Reverse Heart of Darkness and Getting To Know Your Dinner

Hi Blogosphere,

Special thanks to Duncan "I should have been a Phuket Tour Guide" Russell because we had a fantastic time yesterday on our sea kayaking trip. Our day began with the slightly painful side of early (when you're on vacation, that is) with the 7:15am arrival of our pick-up/van. Actually this was yet again a big pick-up truck with long benches along the side of the bed and an open air roof...what passes in Thailand for group transportation.

45 min later we arrived at our port (basically a few shacks serving breakfast, a gravel parking lot, and a large concrete dock) and after a lovely cup of instant coffee with no cream (God, do I miss normal good ole drip coffee... here its all either Americano or instant) we got on a ferry that took us out to our vessel, the SS Paddle Asia (our creatively named tour company).

Tom, our guide, said we had another 20min to our first kayaking site. This is where the fireworks began. Imagine a sunny day out on pristine blue water, the landscape dotted with various small mountains/big hills that sprout out of the ocean at odd angles. The little islands are covered with various trees and plants despite the fact that, as far as I could tell, they had no dirt on them.

We spent the rest of the morning paddling around our first island, Sus and I in our vessel, "The Marriage Tester", Duncan in the "I can't remember what I named my boat ", and Russ in "Upright." Our team quickly got the hang of kayaking and Tom took us into the first of 2 lagoons we saw during the day. From a distance it looked just like a slit in the island's rocks... inside the water was calm and the vegetation even more lush. We made for a large Banyan tree with its branches/vines/tentacles hanging down close to the water (it reminded me of a daytime version of the kissing scene from "The Little Mermaid" -- note: this is definitely NOT JB writing here... no way... definitely not him). Tom instructed JB in the fine art of swinging from the banyan branches out into the lagoon. See action shot here:

And the mushroom cloud-like aftermath here:

At lunch we had a Thai picnic on one of the small beaches. Deee-lish.

The afternoon saw more island-hopping, kayaking, swimming near random little beaches created by the timing of the tides. The pictures do not do justice to the sights. It was an amazing experience that none of us will ever forget.

We made it back to the villa for a last second glimpse of yet another breathtaking sunset. After showers and cocktails we proceeded to what our driver Pau had told us was the best seafood restaurant in the area. The slightly scary drive down a long desolate dirt road told us we were either in for an off the beaten path treat or we were about to be killed. Lucky for us it was the former.

The restaurant was a large open air space on the water. The hostess walked us over to large tanks and said "you choose" and proceeded to start pulling out random creatures for us to look at. The large lobsters had amazingly long antennae and were colored an off white with dark spots. The shrimp (king prawn) were about the size of a large bratwurst (hmmmm... I miss bratwurst too). We settled on 3 fiesty groupers and Russ ordered some oysters. When we got to the table, the menu had all the various ways the fish could be prepared--fried, steamed, stir-fried--our choice! We went with two stir fry dishes, black bean and tamarind sauces. When the food came out Russ's oysters were huge, bigger than jawbreakers, and he had to cut them and eat them in separate pieces. Susanna's "stir fry" came out as a whole fish -- head still attached -- and she was sufficiently freaked out until the very nice waitress noticed her discomfort and proceeded to filet the fish for her. The food itself was exceedingly delicious and obviously as fresh as can be. We went to bed last night full and happy.

Adventures in Phuket Town and A Sunset To Die For

Blog-nation,

This morning our intrepid team headed into nearby Phuket Town (after some intense negotiations with our driver in his blinged out SUV). We were initially disappointed because we had hoped to hike up to the Buddha you see in the pictures below, but our driver told us we couldn't do that -- so we said just drop us off in town.

We wandered around, got some coffee, were generally feeling sorry for ourselves until some genius (J.B.) read in the Lonely Planet that there was nearby hill from which you could see all of Phuket Town and the nearby bay (that our villa is on). Encouraged, we headed off through Old Town Phuket, with its various pastel colored two story buildings wrapped in intricate molding. We started ascending up a hill, where the guidebook had ominously talked about "beware of the packs of snarling dogs" (although we saw zero dogs) -- the road was basically a series of ascending hairpin turns. Then to our left we saw a slightly overgrown concrete set of stairs going up into the woods. Susanna led us onward. Just when we though we had hit a dead end, we heard the sweet sounds of lite FM radio (Everly Brothers... they cannot get enough of cheezy light FM radio stuff here in Thailand... "It's NOT cheezy" protests Susanna) and further ahead we noticed a deck. We had found a restaurant at the top of the hill. We enjoyed beer and fruit smoothies and immediately made reservations there for dinner on Tuesday night. Here are some pics from the top:

