From Equator to the Polar circle

Ok, maybe not exactly, I was down to 7 degrees north of the Equator when I was on the Philippines, but I am 3 degrees north of the Polar circle now. I only miss 4 degrees for the heading to be exactly correct.

No matter the degrees; the weather and landscape speaks for itself. I went from having the sweat dripping down my back in Thailand to woolen underwear and thick socks in Lyngen in Troms in Norway. No mangos are growing here... But they do have fantastic mountains:

This satelite photo (from Google maps: Norway, Lyngseidet) must have been taken late in the summer, because is still lots of snow and the trees are just getting green here now. The landscape here is magnificent with steep mountains and snowcapped peaks divided by fjords where the water holds 4 degrees Celsius. Souds like something from a Discovery Channel program, but, yes, I think they could make a good program here. There are certainly a bunch of videos of skiing, climbing and hiking out on the internet from the Lyngen Alps.

But my stay here is not about expeditions in the mountains (just a small skiing trip on Saturday); I am enjoying Norwegian comfort and coziness! Western toilets, hot shower and ohh, the food: whole wheat bread with Jarlsberg Cheese! I also got my jello with vanilla custard for May, 17. And now I have made home made bread and cake for my sister's birthday tomorrow. And outside is 8 degrees, cloudy and Midnight Sun.

I got some pictures:

"Sigh heart, but do not break".

Should be something like "Sukk hjarte, men brist ikkje."

It is with a wistful (vemodig) mood I am sitting here in the sofa in the KRCEE office thinking about going home. The last 24 have brought with them a wide range of feelings. I happened to come by NATO's website (North America Telemark Organisation;-) and and on their homepage is a picture of a person skiing thorugh the birch woods in 1 1/2 meter deep snow. I could not help but cheer out loud by the thought of going to Lyngen in Troms above the Polar circle and find the last remaining patches of snow. I got some some oblique glances from the rest of the office because of my cheering, but; Ahhh, what a brilliant way of coming home; celebrating the national day, May 17, skiing in Lyngen! I must be the luckiest person in the world.

But then also I have to leave all the wonderful people at the KRCEE office. Before I came here I was of course very curious and a little anxious about how it all would turn out, but I was thinking if I meet people who are half as good hearted as my Karen friends in Norway it will be fine. And here I have come to learn that they are not only as good hearted, but also as hospitable and caring. So it is with a small lump in the throat I am looking over at my packed backpack and checking my watch to find out that it is 45 minutes to I am leaving.

Yesterday KRCEE gave me my own Good bye ceremony and here are some pictures.



My last day has been perfect with mix fruit smoothie at T-corner, cooking "Italian food" for everbody for lunch, swimming in the "pond" and for the first time in my life picking mango from a mango tree!!!



Excuse me for this post being made in a hurry, but I wanted to post before I leave at 8.30 pm. I am going to Bangkok where I have 18 hours before I am sitting on a plane home to Norway!

Thank you all for following me on my journey. I am looking very much foreward to see you all at home!!! And to you I have got to know the last nine months; I hope to see you all again! I guess there will be some more pictures here in the blog; Lyngen is my next stop. I would be happy to see you continue to drop by;-)

Tourists Roaming World Heritage Site

Sukhothai Historical Park is situated only three hours from where I am here in Mae Sot. I thought it would be to bad if I not got my butt over there to have a look before I went home. It is a World Heritage Site, which is like the three-star Michelin ranking of cultural heritage sites. Carmen, who have volunteered for another organization, was also planning to take the trip so we decided to go Monday and Tuesday last week. (I was working the two last weekends so I have no bad consciousness for taking two days off.)

The tourist factor the last weeks has been quite low, so we had a lot of "tourist energy" to spend and so we indeed did! We spent the whole day in the park with sun hats, sunglasses, cameras and audio guides.

After having satisfied our hunger for red brick ruins, we took our bikes and went looking for a swimming pool. The hats, glasses and long sleeved sweater was not a joke for the camera: it was a necessity against the sun! You can imagine we were good and sweaty and longed for a cool bath. We found a beautiful guest house w/swimming pool and it made me understand why Thailand is such a popular tourist destination! And they had the best strawberry-pineapple frosty/milkshake. Mmmm! So when I open a restaurant or café I am going to serve Thai soups (delicious!) and milkshakes like they make them here:-D Someone who can teach me?

On our way back to our own (and cheaper) guest house we stopped by a massage place and got foot massage while the rain suddenly was pouring down outside.

The historic park of Sukhothai (3.38 km2) are the ruins of the capital of the first Thai state. Beginning in the 12th century, a people from Yunnan in China settled here and got known as the Thai (free men). A Thai prince married a Khmer woman, then rebelled against the central power and created the first Siamese state.

Its architecture, built from brick with decorations in stucco and wood, has its origin from a mixture of elements inspired by the Buddhist Singhalese or Hindi Khmers. But the architecture of Sukhothai developed into its own style and have subsequently influenced all Thai art.

