out at 7:30pm, only to wake up every three or four hours expecting it to be morning time. I was bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning when Willy came to meet me. We traveled north and visited two ancient temple ruins. The first one was built in honor of a king's parents and had Buddha statues lining the inside of the wall surrounding the temple. All of the heads of Buddhas were missing and when I asked Willy why, the following conversation occurred: "People stole them and sold them for corrections." "Corrections? What does that mean?" "You know, when people correct things that they like." "Oh! Collections!" "Correct." This is when I knew Willy and I would get along. The Thai have a difficult time distinguishing between Ls and Rs and SHs and CHs, and this proves for some very funny miscommunication. As soon as Willy discovered that I was a teacher, whenever he would have a problem with his language he would come to me and say, "Teacher, is it the ship or the chip?" and then we would have a little English lesson. At the second temple (on the sight of one of Thailand's former capitals) we walked through the ruins and then went to the restored temple where I came upon the largest Buddha I could possibly imagine. Apparently, it is not the largest Buddha that the Thai can imagine. As we toured the temple, Willy told me many fascinating tales about Buddhism and explained some of the traditions and taboos. For example, you are never allowed to point your feet toward Buddha (and should never point them toward another person if possible) because your feet are the lowest part of your body and considered unholy. Likewise, you are never supposed to touch the head of a Buddhist because the head is the highest part of your body and the most holy. After a nice lunch and a stroll through the local market where I stumbled upon live turtles and eels in the meat market, we boarded the rice barge that we would travel on for the next two days. We were joined by a very sweet Austrian couple and off we went. (Side note: I have discovered that I do not know how to say Anne without a southern accent. When I introduced myself to the Austrians, they said "Ian?" "A-yun?" "How do you spell it?" Only after I spelled my name did they understand...) Finally, we embarked on our adventure. We immediately ran into a problem when the barge would not go under the first bridge because the water was too high. No problem--we'll start our adventure here! We got off the barge with bikes and rode to the nearby elephant grounds. Yes, I said elephant. I fed elephants and baby elephants and one of them gave me a leaf cut (the equivalent of a paper cut) because he snatched the food out of my hand so quickly. I also saw a five day old baby elephant and it took all my will power (and the knowledge that mamaphant would stomp me) to not run over and caress the tiny baby. Next, we biked to a mango grove where each mango was wrapped individually in its own bag so that worms would not get them. Willy plucked a million herbs from the ground and made us sniff them and guess what they were. They would all be used for our supper that night. After our herb lesson, we reboarded the barge and set sail for our slumber destination. Alex (another crew member that I formed a little crush on after he wove a jasmine flower into my hair) gave me some fruit with the common fruit dipping supplement: a combination of sugar, salt and a little chili powder. I had no idea how much fruit I have been missing out on! Have you ever had dragon fruit? We supped and then Willy explained that we would be anchoring in a very small and quiet village for the evening. When we arrived at the village, there was a temple festival going on! Somewhat like the local fair that comes to town, each village has a temple fair one night a year and we happened upon the village on that one night. The bass was bumping and there were neon lights and games and goods for sale. Highlights: 1. I sampled dry, squashed squid. Not as bad as I expected. 2. There was a barbie-like doll for sale called "Benign Girl" 3. There was a ride for the children that was something like a mix between a carousel and one of those big flying swing things. The ride was propelled by a small fan on the top. 4. There was a game where you tried to catch a fish in the water with a net made of a piece of paper--impossible. After exploring the fair, we got back on the boat, drank a few beers and I passed out around 9pm. The next morning we were woken up at 6am in order to give alms to the monks that had so delightfully entertained us the night before. We stood on the side of the road with the other villagers waiting for the monks to approach so that we could give them the food that had been prepared for them. Six monks came and stood before us, we took off our shoes, stepped forward and I went down the line and scooped rice into each monks' pot. After we had each presented some food, we knelt (feet facing away) in front of the monks and they chanted a prayer for us. Monks only eat the food that is presented to them and they are not allowed to eat after noon. We returned to the barge for our own breakfast and then set off for our morning bike adventure. The town we had stayed in was known for its sword makers back in the day and now they have switched from sword making to kitchen utensils. (Willy gets the words chicken and kitchen mixed up, which has also provided many entertaining miscommunication) We went into the shops where the men were forging the utensils and I saw flat spoons and axes. We rode rode rode and then stopped at a place where they were making coconut milk. There was an entire room full of coconuts and one person would remove the skin, the next would