Raderstorf World Wide Adventure

On a jet plane by Joellen

2005-05-04T19:47:00.000-06:00

It the last wee moments of our WWA with a bursting heart, this trip has truly been the time of my life!!! Six months pasted in a flash and I am now headed home to sleep in my own bed for the first time in six months. I hope when I lay my head down tonight it won’t feel as if I’ve never left. I won’t be stingy hoping to remember all the people met, food tasted, sites, sounds, scenes and the history, oh my the history! Rather, I just hope to keep the dull tickling feeling inside of me, there to remind me that I have changed—a bit wiser and hopefully a bit more humble.

There is No Place like Home!!!

2005-05-03T07:24:00.000-06:00

After 15 hours on planes we are home at last!! There truely is no place like home.

We look forward to seeing everyone soon!! We'll be doing some Blog catchup for the last couple weeks after we unpack and do some laundry. Stay tuned!!

Sailing, Seasickness and Buckets of Baklava - By Ben

2005-04-16T10:40:00.000-06:00

When we left Istanbul we flew to Dalaman where we rented a twenty meter sailing Gulet. The best part was we didn’t even have to sail it, the crew of four took care of everything. All of the meals were included and were delicious. Our first day out we sailed around islands that looked like they could have been in Colorado (the ocean and jumping dolphins were a little out of place). One had a single permanent resident, Gilligan Bunny. We spent our first night in a beautiful sheltered cove on one of the islands.

The next day was much less enjoyable. For the first time we entered open sea and all were greatly affected by the tossing and rolling of the ocean. Breakfast was lost by all but Dad. The three hours of sailing were very uncomfortable. We finally arrived at our destination, but were soon off by small boat to explore the ruins of Karnos. It was our first roman ruins, so we were amazed, but we had not seen Ephesus or Rome itself. The city had been vastly populated, until malaria came and wiped out everyone. We also went to a mud bath, but I, for my cold’s sake decided to stay dry.

Our last full day, we sailed to the port of Marmaris. Quin had lost major bets the night before to our cook, Cemil, and our captain, Cemal, so he had to buy 4 kilos of baklava. His bank account didn’t like it so much, but the rest of us did, yum, yum, yum!! We spent the night across the harbor in a small cove. I was surprised that baklava didn’t cause us to lose our cookies again, even on the calm waters of the harbor. We left the boat and soon were on our way to Ephesus (see blog).

To see the Pics, click Here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/241981/
Ephesus : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/244108/

Istanbul, World's Coolest City - by Ben

2005-04-08T12:25:00.000-06:00

Istanbul has to be one of the coolest cities on the planet. It certainly is the only one that spans two continents. The history here is unmatched anywhere in the world. We stayed in a hotel directly across the street from Aya Sofya. Originally a catholic church, Aya Sofya was built by the Romans in the 6th century A.D. The entire reason for its construction was the emperor wanted to build the largest building in the world. When the Byzantine Empire fell, it was converted to a mosque. Now it serves as a museum, and is still the fourth largest religious building in the world.

Another of Istanbul’s amazing sites is the massive, underground Basilica Cistern. It was built in 532 by Emperor Justinian to hold water in case the city fell under siege. The floor area is almost 10,000 square meters. The vaulted ceiling is supported by 336 columns. When full, it could store 80,000 cubic meters of water.

We also visited the Blue Mosque (built to rival Aya Sofya), the Grand Bazaar, and the Tokapi Palace, home of the Sultans. We also took a cruse up the Bosphorus, the straight separating Asia from Europe. It was cool to get on the boat in one continent and get off in another. It seems that Istanbul’s main industry is carpets. Everyone we met ether sold carpets or wanted us to buy one from their brother’s shop. The very first day we were ambushed and had no choice but to purchase three of them, even though we didn’t want them. Not only is Istanbul geographically where Europe and Asia meet, but culturally as well. It is the perfect balance between West and East, I guess that’s why we all liked it so much.

To see the Pics : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/241975/

Delicious Mauritius

2005-04-06T12:19:00.000-06:00

Mauritius is a true paradise island. The water is only a few meters deep for a mile straight out. Between the shallows and the coral reefs 10 meters from shore, all surf is eliminated and the water is as calm as a pond. This was the perfect place to get used to the ocean again after the unfortunate events of Dec. 26, 2004.

We stayed the first night, after arriving on a ten P.M. flight, at a low quality motel near the airport. We were all so tired, we didn’t care. No one even realized that we were 10 meters from the beach until the next morning, it was so quiet. Even when the wind was blowing 20 knots, the water stayed calm.

The next two nights we spent in a much more enjoyable resort on the other side of the island. The Villas Caroline was a wonderful place right on the beach. The white sand beaches and nearby coral reefs were amazing. The delicious food was highlighted by a pig roast (much to Max’s displeasure) on the last night of our stay. Even though some of us were not very keen on going, we enjoyed Mauritius very much.

See the Pics : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/241966/

Lions and Rhinos and Mozambican Spitting Cobras, Oh My!! By Ben

2005-03-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

Kruger National Park is one of the most visited wildlife parks in the world, and you can see why. Hundreds of thousands of acres of unspoiled bush stretch as far as the eye can see. Picturesque waterholes are visited every night by elephants, antelope, Burchell’s zebra, and safari jeeps full of camera-wielding tourists. The only evidence of civilization is dirt roads and the occasional, isolated safari lodge.

During one of our stays we were guided around the bush by CJ, a ranger who never grew up. He highlighted our tours with his ingenious mud missiles and his wacky dung spitting contests (no, you don’t want to know). But not only does he light up the game drives, but he spends all of the meals telling the most amazing stories about his life.

Although it seems dangerous, none of the camps had fences; only one had two lines of electric fence to keep out the elephants. Warthogs and hyenas literally waltzed right up to your front door. We had a spitting cobra try to crawl in our room. The food in the bush is amazing. The nearest town is an hour away, so even the bread is homemade. Many of the camps have their own five-star chef.

I truly hope that this wonderful experience will be available for everyone for generations to come.

To see the Amazing Pics, Click here :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/186478/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/186476/

Sydney - What a cool City!!! by Ben

2005-03-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

Sydney is an amazing city. We stayed in an apartment that had the most picture perfect view of the harbour, bridge and Opera House.

While we were in Sydney we met up with some friends who had lived in Boulder for a few year working for my dad’s company, Les & Iris. The time we were there just happened to land on the day of their engagement party. The party was very fun and we all learned how to play cricket.

We also went to the Taronga park zoo. It was one of the coolest zoo's any of us had ever seen. The easiest way to get around Sydney is by ferry. The ferries go almost everywhere and run every half an hour. We also visited the Maritime museum, which was very cool, and the aquarium.

Sydney is a very cool city and I hope to go back.

To see the Pics, Click here :

Sydney : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/186459/
Zoo : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/186465/
Les & Iris's Party : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/186468/
Museums : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/186466/

Doubtful Sound by Max

2005-03-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

Our tour in Doubtful Sound started with a boat ride. The boat took us across Lake Manapouri. On the boat we saw leaning peak, some beautiful hills that were a cross between L.O.T.R and Jurassic Park and due to the large rain fall the day before here were a bunch of temporary waterfalls as well as some larger permanent waterfalls. Soon we arrived at our first stop, The Hydro Electric Power Plant. After an interesting tour through it we got on a bus. The bus ride was just as beautiful as the boat ride but that is about all I can do to describe it. At the end of the bus ride we boarded another larger boat that was sailing up the sound. That trip was just about as scenic as the last one but a lot more eventful. For example, we saw both seals and dolphins. But a few hours later we found ourselves back at the hotel. After a short dinner we were all ready for bed.

