July Newsletter 2008

You might have noticed a distinct lack of newsletters from me for some months. This month finally everything is on my side to be able to write, but I decided to make my July Newsletter a blog so that I can include lots of photos and catch up somewhat on recent goings on...

The Weather
Well, really one must set the scene with the weather, don't you think? Here is a little snapshot that will help to summarise recent conditions:



We had about 3 weeks of that, the height of which produced these statistics:

THE BIG STORM
539 cases of flooding by 7pm
412 flights delayed by 8.30pm (14 cancelled)
89 landslides by 9pm
3657 lightening strikes between 7am and 8am
300mm average rainfall across the city between midnight and midday
145mm of rain between 8am and 9am in Kowloon (the most in 1 hour since records began in 1884)



It happened that while all this was going on we were completely unaware of a local tragedy happening only minutes up the road from us, at Tuen Mun where a landslide fell on a hut, killing a young man and his wife. Actually, I had little idea of all that was going on in the city in terms of flooding and landslides and main roads closed off for hours until I read the paper the next day.

One nice thing about all the rain was that it postponed the summer heat for a little while. Now that we are back to fine weather, the temperature has soared and air-conditioners are universally pumping away. But there's no complaints from me because the sky is crystal clear, complete with white fluffy clouds and not an ounce of 'haze' to be seen. The city looks incredibly beautiful when the sky is blue like this and the many mountains look spectacular in all their pollution-free splendor. Despite the temperature, this is definitely the best season to be in Hong Kong!


Lives Torn Asunder



I know the Earthquake in China was international news, but I think the media may have moved on to other world events now, making it possible for us to forget the people who are trying to put their lives back together after losing homes and families, even their villages, and who will be at the job of rebuilding their lives for quite some time to come. Years probably. Nearly 70,000 people were killed in the earthquake which happened on 12 May, and 15 million people have been left homeless. 15 million! That's 3/4 of the entire population of Australia. It's a number which I can't really comprehend or even begin to imagine the magnitude of the rebuilding that will be required to recover from such a disaster.

"Clean drinking water has become scarce for many as toxins from decomposing bodies seep into the water table and contaminate the water. People long for meat to be added to their daily diets of noodles, children attend school in makeshift classrooms formed in tents, and most carry the fear of aftershocks and can still hear the sounds of tumbling buildings and mountains in their sleep."



One man, a village leader, voiced his distress: “My first concern is food, my second concern is housing and my third concern is toxins.” He went on to speak for his fellow villagers, saying, “These people have lost their fields, their cattle, and their homes. Once the military is gone and the aid of food has stopped, how will they eat? How will they earn money to buy food?”



In response to the earthquake, Crossroads sent two 20 foot containers of blankets and clothing into the disaster area soon after the earthquake occurred. DHL, the international shipping corporation, even generously donated the use of one of their planes. Crossroads packed 15 tonnes of plastic sheeting, blankets, and medical supplies which was flown into the quake zone. Red Cross and Crossroads volunteers met the emergency flight and escorted the relief items on a 12 hour journey along partially collapsed roads to Qingchuan county where it was distributed to grateful crowds of displaced people. You can see more photos here.


World Refugee Day



With refugee numbers surging from the recent disasters in Sichuan and Burma, Crossroads and the UNHCR (The United Nations Refugee Agency) joined forces on 20-21st June to mark World Refugee Day with a music concert, speakers, and a Refugee Film Festival.

Over 300 people attended the concert on Friday, 20 June. Guests were ushered into a simulated refugee camp by soldiers ‘checking IDs’ at the gate. Once in the camp, many members of our multi-cultural team, dressed in traditional outfits, served ethnic food while tradespeople set in UNHCR tents sold handicrafts made by refugees and disadvantaged people throughout the world.



During the evening, guests were treated to performances by the award-winning Australian children’s choir, the Green Valley Youth Choir, and Helen Mottee with songs from her new album. A short refugee film entitled “Mapendo” was shown and the head of UNHCR for China as well as Sally Begbie, one of Crossroads’ directors, spoke on the refugee situation in the world. The evening ended with a powerful joint performance by Helen and the choir, singing a poignant song about refugee life.



This is Helen's album for sale on the night, the one that I did the graphics for when I got back from my trip. It's a very moving collection of songs and if you are interested in ordering the album, visit Helen's website: helenmottee.com.

