Thailand

Greetings!

I have stopped posting onto this blog because I'm not "inthailand" anymore, but I thought I'd share this with my former readers. To those of you who been involved in the Myanmar orphanage project on which I've written on this blog, I have some encouraging news.

I recently received an update from my former student/co-worker/friend at Legacy Foundation in Thailand about the progress of the construction of the orphanage that he has been planning over the last couple years. I'm not sure who all donated to this cause, so I can't thank you all individually. Just please know that your generosity is greatly appreciated and is going to good use. This ambitious young man's dream to help his country and community is turning into a reality:

[for his protection and privacy-- names and locations are omitted in this post]

My friend emailed me these photos along with some news. He is currently teaching English at another school to about 100 students and working on the new building in his free time. His original plan has been to finish construction and open the home/school to orphans in 2012. If everything continues to go well, he can get started on schedule. This brave, disciplined young man sends his thanks to everyone who has helped out with this project and asks for continued prayers that he can finish his preparations and start his work without any disruptions.

Thanks again for all your concern and help,
Nathan Kimmons

Alright folks... here's how this one's gonna work: Old school style. Seemingly random photos with captions to tell the story of my trip to Nepal. I'll skip the mundane details of city names, # of days spent where, etc... who cares, right? Also... I went to India afterwards, but was only there 3 days, got really sick the whole time, and never left New Delhi. So needless to say, I didn't have the best time there. We won't focus on that. Here's the scoop on an incredible place to go visit-- Nepal (and the Himalayan mountains)

The trip started off on a good note-- since I was dressed like the classy gentleman that I am (and the plane being full), they upgraded me to business class for free!

I started a new form of travel art called "Taxi Photography"-- basically me just taking pictures from a moving taxi with a high shutter speed to pass the time... here's some that turned out to give you a feel for what Nepalese people are like:

You'll notice the women mostly dress very traditionally colorful.

local artist I bought a painting from

although this painting on a building down an alley was probably the coolest art that I saw.

Yes, they're mostly Hindu there... and yes, they've got a thing for cows. They're everywhere.

Nepali language written

end of the evening (seemingly pickup) cricket match by the lake while I had dinner...

which was this. Explosion of flavors.

Never count on hot water in Nepal.

...or electricity for that matter. (even in the cities)

Solar panels used for power in many places.

nope... no clue why. Just thought it was cool.

Entrepeneur

the bus from the captial to the launching point for the trekking.

...which was on a road something like this.

Nepali money. (the Rupee) Interesting cultural note: You'll notice these are both 100 Rupee notes. In 1996, the royal family there was massacred and the form of government changed. So on notes made after 1996, it features Mt. Everest instead of the king.

Imagine a Mississippi boy's surprise to see a B.B. King poster at the first restaurant I went to.

Dal Baht = 24 hour power! (free refills!)

Everything is 'Everest' something or other. (no free refills)

And hence began the 'trek'. This consisted of 8 days of walking through the Annapurna region of the Himalayan mountain range on a stone path that has been there since parts of it was the Silk Road. It went through several different climates and was loaded with incredible scenery. Please make it a point to do this at some point in your life.