Tammy's Volunteer Tour

Vietnam I am,I am

2006-12-07T03:03:00.000-05:00

Well my team and some other great friends got together for a going away dinner and to see me off. It was difficult for me to leave Khao Lak, but I was excited to start a new adventure in Vietnam.
I'm not too sure how tired I was when I booked the flight, but when I arrived at the airport in Phuket they notified me that the flight wasn't until the following day. I'm really not sure how I managed that but I was lucky to be stuck in Phuket during the festival. I walked around the entire night market and then found an internet cafe where I spoke to my sister over msn. I was really home sick for Khao Lak, but she was able to get me focused again and looking forward.
Morning arrived and I was only able to hail a tuk tuk. What!?! a tuk tuk to the airport? It's like a tiny open bus, but more like a festiva with the roof cut off and some bells and whistles.hahaha By bells and whistles I don't mean air conditioning and leather seats... I mean just that "bells and whistles" and some random blinking lights!

On my way here to Vietnam I made a short 2 say stop in Chiang Mai. I took advantage of the tours they have running around the city since I had limited time to spend. I went bamboo rafting and took a ride on an elephant (On the list of things to do before I die... this list dates back almost 10 years ago) To be honest I didn't picture it being as slow as it was. To get them moving a bit faster you had to feed them. There were workers in treeforts selling sugarcane ... who knew they had a sweet tooth!

I caught my flight to Bangkok and was forced to find a cheap place to stay for the night. Well I found this place called Nat's Guest House. The communal bathroom was soaking wet and filthy and the bed didn't even come with sheets on it! LOL I guess I got what I paid for. The music from the bar downstairs finally stopped at 4am and the streets eventually cleared... thank god because I was worried I wouldn't be able to hear my alarm clock! I did, however make it to the airport very early. I was so early that I couldn't check in yet so I decided to read. I sat down with this book a friend from Germany had given me. I read it until I finished it and then realized that I may have missed my flight. Yeah, that's exactly what I did! I had just missed my flight! LOL WHO DOES THAT? The woman at the counter just put me on the next flight with out asking me any questions. She informed me that I would be waiting another 2 hours for the next flight and so I decided to get on the phone to pass the time.
The Thai Airways flight into Ho Chi Minh was brutal for turbulance, but the only important thing is that I made it and I wasn't in the bathroom during the landing!

OK so I am looking localy and on the internet for places to volunteer. I am mostly interested in the orphananges here and the rice paddy farming communities. I will update you in a week or so when I get my bearings about me and have started working. I am very excited to say the least!

At Peace

2006-12-06T21:03:00.000-05:00

Well I have now been here a week!
I have been working at a bunch of the different work sites, and have really been enjoying myself. I have mostly been doing concrete work in bathrooms and the plumbing/digging for the septic systems. This has been challenging work because the houses mostly rest on clay and the trenches we dig have to be approx 2 feet deep and usually about 20 feet in length/1 foot width.
Today we finished the last septic system for the Bang Sok area. We are working in conjunction with the Mercy Foundation on this project.

I'm actually pretty sick right now but I am pulling through just like a trooper. I think I have used up all of the kleenex in Khao Lak so they are forcing me to use toilet paper..lol Don't worry, it's nothing serious, just very draining and I think I am starting to scare the locals because my voice is gone. The plan is to sweat this one out!
We have been taking our lunch break at this beautiful beach. The water is gorgeous but it has taken getting used to the baby shrimp jumping on our feet.
I got up early yesterday morning to say goodbye to a friend that was leaving for Australia and we saw a group of monks in town. This was one of the most peaceful sights so far. It was very quiet in town at 6:30 in the morning but you could just hear the monks blessing the families with a prayer song. The community members provide the monks with rice and other dishes of food and in turn the gentlement bless the families.
I spoke to a friend here about visiting the monastery and she actually asked me to come and teach at the monastery with her. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. This has been set up so that I will teach two times a week.
The students are Burmese workers between the ages of 12 and 28. I am really enjoying the time I get to spend with them and I think they appreciate my effort as well. It's funny to hear Burmese and Thai people speak english and sound like a Brit. hahaha... I had to explain that trousers are pants and pants aren't underwear. How bizarre!
I hitch to the temple when I go and I have had a few very interesting people give me a ride. Eak (the Thai that I teach for) doesn't like me hitching and instead gave me a ride back into Khao Lak. The boys I teach wanted to come for the ride, so we all jumped in the back of the truck. When we arrived Eak asked if he could take me to dinner. This was very unexpected but very much appreciated because I was starving. Eak has offered to pay for me to get a scooter so that I don't have to hitch my way to the temple on the days I teach ( he doesn't understand that I like it) so we will see how this pans out... I still have to learn how to drive one. haha