The site has been excavated and studied since the mid-20th century. In 1988 a 70 km2 area was declared a historic park and in 1991 it became a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was impressive to see, but maybe not stunning. A paved road was built through the whole site for lazy tourists and cars was driving through the park. It was very neatly tended and that made it look more like a leisure park than a historical site. But the result was that is was not grand enough to be a leisure park and not historical enough to be a historical site. Do misunderstand me right, it was well worth to go there and very well arranged for tourists. But imagine how exciting it would have been to go there if the jungle was still been covering the ruins and you could explore from a network of small paths, getting lost among lush green forest and ancient ruins!

I recommend a look at the historical park's website (even though it is a bit slow -be patient). It is quite nice. Unfortunately is it not all up and running; several links brings you only to "Error page: the page cannot be found".

Or you can have a look at UNESCO's world herritage list where you also can find a video from
Sukhothai.

And at end, a picture from "home":

It was raining the other day...

INTO the waterfalls

 

 

 

I was thinking... about external relations

This was planned to be a post about my organization, but then I began to walk on a berry trip in the thoughts/vandre på bærtur i tankene (write down what I was thinking about). Here is what I found:

My time here in Mae Sot has been spent on working on “external relations” for this organization. (What is the difference between external and public relations (PR: ER?!)?) The term external relations makes me think of important work which you need a lot of knowledge to do, and, secondly, something I would never be able to do. But I kind of have done it here. It feels a bit like when you write about your skills and experience in a job application. You do not lie, but you maybe sound a little bit more fancy and serious than you really are. It often turn out that way because you have to give the short version, like when you present your self to someone for the first time;

“So who are you, what are you doing?”

“Well, since you ask... Lately I have been working on external relations for a local organization who administrates the education system for 140 000 refugees on the Thai-Burmese border. Before that I was in India doing awareness work and patrolling a protected area on an environmental project, and before that again I taught English at a governmental school, also in India.”

Sounds quite convincing that I am a skilled, daring and adaptive person, does it not? And in the case of a job application; a person you (hopefully) would like to have as your new employee. What I just have not mentioned is that in Thailand I was sitting in front of my computer most of the time, either trying to understand things I did not understand or on Facebook. In India we managed to close down the environmental project (our part of it) because there was no project and in the governmental school I was teaching the letters A-R to eight children and they only knew the letters A-K when I left.

So what am I trying to say? When you think about your own life it usually never seems very exiting, glamorous or daring. I think that it is just because you know the whole truth about it; you know all the things you did in between the exiting, glamorous or daring things. All the time you spent on eating breakfast, sleeping, checking Facebook, watching TV or being fed up of everyone around you. No wonder that the percentage of “happenings” in your life is lower then in everybody else's; you have to divide them on every minute of you life, not just the small glimpses that you see of other peoples life. And, as if that is not enough to make your life more boring than that of the guy next door; it also seem like we tend to summarize each and everybody else's experiences and then compare it to our own. Everyone else seem to have been to every country in the world! Yes, they have in total, but not each and everyone alone. There is just no chance of winning. So what to do? Maybe change the way we think. For example make a list of your own life and then a list of each person you usually compare your selves to and check the validity of your perception of your life.

Even though I “lately have been working on external relations for a local organization who administrates the education system for 140 000 refugees and so on” I do not feel like a skilled, daring and adaptive person. I have never had a real job in my life! No children. No responsibility. But, after a second thought, I do think that I am quite adaptive. And I did dare to travel far away from home. Skilled? I do not know... That one depends on the context!

What made me think about this? The British royal wedding. So much publicity and money and cheering and crying people, and then it strikes you: this people also go to the bathroom, most probably they do it everyday too.

PS I: Let us (me) hope that no potential future employer is checking my name on the internet and read this. I am not planning to lie in my application, but maybe make my self sound a little bit more fancy and skilled than I really am.

PS II: Writing down my thoughts and publish it on the internet; What kind if external relating is that?

Happy New Year!

(a week ago...)

Thursday, 14th, the people I live with asked Emma and me if we wanted to come with them to Mae Sot and look at the Songkran festival. And again, yes to any suggestion that involves fun and "entering the unknown". We tried to ask what we should bring, what to wear, and what are we actually doing?! Finally we understood that we better not bring anything; we were going to be wet! How did we understand this? They loaded an empty barrel on the bed of our truck and began filling it up with water!

The point of the festival is to wash of everything bad from the old year, and enter the new one clean and new-washed. And then you add some loud music and a little bit of alcohol and you have got "Songkran"! It is around 32 degrees celsius here everyday, so it is no problem if you get soaked. BUT, it was still icecold to get splashed with icewater; water with ice cubes! The problem was if your truck got stuck next to a truck or "stand" by the road with icewater. The main streets are one-way streets with two lanes and the traffic moved in 10 km/h, if it was not standing completely still. If you had bad luck you got stuck next to a barrel of icewater. And of course you are a especially attractive target if you are a foreigner!

Pamo was going to sit inside the car and took pictures for me. Thank you!

There is text to the pictures in Picasa. 

Living Jungle Life

 

It is HOT: consider how you feel after a spinning or aerobic lesson when it comes to being red in the face, sweaty and urge for a shower before you meet anyone you know and have to talk to... That is how I feel from 7 am to 11 pm every day. And the shower is of no use. When I was jogging/walking this morning it actually dripped from my face. I do not think I have experienced that before. It is HOT, and we do not exactly have air condition here.

