paul's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

paul's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member paul on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/paul en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:07:25 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com Quick trip to Shan State with Scott — Kengtung, Myanmar http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1259038916/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1259038916/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1259038916/tpod.html Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:07:25 -0500 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Kengtung, Myanmar

Hi,I haven't written anything in here for a while as I have been too busy.  But I am hoping to be less busy and in January 2010 I am stopping being a paid worker for Mirror Foundation in the hope that by doing so, I can clear some time for myself and also probably achieve more than I am currently achieving.Anyway, as a prelude to (hopefully) a life of a bit more freedom and time - I am about to go to Tachilek, Keng Tung and Mong La with Scott Woz for a few days.  Starting (perhaps) on 1 Dec.I will add more info soon...
]]> Overnight in Bangkok — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1245211200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1245211200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1245211200/tpod.html Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:04:42 -0400 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Bangkok, Thailand

I went to Siam Square to do some shopping.  Hmmm, if you want to see what is wrong with Thailand and be concerned for Thailand's future - this is the place to go.There are many young rich kids in this area.  Their parents probably run Thailand and these kids, due to their wealth and the influence of their families will probably run it in the future.  And it is clear that they don't give a stuff about anything much.  They talk on their mobile phones and strut around shopping and wasting time.  I am pretty sure that they spend more money on hair-dos than many rural Thai families earn in a year (and I am talking about the boys).  They are a really pathetic bunch of self indulgent comsuming brats.That is my main memory from that part of my trip.  Not very positive is it?Never mind. 
]]> Letter to Kitty — Chiang Rai, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1235650860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1235650860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1235650860/tpod.html Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:06:57 -0500 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Chiang Rai, Thailand

Hi Kitty,You are 11 months old at the moment.  Soon 1 year old.You are just beginning to walk and currently you can walk 2 -3m by yourself without holding on to anything.  You love exploring.You love doing things yourself.  You are very independent and maybe a little stubborn.  You don't like people to do things for you - you like doing it yourself and learning.You love reading books.  Tonight we tested you and asked you to open a book to the picture of the frog.  You did it and then said frog (in Thai).You also know about helicopters because the Thai Army has a base here and you like to see the Iroquois fly around.  If we say "helicopter" you know to look up and put your hand up and move it in a circular motion and make a helicopter noise.You also know things like: moon, duk dik (our dog), Vava, Mummy, Daddy, walk, sit down, .... and so much.You know to stand up for the Thai national anthem and cheer at the end.You know how to ask for things (you point and put your hand out like in a begging motion.  You know how to wai to say thank you and hello and if you hear us say "Sawat Dii" or "Korp Khun" you wai.You sleep in between Mummy and Daddy and you get hot at night and have a bit of a rash.  But you often wake up and cuddle us.  Mummy more - because you want to drink milk.Now you like to kiss us and you know how to do that and understand if you are told to do it.You are very interested in Duk Dik and in other children.  You don't get to play with other children much.You like Vava.You like music and you dance / move about when you hear music.You are generally happy and easy to care for.  But having said that; currently Mummy and I take care of you.  Mummy much more; I only a little bit.  Vava helps.  The next door neighbours help (P Rey, Dtoy and Dtae).  Also the woman that lives next door to Kanchana's photocopy shop comes and helps.  And even with all that help we are still very tired and have sore backs from carrying you around.  But we love you very very much.Mummy has recently opened a photocopy shop and she is very busy.  She is a little sick this week and has a very sore back.  I have just been to Bangkok and back to organise things for our trip to Australia so as you can meet your 95 year old great grandmother.  Between that, and helping take care of you and other things I don't have much time left to do my work.  So all of us are up until late and feel busy at the moment.  But we are happy.I think we are very lucky.  Things must be very hard for some other families that have less help or have a sick baby or...Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that we love you very much.  You seem very clever.  You are lovely and a very good baby.  Thank you.
]]> Kanchana's Graduation in Bangkok — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1234054920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1234054920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1234054920/tpod.html Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:50:01 -0500 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Bangkok, Thailand

