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Day Trippin'

Took a day with a friend to the "Golden Triangle." What a long day - but worth it just to say I've been to the Golden Triangle.

We visited an all-white temple. It was pretty freaky looking: white dragons coming out of every angle of the building, Buddha was all white and the brightness blinded you with the bright sun.

We took a boat over to

Laos and hung out for about 30-minutes.

And we also crossed over into Burma for a few minutes.

(Thus the reason they call it the Golden Triangle -- three countries meeting at one section of the Mae Kong River.)

We also had a chance to visit a few of the Hill Tribe villages. Of course, it was the "tourist" way of doing things -- so they were just trying to sell us stuff.

It wasn't my normal way of hanging out in the village. I'd like to go back and just hang out and live with them for a week or so.

It was nice to get outside of Chiang Mai - even if it was only for one day.

Insects anyone?

Stopped at a roadside stand and saw these delicious treats - cockroaches, beetles, geckos, worms, etc. Anyone hungry?

Thailand Images

I've been in Thailand two weeks and finally found some time to venture out and take some photos. These are from a walk up to a dried up waterfall (it's summer and dry season). On the walk, we passed an area where people go to sacrifice and pray for their Budhist religion.

African Water Crisis

Check out the story package Kristen and I put together on the African Water Crisis in Kenya.

http://www.africastories.org/

It's official, I'm moving!

I am moving to Thailand. I've been waiting to make the announcement until the transfer was officially approved - and it is now official!

Watch out Asia - here I come!

I'm still waiting on some details to work out, so I don't have a departure date yet. I'll keep you posted. And just think about all of the crazy things and foods I get to try in Asia. It's an entire undiscovered area. I can't wait to zip-line across the jungle as monkeys swing next to me or learn Tai-chi.

The adventures are about to begin again!

Five-year-old logic

There's this house that I walk by when I go out for a run/walk. This five-year-old boy lives there and I always stop and talk to him, asking about his day. Well, he actually runs outside or runs over to me and stops me - flailing his arms like a wild man. There's no way I could miss him. He introduced me to his Mom one day and called me the "pretty, blued-eyed walking lady."

So, yesterday I took the van to my Mom at school and ran home. This means that when I came by this little boy's house, I was running instead of walking for my warmup. He hopped on his scooter and chased me down, trying to flail his arms without falling off his red "hot rod."

He finally got me to stop and demanded to know what I was doing. "You know you are WAY too
old to run. You are supposed to walk," he panted. "Besides, you aren't as pretty when you run. You should always walk ... always walk!"

Ha -- guess everyone needs a five-year-old to tell them when they are
pretty and when they are not.

Story posted about Kenya's Mungiki

Hey

Check out this story. It's one I gathered while I was in Kenya back in December.

The story is about the leader of a mafia like group coming to Christ and all of the skepticism surrounding it. Nope -- it's not a feature, my normal style. This is straight out news.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/february/18.15.html

African Spa

It was just moments until cocktail hour. My two friends and I fidgeted around the table, waiting on the fourth person in our party to get back from the spa's sauna. Kristen lounged, fanning herself in regal fashion. I smoothed down my dress, trying to make myself presentable.

We couldn't wait any longer. The thought of cocktails was just too tempting, so Mary pronounced cocktail hour officially started ... she popped open the imported can of "fruit cocktail" and sighed at the juicy goodness. After a long, hot day in the African bush, this cocktail hour was worth $3 a can.

Sometimes when you are out in the bush, you do anything you can to make "roughing it" fun. On this trip, fun was the theme as my companions and I turned tough conditions into an African Spa Adventure.

We lounged by the pool ... worked on our tan at the beach ... danced at the local club ... chased ostriches ... bathed in the bath house ... slept under the stars!

Okay -- Actually, it was super hot where we were. There was not much water. We went without electricity, which made it difficult for doing media things. This place was definitely off the beaten path.

Now, here's the translation of our adventures:

Lounged by the pool - sat next to the hand dug well or the water tank as women gathered water for their daily chores.

The Beach - the story was set in the desert, so everywhere we went there was sand. In fact, one day we went out walking and got lost in the desert.

Danced at local club - The women celebrated having water in the tanks. They celebrated by dancing and singing. They grabbed us and pulled us into the celebration.

Chased ostriches -- this is exactly what it sounds like. As we were driving through the bush, two giant female ostriches ran in front o

f our truck. We were going about 40 kmph and these females kept running in front of us -- their heads wobbling on that long neck. It was right out of a movie.

Bath House - We used a pitcher of water for our bucket baths in a tin enclosure. In the late afternoon, this enclosure was known as the spa/sauna because it got so hot inside.

Stars - nothing beats the stars out in the bush. There are no city lights -- just the dark sky and shiny stars sparkling.

Hanging out in the bush is always fun when your with people who laugh and have a great imagination!

