Katrina Keating Photography

Bike MS: Waves to Wine 2011 & Why I Ride (Updated w/ Final numbers!)

2011-09-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Saturday Super Slugs getting ready to roll: Carl, Katrina, Sam, Tadashi and the team hero Dennis
(courtesy of Phyllis Taylor)

The Super Slugs rode in the Bike MS: Waves to Wine for the second year, although this time the team was more than double the size. In additional to the original three,
Katrina, Tadashi and Carl, we also Dennis, Sam, Cynthia, Peter and katch [sic] (who wasn't able to ride). We were excited to have Sam join us; he drove all the way up from Los Angeles on Friday, only to drive straight back there on Sunday in order to make it home in time for a golf tournament on Monday. Talk about a dedicated team mate!

Together, the seven of us raised nearly ~~$8,600~~ ~~$8,700~~ $~~9300~~ $9470 for Multiple Sclerosis research and programs. I'm excited to learn that I am a top fundraiser for the second year in a row, raising ~~over $3,500 $3,600~~ ~~nearly $4100~~ $4120 all by myself. Over ~~2,000~~ 2200 riders participated this year, and it look like I'll be in the top 40 fundraisers once again. Indeed, I'm officially Fundraiser #36! I'm very proud of that!

~~We're accepting donations until October 14, 2011~~. Donations for 2012 ride coming soon.

Tadashi bringing his bike to be loaded (courtesy of Phyllis Taylor)

Loading the bikes Saturday morning, with Perl Chavez in the background

(courtesy of Phyllis Taylor)

I bought my first road bike in June 2010, which I purchased specifically to do the Bike MS: Waves to Wine in September 2010. I already owned a bike, but it was a hybrid that was more comfortable on a trial then a road. I might never have known the difference if Tadashi didn't have a proper bike. When we biked on pavement it was obvious even to me that his bike was meant to go much, much faster, and that even I could make it do way better speeds than I did on my hybrid. So in June 2010, I bought a proper road bike.

I started training as soon as I could. Being new to biking, Tadashi, Carl and I started on the Bay Trial in Berkeley. Luckily, it was summer time, so the three of us were able to bike five times a week. We would bike from University Ave in Berkeley, over the hill of Golden Gate Fields, and into Richmond. How far depended on my stamina, because that hill over GGF was in-sane. And I say that this way: innnnn-saaaane. I have no idea how I made it up that hill, but I did. Many times. But it killed me every time.

Last year I completed the 2-day 90 miles of Bike MS: Waves to Wine, and that killed me too. I could barely make a sandwich after the ride Saturday and Sunday morning I couldn't even make a sports drink. I was that spent.

Struggling up the Golden Gate Fields Hill of the Bay Trail
Summer 2010

But two weeks ago I rode up Mount Diablo and was only 50 yards from the top before the park ranger made me turn around because the sun had set. We rode down in complete darkness. It was a good thing there was a moon. (File that day under, " We shouldn't continue, but we came all this way, so let's do it!")

This weekend I was glad they didn't change the route from last year, because the ride was actually (dare I say it?) EASY! Except for the 90 and 97 degree F. heat, which will take the wind out of anyone's sails.

On Saturday I realized that I could actually do the 80-mile day 1 ride next year. This weekend pumped me up and made me realize just how far I've come in the last 15 months. Less, actually, because between September 2010 and June 2011, I only rode two or three times. All weekend I was pumped about doing the longer ride on the first day next year.

But today I started thinking about my friend and fellow Super Slug, Dennis.

Dennis & Tadashi taking a break

Dennis was a triathlete and a runner, and has played both football and rugby. Due to recent health issues, he wears braces on his feet, and he injured his back this summer. Yet he rode with us; and he rode strong. I did this ride last year because I wanted to raise money to help people that are immobilized by MS, and people like me, who one day may become immobilized by MS. Dennis doesn't have MS, but he has some similar health problems, and it was inspiring to see him ride.

Dennis getting ready to roll (courtesy of Phyllis Taylor)

Dennis had given himself a 15-mile goal for Saturday's ride, and that's a darn good goal considering that he can't stop once he gets going. Dennis soldiered on a whopping 12 miles, which was mainly uphill.

Katrina and Dennis rolling with the pack (copyright of Tadashi Tsuchida)

His ride ended on a hill was a tight 90 degree curve with at least a 20-degree bank. It was no joke, especially since it was at the top of a quarter-mile uphill, preceded by 10 miles of uphills. This is a place that kills a lot of riders. Dennis had done a fantastic job, and was a little bloodied from his fall, so he packed it in. He was our inspiration the rest of the day.

The Saturday Super Slugs after Dennis completed his riding goal for the day. Way to go Dennis!!!

A few miles after Dennis was done, we reached the first rest stop. Tadashi ran into Benn, whom he had met at the start. Ben used to do a lot of martial arts and ride his bike a lot, but after having balance problems for many years, he was finally diagnosed with MS. Now he rides a recumbent with three wheels; it's a pretty cool ride with shocks and all. Tadashi introduced me to Ben and we chatted with him a bit. It turned out that the rest of his team had started in San Francisco, so he was doing the short route on his own. Not being one to let someone ride alone -- especially at an event like this -- we invited Benn to ride with us. I'm glad we did; he's a cool guy, and the two of us actually have quite a lot in common. Funny where you meet people.

Honorary Super Slug Benn making his way up the hill with Katrina & Sam (copyright Tadashi Tsuchida)

Sunday we didn't have Dennis or Benn, but we gained Cynthia and Peter, who we met at the ride last year. Funny story: Peter and my aunt Marcia both work in the Physics department at Stanford, and they ran into each other at last years ride. We converted the Peter and his girlfriend Cynthia, and now they're Super Slugs! Hooray for ~~brainwashing~~ Physics!

This year Cynthia had a fever for a few days preceding the ride, but she stuck it out and rode on Sunday. I was proud of her, especially considering it was 97 degrees F. on Sunday. It was not as hot as last year, but it was hot enough that at the last rest stop, I put ice in my sports bra. Yup, you read that correctly. The boys were jealous.

The Sunday Super Slugs: Peter, Cynthia, Tadashi, Katrina & Carl

Super Slug Sam (courtesy of Tadashi Tsuchida)

Tadashi using a rest stop to practice flying

After the riding on Saturday, we had our usual social event, and we were lucky to have Mark, Dawn, John and Perl all join us and help us celebrate another riding success.

John and Tadashi (courtesy of Perl Chavez)

This year's ride was a marked difference from last year. The people were better, I was shockingly more fit, and both me and the Super Slugs nearly made our fundraising goals. On top of that, after the party on Saturday a couple friends (Perl and Mark) told me that they're considering joining us next year. Awesome!!!

Today when I started thinking about doing the longer route, I thought about all my friends that want to join the ride next year, and then I thought about Dennis and Benn. Now the conundrum; I had to ask myself: do I do the 80 mile ride on day one and hope my friends are okay doing the ride by themselves? Or do I stick to the 40 miles?

Then I had an epiphany: I'm not necessarily doing this ride to challenge myself (although that's a bonus); I'm doing this ride to raise money to help other thousands of other people. Why then, wouldn't I stick with the shorter route to help support my friends, who have been inspired by the Super Slugs? Today I realized that I would rather ride with my friends and family than simply be on the same team as them. I know I can do the 80 mile ride, but I'm choosing to do the 40 miles so that I can support, encourage and join my friends in an event that is near and dear to my heart. Today I realized that that will make me happy, and that that is why I ride. For me, Bike MS: Waves to Wine isn't about how far I go -- or how far anyone goes; it's about riding with my friends. It's about fighting off the bad part growing older. It's about putting up a good fight, but with a bicycle.

The Super Slugs will be riding 90 miles again on September 22-23, 2012. We welcome ALL comers, of every ability, and we'll stick with you no matter what. So think about joining us. Let's ride!

Two Books and a Website

2011-07-26T03:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we've almost done it. The book is now all put together and nearly ready to go. Right now, we're just doing one last proof reading, then it's off to the presses! But wait,

there's even better news! We will be offering not one, but TWO lovely books for your reading pleasure. The first is the one you expect: No Lunch, No Money, No Rice: The Pursuit of Education in Asia.

The second will be strictly photographs, with a working title of: No Lunch: The Photographs

And, on top of that, we also now have a website where you can get suggested readings and organizations to donate to: www.NoLunch.org

It's been a productive summer indeed!

Enjoying a quiet, rainy night

2011-07-23T09:30:00.001-07:00

With the exception of pub street and the beer gardens, Siem Reap closes down by 9 pm. Tonight it rained quite heavy, so I decided to enjoy the perfect weather and the music of the amphibious animal that is like a frog, but not a frog (and no, It's not a toad).

Nobody we know can translate the name into English, but after many years of hearing it, we were finally lucky enough to see it (sorry, no photo). It only comes out when it rains and it sounds like a calming, rhythmic zuzuvela (yes, I know that sounds like a contradiction).

After spending half an hour out here, I decided it wad high time to crack open a beer and read a book.

Tonight reminds me why I love this town. I'll be sad to leave next week. It's been a fantastic summer, and I think we've both learned that apartments are definitely the way to go.

My New Favorite Fruits

2011-07-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

Mangosteen & Dragon Fruit

I've always loved the fruit in Asia, especially the pineapple (which I
can no longer eat in the U.S.). These are my new favorites: mangosteen and ruby dragon fruit


Yum!

Scary Barang

2011-07-13T06:56:00.001-07:00

Went to my good friend Kimloe's village today. It was so remote that I made two kids cry when I said hello! TWICE! Am I that scary?? bwaaahaaahaaa

Enjoying the early morning

2011-07-09T16:06:00.001-07:00

Was up early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I heard the temple music, so I thought I'd get up, make a pot of tea and edit the book while enjoying the music. It's a hot but beautiful morning.

EXCITING NEWS about the book!

2011-07-07T05:36:00.001-07:00

This summer is officially a success: We now officially have a first draft of the book! It's not in print yet, but Tadashi is posing with the first chapter we had printed up a while ago.

A Picnic at West Baray (Lake)

2011-07-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

The other day, Sophath invited us to a picnic at the West Baray, which is a lake West of the famous temple Angkor Wat. We were happy for the invitation and had a great time. In attendance were Sophath, his wife Dahlin, and their daughter Leak (pronounced "Leah", whom we named), in addition to our new friends DJ, Chhuy and Hong Kong, as well as hong Kong's girl friend.

The picnic party

The West Baray is the largest lake near Siem reap, and the far end has lots of picnic shelters that you rent for the afternoon; they come with shade, a mat to cover the dirt and hammocks. We were a large group, so we rented two little "rooms", one for eating and one for the hammocks.

As is the custom, Sophath made yummy fried chicken. Siem Reap has a KFC now, but we had
the real KFC: Khmer Fried Chicken.

Tadashi relaxing in the hammock

Tadashi and Leak made quick friends.

Tadashi and Leak hanging out

The most adorable video of Tadashi and Leak playing peek-a-boo in the hammocks

Dahlin and Leak

Hong Hong and Chhuy

Chhuy, Tadashi and DJ

Hong Kong, driver, DJ and Sophath

American Independence Day in Cambodia

2011-07-04T10:24:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Independence day with our Cambodian friends, including Sophath as well as Leak and Bun and their adorable son Chan Noriet (aka Mario).

We had a great spread, which was appreciatd by all.

Tadashi's Guitar

2011-06-30T04:29:00.001-07:00

Tadashi misses two things when we travel: Doritos and his guitar. Today Tadashi finally got a guitar. It was only $25 (that's less than our used Cambodian bicycles), and he'll be gifting it to DJ when we leave.

