La Gon Carpe Diem Fall 2010!

To our Carpe Diem family of 3 months: we wish you continued learning, increasing tolerance, unending passion, continuous questioning, the strength to fight oppression, the ability to smile in the face of adversary, the ability to digest your food til you die, solid nights of sleep and, of course, good hair days...Goodbye Carpe Diem SE Asia '10! We'll miss you!

Final words

Hello to everyone out there for the last time!

We've finally reached the end of this crazy journey. Here's a quick recap of the last few weeks:

After the elephant village, the group headed up to Vang Vieng To do a kayaking trip to Vientienne. It was a lot of fun and just about everyone ( with the exception of Charley and Camille who were talking about the differences between fall an winter coats and not paying any attention) got dunked at least once in the rapids.

From Vietienne we left in two groups to fly to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Several of us got really lucky and get to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to catch our flight! jk none of us felt that lucky at all to tell you the truth. We flew into a ridiculously hot day in Siem Reap (Cambodia is by far the hottest country we have visited). We were lucky enough to be in the city during the water festival and got to see some really cool cultural stuff like the boat races. We also went to go visit Angkor Wat which was another really amazing cultural experience for everyone.

From Siem Reap we headed over to Battambang to volunteer with an organization called Ptea Teuk Dong which helps trafficked girls start their lives over and reintegrate into society. While we were there we helped to put a new roof over their restaurant and dig and put in a drainage system so the compound doesn't flood during the wet season. We also had a great Thanksgiving complete with pie (and some other tasty but unidentifiable Asian desserts).

After our week of volunteering we went to Phnom Pehn for a little R&R and a chance to learn a bit more about the Khmer Rouge and the Genocide that occurred in Cambodia not too long ago at S.21 and the Killing Fields.

From there we headed south to the beaches of Sihanoukville to embark on out scuba certification and spent a night on a dive boat finishing our courses. With only 3 days left until we arrive back to the States we are all trying to make the most out of the sunshine and the last leg of the trip.

See you soon!

After a short comfy ride we found ourselves nestled amongst the gradually rising and descending hilltops along the outskirts of Luang Prabang to partake in Shangri Lao, our next expedition. After debriefing the previous night as to what the program entailed and the schedule we would be following, various vague ideas & expectations began to take root in each one of us as the sleek lush pamphlets made their way into curious hands.

"Relive the footsteps of an historic French explorer of the 19th century following tranquil streams and passing through dense jungle, in an original and authentic style whilst staying in luxury tents with breathtaking views."

Sleeping on these notions, a cautious excitement gave way into the following morning as we set off to wait what was to follow. Coming to a halt we scurried around to grab our bags and make our way to the camp. Stone steps marked our path as we tried to soak all that our initial gaze fell upon. For a few brief moments, everything fell into the background as our attention was cast onto the strong gentle movements of a group of elephants.

After loading our packs onto the elephants, we began our short trek through the jungle to our campsite. During our trek we got to know our two guides, Pat and Mongon. Once we arrived at the campsite (and after we ate lunch), we began to help set up our tents. Well, we tried to help set up our tents. In actuality, we kind of just held the tent poles until our guides needed them.

After setting up our tents, Pat told us to change into clothes that we could get wet and dirty. Yes, we were bathing elephants! No better way to relax after trekking through the jungle.

The first step to bathing an elephant is to mount the elephant. This consists of telling the elephant to lift her front right leg (the Elephant camp only employs females as males are known to be too aggressive in captivity). Then you step up on her knee while gripping the top of her ear. After that, you simply (or not so simply) pull yourself up onto the elephants back. Of course, sometimes you get lucky and get the elephant that can lie down on the ground so you don't have to try your luck in clambering up the elephant.

After mounting the elephant, we rode her down into the pond, then scrubbed away all of the dirt and grime with a scrub brush that we received from the elephant's mahout.

A mahout is the elephant’s keeper and constant friend. The word mahout is of Indian origin. The bond shared by an elephant and her mahout is very deep. Some elephants will only respond to a single mahout, as was the case with Mae Kham, my elephant. At dinner, we got to know all of our elephants and their mahouts as well as the rest of the camp staff. Over the course of our stay, we learned more about the mahouts and became friends with them.

During our stay at Shangri Lao, we enjoyed more quality time feeding, caring for, riding, and playing with the elephants. We went on treks and explored caves. Our group tried our hand at net fishing. It's fortunate that we had other dinner plans because the four little fish we caught would never have fed our group. On our final night, we enjoyed a farewell barbecue. After packing up camp and spending a night of relaxation at the lodge, we spent our final morning harvesting sugar cane to feed to our elephants as a goodbye present.


Doing our best to squeeze into the back of a pickup truck, all 15 of us (including guides) drove an extremely uncomfortable 20 minutes back to Luang Prabang. Then, we immediately loaded onto two spacious minibuses for our six hour ride to Vang Vieng. During the drive, a few people got carsick.

The next morning we woke up early for a day of kayaking. It was an exciting day in which pretty much everyone flipped their kayak on a whitewater rapid. The only kayak that didn't flip consisted of Charley and Camille who used the time honored technique of not paying attention and talking about Winter coats to avoid being capsized by the rapids. When we arrived at the take-out point we loaded into a song thaew for along drive to the capitol of Laos, Vientiane...

some visuals

Dont forget to check our Flickr Photostream from time to time!

Pu Khao de Laos!

Laos has baguettes.

That is the first thing that, on behalf of everyone, must be said about our visit to the second country in our exciting itinerary: LAOS.