We ventured back down into town and wandered around for a while until we finally took a taxi back to the villa, lounging by the pool for the rest of the afternoon with our beer, our books, and a very interesting family we have befriended (their story is somewhat unique but we're concerned about including it here because we're worried about potential repurcussions-- ask us about it when you see us -- or they might just be a normal rich travelling family in "finance" and we've just made the rest up-- who knows?).

Just to rub it in... here's the view from our bathroom:

And here's the view from our bedroom:

The sunset was again... BREATHTAKING.

This is how Susanna rolls at sunset:

And this is how the sunset rolls at sunset:

Myrtle Beach of Thailand and JB/Sus/Duncan/Russ Arrive in Paradise

To our loyal (and likely frustrated, dwindling) blog readership,

So sorry for the delay of details, but as I mentioned before R+R on Pattaya turned out to be a decent amount of work and the internet was REALLY expensive at the hotel. Excuses, excuses...

When last we left, the team had departed from Udon Thani, soaking wet from the Songkran festivities but content with our finishing a house (basically in 3 days!) and just a little bit melancholy as we were leaving the place that had been our home away from home and the amazing people who had made us feel so welcome and had taught us and worked along side us.

We arrived at the airport in Bangkok and quickly were met by our two drivers for the next three days, Deng and "Just call me Pepsi" Papsi. Between the two of them they spoke approximately 6 words of English including nodding and shaking their head no. It made for interesting communication regarding pick-up times and destinations. Thank you Lonely Planet (copyright) glossary (convieniently in English AND Thai) for getting us through.

After a quick two hour drive we found ourselves at the lovely resort (see link in post below) which actually did live up to the website billing. As for Pattaya itself -- well it's actually hard to describe -- think about a beach resort town except with a fairly large "adult playland" component (hence the Thai Myrtle comparison). It had a certain seediness to it, that while endearing at times, also makes us wonder how other, less worldly, Habitat GV teams would deal with being sent there for R+R.

The days in Pattaya were spent lounging at the resort pool, heading into town for drinks and food while trying to avoid getting soaked by ongoing Songkran festivities, and wonderful dinners at night. Our first night we scratched Miss Birdsong's itch with a Mexican feast. Then our second and last night we found an atmospheric and extremely tasty Thai restaurant called PIC Kitchen. We sat on cushions on the floor of a beautiful open air space enclosed by tall bamboo and silk curtains.

Although the floor-sitting did agree with some more than others...


As for the Pattaya nights... we are unable to print anything that went on in Pattaya after 10pm because people's children, co-workers, bosses, spouses, parents, etc might be reading. Let's just say that some of the team took to Pattaya like fish to water AND that whatever happens in Pattaya stays in Pattaya and leave it at that.

Friday at midday Deng and Pepsi drove us back to Bangkok to our hotel out by the airport. We arranged for one final blowout team dinner at a funky yummy restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms (http://www.pda.or.th/restaurant/). Many proclaimed it to be the "best" meal of them all and the fact that the proceeds go to family planning/safe sex education efforts in Thailand was the icing on the cake. We were seated in a large courtyard area surrounded by small ponds filled with giant killer catfish among large trees strewn with Christmas lights. It was a perfect end to the team's time together.


Last night the remaining team members said their farewells and everyone ventured off their separate ways. Hopefully some of the team that is still travelling will give us occasional updates on the blog to let us know how they're doing.

As far as JB, Susanna, Duncan and Russ are concerned...

PHUKET ROCKS

(views from our balcony)

(not kidding)

More to come from our "vacation from our vacation"

Love, JB and Sus

Brief Update from Pattaya

Hi All

Sorry we haven't updated recently. We've been enjoying the resort life in Pattaya for the last 2 days where the internet is very expensive!

We head back to Bangkok today where we will be staying at a hotel out by the airport (avoiding going into downtown Bangkok because of ongoing protests).

Then tomorrow morning everyone heads off on their own (JB, Sus, Duncan, and Russ to Phuket), while others will continue travel in Thailand and other countries and others will head home.

