On the journey between Chiang Mai and Phuket

After enjoying a semi-permanent home in Chiang Mai, the shorter 'chapters' of our journey over the last few weeks have made for a whirlwind of new sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feels... one of which is the tightness of our backs from shifting loaded backpacks from songthaws to trains to taxis to boats to pickup trucks to get us from north to south Thailand.
Out of Chaing Mai we first traveled for 16 hours on an overnight train to Bangkok, and were all pleasantly surprised by the cozy quarters the train official so effortlessly converted our seats into. Still a bit bleary-eyed, we negotiated our way into taxis to take us to the Camillian Center for a volunteer opportunity arranged by Tessa. We arrived into the welcoming care of Faisal, a Pakistani-Canadian man who has been volunteering his time as coordinator of the center for several years now. The main branch of Camillian, which has been working since 1995 around all issues of those affected by HIV/AIDS, is in Rayong. The Bangkok branch we stayed with was recently inaugurated in January of last year. They currently serve about twenty-eight kids who either have some sort of physical disability, mental disability, or are HIV+. Half live there permanently, and the other half arrive each day for day care. Their stories are each unique and inspiring-- often a tale of having been abandoned in hospitals or dumped on the streets, though if you didn't hear it, you'd hardly believe since these little ones have made such progress.
The facilities at Camillian are impressive, with a four-floored building, courtyard with trampoline and exercise equipment, physiotherapy rooms with walking bars, weights, straps, balls, etc. The staff is ample; providing for a nearly one-to-one ratio of care for these adorable kids.
We spent the days helping in the early mornings by washing, dressing and feeding the babies, and during the morning sessions would assist in whatever ways were useful-- with physiotherapy, art projects, teaching English, or jumping on the trampoline. In the afternoons we would often join some of the cooking staff in teaching some basic recipes for baking, including chocolate chip cookies and banana bread. Though they've had a large gas oven since first opening, it hasn't been used simply because there isn't a custom of baking. So though it took some leaps of trust, the staff allowed Tessa to light it up. After several repeats of the procedure, we're hopeful the oven will find good use now.
All in all, the Camillian is well-staffed with some tremendous-hearted caretakers. So while not in dire need, they greatly appreciate volunteers for their injection of new energy, moments of relief for the full-time workers, and as links to the world outside the Camilliam compound. We enjoyed our days laughing and playing with the kids who have such warm and accepting souls, though we also agreed that the work is exhausting! We have great appreciation for the dedication of caretakers who wake up day after day to challenging tasks of meeting multiple needs.
We were able to take a mid-week break and go into Bangkok to explore a bit, have some comfort food, and do a bit more market shopping (y'all are really in for a superb holiday:)), and Alecc, Tessa and Steph had a bit of time exploring a Saturday market just before taking off on another overnight travel trip...
This time we continued further south on a 10-hour bus ride to Ranong. Arriving around 5:30 am, we waited a few hours before being scooped up by Akong and Down, two employees of the NGO called Mirror Art Foundation. They had both spent the night on Koh Lhao, the island on which we were about to go, and had to wait for the tide to come in before motorboating into Ranong to meet us. After a market breakfast of coffee, some fried doughs, sticky rice, fried chicken and shrimp, we and our bags made our way out to the island. Koh Lhao is home to about 50 families of Moken people, who are a population who have historically been 'sea gypsies', but have largely been forced to become land-bound. They are neither accepted by Myanmar nor Thailand, and therefore live in a limbo space characterized by powerlessness and impoverishment. Being a people of the sea, Moken have intimate knowledge of the waters but little know-how of construction and land-based living. They space they've been relegated to is little, and is covered in many areas with trash and sewage.
The political situation is frustrating, to put it mildly. We were there on a project to help build a community center in order for the villagers to have a space to meet, organize and hopefully collectively improve the living conditions of the island village. In our first tour of the island, however, we learn that a community center does, in fact, already exist. The issue is that post-tsunami the Thai government declared the land on which the center exists to be Thai national park land, and thus illegal for Moken to utilize... ridiculous and sad, really.
Nevertheless, in the spirit of continuing on, our group furthered the building of the community center by gathering rocks and sand from the beach, and purchasing construction supplies from Ranong. Our task was to pour cement beams to support the posts that will hold the raised floor. The land on which this is being built is questionable... on marsh and sewage, but we acknowledge we are there a short time, and trust in those who are overseeing... So over the days we learn the ropes of tying off rebar and mixing concrete. Sometimes we work with just our crew of seven, and often times we're joined by over twenty women from the community, and we are amazed at the difference of how much we're able to accomplish. Such a palpable demonstration of the power of solidarity.
During our time on this humble island, we're well-fed by Peenow, a strong woman (one of only 3 Thai citizens on the island) who advocates for Moken rights. We also sleep on the edge of their meeting space, which is a large dock built of long, round branches. After dinner, we lay out our sleeping bags on top of mats, and enjoy the adventure of the night, of the tide from low to high right underneath us. Sometimes we're rocked by boats that sway into the dock with the strong breeze; often we're awoken by strong stenches of fish or otherwise... Certainly our most unique slumber spot of the trip.
The last evening at Koh Lao, the village appears for a short gratitude ceremony in our honor. There are speeches, certificates and t-shirts gifted, and then we each stand behind a pot of food and help distribute to the awaiting community. It's special to see each face, albeit a brief passing of time with each individual there.
And the next morning we move on, this time hopping on a boat to a garbage-less oasis called Koh Chang (Elephant Island). The motorboat ride through the Andaman sea is gorgeous, and we're all enamored with the peacefulness and beauty of the long beach. We soak up each moment there-- to swim, lay, walk, eat, set off fireworks:)... the feel of the contrast is immediate-- to be able to use fresh water more freely whereas it was in scarce supply on Koh Lao.
And yet another contrast met us last night, as we arrived after another 6-hour bus ride from Ranong to Phuket. Though this beach was pummeled by the tsunami just five years ago, development came back in full steam... and we find ourselves in a tourist jungle at the location of our last destination of Patong beach. Steph, Alecc and Tessa have launched into three days of their course for open water scuba diving certification, and Brian and I attend to end-of-semester duties.
As we count remaining days of the trip on one hand, we marvel at the journey... it's been a challenging one, each of us pushed in unique ways to contemplate who we are, where we stand, where we bend...

