The World By Road

We only have a few days left before we drive on to Cambodia, and there are a lot of things to update everyone on regarding our last several days in Thailand.
As far as mosquito bites and fevers go, I am feeling a lot better. I still don’t seem to have much energy and find myself longing for sleep more than I ever have in my life. Even the smallest of tasks seem to wear me out but hopefully that will come to pass as well in the near future.

Since we have been in Bangkok, we have been working with USAID to film some of the projects they support in the region. Specifically we have been working with Wild Alliance(formerly Wild Aid) and learning more about the work they to to combat the illegal wildlife trade in SE Asia. The illegal wildlife trade is a pretty big problem in the region and we got to observe with our own eyes at the sprawling Jatuchak (J.J.)weekend market here in town. Staff from Wild Alliance also took us to visit a village on the outskirts of Khao Yai National Park where we meet Kuman… a former poacher turned organic mushroom farmer. With the help of Wild Alliance, Kuman is now a protector of wildlife in the park.

In the last week we have also been fortunate to meet Prah Luis, a Buddhist monk who found out about The World By Road while doing an internet search for Madagascar (long story). Prah Luis is working to connect travelers, volunteers and professionals who come to Thailand with projects that are in need of assistance. We have been staying at Wat Thakham, a Buddhist temple about an hour outside of Bangkok with Prah Luis and learning about his goals not just in Thailand, but around the world. The monks have been very kind and warm and we have found that we now have a pretty big support network in the region. If we are ever in need of a place to lay our heads for the night, there is a temple with open doors not that far off. The monks also assure us that the same hospitality will be extended to anyone passing through, you just might have to help out around the temple for a few hours. In our case the monks are working to build one of the tallest Buddha statues in the region at nearly 40 meters tall. We mixed some mortar and Steve climbed to the top of the structure to help secure some rebar…  a small price to pay for a rewarding cultural experience.

There is also some news to report from the getting into China front, we had to find a place that would perform a road safety check on the trucks. Apparently, China wants to make sure that our cars are not going to fall apart when we drive them across the border. The fact that they are new, manufactured to strict standards and have current registrations and documentation is not good enough I guess. Luckily, we found a place in Bangkok that performs such a test and 4 hours and 1,600 Baht later, we had our documents to send to China. Word on the street now is that we will have an entry date by the end of the month… fingers crossed. We have already deposited $1,000 into our contact’s account in China and he seems to think things will go smoothly.

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