Saturday consisted of a Refugee Film Festival where members of the public, VIPs, and many of our volunteers and our own team watched soberly as we saw stories of war and child soldiers portrayed powerfully on the screen throughout the hot day. Discussions followed each film in which moviegoers asked questions, voiced opinions, and learned more about the refugee struggles and challenges throughout the world and what they can do to help.





This the rather large tent that Crossroads invested in for this and future events. It took a not so small team of people a whole day to put it up - it's a serious tent!

On the Saturday we also loaded a container of goods for RICE, one of the groups I visited in Cambodia. It gave me warm fuzzies to see all that wonderful stuff going in, bit by bit despite the heat, as I imagined how they will feel at the other end when it arrives. We are sending educational materials and equipment, like textbooks, desks and chairs, as well as office equipment and many electrical appliances such as fans, cd players etc. (See my last post for more information about this group).












Back to the land of Oz
I'm moving back to Australia at the end of August! I've been struggling with my health for a while and it seems right to be finishing up my time here and to be starting a new season of fruitful labour back home, whatever that may be... time will tell. I'm sad to be leaving and very very blessed by all that I have learned and experienced here, but I am also quite excited about the move back to oz.

To see some more pictures of things that have been happening the past few months, please click here.

Adventures Part 3 (final and finally!)

So, on to the third and final part of my recent trip overseas, this time: Cambodia.

I arrived in Phnom Penh in the evening after a pleasant, amply leg-roomed, 1 hour flight from Bangkok and was met at the airport by my friend's dad's fiance Sue. She and her husband-to-be Dave both live in Phnom Penh and work at an international school. Dave was away in the UK and it was the school holidays, so Sue was able to be a tourist with me and show me around PP. After being in Thailand it was a bit of a shock to the senses to arrive in Cambodia. Even in the dark, it seemed rather less orderly and not as well off as Thailand. As we were driving along in a tuk tuk from the airport someone tried to grab my backpack off my lap. Thankfully I had a firm grip on it and grabbed it back... the guy balancing on the back of a motorbike beside us wasn't able to secure it and they drove off. "Welcome to Cambodia!" I thought as Sue and I released our shock with irrepressible laughter for at least the next half hour. My relief was immense (to say the least), but my bag was clutched to my bosom for the rest of my stay!

The general feeling I had that Phnom Penh wasn't a particularly safe place wasn't helped by the tightly locked metal gate, guard dog and double-locked front door at Sue's place. "Oh, women can't go out by themselves at night", says Sue. "Actually, a group of women isn't such a good idea either. There really needs to be a man with you if you're going to walk in the streets at night." Ah.

So, somehow between us we managed to drag my luggage up an impossibly steep and narrow 3 flights of stairs, to Sue's flat. I was somewhat surprised to see that Sue lives without hot water. And without a washing machine. And microwave. Did I mention, no air-conditioning? (it's as hot as HK in PP). Truly, I was awestruck by her hardiness... and she's from New Zealand! Where nothing poisonous lives and where the air is cleaner than clean. What a woman I thought to myself and then I thought to myself... how will I get through the next 3 days??

Ok, so I lived. Sue has fans and the air does start to cool down in the wee hours of the morning. And who needs hot water in the hottest month of the year(?), which is April which is when I was there. And having no washing machine isn't so bad when you have a maid that comes to clean and for an extra few dollars from me, was willing to was my clothes by hand. Sue does her own but I wasn't feeling up to it at that point in my travels. No siree bob.



I had a ball seeing the sights of PP on the back of Sue's moto. I thought it was understandable to be a little bit nervous, given the road rules in PP, or rather the lack there of. It's mostly up to one's self how one goes about negotiating the traffic. Officially it's right-hand drive. But Sue, driving like a true local, went up the wrong side of the road sufficient times that after a while, I was deeply confused at any one moment about what side of the road we should be on. According to Sue, there ARE some traffic rules. Like, Dave, for instance, was pulled over by a policemen and fined for having his moto headlights on during the day. Whereas it's ok not to have your lights on at night, only the King may have his lights on during the day. $10 please. He managed to bargain him down to $2 which doesn't seem so bad. Apart from the fact that the policeman was making up this road rule as he went along, you have to understand that they get paid the grand total of $30US a month and have to supplement their income by other means, one of which is fining foreigners for all manner of ridiculous offenses.