I wear a lot of the local clothes (fisherman pants), and flip flops everyday. I am trying to find the happy medium for the food and my stomach, but have not been successful yet. Chocolate and icecream are dear but available. The mosquitoes are bitches and the bugs are the size of my hand!

There are all kinds of spiders here, but I am more scared of the toads! I had to pull one out of a new septic hole and I was screaming at the top of my lungs, followed by a laugh straight from my toes!..LOL I have seen lizards,a scorpian, crazy little pigs, and a manta ray. They have squirrels here, but none as psycho as the ones at Queens.
There are a few people from my group heading to Pakastan to help in that devastation and I have donated a few supplies and clothes for them to give the people (maybe a few city of Kingston t-shirts will show up on the news;)
Well I better get going and find some neds and disinfect this keyboard so no one else gets this germ. I miss you and love you

Babcock Uncensored! ;)

2006-12-06T02:57:00.000-05:00

Holy #&@%, I made it!
Before I begin.. just know that it took longer for me to get from Bangkok to Khao Lak, than it did for me to get from Toronto to Bangkok! Figure that out.. hahaha

From the beginning ....

I spent the evening before leaving with a few friends in Toronto and had a bizarre but wonderful time drinking a few and sharing some laughs.

Well I felt safe on all of the flights, but definitely not sober.. just what the doctor ordered!(Well not really, the doctor ordered me something I haven't had to tap into yet. haha)
The flight from Toronto to Washington was interesting, mostly because it was only 4 seats across and I'm pretty sure the pilot was also the stuart!
Layover what dogshit! enough said!
So I'm boarding the All Nippon flight to Tokyo and a Japanese man says "Hi Canada!" ya that's me! After telling him I was heading to Bangkok he had figured me out..."AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH you're a volunteer for the tsunami work" he said. Damn, I thought.. did my friends in toronto shave my eyebrows and write some message on my forehead? nope! I guess he felt I fit some profile of the typical do gooder Canadian. If there is one profile I hope to fit, that's it, so I was feeling pretty proud.
The flight went well but japanese flight food is not my idea of a good time. I did however enjoy the chopsticks. Maybe a little too much because the dude next to me ended up with food on his lap.. hahahhaa
Soooo I arrived in Bangkok just in time to miss my overnight train. I slept in some hole in the wall downtown that had bugs in the bed .. haha it has been interesting. I no longer have an alarm clock as I blew it up when I plugged it into 240v outlet.
..

I found out in the morning that it was now a Thai holiday and trying to get anywhere would be a real challenge. To make a long story short I headed back to the airport and took a flight to a place called Suratthan
(or something like that) and then a 6 hour bus ride into Khao Lak
I got off the bus, collected all of my luggage and walked for twenty minutes in the wrong direction. Thank goodness a local lady spoted me and offered for her husband to take me to my bungalow
<>
I rested for the night and took in the sunset. This place is so beautiful and the people so full of spirit despite the disaster that struck not so long ago.
I am so happy to be here and helping out. The volunteers are great. The range in age from 19 to early 70's and they all have their own story as to what brought them here
God, I miss you all, but I need to take off to a meeting at the center and I am already late. Just know that I am safe and having a blast. Orientation was great and I will start work on Khao Ko island (something like that) tomorrow.. serious foundation work so I hear. :)