I forgot in the last update that we went to Bangkok.  Kanchana had completed her Masters degree in Education last year and her graduation ceremony was this year and her certificate was handed to her by Princess Sirindhorn. Incidentally, the volunteers I mentioned in the last post, that I was told complained that I didn't take care of them enough; they wrote to me today asking to help more and saying that they plan to come back.  Email included:    "My daughter Samantha (17) and I (45) had the privilege of visiting the Mirror Foundation in Thailand last November, living and helping these amazing people and one cannot help but walk away from the experience not wanting  to break the emotional bond made and to continue to help the hilltribe people and the Foundation in anyway one can. " and this:   "There is not a day that I do not miss the time I spent at Mirror.  The experience and the wonderful Thai people, well they have permanently etched themselves in my heart.  I have spoken to Nat about returning back this year and I do hope to during the second part of this year." So their time couldn't have been too bad. Anyway, attached are some more pictures from the last month or so from the other camera.
]]> Kanchana's Graduation in Bangkok — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2004_onwards/1234006380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2004_onwards/1234006380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2004_onwards/1234006380/tpod.html Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:20:31 -0500 Life in Thailand

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Bangkok, Thailand

I forgot in the last update that we went to Bangkok.  Kanchana had completed her Masters degree in Education last year and her graduation ceremony was this year and her certificate was handed to her by Princess Sirindhorn. Incidentally, the volunteers I mentioned in the last post, that I was told complained that I didn't take care of them enough; they wrote to me today asking to help more and saying that they plan to come back.  Email included:    "My daughter Samantha (17) and I (45) had the privilege of visiting the Mirror Foundation in Thailand last November, living and helping these amazing people and one cannot help but walk away from the experience not wanting  to break the emotional bond made and to continue to help the hilltribe people and the Foundation in anyway one can. " and this:   "There is not a day that I do not miss the time I spent at Mirror.  The experience and the wonderful Thai people, well they have permanently etched themselves in my heart.  I have spoken to Nat about returning back this year and I do hope to during the second part of this year."So their time couldn't have been too bad.Anyway, attached are some more pictures from the last month or so from the other camera.
]]> Updates on stuff — Chiang Rai, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1233918360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1233918360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1233918360/tpod.html Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:55:05 -0500 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Chiang Rai, Thailand

