TravelStream™ news feed for member chuang84 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/chuang84 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 02 May 2009 03:01:34 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1241246040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1241246040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1241246040/tpod.html Sat, 02 May 2009 03:01:34 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Phuket, Thailand

Well, after a productive week in Bangkok meeting with various foundations and fun relaxing adventures in Kanchanaburi, I make my way back to Phuket via an entirely empty Bangkok Airways flight. Donning a surgical mask to protect others from my nasty sinus infection and avoid any migrating swine flu, I make it thru to the Phuket Airport in no time at all. This past year, I've found myself in transit during high-risk situations - Maoist rebels in Nepal, bus bombings in India, Olympic protests in China, the government coups in Thailand, and a frequent flyer during this newest and latest red alert, the swine flu. But, ever the opportunist and optimist ;), I must say, if there's ever a time to travel and take advantage of hotel discounts, there's nothing like visiting a city in a declared State of Emergency. Fewer tourists, wonderful hotel service, free upgrades, low airfares, shopping discounts. The works! So I would encourage anyone, if interested, to hit up Thailand while the going here is rough..cuz it's not actually that rough, it's better. This country is a wonderful place with awesome people and they could really use your business! Don't let a few burning buses and riots stop you. It's a city of 10 million, and a country of 60. There's a lot else to see. Ignore all those high alert, "most dangerous countries" list, at least in regards to Thailand. There are so many wonderful amazing places and things here that its very sad to see the chaos of a fledgling democracy and a few thousand protestors strangling the country back into poverty. I've met so many people who have recently lost their jobs and while food is plentiful here, jobs are increasingly less so. And CNN, BBC, and all the global press agencies out there, are being less than honest about the situation. And its sad to see first-hand the effect sensationalist reporting can have on destroying a country's economy.

Pardon the rant ☺. Anyways, I returned to Phuket in a jiffy and found myself sitting in customs for two hours waiting for a shipment of Legos and toys from the States, from the Sidgmores. I was sooo excited to obtain the shipment, that exorbitant customs fees, a splitting sinus infection, and two hours of dilly dallying around and signing paperwork that I can not read, could not stifle my excitement at delivering the goods to Jump Start school. When they finally brought me to my beloved shipment, I tore open to boxes to see any child's dream. Gigantic containers of legos reading for the building! I take a cab straight to the school and drop off the toys.

The next day I come to class and show the kid the books. They're fascinated by the pictures and the drawings and while they can't read, there's enough books with cool images to fascinate them for quite some time.

In the afternoon, after lunch, I take two kids aside to really work with them rigorously and hopefully improve their retention rates in this small group setting. We lounge on the bean bags in the library room and I bring out a Bob Builder serial learning book for first graders. They're around 10 years old but illiterate. So we begin reading and I start a little bit of phonetics work. Sounding out letters and understanding how to associate the letter with the sound that it makes in a word. Very difficult to do. But nonetheless we charge through two books that only have words that rhyme with sat. Cat sat. Sam sat. Sam sat on the cat. Sam sat on Pat. The kids loved the action pictures in the book and by the end they were spelling out the words, reading it, then reading the whole sentence! I was sooooo excited...and they were too. It was amazing to see the confidence and pride on their faces. I just hope that by next week, it won't all have been forgotten.

After about 40 minutes of reading, I let the two kids open up the boxes of legos. Sunawain, she immediately takes to the directions and begins building a pirate prison and is well on her way to completion! Muzza-oo, wild, rambunctious, and dressed currently in a Shadow Ninja outfit as his school uniform, finds the remnants of police boats, pirate ships, and an armada strong enough for a government coup. It was delightful working in a small group and I feel that with just a few of these new resources the kids made enormous strides in their potential and opened their eyes to new ways to read, to learn, to play, and to occupy their time. It was a wonderful few days!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1239789720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1239789720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1239789720/tpod.html Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:23:27 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Phuket, Thailand

Well, since it's Songkran, and most people head home to their families or home villages, the cooks at Life Home Project have the week off. The women here and I have been cooking some basic omelettes and rices dishes but I decided to go, well, American and treat Life Home to some spaghetti for dinner and pancakes for breakfast.