We will try to update with more pictures and details sometime in the next 24 hours.

Hope that everyone is well.

Farewell Dinner and SONGKRAN!!!

It was a joyous, emotional celebration last night here in Udon Thani as we had our official Farewell Dinner with the Habitat staff here as well as some members of the family who we helped build the house for.

Gracious hosts to the last drop, we had our own private airconditioned room at the restaurant along with a sound system (for karaoke round two as well as DJ'd music), a disco light system, and more delicious Thai food. The Singha beer as well as the Spy Original (a wine cooler type product that several of the ladies on our team have taken a liking to) were flowing early and often. Our hosts had prepared several slide shows of pictures taken of the team, which played in a loop on a big screen and several TVs around the room (the soundtrack was The Beatles "Ob-bla-di" and 4 Non Blondes "What's Going On" -- they played continuously for about 30 min).

Then we got to see two different traditional Thai dances, performed by Habitat staff in full costume. Next the Habitat staff had us sit in a large circle where all of the Thais in attendance tied small pieces of string around our wrist -- their way of giving us blessings for good luck. Finally all team members were individually recognized and given certificates for our work. We gave the Habitat staff a thank you card (written in Thai by Kristi, one of the team's artistically talented members) as well as a framed picture of the team.

Today we were lucky enough to sleep in a bit, and after breakfast together got started with SONGKRAN!! Thai New Year officially began today and runs through Thursday, and consists of paying homage to elders by gently sprinkling scented water on their hands juxtaposed with the racous water fights on every street in every city across the country. Today we took part only in the racous bit...after filling huge garbage cans with ice water, filling up our newly purchased super soakers and climbing into the backs of three pick up trucks, we made our way through the streets of Udon Thani like the Ferang (Thai for foreign) bandits we are. The Habitat staff accompanied us and I think the experience can best be summed up with a quote from Kristi after about three hours of driving around at 5 miles an hour and 'fighting' the locals: "I've never been so miserably cold and wet while laughing so hard in my life". The white powder you see everywhere in the pics below is baby powder...not sure when or why this part of the celebration began, but many revelers also carry huge bottles of powder around and rub it on the cheeks, chins, foreheads, etc. of strangers. Fun times today!!

We head out tomorrow for Pattaya...stay tuned for news from the beach!

For those interested here's where we are staying: http://www.pattayaresort.com/

(fancy!)

Final Building Day and Changes To Team Itinerary

Hola Senor Blog-heads

Lots to report on in a busy 24 hours.

Last night we gave our Habitat hosts the night off and made our way to "The Irish Clock," which is... yes you guessed it... an Irish style pub in the middle of Udon Thani. Many of us Farang (the Thai word for westerners) were craving some Farang-style eats after a very yummy but seemingly endless procession of Thai dishes with rice.

The Irish Clock was, sadly, out of Guiness beer, but given that it was Sunday several of us got to enjoy their Sunday Roast Pork with Potatoes and Yorkshire Pudding. Others devoured Fish and Chips, Cheeseburgers, and Steaks. Get in my belly!

Dinner was so good that the group called an audible for breakfast and had our Thai hosts take us back to the Irish Clock for breakfast (a proper English breakfast of eggs, baked beans, sausage and toast). We then made our way out to our house for one final time...

We had relatively little work left to do on the house (lay the cement for one last room) and we were finished before 11am. Then we started to experience the REAL Songkran festival. A massive water fight broke out. Kids poured out from the entire neighborhood... like 10 times the number that we had previously seen during our time building the house. And they delighted in nothing more than running up to you with a water pistol or bucket... hitting you with the water... then screaming and taking off as you chased them. You would think this would get old fast, but trust me it doesn't.

Then we had one final delicious worksite lunch before the dedication ceremony. The mother of the homeowner and some other local elders tied string around our wrists and gave us blessings which is a huge sign of respect (normally people would be giving blessings to elders, not vice versa).

Next we proceeded to the front of the house where we exchanged messages of thanks with the homeowners and presented them with a handmade card and a framed picture of the team after a hard day of work. Finally the homeowner with several team members cut a ribbon in front of the door at which point the house offically became theirs!