In our short time together, Sue and I managed to visit the National Museum, Phnom Wat (main temple), the Russian Market, the Foreign Correspondents Club for dinner and a number of other eateries... as one does. We also visited the Killing Fields and Toul Sleng Prison to stand in the place where unbelievable horror has taken place. It is a sad part of Cambodian history but one that the people are remembering in the hope that it will be prevented from ever happening again.

I'm so grateful to Sue for our time together. She was incredibly generous in so many ways, including giving up her own bed for me to sleep comfortably on while she shacked up in the lounge room. She and Dave will be getting married in the UK in a couple of months.

From PP I flew to Siem Reap after deciding that I'd had enough of buses altogether. It was a great decision as it was a mere half an hour of flying time which meant that just as we finished our ascent, our subsequent descension was announced. Before I knew it I was settling in to my little hut at Palm Village on the outskirts of Siem Reap town - making plans for the final 4 days of my trip.

My first day in Siem Reap was the first day of 3 public holidays for the Khmer New Year. In the morning I went to a temple in town called Wat Damnak which is where the office of Life and Hope Association is situated. Crossroads loaded a 40 foot container of goods for Life and Hope in March. The container is currently awaiting some sort of clearance in Cambodia before it can leave HK but it will be on it's way (hopefully) very soon. For some reason it didn't occur to me that the L&H office was in the grounds of a temple because it is run by monks, so I was a little surprised to find out that in fact, my contact, Cheun, was one such brightly be-robed man. He greeted me from a good 10 feet away which was very thoughtful of him because my natural urge was to reach out and grab his hand. I suddenly remembered that women aren't supposed to touch monks (or is it the other way around?), so I made a mental note-to-self for later: don't touch the monk!



Cheun greeted me with the warmest smile and lead me to the car where another monk, a driver, and 2 Singaporean guys were standing chatting. The guys from Singapore were holidaying in Siem Reap and wanted to see something a bit more meaningful on their last day there. We piled into the car and drove out of Siem Reap, past Angkor Wat, for an hour, to visit L&H's orphanage. It was very cool driving along chatting with monks, after admiring them around the place as photo opportunities up to this time. Cheun shared with us his experience of the Pol Pot regime, as a 10 year old boy, living in a children's camp away from the rest of his family. He talked about being so hungry he was forced to steal food from the fields where they used to work for long hours each day. They had to grow food that they weren't allowed to eat. His mother died during that time but the rest of his family survived.

The mission of L&H is about educating people, children and adults, as they believe that illiteracy is the root cause of all suffering. The orphanage has about 40 children who we were able to spend time with. We were shown around the place and had a great lunch of papaya salad and skewered beef with rice... After the orphanage we drove past their Junior High school where children from the local area can continue their education for no cost. We drove back in to town to their boarding house where 12 girls live so they can go to high school. They come from remote areas where it would have been impossible for them to continue at school. Life and Hope also has a sewing school where disadvantaged adults can learn skills that will enable them to earn a living.



There are of photos of my visit to Life and Hope here.

The next day I was picked up by Roeurt who is the director of an organisation called RICE. Actually, I'm not sure what RICE stands for. I imagine it is something in Cambodian... Roeurt worked for the UN in Cambodia for over 10 years and he a colleague were the first people to view Pol Pot's body when he died. Over the course of the day, I learned a lot about Cambodia and the government from him. Not surprisingly, the government in Cambodia is very corrupt. It cares very little for it's people, preferring to spend money on big hotels to line individual's pockets rather than basic infrastructure such as roads. There are a number of main roads in Siem Reap which were paved for the first time about 3 years ago and all the funding came from foreign donors. According to Roeurt, Cambodia is rich in natural resources and yet 70% of the population live on less than $1US a day. Government officials are keeping the wealth for themselves and their families.



I loved the work of RICE. It relies completely on foreign donations as the government is rarely willing to help NGOs financially. Roeurt took me to visit their orphanage where there are 30 children, 6 of whom are blind. They teach the blind children to read braille and play musical instruments. Two of the blind children played for me when I arrived; a small 7 year old who sang and played a drum and an 18 year old on the recorder. Half way through their song I had one of those moments when you get a big knot in your throat and feel like balling. (It was a beautiful song). RICE's mission is to provide the orphans with life skills and ensure that they have employment before they leave the orphanage - "otherwise our mission has failed" said Roeurt. RICE also visits rural communities seeking out people who are blind and therefore destitute. They take the blind person and give them skills to make a living. I had the privilege of being taken to visit a blind man than RICE has helped. It was an hour's drive out of town (along a dirt road recently graded by a Singaporean company), to a small village of about 500 people. When they found this man his was the lowest of the low, looked down on by everyone in the village. RICE taught him how to raise pigs. He is able to prepare their food and feed them, he can tell when they are sick by touch and he is able to go to market and choose the best piglets. Now he is the wealthiest man in the village and highly respected! He is the only one to have a house made from cement. It was incredible to meet him and his family.



