The Yucatan!

Don´t read this if you are stuck doing office work in a frigid climate somewhere! Unless you are the type that likes to live vicariously through others.
My brother Terry and I flew down to Can Cun 2 days ago and took a bus from the aiport directly to Playa del Carmen. Which despite being the fastest growing city in the world is still a lot less built-up then Can Cun. We got there at night, ate some cheap ¨tacos al pastor¨and then found a cheap (well for the beach in the Yucatan) hostel. Slept in an area that just had mattress on the floor with curtains seperating them. The outside looked like a grass igloo.
In the morning we enjoyed a little beach time. I love the turqoise water of the Carribean!
Then in the early afternoon we took a bus down to Tulum, a nice beach unblemished by modern high-rise hotels, mostly there are just a cabanas on the beach. (and there are nice Mayan ruins nearby, Terry went but I have already seen them so decided to save the money I would have spent on the entrance).
At dusk a mermaid-esque woman with long white hair walked around on the beach playing a violin. We ate at a place on the beach (or rocks really, in that area) that had some intersting English translations on the menu, including ¨girl cake of ham and cheese¨. I think its always a good sign if either the menu is only in the native language of the area or if there are massive spelling mistakes or unintelligable translations. The food will probably be more authentic and cheaper!
We ended up sleeping outside (I tried to sleep in a hammock but ended up sleeping on the sand.) The cabins were either full or too expensive.
It was actually stormy and pretty cold last night, I slept with a stocking cap, scarf, and many layers on. I guess I looked cold because one of the other hammockers put a sarong over me this morning. I woke up to guitar music and a mini ant hill by my face. But I was so covered that they could only bite my hands.
Later today we swam in a cenote, a giant freshwater cavern that is great for diving. The cenotes here were apparently created by a meteor 65 million years ago! They are important in Mayan mythology, I think representing one of the underworlds. I didn´t finish reading that part in the guidebook yet.
Anyhow now we are in Valladolid, a real Mexican town where you can get cheap food and buy blinking Jesuses (not sold ironically). Our hotel room has so much character-there is an old black and white tv, lots of blue-green and yellow tile, a small room with no door and 2 hooks in it and nothing else. If someone set you down in it and asked you what decade you were in you would probably say the 50´s.

Tomorrow we will head to the ancient Mayan city (or whats left of it) Chitzen Itza.

Please accept my belated apology for my horrific grammar and punctuation.

Santacon and Burners without Borders

Saturday was Portland's annual "Santacon" where hundreds and hundreds of drunken santas (and Christmas bunnies, fairies, risque Mrs. Clauses etc) meet up around noon and then bar hop until the wee hours. Some give out special gifts such as pork rinds, I filled a garbage bag full of mini hotel shampoos, soaps, and lotions and mostly gave them to other santas. Apparently sometimes there are pinatas full of obscene objects, fruit cake fights, and reindeer games but I didn't see any of that. Tara and I showed up pretty late but still caught a lot of Santa dancing, pool and video game playing, and mingling. Another santa challenged me to the rigorous "Dance Dance Revolution Extreme" video game at an arcade. Apparently next weekend is Seattle's Santacon and then there is another one here in Portland on the 22nd. There are others scattered around the globe. Just google "Santacon".
Yesterday I went to the first regional (northwest) "Burners without Borders" meeting, we talked about possibly helping out with the flooded areas in Oregon and Washington and about going to Peru to help with earthquake relief. Here is the link for the main Burners without Borders website:
http://www.burnerswithoutborders.org/

The French Alps

At a flea market in Paris

A little village in the French Alps

I got back to Portland Saturday and will head for Canada (for work) tomorrow...ohh the life of a jetsetter.

After India I flew to Paris to meet up with Boris. France seemed extremely clean, orderly, earth-toney, and expensive after India! Luckily the day I arrived the transportation strike ended, before that most of the trains were suspended so I may have not found France so orderly if I had arrived before.
We went to Boris' friend's birthday party the first night and then walked across Paris in the rain. I thought I was going to freeze to death. Although it was winter in India it was still pretty warm most of the time. The next day we walked around a flea market/ farmers market with Boris' friend Rudolphe in the neighborhood we were staying in (Rudolphe generously let us stay in his studio. He is a musician, if you need music for a movie search for him on My Space, his last name is Bologna). That night we took a night train down to L'argentiere (a small town close to Puy Auillaud, the village where Lucienne (Boris' mother) lives. The train was delayed so they upgraded us to "couchettes" (beds) and gave us free food. Although my only real expenses in France were the trains I still spent more than I would in a week in India, where I was paying for hotels, food, and everything else.

From L'argentiere we went up to Puy Auillaud. Puy Auillaud has the most spectacular setting, it is surrounded by huge snow-covered mountains, but is up on a hill above the valley, so you don't get fogged in. There was a small ski area right behind where we were staying and other ski areas all around the valley. We had about 2 feet of snow on the ground. It was sunny and cold most of the time I was there. For some reason we often woke up for the sunrise (so we cheered and danced as if we were at Burning Man!). The last two days I have been awake in time for the sunrise, but of course when when clouds thickly blanket the sky as they do most days in the winter here in Portland you cannot see the sun. It has not stopped raining since I've gotten back. Hmm why did I come back? Oh yes work. I return tomorrow at 5 am. And friends, family, Stumptown coffee. There must be other things.
Back to France. Boris' mother let us stay in an adorable cabin apartment in the village (they rent them out sometimes, let me know if you want to go!) that had an amazing view of the surrounding mountains. Usually we would go and eat lunch and/or dinner with Lucienne. Sometimes on the deck in the sun. We had fun talking together, me in my broken French. Lucienne was very sweet and tried to help me learn more. I think I progressed a bit. I tried some new cheeses and yogurt and enjoyed eating salad for the first time in a very long time (this was forbidden food in Nepal/India!)
Puy Auillaud has some very old stone houses with lots of character. About 20 people live there. There is a cute little chapel. One day we drove to a nearby town (Briancon) and went to a secret village inside an old fort. Then we hiked up to another fort.
Mostly we relaxed. Read and watched French game shows and news. It was nice not to think about where I would sleep and eat. Also nice not to be harrassed constantly. Although I am already planning to go back to India for more harrassment. I wasn't there long enough, there's so much more to see.

Dehli!