Thailand got lots of jungle and a large areas of it is protected in national parks. Here you have a good chance to experience real jungle life. And experience close up meetings with the animal kingdom, especially crawling bugs in various sizes. Now, this can probably be very interesting and fascinating if you go out there and look for them. But, as a matter of fact, have I not gone out there actively seeking to meet all these bugs; I live in a residential area, for Gods sake. And I think that my choice should be respected! Some pictures to show you our neighborhood:

In my months here in tropical areas I have had a lot of joy from photographing different insects, bugs, frogs and lizards, and I do appreciate their willingness to be photo models. I am not a ungrateful person (most of the time). I even put my pride in respecting them as fellow citizens of the planet Earth.

Just a little break; I am going for lunch. Wonder what is being served today? Oh, surprise; a pile of rice! (Deep) fried eggs especially made for me and some fried cabbage and a yellow soup. No pink-water-soup-made-from-leaves-from-trees or fried plants with spikes today. Yesterday we had fried fish, rice and raw baby eggplant. It was really good. I like everything (almost) they make with fish, chicken and meat, I like the rice, and I like some of the green plants too. For example the one we areserved with stem, leaves, root and flower, and the one that looks like tulips and the salads. But I am not that fond of the soups with gourd or the yellow porridge with some kind of grain/grits/beans/something. Everyone who has been in Thailand tells me to enjoy all the food here. Well, we do not eat Thai food, but Burmese/Karen food. I think it is nutritious enough, but maybe not gourmet. Actually am I eating rice from refugee rations. Hmm, I hope I can raise some funds through the website so I can make amends for eating UN rice. Our cook just came in with a bowl of sticky-rice balls and sago porridge. Sweet, taste good, but half the bowl is enough.

Back to the crawling bugs in various sizes. Where was I? Ah, yes, respecting the bugs we inhabit this earth together with. As you might have sensed by now there is something that has rocked with my faith in peaceful coexistence. Let me begin with a story from this morning, just to set the mood. Faint-harted people should maybe skip the rest of this paragraph... There was a 15 cm long millipede in the garden. It was just minding its own business when somebody by accident managed to cut of its “end”. Not very happy about this the millipede first twisted and turned around itself before it headed for a hiding place. It was obviously not planning to die there and then. But on the way it ran into a little problem. The “end” was not cut completely of and it got stuck between some plants. The millipede continued its rush towards its spotted hiding place but with some more difficulty as its internal organs was being drawn out of its body and left on the ground stuck to the truncated part of its body. Finally it reached its hiding spot. I wonder where it is now? (For the record, the hiding place was under our sofa; there is no wall between the garden and the sofa in the office) Is it dead or is it alive planning a conspiracy with its bigger and poisonous cousins to come back and get revenge on the humans who made it suffer like this?

I was not directly a participant of these events, just an ambivalent audience. The next stories are involving me in a larger degree. First it was the spider in my teacup. That can happen to anyone, but I discovered this one when I was taking the final sip of tea, making sure that I was not leaving any tea in my cup. Well, it was a small one an it was still alive when I let it out on the grass where it ran away.

Then there was the toad in my jogging shoe. Here I had good luck; I was coincidentally emptying my shoe for sand this particular morning when something like a big lump fell out on my hand and jumped away. I do not dare to think how the story would go if I had not tried to get the sand out of my shoe before putting my feet into it. Now I keep my shoes on the first floor, not ground floor.

Next up is the ants! They are just everywhere. For example did they find crumbs of peanuts in my jacket pocket. My jacket was hanging on a hanger on a free standing coat stand. How did they figure out that it was something eatable there?! But no hurt feelings; feel free to take my peanut crumbs, dear ants. But do stay away from my computer!! Ants likes electronics. And I have a ant path crossing my desk. It was doomed to only be a question about time before they would try to conquer my notebook! As I was sitting typing one day I saw them come crawling out of the keyboard. After a battle that claimed the lives of several ants and a tactical relocation of my desk away from the wall I claimed my self the victory of the battle. But safety in numbers; the ants are still living in the stationary computers in the office and the toaster.

I only have one more story for this time. Dad, I understand now why there was a lid on the bucket with water in the bathroom in Ninio. I was taking a bucket shower the other day when I discovered something swimming in the water. I was filling my hands with water to wash my face when I saw them. They were small, but there was many of them; mosquito larvas! THAT is a declaration of war!

Breeding ground for Dengue mosquitos!

"Graduation tour"

Last post was supposed to be about our trip to the refugee camps, and it sort-of ended up being that too, but here is a more comprehensive or descriptive account from the trip.

First of all; it was a lot of driving! We were supposed to go to five camps. Or, let me take it from the beginning; our organization asked if Emma and I wanted to come with them to the graduation ceremonies in the refugee camps several weeks ago. I must admit that I had no idea what that implied. I had just shortly been in one of the camps before (at the wedding) and I have never been to a college graduation. We do not do that in Norway. How should I know how they do it in Karen refugee camps? I generally just say yes to any invitation around here. But one week before the graduation we were told that we did not have camp pass so we would not be able to go. The camp passes have to be applied for two months in advance. I did not know what we would miss, so OK. Then the higher education staff talked a lot together in Karen and said that they would try after all. Two days later we suddenly had camp passes and could join the graduations.

