Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Sorry for the absence! I'm re-settled into life in Phnom Penh. I'm continuing to live at the same apartment but am now designing a new, larger apartment that is being built on the floor above me. It will be big enough for mee to accommodate guests, so be sure and plan to visit me here!

My friend Glenn and I had a really nice 3 1/2 days when he visited from Oct. 18-21. We didn't do anything extraordinary, but he felt like he got a good taste of what Cambodia and Cambodian's are like and loved it. We took a 1 1/2 hour ride in a tuktuk, an open air carriage towed by a motorcycle, to the zoo. It's slow and gives you time to see things and take photographs. He visited NFC a couple of times and was impressed with the kids, the staff and how little it took to allow them to be happy. I was able to rent the apartment next to me for him for the 3 days and that was very convenient.

I flew to Bangkok on Oct. 31st to celebrate Korn's 32nd birthday on November 1st. He took two days off from work and we got to spend some relaxing time together. We went to the movies, went to a local zoo, ate out at some nice restaurants, rented DVD's and watched the rehearsal for the Royal Barge Ceremony on Chao Phraya river that flows through Bangkok.

I'm finally back to teaching again and am enjoying it. I teach 5 students in two 1 1/2 hour classes four days a week. They are the most advanced students in English and computer skills.

(Geek commentary) It took me a couple of weeks to clean viruses from computers at NFC and then another few weeks to finish the administrative parts of installing a Linux based SME Server for all the computers there.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia



I arrived in Bangkok on September 3rd and had appointments with opthalmologists on the Sept. 4 & 5. Their recommendation was to not have a lens replacement done. They said the cataract was very minor and that power of the replacement lenses for people that have had RK are very difficult to predict. They said my vision could be worse after the operation than before. I think if I want that kind of operation done I will need to have it done in Atlanta where all the other surgery has been performed.



I spent some time with my Thai friend, Korn, and then headed back to Phnom Penh on September 9th. It's taking me a while to adjust to being back here.

Atlanta, Georgia USA - Short trip back to tie up loose ends...

Since I last blogged I have been appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of New Future for Children (NFC), had arthroscopic surgery on my knee in Bangkok and returned to the USA for a short period of time. Here in the USA I am starting a non-profit organization to help fund NFC, earning some money doing contract work for my former employer, helping to create a web site for NFC and making final decisions about what to do with the possessions that I still have in the USA. I believe this will be my last major trip to the USA for quite some time. I will be returning to Cambodia in September. I plan to be in Cambodia for at least 2-years. After that I will be living in SE Asia for the rest of my life, though I an not sure which country.

The family that I rent an apartment from in Phnom Penh gave me a ride to the airport in their brother's car on July 16th. That was a nice send off! I headed to Bangkok to have my knee examined and see about surgery before my return to the USA.

On Monday in Bangkok I went to Bumrungrad Hospital and had an MRI which confirmed the diagnosis I had previously been given of a torn meniscus in my right knee. Surgery was scheduled for Wednesday. My friend Korn accompanied me to the hospital and stayed the night after I had the surgery on a couch in my hospital room. The surgery went well, I was walking and released from the hospital the next day.

The following Sunday, July 22nd I took a flight to the USA via Seoul, Korea. The flights were pleasant, I got to catch up by watching current movies on the individual screens that were supplied even in coach class!

I moved into a downstairs room/apartment that I'm renting from a friend in the Morningside section of downtown Atlanta. My friend Tony helped me move my stuff from storage at another friends house to here and I am starting the process of deciding what to do with it all.

My vision has gotten significantly worse, so I had an eye exam and was told that I have a cataract in the left eye. They recommended surgery to remove it and replacing the lens with an artificial lens implant. They also recommended lens replacement for the right eye. It is quite expensive in the USA. I am planning on having it done in Thailand on my way back to Cambodia.

I have started working on creating a non-profit organization to help fund New Future for Children. I plan to call it the "New Future for Children Foundation USA". I am hoping that others in the U.K., Australia and Canada might start similar organizations. People at the church I am a member of, U.C.C. Church of the Savior, have been great in volunteering to be the volunteer staff of the new organization.

To be honest, it is at the same time both familiar and strange to be back here in the USA. I am happy to meet with friends, but am no longer really connected with their lives. Even amid the chaos of these countries I am much happier to be in Cambodia or Thailand. I miss the children and staff at NFC and my life there.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I know, I know, long time no blog! It is hard to describe how crazy and fast paced things have been for me here. Sounds inconguous for a place like Cambodia, but that's life here for me. The generator and UPS system works great! Since installed, we haven't had near as many outages for some reason, but it makes it possible to concentrate on teaching classes, which is what it's there for.

My friend Korn came for a 3-day visit and that was a pleasant break, even though I still had a couple of meetings I had to go the first day he was here. We had lots of good Thai food at restaurants here in Phnom Penh. The last day we worked on his 2nd visa application.

My knee has been bothering me a lot. I've had problems with it before, but this is the worst I can remember. I may have to have it checked out in Thailand.

I'm trying to get used to the craziness in traffic I encounter while riding the motorbike I've been renting since July 9th, but it's still a challenge. Cars and motorbike drive in every direction imaginable and some that aren't. I'm trying to think like a Cambodian and not worry too much, but accidents happen all the time. Rotaries are a nightmare. Motorcycles are the pickup trucks of Cambodia and people carry everything on them; Steel pipe, queen size mattresses, lumber, large propane tanks strapped down with strips of worn out bicycle inner tube, up to six people, rattan furniture and anything else you can or cannot imagine. The loads on the motorbikes are major hazards in themselves. The good thing about the motorbike is the fillup charge is only $2 (it only takes about 2-liters of gas!)

