To The Bat Cave!

MULU National Park
Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia
Sunday, October 3 2010

An early wake up is something we are more than accustomed to and I have to admit I was pretty pumped for this one. Today we were flying from MIri to Gunung Mulu (Mulu National Park) and spending the next 3 days surrounded by jungles and exploring some of the caves that were featured in the Planet Earth series—for those of you who didn’t know, Planet Earth was generally played on continuous loop in my sr. year college apartment and I may or may not have memorized some of the segments that Sigourney so wisely leads us through!

Anyway, we hopped on our tiny plane and made the 30 minute flight, complete with chocolate milk beverage service, over the jungle. It was an incredible view as we dipped in and out of the clouds and soared back and forth as though aping the paths of the muddy rivers below. A rickety shuttle van picked us up from the 1 roomed airport and, after the driver had to open the door from the inside (let’s just say it wasn’t new), we trekked a short distance to the park entrance. Despite the heat and humidity and the spotting of our first wild snake, I was completely overtaken by the sheer natural beauty of our surroundings. Picture Jurassic Park and that’s where we were staying: the dense trees, the canopy, the noises of creatures unseen. Yes, I was happy.

We immediately went to the headquarters and planned out our activities for the next few days: caves, caves, caves, jungle walks, canopy walks, swims, longboat rides and more caves! The 3 of us lugged our bags along the boardwalks which wove through the park and made our way to our beds; we opted for the cheaper dorm room which was a massive room lined with beds and lockers and came with our very own collection of critters that we were just going to have to learn to live with during our stay. The café at the park served a fairly simple menu at decent prices (considering there weren’t many options near us) and we chowed down on some salted fish, eggplant, morning glory and loads of rice before our first excursion.

Up first was a walk through the rain forest which brought us to Lang’s Cave and Deer Cave, the latter is a main feature of Planet Earth: Caves (told you I loved it.) Along the walk we got up close and personal with the incredible plant and insect life of the park including the world’s tallest flower species, plants with leaves the size of small countries, stick bugs, snakes and endless types of gorgeous butter- and dragonflies. Lang’s is a small, but long and narrow cave which is known for its impressive rock formations. Like a lot of the caves in the park, it was formed by a river back in the day that carved its way through. From here we headed to Deer Cave which, until you’ve seen it in real life, you cannot begin to fathom how immense it is.

As the world’s largest cave opening, Deer Cave literally swallows you up. Looking into its belly, you have to strain to make out the ant-like people trekking along walkways inside as beautiful cascades of water drip into pools and streams below. The beauty is almost overshadowed by the unappetizing stench of guano that wafts up from the depths. Peering straight up, what you initially thought was just a giant black rock formation on the ceiling is actually a colony of over 3 million wrinkle-lipped bats. Along with 12 additional bat species, these winged beasts provide an eerie soundtrack of whirs and shrieks as you hike through their literally endless mountains of droppings. Stepping off the path you find your foot submerged in a squishy sludge (gross I know), but that’s not the worst part: cave roaches and crabs call the guano home and skitter and scatter through the heaps feeding on the leftover nutrients. Yea, imagine being stuck in that!
After witnessing such formations as Adam and Eve’s showers and a spot called the Garden of Eden (a literal emerald paradise visible from the back cave opening) we climbed down to wait for the evening highlight of Deer Cave: the bat exodus. We sat with a view of the cave opening and just kind of waited…and waited…and waited. We’d heard that the bats don’t necessarily leave the cave every night to search for food and were about ready to call it quits when the first stream came into view. Twisting around like a freshly curled ribbon, the bats emerged one after one, million after million. It was actually breathtaking seeing a seemingly endless thread of bats all taking the same path and sticking in the same pattern; sometimes more than one strand would zoom out and together, the two groups would merge and interweave forming a DNA strand across the sky. There were so many bats that you could actually hear their wings flapping overhead as onlookers oohed and ahhed.

I was beyond happy that I’d gotten to witness such a natural feat and I think I smiled all the way back to dinner (well besides the time we got a little uneasy as we realized that there weren’t really lights along the forest walk when it gets dark!) We headed over the rope suspension bridge to a little restaurant outside the park and indulged in some noodles before heading back. Feeling a bit warm we headed into the information center for some air-conditioned and some learning about the park and it’s formation, etc. We decided to make ourselves comfortable in front of the tv and watched about every informational video about Mulu, bats, nature, etc. that you could imagine before the discs started skipping and we had to head to the room to get ready for bed… I gotta say it’s a bit frightening getting dive bombed by mammoth moths on the way to the bathroom and avoiding the sinister stare of a giant mantis while at the urinal. The dorms were a bit warm as they weren’t air conditioned, but once you were settled in bed and the fans picked up it was pretty easy to doze off to the live version of National Geographic’s Sounds of the Rainforest compilation cd.

Oil's Goodbye Video

As I mentioned in a previous entry T. Oil made us an amazing video featuring our director, our students and the other teachers at Satit Bangna. It's a bit long, but it really gives you a look at the incredible people I spent the last year with. Thanks again Oil! Enjoy!!

Away We Go!

BKK-->Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)-->Miri (Malaysian BORNEO!)
Oct 2, 2010

The morning found Josie, Emily and I a bit tired and groggy. Not only had we just been uprooted from our homes for the past year, but we'd just had quite a late night. We met up with our friends Jade, Pok, Panda, Tony, Alex, Sam and company and went for some dinner at a cool outdoor restaurant at the Suwanlua Night Bazaar. It was really fun to listen to some live music and unwind after all the goodbyes. After some delicious Thai food we made our way to BarBar where we watched Panda do what he does best, DJ. Next stop was our favorite club, Narz for some more tunes and we found ourselves dancing our way to Wong's which was a new place for all of us. It was a small little hole in the wall that you could easily walk right past, but when you walked in (and your eyes adjusted to the smoke) you found yourself in a seemingly war-era pub with photos and paraphanalia covering the walls and surrounded by a crowd of eclectic people who may or may not have come from said era as well!