feed the coconut meat through a grinder and then the ground coconut would be pressed (like olive oil) and the milk would be all that was left. Mmmm! After this, we biked to a school in the next village and had the fortune to arrive just as the students were changing classes. We made our way to the English classroom and Willy asked the teacher if we could help teach the lesson. The teacher separated the students into three groups and said "teach." I somehow got stuck with all the boys (these are upper middled school kids) who had absolutely no interest in learning to speak English. Nor could they speak any English. I tried to start with the normal conversational type things: "Hello" they say "Hello" I say "how are you" they say "how are you" I say "now you say I am fine" they say "now you say I am fine" etc. This was obviously not working. I grabbed a map and showed them where I was from and how far I had traveled, they yawned. I grabbed a book of verbs and acted out each verb as I had them repeat after me. I got a few laughs with this one--they loved my fake hiccup. Finally, the teacher suggested we go over parts of the body. I pointed to parts of the body, they looked at me with empty eyes. I wrote the words down, had them spell them to me (they at least know their letters), made them guess what part of the body it was, then had them repeat after me and point to said body part. This went on for a while and was a little amusing to the kids but quickly became boring. Finally I had the brilliant idea to make the kids stand up and I taught them the "head and shoulders, knees and toes" song. They loved this and the teacher loved it and I ended up teaching the entire class and finally felt as though I had made a minor break-through. The teacher thanked me afterwards and asked me to teach her the song as well. After a relatively successful teaching session, we boarded the barge at the next pier. A quick lunch and then we would travel down river to another temple. On the way, Alex asked if anyone wanted to take over the captains position and the Austrians were quick to decline--just as quick as I was to accept. Captain Sparrow stepped aside and I was given the reigns to the barge and I guided us between tugboats and coal ships for a good 40 minutes with no help. Captain Sparrow joked that he would have to step down and Willy joked that he was not yet married--neither would have said such a thing if they knew of my sense of direction... Had they let me guide the boat much longer, I would have ended up back in North Carolina! We got off in another small village and had a rather uneventful, but very scenic, ride to the next pier. Right before we boarded the boat, we stopped at a shop where a man makes traditional headgear for Thai dancing. As we looked around the shop, Willy placed one of the pieces on my head. The crafter immediately went to the back room and brought back traditional clothes. Before I knew it, I was decked out in full traditional Thai dance costume. This made up for having to miss Halloween. Finally, we got back on the chip, had a lovely dinner and I went to bed immediately because my sweet baby brother passed along his nasty cold right before I left... I had a rough night's sleep due to my inability to breathe and my concern for keeping the Austrians up (we all slept in a bunk below deck). I finally got out of bed at 7am this morning and took a cold shower and went up for breakfast. Today we started biking at 8:30 and visited a temple in the middle of a rice field. We had to bike along a winding dirt road, through large puddles where the road had worn away, to the temple that had a large Buddha that was being protected by his many headed cobra (we also saw a dead cobra in the road!) and there was a giant white elephant that served as a bell tower. Think Trojan Horse, but white and an elephant. I (obviously) climbed inside of it and went up to the bell to check out the view. Next we biked over to a rice field where a man was plowing an empty field to prepare for next year's harvest. I made friends with his dogs and got some wonderful photographs of him working. We biked on, went to a few more temples and markets and then boarded the barge for our last meal. Sadly, we had to barge (what do you do with a boat if you don't sail it?) back to Bangkok and my health rapidly declined. I napped on deck after drinking copious amounts of tea and Willy and Alex kept making jokes about me crying because it was our last day because I was sniffing so much. Now I am back in Bangkok and I meet up with the folks that I will travel to Laos with tomorrow after Willy gives me a tour of the city. They actually arrived this evening and I waited in my room for hours to meet them until I was too hungry to wait any longer. I went downstairs and asked the lady at the hotel if they had arrived and she looked horrified and said she had forgotten to tell them that I was waiting and they had already gone out for supper. I accidentally got mad at the lady because I was starving and sick and tired and didn't want to have to eat alone/get lost on the streets of Bangkok. The lady was so sweet and understanding, she asked me what I wanted, hailed a tuk-tuk (think Taxi/tricycle/golf cart) and took me to her favorite pad thai joint. I apologized profusely for being cranky and she apologized profusely for forgetting to let them know I was at the hotel and then we had a lovely conversation about traveling. We walked back to the hotel together and she pointed out some of the sights along the way and maternally grabbed my arm each time we crossed the street. Now I will go to bed and hope that I can breathe in the morning. Tomorrow I will try to upload some photographs if I can figure it out.

