I want to start a gym! I had training last week in phnom penh and while walking to the gym one of my friends suggested I start one at my site. I thought about it and it actually sounds like a really awesome idea! I love going to the gym and I love what it does for my health. I have even bought weights that I use in my room every other day and I always feel my best after a nice work out. I have come to realize that these Cambodians are lazy lazy lazy and something needs to be done about it. Whats worse, is they are so self conscious about their bodies they don't eat enough of the right foods all in the name of staying skinny. They want to be ripped and they want to be skinny, but they are against doing anything that requires physical exertion. Having a gym at my site would solve pretty much all of those issues and lead to a healthier group of people that understand the benefits of physical activity.
I will give them one thing... its hot here. Many days I can't even muster up the balls to start lifting because of the stifling heat and humidity. I have even started working out without any clothes just so I can save some of my already sweat ridden shirts from further destruction... plus its not something I will ever be doing in the States. I get that its hot, but these people are used to it and I feel like they use it as an excuse more often than not. The good thing about a gym is that they don't have to be in the sun, there is no running involved, which they hate, and the stationary motion keeps them from overheating like they can easily do playing soccer or volleyball.
Right now, I am thinking about the items used to lift with. The bars would be metal and I plan on just using cement to make the weights. Many of the buffer kids in the village use cement that they made into weights and they actually work pretty well, plus they wont rust if they get wet and if they are stolen, then they are easily replaceable. I was thinking of creating some pull up bars which would have to be sturdier and even some benches for things like sit-ups and bench pressing. There are a couple other things I am looking into but you get the gist. After materials, I am thinking about where to have it run. I would love to be able to get an NGO help me out with acquiring a building or something like that, but for now I will probably just run it out of my house (or underneath it). Once those two things are done, I will think about having classes and such which promote healthy exercising like a girls day and a heavy lifting day for the bigger guys out there. Idealy it would be at the school so the kids would get more use out of it. Many of the adults are hopeless at this point in there lives. They have drank one too many cups of palm wine to get rid of that belly they have formed. The kids are where its at and I really think it would make a huge difference in their health and overall well being. Whats everybody else got to say?
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
big heart, big opportunity, what to do?
This is going to be one of my shorter posts, but i'm in the mood to write so here it goes. As mid-service approaches, I look out on the past 10 months with a smile and with a frown. There is no doubt I have done a lot with my time here. I have seen many things, met some great people along the way, and tried my best to do what I came here to do. While that is so, I have this uneasy feeling that I am not doing enough and that I'm not satisfied with the work I have done thus far. Personally, I have made much larger advances towards changing who I was before I came. As I am grateful for this, I am still as uneasy about this as I am my work. There are times when I amaze myself by not getting annoyed at something that would throw me over the edge in the states, or simply moving on and realizing things aren't a huge deal when I would have blown things way out of proportion in the states. But then I get those moments where I see myself doing the same old shit I would in the States and its somewhat depressing. I am at this crossroads in my service where I need to make some decisions, act on those decisions, and see where that takes me in the next year.
The most pressing is the matter of my work in Cambodia as a health educator. I give health talks in the health center and I teach health classes in the high school once or twice a week, but I need to be doing a whole lot more. I don't have this shining project most volunteers have started developing and I am starting to need something like that to keep me wanting to be here and keep my morale up. Some volunteers have some amazing projects in the works, and while I must keep on telling myself its irrational to compare myself to others, I do realize that one or two projects would be nice and benefit the community greatly. I try and analyze what these people need and what will benefit them in the long run and I am at a loss for words. Building wells would be good, but what would building 5-10 wells in the community really do for everyone in the long run. I want to do something that is going to benefit the majority of people and continue in the long run. Building wells or getting water filters for the community helps a specific group of people and in the end its not going to help the people as whole improve the quality of their health. I have ideas up in the head that are simply just ideas at the moment, but I need to make a decision and act on it or my happiness and self-fulfillment are going to decline, which is bad for a foreign volunteer in the middle of a Cambodian village.
As far as personal change, I need to find it within myself to make the most out of this experience and make some hardcore changes that will improve the quality and duration of my happiness and self imposed value of this experience. I find myself getting depressed a lot recently, whether its because of the way people are behaving in this country, my lack of personal friendships, or my unease about not doing enough and making the most out of this time. I have to realize that I am only living in Cambodia for 2 years (maybe) and this opportunity is something I will always look back on. What I do now is going to determine how I look back on this and I will be damned if I spend it moping about what is not perfect and what I could be doing better. I used to run off the idea that things happen for a reason. Sometime during the last 10 months I forgot about that ideology and turned towards wondering why why why. Just accepting that things happen for a reason, even if its not apparent at first, is such a wonderful way of going about things and I think thats what I'm going to start doing again. I need to continually look at things in a positive way instead of negative, which I have doing a lot more since coming here, but there's always room for improvement!
