New Years Resolutions

Wow, another post - it's been a while hasn't it?

We're back into the swing of regular life, working and living in Adelaide and after such a long time without a regular job, the daily grind doesn't seem so much of a grind after all!

We enjoyed a great Christmas with family and are looking forward to the challenges that 2011 will bring. It's going to be a big year with a number of "resolutions" that we will enjoy tackling:

City to Bay Fun Run

This is a 12km running race in Adelaide, starting in the CBD and heading down to Glenelg on the coast. Neither of us are particularly good runners but with a bit of training, we hope to be able to make the distance within the times we've set for ourselves (Brad

Learning Spanish

We've been wanting to learn a language for quite a while now and whilst we picked up a bit of Hindi overseas, it wasn't enough to converse with non-English speakers. We figure we'd pick a widely-spoken, Latin-based language to learn. As we are both learning it at the same time, we should be able to practice with each other - Va Bene! (or is that Italian?)

Overseas Project Sponsorship

After our 2009-2010 trip, volunteering and visiting many aid organisations in India, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos we can see that we can make a difference. In response to our amazing experience overseas, we've decided to donate our combined, gross wages for 2011 to organisations we visited. We're aware that it's just a drop in the ocean of what's needed to give those living in poverty basic human rights but we also know that it will still make a difference to those it goes to, some of whom we've met and experienced life with. We're in discussions with organisations that provide schools, accommodation, health services and income generation projects to those less fortunate.

Like we said - it's going to be a big year. We hope you can be part of it by encouraging us in our efforts and keep checking the blog for regular (we promise!) updates.

Prospero Año Nuevo!

Confused?

We're back - in fact we've been back for a while now but have been rushing across the country catching up with folks. We arrived on the 8th of October and spent a day with Miriam's parents before they flew overseas on a holiday. After catching up with friends in Melbourne we drove to Adelaide and spent a whirlwind 5 days catching up with friends and family before driving down to Mt Gambier to look after Miriam's parents farm. We've been here a week now and have embraced the farming lifestyle: driving the ute, checking the stock, wearing rubber boots and drinking far too many cups of tea.

We're off to Melbourne to pick up the returning parents tonight and then will be spending another week down here to help out with some odd jobs. After that, it's back to Adelaide, attempting to find work and a place to live.

So is this the end of our big adventure? Not at all, we've got some other things planned but you'll have to stay tuned to learn more!

3 more sleeps...

From Bangkok we over-nighted south to KL, then overnight to Tioman Island. We spent 10 nights there doing a lot of not much, a run in the morning for Brad and a swim in the afternoon for us both. By now we’re sick of eating out, and are keen to come home to the simpler things eg. Muesli for brekkie, jatz, cheese & vegemite for dinner or I’d settle for a big packet of salt and vinegar chips. 2 days before our planned departure from Tioman, Brad came down with headache, fever & vomiting, as his 3 week old Laos foot injury (which we thought had totally healed) blew up. So we decided to head to civilisation early to purchase some much needed antibiotics. Brad spent 3 days in bed with his foot up, only popping out to our favourite dim sum joint, whilst I shopped in Melacca and plied him with 100 plus and lollies. Once well enough to walk again, we hit the shops and movies in exorbitant fashion. Last night we treated ourselves to to chilli crab & devil curry in the Portugese coastal strip of Melacca. And this morning we headed off to KL, from where we’ll fly back to Australia on Thursday. Looking forward to seeing you all soon...

Child's Dream - Laos

Due to a cancellation there was room enough for the Crouch Potatoes on a Child’s Dream tour of some of their projects in Laos. We had previously had great experiences with them in Cambodia & Thailand and thought it would be a great way to peek behind the tourist curtain in Laos and experience more of Child’s Dreams activities. We weren’t at all disappointed and had a great time with the team, visiting schools, experiencing the traditional Laos culture, food and lifestyle. Here’s some of our favourite moments:

School Opening Ceremony

This was one of the first experiences we had while on the tour and one of the best –admittedly Brad wouldn’t want to ever experience it the same way again though. It started with a 2 hour speedboat ride down the Mekong as there are no roads to the village. When we arrived the entire village was on the banks to welcome us and in no time we were sipping from fresh coconuts and eating the sweetest grapefruit known to man.

After a few speeches (in Lao) we walked up to the school site, the painted concrete building a huge contrast to the timber and thatched structures that make up the rest of the village. Both the teachers and students were decked out in their school uniforms and were excited about the new sports equipment that was presented to them.

The party kicked off with a blessing ceremony in which chicken guts, beaks and feet were handed out to those interested and also to those who weren’t (Miriam) and we were especially blessed by having to eat some of what was left – not Miriam’s favourite moment. Lunch came next and being at the head table with hundreds of eyes upon us we were very nervous about the proper protocol – especially as we were sitting away from the others and could not ask questions. Our nerves were lessened by the frequent toasts of what one can only imagine was pure ethanol. Miriam had the good sense to beg off many of these whilst Brad, trying hard to be a good sport, was not so smart. Traditional dancing came next where we were all partnered with the elite of the village and in one dance Miriam rock-n-rolled with the village leader!

