All good things have to come to an end

It is my last night in Lao. It is a little surreal that I am flying back to Bangkok tomorrow and then to USA the next day. This has been such a brilliant experience (I realized that I say cool, awesome, and amazing too much so I picked up the Adj brilliant from the brits) It is going to feel wierd paying more than $2 for good meal and $3 for a hotel.Here is an update of what we have done the last couple of days. Yesterday we went on a Wat tour of the city and then Anne and I went to a waterfall in a tuk tuk. It cost $2.50 for the round trip ride that took us 30 km away and we got to see the country. It was pretty funny as all of the kids in each small town waved and yelled hello at us. We passed at least 10 towns and all of the kids did the same thing. I wondered if the government paid the kids to make the tourists feel that special, but it is Lao to make everyone feel good about themselves. They are the kindest people. THe waterfall Kuang Si falls looks like Havasu Pi and Agua Azul in mexico with its blue blue water and limestone falls. As we were swimming it began to down pour. The rain was so warm and the droplets were the size of pennies. We were drenched and all of our stuff was drenched when we got back to the tuk tuk. It was a strenous hike and after we took a warm shower(I think that this sounds weird, they were separate showers and separate beds) Anne and I both fell asleep for 3 hours accidently.Today we went rafting and had a lovely (brittis again) time. The rapids weren't very huge but you couldn't beat the scenery and surroundings. I have fallen in love with Lao. I could see why everyone we meet says that they wish they had more time in Lao. Tonight we went to the night market and again I spent more money than I should ($12) but when are you going to be in Lao again?Well tomorrow we will go see some more Wats and fly out to Bangkok if all goes well.See you soon and mom and dad I will call you on the 31st (mon) around 3pm your time to tell you when my flight is. It is kind of weird to fly standbye and I might be in LA for a day (Let hope not)

Loving Lao

We are in Lao! It is amazing. Last night we stayed in Vietien and we took an 8 hour bus ride to Lam Prabang where we are now. The drive was an adventure in itself. lao has jutting green mountains and skinny skinny roads with sharp cliffs on the side. It reminds me a lot like Ecuador except with less development and people. All we could see were tiny thatched roof villages. But it was entertaining to watch the people as we passed. You got tiny glimpses of peoples lives: children swimming naked in the rivers, men with triangle hats picking rice and plowing the rice paddies, women working in thier kitchens with children in slings on their backs, old men and women talking and laughing together. It was pretty interesting although it was only for 2 seconds as you passed them by, but you could guess if people were suffering or happy by the expressions on their faces.last night we went to a PakIndiThaiLao restaurant. It had food from those four different countries and one chef. The food was excellent and we met the cook who was pakistani. The meal cost $2. I am definately trying to get my fill of Asian food while I can for so cheap.Yesterday we had a little ordeal at the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 830, so we got to the airport at 630. When we got there we found out it was delayed to 1230pm then to 430pm twenty minutes after we checked in. The airline put us up in a hotel and paid for our food. We got to the airport at 3 to catch our flight and found out it was delayed to 630 that night. They bought us drinks to ease our pain. So it was waste of a day especially because it was an hour flight, but if we would have taken the bus it would have been 15 hours so it was alright to wait.I don't know if I wrote to tell you about seeing Uncle Ho (what they call Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi) we got there too late and only saw the moseleum from the outside. we saw the museum of ethnology which was really cool. They had people from the different tribes in Vietnam come and build traditional buildings on the grounds and they were huge and interesting. I can't remember if we have a museum of ethnology in Utah.Well hope you aren't baking too much in Utah

Boating in Halong Bay

We went on an awesome tour of Halong bay (I am still on the tour actually) Halong Bay is a maze of jutting mountains in the calm China Sea. There are 16 of us on this tour: an older German couple (both chemistry professors), a young Spanish couple(scuba instructors and internet cafe owners),and Isreali couple (undergrads), two Brits on holiday, an Aussie, a Canuk (both on a year adventure), and us. We first went on a cave tour which opened up to a huge cavern. Last night watching the sunset on the top of this boat and then talking with these people under the stars was definitely a high light of the trip.Today we went on a trek in the blazing heat and 100% humidity which is always fun. We got to a look out. Then we went kyaking to a beach and went swimming. I was with the guide. I really enjoying talking to the people here in Vietnam. I think meeting people from different walks of life is the best part of traveling. He was 25 and from a small farm. He learned English and became a tour guide. He was shocked when I told him there were 8 kids in our family because the law in Vietnam is one or two ( more than that you have to pay) We then kyaked to a fish farm and I had to balance across 2x4" passing over the fish and shark cages in order to get back to the boat (it was pretty intense.)We go back to Hanoi tomorrow. I hope everybody is doing alright. We have about a week left (2 days in Hanoi and the rest in Lao.)So i will see you soon