Our Siem Reap Apartment

2011-06-29T23:56:00.000-07:00

Tadashi and our good friends: Horn, DJ and Sophath

As you probably know, Tadashi and I came to Siem Reap to finish our book. Since we'll be here for over a month, we thought it wise to get an apartment so we could spread out, have two desks and cook. Our good friend
Sophath helped us find a great 1-bedroom place, in the center of town, but on a quiet street. (Well, quiet except for the construction going on next door, which I'll write about later.) The best part: it's only costs $10 a night more than our guest house.

We had our firsts guests on the very first night, before we even had any food. The first (and only!) things we bought were water, vodka and tonics. What else do you need? It's a great place. Take a look:

Another Night at the Bar

2011-06-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

DJ, Sophath & Tadashi

The other night, our friend Sophath called and invited us to "a night of drinking." That can only mean one thing: more karaoke. This time, we charged up the cameras before we left the house.

But first, we had dinner at our favorite road-side stall. The tables are on the sidewalk, and the kitchen is which in a schoolyard. The schoolyard walls make a great shelf for the cook.

Yummy Dinner


The sweet staff. Make sure you read his shirt


With full stomachs, we're off to the open-mike night style karoke bar.

Our fantastic new friends (L-R):Rottana, Hong Kong, Tadashi, Horn, Sophath, Chhuy & DJ

DJ getting ready to head on stage and sing us a song. He plays a mean guitar too.

Hong Kong rocking out to DJ's awesome singing (you can see DJ in the top corner)

DJ's awesome and his Thai/Khmer song rocked. We were all dancing.

The best beer nuts I've ever had.

Tadashi and DJ.

It was much easier to get Tadashi up there the second time around.

Hong Kong, me and Tadashi

Tadashi and Horn.

Notice the table-top draft beer. 3 liters for only $4!

Hong Kong, Tadashi, Sophath and Chhuy.

Horn driving Hong Kong back to work (!) at the hotel.

I don't think Hong Kong will be "working" too much.

I saved the best for last. DJ sang his rockin' song on the tuk-tuk ride home. Tadashi's on percussion. Enjoy!

A Drunken Holiday in Cambodia

2011-06-10T22:07:00.001-07:00

You folks all know how much I love Cambodia, but last night was a testament to that. Our good friend, Sophath, who is like a brother to us, treated us to an action-packed evening.

First, a Khmer BBQ dinner at street stall (Yum!) with Sophath, his wife Dahlin and daughter Leak (pronounced "Leah"; you may recall that we named Leak, so she's a like a God-daughter to us). Also at the table were four of Sophath's employees, De Jay, Hong Kong, Horn and Cheuey (pronounced "chewy"). It was a fun bunch. Sophath brought a bottle of gin and the drinking commenced with many, many rounds of gin and tonics. A good time was had by all.

Then we were off to the bar with Sophath, De Jay and Cheuey. It was really a locals-only kinda place and was a big outdoor restaurant with a big stage at one end. There was what I thought to be a live band, but it was a karaoke bar with a live back-up band. It was more open-mike night than karaoke, with a band no lyrics to read. How cool is that?

We ordered some food, including one dish with pork and a raw egg yolk on top; I love me some Khmer food, but I skipped that one. We also ordered more booze, in the form of our own table-top draft beer dispenser. It's quite cool, with a column of ice in the middle to keep the beer cold, and a spigot to pour. It held about 6 liters and only cost $4! Cheap-cheap!

De Jay got up and played the guitar (electric and bass); he was really good! Sophath went up soon after, and after many drinks and cajoling, Tadashi went up and played a few songs, with the rest of us dancing.

By the time the night was over, the five of us had polished off two of those keg-thing and a bottle of gin; we were all quite drunk. Indeed, I daresay that I was still drunk this morning when I woke up.

Sadly, I have no pictures. Drat. Mental note: never go out with Sophath without a camera.

Bike MS: Waves to Wine Ride 2010

2010-10-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

Team Super Slugs (L-R): Sea Slug (aka Tadashi), Sassy Slug (aka Katrina), Suave Slug (aka Carl), and our virtual rider, Ryan (not pictured). Combined, we raised over $5700 for MS research and programs. Katrina alone raised $3600, making her the 40th fundraiser of the 2,000 riders!

We'll be riding again ~~next year~~ in 2011, and we welcome new riders. To make a donation or join our team, visit our team website.

Below are photos from the 2010 ride: 40 miles on day one, and 50 miles on day two.

Life on The Beach

2009-04-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

The good news is that I'm coming home. The bad news is that Tadashi won't be coming with me. Don't worry -- nothing's wrong; we just decided that since my computer is still defunct and I'm getting worn out from traveling, that I would go back home a month early. This works out well for Tadashi as well, because he was really hoping to get back to Ladakh, India this trip. Since there was no way I can go back to India this year, he can now go alone. The added bonus is that I can then help my mother, katch, finish remodelling our kitchen. So my going home early works out well on all sides; it's win-win-win!

We had already decided that we would end this trip by spending a week or so on a beach somewhere. So we're spending our last two weeks together on Koh Samui, in the Gulf of Thailand. It's been raining almost the whole time we've been here. Luckily, the first few days were nice, and the last few days are proving to be nice as well. These pictures are from the 3nd day here. There was a huge storm the night before, making one of the nicest days since we've been here; it certainly was the most dramatic.

There's a huge sand bar off the beach, so that you can walk quite far without even getting your waist wet. The fisher-women above walked out about 500 feet, and the water was only to their chest. These three shots are from the same position!

Although the water isn't as clear as it used to be, due mainly to pollution from sunscreen (parabens and oxybenzone particularly) -- it's still pretty clear. This day proved to be the clear-water day. All the rain since then has really stirred up the water, making it much more murky.

Luckily the waves are really small, so we don't have to worry about the cameras a whole lot.

The View From My Beach Chair

Of course, there's more to do here than just sit on the beach (but it is really easy to just spend all day and night on the beach). A nearby restaurant has a traditional dancing show, with a live band. It was quite nice; we had dinner in our own private sala before the show began.

Although Koh Samui is in Thailand, it really good be anywhere in the world. There is a Burger King and a Pizza Hut, two McDonalds, two Starbucks and about five 7-11's (and that's just on the little stretch that we've been on). Sitting in a restaurant on the "strip", you could be in any city in Asia, with touts rivaling the worst cities. Walk down to the beach, and it's breezy and quiet.

Tomorrow is new year 's for both Nepal and Thailand. We're told the traditional way to celebrate the new year in Thailand is by dousing everyone in water. We're told that our hotel even sets up a delivery truck with slats for poking water guns out of. We're also told that a few people have been prone to putting menthol or chilli powder in the water; not cool when that goes in your eyes! We're also told some people have become fond of throwing ice -- ouch!A Koh Samui Night

Happy Near Year, everyone; I look foward to catching up with all of you soon.

Wait A Second -- Why Are We Here? (Updated)

2009-03-20T00:42:00.002-07:00

You may think that we've forgotten that we're here to do a project, that we're not on vacation. Sure, we are having fun doing parahawking, but despite what it may seem, we have not forgotten our purpose. In fact, in addition to following birds off cliffs, we are talking to people about education. Indeed, our time here has given us quite good material to include in the book. We have also worked out some organizational issues and are slowly catching up on our transcribing, among other things.

The Summer Transformation
The book has evolved quite a bit over the last nine weeks and indeed, since its original inception. We started out with a very clear idea about what we thought this book should be like, and how we would go about making it. We decided to begin doing preliminary research last summer, by going to interview the H'mong girls in Vietnam. It's a good thing, because we realized that our initial idea of getting long stories from people simply wasn't going to work as we planned; we had to change tactics. We decided that our questions were too vague and open-ended, making them too difficult to answer, especially with the language barrier. We figured to remedy the problem by asking more pointed questions for the next set of interviews.

We continued on to Cambodia with a more pointed list of questions. Again, we were not getting the results we wanted. We figured we were asking the wrong questions, so we came up with a new list. We also enlisted the help of our friends (I'm sure you recall the e-mail we sent out asking for your ideas). Still no luck. Add that to the fact that every place we went in Cambodia, we seemed to be getting the same, depressing, answers. It was seriously disheartening, and we didn't leave the hotel for a few days. (I then developed bronchitis & pneumonia, so we ended up not leaving the hotel for about a week.)

The Change Of Plans
We returned from our summer 'preview' totally disheartened, wondering how we were going to get this to work. The 'laundry list' of questions seemed not to work, as we were only getting short answers, and often just "yes" or "no". Not the kind of thing you can easily put into a book. We spent last semester trying how to get 'good' stuff. Of course, it's really hard to determine what will work without having a chance to try it, but Chrisanne gave us some advice, and we've slowly been able to figure out what she meant (thanks, Chrisanne!). We've gotten quite good at interviewing by this point, if I must say so myself. Finally, we're getting what we want. It's quite rewarding.

We find people to interview by learning something interesting about them, either directly or indirectly. We no longer go into an interview with a list of questions, although we do certainly have a few questions for them. We first just ask them about themselves and their family. We then ask about the thing that interested us in them, and from there, we simply follow threads that they leave. In essence, we follow their story, instead of trying to force them into ours.

We have also learned that even one word can make a difference in relaxing people. We no longer call it an 'interview'. We've come to realize that this word puts pressure on the person, and makes them feel as if they need to have 'facts'. Now we simply ask if we can 'talk' to them. It's funny how something so simple can make such a difference.

While the book won't look as we originally planned, we came up with an idea that will more easily work with what we're getting from people. Essentially, we've learned that it's extremely difficult to get biographies from people after talking to them one or two times. Although we do have some really good stories from people, about half of it will be short, but telling, interview excerpts.

The People
Once we left SE Asia, we struggled to find people to interview. Luckily, we've since found a groove for that as well. The trick is to hang out somewhere for a while; this way, either we meet people who we wind up interviewing, or we talking to people about what we're doing and they know someone we might be interested in meeting. For instance, in Patan, we always took a long breakfast at our hotel, which gave us time to talk to the owner, Devendra. On our second day, he told us that his sister, Mandira, was a K-10 school principle, and offered to have her come talk to us. She, in turn, invited a colleague in to talk to us.

We also went to the same restaurant for lunch every day, in Patan. We wound up talking to the waiters and managers, and on our last day, one of the waiters mentioned that he had a friend we may want to talk to.

That method has also been working well for us here in Pokhara. The longer we stay at a place, the more we get to know the people there, and the more information we get for our book. We've met local students that are being sponsored by foreigners; Adam (at Maya Devi) introduced us to a Gurkha major who built a school in the village he grew up in; Graham (also from Maya Devi) sponsors the children of his barber, Norris (a very sweet Indian man); and we've become friends with our taxi driver, Mike, who struggles to put his four children though school. So even though it may seem like we're lazy here, we are indeed getting work done.

Looking Back
As I mentioned above, we've taken this time at Maya Devi to transcribe our earlier interviews. Some of them are just comical. There's one where the predominate sound is me mixing the sugar into my tea (clink, clink, clink, clink). There's another where at the very beginning of the tape, Tadashi asks the interviewee to write their name (which is never said aloud); luckily, I'm really good with voices, so it was easy to figure out who it was.

The Book
During our time here, and over the last few months, we've also developed a design for the book, as well as more detailed idea of how to present the interviews. We're continuing to get more interviews and information, which will only make the book better. We've very excited about how it's coming along. I've even written the introduction (thrice, actually, since my computer died yet again).

