I have some pictures of my time spent in mirissa, before the camera was swept away
enjoy
http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zigalbum/
I would like to also say THANK YOU TO TOBIAS for putting these pictures up for me
abracao ;)
also here's a good site for some info on what went on while i was down in mirissa, and by the way, the closest city near mirissa is matara, incase u were wondering and couldn't find out.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/12/27/tsunami041227.html
OH AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!!
I'm heading up to Adams peak tomorrow morning, where i will be climbing a 2200 m mountain, and will watch the sunrise for the new year and hang out with some monks, wish me good luck
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Isabel's tsunami story
December 26, 2004 8:40 am. I wake up just like any other morning, take my morning piss, put on my bathing suit and my dark blue sun dress. Brush my teeth with my orange flavoured tooth paste. Derek and I order the typical breakfast of 4 pieces of toast, ginger tea and we were planning to finish off our cheese that we had bought for christmas. Derek asked if i wanted to go for a walk on the beach before breakfast was ready but i decided I would prefer to lie down for a bit.
"Derek!!! you come here, Look look" I hear the owner of the guest house,Siri yelling.
9:15 am (10:15 pm on christmas day for you canadian folk )
"Isabel, shit come here!" says Derek after he takes a look, groggily i crawl my way out of bed, assuming they spotted another working elephant down the road.
As I look out side I see water about a foot deep creeping up the path towards the beach. "hmmm sewage over flowing that must suck" I thought. when I realizecd this water was rising fasting, and caring chairs and tables along with it, soon it entered the building.
"grab what you can and get out of here" derek instructs. Still thinking this will only be a slight inconvinience just getting everything wet not reaching past a few inches. But at the same time getting jittery and panicy. I quickly try to think of what i need dry the most. First I grab my Thesis paper (which i was a few hundred words away from finishing), god forbid my hours of work get wet, and my book i need to read,then on my way out i spot my cd player I grab that too, neglecting my passport and money completely for some reason (thank god you'll see why later).By the time I got to the front door, I was waste deep in water. "SHit this is much more seriouse than i thought" I grabbed a hold of Siri's Tuc-tuc (the three wheeled taxi) and realize that's being swept away with the water aswell. At this point everything got pretty blurry.I realized my thesis and cd player weren't that important when i saw Siri holding on to the shop's pole with his wife panicing and disapearing underwater.
I managed to some how get swept from just outside my guest house out through the gate, across the street, which is at least 10 meters away, I don't really remeber this. Then i tried to grab a hold to a telephone pole.I couldn't get a good grip, but thank god for derek he was holding onto me so I didn't go anywhere. Had i slipped away I would have been washed out into the river and possibly back into the ocean. Then the gushing water just stopped. I have no idea how long all this took, could have been a few seconds or a few minutes i don't know.
So having no idea what had just happened.I make my way back to the guest house everythign was destroyed and a refrigerator had been washed into my room. heading back to the guest house was probably the dumbest thing to do, cuz u never now, these things could have been followed by bigger stronger waves, but we were all in shock and wanted to make sure everyone was ok. We had lost the cook we couldn't find her for a long time, but turns out she was alright.
There was constant tention in the air.No body knew what we were just hit by, and there were constant rumors of more coming, about 15 minutes after the whole ordeal, I heard some one screaming in the distants and a mob of people tryign running downhill. Soenmone thought another one was coming, and i quickly tried to scramble outside the house as i did that i slippped and dislocated my shoulder, but soemwhere while i was running it popped itself back in, and now it's a lil soar, but not too bad. I also have a few cuts on my feet from trying to grip the concrete and a bruise on my leg but besides that I'm fine.
There were about 6 other scares. It was so tense because anytime U here anyone screaming, your afraid that another Tsunami is coming. I must have run dow hill away from the coast and up mountains about half a dozen times thanks to these scares.