Pit Stop

2006-12-06T01:42:00.000-05:00

Hey All,
just a fast one.. my plane was late landing, so I am in Bangkok for the night. I will be catching a train (hopefully in the right direction) tomorrow morning towards Khao Lak. I'm downtown in a lovely little cockroach motel.. hahaha nah it's not as bad as i make it sound (as I look on the floor next to me and find a 3 inch long dead cockroach.. lol )At least I have found the people to be absolutely wonderful here and I have been treated very well, even though I am a young woman travelling alone.
I'm thinking about grabbing a shower and may attempt to brush the layer of fuzz off my teeth before I have to catch the train in 4 hours. It's 2am here now and I'm wide awake.. I was able to catch up on a years worth of sleep on the flights!
I will write a big email as soon as I get settled so that you all know I am finally there and can all rest assure.
I love you all.. Tamz

I'm Baaaaaaaaack (in Canada) !

2006-03-15T13:52:00.000-05:00

March 1, 2006

If you're cold right now, imagine how I must feel...!

I arrived back in Canada about a week ago now and have been fighting off a pretty good cold. I am back to work and just recently started sounding like myself as apposed to a man.. (that's my voice with a cold ;).

My last two weeks were absolutely wonderful in Khao Lak and on the island.

The weather took a turn and it was almost like November again. Everyday it would rain, and some days it would be torrential for hours. That was at the time of the landslide in the Philippines, but we were still able to get a lot done considering the conditions.

I began hitching to work every day and for every day there is another story.. hahaha

I started working a lot of extra hours where I found time and felt like I was giving about all I could. For the last week I was there the Thai's decided to move to the island. The reasoning behind the move, was so they could work into the night and not have to worry about getting stranded (ferry to the main land closed at 6pm every night).

Well, I jumped on board and moved to the island the same day. This was my opportunity to see what it would be like to live in a house that I helped construct. I must say other than the cold bucket showers, it was quite comfortable.

I was up with that water taxi's every morning (which is earlier than the average rooster) and worked until 10pm every evening. The sun raises were beautiful standing at the pier, the sun sets were rowdy on the work site and I enjoyed every second of it all.

Dinners consisted of wonderful homemade dishes with sticky rice and were shared with my favorite Thai families. Breakfasts were very much the same.. left overs and maybe some battered cauliflower. The seven of us just sat around, said very little but enjoyed each others company.

My last day on the island was one of my hardest days spent in a long time. The ferry waited for me while I said goodbye.

One of my best mates Dave wrestled my pack out from under the mosquito net and watched me break down trying to explain in broken words how much each one of my friends meant to me. This was so difficult... it's not as easy as giving them a hug because that is not appropriate or acceptable in Thai culture (very few make an acception, and even then it is very awkward). To make a long story short, it was like a movie ending where I promise to see them again.

There is a 20 house build going on in the Northern end of Thailand later in the year and I am planning on being a huge part in this project... If you are interested in knowing more .. just ask...

Families Begin to Return...

2006-02-23T21:55:00.000-05:00

February 2, 2006

Things are progressing very well on the island and I am happy to report that it will be completed by the beginning of March. That will allow 40 families to return to proper living conditions again. I have been doing electrical work/septic work/drop ceilings/installing windows and painting.

It's so much fun getting to learn the Thai construction .... other than just the digging and concrete work. The houses are looking beautiful and the families have started coming around more now. They are so excited and so happy with our work that they show up with desserts and fruit for the group to share on the ferry ride at the end of the day.

I have been hanging out a lot with my Thai friends here and I have really felt like they have accepted me as family. Every night they have asked me to join them for dinner and to spend the evening with them. I think because of this my Thai has gotten a lot better and our broken english conversations have now become broken English/Thai conversations. It will be a hard day when I leave here again.... but I know I will return at some point.