I got to Dehli yesterday, met many fabulous people on the train again, another professional photographer, this one from Norway, he and his colleague were doing a story on the pollution of the Ganges River and how that could create conflict in India in the future. As Nobel Peace Prizes are given out in Norway it is of special concern to Norwegians why they are awarded, apparently some questioned the decision to award the Peace Prize to environmentalists this year. Also met a French girl that grew up in India (so she spoke Hindi, very helpful!). Her parents followed a guru here. I shared a room with her and her 2 year old (so cute!) and a friend of hers that showed up late last night. She is heading to Orissa to study dance.
Anyhow Dehli is big and polluted (my nostrils are constantly coated with black film) but there are some interesting sights. I didn't see many of them. Today I took the metro to Chandni Chowk where there are a plethora of bazaars, I wandered around in the little alleys full of sarees (some of them encrusted with jewels, for weddings I guess). And I stumbled into a parade in honor of the founder of Sikhism, tomorrow is his birthday.
Well I am heading to the airport now, just as I finally remember to pass things and eat with my right hand it is time to go!
I will have to add more details later. I haven't felt like writing too much the last few days. The ubiquitous touts have sapped my energy! But there are so many sweet people too, a couple of days ago Elsa and i were sitting on a stoop in an alley and an old man walked by and insisted we share his fruit. Last night when I couldn't find my friends at first the guy at the restaurant told me "don't feel alone, we are all with you together here."
Hopefully I will get on the flight tonight and will be in France in the morning. (why not stop there on my way home? Boris is there. It didn't change the price of my ticket much. see why this job is so hard to quit?)
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I didn't really have one so save your leftovers! Just kidding.

The Taj

Last night I took a train to Agra and got here this morning. Again I enjoyed looking out the window, in the morning this time I had to hang out in the entrance/exit area of the train to be able to see out, I had the "top bunk" where there are no windows. Met two cool Turkish guys (one around my age, one around 60 or so) on the train, (the younger one has a summer "art camp" on the beach in Turkey (www.kayasanat.com), the other is a freelance photographer and previously made a documentary about driving from Turkey to Mongolia/China/India (through Afghanistan, Pakistan, other 'Stans).

Anyhow we went to the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort together. The Taj Mahal is definitely spectacular, but I prefer watching people wash their goats in the Ganges in Varanasi.

The Red Fort was also nice. My favorite part was watching the monkeys play on the grass outside of the Fort. What can I say, I prefer action!

I'm staying at a place that has a rooftop restaurant with a vew of the Taj and the entrance gate. Tomorrow morning I'll head to Dehli.

Cows, cremation and Bollywood! Ohh Varanasi...

I'm in Varanasi! I have had a great time so far. I took a night train here, in my bunk area I met Elsa (from Spain) and Masa (from Japan). I slept pretty well on the train despite rotating snoring men on the bunk across from me and a lively meeting of Indian business men in the middle of the night in the aisle by my bed. In the morning I woke up, propped myself up on my stomach and looked out the window as we chugged along. I love riding the train! I saw interesting little villages that were composed of brick dwellings all clumped together in the midst of yellow and green fields dotted with the occasional tree. Towards the end of the ride more people got on and one guy decided he had to have Masa's cell phone and tried to haggle with him repeatedly. It was really funny because Masa did not want to sell his cell phone. The new riders sang and clapped in the bunk area next to us (and some crowded in with us so they could ask us the usual questions, where are you from etc.) and then at some point one pulled the alarm in our area, some of them did not have tickets so they wanted to stop the train and get off before the ticket checker came. I can't express how much easier it is to travel with other people here, it insulates you somewhat from the constant approaches and instead of getting really annoyed and exasperated you can just roll your eyes and laugh. Elsa's had booked one of the best budget hotels ahead of time and had arranged for them to pick her up at the train station, she mercifully invited us to go with her (Masa and I) as the rickshaw and other taxi drivers in Varanasi are notoriously predatory at the train station, I have heard multiple stories of rickshaw drivers refusing to take tourists to their hotel of choice even if they had already reserved rooms ahead of time, instead they will take you to a hotel where they will get a commission. We crammed into the back of an auto rickshaw and rode along until a point where you have to get out and walk, the alleys here are so narrow in the old part of town that (thank god) most vehicles can't fit in them, although motorcycles still terrorize people occasionally by speeding through them. I have a little scar on my arm from being hit by a bicycle rickshaw here, and yesterday as we were squeezing by a group of cows one decided to whip its head into me but mostly hit my bag. Elsa is a veterinarian and cows were one of her specialties, she is a good person to be with here! When she told some local ladies at a yoga and healing center yesterday that she was a cow doctor they were very impressed (cows are holy in the Hindu religion), "ohh cow doctor" one lady said, "very lucky, very very lucky." We were trying to understand if the cows have owners and who takes care of them. Apparently many of them don't really have owners and are somewhat collectively cared for. It seems they mostly eat what looks like garbage on the street. We asked if they are used for milk and the girl at the yoga center said no "just street walking." There are also tons of monkeys (this morning 2 jumped on one of the tables at the riverside terrace restaurant where we are staying, and dumped out the napkins out of the cup, looking for food I guess), and many dogs and woolly horned goats. It is like a farm or zoo here, with no fences! Yesterday Elsa, Masa, and I got up at 4:30 am and hired a row boat to take us along the "ghats" (the Ganges riverside steps where people worship, bathe, cremate people). After getting in the small boat I realized that there was a bloated dead cow a few inches behind me in the water. Sunrise is the best time to see the activity along the ghats. One Sadhu saint was sitting on a ledge and happily clapping his hands and belting out some tunes. Some people were beating their laundry against the steps. We saw a body being cremated (if you die in Varanasi apparently you go directly to heaven so many people come here to die). The body was wrapped in a white sheet and I had trouble thinking of it as an actual body. As we were walking down one little alley yesterday one young guy came up and asked where we were from (Elsa wisely ignored him), I told him the U.S. and in response he told me that he knows Goldie Hawn, she apparently consults his astrological shop for advice. Last night Elsa and I did something somewhat painful, but something that we felt we had to do while here in India. We went to a cinema and saw the biggest Bollywood hit right now- "Om Shanti Om." When the doors opened mobs of people rushed the entrances. About 95% of the theatre goers were men so we sought out some of the few Indian girls present and sat with them and their father. Even after the movie started ushers were coming through to seat people with flashlights and in some cases would yell at people to move over so people could sit together. Then the ticket checker came by, also with flashlight. The movie was 3 hours long, when I thought it was almost over (the hero died) there was an intermission, and then the hero was reincarnated in the next half! People in the theatre would cheer and yell at key moments during the film. Across the Ganges river from us is a wide, desolate white dirt or sand expanse of land. It looks like the Black Rock Desert and I can't help thinking of my favorite festival when I looked over there, as there are colorful people dotting the area. Anyhow I think that is it for now, today I will try to get my train ticket for Agra (where the Taj Mahal is). So I will most likely leave Varanasi tomorrow.