After a 6 hour van ride, an overnight stay at the border, a river crossing, another 6 hour van ride, and a much lighter bag of dramamine, we finally arrived in Luang Nam Tha, a town that looks like what would happen if Southeast Asian culture and a Western film had a love child, ready to begin our first activity: Trekking. Luang Nam Tha itself seemed to be a pretty popular gateway for travelers like ourselves looking to rough it for a few days in the jungle, and functioned as a very nice transition from all the comforts of urban Chiang Mai to the rugged mountainous terrain of the Laotion jungle.

And it is most definitely a jungle. Thick vined trees, staircases made of interwoven roots, mossy riversides and damp tropical floors decorated our hike as we stumbled and tripped our way Indiana Jones-style down the supposedly well-traveled path. The 12 of us, a big sweaty panting mess, were all the more impressed by our five flip-flop clad tour guides who, despite keeping the same (if not particularly fast) pace as us and carrying just as much baggage, seemed hardly phased by the hike at all. That night, we all learned valuable lessons in packing the bare essentials. Alex, having forgotten his toothbrush, resorted to using a toothpaste covered tampon. Jackie meanwhile, in an allergy induced haze, ran out of kleenex and began systematically ripping pages out of Lizzie's book to blow her nose ("Don't worry guys, it was just the acknowledgments. Nobody reads that shit anyway!").

Returning to Luang Nam Tha a little worse for wear, we boarded a bus for Luang Prabang. Six bags of Lays sweet basil potato chips, one extremely questionable chicken skewer, and nine harrowing hours later, we arrived at the cozy, culturally rich city of Luang Prabang. The city itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and these past 2 days have been crammed to the brim with temple visits and night market shopping sprees. A certain student in the group managed to spend a total of 300,000 kip in about 45 minutes. I won't name any names...except that it starts with a B and ends in "en".

To return to the original statement, Laos has baguettes, and there's no place that this is more apparent than Luang Prabang. The streets are lined with stands selling fresh chicken sandwiches, nutella sandwiches, and chicken AND nutella sandwiches (yes, chicken and nutella sandwiches are an option). One can't walk too far without running into a bakery or pastry store, or hearing the greeting "Sabaidee Madame!" The colonists are long gone, but their culture has mixed in interesting ways with Laotian culture.

Tomorrow we leave for our Elephant trek. It seems like we have some exciting and potentially thought-provoking experiences ahead that go far beyond just cleaning out poop...but that's all I'll say for now!

Until next time,

Camille, Lizzie, and the rest of the SE Asia gang!

Chiang Mai

Greetings from Southeast Asia!

The past week was spent in the beautiful city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. We spent the week taking a variety of classes: thai cooking, jewelery making, Muay Thai (well we wanted to try it, but to keep a long story short, it was an epic fail). Our first night in Chiang Mai landed on Camille's birthday, so to celebrate some of us went out to a karaoke bar, but it wasn't so much of a bar. There were different rooms, which each had a theme (underwater, graveyard, jail cell, etc.), and the one we choose was "bed room." We also happened to be in Chiang Mai for Halloween, so we all dressed up (cats, hippies, ourselves) and went out dancing for the night. We also completed our last week of Thai class. As a finale we learned the popular Thai pop song, Duu Ter Tum by Jobbunjob. It is one of my favorite songs now.

The Thai cooking course was an amazing experience. We each got to pick our own appetizer, stir fry, noodles, curry and curry paste. Also, we each received a cook book at the end, so we have the option to cook dishes we missed out on in class. It was really nice knowing the AMAZING food I was eating was made by me, except now my family will probably make me cook all of our meals once they find out.

Some of us also attended an event called Monk Chat. We went to a Wat (temple) and simply just found the monk chat sign, went inside, approached the monks who were sitting behind tables, and asked them questions. Most talked about Buddhism, others asked more about our culture in the US, or just life.

On our last day, some of us also did a jewelery making class. We chose to either make a pendent or a ring. We first drew a design, then manipulated our piece of silver, cutting out our designs with a saw. Sawing was difficult-I actually broke the saw blade twice! Oops! Everyone's jewelery turned out beautiful though, two people made pendents, while the rest chose rings.

We have finally now crossed the border into Laos. I was saddened to leave Thailand, but envisioning our adventures quickly returned me to excitement. Already today we took a six hour public bus ride through the mountains in Northern Laos, some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen to date. I am excited to see what Laos has in store for all of us!

SEIZE THE DAY!-

Olivia

...(edits by Alejandro... because I dislike writing)

Silent Fall

May all beings be happy...
May all beings be free...
May all beings have access to and ipods and facebook during vows of silence.

(This last affirmation being our group's request to modernize Buddhist practice).

We just finished our 5 day intro to Buddhism and meditation retreat which ended in a full day of nobel silence. Nobel silence redefines silence as inadequately quiet, requiring abstinence from speaking, reading, writing, or attempts at non-verbal communication, such as body language, peace signs, or smoke signals for help. As many who have attempted noble silence before may attest, nobel silence is not quiet at all. Instead, it amplifies the noise inside our head, prompting an optimal mental state for mediation and, for many, intense self-reflection.

To ease the intensity, the retreat center chef cooked organic Thai vegetarian cuisine that would drive any Top chef judge into silence--mushroom stews, green papaya salads, tofu coconut curries, tapioca and corn deserts drizzled with sweetened coconut milk. Nearly all of the ingredients were harvested from the organic garden sprouting around the facility grounds. The bamboo and earthen huts were literally perched over the irrigation canals of a rice paddy, leaving us to feel like we were growing like grains of rice, emerging from the mud, sprouting towards the heavens, flowering with ancient wisdom with each meditation, and more appropriately for us, enduring a sickle's worth of leg pain after attempting the lotus position for a day.

Everyone departed in various states or relaxation or anticipation of mattresses to come. Stay tuned for student tales!