I also think that we've found another girl that we'll probably wind up sponsoring; that makes two (for now). One in 9th grade here in Pokhara, the other heading toward University in Hoi An. We've decided that we'll most likely use a portion of the proceeds from the book to help pay for these girls' education. We'll likely give the rest to UNICEF or some such organization.

Parahawking - Again!

2009-03-11T05:01:00.000-07:00

Tadashi and I went parahawking again -- this time for sunset. Although we weren't leaving until 4 pm, we weren't too keen on leaving the Maya Devi "compound", as it was Holi. Holi is a Hindu holiday during which kids and young adults throw colored powder and water (plain and colored) at each other. There are kind adults who will gently give you a tika. Tadashi and I were both blessed with a tika by the Maya Devi restaurant manager, Nani.

Raju and Tadashi

Luckily, all of us and our jeep made the trip up Sarangkot unscathed. While our second trip was a bit rougher because of the wind picking up, it was still beautiful.

This time I got a lot of photo tips from Tadashi before we took off, so my pictures are better, especially those of the birds. We went up with Bob and Kevin again. The sequence below shows Kevin coming in for a snack.

One time both Bob and Kevin tried to come in for the same snack. I was happy to have caught that on film (as it were).

Kevin won that round.

Things happen so fast up there that sometimes (okay, nearly all of the time), I forgot to check my setting. At one point, I accidentally had the camera zoomed in to photograph the snack-taking. I was lucky enough to get a really good close-up of Bob. You can even see his ear hair!

The light was great for landscape shots of Tadashi and Brad. I probably could have weeded these down a bit, but I just like them all too much. So you get to looks at a lot of them (but hey, at least I didn't put up all the 360 shots I took).

Because of the wind, we had to land on the end of the lake, in the middle of a rice field with grazing cows and horses. Tadashi and Brad are in the bottom left corner, strafing the cows.

Kevin the rockstar

ParaHawking! - UPDATED March 11

2009-03-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

A friend of ours had told us about Parahawking in Nepal. It's paragliding using hawks to find the good thermals. We watched a bunch of YouTube videos before we left, and were very excited to go once we arrived in Nepal. The parahawking is done in Pokhara, Nepal -- a 7-hour bus ride from Kathmandu. We were able to fly with two Egyptian vultures, Bob and Kevin. The great part is that we each got a falconry glove and were able to feed the vultures mid-air! In the picture at left, you see Bob on my fist as well as Tadashi and Brad in the background (Tadashi's in front). It was absolutely amazing.

The man who started parahawking, Scott Mason, works out of Maya Devi Village, which he started with two friends, Graham and Adam. The three live at the village about half the year, along with Scott's girlfriend Anita and a nice Nepali family that manages the village. The Village is really just 6 structures, including an aviary for Scott's birds. Scott has been a falconer since age 11 and does the parahawking with rescue birds that he trains himself. He also starting an organization to save the vultures in the area, which are in grave danger of extinction because of use of a commonly-used anti-inflammatory for cattle. They have one guest cottage in the village, which we are able to stay in. It's so peaceful here, it will be hard to leave.

We arrived in the afternoon, and were lucky enough to see a bunch of people landing. We made appointments to go first thing the next morning.

The view from Maya Devi's Restaurant

The launching point is a 20-minute drive from Maya Devi, but only Anita and Scott were available to hold Kevin and Bob. That meant Scott driving a stick-shift jeep with Bob on his fist. Scott's got some mad skills, especially considering the road here is in awful shape.

Bob the vulture & Scott the human

Anita, Kevin and a little bit of Tadashi

I got to hold Bob while Scott and Brad got the gear ready. Bob's a heavy guy -- my hand was tingly when Scott took Bob off my fist. Vultures tend to get a bad rap, but these ones have nice dispositions and are quite friendly; in fact, they're almost dog-like.

New best friends (photo by Tadashi Tsuchida)

Tadashi had a turn holding Bob while I was suiting up.

Scott, Bob and I ready for lift off (photo by Tadashi Tsuchida)

It sounds a little scary to run off a cliff, but surprisingly, I couldn't really tell that we had left the ground until I looked down. The first bit was quite bumpy while we were finding the thermal, and I held on to the harness quite hard. I didn't think I would have the gumption to even break out the camera. Luckily, the flight was just rough for the first 5 minutes, and after this I felt comfortable enough to take pictures.

I couldn't see through the viewfinder very well, so most of my shots are with the wide angle lens. But I still think I got some good ones. All these photos are of Tadashi, Brad, Bob and Kevin.

As I said before, the great part about parahawing is being able to feed the birds mid-flight. I had a falconry glove on my left hand, and a pouch full of pieces of raw buffalo meat. I would make a fist and, holding my palm towards my body, and put a piece of meat on top of my fist. Scott would call the bird with a whistle, and either Bob or Kevin would come in and land on my fist -- midair! Sometimes they would grab the food and run, but other times they would hang out on my fist for about 30 seconds. It was absolutely amazing.

Bob picking up the food. . .

. . .and enjoying the snack.

Kevin coming in for his turn

We were originally going to do the "Kev-Cam", which entails putting a small camera on Kevin's back. Unfortunately, this makes Kevin a target for the eagles, so we weren't able to do it. Kevin was recently pulled to the ground and was about to be a eagle's lunch before escaping (alas, they forgot to turn on the camera, so they're unsure how Kevin escaped). Needless to say, all parties involved are now reluctant to put the camera on again.

We were still able to film my flight using a camera attached to the paraglider. The photo below is a screen capture from the video. The grey bar in the foreground and the perpendicular black bit on the left are for the camera. You can see Bob & Kevin behind us, as well as Tadashi and Brad on the right. Unfortunately, you can't see Scott's face in either of these.

The camera and the rest of the group

Tadashi and Brad (below, pulling in the glider) landed before us. I saw Tadashi sitting there and thought he was being reflective of how awesome the flight was.
Sadly, he was just "trying to keep my stomach inside my stomach," as he put it. He got really bad motion sickness from looking through the viewfinder, but he got some excellent shots so he said it was all worth it. After the flight, Tadashi got biscuits and Kevin (below) & Bob got raw eggs.

As I mentioned before, Scott rescues birds of prey. He releases the birds into the wild whenever possible, but trains them to fly with him so that they can get in shape. Kevin and Bob are both rescue birds that couldn't be released. The one below, Clive, is a Steppe Eagle that was found with a broken wing. Scott rescued it and is nursing it back to health. It hasn't grown back all of its flight feathers yet, so it can't fly. Scott is training it to fly with him, and will release him into the wild. Clive, like all the other birds here, loves being sprayed with a mister. Although it may look like Scott is being mean, Clive just loved it.

Drinking out of the mister

Soaking wet and lovin' it

Nap time

If you want to know more about Parahawking or Scott's work with bird of prey conservation, visit his website: http://www.parahawking.com/.

A Follow-up to Tadashi’s Blog - UPDATED March 11

2009-03-06T05:12:00.000-08:00

I thought I should follow-up on Tadashi’s blog, On Leaving Rajasthan. Tadashi and I both wanted to share why we left Rajasthan, but we were not sure how much of the story to tell. While we had heard reports of “some women” in Rajasthan being given a hard time, neither of us were prepared for the gravity of the problem. We decided it was important to share just how bad the situation is there for women.

While Tadashi’s blog may be difficult to read, it was also difficult to write. In a large way, his blog was therapeutic for us both, as it helped us to reflect on and process what happened. Although I am lucky that I was not physically molested (unlike some people I have met), I still feel violated by the men in India – especially from the bus ride. This trip has certainly changed my view of India, and Indian men. Tadashi says that the experience was eye opening and changed him as well.

Our original plan involved going to Ladakh in the beginning of May, but at this point I am loathe to return to India. I doubt I will ever return to Rajasthan, although I may be return to other areas sometime in the future. Only time will tell.

UPDATE NOTE TO PEOPLE TRAVELING IN INDIA: I have since learned that when a woman is being harassed by an Indian man, the proper response is to repeatedly hit the man on the head with her shoe. The shoe, as most of us now know, is the most disrespectful thing you wear. So, hitting a man in the head quickly gets the attention of those around you, and often, they will come to your defense. Another reason to wear sandals!

Waterways of Kerala

2009-02-27T10:20:00.000-08:00

Tadashi & I went to Kollam for a tour of the Kerala backwaters; we elected to go by using a dugout canoe. Apparently all the day-trip tours go the same island. Sadly, this tour felt like a ride at a theme park. You know the ride where you’re in a car, and you can pretend to drive while the car goes through different parts of the city/county/world, but really the car is just on a single track that automatically pulls you through the ride? Well, that’s what this tour felt like, except we were in a boat.

Sure, we saw some wildlife;

we saw some locals;

and we saw some beautiful scenery.

But it still felt like that ride. Nearly all of the locals actively ignored us, and I felt like we were in their living room – uninvited. No, resented.

We had heard reports from people that this was the “must do” in Kerala. I can see that this trip could have been great a long time ago, before the locals got so jaded and tired. Either that, or some tourists have a different idea of “seeing the local culture” (some people on our ride that it was great). Culture this was not. Zoo, yes. But not culture – not in the context that I define it to be, and certainly not in the sense that I expected it to be. Worse yet, we had come to Kollam to do this tour since it was supposed to be less touristy than the more popular location. At least we, unlike some others on the ride, had not come all the way to Kollam for one day, specifically for this sad little ride.

A lot of people we talked to also recommended the houseboats that go through the backwaters. But after the dug-out experience, we decided to give that a pass. We didn’t see the point of paying $100/night for that. Instead, we opted to take an 8-hour ferry ride from Kollam to Alleppey. This turned out to be a great decision. It was a good-sized boat, with two decks, and since the boat goes really slow upriver, there were no problems at all with motion sickness. You might think that 8 hours on a boat would be way to much, but it went by in a flash. We spent the entire time on top, and had a blast.

The boat went through some really small waterways where we could interact with locals very closely. Most of the tourists on these ferry's don’t pay any attention at all to the locals. Since the locals weren’t part of this trip (unlike on the amusement ride), they simply didn’t notice us. Tadashi and I, being the extroverts we are when we travel, waved to absolutely all the locals we saw. In response, we got huge smiles and waves from nearly everyone. And we got to see them in their bona fide, natural, habitat (as it were).

Most locals on this river have a boat, but not a motor. Many use a stick to propel the boat; this method is called punting.

A relaxing way to ride

Making the ever-useful coir out of coconut husk

We were also able to see how the dugout boats are made. In fact, they're not dug out at all -- they're sewn!

Kids were especially excited by the acknowledgment.

Silly girls

A boat-load of kids

This girl did a little dance for us

Most of the trip took place just off the ocean, in salt-water. At one point, the river way switched to fresh water. I was shocked to see a lock separating the two. The lock was operated by man power. It was easily 80 degrees outside, and these men were working hard to move the huge 10-foot doors.

Reflection on lock door

Our boat fit through the doors, but with only inches to spare.

The local ferries also use the locks. Seeing these little boats in the lock reminded me of Mark Daly making the locks on the Mississippi operate just for him in his canoe.

The Country Ferry

Ironically, we saw a lot of houseboats on the same waterways we were on, so we were getting nearly the same trip for only $8 each -- a much better deal, in my opinion.

The ferry's wake

On another note, I think I finally figured out what's up with these types of "houses" that we see all over Asia. I think abandoned houses become "organ" donors. It's like a pick-and-pull for bricks.