So

My Favorite Day in Kolkata and other news

(Photos- top: students and teachers at the non-profit Uddami, bottom: two men singing in the streets for alms, the coins are weighing down that white sheet)

I think my favorite day in Kolkata so far started out when I went to visit Uddami (uddami.org), a computer training center for disadvantaged youth. Uddami is an American non profit. They teach their students basic computer skills as well as more advanced skills such as website building. Two of their main teachers are former Uddami students. Many of the students are from very poor communities, their mothers might be what they call "moshis", (moshis do janitorial work) and their fathers might be rickshaw drivers, (each might earn around $7 U.S. a month or so) so they do not earn enough to send their children to things like computer training courses. Uddami is free of charge. The Center can take up to 36 students at a time. When they graduate they have many employable computer skills. Although if they can speak English well this is a huge asset. "My main dream is to teach our students spoken English...usually interviews are in English, most speak Bengali" said Rabia, one of the teachers I met, who was one of Uddami's first students.
Uddami now runs a for-profit IT business where they employee many of their former students.
I had lunch with Alison (co-founder of Uddami) and Bryan (her husband, the other c0-founder of Uddami, and manager of Uddami Software Services). We had Chinese food in a dark little restaurant that they had "never gotten sick from." Alison told me she and a friend had a pact that when they were 40 they would join the Peace Corps, but her friend is now a busy lawyer and only could get free for a month so they went to Calcutta. Alison decided to go back, she originally wanted to open a home for kids in need but found that what was really needed was a job skills training center.
I told them that I was interested in documentary filmmaking, so Bryan took me to meet Rono, a local documentary filmmaker. It was so nice be in a real Bengali apartment home in a quiet, tree lined residential neighborhood. The apartment was funky and classy. We drank tea and Rono talked about what he does (mostly documentary work for big companies like Tata steel here, it is difficult to get funded to do independent documentary work). His wife Keya is a book publisher and she ended up taking me along with her that night to the ISHA foundation introduction to their 7 day yoga course on "Inner Engineering", their sign said "Welcome to the silent revolution of self realization". (Ishafoundation.org)
Keya also put me in touch with her son's filmmaker friend who I am going to meet for coffee shortly.
Alison and Bryan informed me that Sahar, an old classmate of mine from Seattle University, is here, (I thought she was in Seattle right now, but she is here doing research for her masters) I don't know if we will be able to meet up because she is busy with work and school and I contacted the day before I was leaving (I'm leaving tonight). She started Kalam http://marginswrite.wordpress.com/about/ several years ago, which is a non-profit that holds creative writing workshops for youth from slums and red light districts here. And they have a lot of other projects, for example they do poetry readings, they have a lit mag, and they are starting to teach grass roots community journalism. Their main aim is to teach marginalized youth to define and empower themselves by writing their own stories about their lives. I am so impressed by what Sahar and co have done! Very cool.

My other activities this week include visiting the old British colonial building called "Victoria"(there is a museum inside), visiting the Kaligat temple (one of the most important Hindu temples here, they do goat sacrifices every morning and then feed the goat to the poor), going to the Kolkata film festival, riding the metro, walking around, and eating a lot of good Indian food. At the film festival I accidentally saw a French movie called Aurore (had bought a ticket for an Argentinian movie, actually I think they may have played the wrong one) and then yesterday I walked by a theatre and was checking out the schedule when an employee told me I could go into the "members only" screening of an old Cuban film, it was set in Angola, Africa, when Cuban soldiers were stationed there). I just saw part of it.

Walking around here you always see interesting things, one man shaving another in the street, two men singing an otherworldly tune while shuffling along, holding a white sheet between them. (shown in the photo above). People typing on typewriters at little desks on the sidewalk. Little old men sitting next to their wooden totes that are filled with glass bottles of perfume. Last night I saw another tourist about my age crouching down with one of these perfume vendors, I guess testing his wares. She was glowing. I was so happy I saw this, sometimes you get so used to saying no to things that you forget to be open to little bits of magic. India has me weary at times.
Sometimes beggars follow you for a little bit. They are not threatening. I have surprised myself by how firm and rude I can be. Even with kids. Then I feel terrible. A lot of people call out to me in the street, sometimes for me to look at what they are selling, sometimes to demand to know where I am from. So I can be on edge. Sometimes I realize someone just truly wanted to help me or talk to me without wanting anything at all from me other than kindness. Then I feel bad for being stand-offish and suspicious of their motives. I guess it takes longer to feel really comfortable here. Don't get me wrong, I am having a good experience overall.
Tonight I am finally taking an Indian train! To Varanasi. So that should be interesting.

Back to Nepal part II- The Nepali Living Goddess, my hospital visit (as a patient), other

I must talk for a moment about the Kumari (living goddess) phenomenon of the Kathmandu Valley. On my first night in Nepal I was lucky enough to see the most important Kumari, (the "Royal Kumari") in Kathmandu. We went into the courtyard of her "palace" in Durbar Square and she came to the pane less window (on the second floor) and solemnly looked at us and other visitors for a couple of minutes. The next tourists that came just after us weren't so lucky.

Most historians think Kumari worship started sometime in the 17th century, and there are multiple competing myths that explain why this custom popped up, one is that one of the kings of Nepal would consult with the goddess Teleju, they would place dice together and she would give him advice, and one night the queen discovered them together, didn't recognize the goddess and became jealous, Teleju was so offended she said she would never come back, but after much pleading from the king she said she would come in the form of a young virgin girl (that was from a certain caste, and had 32 odd physical characteristics, like the body of a banyan tree).

So the Kumaris are usually chosen around age 3 or 4 and retain their divine status until around the age of 12. Supposedly they can not be the Kumari anymore when they first shed blood (i.e. a major cut or menstruation) but I read part of a book about an ex-Kumari called "From Goddess to Mortal: The True Life Story of a Royal Kumari" (as told by Rashmila Shakya, the former goddess, written by Scott Berry) and Rashmila said that their replacements are automatically looked for when they are around 12 years of age, regardless of blood loss.

The Kumaris can almost never leave their living quarters, only during certain festivals. They have many restrictions, for example when they eat certain foods such as cooked rice they must eat alone in a secluded area that is just for them. They can however make anyone around them do whatever they want, no one can argue with a goddess!