Check in mid-week and hopefully you'll read of the wonders of the Andaman:)

Pun Pun and other fun

Hey everyone sorry for the lag time.

We have spent around a month in the interesting city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The five of us spend our time in different ways.
-Brian has taken a Thai Massage course with Kuan Amanda. He has also taken some time to reflect on his different goals in life, such as his future coffee shop.
-Amanda has done a variety of activities, the Thai Massage course, meditation group, yoga, and exploring the city.
-Tessa has spent her time rock climbing, teaching orphans to cha-cha and making the BEST memories of her young life with Alecc and I.
-Alecc and I have spent our time in a similar way, as the se Asians say, "Same, Same, but Different". We both volunteer five days a week at Care For Dogs. Care for Dog is a dog shelter for abused, and abandoned dogs in Chiang Mai.

Alecc at the shelter and with my Favorite dog Malgoh the dog on the bottom center.

Some group things we have done together...
-Monk chat: a really cool thing, where ppl can come together and average ppl can ask a monk any question that comes to mind.
-Three weeks of Thai Language school with Kuan Sompop. Favorite thing I learned: Jing-luh?! (Really?) Jing-Jing! (Really!)
-Sunday market, Night Market, Day Market= A lot of shopping = many gifts for the people we all love. <3>

-AirportPlazaaaa. Alecc, Tessa and I all saw the movies Surrogates, and 2012. After 2012 (which we saw on the premiere, last night, we stumbled on a rock concert. No one was dancing and the three of us along with our new Chinese, Thai and Sweden friend went to the edge of the stage and started dancing. Suddenly everyone got up and started grooving! The lead singer hopped off the stage and joined in with us and all the 14 year old awe-struck Thai girls! A memory I'll never forget.