Now for the heavy. To return or not? I have been meddling with this idea in my head for a while and now I think its time to let people know whats going on inside the white/grey matter (yea i know... im a dork). As I spend more and more time here, Cambodia is becoming a home I don't want to leave. I could tell you about all the positives this country has to offer in a whole new post and while there are definitely negatives, I love every minute here for the most part. I haven't been cold in 10 months, every night and day during rainy season massive storms roll throughout the country-side, I can look out my window and enjoy a jungle full of palm and coconut trees, and the people are some of the friendliest I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I am helping these people get healthier, one talk at a time and I love doing what I do. I am experiencing a culture I find very fascinating and awesome to be apart of. There's rarely any kind of stress like I used to endure in America and I know that what I am doing is effective and worthwhile. I have always wanted to help people, learn about other cultures, and see other lands so why should I give that all up to come home and bury my head in books for the next 4 years? I have all these skills that any NGO worker would kill to have so why not use my talents for the betterment of Cambodia health care?
Thats my argument for staying, but then there's the argument of why I should definitely come home, or atleast travel to another region in the world. I have a wonderful family back home and some amazing friends that i have surrounded myself with throughout the years. While I know they would be happy for me in whatever I decide to do, I don't know if I could live with myself if I just up and left and never came back. I did have a great life back home and if I really do want to come back to Cambodia I can always do the whole doctor without boarders thing after becoming a doctor. While living in the States does have its negatives, I have come to realize that it is definitely the best damn country there is out there and there's a reason why people love the USA. So friends, family, and becoming a doctor would be a great path to follow... right?
The middle ground I have come to learn of is extending my stay. There is this option I can take to extend for another year and that is something I am deeply considering. While 2 years may not be enough, I think by the 3rd year it will be out of my system and I might finally be ready to go home. Still not sure about this yet for a variety of reasons, but its being thought about heavily. In 6 months I have no idea what will be happening or what I will be feeling so for now I am putting these thoughts of post-peace corps service aside and focusing on whats here and now.
So that's it. I have a huge desire to do something special and help improve health care in the Cambodian villages, Peace Corps has given me the opportunity to accomplish this and now its just up to me what happens from here on out. There's no study guide for this, no class syllabus to follow, and no friend to study with to make it better. Its just me and my ideas and I have to make them a reality.
The most pressing is the matter of my work in Cambodia as a health educator. I give health talks in the health center and I teach health classes in the high school once or twice a week, but I need to be doing a whole lot more. I don't have this shining project most volunteers have started developing and I am starting to need something like that to keep me wanting to be here and keep my morale up. Some volunteers have some amazing projects in the works, and while I must keep on telling myself its irrational to compare myself to others, I do realize that one or two projects would be nice and benefit the community greatly. I try and analyze what these people need and what will benefit them in the long run and I am at a loss for words. Building wells would be good, but what would building 5-10 wells in the community really do for everyone in the long run. I want to do something that is going to benefit the majority of people and continue in the long run. Building wells or getting water filters for the community helps a specific group of people and in the end its not going to help the people as whole improve the quality of their health. I have ideas up in the head that are simply just ideas at the moment, but I need to make a decision and act on it or my happiness and self-fulfillment are going to decline, which is bad for a foreign volunteer in the middle of a Cambodian village.
As far as personal change, I need to find it within myself to make the most out of this experience and make some hardcore changes that will improve the quality and duration of my happiness and self imposed value of this experience. I find myself getting depressed a lot recently, whether its because of the way people are behaving in this country, my lack of personal friendships, or my unease about not doing enough and making the most out of this time. I have to realize that I am only living in Cambodia for 2 years (maybe) and this opportunity is something I will always look back on. What I do now is going to determine how I look back on this and I will be damned if I spend it moping about what is not perfect and what I could be doing better. I used to run off the idea that things happen for a reason. Sometime during the last 10 months I forgot about that ideology and turned towards wondering why why why. Just accepting that things happen for a reason, even if its not apparent at first, is such a wonderful way of going about things and I think thats what I'm going to start doing again. I need to continually look at things in a positive way instead of negative, which I have doing a lot more since coming here, but there's always room for improvement!
Now for the heavy. To return or not? I have been meddling with this idea in my head for a while and now I think its time to let people know whats going on inside the white/grey matter (yea i know... im a dork). As I spend more and more time here, Cambodia is becoming a home I don't want to leave. I could tell you about all the positives this country has to offer in a whole new post and while there are definitely negatives, I love every minute here for the most part. I haven't been cold in 10 months, every night and day during rainy season massive storms roll throughout the country-side, I can look out my window and enjoy a jungle full of palm and coconut trees, and the people are some of the friendliest I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I am helping these people get healthier, one talk at a time and I love doing what I do. I am experiencing a culture I find very fascinating and awesome to be apart of. There's rarely any kind of stress like I used to endure in America and I know that what I am doing is effective and worthwhile. I have always wanted to help people, learn about other cultures, and see other lands so why should I give that all up to come home and bury my head in books for the next 4 years? I have all these skills that any NGO worker would kill to have so why not use my talents for the betterment of Cambodia health care?