Anyway we got ourselves in a cab and made our way to the airport to begin our journey to Borneo. You're thinking...Borneo?! What? Where? Why? Don't worry we were thinking the same thing. It's amazing how a cheap flight promotion can take you to a jungle island in middle of nowhere. I have to admit though I was pretty excited--gotta take advantage of the opportunities as they arise! We arrived to KL safe and sound and met up with our friends Josh and Neil who were teachers with some of our friends in NE Thailand and who were also heading on a Bornean journey. It was nice to have some more recognizable faces to hang out with as we waited for our next flight.

After a short flight delay we ended up in Miri in the Sarawak province of Borneo which, even though is a part of Malaysia, we still had to go through customs at. It's okay though--it just means more stamps for us! We were able to find some cabs to the city center and found some beds at Minda Guesthouse. The city of Miri was definitely more built up than I had expected, which wasn't much as I'd envisioned Borneo as only containing jungle. Famished, we made our way to get some street food: greasy, saucy sandwiches hot off the grill. We gorged ourselves and then headed to bed for Emily, Josie and I had a morning flight to the part of the trip I was most excited for: Mulu National Park. Yes, I think we were going to like Borneo.

Full Circle

Last week at Satit Bagna
Sept. 27- Oct. 1

It's amazing to me that a year can seem so long yet so short at the same time. It's even more amazing to me that life has a way of coming full circle. We had one last hurrah with seemingly EVERYONE we knew in Thailand at our favorite island, Koh Samet. We said goodbye to Tom, our British friend in Bangphli. Then it was time for all of our last sleepover in Noble Park (Tom and Marc's house in Bangphli where we liked to frequent due to it's comfortable beds and a/c!) Then it was time to say bye to Marc, who was my #1 partner in crime and like a brother in the midst of the crazy Thai world.

It's hard to say goodbye, but I've come to find this year that a circle doesn't mean a definitive close to a chapter of life, but rather the completion of a link in an ongoing chain. I know that I will be able to relive these experiences forever and come across some person, situation, time when I can draw up on them. So yea, it is the end of an era at Satit, but not really an end. After having a couple months to reflect and think about all that's happened I still can't quite wrap my head around it all! I did find though, in my final days at school, that I think I, along with Josie, Emily and the others, made a lasting impression on those we spent so much time with at and around Satit Bangna. I know too, that everyone and everything about the past year had the same impact on me: enter the last week of school.

The last week was one of ups and downs and the crazy rigamarole of the 'Tit. Tests were scored, grades were entered and the moments came when I had to finally tell my kids that I wasn't going to be T. Nathan next semester. I never thought it'd be so hard to say goodbye to all the little ones, especially after having a few instances during the year when I thought they were going to drive me to absolute insanity. Seeing the confused looks on 25 first graders, who don't quite understand that the foreign teachers leave, brought a bit of a smile to my face. However, when I was able to tell them in Thai that "T. Natan mai glaap ma bii na laa mai dai bpen ajarn kuhn ik tee" [T. Nathan isn't coming back next year and isn't going to be your teacher again] I found myself getting choked up as their confusion turned to big doe eyes, some cries of "NO Teacha!" and then a massive bum rush as they tackled me to the floor with hugs and one final poke in the belly (and other places they think are funny, yet I still tell them are inappropriate!) Let's just say it got harder and harder with every class as the kids got progressively better at English and it became easier and easier for them to understand what I was saying.

I gotta say it felt a bit like we were abandoning them. All the times we were frustrated and felt like we weren't getting through were wiped away as we all saw how much everyone was going to miss us. It was even difficult to say goodbye to the other teachers who we'd gotten to know more and more as time went on. I can't even describe how kind and sincere they were when saying their goodbyes through broken Thainglsh. We've come to learn that Thais aren't overly expressive in their emotions when it comes to sad things as demonstrated by many-a-crying student being patted on the back and laughed at by the adults. Tough skin, I say :) So you can understand how much it meant as we walked into say goodbye to T. Oil and she started crying. It's strange how goodbyes do that to people--we knew we would see each other again and stay in touch (with pretty much everybody) yet I guess it's the finality of it all. Oil made us the most amazing video in which she went around the school and got all of our classes to say "Goodbye Teacher, we will miss you, we love you!" and had clips of various teachers sending personal messages to us. Talk about an incredible way to go out.

When we weren't at school we were back home trying to pack up our lives into a few suitcases and get everything cleaned. On the 30th, Dr. Absorn took us and the other foreign teachers to the Pizza Company at Big C for a farewell dinner. It seemed so fitting as that's the place we'd had our welcome dinner a year prior. Once nervous and shy we were now causing a scene with all our laughing and the entertainment provided by T. Beth's toddler daughter, Crystal (the most expressive small person you have ever met in your life--oh and she can speak 3 languages.) After dinner T. Golf and T. Num met us at Soi 18 for a farewell 'chon gao' [cheers!] or two just like our first weekend in Bang Phli. Another circle. It was so fun being able to just hang out and talk and laugh and share stories with our friends on the floor of Josie's bedroom. Yes floor, Num and Golf laughed at us when we asked if they wanted to sit on the beds; what can I say, we're Thai now!

