Back to work in Myanmar! Yangon here we are!

As everyone know, we are now in Yangon to volunteer for GreenShoots. Our mission: do a feasibility study to see if we can implement Microfinance for People Living With Aids in the poorest township from Yangon: Hlaingthayar. We took time to settle in: we spent the initial 5 days in a hotel and have found a nice flat with two other people (from France & USA). After a week, our stomach has been up and down, especially mine and Agnes seems to cope with all the food here. (I even managed to get sick in a taxi...what a nightmare)...To give you a feel of our life, it is 30/40 degrees, very very hot, full of mosquitos, very urban. People here are so nice: you arrive in a bus, 3 different people give you their seats; you look at your map, 1 people will hold it and another one will light it up; your break your flip flop in the street, after 3 seconds (no joke), one lady gives hers and start repairing yours...Lovely people...But you should also be aware that prices here are very very high; e.g. a hotel night is usually not less than $50, a month for a studio is $500, a SIM card is around $200...Anyway see below some pics of our first days in Yangon and our first visit at the Hlaingthayar clinic where we met the medical staff and the patients.

Relaxing family break in Thailand!!

After some exhausting times in Nepal, what a treat here in Thailand. We were so lucky to see Guigui's sister, Caroline and his nephew, Matteo and niece, Ines who is also my god daughter...a pure delight! Big thanks also to Aurelie & Co for welcoming up so warmly in Bangkok. We then enjoyed a few days in a South East island where we just relaxed, snorkelled and ate...ate..ate....What a nice country! Visit our Thailand page or Foodies page.

Life at the innovative Diktel school!! What a discovery!

After a long long long trek, in the Everest region and on the way to Diktel, we arrived in the Kothang region to live a few days with Madan Rai's students. This is a very innovative school (see more explanations in Madan's portrait). Boys and girls live in harmony over there having each some responsibilities: cutting grass, feeding the animals, growing fruits & vegetables, cooking, cleaning... etc...etc together with studying the "normal" classes. As Madan would like they tend to use both their brain & their hands ;-) The kids, teenagers, young men and women seem to be very mature and entrepreneurial for their young ages. We think that the result is impressive. Anyway we would like to thank all the kids and Madan for this great experience. When we will be back in London we should become occasional teachers using Skype from time to time. Another great experience....Once again we can say that this world trip project  was an excellent idea ;-) Finally we were there during a very popular Nepalese festival called Dipawali (Light's festival) so see in the usual sections pics on this: Visit the Nepal page! Or the Foodies and Portraits pages.

After our Gokyo trek...we continued walking down to reach the Diktel school (South East Nepal)

Madan Rai (see Portrait section) sent us two nice students, Roshan & Saujan, to help us find out our ways from Lukla to Diktel. Usually this would take us 8 days of walk...but the young lads planned 4 days by waking up at 6am maximum and walking for 12 hours...Guess what? We told them that this was not possible for us (we were already super exhausted and sick ;-)..so we cut the pear into two...we walked for 4 days and took motor vehicles such as jeep and buses for two days....to give you an idea...it took us 48 hours to do roughly 100km..(no concrete roads...).This was tough mentally and physically as we needed rest as soon as possible...Anyway thanks to Roshan & Saujan for their help and patience...great young men! Visit the Nepal page! Or the Foodies and Portraits pages.

Gokyo lakes & Gokyo Ri trek...so close to Everest! How magical was that!!

After 10 days of trekking, and reaching around 5400m high we came back at 2800m in Lukla. 10 days of great effort and pure joy to enjoy beautiful sceneries and landscapes covered with snow. We were very lucky as usually there is not so much snow at this season but the Indian cyclone brought lots of rain in Kathmandu mid October and thus snow on the mountains. Gokyo lakes, Gokyo Ri, the view on Everest....absolutely breathtaking. The plan is now to continue walking but not up....just down to the south east of Nepal, in Diktel, to visit and participate in a school created by Madan Rai (See portrait section). Another 6 days of walk ;-) We are sick and exhausted...! Visit the Nepal page! Or the Foodies and Portraits pages.