Thats my argument for staying, but then there's the argument of why I should definitely come home, or atleast travel to another region in the world. I have a wonderful family back home and some amazing friends that i have surrounded myself with throughout the years. While I know they would be happy for me in whatever I decide to do, I don't know if I could live with myself if I just up and left and never came back. I did have a great life back home and if I really do want to come back to Cambodia I can always do the whole doctor without boarders thing after becoming a doctor. While living in the States does have its negatives, I have come to realize that it is definitely the best damn country there is out there and there's a reason why people love the USA. So friends, family, and becoming a doctor would be a great path to follow... right?
The middle ground I have come to learn of is extending my stay. There is this option I can take to extend for another year and that is something I am deeply considering. While 2 years may not be enough, I think by the 3rd year it will be out of my system and I might finally be ready to go home. Still not sure about this yet for a variety of reasons, but its being thought about heavily. In 6 months I have no idea what will be happening or what I will be feeling so for now I am putting these thoughts of post-peace corps service aside and focusing on whats here and now.
So that's it. I have a huge desire to do something special and help improve health care in the Cambodian villages, Peace Corps has given me the opportunity to accomplish this and now its just up to me what happens from here on out. There's no study guide for this, no class syllabus to follow, and no friend to study with to make it better. Its just me and my ideas and I have to make them a reality.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Gallivanting
My Sumatran / Malaysian trip has come and gone and many things have happened since then. I have gone through one of many transitions at site, some good and some not, but that can wait till after I talk about this amazing trip I took while gallivanting through Indonesia and Malaysia.
I decided to wait a couple weeks and let the experience soak in. It was by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and the sites and sounds I was fortunate to experience will surely be with me for the rest of my life. The story starts before I even left... I need to paint the picture of what mindset I was in as I was departing Cambodia. Khmer New Year fell directly during my trip, which was planned. I was at first disappointed I was missing Khmer New Year, but soon enough I was to realize this country is not some place I want to be during such a holiday. I have experienced holidays before in Cambodia... people drink warm beer, play cards, students don't go to school, and any sense of productivity is lost. Cambodians take that to a whole new level during Khmer New Year and it was to a point where I simply did not want to live here. The students at the private class I help at every night stopped coming, the health center staff decided not to work for the most part, and while everyone was out and about doing stuff I was stuck sitting in my room with no one to talk to. People play their Khmer card games which always involve money and not something I even remotely know how to play, and the drinking gets to a despicable level many times. I saw many husbands wasting away drinking their palm wine while their wife is probably home taking care of their 6 hungry children. It was almost a guarantee to spot this behavior anywhere throughout the village and I needed out.
I packed my bags, headed to phnom penh, and before I knew it I was flying away from my troubles with two friends to a tropical paradise. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur and headed straight for the city. It was a surreal experience traveling to this place pretty much on my own accord. I have never planned a trip like this and alot went into it. Busing into the city was a sense of relief and accomplishment as I gazed at Kuala Lumpur's beautiful skyline. With all the planning I did, I didn't really know a whole lot about the city itself and what it had to offer. We decided to find a guesthouse in China Town and stroll the city for the evening. We ate.... get ready... MCDONALDS! While I never really ate there a whole lot in the States, devouring that chicken sandwhich felt pretty damn good and lifted my spirits immediately. It was almost as if my taste buds were awoken for the first time after a long 9 month nap. As we were trying to find our way around the city I noticed how awesome the people were. Everyone was helpful and all I had to do was take my map out and someone was garaunteed to help point us in the right direction. The people were a mix of all cultures. Many many muslims with women dressed in full body garments (some even in burkas) filled the streets. It took me by surprise to see such a heavy influence of muslim culture dominating everything. With that said, it was still a very tourist friendly city and nothing says it better than an Outback Steak House which we filled our guts to capacity at.
I ended up splitting off from everybody else the next day. I went to see the Petronas Towers which are currently the world's tallest twin towers. They are magnificent pieces of architecture that grace the Kuala Lumpur skyline. They are a mix of shinny metalic and glass and I couldn't help but stare in awe for a good hour once directly under their massive shadows. The shape of the building itself has some islamic culture woven into it. The structures were simply impressive and it has been a dream of mine to get as close as possible to them. Next I traveled to the KL Tower which is a good 250 meters into the air. The views were spectacular and I couldn't have asked for a better day to view the city from so high up. Next I bussed to Batu Caves which were stunning beyond words. They sit high up on a mountain and lead into a cavernous chamber that could easily fit a 200-300 foot building. I was taken aback at how large the cave itself was. The echos were awesome and the atmosphere inside is unlike anything else. There were monkeys everywhere, some trying to bite the people as they entered. I steered clear of the monkeys and managed to catch some great pictures. The rest of the day we all spent together, drinking some beer, smoking some hookah (no... not pot), ate Indian food in Little India, and even managed to go to a rock concert held under the twin towers that night. All in all Kuala Lumpur was a success.
