pictures tell a thousand words (plus I am too lazy to type)

Got up a bit early today, some highlights from yesterdays trip to kigutu

On a street corner in bujumbura, one of my fav pics from yesterday

Deo’s bro and I @ Village Health Works !

Outside looking in

Laughing with the fam!

Hanging out in Burundi!

Amahoro (peace)

a quick entry from burundi

I am so tired having just spent 4hrs on a car going back and forth from kigutu and then coming back. I am also getting a bit queasy, I think I ate some bad juice the other day. Other than that though had a really good day. got to meet Deo’s parents and brothers and also got to see his home. Its a small brick building made of concrete with no running water or electricity, no rugs on the floors, only a couple of pictures on the wall, one of deo at his graduation etc and several gaudy pictures of plastic fruit. Dinner was being prepared while i was there. Casava, a low nutrient tuber/root that is ground into white powder and then mixed with water into a gruel like mealy substance and then eaten with beans and maybe some banana or rice. Deos parents look like they are in their eighties but are really 20 years younger than that. Despite all this, they offered to us what they had, hugged us all like their own children and wished us well on our journey. Its really quite amazing how human beings can exist in such disparate circumstances.

another interesting thing, one notices how developed often times by the language that is used for greeting. when i talked to Deos dad, the first thing he asked was, is everyone in your family well? an allusion I believe to wartime and the uncertainty of fleeing for ones life without being able to account for all of ones family members. anyway just some rambling thoughts which i will organize and tell you more about with pictures when i get back

Feeling at home

Long ride home. Two hours with Prachie and Rachel to Boston, 6am trip to Logan, 2hr flight to Detroit, 4 hour layover, 14 hour flight to Osaka, 1 hr layover, 2.5 hours to Taipei and an hour trip back from the airport. Its funny how much I like the experience of long cross pacific flights. Its usually a tiring prelude before long flights, a tough semester at school, a long week of work, a long time away from home and these flights are my time to take some time for myself not having anything else to do or that I CAN do on the flight besides read, watch, sleep and eat. After all of the stress of checking in, lugging around bags, getting through security I love being able to find your seat, sit down, kick off the shoes, reflect, read, write, watch movies. The anticipation of seeing a loved one, visiting someplace new is always good but I really do enjoy the serenity of being on a plane.

So that 24 hours to Burundi tomorrow is gonna be a piece of cake!

Best Beef Noodles in Taipei

No name Beef Noodles

# 15 Tao Yuang st. if you take subway

the exit is next to train station , “West Gate’ exit 4-FarEast department store , Tao Yuang st is between Pao-Ching rd & Hung -Yuang rd.

Cambodia: Land O’ Temples

Here are some initial pics from Cambodia, more to come . . .

Postcard shot: Angkor Wat

BuddhiTourism??

The waterfall pool at our hotel . . . Cambodian luxury . . . wish I could relive those massages too . . . mmmmmm

The family in front of an overgrown temple (trees growing into the walls and doorways)

Temples, temples and more temples

Yes, after about 12 temples in the last two days I am all templed out. Its bad enough that all of them look the same (piles of mildewed bricks piled in columns), people here have really no solid idea why they were built, what they were used for, etc. So we basically go around looking at the same thing, take the same pictures . . . for all I know, we are going to the same place every time, piling back on the bus, driving around in circles and going back to the same place again.

Hmmm, this afternoon we visit the fabled Angkor Wat. Maybe this one will be better.

Day 1 in Cambodia

After five days in Shanghai and a night in Taipei, I am finally in Cambodia. Its gonna be five days of fun fun fun! So far, can’t complain, came off the plane and checked into a brand new five star hotel in Siem Reap near the Angkor temples in Eastern Cambodia. The rooms are beautiful, the service is amazing and the food so far hasn’t upset my stomach. Toured the Tongle Sap lake (1/3 the size of Taiwan), got a free 1hr full body massage (a woman this time – man massages weird me out) and then had a nice buffet dinner (mmmmmm good satays) and took a tricycle ride back to the hotel. Just found out that the spa/sauna is open til 10 so will probably hit that up soon . . . ahhhhh life is good

Going going, back back, to Taipei Taipei . . .

Back in Taipei. Mom picked me up and took me straight to Din Tai Fung . . . best dumpling house ever (some pics if you want your mouth to water http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/eng/). Had some xie fen xiao long bao (crab meat dumplings) and some shrimp dumplings . . . mmm mmm. Gonna go shopping at the market for some materials and learn how to make lion’s head meatballs then maybe watch King Kong . . . man, this is the life, maybe there is a branch of medicine where I can do this all the time . . . :)

Goodbye South Africa

Wow, can’t believe I am leaving so soon. Its really been a blur these last two months and I still feel I have so much left to do.

Its interesting seeing people’s reactions to coming/going from a place, hellos/goodbyes. One of our June students who has been with us since about the time I got here just left amidst tears, melodramatic goodbyes, etc. I doubt I will feel the same way when I leave. What I am not sure of is why I don’t feel too much emotional attachment here despite the experience I’ve had and the people I’ve met.
Have I become so jaded from traveling around the world and meeting people that I cannot form deep emotional attachments anymore? Or maybe I am just a spoiled, rich kid who assumes that I can always fly back to any place as I wish?

My approach to traveling: I see myself walking my own path in life, at different times and in different places, I will cross paths with people and form connections with them. We may walk together for a time or go our separate ways. Either way, I treasure the time we have together. If we see each other again great, if not I wish you well on your journey.

The Internet helps but it too has its limits. We shall see, I have two goodbyes coming up: one for Capetown and another for San Francisco.

Pictures from Lesotho/Durban

New pictures from my weekend trip!

The Drakensberg mountains on the way to the Sani Pass

Having a Maluti (Lesotho beer) at the highest pub in southern Africa

Taking pictures with kids we met from Lesotho at St. James Missionary.

Mr. Moshoeshoe and his home in Lesotho

The rows of tricked out minibus taxis in the streets of Durban

The dirt roads and mud houses of Umlazi (a poor township near Durban) and interviewing microfinance clients and their microbusinesses

The view of Umlazi, rows upon rows of poverty

The view from my hotel room in Durban on the beachfront, white sandy beaches and frothy surf breaking on the shores. Money = Happiness right?