Oct. 1st found us saying our final farewells to our rooms and to P. Pen who was so sad to see us go. What a wonderful woman who, as our second mom, helped us adjust and adapt throughout the year. We waited for an hour for the school wan to come pick us up at Soi 18 (very typical :) ) and man was the driver surprised when he saw the mountain of luggage, etc. we had piled up to load. We all couldn't help laughing as every square inch was filled and we pulled up to school for a final lunch and goodbye. I think it was probably hardest saying bye to my P6 boys, who I'd struggled with at the beginning of 1st semester and who I ended up developing an incredible relationship with. After about 100 pictures with them and peeling Mon, Palm, Beam, Kie and Pang Pond off my sides and after another 1,000,000,000 pictures, hugs, smiles, tears, goodbyes and thank yous we finally made our way to a different Soi 18...my new home in Bangkok. I'm so lucky. In the past year I've been all over Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Nepal and Malaysia, seen some world wonders and had some lifechanging experiences, but I know I can always call a small, sleepy village named Raimon Park in Bangphli, Thailand...HOME.

My 2nd Thai Family (part 2)

Ratchaburi
Sept. 18, 2010

Our Thai parents picked us up in the morning and brought us back to the house for, yes you guessed it, more food! After another successful homecooked breakfast (including banana flower, fish, morning glory, etc.) P. Jop-Pa- put me, Josie, Oil and Emily into one of the family cars and drove us to the Ratchaburi morning market. This market is more geared toward tourists, so it doesn't have as great of stuff to look at, but it's still fun to walk around the canals and see what treasures you can dig up; plus we got to see a giant boa and an elephant. Thinking we were going to go straight home we were taken to another floating market that the local government is trying to promote as a destination to see. Okay now home? Mai Chai (nope!)

Pa, being the stereotypical proud father, brought us across the countryside to his friend's house. He has a real passion for traditional Thai architecture and was really excited to show us this home that was being built by hand. In the driveway we spotted a turtle so, instead of driving around it, Pa stopped to pick it up and put on the floor in front of me. Apparently it's good luck to bring turtles back to the water, so we watched as Oil brought the little guy to the canal and release him to the wild. Well, it turned out that this turtle might not be found in the canals as we watched it sink out of sight. Oops! Hopefully he was a fast learner and was able to swim up to the surface later...

The house really was beautiful. It was crafted out of a reddish wood and was massive and open and overlooked the canal. Pa's friend was so excited to have us there and we were told we, being white and all, brought good luck to her and her house. Well, I guess that was my good deed for the day :) After being invited to stay there anytime we wanted (so nice) we finally headed back home. Yes, we did eat again and no, it wasn't time to head back to Bang Phli, because it was time for the Siam Culture Park! On the way we had to make a pit stop to see the vineyard Pa's friend owns. It was pretty impressive to see the workers balancing on wooden planks stretched over the irrigation ditches picking endless amounts of grapes--plus it's always priceless to see P. Jop's smile when he gets to show off Ratchaburi.

The Culture Park turned out to be a great time. We originally thought it was going to just be a wax museum (ooh ahh) but we were pleasantly surprised to see it had a lot more to offer. The wax figures were shockingly real and we had fun posing with the likes of Mao, Ho Chi Minh AND Mother Theresa, because why wouldn't she be included in a museum dedicated to famous Thais and other famous Asians? A path meandered through the grounds of the park which included some beautiful foliage, a waterfall and various reproductions of architecture over the centuries (replicas of family housing styles from regions across the country as well as those of regional monk's quarters.)

A definite highlight was a walk through a fake cave with various displays depicting the final stages of the human life of the first Buddha. Thankfully we had Dr. Absorn there to explain to us what each scene meant or we would have been very confused seeing a crazy old man with slave children who later got a lot of money and then proceeded to eat so much food his stomach burst open spewing his guts everywhere. In reality the old man asked human Buddha for his 2 children to help him. Buddha said yes as an act of merit. Then the old man turned them into slaves until human Buddha's dad bought them back from him and being greedy, the old man made himself a feast and eating so much burst open. Thinking about it I guess it was kind of how it looked to the untrained eye.

We had one last family dinner, which P. Jao had worked all day to make, in the gazebo which was AMAZING! Next came a family photo shoot complete with individual, partner and group shots. All of us just laughed and rolled our eyes as new cameras kept appearing and our cheeks were starting to shake from smiling so much. The time for goodbyes had come and we couldn't express enough how happy and lucky we were to have had met all of them. They couldn't stop saying how much they loved having us and that ANY time we were in Thailand we were required to visit them as we were family now. Love. 1,230,980,328 hugs, wais and 'sawatdee's later we made our way back to BKK and our last couple weeks of teaching. What a year.

My 2nd Thai Family (part 1)

Ratchaburi, Thailand (Part 1)

September 18

Emily, Josie and I were lucky enough to get to go back to Dr. Absorn's sister's house in Ratchaburi. It seemed so perfect that our first weekend at Satit Bagna was spent there and now so was our last. We hopped in the wan nice and early and were brought to a bus which took us to the Sai Tai Mai bus station which then put us on another bus to Ratchaburi--never a dull trip in Thailand! We were greeted by the ever smiling P. Jao (Dr. A's brother-in-law's sister who also lives at the house) who brought us to a local restaurant for lunch. As the feast was brought out to us we all smiled at each other remembering how much we got fed last time we were there.

4 deep (the 3 of us and Oil) in the backseat we made our way to the house which, upon arrival, seemed so familiar and home-like. We were greeted by the most genuine toothless smile you could imagine as P. Jop's (Dr. A's brother-in-law) mother recognized us instantly. Last time we were in Ratchaburi we were basically unable to communicate verbally with her as our Thai was zilch; not this time though! Even though we had just eaten we were presented with endless snacks which we nibbled on in the gazebo that P. Jop so proudly built by the family pond. We laid out some pillows and blankets and the four of us spent the afternoon chatting, snoozing and reminiscing about everything that had happened over the past year.