The rest of the trip was spent in Sumatra. We flew to Medan early in the am, which was a chaotic mess trying to get to the airport when the sun hadn't even risen. We eventually made it, purchased our visa's and made our way to the bus station. Immediately upon arrival, I noticed how different Medan was from Kuala Lumpur and how absolutely annoyed I was at being there. Kuala Lumpur is like a clean, nice, tropical New York City, but Medan is like taking the worse parts of Phnom Penh and combining it into one big cluster fu@$. There was pretty much no use of the English language which made doing anything in that city very difficult. The traffic is the worse I have ever seen, anywhere in my travels, there are no trees whatsoever, and the tuk tuks are about 1/3 the size of those in phnom penh. Luckily we were leaving the city immediately and about 2 hours later we were on a bus out. Buses in Sumatra are a discussion within itself. First and foremost, people are allowed to smoke on the buses and news flash, everyone in indonesia smokes. I saw people of all ages lighting up in the buses which have very little air flow and are hot as heck. People are crammed as tight as possible and the roads don't help the situation at all, seeing as they are covered with potholes, if paved at all. It took us around 2 hours just to get out of the city simply from the traffic and by the time we got to our destination of Bukit Lawang we simply wanted to eat and sleep.
It didn't take long though for our luck to change because once we stepped off the bus we were smack dab in the middle of one of the most beautiful villages I have ever seen. We made our way to the village from the bus station and I still remember very clearly the view of the village opening up to us for the first time. It is a quaint, very homey village situated on the Bokhour River with huge mountains covered with rainforest on the opposite bank. Bungalows and treetop villas scatter the village side and locals are going about their business with a sense of happiness and calm rarely seen back home. The locals knew how beautiful this place they call home is and it is easily transparent in their body language and personality. The Sumatrans in Medan were cold and not very friendly, but those in Bukit Lawang were anything but. We found our guesthouse and were amazed by what we saw. Our room was a treetop bungalow with an amazing panoramic view of the rainforest on the other side. The rooms were awesome and the bathroom was open aired and very clean. The view offered was stunning and one could take it in even from the shower. The wall in the bathroom was a little higher than our heads which prevented peep shows yet allowed for some spectacular sights. I don't think I have ever had such a good time taking a shit before in my life! That night we went to a party thrown by one of the guesthouses and the local jungle guides and I can't remember ever being in the presence of so many happy individuals. The locals played music with various instruments, sang some awesome songs, had an awesome time conversing with us, and made that one of my favorite memories of the trip. There was this guy Donney who would always swear he was by far the happiest person on Earth. He had never gone to a day of schooling; he simply works as a tour guide for the Orangutan sanctuary and meets new people every single day of his life. I'm sure many of them were high at the time, but I doubt their sense of happiness and peace were fake. I went to sleep smiling that night.
The next day we treked the jungles of the Orangutan sanctuary and saw amazing creatures very close up. It was a real life adventure going up and down huge mountains, climbing over gigantic vines, crossing rivers and streams, and getting as dirty / sweaty as possible. We spent a good 6 hours in that jungle and satisfied all my expectations in the process. The jungle had a huge canopy with trees taller than any I have ever seen. The plants were wild and vines wove their way in and out of everything. We were fortunate to see many different kinds of monkeys. From what I know they were a combination of Thomas Leaf, Mokaks, and Gibbon Monkeys. The real treat were the Orangutans. The first one we saw was mere feet away and resting ontop a tree stump similar to a sitting buddha. I was taken aback at how large these primates are. They have massive and powerful arms and their stature is very impressive. I was in awe at how they can hold themselves up in the trees as they did. The next one we saw was much latter in the trek but was anything but event-less. This Orangutan was a mother with her child and decided to follow us for a good 20 minutes. Every turn we made she decided to take and we could not shake her. The guide was actually worried by this cause she apparently has bitten more people than any other in the park. I think she is up to 25 people at this point. Finally we got rid of her with some threatening gestures and she wallowed away into the dense brush calmly and peacefully.
We ate lunch in this stream on rocks and it was tastier than anything I could have hoped for. We had so many delicious fruits from fresh pineapple to passion fruits. Rice was prepared by the guide's mother which was seasoned, topped with an egg, and wrapped in banana leaves. The whole experience was unreal and afterwards we washed off in the waterfall right beside us. We finished the trek with a rafting trip down the river after a lengthy swim in a deeper section of the river. The water was crystal clear and pretty damn refreshing (I would go as far as to say its much cleaner than the water I drink in Cambodia). The entire rafting trip the jungle towered over us, climbing the steep mountains of the sanctuary. We passed many monkeys along the way and had a blast manouvering through the rapids. We ended the day with a bat cave located a couple Kilos away from the village. The cave had a darkness you can't find many places above ground. It engulfs everything that steps inside and with the tiny flashlight we were given we found our way through the puddles and mountains of rocks all the way to the back where there were bats resting on the ceiling. The trek and cave exploring were exactly what I was looking for in my Sumatran adventure. I was not all about going to the beaches and relaxing on the sand... I can do that in Cambodia! This trip was supposed to be about thrilling exploration and seeing things I can't see anywhere else and Bukit Lawang helped me achieve that feeling, if only for a day or two. That night we were pretty sore from all the climbing and walking so we headed to bed early, but not before I took a nice shit in the open aired bathroom, staring out upon the jungle.