We were supposed to go to graduation in five camps, but finally we went to four camps because one camp had initiated a stricter security policy and we did not get camp pass there. Two of the camps we went to are situated about six hours drive south of Mae Sot and the two others are a six hours drive to the north. The two first graduations were on Monday and Tuesday and we spent the nights in the camps. Then we had one night back at the office in Mae Sot before we went north to graduation on Thursday and Friday. Here we also sleept in the camps. The graduation ceremonies were held early in the morning before it got to hot and we also had rehearsals the evenings before.

Sunday 3^rd of April we left at 6 am headed for Nupo refugee camp. We drove with some Thai people we had never met before and they did not speak English. The staff from the our organization would come later. Well, we supposed that they knew what they were doing. And they did, until we got to the camp. Then they managed to ask in broken English; where are you going? We had no idea. Something about school something. And we got a name on one of the teachers. Fortunately there was one student in the car with us (on the bed of the 4x truck; that is how they do it here). She spoke English and knew the school. We met more incredible sweet students and found the teacher. They took very good care of us and we got to buy longyi (see picture) that we could wear for the ceremony.

Hmm, now what to write... I really do not know how to express the experience. When you are there you meet a lot of very nice people; students and teachers and they are really not that different from you and me. They speak well English and we could easily communicate. So on one hand it is the most natural thing in the world: we are as any other guests and they thanked us for sharing our time with them. They told us what they study: Teacher, Global border studies, Agriculture, Liberal Arts. It is just the same as students study anywhere in the world, including back home. So the immediate experience is just like any other meeting between people. But then the circumstances are from another world.

A student told me that she was in the camp to study because there are very limited opportunities for higher education in Burma. (The junta closes the universities all the time, underfund the education system and do not allow the ethnic groups to teach in their own language or their own culture/history. The education is neglected by the government so the only real opportunity for education is in the military.) Then she explained that education was much better in the camp because here the education was not interrupted. In Burma they would have to run and hide in the jungle ever time the Burmese military came. Compared to this the life in closed, crowded camps are attractive. They at least have their own education system. There is a documentary film following two refugee families who resettles in a Britain. The descriptive title is “Moving to Mars” and tells us something about the extreme difference there is between life in British city and in refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border.

The students we met study and speak English as us, but they are confined in closed camps. If they are caught by the Thai police outside the camp they can be sent back to Burma where they risk their life. But then; how can they use their education? They have basically two options; either become teachers in the camps or to work for a CBO (Community Based Organisation) or an INGO (International Non-Governmental Organization). In any case they are dependent on foreign aid because they are not allowed to attain income generating work outside the camps. When (notice when, and not if) I get the website up and running you can read more about the education situation in the refugee camps. Until then just ask me for suggestions for further reading!

So my role was to be photographer as I was reflecting a little about in the last post in my blog. I took hundreds of photos from the ceremonies, but just a few from the camps. It just feels bad to see camp life through the camera lens. At the same time as I wish to take good pictures to show to you back home. And I also got the legitimacy as it would be for the website of the camps own “education department” as this organization de facto is. But the pictures would be used to make people feel “sorry” for the refugees and open their valets for donations. The picture I added in the last post was to make a point of what kind of pictures we often see from refugee camps, and therefore expect to see. The pictures I want to show here is from Graduation (in refugee camps) as opposed to (graduation in) Refugee camps.
(The pictures are from all the four graduations.) 

(Three chickens just came into the office. They look a little confused. Now they left again.)

George Orwell in Burma

This was supposed to be a post about last week's "Graduation tour" in four refugee camps, but the I got caught up in the world wide web of internet, and now it is time to go to sleep. But here is some of what I have been looking at tonight.

First of all some more about the film, Enjoying Powerty, I mentioned in last post. This is a clip from a interview with the maker of the film, Renzo Martens.

Here is his website. You can read about the film Enjoying Poverty under "Episode III"

http://www.rmma.nl/home

And then I suddenly came across this travel article from Time. Or, not suddenly; I was about to write about Burma when I wanted to check out what I had heard about George Orwell 's books being "about" the military dictatorship in Burma. This is how far I got writing before I begun reading instead:

"Geographically I am in Thailand, but that is about it. I am volunteering in a Karen organization, working with Karen people and eating Karen food. I could just as well have been in Karen State. Except that Karen State is inside Burma, and Burma is run by a military dictatorship burning villages in Karen State. Not a safe place to be. Mae Sot in Thailand is a safe place.

"Karen" is a people living in Burma. I think I have heard the number 2 million about how many they are. They do have kind of their own state, or an area controlled by the Karen rebellion army, which of course is not recognized by the Burmese authorities. They have been in a civil war for more or less 60 years, since Burma got its independence from the British some years after World War II. Among the results is 140 000 (registered) Karen refugees temporarily sheltered along the Thai-Burma border in enclosed refugee camps..."