NOTE ABOUT OUR ITINERARY:

After much thought, research and team discussion we have made the decision NOT to return to downtown Bangkok as originally planned. While in the past 24 hours the situation in Bangkok has quieted some (thankfully there has been no further violence) we are not sure what the coming days will hold. With this uncertainty we have decided to fly back to Bangkok on Wednesday but then proceed directly from the airport to Pattaya, a beach resort town about 2 hours east of the city. We will hang out here for Wednesday and Thursday and then head back to Bangkok on Friday afternoon where we will stay in a hotel out by the airport (and avoid heading into the downtown areas where protests have been occurring). Then Saturday everyone will fly to their respective destinations.

Sunday Church and Note About Bangkok Protests

Yo to the GV10344 Blog Nation,

We had a great time this morning at church with the Habitat Thailand manager Tasani as well as several of the Habitat Staff. They belong to a beautiful Catholic church here in Udon Thani. At the end of the service we were even recognized by the congregation and asked to stand up for applause.

Afterwards there were some activities related to Songkran, the Thai New Year which officially goes from Tuesday April 13 to the 15th. Songkran's serious rituals involve washing elders with perfumed water. We did this by sprinkling water over the hands of the church's priests while they blessed us. Then we got involved in the less serious ritual of Songkran, which is basically to have a huge water fight (and also to get hit with some sort of powder, today it was baby powder but we hear that flour is also popular). See pictures below of all of the above...

Some of the team is on their way to the ancient ruins of Ban Chiang. We'll post you a report from them when they return.

REGARDING BANGKOK PROTESTS: As many of you at home might have already heard, there has been some escalation of protests in the city of Bangkok. The protests have to do with internal politics as the protesting group (called "Red Shirts") are demanding the country have elections (the currently leader was not elected) that they hope will put the former prime minister back in power. In the past 24 hours clashes between protesters and the government have unfortunately become violent...

First of all, there are NO protests or any violence in Udon Thani where we currently are (in fact there are no protests/violence in any other part of the country except for Bangkok). Everyone here continues to be amazingly friendly and kind -- they are all excited about the Songkran New Year. We are in NO danger.

Our current itinerary had us returning to Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon and staying 3 nights until Saturday morning. We are monitoring the situation closely. We will not take the team into the city if we feel that there is any risk of harm or if we feel that the city will be in such a state of gridlock/lockdown that it will not be worth our time to visit. We are researching potential alternative plans in the event that the situation in Bangkok does not cool down. We will keep you all informed of our plans here on the blog as well as by email...

Karaoke B-Day Bash and Building Day 5 (We're Floored)

Greeting UT-GV Fan Club AKA "Udon-heads"

Last night we celebrated one of our teammates, Erica from Carrboro NC, 25th birthday. For such a momentous occasion our Thai hosts pulled out all the stops. After turning off the highway onto a dirt side road that was momentarily scary, we arrived at a great Thai restaurant with our own AIR CONDITIONED private dining room... that was... wait for it... also equipped with a Thai Karaoke Computer (I think it was a Commodore 64 model).

Highlights of the meal included the chicken and cashews in addition to whole fried fish. But the real fireworks started during the meal as we serenaded each other with several Western and Thai-language classics. The Beatles appeared early and often in the set with such sing-a-longs as "Hey Jude" and "Oh-bla-di". JB treated the crowd to a stirring version of the Chairman's "My Way." A girly dance party broke out during Madonna's "Like a Prayer." Duncan describes the rollicking "Bohemian Rhapsody" as "OTT" (over-the-top) and "transcontinental." And the finale of Abba's "Dancing Queen" followed by the encore of the Eagle's "Hotel California" absolutely brought the house down. Erica proclaimed that this was her best. birthday. ever.

Today was our last complete day of building here in Udon Thani. We returned to our main house. The one that we had been working on most of the past week. Our task for today was to work on the floor. See Pat and Steph here (yes they finally did make it here after being trapped in Beijing for 3 days!) doing a great job on the bamboo:

Some of us cleaned out the house while others cut the large pieces of bamboo that we would later criss-cross to make the foundation of the floor. We spent the rest of the day mixing concrete by hand and then pouring it over the pieces of bamboo. We completed the floor for about 3/4 of the house! On Monday we will finish and do the home dedication, while tomorrow we will attend church with the Thai Habitat staff and then visit ancient ruins. Tune in soon for the report on that.