Well I gto out of this EXTREMELY lucky, almost too lucky. I feel a bit guilty for all that I have, and nothign I can do
The only things i lost was my cd player, my thesis (figures!!!!) and the books i need to write my other paper. Derek's bag got swept away, but we are both in good health.
The night of the insident, we slept outsode on a mountain where there was a temple, with a few other people, and the night after we took refuge in the house of the pumber of the guest house which was half a km. from the beach. the next morning we caught a bus that was organized to take us to a refugee type of place for the ngiht, where we got a place to sleep and some food to eat.
It was interesting to meet other people and swap our stories, some peopel have soem amazing escape stories.
Some very sad stories. I also got a chance to watch some CNN, up till that moment i had no idea what it was i had just survived, and how extremely lucky i was, and am for that matter. Now I took a bus further up into the mountaims, back to Kandy (where i was first when i came to sri lanka)
I'm safe now, and hopefully disease won't be too big a problem.
Thanks to those of you who send me e-mails of concern, in a time l;iek this it really means a lot to me.
Hey and now i can add a new natural catastrophe to my list
Ice storm, montreal 1998
Hurricane Isidora Yucatan, mexico 2002
SARS Guanxi China 2003
Tsunami Mirisa, sri lanka 2004
hmm i wonder what's next
"Derek!!! you come here, Look look" I hear the owner of the guest house,Siri yelling.
9:15 am (10:15 pm on christmas day for you canadian folk )
"Isabel, shit come here!" says Derek after he takes a look, groggily i crawl my way out of bed, assuming they spotted another working elephant down the road.
As I look out side I see water about a foot deep creeping up the path towards the beach. "hmmm sewage over flowing that must suck" I thought. when I realizecd this water was rising fasting, and caring chairs and tables along with it, soon it entered the building.
"grab what you can and get out of here" derek instructs. Still thinking this will only be a slight inconvinience just getting everything wet not reaching past a few inches. But at the same time getting jittery and panicy. I quickly try to think of what i need dry the most. First I grab my Thesis paper (which i was a few hundred words away from finishing), god forbid my hours of work get wet, and my book i need to read,then on my way out i spot my cd player I grab that too, neglecting my passport and money completely for some reason (thank god you'll see why later).By the time I got to the front door, I was waste deep in water. "SHit this is much more seriouse than i thought" I grabbed a hold of Siri's Tuc-tuc (the three wheeled taxi) and realize that's being swept away with the water aswell. At this point everything got pretty blurry.I realized my thesis and cd player weren't that important when i saw Siri holding on to the shop's pole with his wife panicing and disapearing underwater.
I managed to some how get swept from just outside my guest house out through the gate, across the street, which is at least 10 meters away, I don't really remeber this. Then i tried to grab a hold to a telephone pole.I couldn't get a good grip, but thank god for derek he was holding onto me so I didn't go anywhere. Had i slipped away I would have been washed out into the river and possibly back into the ocean. Then the gushing water just stopped. I have no idea how long all this took, could have been a few seconds or a few minutes i don't know.
So having no idea what had just happened.I make my way back to the guest house everythign was destroyed and a refrigerator had been washed into my room. heading back to the guest house was probably the dumbest thing to do, cuz u never now, these things could have been followed by bigger stronger waves, but we were all in shock and wanted to make sure everyone was ok. We had lost the cook we couldn't find her for a long time, but turns out she was alright.
There was constant tention in the air.No body knew what we were just hit by, and there were constant rumors of more coming, about 15 minutes after the whole ordeal, I heard some one screaming in the distants and a mob of people tryign running downhill. Soenmone thought another one was coming, and i quickly tried to scramble outside the house as i did that i slippped and dislocated my shoulder, but soemwhere while i was running it popped itself back in, and now it's a lil soar, but not too bad. I also have a few cuts on my feet from trying to grip the concrete and a bruise on my leg but besides that I'm fine.