After many bouts of laughter we were greeted by P. Jop who corraled us into his pick up truck (I got the honorary front seat) and we made our way to our favorite market in Thailand: Ampawa Floating Market. First, though, we stopped at a couple small factories where they make hand-painted Chinese ceramics. We couldn't believe house detailed and precise it was as we stared at the artists in awe. Instead of being overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds like last time, we dove right into bargaining and sampling and joking with the vendors at the market. I think we all walked away with some souveniers and even more food in our stomachs; don't worry though, we were fed once again upon our return to the house :) I can't describe how gracious and welcoming these hosts are and how quickly they adopted us foreign strangers as part of the family.

Wanting us to have an 'authentic' Thai experience, Emily, Josie and I were booked into a homestay nearby. We weren't really sure what was more authentic than the experience we were given by staying at their house, but we smiled and went along with it. It turned out to be a standard Thai production which made it worth every second. So, we arrived to this homestay which actually turned out to be more of a motel and were told to wait outside while the family went in to inspect the room. We weren't really sure what was going on but there was a lot of discussing and a lot of pounding going on inside. After about 20 minutes of this, with numerous workers going in and out of the room we were asked to come in. It turned out the pounding was P. Jop making sure the a/c worked as well as making sure the missing ceiling tile exposing the tin roof above wouldn't pose a potential threat for a burglar could climb through in the middle of the night. At this point there were 11 people in the room and the 3 of us were in hysterics over the whole situation. It was just like having parents there and from that moment on I started calling P. Jop, 'Pa'--which he thinks is hilarious!

No traditional night would be complete without us finding the only English-speaking channel on the tv and having it be some large African American lady ranting and raving as her friends sat around a table shouting 'Amen' and 'I feel ya sista!' Oh wait, I mean it wouldn't be complete without screams erupting from the bathroom as the girls discovered the giant spider on the wall. Now we could sleep soundly.

Thailand Chapter 2: Life in the Big City

So I think I deserve the award for world's least active blogger. My apologies, but these last 2 months have been an utter whirlwind and everytime I sit down to write I find something else pops up! I've got a lot of catching up to do with this and hopefully I'll be able to find the time in the upcoming weeks to fill you all in on everything from the final days of my 2 month break to recent excursions to the end of school to borneo and back. I'm doing well though--happy and healthy--and in a completely different place than I was over a year ago when I first touched down in Thailand. Over a year. I can't believe it.

So for those of you who didn't know, I made the decision to extend my time over here and am currently in my 4th week of work at my new job. I'm currently working for the world's largest offshore financial consultancy called deVere Group. It's a British company and I'm finding the work to be challenging and good, although I can tell it's not my dream job. I guess I wasn't expecting it to be though and I'm okay with that. It's a stepping stone, a way to gain some great corporate experience while allowing me to further explore the Thai culture and this part of the world. My position is titled Business Consultant and my duties consist of marketing/sales within the company. Day to day I find myself on the phone talking to existing and potential clients, developing relationships, researching products, coordinating, etc. It was a bit unnerving to talk to so many people I didn't know on the phone at first, but I've pretty much gotten over that and find it to be pretty fun. Somedays you speak to a potential client who is livid at being called and doesn't want anything to do with me (even though his name was referred by another client we work with), but I'm finding these to be the best calls as I have nothing to lose and kind of get to play around. Anything to get through the day right?

I work at the Exchange Tower in downtown Bangkok (on the 20th floor with a window seat!) which is 2 BTS (sky train) stops away from where I live. I'm living on my own in a 2br apartment with a pool and gym. I really like my place (1 br was converted into a kitchen, so my main living space is roomier than some of the other units in the towers.) It's perfect for me and I'm happy with my choice. Never thought I'd have to go apartment shopping in BKK! The area I live in is called Thong Lor and is a really nice area with tons of shops and restaurants (and some really really nice cars--I have a Mercedes dealer at the end of my soi) and always something going on. I live alone, but don't worry I'm not actually alone. 3 of my friends (2 British girls--Alex and Kate-- and 1 Thai guy--Pok) live in the same building as I do and have made my transition much easier. We have a lot of fun and make an effort to do things together like cooking dinner one night a week or just hanging out. Have plans to go to the pool and actually use the gym once my routine is set.

I'm finding city life to be exciting and I'm having fun getting to know BKK more. I do, however, find myself missing teaching and the school, but am so lucky that I had the experiences I did and will always have those memories. I think I made the right decision changing 'careers' in that I'm getting to experience something wholly different and, I hope, beneficial for the resume in future endeavors! I am going to start tutoring in my old village on Saturdays, though, so it will be nice to be back in a familiar place and keep in touch with everyone in that neck of the woods! Not sure about the exact details, but I think I'm going to be teaching English conversation classes to younger kids at a learning center that some teachers from my school just opened up. Can't wait! I've been in touch with some of the teachers and students from Satit Bangna and am really looking forward to seeing them all again--what a great opportunity to have such amazing contacts over here!

Well, lunch break is up at work and I've got to get back to it, but I wanted to get this first entry off and running to try to reactivate my literary juices! I have so much more to say, but you will all just have to wait until I get there (hopefully it won't be another 2 months!)

Sabai Dee Pii Mai (Happy New Year!)

