Return to Guatemala

Lorena, my teacher before and now. From single to married with 2 daughters in the intervening 7 years. Way to go!

Before graduate school, I studied Spanish in Antigua Guatemala. Seven years later, I returned to round out my year of travel. These are some images (Photos above are from 2007, below are from 2014).

Before, my humble desk at the small school. Now there are up to 30 students at a time studying in a new garden!

Going to coffee museum, La Azotea. Then, I went with my great friend Marie-Eve. This time I went with Ayumi and Bruce, and with a greater appreciation of coffee 🙂

El Arco, then and now. Really no changes at all! Colonial zoning restrictions.

Women carrying. Traditional wear is still very common, and women are strong.

My traditional wear. With my cousin Stephanie 7 years ago, and this time with Sabrina at a traditional wedding with our cabbage patch baby 🙂

Volcán Pacaya. Before lots of red lava at our feet. This time none, but there were some major devastating eruptions a few years ago.

The same blue shirt. I'm cheap, and I cling onto shirts. This one was from about 10 years ago, and it's in top notch condition still! That's tour operator, Sandra from before, couldn't find her this time.

Selfies. It used to be harder with a point and shoot. This time it's all about front facing cameras on mobile devices.

Festivals. I was so lucky to see processions last time, and this time we saw all the kites on Dia de los santos.

Back in Nepal

My whirlwind month trip back to Nepal was indescribably amazing. Without sufficient vocabulary to express my gratitude and good fortune, I resort here to pictures.

In Phalewas:

Rural students my friends and I are sponsoring for their science education for the next 2 years. Thanks Will, Jamie, Patrice, and Winnie!

My FM radio interview broadcasted across several communities. We didn't have enough material, so I sang the US national anthem!

In Nurbuling school:

The students I taught 8 months ago! During the morning assembly they gave me a warm welcome 🙂

Village hospitality. Nima on the left welcomed me to her home and 7 more over the course of a day! What a wonderful way to get to know the Hyolmo culture. I can't thank them enough. Thanks for 5 types of local wine and endless tea!

Love the village life

Oh and I carried this 3 week old bugger up and down many hills to his new home. You don't want to know what happened to my tshirt.

In Tinpiple:

The only dump site that collects the trash from Kathmandu and neighboring cities. Many families live and work here to earn about $1-2 a day. It was absolutely humbling to experience a few hours with them.

On a dump truck back to town. Here is one of the single mothers that works at the site. She was so gracious and friendly! I met her children who were thankfully taken away from working at the site and are now receiving good education and housing, thanks to a great organization that I'll describe later. Again, a humbling experience.

So much more! But alas, photos don’t even do it justice.

Thank you, Nepal! Coming twice this year wasn’t enough. You’ve been a great teacher to me, and I’ll come back to learn and contribute as best I can.

Bukit Lawang, Indonesia

3 day jungle trek to see wild orangutans. Saw 8! Including this massive male. Stay back!

Guides:"Move move move!" "Relax relax relax" "Move move move!!"

My friendly trekking group from the Netherlands and Ireland.

Accomplishing my only goal

Just kidding, no whale sharks this time. But yes barracuda!

In the vein of keeping travel as free and organic as possible, I only set one goal this year: to learn SCUBA diving.

And after 4 days of PADI class at Koh Tao, Thailand, I’m now a certified open water diver!

It was simple, really, finding a proper dive school and having $300 on hand.

Like many goals, it was just a goal with no real impediments. I just had to go out and do it.

And now, having seen more fish and coral in my life combined, where does it all leave me?

In retrospect, the goal was more symbolic than anything else. To dive, I would be far away, somewhere tropical, so the water would be warm and welcoming, and in a different world. And that’s exactly what it was.
It represented living without anyone’s approval but mine.

And now 7-8 months in, it feels like it’s about time to take a path back. I’ll come full circle on some things that I had started, and be home before you know it!

Finding volunteer work

Several people have asked me how to find volunteer work while traveling. In selecting an organization, legitimacy is the first criterion, as not all are legitimate.

I worked in Nepal for NEIO. I had gotten to know the founder back in San Francisco and the focus was on quality (helping one school) and not quantity (becoming a big organization). NEIO is not without its share of shortcomings, but is at least legitimate.

In Cambodia, I joined CESHE by finding them on Workaway. The key utility of this site is the reviews. Many past volunteers positively reviewed CESHE over a long period of time. Sketchy organizations would not hold up to such scrutiny. (Well unless it’s all a premeditated scam.. When you start volunteering you could start getting cautious and almost paranoid, but that’s a rant for another day…)

Relying on social advice, you’ll be on a well-worn track, but at least you’ll have a degree of quality control. You’ll gain a constructive experience.

You may start discovering a lot of imperfections amidst the good work. With luck, you’ll learn to juggle them and move forward.

And a last point about what I got out of the experiences so far:
I’ve liked how I was in the position to push change as far as I wanted to take it. Compared to other enterprises that I’ve officially engaged in (startup company and graduate researcher), the intensity of independent learning and action was greater when volunteering. The weight of responsibility and failure was greater. The immediacy of lives affected by my actions was greater. And I won’t even mention the emotional toll. I was in positions to enforce positive change as I saw fit. It’s something that will indelibly shape my career decisions in the future.

Hope that helps!

Luang Prabang, Laos

A grand mix between French colonial and traditional Lao architecture and overwhelming nature, Luang Prabang was a great VISA run for us.

Make, Do

I’m a peculiar traveler. I try to exclusively engage in things that fall under these 2 categories:

1. Make.
2. Do.

This is the messenger bag I made.

Materials

Liner – Angry Birds bag I used for teaching at the rural Siem Reap school, Cambodia.

Outer layer – polka dotted 1 meter cloth from Ho Chi Minh City central market, Vietnam.

Side panels – table mats from Bangkok department store, Thailand.

Skills learned

Sewing by hand, particularly the backstitch (stronger).

Patience.

A benefit of slow travel is the relaxed time to do such ridiculous things 🙂

Thai massage school

At Old Medicine Hospital, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Practicing the first steps of Thai massage. Yes, that is confusion written all over my face.

How to crash a Cambodian wedding

1. Sit next to a friendly restaurant owner on the bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.

This adorable girl sat in front of us.

2. Exchange contacts (Line app).

3. Message him after volunteer teaching saying you want to dine at his restaurant.

4. Tour his restaurants, let him take you unexpectedly to a wedding.

 

Man Thorng’s restaurant is called MANTHORNG.

5. Soak it in. It doesn’t matter if you just smile like a fool the whole night. This is what travel is all about!

It’s packed!

The reception when I went through the entrance. Just hold your hands in prayer as the greeting.

Live music the whole night. They opened up the mics to the audience and damn, everyone was so good.

My table mates. They made sure I ate twice my share.

Note that the men gather to catch the bouquet!

 

Man Thorng is the MAN. This is the keyboard that he took on the bus, and he showed off its abilities that night.

Man Thorng couldn’t have been a nicer host. He never let me pay for anything and welcomed me unquestioningly into his culture.

Millions of bats, Battambang, Cambodia

I went with a small group of volunteers to Battambang to tour the city sights. The most memorable was the bat cave at dusk. The stream of bats pulsated concertedly, and due to the bats’ sonar ability, the whole stream changed its course when we produced a loud sound.