Back to George Orwell! Orwell was stationed in the British police in Burma for five years when it was a colony. Back again in Europe he wrote a book Burmese Days. It was first published in USA in 1934. This facts I had to check on Wikipedia, and my distraction was a fact. This book was (very) critical to the British colony rule. Later Orwell wrote, as we all know, Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). I was a little confused about the chronology, because how could these books be about the dictatorship in Burma when they were written before the military came to power? Ergo, the books are not about-about Burma, but can be read as an analogy to the last half century of Burma's history.

And back to the Time article about George Orwell in Burma. Here it is: http://www.time.com/time/asia/traveler/021017/orwell.html
(Another literature tips is the novel Finding George Orwell in Burma. I have not read it yet, but it is next on my reading list.)

I loved this quote from the article:

"I began to feel a bit like a fish in an aquarium surrounded by glass-tapping kids."

I kind of understand the feeling, even though I have not been exposed to it to the same extent. I think maybe Vegar (195 cm tall and white) in India had more of a glass-tapping experience.

My next thought is what is going on when combining this feeling of being glass-tapped with the issues Renzo Martens brings up in Enjoying poverty. I think it illuminates some of the feeling of walking around in four Karen refugee camp on "Graduation tour" with a SLR camera hanging in a strap around my neck. This post was supposed to be about that and maybe it ended up being that too.

 

Weekends in Mae Sot

Most of the time here in Mae Sot I spend either by my desk staring at my 11" computer/notebook screen, or on my mattress under the mosquito net (the one Emma and I share) staring at my 11" computer/notebook screen. So what is there to blog about?

Small things like that the cook do not let us (Emma and me) clean our dishes; he takes them out of our hands if he has to. Why? Other people here clean their own dishes. Is it because we are guests? Does he not think that we do it right? I do not know!

And that we have introduced the mosquito zapper to the office! Stig, you know the electrical mosquito swatter that grill the bugs with electrical shock. And when you hit one it sounds like firework. Emma bought one and then Sunny went out and got one and now we are getting really skilled in mosquito zapping! Every evening is like New Years Eve:-)

What else?

You have to take of your shoes before you enter a shop.

We can buy whole wheat bagels from a Canadian who has settled here and runs a breakfast restaurant with western food for western volunteers and aid workers.

Western volunteers get drunk every weekend.

We are being woken up at about 6.15 every morning by roosters, trucks, dogs and talking from outside, singing and keyboard playing from down stairs, and radio/music/chanting broadcasting from the temple across the street.

And then there is Thai television. Each actor have two expressions they change between: confused what-is-going-on-here and devastated crying. There is one show about some tiger girls. It is full of action, and when the three heroines and one hero are fighting they are "tigers" wearing tiger masks. So they kind of live a double life, because no one knows that they are The Tigers. And then there is a fake tiger, and she is the bad one! This is all we have understood so far; there are no subtitles...

Moer to write about? We have actually been a little bit around in the weekends:

We went to a cave the first weekend. It was supposed to be one hour drive north of Mae Sot, but it took us 2 1/2 hour on our rented scooters to get there. Our behinds were aching! The entrance of the cave did not look so impressive and I was not sure if it was worth the scooter ride, but then we walked further in and it was an amazing stalactite cave. By the way, Americans have some strange food habits... We were two Norwegians (yes, I have run into a Bergenser here), one British guy and nine Americans on the trip and some of the Americans were trusted with the responsibility to bring food. The food they brought was bread, peanut butter and strawberry jelly. The important part is that both the peanut butter and the strawberry jelly goes on the bread at the same time! Mmm, or? I am not convinced... I have, by the way, learned the difference between jelly and jello. Jello is short for gelatin and is the dessert or other shaking substances, and jelly is jam without pieces of fruit in it (but it is used about jam with pieces of fruit also! (?)) So, my question it then; why is jellyfish called jellyfish?!

The Sunday after the cave trip, we (still Emma and me) were invited to a wedding in one of the camps. One of the girls working in organization got married and all the staff was going. It was a very nice opportunity to visit one of the camps on a happy occasion.

The last picture album is from a overnight trip to a national park one hour east of Mae Sot. The main attraction is a waterfall, or more correct a small river with five waterfalls. There is a nice trail following the river. We were four girls this time and we had a very relaxed weekend with some easy hiking. We spent the night in small cabins with lots of ants. The bathroom by the restaurant was so fresh and nice I had to take a picture. Notice the green plant! On our way back we had a strange waiting-for-the-bus-experience. It was a good walk down to the main road from the cabins so the resort/national park staff drove us down and took us to the bus stop. Or more specific: police road check point. This confused us a little bit... There are not so many Thais speaking English, but is seemed as if they knew what they were doing. So there we were; at a police road check point, eating our lunch from plastic bags (tasting delicious) and drinking water/coffee the police offered us for TWO HOURS! I think that the thing was that we were going with minibuses, and they fill up at the bus station and leave when they are full. Since we were getting on in the middle of nowhere there would not be any free seats for us. So the clue was that the police called the bus station and told the driver that there would be four tourists coming on so he should leave four seats free. We did not really understand why it took two hours and seven minibuses before one would pick us up (we were about 15 minutes from the bus station). But we had a good time in each others company and also got a good story about some packages that were thrown to the police from some trucks... More about that another time;-)