I will be staying on the island starting tomorrow. This will allow me to work at least 3 more hours a day on the houses and make a lot more progress. I will be staying in a house I helped build and with the family of Thai's that I work with (Chang Yut, Gope, Ken, Noi, Wuiyet, Moi, and (Mark one of the older volunteers )

I am totally looking forward to waking up with the people of the island and having to share this house with 7 of my favorite people here.

I have spent the last week hitching to work just for fun (but it has allowed me to work an hour longer each day). Mark and I have raced eachother hitching to work and I have won every time to my surprise. I swear I can walk faster than some of these scooters. I guess this is what got me thinking about staying on the island. I think it just makes more sense. Now that the houses are set for plumbing, it wouldn't be like camping anymore and it's nice to look forward to a new experience.

I managed to make it to church one sunday morning a couple weeks ago. It was pretty interesting with it being half english and half Thai... they introduced me by calling out my name in the mic... that was embarassing! I felt very welcome though and we all enjoyed a great meal after the service. I'm really happy I went.

Today is my last day off before coming home so i think i will be spending it at the top of the hill by the pool and then packing for the island next week.

Digging Holes!

2006-02-01T09:19:00.000-05:00

January 27, 2006

WOW what a week! I have lots to report and I will attach a picture to this email for you :)! I have been having a great time!

The work on the island has come to a halt for now since we have caught up to the contractors.

This week I have been cruising around to other sites... Tap Tawan - I was compacting kitchen floors in the third phase(third building site). This means the first and second phases has been finished and families have moved in...how exciting is that?!

For a couple days after that we were digging sewers for Naem Keam and they were disgusting! I was digging while standing in some sort of muddy sludge right up to my knees... mmmm yum! NO!

Most of the holes needed to be 2 meters deep and 3ftx7ft in order to drop 6 concrete rings into them to act as holding tanks for sludge. The challenging part of the job was digging while the unknown fluids seeped into the hole through the clay. hahaha Yes.. gross but we all made the best of it!

I had a day off today and decided to work with the environmental clean up team for the experience. The people were pretty cool and the work is very different. I was basically cleaning up debris of the tsunami .. things like flip flops, clothing and building material. I found it surprising how much debris we had to, and still have to clean up. This project will take a long time before the beaches are restored to what they once were.

Today I heard that one of the volunteers had left because the work they were doing had struck them on a deep emotional level. Their group had been removing building material from the water and they found remains. After a year of work, there are still so many areas left waiting for our attention. Today I released the remains of a man from his button down shirt into the waters and I said a prayer. I didn't share this with anyone I was working with incase it would have upset them but I am sure they all shared the same experience. You see things here that give you insight into what happened on December 26th/05 and how horrific the numbers are of families lost.

Other than working I have been reading a bit and spending time with Ning (one of my Thai girlfriends)and having a few beer with friends I have newly met and old ones I have gotten reacquainted with.

Merideth will be here next week (A girl that I work with) and I am really looking forward to that!

The weather has been wonderfully hot and the water is like a bath (first time in the water to actually swim was today.)

Oh yeah... I picked up my clothes from Phuket airport cargo when I arrived (these are the ones I left in Chiang Mai last time i was here) ... LOL only to find out they sent me some checkered pants and this butterfly clown like shirt... some other wild tops straight out of the 70's that were probably owned by some joker! Funny thing is they fit me to a T! hahaha So I have been sporting them once in a while because everyone seems to love them.. hehehe

P.S. I almost lost my left foot.. and I got a tattoo! I was digging in the septic hole with this crazy thai guy. He took a shovel, faced my way and just went for it.... well while filling his shovel with *&$!@, he also ripped the nail off my toe and his shovel stopped just before my ankle....