The rest of the trip took place in Lake Toba. I hired a guide to take us around Lake Toba for a 3 day kayaking trip and it was definitely worth every cent. We rode by private car with our guide for about 5 hours through mountains and rainforest. We stopped in Berastagi and got to glimpse two active volcanoes. There were thunderstorms all around and it was cool/misty. The altitude rose to about 2,000 meters so we were no longer suffering from the hot Sumatran heat. The drive was one of the most scenic I have had the pleasure to experience, all along with this german born kayaking guide who kept things interesting the entire time. We arrived at Toba by driving over the huge rim of the volcano. It was storming still so we settled down into our shabby guesthouse with some fried rice and hot tea. The next morning was brilliant and sunny and before we knew it we were out on the water of Lake Toba, basking in the Indonesian sunlight.
A little background as to what Lake Toba is and was. Thousands of years ago, a giant chamber of crap erupted creating the largest volcanic eruption known to Earth. It covered much of Asia in hundreds of feet of ash and covered the Earth in a layer, killing off species and causing population declines in many more. The caldera filled with water and years later, the super volcano erupted again, creating this island in the center of the world's largest volcanic lake. The entire lake is surrounded by high rolling mountains with waterfalls and lush vegetation running down their sides. As soon as we were on the water I started taking photo after photo and found it hard to stop due to its sheer beauty and size.
Now I am no experienced kayaker... actually... I have never kayaked in a boat like this ever. I was under the impression that I was going to capsize fairly easily yet once on the water I found the experience of kayaking very natural. The silence other than the boat slicing through the water or the paddle making its way into the clear deep blue lake was very refreshing and a nice change from barking dogs and crying babies. We went from village to village during our three days at Toba, stopping at places rarely ever seen by tourists. Our guide was basically the first to start the industry of kayaking and white water rafting in Sumatra and he knew his stuff. He was friends with all the hotel owners we stayed with and knew pretty much everything there is to know about life there. I heard many stories about Sumatra in general and several involved the tsunamis of recent past. He has a very unique outlook on how the country was affected by the many disasters to have plagued the country. His wife is the leading news anchor of the major news station in Indonesia and had the chance to cover many of the events that surrounded each disaster. One such story was of this man who learned from an NGO to run if the water recedes after an earthquake. He was told to run to higher ground cause the water is going to return and be much higher than before. During the 2004 earthquake, he ran to the beach to find the water very far from the shore so he went home packed his things, gathered his family, and told his fellow villagers to run to the neighboring hill. The rest ignored him and instead ran to the beach to collect the fish that were stranded. He said as he was running with his family he could hear the thunder of the incoming tsunami yet he couldn't turn around to look out of fear of what he would see. He heard the screams and the crashing of buildings and it wasn't till he was on top of the hill that he turned around to see the entire town under water. He and his family were the only ones to have survived the wave. We learned all about the other tsunamis, the NGO response and the bad it is doing, and many other stories. We had alot of time on the water and in the hotels to talk about pretty much anything we had questions about, which helped alot in understanding the country and where these people are coming from.
The setting of Lake Toba was as serene and unreal as I could have hoped for. Just being on the water, kayaking at my own pace, basically alone surrounded by gigantic mountains was good way to end a vocation I could have only dreamed of a couple years ago. My muscles were sore and my hands were blistered but it was worth every bit of pain and discomfort. The scenery was breathtaking and the experience was something I still find hard to believe I went through.
We ended the kayaking trip on Samosir Island, right across the waters from Parapat and stayed in a pretty swanky hotel. The guesthouses we stayed at during our stay in Toba were pretty run down... and this is me saying that after living in Cambodia for almost a year. We enjoyed the last night to the fullest and headed back to the hell hole of Medan the next day. We decided to go cheap and stay at this shoestring of a hostel. The room literally had 3 beds lined up in a row and that was it. Absolutely nothing else but a little fan sitting on one side of the room. We said to ourselves, we only need it to sleep in and were tired anyways so no biggie... right? Wrong, none of us got any sleep that night due to the noise and the wonderful call to prayer that blasted from the nearby mosque at 4am. We were glad to be leaving the next day and I was actually kind of happy to head back to Cambodia. The trip was a success and before we knew it we were riding a tuk tuk in Phnom Penh reminiscing on the previous adventure.
I returned to site the following day to find Cambodia just as I had left it. The people were still very unmotivated to do anything close to something productive and I still didn't know how to play card games. I sat in my room again, feeling the post-vocation blues, wishing I was somewhere else. It was probably the lowest I have felt since arriving at site. I couldn't work and nobody seemed to want to invite the foreigner with them for whatever they were doing. I am used to being lonely... its a part of being in the Peace Corps. I have gotten used to being happy with myself instead of what friends I have and what my friends think about me. But something about sitting there by myself for a week after Sumatra made me horribly depressed and it is something I don't want to experience again. In America we will always invite the foreign exchange student to do whatever we are doing, simply because we are the new family and what he or she is relying on for the time being. We introduce them to everybody we know and show them around, explaining the culture and lifestyles of America. During my week back from Sumatra I didn't get the sense anybody really wanted me to do anything with them. Everyone was out and about doing their own thing and I was left alone to mope around in my room. And its not just me, many other volunteers experienced the same damn thing. I asked some people why it was so and I got answers ranging from they don't want us to have an accident or they don't want to incovenience us. I think its simply because they wanted to play cards and drink and not have to translate everything from Khmer to English when I dont understand.
