Shingina

Two weeks ago I got a nasty cut on my leg. I decided to call it shingina for obvious reasons. I thought Id share an update or the life of shingina... 

One upon a time while rock climbing in the beautiful mountains of Lao shingina was born. After a debate of wether to stich her up or not, we came to the conclusion of superglue. 

She was a happy shingina. She was very clean. She had lots of friends as well. 

Some of the bruses were old friends some where new. There were also many mosquito bites and scars shingina could hangout with. 

She has been a good travel companion. She doesn't hurt that much but when she does she'll let me know.

Now that we are at the beach, I have learned shingina does not like the sun. She gets a beautiful flower wrap, it makes her look fancy. 

The other night I noticed that shingina wet the bed. 

This is the most recent picture of shingina 

She is almost all healed up. Wonder if she'll leave a mark! 

Stay tuned for an update on shingina and more adventures. 

Cuzzie love

On the 28th Jagi arrived to Malaysia! We have been staying with our aunt Mellanies friend here on Penang island on the west coast of Malaysia. Mellanies friend Ben and Pat have been so nice to us. They have treated us like family. 

We are staying at Bens moms house in northern Penang outside the city in a town called Butta Finggie (I like to think of butterfinger!). The house is walking distance from the beach! On the first day Jalena and I went to relax on the beach. 45 minutes into our tanning time a hudge rainstorm came. We ended up walking back singing shakra walka walka and dancing in the rain! 

On Bens day off her friend Vendy and Ben took us sightseeing in town. They bought us all the local friut and food to try. They brought us to the new 3D musume where we took thousands of pictures:

 

Ben:

Vendy and I:

Tomorrow we head off to Cameroon highlands! Stay tuned for more adventure!

"Pai bean paaw boh"- do you what to go climbing?

After my wonderful 10 days of traditional Lao living I was ready to get back into the English speeking world. It is a challenge to be somewhere for days without having a real conversation. I only know very basic Lao so after a while it gets pretty lonley. 

I headed down south to a city called Thakhek. Thakhek sits on the Mekong river with Thailand on the other side. 

I stayed here one night then headed 12 km outside of town to Green Climbers Home. 

GCH is a place for rockclimbers to camp and climb! It is surrounded by beautiful limestone cliffs. There are over 100 routes boulted. The furthers route away is 10 minunte walk! 

I met some amazing people here. They weren't the average party backpackers. They were people like myself, wanting to experience the culture, nature, and life of Lao. They were people who cared about the environment, their health, and others. 

My main climbing friends were Noah (American), Thom Thom (English), Angues (Irish), Juile (French) and Chang (Vietnamese). The three boys are mountain guides all over the world. They were very helpful in teaching me how to lead climb (lead climbing is when you are just attached to the harnest and the belayer then you clip your rope into the bolts. Top rope is when the rope is attached to the anchor at the top and you are on one side of the rope and the belayer on the other. Lead climbing is harder because there is a bigger risk of falling further.)

It was inspiring to be in a place were everyone was so enthusiastic about climbing. 

My average day for 3 weeks was 

530am wake up and yoga with Chang 

630 climb 

10 breakfast and rest (swim/read/relax)

12 climb 

3 lunch and rest 

430 climb 

7 slack line/ hula hoop/ frisbee/bad mitten 

8 shower/dinner 

930/11 bed 

I was working on a project (a route that's above my level and takes days/weeks or months to finally nail). The route was called Nok Nok!! Means: cheers. It was a terrible route. It was graded a 6b but the beganing was hard because a chunk of rock fell of making the start a 7a grade. Then the middle part was okay with lots of tufas you have to weave in and out of. Then there was a second crux at the top. It was a small over hanging bit. The bolts were spread out and it was super dangerous if you fell from any point. I don't know why I made this my project but I wanted it more then anything. 

On my last day I was determeined to send it (climb to the top with no rope breaks or falls). I went out with Thom Thom at 6am. I made it to the second crux I had my  left foot placed on a slippery bit but I thought if I pushed hard enough it would hold. I was far above my last bolt and Thom was antisapating my next clip so he had given some slack out (more rope so I could reach the clip). My left foot gave out and I fell. I had a good falling position with my feet up and hands out. My left shin hit the wall just under a tufa sending a hudge chunk of rock down. Thom had to move to doge the rock. I applied pressure to my shin and asked Thom if he was okay and told him there was a big hole in my leg. He lowered me down. We both agreed that the hole was deep enough for stitches. But as we were in the middle of nowhere we decided to put some superglue in it and spray the top with a liquid bandage the pull it together with a butterfly bandage. After we got things sorted with my leg I needed to nail this climb. I immediately went back up and sent the route- this time placing my foot higher and not on the slippery part. 

Pictures from around the camp:

 

The beganing of Nok Nok!!:

My leg after 4 days

Luckily I had a 72 hour bus ride from Lao to Malaysia to elevate and rest my leg. 

I am now on the west coast of Malaysia in a city called George Town. I am waiting here for Jalena to arrive then we will explore Malaysia together! 

Lucky 13

At the beganing of may I stayed with a homestay family for 10 days. Took a local bus and got dropped off in a remote village called Kong lor in Lao. I was walking around looking for somewhere to stay when I stumbled upon house number 13. There were loads of people hanging out outside talking eating mango and laughing. I said saaawa-deee and made a sleeping singal with my hands. The pulled me inside showing me a room and gave me food. 