The kids are great! I had worked with them to get 5-computers running for the computer lab, but yesterday they figured out how to get 2 more computers working that I given up on. They're learning to install operating systems, applications and helping me teach the class. One of my assistants, Somoun, handles switching to the generator when the power goes out and knows more about it now than I do.

There have been a lot of serious issues surrounding funding and control of the orphanage. I am hoping they all work out, but things are quite tense in these areas right now. The director and staff are great, it's when you get beyond them where the issues develop. Please keep me in your prayers during this time.

I'm still very glad to be here. Life is rich and real. People are human here. Very few lawyers...

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I have rented an apartment for $150/month which includes A/C, Hot water, satellite TV, bed, computer desk and they do laundry for about $0.50 for two pounds! It's in the city, but the view out my very large front windows is of palm trees in the yard of the house across the street. I am very happy with it.

I also rented a motorbike for $60/month. It will save on transportation costs and give me a lot more mobility and hopefully safety. You never know what the driver will be like when you hire a motorcycle taxi (motortaxi).

Bangkok, Thailand

I'm in Bangkok to visit a Thai friend of mine, Korn, to relax and contact friends in the USA using voice the Internet and to renew my visa.

My first month in Cambodia has been both wonderful and very challenging. With the help of several of the children, I've been able to get the computer lab in place and with their help have taught the first computer skills lesson to 50 of the kids. This is in spite of 4-power outages, flooding of the lab and having to round up kids for each class since no one really knew their schedules and conflicts.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - a Day in the Life...

I really haven't settled down to a routine yet. I don't know if I ever will in this crazy country. In the morning I went over the NFC and spent some time with the kids working on the computers.

Later in the day Omry, a part time volunteer at NFC who is leaving Cambodia after living here for three years, had a going away party at his place. It was a fun event with good food, music and an ecclectic group of guests.

Sunday I was at NFC in the morning working on my computer lessons for the next week. The other volunteers, the director and I had a meeting with a couple of members of the NFC board of directors at noon, we had a short meeting of volunteers after that meeting to talk about coordinating our efforts in teaching. I spent the rest of the day working on computer stuff, teaching some of the kids one-on-one and practicing shooting hoops (basketball).

Monday I arrived at NFC and taught the first computer class for the week until the power went out. I then spendf the remaining class time showing and explaining the components of a computer to the kids. I had to skip the second class since the power was still out. I shot some more hoops. I definitely can use the practice!

A little later on a group of Cambodian student volunteers arrived. They are planning on helping out teaching the younger kids subjects that would be hard for them to understand from foreigners, such as science, mathematics and the like.

Then Gabe, a NFC volunteer from New Hampshire arrived with his friend Michael. Michael had been very successful raising funds in the USA for an medical organization he is working with in Cambodia. He toured the place with Gabe and I showed him the computer lab and asked himn questions about fund raising.

A short while later the heavans opened up and it rained cats and dogs! The concrete recreation/eating area became a large pond with about 6-7 inches of water. The younger kids go nuts playing in the water and having a good time. A few of the older kids and I moved all the computers onto the desks, as the room was in danger of being flooded. When it rains that hard everything is affected and there's not a lot you can do but wait it out.

We had lunch sitting in plastic chairs in 7"of water. I was not able to teach a computer class until 3:00 p.m. After class I made a trip to get a hammer, nails and a 8-foot by 4-foot board to act as a screen for projecting computer screens, images and videos on a large scale using the DLP projector I donated. We took a motorbike to do the shopping. I ended up carrying the 8' x 4' panel while riding on the back of the motorbike. Amazingly we made it back to NFC intact.

Sovanlay took to nailing and painting the panel while I worked with some of the kids on disassembling one staffs laptop PCs that had sustained water damage and was no longer working. Without a manual we managed to successfully disassemble the laptop and we think we discovered that the power switch had gone bad. I had a multimeter that I bought for $3.50 to check it out. We'll see if we're able to put it back together again, but not a big loss. It was very old and underpowered and undersized. If we couldn't get it working for next to nothing it wouldn't be worth investing in trying to fix it.

The kids helped me get a motorcycle taxi back to my place by the lakeside and here I am at the Internet cafe writing up a day in the life...

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I made it through my first week of teaching computer skills to the kids. The kids are great! Power outages, schedule conflicts and still working on getting all the kinks worked out of the PCs has been challenging. We now have five networked PCs. Four are for the students, the other for the teacher (me). I have the DLP computer projector set up to display what is on the teacher's screen and it works well. I've come to find that it would really help to have another person to help teach computer skills. At present, I am the only one and with the current student load each student gets only one hour of class a week. They would like more class time per week, which I totally understand, but I need an additional person to make that possible. A few of the kids have been great in helping me get the computer fixed and set up.

I've been negligent in blogging for two reasons. One is that I got an intestinal thing that most newcomers who eat the local food get after a couple of weeks here. That slowed me down quite a bit. The other is that I have been spending time fulfilling dual roles. I'm was working to get the computer lab and building ready and also helping the director with a number of projects he needed my help on.

Backtracking a bit, I met a guy, Andrew, on the 4-hour bus ride back from the beach. After talking to him about what I was doing he asked if he could come by the ophanage with me the following day. It worked out great! He brought his guitar and played while some of the kids sang songs they had written. He ended up giving his guitar to one of the kids. The kid was thrilled, and later, when I was speaking to a volunteer who gives the kid guitar lessons, he said the kid was very talented and having a decent guitar would really help him.

I visited an organization called "New Hope for Cambodia Children" that deals with the needs of children who have AIDs. They have a home for the children in Phnom Penh called the "Happy House", a clinic/hospital for treating children with AIDs, both inpatient and outpatient, and a new village that is being built in another province for the children to live in. Visiting the hospital was difficult. One girl of 16 looked about 10-years old. She had been unfortunate enough to have caught AIDs from open sores while caring for her AIDs infected sister. She also had severe malnutrition and was lactose intolerant. Most of the other children were in much better condition and were coming in on an outpatient basis.