Ninh Binh, Hanoi and awesome trains

Trains are awesome! We took the overnight train to Hanoi (kind of we got off at Ninh Binh to see the city) We had to split up to get on the train. I went bymyself while the other three went in a car with 3 vietnamese women. I was in a car with an Austrailian couple, 1 guy from Chicago, and 2 girls from quebec. I think that I got the better deal by being by myself. I had a great time talking with these people. The two guys were talking and found out that they both got scammed out of $8 and their vietnamese-english dictionaries by the same guy. It was pretty funny. I wondered what that guy was going to do with so many dictionaries that he scams off people. I slept on the top bunk and the "hard beds" were actually thin, but comfortable mattresses. I had a hard time sleeping even though it was comfortable. My mind wouldn't shut off; I kept thinking about how different Vietnam is, what makes someone happy, and what I need to do in my life. Life of PI was on a boat, life of scott was on a midnight train to Hanoi.We decided to get off early in the city of Ninh Binh. We took another motorcycle tour to these cool mountains jutting out of the rice patties. We climbed a mountain to look out over the valley. We then took a bout tour of the river with an old married couple (they were like 50!) They were so funny and kept asking me when I was going to get married to Anne. I can't tell you how many times people have said that! We had a great time joking around in their broken english and my broken Vietnamese (which consists of reading out of a phrase book.) We had a great time. They trapped us though, while we were in the boat they sold us handicrafts for $2. I felt guilty and got some more stuff for mom and dad's house.We took a bus to Hanoi. A 25 year old kid sat next to me. We talked for a while and he invited us to come to his house 30 km out of Hanoi. I declined but he was very nice. Tonight we went to a water puppet show. It was amazing.They used fire works under water, traditional music, and awesome wood puppets. I felt underdressed it was such a cool event.Well hope everyone is good. Tomorrow we go for a 3 day boat tour in Halong Bay. were sleeping on the boat, So no emails for a while.

Things before the Night Train to Hanoi

I wanted to add a couple of things about our cool tour yesterday. At one ofthe buddhist pagodas, we waw the tomb of a monk that burned himself to protestthe south vietnam government that was killing people that wouldn�t convert toChristianity in the 1960�s. It had the picture of him meditating while he wasburned alive and his car.At another pagoda, we watched the monks chant their evening prayers. Theywere in a monestary where the monks say around 50 words to each other a day atmost. Then they come together and they sing loud together. The boy monksdidn�t have their whole heads shaved but they left two pony tails and theirbangs. They graduate, as our motorcycle guide put it �coconut� head (shaved)when they become 20. As the older monks chanted, the little boy monks playedsoccer.Today we took motorcycles to the beach 25km away. We had the beachpractically to ourselves. It was great. Many local people stopped and talkedwith us, even though we didn�t buy anything from them. The people are sofriendly and try to emphasize that they don�t have any hard feelings towardsamericans. They like them, but they think that French people are rude. It ispretty funny. I tried to convince them that not all of the french are bad, butthey wouldn�t believe me.Now we are getting on a night train from Hue to Hanoi. The only bed�s leftwere �hard beds� so i probably won�t sleep too much tonight. We�ll see.Mom and Dad, Paul emailed me that you were planning a vacation August 1-4. Iwould be happy to go as long as we left Aug 2 and came back Aug 4 during theday so I could be back for Deppe�s wedding reception that night. I will havesome wicked jetlag because I get back the day before so I hope you don�t mindif Paul does all of the driving. Paul and I are then planning to visit Karenon the Aug 6. So I guess I will have a summer of trips away from home

Motorcycles and Hue Vietnam

Yesterday we went on a tour of the My Son ruins. It was a holy spot for the Cham people and they would come to worship there twice a year. They are a matriarcal society that now lives in southern vietnam. When they are going to get married, a girl has a party with all of the single men and then she picks the one that she wants. And they go down the list until one of the guys agrees. The women make all of the governing decisions and the guys stay home with the kids. It was bombed heavily by the U.S. during the war because the Viet Cong were hiding there. our guide told us that the Viet Cong found the US troops there because they had stepped on a mimosa plant which fold in on itself when disturbed. So by the plants they could tell the location of the US troops. We then went to the beach and had a great time.Today we went north to Hue which used to be the capital of Vietnam. We took an awesome tour of the city on motorcylces. We saw the tombs of past kings and rice paddies and a bridge that was built in 1776 and the wood is still in great shape. We also went to Bunker Hill and we saw hamburger hill from a distance. They dont let people go there because there are still tons of land mines. We had an awesome day. I think that everybody should see Vietnam on the back of a motorcycle. We will be in Hue for the next two days. It is interesting to see lots of old women and not very many old men because of the war. hope that everybody is happy. It sounds like it is hot in Utah.

Good Morning Vietnam

This morning I woke up in Nam. Yesterday we went to Saigon for the day during our lay over. It was a cool place. It felt kind of weird though to take pictures in front of tanks that probably killed American soldiers. We went to the reunification palace, the Notre Dame of Saigon (10% of Vietnam is catholic), a chinese pagoda, and a hindu temple. I figured we hit a site for Atheists, Christians, Buddhists and Hindu. We only missed a mosque.It was quite strange as we were in the airport we watched a Vietnamese live version of the smurfs. It was quite funny even though we couldn't understand anything. Another funny thing is that waiting in line is not part of the Vietnamese culture. It was kind of funny and frustrating trying to get on the airplane:people in a huge group funneling through one by one as they took our tickets. People elbowing and "butting" in front of us (they didn't mean to be rude but it was hard for us.)We went to Danang last night and stayed in a hotel along the river. We took a taxi to the marbel mountain and saw these cool shrines that they had in the caves. In one cave, the incents would not float out and it looked ghost like.We then got to Hoi An where we are now. We ate lunch at this restaurant where this woman kept showing us how to eat our food, say thank you, feed us, and then washed our faces. She treated us like babies but it was very amusing. The food is amazing and it was all you could eat for $3. I of course over ate. We are going to the ruins of My Son tomorrow and to the beach. I also splurged and got custom made shoes for $15. I felt kind of weird as they measured my feet. I pick them up tomorrow. So we'll see if it was a good investment or not.Vietnam is a very interesting place. I feel guilty being an American even though they have no hard feelings on the outside towards us. But it is interesting to see men Dad's age and think that they were probably Viet Cong soldiers. This is my first time in a communist countries, but it seems like Vietnam is doing pretty well. I guess after Cambodia that most countries would seem more developed. We were discussing that it is probably weird for Dad and his generation that I would be here on vacation. It would be as if my kids ever went to Iraq! Crazy