There were about 6 other scares. It was so tense because anytime U here anyone screaming, your afraid that another Tsunami is coming. I must have run dow hill away from the coast and up mountains about half a dozen times thanks to these scares.
Well I gto out of this EXTREMELY lucky, almost too lucky. I feel a bit guilty for all that I have, and nothign I can do
The only things i lost was my cd player, my thesis (figures!!!!) and the books i need to write my other paper. Derek's bag got swept away, but we are both in good health.
The night of the insident, we slept outsode on a mountain where there was a temple, with a few other people, and the night after we took refuge in the house of the pumber of the guest house which was half a km. from the beach. the next morning we caught a bus that was organized to take us to a refugee type of place for the ngiht, where we got a place to sleep and some food to eat.
It was interesting to meet other people and swap our stories, some peopel have soem amazing escape stories.
Some very sad stories. I also got a chance to watch some CNN, up till that moment i had no idea what it was i had just survived, and how extremely lucky i was, and am for that matter. Now I took a bus further up into the mountaims, back to Kandy (where i was first when i came to sri lanka)
I'm safe now, and hopefully disease won't be too big a problem.
Thanks to those of you who send me e-mails of concern, in a time l;iek this it really means a lot to me.
Hey and now i can add a new natural catastrophe to my list
Ice storm, montreal 1998
Hurricane Isidora Yucatan, mexico 2002
SARS Guanxi China 2003
Tsunami Mirisa, sri lanka 2004
hmm i wonder what's next
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Just an update
Okokok, I know a lot of you read my last blog and thought "WHAT?! Isabel's reading books?!?!?" Well before you make any comments about it, yes I am. Really there's nothing else to do then lie around and read books, and believe it or not, I'm really enjoying it, who would have thought.
Well today I got my ass on a bus and made my way to Colombo, the capital, to get a Visa extention for another 2 months. I'll probably be staying in sri lanka till somtime in the middle of january or begining of february. Then it turns out I can get a 70$ plane ride to India, why the hell not right?
That's that, sorry if I'm being half assed with my e-mails, just in mirissa, where I'm staying, it's hard to get access to a computer, but I'm trying.Oh and you know how i sent out an e-mail saying i can make this thing update you when Iupdate my blog, well it's not true
sorry, so you'll just ahve to check in every now and then.
well take care and stay warm
(oh and i got my pictures from cuba, if u want to see et me know, I'll snd them to ya)
Well today I got my ass on a bus and made my way to Colombo, the capital, to get a Visa extention for another 2 months. I'll probably be staying in sri lanka till somtime in the middle of january or begining of february. Then it turns out I can get a 70$ plane ride to India, why the hell not right?
That's that, sorry if I'm being half assed with my e-mails, just in mirissa, where I'm staying, it's hard to get access to a computer, but I'm trying.Oh and you know how i sent out an e-mail saying i can make this thing update you when Iupdate my blog, well it's not true
sorry, so you'll just ahve to check in every now and then.
well take care and stay warm
(oh and i got my pictures from cuba, if u want to see et me know, I'll snd them to ya)
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Sri Lanka
I left Bangkok around Nov 25th. We had a plane to Colombo, Sri lanka at 9:45 pm. It was a 3 and a half hour plane ride. We arrived at the airport at 11pm and didn't have a bus out to Kandy until 5 am. The bus station was extremely hectic, and the fact that I had as many bags as i did didn't help. So I slept through the entire ride pretty much, waking up every now and then by banging my head against the window. Sri lankans are the craziest drivers I've ever seen. I thought China was bad, these peopel are even worse!!! So Kandy is a nice little town in the center of Sri Lanka . People here compared to Asian are much nicer and down to earth. But that might be because most of them speak very good english. I stayed in a nice guest house there called Pinkhouse. Derek's stayed there for the past 5 years so he knows them well. Well the rooms there were shit. Every now and then you's here rats running across the ceiling, chirping of the lizards we had living in our room, and I had a cockroach living in my matress. The place had a really nice athmosphere though. The owner of the place was a really sweet lady and made exellent Dahl and Sambol mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
The food in Sri Lanka is soooo good. Prety spicy and most things are ade with coconut and are curry based. Another great aspect about dining here is you eat everythign with your HANDS!!! I love it!
