Final Thoughts
Now that we’re back in Canada and dealing with jetlag, we figured it was about time to give one more post on our amazing experience in Southeast Asia.
Let me begin by saying that OG SE Asia 2009 was truly a pleasure to lead. Every participant contributed to the group in their own unique way, everyone became friends and created memories that will last forever.
In this inaugural year of the SE Asia program, every participant served as an ambassador (and guinea pig) of Operation Groundswell and for that, we thank them. Though the program was planned carefully, success was an expectation not a certainty. Next year, it will be a foregone conclusion.
From the backpacker-filled streets of Bangkok to the hill tribes of northeastern Thailand, from tubing in Vang Vieng to the Organic Farm and from building houses in Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat, this trip aimed to expose our participants to a variety of development projects and methods of travel in Southeast Asia. Where many participants set off from Toronto with worried looks, they now return home with nothing but smiles.
Here is a recap of some of what we accomplished:
- Funded and built 10 houses in rural Cambodia with the Tabitha Foundation
- Assisted with the completion of a community centre in an Akha hill tribe village near Chiang Rai, Thailand. The success of this project will lead to a much more major project (possibly village latrines or a school/hospital/clinic construction) on next year’s program
- Volunteered at the Vang Vieng Organic Farm. Gave a lesson on Canada to local youth, taught English to some local monks, helped clear mulberry fields on the farm, cleaned up garbage, made goat’s cheese, etc.
- Energized relations between Thailand and Canada by visiting the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first student group ever to be hosted there, we were then set up with visits to the Doi Tung Rehabilitation Project in northern Thailand and the M.O.M. De-mining Project in eastern Thailand
- Set up a partnership between Operation Groundswell and Rajapat University. Rajapat has 41 campuses across Thailand and we’ll be visiting many of them on next year’s program to provide a true cross-cultural experience between Canadian participants and Thai students
- Planned a future reef conservation project in southern Thailand
After making this list of what OG SE Asia 2009 accomplished, I realized its almost impossible to quantify all the little things we did. If I told you that we broadened horizons by teaching the Chicken Dance, you probably wouldn’t believe me. Or how we taught a song to a group of orphans or even how we constantly dispelled the myth that Canada is always freezing cold. These are the moments that rarely receive much fanfare yet are memorable for those involved.
Operation Groundswell’s motto is to “Explore, Educate, Engage” and everyone agrees that all of these were accomplished. Most importantly though, our goal is to create globally-minded citizens, compassionate individuals and savvy travelers. I can say that these goals were also accomplished.
The future of Operation Groundswell will see more trips in Southeast Asia specifically and in other developing regions in general. We truly believe that any young Canadian with the desire to travel can make it a reality if they put their mind to it. We’re just there to show them the way.
For the last time,
The OG SE Asia Team
We’re Almost Home
Greetings from Hong Kong!
After spending the past three days analyzing the trip, discussing future plans and enjoying our last moments together as a group, OG SE Asia is now officially over! We are currently enjoying the free internet in the Hong Kong airport as we await our flight to Toronto. We’ll be arriving on Cathay Pacific 826 at 5:45 a.m.
We will post a few more pictures and our final thoughts once we’ve gotten rid of jetlag in Canada.
From Asia for the last time,
The OG Southeast Asia team
Breaking for Independent Travel
Hello all,
The Tabitha housebuilding was a great success! After learning about the tragic history of Cambodia by visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Cheong Euk Killing Fields, the Tabitha Foundation and Operation Groundswell teamed up to build 10 houses for rural Cambodian farmers.
Our participants braved the 35 degree heat surprisingly well as we managed to complete six houses on Day 1 and four houses on Day 2. While we understood that our labour was not necessarily essential to the completion of these houses, the build project allowed us to see and feel the connection between our fundraised dollars and a real community. The time spent throwing a frisbee, playing games and singing songs was enjoyed by all. Who knew the “chicken dance” would be such a crowd-pleaser? At the conclusion of our work on the second day, we presented each family with a blanket and their new home. It was an emotional scene and some tears were even shed.
All in all, the experience was truly memorable. Our participants were able to see their hard-earned fundraised money go to a great cause, we all got to get our hands a little dirty and 10 families will now have sturdy, flood-resistant homes for years to come.
The group is currently in Siem Reap, the ancient home of Angkor Wat, one of the seven man-made wonders of the world. Tonight, we’ll have a final dinner together and an awards ceremony before we break for independent travel time (ITT) tomorrow. All participants will be given the group emergency contact number in Canada and will be asked to email every few days for safety.
The group will be meeting on June 27th for the debriefing seminar known as the ‘Disorientation’. Until then, don’t expect too many updates from us. You should just assume that we’re all having great times in Vietnam, Malaysia and southern Thailand.