Phnom Penh

A quick update:The day before yesterday, as we were in Angkor Wat, we were at a temple called Ta Phrom which is a huge temple that has been overrun by the jungle. the french, who rediscovered Angkor Wat, wanted to show how the temples looked when the found them. Nevertheless, this temple was one of my favorites. It had huge trees growing on top of the walls. It started to downpour and we had to take shelter in the temple along with all of the other tourists. We met some girls from Canada. They are traveling for a year in Asia. I thought that would be pretty cool, except it probably would get too frustrating for me to not have a purpose but to sight see for a year. They of course asked us what we were doing. And when they found out we were from Utah, they asked if we were mormon. I guess one of them went to the temple viewing before it was dedicated in their city and had some questions about baptism for the dead and sealings. So we had our conversation about the temple inside a different temple.Yesterday we took a bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh which was great. We got to see the countryside. On the main highway, people drive motorcycles going 20 miles an hour with 3 to 4 people on them, or chickens or pigs. We had to swerve around them. There were also horse drawn carriages hauling wood. It was a strange contrast to see, however, when we got to Phnom Penh the shacks and the new high rise condos in the city. When we got off the bus, there were 20-30 tuk tuk drivers all fighting for our business. I felt like a fish on the deck full of seagulls. A couple of them would stick with you the whole time as you walked around looking for your back and kept asking for your business. Luckily, our tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap called his friend to come pick us up. We then went to the market. I bought a watch that definitely is the style of a man's watch but has I love you blinking on the screen with the time for a couple of bucks. Now that I look at it I think it was stolen. The market was huge. Anne and I decided to find our way back to our hostel by walking. It was pretty fun and quite the adventure. There are tons of cars and no street lights. To cross the street, you have to walk into the road and the cars swerve or stop for you.We are off to see the killing fields, the kings palace, and the silver pagoda so I will write later.Scott

Phnom Penh 2

This email is a little graphic. If you have a weak stomache than skip thefirst paragraphYesterday in the morning we went to the killing fields where more than 9000bodies were found of men, women and children. They had a memorial of a hugetower of skulls of the people that had died there. It was very sad. Becausethe regime was poor, they didn�t use bullets, but they used hammers,bayonettes, and stones (violent deaths.) They had a tree with a microphonethat would amplify their moans when they were being killed in order toencourage them to be quiet. They also had a tree where they would take thebabies from their mothers and bash their heads against the tree to kill them.Or they would throw the children up in the air and stab them with theirbayonettes. They would do this all in front of their mothers. We went to ahigh school turned prison by the regime. Their were hundreds of pictures ofmen, women and children that were killed their. They would kill the familiesin order to make sure they didn�t come back for revenge. 14,000 people wereheld their but only 7 made it out alive. We walked through the class roomsmade into cells and saw pictures of what they found when they liberated theprison: people being tortured in terrible ways. They also had personal storiesabout people who were in the Khmer Rouge to show that they were people too.We then went to the king�s palace and the silver pagoda. They had a life sizegold statue with over 9000 diamonds. Some of them were over 25 carats. It wasquite impressive. We are off to Vietnam right now to spend the day in Saigonand then we are going to be in Danang tonight.

Hello From Cambodia

Well, We are in the incredible country of Cambodia. The people here arevery happy and kind on the outside. I don't know if it is because I am tourist and they want to get my money, but they seem very sincere. The last couple of days we have been going to Angkor Wat and the temples around. We hired a tuk-tuk for the four of us. Our driver is a guy named Sane.I asked him a couple of questions about himself and he was a little taken back because tourists usually just tell him where to go. he is 26 and the sixth child of 10 of a farming family in a small community. He moved to Siem Reap with another brother and sister. I asked him how many kids he had and he said a surprised no. he said that to get married it costs $2000 to buy a woman from her family. He usually only makes $200 a month. he said that he is saving his money though to go to school. His situation is better though. He used to work in a factory in Phnom Pehn and only made $70 a month working 6 days a week. I told him that to get married in the US it costs around $2000 just in dating fees also.Angkor Wat is incredible. It is the largest religious structure in the world and one of the 7 wonders of the world. American classic movies like Tomb Raider have been filmed here. A lot of the temples have 20 foot faces of former kings in them. One of them had 216 faces of the king (to show that big brother is always watching) The temple complex was built from the 2nd century to the 14th. You will need to look this up on the internet.There are tons of kids with excellent english skills here. The majority of the people here in this town speak English incredibly well. Yesterday we went to lunch right before a huge downpour. A group of children trying to sell bracelets and postcards and books learned our names and gave us papers about them so that we would buy their things. We went to eat and told them that we would think about it. There was a huge down pour while we were eating. The 15 year old girls working in the restaurant had a huge waterfight in the back in the rain. It was pretty funny to watch. When we had finished eating we thought that the rain had gotten rid of the kids. We were wrong. We tried to get in our motorcycle taxi and they ran up to us. They tried every trick in the books to get us to buy their things and then resulted to guilt by telling us that we had promised to buy and that we were liars. I felt bad because I knew what it felt like to be rejected in the mission so many times and these were only kids. I ended up buying a copied book today from one. I am a sucker.We will be in Siem Reap today and tomorrow. We then go to Phnom Penh and fly to Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) on the 15th while we have a layover and then go to Danang Vietnam.

Beaching it.