One of the things I like about the guest house was how everyone came would sit out front in the wicker chairs. It was nice because each person stayig there was from a different part of the world. At one point there wer people frpm Spain,Grece,Israel,Italy,England, Irland,New Zealand, and sri lanka of course. It was cool hearing the different accents al in the same conversation. Also it would be cool how every morning I would wake up to chanting monks, because of the Buddhist temple just down the street.
We didn't do too much in Kandy other than walk down the road past the lake to the bakery to get some "Short Eat" which is pretty much just pastries with some kind of meat or curry spicy type stuff in it.
Aftr 6 days in Kandy we decidedit was time to head south to the beach. It was just a 6 hour bus ride until we got to MIRISSA BEACH (which is where I'm stayig now). Again the guest house we are staying at is owned by someone Derek knows very well.So they gave us a nice room inside their house. Also we get the benefits of helping yurselves to the fridge and sneaking in while the cook is making supper for everyone and pickign at whatever we want to eat. Also we get free tuk-tuk rides if we need.
So my life for the past while consists of pretty much waking up around 8 am everymorning. Stepping out of the door onto the beach for a walk, eat breakfast, Lie on the beach, read a book or work on y thesis paper. Then it's lunch time, which is then followed by nap time. after nap time, it's tiem to bum around a bit, maybe read a bit more or o back to the beach for anoter walk until supper time. After supper time tere's nothing left to do other sit by the beach and have a few beers. And I must add that Sri Lanka makes an excellet STOUT beer.
This is pretty much te storry of my life unti after Christmas.
After Christmas I'm heading to the hills, and doing some walking. and stuff, nothing to excitng
I have some picture, and am in the process of tryign to put them up on a siter.
As i said before it's hard for me to access any good internet here.
Miss you all and hope to hear from you!!! and HAPPy HOLIDAYS!!!!
The food in Sri Lanka is soooo good. Prety spicy and most things are ade with coconut and are curry based. Another great aspect about dining here is you eat everythign with your HANDS!!! I love it!
One of the things I like about the guest house was how everyone came would sit out front in the wicker chairs. It was nice because each person stayig there was from a different part of the world. At one point there wer people frpm Spain,Grece,Israel,Italy,England, Irland,New Zealand, and sri lanka of course. It was cool hearing the different accents al in the same conversation. Also it would be cool how every morning I would wake up to chanting monks, because of the Buddhist temple just down the street.
We didn't do too much in Kandy other than walk down the road past the lake to the bakery to get some "Short Eat" which is pretty much just pastries with some kind of meat or curry spicy type stuff in it.
Aftr 6 days in Kandy we decidedit was time to head south to the beach. It was just a 6 hour bus ride until we got to MIRISSA BEACH (which is where I'm stayig now). Again the guest house we are staying at is owned by someone Derek knows very well.So they gave us a nice room inside their house. Also we get the benefits of helping yurselves to the fridge and sneaking in while the cook is making supper for everyone and pickign at whatever we want to eat. Also we get free tuk-tuk rides if we need.
So my life for the past while consists of pretty much waking up around 8 am everymorning. Stepping out of the door onto the beach for a walk, eat breakfast, Lie on the beach, read a book or work on y thesis paper. Then it's lunch time, which is then followed by nap time. after nap time, it's tiem to bum around a bit, maybe read a bit more or o back to the beach for anoter walk until supper time. After supper time tere's nothing left to do other sit by the beach and have a few beers. And I must add that Sri Lanka makes an excellet STOUT beer.
This is pretty much te storry of my life unti after Christmas.