To see the Pics, Click Here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/156761/

Adventures on a NZ Sheep Farm By Quin

2005-03-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

We went to a sheep farm . They had tons of dogs. They were good dogs. One of the dogs I made a friend with. One of the dogs chased 1,100 sheep.

To see the Pics, Click Here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/155775/

Women Rock in New Zealand

2005-03-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Kia ora! This Kiwi greeting means hello, good luck and good health in Maori, one of New Zealand's two official languages. I’m in the beautiful capital city of Wellington, surrounded by water, hills and lots of green space. Besides taking in incredible beauty, my most memorable experience has been visiting the New Zealand Parliament. We happened upon the government complex by accident on an early morning stroll. Without the presence of security guards and blockades of any kind, I found it impossible to believe that this was the national seat of government. One side of the complex is guarded by a three foot high picket fence. Imagine that!

New Zealand, the first country to grant universal suffrage in 1893, operates under a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system. It has eight different parties currently represented on the debating chamber floor, including the green party and the Maori party. Over a quarter of the MP seats and most of the top positions including Prime Minister, Speaker of the House, Governor General, Chief Justice and Maori Party leader are ALL held by women.
The New Zealand government prioritizes families, economic growth and the environment. The Right Honorable Helen Clark had this to say after the release of the recent budget, "The overall effect of Budget 2004 will be to help build a nation which is innovative, enterprising, confident and more prosperous, and which, most importantly, cares for all its people." Three of the women MP’s have set out on a social policy tour entitled Mothers on the Road to gather tried and proven local ideas for helping children at risk. They are looking at the issues from “the perspective of mothers, not politicians.”
I left the Parliament building feeling such excitement that mothers here are truly shaping public policy--and New Zealand is thriving because of it (the NZ dollar is at an all time high). How fortunate we are to have such a brilliant model; upon my return, I will lobby my elected officials to add a section to the home page of US government websites, Participate in Government. Me whai wāhi ki ngā mahi Kāwanatanga. Get involved and have your say.
Kia ora!

New Zealand from Ben, Max and Quin

2005-03-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

North Island

The approach into Auckland was beautiful. Rolling green hillsides dotted with thousands of small white specks, just a small percentage of the fifty million sheep in New Zealand. It was so beautiful that we almost forgot our nasty brush with Garuda Airlines and the N.Z. immigration rules the night before, but that is another story for another time. Unfortunately no matter how beautiful it is, New Zealand is a western country. We realized this when it became apparent that they wanted you to book ahead to rent a campervan instead of just showing up. We, after hours of searching, found the last campervan in the north island. That is when we found that they actually wanted a driver’s license to rent a car. Obviously, Mom and Dad’s had been lost in the Tsunami. In Vietnam, you can rent a Tank without a license if you wanted to. I guess we’re back in the western world. Thankfully, we got a copy faxed, and they were nice enough to take it. By the time we got to bed that night, we were all very tired, even with the time change.
The next day’s drive was very beautiful, but compared to what was coming up, it was quite boring. That night we stayed at a trailer park on the beach. This was a mistake because half of us were not able to sleep due to the pounding surf. You would think we would learn, but we stayed by the shore of Lake Taupo among roaring surf a few nights later.
From the east coast we worked our way inland visiting Hobbitton and Tongariro National park. The Hobbitton set was interesting but a little overpriced. As for Tongariro, it cost nothing at all and was one of our highlights. It was the LOTR filming site for Ewyn Muil, Mordor, Mt. Doom, and the forests of Ithlien. It is made up of three Volcanoes, Rupehu Ngruahoe, and Tongariro. Many wonderful hikes wound their way up to the very crater of all the volcanoes.
One of the worst things we did in the next three days was the Agradome sheep show. It was the touristiest thing we have done and expensive. Mom had heard it was a “must do”. Before long we arrived in Wellington, Capital and third largest city (200,000 people) in New Zealand. We had a few days to burn so we rented a small apartment. A friend in Boulder has friends in Wellington so we met up with them. Wellington is a fabulous city. It looks big, but you can walk across it in less than an hour. Wellington is wonderful city and Sunday evening came far too soon. The Interislander ferry was very cool, but we were all sad to see the lights of Wellington disappear around the bend.

South Island

The ferry unloaded in Picton, a small town in the Marlborough sounds. We drove a half an hour to Blenheim, the largest town in the area. There we met up with Eric Kloor, a friend from Boulder. We spent the evening with him and the next day drove to Nelson. From there we explored Abel Tasman National park. It’s like a mix between Jurassic Park, southern Thailand, and New Mexico. We half expected a dinosaur to cross the road at any minute. From there we went to Kiokura. We swam with the seals and had a great time (I’m sure you would love it here Spencer). From there we took the train to Christchurch where we exchanged the camper for a minivan. Christchurch is very cool (only one cathedral so far) Tomorrow we are off to see Wanaka, Queenstown and the Southern Alps.

Watch out for the Purple Lady and more

2005-02-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here I sit at the beach in Hoi An, Vietnam, seeing a large body of water for the first time since the tsunami. It’s hard to say how I feel as I hear the tiny waves crash at the shore. The anxiety I’m feeling has more to do with the inequities I see all around me. This place is exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. Competition to sell to foreigners is so fierce and I feel like a walking dollar sign.

I have seen so much in a short time. The morning frenzy at the Central Market is my favorite. The market sits next to the river where small, wooden ferry after ferry arrives and departs loaded with 20 motorbikes, almost as many bicycles, passengers and their great variety of wares. It is an unbelievable site to see so much piled atop a small moving vessel. I am reminded of news broadcasts showing the Vietnamese boat people.

I envy the produce of such fresh quality and variety with its accompanying aromas. Food is beautiful, bountiful and affordable for everyone. Most of us seldom grow or eat food like this anymore in the US. The women in their conical shape bamboo hats, the quick pace—no one running, but everyone moving at an accelerated pace—is something I could sit and watch all day.

We met a couple of women from Colorado today in front of an elementary school, retired school teachers who seemed way too young to be retired. The woman I spoke to shared her husband’s story. He had been a helicopter pilot here in the Vietnam-American War. After two weeks here, he wrote to her that the war was a big mistake. He was shot down once, and later requested to be on non-combatant flying missions. When he returned home, he reacted as John Kerry did, discarding his medals. He died some years ago of cancer brought on by his exposure to Agent Orange. This was her first trip to Vietnam and she loved it, especially the people, the children. Her words filled with wisdom: she felt communism would have taken care of itself because the human spirit to succeed is too strong and if that didn’t do it, consumerism would have.

On the streets of Hoi An, passenger-ladened motorbikes and bicycles race down small lanes converging at corners in random chaos—a system that surprisingly works. At the few seldom-obeyed traffic lights, you can always count on a young moto-driver hitting the accelerator to reach maximum speed through a solid red light. In spite of this madness in the eyes of a Westerner, I have yet to see any kind of collision. (Knock on wood as I have a 4km bicycle ride back to our hotel.)

I was the only one interested in seeing the ocean this morning as the boys are not ready to hear the sound of the surf. For me the sound is strangely soothing after the emotion of the last ten days, seeing how hard people work and how little they are paid.

The nice young guy who runs the internet/travel agency two doors down from our hotel makes $45/month. He works seven days a week from 8 am until well past 8 pm. He has not had a day off in a year and found out he will not get the Lunar New Year off this year. He studied electronics in school and hopes to be employed by a government factory where he will earn $200 a month. He cannot quit his job at the internet café because it is too hard to find another. He can survive on his salary because he lives with his aunt and food and clothing is cheap, but there is no extra to consider getting married or to travel to Halong Bay. In spite of his situation, he is so happy and always smiling.