RICE also goes to local villages and teaches them updated methods of farming. They have a health program where they accompany villagers to hospital to make sure they are taken care of. When people go to hospital on their own they are often left for days without being attended to. If they are in the company of an NGO representative they are seen immediately because they are kept accountable by someone who is considered important... (obviously more important than the villager). There are photos of my visit to RICE here.

For the following day I visited the world heritage site of Angkor Wat and the other amazing temples just out of Siem Reap. The rest of my time was spent reading, enjoying the pool at Palm Village and riding a bicycle around the dirt roads surrounding us. By the time I was packing my bag to leave, I had fallen in love with Cambodia. The people are very gentle and affectionate and I love the pink earth... it gives everything a very soft look and turns a rich salmon colour after the rain. You can see all the rest of my Cambodia photos here.

Adventures Part 2

So, continuing on from my last entry...

I left Bangkok after breakfast the morning after the tour finished, taking a taxi to the Mochit bus terminal. It was a multi-storied mass of people and ticket booths and I had no clue where to start looking for the one little booth selling tickets to Lom Sak. So, eenie meenie miny moe seemed the most logical approach and one that worked extremely well as, by a small miracle, I ended up at the booth right beside the Lom Sak ticket seller. Triumphant and relieved I took myself, luggage and ticket to the seating area and waited patiently for my bus departure time in just over an hour. I didn't think to ask any questions regarding the trip, so by the time I had been on the bus for over an hour I had no idea if there was even a toilet on the bus. Two hours in to the 6 hour+ trip and this very question began to plague me. It was time for charades. The lady next to me shook her head in a very discouraging manner and as my bladder continued to call for attention I began to feel increasingly alert (but not alarmed). Would we be stopping then, perchance? More shakes of the head. As alarm began to take hold, I suddenly had all manner of things to say about the Thai transport system as more and more people piled onto the bus, squeezing down the aisles and making the way to the non-existent toilet impassable even if there was one. At this point, I began to make an inventory of my options which ranged from bringing out my inner-crazy-foreigner who would make a scene and stop the bus, to silently wetting my pants. The situation was so unthinkable actually, that I decided to seek answers further afield and swung around to ask the man behind me the same two questions. Toilet? No. We stop soon? Yes, 15 minutes. Yes? 15 minutes??? Halleluiah, praise the Lord! I was so thrilled I thought I would burst with joy. There was a touch and go moment when 15 minutes became 20 became 30, but we did finally stop and it was then that I was overcome with a deep and abiding happiness. Even after we got back on the bus with another 3 hours to go (which turned out to be 4), I was just joyful. I didn't drink anything for the rest of the trip but everything in the world was just fine.

We arrived in Lom Sak as the sun was preparing to set and still feeling very pleased with the state of affairs, I found myself a tuk tuk to take me to the Grand Natirat Hotel. After the lovely places we stayed at during the tour, the 'Grand' part of the hotel's name seems a little unwarranted but it was a place to lay the head for the night and I had the best massage ever in their dingy little massage room.

The next morning I made my way to the town centre in search of chemist for electrolytes and internet cafe to check my emails and found both thanks to a kind English man who happened to be walking down the street and had been living in the town for 5 years with his Thai wife... I suspect Lom Sak doesn't see many foreigners so he was an unexpected but welcome sight.



Back at the hotel I was ready with my luggage at 1pm to be picked up by a lady from Mercy International - an organisation that Crossroads sent a container to in 2004. Pawinee, (the director and founder of Ban Meata in Lom Sak), chatted to me about the work of Mercy as we drove out to Ban Meata (House of Mercy) about 30 minutes away. When they started in Lom Sak 19 years ago, there was nothing but a patch of dry and unusable land where now there an oasis of beautifully kept gardens, several dams, a small farm, children's village and a school. They now have paved roads and electricity and Ban Meata is even marked on the map as a village. The whole locality has benefited from the infrastructure that Mercy has put into place at Ban Meata.