Need bricks? Just head over to Ricky's old place.

We spent the night outside of Alleppey at the Rice Garden (which was super quiet, but could use a little paint) and then took the train for the 1.5 hour ride to Kochi. That’s a story in itself. Once we got on the train, we realized that we had inadvertently purchased 3-tier AC sleeper tickets ($4 each), so we upgraded to the much more comfortable and roomy 2-tier AC sleeper class ($6 each). About an hour into the ride, a group of people came to our berth and claimed that we were in their seats. We explained that we had upgraded, so these were ours. We even showed them our receipt. A small (but polite) dispute ensued, and finally someone in the other party asked where we were going. We told them we were going to Kochi, and the woman got an odd look on her face and said, “This is Kochi!” Shocked, Tadashi and I quickly threw our laptops into a backpack, grabbed our 3 bags and ran off the train (ok, we didn’t “run” with all that stuff through the narrow isle; more like we tried to leave so quickly that I kept bumping into things and people on the way off). I kid you not: we were off the train for at most 30 seconds when it departed the station. Talk about luck!! Especially since Indian trains are notorious for running late; this one was 20 minutes faster than it should have been!

Heed my advice: pay close attention to the stations, not the time!

The Lowlands of Kerala

2009-02-26T23:06:00.000-08:00

Kerala is a long and narrow state of India, stretching from South of Mangalore, to nearly the tip of India. It goes inland to the tea plantations in the mountains (gats). We spent about a week in Kochi, in the middle of the state. We actually stayed in Fort Kochin. There's not a whole lot to see here, although it is a relaxing place if you stay away from the famous Chinese fishing nets. Sadly, nearly all our time her was spent in an internet cafe downloading software to fix my computer. We've since purchased "WiFi on a stick"; that is, a USB stick that uses cell phone technology to get wireless internet (made by !dea, if you're interested). With this, we get unlimited wireless thoughout India for month -- for only $10! (Plus the cost of the stick.) We spent that much at the Fort Cohin internet cafe in one week.

After finally fixing the computer, we decided to go a little further south, to Kollam. Our original plan was to head to the beaches in Varkala, but we decided that Kollam was a better, as it's easy to do a backwaters tour from here (pictures of that trip are forthcoming). We found a quiet (though overpriced) guest house, Valiyavila Family Estates, on a peninsula in the lake. It was extremely relaxing. Although the service was lacking and slower than molasses (one pot of tea took a half hour to be delivered), we did meet the star of their show, Vivek; he was by far the best staff member. Vivek was friendly, outgoing, and a pleasure to talk to. If he was there full time, and in charge, that place would be 100% better. Sadly, the full-time person they do have, Joseph, is standoffish, bordering on rude.

Although Valiyavila left some things to be desired, we did enjoy the quiet and relaxing hammocks. It was also a great place to photograph fishermen, some of whom fished at night.

Sorting fish by candlelight

Tadashi photographing the night fishermen

The hotel recommended one of the best drivers we've ever had, Sudhi, who was recently voted "Best Tourist-Friendly Auto Driver" in the state of Kerala. Kollam isn't much of a tourist destination unless you're there planning a trip into the backwaters, but it was great for our purposes. Sudhi grew up in Kollam and has lived there all his life. He took us to the usual tourist places, but when we told him that we were photographers, he made sure to tell us about all the festivals. When we told him we wanted to visit schools, he took us to some. When we told him we wanted to interview people, he found us four people to talk to. When we missed the last ferry to our hotel, he interrupted his dinner to take us to the "country boat". Whatever we needed, Sudhi delivered. What more could you ask for?

One of the tourist places Sudhi took us to was a matchstick factory. Have you ever wondered how matches were made? I certainly hadn't, but it was really cool to see. The wooden sticks are whittled by locals and sold to the factory. Before the sticks can be made into matches, the wood must be prepped for being "tipped" by first being scorched.

Scorched matches waiting to be "tipped"

The process of putting on the flammable tip was a lot like print-making, but with highly flammable material. The material had the same consistency as latex paint. You wouldn't want to paint with this stuff, though.
Finally, the matches are finished and ready for drying.
The match boxes are made elsewhere, but they are painted and finished in the match factory; the men make the matches, and the women finish the boxes. First, the boxes are painted; to do so, they all fitted tightly into a large frame.

Next, the logo is pasted on by the women workers. These ladies are paid by the box, and the are FAST. You can see the glue on her right.

Boxes are dried in the sun.Finally, the matches are pulled out of their holsters and put into boxes in groups of 50. I wish I could put a video of this one (I couldn't even get a decent picture) because these ladies are even faster than the other ones.

I really liked Kollam, because the people were very open, considerate and outgoing. While Tadashi and I were walking through the market, the laborers asked us to take their picture! Talk about a role reversal. They wouldn't demand "Money!" or ask "Baksheesh?" afterwards; they would just thank us for taking their photo. Amazing! No frenzy would ensue, either. It was pure fun.

That's a 50 pound bag of rice on his head -- with no cushion

More riceCarrying bales of tea leaves

As I said before, Sudhi also took us to some schools. At the first one we went to, the headmistress was out for the day, so we couldn't talk to any teachers. While we were there, lunch time hit, and all the kids who had seen us come, came running to the office we were in. Upon leaving the office, a few kids asked, "One photo?" so we obliged. Why not? They're cute!

Little did we know the insanity that was to come. This was the craziest photo-frenzy that had ever ensued. (Actually, it turned out to be the second-craziest; THE craziest was at another school later that day.) The "one photo" turned into an insane crush of children.
As soon as I lifted the camera to take a picture of a few children, others would crush into the photo ( "photo bombers", as Jenny F. calls them). The picture below was meant to be just the two little girls, but as soon as the camera came to my face, all those boys suddently showed up. A photo like this:very quickly turned into this:
There were repeat offenders, too. These two were notorious bombers and would block my way to force me into taking a photo.But that quickly became:
Which quickly became:
It was so intense that lunches where knocked over and no one seemed to care.

Can you imagine the next school being even worse? We walked into the courtyard at recess time, and were immediately surrounded by children, all wanting to (oddly) shake our hands. I was surrounded by a circle 6 children deep. At one point, two boys whose hand I was shaking kept a tight hold and started jumping up and down while singing in Malayalum. It was so bad that I needed a rescue hand to pull me out of the crush. (I do not exaggerate!)

The one interview we were able to "conduct" at this school was useless because we couldn't hear a thing -- the kids were too loud. Let me try to give you a picture: imagine Brittany Spears going to a junior high without her body guard. That was us (we're both Brittany in this scenario). We had to wait until recess ended before we could leave, or else we would indeed have needed a body guard. As we left, the kids were all looking out of the windows above and as I waved goodbye, all the yelling was nearly deafening. I felt like Brittany waving goodbye to a crowd in the coliseum.

We don't have any pictures of this because we couldn't get to our cameras. Even if we did have our cameras readily available, I don't think we would have wanted to see that mess. However, Tadashi managed to escape before me, so he does have a video of the end. We'll have to figure out how to post that.

Kolkata (Calcutta)

2009-02-13T03:50:00.000-08:00

Arriving in Kolkata was a surprise. I had expected a loud, dirty, crazy city. But overall, it’s pretty clean & tame. Except for the traffic. Having been traveling in SE Asia for 5 years now, Tadashi and I have had a lot of experience crossing the un-regulated streets of Asia. In SE Asia, you wait for a break in traffic, then beginning slowly across. You keep a steady pace, and the traffic gauges you speed and veers either in front of you, or behind you. The cars, trucks and motor bikes will come really, really close, but they won’t hit you. The worst thing you can do in SE Asia is to stop or run. Changing speed, stopping or running can cause you to be hit.

But in India, if you DON’T stop or run, you will be hit. So crossing the street here is an entirely different game. We often find ourselves running back to the sidewalk along with the locals.

We stayed in the working-class Swiss Park neighborhood in Southern Kolkata, at Bodhi Tree Guest House. I would recommend the upstairs rooms to anyone. The rooms downstairs seem like they would be loud, as the staff is down there, as well as the kitchen and restaurant.

Relaxing at Bodhi Tree (by Tadashi Tsuchida)

The neighborhood was really clean, with very little trash on the streets (it even looked like they had regular street sweeping). The really nice thing about this neighborhood is that it has a metro station, so we could get to the main part of town in 15 minutes, and for about 6 rupees! We did a lot of walking around our hotel’s neighborhood, especially on the first day, and we only saw 2 other tourists. So we were in the “real” Calcutta.

On our first day, we walked around the neighborhood for about 3 hours. I wore my salwar kameez and got a lot of stares from locals – especially women and girls. I don’t know if it was because I was one of the only foreigners in the neighborhood, or if I was the only one dressed like a local. Either way, I always made a point to say either “Hello” or “Namaste”. The women tended to just stare even harder, while the girls would get a huge kick out of it, and respond with a big smile, a little wave and often a small hello.

I love Indian sweets, and was on the lookout for a busy sweet shop during our walk. We finally found one, and had some yummy sweets to go. We got a little extra out of the deal.

We see STD signs all over India. I finally figured out what it means: it mean international calling. If I look a little awkward in the picture, it’s not because of the STD; it’s because of the creepy man standing just outside the frame. This guy “found” us at the bakery and followed us for about half an hour. we’d stop to cross the street, and see him behind us. We stopped to take a photo, and there he was, about 50 feet away, pretending to look at a stall. He was with us for a long time, and not very good at being discreet. He eventually gave up after Tadashi and I stopped to talk for about 15 minutes. I was relieved because that guy was creepy.

Later on our walk, I bought some fruit from a nice girl so that Tadashi could ask to take her picture. She kindly obliged, and we said hello every time we saw her after that.

Fruit Vendor (by Tadashi Tsuchida)

A little later, we passed an old blind woman sitting on the side walk with her hand out. I gave her a banana, and the boys walking behind me were shocked. They were going on about, “Did you see that?! She gave her a banana!” I tried to listen more to find out why this was so shocking, but they crossed the street. I certainly hope that I wasn’t out of line doing that.

On our second day, we took the metro to the tourist area to try and arrange some bus tickets. The metro is a lot like BART, but a LOT cheaper, and without A/C. We rode for about 20 minutes, and it only cost 8 rupees each. Interestingly, there were police at the turnstiles making sure everyone went through a metal detector and had their bags visually checked. They also made Tadashi take the battery out of his camera before they would let us in.

The main tourist area of Kolkata is at Sutter and Park Streets. This area is loud, dirty, poor, and full of touts. Indeed, on our walk through the neighborhood, we were harassed by a woman holding a young child. She first asked for money, and we shook our heads and walked passed her. She followed us, but we continued to ignore her. She proceeded to grab my arm, and after I still didn’t respond, she started hitting me (albeit gently) with the empty baby bottle. Finally I turned to her and said rather sternly, “No means no, and it’s going to stay no, so leave us alone.” She finally gave up.

While I don’t usually give beggars change, I especially don’t like to give beggars money in tourist areas. I’ve read that some of these people don’t even try to get jobs because they can make $100 a day begging.

After that walk, we were really glad that we decided to not stay in that area.

On the third day, we decided to go sari shopping. I liked my friend Dawn’s idea of using saris for curtains, so we were really going curtain shopping. Our hotel recommended a great silk sari shop, with really nice, patient sales people, and good fixed prices. We wound up buying five beautiful saris, two of which are covered with hand embroidery. Since each sari is 6 yards, they gave us a duffel bag to put them in, which made it really easy to ship them home. The post office was interesting: no boxes required! They just took my bag to and sewed it up in muslin; I just wrote the address with a Sharpie. let’s hope U.S. Customs doesn’t try to open it. I'm really curious to see if it comes home in the muslin or in a box, because I can’t imagine that customs would re-sew that sucker.

