Bye Luang Prabang

John and I left Luang Prabang today for a 6 hour bus trip south. Luang Prabang was fun, a small touristy area surrounded by beautiful mountains. The bus trip was around a mountain making it a windy, but really an incredibly beautiful trip.

Yesterday we took a tuk-tuk to the waterfall in Luang Prabang. Really pretty turquoise water and a preserve area for a tiger and some bears-yes they were behind a fence, though not a very high one-I really think the bears could get out if they wanted, but maybe not because they all looked pretty content in their area behind the fence. We climbed to the top of a hill with a wat at the top for a view of the surrounding area...really nice-green for miles. Laos is definitely very beautiful. It is not very built up which I assume would make their economy suffer, but definitely does something for their landscape andfor the air...it feels cleaner here than it did in Chiang Mai. Luang Prabang had a small night market and quite a few western restaurants. I haven't had any food here that is different from Thai food yet.

Another really cool thing about Laos, there are tons of butterflies. Whole groups of white butterflies fluttering in a group and random large monarch butterflies-some blue, some gold (are the blue ones called monarch butterflies too?). I tried to take a picture, but it doesn't quite capture the sight as sometimes pictures cannot.

love, Me

Slow Boats

Hi everyone,
So my travels have just begun and this part of my trip is definitely completely different from the first part. I was sad to leave Ban San Faan, but left with great memories and a desire to return sometime in the future---I can't wait to see how the kids turn out...they are all such great kids. I almost started crying when all of the kids were hugging me goodbye. It was so great to see how well they are treated at BSF and how much opportunity they are being given.

I left on Saturday morning for Laos...the first leg of the trip was a 6 hour minibus to Chiang Khong-nothing much to it, just a border town for crossing into Laos. We stayed at the Nam Khong Guesthouse I believe it was called, though I could be making that up. All we did that night was found a place on the road that sold drinks and let us watch whatever movie we chose-The Prestige with Christian Bale was pretty good. We left the next a.m. to cross the border into Laos which involved a stamp out of Thailand and some bs fee since it was a Sunday, a ferry across the river to Laos, a stamp into Laos and another Sunday fee, and then a ride to the boat to Luang Prabang. The boat took 7 hours approximately to a town called Pak Beng, which is a town that appears to subsist only on the tourists that have to stay overnight there on the way to Luang Prabang. Their electricity was from generators that went on (very loudly) at 7pm then shut off at 10pm and for some reason were on for about a half hour at 6am. We took a walk down the street to see how far it went-the town seemed to go on for quite a bit--people used candles for light. We stayed at a nice, clean hotel for $5-the only downfall was that because of the electricity the fan went off at 10:30pm and it was pretty hot. We got back on the boat this morning for another 7 hrs approximately and arrived in Luang Prabang around 5 pm today. The boat ride though long was beautiful--mountains rose up on both sides, there were really small villages around the river and then stretches with no civilization. I saw water buffalo and goats roaming on the sides, there were sandy areas and then high rocks. The boat we were on was long and had wooden benches for seats. I will have to put up some pictures when i get the chance. The Mekong has brown water-but not because it's polluted-it is just that the bottom is silt. Here in Luang Prabang we found a nice hotel again for about 8 dollars a night with a fan, hot shower, and tv with english channels woohoo.

That's all for now folks.
love, Brittany

on to laos

Today, I went up to Doi Suthep with John and Jenny (an Australian working at Chiang Mai University on a forest restoration project through a grant from the Australian government). Jenny was a great tour guide as she had already been up there a couple of times and showed us some of the different tree species as well as a waterfall and the temple on top of the mountain-a really grand Buddhist temple. I was amazed at how many places there are for people to give money around the temple. There are many buddhas all around and bowls in front of each of them and donation boxes for everything under the sun. The temple was very ornate and gold covered almost all of it. When we walked in there was a large group of people all dressed in white-Malee said this was a meditation service. Interesting anyway. Yesterday, Malee and Bryan took John and I to see the silk factory, area where they sell wood products (furniture, etc.), the umbrella factory where i got a butterfly painted on my purse-they have people who will paint on anything you have for 50 baht (approx $1.50), the jewelry factory, and the Empress Hotel for a buffet lunch-really good...overall, it was a good day and showed me the rest of Chiang Mai that I had not seen yet. The new volunteer arrived today who will be staying at Ban San Faan for one year. I will be leaving Saturday for Laos with John. We will take a minibus to the Laos border, then a boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Our plan as of now is to take a bus south to Vieng Vian (sp?) and then east to Hanoi, Vietnam. I will continue to write about my travels here though again, these have nothing to do with Ban San Faan nor with any money raised for Ban San Faan. love, Brittany

