Looking Good for a Good Cause

Some of my friends are raising $20,000 to build an orphanage in Sri Lanka. Last night they held a fundraiser, "A night at Wayne Manor." Guests paid $10 to get in, had drinks and dessert, and then the party was crashed by Batman villains (who were defeated by Batman and Robin in a fight among the crowd...) I, of course, was asked to appear as Poison Ivy. All for a good cause!

Shelters in Ukraine

While in Ukraine we spent four days meeting with different shelters throughout Kiev and western Ukraine. Not only was I impressed and moved by the women who had come to the shelters to take control of their lives and hope for something better, but I was deeply moved by the Ukrainian workers who gave so much of their time, talents and professions to helping these women. Social workers, therapists, psychologists and other professionals were dedicating their lives to helping combat domestic violence...some for absolutely no financial gain whatsoever, and all of the others for the most minimal salaries.

They greeted us with graciousness and professionalism as we worked together to discover what programs and other needs Courage to Hope could assist in supporting.

Ukrainian Host Family

While in Ukraine we were hosted by a family with 8 kids.... an unheard of number for Eastern Europe. The family is part of a new kind of foster program in Ukraine, aimed at getting kids out of under-funded orphanages and into homes. This family brought in seven children who were each victims of domestic violence...some were younger than a year when they were finally taken away from their abusive parents.

Collecting Supplies for Ukraine

We collected over 300 lbs of humanitarian supplies to take to shelters in Ukraine. Thank you to everyone who donated!

The Return of Glam

It has been far too long since I have really let my GLAM out. Last night I went to a red carpet Glam Karaoke party. Zack, Becca and I stirred the crowd with a rousing rendition of the Neil Diamond classic, "Sweet Caroline."

Good times never seemed so good.

Hong Kong

View from the Peak.
Yesterday we did a session in the Hong Kong Temple.

This is our entire bathroom/vanity/shower area. Terrible place to have the stomache flu.

Poor Rob.

Our most expensive tiny hostel

Welcome to the land of expensive space and lots of people! We are staying in our scariest, smallest and most expensive hostels thus far. People are everywhere, and Rob has been sick for two days. Yikes.

Bouncing between islands

We chartered a long tail boat to takes us from Rai Lay back to the mainland of Thaialnd.

I love this pic with our matching packs. they are totally hammered by now.

The tide was so low on the east beach when we left that we walked out to the boats.

Rai Lay, Thailand

This tiny little peninsula on the Thai coast is only accessible by ferries and long tail boats. It is very famous for rock climbing and boasts the very best beach in Thailand. Very few people were there, and it wasn't touristy at all (compared to other islands.) No cars or scooters on the island. You could walk from the east beach to the west beach in five minutes.

Here I am getting a Thai Oil massage on the beach. 45 min for $7.

Chilling on what Lonely Planet calls the "Best beach in Thailand." There were maybe 20 people there the whole time.

Our $40 a night resort was right on the beach. Every morning we had breakfast here. Spectacular.

Rob joined in with the locals to play soccer at night. He's the third head from the left.

Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

The main thing I wanted from a resort was a pool that looked like it fell into the ocean. Found one!

This is the view from our room. 1300 Thai bhat a night (about $40)

We spent five days bopping around Southern Thailand, taking ferries to various islands.

Cambodia

Unfortunately, I have the bad luck of leaving my memory card and usb adapter everywhere I plug it into an internet cafe (like last year in Rome.) So, right now I can't upload any photos.

Spent one day in Kuala Lumpor, Malaysia. Very clean. Saw the Petronas towers (were the tallest in the world until a few years ago.) Also saw the nicest mall I've ever seen and visited the banana republic.

CAMBODIA---was amazing. Very expensive. Had to buy a visa to come in and pay a $25 tax to leave the country. We had no concrete plans when we got there and just relied on everyone to take us around. They use the US dollar. Spent two days trekking around the temples of Angkor. Amazing. It was terribly hot. We met a driver (he rides a scooter and pulls us in a cart) named Aun. Very nice man. He was with us for two full days, drove us everywhere and waited for us at every stop. Cost $37 for both days, inluding a big tip and taking us to the aiport. It was a steal of a deal.

Woke up at 4:30, saw the sun rise over AngkorWatt. Had a terrible breakfast.