Updates on things: Kitty - she is 10 months old and very good.  Movement - She is very fast at crawling and can climb at stairs quite quickly too.  She can stand up and has been able to stand for about 10 seconds unsupported.  She is practicing walking with us holding her hands and she needs less and less support, so maybe in another month she'll walk (or maybe in a week).  She can walk around holding our hands and kick a ball already. Communications - She can say "Mum".  She says "mem mem" when she wants to drink milk or eat something.  She can say "Bye" sometimes and she waves.  She now wais people sometimes, but wais to say thank you often.  If she hears "Korp Khun Kha" she wais.  She points at places she wants to go or at things she wants.   General - She is very clever and I think already has more knowledge than Alif and Khun Yai combined.  She likes learning things and discovering new things.  She likes exploring and doing things herself.  She is mainly happy and a good girl, but can be a bit bossy or grizzly at times.  Generally she smiles lots, is happy, loves her mum very much and is a great baby. Understanding - She understands a lot.  Again, probably a bit more than Alif already.  For example she understands: sit down; smile; drink; Mummy; Daddy; Vava; wash your face; ...We speak a mixture of Thai and English to her.   Study - I am about to start studying a Master Degree in International and Community Development through Deakin University.  Part time and distance.  As far as I can tell the whole thing will be paid for by the Australian government HELP scheme.  I am in trouble if that is not the case.  Looking forward to the study, but not sure how I will fit it in.   Buying things - A while ago we mentioned we might buy Chian Guest house.  This seems unlikely at the moment.  I also mentioned some land near Baan Ruam Mit before (I think), but again we have decided against that.  However we have found some very cheap and nice land on the road towards Prasoert that we intend to buy.  See the pictures.   Added to that Kanchana has brought a photocopying business.  This is the first week that she has run it and it has done very well bringing in between 700 - 2400 Baht per day (before costs).  We think that will make us 10 000 - 20 000 Baht per month or sometimes more, which is very good.  It cost us 240 000 Baht to buy that business. Guest house - one of the things I have been doing lately is helping Mirror Foundation buy and set up a guest house.  Called Mirror Guest House, it has a website: http://www.mirrorartgroup.org/guesthouse/ Mirror Foundation relies on funding which is unreliable and annoyingly difficult to get.  So the idea is for Mirror Foundation to become more self reliant by earning some money from this.  As Mirror Foundation doesn't have enough money to buy it all, we also planned that staff members could buy shares and I hoped this would be a way that staff could supplement their small incomes.  Only a handful were interested though.  So I have 500 000 Baht invested in this which is a little over a 10% share.  The guest house is opening this weekend and once running should give me at least a 10% return on my money and help make extra money for Mirror Foundation so as it can help ethnic minority people in Thailand.   Money - So I have 500 000 Baht tied up in the guesthouse, I have another 120 000 Baht in some land that Kanchana has brought with the idea of quickly selling again at a large profit (not the land mentioned above) - but we are currently waiting for the buyers to finish up.  We still haven't been able to sell our house in Bangkok.  And to top things off the Bangkok airport closure plus the Mumbai shootings caused about a third of my paying work to disappear (cancellations of groups coming through Antipodeans).  So we are almost out of cash. But having said that, we are doing very well for ourselves and really can't complain.  Just haven't much cash at the moment.  Enough though. Luckily for us, it seems that the USA economy is falling apart because their banks gave out too much money to people who couldn't afford it.  In fact a large part of their economy seems to exist on money that doesn't exist which people use to buy things they don't need.  So around the world interest rates are almost nothing and people are not making much from money in the bank or investments.  Thellie, one of the staff members here is included, and as he lives off his bank interest, his life has become difficult.  Solution - He puts his money into Paul bank and I give him 10% interest.  That's much better than he can get elsewhere.  For Kanchana and I - if we have access to money we can invest it in a variety of things that make much more than 10% and so we can give Thellie his money and we make money too.  Everyone is happy. That money should be arriving soon.  If anyone else is interested - please let us know, there are still many projects that we can make good money on here, but we won't have enough to do them. Anyway, we are well off.   A few years ago we struggled to have money to put food on the table.  Now we are struggling to have enough money to buy properties, etc.  Not really a problem.   Health and Fitness - OK.  I haven't made in huge advances in this area and I am still too busy, but I am slowly doing more.  I am riding my bicycle much more than before.   Work - Lots and lots happening.  My head is full and I am tired.  Mlabri - Nothing with the Mlabri for a while as Mirror Foundation has run out of money to help them and also everyone is too busy at the moment, although we did send blankets to them for the winter.  We need more staff and more money. FreeSchools - The FreeSchools project seems to be getting lots of interest in Australia and this was shown on 9: http://ninemsn.video.msn.com/v/en-au/v.htm?f= 39&g=2346C93A-D59B-40AF-A220-363C86067563&p=a unews_auworldnews&t=&mediaid=210044. Jo, Judy and Linda are helping hugely on this. Volunteers - Some quite nice ones have come through recently including a group of student teachers from RMIT. Anti Human Trafficking - The ILO has given Moo a task to collect 160 cases of child exploitation which is a huge task.  