Many people come to them daily to ask for healing for themselves or especially for their children. The interesting thing to to me was that when Rashmila was Kumari she was absolutely confident that she could heal or help people in other ways if she so desired. Tell a kid that they are divine before they are even forming recollectable memories and they will think they are divine! But who am I to say that they're not.

The Kumaris wear all red, their hair up in a tight bun, and cat-like eye makeup.

Ohh and I said earlier that I would write about getting sick, it doesn't seem all that interesting to me now though. The day that preceded the evening I got sick I was walking around Kathmandu drinking fresh juices (made with pre-cut fruit, a big no-no!) and I ate some uncooked sliced vegetables that accompanied my meal. The problem with these is that they often have very contaminated water on them, or flys have landed on them that have previously landed on very unpleasant things such as feces. Almost all tap water and other water there that has not been filtered is very polluted, someone told me to think of it as sewage.

I am not use to being that careful about what I eat when I travel, but I quickly learned that in South Asia I need to be.

I got that full, nausicous feeling when I was doing email that evening, got to my room just in time to dump my dirty clothes out of my plastic laundry bag, and then promptly filled the bag with my stomach stew. I had to run down the hall to the shared bathroom fairly often all through the night, (poor people in the room next to the bathroom). In the morning I thought I was better but decided I shouldn't meet with my friend Tenzin's family friend for breakfast as I didn't think I could eat, I went to the reception desk at the hotel to call her, while I was on the phone I vomited again, passed out into my vomit (just like all the greats! Hendrix, Janis Joplin and many others), split my lip, and came to with hotel staff around me saying "hospital, hospital."

I had walked downstairs with no money or I.D. and the hotel (a budget hotel, nothing fancy) gave me money out of the till to pay for the hospital (I paid them back later of course) and then they took me I think in the hotel van to the hospital. A waiter from the hotel restaurant sat with me to make sure I didn't pass out again, then he stayed with me for several hours at the hospital, took care of the paperwork, got me bananas and water. It was so sweet. I had never talked to him and had just stayed at the hotel one night, it was amazing how much they looked after me and I don't think they expected anything in return. In Nepal (as in India) the "guest is god."

The hospital was a little cold and drafty, there was a huge opening out to the parking area, and by U.S. standards was pretty dingy (smudged walls, out-dated looking). But the care was good. Everyone spoke excellant English. There were a few other patients in the area I was in (the ER? I'm not sure) one old lady with a sari on kept walking out and then stumbling back in, sometimes grasping my bed for support.

I remember feeling so cold, alone, and uncomfortable. I thought about ripping the IV out of my arm and walking back to the hotel, which was very close. (the IV was to rehydrate me in case anyone was wondering)

And then (as I mentioned in another entry) Kareen (Tenzin's family friend, an American) came to the hospital and rescued me, it was so nice, she asked the staff what they had done for me so far, she has lived in Nepal on and off for decades and knew exactly what I needed, it was very reassuring. We went back to the hotel, packed up my stuff and then we went to her comfortable home out in Patan, across the river from Kathmandu. Instead of a solitary, boring period of convalescence I enjoyed great company (Kareen and her husband Don and their two other house guests), and great food. They had endless entertaining stories about living in Nepal, and other places in Asia. From them and people I met through them I learned a lot about Nepali society and history. (Such as the fact that ready-made clothes have only become widely available and popular in the last 5 years, before that everything was tailored! A lot of clothes still are)

I have a lot of nice memories of Nepal, such as the welcome we (I was with the Australian/American woman I met at the aiport) got when we arrived at our first guest house, the staff introduced themselves, gave little speeches about how they could help us, they were so formal, yet friendly. I told one of them my plan was to ride a bus to India and he asked me "do you know what Nepal stands for?", I said no, and he said "Never Ending Peace and Love, please give us time to show you that".

There was the serious old man sitting in his hole-in-the-wall shop who I bought water from, who counted and recounted many times my change to make sure he was giving me back the right amount, then after that I walked away without the water. When I went back his shy laugh was priceless.

There was the afternoon I sat up on the 7 story rooftop Terrace of Helena's (a coffee shop/restaurant) and sat in the sun reading and enjoying chocolate cake, masala tea and 360 degree views of the city.

I'm sure I am forgetting some things but I think the only main thing left to mention about Nepal is the Daywalka Foundation visit.

Anyhow the internet place is closing, I'm still in Kolkata, have seen a lot of the city. Hopefully I'll have time to write about all that tomorrow.

Good night!

Quiet Kolkata (Calcutta)?

I made it to Kolkata this morning after an arduous 12 hour bus ride (the train was sold out). The first half of the bus ride was especially torturous because the roads are often not wide enough (or are just too damaged) for 2 lanes of truck/bus traffic and so we had to stop repeatedly to let oncoming traffic go by, or sometimes we just did a little "off road driving". When we stopped it got too warm but no one wanted to open the windows. Ohh and of course there was incessant honking! It must have gotten better later on because eventually I fell asleep.

The highlight of the bus trip was seeing all of the castle-like temple facades that house various Hindu gods and goddesses (like the one in the picture) as we drove by all the different towns. In front of one there was a family dancing wildly, this made me smile.

As it is still Diwali (the festival of lights) there were Christmas lights and tea lights on and in front of many of the houses and shops. Even in front of the makeshift dwellings on top of piles of hay.

The most shocking thing about Kolkata so far is how quiet it has been, I was prepared for hoards and hoards of people and traffic and constant hastling, but there has been very little of any of that. I think that is due to the major strike that is going on. (called for by several political parties but I haven't figured out exactly why yet). Most businesses were closed today and the streets were almost empty, save for kids playing cricket!

I had a pleasant stroll around part of the city. One new thing I saw was people washing themselves and their clothes in the streets, there are certain corners where water bubbles out from under the sidewalk, and that's where I saw people and clothes all lathered up. Sometimes it seemed as though kids were having fun doing this. I'm not sure if they were homeless, didn't have running water in their homes or for some reason preferred to use the water from there.

A few people asked for money or food but it was really nothing more than if you walked down parts of Burnside in Portland. Maybe they are a little more persistent though.

Overall people seemed to be relaxing, playing cards in the street, watching the cricket games etc. Someone told me the mood is tense because of the strike but I didn't sense that. The man that told me that had been waiting for his regular bus that wasn't showing up, and at that moment there was an energetic rally going on nearby.

