So there are some benefits to poor planning...because Thailand/Myanmar visas are only issued for 15 days, I had to come up with a way to get a 30 day visa since I extended my time here. Perfect excuse for an island trip!
http://wikitravel.org/en/Perhentian_Islands
I'll be headed to Perhentian Kecil after my convention in Bangkok next weekend. First, I'll take the train to the border (which I have to walk across) and then a bus to the small jetty town of Kuala Besut. From there, it's a highspeed ferry boat to the island where I will be "limited to scuba diving, snorkeling, sea-kayaking and sunbathing" according to Wikitravel. Perfect.
It would be a great opportunity to get SCUBA certified, as it's some of the best diving in the world, but I'll have to see how my funding situation is by that point. Staying an extra 6 weeks has definitely tightened up the old budget....
After 3 or 4 days on the island, I'll head by train to Kuala Lumpur to take a flight back to Chiang Mai. This is the famous "Jungle Railway" train that takes you straight through some incredible rainforest. Unfortunately it seems that the daytime trains aren't running right now, so I'll have to catch the scenery at night from my sleeper car.
Things at the center have calmed down considerably now that Caty returned a few days ago. It's nice to be relieved of the pressure of running the show and just settle into administrative tasks.
The kids will be ending school in the next few weeks, so we'll have plenty of opportunity to play around with the ones who stay here in Chiang Rai. The remaining ones are allowed to return home to their villages because it has been determined they have safe places and people to stay with.
The weather is heating up here, and along with the change in temperature comes all kinds of weird and wonderful critters. There are smushed frogs all over the road because they're out en force now, and at night the sky echoes with the chirping from cicadas. There are of course, the ever-present barking geckos all over our volunteer dorm, but hopefully they will help keep the mosquito population down.
Day to day life is just such a treat here. I'm totally "scooter-literate" now, and really enjoy the freedom of zooming around town with the wind in my hair. Always wearing a helmet of course. I FINALLY don't have the sudden and subconcious urge to veer right when I'm startled (Thailand is a left-hand side drive country) which is nice. Especially for any passengers I have on the back ; )
After a few weeks of solidly neglecting my physical fitness, I'm back on track with running and doing a bit of weights. I found out that I'm definately going back to Homer to work on the Kilkenny, and I need my muscles for all those scallops! I'm still planning on driving up to Alaska in June, so when I get back "home" to CA, I've got a lot of catch-up to do. I'm crossing my toes that an income tax refund is a possiblility...
Much love to everyone, I'm really being a toad about taking pictures. As in, I'm not doing it at all. But I'll try, I'll really try.
Angela
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
I've got a few new pics up on Picasa web but the majority of the good ones were taken by other volunteers, so I'll upload those in a bit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24/Thailand#
Laura left home for Australia last night : ( but we got a nice day of sightseeing in before she left. We went to The White Temple...a weird but wonderful place. Here's an interesting article by the artist who designed it:
http://www.tourismchiangrai.com/e-ctmc/index.php?option=rongkhun
My pictures don't really do it too much justice; the work is so intricate and detailed, and there are little bits of mirror stuck in the plaster so the whole thing glitters like crazy. Although it was a touch morbid on the outside (hands and bones representing Hell), the inside was even weirder because the paintings incorporated all these random bits of pop culture into a giant Buddhist spiritual painting...like characters from Star Wars and Keanu Reaves.
After the temple, we hit the world famous Chiang Rai clock tower, which magically lights up and plays music every evening. It's pretty tacky but also spectacular in it's own right.
Earlier in the morning, I took the scooter up to the Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) border to renew my visa. I overstayed by a day and they didn't give me any leeway for being 8 hours late dammit! The fine was about 15$ USD so it's not like it broke the bank but it was rather annoying. I wasn't paying attention with all the stuff going on around here, and Thailand has recently gotten even stricter on their tourist visa limitations. Overland stays are now only 15 days, so if I do end up extending my trip substantially, I'll probably need to make a trip to Malaysia to apply for a 60 day one at the embassy. Again, something that could have been avoided with a bit of forethought but hey YOU LIVE YOU LEARN.
The trip was quite nice, about 60 kms north of Chiang Rai through some really lovely country. I did not take pictures or even look around much because I was very focused on not crashing but on the way back I did get a few ooohs and ahhhs in.
Tomorrow is a big day at the hospital, as we take another 12 kids for their basic medical checkups. It is turning out to be a bit (more) complicated than I had previously planned, as our truck completely DIED on us over the weekend. We are completely without group transportation, and will have to rely on tuk-tuks and songtaews to do our market runs and any group activities. The center has 3 motorbikes which the older kids can use for school, but that means us volunteers are walking/biking into town during the day. Anyhow, we have a wonderful new volunteer named Kate who is working on Community Outreach to try and obtain a corporate sponsor for a new vehicle.
http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24/Thailand#
Laura left home for Australia last night : ( but we got a nice day of sightseeing in before she left. We went to The White Temple...a weird but wonderful place. Here's an interesting article by the artist who designed it:
http://www.tourismchiangrai.com/e-ctmc/index.php?option=rongkhun
My pictures don't really do it too much justice; the work is so intricate and detailed, and there are little bits of mirror stuck in the plaster so the whole thing glitters like crazy. Although it was a touch morbid on the outside (hands and bones representing Hell), the inside was even weirder because the paintings incorporated all these random bits of pop culture into a giant Buddhist spiritual painting...like characters from Star Wars and Keanu Reaves.
After the temple, we hit the world famous Chiang Rai clock tower, which magically lights up and plays music every evening. It's pretty tacky but also spectacular in it's own right.
Earlier in the morning, I took the scooter up to the Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) border to renew my visa. I overstayed by a day and they didn't give me any leeway for being 8 hours late dammit! The fine was about 15$ USD so it's not like it broke the bank but it was rather annoying. I wasn't paying attention with all the stuff going on around here, and Thailand has recently gotten even stricter on their tourist visa limitations. Overland stays are now only 15 days, so if I do end up extending my trip substantially, I'll probably need to make a trip to Malaysia to apply for a 60 day one at the embassy. Again, something that could have been avoided with a bit of forethought but hey YOU LIVE YOU LEARN.
The trip was quite nice, about 60 kms north of Chiang Rai through some really lovely country. I did not take pictures or even look around much because I was very focused on not crashing but on the way back I did get a few ooohs and ahhhs in.
Tomorrow is a big day at the hospital, as we take another 12 kids for their basic medical checkups. It is turning out to be a bit (more) complicated than I had previously planned, as our truck completely DIED on us over the weekend. We are completely without group transportation, and will have to rely on tuk-tuks and songtaews to do our market runs and any group activities. The center has 3 motorbikes which the older kids can use for school, but that means us volunteers are walking/biking into town during the day. Anyhow, we have a wonderful new volunteer named Kate who is working on Community Outreach to try and obtain a corporate sponsor for a new vehicle.
Time is just flying by...I can't believe it's been a month! Projects begin and somehow the time just disappears...I sometimes don't feel like I've accomplished anything, but other days I have an amazing feeling of just being in the right place at the right time. Last night was a giggle-filled laugh-fest with the kids just messing around and being kids-playing the guitar with funny sunglasses, putting way too much talcum powder on their faces, making me pizza out of green clay.
Hasta la pasta (we might splurge on Italian food tonight)-
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