I visited the new village and it was wonderful. The kids seemed very happy and they had a caring staff. The buildings were well designed and pleasant. At the moment I was there, it would be hard to tell that these kids had AIDs. By the way, Bill Clinton's charity organization provided free AIDs medication for the children and there were several photos of him with the kids and staff when he visited them in Cambodia last year. It's nice to see that some of the money gets to where it should be going to!

By the way, it is hard to explain how crazy some things are here. The driving is like they gave 5-year olds licenses but these 5-year olds have the reflexes and coordination of an adult. You see, sometimes from the back seat of a motorbike, motorbike taxis drive on absolutely any part of the street or sidewalk in any direction. Cambodia is a "right hand side" of the road driving country, but it is more the rule than the exception to drive on the left hand side of the road after making a left hand turn until you have a chance to wander over to the right hand side of the road. I bought a helmet the second day I was here as a rider.

I got over my illness adjusting to the food and hope I am good for a while. I am eating two interesting meals a day at the orphanage. Rice is the basis of EVERY meal. In fact when they ask me to join them eating they say, "Eat rice with us?" as a general way of saying "eat lunch with us?". Today I watched the small children beating small fish to death that we later ate for lunch (the fish that is!). Hard to get the tiny bones out of them. We had some curry with bits of chicken chopped with a meat cleaver so the bones are rather fractured and dangerous. I've gotten quite used to the food and have lost most of my squeamishness. I had eel the other day. Not bad, but lots of bones...

I'm going to a going away party for Omry and his girlfriend Aereilla, tomorrow. They have been part time volunteers at NFC for over a year and they have done a lot for NFC. Sunday I have NFC related events in the morning and early afternoon.

I am very happy to be here doing what I am doing in spite of a lot of inconveniences. The kids make it all worthwhile.

Sihanoukville , Cambodia - by the ocean

Since NFC observes the King's birthday clebration school closures on Monday and Tuesday, I've taken the opportunity to visit the coast of Cambodia. It was a four hour bus ride here for $4. We stopped once on the way for lunch. There was a helpful France person who knew Cambodian (he lives here) who helped me order at the small, local roadside cafeteria we stopped at. The food was good, a ginger/chicken dish, green peppers and beef and rice. It came to $1.25. I've booked a room with a TV and a fan for $4.

The beach is quite nice, but also quite crowded. I think it is busier than normal with the people being off for the celebration. The water temperature is perfect. There are simple restaurants lining the beach. I a good swim in the afternoon. Later in the evening I had the fish barbeque featuring barricuda, a small salad and rice. I ended up sharing it, and another order I bought, with three local kids who were selling bracelets and keychains. They were amazingly bright, spoke English well and one could even sing the lyrics to an American song quite well.

I haven't decided whether to head back tomorrow or Wednesday.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I did a shopping trip in downtown Phnom Penh today. I spoiled myself and took a tuk-tuk instead of a motorcycle taxi. It was $3 instead of $2 and found it offered a more relaxed view of the city, I wasn't worried about crashing every second of the trip.

I did some bargaining while shopping but I realize I'm not the shrewdest bargainer in the world, nor do I want to be. If they get a little extra from me, I'm not going to sweat it, but I do try. I picked up some "Ray Ban" sunglasses and a case for $12, they started at $18. I checked on battery chargers and found a small one that would be good for traveling but the girl wanted $12 for the off-brand charger alone. I found another place that sold a Sony brand charger for $10 and included 4-NiMH batteries with it. I bought a second Sony charger to use at the orphanage for $7, they just took the batteries, which I didn't need, out of the package. I bought a new motorcycle helmet for $19 (they have them for as little as $10). I also bought a rain jacket with a hood for $7. It's been raining a lot around here.

Later in the afternoon I went over to NFC and I am glad I did. The office staff isn't there on weekends (the regular staff is) and with the King's Birthday celebration they probably won't be there until Thursday. The computer area, next to the office, was like a disaster zone, papers and wrappers and food and VCD's strewn all over the place. One of the brand new mice had been broken. I decided if I wanted any computers to be useable at the end of the week I needed to lock the mice and keyboards in the office, which I did. Not being a total scrooge, I did stay around until evening and set up the DLP projector and speakers and showed a movie to the kids, "Princess Bride". Earlier in the afternoon I helped one of the children come back up to speed with Photoshop.

I bought a ticket to go to the coast tomorrow by bus. It's a four hour ride that costs $4. I still haven't decided for sure if I'm going to go. My backpack is locked up in the NFC office so I'll either have to buy one or use my heavy piece of luggage, which I really do not want to do.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I went over the NFC on this Saturday. About 15-kids are huddled around the 4-computers. I have password protected the one I use for teaching, but somehow they always manage to get in. I showed them some features of Photoshop and worked on a presentation for funding for NFC.

I spent some time with the kids of all different ages and played a catch ball game with some of the staff and kids. I had lunch and dinner there, as I have for the last several days. We ate some of the fish that the older kids caught last night. They caught the fish at the new orphanage location that they stay at during the evening.

I did the technology thing tonight with the DLP projector and 3-speakers (that I bought in Bangkok). It worked out well. I think about 60-70 kids were watching the movie. Of course if anyone touched any of the open metal on the projector they'd get a shock. Things are not well grounded around here.

I brought over a number of DVDs for kids, like Happy Feet, Finding Nemo, the Incredibles and Lion King and they had already seen them all. The spread of technology and DVDs is amazing! I ending up showing an animated movie called "Titan A.E.". They seemed to enjoy it.