I have been a slacker and haven't written so I apologize if I freaked you out parents. Anyways last weekend we were in Cha Am and stayed on the beach. And that is all I can say because it was relaxing. We came back to Bangkok sunday afternoon. We went and saw the golden palace(former home of the king), Wat Phraw Kao which holds an emerald Buddha about 2 feet tall, and Wat Arun. We then were walking to find a place to eat when it started downpouring. We went to an indian restaurant down an alley way that was recommended by the travel book. It was some of the best Indian food that I ever had and cheapest.The next monday we learned about malaria and dengue vectors again. We saw how they test insecticides including the citronella smoke which actually works! It was pretty cool. We then took off that afternoon to go buy our plane tickets for the other places we are going. MOM HERE IS OUR ITENERY Tomorrow we leave for cambodia and will be in Angor Wat for 3 days and in Pnom Phen for a day. We then go to Vietnam (Danang) for 4 days and then we go to the beaches of Hue we then go to Hanoi and fly to Lampabrang in Laos July 26. And come back to Bangkok July 30 . The flights are definite. And the plans are pretty set in stone. I don'[t have my calendar to give you the exact dates but this should tie you over for right now.Tuesday of last week, we learned about the AIDS vaccine trials that are taking place in Thailand. It is under stage 2 in people in some of the provinces here in Thailand so maybe within the next 10 years it might be out for the public. The people were afraid of it at first (it doesn't have a live virus) but with T hailands infrastructure and HIV dense population it was the best place for the world to put it to the test. We also learned more about Dengue and it's vaccine. I am having a brain fart and can't remember the other things we did on Tues or Wed.The last couple of days we went to Ko Sumet. It is an island off the southern coast. It had white sandy beaches and it was great. My watch didn't survive the wave unfortunately So I have to look for one from the venders here. I also got pretty fried.Well next time I write I will be in Cambodia

Female Buddhist Monk and TB Hospital

I hope everyone is happy in their nooks in the world You are probably getting sick of my emails but here is the next one whether you like it or not. We are in the beach town of Sa-am which is only about 3 hours from Bangkok. It rained a little today and the waves aren't that great but it is nice to be able to relax a little from the schedule that we have had lately. We just went to a restaurant where a woman was singing Karen Carpenter and John Denver songs. It has a different feel when it is in a Thai accent and L's sound like R's; other than that she sounded pretty good.Yesterday we went to the Chest Disease hospital and met with the smartest man that I probably have ever met. He treated the doctor that was the first doctor to treat SARS and is important in the control of the avian flu. It sounds pretty scary this bird flu. they estimate 300 million deaths if it ever turns into a pandemic becuase it kills over 1/3 of the patients with the disease. At least I will probably be working in the hospital then and exposed to the patients with the disease at that point and won't miss all of the excitement. He then took us to see patients and tested our clinical skills (which I don't really have after one year of medicine). We saw HIV patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia which you don't see in the states because of the availibility of antiretroviral drugs. A rare case of fibrocystic lung from scleroderma. And a man who has to get a lung removed because of tuberculosis that had ruptured one of his lungs. It was pretty sad, but he will feel much better after he gets it out.That night we went to Siam Center which was a fancy mall in Bangkok. They had all of the stores of an upclass new york department store: Armani, Ferarri, Lamborgini, etc. We then took Tuk-tuks (motorcyce rickshaws) to the golden palace in bangkok. It was pretty intense as they raced through traffic, cut off cars and weaved to get in infront of the first line of cars at the stop light. Definitely an awesome way to experience Bangkok.This morning we went and saw the only ordained female monk in Thailand. She was ordained in Sri Lanka because they aren't allowed to be ordained in Thailand because of tradition. It was interesting because she was a mother to 3 kids and a grandmother of 1. She was also a TV reporter back in the day. When her kids were grown she left and became a monk which means denying yourself of all attatchments like family. They come and visit now and again, but she isn't as involved in their lives as a normal Thai grandma. She has two ladies studying under her at the monestary. She was very intelligent. She had a PhD in philosophy and religion from a university in canada. It was interesting because we were able to ask her very frank questions. She said that she believes in providence meaning that things always work out in the end. She said that she didn't know if it was God or not (buddhists don't profess to believe in diety.) But she felt that providence, karma, and/ or God was helping her do her work. When asked about Buddhist philosophy about the beginning of the world such as evolution or creation she said "Why ask questions about things that we will never be able to prove either way. The solution will not change how you live your life. Focus on what is happening now and fix what you can." They said that their focus is about fixing yourself through medition and work.Interesting philosophies, and I think that the middle road concept is a good idea and would think that it could help the obesity problem in our country.Well I will probably write again next week. Scott