-One weekend our gang went to Pun-Pun!

Pun-pun is a crazy organic hippy seed saving Eco-farm. We slept on the most uncomfortable thin mats in the eco friendly building. The most important thing to know about this weekend is that we found out half the people at this place drink their own pee. Its quite shocking but after an explanation its not quite as weird as it first sounds to western ears. There was also a awesome monk at this eco-farm, that made painting for all of the girls. A man named Justin who lives at Pun-pun with his four month pregnant German girlfriend taught us how to make bread. Pun-Pun was quite the experience I won't forget soon.

Our trip is quickly reaching its end. With only 19 days left we head to Bangkok tomorrow, to volunteer for 5 days at an organization that work with orphaned children who are HIV positive and have disabilities. Tessa organized this volunteer position for us and I am quite excited to start our work there.

P.S. I miss Tyler and Conor now almost as much as Alecc and Tessa do. haha
-Love
Stephanie

A few pictures

A group shot with "grandpa" and Mong at the boat races.

After a good luck ceremony performed by villagers during the last night of our trek.
Resting after a long day of hiking.

On the trail

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Meditation Retreat

Right outside Chiang mai on an Eco-farm we met Matt. Matt was a retired wall street stock brocker whom found buddhism, moved to Thailand, and was here to teach us about meditation and yoga. We had a rigorous meditation schedule starting at 7am with meditation a break/morning yoga and breakfest, meditation and buddhism lectures, then a lunch break, back to meditation until dinner and then a night yoga session. After the night yoga we do more meditation! Our enviornment was very beautiful. The Eco-farm had different types of houses, both bamboo and clay huts that we were living in and practicing mediation and yoga in. The huts were surrounded by lush plants and little ponds with huge fish. These fish were the garbage disposal medthod utalized by the family. Any extra food we had on our plates we would feed to the fish, and believe me they would jump for it! There was a cat, Meow Meow, that would meditate with us and dine with us as well. Matt was an excellent teacher of Buddhism. He had a wonderful take on impermenance and change. He explained the four knowable truths and the 8th fold path. He also talked about how the culture of Thailand has really changed Buddhism. Many monks are not joining the monastry for the religion but for an education. They do not practice buddhism nor do they teach others, not to say this is all monks. He also discusses the belief that the lineage of female monks was broken, according to thai traditon, so female monks can not be ordained here. This, however is changing and there many monks that believe in equanimity. Matt has a very idealistic take on Buddhism and stresses that you should not ever become Buddhist but pick and choose the ideals you do agree with. He encouraged us to challange whatev er we were told and be open to everything he was teaching. The retreat went well, asside from the one day we had a silent retreat. We were not suppose to look at each other, talk to each other, or use any form of silent communication. It weas brutal for us girls, the leaders did well with this! All in all the retreat went well and we learned tons about Buddhism, Yoga and Mediation.

Gibbons & Ziplinning!!!

We made our way to Huay Xai, a border town on the Thailand/Laos border, so that we could enjoy the Gibbon Experience. Getting to Huay Xai was quite the adventure as it required taking a 14 hour bus ride. We all boarded the bus at 7pm and prepared ourselves for our travel into the night. The bus wasn't very crowded which was quite nice as it allowed us to spread out so that we could lay down and sleep, or attempt to sleep. The bus made a few stops along the way and one of the stops was in a town with a "market". The offerings in these little markets were chocolate, ice cream, chips, live beetles, maggots, fruits, and vegetables, among many other things. Ice cream was our sustenance of choice during this stop. We were told that the ride would be fairly smooth except for the final 2 hours which were supposed to be "bumpy". As with most travel in the developing world, the actualities of the road conditions and duration of the trip are grossly underestimated. The road was to say the least non-existent in many places. The bus would crisscross the road in order to avoid or attempt to avoid huge potholes created by the rainy season. When the bus couldn't avoid the potholes it shook and bounced as if you were on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The northern part of Laos gets so much rain during the rainy season that road washes away and to try and keep up with the road maintenance would be a huge job even for the developed world. They were gracious enough to play Laotian music for the duration of our bus ride as well. This music was definitely much better than the karaoke that drones into the night that we've experienced on many previous occasions. We arrived in Huay Xai around 9am and all piled into our tuk-tuk to make our way to the Gibbon Experience office before finding a guesthouse for much needed showers and shut eye.