Still Around

Hi All,
Sorry I have not been writing but the internet has been down at BSF so I do not have as much access to the internet. I am still doing well. John is now here at BSF with me after a lengthy trip from the South of Thailand. He travelled from Chennai, India to Bangkok, Thailand down to Ko Tao island to do a diving class and then up through Bangkok via train to Chiang Mai to see me. We will be leaving BSF after my two lovely months here to travel for a couple months. All of the money donated prior to my leaving will stay with BSF and has nothing to do with my travels after leaving. I am excited to travel but will be really sad to leave BSF and all of the people there. It has been a great experience and I will miss them. I will be heading North through Laos then on to Hanoi, Vietnam, South to Ho Chi Minh and then hopefully back to the south of Thailand, down through Malaysia and Singapore than back to the good old USA.
Love , Brittany

Pictures

I added pictures to the April 26th post. Below are some more pictures of Thailand.

This is Grace after ballet class. Every Wednesday I accompany Averil and Grace to ballet.
This is a Coffee Garden that Averil and I went to. I just thought it was cute. The people working were taking a really long time to bring Averil's coffee and my iced chocolate (basically chocolate milk-i take all the real milk I can get as we drink the powdered kind here at BSF), apparently, they were trying really hard to make a perfect chocolate flower on my drink below.

Before school started last week, I went to the Wang Tarn Resort with the kids, the nannies, Malee, and the house parents. It is a resort where people can stay, has a restaurant, but is also used as a park. We bought roasted chicken and sticky rice on the street and then went to the Resort for a picnic. The kids played on the swingset and in the sand box. All in all a pretty peaceful day.

Some of the other food they purchased, none of which I actually ate because it was either too spicy or chicken livers.

Sarah, Peach, and Hope. The 3 oldest children..Hope is almost 10, Peach is 9, and Sarah is 8.Pretty, pretty blossomsMalee, the kids, and Pi yay (house father)

Abby just before we got in the car with chocolate ALL over the place.

Still going well

Hey everyone,

I am at an internet cafe since the internet at Ban San Faan is currently going on and off and I generally get a few minutes to type before it goes off again. Anyway, I am now in my second month at Ban San Faan and still having fun. The kids started school again on Wednesday and I know have more tasks than before. I help Averil with English and Math classes and one day was put with the one Kindergartner, Abby, since she doesn't quite fit into the classes. This is a bit of a challenge since she has to be taught Thai and English and I cannot really teach Thai as I don't know it. I think that was probably only a one day thing, but only time will tell. I have been continuing to attempt to help Caleb learn English (the newest child), which is interesting. He seems to be picking up on the animals I am teaching him, but not on the alphabet.

Today, I went to a wedding for an Australian girl about my age and a Thai man-of the Karen hill tribe in Thailand. It was small and simple, but nice. There was a ceremony inside which was supposed to be outside, but due to rain had to be moved. The grooms family were all dressed in traditional Karen clothing, which consist of tunics for the men, and dresses for the women. I'll have to take a picture of this and post it. Most of the older Karen people do not speak Thai, but speak their own language. The younger people tend to learn Thai as well. It was kind of funny to hear the bride's parents say they didn't know exactly what was going on when we asked where the reception was (well in which building on the property)...it's funny to hear that other people too feel the go with the flow nature that must be present when visiting Thailand. Often things are unclear, so if you're not willing to be laid back about life in general, than you might have a hard time here-i just find it comical. The food at the wedding was good-sweet and sour chicken, vegetables, rice, pineapple, and of course wedding cake. It was a short affair-no dancing or alcohol as was present in all the other weddings that I have been too. It was a lot simpler than American weddings tend to be.