Food

During the week we spent many a meal with locals, both at restaurants and inside their homes. Laotian cuisine does not feature in Western dining much, resulting in many new experiences for us. Some dishes were really quite good, Brad’s favourite - the smoked fish at the opening ceremony whilst Miriam enjoyed the ubiquitous Fish Laap – a tangy minced fish salad.

Some of the least appealing dishes were bamboo worms (think small witchety grubs) and fried crickets, both of which were sampled but won’t be making it into our forthcoming cook book.

One thing we both agreed was fantastic - the BBQ’d pork ribs we had for breakfast....delicious. Another item we’d like to bring back to Australian shores is sticky rice, which is rolled into a ball and dipped into various dishes. Adapted to western taste, this is sure to be a big winner at dinner parties to come.

Rocky Roads

Northern Laos is a remote and rugged place – We’ve done a little 4WD driving before but this trip certainly had the most adventure per kilometre quotient we’ve experienced. One of the roads we tackled earned the name “The Waterfall” and there was many a time we thought that we’d need to get out in knee deep mud (luckily we never did). There were rocky roads that had us bouncing around the cabin like rag-dolls, slippery slopes that took 3 attempts to climb, puddles that were so deep we could swim in them and parts where the road had simply crumbled away.

Evidence of landslides were visible everywhere along the tracks and if not for our vehicle being adapted to suit, we wouldn’t have got very far at all. It’s easy to see how difficult life must be for the villagers in these remote places as transport and infrastructure is very sparse - food, building and medical supplies can be cut off for months at a time especially during Monsoon and the villagers don’t always have the capacity to cope with such interruptions to provisions.

Other Highlights

We visited many schools during the trip and were once again impressed at how Child’s Dream tackled the problems that face them working in such a difficult country. They are currently trialling a number of all-inclusive High School scholarships for remote village students to study in a nearby city (less than 10 hours away!)

Despite the lack of facilities and hardships faced by villagers, teachers and students alike, there is a real hunger for education and the benefits it offers. Child’s Dream requires a partnership with the school community which extends to the villagers and area officials. Locals are contractually obliged to provide materials, labour and active participation in the project management which promotes ownership and empowerment to their leadership – crucial to the future of the school.

It was a wonderful learning opportunity for us and a great way to see with our own eyes what impact organisations like Child’s Dream make for the lives of those less fortunate than our own.

Guess Where Now?

Wrong! we're in Bangkok! After leaving Northern Laos less than 24 hours ago we travelled to Chiang Mai with the Child's Dream team (no pun intended...) and boarded an overnight bus to Thailand's capital. We're doing a bit of shopping here before heading to Malaysia. More about our trip in Laos soon...

Lounging around

After the most scenic of bus rides, climbing high up through the beautiful green Laos mountains, we descended into lovely Luang Prabang. Whilst there, we visited a nearby waterfall and swam in the freezing cascading waters. A few days ago, Brad’s team made the finals in a volleyball tournament held at Utopia, a great bar & restaurant where we’ve spent many an hour laying back staring out at the gorgeous vista, chatting with other travellers whilst perched on bamboo platforms above the Mekong. On our last day here we watched the daily procession of monks receiving alms and visited the local markets. Tonight we plan to watch the sunset from Phu Si – a hill side dotted with temples.

We’ll be out of contact travelling with Child’s Dream over the following week, learning more about their work in Laos. After this we’ll be making our way steadily south toward Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia where we fly back to Australia on October 7. Not long now....

Lazy Laos

After enjoying a relaxing week on Ko Phagnan not doing a lot, wetravelled for 30 hours by boat, bus & tuk-tuk to get to Laos. We crossed the border and headed south to a place called ‘Si Phan Don’ or ‘4000 Islands’ - a great little area of small islands on the Mekong river system, just above Cambodia. We had a lovely time taking in the beautiful vista from our bungalow with 2 hammocks perched directly above the fast flowing river (all for 30,000 kip/$4.10AUD per night). We hired some bikes and cycled the islands one day, taking in a great waterfall and teaching a local family about Australian crocodiles, snakes & spiders.

Other than that we simply read books and made the most of the social atmosphere.

Thoroughly chilled, we headed north for Kong Lo Caves where we had heard good reports. The cave is 7.5km long and is navigated by boat, set in amongst the lush green countryside it was definitely a worthy side trip on our way to Laos capital Vientiane. In Vientiane we again took in the sights by bicycle, but there wasn’t a lot to do there except soak up the French provincial feel. We moved on to Vang Vieng, the home of tubing and thumping riverside bars.

We enjoyed the picturesque karst mountain scenery, hit the countryside by pedal power and enjoyed the local organic produce (mulberry wine & shakes).

Life’s tough...