The journey not the arrival matters.
T.S. Eliot
Jun 12, 2003 06:00 PM Greymouth to Franz Josef
Another early start and moving rapidly to another place. Stopped briefly in Hokitika then on to Ross where we were shown how to pan for gold. So good to have sunshine today even though it is a little cold!
Finally arrived in Franz Josef. The weather looks as though it is on the change. Wanted desperately to do the glacier walk but my ankle is playing up. Not to be totally defeated i opted to do the scenic helicopter flight over Mount Cook and the Franz Josef Glacier. The views were spectacular and we even made a snow landing at the top of the mountains. Forgot how cold it was to be in snow whilst wearing shorts!!!
Enjoyed a hot sauna on my return then headed out to eat with some of the guys.
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Apr 03, 2003 06:00 PM Travel to Khon Kaen
Left Phitsanulok and headed to Khon Kaen where i met up with Aon, Jue and Big who are at the YWAM base. I am the only westerner as everyone else is Thai or Korean!! Had a nice time catching up with Aon over dinner.
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Jan 30, 2003 09:00 PM Return to Mae Taeng
Up at 5am. Given loads of flowers by some of the children who had come to say goodbye to us. reached the base in Mae Taeng at about 9am. We were the first group back. The Mae Hong Son team were next. It was so cool to see Jeab and Michelle again. It was late evening by the time the Nan team returned- Daniel survived!
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Jan 22, 2003 09:00 PM Still in Ban Khun Wang
I did some teaching today then joined the rest of theguys in the fields to do some work. The mourning for the dead woman was continuing in the house opposite the field. They were doing spirit rites, banging drums and playing pipes. Had a bit of praise and worship of our own in the field using our agricultural tools as makeshift instruments! We must have looked an odd sight.
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Jan 19, 2003 09:00 PM A death in the village
Woken by gunshots in the night. Apparently one of the old women in the village died and now there will be 5 days of mourning.
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Jan 05, 2003 09:00 PM Travel to another Hmong village
Well it was a bit scary as we clambered into the back of the pick-up truck - about 20 of us in all. The sealed road soon disappeared and we had to take a very muddy road up the mountain to the other village where people from 5 Hmong villages were gathering. It was quite hair raising at times as we skidded through the mud and lurched from side to side in the back of the truck. Eventually we made it and watched the games and competitions of the locals.
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Jan 03, 2003 09:00 PM New Year Celebrations
Went down to the village school to see the New Year celebrations. Everyone was dressed in their new traditional costumes and participating in games.
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Jan 01, 2003 09:00 PM Hmong New Year
Ate comunally with the villagers at the church. Cold this evening as we gathered at the church with some of the locals to see in the Hmong New Year.
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Dec 31, 2002 09:00 PM Ban Khun Wang
Well today was interesting! With Hmong New Year approaching the pig is about to be slaughtered. The other girls seemed to disappear. It took several of the guys to hogtie the huge pig. It was killed with a knife through the throat. It was not a pretty sight. Then the hair was scolded off it and it was cut up. Here began a 2 day process of cutting up the pig and boiling meat and fat from the bones etc!!!
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Sep 27, 2002 06:00 PM A day i will not forget.
We all headed off in two trucks to the waterfall not far from our base in Mae Tang. It was a beautiful day and a chance for us to chill out and have some fun. We started with lunch including some non too tasty local delicacies - crickets!
We then headed along the path towards the waterfall. I wanted some photos so walked down to the river's edge. Unfortunately the rocks were slippier than they looked and i went skidding down on my ass! A bit muddy but not too much damage. After jeab took some pictures i tried to find another way back up to the path. I lost my footing and went head first onto the rocks. Surprisingly i was still laughing at this point despite all of the blood running down my face!!! My new sunglasses ruined but my eyes intact. I received first aid from some of my team. I don't like the sight of blood.
At this point something else was happening in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. One of our team, 18 year old Jonathan was having an asthma attack and his medication was not working. CPR was tried and he came back for a while. We managed to get him into the back of a truck and off to the nearest hospital. To cut a long story short we lost Jonathan that day. I saw him one last time as we collected his body from the police station and he was taken to the hospital morgue in the back of a police pick up truck. It is hard to describe the feelings of myself and those around me after this happened.
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