Pawinee showed me around the school first, pointing out items that had come from Crossroads including furniture and computers. They have just added a high school to their infants and primary and now have 1000 students and growing each year. Every day they provide a free lunch for all the students as well as a free bus to pick up children for school each day. They are currently extending the high school to accommodate the new grades as they start each successive year, and have a vision to open a university in about 5 years. Next Pawinee took me to see their cows and goats. There are about 60 cows, with 12 calves born this year already. They teach the children how to care for them, particularly those that don't excel academically and who will probably become farmers when they leave school. The cows are adorable with big floppy ears and docile personalities. They're not uptight like our cows!



Next we drove down the road a bit to the farmland where they have two fish farms and food crops of about 20 different kinds, including bananas, papaya, lime, tamarind and mango. With these crops they can feed the children and sell any excess for income (especially the fish). They are also growing teak for future income.

Lastly, we went to the children's village and I was able to play with the kids for a little while before dinner. There are currently about 90 children living there (I think), from babies to teenagers. Most of them are orphans, and all come from difficult or tragic situations where parents have died from AIDS or are in jail or have been left by their spouse and have become just too poor to take care of their children. They really thrive at Ban Meata though, in the loving care they receive from their 'house mums' and other adults who work there.



By the time dinner was ready, another girl, Sherie, from Australia arrived also who comes to volunteer at Ban Meata every year and hopes to return long term with her husband in the future. We had dinner with the children and then played with them until it started to get dark. They were incredibly affectionate with both of us - it was a very special experience for me!

I stayed overnight in the volunteer's dorm and after a leisurely breakfast with Sherie the next morning, Pawinee drove me back into Lom Sak. I took the bus to Khon Kaen which is where I would be meeting my sponsor child the next day. Knowledge is power and now that I knew to expect a toilet-less bus I had the power within me to not drink during the 4 hour trip. It was hardly surprising that I didn't really even need to go when we stopped half way, but I went anyway! I arrived in Khon Kaen in plenty of time to off-load the luggage and have a look around the town for the afternoon, feeling very excited about meeting my sponsor child Tor the next day.

In the morning director from Tor's project and the translator were waiting for me in the hotel lobby. They were clearly very excited about me being there and we chatted for a bit about the day ahead. I asked if they might be able to help me buy something for the family before we went. I had in mind something like a pig or a goat perhaps... but Sadjit, the project director, said that they really need clothes and that she would take me to 'Big C' to get some things. OK, great! It turns out my translator, Daeng, was an AFS exchange student in Tasmania some years ago. He was delighted to meet Another Fat Student, when I told him I went to Japan with AFS for a year (long time ago now). At Big C Sadjit helped me to buy clothes for Tor, his sister Peung, father and grandfather as well as some bulk milk, shampoo, ovaltine and some other essentials.



As we were driving east of Khon Kaen to Chiang Yun where Tor lives, they told me that I was the first sponsor visit they have had to their project and they even went out and bought a camera for the day. Sadjit took a phone call and then said that apparently there weren't that many people waiting to greet me because many were away for the New Year. I wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about because I had had visions of driving out to a little house in the middle of some rice fields and certainly wasn't expecting any welcoming committee. In actual fact, we went straight to the Chiang Yun church which partners with Compassion to implement the sponsorship progam in this area. What a surprise to find about 60 people there waiting to greet me, with "Sawasdeekaaaaa's" and necklaces of flowers. I felt like the queen coming to town, which was strange to say the least. Amidst all the excitement I was introduced to Tor and his grandfather and all manner of other people and then ushered upstairs to their main meeting room. Some of the children danced and then Sadjit introduced me to everyone and had me come up and say a few things which was also a little unexpected, but I bumbled my way through! They gave me some gifts including a very loud pink Hawaiian-style shirt they insisted I don immediately. Many people wear them during the New Year water festival celebrations and as half of them were wearing similar shirts and we were about to have a mini water festival of our own, it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.



Outside we sat in a long row while the children came past us pouring water in our hands, rubbing powder on our cheeks and blessing us for the new year. A much more tame version of what would be happening all over Thailand in a few days, where the whole population would be drenched and powdered from top to bottom with new year joy. After drying off a little Daeng and Sadjit took me out with Tor and his grandfather to meet his father and sister at their house. It wasn't in the centre of a rice paddy at all but in a street just off the main road of the town. It was a 2 story wooden house, with the main living area downstairs (I think many Thais use the upstairs for storage because it's so hot up there, but I'm not completely sure)... downstairs they had a mattress-less double bed where all four of them sleep, a cupboard and a tv. I'm guessing the cooking area would have been out the back. Tor's mother left with a man to live in Germany and doesn't send the family any money. His grandmother died a couple of years ago. The father and grandfather drink a lot apparently. His father makes about AU$25 a week as a town garbage collector. Tor's grandfather is the primary care giver as the father is working and in Bangkok a bit with his new wife who lives there. His grandfather clearly loves the children dearly, but he is quite frail and I think life must be very hard for him.