The King of Cambodia's Birthday celebration is Monday through Wednesday and schools are closed. The volunteer programs generally do not run during this time. I may take a trip to the coast of Cambodia during this time.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - end of first week

In the morning I lent my camera to one of the kids to take photos of "normal", everyday life at NFC. He did a great job! He took over 190 photos and many of they turned out very well. We transferred them over to one of NFC's PCs. The kids and I picked some out and inserted them into a Powerpoint presentation for NFC.

Today was one of the volunteers birthdays and he had kicked in some money for special food during lunch, so we had duck, fish and clams as well as rice, the stable food with every meal. Lunch was quite good!

I took a ride with the director out to the new area for NFC where 24 of the 80 children stay during the evening. It has become typical that nothing works out normally. The motorcycle we were riding quit three or four times during the ride and we were skirting thunderbolts near the end of the journey. We made it under cover just as the sky opened up and dumped a load of rain. The facility looked pretty nice. They're still finishing construction. It's supposed to be finished in July. I took photos as best I could in the pouring rain.

I stayed later in the evening both to finish up some work and because it was pouring rain. One of the kids takes it as his responsibility to make sure I eat with them. I really appreciate that! This evening dinner was interesting as the yard and area where we ate was covered with about 4" of water from the rain. The chairs are plastic, so I guess they've been through this a number of times before. The kids didn't seem to mind very much.

Later on I saw one of the kids with a flourescent light tube using it as a "light sabre". I guess I should have taken it as my responsibility to confiscate it from him, if for nothing else than my own safety. Sure enough, about 5-minutes later he hit something solid and it broke into a millions pieces. Some of the shards landed next to my feet. They quickly cleaned it up before anyone stepped on the pieces. Boys will be boys and I'll know better next time.

I'm still getting used to the fact that I can't just leave anything I working with around. There are kids at NFC from 2 and up and they just like to play with things, like CDs and memory sticks. I'm not worried about them taking anything other than to play with it.

The kids of all ages love the computers. It amazes me how much the younger ones know and how fast the older ones learn. I have one PC for me, the teacher, and I think kids 6-8 have watched my fingers and figured out the password.

At about 6:30 I sloshed out to the street through water as deep as 6" to take a motorcycle taxi back to where I'm staying. It costs a dollar for the 15-minute ride back there.

When I got back I went to a restaurant showing Spiderman III. I was lucky, the power only went out once while they were showing the DVD. Gee, it's amazing how fast things come out on DVD nowadays!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I feel like I was pushing the edge today, I had four separate motorcycle journeys. Usually two is more than enough. It's really hard to express how insane these rides are. Every traffic rule you'd know in the USA is merely a suggestion in Cambodia. If you going a short distance, or you plan at some time to cross to the correct side of the road, it is perfectly normal to ride into opposing traffic while waiting for your moment to cross. The "safe" distance between vehicles while driving, whether front or side, is measured in inches, not feet. I've gotten really up close and personal to too many bigs trucks for me to remember, and I've only been here 5-days!

In the morning I went shopping with the NFC driver for computer keyboards and mice. I bought 3-keyboards, three optical mice and 4-mousepads for less than $40. The keyboards have both Khmer and English characters.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - So much going on!

So far I love it here! My motorcycle taxi always offers some excitement both in the ride getting there as well as whether the driver actually knows where NFC is. We eventually find it... The kids are great as usual. I asked them to move a CD ROM from one PC to another and they figured it all out on there own. They are all over the computers, writing stuff and making pictures and I haven't even started teaching yet. I played basketball with them yesterday during a break. I've been eating what they eat, which is mostly rice and soups with vegetables and a little bit of chicken or fish. Today was special, we had barbequed pork for dinner (with rice, of course) and it was really delicious! Not that you have whole heaps of it or anything.

(For geeks...) I think I have most of the computer stuff done. I have four PCs working most of the time. They are networked and I have set up a student folder for each child on the teacher's PC and gotten the user ID permissions worked out. I plan to use Powerpoint to create the lesson plans as I go along. Some of the kids have three months of computer training and I'm hoping that they can help out some too. They seem to be very bright! I'm hoping one or two of them can continue on teaching basic computing skills while I am in the USA.

The embassador from the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok visited the orphanage today and asked what we needed. I got to personally deliver a small list to him at the 59th aniversary of Israels independance at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh. The children performed traditional Khmer dancing at the anniversary. They had an excellent performance! I was backstage with them before the performance and they were having so much fun. The girls were doing the makeup on the guys, eyeliner, rouge and styling there hair different ways as well as doing their own makeup. They have fun, but are also very well behaved. They never seem to get really out of hand.

I took pictures and video of their performance and then started taking pictures of the kids. That may have been a slight mistake. I really can't count how many photos they asked me to take shortly after I started. It was all fun, though.

I also went to the bank with the director to see what options there are for getting funds from foreign countries, like Canada, the USA and Australia, to an NFC account in Cambodia for people that want to donate money either once or on an ongoing basis.

I'm thinking about buying a motorcycle helmet as a rider. It's hard to explain how insane the driving is here. The only saving grace is that generally nobody's going very fast. But they pay little attention to traffic lanes, including doing things like turning around to the opposing direction to traffic on a physically divided road if they miss a turn. To make a left turn you wait to amass enough vehicles to intimidate the straight ahead traffic and block them off when the slightest amount of space appears. In a 1-miles drive you play traffic "chicken" about 10-15 times!

So far the people have been great. The more I get to know the director of NFC the more I get to like him and the others on the staff, and of course, the kids.

I have a Cambodian cell phone number now, I just have to prepay for some air time. When I do that I'll send my number.