I hope all is well with the rest of you. John will be joining me here within the next 10 days, which is exciting. I will post more pictures as soon as the internet at BSF stops acting up.

Love,

Brittany

The place

Ban San Faan from the front
Some flowers waiting to be planted by the fence that marks the entrance into Ban San Faan

The strange contrast that is the home of the Burmese people who helped build Ban San Faan and are now building another structure on the property as well as help with landscaping, etc. There home is clearly very poor. They shower outside-the women in sarongs and men in shorts. Their toilet is a small outhouse structure located to the left of this picture. If you're familiar at all with the current state of affairs in Myanmar (Burma), then you will also know that there are a lot of refugees and immigrants that enter into Thailand and the surrounding countries.

Looking outside from the front door

The carport-where there are also quite a few motorbikes and usually the van is there too that can seat all of the children and adults-well a few children go on laps.

The middle of the building that has a covering over it-called a salaThe bedroom I'm staying in

My bathroom-only difference is no shower curtain or door, which seems pretty unnecessary here anyway.

Things I have learned

Some things that one learns in their own country have to be thrown to the wind in order to fit into another culture. Some of the things that are common knowledge in the U.S. but just don't fly here are as follows:
1. Eggs belong in the refrigerator (Here most of them don't even go into the refrigerator)
2. Dogs cannot eat chicken bones. They may die if they do. (Thai dogs are given bags of chicken bones)
3. Don't name your child after a fruit, it's just plain weird and is reserved for movie stars such as Apple Martin, child of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin from Coldplay (In Thailand, you can name your child after fruit and it's fine, we have a Cherri (cherry i know but that's how they spell it) here and a Peach-one of the girls used to be named Orange, but she chose a biblical name. Also, the niece of the builder who I spent two days conversing with in English to help her with her English said her little brother is affectionately nicknamed Pineapple (sip a rut is the word for it in Thai) because her mom ate tons of pineapple when she was pregnant with him).
4. Fruit is fruit and goes along with other sweet things such as with chocolate fondue or sometimes the combo of apples and peanut butter. (Thais consider unripe mango to be too sour so they eat it with a spicy mixture-its actually quite good, but I also will eat the unripe mango alone because it basically tastes like an apple to me)
5. Defensive Driving (I don't think Thais even have a word for defensive driving or if they do they certainly do not use it)
6. Traffic Lights are non-negotiable. (Traffic lights as far as the turning from yellow to red are simply a reason to rush quicker through the intersection-even if it is red as you pass the light. You best watch out if you're on the side where it has turned green.)
7. Spicy food is good, but doesn't kill you. (Spicy food in Thailand should not even be touched by people who do not know what spicy food is in Thailand-Basically, spicy here has a whole new meaning, it means if you are not used to constantly eating burning spicy foods, then probably steer clear-it's not even enjoyable for me to eat that stuff- i am convinced that Thais have developed different taste buds that make spicy stuff bearable and stuff that to others would not seem sour, seem really sour.)
8. Staring at people is not nice. (Staring at people, especially farang in Thailand is completely acceptable and sometimes must be done with such an enthusiasm that one almost falls off their motorbike as their head does a 180 to continue staring at what is now behind them.
9. Pointing feet at objects isn't necessarily totally cool, but it's not an insult. (DON'T DO IT HERE IN THAILAND, THIS IS COMPLETELY RUDE. and furthermore, don't assume you just won't do it-i did it oops! fortunately, Averil saw me and noone else so she just pointed it out to me....i was eating food and had my hands full and was trying to show her which purse I liked-thus i realized, yes i do sometimes point at things with my feet).
10. You can say whatever you want about authority (Do NOT say anything bad about the King. I haven't done this but I certainly can tell it's completely unacceptable. Also stand at attention if in a public place at 8am and 6pm every day when you'll hear a song playing-even though you don't understand it, you'll quickly learn which song it is. Also, Thais wear yellow on Monday since Monday is the day the King was born and yellow is the color of royalty. There are pictures of the King and royal family everywhere. His face is on the money-so don't do anything to that either).

Well that's all for now folks. I'll be back to put up pictures later. I have a good one of Abby with chocolate all over her face-really cute and priceless.
Later, Brittany