Tadashi also got a haircut and beard trim that day.

The coolest part of this barber was that he set up shop under a tree. The “wall” where he hung his mirror was a tree trunk, and the barber chair was on the tree's roots. You can’t beat ambiance like that – and for only 50 cents!

Edible India

2009-02-10T02:26:00.001-08:00

The good news is: we've been in India for two weeks and neither of us has been sick yet!

Talk about no good deeds going unpunished: we think we figured out why we got so sick last time we where here. We like to be responsible travelers and not use so many plastic water bottles, so we bring our own water purifier. Even though our purifier is still pretty new, Tadashi decided it would be a good idea to test it before leaving for this trip, just in case. And a good thing too! It turned out that this purifier -- although it's only been used a few times over the last few years -- wasn't completely purifying the water!

AND, It was the same purifier we brought to India last time.

So, since we were pumping and "purifying" our own water last time we were in India, we have a STRONG suspicion that it was our own water making us so sick. Add to that the fact that I've recently discovered that I'm lactose intolerant, and it all makes sense. So last time we came to India, it was our own equipment making us so ill.

Needless to say, we brought that purifier back to REI and got a new one (which we also tested; it works fine).

We have learned that:
1. ALWAYS test a water purifier with dye -- even it's it's brand new.
2. Paneer cheese and lactose intolerance do not go together.
3. The chewable Lactase pills work extremely well for processing lactose. (And they taste good!)
4. The pill form Lactase, however, does not work very well.

So there you go! There's no need to worry about us and food here in the Indian sub-continent. We're fine! In fact, yesterday Tadashi had a pizza with paneer cheese on it. Talk about a mix of two cultures.

(I swear that pun was unintentional!)

Finally Back on Track

2009-02-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

My computer is finally fixed! So far, almost our entire trip in India has revolved around getting this thing fixed. Unfortunately, getting a new hard drive here in India was looking to be a very bad deal indeed. First of all, it would mean not being able to recover any documents on the hard drive. Second, the warranty tech people here would only install the hard drive – not the operating system. So even then, I wouldn’t have a working computer, nor any recovered documents, and would have to pay for Windows all over again.

After much (much, much!) debating of options, I decided to hold off on getting the hard drive fixed until returning home. The man at the computer store was so kind as to give us a Linux disk (for free, no less), so I put Linux on an external hard drive (thanks to Tadashi for bringing extra memory), and am running the computer off that. It takes 20 minutes to boot up, but at least it works!

Of course, there’s quite a learning curve to this thing. Let’s see: first, getting the wireless internet to work took about ½ an hour, then finding out the special extensions for this type of Linux (we’re using Ubuntu, so we need .deb extensions). Of course we then had to find a DVD player that would work; after all, what’s the point of having all these DVDs if we can’t play them? Then the search for RAW processing software for the photographs (Tadashi downloaded about 5 programs too see which is best). All this in the one shop in Fort Kochin that has wi-fi! I swear: the people her know us by name! If we’re not at the hotel or eating at a restaurant, we’re here at the internet shop. Luckily, all that is finally done – what a relief!

So now, lucky you, you’ll be able to see photographs! But first, it’ll take about a day to get all of Tadashi’s photos downloaded. Then you’ll have some pretty pictures to look at. Sadly, between the cold (that I've finally kicked), and the computer issues, I haven’t taken my camera out in about 2 weeks. So you’ll not see photos from me for a little while.

But there’s hope! Tomorrow we leave for Kollam (Quilon), in the backwaters of Kerala. We should get some nice photos there, as well as some interesting information. It’s a lot less stressful knowing that the trip is FINALLY back on track. So look for “real” India blogs from us soon!

Oh, and by the way: the "surprise" in the last blog was just the book title. Sorry for the confusion.

A Quick Note From Kolkata (Calcutta)

2009-01-31T01:51:00.000-08:00

I had a really good blog all set to go about our 3 days in Kolkata. But that will have to wait until later, as the hard drive on my NEW Toshiba laptop has decided to call it quits. That darn thing is only 7 months old!! A similar problem happened to my Sony and I blamed Sony for the problem. Maybe it's time to start blaming the hard drive manufacturer.

Add to that the fact that I can't seem to shake this ridiculous cold, and that now Tadashi is beginning to come down with a cold as well; you can imagine that we're not in the best of spirits right now. But we've been catching up on our HBO and Star Movies.

Luckily, Tadashi and I picked up a small Acer Aspire laptop at Costco right before we left. Between booking tickets and hotels, processing photos, and writing both blogs and a book, there's high demand for the one usual laptop, so we figure that having a second one certainly wouldn't hurt. It's heavy for its size and doesn't have a DVD drive, but for $350 the price was certainly right. You can imagine that now we are REALLY glad that we decided to get the 2nd one.

Sadly, both our new blogs, along with the photo processing software, are on the main computer -- that is, the dead computer. So there will be no photos for a while. But, we are in India, and as you know, this is tech call center central. So of all places to have computer problems, this is a pretty good one.

After three days in Kolkata, I'm ready to move on. And with our hotel, having to stay two extra days for the repair shop to open makes it more expensive than we planned for. So we've decided to fly to Bangalore and have the computer fixed there.

We chose Bangalore for a few reasons. First, since it's the "silicon valley" of India, we're hoping that the computer will get fixed faster. And, Bangalore puts us close to Kerala, which is next on our itinerary. So if we have to wait 1-2 weeks (hopefully not!), we figure that we'll go to Kerala while they fix my laptop. And, we get some sun and beach to help cure these colds (something's gotta get rid of these things). Of course, we'll still have blog updates, but there won't be any photos until my laptop is fixed.

On the up side: we have a working title for our book!! Are you ready? Remember, it's just a working title, but we both really like it:

No Lunch, No Money, No Rice: The Challenges of Education in Asia

The first part is a quote from one of our Black H'mong friends from Sapa, Vietnam; she was explaining to us why she was never able to go to school.

Karaoke At A Temple

2009-01-26T04:26:00.000-08:00

The first time we came to Luang Prabang, in 2005, we met a very nice young man named Sinchan, who worked at our guest house. We would often help him with his English and he would ask very tough questions. He often wanted to know the difference between two words whose definitions were very similar. The one I recall most was when he asked the difference between melt and rot. Tadashi and I had to think for a few minutes before coming up with an easy explanation (ice melts and wood rots).

Tadashi and I came to Luang Prabang in the June 2007. Sadly, Tadashi had really bad food poisoning the entire time (damn that airplane food!). Sinchan’s family (whom we had never met) was kind enough to have a healing ceremony for the two of us. That was really interesting, and involved the entire extended family joining in and tying white cotton strips around our wrists. Afterword, we all joined in on a feast. This in itself was scary. Laotians eat in the traditional Indian style: they ball us a piece of rice and dip (and double- and triple-dip) into the communal food bowls. Considering that nobody washed their hands before they ate, we didn’t eat very much. Luckily it was easy to blame sickness for not eating too much; this way we weren't being insulting.

This year when we came to Luang Prabang, the first thing we did was go looking for Sinchan. He no longer worked at the same place, but luckily we remembered how to get to his mother-in-law's house. We didn't find Sinchan, but we did find his wife -- although she doesn't speak any English. Luckily, we had already purchased local SIM card (which are dirt cheap in Laos, I might add) because it turned out that Sinchan was 45 minutes away in his parent's village. His wife called him for us and we were able to arrange a day to see Sinchan.

It turned out that Sinchan had permanently moved back to his village to help his parents with the farm. Apparently it’s not that uncommon for husband and wife to live separately. He was in the middle of a 15 day monk-hood at the time we were visiting. It's not uncommon for locals to become monks for a week at least once in their lives. Sinchan had decided to do this in solidarity with one of his really good friends from America. We had originally planned to visit them on our second day in town, but we had decided to wait since I cold. That turned out to be the best decision we could make.

We found out once we got there that the new moon festival was just about to begin – and we were invited to join the villagers in the festivities. This festival involved nearly all the women in the village, as well as about a dozen men. The temple in this village is a very small windowless concrete structure. As it only held the monks, the important men in village sat on the “porch” of the temple, with the spill-over men sitting on mats covering the ground. The women (and us) sat on the 4 mats behind them. Since it’s impolite to point the soles of your feet at Buddha and monks, everyone was sitting with their feet under them. Everyone also had a scarf draped over their left shoulder and tied at the waist on the right side. Since I was wearing my scarf, I re-tied it to mimic theirs. Tadashi didn't have a scarf, but nobody seemed insulted at that.

After a little bit of conversation with the village English-speaker, the praying began. All the worshipers untied their scarves, and while keeping it over their left shoulder, extended one end so that about 6 inches of the scarf is laid on the mat. This end served as a platform on which to place your hands for bowing down.

The praying in Loas is a mix of Catholic and Muslim. It's similar to Catholic prayers in that the monks say a few sentences (using a microphone and small speaker), and then the worshipers says a paragraph. The difference is the prayer it more sung than said. This makes it sound more like a call-and-response singing/chanting that repeats for an hour and half. During this time, everyone’s feet stay under them, and everyone’s hands are in payer in front of their chests. Once in a while, everyone will bow, placing their hands on the scarf in front of them, and nearly touching the forehead to the hands (as in a Muslim prayer). Sometimes while bowed, the hands will come together to the forehead, then back to the ground and back up again before the worshiper sits back up. Once up, the hands, in prayer, will touch the forehead briefly before returning back to the chest; this move is also made after re-adjusting your sitting position. And so it went for an hour and a half. Tadashi and I could only sit for about 10 minutes before needing to adjust. The locals could go almost the entire time.

What was most interesting was on the one hand this praying period was very formal, but yet it wasn't very formal on the other hand. During the prayer, kids were running around, men would have an occasional cigarette, and more than a few people were chatting.

The woman I was sitting next two seemed to be the “coordinator” of the whole thing. She would interrupt her praying to tell people to do things, like when to give the offerings and such. One such offering was a 2-foot spire tower made of banana leaf and marigolds, with incense and money stuffed into the top. There were also little offerings of marigolds, incense and money wrapped in a banana leaf (this was the size of a sugar ice cream cone). At one point, there was a huge discussion – while the monks and most of the attendees were still chanting – about how many “ice-cream” offerings to give. Apparently there were only 3 up there, while there should have been 4, so another one was made.

Next, there were 4 trays of food brought out that to be given to the monks. Tadashi and I were totally unprepared for a festival, but as luck would have it, we had brought along four sandwiches (crazy luck to even have the proper number!) and we donated those to the food plates, along with about 50 cents cash per sandwich.

At the end of this session of chanting, the monks were given the trays of food and a mix of rice, candy and money was thrown above the crowd of attendees (it was like throwing rice at a wedding). Each adult had to have one piece of candy; the kids got the rest of the candy and all the money. Next, the monks ate; rice snacks were passed around while we waited. One of these snacks was really good; it was a pot-sticker outside, with baklava-like filling inside. The other was rice cooked with eggs. After snacking, we talked (well, pantomimed, really) with the locals for a few minutes. (I learned the pantomime for "Do you have any children?" I'll have to show you that sometime!) It wasn't long before we heard, “helloooooooo”, “helloooooooo” echoing from the speaker. I thought it was a monk checking the sound, but then some proper Laotian singing started. One of the village elders had decided it was a waste to sit next to that speaker and started singing. Mind you, he’s still sitting right next to the door of the temple. Again, they’re formal, yet not so formal.