O well.... that time period has come and gone. Things are back to normal at site and I am feeling much better than I did right after coming back from Sumatra. I'm back to helping out the private class every night, taught a health lesson at the high school yesterday, am giving many health speaches at the health center, and have gotten back into my routine of eating rice every meal. My mom came which was awesome awesome awesome! Thats for a whole different blog though. Life is back to its sweet normality and the experience of Sumatra lives on. Again... loving life.
I decided to wait a couple weeks and let the experience soak in. It was by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and the sites and sounds I was fortunate to experience will surely be with me for the rest of my life. The story starts before I even left... I need to paint the picture of what mindset I was in as I was departing Cambodia. Khmer New Year fell directly during my trip, which was planned. I was at first disappointed I was missing Khmer New Year, but soon enough I was to realize this country is not some place I want to be during such a holiday. I have experienced holidays before in Cambodia... people drink warm beer, play cards, students don't go to school, and any sense of productivity is lost. Cambodians take that to a whole new level during Khmer New Year and it was to a point where I simply did not want to live here. The students at the private class I help at every night stopped coming, the health center staff decided not to work for the most part, and while everyone was out and about doing stuff I was stuck sitting in my room with no one to talk to. People play their Khmer card games which always involve money and not something I even remotely know how to play, and the drinking gets to a despicable level many times. I saw many husbands wasting away drinking their palm wine while their wife is probably home taking care of their 6 hungry children. It was almost a guarantee to spot this behavior anywhere throughout the village and I needed out.
I packed my bags, headed to phnom penh, and before I knew it I was flying away from my troubles with two friends to a tropical paradise. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur and headed straight for the city. It was a surreal experience traveling to this place pretty much on my own accord. I have never planned a trip like this and alot went into it. Busing into the city was a sense of relief and accomplishment as I gazed at Kuala Lumpur's beautiful skyline. With all the planning I did, I didn't really know a whole lot about the city itself and what it had to offer. We decided to find a guesthouse in China Town and stroll the city for the evening. We ate.... get ready... MCDONALDS! While I never really ate there a whole lot in the States, devouring that chicken sandwhich felt pretty damn good and lifted my spirits immediately. It was almost as if my taste buds were awoken for the first time after a long 9 month nap. As we were trying to find our way around the city I noticed how awesome the people were. Everyone was helpful and all I had to do was take my map out and someone was garaunteed to help point us in the right direction. The people were a mix of all cultures. Many many muslims with women dressed in full body garments (some even in burkas) filled the streets. It took me by surprise to see such a heavy influence of muslim culture dominating everything. With that said, it was still a very tourist friendly city and nothing says it better than an Outback Steak House which we filled our guts to capacity at.
I ended up splitting off from everybody else the next day. I went to see the Petronas Towers which are currently the world's tallest twin towers. They are magnificent pieces of architecture that grace the Kuala Lumpur skyline. They are a mix of shinny metalic and glass and I couldn't help but stare in awe for a good hour once directly under their massive shadows. The shape of the building itself has some islamic culture woven into it. The structures were simply impressive and it has been a dream of mine to get as close as possible to them. Next I traveled to the KL Tower which is a good 250 meters into the air. The views were spectacular and I couldn't have asked for a better day to view the city from so high up. Next I bussed to Batu Caves which were stunning beyond words. They sit high up on a mountain and lead into a cavernous chamber that could easily fit a 200-300 foot building. I was taken aback at how large the cave itself was. The echos were awesome and the atmosphere inside is unlike anything else. There were monkeys everywhere, some trying to bite the people as they entered. I steered clear of the monkeys and managed to catch some great pictures. The rest of the day we all spent together, drinking some beer, smoking some hookah (no... not pot), ate Indian food in Little India, and even managed to go to a rock concert held under the twin towers that night. All in all Kuala Lumpur was a success.
The rest of the trip was spent in Sumatra. We flew to Medan early in the am, which was a chaotic mess trying to get to the airport when the sun hadn't even risen. We eventually made it, purchased our visa's and made our way to the bus station. Immediately upon arrival, I noticed how different Medan was from Kuala Lumpur and how absolutely annoyed I was at being there. Kuala Lumpur is like a clean, nice, tropical New York City, but Medan is like taking the worse parts of Phnom Penh and combining it into one big cluster fu@$. There was pretty much no use of the English language which made doing anything in that city very difficult. The traffic is the worse I have ever seen, anywhere in my travels, there are no trees whatsoever, and the tuk tuks are about 1/3 the size of those in phnom penh. Luckily we were leaving the city immediately and about 2 hours later we were on a bus out. Buses in Sumatra are a discussion within itself. First and foremost, people are allowed to smoke on the buses and news flash, everyone in indonesia smokes. I saw people of all ages lighting up in the buses which have very little air flow and are hot as heck. People are crammed as tight as possible and the roads don't help the situation at all, seeing as they are covered with potholes, if paved at all. It took us around 2 hours just to get out of the city simply from the traffic and by the time we got to our destination of Bukit Lawang we simply wanted to eat and sleep.