Luang Prabang, Laos

April 15, 2010

Happy New Year from Laos. In the middle of April. Sounds strange right? Actually (after a good night's sleep and some breakfast) it turned out to be one of the greatest/coolest days in SE Asia! We woke up refreshed and ready to take on the water fight from the ground up. We decided to get a feel for the city and made the wet and perilous journey up and down the main street taking in the temples set against a backdrop of beautiful scenery. After our touristy morning we decided it was time to get in on the action and started throwing our own water whilst dodging streams erupting from water guns from hidden snipers as pick up trucks overflowing with people swamped us with buckets from above. Some of the water was colored so by the end of the day were looked like tye dyed powdered donuts (as a favorite past time of the water fight is throwing baby powder or flour on participants.)

We had met some Laos kids our age earlier in the morning and ended up heading to their house and spent the whole day and most of the night hanging out with them. It was pretty hilarious trying to communicate with everyone as we spoke broken English and Thai to them, while they spoke Lao (which is close to Thai.) It was so much fun as Tuay, Putan, Meow. Neung and all of their friends took us under their wing and welcomed us to celebrate with them. As the sun was going down over the day's celebration we decided to take a dip in the Nong Khai river which sounds more romantic than it actually was (it had a pretty rank smell once you were in the water.) As we were drying off we were invited to have some beers with these 2 men in a makeshift lean-to who looked like they may have been there since the rocks on the side of the river were formed--Talk about language barrier. Yet, as I'm finding from my time in this strangely wonderful side of the world, laughter has the ability to crack any sort of miscommunication.

After a swim against the river current we were pretty beat and made our way back to the hotel for a shower and some much needed down time. A late dinner was eaten in a subdued manner as we could barely keep our eyes open..well that is until I let out an unintentional bel chthat may have shaken the entire country. Josie and Emily looked a bit mortified until the 3 of us burst into uncontrollable laughter over the whole situation. Yea, I think it was definitely time for bed after that :) An overall successful second New Year's celebration for 2010!

The longest, hottest, dustiest AND wettest day EVER: Part II

Muang Khoa to Odomxay to Luang Prabang, All over Laos
April 14, 2010

We balanced our way across the river and started to trek to the bus station for our next leg: Muang Khoa to Odomxay. Yet another bump in our road: it was the first day of Laos New Year, Pii Mai, and the ATMs were shut down. We had spent all of our extra money on the visas such and were penniless. Another aspect of Pii Mai, that is not so fun when you are trying to figure out how you will not remain stuck in a small Lao village, is that the entire basis of the holiday is a nationwide water fight. Literally everyone in the country drops everything for 3 days and engages in water wars to combat the heat and celebrate the new year. Let's just say having little kids dump water on you and squirt you with squirt guns and throw water balloons at you when you're carrying a huge backpack and have just experienced the worst bus ride of your life is not as fun as it sounds :)

We were able to hitch a ride to the bus station in the back of a pick up truck (as it was farther away than we thought) and approached the bus ticket guy. Basically there was 1 bus at the station, which reminded me of some abandoned building in a hippie commune with it's setting in the middle of a forest and plants crawling through it's broken windows. Anyway we went up to the man and tried to explain (in broken English and Thai--Lao is very similar to Thai) that we only had enough money for 2 of the 4 of us, but we were willing to give it to him now as a down payment and we would pay the driver as soon as we go to an ATM, etc., etc. Before we could even begin pleading with him he got this huge smile on his face and just goes "No Problem!" He said he would tell the driver to stop at an ATM and told us to keep the money we did have and go get some food from the hut next door. We all felt like crying. This is definitely something that wouldn't happen anywhere else in the world and it put a whole new spin on the day. We, learning from experience, put some shirts on seats on the bus to save our spots and went next door for some much needed sustenance (we hadn't eaten since 5 am and it was now about 10-12 hours later.)

Our spot saving technique worked as the bus ended up being overpacked again (go figure.) This time it was actually a bus and people were sitting on small plastic stools in the middle of the aisles. Other than that the bus ride to Odom was pretty uneventful (YES!), besides the occasional soaked passenger (as it was Pii Mai there were people literally sitting hidden on the sides of the roads and driving by in cars who would chuck water balloons or spray any passing vehicle and if you had a window open you were in for a wet ride!) Everything went as planned: the driver got us there safely, albeit a bit slowly, he brought us to an ATM and we paid him and we got to the bus station. We realized that this trip from Hanoi to Luang Prabang had taken a lot longer than previously thought and rather than prolong it with an overnight in Odom we decided to suck it up and take another bus to Luang Prabang right away.

Everything was going smoothly; we were on a normal bus that wasn't overly crowded, we had air conditioning, we had money in our wallets and food in our stomachs. Then, in the darkness we see another bus on the side of the road and stop--it turns out it had broken down and all these people were stranded. So, after much conversation it was apparently decided that we would take on this slue of passengers who definitely gave off more of a local vibe (i.e. one man brought on a bamboo cage with animals inside while another one walked on with a dog.) We finally arrived in Luang Prabang and had to wake up a sleeping tuk tuk driver to take us into the center of town to an area to go where the guidebook said the most guesthouses were.

It was after 1 am on the first day of the biggest holiday of the year and we were in the town most well-known for it's celebration. Yes, you guessed if folks: we were like 4 Mary and Josephs and there was NO room at the inn. We literally walked around the entire city for over an hour lugging around our lives on our backs. Everyone was so helpful that we met, directing us here and there and telling us to try this and that guesthouse. The problem arose in that there is a nationwide curfew in Laos that means almost everything was shut down by the time we got there and the workers we usually did find were asleep at the front desk or in the lobby and upon waking up informed us that they were all booked. Finally, FINALLY we found a place that would take all 4 of us--it was a bit pricier than our budget was planning on, but at this point in time we had no more energy to keep searching. It had almost been 48 solid hours since we had woken up to leave Hanoi and almost 24 hours since we were leaving the border town earlier that day; in that time we had literally done and experienced it all. And thus concludes the longest, hottest, dustiest day EVER (and then some.) It was time to lay down our heads on the proverbial bed of straw in the barn and deal with whatever came next in the morning.