After Christmas I'm heading to the hills, and doing some walking. and stuff, nothing to excitng
I have some picture, and am in the process of tryign to put them up on a siter.
As i said before it's hard for me to access any good internet here.
Miss you all and hope to hear from you!!! and HAPPy HOLIDAYS!!!!
Friday, November 26, 2004
6 days in Bangkok
So thursday, Nov 18th, mornign at 5:00 I woke up, and was off to the dorval airport AGAIN. Not much to say about that other that the fact that the 30 hours to get from montreal to bangkok were TERRIBLE. Sitting and waiting around when you're exhausted just isn't too much fun.
Well I arrived in Bangkok Friday night at 11:45pm, met up with Derek (the guy I'm travelling with, incase you don't already know) and headed off to my guest house. I'm staying in this really nice cozy guest house called "Suk 11" you can have a look at it here
http://www.suk11.com
hmmm besides that nothign too exciting has happened. This is my 4th time to bangkok, I've already seen all the Wats (temples) and other attractions, so if you're not into hookers, buying suits, jewlery or watching "pingpong shows" (if you don't knwo what that is please don't ask) Bangkok really isn't all that too exciting.
So far I haven't done much other than eat deliciouse Thai food, and bum around. I had the pleasure of visitting a thai hospital here. I have never seen such efficient and good health care before. NOTHING compared to the shitty system we have back home. I got a test done here, that will take 3 days for them to gte me the results, as opposed to when I got them done back home where it took them TWO MONTHS!!!!!!!
I was also taken out to Sirocco http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/buildings/state/state.shtml, what they claim to be, the nicest restaurant in Bangkok, for my a late birthday celebration. MMMMMMMMMMM I had the best food I've ever eaten there, and the view was GORGEOUSE.
I went to a bar, but didn't really like it much because it was crawling with old men with either blue or brown polyester socks pulled up half way to their knee, with sandals and their young hookers. It's really a sad sight.
Due to the lack of anything else to do I went on a day long mission to find my favourite pancake lady and finally found a pancake man standing infront of my guest house, which made my day.
Tonight, I will be flying to Sri Lanka. Originally I was supposed to wait a few more weeks until I leave to go there, but there was no point staying here when I was goign to come back anyway.
I'm pretty excited because the culture in Sri Lanka is completely different (well as far as I know) then what I've experienced so far. Plus apperantly they have some very beautiful beaches.
I won't have access to the internet much in Sri Lanka, apperantly it's pretty hard to find a good connection, but I'll try to keep intouch!
I hope all is well in montreal, and it's not raining toooooo much!
Well I arrived in Bangkok Friday night at 11:45pm, met up with Derek (the guy I'm travelling with, incase you don't already know) and headed off to my guest house. I'm staying in this really nice cozy guest house called "Suk 11" you can have a look at it here
http://www.suk11.com
hmmm besides that nothign too exciting has happened. This is my 4th time to bangkok, I've already seen all the Wats (temples) and other attractions, so if you're not into hookers, buying suits, jewlery or watching "pingpong shows" (if you don't knwo what that is please don't ask) Bangkok really isn't all that too exciting.
So far I haven't done much other than eat deliciouse Thai food, and bum around. I had the pleasure of visitting a thai hospital here. I have never seen such efficient and good health care before. NOTHING compared to the shitty system we have back home. I got a test done here, that will take 3 days for them to gte me the results, as opposed to when I got them done back home where it took them TWO MONTHS!!!!!!!
I was also taken out to Sirocco http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/buildings/state/state.shtml, what they claim to be, the nicest restaurant in Bangkok, for my a late birthday celebration. MMMMMMMMMMM I had the best food I've ever eaten there, and the view was GORGEOUSE.
I went to a bar, but didn't really like it much because it was crawling with old men with either blue or brown polyester socks pulled up half way to their knee, with sandals and their young hookers. It's really a sad sight.