AIDS Hospice

Today we went to a Buddhist temple in Lompamburi that also serves as an AIDS hospice run by monks and staff. Some people come because they can't pay for AIDS medications, others come because their communities reject them, and some people are left by their relatives at the doorstep and never return. It is a really beautiful but emotionally hard place. We went and talked to people with severe stages of AIDS. Most of them couldn't speak. You could see their bones through their skin, Koposi's sarcomas on their skin, and many lost bowl control. One man was trying to drink soda pop for some nourishment and kept throwing up and they had a hard time getting him to keep from wasting away. Another 16 year old girl was mentally retarded and got AIDS from the man who raped her. She was crying in pain unconsolably. It was so hard to see.We talked to a 29 year old woman who got married to a man when she was 15. The man had slept around before they got married and had AIDS though nobody knew about it. He cheated on her again and they divorced leaving her with AIDS and a child. When she got sick, her exhusband's family took away her son (which she doesn't know if he has AIDS because they haven't let her see him for the last 5 years). Her family took away all of her belongings and told her that they wanted her to die. They wouldn't take care of her when she got sick and told her that she was only a burden. The people in her town tell her that she is ugly and hold their hands infront of their mouths as they pass her because they dont want to "catch" AIDS. She is incredibly skinny with the weight that she lost and she is too far gone to take antiretrovirals. All she can do is wait for death. She said living in the hospice is good because everyone accepts everyone and helps each other. They have become each others family. She says it also scares her to death as she sees people in worse conditions than her and people die because she knows that she will have to pass through the same conditions. It was quite hardWe talked to multiple people with similar stories. All said that they wouldn't go back to their homes even if they could because of the rejection they felt. They said the hospital was their family. They helped with everyone in the "hospital" and the children's hospice. They said they lost a 4 year old last month and that this year they had lost 11 people so far. 11 of their friends and "family" who they watched suffer with the same fate that they would face.We went to a buddha statue that had thousands of bags of ashes of cremated bodies that their families wouldn't come get to bury. I lost it there. It was so hard to see so many people who had to die whose family had rejected them to the point that they wouldn't even collect th eir remains. Many people would say that AIDS is their fault because they had sex, they took drugs, it was karma or God's curse on these activities. They are people not sins

AIDS Hospice2 and Chinese medicine hospital

My card ran out yesterday so here is some more updates.Anyways at the AIDS hospice they had sculptures made out of the bone fragments of AIDS patients which was a little disturbing, they then had body parts in formaldehyde of AIDS patients which was pretty disturbing, and then they had a different museum with naked stuffed bodies of AIDS patients with their pictures when they were alive which was very disturbing. Especially it was weird to see the ones that had sex change operations.That same day we went to some cool ruins that had hundreds of monkeys running all over. I felt like I was in a Indiana Jones movie. The monkeys were pretty funny until they would jump on you. They were a lot calmer than i thought that they would be though. They jumped on one girl in our group and wouldn't let go of her hair. Another girl was wearing a skirt and the monkeys would grab on the edges. I had one or two jump up on me. They didn't bite, but it was a little unnerving. there were tons of baby monkeys too. It was pretty cool.Today we went to the traditional chinese medicine hospital. It makes you look at alternative medicine in a different light when it is in a place that was as professional, hospital smelling, and with doctors rushing around with too many patients for the time they had. It was interesting we saw acupuncture with the burning incents on top of the pins, herbal pharmacy with over 500 medicines including gecko on a stick and antelope horn, cupping where they burn a match and create a negative pressure in a cup which pulls up the skin into the cups, and of course massage. these doctors would see over 100 patients in less than 6 hours. We also got some acupuncture done. I was healthy so they just put the pins in my arm. However, some students wanted to try to fix their ailments one girl had pins in her head for dizziness (it only ended up giving her a headache) Another guy had a bad back and they did a rolling needle device which punctured his skin and then put the cups on his back. it sucked the "bad blood' out and gave him a hicky on his back that will last a couple of days and he said that he actually felt worse. some of the patients we talked to swore that acupuncture had helped them incredibly. One woman who had suffered stroke said that it had stimulated her nerves in way that she was able to walk again. Another lady who was in for treatment of arm weakness said that it had given her a lot more strength and the herbal medication actually turned her white hair back again. It was interesting lecture that we had also about the Yin and Yang of the body and the universe. it makes you wonder and there probably is a place for it in medicine, but i think there probably needs to be a lot of research done.we also went to the slums of bangkok today where in one slum 100,000 people live. we visited an NGO that is working with the people to help schools, community projects, and housing rights for the people. they also do AIDS and drug campaigns to help the people. i just could n't believe that there were that many people living in make shift housing in the swamp lands. The tin roof houses were right next to each other, garbage was everywhere, and the water underneath the houses smelled terrible. with the polution of bangkok and close living conditions made it a huge problem for tuberculosis and respiratory problems, and dengue fever.