The longest, hottest, dustiest day EVER: Part I

Crossing the border into Laos (Dien Bien Phu ---> Muang Khoa)

April 14

We should have paid attention to the omens from the previous day and just turned back; not us though, we just had to keep going :) We got to bus station a little early (thankfully) and got some of the last real seats on the bus-actually a large minivan. Just our luck though that the van (with a capacity of 15 people) had extra seats that flipped down in the aisles so I got to ride shoulder to shoulder with a huge Dutch guy. As we're going along the misty road we stop to pick up a bunch of local hill tribe people: picture full on garb and bags upon bags upon bags upon bags of goods and wares that were all piled on top and inside the bus. You couldn't help but smile, but then you realized how tired you were and how loud they talked and laughed at 5am!

We made it to the Vietnam checkpoint with no trouble and did all the necessary stamping and whatnot. We walked through and were met by our van to continue the trek to the Laos border check. As we were scaling a dusty dirt road up the side of a mountain we stopped. The drivers told everyone to get out (well we inferred that's what they said as all the locals made their way.) Unsure as to what was going on, we grabbed our carry-on bags and followed suit--turning around was a worrying sight as our van was parked with our backpacks on top. In the end we found out that we had to stop because they were doing construction on the dirt road (we assumed they were putting in some effort to make it travelworthy for those who decided it was a better idea to make the land passage.) So here we were, vagabonds roaming the mountains of Laos and literally walking across the border.

The Lao border was a bit slow in processing information, which didn't matter because we had to wait a couple hours anyhow until the construction guys took a break. It also didn't help that they wanted US $ to pay for the visa and if you used any other form of currency they gave you a horrible exchange rate. Somehow we, the 4 Americans, had the least amount of American currency between us. Finally our van pulled over the mountain (with our bags!) and we began the treacherous journey to Muang Khoa. What would have taken a couple hours on a paved road took over 5 as we meandered our way through jungles, small villages, and every other sort of terrain you could imagine. It was an unbelievably beautiful trek that was tarnished by the conditions on the van.

Here we were on an overcrowded bus (sitting 5 and even 6 across a normally 4 person span) without air conditioning. To make matters more uncomfortable for about 93% of the time we were NOT able to have the windows open. As it was dry season the dust from the gravel/dirt roads was unbelievable and would envelop the bus the second we went faster than a slow crawl. We would sit and pray for some reason to slow down (usually another car that needed to pass, a shallow river that we needed to ford, small children running through the streets) so we could have some form of relief from the eternal, suffocating sauna. Emily literally sat with her fingers on the window and would throw it open at the first sign of dust dissipation. Despite the window closing efforts, dust had infiltrated to the point that everyone on the van was breathing through a scarf, t-shirt, mask, etc. to avoid coughing up a lung from over inhalation. Imagine being put in an oven and then having your face dipped in a pile of sand and told to breathe--for 5 hours. Misery loves company and we had plenty of it!

Finally...FINALLY we reached Muang Khoa. Well, sort of. We were dropped off on a road on one side of a river and Muang Khoa was on the other side of the river-and there was no bridge; therefore, we had to pay a small, shallow, dugout boat to motor us across. We were all quite the sight when we deboarded. We were all Covered in dust to the point that one man looked like he was made of clay and the rest of us looked like we had aged about 70 years with dull, graying hair and caked on dirt that accentuated our wrinkles. It was pretty hysterical and nice to have a good laugh after our experience!

Dien Bien Phu--more like Dien Bien Brothel

Hanoi --> Dien Bien Phu, NW Vietnam (border with Laos)
April 13, 2010

We made the executive decision to traverse the land border crossing between Vietnam and Laos rather than fly as the flights were very expensive and, although the land crossing is pretty recent and much less frequented, we had read posts and blogs/articles stating that it was in fact legitimate and doable in a day. That being said after the experiences we faced over the 13th and 14th of April (notice 2 days) I would strongly encourage anyone to front the money and fly (unless you're looking for some stories for the kids.) This marks day 1 of the journey: Hanoi to Dien Bien Phu.

After an evening of shopping and eating in Hanoi's busy, Communist flagged streets we retired to our hotel only to wake up soon thereafter for our 430 a.m. alarm. We made our way downstairs to find the front desk guy asleep on the couch cushions on the floor, not awake like we had discussed so he could call us a cab to the bus station. Startled he woke up and made a groggy phone call to the cab and off we went (Cya Hanoi.) We got to the bus station and found the bus to DBPhu, but were a little unsure about it as we thought it was supposed to only take a few hours and this one was scheduled to take 11. We spent some time using our language guides in the back of the Lonely Planet to try to understand when we were going to get to our destination and if there were other buses. In the end, after boarding several buses and not really getting any definite answers, we just bit the bullet, paid the driver and got on.

Well, the bus turned out to be fairly comfortable for most of the ride. It wasn't full and I actually had my own 2 seats to myself until about the last hour. We passed the time sleeping, talking and looking at the beautiful Vietnamese mountains and countryside; it's literally straight out of a book--rolling green hills, cone-hatted people working in rice paddies, small hut villages, etc. At one point we even got the whole bus to watch the movie UP (we couldn't get the subtitles to work, but there isn't a whole lot of dialogue, so everyone seemed to enjoy it.) Nothing like bonding with a bunch of Vietnamese over a Disney movie on an 11 hr bus ride to the Laos-Vietnam border!