It's a bit startling when youre suddenly not sure if the industrial sized Thai manufactured bag of tomato paste you're pouring into the pot is ketchup, tomato paste, or thai chili sauce. But it turned out wonderfully since tomatoes in Thailand are super delicious and fresh and we went to the market to buy fresh basil, mushrooms, tomatoes, and well, there's about 10 kilos of garlic in kitchen storage. Basil was quite difficult to find as I didn't know its name in Thai and went through the market sniffing every basil-like looking vegetable to the puzzlement of the vendors. Needless to say, it went over well or at least everyone was being really nice by having seconds and thirds. Only the toddler had a little difficulty understanding how to consume a noodle! Rice is much more conducive to the baby spoon.

Then today I made pancakes....in a wok. And since we didn't have butter, they were more "stir-fried" than anything. And since there's only one wok, it was a rather slow process.

But, the batter settles quite nicely in that round bottom in the center and the oil gives the pancakes a nice golden yummy glow!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1239605880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1239605880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1239605880/tpod.html Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:10:44 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Phuket, Thailand

Today I had the most wonderful adventures, unexpected, unplanned, and so fun! Now is Songkran, a Thai holiday where traditionally people return home and pay their respects to Buddha and to their parents, clean house, clean body and mind. Symbolically, people wash their hands with holy water as a cleansing act...but it has since turned into an all out nationwide water festival...coincidentally marking the beginning of the blistering-unbearable-skin-searing-tropic-hot season. Super soakers, water guns, hoses all abound...as do enormous water tanks - like industrial sized water tanks placed on pick ups and zooming around town. People congregate around these human sized fish tanks and splash water on passer by - going out of their way to step into the streets and induce a honking bleeping good-natured traffic jam in order to hose down anyone within hose-reach. Pick-ups with water buckets and people in their backs engage in water wars while driving with other trucks and with pedestrians on the side. The first shower of water is a little shocking but fortunately I had waterproofed my electronics and put on a bathing suit for the day.

In the afternoon I set out for Mai Khao beach where the JW Marriott was doing a Songrkan Turtle release in which they released 100 baby sea turtles into the ocean. Mai Khao beach is where turtles come to nest but w/ increasing development, fewer and fewer turtles are coming back. Marriott has started a conservation and breeding program to counteract this problem. I set out in search of this beach only to get lost, over shoot, then undershoot the turn off and proceed to witness a reveling Songkran pick-up swerve into a ditch (everyone was okay) and get an itchy motorbike sun burn on my forearms from all the driving. I arrive at the Marriott, am redirected randomly to another remote place on the beach where I discover some amazing untouched stretches of sand but no baby turtles, alas. A little dejected, I stop at the JW lobby to ask about the release (amaaaazing hotel by the way). I'm way too late (a Huang tradition) and am told the Turtle release wasn't at the hotel, but at Mai Khao village - who knows where...so a little frustrated I decide to take a look at the hotel complex and well, since I was soaking wet anyways, take a little dip in their heavenly pool, float around on the waves of the gorgeous beach for a bit, and take a cooling outdoor shower. I wasn't a guest per se...I was in December and only for the night so I'm cashing in on the last time when Mimi and I didn't realllly make use of their facilities. It's a beautiful luxurious hotel that makes you feel like a millionaire even if you came scooting in dirty and soaking on a motorbike and entered via the servants entrance cuz what tourists there have motorbikes at the Marriott?

After that massive failure I decide to make the most of my hour long drive to N. Phuket and take the long winding road back south that hugs the coastline. It's not just a coastline, it's mountainous and curvy and the drive was beautiful winding through cool willowy rubber tree plantations, up and down with sea level views of pounding waves and sunburning tourists, to soaring panoramic views of the coastline for miles. I learned a lot of valuable lessons today. And #1 is that you can't climb a hill in 3rd gear, and when the signs say use "low gear" they mean 2 gear. Not 3...There's no quirkier feeling than the one when you slowly feel your bike just puttering to a stop in the middle of the steepest hill you've driven on and you can't go up but your back is facing down and you feel a little embarrassed as motorbikes laden with 3 Thais whiz by you. I turn my bike around - uncertain if my engine was still running - and coast back down the hill to try again. The fried chicken vendor at the bottom of the hill smiled knowingly and I took a deep breath and prayed that shifting down from 3 to 2 and accelerating at the same time wouldn't result in the combustion of my bike.