Sarnelli House, Friendship Bridge, and Building Day 4 (Get By With A Little Help From My Friends)

Hello GV Blogiacs,

It has been a busy 2 days for the team. Yesterday was our first day off from building after finishing the walls on our primary house. We had an amazing day. First we visited an orphanage for kids with HIV/AIDS run by Catholic missionaries. You can go here for more information about the orphanage: http://www.sarnelliorphanage.org/

We arrived at the orphanage and introduced ourselves to the kids. The team brought several presents including coloring books, balls, cookies and ice cream. The children took a liking to us immediately. They were warm and full of love and laughter. Each one of the team members was "selected" by a varying number of the kids and for the rest of the morning they held your hand or rode around on your back. See here a picture of kids usual selection process as a young boy sizes up Russ to decide whether or not to be his friend...


We then played a modified version of Duck-duck-goose that involved singing a song in Thai that none of us new the words to... but we were all excellent at the clapping part. Here one of the staff at the orhpanage chases one of the kids...

We will always treasure our morning spent at the orphanage. The kids were amazing in spite of their circumstances and it was reassuring to know that they were being taken care of from both a medical perspective as well an educational/nurturing one.

We then proceeded to the Friendship Bridge which was an economic development gift to the people of Laos and Thailand from Australia. It was the first bridge to connect the two countries, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai%E2%80%93Lao_Friendship_Bridge

The team had lunch at a great local restaurant along the banks of the Mekong River.

We then proceeded to a monument park. I really don't know how to describe it. But here goes: Ginormous mostly buddhist-themed creations in a garden atmosphere.

We finished the day walking halfway across the Friendship Bridge. Here is the view...

Then today (Friday) we visited a second worksite. This was a house that was being built by a family but then they ran out of money. They approached Habitat for help finishing the house and were accepted. We poured the concrete floor today. Some got their hands dirty with the tough jobs...

Others took on more of a supervisory role...

But in the end it was a job well done and another successful day of work...

Thai "Barbeque" and Building Day 3 (Another Brick in the Wall)

Hello to all blog-readers (now numbering at least 9)

We had a momentous day today, but before we talk about that a few words about last night.

After blogging in the sweltering hotel lobby while fighting off mosquitoes and other various flying critters and drinking healthy amounts of Singha beer (the national lager... very tasty), which is quickly becoming a nightly ritual, and after other team members went internet-ing and got thai massages and did various other R+R type things, the team went for another night of Thai barbeque.

Thai Barbeque deserves a few more words, not only because we have had it the past two nights, and not only because last night was the superior Thai BBQ establishment, but because it is such an interesting concept and use of the "barbeque." As we alluded to in our last post you have to cook your own food. What we learned last night was that different T-BBq spots have different cooking methods. Our first night the place was more fondue - with you boiling your meat in small pots of water (with spices/flavoring in it) over small gas flames. Last night, 12 year old Thai boys brought large buckets of white hot coals (yes this was as scary as it sounds) over to the table and dropped them in holes in the middle. They then covered them with what looked like an upside down bundt cake pan and you used the middle to fry/saute your meat or fish (after putting a large piece of lard on the cooking surface) and then the well around it to boil your vegetables. See the pictures below for more details. Oh and also there was live music with a guitar player rocking out along with pre-programmed background music.

As for today it was another day of progress at the GV worksite. The morning saw a special crack squad of elite dirt-movers, nicknamed "The Sh*t-kickers", aka David, Duncan, Peter, and JB, dug and constructed the septic tank in record time. Again see pictures below. They may or may not have been given this job because they were unqualified for more sophisticated tasks...

The bigger news of the day is... wait for it... our team completed construction of all walls of the house!!!!! (gratuitous exclamation points)

!!!!!!! (a few more for effect)

What an awesome accomplishment. Spurred on by the now legendary DJ Becs ipod mix the team the bricks flew up faster than a 2009-2010 Carolina basketball game. As the Rolling Stones blared, the team slammed the last bricks from their places on top of the quickly constructed scaffolding (I'm sure it was totally secure...).

The team will celebrate tonight with a dinner of pizza (which we may or may not have to cook ourselves at our tables) followed by bowling and a movie (Clash of the Titans). Tomorrow we will be visiting an orphanage for children with HIV and then heading to see the Friendship Bridge over the Meakong River at the Thailand/Laos border.

Steph/Pat update: Our missing team members have finally made it in the country and are now in Bangkok. They will be joining us tomorrow afternoon. We can't wait to finally meet them!