Last night I met a Malaysia guy who lived in Canada for 12-years and spoke perfect English. He is now working as a freelance photographer and doing programming on the side (his former profession) to help make ends meet as he develops his new career. It was fascinating talking to him. He said when he returned to Malaysia after ten years, he could hardly beleive. Many of the middle class parents had SUVs and drove there children to school because it was considered "lower class" to take the bus. The parents would also drive to school during recess and have their child sit with them in the A/C'd SUV so they didn't have suffer outside at recess with the heat. Eek! That's worse than the USA!

Well, back to my room before another day of Cambodian chaos!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - First day at New Future for Children (NFC) Orphanage

I had my first day at the orphanage today. It was good. The kids are great and I think the director of the orphanage is very good. I pleased that I recognized several of the kids from my visit 10-months earlier and they recognized me.

I will be teaching 4-classes a day with 3-kids in each class. I will also be helping out the staff with varous administrative tasks and playing with the kids in my free time. The work day is from 8:30 to 5:00 p.m.

Tomorrow I will be inspecting the computer equipment that has been donated to them and evaluating what can be used. I hope to be able to set up a simple network tomorrow as well.

It was pretty warm this morning but we had a huge thundershower in the afternoon that cooled things down. The kids played in a 3" deep "lake" generated by the downpours, as kids a prone to do!

The children are very well-behaved. They really take care of each other, the older ones taking care of the younger ones. They seem to have a lot of fun too.

I have found a good place to stay with A/C, a private bath and a hot shower for $9/night. It is about 20-minutes from the orphanage in the backpacker/Beong Kok Lake district. I can take a motorcycle taxi to and from the orphanage for about a $1 each way. Food is about $6-7 per day. Not too expensive to be here.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

At check-in in Bangkok for Air Asia the ticket agent was kind and charged me only $90 instead of the $150 I had expected for excess weight for my luggage. On the flight I sat next to a British man who has lived in Thailand for over 10-years and learned a lot of about living there as a foreigner. It was a good flight. Coming into Phnom Penh from the air it looks more like a large town than the capital of a country. I obtained a visa on arrival and was pleased that all my luggage made it intact.

The traffic is as crazy as I remembered. A motorcycle driver confided to me that it scared him driving here, so many accidents. I accepted the help of an employee of the Green Lake Inn to roll my luggage to their place and decided to stay there for the night. It was expensive by lake front standards, $10/night. But is was one of the few rooms that had good sunlight with two windows and was clean and kept up. Many of the cheaper rooms were like caves, almost no outside light coming in and not very well kept.

I wasn't able to really get hold of the director of the orphanage until in the evening, so I decided to wait until today to make the trip over. It turned out well anyway. I saw a group of people having a traditional meal on the floor of one of the nearby houses, one whole side of the room was completely open to the street, and I asked if I could take a picture. They immediately said "yes" and invited me to join them. They were very friendly and constantly encouraged me to follow their custom and chug the glass of beer they gave me when it was down to half full. I obliged a few times, but couldn't keep up with them by any means! I also tried a lot of the food, which was very good. There were curries, beef with spicy sauces, pickled vegetables, cashews, noodles and various other vegetables.

I am excited about heading over to the orphanage in a little while. Wish me luck!

Bangkok, Thailand - Set to leave for Cambodia

I leave tomorrow morning for Cambodia. I have a lot of excess baggage and am hoping to plea for mercy and have some of the fees waived, otherwise I will be paying about $150 in excess baggage charges, more than my plane ticket! A lot of the extra weight is from things for the orphanage and from the weight of the luggage itself. Note that I had no excess luggage charges in the flights from the USA to Bangkok. The short haul/low cost carriers are a lot stricter on luggage.

I'm looking forward to meeting with the director of the orphanage, Sovanlay, in person. We have been conversing via email and we had one phone call over a very bad connection. It'll be nice to talk face to face. I also really looking forward to seeing the kids again! It's been about 10-months since my last visit.

I expect that my Internet access will be less frequent and, on my end, much slower. If you don't hear from me as often, that is very likely why. Your very important to me and I love hearing from you, so please do keep in touch and I will email back as soon as I can!

Most of my time in Bangkok has been spent helping Korn with the visa process, preparing for Cambodia and communicating with friends back in the USA. There's been a lot of rain here! The food has been great. I can find something to eat anytime of the day or night. Most of the time I eat food from street vendors, omelette on rice, pad thai, barbequed chicken, corn cut freshly off the cob, mango with sticky rice and freshly squeezed tangerine juice to drink. It'll be interesting to see what it's like in Cambodia.

Bangkok, Thailand

I had a good 15-hour flight from Atlanta direct to Seoul. I watched 4-movies, 1 short travelogue and had lots of meals. The plane was a 747 and I had two empty seats beside me. After another 5-hour flight I arrived in Bangkok at 1:00 a.m. Thankfully, all my luggage (4-bags) arrived with me. I stayed at a hotel on Khao San road, the backpacker ("budget traveler) section, which was hopping as always. A hot shower felt very good. Afterwards I was still able to buy fresh tangerine juice on the street at 2:30 a.m. The 24-hour Internet cafe was open so I took care of some tasks on the Internet and finally went back to my hotel to sleep at 5:00 a.m.

It feels fairly comfortable being back here. During my round the world trip I stayed here 6-different times and probably accumulated a couple of months here at least. Some of the street vendors recognize me. I know where everything is. There are good Internet connections for contact with the rest of the world. I had my Thai cell phone activated at the local 7/11.

I'll be meeting Korn, the friend I will be sponsoring to take an English as a second language course in the USA, later in the afternoon.

I think the temperature is in the 80's, not too bad.

Atlanta, GA - USA

I'm preparing for my preliminary trip to Thailand and Cambodia. I will be leaving on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 24th on Korean Airlines taking a 15-hour flight to Seoul, Korea and then a 5-hour flight to Bangkok. Lucky me!