Here's something interesting- I have read that many people here are actually not so fond of Mother Theresa, they feel that she gave the city a bad image and has cost them millions of dollars in tourism money. Some people criticize her for not addressing the root causes of poverty and suffering (over-population and AIDS and other diseases) as her order (The Missionaries of Charity) is against contraception. Others call her a religious imperialist.

Kolkata is nationally thought of as the intellectual and cultural capital of India, and its residents aren't too happy when the sole connotations people outside of India have of their city are suffering and poverty.

Ohh I have so much to finish writing about, Darjeeling, Nepal, the Daywalka Foundation etc. Maybe later. Now its time to eat!

Update- after I wrote the above I went outside and there was a wonderful little parade in the streets, there were piles of kids with gods/goddesses on top if truck beds, and people playing drums and dancing with abandon. it seemed pretty organic and spontaneous, this was no Macy's parade, but it was much better in my opinion. This is what I wanted to see in India! Well one of the things.

Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre Visit

"The Chinese Invasion of Tibet resulted in 1.2 million Tibetans being killed in skirmishes, executions, torture, famine, and suicide."

(printed along with a lot of other information about the Tibet situation, inside the photography exhibit at the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre, Darjeeling, India)

Today I walked down a beautiful mountain path to the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre here in Darjeeling. I visited the workshops (where the refugees produce the goods they sell) and watched aprons being woven, wool being turned into hats, and cards being painted, then went to the show room to see the impressive finished products. Afterwards I sat on a bench to organize my bag and soon became a playground for little Tibetan kids, we ate raisens together, and then played frisbee. Indian tourists took pictures of us, funny to be on the other side of the camera here.

The Centre was established in October of 1959. It was one of the first rehabilitation/support centers founded after the mass exodus of Tibetans from Tibet in 1959. I am not an expert at all on this issue, but in case you are wondering what all those "Free Tibet Stickers" are all about here is a short synopsis of what happened- (written mostly with information I got from the Tibetan Refugee Centre here)

In 1949 the Chinese started invading Tibet and gradually starting occupying Tibet after that (the Chinese claimed to want to free Tibet from "Medievalism" and the "oppressive" monks but really wanted access to their mineral resources, and wanted to exploit Tibet in other ways). In 1959 there was a major popular uprising of the Tibetan people against the Chinese, the Chinese responded by slaughtering 87,000 Tibetans in the Lhasa region alone (Lhasa is the capital). After that the Dalai Lama decided his only option was to flee to safety (he gained political asylum in India) and around 85,000 other Tibetans left around the same time as him. Today many Tibetans still risk their lives escaping from the oppression of Chinese rule in their land.

Currently the Centre is home to 650 refugees. It provides free housing, food, rations, medical care, clothing, and uniforms and stationary for kids. Income for the center is mostly generated from the handicrafts that are produced there, which include woodcarvings, carpets, and leather items in addition to what I mentioned above.

Here is some other information that is posted at the Centre along with a photography exhibit:

-More than 6000 monasteries have been destroyed in Tibet by the Chinese

-Thousands of Innocent Tibetans are still imprisoned

-Tibet is being used as a dumping ground for nuclear and toxic waste by the chinese

-6 million Tibetans are now outnumbered by 7.5 million Chinese in Tibet

-The Tibetans second most important spiritual leader after the Dalai Lama (the Panchen Lama) is imprisoned by the Chinese

-Tibetan prisoners are denied legal aid, tortured, forced to sign statments, go to re-education camps

-thousands of Tibetan women undergo forced abortions and sterilizations

And the list goes on and on...what was once a peaceful state has now been militarized and terrorized by China.

For more complete information please visit tibet.net or freetibet.org

Back to Nepal for a moment...(take a look nurse and almost nurse friends!)

I want to catch up a little bit with my week in Nepal now. I haven't done that much in India yet so now seems like a good time.

My introduction to Nepal was through Suman, a Nepali man. We sat next to each other on the plane to Kathmandu. He thanked me several times for coming to visit Nepal. He was coming back from Tokyo and spoke English, Japanese, and obviously Nepali. Eventually I asked him what he did and he told me about the "Kathmandu Model Hospital", which is run by "phect-NEPAL", a non-profit national NGO that he co-founded. I asked him if I could visit and he said sure.

I arrived at the Hospital and Suman got together 5 of his friends and colleagues to sit in a room with me to talk to me and answer questions. (these were surgeons and other doctors, and I was just a curious foreigner, couldn't believe they took time out to sit and drink coffee and chat with me! Although they did periodically have to attend to phone calls...)

I will try to recount somewhat briefly the highlights of what I learned-

In 1990 Nepal became a democracy (although the royal family was still around, that's a long story). Before 1990 all organizations had to be approved by the queen, who would only approve "pro-royalist" organizations. So with the new freedoms in 1990 Suman and co started planning their NGO, they started small, in a single room which they later converted to a clinic. "We had no money in our pockets, just dreams."

They served various communities (most outside of the Kathmandu valley) and developed health activism. They would appoint community nurses and form health co-ops, that were run by local people. The co-ops were "micro health insurance schemes" (there was no state health insurance in Nepal, I think that is still the case). They tried to get people to contribute 1/2 of a rupee per day (about 1/8 of a U.S. cent) towards the co-op health insurance funds, and still that was too much for many people.

They attempted to "reach the unreachable" and became a referral center for the relatively poor.

In 1993 the Kathmandu Model Hospital was officially established with 18 beds. It now has 125 beds and is "one of the reputed hospitals for secondary and tertiary specialized services in the capital city." On average the beds are more than 80% occupied.

The hospital will treat anyone that comes and asks for payment if people are able. Government hospitals are often over-crowded and private hospitals are expensive so the Kathmandu Hospital became another option.

They have also established 2 small community hospitals outside of Kathmandu. And they set up medical camps (tents) in very rural areas and treat medical issues such as cleft lip, burns and uterine prolapse (which is a very painful condition that occurs when a woman's uterus comes down into her vagina. many women in rural Nepal have to go right back to working in the fields after giving birth so this is a relatively common occurrence).

phect-Nepal works in reproductive health, gender based violence, psychological counseling, and legal support as well as general health. The Kathmandu Model Hospital has an acupuncture clinic. They also do dental work, speech therapy, and have many other services!

They have gotten some foreign grants but they struggle with funding, if you are in a philanthropic mood you can email them at phectnp@wlink.com.np They should have a website soon.

Also for my nurse (or other medical) friends!

