MINDFUL MUMBLINGS!

 Mindful mumblings or the monkey mind? 

Maybe just overthinking.

29/4
Sustainable Development Fee

I don’t want anyone to pay this on my account and certainly not from an educational budget! 

At least now I have a name to apply to the barrier between Bhutan and us. 

We walked over 45 kilometres in the city in weather conditions that constantly had the ‘feels like’ temperature above 40°C for considerably portions of the day this last week, composted most of our garbage and recycled glass, cans and cardboard without much of a system in place to do so. The amount of physical waste we add to the system is less than the volume of a litre of juice which is the container we carry it down the stairs and into the streets in, quite often, and only every two or three days do we need to do that. I was disappointed to have consumed a delicious drink in a single use plastic cup this week when I always assiduously avoid them. I also avoid cafes that use plastic straws and even donate them alternatives. Exponentially adding to my own ecological footprint, isn’t an option and not a mistake I often make.  Conscious and mindful living is sustainability too!

30/4

This morning Ian said that Madam is going to speak to the ED about a waiver on the SDF because after all the YDF is a CSO! 
And that actually made sense to me. Acronyms are endemic in the kingdom and require deciphering. There was some joy in the fact that I actually understood it. 

Has the Bhutan bubble burst? Only time will tell. 

1/5 
It currently takes more optimism than I can actually muster to continue to keep the faith. I mourn and regret the neglect of the slow, simple, sustainable and safe lifestyle we worked hard to establish and once relished here and how we have allowed the sheer joy of it to lapse lured by optimism and hope. 

The black hole beckons. I need to rethink the physical, emotional and mental cost of living in limbo. 

I talk too much and write to rein in the monkey mind that threatens to overwhelm me. 

“Ring the bells that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering, 
There is a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.“
Music helps. 

Only now, it occurs to me returning to living more mindfully in the present, is the best way forward.  

2/5 

I’m grateful so many former students sent Teachers’ Day messages today. There is truly nothing more gratifying that knowing you actually made a difference. If I never get the opportunity to be in a Bhutanese classroom again I will be forever grateful for the time I had there and the things I learned about myself in the process. There were frustrations, conflicts, failures, joys, achievements and life lessons that will always stay with me in those years. Blinkers off real life learning. 

I also unexpectedly realised today that of all the places we have lived, Cambodia is now the record holder of the country we have lived in and loved for the longest consecutive time span. Almost six years currently but ‘it ain’t over yet’ as the saying goes. 

3/5

"The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.”
David W. Orr - Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World.

I have read this several times before but it truly resonated today.

 

Krama vs Kroma

The word has a variety of spellings including those above and khramer but more importantly it refers to those mostly checked but sometimes striped cloths that are seen everywhere in Cambodia.

They are a local must have. No-one leaves home without at least one and they are so versatile. They are sold to tourists too and are truly are irresistible. The more you see them used in every day life the more they seem to appeal. Almost every traveller passing through Cambodia has at least one and we are no exception.  In addition we have had to purchase a few as small gift items even though we were not planning to buy gifts.  One hotel even gave us 2 as a parting gift as we had spent more than the usual one or two nights in their establishment.

The biggest surprise is that no monks ever seem to use them, although everything else a monk requires is manufactured in orange for his exclusive use. Yes I do love that.

I guess it comes as no surprise that in the big towns and cities there are hundreds of shops selling them but you almost never see a local wearing one.  Many, many of the outlets are also proud to state that their supply has been produced by women in a co-operative or empowerment to end poverty project, or that their sale is in some other way supporting worthy causes and charities. This of course is even more reason to purchase and may explain why we now seem to possess over a dozen of them!

 So what exactly are they you ask? Perhaps the pictures below will help.

They vary in size, shape and colour but can be used as:

a scarf,

a belt,

a sunhat, 

a sarong, 

a cushion for a head load,

a towel,

a cleaning cloth, 

a blanket,

a shawl,

a sunshade,

a curtain,

a turban,

a hammock for a baby or child,

an apron,

a wrapping cloth for carrying goods,

a strap,

a tablecloth,

a sling for carrying a child,

and doubtless many other things.

I even saw someone tie 2 drinking bottles together in one and then tie it around his waist!  