The view from my front door. 

My three crazy homestay sisters. 

Mai(with the peace sign). Om(in the middle) and Ai(little one on the right). 

I had so much fun with these girls! 

We had a photo shoot one day: 

The parents were tabaco farmers so the girls and I would run around the tabaco fields all day. They had just harvested before I got there. So during my stay I helped them lay out the leaves to dry and then bundle them up. It was quite the process. 

We went fishing, hiking, hula hooped, and played endless games at the local school. Every evening around 4 or 5 we would take a bath in the stream. Everyone from the village would bathe at this time and it was the highlight of my day. It was so much fun splashing around. Even the elderly people would be in the water splashing eachother. I love how playful and fun Lao people are.  

On my last night my family had a basi (traditional Lao party for a family member who is arriving or leaving) for me. They dressed me up in traditional Lao clothes with a beautiful sin (silk wrapping skirt) and a scarf you wear laying on one shoulder. There was a priest who said a bunch of prayers in Lao wishing me good travels. Everyone in the village came with money attached to strings. After the priest talked everyone tied the strings with money around my wrists while they said a prayer. 

It was such an amazing experience to live with a Lao family for 10 days. 

 

Sae Lao Project

For the past month I have been in Vang Vieng at a farm called Sae Lao. Vang Vieng is a popular tourist destination in central Lao. Over the past few years it has become a popular place for travelers to come and go tubing down the nam song river that runs through town. The mission of Sae Lao is to have a place where you can learn about Lao culture and the earth. 

The farm is 8km outside of Vang Vieng in a village called Nathong. 

This is the community center. It has dorms where the volunteers sleep and downstairs is the classroom. 

This was my class

My kids were 13 years old and the most basic English. It was very inspiring to teach these kids because they were very keen to learn. After a full day of school they ride their bikes or walk 1-2 hours to come to Sae Lao. It's really amazing because the kids want to be there and I wanted to as well, so it creates a great environment. The kids all come from farming families but if you ask them what they want to be they will say doctor, lawyer, teacher, nurse, etc. These four students would come to class every day Monday - Friday. This picture was taken on a Monday. Normally only these four kids came to class on Mondays then 6 kids on Tuesday, 8 on Thursday, sometimes by the end of the week Id have 14 kids. Advertising is done all word of mouth so if they like a teacher more show up. I was very suprised at how much I enjoyed teaching. We played games and sang songs. Most of my classes were taught outside running around!

Gardens 

The job I enjoyed was taking care of the Bio Gas. Here is a picture of what biogas is. 

At sae Lao we use the poop from humans and pigs. It is put into that under ground tank. The gas rises and goes through a pipe at the top then to the kitchen stove. The extra waste is spills out into pools. Every 2-3 days we would clean out the shit pools and make compost. You take out the old staw and put it into piles and add new staw to soak up the poo water. 

One of Sae Lao's missions is to have the volunteeres involved with the community. We were always invited to parties in the village and because I was there during New Years (Pi Mai) there were loads of parties (basie's). Basie's were party's to bring good luck to the family. There were many triditions that took place during the basie. A priest had to be present and he conducted the ceremony. After prayers of good wishes the kids would ask the parents for forgiveness for all their wrong doings over the year. Then the parents would tie a string around their wrist say a prayer and tie 3 nots. Then everyone would tie strings around everyone's wrists. Then we would eat and drink Lao Lao (wiskey) and beer Lao. 

During New Years was some of craziest partying iv done! I danced for four days straight! Lao people really know how to party. We would wake up around ten and go to the blue lagoon (2 min walk). 

This picture was taken before New Years. During New Years they had set up a stage and there were so many people. The parking lot turned into a carnival. It is tradition to splash water to wash away the year. You  couldn't move with out someone drenching you with a squirt gun or bucket of water. Another tradition is to throw baby powder- I'm not sure why they do this but it was very fun. After the blue lagoon ended around 6 we would go back to Sae Lao with the hopes of resting and drying off. Nope. More dancing, more water, more beer Lao. One night I went into the village for some more dancing, water and beer Lao. The next night I went into vang vieng to a local dance club called the moon. They had sprinklers pouring water down on us!  When Pi Mai was ended I was happy to be dry again! 

Here are some pictures during Pi Mai:

Me putting on a hula hoop show! I actually got to dance on stage while my friend was singing. Unfortunately we did not get pictures! 

Some selfie's with one of the locals Bo who worked at the blue lagoon. 

After a swim enjoying some more beer Lao! 

I went to a Mong village with my friend Bee. 

 It was a seven hour journey on motorbike through the jungle on a little dirt road. The views were amazing:

I spent six days at the village. There was no electricity, running water or proper bathrooms. It was interesting to experience Mong life! We spent the days fishing, hunting, hiking and helping in the gardens. 

Bees sister just had a baby so there was a celebration/rititual to bring the baby good luck. This rititual took place at night. They had killed a pig and it was laying on the ground in the kitchen. There were candles and rice with eggs in them all over the room. Bees mom, step mom and grandmother sat infront of a table. They wore traditional clothes with black face masks. They were holding bells and shaking while they said a prayer. All the boys lined up behind the women and performed a prayer. The chanted and moved from standing to kneeling to standing to kneeling over and over.

One day we went to the waterfall near his village. 

I left the farm yesterday. I am going to explore southern Lao. Stay tuned for more adventure to come!