Tomorrow, Sunday, we have to get up at 6 o'clock because we are going to Graduation in a refugee camp six hours from here. We are joining with the excuse that Emma is going to be the English MC at the Graduation ceremony and I am going to be photographer. The next eight days are we going to five Junior College Graduations in five camps. We are very exited to go. Or, I should may not use "exited" about going to see refugee camps. But it is true, because we want to go there because we are curious about how they look like and how people are living there. I am also happy about being appointed to "photographer" so I have an excuse to bring my camera and run around taking pictures. I hope I have some clever thoughts to share about this next time I am writing. In the mean while I will recommend a film called "Enjoy poverty", directed by the Dutch artist Renzo Martens asking the question "Who owns poverty?". It is a disturbing film, but should be mandatory for all volunteers and aid workers. I do not say that he is right, but he certainly ask a question that deserve some thoughts.

And by the way...

I had almost forgotten this picture from Manila, Philippines!
Snow and minus degrees!

Trying to understand HTML and CSS...

I want to learn, but I am not sure if that is enough... I have Dreamweaver and the internet, and it is amazing what you can find of teach-your-self-resources on the internet. So one moment I think: "Oh, that is so cool! I can manage to do that! But the next moment I think: "Oh my God, what on earth do I do when my pages do not behave like the ones in the how-to-do-guide?" And it does not help that my pc-screen is 11"...

Anyone with any good advices?

But it is quite funny to think that here I am in Thailand, on the border to Burma, sleeping on a matress on the floor, eating rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, using squat toilet AND learning how to make a website! (It is not as if we are in the bush or anything! 20 minutes on our bicycles and we can get whole weat bagels for breakfast...)

The Philippines in pictures

Go to picasa to se my comments to the pictures!
(If I add them in the blog they tend to bounce around.)

How to make a website?

I am happy and well arrived in Mae Sot, Thailand. That is a town on the Thai-Burma border.
I share room with an American girl, Emma. Or, more than room, we also share mattress on the floor and mosquito net. People here are very nice and it is a friendly atmosphere. I have a small problem with my stomach and the heat (35 degrees celcius from 10:30 am to 9 pm, and not comfortable untill 2 am!), so all in all am I not in top shape. This has affected my motivation a little these first days, but today we settled my work tasks here and goals and objectives always helps on the motivation. From today and the next 11 weeks am I going to become a guru on the situation here, learn how to make a website and turn this into a website for this organization. Ambitious? Ehh, yep, I think so. But I am here and they need a website, so why not? And I am not alone; I am planning to involve and talk to as many people as possible. Maybe I find a computer geek among the other volunteers in this area.

Some last pictures from Goa

I am on the Philippines so the updates on the blog is a bit late, but I had some more pictures from Goa that I wanted to show you;-)

Last days in India

I believe that I did a good job planning Stig's two weeks in India. Unfortunately he can not verify it as he spent half of the days being ill and not leaving the bed. If you ask him about South India he can tell you a lot about the quality of mattresses in different guest houses and food that for him did not taste anything. (Stig's comment to my writing; “Heim te mor!”) He can not tell you very much about beautiful scenery, tea gardens and temples and how to explore them. Well, I can not either. It is not too much fun to wander of alone when he is in bed with 39.7 °C in fever. Poor Stig!

But still I believe that I did a good job in planning the trip. (Stig being ill was not a part of the plan.) I even think that I can recommend other to follow the same plan. (Being ill is still not part of the plan!) If you have two to three weeks in India this trip will take you from the beaches of Goa to the network of lakes and channels in the Backwaters of Kerala. It takes you from the lush, green Western Ghats with its tea plantations to the rocky hills of Hampi with its ancient ruins after the Vijayanagara empire. Sounds tempting? Of course you do not get all this without some hours on trains and in taxi/bus and two weeks might be a little to short time. :-)

We had 18 days and this is how we did it:

Day 1: Flight from Oslo to Goa via London and Mumbai

Day 2: Arriving Goa, 1 ½ hour taxi drive to Patnem beach and Bodhi Eco Resort. Since I have walked from the northern point of Goa to Colva and also been to most of the beaches south of Colva, I think that I can say with a certain authority that this is one of the most idyllic places to stay, though the price do not fit a backpacker budget.

Day 3 to 7: Enjoy swimming in the Arabic ocean, the food and atmosphere at Bodhi Eco Resort and maybe join an early morning class in yoga. At 5 pm on day 7 you take a taxi to the railway station in Madgaon and enter the train to Ernakulam, Kerala at 7.30 pm.

Day 8: When arriving in Eranakulam at 10 am you find a taxi outside the station and drive about 1 hour to Alleppey. This is where you find the houseboats for a 24 hours journey on the Backwaters. Choose a small boat with a nice crew (driver and cook) and they will take you to the small channels. I usually do not use the word exotic, but I do find it quite descriptive for this experience.

