If you were to ask us to describe to you in exact detail the impact this experience has had on us, we would be at a loss for words. There are so many things we see in this world that shock or touch us; but to become a witness to those things in real life is truly inspiring. Two weeks ago, Chris and I arrived in Muniguda, Orissa state, India. If you know you're facts about India, you'd know that Orissa is in the south and it is one of the poorest, least developed parts of India. Once you step off [View Full Entry]

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Once we were shown the sleeping arrangements of the children at the Orphanage, we were horrified to discover the children slept on nothing but plywood. Chrisand I decided right then an there to make sure these children would have proper beds before we left. Unfortunately, because there were only three volunteers including ourselves, the project budget wasn't even close to enough for new mattresses. One night Chris and I walked past an Indian mattress shop in Kesinga. We bartered them down to 50 mattresses for 7000 rupees ($180 CAN). We were so ecstatic to be able to provide for the children [View Full Entry]

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It was 7:30am and we were hungover from our only night in Delhi. We'd met some local Indians and had a fantastic time in their office after hours. We had our bags packed and were waiting outside our hotel for our pickup to the train station; set for our 30 hour trip to Muniguda, (a tiny town in Orissa no one goes to). We knew this would be fun. We were soon going to meet our team leader for the Orphanage volunteer project we'd signed up for. Soon enough the Tuk-Tuk rolled up, but not before a six year old street [View Full Entry]

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"First time to India? Good luck!" "India, oooh that's tough." "It's a lot to handle." The words of India-Experienced travellers, and they were right. As soon as we stepped off the plane from Bangkok in Delhi, we realized India was going to be like nothing we had ever seen before. For those who dont know, India is now the second country to reach the population of a billion, and stepping off that plane and into Arrivals, its obvious that there are over a billion people in this country. Faces, faces, everywhere you look, faces. So many people everywhere all the time. [View Full Entry]

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There were a few places we visited in Thailand briefly that we failed to mention in past blogs, so we decided to add one last blog on Thailand that mentions all the places we haven't yet... to give you the full experience. The first was Patong, Phuket. We stayed in Patong for three nights after Koh PhiPhi but before Koh PhaNgan. Patong was a pretty big city that ran along a beautiful and popular beach. There were a lot of resorts and hotels and too many tourists, but it was still beautiful. We managed to rent scooters for one day to [View Full Entry]

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Ko Pha Ngan, the small island near Ko Samui that is famous for its "Full Moon Party". Due to elections, the party had to be moved from the 22nd, to the 24th, and that really screwed up a lot of peoples plans, but not ours! We arrived on the island very late in the evening. We told our driver where we wanted to go and we were off to the Starlight. Little did we know there were TWO Starlights on the island... one a resort (us), and the other a bungalow. We were taken to the wrong one, and when we [View Full Entry]

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A two hour ferry ride from Krabi to Ko Phi Phi through rough seas that rock you back and forth without mercy. It wasn't the most pleasant transport we've had so far, but it brought us to one of our favourite places for sure. Ko Phi Phi is a group of two small islands. Phi Phi Don; the larger of the two and the island that holds the entire tourist crowd including tons of dive shops, pancake stands, surf shops, tattoo parlours, hippie clothing outlets, bars and everything in between. The majority of the island isn't used whatsoever except for nature [View Full Entry]

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250 bahts for 24 hours? Yes please. And out they came, Mr.Kords two newest Suzuki scooters, blue with a flash of silver, and they were ours. "These ones very fast," the rental lady proudly pointed out. We were staying in Ao Nang, a beautiful but touristy and expensive area of southern Thailand. Ao Nang mainly serves as a launching point to get to the beautiful islands, so tourism is huge. There's not much to do in Ao Nang itself, and since we had already visited all the islands we decided to get out and away from the touristy scene. And, we [View Full Entry]

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On arrival to the Islands of Thailand we knew immediately we had found paradise. White sand, flowing palm trees, boardwalks along the beach, and the most beautiful sea green water you could ever imagine. We booked a 4 Island Tour of the nearest islands around Ao Nang where our guest house was situated. For the whole day, including lunch and free drinking water it cost us 450 Baht (13.50CAN). A bit expensive for our taste but we figured it was worth it. The day of the tour we were picked up outside our guesthouse and driven to the beach where our [View Full Entry]

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When we arrived in Chiang Mai at 5 in the morning all that we could think about was the trek we had booked for the following day. We were told that everyone who heads up to Chiang Mai takes part in one of its famous treks through the jungle. Once we found out it included Elephant rides and bamboo rafting, we signed up without hesitation. We were picked up from our hostel at 9am and all ten of us were piled into the back of a pickup truck. We drove about 40 minutes to this cute market where we were told [View Full Entry]

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