We sat on a bench at the front of the house and I gave out the things I bought for them at Big C as well as some things I brought from Australia for the kids. Then the grandfather presented me with a beautiful piece of handmade silk cloth that his late wife had woven. I was extremely humbled as it was probably one of their prized possessions.



We took Tor, Peung and their grandfather out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. The food was so 'Thai Spicy' that I cried and sniffled my way through the meal much to their amusement. What got me was that no-one else got so much as a teary eye, including the children. Making conversation with the kids was difficult because they were so shy and I could only draw out muffled one-word answers. But I suspect that having lunch with a big snivelling foreigner would have been quite an event in their lives.

We stopped by the church to pick up a few more people who all piled in the back of the ute, and then drove for an hour to a village famous for its snakes. They run shows in which teenagers dance with snakes around their necks and even put them in their mouths. Then men come on and 'fight' with the snakes which was really the snake being provoked into striking when it clearly would rather have been heading for the hills. As the snake would attempt to 'exit stage left' it would be poked and prodded until it flared and attempted to strike the man who would then gallantly leap back to safety. All a bit galling really, but the main objective was to give Tor a nice day out, so as long as that was happening, it was all good. After we got the kids ice creams we headed back to Tor's house and said our farewells. His grandfather took both my hands in his and said that he couldn't express how much it meant to him that I came to visit them. He was so vulnerable and heartfelt I wanted to ball. I tried to let him know what it meant for me to come and meet them all. It was an amazing experience. I would have liked to hang out with them at home more and gotten to know them and play with them. Maybe next time!



I spent the later afternoon at the church with Sadjit and Daeng before we headed back to Khon Kaen for a hot pot dinner. There were 3 other project workers with us and when they took me back to my hotel, they all came into the lobby to farewell me. One by one they took my hands and expressed their gratitude that I came to visit Tor. I was so touched by their humility and by all the hard work they put into the children in the project. I left them feeling like I had made good friends who I can hopefully visit again in the future.

I was very grateful that Sadjit and Daeng were constantly reaching for my camera to capture every moment. You can see my photos here.

The next morning I had only a couple of hours spare before my flight to Cambodia, via Bangkok, but I managed to squeeze in a flying visit to Ban Meata's orphanage for HIV+ children. You can see all my Ban Meata photos here.

Will write about Cambodia in my next post...

Adventures Part 1

I'm back! (in Hong Kong)... The longer I leave my blog update, the harder it is to know where to begin the chronicles of my stay in Australia and 3 week adventure to Thailand and Cambodia. Starting with Australia, it was great to have time to catch up with friends and family. Whenever I go back to Manly in particular I feel like I’ve really arrived. Inhaling that fresh salty air brings up random pieces of memory - from early childhood to more recent experiences with Pa - all in a moment… and then in the next breath I’m back in the present creating a new memory for the next time I come.

Enough sentimentality, (I love Manly)… I had the chance to stay with dad in Sydney for about 10 days, then up to mum’s for 2 weeks on the Central Coast during which time we both went up to see Tina in Bellingen for a few days. Lastly, mum and I flew to Perth for a flying visit to see Phil for about 5 days. For lots of photos and a few more details click here.



I flew straight to Bangkok from Perth and started my time in Thailand with a 9 day Intrepid tour. Beginning and ending in Bangkok we went to Chiang Mai, a Hmong village, Sukhothai and Kanchanaburi (River Kwai) in between. There were 12 people on the tour (including me and my friend Mel from Hong Kong) and our leader was a Thai girl called Dream. Of all the places we visited I think Chiang Mai was my favourite, for its very bohemian atmosphere, incredible night market and wonderful side-street shops (including great clothes and silver jewellery).