Day 9: Check out from the houseboat at 9 pm. Take a auto rickshaw to the taxi stand where you pick a taxi with a driver who you find trustworthy your life. It is a 5 hours drive up to the fresh air and green hills of Munnar. Here we stayed at a resort called Aranyaka with a view to the Attukkad Water falls. This resort has bungalows with hotel standard and good service and there is nothing to complaint about, but I missed some intimate charm. A place called Rose Garden Guest House sounded nice, so check it out. You find the smaller resorts and guest houses 5-10 km before the town of Munnar.

Day 10: Arrange a whole day hiking and sightseeing with a guide through your guest house and spend this day wandering through tea gardens and coffee and strawberry plantations and enjoying the splendid views from some of the highest peaks of the Western Ghats (approximately 2200 meter above sea level).

Day 11: To reach the train that will take you back to Goa from Kerala you have to take a taxi at 7.30 am from Munnar. This is a 3 ½ hours drive and the train leaves Eranakulam at 13.10 pm.

Day 12: You reach Madgaon, Goa at 3.30 am and you board the train to Karnathaka again at 7.30 am. The train takes you to Hospit at 14.53 pm where you take a rickshaw the 13 km to Hampi. When you arrive do not go for “the first and best” guest house. Ask the driver to drop you by the ferry/boat to cross the river and then you have many nice places to choose between on the other side. We stayed at Shanti Guest House and can recommend it. No hot shower, but you get your own hammock outside your bungalow.

Day 13 and 14: Hampi is a historical site where the glories of earlier empires is evident in the numbers of temples and ruins of king palaces. I do not know how to find a good guide here, maybe the tourist information can arrange one for you, but I guess that the best thing you can do is to read about the site before you leave home, or maybe use the hours at the train to update your selves on Indian history. Even if Hampi is a place where you can run from heritage monument to tempel to ruins the whole day is the atmosphere here “Shanti, shanti”; “no problem, take it easy”. Take your time to relax and enjoy the sunset or sunrise from the Hanoman temple on the hill top.

Day 15: The boat to cross the river do not begin before 7 am, so if you do not want to change your accomondation to somewhere on the right side of the river you have to take a taxi at 4.30 am to reach the railway station in Hospet to reach your train back to Goa at 6.30 am. We went back to Goa this day to join a opening party for an English school in Colva this afternoon. For everyone else I would recommend to spend one more day in Munnar and then the return back to Goa will be at day 16.

Day 16: Chill out by the pool at the hotel in Colva and buy travel gifts in the shops in Goa.

Day 17: Stig's flight back to Norway, via Mumbai, Delhi and London, left at 7.30 am from Goa airport. My flight to the Philippines is scheduled to 16.15 pm.

Day 18: Back home:-)

The are two drawbacks with this trip. The first is the taxi drive to and from Munnar, but this is so beautiful that I find it worth it. Just choose your driver carefully. And if you have the possibility you should stay here one more day. The other is the four hours you have to spend at the railway station in Madgaon between the trains from Eranakulam and to Hampi. You arrive Madgaon 3.30 am and board the train towards Hampi at 7.30 am. You easily find somewhere to sit down and the station is a safe place, but just not very nice when you rather wish to be asleep in a bed somewhere.

The price for this? A backpacker would turn over in her grave if she heard how much we spent on 16 days in India, but for one who is home in Norway it is quite a nice price. In total for two persons (except flight tickets) we spent 71.000 Rupee/10.000 NOK/1.250 EUR. The reason why this would make a backpacker cry out is that it would be possible go to the same places for one third of this price. You could manage with approximately 23500 Rupee (or for sure less), but then you have to travel by public transport and you do not get your own houseboat or hot shower. We managed to spend so much money because we for example chose to travel by taxi to save time and we slept at more expensive resorts.

But do not get ill! Because then you will miss the hiking in Munnar and the historical sites in Hampi, and it is just not nice to be in bed with 39-40 °C fever far away from home and mom.

January 2011

I am sorry that my blog has been silent for a while now. The two first weeks of the year there was nothing to write about and then there was a lot to write, but I was to busy. The last five days I could have written because I have not done anything, but then I needed to do nothing for a while to get back to life. I was a bit exhausted, I guess. Stig came on Monday and then we went to Patnem, a beach in the south of Goa. We are staying in a bamboo hut on the beach with a restaurant four palm trees away and literally doing nothing but sleeping, reading and eating.

Now I have finished my program in IDEX and I have no organization organizing everything for me any more. It feels OK. So it is time to sum up my stay here in India and write something enlightened about Travelling and Learning and Exchange and Change; or let us take the clever words another time. It takes to much thinking which is not possible in 35 °C.

On New Years Eve I was patrolling the turtle beach in solitude together with Kathrin. No people, no drunken people and no fire works. Just a few stray dogs accompanied us at the beach. We figured out during the night that the world might be a better place without humans. If there should be humans about one million would be enough and they should live in small groups divided from each other by vast areas of forest. We solved some world problems that night. A perfect way to spend the first hours of the new year.

And then there was about ten days with lots of time to write, but nothing to blog about. I guess that a good blogger always can find something to write about. The clue I have heard is to keep your readers busy and always have an updated blog so they keep visiting it. I guess my blog is not like that because after these ten days I did not have the time because I was in Rajastan in the North-West of India for a week and then I was walking the beaches of Northern and Middle Goa for a week.