Just now on the beach, a young woman named Louise (her English name) came to sell me bracelets even though she knows I have no money with me. She is 18 years old and attending English classes. When she graduates, she can get a license which will allow her to get a job as a hotel receptionist. She used to work in a dress shop, but because she worked every day (all day) she had no time to study. Now she has a license from the government to sell on the beach every other day. She tells me that on Feb. 1st (tomorrow), it will be cloudy all day, as it’s the day when all the spirits in the burning incense will go up into the sky to report the events of the year and who will be lucky. She says it is cloudy every year, and if it’s not cloudy it will be windy all day and if not windy all day, it will be at 1am in the morning.

She tells me that some people might think she is only talking to me so that I will buy something, but she says she is not. Then she shares stories of people buying lots of bracelets after talking with her for awhile because they want to help her. And how she gives people bracelets and then picks the money up later when she is in Hoi An for English class.

For two days now, I have been hunted by the purple lady (today she is dressed in red) who wants me to come to her dress shop to have clothes made. She jumps out from every corner to give me a big hug reminding me that she will only be lucky if I come to her shop. Because I didn’t say “NO” immediately, I am a stalked woman. This experience has shut me down, and now I don’t want to buy anything from anyone. In the end, all I can do is wish Louise luck and give her my email address. She hides her disappointment because she did not sell me anything.

Some time ago in Boulder, I found myself wondering if we would end up in a world where we are all trying to sell each other something as I was trying to turn everyone into a political activist. It made it difficult to have an authentic relationship. Now I am in that world, but the difference is that for the people I have met it's a matter of survival.

Leaving Hoi An with a new custom-made wardrobe for cheap, cheap, cheap, I have no answers, only more questions.

Ha Noi, Vietnam

2005-02-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

Ben's Journal Entry - Feb 8th, 2005

Hanoi has to be one of the noisiest cities in the world. All of the streets are tiny but are entirely filled with motorcycles, so they can move ten times as many people through the streets. For dinner on the first night, Mom, Quin, and Max ordered pizza while Dad and I went on a quest to find some real food. Our efforts were rewarded by the Cyclo Restaurant, a lovely French place that let us in even though it was two minutes to closing time.

The next morning I awoke in complete darkness. I looked oat my watch and was surprised to see that it was after nine. Our room was like a cave. The only light came from under the door. The breakfast was complimentary, but you couldn’t have paid me to eat it; cold scrambled eggs, disgusting fake orange juice and toast that wasn’t even toasted. We all decided that we weren’t hungry and would wait until lunch.

Two blocks from our hotel was a lake with several temples in the middle. Even though the weather was foggy and rainy, we had a blast walking around the lake and exploring the temples. They of course were crowded on the week before Tet (the Vietnamese lunar New Year).
Hanoi is famous for its Water Puppet Show. Figures of dragons and fishermen dance through the water controlled by bamboo poles hidden just below the surface. Villagers chase foxes away from their ducks and peacocks sail majestically around. The tradition of water puppets was created by fishermen in the red river delta during the flood season. The coolest is when fireworks are used.

On the way home from the theatre we stopped at a lakeside restaurant for desert. That triple dark chocolate cake sure was good, but the moment it hit my stomach, I regretted it. I still can’t believe Max and Quin ordered ice cream (the temperature was less than 10ْ C)
I was hoping the noise was going to die down but it didn’t. Hanoi is truly “the city that never sleeps”. Those earplugs came in very handy.

Click Here to see the pics :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/127774/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/127772/

Hoi An:The land of a million tailor shops

2005-02-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

Ben's Journal Entry from Feb 1st,2005

Hoi An is a very cool town. What makes it special are the tailor shops on literally every corner. People come from all over Vietnam to have clothes custom made. We were going to take a picture of all of them, until we realized we’d run out of disk space. Not wanting to miss out, we all got some things made. Can you believe that my mom shipped my long pants for Nepal back with her silk dresses? I guess it doesn’t matter because we aren’t going anymore due too bad political situations. Max and Quin spent much of their time at the internet Café playing “Age of Empires”, but hey, at 100 dong per minute, who can blame them. Our time in Hoi An was way to short and we were soon on the bus to Da Nang International Airport. We were all sad to leave, except for Mom, who was happy to escape the clutches of the evil purple lady. If you visit Hoi An, steer clear of a slightly plump lady dressed in purple. If you get caught, buy from her shop, or else!!

Click here to see the Pics : http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/127765/

Falling in Love in Cambodia

2005-02-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

In 1975, I was a carefree 12-year-old (the age of my oldest son) and knew nothing of the brutal takeover in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge. Through execution, starvation, disease and forced labor, the regime killed an estimated two million Cambodians, almost a fourth of the country’s population. I also knew nothing about the half million Cambodians killed as by American warplanes bombing the borders during the American-Vietnam War. (Many believe this action, in part, aided the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot’s rise to power.) In truth, I knew very little about this country before stepping on its dark, red soil.

We came to Cambodia, like most tourists, to see Angkor Watt, one of the most amazingly beautiful and spiritual sites in the world. Siem Reap, home of the 200 temples of Angkor, is filled with stark contrast: luxury hotels alongside bamboo shacks on stilts, big white buses storming through a sea of families on bicycles and motorbikes. Tourists pay $60 for a one-week pass to the temples and yet many Cambodians can’t afford the “moto” gas money it would take to get there (admission for locals is free). Everyday outside the temples, Cambodian children sell souvenirs, postcards and books.

We met Srei Yah, Le Hieng and Diet when we wandered into food stall #27 in Angkor Thom looking for rest and a bit of nourishment. They immediately approached us speaking perfect English, hawking their wares: postcards, bracelets, books, flutes and more. Their ages mirroring my sons, I purchased bracelets on the condition that they would stay and chat for awhile. Like many of the children at the temple, they work half the day and spend the other half at school, six days a week. On Sunday, they work all day from 6 AM to 5PM. They laugh and smile non-stop, and know an amazing number of country’s capital cities. We all bonded that first day and spent the next three days talking, playing freeze tag and even touring our favorite temple together as an ever expanding family of 10! We all parted with tears hoping we would be together again soon.

According to UNICEF, Cambodia is still one of the poorest countries in Asia, with some 34 per cent of its people surviving on less than US$ 1 a day. Nearly half of all Cambodian children are malnourished, and one in eight dies before their fifth birthday, largely due to preventable causes. Because more than half of Cambodia’s 13 million people are under the age of 18, the countries biggest challenge is to ensure that the children will grow up strong and educated, able to contribute.

We met a Swiss doctor, Dr. Beat Richner (Dr. Beatocello) who’s committed much of his adult life to this cause. Besides overseeing three pediatric hospitals in Cambodia, he gives free cello concerts every Fri and Sat night to tell tourists about the hospitals’ work and why they should contribute. Dr. Beat worked in the Kantha Bopha Pediatric Hospital in Cambodia in 1974. He had to flee the country when the Khmer Rouge took over. He talked about the health care system being equal to that of Singapore in 1974 and how the population of doctors went from 950 to 50. (I assume 50 survived because they kept their true identity a secret from the Khmer Rouge.)

