Bangkok for a week

Just returned this past weekend after 8 glorious days in Bangkok for the State Dept sponsored annual CME (continuing medical education).  it is great they provide this for us because otherwise it would be very had to keep up our licenses. at first i was not that thrilled with going to Bangkok - initially we were supposed to go to Zagreb, which i have always wanted to visit and it is much closer. it took 2 days to get from here to Bangkok (with a 13.5 hour layover in Paris). Now that i am back i am only wishing i could return. It is certainly a post i would bid for once i have some seniority.

some highlights. amazing food both at higher end restaurants and the street food. it is relative cheap there. good city transportation and easy to get around. and the biggest draw - Thai massage. i had an amazing massage almost daily (6 out of my 8 days) for about $10/hr. if you have never had thai massage, i highly recommend it. it is a combo of deep tissue/sports massage and yoga. the little women climb all over the place and really get in there. after a week of daily massage, my body felt amazing - very centered and happy.

most of the days were spend in classes (of course we went there for a conference).  but i arrived a day early so was able to check out the huge weekend market (Chatuchak) with a fellow Portlander who i was in orientation with - the lucky dog...Bangkok was her first post. I went and visited the Grand Palace - the main tourist site and well worth the visit. Also the Jim Thompson house. One of the evenings we went out with some friends/colleagues to the Red light district. it was truly a sight. Prostitutes everywhere (they didnt like their photos being taken), and live shows. there were guys pacing around outside the clubs with a menu of shows - most having to do with women shooting things our of their vagina. We passed on that! but this area was also next to a huge open air night market, so got some more shopping in.

now for the photos...

The Grand Palace - it it actually a compound with many palaces and shrines. This is the entrance. many of the buildings are painted in gold leaf. others have intricate patterns of ceramic and/or mirrors. incredible

within the Grand Palace compound were a few lovely gardens with statues such as this one.

Temple of the Emerald budda - very famous temple. unfortunately no pictures inside. the Emerald budda was really small (maybe just under a foot tall), but encased if a very elaborate shrine

Street food - YUM! cost about $1.80 for a big plate of delicious food. This is in the red light district (one of them, Pok Pong i think is the name), so we got to sit and eat and be entertained by all the interesting human traffic passing us by.

Kayle and Lenore

Erawan Shrine - just near our hotel

It was all so civilized. it is hard to be back in Ouaga. I feel ready to leave...

Mask Festival (Festima), Dedougou

Couple of weekends ago we took a trip to the mask festival - a must see according to previous Embassy folks, so we had to check it out.  They were right! It is regional with participants from Burkina Faso as well as the surrounding countries. The performers dress in their traditional masks/costumes and dance and tell stories with music and acrobatics. it was fantastic. we camped at a retreat run by nuns. once again, an international group of us went which makes these trips all the more fun.

I have hundreds of photos (the Canadian Ambassador gave me all of his...he had a better camera). these are only a fraction...

They actually danced - vigorously - with these masks on!!

some of the groups had a amazing acrobatics. in this group the acrobats were the comic relief of the story being told by the rest of the masked dancers.

A dancer from a famous team from Bobo-Dioulasso

Otto was bored after the first hour or so...but he doesn't look too miserable here! Fortunately some other families came, so he and all the other kids could complain together about their boredom and how mean their parents were for making them sit through a few hours of amazing entertainment.

our lovely camp spot. Just before the town of Dedougou, a place called Centre Spiritual Alfren Diban. it was not easy to find, but once we did were were very happy to stay here. funny thing about camping in Burkina Faso, the locals just don't get it. the staff here kept trying to offer us rooms to stay in and in the morning when we went to pay, they asked us if the rooms were not nice enough for us and if that is why we slept outside. they didn't even know what to charge us, so we told them $4/tent. they seemed pretty happy with that.