Sincerely,
The OG SE Asia team
Into Cambodia
Greetings from the Land of the Khmer,
After spending several days at Rajapat University in Buri Ram, the group has crossed the border into Cambodia and we’ve arrived in Phnom Penh.
Some highlights/lowlights of the past few days:
- We visited the Thai Mine Action Comittee De-mining project in Sisaket Province
- We didn’t get to see the detonation of live unexploded ordinances (UXO’s) because the Lieutenant-General of the Thai Army vetoed the plan when he realized that the Cambodians might fire back. An all-too-common happening in these somewhat tense border areas, the army felt it best to avoid an international incident where 16 Canadian tourists may have been harmed.
- The group celebrated Jeff’s birthday in style with a Thai barbeque feast and an amazing night out in one of Buri Ram’s only clubs
- The group got to experience absolute mayhem on the Thai train system. Memorable moments include questionably sober and definitely shirtless Thai police officers, too many hours of terribly uncomfortable train sitting and Aaron dropping his camera off the moving train only to have someone grab it and bring it to us six hours later. When the last four of our group arrived at 6 am, everyone knew it would be a travel experience to remember.
Tomorrow the group will have the orientation with the Tabitha Foundation here in Phnom Penh, we’ll visit the S-21 Genocide Museum, the Killing Fields and Tiny Toones, an orphanage teaching hip-hop dancing to former Cambodian street kids. Should be a great day. We begin building the houses on Tuesday.
Our Cambodian cell phone number is: 0978-157-855.
Sincerely,
The OG SE Asia Team
Back to Thailand
Sabaidee,
Team OG Southeast Asia is sadly leaving Laos tomorrow morning. We’ll be driving from VangVieng to Vientiane, crossing the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge (interestingly named since the countries aren’t really the best of friends), and heading to Buri Ram province. We’ll be staying at the dormitories of the prestigious Rajapat University, hopefully meeting some Thai university students. The major exciting portion of our time back in Thailand will be our day-trip to Sisaket Province to visit a de-mining project sponsored by the Thai government. The highlight will definitely be the live explosion of several unexploded ordinances (UXO’s) that the NGO has collected for the last year. Don’t worry, we’re told its safe…and exciting.
We will likely be out of contact for the next couple of days in terms of internet but we’ll be back on our Thai cellphones by tomorrow morning. If you have an emergency please call the number listed in our early blog posts.
Until next time,
The OG Southeast Asia Team
The Wonders of Goat’s Cheese
Our time at the Organic Farm is fast nearing its conclusion. We will be running an HIV/AIDS workshop on Tuesday and a lesson about Canada on Wednesday to the Phoudindaeng Youth Centre students. We will also tend to the goats and make goat cheese tomorrow.
If the Lao Organic Farm will be remembered for just one thing it will be the goat’s cheese. Let me explain. Scratch that. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat%27s_milk_cheese
Out of a total of 10 meals so far, goat’s cheese has been consumed in at least seven of them. Everyone was disappointed at the remaining three meals. From spreadable varieties to firm, aged feta-like variations, the Lao Organic Farm definitely has the best goat’s cheese in Laos, and possibly the world. To say the group is in love would be an understatement.
The next two days will be focused on finalizing the experience here in Laos. Several participants have been fixing a water pump, many want to really work up a sweat on the farm and others are excited to teach both Laotian teens and several local monks who are interested to learn English.
On Thursday, we will cross back into Thailand and head to the eastern part of the country. In Buri Ram province, we will have a homestay in a traditional Thai village, visit a de-mining NGO near the Cambodian border and stay at Rajabhat University.
Here are some pictures for those who find that words just aren’t enough.
Sincerely,
The OG SE Asia team.
Off to the Organic Farm
Greetings blog followers,
Today the group participated in a game of Capture the Flag Tag throughout the UNESCO World Heritage city of Luang Prabang. The Scavenger Hunt teams from Bangkok were reunited with each team trying to capture as many flags as possible throughout the old city. The best hiding places were around temples, up the mountain and on tuk-tuks (the three-wheeled motorized rickshaws so common in Southeast Asia).
Tomorrow we depart for the Organic Farm in VangVieng. A six-hour winding busride through the mountains awaits us so hopefully no one will get too motion sick. Once we arrive, we will be welcomed to the farm, introduced to the staff and children and be toured around. The next two days will likely involve beginner farm work like goat milking/feeding, mulberry picking and silk sorting. We begin teaching English and music to the students on Monday.
If anyone would like to contact the group, our Laos cellphone number is (020) 386-0676.
In other exciting news, Operation Groundswell founder/SE Asia trip leader Jonah Brotman will be featured on CBC Radio One’s “GO” program from 10-11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 30th. Tune in to hear great stories and to support Operation Groundswell.