We stopped once for a bathroom break early on and then spent a little longer at our stop for lunch. We found ourselves inside of a large concrete building at a table with a bunch of our co-passengers grabbing for food from the same bowls with our own chopsticks and just sticking them right back in the mix! I guess it goes to show that not everything has to be SO strict and sanitary at home, plus it's another great way to get to know eachother. The last hour of the ride before our final stop was a little more like we were used to: stops about every 5 minutes to pick up random people on the side of the road and just cramming them all in regardless of the heat and/or space. Thankfully we all had seats and didn't have to stand up for the duration.

We were dropped at the bus station in DBPhu, which literally looked like some old mission in a ghost town on the border of Mexico, and went straight to the ticket counter. Just our luck--there was one bus a day that crossed the border and it didn't leave until 5am the next morning. We had to stay the night, but where? DBP is literally dust, a bus station, a couple of seedy restaurants and, as we discovered, 2 hotels that were actually the same price. Sort of twilight zoney. We booked 2 rooms and were really happy we were only there one night. Josie had to switch rooms because there was a red 'prophylactic' floating in her toilet and my room was covered in a fine layer of ash (as it was still burning season in SE Asia and they decided leaving the window open was a good idea.) Not to mention when you opened the bathroom door it smelled as though a small animal had died and was currently decomposing in the shower drain. Why didn't we switch hotels you ask? Well it was pretty obvious we would have the same service at the other hotel in town as it was owned by the same people.

We immediately left to find food and realized there were only 2 options nearby and they only served 1 thing: Pho--the Vietnamese national dish, which is okay, but not my favorite. Oh well, food is food and it was an excuse to get out of the hotel. We weren't sleepy and didn't really want to lay amongst the remnants of the burnt crops, so we played some cards in the lobby; we may have slept better had we not done this. After a bit a man came into the hotel with a scantily clad woman and checked into a room (this is about 830p) We didn't think a lot of it, although it is rare to see women dressed as such in this part of the world, especially in rural Vietnam. Cards continued. Then came in a group of about 3-4 men carrying metal briefcases, with who knows what inside. They were followed by a string of ladies dressed in similar attire as the one we'd seen before and, upon seeing us, got really embarrassed and tried to hide behind the only pillar in the lobby. We couldn't help but laugh at the scene, but were also a pretty grossed out as they all checked in for the night and the front desk ladies smiled at us awkardly. It was time to go upstairs (when we saw the first couple check out about an hour after they'd checked in) and try to sleep as the sounds of stilettos and high heeled shoes echoed through the halls of Hotel Brothel, Dien Bien Phu.

I'm on a Boat (well actually it's called a Junk)

Halong Bay, NE Vietnam
April 11-12, 2010

We awoke early after a much better night's rest at the Rose Hotel and got our gear in order for our 2 day/1 night excursion on a junk sailing through Halong Bay- a Unesco World Heritage site a few hours from Hanoi. Upon arrival we were split up into different groups based on which tour package we were doing--I think for a total of $30-35 we got transportation, meals for 2 days, admission to the park, cabins on the boat and any other activities fees!

We finally boarded our boat which was a beautiful wooden schooner with a dragon figurehead on the front. It had 3 stories--the cabins, the dining/common area and the upper deck for relaxing. It was kind of cloudy when we got there, but it made for an amazing picture as through the clouds and mist arose these enormous emerald karsts for which Halong is so famed. Everywhere you turned you were surrounded by these stellar limestone mountains appearing to swim in the deep green waters of the bay. Once you got past some of the litter (a quick clean up would do a world of wonder) floating in the water you realized that this really is one of the most beautiful settings you have ever seen.

After a filling lunch we made our first stop of the day: Surprise Cave. Now, we've been to a few caves during our time in SE Asia and weren't really expecting much, but it turned out to be expansive and beautiful. Our guide was really entertaining and was sure to spend a good portion of time describing the meaning of the cave's name and showing us the reason for it--the surprise turned out to be a noticeably 'excited' phallic rock protrusion that was very obviously lighted. I guess it gets a little boring studying rocks and caves so a sense of humor is a must. I can't imagine how many times our guide has seen this rock, but he still couldn't stop laughing during the tale of 'surprise cave.' We spent time exploring the different rooms of the cave and seeing the magnificent limestone formations throughout.

Next we made our way to a floating village (literally houses floating on empty barrels in the middle of the bay) where we went from our junk into 2-person kayaks for a couple hours of exploration and paddling. We got out at a couple cave spots and even discovered a small shrine/temple area in one. It turned out that kayaking is actually a lot of work, especially when you're trying hard to ram into your friends and tip their kayak or paddle away from them as they try to tip you. We decided to go around the other side of the village to get a different view and as we were doing this we realized we had no idea how their plumbing systems worked. They are floating in the water, but where does their toilet flush to? Well Emily and I soon encountered the answer to this question as we found ourselves paddling amidst a few 'Baby Ruth' look-a-likes. Needless to stay we found an energy reserve and speed raced our way back to the docks :)

Aboard the junk again we toured around a bit more until our captain told us we had reached the place where we were going to anchor for the evening. After soaking in some more of the scenery some of the other passengers, Mark and I decided to go swimming (the girls chickened out.) We decided go big or go home and jumped off the top of the highest deck on the boat which turned out to be much higher than I anticipated. Rule of thumb: If you have enough time to realize you're falling and that the water is still far away, you probably should jump from a lower altitude! If the impact from the water didn't snap you back to reality, the temperature sure did--it was FREEZING! And if it weren't for the fact that you had to muscle your way up a rusty ladder that was only reachable to you in the water when the boat tilted your way in the waves, I probably would have immediately jumped back onboard. However, we decided to endure the cold and spent a good amount of time swimming and treading water with our fellow boatmates (a British girl, some Dutch, some French and some Chinese.)