Based on the surprised looks on the locals’ faces, I’m guessing he was showing off for us farang. After the first song, requests were being yelled from the audience, including one for us to sing. We politely declined, as the singer didn’t seem to need much of a push for an encore. For his next song, he stood up and started singing for real, including doing a little dancing. He even got an accompaniment of cymbals (in the form of two pot lids) and clapping. It was awesome. Tadashi took a video of it that we’ll try to put it up. At any rate, after he finished this song, he paid the cymbal player for his accompaniment and passed the microphone to a woman in the audience. We had one song from her before resuming the praying.

We prayed for another half hour, after which the food trays the monks ate from were passed out; the elder men and women each got one and we got one. Everyone else got a fresh food tray. This time there was a hand-washing bowl passed around before we ate. Tadashi and I, slightly afraid of the food (what with the germs, the sitting out and the flies), had Sinchan come out of the temple and explain that we could only eat a little, as our driver had been waiting a long time for us already (which was true – we were on the far end of the time frame we gave him). So we ate a lot of rice and a little of the food. It was good going down, but you never know how it’ll be inside. Tadashi was braver then me (I stuck to the boiled vegetables) and had the pork dish. Alas, he’s paying for it now, and is sick with intestinal issues – that makes him 3 for 3 in Luang Prabang.

As we were saying thank you and goodbye, one of the locals wanted Tadashi to take a picture of the village teenagers singing clapping while they ate. He did, and had the two shots of the local rice whiskey they offered (called Lao-Lao, or Whiskey Lao). We then said goodbye to elders, who offered us another shot of Whiskey Lao. That stuff is crazy strong! I'd swear it's close to 100 proof.

So once again, plans changed and we were better for it. Well, maybe not so much for Tadashi, but he still had fun.

Visiting an Old Friend in Hoi An

2009-01-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

Our only purpose for visiting Vietnam this year was to see our friend My (pronounced Me). We met My on our first visit to Hoi An in 2004. How we met her is actually quite an interesting story. We were originally trying to leave Hoi An the morning we met her, but that bus was full and we had to take the afternoon one. That morning, I was sleeping in and Tadashi went for one last morning walk along the river. He was taking pictures on a bridge when My approached him, said hello and started up a conversation. It turned out she was going to try to sell him a boat ride, but was clever enough not to be obvious about it (usually people just ask, “You ride on my boat?”).

Tadashi told her that he had decided to come to Hoi An because a friend of ours loves it so much. My asked him where he was from, and after he responded “California,” My said that she also had a friend from California who comes to Hoi An often. My then asked Tadashi what his friend’s name was, and he told her it was Mike Matlach. My said, “Oh! Mike Matlach! I know him – he is my friend too!”

Tadashi was of course quite suspicious; what are the odds that he’d run into the one person in that town that Mike told us about? He considered trying to trick My by commenting about what a small black man he is (really he’s a big white guy), but decided better of it. My then invited Tadashi to her boat to look at pictures and meet her family. Sure enough, there they had a picture of Mike! So it really is a small world after all. My’s family invited Tadashi and I back for lunch that afternoon. We joined them for a wonderful meal before heading up north to Hue.

Although we were originally disappointed when we were not able to get tickets for the morning bus, if we’d been on that bus we wouldn’t have met My and her wonderful family. This day taught me a really important lesson: if you don’t first get what you want, go with the flow, because something else really cool is bound to happen. Indeed, this has become our traveling philosophy.

I wrote about My’s family in a blog last summer, but I’ll remind you that they’re poor fisher-people. As there’s no fish during the winter, they have to make a whole year’s worth of money during the 7 month fishing season. Despite being so poor, they are always willing to share their food (even in the winter); I think this is a testament to how giving they are.

My is the first person in her family to go beyond 6th grade and will be graduating from high school this year. Neither of her parents were afforded the chance, nor were her 3 older brothers. She has received top marks for the first half of her senior year, and will be entering Danang University next year. Her family is, of course, extremely proud of her. Her father, Can, continues to work very hard to be able to afford her and her 2 younger siblings’ education. He’s even gone fishing on the ocean – a very dangerous job. Tadashi and I have agreed to pay half of her university tuition, although if her family has a difficult time with it, we’ll pay more.

My loves reading English literature in her free time, so we brought her a bunch of books. These are books we’ve all read in high school and university; titles such as The Old Man and The Sea and Of Mice and Men. We also brought her Tadashi’s old laptop, which unfortunately, was damaged beyond repair on the trip over (we still can’t figure out what the hell happened to that thing!!). We may end up shipping her my old laptop instead, although it may be cheaper to buy one here and ship it to her. We’ll see.

CAMBODIA: Education and Corruption

2009-01-15T04:11:00.000-08:00

I promised this in July 2008, and I apologize for the delay. Once you read it, I think you’ll understand why it took me 6 months to write; it’s disheartening and depressing.

Cambodia is a country where corruption is so ingrained that it is essentially part of the culture. One would not be surprised to find that many politicians are corrupt, but it is shocking to find that some monks and teachers are as well. Even the people that run orphanages and schools for poor children take a cut of the donations. In Cambodia, the notion of a “not-for-profit” is all but unheard of.

Last summer we went to visit a monk-run orphanage and school that is a half-hour drive outside Siem Reap. Before we went, we asked our good friend (a Cambodian) what would be an appropriate donation, and he told us, “Give supplies, not money.” That made sense to us, but when we inquired as to why, our friend informed us that the good monks only take 25% of the donated money. Many monks take up to half of the donations. The worst part is that everyone knows this; and it’s just considered a fact of life. Our friend then told us a story that we would hear repeated from other reliable sources: more than one monk has been known to save up the embezzled funds and, upon retiring from monk-hood, buy a big mansion and a nice car using the money intended to help poor children. Sickening.

Then there’s the new “get rich quick” scheme that seems to have taken hold in Siem Reap. Locals (especially tour guides) have noticed how much money tourists donate to the orphanages and schools for poor children and some people have decided they want a piece of the action. More than a few locals have opened orphanages and schools of their own. Some of these are opened by tour guides, who then bring their tour groups to their schools and collect donations. I don’t know what percentages of these donations are actually used for their intended purpose, but I would say that half would be generous. The schools that aren’t opened by guides work with a guide to bring tourists their way. I wouldn’t be surprised if these guides got a “tip” for this service.

You may think that despite the embezzlement, that it’s good these people are helping children. But when you go to those orphanages and those schools, and you see the meager conditions, and see the dirty children with rotting teeth, and the food lacking in nutritional value, it’s hard to accept the corruption. When you think about how much more they could do with the donated money, how much better they could feed and help the children and how many more children they could help with that money, it’s sickening. These people are literally taking food, shelter and services from the children they proclaim to help.

Then there’s the corruption of the teachers. Being a teacher myself, this is especially upsetting. In Cambodia (and other South East Asia countries as well), teachers are not paid well. The average teacher is paid $30-$40 a month. This is clearly not enough to live on, so many teachers have devised ways to make money off the students. One method is to intentionally withhold information from the students. Teachers will withhold information critical to passing the grade-level exit exam. If a student wants to pass the exam, they have to pay the teacher to come to afterschool “special class”. The teacher will often hold a 1-hour class per subject; these classes cost anywhere from a quarter to a dollar.

The other scheme teacher’s use is selling lecture notes. Some teachers will refuse to write on the board, so if a student wants to get that day’s lesson, they must buy the teacher’s lecture notes. The teacher will copy the notes at a cost of 5 cents, and sell them to the students for 25 cents. Keep in mind that these students’ parents typically make $1-$2 a day.

Unlike the corruption, the teacher’s extortion of students is easily fixed by increasing their salaries. At least this is being worked on. The Cambodian government hired School for Children of Cambodia, a British NGO (non-governmental organization) as a consultant to the Ministry of Education. The ministry asked SCC to help increase education rates. SCC’s two main recommendations were: build more middle and high schools in the countryside and pay teachers (a lot) more. The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank are funding the former. Unfortunately, the Cambodian government doesn’t seem too keen about the latter. Hopefully they will change their minds in time.

Notes on Cambodia – Part I

2008-07-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

We wanted to visit Cambodia on this trip because it’s the only country we know of where the children attend school in the summer. We spent two weeks in Siem Reap (the town closest to Angkor Wat) this summer and were able to visit a lot of schools and talk to a lot of local Khmer.

Money
According to Cambodia’s Prime Minister, 50% of that country’s budget relies on foreign aid. On the one hand, it’s good that foreign governments and people are helping this poor country (one of the poorest in SE Asia), but on the other hand, seeing all the corruption and lack of involvement of the government makes me wonder if the aid is a good thing, or just allowing the county to slide by without any incentive to fix itself.

Now I am not trying to be judgmental, but I certainly think that there are some screwed-up things happening there. And after talking to a lot of locals, I know that many Khmer feel the same way that I do.

Let me give you a few examples of what I mean. You’ve all heard of Angkor Wat (one of hundreds of temples in the Angkor region). To see these temples (even from the outside), tourists have to buy an Angkor Pass. These come in 1-day ($20), 3-day ($40) and one-week ($60) increments. One could easily argue that these passes are one of (if not the) biggest income-generating schemes in Siem Reap (and perhaps all of Cambodia). But these passes are not sold by the government, nor any subsidiary of the government. No, these passes are sold by – and enforced by – a private Vietnamese hotel chain. Presumably, someone in the government gets a slice of this pie, but you can be sure that no commoner gets a penny. I think about how well Cambodia would be doing if they simply took over running Angkor.

Another example is the new "Angkor National Museum". We were excited to see this museum open this year, filled with artifact and information about the Angkor area. It’s big – and expensive. Tourists pay $12 each (plus $3 extra to bring a camera in, but you can only take pictures outside). Locals have to pay $5 (about a week’s pay if you’re doing fairly well). It turns out that this “National” museum was built by Thailand, which has a contract to run it for the next 30 years. Do the local Khmer see any of this money? No. But the Prime Minister’s daughter gets a cut.

One last example illustrates just how much all of Cambodia’s foreign aid costs. Japan has been a huge contributor to the infrastructure of Cambodia, paying for paved highways and electricity to go into the countryside. Our friends tell us that Japan had to pay a bribe in order to pay to have this work done. And the ruling party does not support passing an anti-corruption bill??

Keep in mind that the mean gross national income (GNI) per capita is about $500/year. BUT most people we met make way less than that because most of the money coming in doesn’t see the average person. For example, K-12 teachers only make between $25-50 per month. That’s only $300-600 per year. (And we didn’t meet any teachers that made more than $40 per month.) We’re told that many teachers leave the profession to become tuk-tuk drivers or tour guides; but the teachers that stay have their own way of generating extra income (more on that later).

Many people we spoke to expressed a hope of one day becoming a guide because guides make tons of money. English-speaking guides get paid $20 per day, whereas French-speaking guides get $35/day and Spanish-speaking guides get $50/day. Spanish-speaking guides used to make $80/day, but more Khmer are learning Spanish, saturating the market.

But becoming a guide isn’t as easy as you might think: you have to be an “official” guide to take tourists to Angkor temples – and getting an official guide pass is expensive. Most Khmer pay $3000 to be an official guide, and it is not uncommon to have officials pocket the money and give nothing in return! On the other hand, if they know someone higher up, the price may be reduced to $2800. BUT, if they have a high school diploma, then they only pay $1600. The difference in price for those with a 12-grade diploma is shocking. I’ll talk more about education in part II, but suffice it to say that getting a high school diploma in Cambodia is as difficult (if not more difficult) then getting a Bachelor’s degree in the States.