The Gibbon Experience, created by the vision of a man from France, is an organization that works with local villagers to protect the 123,000hectare Bokeo Nature Reserve. The money paid for the experience is used to fund the entirety of the project so that they are not reliant on outside donations. They invest 1Euro/hectare to change the economy from forest destruction to forest conservation. Forest conservation and canopy visits generate as much income every year as a logging company could do once. The long term goal is to be able to hand the entire project over to the Lao people.

Getting to the reserve required a combination of riding in vehicles with 4WD capabilities and hiking. We traveled on the main road for about an hour before we turned off to head down this "road" that started on one side of the river and continued on the other. Yes, that's right.....the trucks went straight through the river, no bridges needed here. The drive out was bumpy and hot but, overall not too bad. The drive to return to the office on the other hand was another story. It had rained while we were out playing which turned the "road" into a mud hole. The trucks were sliding all over the road. At times we were pushing through ruts that were almost 2 feet deep and filled with water. One of the trucks had engine trouble and had to wait at the top of a hill to cool down a bit before continuing. The other truck ended up getting completely stuck in the mud which resulted in us getting out and watching the developing world at its best. The locals got out, evaluated the situation, and stood there in disbelief laughing. Then the action: find the head of a shovel under a seat, cut down a tree to use as the shovel handle, start digging the truck out, hook the trucks together, and then finally the truck came out and we were able to continue our journey. We were all relieved that the trucks had actually come to pick us up though as we had heard many stories about how people had to hike, 5 or 6 hours, out to the main road during and after rain.

We spent two nights and three days out in the canopy. Moving around in the canopy required a combination of hiking and ziplining. It was amazing to be out in the middle of the forest gliding along taking in the lush greenery, sounds of nature, and huge limestone mountains. Our nights were spent in a tree house that was as high as at least a 3-story building or maybe higher. The meals were brought in to the tree house from the kitchen which was back at "base camp". We got up at 6am the first morning to go out with one of our guides in hopes of seeing and hearing the Gibbons. As our guide said, we were lucky. We saw Gibbons playing around in the trees and were able to hear them doing their morning singing. Our tree house was the only one out of the three to see the Gibbons. We made our way out to a tree house that was about an hour away from ours and as luck would have it, it started to pour on our way back. We were all drenched when we finally got back to our tree, but fun was had by all. Leeches, enough said, though there weren't as many here as there were on the trek. We spent our two nights in the tree house conversing, playing cards, and relaxing with a Kiwi/British couple. They were a great duo who had been traveling around in the area for 3 months and were soon to head to New Zealand to get back to the "real world".

Luang Prabang

We descended from the hills of Lao into our home base of Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage City, looking ahead to three days of relax and exploration before traveling onwards towards the Thai border. We had a good meal and rest in preparation for the next morning when we made our way to a set of brilliant clear blue waterfalls. Tessa and Amanda chose to pump their way to the wonderland by bike—a gorgeous and sweaty 32 km ride, where they met Alecc, Brian and Steph who had gone ahead on by tuk-tuk. We enjoyed swimming in the cool water with some small jumps down the falls until we discovered the rope swing. Steph cycled around again and again, gracefully Tarzaning into the water about a dozen times, and setting the example for many of us who somehow managed to get mangled by the rope on the way down (no worries, all in one piece, just some black and blues…). We had lunch together, each downing yet another fruit smoothie, before setting back for the city. Tessa and Amanda were expecting a difficult ride home, but were pleasantly surprised by a more downward-sloped return on the bike ride back. The sun was lower, the schoolkids were slapping them high fives and tuk-tuk riders were giving thumbs up as they rode past.