You can go and work or intern there, in several different capacities-

1) you can make presentations or give lectures at their nursing school (yes they also have their own nursing school!)

2) you can work in the Kathmandu Model Hospital (where depends on your specialty), and share/compare you experiences at home with nurses there

3) you can go to the smaller community hospitals or rural medical camps, where you would have the opportunity to help out in many ways

You can email me or them if you are interested. You don't need to speak Nepali, most medical professionals there speak English.

Many of you love mountains, and Nepal is the place to be for trekking! Just be careful what you eat, next I will write about my experience as a patient in a hospital in Kathmandu...

Finally in India!!!

(Photos- clockwise from top, dog with tikka! (for the Diwali festival, see below), cute Darjeeling house, and the "imposing" Indian immigration office I had to pass through!)

So two days ago I flew on "Buddha Air" to Badrapur, (in Eastern Nepal) and then took a mini-van with an elderly Nepali pastor and a Finnish Nepali-speaking nun through a couple of towns in Nepal, then into India! The humid, warm weather and tropical vegetation was a bit of a shock after Kathmandu, lots of palm trees and colorful flowers. It was a great transition into India, the border was halfway across a river, so we were crossing the river and I was asking are we in India yet? The nun showed me where the border post was and I got tears in my eyes.

I spent my first night in India in a town called "Silguri" at "Hotel Welcome". The hotel staff kept knocking on my door to ask me things, like if I wanted breakfast and when I was leaving, I guess they were bored. I think I was the only foreignor, maybe the only guest at all. I was exhausted and watched Bollywood music videos and weird religious channels with close-ups of yogi's stomachs breathing. (and BBC) (I don't usually have tv's in my $5 and less rooms!)

Yesterday I came up a beautiful one-lane pot-hole/railroad track filled road in a crowded jeep to Darjeeling. It is very pretty and green here, lots of "tea gardens" (tea plantations) around and of course huge mountains (the Himalayas!) The elevation here is over 8,000 feet so its a little cold most of the time. I am really easing myself into India. But even in a small mountain city like this there are piles of garbage all over the place (especially in the streams!) and horrendous smells.

Right now the "Diwali" festival is going on (the festival of lights) so people have been cleaning their houses, and putting orange flower garlands and lights all around them. The cleaner and brighter your house is the more likely it is that the goddess Lakshmi will visit your house (and she is the goddess of wealth!) There have been regular (somewhat alarming) bomb-like blasts around (to keep away the evil spirits). And some nice fireworks. On the first day of the festival they celebrated crows (and fed them), yesterday it was dogs (you could see dogs wearing flower garlands and tikkas (red dots on their foreheads!) It was very cute. Today it is cows and tomorrow brothers, I think.

(much of the text below was added later than the rest of the entry...)

Someone told me that Diwali is mostly celebrated in the home so I was a little bummed, but then I got back to my guest house that night and the girls of the families that run the guest house were putting on a dance performence, it was so cute! Watching little Tibetan girls dancing to Shakira (and also local music) in a hill station in India is definately one of the highlights of my trip!

Then the next night a lot of boys and young men were out carrolling, it was really beautiful, they had drums and guitars and sang lovely folk songs.

One day I walked to the Happy Valley Tea Estate and tasted "Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Picko 1" which is suppose to be the cream of the crop for tea. It was good but I prefer chai!

I have heard that there are more Tibetans and Nepalis living here than Indians and English is widely spoken.

Ohh and there is a funny time zone here, when it is 4 am at home it is 5:30 pm here in India, and 5:45 pm in Nepal!

Last night I had a funny dream that I was rapidly stuffing my face with cookies to make my friend laugh.

Juice shop in Kathmandu

7 Days in Nepal

Patan (next to Kathmandu), Nepal

Hello again everyone!
Between power outages, slow internet connections, and illness I haven't been able to update this for awhile.

Tomorrow I will finally (I just knocked on the wooden table) get to India. (I will fly to a small town in Eastern Nepal on the Indian border, and then take a bus up to Darjheeling).

I have a lot to write about Nepal, I have seen a living goddess, visited 2 hospitals (once as a concerned world citizen, it was a non-profit hospital helping mostly the poor here, the Nepali man I happened to sit next to on the plane here co-founded it, and once as a patient, wow you really do have to be careful what you eat here! Nothing too serious, I just passed out and had to get an IV because I was so dehydrated from vomiting, I'll tell the whole beautiful story later, and will include nice details like how the hotel waiter (who I didn't know) rode with me to the hospital and stayed with me for hours, then how the nicest American woman (a close family friend of my friend Tenzin's) came and picked me up from the hospital and took me into her beautiful home, how her husband and her have constantly entertained me with riveting stories of living in Nepal over the last decades...among many other tales)
...And today I went to the Daywalka Foundation (daywalka.org) which was founded by a professor of mine at Seattle University, some of you know that I was suppose to go to Nepal and India years ago to study girl-trafficking and help with prevention and rehabilitation, anyhow the trip was cancelled because of political unrest in both countries. Visiting the Daywalka Foundation today made me feel like some long unfinished assignment was taken off the shelf, dusted off...

Sorry for the rambling, I don't have time to write about everything in detail right now, I have a plane to take in the morning! (not too early thank God). I plan to elaborate on each of the activities mentioned above.
Hopefully in India the power will stay on (not likely I hear!), the internet connections will work at a breakneck pace and I will stay healthy.

Goodnight and Namaste
Laura

p.s. I saw many monkeys like the ones in the photo at a famous hilltop Buddhist temple nicknamed "Monkey Temple"

One of the four foot wide barber shops (with barber) (in Kathmandu)

Yes that dirty blue post on the right is
the dividing wall, the shop ends there!

Wait...Kathmandu's not in India...

Yeah its true, I'm in Kathmandu. I woke up yesterday morning in the Bangkok airport, and after 24 hours there (I couldn't get on the flight to Kolkata (Calcutta) the night before, it was full) I was desperate to go anywhere so I asked if I could use my ticket to fly somewhere in the vicinity of Northeast India. A couple of hours after I woke up I was boarding a plane to Nepal. I had no guidebook for Nepal, noticed almost none of the other passengers were wearing sandals and suddenly wondered if it was very cold there.
Anyhow its a little chilly at night but not too bad, it feels nice after Laos. The old part of town is bizarre, it is comprised of winding little alleys, the buildings have very short doorways, many of the shops seem built for hobbits, there are 4 foot wide barber shops that stretch back into darkness, tea shops the size of a washing machine, blacksmiths in front of the shops, shops lined from floor to ceiling with old VCRs. In the tourist part there are many shops stuffed with trekking gear and gorgeous handycrafts. A friend I met at the airport (a Australian/American woman that headed out on a trekk today) and I ate at a tiny rooftop terrace restaurant above the square you see in the picture (Durbar Square), the lights in that part of the city had gone out. The waiters put a couple of naked little candles on the table that kept blowing out so we ate in darkness, at some point I remembered I had a little key chain light in my bag and pulled it out, realized to my horror that the chicken I had just been eating was mostly raw (maybe I just ate the cooked outside part, either way I am not sick yet!). I guess the cooks didn't have any light either. It was a dark and mysterious Halloween meal.