AUn drove us (max about 30 mph) out to a small village over bumping dirt roads. Took us an hour to get to the village. Then Rob and I got on the back of scooters driven by young guys that looked about 14. They drove us over bumpier and mudder dirt roads where cars could never have made it. We bounced for 30 min (i've got blisters in seven places on both hands from gripping the bike so hard as to not be bucked off.) Arrived at a small canal, got in a boat and went 30 more minutes until we arrived at a floating village. Would have been floating at any other time of the year, but we came when it was dry. Looked exactly like a set from Water World. Houses all up 20-30 feet on stilts. Walked through the village, bombarded with children with no shoes and shirts, asking us to buy notebooks and pencils for their school. I think we were getting scammed, but we couldn't resist.

Everyone in Cambodia lives in bamboo huts, kids have no shoes, no shirts, lots of bicycles, some scooters with atleast a family of 3-4 on each one. dirt roads, even in the big city. No seven elvens (they are everywhere in thailand). Children selling things everywhere.

We were at an outdoor market and a VERY small boy with no shirt and shoes came and held my hand. Drug me to the store and pointed at bottles of formula. I don't believe in supporting parents who force their children to peddle and work the streets, but I could not resist these kids. I had to leave Cambodia because I literally was buying everything they sold and giving away my money. Kids were everywhere.

Flew back to Malaysia for a day.

THen to Southern Thailand. For the first time we are staying in nice places. Staying tonight on a n island 30 km off the coast of Thailand called Ko Phi Phi. Bungalow with glass walls that has a full panoramic view of the bay and ocean. Pool that looks like it falls off a cliff into the sea. Amazing. Breathtaking. $45 a night. That is way up from the usual $8-20 we've been paying.

Coca light is NOT the same as diet coke, by the way.

Meeting tons of tourists, mostly European. Lots of people backpacking for 6 months to a year. Yikes!

Trekking to a Hill Tribe in Northern Thailand

Well, I am sore all over, but I had a fabulous time on my first trekking adventure. We flew from Bangkok to a small town in Northern Thailand called Chiang Rai (Our 1.5 hour flight, with taxes and fees, was only $9.75 US dollars . . . and it was actually really nice.) We landed and took a taxi into the town to a hostel to set up a trekking trip.

Our guide, Jong, met us at the hostel and we started on our adventure. We took an hour long tail boat ride up the Mae Kok river (spectacular views) to an elephant camp. Here we rode elephants around the small village and through the river. Afterwards they fed us a great Thai lunch while all of the men watched Moi Thai boxing on a small TV in the corner.

After lunch we crossed the river and the three of us began our trek. I have never been backpacking at all, so this was a new experience for me. We walked for about three hours through the mountain hills. Most of the first two hours we were walking through rice fields. After that we started into the jungle and up the mountains. We followed a stream for a couple of hours to a small waterfall. Mostquitos were everywhere, but it was totally worth it. Tall, tall trees and huge arches of bamboo surrounded us. Jong had his machete out the whole time, hacking our way through the jungle. He took good care of us. Warned us not to touch the big green leaves, because that is where the poisonous green snakes wait to bite you.

After resting at the waterfall we climbed for another hour until we arrived at the Lahoo hill tribe village. It sat on the top of one of the mountains. We came to a hut and rested on the porch. The tribe has about 20 families and 100 people total living there. Jong made us dinner (three Thai dishes) and then two small tribeswomen pounded on my body to get the knots out.

We slept in huts on mattresses on the floor, but we had big mosquito nets, so that wasn't a problem.

The next morning we left the village and continued on our trek. We trekked for a few hours, occassionally passing other villages. We stopped at one for lunch and all three of us took an hour nap on a open porch on bamboo mats. Then we continued on.

An hour later we came to a beautiful waterfall. I have never sweat so much in my entire life, so It was better than christmas morning to jump in the water. We were the only people around, and it was fantastic. perfect temperature.

After the waterfall we continued trekking, passing a few more villages and then headed down the mountain. In all we trekked about 20 km and had not major injuries or scares. Jong was a great guide, hacked us through in safety and even made us each cups out of bamboo.

Now my body is sooooooooooooooooo tired, but I feel great.

Around Town . . .

We stumbled upon a group of monks praying in a temple. They let us go into the large room and kneel next to them while they chanted. It was very cool, and there were no other tourists around.


Lots and lots of dried fish for sale. Yuck.















To enter into the main temple they made Rob (and all other guys in shorts) borrow pants to show respect. Very cool pants.