The waterfall trip was a glorious adventure in itself, its bliss only to be accentuated by a visit to a Buddhist temple for evening chant. Brian, Tessa and Amanda sat at the back of the temple as monks trickled in throughout the prayer-chants, with us mimicking their sitting and bows as best possible. Toward the conclusion of the hour, the 25-plus orange-robed monks all turned their faces from the Buddha statues towards us visitors at the back and offered us direct blessings. The powerful energy waving over us was overwhelming; one of those moments that will surely live on in mind and heart’s eye.

From waterfall to monk blessing, we topped off this magical day with the boat lantern festival, an occasion marking the end of rainy season and honoring the legends of Luang Prabang. “Mr. Jim,” one of our two thoughtful, attentive guides from the trek, was again our guide through the throngs of people who congregated at night for the boat and lantern festival. We joined the sea of Laotian and internationals moving toward one of the oldest temples in Luang Prabang where we were mesmerized by the array of decorative boats on display—one made in the shape of a rooster, another a dragon, another a lotus flower... There were about thirteen of these in competition, each the work of a different village from the region. Mr. Jim’s girlfriend was kind to make our group several small offering floats made of banana leaves and flowers so that we could make wishes for good future and send them into the Mekong River with the thousands of other glowing art pieces floating along. All the time there were fireworks exploding, both high in the sky over the river as well as close to our ears… keeping us alert and amazed.

The next day we spent in our unique ways… Brian, Alecc and Stephanie rested and enjoyed the calm and beauty of the city, while Tessa and Amanda took a tuk-tuk to the infamous Buddha caves. After an hour’s ride down a bumpy, dusty, windy road, we crossed a river in a long canoe to the entrance of the caves that hold over 2,000 discarded Buddha statues. The landscape was breathtaking, the energy of the space inexplicable, and the mysteries of the formations humbling. Thirsting for more, we stopped off at the beginning of the footpath up to the highest temple in Luang Prabang, Phousi, and climbed our way up the hundreds of steps to an impressive sunset view over the city. We descended into night market, where all of us enjoyed our last night of shopping.

Our last day in Luang Prabang we filled with a fun cooking class led by two highly-organized Laotians who taught us how to make about a dozen typical dishes. Lots of laughs, good eats, and new Aussie friends… “you like a spicy, you make a spicy, you no like a spicy add the sugar then no spicy”

The trek....
Let us give you a break down each day of the 5 day trek and 2 day water rafting in Laung Prabang.....

Day one,
we got into several different moving vehicles and meet our guides Mong and Mr.Jim. What wonderful men they were and they treated us so well along the trip. One hour later finally making it to where we begin. Hiking through many river, rice fields, mud, climbing up intense mountains and making trails that never really exist. Along the way we visited small villages to rest and played with cute puppies. After a long day of 6-7 km (5-6 miles) we finally made it to our village. Tessa, Amanda and Brian all doing fine, while Stephanie and I....well....were still alive.

Day two,
Well to start off the morning hiking up a huge hill in the hot heat, and Stephanie and I barely making it up the hill. Counting down the number of hills we had to cross, other than that getting to our guides and their life stories. But along the way we came across LEECHES! First one to notice was me with the leech on my shoe. So we doused our legs and shoes with bug repillant because appreantly that wards of leeches BUT only if you don't stop moving until you are out of the leech zone. So I've never seen Tessa and Amanda move so fast for an hour in my life and the rest of us trying to keep up. But I have to say we did walk out of that situation leech free with no blood bites. Around 4 p.m. we finally made it our village to rest and take baths in the cold river with the village people.

Day three,
Sore, tired, exhausted and ready for a nice bed not the hard board ground - Stephanie & Alecc
Sick, sneezy but keeps on moving with no complaints - Brian
Feeling good, ready to hike more and have a lot of energy - Tessa & Amanda
So we found out that day four and five were going to be harder, and more up hill and downhill. And the last few days have been the easiest.....
With that all being said Stephanie, Brian and I all went back to Laung Prabang to rest and relax, and Tessa and Amanda kept going....