I'll be bringing the relevant documents over and helping my Thai friend Korn to get a visa to the USA for language school through the US Embassy in Bangkok.

Sometime near the beginning of May I'll fly to Cambodia and start volunteering at Jeannine's Children's Association orphanage. I'll let you more about what I'll be doing after I find out myself.

I'm excited about going, but really do not enjoy the final packing experience. So many thing to remember, so many possible things to forget, and what exactly will I need?

I've appreciated seeing all my friends in the USA and give my thanks to all those that have helped me out in various ways, among them by providing housing, paying for a meal, storing my stuff, hosting a picture show, lending me a car and many other ways.

I'll be back in Atlanta on July 22nd.

Scituate, Massachusetts USA - Sold the family home...

I am amazed and pleased that everything went very smoothly in selling the family home in Scituate, Massachusetts. The family that bought it are wonderful. They're thrilled, I'm thrilled! They started removing the carpets and exposing the beautiful hardwood floors the afternoon of the closing.

For me the sale means the foundation for me moving to SE Asia has been laid. I plan to use the interest from the money from the sale to support myself in SE Asia. I've contacted the orphanage, Jennines Children's Association, and they would like to accept me teaching there. I will make a preliminary trip there in May and June 2007. I will return to the USA in July and will probably be here until the end of 2007. I then plan to return to SE Asia, more or less permanently, at the beginning of 2008.
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I am working on sponsoring a friend from Thailand to take an English as a second language curriculum at the Georgia Tech Language Institute. If he is able to get a visa, he would be staying with me at an apartment in Atlanta 2-miles from the school. I hope to be working in Atlanta during that time.

Looking back I would say I was depressed during the last two months of my around the world trip. The previous few months had been hard. I was apprehensive about what it would be like to return to the USA, but all in all, things have been going wonderfully! Staying with friends in Atlanta has been a great experience. Getting to know my cousin Ellen, her husband Chris and her son Nicholas after losing touch with her for 20-years has been amazing. Spending time with my relatives in the Scituate area. The family house selling like it did in such a difficult housing market was miraculous. So far the road seems to be paved for me to go to SE Asia and I'm very excited.

I plan to be in Atlanta until after Easter and then travel to see a friend in Gainesville, Florida and then on to visit my cousin and her husband in Palm Coast, Florida. Somewhere around the end of April is when I will head to SE again.

I plan to continue updating my blog entries on an occassional basis, so check back from time to time to see what's going on with me, if you like.

Please feel free to email me and, if you would like to phone me, just send me an email asking for my phone contact information.

Atlanta, Georgia - Sorting things out...

All of the photos from the trip are now posted on the web!

Since John and I decided to travel separately after 8-months, you'll see the following after the country names:

[no name after the country name] - We traveled to these countries together, photos from both of us.
[Chris after country and John after country name] - Each of us traveled to this country, but did our own separate itineraries.
[Only Chris or John after country name] - Only Chris or John traveled to this country.

David was kind enough to host me for a week or so and now Tony and Tim have been gracious enough to let me stay at their mansion for a few weeks while I sort things out, literally and figuratively, I stored much of what I had left in their basement. I have access to their 12-MB cable connection, so I've been trying to stuff the previous years of my life into a PC and plan my future ones in SE Asia. I've been visiting friends, co-workers and people from my current and former churches.

I'm in the process of selling the family home in Boston (Scituate), which will hopefully will go through by the end of March. I'll be in Scituate from March 13th until April 3rd.

I'm still not sure if I'll be working until I leave for SE Asia or if I'll be traveling across the USA to visit friends, relatives and national parks.

People ask me how it feels to be back, well it feels very comfortable to be back here, but I'm not staying. So it's different. I'm still living out of a backpack and figuring things out as I go. It's pretty much just as it was while I was traveling, except a lot more comfortable. I feel a lot more relaxed than I did before I started the trip. Not because it was such a relaxing "vacation", it's just the opposite. After having my mother die from cancer, traveling on my own in some pretty remote places, having $2,200 worth of stuff stolen and always having to figure every detail of where and what to eat, where to stay, how to get there and who I could trust, the kind of things I have to deal with here seem pretty easy. I'm thankful to the friends that helped me during the trip and who are helping me now by supporting me, in many different ways, as I prepare to live in SE Asia.

If you want to get in touch with me by phone, please send me an email and I'll send you my phone numbers.

Scituate, Massachusetts - USA

I returned on January 26th to Atlanta via a business class seat on a jet from Johannesburg. My thanks to Tony for providing me a buddy pass for the flight! I'm in Scituate now to take care of affairs related to the family home and to visit with relatives. I'm also trying to determine whether to sell or rent the house.

I'm working on photos and blog entries for posting to the web site for Egypt and Africa. I will be returning to Atlanta on the 13th of February and will probably be there for about three weeks or so.

It's nice to be back in the comfort of the USA. Because everything is so clean and nice in the USA I feel very privileged and I am in comparison to many of the people I've visited in other countries.

My long term plan is to move to southeast Asia. I plan to start in Cambodia, volunteering at an orphanage I visited in June and eventually move to Thailand continuing to do volunteer work.

Muan, Botswana - Okavango Delta

I've been on the road 22-days now. I've been lucky to be traveling with a group of nineteen friendly and courteous other travelers; South African, British, Scotish, Australian and New Zealanders.

It's been difficult to access the Internet while traveling with an overland safari, so please excuse the absense of blog entries. I hope to fill them in later.

In the Serengeti we saw a migrating herd of wilderbeasts, about 20,000 animals or more streching on for miles.