I made it and the result was Nai horn beach an awesome secluded area with low key restaurants and great views...and as I putt putted a few kilometers further south I saw a few bikes parked randomly at the top of a steep hill with no building, nothing around. Just a small placard saying "Banana Beach." I was constantly on the lookout for hidden beaches fit for discovery and thought perhaps this was a sign...literally. So I park my bike and jump the guardrail and find a small steep mosquito infested trail down hill and tumble down into a mini oasis of sorts - a beach with maybe 6 people on it and a tiny family restaurant with a few beach chairs and fresh fruit smoothies. Banana beach was a delight as I treated myself to a watermelon pineapple smoothie, dug my toes in the sand, and explored the 500 meter long sandy beach with rolling waves, fun scaling rocks, and side shimmying sand crabs. So awesome!

Back on the bike again, the road begins to flatten out, and I'm once again bombarded by Songkran water warriors...repeatedly my bike is stopped and I'm forced to take repeated dousings of water which is quite refreshing due to the afternoon heat. At one point, post-douse, I stop driving to bring out my camera and snap photos of one group of people congregating outside a village store...One side of the road is a small clustering of houses and an enormous trash dump! The other side is a fancy beautiful cookie cutter gated community with no stirring of activity visible. But as my motorbike is slowed to a halt,k I'm consequently ushered into their water posse and invited to participate in the dousing! It was nice to be the "douser" for a while and simultaneously douse others and self to keep cool. It was a mix of kids and adults drawing water from hoses and trash. The kids were adooorable and had a grand time dousing the American. Taking a break, I was invited to munch on fried-chicken and sticky rice, and som-tam, and some Leo Thai drinks...I spent a few hours with these kids and villagers, in a random rotation of chillin, getting soaked with water, eating, hanging out, talking getting more soaked, eating again, and feeding the baby, and jamming to "Let's Get Retarded" and Justin Timberlake and Fergie blasting on the state-of-the-art sound system they some how have, despite the dilapidated and relatively squalorous condition of the houses. It was fun and the men had a great time trying to figure out how many boyfriends I had and if I would marry their son who was only 22 but very very tall and very good at muay thai (thai boxing). I head home a few hours later, shocked that my Songkran had turned out so interesting despite my having failed at doing the one thing I had planned to do! I tried to pay someone - it wasn't clear who owned the fried chicken, or sticky rice, or som tam, or drinks, or who was actually paying for the astronomical water bill, but everyone refused by $5 worth of Baht and told me to come back again, next year maybe. To plan my wedding to a muay Thai boxer...Maybe this means it'll be a good Thai year for me.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1238560740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1238560740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1238560740/tpod.html Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:44:53 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Phuket, Thailand

Today I saw the shocking glass eyed look of despair in a child. For the first time. And it was terrifying. When I left for the states in December, Tun Tun Oo was a twelve year old boy learning and growing and loving life. He could solve multiplication tables faster than I could write out problems for him. And he often found himself correcting my miscalculations in long division - a topic I've forgotten long ago. He has a crop of black wavy hair that bestowed him an aura of wisdom beyond his years and a look of seriousness that never left him even in a fun game of 1 v 1 dunk contests. He was one of my best most well-mannered students with a voice that hadn't yet matured but exuded a perspicacious invaluable mind.

Last week Lek informed me that Tun Tun Oo was no longer regularly attending class. Three months ago his parents pulled him out of school. He was 13 and it was time he started earning money. They sent him out on a fishing boat with his father to learn the fishing trade.

I saw him yesterday. And today. Lek told him that whenever he had the chance, he was welcome to come to class even if it wasn't regularly. He started coming back a little bit last week.