Due to the lack of anything else to do I went on a day long mission to find my favourite pancake lady and finally found a pancake man standing infront of my guest house, which made my day.
Tonight, I will be flying to Sri Lanka. Originally I was supposed to wait a few more weeks until I leave to go there, but there was no point staying here when I was goign to come back anyway.
I'm pretty excited because the culture in Sri Lanka is completely different (well as far as I know) then what I've experienced so far. Plus apperantly they have some very beautiful beaches.
I won't have access to the internet much in Sri Lanka, apperantly it's pretty hard to find a good connection, but I'll try to keep intouch!
I hope all is well in montreal, and it's not raining toooooo much!
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
my trip in general
Eventhough my last 2 posts seemed negative I had an AMAZING time in Cuba. I spent most my time, walkign along the beach, drinking all kinds of fancy drinks, swimming in the pool,and coming up with complicated routes to the beach to avoid the stalking Cuban men, well not all of them ;)
While I was there I really met a lot of interesting people,and learned a lot about the country. Before i went I had absolutly no clue about the place, then again I have a habit of doing that.
So it turns out the average person makes about 15 USD a MONTH in Cuba. And for some reason most things u buy in Cuba are in US dollars, not only in the resorts which really confuses me,from what i understood that is.
The money they earn isn't proportional to the cost of living there either. Things are actually rather expensive. Unlike in china,many people were making around 100-150$ a month,which was fine, you can live a decent life with that income there. I really don't know how some people survive there. hmmm theres a lot about cuba i still don't quite understand, it all seems so complicated.
Cuba also has 2 currencies. the Cuban peso which is 28=1 USD
and the Convertible Peso which is 1=1USD
this is what is replacing the american dollar,because as of nov 8 it is no longer allowed to be used.
things apperantly just keep getting more complicated there,i think.
One thing that really stood out about the people there,well besides their sexy accents, was how educated everybody was. In Cuba education is free,all the way upto university, and apperantly most people take advantage of this. I met some people whospokeperfect english, french, and german. Ignorance is something I rarely saw in these people. Generally I was really impressed by the average cuban i met,they seemed like very intelligent,sincere and down to earth people. Then again I was in a touristic area and didn't get to really experience cuba so i'm not really in a good position to judge.
Anyway I'm back home now,I have a great tan, a cigar,and a few litres of rhum and am stressing out because I leave for Thailand on Thursday. Everythig came so fast, it's hard to get everything done so quickly.....
While I was there I really met a lot of interesting people,and learned a lot about the country. Before i went I had absolutly no clue about the place, then again I have a habit of doing that.
So it turns out the average person makes about 15 USD a MONTH in Cuba. And for some reason most things u buy in Cuba are in US dollars, not only in the resorts which really confuses me,from what i understood that is.
The money they earn isn't proportional to the cost of living there either. Things are actually rather expensive. Unlike in china,many people were making around 100-150$ a month,which was fine, you can live a decent life with that income there. I really don't know how some people survive there. hmmm theres a lot about cuba i still don't quite understand, it all seems so complicated.
Cuba also has 2 currencies. the Cuban peso which is 28=1 USD
and the Convertible Peso which is 1=1USD
this is what is replacing the american dollar,because as of nov 8 it is no longer allowed to be used.
things apperantly just keep getting more complicated there,i think.
One thing that really stood out about the people there,well besides their sexy accents, was how educated everybody was. In Cuba education is free,all the way upto university, and apperantly most people take advantage of this. I met some people whospokeperfect english, french, and german. Ignorance is something I rarely saw in these people. Generally I was really impressed by the average cuban i met,they seemed like very intelligent,sincere and down to earth people. Then again I was in a touristic area and didn't get to really experience cuba so i'm not really in a good position to judge.
Anyway I'm back home now,I have a great tan, a cigar,and a few litres of rhum and am stressing out because I leave for Thailand on Thursday. Everythig came so fast, it's hard to get everything done so quickly.....