Zanzibar, Tanzania - New Year's Eve & Day

During the day I went scuba diving with a few people from our overland group in Nungwi. It was an hour long bus drive to Nungwi from Stonetown and then a tedious 1 1/2 hour trip out to the dive site. The visibility was poor and the sky was overcast. I declined doing the second dive, which may have been a mistake, since the people on that dive saw five turtles the dive and said the visibility was improved noticibly. Oh well!

We had lunch and drinks at the "Fat Fish" restaurant right on the water and watched a beautiful sunset. Later I had delicious dinner of fresh king fish for dinner and more drinks. We moved to the beach later in the evening for the New Year's celebration. Obtaining drinks from the beachside bar was the main activity, which proved challenging when the bar ran out of glasses. Holes had been dug in the beach sand and set candles down into them, which created a neat lighting effect. About 15 of us from the group celebrated the break into the new year. After saying good by to two of our group, Sean and Jules, and having celebratory double shots of "Springbok", we headed to the bus to take us back to Stonetown. That is all of us except for Gary. We sent out a search party with no luck. As we departed we called his name out the window of the bus. Finally we spotted him in a taxi just ahead of us. Belinda had to do some aggressive negotiating to get $40 US back from the driver, leaving the driver with about $14 for a 5-minute ride.

Next morning no hangover. Hurrah! I had lunch and went for a swim off the beach. It's a beautiful sunny day. A good start for the new year!

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - Africa Overland Journey

I finished the 16-day Egypt trip with Chris and Kim. It was a great trip and fun traveling with them!

I started the Africa overland journey on December 24th from Nairobi. Our first destinations were the Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti. I'm traveling with 19-others on a huge bus which holds us, all our backpacks, tents, food, water and other gear. We're camping most of the time, but can upgrade to dorms or rooms in some locations.

In the Serengeti we saw huge herds of wilderbeasts that are migrating north, the total herd is over a million animals. We also saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, hyenas, a cheetah and loads of other animals. It is truly amazing to see so many thousands of animals on the plains of the Serengeti. It's like the reverse of a zoo. You are the minority population here.

The Ngorogo Crater is a volcanic, now grass/lake filled, crator that is over twelve miles (20-Km) across. There are large numbers of the same animals as in the Serengeti, but in a much smaller area.

We're heading to the island of Zanzibar today. Some of us plan to do some scuba diving. It's supposed to be some of the best in the world (that is if the weather cooperates!). I'll be spending New Years in Zanzibar.

Internet access while traveling overland has been limited, so sorry about the sparse and short postings. I may try to embellish them after I return to the USA.

Side note: The Nepal photos have been posted to the web site!

Mt. Sinai, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

Chris, Kim and I climbed Mt. Sinai (where Moses received the ten commandments) early this morning, starting at 2:00 a.m. and reaching the 7,000 foot summit about 5:00 a.m. We were frequently passed by people taking camels up the mountain. It was 5 below zero centigrade, pretty cold for Egypt. Vendors rented mattresses and camel hair blankets at the top, that we took advantage of, as we waited an hour for sunrise. It was like a big sleepover with about 200-people at the top of the mountain. The sunrise was quite nice, but amidst the crowd I really was not able to experience the spiritual sense of Moses getting the ten commandments here. But the mountain is quite impressive. I'm hoping Moses had a camel to carry the tablets down for him. Otherwise it must of been a very difficult journey! The entire area is very rugged and lacks for any vegetation. We visited the Monastery at St. Katherine and saw the tree of "burning bush" fame, which still survives.

Dahab, Egypt - Camel ride, The Blue Hole

Chris, Kim and I took a camel ride to the "Blue Hole" in Dahab. Riding a camel is much less comfortable than riding a horse and we were all sore after just a 1/2 hour ride. It also seems that the saddle arrangement for riding was much less comfortble than the camel I rode in India. In India we did a 2-hour ride and I didn't feel that sore afterwards. In either case, this helped us decide not to take the 2-hour camel ride option for going up Mt. Sinai the next day.

The following description is from the Blue Hole Project Web site:

"Situated a few miles outside the town of Dahab on the Sinai Peninsular, The Blue Hole is a natural coral feature and considered to be a world class diving site. It is also the site that has seen the deaths of over 70 divers - more than any other diving site. Essentially The Blue Hole is a small coral lagoon which starts near the surface and drops down to a stunning arch which leads out to the main reef wall. At its deepest part, the Blue Hole reaches over 120m (394-feet). "

It's a beautiful area and we saw a number of people snorkeling and diving. One group of divers were using a nitrox mix, which meant they were going to do some deep dives. The water appeared to be very clear and a bit chilly for my taste, it is winter time here after all, but there were still hearty souls snorkeling without wet suits. I guess I got spoiled by the wonderfully warm water temperatures in Indonesia and Malaysia and decided not to do any snorkleing or diving on this trip. I might consider coming back some time in the summer.

Dahab is a small town with a nicely developed restaurant and shopping area along the waterfront. We went to the waterfront for dinner. The restaurant has the catch of the day displayed on ice in front of each restaurant. The restaurants themselves had wood firepots and come complete with your own set of begging felines. They'll supply with you with a water squirt bottle if the cats become a nuisance.

The meals were quite good and for about $8-$10 we had freshly prepared fish, rice, french fries, salad, hummis and pita bread in a beautiful setting.

It's a bit hard to beleive that the sleepy town of Dahab was the site of a terrorist bombing in April 24th of this year, but it was. 23 people were killed and 62 wounded. Three of the persons killed were foreigners. In talking to one of the locals he said at the time it was a feeling of disbelief. How could anything like this possibly happen here?