He was changed. Because he was not ready to enter the harsh hopeless world of his father - to look that future in this eyes and be pushed through that bleak decrepit porthole into a world that would one day be his, that was becoming his at that instant, and didn't require any of the skills that he was so good at and would never utilize the knife like mind he one day hoped he could use.

He's eyes once brimming with pride and eagerness to answer my questions now avoided making eye contact with me and looked as if any second tears would be pouring from his eyes, just as fast as the monsoons came this season. Slouching against the wall and staring into some unknown void he did not mingle with the other students or make any effort to be a presence in any interaction. He for sure did not belong in a world of fishermen, a harsh world of boats and engines, alcohol and women, and fish and squalor but how could he feel at home in a school at the imaginable wrath of his parents.

It started raining and he ran outside where I followed him. He was putting a bicycle under an awning and I realized that he no longer came in the van that picked up and delivered the children from their homes to school. He was biking here of his own will. And perhaps against the will of his mother, his father, his family. Their only measure of value in him was his existence as a body to haul in a barrel of fish and cast a net that would reel in maybe two dollars a day. It wasn't his mind. And that hurts. Because that's who he is.

I was told that one day when he was at the school his sister came to the iron-wrought fencing of the school and started proclaiming that he wasn't supposed to be there; that he really should be fishing and making money. I thought perhaps she was older, maybe a parent figure, expected. But she was 8. Eight years old and having been indoctrinated by her parents into thinking that her brother, attending school, was in the wrong. That making a few hundred dollars off the sweat off his back was worth more than this free education and an open future and thousands of dollars and possibilities more.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237572240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237572240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237572240/tpod.html Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:41:58 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Bangkok, Thailand

The past few days have been busy and super fruitful...I am so excited for what lays ahead.

I flew up to Bangkok in order to meet with my PI from the Thai Ministry of Public Health-CDC Collaboration in Bangkok and am to begin working on a research paper on immunology and genetics in HIV+ intravenous drug users in Bangkok. The statistics and math stuff are wayyyy over my head but my PI seems to be fully aware that I could write her a chapter on olive oil and the vascular system from memory but that she still needs to refresh me on genes, alleles, antigens ahhhhh. I think I've read an entire textbook in one week. I never even did that in college. (Sorry mom!)

But....what's really been truly exciting was that same day, I received an email from the little itty bitty Yale Club in Thailand about a reception that evening at some sort of swank hotel in a clubby area of Bangkok. Yale gets it done. Open bar....but being the "newbie" and "Baby" of the group refrained from cashing in and gave the vouchers to Pui who came with. But there was....free food.

Turns out that this reception was hosted by the Global Social Enterprise Club at the Yale School of Management and Yale Forestry and Environmental Studies. It's a club that for spring break spends two weeks in a developing, nearly developed country, and provides "pro-bono consulting services to international non-profit, public and private sector organizations with the goal of making a positive social impact......" (straight from their website)

This was a blessing in absolutely no disguise.....because two days before, I was generously granted funding to establish a library/learning center for disadvantaged kids in Phuket! This meeting means that this library is meant to be! I am thrilled because this project means a lot to me and the donors but the planning, implementation, and business models necessary to make it sustainable, are really foreign concepts to me.

Everyone was encouraging and thrilled with this library project and felt free to give me tips and advice and contacts for the project...and this was just the tip of what I hope is a large iceberg...a glacier is really what I need.

And since that meeting, I've been involved in a whirlwind of progress with still more to come. Someone suggested I attend a completely separate unaffiliated program the next day - the Southeast Asian chapter of the Global Social Ventures Competition (http://www.gsvc.org/) sponsored by Thammasat Business School and by AirAsia (which ironically refused to let me change my flight that day in order to attend the conference.)