Not much I can do to help her at the moment. Randoms - I think I will get a village school funded by a group in the USA called One Child at a Time.  I will have to take their director on a bit of a tour but that should be fun. -The groups are starting to book in after the problems earlier in the year. -Gerald from Volunteer Medics asked if I could help him in Tak province regarding getting more aid into Myanmar.  I'd like to but not sure if I have time.  Nice to be asked anyway. -A group of Yale Uni students are helping me help E.Bannok project.  Our project that sells handicraft and gives hill tribe women employment.  Just in time too, as that project was about to go bust.  Another Australian who runs a freight company is trying to help also and a university in Queensland is interested.  So we may just save that project and turn it around. -etc Bureaucracy - We have been trying to get visas for Kanchana, Alif and Vava to visit Australia.  I want to get Kitty an Australian passport.  I need to re-new my Thai Non-Immigrant Visa.  I need to re-new my Thai drivers license, etc etc.  All this is taking lots of time and lots of money and it is surprising that we can fit in doing any work. Helping Dao - Dao had a baby which I think I have mentioned.  I haven't had time to visit her since then or even ask how things are going.  Hopefully this month.  She did receive the baby gifts I sent recently though. Helping Apair - Apair who I mentioned in the first of these blogs, has some serious medical problems it seems.  Amelia gave me some money and I put in the rest to buy her a sewing machine so she can work from home and make money and doesn't need to go into the fields.  Daow was going to go with her to buy it, but I haven't heard back about that yet. Trip to Australia - We (Kanchana, Alif, Vava, Kitty and I) are planning to come to Australia in April. Future? - I have been thinking more and more lately that I will stop working for Mirror Foundation and Antipodeans at the end of this year.  I haven't 100% decided on this yet, but plan to make a decision by mid year. I am tired, haven't got much time for my health and fitness, none for travelling, almost none for learning Thai language, and not as much time and energy as I'd like for family.  I have learnt and experienced a lot whilst working for Antipodeans and Mirror Foundation but am now feeling trapped and held back a little. I also think that I have done enough for Mirror Foundation and by the end of the year they will be in a good position to continue things without me.  I think by the end of the year I would have finished contributing to them having more money, more volunteers and them reaching out to more people in a wider area.  So that is good.  I think I have made a difference. I am thinking that I may try to work in disaster relief.  This is something I have been interested in for a while.  It would mean short intense periods of work helping people that are in desperate need and then hopefully long periods at home to do my own thing.  That sounds good to me.  And it pays well (sometimes). A number of things have all added up which on top of my general exhaustion and desire for more time for myself and family have made me want to stop.  They include: Many of the Antipodeans volunteers are unfortunately ignorant, arrogant and rude.  There are great ones too, but the tiring ones are tiring. Some of the recent Thai interns were arrogant and lazy as well.  Both these factors put together make for an unhappy work environment at times. The drivers in Chiang Rai are terrible and I am tired of driving to and from work - often during one trip there are as many as 4 near-miss accidents due to stupid and poor driving.  It does get a bit tiring and annoying. Some of the staff at Antipodeans sometimes come across as rude.  Recently after 5 very bad volunteers from them had finally left and been replaced by some nice ones - I got a message from Dan saying that the nice ones had commented that perhaps I weren't doing enough.  HELLO!!  I had been working 7 days a week, about 14 hours a day at that stage.  ORGANIZE YOUR OWN BLOODY HOLIDAY THEN if you don't like what I have done.  I was quite annoyed at that as I felt Dan was my friend. Thellie has been spending a lot of time recently flirting with the Thai Uni student interns.  (He also spends lots of hours working).  He has also started going out with one.  Staff are strictly forbidden to have relationships with volunteers and it is quite inappropriate in Thailand for a mature staff member to date a student that is here supposedly being looked after by us and learning good work ethics.  But he has done that anyway and despite her being almost half his age.  Perhaps I shouldn't worry about it.  Perhaps they will somehow get married and have a great life together.  But it leaves a bad taste at the work place.There is also regularly communications problems at Mirror and it is so hard (even more so with my lack of Thai language) to get basic tasks done, which can be frustrating.Hmmm, I think there is probably more.  But that is enough to get some feelings off my chest.  If I was more patient and less tired I probably wouldn't mind all this.  But at the moment it is annoying me a bit.  But also I would just like to do some of my own things and also do something new and expand myself in a new direction and I think at the end of this year it is an appropriate time to do so.I think that is all for my updates for the moment.See ya
]]> FreeSchools — Fang, Chiang Mai, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1232466900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1232466900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1232466900/tpod.html Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:36:43 -0500 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Fang, Chiang Mai, Thailand