My only regret is that I didn’t cotton on to their significance sooner and make it my mission to photograph every use I saw them put to: just one more reason to return to Cambodia I suppose.

If you think you really need one yourself put in your request quickly as we are heading to Bangkok on the 8am bus tomorrow.

Walking across borders

That about sums up all you need to know buying a bus ticket - if only you could read it! 

We have arrived in Pakse, just over the border in Laos from Ubon Ratchathani, in Thailand, though of course the crossing is at Chong Mek on the Thai side and Vang Tao on the Laotian side. Remembering those names is also paramount, just to keep you on your toes.

I think I love the romantic notion of crossing into a country on your own 2 feet but the reality is a lot more anxiety creating than I ever remember until it is happening again. We got the first bus from Ubon at 9.30am. Because they wouldn't sell tickets in advance despite it being labeled an International Bus, we had to get to the bus station by 8am when the booth opened on the day we wanted to travel. We were determined to be early, as I wanted to sit at the front, where it is better in terms of not getting travelsick. We were there by 7.40am having been packed into the public transport (“song tao”) like sardines with all the kids going to school. We felt quite pleased with ourselves for managing to understand enough to negotiate and avail ourselves of that 35-cent ride! At the ticket booth, we ended up second in line and got 2 tickets near the front but not at the front, as the four front seats had mysteriously already been sold before the booth opened. 

Much to our surprise the bus left on time and took the exact 1 and a half hours that we were told it would, to reach the border. There were clear signs on the bus that said it would wait just 20 minutes for visas to be processed, so we scooted into immigration knowing we needed to be quick. We were again second in line to be stamped out of Thailand. Next came the walk into the unknown with those going the other way on the opposite side of the mesh barrier separating incoming and outgoing travellers. Why is it that I love this? We were in a concrete tunnel and we were anxious about being in no-mans-land in terms of having been stamped out of one country and not yet stamped into the next. 

We grabbed the forms and filled them in with the utmost speed and were the first on our bus to lodge our visa applications in Lao. Feeling lucky as Australia is on the list for a visa on arrival, at the cheapest rate, we paid our US$60 and handed over the photos we knew we would need. The not so smiley official told us to go to window 6 - no receipt for passports, just go. We didn't want to argue and off we went. After waiting for 10 minutes, one of the Thai girls on the bus told us the bus would be leaving in 5 minutes. Thanks for that!! The man behind window 6, which I had to bend in half to be able see through, told me for the millionth time to "Wait a moment," and I refrained from trying to tell him what a moment actually means. A long 10 minutes later we had our visas and were the first of the 6 foreigners on our bus to have survived the processing. 

By that time my heart was racing and I was sure that our bags along with our bus had long ago disappeared but no... the sign is just another one of those random acts of bureaucracy that Thailand seems to specialize in and the waiting at the border, well that is just to remind us that Lao is communist I think!!!One couple from our bus hadn't even lodged their paper work when we got our passports back and we had no idea where the bus was once our ordeal was over!! Urrggghh.

Ian finally spotted the bus we had arrived in while I did my best to impersonate someone who is not panicking, and yes it was still waiting for us. He dashed back to tell the other 4 where it was as I boarded and everyone looked very peeved as I got on. We didn't exactly engineer the delay ourselves but now I can see why no-one looked pleased to see us 6 getting onboard in Ubon- least of all the driver.  The Thais and Laos were all processed for a mere $3 and stamped straight out and in at the two checkpoints, no waiting no delay! 

Another 20 minutes of waiting and the other 4 foreigners appeared clutching their passports and one wandered off to do some shopping!! No way, the bus driver wasn't standing for that and he started the engine, revved it threateningly and she immediately jumped on. Like us, once in the bus, they frantically flipped through the pages of their passports to see that they did in fact have that all-important visa and stamp.

Yes it took more than an hour and a half to process us "farangs" and yes the bus did elect to wait!! I wanted to stroll to the front of the bus and rip those notices with their anxiety creating 20 minute warning, off the wall but I didn’t. By the time we were cruising along the Lao side of the crossing and on the opposite side of the road of course, I was reminiscing about having flown into Luang Prabang in 2012 and having got a free visa on arrival that was processed in about 5 minutes with smiles all round.

Now, why is it that I love to walk into countries I ask myself!! 

Any further doubts are certainly clarified by this!