Speakers included the founders of Kiva (check out kiva.org), a Clinton Initiative Representative on Environmental Issues, the Founder of the World Toilet Organization, a leader of Ashoka Asia Pacific, the Founder and CEO of Change Fusion (an awesome Thai based social entrepreneurial consultant firm) and the former Governor of Bangkok and current advisor to the prime minister. It was an awesome panel discussing the changing economy and the motives for investments. Namely, accentuated by the collapse of Wall Street, more than ever socially mindful investments can be both socially and financially productive. Donations and philanthropy work may be declining, yet people are still looking to place their money somewhere and investing in a social enterprise nowadays may be more worth the while than investing in a hedge fund. Loaning a Cambodian silk weaver $500 and getting it all back and more is a little more appealing than handing it off to Wall Street's sinking ship.

Even the Governor was interesting to listen too and hear his perspective on moving from his post at Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola to Climate Change and public policy...if only he saw all those Frito Lay bags piling up in trash cans on the street.....

Anyways, more importantly, this meeting allowed for lots of networking with people who's passion and work is all about establishing ventures that have a social impact AND a positive financial return. Some Yalies I met prior, introduced me to the leaders and founders of various organizations that will greatly help with building this library.

The founder of Change Fusion took some time to detail to me the various library/literacy organizations that he's worked with and I'll be meeting with a Change Fusion rep this weekend to see in what ways they can help me out. (www.changefusion.org)

I'm also heading over to check out a learning center, the Goodwill Group, that provides English language lesson and skills training for disadvantaged women. I'm heading over with the founder of the Thai Young Philanthropist Network, Ada who couldn't stop thanking me for trying to do what I'm doing while I couldn't stop thanking her for showing me around and giving me more people to contact in Thailand.

I received positive feedback via phone as well from the Rotary Club of Phuket and hope something will come of my meeting with them on Monday. By the way...are Rotary Clubs all male? I can't figure it out.

I still need a lot of help with formulating a business plan and hope to use my meetings this weekend to begin that work. If anyone reading this has advice, suggestions, or contacts then the least bits of information would be appreciated. I know this library can get formed and I know I can do it! But I need lots of people for support and I know they're out there
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237962300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237962300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237962300/tpod.html Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:07:45 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Phuket, Thailand

I headed over to Katu to meet with Brad Kinney, the service committee chair for the Patong Rotary Club - which seems to consist of a large group of very large men (or perhaps just way above the Thai height average) in Phuket who are really dedicated to various social causes. They've helped build libraries, rebuild remote Tsunami-destroyed areas of northern Phuket, ship in thousands of books, and distribute supplies including diapers and educational materials and provide lots of man power. Kinney suggested I put on a powerpoint presentation on my library project for the Rotary club and hopefully generate some support for delivering/ordering books, computers, materials or even just advice.

Yesterday I met him at a small school where the Rotary Club was working on painting a school. There were about 20 volunteers there clad in yellow Navy t-shirts and were fresh off the boat...from Honolulu via Singapore! It was a US Naval stop here in Phuket and a bunch of the naval corps signed up to do a service project which included painting a school for a few hours and delivering a lot of school and daycare supplies. It was awesome and fun to get covered in paint and see some Americans over here doing something socially conscious. Go America!

I spent the evening at the Saphan Hin Food Festival with the Life Home Project craft stall where we sold our cards, bags, t-shirts and other handicrafts as well as handed out free condoms. It was fun and we made some money which was great and hopefully put some condoms on some men ;)

There was also some deeelicious food stalls selling chicken rice, som tam - my new and deadly addiction, mango and sticky rice, delicious fresh fruit drinks of blended pineapple and watermelon and various other treats. Something got lost in translation when I ordered my som tam. "May Phet" I said; meaning "not spicy." And upon my first bite of the delicious papaya peanut salad, my mouth is on fire, my eyes start watering, and I'm ready to keel over. Drinking water, eating rice, or merely breathing seems to exacerbate the pain. My lips turn red and I spend a good hour trying to eat it because its delicious and fend off the spice because its so painful.

Of course there was the usual shockers - deep fried chicken feet and cooked ants eggs...There was a entire stall devoted to eggs. no chicken eggs in sight. Red ant eggs, fish egg, crab egg, frog egg.....goooo.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237610220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237610220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237610220/tpod.html Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:39:46 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Bangkok, Thailand

Late last night Pui and I after a long day of meetings and networking went to dinner at an Issan restaurant. I was in the mood for sticky rice and som tam. Sure enough by 9pm they had neither sticky rice and som tam. But the other dishes of fried morning glory and spicy eggplant were sufficient.

