Archives for May 2014

Barf bags and beaches

Thailand was pretty amazing. We stayed on an island called Koh Lanta which is west of Krabi in southwest Thailand. I actually did not pay much attention to much of the stuff there because I was sick but the stuff I did see looked cool. I now have a beach on an island in Thailand to add to my list of prime puking locations. My mom found us a great room that looked off of a mountain to the ocean. The only down side of it was the monkeys that lived outside our room and used our balcony as a play ground. You would think that this would be cute but I have seen lots of monkeys and after awhile they all start to look the same. One also tried to steal my water bottle but I saw the little guy sitting outside my room with it and I got it back. Although, that bottle had been chewed on quite a bit by the thief and his pals. Thailand seemed to be mostly tropical jungles and mountains on the inside with either pristine beaches or tall cliffs making up the coastline.

Beaches are an important part of vacation destinations for most people and not many can compare with the beaches of Koh Lanta. Another big attraction is the elephant rides. You see elephants every where. Walking down the road, eating next to people houses, and lounging in crop fields. The Blue Moon Cafe was one place without elephants although it did have one of the best beaches I have ever been to. Soft sand, big waves, and a drop off that was perfect to push Nadine off of. It was owned by a 50 or 60 year old lady. The food was delicious but, unfortunately I did not have much of an appetite. I would highly recommend Thailand and hopefully I will be coming back.

“Tree of Life”, it does not tell you what it is, though personally I think that it is a fitting name for the orphanage. A place where children brake out of their buds and blossom. The Tree of Life is a large property made up of a valley and a large hill located outside of Lusaka, Zambia. There are 35 houses right now and five more in the making. The unique part about Tree of Life is that the Houses are not separated by age. Each house has an assortment of ages and two women who go by the name of house mom. The different houses act as families while every body acts like friends.

The children at Tree of Life were so caring. Each kid seemed to have an older kid that cared for them and that the younger kid looked up to. Every child seemed to be interested in what we know and where we’re from. Every child was unique. One would be amazing at building sand castles and an other would be able to run extremely fast. Every kid was nice, unique, and interesting.

There were many children, though one girl seemed to always be able to find us. Her name was Faith. We always bumped into her some how. She loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. There was just something about her that was comforting and warm. She was fast and graceful in her movements. She was always laughing. It seemed like she did not care where she was as long as there were other people to play with.

Tree of Life was an amazing experience that taught me how lucky I am. Some of the kids there were just sad looking. One girl had burns all over one side of her face where her mom would pour hot water on her. An other had knife scars on the backs of her legs from where her dad’s girlfriend would throw hot knifes at her. All of the kids had sad stories though they all seemed happy to be there and I was too.