He returned to Cambodia in 1991 at the King’s request to restore the hospital and has since then created 2 other pediatric hospitals (one located in the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh and one in Siem Reap). He takes pride in the fact that the hospitals employ 1500 Cambodians and only two foreigners. He continues to lobby for quality health care for poor children arguing against a common belief that it’s too sophisticated and expensive. With first rate laboratories and diagnostic equipment, it cost only $170 for a 5-day hospital stay. As the tone of his voice intensifies, he passionately repeats in Swiss-lish, “without this laboratory you get to be criminal”. He’s referring to the many blood transfusions required for to treat children suffering from advanced TB. Without the lab, there would be no way to test for HIV or hepatitis. His love and commitment to the children and families of Cambodia brings more tears to my eyes and a desire to tell everyone I know to send money to help support the work of Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital (90% of the funding comes from private donations).

You don’t have to look far for other sheros and heros in Cambodia. They are all around.
In Phnom Penh, Sokhary Yim founded SCADP (Street Children Assistance and Development Programme) after seeing a great need to help street children, beggars and orphans. On SCAPD’s website, Sokhary shares, “I really wanted to do something sustainable to get them out of poverty. I never have a BA, I did not know what an NGO is and first and foremost I did not have money. But I had four-year experience in the killing fields in my own country and I had the love and pity for all the victims.” After spending the early years working with individual children, Sokhary and her co-hearts realized that the focus needed to be on the whole community as well as the child. While in Phnom Penh, we visited 3 non-formal education centers in one of the poorest slums. Imagine the most meager, crowded (and in one case downright dismal) physical locations occupied by smiling and extremely attentive children all facing a committed and compassionate teacher and you will see through our eyes. Each class greeted us with song and traditional bowing as they stood in unison from their places on cement floors or crowded benches.

Besides preparing children for formal education in their 25 village-based non-formal education classes; committed staff of 60 provide vocational training, interim housing, community awareness, health support and youth group programs. The highlight of our visit was being the honored guests at the Cambodian dance performance given by the children in the program. It was a performance truly fit for the King, complete with brilliant choreography and costumes. At the end of the performance our hosts (the children) showed us graciousness beyond what I have or will ever experience in my life—more tears. SCADP confirms my belief in community-based models funded globally!

Serendipitously, news from the World Economic Forum hit the streets the same day we visited SCAPD. A business titan, a rock star, a former president and heads of many states demanding we address poverty and disease as TOP priority. The world proved it could come to the aid of tsunami victims and now it’s time to address the “silent tsunamis”. To me, it was a sign that the collective efforts of activists all over the world are starting to pay off. The cynical side of me could say, “It’s about time!” But the side that is out here viewing the world in it’s splendor and sadness is saying, “Yes!!! The people of the world are calling for global responsibility; AND the governments will have no choice but to follow!”

Addendum:
Today as the US Senate debates the nomination of Alberto Gonzales, I think about our visit to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum and how torture was a common and accepted practice in extracting information from perceived “enemies” of the Pol Pot regime. It sickens me to think that anyone could still think torture is still a viable method. A woman my age led us through the prison, repeating that most of the regime’s leaders had still not been tried for their crimes. Both her parents were killed, yet she survived and now has two children. She is not allowed to talk about politics, only the history as democracy has not yet come to the people of Cambodia. Again with tears in my eyes, I was grateful to her for sharing a painful history, in hopes that history will not repeat itself.

In spirited partnership,
Joellen

P.S. To learn more about life under the Khmer Rough, run (don’t walk) to your neighborhood library and check out “First They Killed My Father: A daughter of Cambodia remembers” by Loung Ung. While you’re there, refer to the history sections of Lonely Planet Cambodia and Vietnam guide books for a quick lesson.

P.S.S For the shopping activist in you, consider supporting the rich handicraft traditions of Cambodians while also lifting entire villages out of poverty. We visited a couple of these projects learning all about how to make silk. Log on to their websites and order directly from Cambodia:

VillageWorks is “building the lives of the villagers. Behind every piece of work, you get the whole person and his family, more than what you see, more than the hands that made the product.” I can vouch that each and every piece is beautifully crafted and reasonably priced. As the say, “Your support helps the villagers break free from their poverty cycle, and find hope in life.” Anak, the beautiful Cambodian woman who runs Villageworks, hopes this program will allow villages the option to give their children a good education and to freely move around someday.

Artisans d’Angkor was created to help young people find work in their home villages, allowing them to practice their crafts and providing them with a vocation and a role in society. Thet, our English-speaking guide, lost his parents as a result of the Pol Pot regime. He and the young people working at the silk farm were illiterate and without prospects before they became a part of the project. He beams when he tells us that this joint-government-initiated project is now fully self-supported.

Click here to see the pics :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/127608/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raderstorfwwa/sets/127640/

And Now... For the Rest of the Story...

2005-01-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

Many of you have asked what happen after Scott's initial Blog entry about the Tsunami. Here is Ben's account of the experience from start to finish :

Poseidon’s Wrath:

Tsunami

At eight AM, on December 26, 2004, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the rector scale occurred of the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. This undersea movement displaced millions of gallons of water, causing the most devastating Tsunami in recorded history. Within hours, the enormous waves hit the shores of Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. By the end of the day, the entire Indian Ocean had been devastated by the Tsunami, taking lives as far away as Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania on the east coast of Africa. The death toll exceeded 165,000, mainly due to the fact that no tsunami warning system was in place.
At the time, I was vacationing with my family on an island in southern Thailand. This is my story:

Dec. 24, 2004
We arrived at Golden Buddha Beach resort at about six-thirty in the evening on Christmas Eve. Because the resort was on an island, we arrived by longboat. The moment my toes touched the water, I knew we had reached paradise.
Golden Buddha was located on a peninsula sheltering a lagoon. on the tip of the peninsula was a rock hill, the highest landform on the island. At the bottom of this hill, with a view of both the ocean and the lagoon, was the restaurant and common area. All of the bungalows were located on the ocean in two rows, most of them small grass roofed huts.
The bungalow in which we were staying was named Baan Fred. Many of them had been named for their owners, including Baan Patty and Baan Joe. Baan Fred was located about halfway down the beach. It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms with a sheltered outdoor sitting area in-between.
We had just started to settle in when we realized that if we wanted any Pizza, we’d have to get down to the restaurant quick. Slowly, we set off in the direction of the restaurant. As we walked along the beach, Max and Quin kept stopping to write their names in the sand making our progress slow. We were soon overtaken by another family going in the same direction.
Dad quickly started a conversation with the father who was in the lead. When Dad mentioned we were from Boulder, the man stopped and said, “That’s funny, my wife’s from Colorado.” She then introduced herself, and told us that her name was Carrie and was from Aurora. She had also spent some time in Boulder.
They then asked where in Boulder we lived and we told that we lived at 5th and Marine. “Honey,” said the man. “Isn’t that near where Frances and Elliot live?”
Frances and Elliott are our next-door neighbors. Then all the puzzle pieces fell together. It turns out we had met Roger and Carrie four years ago when she came to Colorado for a hip replacement operation. Their family stayed at the Higgins house over the holidays. We invited them over for Christmas dinner nearly four years earlier to the day. It is a small world!
Dinner that night was delicious. During the meal, we became quickly re-acquainted and soon felt like old friends. We all made our way back to our bungalow at about 10:30. Nathan, at age 7 had become good friends with Quin. But Hannah at age 9, outnumbered 4 boys to 1 girl, was still feeling a little shy.

