2010, A Northern Christmas in Thailand

Well, another Thai Christmas come and gone!

Last year's Xmas Ladyboy Cabaret Show was pretty memorable, but this year I was really looking forward to some quiet time with my best friends and family P'Dee and P'May.

I've been traveling so much these past couple months, I decided to spend my one weekend off this season staying close to home in Chiang Mai. I'm crashing at May's apartment for now and enjoying access to a private bathroom and a warm shower while I can!

Saturday, Christmas Day, we went on a short drive to the nearby mountains of Mae Rim and picked strawberries for the better part of the morning.

We took our picnic to a scenic viewpoint called Mon Cham, and enjoyed the perfect weather, the cool mountain top breeze, and good conversation (talking about everything BUT work for the first time in a long time.) This was a much needed, stress-free Saturday all 3 of us were in desperate need of!

After the fresh mountain air, we drove back to the city and booked ourselves a 2 hour full body massage each. Abused and bruised from the massage lady trying to dig out every knot and strain in my back and shoulders, I crawled into bed at 10 pm and had a solid night's rest for the first time in weeks.

Maybe I'm starting to get old, but this has been the best holiday I've had in a long time! Usually this time of year is the hardest for me, since I have come to appreciate that holidays don't mean anything without family to share them...but here, with my friends, well things are looking up. Thailand is feeling more like home every day, and maybe this time next year I'll have an apartment of my own, with a Christmas tree and a roast in the oven somewhere!

Happy Holidays!

...just because the scenery was too beautiful, I had to catch it on video!

Baan Unrak Hip Hop Boys Take the Stage!

The Baan Unrak Hip Hop boys are at it again! New dance, new members, new choreography and a new look! [Click here if you missed my last post introducing Taji and Chocolate and their mission to dance to a better future...]

These boys are remarkable and despite their losses (loss of family, loss of home, loss of country) they really stay strong and determined to create something new for themselves.

Enjoy the video!

The Karen minority group invited us to their Christmas celebrations last weekend, timed to celebrate the full moon. There were Christmas songs sung in Thai and Karen dialect, snow cones and frozen juice Popsicles, a bouncing castle for the kids (which we foreigners were denied entrance to due to our 'size'), prayers bestowed by the village leaders, and snacks and presents delivered to the kids by a Karen Santa Clause (chewing beetle nut tobacco and carrying a small machete in his back pocket for extra 'local' charm.)

...Watching them on stage takes me back to the days when I was a competitive dancer. Now almost 8 years since I wore my last pair of ballet slippers. That part of me feels like a past life, rather than the recent history that it is. I almost miss the rehearsals, the nerves and excitement, the costume changes and the pressure of an audience...ALMOST!

Baan Unrak Hip Hop Boys And Their Dreams For A Better Life

The boys at Baan Unrak do regular Hip-Hop shows in and around Sangklaburi and Bangkok (Thailand) to promote the children's home, raise awareness about the issues surrounding children and families living along the Thai/Burmese border and to fund raise every chance they can.

Inspired by the American Hip-Hop group Jabbawockeez, they created their own routine and rehearse themselves every spare moment to get the moves just right! Chocolate, Somchai and Taji all love to dance and have taken to hip hop style and fashion like fiends. (Taji, the smallest one at 13 years old admits he only recently started dancing, less than 1 year ago if you can believe it!)

Chocolate, 14 years old, and the main driving force behind this dance team says he dreams of the day he gets to meet the Jabba boys in person, and even better the day he can perform for them. Talking to Chocolate, I can see the dedication in his eyes and I know he's dreaming of going all the way. Here, keeping the kids inspired for a better life is the most important mission, and to see him stand out and inspire the other children who look up to him is...indescribable.

I'm doing what I can now to help him achieve this dream...at their request they'll be released into the You Tube world soon enough, with polished performances and a number of new dances they're choreographing right now. Maybe someday they will get the fame and attention they're working hard to achieve!

Home Sweet Baan Unrak: Sangkla, Thailand

It’s been two weeks and already it feels like I’ve been back here forever. I’m back at the Baan Unrak Burmese orphanage in the Thai border town of Sangklaburi. You’ve seen the videos and the photos from this region, so you already know the scenery is breathtaking…and soon I'll post videos showing the very best of laughing children, inspiring women and dedicated volunteers who run this home.

I’ve had 10 volunteers under my care these past couple weeks and today is our last day together. Tomorrow morning we have a killer 5 am wake up call and a 7 hour drive through winding mountains to the Bangkok airport where we will say our final goodbyes, and where I pick up my next group. Looking back at our accomplishments we have done some amazing work together! We planted nearly 1000 tomato plants and ladyfinger herbs, we created a paddock for planting 25x35 meters, we spent days repairing the fence work around the home (after we found a hole kids were sneaking out of at night!) and we've cleaned and painted the front of the entire orphanage home, making the face of Baan Unrak brighter and more uplifting for everyone living here.

This place...words are hard to find to describe what this place does to me. Don't get me wrong, it's not all that easy being here. The work is hard: physical hard labor in a burning sun all day; pink eye, stomach bugs and chest infections tend to spread like wildfire; waking up to scorpions in your pillow and poisonous man eating-centipedes on your doorstep is not uncommon; and living for months on end with no meat, no electricity, no hot water, and absolutely no privacy does strange things to your body and soul.

And yet...I swear I have never been happier in my life than the times I have spent here. Maybe the only experience that comes close is when my big brother's first baby born came into this world. So tiny and frail, Cooper looked up at me with eyes full of trust and need...and that is something I continue to see every day from the children here.

When traveling, we realize that it takes time to fall in love. Visiting somewhere once, twice, even three times is not enough to really take it in through the skin. Making connections, understanding your surroundings, and reveling in the rhythm of a place can take years. I've been working with this orphanage for over a year now, but it feels like only recently have I been 'seeing' with a new set of eyes. The day I came back for the first time in many months since being away, I felt my heart swell. My chest physically expanded and I found myself releasing a long slow breath I didn't know I was holding.

Didi, the spiritual leader who runs this home, said the children were waiting for me. As soon as I stepped out of the taxi, I had Zola and Taji in my arms again. The last time I saw Taji was in January, and he was swimming after me as my boat was driving away. He was shouting my name, and trying to keep a strong smile on his face. The day he was finally back in my arms, Taji looked up at me with the biggest grin I've ever seen from him, and said he always knew I would come back. Yeah, I knew it too.

Every morning we start with meditation on the hill at 5 am. We watch the sunrise and chant a mantra the children study every day: Baba Nam Kevalam, which roughly translates to 'love is all around us.' After working hard in the field all day, we break at 3:30pm waiting for the children to come back from school and proceed to play for hours: tug of war, skipping ropes, soccer, and dancing classes (even the big boys want me to teach them ballet!) Evenings we share meals and stories together, and put the little ones to bed before doing a nighttime yoga session. Wake up tomorrow, and do it all again. Weekends are spent doing relief work and bringing medical supplies to the nearby refugee villages, and taking group trips to the local river spot to teach the kids how to swim. No alcohol, no smoking, no meat, no romantic relationships. It's the ultimate detox for life: cleaning your body, cleaning your soul, and filling your day to day life with laughter, happiness and most importantly hope for the future.

Now I'm back, and I'm staying put for at least another 3 months...After that, I don't know. Somehow I'll have to tear myself away. But until then bring on the love, the games, the physical labor and relief work for Burmese women and children who struggle every day in the jungles between Thailand and Burma.