We wandered down to Soi Patpong only a block of way - another (in)famous touristy night market. Inching down the narrow stallways we pushed and bumped ourselves off the sweaty beer bellys of the ageing white-haired old foreigners dressed in board shorts (despite there being no beach around) practically smacking their lips in delight at the sight of cheap DVDs, pashiminas, useless knick knacks...and of course cheap "ping pong shows."

Pui told me how she and her boyfriend had come down to Patpong one night and a tout was telling them about a "tiger" show! Pui, excited to see the tigers nodded her head in excitement and she and her BF were led into a curtained bar room and she eagerly awaited to see this beast of nature. Instead out parade a dozen lethargically bobbing Thaigirls....sound it out....Tiger...Thai Girl...She put 2 and 2 together by the time the ladies had finished their "ping pong show" she and her boyfriend were outta there. Sorry Pui. No Tigers.

We wander to the end of the street catching through entryways of black velvet curtain a little taste of what's inside. Neon strobe lights flash out and through the slant of the curtain one can see small gaggles of boney Thai women clustered around a pole and gyrating unenthusiastically to loud techno beats.

We head over to the gay soi (gay street) where instead of Thai Girls, it's skinny Thai men in white boxer briefs. And never have I felt soooooooo ridiculous.

Do you remember the Little Mermaid ... when Ariel first enters Ursula's lair of doom to sell her voice for love. Upon entering she's being grabbed at from all sides by shrunken, shriveled, and moaning ex-merpeople rooted to Ursula's cave. I felt like Ariel...out of water...with no legs. Pui and I take one step into the gay boy soi and are pushed, touched, fondled, and caressed all the way down the soi as these Thai men try and force us into their respective go go boy club. It was awful and they grabbed your face and hands and neck to try and get you inside. UGH! I don't believe in tasers...but I wish I had one. I went home and immediately showered. I couldn't blame them....I was asking for it by consenting to go down that street. But, never ever ever again.


*******************

We decided to hit up the pool at the top floor of the hotel. We find the doors to the pool locked but behind a stairwell hear loud voices and singing. We think perhaps some other tourists have found a secret passage way to the pool through this small paneling in the wall that has been slid open and are drinking and chillin' on the roof. But no.

We climb up above the stairs into a low-ceilinged room - maybe 6 feet tall. We hear singing from what sounds like a group of young girls and a guy is chatting on the phone. None are speaking Thai. I thought maybe german....there were lots of "z"s. So we peek around the corner and see a family. And it broke my heart.

More than ever, this scenario gives fuel to the fire for making this library project in Phuket happen. It was a group of Burmese women and men who were working for the hotel. They had no place to live except in this sweaty humid hot wall space in the top level of the hotel underneath the pool. There were stacks of chairs and extra tables for the conference room. And two whirling fans as their only source of coolness. They had futons laid out on the floor and sweated out the nights singing Burmese songs with each other. It was truly heartbreaking as Pui and I in our hotel bathrobes watched in sadness as they gave us a slow smile and told us they didn't have a key to the pool. They were probably illegal. They couldn't afford housing. They were probably paid next to nothing. But I guess this is better than life in Burma.

This library and learning center can happen. And there is a population that needs it- desperately. I am even more now determined to get this off the ground.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237371360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237371360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237371360/tpod.html Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:18:13 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Phuket, Thailand

This week has been spent getting things set up including my mosquito net. Praise to the inventor of sub-mosquito sized meshing! Last year I slept - if at all - in fear of mosquitoes and spiders which inevitably found their way to my legs and arms every night. Now, I sleep like a baby...even better than the babies here and sometimes manage to ignore the rooster that never learned he's only supposed to crow when the sunrises. Not before. Arrrgh.

I have been teaching yoga to the women at Life Home and they're doing wonderfully! It's super important that the women do something physical in order to maintain their lean body mass. Working out increases their appetite, develops muscle, and hopefully highlights the importance of taking care of your body not just through medications but through fitness and diet.