Camping in Boromo

I am currently in Bangkok, but have really good internet now, so i better get a post or 2 in. I went camping at an animal reserve/national park - Bale - newly re-opened. The place we stayed (Kaicedra) was simple, with a platform that overlooked a river where the elephants are said to frequent. we went with a bunch of families and had a blast. They made us an amazing dinner on the spot (for about 12 people) - which is never guaranteed in Africa without at least 12 hour notice! i will let the photos tell the rest of the story...

Otto and Johann setting up camp

Yes, the elephants were this close!

Funny story about the elephants. it was about 10:05am the next morning, we were all packed up and ready to leave, when the camp hosts told us the elephants would arrive at 10:15. our friends who were with us had camped here twice before and had never seen elephants. so of course we all said 'whatever' but to humor them (and because it was only 10 minutes) we decided to stay. well what do you know, at exactly 10:14 by my watch, a huge herd (nearly 20 with about 1/2 being youths/babies) walks right through the far side of camp. Unbelievable. This is why you come to these posts - community and unadulterated nature.

I need a part time job...

So much to do and i never feel like i have time to keep up with the blog. i am 2 months behind. hard to believe our trip to Ghana was over Christmas.  lets see, to start with, i need to do a whole blog entry on Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan...that is my next post. but i am so busy trying to take in Burkina Faso, that i havent had the time to put something together. well, it will have to wait.

Since i last blogged we have visited out 'godparent' village Pousdoum which is about 40 minutes on a dirt road, in the middle of no where past a small town. Here is the information from the Embassy about our visit and the village:

Leslie and Otto visited their Godchild project in Pousdoum on January 25, 2012. Pousdoum is a small village of 315 people, located about 25 km North-West of Kaya, off the road to Kongoussi. There is no market or school in the village. The nearby school is five km away and so, children who cannot walk the distance hang around to take care of cattle and domestic chores. The village has one borehole with a feeble flow and women queue overnight to collect water for themselves and the cattle. Self-Help funded the construction of an additional borehole to provide the village with adequate supply of potable water.

A borehole company contracted for the job carried out the first attempt to find water and was unsuccessful. However, the village women sang, danced and danced happily for hours. They said they are so happy to be so lucky for, not only they have been selected for Self-Help funds, but also they have been blessed with a “woman Godparent”. They believe that this visit is a sign that water will flow with the next drilling. Speaking on the behalf of the village, Mrs. Martine Ouedraogo, the Second Councilor to the Mayor of Kaya said thank you to the Ambassador and to the American people for caring about a small village which is unknown to most Burkinabe

The important people in the village

Otto, currently not very happy about being here with me.

At the beginning of our visit, we sat here in front of the community and shared a cup of millet drink from this container with all the important village people. Otto was very brave and drank it when it was passed to him.

The site of the failed borehole

the current well/borehole

A view of the village.

One of the greatest things about this trip is that Otto really didnt want to go. he has this thing now where he gets a stomach ache if i take him to any place with the 'smell of Africa' or if it is obviously poor (like this small market in town). i had to drag him to this village. but half way through, he saw the kindness and generosity of the people and in the end, he was so happy he came and talked all the way home in the car about what wonderful people we met and what a great day it was.  of course getting his own chickens helped!

I also received this nearly 10lbs of peanuts from the women of the village.

The end of our visit with the villagers. Group photo!

On a daily basis, Otto and i talk about how lucky we are to be here. This village/project really teaches us the contentment (or maybe it is resignation??) and generosity of people who have very little. all we did was put our name on the project and drive out there. they gave us chickens, peanuts, dancing, a formal welcome, thanks and a wonderful meal. Truly humbling and makes one think about what we have been given in this world just by being born in the right place. but are we any happier? hard to say...  Their needs are overwhelming, but i hope to have taught Otto the importance of considering others that have so little (as he complains about being bored because i won't let him use his iPod or PSP 24/7). I think at this visit, he really got it, even if it was only for the afternoon.

Part of my blogging problems relate to the fact that my internet sucks and putting a post like this together takes forever!! but i will keep at it. i am headed to Bangkok in a few days for my annual medical conference - can't wait! hope to get another blog out while i am there, but most likely i will just have more photos stacking up.