where cider meets condensed milk: September 2008

where cider meets condensed milk

Monday, September 29, 2008

Happiest Place on Earth/Thailand!

Beautiful Baan Unrak, in Sangkhlaburi town, Thailand! After leaving Cambodia in a rush of sangria and Japanese food, and going alone across the border on a long long bus ride to BKK, and running around for a few crazy days at MBK Shopping Wonderland, I made it home to BU on a long long minibus ride. This was trip #3, but my first one without other Go-MAD buddies. It was more chill, much more chilly, more lonely, but still nice to visit the kids and hang out in town. It rained every day in August this year, and the sticky red mud ruined my pedicure.

Smile! Most of the kids are Burmese refugees, but some are Karen or Mon tribal minorities. I should have done the sketchy border crossing trip last December! The Myanmar border, only a few kilometres away, is locked down now. Unsurprisingly enough.

Highlight: three mornings in the nursery! It wasn't finished during our last Christmas trip, but we devoted some of our fundraising towards it, and a university group from Japan painted and decked out the room with books and toys. I also met the uber-hippy volunteers, and ran into Gillian from IHS, randomly working in Burmese refugee camps for the summer. I didn't make it out of my P Guesthouse bed and out into the cold rain in time for yoga, but ate my weight in BU cafe curries and cheezy bread and vegan chocochip cookies, and even managed to do my statistics exam at the one internet spot in town! No international phones in sight, but Sangkhlaburi is now wired.

posted by Raychaa @ 2:17 PM 0 comments

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Parting shots of Cambo

These are the some of the last postable photos I took in Phnom Penh. The city itself doesn't hold much for me, but I dwell on the thousands of pictures of our sweet kids! This is a 'street' along Steung Meanchey village slum. Tim joined me on my last day at the child care center, and we joined rounds with the community workers, to give some baby clothes to new mothers and distribute some bread. We weren't of any use except as a novelty, but being with community workers kept us from being regarded immediately as tourists with handouts and stealable things. Along this path, the bags hold recyclables and salvaged items that can be sold and sent to Vietnam for processing. The shacks along either side are houses.

The CPP is everywhere!!

Under a house-- up on stilts because it'll all be mud and water during rainy season. Amazing to pay $5-$20 per month to live on top of rubbish.

posted by Raychaa @ 12:39 PM 0 comments

So wrong it's right. And then wrong. And then wrong again... welcome to the inaka.

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Name: Raychaa
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About Me: “No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this - 'devoted and obedient'. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.” (Florence Nightingale)
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