I was delighted when I came back to the project and PiToo told me that now she runs every day for 30 minutes! I'm so proud of her. PiToo runs every evening and Yao and Pijaew have been busy with downward dog and warriors galore. Yoga is perfect for Yao considering she is blind and jogging or ball sports are just out of the question. And the fact that she's doing headstands and back bands with a diminished sense of balance is even more testament to her will!

The daycare kids also have taken quite a liking to discovering how they can distort their bodies in various ways, who's the longest standing "eagle" and rolling about on the ground. Needless to say, it's not exactly zen-like yoga energy...more like kindergarten gymboree energy. We just need the trampolines!

I also went back to the Asia Center school and was so happy to find that the walls had been painted by a group of volunteers and artists in Phuket. Every wall was decorated with Disney themes so Ariel, Simba, Mowgli and Baloo are peeping from the jungle foliage, the sun drenched Sahara and King Triton's kingdom! It's amazing the work that's happened here and the kids are as smiling and eager to learn as ever. There are a few more volunteers teaching here and I am excited to see how the kids are doing. I'll begin teaching next week every Thursday and Friday. Can't wait.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1236703860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1236703860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1236703860/tpod.html Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:02:14 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Bangkok, Thailand

Have you ever run into a wall? Well it's the same as exiting the plane into Bangkok's international airport after 25 hours of travel and spending the prior week in the arid snow bound Rockies, frolicking atop powdery mountains and weaving in and out of white-capped pines.

Bangkok is hot. And unfortunately for my skin, my deodorant expenses, and any non-cotton clothing, I seem to have forgotten this one fact. Culture shock indeed as my first night out with my friend Pui resulted in overwhelming waves of nausea after inhaling charcoal fumes infused with car exhaust, pungent chilies, minced pork, fried bananas, fried chicken, fried rice, fried fried fried fried....everything. To cure our post-Swensens ice cream binge, clearly the proper solution was to feed on 7-11 gas station food including green Pepsi (who knew!?), seafood spicy sour potato chips (surprisingly delicious) and a futile attempt at a double chocolate cookie (dry, crumbly and gross) while spying on our apartment neighbors from the balcony. There are 7-11's on every block and I swear they make a killing here more than in the US. From one blazing green sign you can see the next and at each you can buy your fresh dairy products, calling cards, movies, posters, sandwiches and Thai labeled products that I don't dare touch unless it looks like its only made of sugar.

So Bangkok is hot. And as Westerners we're very inclined to strip off whatever clothing we can and bask in the sunshine. Well in Thailand, of course, heaven forbid that the suns turns us a shade darker (that whole classism thing), everyone here insists on wearing pants and long shirts...meaning I shower at least 3 times a day just to cool down. At my apt so far, for the past four days, the maid service has insisted on turning off my air conditioning and leaving the windows open. Gooo! The only bare skin I see are those of - how shall I say this nicely - really old, sun burnt or pasty (depending on date of arrival), Euro men who shamelessly sport muscle tee's, sweat shorts, and a pretty Thai girl with little boy shorts.

But otherwise ☺, its good to be back and I'm eager to begin my work with Life Home Project. This second time round, to paraphrase a good friend Michael Sidgmore, you go in with a sharpened sense of purpose and a set of goals to drive you.

I have three goals for my four months here:

* Establish a sustainable support group for HIV+ women in Phuket. Via this network, I hope to:
·Discuss prevention and awareness techniques.
·Address coping and anxiety reduction skills through breathing, yoga, physical movement, as well as pre-emptive role play of future scenarios involving being HIV+.
·Practice cognitive behavioral stress management - replacing anxiety, anger, fear, sadness etc. with rational thought and explanation for such emotions.
·Encourage interpersonal support via the support group and opening up to others.
·Reduce social isolation with these weekly meetings.