Thursday, November 11, 2004
My day as a cow
Today I had the oppertunity to experience what it felt like to be cattle. I was woken up at 7:30 in the morning, graised a little and was hearded onto a bus. I sat on this bus for 3 and a half houres, the destination was Trinidad,an old fashion city in south eastern cuba,or so i was told, i didn't actually really get to see it much. After the bus ride,we were hearded off to graise a bit more on an "international" buffet which consisted of nothing that might resemble authentic cuban food. After eating we headed to a big tall tower which really didn't have any significance or much history as far as i know, so we could take pictures to impress our friends back home with all the real cuban buildings we saw. Of course within this tourist trap we were bombarded by people trying to get money out of the tourists. Tourists hate when they do this, obviously, who wouldn't, but the thing is, it's the tourists fault in the first place that they do this.
I find that many people go to third world countries like cuba, feeling sorry for them due to the fact that they don't have all the luxiouries that we have. Which is true, they have nothign compared to what we have,but in my oponion this doesn't necessarily mean they're living a terribly misfortunate life, just different. They live much simpler,less materialistic lives. Hell if I had the choice to to work in a small hut by the beach and live a stress free life for just a few dollars a day as opposed to a fast pased,stressful life in a dirty,noisy city and be rich,I wouldn't even have to think twice with choising choice # 1. But then again it really depends on the person.
Well I'm straying from my point, Cubans live a very simple life,not very materialistic, because they really don't have the means to obtain many material things. This doesn't mean they are less fortunate than us, generally they're happy with what they have and really don't know any other way. Then along come these tourists who feel sorry for the way they have to live,and hand out all kinds of presents. It's a nice thought in theory,and they're happy to recieve these presents, but now all of a sudden they're introduced to these things that really are convinient or fun, or whatever to have around. So they become accustummed to these things and they feel they need them, and how do they get these things? from tourist! And this is how the whole begging,and scamming and hassling thing in touristic areas started. Which really is a shame.For me it really spoils the experience to be viewed as a way to make some money or some one who should be giving gifts.
I witnessed one thing that really upset me ( you may think i'm crazy for getting upset at this) I saw a couple handing candy to one of the local kid *gasp*
HAHA I mean normally that's a very thoughtful, kind thing. But think about it in this case.
"awww poor kid he's got nothing,let's give him candy"
then what happens? he get's no nutrition, ruins his teeth, get's hyper and throws spazzes when he can't get more. Maybe I'm reading into this too much but i just think that if u feel bad for someone why not give them soemhting that they benefit from.
Well that;'s enough ranting for me. All in all I was disapointed with the trip to trinidad, though i did get to see some of the city, which was beautiful. Oh and I would also like to note,even though you always hear how poor Cubans are and they need help from us, and we should bring all our old clothes when we visit so they have soemthing decent to wear, cuban women were dressed nicer than I ever am. They had soem of the most beautifull clothing I've seen.hmmmmmmmmm
I find that many people go to third world countries like cuba, feeling sorry for them due to the fact that they don't have all the luxiouries that we have. Which is true, they have nothign compared to what we have,but in my oponion this doesn't necessarily mean they're living a terribly misfortunate life, just different. They live much simpler,less materialistic lives. Hell if I had the choice to to work in a small hut by the beach and live a stress free life for just a few dollars a day as opposed to a fast pased,stressful life in a dirty,noisy city and be rich,I wouldn't even have to think twice with choising choice # 1. But then again it really depends on the person.
Well I'm straying from my point, Cubans live a very simple life,not very materialistic, because they really don't have the means to obtain many material things. This doesn't mean they are less fortunate than us, generally they're happy with what they have and really don't know any other way. Then along come these tourists who feel sorry for the way they have to live,and hand out all kinds of presents. It's a nice thought in theory,and they're happy to recieve these presents, but now all of a sudden they're introduced to these things that really are convinient or fun, or whatever to have around. So they become accustummed to these things and they feel they need them, and how do they get these things? from tourist! And this is how the whole begging,and scamming and hassling thing in touristic areas started. Which really is a shame.For me it really spoils the experience to be viewed as a way to make some money or some one who should be giving gifts.