Well more later...I should go back outside before it gets dark, I still have to finish typing up the interview with Khanthong, I haven't forgotten about that!

Interview with a Laotion Monk!

Yesterday I went to my friends temple around 3 to interview Khanthong. Under the punishing sun the monks were just finishing-up the major after festival clean-up of the temple grounds. They had to take down temporary shade structures, alters, and various other apparatus. Most of them are relieved that the (End of Buddhist Lent) festival is over, it is a lot of work for them, they have to stay around the temple at night and read people's fortunes, and right outside their living quarters are bouncy castles and slides, temporary restaurants and carnival games, and of course speakers blaring music...

And now they can enjoy a little more freedom as Lent is over.

The comments that I interject are in parentheses, usually information he gave me but I didn't record it verbatim.

First I asked Khanthong what a typical day is like for him.

"I get up at 4 or 4:30 am. Then I pray to the Buddha. After praying we go collecting food, (in the street, as I mentioned in another article it is often sticky rice and fruit that people offer them. Usually it is the same people that bring the food each morning. On weekends new people might come. Also on weekends sometimes they have to cook for themselves as they might not collect enough food.)
"Then we come back to the temple to pray again, then have breakfast. Then we sweep the temple, we clean. Then we go to school...In the morning we study Japanese or English, the monks who take extra class. We have lunch at 11 am. I usually have lunch at 11:40 because we are allowed to eat until 12. (noon). (the monks can not eat after 12. they can drink beverages though) After lunch we go to Buddhist school (12:30-4). I have already finished Buddhist school. (so Khanthong takes a 2 hour English class instead in the afternoon).

"At 5 or 5:30 (pm) we pray to the Buddha again. (after Lent the monks will only pray twice a day, after collecting food and in the afternoon). Then we have free time. I go to the internet cafe a few times a week, study by myself, listen to music, mostly Japanese, some English, and Thai radio. At about 10 pm I go to bed."

What do you learn in Buddhist School?

Chemistry, history, math, Dharma, discipline. ( and Buddha's other teachings.)

Why did you become a monk?

"In my hometown we believe in Buddhism strongly. Most of the boys at 9,10,11, 12 become monks. Most only for 1 week or 1 month then stop. They can not follow the discipline.

"For me I did not want to become a monk. I knew it was very difficult. My parents told me you should try...maybe 1 week or month, then you can stop. Then I said okay. I made a commitment with them for 1 week and then I would leave the monks. The master of the temple is my father's younger brother. After 1 week I feel happy, my parents said if you feel happy then stay. Then I study in a government school with normal people (non-monks). In my hometown only have 1st and 2nd year of primary school. If you want to continue you go to the city.

What is your hometown/village like?

"There are 30 houses...people believe in animism and Buddhism. They believe if they have many children they have good luck...

"Now some families have TV, but no electricity. (He explained to me that they use machines powered hydro-electrically to power the TVs).

Have other people moved aaway like you?

"Very few. Two or 3 boys finish high school (that live there now). Many can't read Lao...

"When I visit my hometown I always think of my past, when I was a boy. I feel sad. City life is different. (In the countryside) People are happy...one thing I like so much is that people help each other."

(I have to add something here, when I was in June Khanthong gave me a wonderful hardback book entitled "Gratitude for Rice Bowl Alms" that he co-wrote with other monks. In it were stories of their childhoods and stories of Buddha's life, among other things.

In Khanthong's section he wrote about how (as a child) he loved to ride water buffalo, he felt very handsome and that he looked like a hero atop his buffalo. He would ask his parents- "Do I look like a hero?" And they would say "Yes, but a country hero." He also wrote that when kids would cry the parents would tell him if they didn't stop the "farangs" (white foreignors) would come and kidnap them. Many monks wrote that as children they aspired to be football (soccer) stars. One wrote that they didn't have balls so improvised with grapefruit. Most monks are from very small villages in the countryside, for some the only way they can study past 2nd grade is by becoming a monk.)

Can you imagine moving back to your village?

"I don't think I would live there, the goal of our parents is that we study and get jobs in the city."

But would you lke to live there?

"Stay there for awhile maybe."

What is the most important things you have learned from being a monk?

"One important thing I always think, the life of the monk teach me I must be patient and when I decide to do something I have to think carefully."

When did you decide to stop being a monk (Khanthong is leaving the temple sometme in the next year).

"I think I live too long in the temple, I want to change my lifestyle, I want to try to work."

What kind of job would you like?

"I want to work with project...(thinks for a minute)...I want to be an accountant."

later he says "I want to help people in the countryside (help educate them). Accountant is difficult, at least three years of school" (to get certified).

"Its not easy to get a job in Laos, if I want to work in the bank for example and I don't know anyone, very difficult."

(He then said he first will apply with a Japanese tour company in Laos. He said most ex monks work as tour guides, receptionists, waiters (because they can usually speak English)

Where would you most like to visit?

"Japan!" (said maybe he would like to live there as well).

What do you like about Japan?

"Culture, they always plan for their work, they follow the structure of the plan. They are very polite, very calm." (he thinks their belief in "Shinto" may be partially responsible for some of the attractive aspects of their culture).

What do you think you will miss most about being a monk?

(my notes are a little jumbled here and I don't want to misquote him, but Khantong answered that he will miss meeting people at the temple, they meet a lot of people, a lot of foreigners.

he also said-

"People who we meet will pay respect to us. Different when you are not a monk."

What will you do on your first day as a lay person?

"I think...motorbike!" (last time I asked him he said stay in the temple, for the first few days, and I asked, not ride a water buffalo?).

(monks cannot drive cars, or motorbikes, or ride bikes, horses, etc. They can ride on the back of a vehicle, but just can not be the one controlling the vehicle or animal.)

He continued on...