* Work with the international NGO: Room to Read
·My goal is to at the very least to set the ball rolling for establishing a library for the local Burmese community.
·Burmese in Thailand have fled their homeland in search of better opportunities but face intense discrimination, lack healthcare, cannot afford an education, and are the lowest wage earners in Thailand.
·I teach at a newly formed school for Burmese kids. I work with a group of 10-13 year old Burmese refugees some of whom have never attended school before.
·The availability of a school or community library would greatly enhance their educational opportunities and guarantee them a safe place to learn and have fun instead of playing in the streets or being forced to labor with their parents.
·If you're interested in donating to Room to Read, an amazing organization, please check out their website at www.roomtoread.org or check out the book, Leaving Microsoft to Save the World by John Wood.

* My third project is working on a research paper that discusses the implications of a particular genetic makeup within the Thai population that has resulted in increased protection against contracting HIV despite this particular cohort having increased exposure to HIV from high drug use and sexual activity. I have very little knowledge on the subject but am planning on learning a ton and getting to see how research is done here in Thailand!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237004820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237004820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chuang84/2/1237004820/tpod.html Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:40:58 -0400 Thailand: Round Two

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Phuket, Thailand

At long last. Back at Life Home Project. Returning to this place made me so happy especially watching Arun goofily running towards me screaming my name. And I thought he might have forgotten. Even Nuuoi, an 8-month old baby when I left, is now talking and walking and smiling and can say my name: well, Kehna, a loose interpretation. Watching her smile is like watching sunrise....you love it and appreciate it as it slowly dawns across her face and when she's finished, you're craving for more of her beautiful beautiful smiles.

My room is on the second floor this time and from my balcony I can see over the compound wall to our neighbors living in relative squalor, their thatched houses perched on stilts in the swampy marshland that reeks of fish and burnt plastic that will eventually wash out to sea. At night it's a cool vision of burning logs in the darkness and the sounds of laughter and a baby wailing just as it was wailing about 3 months ago when I was here. It's a strange contrast and I feel a little bit like an evesdropper, but made innocuous beacuse I can't understand a word of what they're saying.

A lot has changed and a lot hasn't. Nattaya the program coordinator has left to pursue other things, which means I've lost my primary translator and will have to work even harder on my Thai. "Y"- is still here much to my delight. As she is in the mid-later stages of the disease, I had this unsettling fear when I arrived in Phuket that she might not be there any longer. Her CD4 count is at 160 and she's working at gaining more weight and getting that CD4 count higher. Frequently, when CD4 is lower than 200, and taking into opportunisitc infectiosn and current well-being, you're considered to have AIDS. I've brought back some nutritional books back from the States that work on improving immune health. "Y" and I are gonna work on translating them from English to Thai. I read them to "Y" who can speak English and Thai. "Y" will restate them in Thai - and since she is blind - a third person will write down these recipes....

I hope the women take to bran muffins and steamed veggies....

Ying has also left Life Home. I was so so so sad when I found out. She is currently living and working at a restaurant owned by her ex-boyfriends parents and is able now to be with her baby girl everyday. Even though the situation is very unusual and her bf has a new lady, she's apparently very happy seeing her daughter everday. And if that's what makes her happy, that will hopefully keep her healthy.

Since it's the weekend, things are a bit slow. But we did have a marathon game of volleyball Friday evening where I was definitely the weakest link. And of course a Friday night movie - Tomb Raider - in dubbed Thai. Awful.

A group of volunteers from the Laguna Phuket hotel came and played games with the kids and donated probably about 200 lbs of rice, and bags of sesame and sugar. I couldn't feel more quinessentially Asian :) After taking inventory, the food will most likely be redistributed out of Life Home and given to some families in the neighborhood and other orphanages in the area.


Ohh. And apparently it's not that hard to learn to drive a manual motorbike.

Pigeay was helping me to rent a bike through one of her friends...about $80 a month. And we got all paid up and set up and I get on the bike and start off down the street w/ Pigeay on her bike next to me...suddenly she speeds up or I slow down and I'm stuck in first gear without realizing it's a manual bike!

Needless to say getting instructions from Pigeay on how to shift up and down at about 5 miles per hour on a bike isn't the safest thing....but I guess the best way is to learn because you really have no other choice! I really should have tried harder to learn stick back in high school. But I guess better late han never.
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