Dec.25, 2004
The morning was Christmas. Everyone enjoyed their presents. It seems Santa had done his shopping in China as I received a Chinese MP3 player and a stamp with my name in English and Chinese. For breakfast we enjoyed delicious Thai style scrambled eggs with crunchy bacon. After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning swimming and lounging in the warm, calm Andaman Sea.
Lunch consisted of a spicy chicken curry with warm, sweet sticky rice and fresh mango for desert. In the afternoon, Max and Quin attended some organized Christmas games while I walked the beach. The evening started with traditional Thai dancing by girls between the ages of 5 and 15 from nearby villages. The dances were the longest choreographed pieces I have ever seen, lasting almost an hour. For dinner, there was a Christmas BBQ with fresh fish, chicken and other wonderful things. As a fundraiser for the turtle conservation center, there was a Christmas “Lucky Dip”. For 100 baht, you could draw a wrapped present from Santa’s (JK) bag. I picked a flashlight and Dad drew a coupon for a free beer.
Although the presents where few and small, this was a great Christmas.

Dec. 26, 2004
The next morning, we had breakfast as usual. Max and Quin left early to build a sand castle with Nathan and Hannah. As we were just leaving the dining hall, we heard a huge crash from the beach. we ran to the shore to see that a huge wave had come almost all of the way up the beach. That is when Mom realized that Max and Quin were supposed to be on the beach, or even in the water. All five of us,
Mom, Dad, Carrie, Rodger and I, ran down the beach to our houses. When we arrived, we found them doing what they weren’t supposed to be doing, playing Gameboy at Nathan’s house.
When we returned to the beach, we saw a colossal wave about a mile out to sea. It was breaking to the south. Casually Rodger leaned over to my mom and said, “Joellen, you should probably take the kids to high ground, just in case.”
We took his advice and went to a two story house in the back row. We were standing on the second story balcony when we heard my dad shout’ “run!” A moment later we saw him come tearing around Rodger and Carrie’s house. Behind him was a wall of black water ten feet high. The sound was like nothing I had ever heard, like 10 747s taking off at once. Anything in the path of the wave was destroyed. Baan Glue Mai Par, Nathan and Hannah’s house, exploded as the water hit it full force. Trees were snapped like tooth picks and the wave kept coming. Dad barely made it up the stairs when the wall of water hit the house. All of the first floor windows were shattered. And the water poured in.
All of the kids huddled in the bathroom at the back of the house. If the house collapsed, the rear was the place to be. Quickly we removed all sharp objects or anything that would be sharp if broken, including the mirror, and the light bulbs.
We all were glued to the pane less windows and watched the utter chaos erupting all around us: We watched houses in all directions collapse as the water destroyed their foundations. We watched several injured and uninjured people being hauled from the swirling water, including Carrie and Rodger. Carrie had been unable to outrun the wave and had grabbed a tree while Rodger had stupidly gone back for his laptop and had been in his house when it was destroyed. His pinky finger had nearly been ripped off and only held on by a thread. The most critically injured were a girl named Gracie and her mother. They had both been inside their hut and had not been as lucky as Rodger. The water was about six feet deep at this point and more, smaller waves were riding on the already elevated water.
Because the very first wave had been small and unnoticed, everyone thought another wave was coming. Waves usually come in threes, the third is the biggest. After some arguing, it was decided, once the water had fully receded, we would run to the nearby monkey hill. There were about fifteen people in the house when we left for the hill. We ran as fast as we could and everyone was making sure they knew which tree was closest. The resort had been completely destroyed. Debris was everywhere and the ground had been stripped of everything but sand.
I had just started to climb the hill when someone had shouted, “run!” I looked but there was nothing to hold onto. The small amount of brush that had survived the last wave pulled right out of the ground. The wave didn’t come. Someone had gotten scared by the surf and had yelled. When we reached the top of the hill, we found about fifty other people on the hill as well as a scared monkey. We located a spot to sit down and began to pass the time away. As I was sitting down, I realized that my MP3 player was still in my pocket. Sadly the wear, and tear it had received would cause it to eventually shut down permanently.
We started to talk to pass the time away. The conversation turned from telling jokes to all of the people we were worried about: Nathan and Hannah’s friend Robin, Burt (the sixty year old manager) and a family from Sweden who had very young children. Although the four year old daughter and the two nannies had been found, the parents and the two other children were unaccounted for.
There were many injured on the hill so we were forced to go back down and look for survivors, medicine, food and water. My dad came back with a soggy but full deck of cards. We soon had a large game of cards going.
Our game did not last long. A text message was received that another wave was coming. It had already hit Phuket and would be there in less than half an hour. We were all sucked out of our fantasy world and back to reality.
When the wave was confirmed two hours later, we decided that it wasn’t coming. It was almost dark and we had to move quickly to find mosquito nets for the injured and provisions for the night. Very few of us still had hope that we would be rescued today.
The night was one of the worst times of my life. Any bad situation can be made worse by darkness. Fires had been started on the beach to attract any passing boats. Monkeys had returned to the hill and were now occupying the trees above us. Every time a wave crashed on the beach, it was enough to wake you from a partial sleep. It seemed like days before dawn finally arrived.
We descended the steep slope for what was hopefully the last time. The injured, put on makeshift stretchers, were carried down the hill. One of the Thai staff shimmied up a tree and threw down several coconuts. He climbed back down and skillfully broke them open with a sharp rock. The fresh coconut meat was welcomed by all. The signal fires were relit to create smoke. Anything from vegetable oil to dirty blankets was burned in hopes of the smoke being spotted from afar. On the lagoon side, a sea turtle had been washed up on shore and had been trying to get back to the water. We picked it up and carried it down to the water’s edge. We watched it swim away as if nothing had happened.
Suddenly, from a distance, a small noise like an engine came from the south, getting louder by the second. All around me people started to dance with joy. It was a helicopter.

Epilogue

After two tries, the Thai Royal Navy helicopter landed on the stretch of beach. Two Navy seals jumped out and soon the injured had been loaded on and the copter took off. Soon after, two more helicopters and a boat arrived. Mom, Max, Quin and I, as well as Carrie and her family, got on the second copter (a Huey without doors straight out of the Vietnam War movies). We were delivered to a small town called Takua Pa. We spent the night in a dirty hotel room across from the landing field. In the morning we took a bus to Phuket airport. There we boarded a plane that looked as if it was stolen from an ‘Indiana Jones’ movie. The flight back to Bangkok took almost four hours, when it normally takes one. My dad had arrived the previous day and was staying at one of the nicest hotels in Bangkok, where we were reunited with him. We spent over a week in Bangkok in an American man’s house. This time was spent getting new passports, new air tickets, new backpacks and new clothes.

After purchasing new backpacks and a few clothes, we headed off to explore northern Thailand riding elephants and taking cooking classes in Chang Mai, hanging out in Pai, and exploring the amazing Lod Cave in Soppong. From there we flew to Siem Reap, home of the magnificent temples of Angkor. And the adventure continues!

Life in Northern Thailand

2005-01-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Sending my love from a little wood bamboo hut along a sleepy little river in N. Thailand. I can hear the sound of the water buffalo bells, clang, clang, clang, down by the river. It is a paradise where tourists visit, and yet local life does not feel altered by tourism.