It didn't take long though for our luck to change because once we stepped off the bus we were smack dab in the middle of one of the most beautiful villages I have ever seen. We made our way to the village from the bus station and I still remember very clearly the view of the village opening up to us for the first time. It is a quaint, very homey village situated on the Bokhour River with huge mountains covered with rainforest on the opposite bank. Bungalows and treetop villas scatter the village side and locals are going about their business with a sense of happiness and calm rarely seen back home. The locals knew how beautiful this place they call home is and it is easily transparent in their body language and personality. The Sumatrans in Medan were cold and not very friendly, but those in Bukit Lawang were anything but. We found our guesthouse and were amazed by what we saw. Our room was a treetop bungalow with an amazing panoramic view of the rainforest on the other side. The rooms were awesome and the bathroom was open aired and very clean. The view offered was stunning and one could take it in even from the shower. The wall in the bathroom was a little higher than our heads which prevented peep shows yet allowed for some spectacular sights. I don't think I have ever had such a good time taking a shit before in my life! That night we went to a party thrown by one of the guesthouses and the local jungle guides and I can't remember ever being in the presence of so many happy individuals. The locals played music with various instruments, sang some awesome songs, had an awesome time conversing with us, and made that one of my favorite memories of the trip. There was this guy Donney who would always swear he was by far the happiest person on Earth. He had never gone to a day of schooling; he simply works as a tour guide for the Orangutan sanctuary and meets new people every single day of his life. I'm sure many of them were high at the time, but I doubt their sense of happiness and peace were fake. I went to sleep smiling that night.
The next day we treked the jungles of the Orangutan sanctuary and saw amazing creatures very close up. It was a real life adventure going up and down huge mountains, climbing over gigantic vines, crossing rivers and streams, and getting as dirty / sweaty as possible. We spent a good 6 hours in that jungle and satisfied all my expectations in the process. The jungle had a huge canopy with trees taller than any I have ever seen. The plants were wild and vines wove their way in and out of everything. We were fortunate to see many different kinds of monkeys. From what I know they were a combination of Thomas Leaf, Mokaks, and Gibbon Monkeys. The real treat were the Orangutans. The first one we saw was mere feet away and resting ontop a tree stump similar to a sitting buddha. I was taken aback at how large these primates are. They have massive and powerful arms and their stature is very impressive. I was in awe at how they can hold themselves up in the trees as they did. The next one we saw was much latter in the trek but was anything but event-less. This Orangutan was a mother with her child and decided to follow us for a good 20 minutes. Every turn we made she decided to take and we could not shake her. The guide was actually worried by this cause she apparently has bitten more people than any other in the park. I think she is up to 25 people at this point. Finally we got rid of her with some threatening gestures and she wallowed away into the dense brush calmly and peacefully.
We ate lunch in this stream on rocks and it was tastier than anything I could have hoped for. We had so many delicious fruits from fresh pineapple to passion fruits. Rice was prepared by the guide's mother which was seasoned, topped with an egg, and wrapped in banana leaves. The whole experience was unreal and afterwards we washed off in the waterfall right beside us. We finished the trek with a rafting trip down the river after a lengthy swim in a deeper section of the river. The water was crystal clear and pretty damn refreshing (I would go as far as to say its much cleaner than the water I drink in Cambodia). The entire rafting trip the jungle towered over us, climbing the steep mountains of the sanctuary. We passed many monkeys along the way and had a blast manouvering through the rapids. We ended the day with a bat cave located a couple Kilos away from the village. The cave had a darkness you can't find many places above ground. It engulfs everything that steps inside and with the tiny flashlight we were given we found our way through the puddles and mountains of rocks all the way to the back where there were bats resting on the ceiling. The trek and cave exploring were exactly what I was looking for in my Sumatran adventure. I was not all about going to the beaches and relaxing on the sand... I can do that in Cambodia! This trip was supposed to be about thrilling exploration and seeing things I can't see anywhere else and Bukit Lawang helped me achieve that feeling, if only for a day or two. That night we were pretty sore from all the climbing and walking so we headed to bed early, but not before I took a nice shit in the open aired bathroom, staring out upon the jungle.
The rest of the trip took place in Lake Toba. I hired a guide to take us around Lake Toba for a 3 day kayaking trip and it was definitely worth every cent. We rode by private car with our guide for about 5 hours through mountains and rainforest. We stopped in Berastagi and got to glimpse two active volcanoes. There were thunderstorms all around and it was cool/misty. The altitude rose to about 2,000 meters so we were no longer suffering from the hot Sumatran heat. The drive was one of the most scenic I have had the pleasure to experience, all along with this german born kayaking guide who kept things interesting the entire time. We arrived at Toba by driving over the huge rim of the volcano. It was storming still so we settled down into our shabby guesthouse with some fried rice and hot tea. The next morning was brilliant and sunny and before we knew it we were out on the water of Lake Toba, basking in the Indonesian sunlight.