"I am curious how I will behave. Sometimes I feel I'm really crazy because if I leave monk, how can I walk? Can I start from left or right foot?" (Khanthong has been a monk since he was a young boy...)

Anything you want people in the West to know about Laos?

"I want them to know about life of people in the countryside. Most tourists stay in cities. Their daily life, their work. Good to go to the farm to see their work. People in the city can not stop. Knowledge is important. Countryside people don't need much knowledge, follow like parents, grandparents. For me if I leave and go back I don't know what to do. I don't know how to control the buffalo. (anymore).

"Some people in countryside still afraid of foreignors, feel strange when see them."


I know you had a meeting at your temple about Burma. What do you think about the situation there?

"In fact I think very often about the situation in Burma, especially about the monks and about Aung San Suu Kyi. She was kept (imprisoned) for many years. I feel her feeling after staying in jail, how difficult, her torture. Many monks in Burma against the government, I am a monk too, I imagine if many monks too in Vientiane walked in the street...
"The monks in Burma need peace, and Aung San Suu Kyi. I feel so sorry for them."

What do you think the solution should be?

"I think the UN and other country should help, I don't think people in Burma can solve...It is good if both sides can see the feeling of each other."

Do you think Augn San Suu Kyi should be president?

"I think its good if she became president...Many people like her and many people don't."

What did you takl about at your meeting, how to help them...?

"Its difficult to help them...we pray for them. We just hope that finish soon."

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

"Maybe in Japan, working for a company. Maybe I have a family, my son or my daughter can speak Lao, Japanese, English...I always plan for having a family and think about what I can do to make them happy, many people don't find real happiness...they work too much"

Do you like to watch TV, if so what?

"My TV program is news and sports, especially football" (soccer).

Something you would change about Laos?

"One is fashion. Now people imitate from another country. Good if Lao women wear Lao skirt, scarf."

Anything else?

"For me I always pity on children who don't have opportunity to study. Some children they want to study but their parents can not support them. Some people are really rich and don't pay attention to studies, good if they can give that opportunity to people who want to study."

(then we did a bit of a reverse interview, Khanthong wanted to know where I am afraid to go (as an American), how I would change the world, how I would make my family happy etc. I'm not going to type my responses, guess y'all can ask me these things yourselves if you're dying to know!)

A new airplane requires chanting!

Last night I stopped by to visit my monk friends at their temple, Khanthon wasn't there at first and then whisked in with several other monks as I was about to leave. He had been out at the aiport, Lao Airlines got a new airplane so 9 monks from 3 different temples were invited to go and chant for its protection! He said they sat close to the airplane and chanted for almost an hour. Hard to imagine this happening at Horizon!
The airline sent a car to pick the monks up and drop them off.

A typical temple here in Vientiane. There are temples everywhere!

I love this shirt! It is a little tight but for 60 U.S. cents I had to get it!

a: ha:n xau! (breakfast)

Here is the guy that made my delicious
breakfast a couple of days ago, a broth with
boiled rice noodles, then you add basil, bean sprouts, green beans
lime, ginger, and a variety of sauces and spices (if you want)
all for about 60 U.S. cents!

Cute Lao kids.

Even the statues get to eat during the festival! (Vientiane, Laos)

Miscellaneous

This is the new futuristic Bangkok Airport.
Every jetway has "Long Live the King" printed on the side.


If this is your first visit to my blog, and this article is at the top, please scroll down to see colorful, cultural entries!
This will be a kitchen sink entry, starting with the beginning of my trip.
On my flights here I was lucky enough to sit by interesting people that told me fascinating stories. From PDX-LAX I sat by a woman who works for AFS in Portland, she told me she worked with a woman who was on a ferry that overturned in Malaysia, the woman saved herself and 7 other people by making a flotation device out of her pants!
Then from LAX-Bangkok, Nikhil, a med student in Bangalore (his parents are Indian but he grew up in the U.S.) said he heard of a girl that, while on acid, spit her gum out on the ground, looked at it and thought it was her brain, and then became a lunatic. He seemed to have encyclopedic knowledge of most things, medical and non-medical. He talked about Roosevelt's "trust-busting", the current economic climate, disease pathology, Indian building techniques etc, etc.
I missed the first flight to Vientiane (right after my flight from LAX arrived) so I waited 12 hours for the next one. During that time I tested various hand creams at the posh airport shops, clipped my nails, read books at the very expensive airport bookstore, got denied entry into the Royal Silk Thai Airways Lounge, and then settled for the Economy Lounge. (on the far left of the photo you can see part of it.). I tried to plan my itinerary for India. I walked through the cavernous (but light-filled) halls. I had a meal so spicy I almost had an out-of-body experience. (that happened again yesterday, with a green papaya salad I ordered from a street stall. I thought my tongue would never be the same. Miranda told me some people get addicted to eating very spicy food because of the endorphins that are released, I'm not there yet).
I tried to sleep.
A couple of days ago I met a Japanese girl who knew of Oregon because she loves the movie "Stand By Me". I impressed her by telling her my mom knows the lady that threw up in someones purse during the pie-eating contest scene. We laughed at the picture of Buddha with lipstick and the rice-stuffed mouth of the lion statue. (in my camera).

I like their organizational /bookkeeping skills here, it seems most businesses just throw their money into a huge drawer or tub.
I went to a movie at the French Cultural Center the other night, which in English is called "Donkey Skin". The synopsis was something like this- "On the queen's deathbed she makes the king promise he will not remarry until he finds someone more beautiful than her, the only woman that is more beautiful is his daughter...."
It is actually a fairy-tale for kids! Those kinky French. So the king tries to marry his daughter, she kind of wants to marry him (but her fairy godmother tells her not to) so she goes into hiding in the woods, disguised by wearing a fresh donkey-skin.
The festival is over now in Vientiane (the end of Buddhist Lent festival). I can now sit at my favorite internet cafe in peace, the whole last week there was a DJ outside the door, he would blast the same playlist incessently, one of the songs being a re-mix of "She wore an itsy bitsy teeny-weeny yellow polka dot bikini". My first room was right above the DJ so i had to change guest houses.
Now all the stands are being broken down and there is a slew of garbage all over. Usually it is really clean here.
Most guest houses here have a notice posted on the door. This is the second item under the "Prohibition" section:
"Do Not wash clothos, Cook, Smoke on bed and keep quiet."
I am going to interview Khanthon now... then I will write about it here later.
Maybe tomorrow I will have my visa for India! They said more likely it will be Tuesday, maybe even Wednesday.