We did a Thai cooking class there as well. I must say, my expectation was to be a little bored with it, but it turned out to be one of the (many) highlights of the trip. The teacher demonstrated how to make one dish at a time (6 in all), then we went to our individual cooking stations where all the ingredients were there ready for us. We cooked our dish with plenty of advice close to hand throughout, and then all sat down to eat our creations. While the next dish was demonstrated, our mess was being cleaned up and the next ingredients prepared. Tell you, it’s a great way to cook. I’d do it every night if it was that much fun. As you can imagine we were rather stuffed and ready for a digestive nap by the end of 6 dishes, but my mind and senses had been awakened to a whole new appreciation of Thai cuisine. Eating in Thailand from then on took on new meaning, over and above the mantra ‘no too spicy!’. We even got a cookbook to take home with us that included all the dishes we made and many more.

The variety of transport we took during the tour was fab, including a ferry down the Chao Phraya River, overnight sleeper train, motor tuk tuk, minivan, bus, elephant, bicycle, River Kwai diesel train, bike tuk tuk, and taxi. [That last one was to take me to the Tourist Police Station in the middle of the night to report my lost camera on the last day of the tour. Oh well, been there done that before (see November 2007 blog entry). I wasn’t that cool about it at the time. It was more akin to the emotion of losing an arm but anyway, I’ve moved on… There were a lot of photos on my camera at the time, so be thankful that you have less photos to look through than you would have had. Fortunately I had 2 cameras with me. I lost my little snappy - fits in your pocket, take it when you don’t want to carry the extra weight - one and still had my bigger heavier one for the rest of my trip.] I tell you what, the traffic in Thailand is mad. Crossing the road is truly terrifying for the uninitiated. After wasting much time in my efforts to get to the other side of many a road, I finally started doing it like the Thais. It’s a bit like crossing through the Red Sea in that it’s only once you step out that the river parts. It sounds (and looks) incredibly dangerous, but somehow it works. Even if there happens (in a rare instance) to be a pedestrian button and the light indicates you can go, the traffic only stops if you make the first move. Well, I lived to tell the tale!



I completely fell in love with the elephants at the conservation park. They are so smart, and so leathery and cute. Their hair is like wire but the tips of their trunks are soft like pillows. They must have great digestive systems because they eat bananas with the skin on and corn with all the husks. The elephant ride wasn’t so comfortable but it was the romance of it all.

That evening we staying at Hmong Lodge which is hidden away in the hills near a Hmong Village, which we actually visited but alas, pics were on the small camera. It was a bit uncomfortable walking though the village feeling like a big fat rich tourist. All the kids ran out of their houses and set up little stalls with handicrafts they have made to sell to all the tourists that pass through. For the most part, the adults all stayed hidden indoors. I can't say I blame them.

Our day in Sukhothai – the old capital of Thailand – was spent cycling around a vast area to look at different ruins of temples and things. It was all completely flat and mostly under the shade of big trees. The gentle breeze blowing through the helmetless hair was fantastic – I just wanted to keep cycling, although the ruins were quite interesting and worth getting off the bike for. I had some great shots from that day out but alas, they were on my little camera.



Kanchanburi was fascinating. It’s where the Bridge over the River Kwai is, with the Death Railway and that whole sorry saga. I didn’t really have much idea about the reality of what happened even though I watched the movie before I went as my small effort to research my tour destination. What a tragedy! It’s difficult to comprehend how a human heart can become so hard as to enable it to commit such horror against other human beings. The history museum set up by the Australian government was really worth the visit. Afterwards you can take a headset with you and walk down to ‘hellfire pass’ listening to more history and personal accounts of POWs who were forced to work on the railway. Truly mind boggling.

We finished our tour with an all-you-can-eat buffet style dinner cruise down the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. We had a great group with ages ranging from 28 to 88. Mary was an inspiration to us all. She was there with her son and daughter and daughter-in-law. None of the rest of us would have guessed her age. What an amazing lady! George was the fittest which put the rest of us to shame especially as he’s 76 - he was off doing an optional uphill bike ride one day that none of the rest of us was up to. Well, Mel and I were the tallest, so there’s a claim to fame. Not that that’s anything new... The photo of me next to a very short Hmong tribe lady was, alas on my little camera, so you’ll just have to imagine the height difference of me next to someone well under 5 feet. She made Dream look tall (much to Dream’s delight).

So, have a look at the photos here. At least this is a start of my chronicles and I shall continue with the rest of my time in Thailand and then Cambodia hopefully next weekend…

Gung Hey Fat Choy...