Burma and Refugee Camp

Yesterday we went to the market at the border of Burma and Thailand. One of the guys in our group had to renew his visa so he was going to cross. The people at the Thai customs said that there really wasn't anything to see and was $12 to cross. We were debating on whether to cross the bridge over the river that separates the two countries. I figured that I probably would regret for the rest of my life if I passed up this opportunity so I went which I am glad that I did. Borders are so crazy: even though we were only a hundred yards from Thailand, the people looked different, they dressed differently, they spoke a different language, they used a different alphabet(if you can call it that), their temples and buddha looked different, and they even had a different attitude than the people in Thailand. They were more out spoken (kind and respectful but more aggresive for business). Some of the women and children had their faces painted white, and the men and women wear surrongs(spelling?) We got over there and saw one of the temples which their buddha looks for feminine than the Thai buddha and has a dot on his forehead(Indian like). I forgot to mention that when we got to the border, the Myanmar border control took our passports and $10, so we were traveling around without our passports which made me feel uneasy. They did this because they only allowed us one day into Myanmar and figured that this is the best way to keep us out of their country. As we were wandering around, I could help from feeling overwhelmed to think that these people had a tyranic government that only took advantage of them and caused fear and I was there as a tourist. It was no wonder that people were crossing the border illegally through innertube taxis on the river below the bridge. I know that with all of the horrible things about the government in Myanmar, I still feel intrigued about the country and wanted to spend more time.After Burma, we went to a national park and say a huge waterfall in the same style as Havasue Pai (limestone and red mud cascade.) It was a blast. It was great to see the country like this. We stopped and took pictures in this guys rice paddies. I think that rice paddies are incredibly beautiful the way that they form different evelated layers of lakes of bright green rice plants. Maybe it is because they are so different than anything that I have ever seen.Today we went and watched how they spray homes for mosquitos. We went to an old woman's house that had walls of criss crossed palm leaves for walls on three sides of the house, an open side facing her crops and a roof made from shingle like arrangements of stacked leaves. They used to use DDT to spray the homes until 1998, but now the use less effective sprays to not hurt the environment. Many people debate whether or not they should use DDT because if they don't spray the crops and only spray the homes, there would be more insect repellant coverage for the humans and less exposure to the environment (less soft shelled song bird eggs) Many people can't understand how the government will protect animals while their children are dying from malaria. It is an interesting debate. After watching the spraying, we went to a muslim neighbor hood in Mae Sod with an entomoligist to look for mosquito larvae in standing water pools. We found tons of larvae in old tires, water pitchers that they catch rainwater for drinking, and pets dishes. The mosquitos that lay eggs in man made containers cause Dengue fever while the mosquitos that cause malaria only lay eggs in mud and the natural environment.After this we went for a drive around the refugee camps. We couldn't go in because there is a huge load of paper work and security that goes involve in order to protect the refugees from the Burmese government spies and possible people trying to hurt them. The camp itself is huge and looks more like a city of thatched roofs. It was very clean and looked like a great place to live from the outside. As we drove passed the barbed wire fences, we waved to waved to the men, women, and children and they enthusiastically waved back. They seemed very happy. We saw groups of kids playing soccer and the camp was bordered by a jungle and steep cliffs so it seemed like the people could use the land to grow food. I thought that the security and the money of the camp along with natural resources were a lot better than the harrassment of the Burmese army, relocating every 3 months, and sicknesses that they had to experience while in Myanmar. This is only an outside perspective and it would be very interesting to hear what the people had to say. This camp has been around for over a decade. With the situation in Myanmar it is interesting that we don't hear about it anymore. I guess Iraq, Iran, and Afganistan have pretty horrible situations too.

Burma border

Right now I am at an internet caf� across the street from a bar where a Thaiman is singing Jimmy Buffet songs. This town that I am in now is probably thecoolest and craziest place I have seen yet. There are no tourists. The onlywhite people are the aid workers from the various NGO's in the area helpingthe Burmese refugees. Today as I walked through the market. I was prettyovercome by the different smells and sights of Asia. I say Asia because thereare Thai's, Burmese, Indians, Bangladeshians, and Chinese from what I can tellfrom the faces and the clothing. Many people have their faces painted withwhite mud to protect them evil spirits. The streets are narrow with vendersselling chickens (live and dead that have been sitting out for days),cockroaches, snakes, frogs (fried and hopping) and tons of fish of anincredible variety. I could sit and watch these people for hours. I havelearned to ask simple direction and barter in Thai, but I don't understandwhat they say back and it is pretty funny. To tell you about my weekYesterday we were in Lampang. We learned about occupational health here inThailand and saw a couple of factories and the working conditions of theartisans who make the things you see in the market. It was pretty crazy.They had a stone lathe that would cut these stone bowls. They were outsideand had the craziest electrical system that I have ever seen.We are in Mae Sot which is on the border with Burma (Myanmar for all of youwho agree with the current dictatorship about how "Burma" represents theEnglish colony.) Today was one of the best days because we got to meet someincredible people. We met a lady who left Burma in 1988 because thegovernment was killing all of the people and students who wanted democracy.She came to the border and started a clinic to help the refugees and migrantworkers. Now the clinic has grown to have 40 inpatient beds, an operatingroom (very rustic), a delivery room and pediatric clinic. It was awesome.She also started a school to help the Burmese illegal immigrants on theborder. The immigration situation is very interesting in Thailand. First ofall they don't allow any person who isn't Thai become a citizen. Companiesthat employ foreign workers have to pay higher health insurance for theseworkers (to encourage them to higher Thais) but it evens out because they paythem a lot less. This way it doesn't strain the Thai's health system. Itisn't a bad idea. They also had a prosthetics clinic to help all of thepeople who lost limbs from land mines. The people that were making theprosthetics had wooden limbs themselves. It was great to see that people whohad fake limbs make and train other who suffered from the same situation.There were a couple of fourth year medical students from Europe doingrotations in this clinic. Maybe I will get to come back also.We then went to an organization that trains backpack medics that go into Burmato treat the people that are being neglected and discriminated by thegovernment. The Burmese government forces these indigenous people into forcedlabor, routine raping of the women, and burns their food sources to keep themfrom "becoming a possible threat." It is terrible. The World HealthOrganization ranked Burma's health situation next to last in the world. Themultiple tribes of people have to relocate their towns 3 times a year in orderto keep from becoming slaves to their government. They aren't a threat, onlyan easy target. This organization trains backpack medics which are peoplefrom these villages to bring medicines, teach health practices, and helpdeliver babies. They said that in the last 3 years that they have had 8 oftheir backpack medics killed. They usually die by either by the army shootingthem down or by the many landmines that are through out Burma. It is aterrible situation. These groups of medics haul 220 pounds of medicalsupplies through the mountains of Burma looking to help the people. One ofthe tribes by the way are the Karen's, no joke. It isn't pronounced the sameway, but it is interesting. It was incredible how organized this group wasand the records that they kept. I think that it would be interesting to doresearch with this group about the diseases of oppression.