All the activity (including having to hoist our large, older Chinese friend onto the junk's deck) had worked us up quite the appetite and we couldn't wait to shower and head into dinner. The only added expense on the boat was if you wanted a 2nd beverage (after the one they provided.) Well naturally-we were on a boat- the prices were a bit hefty in SE Asia terms, and they told us that we couldn't bring our own with us. As this must be the rule on many boats there were these little gypsy boat ladies who rowed around the bay selling goods to passengers. All you had to do was head out of your room and wave or make eye contact and she would sneakily make her way to the side of the junk where you would negotiate a price and she would use a long pole with a basket to quickly hoist your purchases up and over the rail. It's a really hysterical process as you feel like you're smuggling something illegal over the border when in fact you just want a beer or a can of soda!

We spent the evening on the top deck mingling with our new friends and laughing about various experiences, etc. When it was dark we went to the 2nd level and played cards with our British friend, Nicole, and our Dutch friend, Celia. It was really funny teaching them the rules to some of our American games and also them teaching us rules they had to similar games in their countries. It's amazing how cool and friendly people can be even when you only met them earlier that day! The next day found us further exploring some of the famous formations in the bay and lounging on deck chairs catching some rays. It was sad to leave behind such an easy life on the junk, but at least we had another night to look forward to at the Rose Hotel back in Hanoi!

Science Day: An Excuse for BBQ and Fashion

Satit Bangna School: Science Day
August 24, 2010

August 23, 2010: (ding dong ding over the PA system) 'สวัสดีทุกคน พรุ่งนี้จะมีชั้นไม่มีเพราะเป็นวันวิทยาศาสตร์!' (Hello everyone. Tomorrow there will be no class because it is Science Day!) Cheers erupt from the teacher's office once we've had this translated for us by T. Oil. We had no idea what to expect, but we knew if Science Day was an all day affair we were going to be in for some great surprises. Per usual, it did not disappoint.

August 24, 2010: We arrived at school as usual (actually a little bit earlier as we usually have EP Staff meetings on Tuesdays, but it was cancelled due to Science Day--of course we weren't informed of this.) Anyway, we spent part of the morning on our laptops getting things ready for later in the week until we heard the music cue from the stage downstairs. We grabbed our cameras and were greeted by a crowd of students watching, with eyes glued, as a group of M5's (11th graders) performed a less than conservative dance on the stage. Ah yes, what would Science Day be without some booty pops and body drops.

After the show I spent a while wandering through the various exhibits and activities. It was actually a pretty cool set up. There were projects that the kids had done displayed all over (posters, drawings, diagrams, crafts, etc.), older kids showing the little ones how to dissect a heart, a laser and lights show, crazy gooey stuff, rocket races, things to do with air/propulsion, and the list goes on. It was really cool to see the older kids running the various stations and working to get the younger kids excited and it was equally hilarious watching the little ones in awe of some of the experiments. After releasing my inner science nerd I made my way to the next section of the festival: the food section.

Now, I'm thinking that this was supposed to be some sort of application of the food sciences? I'm not really sure how selling cups of Coke or Sprite are science related, but maybe the use of carbonation is something they studied. Anyway, the food was amazing and had everything from Thai sweets to Japanese takoyaki to pad thai to bbq to smoothies to pretty much anything you can think of that can be poured, cooked, grilled or eaten. I spent a good amount of time with some of the Thai teachers who I've gotten to know pretty well (Pe Den, Pe Naeng and Pe Nok)--the Pe in front of their names is a sign of respect you use when addressing your elders in Thailand. Anyway the 4 of us stood around over a ceramic tub filled with hot coals and talked in broken Thai and English for a long time, all whilst grilling some kebabs and little octopi (yes octopus is actually really tasty on the grill.) It's really a cool feeling to know that I've been here long enough that I've established some great relationships with the other teachers and can just stand around and shoot the breeze with them even if we can't always understand each other--which usually makes for some great laughs. I've learned a lot about Thai culture from them (including that Thai men still pay a dowry to get married--an amount determined by the woman's family and that it is the woman's family's duty to give the newlyweds an amount of money for the future. This confused me as I don't understand why the man doesn't just keep the dowry and use that for the future, but I guess it's just a cultural thing.)

After full stomachs we parted ways until the afternoon's festivities. The signal that something was going to happen soon was the projecting of Madonna's Like a Virgin over the school's PA system followed by some Beyonce and and other 'school appropriate' music! As I left my office I was met by groups of my students dressed in various costumes of plastic bags, cardboard and other recycled goodies. One of my ladyboy students (who asks on a regular basis if we can get married) was dressed in a halter top garbage bag dress complete with giant homemade butterfly wings reminiscent of the ones used by the Victoria's Secret Angels. This place never ceases to amaze me :)

We found out shortly that the costumes did in fact serve a purpose (whether it was related to science of not is still up in the air.) A boy and a girl (or a ladyboy and a girl) from each of the high school level classes were paired up and competed in the Mr. and Ms. Recycle runway fashion show. I have never seen something like this before and man was it entertaining. Some of the kids looked ridiculous covered in plastic and newspaper while others actually had some really well crafted and stylish designs. There were cheers and screams and struts and hair flips and crossdressers and everything else you would expect to see at a Science Day Fashion Show--that has to be an oxymoron. I guess if nothing else it was a good use of recycling and got the whole school banded together (and got us out of teaching classes!)