The most entertaining part is the packing process. I'm sure no one will be surprised to know that my bag was pretty much packed, well before Jason even thought about doing so (keep in mind he left 2 weeks before I will). Guess that's what happens when you have a mother who packs her bag for vacation several weeks in advance. Oh well. Now, since everything is out and ready, I am repeatedly reorganizing things. I have a major complex about traveling with a bag that is too big, so I am going to keep working on down-sizing. Realistically though, it will probably only grow.
I can't believe that in just over a week, I will finally be in Thailand. I am going on over 2 years of trying to get over there (ever since Jason went the first time). Not only am I excited to see Thailand and experience the other half of Jason's life, but I can't wait for the two of us to finally have an adventure together.
Well, thats it for now. Things are crazy busy right now as all of our staff is starting to arrive. I will be training them over the next week about how to run our Come With Nothing trip. As part of that, we will be visiting villages all over to find the perfect ones to go to. Its going to fun, but very busy.... and the best part is, Brooke will be there for it!
More to come from both of us after the training/scouting for Come With Nothing is done.
The whole trip was so crazy. I had no idea where I was, what was going on, or what was about to happen. All I knew was I was half way across the world from where I'd started and when I stepped off the bus, Jason was going to be there. How exciting!
After a quick dinner at the bus station, I got on a bike that Jason had borrowed from the hill tribe. Needless to say, it was questionable whether or not we were going to be making back out the tribe on the bike. Luckily, it did have a headlight. We made our way down a dirt road, heading out into the middle of no where. The fact that the bike had no power and we almost died at the top of every hill just added to the excitement as I was nearly almost thrown off the back of the bike every time Jason downshifted. Having a large pack on my back obviously didn't help with that.
We arrived at the village in about 30 minutes and I was introduced to hill tribe life! Since then, we have been scouting more villages and figuring out what service projects we can do to help them out.
It's been amazing already! More to come in a few days when we head to the islands..........
The villages that we found this year are going to be really good. It looks like we are going to be be building a lot of water tanks for villages this year. A lot of villages don't have enough water in the dry season and need big tanks to store water. We even went to one village that had water tanks, but they were lower on the mountain than most of the houses, so all the houses that were higher up didn't get running water. Hopefully we can help to give all of the houses in the villages we go to running water this year.
Tomorrow, I will make a plan about which villages to go to and make the final adjustments to the Come With Nothing trip, and then Brooke and I will head down to the south of Thailand. We are leading the Island Hopping and Diving trip with one of my best friends, Bay. We will be diving on Koh Phi Phi, rock climbing in Krabi and sea kayaking in Pha Nga bay and Koh Samui. More to come from those adventures soon....
Jason
As you know, I was quickly introduced to village life upon my arrival, so I figured I would fill you in on what it's all about.
The villages we have been visiting are generally accessible by four wheel drive truck only and are up to 45 minutes off of a regular road. So getting there involves piling into the back of a truck, holding on tight, and preparing yourself to jump in the event you roll off the side of a mountain or a bridge gives way! It's fun, trust me.
The villages we've seen are made up of about 10-25 houses. All are pretty primitive. The houses are made of teak or bamboo and are all open air. Most consist of one or two large rooms and a porch out front. We've just been sleeping on the floor under mosquito nets. Each village also has it's own personal zoo, which without fail, wakes you up at 4:00 am every morning. Between roosters, dogs, pigs, and small children, it's quite the wake up call!
Bathrooms are fun too! Squat toilets get very interesting when trying to balance with wet flip flops on. I'm anticipating an injury in the near future. It brings back memories of Nepal, and reminders that my quad strength has dwindled since the ride last summer.
Most of the villages have no electricity and run off of solar cells.
Overall, the villages have been really receptive to us coming in to help. An interesting situation came up the other day though when we went to a village that is becoming a popular stop on trekking routes. We explained to the head of the village that we would like to come in and do a service project for them. They were excited about this, but told us that we would have to pay to come into the village. Apparently, trekking companies have been coming through, so the village is capitalizing on this. They had a hard time understanding at first that our intentions were different and we would be spending lots of money on the project, so it wasn't right to charge us an entry fee as well. We aren't sure if we will end up sending students to this village or not, but it definitely led to an interesting discussion........
We had the opportunity to visit our friend Bay's village as well. Bay is one of the Thai staff, and one of Jason's best friends over here. He will be guiding with us on all of our trips this summer. He's crazy! Pretty much the funniest, most upbeat guy ever. We're really excited to have him on our trips. We went to his village the other day and got to meet his mom. His mother makes the most beautiful bags and clothing, embroidered in traditional Akha style. I had told Bay I wanted to get a bag and he said I should get one from his mom. When we went to the village, he mentioned this to her, and she got out a bag to show me. Unlike many villages, where the woman want to sell you things, Bay's mom almost disregarded the fact that this was an opportunity for her to make money. Instead, she simply wanted to show me her work. She proceeded to pull out a closet full of clothing that she has stitched for Bay and his future wife to wear on their wedding day. Apparently, the women begin working on this as soon as the children are born. It was really cool to see how proud both she and Bay were of her work. I did end up buying a bag from her as well!
That's all for now. Time to go pack for the islands..........!!!!
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