A little background as to what Lake Toba is and was. Thousands of years ago, a giant chamber of crap erupted creating the largest volcanic eruption known to Earth. It covered much of Asia in hundreds of feet of ash and covered the Earth in a layer, killing off species and causing population declines in many more. The caldera filled with water and years later, the super volcano erupted again, creating this island in the center of the world's largest volcanic lake. The entire lake is surrounded by high rolling mountains with waterfalls and lush vegetation running down their sides. As soon as we were on the water I started taking photo after photo and found it hard to stop due to its sheer beauty and size.
Now I am no experienced kayaker... actually... I have never kayaked in a boat like this ever. I was under the impression that I was going to capsize fairly easily yet once on the water I found the experience of kayaking very natural. The silence other than the boat slicing through the water or the paddle making its way into the clear deep blue lake was very refreshing and a nice change from barking dogs and crying babies. We went from village to village during our three days at Toba, stopping at places rarely ever seen by tourists. Our guide was basically the first to start the industry of kayaking and white water rafting in Sumatra and he knew his stuff. He was friends with all the hotel owners we stayed with and knew pretty much everything there is to know about life there. I heard many stories about Sumatra in general and several involved the tsunamis of recent past. He has a very unique outlook on how the country was affected by the many disasters to have plagued the country. His wife is the leading news anchor of the major news station in Indonesia and had the chance to cover many of the events that surrounded each disaster. One such story was of this man who learned from an NGO to run if the water recedes after an earthquake. He was told to run to higher ground cause the water is going to return and be much higher than before. During the 2004 earthquake, he ran to the beach to find the water very far from the shore so he went home packed his things, gathered his family, and told his fellow villagers to run to the neighboring hill. The rest ignored him and instead ran to the beach to collect the fish that were stranded. He said as he was running with his family he could hear the thunder of the incoming tsunami yet he couldn't turn around to look out of fear of what he would see. He heard the screams and the crashing of buildings and it wasn't till he was on top of the hill that he turned around to see the entire town under water. He and his family were the only ones to have survived the wave. We learned all about the other tsunamis, the NGO response and the bad it is doing, and many other stories. We had alot of time on the water and in the hotels to talk about pretty much anything we had questions about, which helped alot in understanding the country and where these people are coming from.
The setting of Lake Toba was as serene and unreal as I could have hoped for. Just being on the water, kayaking at my own pace, basically alone surrounded by gigantic mountains was good way to end a vocation I could have only dreamed of a couple years ago. My muscles were sore and my hands were blistered but it was worth every bit of pain and discomfort. The scenery was breathtaking and the experience was something I still find hard to believe I went through.
We ended the kayaking trip on Samosir Island, right across the waters from Parapat and stayed in a pretty swanky hotel. The guesthouses we stayed at during our stay in Toba were pretty run down... and this is me saying that after living in Cambodia for almost a year. We enjoyed the last night to the fullest and headed back to the hell hole of Medan the next day. We decided to go cheap and stay at this shoestring of a hostel. The room literally had 3 beds lined up in a row and that was it. Absolutely nothing else but a little fan sitting on one side of the room. We said to ourselves, we only need it to sleep in and were tired anyways so no biggie... right? Wrong, none of us got any sleep that night due to the noise and the wonderful call to prayer that blasted from the nearby mosque at 4am. We were glad to be leaving the next day and I was actually kind of happy to head back to Cambodia. The trip was a success and before we knew it we were riding a tuk tuk in Phnom Penh reminiscing on the previous adventure.
I returned to site the following day to find Cambodia just as I had left it. The people were still very unmotivated to do anything close to something productive and I still didn't know how to play card games. I sat in my room again, feeling the post-vocation blues, wishing I was somewhere else. It was probably the lowest I have felt since arriving at site. I couldn't work and nobody seemed to want to invite the foreigner with them for whatever they were doing. I am used to being lonely... its a part of being in the Peace Corps. I have gotten used to being happy with myself instead of what friends I have and what my friends think about me. But something about sitting there by myself for a week after Sumatra made me horribly depressed and it is something I don't want to experience again. In America we will always invite the foreign exchange student to do whatever we are doing, simply because we are the new family and what he or she is relying on for the time being. We introduce them to everybody we know and show them around, explaining the culture and lifestyles of America. During my week back from Sumatra I didn't get the sense anybody really wanted me to do anything with them. Everyone was out and about doing their own thing and I was left alone to mope around in my room. And its not just me, many other volunteers experienced the same damn thing. I asked some people why it was so and I got answers ranging from they don't want us to have an accident or they don't want to incovenience us. I think its simply because they wanted to play cards and drink and not have to translate everything from Khmer to English when I dont understand.
O well.... that time period has come and gone. Things are back to normal at site and I am feeling much better than I did right after coming back from Sumatra. I'm back to helping out the private class every night, taught a health lesson at the high school yesterday, am giving many health speaches at the health center, and have gotten back into my routine of eating rice every meal. My mom came which was awesome awesome awesome! Thats for a whole different blog though. Life is back to its sweet normality and the experience of Sumatra lives on. Again... loving life.
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