I witnessed one thing that really upset me ( you may think i'm crazy for getting upset at this) I saw a couple handing candy to one of the local kid *gasp*
HAHA I mean normally that's a very thoughtful, kind thing. But think about it in this case.
"awww poor kid he's got nothing,let's give him candy"
then what happens? he get's no nutrition, ruins his teeth, get's hyper and throws spazzes when he can't get more. Maybe I'm reading into this too much but i just think that if u feel bad for someone why not give them soemhting that they benefit from.
Well that;'s enough ranting for me. All in all I was disapointed with the trip to trinidad, though i did get to see some of the city, which was beautiful. Oh and I would also like to note,even though you always hear how poor Cubans are and they need help from us, and we should bring all our old clothes when we visit so they have soemthing decent to wear, cuban women were dressed nicer than I ever am. They had soem of the most beautifull clothing I've seen.hmmmmmmmmm
Monday, November 08, 2004
Off to "Cuba"
This morning I woke up grabbed my bags hopped into the van and headed off towards Cuba with my mom and all her friends.
The flight was 3 and a half hours long, nothing compared to what's coming up next week. I arrived around 11pm. My first impression of "Cuba" wasn't a great one. Straight off the plain I was shoved into a bus of complaining cranky french canadians. All the cubans spoke french, and english no spanish was to be found anywhere, which was a bit upsetting seeing how i was excited to try out my spanish.
Now the reason why i said my first impression of "cuba" wasn't good, because really I wasn't in Cuba. It was but it wasn't really. I was on an island off of Cuba called Cayo Coco. This island is strictly reserved for tourist. No Cubans were allowed on this island unless they had special permission. It actrually makes me sad that most people who visit this place honestly believe they visited Cuba.
Well after checking into my large room, checking out HBO on my tv, turning on the airconditioning, and trying out one of the queen size beds in my room, I headed down to the beach. I don't think I have ever seen such a beautiful sky. Actually i have but never while i was standing on powder fine white sand. It was really breath taking. After my not so eventful day I headed back to the comforts of my own home anxiouse to see what the place looked like during the day
The flight was 3 and a half hours long, nothing compared to what's coming up next week. I arrived around 11pm. My first impression of "Cuba" wasn't a great one. Straight off the plain I was shoved into a bus of complaining cranky french canadians. All the cubans spoke french, and english no spanish was to be found anywhere, which was a bit upsetting seeing how i was excited to try out my spanish.
Now the reason why i said my first impression of "cuba" wasn't good, because really I wasn't in Cuba. It was but it wasn't really. I was on an island off of Cuba called Cayo Coco. This island is strictly reserved for tourist. No Cubans were allowed on this island unless they had special permission. It actrually makes me sad that most people who visit this place honestly believe they visited Cuba.
Well after checking into my large room, checking out HBO on my tv, turning on the airconditioning, and trying out one of the queen size beds in my room, I headed down to the beach. I don't think I have ever seen such a beautiful sky. Actually i have but never while i was standing on powder fine white sand. It was really breath taking. After my not so eventful day I headed back to the comforts of my own home anxiouse to see what the place looked like during the day
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Sunday, October 10, 2004
A month to go
I'm just pretty much posting this so i can see how it's set up.
Well I have a month to go ubntil i head to Cuba, and a month and 2 weeks till i get to Bangkok.
I'm prettye xcited, though there is still a l;ot fo work to be done til i get there
Well I have a month to go ubntil i head to Cuba, and a month and 2 weeks till i get to Bangkok.
I'm prettye xcited, though there is still a l;ot fo work to be done til i get there
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