...sounds like something to do with an overweight cabbage, but it's a Chinese New Year exclamation meaning something like "luck and prosperity!"

Here are Kate's 10 top facts about Chinese New Year:

1. This year is the year of the Rat (Chinese years are based on a lunar calendar with 12 zodiac signs – all animals)

2. CNY is one of the most important celebrations of the year. It is a time for the Chinese to spend with their families. The period around Chinese New Year is the time of the largest human migration, when migrant workers in China, as well as overseas Chinese around the world, travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year's eve.

3. People set off firecrackers and wear red to celebrate (originally these were used as deterrents to evil spirits)

4. FOOD is very important at CNY:
- Long noodles represent longevity
- Fish is eaten because the Chinese character for money came from the character for fish
- Round foods indicate wealth (coin shape)
- Other round foods such as meatballs emphasise togetherness
- Sometimes a soup with hair like black sea moss is served (This is because the name sounds like ‘get rich’ in Chinese)
- Sweet foods eg candies and seeds are eaten to symbolise a new year filled with sweetness

5. Married people give away new money in red packets to children and single people. This symbolises wealth and prosperity in the coming year. (Some would argue that this should be fact#1)

6. The streets and shops are all decorated with special lights, flowers and even special New Year trees which symbolise wealth and prosperity. Flower markets are open all night (until 5am) on Chinese New Years Eve so that families can buy fresh flowers and plants for their homes.

7. People often clean house and throw out “old” items before Chinese New Year (This is part of the reason why Crossroads does so well in Hong Kong as there really is no second hand market.) Shops also have big sales to clear out stock from last year.

8. People use Chinese New Year to calculate their age rather than their actual birth date

9. All food must be prepared before New Year’s Day. People don’t use scissors or knives on New Year because it might sever the luck or the prosperity.

10. Chinese people make lots of different visits during CNY, with a special timing for each. A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far away, get together for the celebration. The venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous. The first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents. The second day of the Chinese New Year is for married daughters to visit their birth parents. There are 15 days of visits and celebrations, culminating in a Lantern Festival on the 15th day. These are the traditional red Chinese lanterns, and are different to the lanterns that we see at mid-Autumn festival.



To help us to get into the festive mood at Crossroads, apart from having a 5 day long weekend, we had a large group hotpot night. The authentically Chinese version of this consists of having a plastic cloth covered table with all-plastic bowls and utensils and a toilet roll in the place of serviettes. Then we have a boiling pot of water with some sort of tasty broth in it, and plates of raw meat and veg (like thin strips of beef and pork, fish balls, cabbage leaves, lotus root, noodlesque mushrooms, tofu, rice noodles etc...) Then the one/s closest to the pot make sure that what's cooked gets distributed and what's not cooked goes in the pot, hopefully in one lovely continuous movement of raw and cooked food passing back and forth between all concerned. It's great fun once the first lot has gone around and the supply begins to exceed demand, so that you just keep refilling as required. Some say you end up so full on such 'light' food cos you eat it slowly in little lots... but my person theory is that it's simply so tasty and there's absolutely no way to keep track of how much you've eaten, that actually in the end it amounts to Rather A Lot.

Some of us enjoyed the hot pot night so much that we had another go at Philski's place a few days later:





Other than hotpot, it was interesting seeing the sudden emergence of the many fruit trees, flowers and lanterns that decorated all the local shops and apartment buildings (see photo at top)... I enjoyed a long weekend of pottering around the house, painting one of my walls blue and seeing The Kite Runner which I can highly recommend - although it's not a light and fluffy, you might need to take some tissues.

I've been flat out at work ever since the CNY break, trying to get as much done as possible before I go away (Australia / Thailand / Cambodia). The main project I'm working on at the moment is the artwork for Helen Mottee's new album which is currently being recorded in Hong Kong and Australia. It's full of songs addressing many humanitarian issues (child soldiers, refugees, AIDs, orphans, poverty, landmines etc.) and the proceeds will be going to support some of the organisations dealing with these issues. It's an exciting project to be involved in and I'm really enjoying the process of putting together the 16 page booklet that will accompany the disc.

My update wouldn't be complete without a brief weather update. It's definitely warming up. Even the birds are sounding more perky in the morning. I've done away with my thermals, although (whimp that I am) still warming the bed up with the electric blanket at night. But summer is definitely on the way. Meanwhile, we've had some seriously 'hazy' days lately. Here is a photo I took last summer:


Here is the same view, last week: