FREEDOM 55

I would like to take this oppertunity to wish my papa a HAPPY 55th BIRTHDAY!!! YAY!! And now, if we could all join in and sing him that old birthday tune we all know and love:

bonne fête à toi!

bonne fête à toi!

bonne fête chèr PAPA,

bonne fête à toi!

What a beautiful winter's day to celebrate so many revolutions around our glorious sun... I know you're working tonight (which sucks really bad) and I totally wish I could be there in person to pass along these wishes of happiness, love, and health. But this is my ode to YOU André Bernard Boisvert: wonderful person, best-friend, and WAY COOL papa. I love you and I truly can't wait to see you, give you a huge hug, and share with you my experiences abroad. You were there with me the whole time and will remain in my heart throughout my life and where ever I go. YOU ROCK! Have a beautiful day and I will see you soon.

love,

your daughter and friend,

Jacqueline Yvonne Boisvert

xoxoxoxox

acid reflux: a collection of introspections

You know how I always spoke of looking like a "mad woman" journalling away? Well, oftentimes I write poetry... and not in the traditional sense. I had a few sleepless nights on Koh Chang and some alone time in Phnom Penh - shortly after our initial arrival - where I wrote some stuff. In my own opinion, it's not too shabby! I've read some of it to friends and they've enjoyed it (or at least, they claimed to have enjoyed it), and so I thought why the hell don't I just post a few on here for shits and giggles? Maybe give you a little glimpse as to how my mind works when it's "exposed" (I hate that word but I can't think of any other) to certain contexts and situations... So uhm, enjoy? I guess? And, so you know, you're forewarned: they are a bit strange.

MOON TIME BLUES

I got the moon time blues

feel like buyin some new shoes

or maybe takin a snooze

maybe go for a booze cruise

I got the moon time blues

wanna find some way to amuse

instead I confuse myself

meandering about minus my muse

I got the moon time blues

I wanna substance abuse

like that's any news

my mind I might lose

cuz I got the moon time blues

a sullen girl and short is my fuse

my mood dull like a yellowing bruise

but I could throw a tantrum, terrible two's

cuz girl! I got the MOON TIME BLUES!!

*heehee This one was written in Phnom Penh when Carly went out with some friends and I just wasn't in the mood... cuz I had the moon time blues! ;-) I think I wanna turn this one into a song some day, bluesy... can you hear it??*

BOO!

out on a ledge

my mind clutching a thread

holding on tight with fear that it just might

lose its grip and slip

and there's no one there to catch me

snatch me up and hold me near

kiss my forehead and cuddle away that pesky fear

threatening to consume me

and not unlike a stalker,

it is looming

it is lurking in the shadows

dodging street lights as it follows me

to the ledge, the edge

of which I find myself hanging by that thread

fraying, swaying to and fro

between plunging into darkness

or lunging for that brightness...

-working progress

*ya... not sure what to do with this one... initiated by paranoia, this was my first sleepless night on Koh Chang and to help me catch my zzz's I did not down nyquil, no... but I tried to rhyme every thought and eventually I fell alseep. And of course, I didn't want to lose all that I had thought of so I manically wrote it down and so that's why it's not done... might turn this one into a song as well... who knows? it doesn't even have a proper title yet!*

SANITARY SANCTUARY

this place has developped into a habit of mine

maybe due to the fact that I've been here a while

not that often I'm in one place for long,

at least as long as I've been gone...

so who's it up to? who drew that line?

that point in time when my eyes saw the sign?

how long before it registered, right side up and focused,

that I could see a life just for me instead of all that saw dust?

so when a tree falls in the forrest, does anybody hear?

and if a dream met its end that way in my head,

would its fall sound clear?

but all that don't matter anymore so look past it

forget it - no... remember it cuz without it

that woman and me might never have met, shit

is much cimpler now I'm thinking for one,

don't feel like a mom overprotecting her son

but in charge of my own life:

what I'm doing and what's to come

I'm shaking hands with my past cuz at last I understand

and am OK with who I am...

minus a man...

and so this place has developped into a sort of habit of mine

not only due to the fact that I've been here a while

but cuz the quiche is delicious and the iced coffee devine

and my mind

can unwind

the coils of moments

spiraled

in

time

*very reflective... written at The Blue Pumpkin in Siem Reap: a place that is all white, very sterile looking, good tunes, air conditioning, and you can get quiche!! not rice! It's like a place you go when you want to escape Cambodia for a little while. It does the trick!

Cambodia: you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave!!!*

THE QUESTION

hey, who are you?

essentially the same, but fundamentally changed

no longer the woman you once knew

and too, you've gained new

perspectives, not what you expected

but then again you've always neglected

the beauty in the imperfected

so hey, who are you now?

up there on the bow of the boat

still afloat through the low and high tides of your mind

still resigned and inclined

to find whatever shores you set course for

but there's no need to be sure of destination

see above for explanation of the effects of expectations...

tell me, who were you then?

way back when material things mattered

and life pitter-pattered past your pasified conscience

a passer-by existence

and you can longer accept its numbing effects since

you're fundamentally the same, yet essentially changed

and so the question has no ONE answer

and will remain as such

perpetually untouchable cuz

I am a SPINSTER

uncolonized by any sign or label

never infantilized and always able

to redefine what's mine

which could only ever be:

myself

my thoughts

my mind.

*second sleepless night on Koh Chang, again, thinking in rhyme to lull myself to sleep cuz the waves sure weren't doing their share... and again looking inside myself, trying to figure out my personal changes, trying to explain them in some way. Since they were such new feelings and thoughts, they just flowed out like acid reflux flows up the throat when one has eaten too much or there is nothing left in one's stomach to reject and all that's left is the bile. Sorry for the grotesque description, but there's no other way to accurately describe how these words formed into intelligable phrases... This one kind of turned into a feminist rant towards the end too! yay! I should give this one to my fav prof: Heather Tapley, she'd love it!*

the girl is back in the bubble... can she deal?

WOW. As soon as I got in my seat on the plane from BKK to Taipei, I conked out for like an hour, woke up as the plane was taking off... it was delayed and I almost missed my connection from Taipei to Vancouver!!! But, I didn't! I had to boot it from one gate to the other though... and I had 3 seats all to my self on that 10 hour flight so, after dinner was served, I downed a sleeping pill and passed out til just before breakies was about to be served! Now that is the way to fly! It was so strange... when I could see the edge of Canada, tears assumed their position and didn't wait for the command before they started rolling down my cheeks...

Why was I crying? Because I didn't think I could handle being back among those who wouldn't know me anymore, who might not understand the changes I've undergone... I felt so alienated and felt as though I wouldn't be able to not alienate everyone in return. Leigh had warned me I might feel that way after all I'd experienced in Cambodia. She said it took her a long time before she felt she was semi-adjusted... like her friends would ask her "oh, how was asia?" and she would begin to describe the horrors and injustices and thereby totally alienating every single one of them, and feeling quite vulnerable as a result since those experiences were so close to her heart and nobody understood her... nobody could... not unless they've experienced it for themselves. So I began to understand what she was talking about.

Upon seeing Monique at the arrival's gate, I balled and held on to her so tight as though I was hanging on to my sanity. After dropping her off at work, her boyfriend Sean dropped me off on the wonderfully colorful Davie Street where I walked around, found a coffee shop, and journalled over a nice warm OVER-PRICED latté. Met her for lunch and then bussed it to Sean's place and chilled out for a bit before Monique arrived back home. We smoked a spliff, things were good, we were catching up, I went to my pack to retrieve the bracelet I had bought her on the beach and saw the bottle of vitamines and... and... the vitamines were of the ones I helped unload from that 40' trailor of donations DMGF shipped to Siem Reap... and so I saw them and I remembered that awesome feeling I had to be part of something so grand and beautiful... and then I realized where I was: in North America, land of excess and much ignorance... and I wondered what the hell I was doing here? What does my exisitence mean here? what's it for? Ya... I started thinking about how the hell I was going to be able to adjust back to the way things are here and not alienate people in the process... I balled my eyes out, nearly lost all those marbles I'd be saving up! I'm sure I freaked Monique out. I think I would have been diagnosed as clinically insane... I told her I was just "having a mental break-down and that I'd be back in a bit"... After about a 1/2 hour, I calmed myself down, "regrouped", and tried to focus on chanelling my frustrations and anxieties into something positive like: ok, so when I get back to Edmonton, I'm gonna look into funding and setting up meetings for when Leigh gets here in April and that's what's important: getting back there and doing MORE. I have to learn how to channel those feelings or else I will indeed lose my grip.

*note to self: don't smoke ganja unless I'm around someone whose experienced something similar and whom I know won't freak out (ie. get scared) should I lose it again... someone who will be able to empathize... the paranoia is too great... I think WAY to much even without it.*

So ya. We went to an Italian restaurant on Commercial St. where I had my first pasta dish in months but could not eat it all since the portion was GINORMOUS!! I'm so not used to the N. American helpings of food anymore! I even told the waitress when she placed the dish in front of me that I was intimmidated by the size and was afraid to eat it! haha Everyone had a good laugh. I ate 1/2 and was stuffed. It too was overpriced. Should have been 1/3 the price and 1/2 the size. In my oh-so-humble opinion. THEN we went for some gelatto across the street and I was again stupified by the size of the scoops! I had a "single" scoop in a cup and I could barely finish it!!! Crazy. The price and size are things I'm going to have to learn how to deal with all over again... It really does amaze me that a latté would cost me $4 when it would cost less than $1 in many places in asia.

Now I'm staying in an OK hostel in Gastown, Vancouver with my special friend Kirsten and we're catching up grandly and it's so awesome to see her!!! I'm glad I'll be spending a week here with her before jumping back into FREEZING Alberta where my posse resides... DAMN I'm not used to the cold, crisp, and dryness!!! I'm peeling like a MOFO! I won't be dark at all by the time I return cuz it'll all have flaked off... :-( Ah well. It is as it is. heehee Perspective, Jacquie.

OK so I have to go out and DO something here. Like, buy a sweater?? So I'll sign off for now and catch up in a few days. Crazy. I really hope I don't go down that road... somewhere down that crazy road...

drugs drugs drugs, which are good? which are bad?

Hello everybody!!! Jacquie here reporting from the port town of Trat, Thailand, awaiting my overnight bus ride to Bangkok... and upon arrival, I'll be heading straight for the BKK International Airport to begin the long journey back home. I was supposed to have been in Bangkok last night and getting my body art done just of Kao San Road today... but as usual, the plan came subject to change and I ended up getting the work done on Koh Chang... BUT, before I share that crazy story, I'll tell you about my last few days on the island with Leigh and her canadian friend Rhea.

So, it turned out that Leigh's sickness - brought on by the wonderful thai massage - was acute tonselitis (not sure of the spelling) and so she got some meds which made her feel 100 times better very quickly... I was a bit worried about her since she looked like Death. But ya. We took it easy, got to know each other very well and I was so sad to leave her today. What a beautiful soul she is. We rented a moto and drove off along the ocean road to the wondrous waterfall everyone recommended checking out. It was way too expensive considering the waterfall wasn't all that wondrous afterall, but gorgeous - and the water was actually COLD and so very refreshing. On our way back, we passed some elephants and so we pulled a U-ie and went to visit them! haha YAY! There were 2: a 16 year old mama and her 2 year old girl. They were huge and well-treated and very well-fed compared to the ones we visited in Ban Lang, Cambodia. They were part of a program to preserve these amazing beasts and I can't quite describe exactly how AMAZING this experience was. Leigh had never seen an elephant, let alone a baby one, let alone touched one! They were so affectinate and I was hugging and kissing the baby and hugging the mom's trunk and face, scratching behind their velvet ears, feeding them... the mom was exploring me with her curious trunk - man they look strange! - and tickling me and the baby kept hed bunting me to touch her and such. Leigh was lifted up with mama's trunk and I got a sweet picture of that... HOW COOL??? We spent about a 1/2 hour there playing with them and loving them. It brought tears to my eyes and Leigh's. Beautiful, just beautiful. I can't explain the afinity and connection I have to elephants, but I definitly felt it's strength that day. Afterwards, we motoed back to Lonely Beach and soaked up the rest of the day's sun. Leigh's friend Rhea met us that early evening and we chatted at our hut - we movedto a bigger one to allow for the 3 of us enough room, though it was still quite squishy, especially since I had passed out and spread eagled it on the bed... heehee :-) - and then indulged in a sunset/evening swim in the ocean... gorgeous. Oh man! There's this swing set up over the water right outside our hut, hanging from 2 ginormous trees, that I swung on and holy cow that was fun! and exhilerating!! Imagine swinging so high side to side, then round and round (standing up of course)! It was awesome! I felt like a surfer! heehee

So it was February 14th when Rhea arrived and there was a big Love party at the Treehouse lodge. We went. Had a couple drinks and then walked down the beach to check out the other parties, had a strong drink at each one, watched some fire dansing and fire "poy", gave out roses to the pretty ladies who had none and whom we found "deserving"... then continued our hopping and ended up back at the Treehouse Lodge. What began with 2 dudes playing some fucking AWESOME bongo beats turned into about 10 of them and didgeridoo and I was just in love and awe with the sound... the atmosphere... just BEING there, ya know? We were so friggen waster and by the time we got back to our hut, it was 4am and I was to wake up at 8:30am to for my tatoo... dun dun dunnnnnn...

THE TRADITIONAL THAI BAMBOO TATTOO

Wow. I decided if I wanted local art, the island would be the perfect place to do it. I described my idea to the artist (something to cover up my wee not-so-pink elephant with a larger mor intricate elephant) and what he came up with is absolutely breathtaking and the most beautiful piece of artwork I have ever seen. It's quite large but the detailing - the tassles, the head caps, the skin, the eyes, the shadowing, the lotus leaf - is so fine and... well... I'll just have to post a picture as soon as I can to show all those whom I won't see right away. This kind of work would never have been accomplished through the use of a regular machine. Done with bamboo, needling the design in just like they would have done pre-machine, except in the traditional thai manner. I had an audience, a few stayed with me the entire time - thanks Alex and the Kiwi named Babba (I think) - and Leigh and Rhea were there a fair bit as well, holding my hands through the excrutiating pain. It was. I took some drugs to get me through it: diazapam, codine, T3s, ibuprophen, ganja, some shots of sansung rum, and a whole lot of nicotene. It had to be done. I was there for 10 hours yesturday and then another 5-6 hours this morning and I still have to return next year to finish it off completely... though what it is now looks amazing. I can't wait to show you all!!!! It was the neatest experience - even through the pain - having it done right on the beach like that... I had to focus on something and so I focused on the beauty that surrounded me: the beach, the wonderful people who were there for the whole thing, Leigh and Rhea, the artist was a gem. ~sigh~ How wonderful. At times I had to belt out some Ani songs, some Can Con. (ie. Bryan Adams) when I wasn't swearing in french and english of course! haha I think I would have rathered give birth! NOT! haha Ya. I'm happy. The outcome is perfect and not as painful had a machine been used. You'll see what I mean soon enough!

Parting was such sweet sorrow...

Leigh will be coming to Canada some time in late April, early May and I am gonna try and set up some meetings for her with some big wigs in the building trades in Alberta to see about funding FCF. So I'll see her again soon enough... but it was still so sad to leave her cuz we grew so close and I love that woman. I plan on getting an around-the-world ticket next time and dropping in on her in Melbourn, Australia since she'll be there during the time I'm thinking about returning. That's so cool cuz I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Australia and she has some wicked friends I'm intrigued to meet, not to mention the fact that she's local and so I'll be experiencing the country from a local's perspective which is very cool. I can't wait!! I'm not even gone yet and I'm thinking about my next trip! Ain't that the way it is... And Rhea is from Vancouver and so we'll be (hopefullly) meeting up for coffee or something before I leave back for Edmonton. She's a good shit too. Really beautiful people I've met out here in the wide world. I am so in love with this life!!!

Well, I'm off for the bus ride!! Next time I write I'll be in the other hemisphere!! CRAZINESS!!! Thank-you for all your comments... throughout... I've kept them close to my heart where ever I've gone. I can't wait to see you all again and re-introduce myself... :-)

tan lines apleanty!

***
extra! extra! new asia photos are posted here or just click on the photo album link to the right!! yay! There are seperate albums for the Landfill, Siem Reap, and the Khmer Empire. The ones from Thailand won't be posted until I get them developped since I have an o'schoo camera with me here...
***

So... since I am on a beach on an island in Thaiand, my days have been pretty low key and very relaxing. Leigh arrived here - on 3 hours of sleep, after a long day of travelling from Siem Reap, having gone out the night before - on Friday night, safe and sound, albeit a touch exhausted. We spent yesturday chilaxing... we went for breakies at the waterfront restaurant, made our way to the beach, played in the water, listened to some good aussie tunes and chatted about her last days in Cambodia... For an aussie, she sure turns a nice shade of bright pink from the sun AND it was overcast! haha (Sorry Leigh, had to say it!) Oh yes, what else did we have on our schedule? Well, we had lunch at the beachfront restaurant and then later went for a waterside thai massage... the BEST massage we have both ever had. And so cheap! 200 bt. = $5 usd!! For a pertnear 3 hour rub down!! Wow. We were SO GIDDY afterwards... folks thought we had just downed a "happy shake" or smoked a spliff er something! I felt like I was on extasy! (not that I know how that would feel... heehee) We were so jellowed that we just went back to the hut, laid down, stretched, and fell asleep. Unfortunately, the massage released toxins from our nodes and organs - as it is meant to do - and Leigh is quite sick today.

So that's pretty much it dudes! Sorry I don't have anything more exciting to write... it's near the end of my trip and I'm trying not to think about going home yet... trying to just be here now. Before I leave Koh Chang though, we're gonna check out the waterfalls here and go snorkelling to 4 other islands in the vicinity and so I look VERY forward to that beauty... I love snorkelling!!! In Bangkok I'm getting a tatoo... an elephant in Thai design... lower back to cover up the tiny cartoony-immature not-so-pink elephant... WAY cheaper to do here than back home, plus I really wanted the local art created by a local.

I'll write again likely from Bangkok on Wednesday or Tuesday evening some time... crazy. Thank's for reading me... I MISS YOU!!!

beach bum fun, hold the rum

Shit... it's so hot here, I can't even describe it... and the water's even warm so it doesn't do much to soothe my aching burns... sometimes I feel like an egg on a frying pan - over easy pleasey - or a coffee bean supposedly slow roasted to perfection as Foldger's might say... tell that to my back and belly who won't be resting peacefully tonight because they are the perfect shade of a beet and we all know how annoying beets are. heehee So if anyone's read Jitterbug Perfume, you'll all share a chuckle over the space time continuum, simulataneously ignorant of each other's shared experience.

I'm not doing too much these days, just relaxing... preparing myself for the return to cold Canada, to the life I left, to my friends and family whom I miss and love. Crazy feeling this is. It feels like I'm in limbo or something being out here. I think it's because it's as close to paradise as I ever could have imagined, minus the dumb tourists and the roosters of course. So that I'm here in paradise after all I've experienced these past 5 1/2 months and that home time is drawing nearer with every bead of sweat that runs from my brow down between my eyes, only to meet its certain end by suiciding itself off the upturned edge of my beet red nose... well, frankly, my mind is going a little berzerk... if you haven't already noticed.

Wow. But anyways, now that we're all up to date on how Jacquie is feeling and appearing these days, I'll let you know that I have 5 more days before I leave this paradise and hopefully - cross your toes! - I will leave having been slow roasted perfectly and tastefully. :-) And hopefully my mind won't have "baked" too long either... ~wink~

Sir Coffs-a-lot, here I come!

beach combin days...

Yo. Sup y'all? Jacquie hee-ah comin at ya from the Lonely Beach of Koh Chang, Thailand. You should be very jealous of me for the next 8 days cuz this is the friggen LIFE! So relaxing... waters so warm and clear and light greeny-blue with a golden beach... just what I needed I think. I love you Cambodia, but if I have to go home soon, I need some time to be alone with my thoughts and in a place that I had only dreamed of: no worries, no stress, just warmth and ocean.

I slept in a thai-style hut last night and was awoken by the call of my favorite little creature, the rooster, or as they say in Spain: the COCK. Friggen things. Right outside and under my hut too! haha You gotta laugh. So needless to say, I was up fairly early and decided to go on the hunt for a hut nearer the water and further the roosters. Check mark for that one! Right on the rocks, the ocean will lull me to sleep, the moon beams will stream through the cracks. Love it. I wrote a phrase last night that sounds kinda cool: "moon beams dance on the sea foam and white caps creating a silver lining on each wave". I dunno. I've been writing a lot lately.

I was journalling like a mad woman last night at the outdoor/lakeside Treehouse lounge. I would have liked to see what I must have looked like... heehee Anyhow, I was sitting there alone at the corner table in the back and well, "I was just sitting here with my head back as far as its tendons and muscles and finally bones would allow and I was looking up at the stars and the 1/2 moon, then down to their reflection in the water and I thought of this: '...and through the open window I think the singin went outside and floated up to tell all the stars not to hide, cuz by the time church let out the sky was much clearer and the moon was so beautiful that the ocean held up a mirror...' What magnificent words." Ya... I went on and on from one topic to another, inssessantly writing down every thought that flew by and caught my attention. I think it's due to the fact that I'm reading another Tom Robbins book called Jitterbug Perfume. He's always having an influence on my writing style and frequency.
I met a couple canadians - from Edmonton and Calgary AND they're welders - yesturday and saw them today on the beach. They asked me about Cambodia, about what I meant when I said "good luck". I told them a fraction of what I was actually feeling and thinking. They dismissed it and said "I'm here for a good time, not a long time". Totally and completely ignorant. The one dude more so than the one who goes by the name Garth. The other dude has this really negative energy about him and everything I said - whether it was about the beautiful things about Cambodia or about the food at the restaurant at which I ate - was shot down and stomped on, delivered with a smirk. Jerk. So, I got tired of it after a short while and said I needed a nap. I guess I could have gave him a piece of my mind, but after the comment he said about why he's going to Cambodia, I figured he just wasn't worth my breath and energy. I'm learning to choose my battles. Not everyone goes to 3rd world countries and feels compassion and love. Many just go where the party is. It's everyone's perogative and I'm not judging. I got that dark vibe from him and so I didn't go into detail about the kinds of experiences I had in Cambodia... they're too personal and close to my heart. I said if you can look past the poverty, you'll have an awesome time cuz the country's very beautiful and there's a pretty good party scene. I'm not gonna unload my shit on apathetic folks cuz I can be sure I won't receive compassion from them in return. I'll just have to wait til I'm home amongst the people I love for that kind of interaction.

So ya. Today I burnt my ass off on the beach. I went in the water numerous times and played around with the waves. I read my book a bit, it's one of my favs of Tom's I think. I took a shower, laid in the hammock, listened to So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter, and then came here to tell you all about it! And now I'm hungry so I'm gonna go satisfy my desire.

Would you rather have sun burn or frost bite? ;-p

and the beat goes on

It's been a while since I've posted and much has changed wrt experiences and geographical location of your's truly... so I'll start from the top.

January 30th
hmmmm... too far back and I can't remember. Carly left this day. I don't think I did much else than chill out, help Leigh doing various things... Oh ya, I was booked into the "family" room at Earthwalkers for this night and the next and so it was a HUGE room with 1 kingsize bed and 2 singles, a tv + cable, and 2 bathrooms! heehee I was supposed to be in a dorm room, but I would have been in there alone with a sketchy indian dude and I didn't feel comfortable, so I upgraded! Leigh crashed there with me both nights and I watched 3 Wil Smith flicks as well as Beavis & Butthead Do America. Fun.

January 31st
I chilled out most of the day, called my 'rents, read my book, checked out of Cambodia for a few hours upon entering this crazy sterile cafe called The Blue Pumpkin for some delicious quiche and devine iced coffee. Truly didn't feel like I was in a 3rd world country: sterile white decor, comfy white couch lining an entire length of a wall, if I had a laptop I would have had access to free wireless net... weird, but it had AC and so I was happy.

Something terrible happened this night though... a middle-aged aussie dude named Peter was found in a park: head bashed in, robbed, and left unconscious to die. He was brought to the provincial hospital where he received mediocre "care", had been unconscious still when Leigh got the call and we both rushed over, 16 hours after he was brought in. Peter had been living in Cambodia for 10 years, had no contact with his family back home, and when he didn't show up for work this morning Tony and Muriel (the aussies who owned the plumbing outfit) had cause to worry. The polic filed no report, and the embassy wasn't going to do anything for him until Rahul (of DMGF) applied some pressure... Rahul pretty much made everything happen as far as getting this man proper care, but let me tell you, it was an intense evening. I had never seen a human being more badly beaten than this dude was, it made me sick to my stomach to know that no one cared about him just cuz he was broke. It made me think about how I would have been treated had it have been me found in that park... scary. Apparently the next night another "barang" (foreigner) was found in the same way, except it was a woman. The moral? Don't walk around alone at night in Siem Reap or any place really... Peter was shipped to Bangkok where it was discovered he likely won't make it afterall. His head injuries were too severe and he developped infection in his lungs since he wasn't properly treated as soon as he was brought in. If he lives, he'll live the rest of his life as vegetable. My condolences to all who cared for him.

We went out for beers and pizza down on Bar Street and hung out with the street kids. They are always loads of fun and excitement. I'm really gonna miss that...

February 1st
I moved my circus to a different location: The Green Bamboo. This is where Leigh lives and I got to stay for free! That's always nice. No cable though, just good conversation, met some good people and made some great contacts.

Febryary 2nd
same same

February 3rd
This day was FULL ON. The day started at 8am when we headed down to the childre's hospital for DMGF's 2nd anual unloading of the 40 ft. truck of medical and miscelaneous donations! It was weird being a part of this since I had only days earlier watched the documentary from the year before. It was good fun, again I met many awesome people doing various awesome things for Siem Reap and the surrounding villages. Lots fo work though and I know nothing about medical supplies and so trying to organize it all was a bit of challenge... I did ok though I think! All the donations were distributed accordingly to the NGOs and hospitals and FCF picked up: 5 computers, a shit load of the discusting meal replacement bars that no one back home would give their dog, a shit load of vitamines, blankets, clothes, teddies, books... Leigh is a very happy camper, except for the fact that she has to give it all away before she leaves Cambodia to go home on the 10th! haha So we piled it all in her "office" and the day was only just beginning...

THEN we went with this canadian dude named Shaun to pick up some water filters to give out to the vietnamese families who live at Tonle Sap Village (the floating one I blogged about before?). They bought 90 and stored 80 in Leigh's "office"... the other 10 we brought as a trial run to test if they actually work for them. So, Leigh, Shaun, his irritating and nagging girlfriend, Amir (the camera dude who shot the documentary of last year and this year), Dave (a constable who vollunteers with Global Medics), a translator, and I went out to the smelly village, hopped on a boat and sailed off to provide clean drinking water for 10 families. How awesome is that??? Crazy.

After a full on busy day, we got back, showered and went for some yummy thai food... with the "gang" and Rahul and some other volumteers of DMGF.

February 4th
Leigh and Meniya took the little Green Bamboo puppy named Bubba to the vet cuz he had a HUGE lump in his throat that was cutting off his breathing and his ability to swallow. He was to be operated on...

Leigh and I organized her "office"! Wow. What a job! It was packed full and we took everything out, took an inventory, and then packed everything back in and it actually looks like a great little office now! heehee Hard work. Apparently I am a princess...

Bubba died during surgery... the lump was an infection that leaked down into his lungs and he couldn't be saved. He was only 8-10 weeks old. We cried for him. I'm sorry Leigh.

Went for dinner with Amir and was engaged in awesome conversation. He's a really good contact to have... and of course, an awesome person with beautiful ideals and goals.

February 5th
Hopped in a taxi with this dude Ray whom I had overheard yesturday talking about wanting someone to share the cost to Bangkok. Oppertunity was knockin and I answered: 3 hours to the boarder is better than 8. Talk about bumpy road though!!! Almost got car sick! The bus to Bangkok was nice, met a Khmer woman (and her 2 beautiful children) who was kind enough to lend me her Lonely Planet so I could research Ko Chang a bit before heading there tomorrow. Upon arrival, I bought my bus ticket to Trat where I will then catch a ferry to the glorious island of Koh Chang. I found a hotel here on Kao San Rd. for a reasonable price, bought some beanies (just for you Carly!), some clothes just for me, and a phone card. Yay! I can't wait til tomorrow! Leigh will hopefully be meeting me in Koh Chang on the 10th since her cambodian visa will have run out on that day and she must return home on the 27th (if not sooner). I really hope she comes cuz she is an AMAZING woman. It's so awesome to meet such wonderful souls whom I wouldn't have otherwise met had I not left home. I'm lucky. I love my life. There's so much good left to do in it!!!

I'll try and write again soon, although I'm not sure about internet access out there... who knows though! I'm thinking of everyone. I love you. Stay warm!