Visiting Prakash's home in Rajastan

Sunday morning the 9^th of January I had my breakfast together with the staff in the camp when Prakash told me she was going home for a one week leave. That would be my last week in the camp and I would miss having Prakash around; always happy and dancing and giving me a shower while she was watering the grass and flowers in the garden (we had a small or lets say big water fight the other day). So she said that I should come with her to her family’s village in Tonk in Rajastan and I said “yes, I would love to come with you”. “What”, she said, “you come?! Very hard; 22 hour train, no seat reservation but woman compartment, no problem, and 3 hour bus, public bus”. I replied that if she could manage I guess that I would manage too and if she would invite me I would go with her. So we went!

The seat reservation and the travel were no problem, we sat in the women's compartment and had lots of space. But it was a long journey I realize now, as I have spent the last days relaxing to get my energy back. And then it was the language; How to talk together with no common language? “Me small English problem,” Prakash always said. Well, I have a Hindi problem. “Me nahi Hindi samje, sirf tola tola Hindi bolo. Me suno, suno Hindi, lekin nahi samje.” We managed in English, but there was no one to ask to explain if there were things I did not understand.

Prakash's village is a small cluster of houses in the middle of flat farmland as far as the eye could see; shining yellow fields of mustard seeds between fresh green wheat, vegetables and some salad plants of which we could not find the English name. In Prakash's home lived her brother with his wife and two children, her father and her uncle with his wife. As Prakash described it: “big house, big property, but small family”.

When we arrived there was first some practical things to settle; where is the toilet? “No toilet, bathrom not finish, open field, no problem.” I could use their neighbours western toilet during the day, but in the evening it was not very polite to visit the neighbour for this so then it was the open field. No problem! And then there was another thing that was difficult to understand. Why would they serve me my food alone? Could I not eat together with them? “No, no, I eat later”, Prakash would answer when I asked her if she would eat together with me. “You hungry, so very fast make food, you eat.” Hmm, but I would rather eat with them. Would it be impolite to ask for that? I do not know, but for dinner the second day I insisted that to to eat with them was better. “OK, no problem. Come, come.” So from then on we sat together on the flour in their kitchen. I have always been slow at eating my food and now I would begin my meal together with Prakash's brother and the two children and then finish together with the women who ate after them. I was very happy with this solution. I never really understood when they had breakfast, so this meal I still ate alone when ever I got up from bed.

The whole journey lasted from Monday to Sunday, but four of these days were spent travelling so I only had three full days together with Prakash's family. The first day we went on an excursions to a national tiger park, Rantambore, where we actually saw a tiger and we visited a Hindu temple. The second day we drove for five hours to get to the two cities Pushkar and Ajmer, where we saw a temple and a mosque, rode on a camel for ten minutes and visited some family of Prakash. For me it was a bit strange to drive for so long time and when we first got there we just went quickly into the temple, sacrefied and prayed and then we left again. I guess I did not understand much of what we did there, but there was no one to ask in English either. To visit a modern, new Hindi home was very nice and a new thing for me to see too. The mosque was a myriad of all kinds of people. Lavely and I hold hands the whole time we were there. I am not sure if the 11 years old girl was looking after me or if I was looking after her, but I guess both of us looked just as lost and curious as the other. The last day was just spent looking around in the village, visiting the governmental primary school and to fly kites with the two children in the family.

Walking the beaches of Goa

Isabel got an idea one day; she wanted to walk all the beaches of Goa, from north to south. She and I shared room the eight weeks in Goa and our programs in IDEX ended at the same date. Then she would begin walking and I had one week before Stig would come here. I did not have any plan for this days, but I could not really decide if I should join her. As I already have written the beach is not my favourite habitat, but I like walking. I ended up joining her for seven days on a low budget beach expedition. It was fun to see how each beaches have a different image and attract different kind of people: alternative, old hippie, party, middle aged Brits escaping winter, Russians, Indian tourists and so on.

We had some small, fun experiences during our walk like being thrown of the bus because the conductor was convinced that this was the place we wanted to go to (which it was not). We also had two really nice days visiting some friends of some friends of Isabel who has lived in Goa the last seven years. Unfortunately is it the last day I remember most. We walked for four hours in burning sun and 35 °C. When we finally arrived our last stop and got a room I spend my evening shared between the bed with fever and running to the toilet. I guess I should not complain to much cause it is only my second day in five months which I wish I could have spent in bed.

Sunday the 23^rd of January was spent in the IDEX camp again getting updated on all the gossip we had missed the week we had been away. It was really entertaining. The next day I picked up Stig at the airport and we went to Patnem, a quiet beach in the south of Goa. I had booked a beach hut here on recommendation from some other volunteers. Ridiculously expensive, but I think it is the nicest place I have seen in Goa:-) And we did not spend money on anything else as we spent all our time in the hut, sleeping and reading, only going out for a swim or for eating and a chatting in the restaurant. So now I am ready for travelling south to Kerala; for a houseboat trip on the back waters and hiking in the Western Gats.

And by the way: HAPPY NEW YEAR / NEUE SAL APKO MUBARAK HO / GODT NYTT ÅR