Inflation
You’ve heard about food prices increasing across the globe, and Cambodia is no exception. The cost of living has doubled in the last year and the price of food is no exception.

Last year, $1 would buy breakfast for two locals; now $1 won't even buy one breakfast.

A gallon of gas is now about $4.75 – up from almost half that.

1 kilo of rice was about 43 cents last year, and now it’s up to 88 cents. (And that’s just the average quality rice.) When the typhoon hit Burma, the price of rice went up THREE TIMES in ONE DAY! Rice has become so expensive that many people (especially the poorer people in rural areas) no longer cook rice the normal way – they can’t afford to. Most of them now make rice porridge to eat with their meals.

We interviewed a monk who runs both schools and an orphanage. When we asked him what supplies his schools needed most, without any hesitation whatsoever, he replied, “Rice.”

The price of land in Cambodia is also going through the roof. Many rural people are having their land bought from under them and resold at 3 times the price.

In the tourist area of Siem Reap, a shop that rented for $600 last year goes for $1000 - $1500 now. Deposits for a rental place have also gone up. Last year, the landlord only asked for a 1 month deposit. Now, you have to deposit 3 months! BUT if you have a 3-year lease, the landlord requires a deposit of one whole year. Can you imagine?? Guess how many businesses are actually owned by locals? Few and far between!

Many restaurants have signs that say, “Khmer run business,” which makes a lot of tourists think, “Oh, then I’ll go there and support the locals.” But wait! Nearly every single business is run by locals because the foreigners that own them can afford to not be there. I asked a few “Khmer run businesses” if they were actually owned by Khmer, and (no surprise) they are owned by foreigners. (Our favorite Khmer food restaurant is actually both owned and run by Khmer.)

Look for part II of the Cambodia chronicles, where I’ll discuss corruption and education. You might think those two are unrelated, but (sadly) you’d be wrong.

Notes on the Vietnam Aspect of the Project

2008-07-27T16:24:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the long delay in blogging. We are actually home now. We came home 2 ½ weeks early because we finished our work a little early (more on that below). It turned out to be a good thing, as I developed both bronchitis and pneumonia at the end of our trip. (Yay! Another visit to a hospital! We're getting travel insurance next time.) I’m better now except for this darn cold. UPDATE: Actually, it's strep throat. Even my doctor was disappointed.

At any rate, let me tell you about our progress on the project.

Vietnam
As you know, one of our goals for this project is to interview our friends (including Gom) in Sapa, Vietnam about their experiences in education. This was much more difficult than we thought it would be. Most of our H’mong friends didn’t go to school at all, and most of those that did only made it to 5^th grade or so. None of them remembered much about school.

This was this first time we were able to spend a lot of time talking to Gom about her schooling. It turned out that Gom had a much more difficult time that we thought. She was top in her class in her village school, but nearly last in her classes outside the village. Here’s why: classes outside her village (the ones for the “regular” Vietnamese) are run very similar to those here in the US. However, in her village classroom, there is no accountability on the homework front, the teacher rarely takes questions and all examinations are open book. You can imagine exactly how much the students study. Gom was top in her class mainly because she was able to find answers in her textbook quickly.

Speaking to our friends in Sapa made us realize that we would have to re-think our vision of how the book would be laid out. We were envisioning stories about going to school, but most of the girls don’t have stories – they have short vignettes. The saddest thing about this is that nearly all of our friends wish that they would have gone to school. When asked if they would go back given the chance, most of them said, yes, but then quickly added that they were currently or would soon be married, so going to school would not be feasible. A sad reality.

Hoi An at Night

2008-07-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

Hoi An's old town is beautiful and charming. Part of the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with French-colonial architecture, and narrow streets that cars are not allowed on.

While we were there, the Miss Universe pageant was beginning its visit to Vietnam, so they made a stop in Hoi An. There was a parade through the old town, so only foot traffic was allowed.

Tadashi on his non-primitive (!) bike

Who knew that bicycles were considered modern!

Throughout Asia (especially Vietnam), people park their motorbikes and bicycles on the sidewalk, so that pedestrians have to spend most of their time on the street. Ironically, on the one day you could actually walk in the street of Hoi An, the police make people move there bikes! With the number of people we saw heading to the old town, we decided not to go. Think about a mouse in a small maze -- that's Hoi An's old town for the parade.

The first time we were in Hoi An, we made friends with a wonderful family. They are fisher-people, and have 2 houses: one home consists of 2 boats & 2 rooms on stilts in the Hoi An river, and a regular house about 2 km away.

The family on their boat: Be, Hanh, My's older brother, Can & My

Be, Can and the youngest child, Hanh, sleep on the boat 7 months out of the year. Can has crab pots that he puts in the river (seen on the boat below), as well as a huge net that he puts in the river to catch fish.

The family's boat and stilt rooms

Can took us out for a boat ride while we were there, and we saw this crazy ray during the sunset.

It's really cool seeing Can collect the fish from the net. He dons an aluminum version of the conical hat that the Vietnamese women wear, and beats the net with a stick to get all the fish in the bottom. He then dumps them out of a small hole on the side near the bottom. It's neat to see during the day, but it's really cool to see at night. The light you see is his; it's used to attract fish at night.

In addition to being the "custom clothing capital of Vietnam", Hoi An is famous for its silk lanterns. You may think of silk lanterns as being Chinese, but the people of Hoi An have their own spin on them. At night, all of these lanterns are lit up in the shops using un-frosted incandesant bulbs.

I mention the bulb type because it gives a very different look using other bulbs (I know -- I've tried it). I love Hoi An at night -- the lanterns are just beautiful.

Hoi An is a huge fishing town. The boats are really cool; they all have eyes on the bow (one on each side). I forget exactly why, but I think it has something to do with river spirits or something like that.
Geckos are just about everywhere in Asia. They come out at night, and usually hang out on the walls waiting for bugs to eat. Geckos are just about the only night animal that I actually like. I was quite surprised to see this one inside a lamp!

Photographing the lamps is fun, but it's also fun to photograph people in front of a lantern shop. There are two methods of doing this. First, one can do a short exposure keeping the camera still, resulting in silhouettes and people and trails moving people.

Alternatively, one can keep the camera trained on a moving object, resulting in light trails, with the moving object being in focus.

Doing the latter process takes a lot of skill, and I'm still not that great. It's really hard; you have to keep the camera moving at the same rate as the object you want in focus. But sometimes moving the camera faster than the object results in a "messed-up shot" that can be renamed an "artistic shot."

Vietnamese Weaving

2008-06-30T06:18:00.000-07:00

Flower H'mong fabric being woven in Sapa

Vietnam has some beautiful textiles, and we were lucky enough to see some being made. One town we visited, Hoi An (in the center of the country, near the de-militarized zone) is especially famous for its clothing. Nearly all people who come here get clothing made. Although we left without custom clothes, we did get to see the pre-process in action.

Weaving silk in Hoi An

One of the most popular and reputable clothing places had their own silk worms to make the silk clothing and scarves. I knew that silk came from worms, but had never imagined how.

Silk pods in their home: branches

Once the silk pods are made by the worms, the pods are harvested.

Next, they are soaked in warm water,

Silk thread being made & wrapped around a spool

The whole process of making the thread is combined, above

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the thread coming from the bowl of water to the spool.

What I wonder is: how do they get different colors from the worm? Or do they die the silk? At any rate, the process of making a multi-colored fabric looks beautiful.

Did you notice that the threads in the photo above are wrapping a piece of newspaper?

While we were in Sapa, in NW Vietnam, we saw some Flower H'mong scaves being weaved. The cotton fabric makes beautiful pattens.

A Trip to Moung Koung

2008-06-24T02:17:00.000-07:00

A sweet family in Moung Koung

As you know, we have many friends in Sapa that we made the first time we went there. All of our friends are doing very well, and Hang and Nam are no exception. We first met Hang when she worked at the Mountain View Hotel, where we stayed the first time. She was the front desk manager, and so we came to know her well. (It turned out that it was her husband Nam’s bike that Tadashi crashed, causing the muffler burn on my leg.) We became quick friends with Hang, and she invited us to her room for dinner one night.

We had hot-pot for dinner and it was fantastic. She and her husband rented a little room that was about the size of a dorm room, but with an attached bathroom. Although it was small, they made it very cozy.

The last time we we in Sapa, (3 years ago) Nam & Hang had opened their own CD/video shop. This shop was small, but it was theirs and it had a nice size sleeping room above it. This time we went to Sapa, they are doing even better: they opened their own restaurant.
It’s really nice, and serves everything from Vietnamese to Italian, French and Spanish tapas. They were lucky enough to even be recommended by the brand new edition of Lonely Planet – making them an instant hit with the English-speaking crowd.

It was great to see our friends, and fantastic to see them doing so well. The building they rent is a great size, with the restaurant on the first floor, and plenty of room for Nam, Hang and their 2-year old son, Viet. There’s even a storage room that doubles as sleeping quarters for Hang’s brother so that he can help run the place. They’re doing so well that they’re planning on buying a car (remember: you pay 150% taxes on cars)! (A Toyota Camry costs about $40,000.)

Nam & Hang in their Restaurant (by Tadashi Tsuchida)

Nam and Hang invited us to join them on a day trip to a Flower H’mong market close to the Chinese border, in the village of Moung Koung. It’s about a 2 ½ -hour drive through the hills of northern Vietnam. We went to this market 3 years ago, and it was nice to see that there are still few tourists that go there – in fact, I think we were the only ones there that week.

The rural markets usually only happen once a week and begin early, ending in the late afternoon. The locals go to buy and sell goods, as well as to socialize. Although many of the “tribal” people used to make and sell their own goods to each other (such as clothing and baskets) the Chinese and Vietnamese now manufacture many of these things at very low cost. As such, many of the originally tribal goods are now purchased pre-made cheaper than they could have if they were to make it themselves.

For example, much of the clothing, which used to all be hand-made, is now often purchased piece-wise and stitched together at home, with perhaps some personal embellishing (such as embroidery). Some enterprising people also make the whole outfit to sell. For instance, you can buy a traditional clothing of the Flower H’mong pre-made (shirt, skirt and apron) at the market (as worn by the women below).

Flower H'mong buying baskets

Basket Maker

Although the area around Moung Koung is mainly Flower H’mong, there are many other ethnic groups there too. I’m not sure of the groups that the people below belong to.

Selling cucumbers (yes, yellow cucumbers)

The rural markets are a great place to see new things for sale. It’s good to have a guide who can tell you what everything is, and to help you buy stuff (no one here speaks English). Notice those yellow cucumbers above? I thought they were squash.

Yummy Sticky rice with natural flavoring (no red dye #4 here!)

My favorite Vietnamese sweet snack

Black sugar cane

The black sugar cane reminds me: did you know that chickens come with black skin too? I’m told that the black-skin chicken tastes better, too. Do you think The Colonel would go for that??

A slice of inedible eggplant

These market are a good place to see odd stuff for sale as well.

metal pieces for sale

A H'mong Cuisinart for pig food

One thing you should know about developing Asia: they reuse everything. Rice bags become basket straps and shoes once they won’t hold rice any more. Water and oil jugs (or any plastic jug) become rice-wine containers. And metal cans become arrow fletching, toys, wind chimes, or even tobacco bongs (and yes, they really are for tobacco use only). Some of these are a little scary -- notice the bottom can on the right bong.