For much of last week I was checking out the FreeSchools in the Fang area.  FreeSchools World Literacy is a Canadian charity that gives education to those that otherwise don't get it in Thailand and India.  Mirror Foundation runs the Thailand side of things for them.  Sue (the director of FreeSchools), Judy, Jo, Jadad, O, Mai, myself and some other volunteers went to check things out and plan for the future.Here are some pictures
]]> Children's Day 2552 — Chiang Rai, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231681740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231681740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231681740/tpod.html Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:56:59 -0500 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Chiang Rai, Thailand

Saturday 10 January 2552CHILDREN'S DAYUp at about 0530 and out to Mirror Foundation.  About 1300 kids turned up this year.  (We had enough presents for 1500, so we just made it although got worried for a bit).Anyway some pictures are here and if you are interested many more are at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/paul.garrioch/ChildrenSDay2009#
]]> A long but productive day — Chiang Rai, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231427460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231427460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231427460/tpod.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:34:54 -0500 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Chiang Rai, Thailand

Thursday 8 January 2009Kitty slept better and coughed less last night after taking some medication. I woke up a little late this morning (0640).Picked up Jo and Judy, drove to Mirror Foundation, morning meeting, and then a bit of organisation - trying to find a child for Jo to film on Children's Day and organising a translator for her to interview Pan (the project director of Bannok TV), vehicles for this and that, documents to send to a freighting company and a few other bits and pieces that I have now forgotten.Oh - one of the discussions was that we currently only have 500 presents to give out for Children's Day, whereas we are expecting well over 1000 kids to come. Only a bit over 30 hours to go. A committee has been formed and they will meet and come up with a solution to this, so it isn't my problem, but hard not to think about it and try to solve it.By just before 1100 we (Jo and I) were ready to drive to Pakaodum School to visit the RMIT group. Me to check on how they are going and Jo to grab some footage. We had an interesting discussion on the way about the state of the media in Australia. We talked a lot about how reporters and producers are not allowed, by their editors, to show non-whites, or disabled people or anything that may not be happily palatable to a middle aged middle class white ignorant Australian: the main target of much of the prime time commercial TV news and current affairs shows. With these unwritten rules on what is shown on TV, there is obviously a huge restriction of what gets covered in Australia and what gets left out. It will be interesting if Jo can get any of her footage shown. I am sure she can convince some editors, but the likes of "A Current Affair" have made it clear that they aren't interested in seeing Asians.Hmmm, and I won't even bother discussing the need for beautiful people except to say that even if someone discovered a cure to AIDS, Malaria and the common cold, they and the story are of no interest to TV unless they are attractive.At the school the RMIT student teachers are doing great. They are a very good group with a great attitude, intelligent and self managing in many ways. Excellent. We watched a bit of a lesson, had lunch and played with some cute school kids (that can't be shown on Australian TV).Then I left to to go the Mirror Art Guest House to help move bits of wood up and down stairs and into a truck to be taken away. I took Rebekah and Lindsay to a hardware store to buy paint etc, and they made the Guest house sign while I did some work on the computer. Eventually left there to go home a little after 5pm.The night was then mainly taken up working on the computer. A lot of time was taken up doing my online enrolment for Deakin University. I am now enrolled in Master of International and Community Development. In Trimester 1 I will study Community Development Theory and Practice A; and Needs Assessment and Strategic Planning. In Trimester 2 I will study Community Development Theory and Practice B; and Human Emergencies and Disaster Relief. Exciting.Anyway it was about 1040pm by the time I finished working on the computer and had a shower. I don't seem to be achieving my aim of not working into the night - but this is an unusually hectic part of the year, and I still think I will be able to cut back this year.I don't think I will continue these daily updates from now on. You have an idea of my daily activities now, and I can't be bothered keeping this updated each day. But I imagine I'll lots of pictures of Children's Day to show you soon.Just to finish off by connecting some of the above comments regarding the media to current world events, please have a look at this for another perspective: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/20091585448204690.html(Its a story on the USA media and its coverage of Israel's recent attack on Gaza. Added to that; I have a friend who is an ex Australian Army officer and has just come back from living in Israel and working for the World Food Program in Palestine and this is what he had to say about the recent events:"yeah mate, really glad I'm not there now. A lot of problems and no solutions. What is happening now is so pointless. Israel won't achieve their aims of increasing security for their people. This aggression will only make them more insecure because of less chance for peace in the region, and everyone loses. I find it very distressing because i have been there and i know that there is a massive humanitarian crisis, and it is so needless."
]]> Guest house meeting — Chiang Rai, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231338840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231338840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paul/2/1231338840/tpod.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:40:13 -0500 Moved to Chiang Rai

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Chiang Rai, Thailand

Wednesday 7 January 2552I drove Jo and Judy into Mirror, showed them around after the morning meeting and then left them at Baan Leepha Child Care Centre with the other volunteers.Picked up Kanchana and Kitty and went to Mirror Art Guest House for a meeting.Its looking good and we are getting closer to opening.By the time that was finished it was lunch time. Bit of work at home after lunch. Then pick up Jo and Judy and take them back to Golden Triangle Guest House and then worked most of the night up until now (9.40pm).Kanchana took Kitty to see the doctor because she has a bad cough at night.
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