Our first night here, we went through this enormous cave. We were guided through for nearly two hours by a sweet young woman for 100 baht ($2.50). I think she has three children (even though she looked about 18). I know she has a baby. She has a good sense of humor and we shared about 10 words of the same language. This is always my frustration, the inability to communicate with another because we do not speak the same language. I would have asked her about her child (or children), her life and so much more. Inside the cave, we road for awhile on a bamboo raft for another 100 baht. As we came out of the cave, the sun was setting and hundreds of thousands of fork-tailed swifts where flying in for the night while quite so many bats where departing. A crowd of maybe 20 tourists were treated to a remarkable cacophony accompanied by the strong smell of guano. On the first night, someone asked if the birds and bats ever collide? On the second night, as Ben and I read about echolocation (nature’s version of a radar system), a small swift fell from the sky just a few feet in front of us, stunned with it’s wings spread wide and yet still breathing. We watched for awhile and then walked home along a trail, that connected to a road that led through a little village. We passed a woman sitting outside a little general store, “sawadee ka”, and a water buffalo tied into the back of a barely bigger pick-up truck rocking it back and forth. We watched people gathered in a house turned temple for a prayer service led by 2 or 3 monks.

Yesterday we embarked on a wonderful all day journey. We started hiking along the river and with the day rapidly heating up, we ended up in the river hiking up stream to the road that would take us to the nearby (7km) Karen tribe village. After we parted from the river to the road the whining reemerged and only subsided when we launched into 20 questions. After two hours of steep up and down hills, we arrived at a sleepy village of about 100 homes. In no time woman appeared from all directions descended upon me with their scarves while all my guys made a quick exit in search of coca colas. I bought a scarf from each woman and we cordially parted ways. The boys found the general store and a young woman who spoke a tiny bit of English. Another young girl sat on the bench across from the small shop holding a brand new babe while a barely walking toddler played beside her. She couldn’t have been much older than 16. We made our way to the school where we found two young men (temporary teachers) who spoke a small bit of English. Neither of the teachers spoke the tribal language that the children mostly spoke but all the kids were full of joy and so beautiful. One young, village mother of a four-year-old described herself as a “baby” teacher and seemed to hold the whole place together. She found the elephant people for us, she brought us green tea and she shared her lunch of noodles with us. She refused to take anything in return, even a gift of money for the school.

We left the village in peak tourist form atop two elephants, me with a grimaced look on my face trying to stay on the seat each time the elephant lumbered downhill. It was so amazing, something right out of a Heifer catalog: A village with dirt roads, wooden huts on stilts, with cattle, buffalo, pigs and chicks grazing the ground beneath the family home. Each home had a solar panel compliments a new government rural village program and soon they will all have computers. It will be interesting to see how this changes the village. Personally, I was attracted to the uncluttered nature of a life with no excess and seemingly more connected to the land. The landscape is breathtakingly beautiful and the air is intoxicating. The mahout (elephant caregivers) ride so gently atop the elephant singing sweet sounding serenades to the elephants as we pass by villagers returning from the streams with a net and a basket. We road for nearly two hours through beautiful jungle landscape along a creek back to the river where a father-son team guided us back to Cave Lodge upon a bamboo raft. We floated past a teenage girl shampooing her hair in the river with a bottle of Prell shampoo alongside and I our eyes met, I wondered what is she was thinking. Does she envy me while I’m envying her?

The evenings have been sweet, sharing with the other guests while dining and then all coming together for impromptu fireside chats in the center of the dining area (yes, an open fire in the middle of a wooden structure). As people of Ireland, Australia, Denmark, US) sit listening to U2, watching people play ping pong on a WINNER brand table, drinking Singha beer, it is pretty clear that we live in a global village. Peter Mayer has a really great song called “Earth Town Square” that speaks to this very thing. I hope that the lifestyle of the people living along these back roads and streams can be preserved. But then again, perhaps they would rather welcome progress.

Hi From Pai

2005-01-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I’m writing from Pai, a small town in northern Thailand. Since the tsunami, we’ve spent time in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The time in Bangkok was mainly just recovering from the tsunami. After a week of hanging out, we took the night train to Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. We were there for three days and during that time we rode elephants and took Thai cooking classes. Riding an elephant is somewhat like riding a horse, but bigger and rougher. Now we are in a much smaller town called Pai and despite its name there’s no “pie” to be found. Everything else is delicious. We visited a school today and I have to say that the students in Thailand seem to get less school work done and they are outside more.

I’ll soon be posting my version of the events at Golden Buddha Beach, so check back soon.

Lah gòrn,
Ben

Children's Day in Chiang Mai

2005-01-09T02:25:00.002-07:00

I remember standing in an aisle in McGuckins with Quin sometime ago. As he lay on the ground balancing a soccer ball on his feet, he was lamenting the fact that there is no Children's Day, but we get a Mother's and Father's Day. Lucky for Quin, Thailand celebrates Children's Day on January 8th.

We had a great Children's day in Chiang Mai after leaving Bangkok the night before on the night train and wow did we love the train. The boys love it because they can bounce off the walls, and I think I love it because it gives us time to process the experiences we just had before we launch into the next environment. We can't say enough how appreciate we were of Larry's generosity in sharing his quiet refuge with us. We were also able to have a "celebration of life" dinner with Carrie, Roger, Hannah, Nathan and their friend Marsha. (Roger got out of the hospital on Friday and he gets to keep his finger - Hooray!) We spent some time trying to come up with a collective memory of the time after the tsunami and realized there were many small details that none of us (except Ben) could clearly remember. We are considering visiting their gang in Katmandu if all permits. Most of all I had time to reflect on how incredibly grateful I am for this journey and everyone I meet along the

For now we are enjoying Chiang Mai. Suwai, a friend of a friend, met us at the train station at noon on Saturday, led us to a wonderful lunch and helped us find our lodging complete with a swimming pool (just what kids should have on Children's Day). Our big adventure led us to the night bazaar for dinner and a bit more shopping.

Today I am working on our action for the MAU website (Juliana and I are doing this really cool tag team thing since she's awake when I sleep and vise versa). It feels good to be working after reading the news yesterday of so many children orphaned by the tsunami. It feels so much more real to me now when I think of an AIDS or tsunami orphan or a parent having lost their child to a disaster, war or preventable disease. Watch for our new actions to be up in a couple of days at www.mothersactingup.org. The boys are off on an adventure, riding elephants I think but who knows when you set off to where the wind takes you. Count on lots of great pictures.

Love to you all,
Joellen

Children's Day in Chiang Mai

2005-01-09T02:25:00.001-07:00

I remember standing in an aisle in McGuckins with Quin sometime ago. As he lay on the ground balancing a soccer ball on his feet, he was lamenting the fact that there is no Children's Day, but we get a Mother's and Father's Day. Lucky for Quin, Thailand celebrates Children's Day on January 8th.

We had a great first day in Chiang Mai after leaving Bangkok the night before on the night train and wow did we love the train. The boys love it because they can bounce off the walls, and I think I love it because it gives us time to process the experiences we just had before we launch into the next environment. We are very appreciative to Larry for his generosity in sharing his quiet refuge with us. We were also able to have a "celebration of life" dinner with Carrie, Roger, Hannah, Nathan and their friend Marsha. (Roger got out of the hospital on Friday and he gets to keep his finger - Hooray!) We spent some time trying to come up with a collective memory of the time after the tsunami and realized there were many small details that none of us (except Ben) could clearly remember. We are considering visiting their gang in Katmandu if all permits. Most of all I had time to reflect on how incredibly grateful I am for this journey and everyone I meet along the way and for all of you!

For now we are enjoying Chiang Mai. Suwai, a friend of a friend, met us at the train station at noon on Saturday, led us to a wonderful lunch and helped us find our lodging complete with a swimming pool (just what kids should have on Children's Day). Our big adventure led us to the night bazaar for dinner and a bit more shopping.