African Water Projects

Drought has been a big story in East Africa for the last year. Even in the cities, water is scarce. Rainy season started but has not filled the void. The rains have not hit all areas of East Africa, either.

On a recent trip, a photographer and I visited several places dealing with water problems - ranging from no water to no drinkable water.

We followed one woman as she gathered water out of the Tana River. The best way to describe the river is a mud hole. This is their normal drinking water. They use it for cooking, cleaning, for animals, etc. We went to this village to see a new water filter being used. The filter looks like a flower pot and fits inside a 20-gallon bucket. The women pour the muddy water into the "flower pot" and after a few hours, clean water (that you can actually see through) comes out. The filter has already made a difference in the rate of water-related health issues.

Further north, we hung out with a family for a few days and documented their troubles in finding water. The widow and her six children had to walk miles everyday to the hand dug well. They carried water back to their home and then started the process all over again.

While we were with this family, a BGR water project was finished up and we were able to see the difference having water nearby made with the family. BGR installed four tanks and

pipes from the bore hole. The day the water came to the tanks, there was a lot of celebration around the water.

The next day, since the women didn't have to walk so far to gather water -- it was like a holiday. The women dressed up and spent the morning dancing and singing and just having a

good time. Of course, most of their laughter was at us as we tried to dance and sing along with them!

Pray for me

I'm starting to work again. It's been a long road of recovery and rest from years of being a reporter. It's time to start back up and get back on the road.

I'll be doing my first story assignment in a couple of weeks. I'll be traveling to Africa for two stories: 1. female circumcision and a fight to better the lives of girls; 2. a water project that brought water to 4,000 people.

Pray for me as I get back into the flow of work. Pray that my creative juices are still somewhere inside of me. Pray for our safety.

Check out this website!

Hey

Check out this new website for some great stories on Africa. www.africastories.org

A Big Thank You

Hey -- I just wanted to thank you for thinking about me while I was visiting in Kenya.

Most of you know that I've been in the States for about a year. After covering some pretty crazy things as a journalist, I just needed a break and a safe place to hang out. You can't get any safer than southwest Kansas -- ha-ha!

My trip to Kenya was good. It helped me remember how great Africa is, especially when there's no blood shed. The trip went so well because many of you were praying for me and I just wanted to say thanks!

I still don't know when I'll be heading back to Africa or if I'm heading to another destination. After so many years living in Africa and travelling the world, it's kind of crazy to think of doing something else, but who knows? I'm just hanging on to see what the next step is.

Petting Day

My time home in Kenya is coming to a close. I leave for the States on Friday. So today, I took some time for fun. I took a couple of friends to do some "touristy" things around Nairobi.

We started the day at the Giraffe Park -- one of my absolute favorite places. There's a platform built so you are eye level with the giraffes and there's buckets of food. The giraffe walk upto you and you feed them. The giraffe come from the neighboring game park.

The really adventurous, like me, put the pellets in their mouth and allow the giraffe to take it...so, it's a nice juicy, wet giraffe kiss. Oh so cool!!!

A family of warthog came to play below the treehouse like platform.

Then, we rushed over to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphange to watch the babies play. These elephants are all rescued from the wild. They are nursed back to health and taught how to live in the wild. After they turn three years, the elephants are released back into the wild.

There was a brand new baby elephant that was just a couple months old. He arrived last night. He fell in a well and they couldn't fid his family group. It was quite fun watching him playing with the other elephants and trying to "earn" his way into this family grouping of orphans.

After the baby elephants left, a two-month-old Black Rhino came out to play. He was so cute and so small. He didn't even come up to my knee.

Our day ended at the Animal Orphanage. We pet some four-month-old cheetahs.

Then, we pet a hyena (a first for me). It was a good animal kind of day.

At the Lake

Spent the night at a friend's house. They live on the lake. We sat on their back porch this morning watching the giraffe, impala and zebra graze while drinking tea. I fell asleep last night to the sounds of hippos mulling around and chatting with each other.

This morning on the drive back to the main road, we stopped to watch a herd of giraffe play. Teenaged boys will be teenagers, no matter what -- they spent the morning wrestling with each other. This consists of leaning on each other; shoving each other with their weight; and head butting each other.

More Safari Photos

Kenya Game Park

Went with a friend to a game park at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. It was the first time I've used my camera in about a year. Here are a few of the photos of animals. I'll post moe tomorrow. Uuuuugh! I'm a bit rusty and my cameras are sooo dirty (no place to have them cleaned in Nairobi).

New Nigerian Helmet Law

NIGERIAN BIKERS WEAR SHELLS TO AVOID LAW
Police in Nigeria have arrested scores of motorcycle taxi riders with dried fruit shells, paint pots or pieces of rubber tyre tied to their heads with string to avoid a new law requiring them to wear helmets. The regulations have caused chaos with motorcyclists complaining helmets are too expensive and some passengers refusing to wear them fearing they will catch skin disease or be put under a black magic spell. The law came into force on January 1. (Reuters)