Smoking bongs made of recycled aerosol cans (yikes!)

After the market, we went to a nearby Flower H’mong village. Interestingly, there were no adults around. I assume they were still at the market. We always wave and say “Hello!” to kids, which nearly always get a response of a huge smile and “Hello!” In this village, we developed quite a following of curious children.

It was quite cute to have a following (which happens often when we go to little villages). However, I was a little worried about the boy skulking behind us with a knife!
Luckily, he was a nice boy, and just being silly. We also met a really sweet family just coming back from the market. Notice the water cistern. Many of these were donated to villager by Unicef.

You can imagine that there was wildlife in the villages too.

But I wasn’t the only enamored by the water buffaloes.

Planting Rice in Lao Chai Village

2008-06-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we helped Gom and her family plant their rice. Once again, Tadashi has a great story to tell about this as well.

All of our H’mong friends – as well as most of the H’mong selling to tourists in Sapa – are from the village of Lao Chai. This is a huge village, and
it would take over an hour to walk across it. Many of the people living here don’t know each other if they’re not related by blood or marriage. Most houses are in little familial enclaves like that shown above. But some houses are more spread apart.

The walk to Lao Chai was amazingly beautiful. We were very lucky to have a break in the near-constant rain that’s been occurring since we’ve arrived.

A small section of Lao Chai

There have been many improvements in the village since we were last there 3 years ago. For one thing, the road down to Lao Chai from the main road is no long mud – it’s now paved with rocks.

Locals Enjoying the View From the Road

The village got electricity and telephone lines in the last 6 months, so most people now have satellite TV (for a mere $1.50/month). We are also told that the house where tourists do home-stays has a computer! Speaking of changes, the first time we were here (5 years ago) we helped many of our friends set up e-mail accounts. Now many of them have cell phones! We picked up Vietnamese SIM cards for our phones, so it’s much easier to reach our friends.

Yet another change is the hydro-electric plant the government is building in Lao Chai. It makes for some interesting landscape.

Building a Road for the Power Plant

The walk down to Lao Chai provides a great view of the beautiful rice fields.

Rice, rice and more rice. (And some water too.)

Of course, we saw a little bit of the local wildlife on the way down.

The rice fields serve a multiple purposes. Certainly, they grow food for the people who plant them, but they also provide food for the farm animals. Both ducks and chickens feed on the small animals in the wet paddy (which helps the rice too) and water buffalo feed on the greens once the field is harvested.

Chickens Feeding in the Rice Field

Planting rice

After a half hour of walking, we reached Gom’s house. Here you see her parents, Yang and Vang, along with her two younger sisters.

We walked for another half-hour to reach their rice fields. It was a narrow, slippery, dirt (m path (the morning rain certainly didn’t help).

Rush hour

I don’t have any pictures of us planting as it was too muddy. But let’s just say that Tadashi and I are not very good farmers. The shoots usually get planted in a straight line, but Tadashi and I managed more of a zig-zag pattern. Unfortunately, it started raining about ½ hour after we began planting. Yang tried to get us to go before the trail got too bad, but Tadashi and I said, “No! We just learned how – you can’t make us go now!” And so we donned our plastic sheets and rain coats, and planted for another ½ hour until all the shoots Yang brought down were planted.

We were originally thinking to help them the next day, but then thought better of it – we don’t want their entire crop to be bad!

Because it was so slippery going down, Yang held my hand much of the way down. I had a bamboo walking stick for the trip, and was so afraid of falling, my forearm and hand were more sore than my knees the next day. I guess I was a little worried about falling off the cliff and becoming rice fertilizer.

A H’mong Grave

The walk to a H'mong Wedding Reception

2008-06-11T03:26:00.000-07:00

About one hour into our stay in Sapa, we were invited to our friend's wedding reception -- which we had to leave nearly right away for. Tadashi's written a very good description about this on his blog, so I won't try to be redundant. You can read about it
here (you may need to copy and paste the URL):

http://tadashiphotography.blogspot.com/

Since Tadashi's written about the party, I'll write about the walk there and back. It was 2 hours one way, up a large hill, then about half way back down. We stopped upon occasion to take pictures and rest up.

Gom and her friend taking a rest under the shade of an umbrella

This is the planting season for rice. Many people are either done or nearly done planting their rice. In fact, tomorrow Tadashi and I are going to Gom's house to help plant the last of her rice. We're really looking forward to it! All the rice grown by the H'mong is for subsistence.

Rice shoots are grown together, then taken up to be replanted for full-size growing.

rice shoots ready for planting

Before the shoots can be planted, the paddy must be tilled. Most black H'mong cannot afford a power tiller, so they use beasts of burden and a wood tiller. The latter is basically made up of large pointed stakes attached to a large piece of wood, which is then attached to the animal. Up here in the mountains, water buffalo are the beast of choice.

Tilling the rice field with the help of a water buffalo

The mix of fields with just some un-planted (brown), some newly planted (thinly green), and some growing (very green) is beautiful. The black-ish plants on the left are rose bushes.

There are many water buffalo in the countryside, and they are huge! I think they are beautiful.

Black water buffalo grazing in field

I nearly got trampled by a startled water buffalo on our first trip, so it's not a good idea to get too close. But having a zoom lens sure is helpful. There are two types of water buffalo: white and black.

Black water buffalo

The white one may look albino, but they are not (notice the black eyes).

White water buffalo

In the countryside, the buffalo are allowed to roam pretty freely, as long as there is a "chaperon" -- almost always a young boy.

Children minding the water buffalo

Water buffalo cooling off

The local H'mong also grow vegetables and roses. The former is for both subsistence and selling, while the latter is strictly for selling.

Weeding the corn field

Can you believe that was all on the way to the wedding reception? The reception was tons of fun, filled with about a hundred local H'mong and a dozen tourists (although we were the only ones that actually new the couple). Below are photos that I took during the drinking game that Tadashi talks about. Everyone enjoyed watching everyone else get 'caught'.

Some of the party-goers were too young to drink.

I snuck away for the bulk of the drinking game (which is why I think I didn't get sick like Tadashi). I wasn't the only one hiding.

The landscape around the house was so beautiful and photogenic.

Finally in Vietnam

2008-06-07T02:49:00.000-07:00

After 24 hours of traveling, we're finally in Hanoi. The flight to Hong Kong was 14 hours, then 2 hours to Hanoi. I tried a pair of compression socks for the long flight, and man-oh-man, what a difference! It was so amazing that I'm going to get T a pair when we get back.

We've been to Hanoi many times, but a lot has really changed since the last time 3 years. The biggest difference is
the new helmet law, which went in to effect about 6 months ago. Hanoi, being the trendy place that it is, even has helmet trends -- including a snap-on brim for the women.! There are also many, many, many more street lights. The first time we were here (4 years ago) there was ONE; the next year, there were 3-5. Now, we lost count! Although the traffic is still a little crazy, the lights do make it a bit easier to cross the street.

That's not to say that's it's "easy" to cross. "Slow and steady stays alive" is the moto here. Moto bikes and bicycles gauge your speed and go around you, but buses and taxis (and some autos) definitely do not.

In the photo below, it looks like traffic is stopped -- but it's not.
The most surprising difference in Hanoi is the growth in trendy stores. Our favorite grocery store has turned into a Calvin Klein store -- very disappointing. There's also a Nine West/Enzo shoe store, any many luxury auto stores, including BMW and Lexus. We even saw an Escalade today! Mind you, these cars are comparatively cheap, but then again, these people make a fraction of what we do and pay something outrageous like 100% taxes on luxury autos.

Oh, and there's a new KFC (eewww). Of all the fast food, why KFC??

Of course, you know I can't not talk about the food. Sadly, our favorite place for BLT's (the best you ever had) has gone down hill. But our local street-vendor with yummy beef-noodle type salad is still there, as is the local Hao Sua restaurant training school.

We're going to put this school in our book. They take in and train homeless, poor and orphaned youth and give them room, board and restaurant & hotel training. Their restaurants are mid-range bordering on fancy and fantastically yummy. They serve Vietnamese-French fusion food. We went there for lunch today, and I had carrot-coconut soup, pork fillets with a fantastic mustard, honey & garlic sauce, and blackberry parfait. All for $6!!!
Another thing I love about Hanoi is the early morning. We wake up by at least 6am (yes, that's correct: 6am) and go to the lake nearby. The morning is fantastic for lots of reasons. First, it's cool, but mainly it's quiet. Nobody is trying to sell you stuff, and the streets are practically empty. All the locals are out exercising, and a popular place is Hoan Kiem lake near our hotel. This lake is the reason we stay in this neighborhood; it's a hub of activity. The lake is the size of a couple of football fields, with hundreds (maybe even a thousand) people exercising in the early morning.

Most of the people are walking (counter-clockwise, interestingly), but others do group aerobics (tai chi on speed) which looks a lot like a Vietnamese macarana. The photo below shows this -- but what you don't see is that there's about 200 people participating.
Other people bring their own weight benches and lift weights, while some people use the park benches to do sit-ups and such. There are groups doing fan dances, and playing soccer. Oh, and badminton -- I can't forget that. Badminton is so popular here that there are permanent markings on the sidewalks for people to play!

This morning, we saw some women doing an interesting exercise where you do a little dance and have to keep the ball on the little leather tennis racket; at one point, you throw the ball behind your back, but them have to catch it from the front. I was watching them while Tadashi was taking pictures of other people. When he came back, I was explaining it to him, and one of the women gave me the racket and had me do it -- and I was pretty darn good! They invited me back tomorrow morning.

Tadashi took a nice picture of the woman pushing me down -- apparently I wasn't bending my kneed enough.
You may wonder, "why so early?" -- that's because by 7am, everyone's packing up to go to work. So if you want to see it, you have to be early.

But Hoan Kiem lake is used all day. That's why I love it. There's always people hanging out.
It's what Lake Merritt wishes it was.

Great News About Our Project

2008-06-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

It's official: Tadashi has been approved for a sabbatical Spring 2009 semester to work on this project!!!

And I've been ok'd to take a semester off (without pay) to work on it with him! (Not easy to be non-tenured and given a semester off!)

Although we'll be beginning the project this summer as planned, we'll be in Southern Asia working on this project Jan - July 2009. Freaky, isn't it??

We will begin in Vietnam, in Sapa then Hoi An, before moving on to Siem Reap. Look for an update in the next week or so.

Our New Project

2008-04-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

You may be interested to know our plan for this summer. We're especially excited about this year's trip because we're beginning a book project!

We're going to begin working on a book about education in poor, rural, Southern Asia countries. This book will have narratives about teachers, students and parents that we will interview. It will also have background information on the country and area, as well as photos of our informants, the schools and the region.

To begin this project, we're going back to the places that first inspired this project: Northwest Vietnam, to Sa Pa, and Siem Riep, Cambodia (that's where Angkor is).

Our very dear friend, Gom, lives in Sa Pa, so we're going to start the project off by interviewing her and her family. We're also going back to a school in Siem Reap.

I'm in the process of finding a publisher for this book, but we'll see how that works.

I may not do the e-mail list this year, as I have a new blog. That way, I don't have to worry about clogging up your inbox. Anyone can leave comments, and I've set it so that you don't need to have an account or anything. You can check my blog here.

http://katrinakphotography.blogspot.com/

Also, Tadashi has a blog that's been maintaining. He updates it quite frequently with his most recent photos, so it's definitely worth a look as well. You can get there through his website, or go there directly from this link:

http://tadashiphotography.blogspot.com/

That's it for now. Best to all!