...yes I still have my foot, but I'm sure you can imagine the words that came out of my mouth!! ;)
Now the tattoo is on the top of my left foot (post shovel incident) and I designed the symbol with the help of a Thai artist here. It means Year of the Dragon, because that is when I was born. I was tattooed in the traditional way with bamboo and it hurt like whoa! I couldn't be happier though... take a look

Big Changes in Khao Lak Since Last Trip

2006-01-27T13:07:00.001-05:00

January 22, 2006: In Khao Lak

I arrived and thought i was in the wrong village! This place has come so far since I left. Khao Lak itself is almost completely open for tourists. This is great news and I'm very happy to see that tourists have started to revisit this area.

This also means that it is almost time to move on from Khao Lak and let them reclaim this beautiful area from the volunteers. Some of the group has left and more are leaving to join the rebuilding efforts after the earthquake that took place in Pakistan.

As far as the construction sights go.... they are moving right along too.

Kao Kor Khao Island is almost ready for the dedication... where other sites just started building when i left here 6 weeks ago.

There is a new form of construction happening in Naem Keam. It involves stacking bricks (rebar running through the holes) using a funnel to pour cement into the holes, and after the foundation is solid the houses are rendered. About 30% of this entire community has been built in 10 weeks.

Naem Keam volunteers only work on a house when the owners (receivers) are there to work as a team. This has been a great success and the village is booming fast.

I will be spending the next week working at the other sites .. Naem Keam, Tap Tawan, Environmental clean up.. and maybe Thaikea to help on some of their more serious projects where lots of hands are needed.

This past week our safe house was reclaimed by the owner, who is looking at moving back in. I'm not sure if I told you all about this man... he owns the only house that survived the tsunami (on the island where I work) and unfortunately he lost his wife in the house due to the tsunami.

He donated the space for our use during the rebuilding to store supplies/tools/food and our packs. This is also where we have enjoyed lunch every day and the odd sticky rice break since the 36 house project began. I think we are all a bit sad to leave our "safe house".

However Kgong, a guy who we have built a house for (almost complete), has offered to let us use his house until we finish our construction on the island. This is the same guy that takes us in his water taxi back and forth to the island and main land when the ferry is not at the pier.

He is a wonderful person with a very bright contagious smile.

Arrived in Khao Lak

2006-01-16T15:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a few snippets from Tammy's email after arriving in Khao Lak, Thailand.

January 16, 2006

Just a fast one... i need a shower because I'm certain even this email has an odour;)

I'm here safe and sound... happy as ever :) big big smiles all around me!

Khao Lak has changed like night and day since i was here last. I'm so
impressed to see all of the work that has been done.

...I will begin the hard stuff tomorrow :) and I am looking forward to it!

---

To get an idea where Khao Lak is located, check out this map.
[It's just of the Similan Islands on the west coast of the main land]

To see some of the devastation the tsunami caused to Khao Lak, check out this webpage.
[Noticed the vegetation stripped from the shores when comparing satellite photos taken almost exactly two years apart]

Arrived in Thailand!

2006-01-16T15:05:00.000-05:00

Here are some (slightly edited) excerpts from Tammy's first email after arriving in Thailand....

Saturday January 14, 2006

Well I will be honest... I have been sitting in Bangkok airport at the pub with some interesting people having a few beer... I have another few hours to put in here before my flight to Phuket takes off.
...

(The flight from) Toronto to Washington was short and sweet.
...

I was on my flight from Washington to Tokyo and this woman came over the loud speaker: "ATTENTION... THERE HAS BEEN SMOKE DETECTED IN THE REAR OF THE PLANE".

She then repeats the same in Thai, Japanese, some other language and then came back in English to explain.... Someone had been smoking in the bathroom... well too late I had already *&$!!* my pants (kidding ;).

Sweet Jesus that is no reason to make everyone panic. We were 35000 ft. in the sky!
...

p.s. ...i have the shortest memory out there, but I recognise the airport workers in Washington and the flight attendants from Tokyo!

I sat with this greek god on the leg from Bangkok to Phuket .. I hadn't met him before and will probably never see again.. but hey someone must be looking out for me and trying to make my day.. lol