Hello Everybody, This is Brendon (Eryns brother) finally posting on here after joining up with Eryn 9 days ago. Apparently some of you have been mentioning how Eryn is doing such a fantastic job with the blogging, but her ungrateful brother is doing nothing of the sort. Well I figured it was about time I told my side of the story. I arrived in Bangkok a full day before Eryn, somewhat exhausted and owning a few less clothing items than I set off with. I intended to explore the area that first night and get an idea of what to do the next day, but I ended up just passing out in my room at around 5:30. 13 and a half hours later I woke up to the sound of monks singing in a nearby monestary. ... read more

Shorter entry today because I've been spending too much time talking to people who are online on facebook! And soon we get on our 12 hour train to Chiang Mai! So the 13th... First we went to the Golden Buddha (Wat Traimit). It was closed because the King was going there later in the afternoon so they were doing security checks. We got to see the outside though and the King's feast which consisted of whole ducks and pig heads. Delicious... We then went to Wat Pho, the Reclining Buddha. It is huge! Something like 40 meters long! Insane! Then the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phrakaew). The Palace was impressive! We only got to see the outside, but still, it was pretty neat! And the Emerald Buddha that's really made out of jade ... read more

More pictures!... read more

We made it to Annapurna! Barely! Well Pokhara, to start our trek tomorrow. I have a bunch more to write about volunteering and our homestay and the Nepali culture and our last day but there's more exciting news so I'll write this now and then go back to the other stuff... So last weekend Nepal had their first presidential election. The president is chosen by the Assembly made up of over 600 representatives of the different regions and ethnic groups of Nepal. There were 2 candidates, one Maoist, the other not. The non-Maoist candidate won. However, the Maoists are the largest group in the Assembly and they're threatening to remain an opposition party and not form a coalition government unless certain conditions are met. If they are in opposition, not much will get done. So of ... read more

We're done with our volunteer work and homestays. I wish we could've stayed longer! The past two weeks have definitely been my favorite so far! It's fun to play with the kids in the orphanage and help plant trees and feel like we're actually making a difference! And our family was AMAZING so of course it was sad to leave. Dori and I got the best family I think. Our food was always delicious and there was even variety and our family really made us feel welcome, especially the sister, Kamala. She's really sweet and fun and we could tell that she likes having volunteers. She even cried when we left! Some more about Nepal... the arranged marriages aren't really as terrible as we originally though. It's changed a lot even just from our parents' generation. ... read more

It's been a while! We don't really keep track of the date here, just the day so I didn't even know it was the 26th until I got on the computer. 3 weeks yesterday since I left Alaska! Life here has been mostly the same: living with our host families, helping out some, working in the orphanage and on the conservation projects. We started painting the new classroom at the orphanage so we've been working on murals in there the past couple days. One evening we helped our family husk corn. They just harvested TONS of it! But they don't eat any of it fresh, they save it for winter. Dori (my roommate) and I wanted to grill some and eat it with butter and salt and pepper. I also got to help chop veggies one ... read more