Saturday, October 24, 2009
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.
Friday, October 16, 2009
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".
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 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”
Monday, October 5, 2009
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
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
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