Hurgharda, Egypt - Aborted ferry trip

We boarded the ferry and left port at 9:00 a.m. for a 90-minute boat ride to Sharm El Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula. About an hour into the trip the waves were getting very big, and though we were on a 46-meter (150-foot) ferry, some of the waves broke over the bow and spashed the windows on the top deck about 30-feet above the water! We turned around and the capatin announced that weather was bad and we were heading back to our port of origin. Just as we were due to leave the boat back in Hurgharda, they announced they were going to make a second attempt. We waited on the boat another hour and then they annoucned that the port at Sharm El Sheikh had been closed and the boat trip was cancelled. We talked with our tour company and they arranged for a van to take us to Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula, our final destination, instead of the ferry. The trip should take about 10-hours. We leave at 5:00 p.m. and will probably arrive about 2 in the morning. Well, you've got to expect some glitches when you're traveling!

Luxor, Egypt

The amount of written and drawn history in Egypt is astounding! My favorite place so far has been Abu Simbel (280 km south of Aswan). The location right on a lake is very beautiful. The memorial to Ramses II is huge, and to realize it as moved from another location is astounding. It has extensive chambers and statues inside it, so it was like moving and re-assembling a mountain with something the size of the Lincoln Memorial inside of it.

Esna/Luxor, Egypt - Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, Colossi of Memnon
(text by Chris J., Kim G. and Chris M.)

We catch a private van to Luxor / Valley of the Kings, and grab a guide just before entering the Valley of Kings. The valley holds a majority of the king's tombs. It was intentionally built in the middle of nowhere to prevent grave robbers. The tombs have some of the best coloring we've seen, but regretfully cameras are not allowed inside the tombs. The depths of the tombs were amazing, how far in they went and how much time it must have taken to dig them into the mountain sides. In order to keep the locations secret the tomb builders had their own village and their whole life and generations thereafter did nothing but build these tombs. The tomb of Tutankhamen was here, but everything of note was moved to the Egyptian museum. Once again another tomb was found a couple of months ago by and American cleaning nearby.

*****"Updated: 2:38 p.m. ET Feb 10, 2006 CAIRO, Egypt - Through a partially opened underground door, Egyptian authorities gave a peek Friday into the first tomb uncovered in the Valley of the Kings since King Tut’s in 1922. U.S. archaeologists said they discovered the tomb by accident while working on a nearby site. Still unknown is whose mummies are in the five wooden sarcophagi with painted funeral masks, surrounded by alabaster jars inside the undecorated single-chamber tomb.
The tomb, believed to be some 3,000 years old and dating to the 18th Dynasty, does not appear to be that of a pharaoh. But it could be for members of a royal court, said Edwin Brock, co-director of the University of Memphis in Tennessee that discovered the site."
*****

Next was a visit to the tombs in the Valley of Queens, which were very similar in nature to the king's tombs. We were a little disappointed when we found out the tomb of Nefertari, favorite wife of Ramses II, was indeed open but required a special permit obtained in Cairo and only 150 people a day could visit the tomb. The guide book mentioned the tomb was closed, so it must have just recently been reopened. The tomb is the most well preserved with the most striking colors of all the tombs. We had to stick with a photo book to get an idea of what it looked like inside.

Colossi of Memnon - not a great site, two large statues in almost total disrepair. They reminded me of the rock creatures from Galaxy Quest.

"The twin statues depict Amenhotep III (fl. 14th century BC) in a seated position, his hands resting on his knees and his gaze turned eastward toward the river and the rising sun. Two shorter figures are carved into the front throne alongside his legs: these are his wife Tiy and mother Mutemwiya. The side panels depict the Nile god Hapy.

The statues are made from blocks of quartzite sandstone which was quarried at either Giza (near modern-day Cairo) or Gebel el-Silsila (60 km north of Aswan). Including the stone platforms on which they stand, they reach a towering 18 metres (approx. 60 ft) in height."

Temple of Hatshepsut:
"The masterpiece of her building projects was her mortuary temple complex at Deir el-Bahri. It was designed and implemented by Senemut on a site on the West Bank of the Nile close to the entrance to the Valley of the Kings. The focal point was the Djeser-Djeseru or "the Sublime of Sublimes", a colonnaded structure of perfect harmony nearly one thousand years before the Parthenon. Djeser-Djeseru sits atop a series of terraces that were once graced with gardens. Djeser-Djeseru is built into a cliff face that rises sharply above it. Djeser-Djeseru and the other buildings of the Deir el-Bahri complex are considered to be among the great buildings of the ancient world."

One of the more impressive sites built into the mountain side and also the discovery of many of the mummies seen in the museum. They had been moved constantly because of tomb raiders. The temple is in three massive layers with the third built into the side of the mountain.
Take a short break for a coke and a 30 pound ($6) can of Pringles... eek.

Off to Luxor.

Temple complex of Karnak in Ancient Egypt was named Ipet Sut, "the most venerated place" and it is a small...... "Al-Karnak (Arabic village in Egypt, located on the banks of the River Nile some 2.5 km north of Luxor (25°43'N 32°39'E). Visitors to the area – particularly foreign tourists – perceive no distinction between Luxor and al-Karnak, as the two are both parts of the same conurbation. The Karnak Temple is twice the size of the built-up village area, and it is the leading attraction in al-Karnak; essentially this is al-Karnak, as the term Karnak is nearly universally understood as the temple complex and not the village.

The temple area is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world, and is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo."

Another favorite site for us, basically a temple complex that was added on by many kings and queens (over 30). The scale was magnificent, large pillars, home to many obelisks, etc.
Next stop Luxor temple, which was basically an extension of the Karnak complex. Very detailed large obelisk out front. The site was great in that we arrived just before dusk so we got to see the temple in both the day and lit up at night. Hundreds of sphinxes once lined the road to Karnak and the government is trying to clear the ancient road.

Also the place of the great six toe joke on Chris... he might have been left counting forever.
Van ride back to the boat.