(the space bar on this computer is only the size of two keys)

PS I forgot to mention the trees full of giant fox-faced bats that we saw today. I want to ride one.

South Pacific Itinerary (Nov. 24-Jan. 8)

November 24 - Arrive in Adelaide, Australia, meet up with Claudia!!!
November 25 - visit Wadlata Outback Centre, camel ride exploring Flinders Ranges
November 26 - hike in Wilpena Pound, gorge hike through Brachina and Bunyeroo Gorges
November 27 - hike through Gammon Ranges National Park, Italawi Gorge, Balcanoona Ranges Head Quarters and Wetootla Gorge, ridge top hike to Sillers Lookout, evening observatory tour
November 28-December 2 - camp at Iga Warta and work with native Aborigines
December 2 - return to Adelaide
December 3 - travel to Auckland, New Zealand
December 4 - visit Maugakiekie, learn about the native Maori, bush walk, beach walk
December 5 - repel into underground caves, four hour black water rafting trip inside cave lit by glow worms, stay in a hotel that is a replica of a hobbit home!
December 6 - walk through Wai-O-Tapa (hotsprings with bubbling mud and geysers), visit Te Puia, a Maori cultural center and another geyser, participate in traditional evening rituals performed by Maori, evening bush walk
December 7 - fly to Dunedin on the south island
December 8 - cruise up Dunedin Harbor to Taiaroa head, scenic Otago Peninsula hike, tour of Royal Albatross Colony and Yellow Eyed Penguin Reserve
December 9 - travel to Catlins, local exploration of Papa Towa, evening meal and slideshow on yellow eyed penguin conservation
December 10-15 - Conservation project on yellow eyed penguin reserve
December 15 - arrive in Te Anau
December 16 - overnight cruise in Deep Cove
December 17 - travel to Queenstown
December 18 - explore Queenstown
December 19 - travel to Makarora, afternoon or evening bushwalk
December 20 - explore Siberia Valley, Mt Aspiring National Park and Wilken Valley
December 21 - travel to Fox Glacier
December 22 - scenic rain forest hike, ice trek with crampons
December 23 - travel to Christchurch
December 24 - travel to Nadi, Fiji, shell welcome
December 25-28 merry Christmas! down time, possible day trips
December 28 - travel to
December 29-January 2: volunteer/teach English at Fiji orphanage
January 2: fly to Hawaii
January 2-8: visit cousins Albiona and Noel in Hawaii
January 8: return home!

Thailand/Laos Itinerary (Oct. 29-Nov.23)

October 29 - Leave USA
October 30 - Arrive Bangkok, Thailand
November 1-3 - Three day cruise on traditional rice barge stopping in small fishing villages along the way
November 3 - Arrive in Ayudhaya, ruins of Thailand's formal capitol
November 4 - Fly to Luang Prabang, Laos and meet up with journalist to tour city
November 4-7 - tour Luang Prabang
November 7-9 - Volunteer at SOS School of Luang Prabang
November 9 - Participate in morning collection of alms with local monks and visit Pak Ou Caves where there are thousands of statues of Buddha
November 10-12 - Volunteer at Minority School of Oudomxay
November 12 - Return to Bangkok, Thailand, split up with travel companions
November 13-18 - 5 day home stay on Andaman Island in a village affected by the tsunami, participate in a batik workshop run by widows of tsunami victims
November 18-20 - three day scuba diving trip, nine dives in the Similan Islands Marine National Park
November 20 - Return to Khao Lak
November 21-23 - Volunteer at Khao Lak tsunami ophanage
November 23 - Depart for Australia

in the mi-cro-phone!

Testing, testing, one, two, three. If you have come to this page on purpose then you are a friend and loved one who has been invited here to peek into the worlds that I will soon be exploring. This is officially my first 'blog' and I aim to entertain. I leave on October 29th, 2007. I return on January 8th, 2008. There's a lot of time in between for wonderful adventures.

My first stop is Laos to meet up with the man who has helped me plan my travels and a journalist from the Financial Times. We will tour together for a little over a week and then I will travel on to Thailand to explore by myself for a while. On November 24th, I will meet up with my baby sister in Adelaide, Australia. Claudia is studying in Townsville (northern Australia) for the semester and she and I will explore the outback together when she has completed her classes. Once we have had our fill of camel-back-riding and learned some gardening techniques from the Aborigines, we will travel to New Zealand and Fiji. On our way home we'll get to stop by our cousin, Albiona's house in Hawaii and visit with her and her sweet daughter, Noel!

We are very lucky women to have the chance to explore the world. Hopefully we will be able to not only learn about the countries and cultures that we visit, but also have the opportunity to give back to the cultures that welcome us. In my attempts to plan the perfect adventure, I stumbled upon the concept of 'voluntourism.' There are a few companies out there now who specialize in eco-tourism with a twist. Instead of simply supporting the environment, you help to improve it. New Zealand native and Hands Up Holiday director, Christopher Hills, has been incredibly helpful in planning this trip. Christopher's company is similar to that of a eco-travel agency in that it has trips all over the world that offer extensive environmentally friendly tours of whatever country you wish to visit; only, through Hands Up Holidays, you have the opportunity to volunteer in the country for roughly one third of the time you are there. I am hoping that this will give us a truer understanding of the cultures we are going to visit. I contacted Christopher a few months ago expressing interest in a trip to Australia and New Zealand and from the moment I contacted him, he has been unbelievably helpful in planning my dream exploration--right down to booking us a room in a Hobbit Home hotel in New Zealand and signing me up for a batik workshop run by tsunami victims' widows in Thailand.

I had the fortune of adding the Asia leg of the trip to my itinerary because Hands Up Holiday wants a patron to partake in their Laos trip with a journalist from the Financial Times (British newspaper). I have been asked to join the Laos trip with the director of the company, his wife and the journalist for a discount fee! After this trip, I would have had over a week before Claudia finished classes, so I decided Thailand would be a wonderful place to taste.

Wow, wow, wow. I can't believe I'm about to go on such an adventure! I hope to 'blog' whenever I have internet access, and hopefully will also be able to upload photographs--little morsels for you to suckle until we meet again... I've set this thing up so that Claudia can join in the banter when we meet up and/or she can keep us posted on what is going on in Australia, but no one will be forced to write.

I don't know how to end a blog.

Love always,
AM