Day four,
Amanda, Mong and I ( Tessa) woke up early and hopped on a little river boat to cross the river to begin our hike. The boat was horrifiying and rocky...and very unpleasant but short. We then began to test Mong's trail knowledge by counting the number of rivers we crossed that day. The trail was exceptionally beautiful and very overgrown. Along the trek we passed many villagers our size or smaller and carrying massive bags of rice and on ther backs and heads. The looked very tired. Randomly Mong stopped and started digging at the side of the trail. We were very curious and he said he was digging up Lao potatoes. He found three for us to eat. They were white and watery tasting but very good! Also along the way, i was very obessed about the mushrooms growing along the trek and proceeded to ask him if each and every mushroom was poisonous or not. It paid off and we found some musrhooms we cooked for dinner that night. We arrive at the overnight village at 3pm and help make sticky rice and mushroom pumpkin soup and fried pumpkin. After dinner I taught Amanda, Mong, and the children of the village how to do the cha cha...and one of the little girls reciprocated the gesture and taught me some Lao club dances.

Day Five,

Day five was the more difficult day. It was and intense incline, and the path was almost invisible with large plants and grasses, which had sharp edges, growing over the path. It was an incredibly beautiful trek and for lunch we stopped at a village near the gold hill. Gold hill is where the villagers orginally discovered gold. There are still people mining and panning for gold there and many chinese helping as well. After lunch we contiuned upward for about another hour and then started on the "flat" ridge of the mountain. There we had found lots of mushrooms, but not without competition! Mong was wearing a red shirt and a cow had deleveloped an interest in him and began to charge us. Mong, the magician and madador saved us again and chaced away the cow three or four times! After the vicious down hill section Mong filled us up with sweets and we abruptly finished the trek at his "Moms" house. He was a man of many moms...She was a very sweet women and we helped her make this special sticky rice and covered with coconuts and sugar!

Day six,
So Brian, Stephanie and I got onto a truck and drove an hour and an half through the dusty and bumpy road to the village where the rest of the group to meet up with them. Gathering everything we need such as our life jackets and helmets, we headed on down to the river to start our exciting raft journey. Along the way we hit small rapids, went swimming in the nice cold water to cool us down from the heat, and just having a great time. Finally after rafting for about 4-5 hours we made it to our village to rest for the night for the next day of rafting....
But that evening the family where we were staying did a prayer chant while putting on strings on our wrists and saying good luck prayers for the future. It truely was a touching experience and something that none of us will ever get the chance to experience again.

Day seven,
Our last day of adventure...It was a sad day because we had to say goodbye to our guides to whom we all came very close to. It was a good last day because we all played games on the raft and pulling eachother off the raft. Oh man did that get dangerous. Along the way we finally hit some fun rapids that made us work. The day came to an end to our trip, we made lots of memories, laughed a lot of laughs and challenged ourselves in various ways....

So far thats all thats happened....Will keep you all loved ones posted.

Peace, The Southeast Asia Group

A bit of a rant...