For now,
The OG SE Asia Team
On to Laos
After a two day boat ride down the Mekong River, we have finally arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos. After almost a week of no internet access the team is glad to be connected again.
To recap our journey:
After a night spent in Chiang Mai’s night market, we hopped a bus through the mountains to Chiang Rai where we met with the Mirror Foundation to set out on an unforgettable hill tribe trek. The team started the adventure with a swim by a waterfall and a home stay with a Lahu tribe. At night, the teams shared music, food and informative conversation with their host families.
The following day put the team to the test. An intense hike through the mountains to a Karen village left us all wondering if there really was only one more hill. Arriving at the Karen village after a solid eight hours in the hills left us happy but exhausted and tending to blisters. Building a community centre, the team worked side by side with an Akha community mixing cement and laying brick the next day. An afternoon swimming in the river with the Akha children was trumped only by the evening of song and dance by the light of a bonfire and the stars. The OG team represented with our own little diddy, the Canadian national anthem and a song that never ends. Despite being there for only a short time, there were definitely lasting memories and friendships made.
The last morning of our hill tribe trek saw the group riding elephants. An hour of lumbering through the countryside on the backs of these friendly giants was a nice change of pace. The next night was spent at the River of Life, a Christian orphanage in Chiang Rai. Started by an American couple from Missouri, it was an interesting experience to see the great opportunities provided to these formerly abandoned hill tribe kids. The issue of forcing religion upon others was debated at length and provided interesting group discussions. The team also took the opportunity to wind down and take in the drastic change from the hill tribes to the very upscale orphanage setting.
So that is all folks. We really do apologize for not updating the blog for so long but we literally haven’t seen a computer in 7 days. Living with the hill tribes taught the group a lot about the differences between their way of life and ours in Canada. While all of us may have a few emails sitting in our inboxes, we all laughed that although we feel we may have missed things, things in Canada couldn’t have changed that much in one week. Or so we hope.
Promising to keep you more regularly updated,
The OG SE Asia Team
Leaving Bangkok
Greetings,
The Great Bangkok Scavenger Hunt was a resounding success! Our adventurous teams traversed one of Asia’s most bustling cities yesterday all in the pursuit of scavenger hunt glory.
While some teams spent hours searching for the most surprising foreign embassy (Uzbekistan was the winner of that category), others enjoyed the many beautiful temples, rivers and markets this city has to offer. Highlights include: one group scammed the scammers, another discovered the Thai delicacies of Coca-Cola in a plastic bag and vegetable-based popsicles, another found McSpinach/McCorn pies at McDonalds (they were surprisingly delicious!), others got lost in Chinatown several times, and one group ended the day with an amazing freestyle rap about how their group failed miserably at all their tasks but made us all laugh to make up for it.
In order to provide the team with more Thai background, today we meet with the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a debriefing and Q&A session. This groundbreaking relationship with the Thai government is being viewed by both sides as a huge gain and the beginning of a long-term relationship builder for Thai-Canadian relations. As no Canadian group has ever been hosted by the ministry before, the group is proud to be representing Operation Groundswell and Canada.
After today’s mission of diplomacy we head for the hills. Taking the late night bus we’ll arrive in Chiang Mai tomorrow morning. Staying at a century-old traditional Thai wooden house which has been converted into a guesthouse, the group will have a free day to explore the beauty of Thailand’s ancient capital. The next day, we will be off to our next adventure: a four day, three night hill tribe trek. The experience will show the group the realities of life for these isolated groups, how they manage to continue their traditions and how development is changing their future. The experience should be memorable as everyone will stay in the homes of various families in three different hill tribe communities.
Because of the remoteness of the hill tribes, we will likely not post again until after the trek. To keep you all interested, here are some great photos from the scavenger hunt.
Enjoy,
The OG SE Asia team
We Made It
After enduring many hours on airplanes, we can happily say that OG SE Asia has arrived in Bangkok. Everyone is happy, healthy and excited for the coming weeks.
Our first night involved a relaxing dinner and opening night fun activities to get the group to know each other better. Our guesthouse is located just off Koh San Road, the backpacker’s mecca. Today, the group slept in to try to beat jetlag and then got introduced to the area with a walking tour. Even a torrential downpour couldn’t curb everyone’s enthusiasm. Tonight, the adventure continues with massages and spicy food for the daring!
The Great Bangkok Scavenger Hunt begins tomorrow where participants will have the chance to explore the city in small groups. The teams will have to beg, borrow and deal their way through the city and the team with the best pictures wins!
We will have an update before we leave Bangkok on Tuesday. We will also post our trip leader contact numbers and some fun stories from the scavenger hunt.
Happy to be here,
The OG SE Asia team