Diarrhea in a monks squatting toilet

We went to Chaing Dao in the northern part of Thailand for the last couple of days. There is tons of AIDS cases here 1000 and there are only 70,000 people.We went with the hospital education committee to a buddhist temple to teach the community about AIDS, give free tests and talk about tuberculosis. It was great because the whole town came out and we kneeled in the temple and talked.I had my traditional traveler's diarrhea for the trip and it had to hit me with in the middle of this talk. I had to go ask the monks in the wat to use thier toilet. It turns out that you have to squat on the toilet in order to go. I thought that it was going to be awful that my legs would go numb. However, maybe it was the pain was relieved or the monks chanting in the background, but I felt very relaxed and I think that it might be the way to go. I got back to the talk and enjoyed the rest of the night. It has been plain rice and coke for me for the last couple of daysThe next day we talked to the director of the hospital who talked about the situation with AIDS in the community. He talked about how they are solving AIDS with the volunteer health workers and the free once a year tests or you can get one at the hospital. Thailand has started makin thier own antivirals to treat AIDS and treatment is only about twenty bucks a month in comparison to the $2000 in the US a month. They use US antiretrovirals after they show drug resistance to the Thai drugs. We also went on a tour of the hospital where we got to see the dentists office. Their was a monk getting work done by a woman, which is pretty ironic because women aren't allowed to touch them.We asked why she could do this, the dentist said that he had no choice. Most dentist in Thailand are women.We then went to the AIDS orphanage where we met the Thai catholic nun who takes care of over 50 kids whose parents died of AIDS. Families usually take care of the orphans however, because of the cost of AIDS medications they can't afford to have the kids. So they leave them at the orphanage. Sometimes ,for some strange reason, the kids after recieving care don't present with the AIDS virus after a couple of months. They are then adopted by foreign families. Unfortunately this is pretty rare, and they usually take antivirals for the rest of their lives. They lost a 6 year old last month. The nun was still very distraught because of it and she kept asking if we heard about new drugs and our opinion about antivirals on the market. We then went to see the kids at school. These kids because of the stigmas of AIDS have to go to their own school. It was great to see them that they are as hyper as regular kids and were very happy. They are kind of aware of their disease because they have education about their disease since they are 4 years old. Many of these kids go on to get degrees.We went to the elephant hospital today. And we went on another elephant ride and saw another elephant show. THis was a show of elephants not able to work any more. They also had paper for sale made out of elephant dung.We are now in the city of Lam Pang for all of you Thail geography wizardsI'll update you later

Thai massages are not for the unflexible

ON Friday we went to the department of traditional medicine and learned a little about herbs and even put together an aroma therapy ball. They then gave us 30min massages that cost around $5. It was part of the experience so I had to pay. In Thai massage they massage along the "energy lines" of your body which turns out to be your major nerves. It actually is pretty painful. The lady who was giving me my massage was laughing the whole time as was I for a couple of reasons. First of all I am very tickelish on my feet, thighs and armpits, I couldn't stop laughing. Second of all, I cant touch my toes so when she tried to stretch me out, my whole body would move. It was quite a sight and other massage therapists came over and were laughing at me too. I don't think that I will ever get one again, although it did relax me quite a bit.That night we went to Pat Pong which is the "high class" red light district at a bar. They had great Pad Thai. They had a midnight market and went shopping. Some people in our group went to a show where a woman would shoot a ping pong ball and darts that would pop balloons out of her woman parts.(This is I guess famous tourist attraction, most people say they are throughly disgusted). I felt that would be way too traumatizing to see and would probably prevent me from getting married, so I opted out with a group of other students. While we were waiting at an outdoor table, this drunk 70 year old woman kissed her hand and than put on my cheek. I just laughed. 5 minutes later she rested her head on my shoulder and puckered her lips for about 2 minutes. We laughed so hard, and got some funny pictures. That night a group of us went to the clubs in Bangkok and had a great time. They were probably the poshist clubs I had ever been to and most crowded. However, it was really safe; I thought that I would have to hold onto my wallet and camera(which I did) but with all of those people around us, no one tried to pick pocket any of us.Early the next morning, we took a flight to northern Thailand to Chang Mai. It is a really friendly city and we are staying in a great hotel in front of the midnight market. We went to a bunch of shops of teak, jewelry, and silk all of things that were out of my price range and so I sat while other people shopped. We then went to a Hmong village on top of the mountain surrounding the city. There were a bunch of naked kids running around and some traditional shops. It had an incredible view of the valley.We then went to a Buddhist temple, Dai Suchet which was on the base of a cliff. When we got there, there were a bunch of monks chanting and it was getting dark. One of the monks gave me a blessing. He chanted prayers and sprinkled water on me. He also tied a string around my wrist for good luck. I then used these prayer sticks to tell my fortune, and I guess the blessing worked because my fortune came out that I would have fortune in life and love in the future and just be patient. I am bringing this fortune home for mom.Today we went to the elephant park. It was awesome! We went for a 30 min elephant ride which was pretty intense. They aren't as smooth as horses. They are the coolest animals. They had around 40 elephants at this place. It wasn't a zoo with them in cages, they were roaming around. They had a show where they had taught the elephants to play soccer, play harmonicas, and paint pictures that were actually really good. They painted trees, flowers, and even a picture of an elephant. It was incredible that they had that kind of dexterity with their trunks. The paintings were being sold at $50 and up (which is the Guiness Book World record of most expensive paintings painted by an elephant)We also went to an orchid farm. All of the flowers have to be hanging in the air with water underneath. THe roots don't reach the water, they absorb nutrients and water in the air.Well, I have to go eat again. The food here is too good. Eating is one of the best parts of the trip.

