Abroad Trip Day 18

Today was an early morning! We went with our tour guide, Arty, to her village to visit her uncle's temple and see the community service project he does there. Her uncle is a monk (and younger than her) and works with HIV+ women in the community to form support and reduce stigma in the village for HIV+ people. Because they can't work as much as a food vendor or farmer (between taking care of their kids, their parents, their husbands (who is HIV+, if alive), and their husbands parents, and fighting against economic discrimination for HIV+ people, the womens economic prospects are limited), they have all been trained to sew. Mainly, they sew outfits for monks in Japan, but they also make other things to sell, or things other customers demand. I bought an HIV/AIDS awareness bag for 130baht.

Then we went to a Leprosy Hospital which is not a rehabilitation center and nursing home, located near Chiang Mai. It was the first care center for people with leprosy in Thailand and was founded by a Presbyterian missionary. It is still very Christian and promotes Christianity through its services, but performs good services for people with disabilities, so it is probably good that it's here. Plus, the island was unused because the locals believed it was haunted by the spirit of a rampaging white elephant, so at least the space is being used, even though I would argue it could be used more effectively because there is a lot of space dedicated to empty buildings.

Anyway, we ate lunch at her friends house. She's a ladyboy and she's teaches cooking classes. She's wonderful. She made a delicious lunch of spring rolls, cashew chicken stir-fry and chicken and eggplant green curry. She then entertained us by answering all of our questions about being trans in Thailand. Ladyboy have bad reputation for being prostitutes and cheating people, but not most of them do that. If they've had surgery (top or bottom), they don't have to serve in the military. However, they are not allowed to legally change their gender, so her passport says male, not female. She was also very beautiful, with classy makeup and a modest yet flattering dress. I find it interesting how she exuded the ideals of Thai women's appearance better than most Thai women do. Probably because she has to try harder to prove she's a real woman. The same thing certainly happens with transpeople in the US.

After we got back, I got 2 coffees and did homework. Later, I'll probably go eat Indian food in the mall and get bubble tea! And get a lot of street vendor food, like sticky rice and fruit and roti. It's crazy to think that tonight is our last free night in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow we have a group dinner, then we leave early in the morning to fly to Bangkok. I don't want to leave! I love Chiang Mai! I guess I'll just have to go back one day!

Oh, and on a note about health: 3 people have been hospitalized with fevers and other illness symptoms at some point on the trip, but they're all doing better. One of them now has colitis, though. I got a rash on my collarbone, and developed a cough. Many of us, including me, have bedbugs.

Day 18 - Welcome to Sarajevo!

Last night I slept in a fantastic bed, which was lovely and soft and perfect for a side sleeper like me! The downside was I was sharing it with LaVana who talks and moves a lot in her sleep. A few hours after I went to bed, she suddenly sat up (taking the comforter with her) and started talking gibberish. A couple hours after that, she smacked me on the head, saying "they're all over you! they're all over you!" Luckily, she only smacked me once, but it was pretty startling.

We started off the morning by going to Vukovar, a city on the border of Croatia and Serbia which was under siege by the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) (aka Serbia) for 3 months. At the end, 97% of the buildings in Vukovar were damaged, with around 40% severely damaged. Now, there are still a few buildings in ruins, and many with shrapnel damage. The population has decreased a lot because of the national war, so now it's really a ghost town. A lot of the Croats have returned, though. All non-Serbs were forced to leave in 1992, but since the city was returned to Croatia in 1996, the population is now over 45% Croatian, and 37% Serbian, and the rest other minorities (Bosniak, German, Jew, etc).

A very sad looking town though. We met with the mayor who was a Croat militiaman during the battle in Vukovar and who became a prisoner in a Serbian concentration camp but who doesn't generalize his experience to all Serbs. He wants a future of peace and unification of the ethnic groups, which is probably why he was elected mayor.

We also had another companion: a stray black scruffy dog, who followed us around while we toured Vukovar. We wanted to bring it with, but it disappeared while we were eating lunch. Paddy vetoed the idea, but Boris was okay with bringing a dog on the bus. : )

We then drove to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. My first impressions of Bosnia and Herzegovina is that it is polluted and poor. That hasn't changed much, as sunset was just a few minutes after we crossed the border. Bosnia and Herzegovina is split into 2 main regions and a city, which are all governed by different governments. We entered in the Republika Serpska, or the Republic of Serbia, the Serbian side, which is poorer than the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or the Bosniak/Croat side. Sarajevo is on the Bosniak side, but on the border. The Republika Serpska would like to be an independent country, or be annexed into Serbia, but as it is ruled by the international community, that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

As an example of how polluted this place is, we passed a river, where all the plants growing on the banks had toilet paper hanging from them, and there were cars and trucks mostly submerged in the mud along the banks. I could only see the top half of the cabs. There is just trash everywhere. The air in the areas we stopped smelled pretty bad. Sarajevo doesn't seem so bad, though.

We are staying at Hotel Hecco. It's really nice. We have a skylight in our room. I'll post pictures later, but it's a 3 star, so it's pretty nice. We went to a small cafe, where we ordered chicken coutlets and season salad. It was delicious, and just what we needed after a day on the bus eating junk food. Just some grilled chicken breast, coleslaw and tomatoes, and a large fluffy piece of pita bread. Delic! After, we grabbed some ice cream, which was also delic. It's a little weird to be eating ice cream when its 0 degrees C, but you know, whatever. Tastes good. And cheap. I spent 8 euros total on my dinner and dessert. They also take euros here, which is nice. We haven't received our per diem of marks yet, so we only have euro and some kuna.

Anyway, I should give Meichen her computer back. She's been kind enough to let me use it for the past few days. I can't wait to have my own computer back, though. Then I can upload pictures and show you evidence of what I'm talking about.