Today I am working on our action for the MAU website (Juliana and I are doing this really cool tag team thing since she's awake when I sleep and vise versa). It feels good to be working after reading the news yesterday of so many children orphaned by the tsunami. It feels so much more real to me now when I think of an AIDS or tsunami orphan or a parent having lost their child to a disaster, war or preventable disease. Watch for our new actions to be up in a couple of days at www.mothersactingup.org.

The boys are off on an adventure, riding elephants I think but who knows when you set off to where the wind takes you. Count on lots of great pictures.

Love to you all,
Joellen

Where are we going from here??

2005-01-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

I cannot tell you how appreciative we are for all of the emails, VM's, blog postings and prayers we have received over the past week. I intend to respond to each one once things slow down a bit.

We are still in Bangkok at Larry's house. We have booked an overnight train from Bangkok to Chang Mai for Friday night. I think we are all ready to push on with the adventure. The time here playing ping pong and pool (Aka Snooker) has been just what we need. Little did we know that our boys would leave Bangkok with a new Uncle and us with a new good friend. As my mother always said, there is always a silver lining to every dark cloud if you look hard enough.

On Tuesday, Joellen, Ben & I toured the Mercy Centre and had the honor of spending time with Father Joe. He has been living with and caring for the poor in Bangkok's slums for over 30 years. Currently his organization cares for nearly 300 kids and adults effected by AIDS. It was truly awe inspiring to spend time with him and experience first hand the good work they are doing. To learn more about him and his incredible organization, visit www.fatherjoe.org . If your resources allow, please don't overlook the 'Donate' button. It is money well spent, especially now considering that some of their normal sources of operating revenue will be diverted to the Tsunami disaster.

Yesterday we ventured out to take a Canal boat ride through Bangkok's extensive canal network. For 1000 Baht ($25) we had our own chauffeured long boat that took us on a site seeing tour complete with a stop at 'The Incredible Cobra World". There we saw monkeys, tigers, cobras, vipers, cocks, pythons - all very up close and personnel (check out the pics!). The boys were befriended by a pet monkey named Joey. He loved looking in everyone's pockets for treasures. The conditions of this off-the-beaten-track zoo are pretty awful, the people running it are kind, and once again you find yourself shaking your head as there are no easy answers.

Today or tomorrow we will visit Roger at the Hospital and do a little more shopping (Quin is ready to have shoes that match again). Roger's finger continues to heal. He received a skin graft yesterday and all seems to be healing nicely now that the infection is under control.

Best wishes to all for a Safe, Happy & Healthy New Year!!!

Sad news from the Island

2005-01-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Loved Ones,

We are off to the US Embassy to get our passports replaced. Yesterday we purchased backpacks and some underwear. Scott's equipped with a new computer, a camera, and a used cell phone. We are all rested and will probably head north within the next week. We received this news from Golden Buddha Beach today. Many of the children they spoke of performed Thai dance for all the guests on Christmas eve. I can still see their precious faces. More than ever we are truly one human family!

Big hugs and love to you all!!!!

Joellen

Email from Paul Saunders (warning - this is a very depressing email):As for the village, everything within 500 meters of the ocean is in big trouble. There was a hut in the middle of the road and the huts are all flattened. Some of them are just gone- there no rubble or debris to clean up everything has disappeared. You'd never know that there was a hut left there unless you'd seen it before. The school is a pile of rubble and apparently there were a few kids as well as the teacher in it when the wave struck. The teacher is dead as well as lots of the kids. There are 39 definite deaths and one body still unaccounted for. That is about one fifth of the population of the village. The body of Lek's son has been found and Nut's brother's family are all dead.We went to the fishing village near the mangroves and it's unbelievable. There is nothing left at all. It's not like there's some foundations or rubble because the houses were all wooden. A government worker went to asses the situation and said that there was no disaster because he couldn't see any sign that humans had lived there. All the kids were killed and every adult except for two who climbed trees. The bodies of the rest have been found. The only sign that humans have been there for any length of tine is a kid's swing left swaying poignantly in the wind; unfortunately there's no-one left to swing on it now. When you think of all the kids shouting "Hello!!" at you it really brings tears to your eyes.Some of the villagers up near the mangroves saw the wave coming and instead of climbing a tree they got on their motorbikes with their families and tried to beat the wave to the school where they could turn left and move away from the sea. None of them made it. What was even worse was that we were driving back to the centre and we saw a woman lying in the road. We put her in the back of the pickup and then took her down the road to some paramedics. She was ok and not involved in the wave- she'd just fainted upon finding her son's body.We have also been to Hat Praphat Beach where the Research station is that works closely with the turtle project - the little village there is worse than Baan Talae Nok. There are seventy dead which is about eighty percent of the village. The carnage is unbelievable.

Happy New Year 2005

2004-12-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year from Bangkok! Somehow I feel a pull in my chest wondering if that is the right thing to say when so very many people are suffering from incredible loss and some still not knowing the whereabouts of family members. We went to the hospital yesterday to visit our friend Roger who is doing great. Scott and I accompanied his wife Carrie in bringing chocolate bars (universal comfort in all cultures) to the other Tsunami survivors on the floor while our kids met with the hospital pscyhologist for a check in. It was comforting for us to meet other people who had survived and to hear their story. We met a man who is still missing his wife and perhaps most poignant, we met a mother and 12 year old son who were just reunited the day before. They have yet to locate the woman's husband and daughter. She felt lucky to be alive and with her son. Enormous joy and sorrow really do live in the same house.

Last night Scotty went out with our gracious host Larry to experience a little joy at the Irish Pub owned by his friend. Too many shots of Bailey's but good fun to be out and about. The kids are laughing hysterically as I type watching Mr. Bean. They've played ping pong, darts, and pool (it's a bigger table and is called Snookers in Thailand). There's plenty of room to run around at Larry's house and besides being tired from staying up until midnight they are doing well. By the way the psychologist said they are all great kids and in incredible shape. Apparently they saw only a fraction of what other children have seen. Whew, a relief on two fronts, no apparent scars from the Tsunami OR our parenting.

For the next few days our WWA will turn to more functional tasks. Replacing passports, getting plane tickets replaced, and acquiring some belongings. We own only five pairs of underwear amongst us all at the moment and our luggage consists of a variety of brightly colored plastic bags.

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and outpouring of love. Feeling the love and support truly makes a difference. No need to worry about us as we are well taken care of, but if you have some extra resources please consider giving them to the relief effort. There are many places to give, but thought we'd give you a couple of suggestions connected to our experience:

Save the Children www.savethechildren.org is working in most of the communities affected and is a long-time, well-respected NGO. In addition, our friend Roger works for Save the Children in Nepal and we think the world of him. You can make your contribution on behalf of Roger Hodgson if you like because he was in large part responsible for our survival.

There is also a relief fund for the people of Bak Jok village (near the Golden Buddha) which was completely destroyed. Find out more at www.goldenbuddhabeach.com. On Christmas night, about 30 really precious girls (ages 5 to 15?) came from all of the villages on the island to perform Thai dance for the GBB. Hold them in your prayers too if you have room.

I would be remiss if I did not offer up this suggestion. Please consider sending a letter to your senators, US rep, and to the President, sharing any part of your personal experience with this disaster and ask that the US be generous in our giving and humble in our words. From where I stand, the US is not needed to lead the effort of relief and reconstruction. Quite frankly, we were embarrassed by our President's words on CNN when he used the same language to address this disaster as he has terrorism without acknowledging the amazing work of regional governments or the UN. The leadership of the Thai government has been incredible and it would be a great time for the US to acknowledge this and to show a bit of humility. As a side point, Scott had to fill out a five page document to loan $100 from our government while the Thai government gave us anything we needed in terms of food, transport and accommodation with no questions asked, no repayment required. This is a great time for us Americans to be open to learning from the rest of the world. Please take no offense to these words, I'm proud as I can be of my fellow Americans, unfortunately I cannot extend this feeling to my government.