Leprosy and dermatology Hospital

Today we spent the day at the leprosy hospital in Bangkok. We had clinical lectures about how to prevent, diagnose, treatment, and side affects of drugs for leprosy. It was interesting because they skipped leprosy in my microbiology class because there were only 10 cases in the US last year (they were from armadillos in Texas!!) However, there were over 400,000 people who were diagnosed in the world last year (mostly India, Brazil, and Africa.)I always thought that leprosy was painful because of the sores that they had. Most of the sores are painless. When it actually causes nerve damage, which keeps people from injuring themselves, tissues die without the nerve signals and falls off, and they get infections.It is an awful disease. Mostly because of the social stigma associated with it. the people and thier families were ostericized from the community and know live in slums and apartments within the hospital compound. Their children in the past weren't allowed to attend school with other children. It was hard to see people with amputations everywhere, but they were happy.Leprosy only infects 5% of people who are exposed (if you are exposed constantly like in a family house, you are more likely to come down with disease) and only with people with specific genetic characteristics and are immune compromised. It usually affects children and takes years to develop. There are other skin conditions that you develop in the tropics that are pretty awful if you have a bad immune system. Which is pretty bad if you have AIDS. AIDS is the number one killer in Thailand.I know this is off topic but I wanted to write this down because I ran out of time yesterday. We went to a maternal health hospital and we learned some interesting things about Thailand. One of the things that I thought was different was that Thais don't beleive in adoption or abortion. If a girl doesn't want her child, there is usually an aunt, cousin, grandma that will take care of the baby. It is very important to keep the family in the family.They have a huge family network for support(and pressure) because it isn't an individualistic society like we have. I thought that it was probably easier for the girl and the child because they were able to see each other but without the pressure of having to survive. I think that it is probably hard on people without children, but they have lots of opportunities to raise children because of their culture.I hope everyone is alright Scott

One night in Bangkok....

We just got back from dinner at a Lebanese restaurant with real lebanese people. The menu was in Arabic and was in the Arabic district of Bangkok. Great food. Our professors than walked us through the trashy red light district (in comparison to the more formal red light district where the rich people go.) It was a very "in your face" place with girls and girls who used to be guys in provocative clothing and strip joints. It was pretty uncomfortable and a little unnerving because I was acosted and groped by people that I couldn't distinguish their sex.We finally got out and were waiting for a cab and a 40 year old prostitute with big red cheeks and bags of her stuff was trying to get customers for the night. She was really gross and grabbed my arm and didn't want to let me go. She only wanted the equivalent of $1 to take away my virtue. If all temptations looked like her, heaven would be easy to get. I thought of all of the diseases that she probably had. I then thought about the life that she was living and how she was probably looking for food and could only feel sorry for her. As the foreign guys passed by, I actually hoped someone would take her up on her offer because it broke my heart to see her rejected again and again with all of her earthly belongings in the bag next to her and she was only trying to survive.It is crazy to think of the different situations that life takes us. Why are we born into the family that we are born into? It doesn't make sense.I will write more later

Buddhist monks and Dried Fish 1 again

Hello Everybody.

My first try at this failed so I am going to email this again.This week has been awesome. On Sunday, we went to the temple (buddhist that is) or in another words a wat. We went to Wat Pho which has a huge 160 foot reclining skinny golden Buddha It was incredible. The temple grounds was a variety of colors and spires. It made me think and contrast to the cathedrals in spain and latin america because they were gray, dark, and had images of Christ bleeding and saints suffering while Buddhists temples are red, green, orange, blue, and yellow with buddha smiling. Instead of motivating people with guilt and a sense of right and wrong, the motivation is nirvana, middle road, and inner peace. I think this is why Thai's love their king instead of fearing him like dark age europeans do. The buddhist monks also wear bright orange instead of the brown and black of christianity.However Buddhists do have some different and suppressive beliefs. An important buddhist monk, who is good friends with the king, spoke to us in perfect English for class on Monday. he has a MD from Thailaind, MS and PHD from Oxford and a THD from Harvard. He explained to us buddhist beliefs and how they correlate to health care in Thailand. The majority of the Thais follow a "belief" that karma is that bad and good things happen to people because of what they did in a previous life. This have been used to justify royalty and leaders in a religous way. ALso that a woman is a woman because of a previous sexual transgression. First she was an animal for 500 life times, a prostitute for another 500, a lesbian for 500, a heterosexual woman for another 500 and will then become a man. I thought this was a little ironic because here in Thailand a woman can become a man for a couple of hundred bucks instead of going through all of those life times!!!This monk is contraversial because he does go against some of this thinking and describes that Karma is misunderstood. He also said that the Thail King is more of a calvinist than a buddhist. (this comment would usually have you put in prison but he is a personal friend of the King and is protected). They do have some great beliefs that maintain community, help others, and balance. I think that I metioned in part 2 that this guy started a health care reform that has just been passed in the government. Pretty cool stuff.Well.. I will send more later

Sawadii from Thailand

Hello Family,I arrived in Bangkok, and lost a day of my life in the process. I will never know where June 7 2006 went. It was only a 17 hour flight with a two hour in Taiwan from LA.We have gone to a couple of Buddhist temples and today is the King's birthday.There are going to be some pretty big parties I guess. Everyone is wearing yellow shirts to support the king and his face is everywhere. He has ruled for the last 60 years. There was a yellow shirt shortage and the government had to regulated prices on the shirts because people were getting taken advantage to support their king.Yesterday when we were on the metro, one of the girls that we are traveling fainted because of heat stroke. It was pretty scary. Everybody wanted to help and three people had smelling salts on them. We finally got her some where cool and got her gatorade and everything was alright.It is frustrating for both parties that none of us speak Thai. I am trying to learn some phrases. The taxi driver yesterday just laughed at me as I was practicing. THe only way that I found a way to email you is because "internet" is a universal word. Thank goodness for globalization.I hope everybody is doing alright.Scott