Hey There everyone.
SOO much has happened its difficult to recap it. Some highlights are as follows: Our group did a Tuk-Tuk ride for peace on International day of peace in Battam Bamg(No idea if that's the correct spelling, seen many version for the name of this city). Lots of fun, we got some advice there from a Buddhist Monk. He guided us through mediation telling us the the importance of breathing. "We often hustle through the day and our breath becomes subconscious. To breath is to live, it is the gift of life. Let your breath become conscious and enjoy your life". I found his words powerful.
The next day we left Battam Bong and took a short six hour bus ride to Phenom Phen the bustling capital of Cambodia. In Phenom Phen we went to the Russian Market and all bought cheap bootlegged dvds and tv shows. Alecc and Tessa also each bought really cute clothes. I am sticking with my Cambodia Jeresy I bought way back in Siem Reap. We also all indulged in massages! It was my first massage ever, and I am definitely a fan for life now. Amanda indulged perhaps the most in the massage as she got two or three here.
However, these past three days in Phenom Phen haven't been all play. Yesterday we went to S-21 and the Killing fields. S-21 was a prison for enemies of the Khmer rouge which kinda turned out to be everyone. In s-21, we saw blood stained floors, make shift prison cells that are smaller than what a person would put a dog in, thousand of photos of the inmates the Khmer rouge killed, old torture devices, etc. At the killing fields the sights included a tree used by guards to beat babies to death, hundreds of mass graves, signs informing us that the chemical storage room used to stand here. Needless to say, we were all very traumatized. We had many good discussion over the subject at dinner that night, which helped. One being why no schools in the U.S. teach about the Khmer Rouge genocide. Our answer was probably because many can argue that America is in a large way responsible for the genocide and the Khmer Rouges rise to power. Of course, France, Thailand and China are also in fault as well. I suggest anyone reading this does a simple google search about the Cambodian genocide, it is enlightening.

Well...seems a bit of a bad note to end this blog on but...
The group is packing up for Laos tomorrow and new adventures.
Peace to all
Steph

Let's Paint!

Hey everyone,
I would tell you where exactly we are but my role in the group does not involve pronouncing or spelling names correctly. What I will tell you is we are painting! Painting classrooms to be exact. We finished our two base coats of white paint in the three classrooms we're working on and graduate to sky blue paint tomorrow. We're painting classrooms for the street families compound where we are currently living and volunteering.

Much has happened since our sleeping jet lagged days. I informed Tessa to acclimate her mouth to coca cola. We visited Angkor Watt, one of the seven wonders of the world. We have ate crazy amounts of rice. Brian taught us the glory of a lime juice drink. Tessa and Amanda argue regularly at breakfast about everything and anything (all in good fun of course). Tessa and I agree attachment can be fatal. Alecc is getting a steady supply of naps while attempting to read. Tessa on the other hand managed to read 130 pages of the lonely planet book last night. AND EVERY night we all have been ënjoying"the loud karaoke the plays from the club that's right behind where we sleep.

Anyhow... Life is good. We're all bonding together very well and faces all our adventures as a team.

Peace out
Stephanie
and the rest of the crew (though please don't hold them responsible for anything I wrote as they haven''t seen it yet and I'm eager to see their faces as they read this wonderful blog.)

The beginning of a new adventure!

Hello everyone!

The five of us are all well rested from 35 hours of airplane travel and ready to explore Siem Reap. Walking around the city is crazy with mopeds, bicycles and cars to watch out for. The people are so sweet and kind. The place we are staying at is Nilla Villa Guesthouse, and when walking and meeting the place all of us fell in love. We are all loving what we are seeing and can't wait to see what's coming up next. The weather is beautiful but humid, and we haven't came across rain yet (knock on wood). But our next adventure we are off to is the Angkar Watt, which we are all pretty excited to see and take in. Miss you all and can't wait to tell you more. LOVE YOU!!!

Alecc, Tessa, Staphanie

It's official ... let this journey begin!

I've just gotten off the phone with the leaders and it appears that our small group is all together and hanging out! They actually share the first leg of their flights with team India, so it should make for some good conversation during their long transit across the Pacific. For now, everyone seems to have arrived early and we are all set to go!

Please stay tuned for blogs from the students themselves as they arrive into Siem Reap and roughly every week thereafter!

Yours in spirit,

Ethan

Pre-departure Excitement!

From a buzzing Carpe Diem HQ, we leaders Brian & Amanda excitedly and humbly post this first blog to launch our South East Asian adventure. In a week, we will fly off from San Francisco en route to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we will begin our team orientation. From there the adventure will unfold as it will, each day gauranteed to gift us with opportunities for growth and understanding both as unique souls and as members of our dynamic global community.

As best we can, we will capture our journey to share with you on this blog. Please check in, post a comment, and vicariously enjoy the ride:)