Last but not least, with the outpouring of love we have not been able to respond to everyone individually, but know that you are all in our hearts and minds.

Sending you buckets of love!!!!
Joellen and the guys

A Quick Update....

2004-12-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

I now have a cell phone - 07-0256437. Feel free to call if you have/need urgent info. (from the US - 66 70256437, I think or maybe 66 07 256437).

We are taking this day to celebrate the life of our now 11 year old Maxwell. Tomorrow we plan to move to a local Bangkok house that been given to us by a family that is vacationing in New Zealand. In the coming days I will hopefully have the time and energy to complete the rest of the story.

Thank you everyone for all the good wishes, prayers and assitance.... We are so blessed to have you all in our lives...

All our love to you and yours,

Scott, Jo, Ben, Max & Q

Life goes on... Happy Birthday Max!!!

2004-12-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

We just finished the Raderstorf Family Birthday Ritial of breakfast in bed, where Max was crowned King for the Day (I hope the King of Thailand does not feel slighted in anyway...). His royal subjects offered presents and sang his praises. (check photo album for pics!!)

During which this was Proclamed :

*** TOP 11 REASONS WE LOVE MAXIE-BEAR ****

#11 - He has great hair
#10 - All little kids LOVE him
#9 - He is a protector of the planet and ALL Animals
#8 - He can eat the most candy
#7 - He is a really good climber
#6 - He can make a fiddle sing
#5 - He tell great stories
#4 - He knows how to work hard
#3 - He never eats meat
#2 - He really is Elvis (the KING)

And the #1 reason We LOVE OUR MAXIE-BEAR IS!!!!
#1 - He can out run any Tsunami!!!

Any birthday wishes can be sent to Max Via : max@raderstorf.com .

Thank you Everyone!!!

2004-12-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

The out pouring for good wishes from everyone has been overwhelming......

I don't have much time to write, but wanted everyone to know I was able to get some pics uploaded so you can see the aftermath... Take a look at the photo album.

We will respond to each of your good wishes in time. Thank you for everything.....

Scott, Jo, Ben, Birthday-Boy Max, & Q

Alive and Well in Bangkok!!!

2004-12-28T02:47:00.000-07:00

Thank you everyone for your well wishes, prayers and assitance over the past 48 hours. We are all safe and sound.

I (Scott) am currently at the Dusit Thani Hotel in downtown Bangkok. The Thai government (god love them) arranged for two rooms for us and a driver to take me directly here late last night. Their parting words were, "Anything else you need, just charge to the room...". A small indication of the generosity of these beautiful people. Since I was penniless, with only the dirty beach shirt on my back and a mis-matched pair of beat up sandals on my feet that I had fished out of the ocean, you can only imagine how good those words sounded to me....

I am afraid Joellen and the boys were not so lucky. They had left on an earlier helicopter and were directed to a small town where the closest hospital was. The details are a bit sketchy since I have not talk with her directly since I kissed her as they flew off yesterday AM. From what I hear via family who have had short, staticy conversations with her, they spent a somewhat comfortable night, eating snack food in this small, remote town that was a 2 hour drive from Phuket. I believe they were driven by bus this AM (Dec 28th) to Phuket to catch a plane to Bangkok to reunite with me here. (I hope... This is all an assumtion as of now, still waiting)

But I guess I should go back to the beginning....

We arrived to the Golden Buddha Beach Christmas Eve just at sunset (6:30PM). After meeting Bert, our charming host, and being shown to our cabin, the kids ran down to the Indian Ocean to dip our toes in it's water for the first time. It was a beautiful sunset, the resort was all we imagined it would be and more. It was to be a magical stay for sure.

The first magical event happened straight away. As we watched the sun slip away, a couple with their two children came walking past us in the dusk. I struck up a conversation with him and after a few pleasentries he asked where we were from. I said Boulder, CO. He said "that's funny, my wife (who was walking up at this point) is from Colorado. Also, we have friends who live Boulder.... Francis and Elliott Higgins" I said "Wow, that's funny, they are our next door neighbors". At that point he shouted "Scott!!! It's me, Roger!!!" and opened his arms to give me a bear hug. Four years ago to the that day, He and his wife Carrie had taken over the Higgin's house for the holiday season so Carrie could get a hip replaced. We became fast friends then (as they are lovely people), had them over for Christmas dinner and spent quite a bit more time with them until they fly back home to Katmandu. Now here we were 4 years later (to the day) running into each other on a beach half way around the world from our first meeting. After being away from home for 6 weeks it was a wonderful feeling to run into some friends.

Christmas day was wonderful. Santa somehow found us so far from home and also observed our tight space and weight requirements for the rest of the trip. Three great meals... Many new friends met... Since the power goes off at 11:00 PM, most everyone is in bed before then.

At 8:00 AM the next morning (Dec 26th, 6PM Dec 25th Boulder time) I awoke to a strange feeling. An ever so slight shake... At first I thought a rodent might we chewing on our bedpost, since our cabin was an open air grass hut, not that far out of the question. I thought, "Did I just experience my first earthquake? No big deal..." It probably last 60 seconds, on and off.

I got up and almost awoke Max to go on a Kayak safari in the Mangrove swamp like we had talk about the night before. But I decided to let him sleep... Good thing I did...

I strolled down the beach to the big grass hut where the meals are served. I made myself a press pot of coffee and practiced a few very new Thai words on some of the staff for their amusement. The rest of the family showed up in staggered arrivals, enjoying Golden Buddha's delicious breakfasts. By 10:00 the boys wanted to go play on the beach. I wanted to go make some Christmas calls back to the states over my laptop. To do that I had to go to GBB's equivalent to an internet cafe, a grass hut behind the dining pavilion with a Sat dish on the side. I had already talked with several relatives when I called Lauren and Leonard Weed, to thank them for turning us on to this paradise. I had barely said "Merry Christmas" when I heard a huge boom in the direction of the ocean, just 75 yards in front of me. I could see the tops of white froth spilling over the crest of the beach. I thought "Wow, the surf is really picking up". Then I remembered the vibrations that had woke me up 3 hours before. I got a sick feeling in my stomach that was then multiplied by the knowledge that the boys said they were heading to the beach 30 minutes ago. I quickly said "Not sure what's going on guys, got to go... I'll call you back... Bye".

I ran out of the open air hut to the beach. I could see a couple people being sucked out into the open ocean as the tide drew back. This was just the small one. I recalled a lesson my brother Ross had taught me years ago while I tried surfing (in vain) for the first time, waves usually come in 3's - The 3rd is always the biggest. I looked down the beach to our cabin about 200 yards down, but the boys were nowhere insight!! I started running as fast as I could yelling their names. I got close enough to see the soggy remains of their sand castle that they were building, but no boys. I was scanning the white water that was being sucked out to sea along with the from front edge of the water when Joellen came running up for the path behind our cabin. She pointed to Roger and Carrie's cabin, two doors further down, and started running in that direction. Her mother's intuition was right... The boys had snuck away to play with the Gameboy that Nathan (their 8 year old son) had gotten for Christmas (even thought they we not suppose to). I thank God they had...

The boys came running out and joined us at the top of the beach. The water was racing away from us now and we could see the wave forming, probably a 1/2 mile out to sea. The beach now streached 400-500 yard out to sea. I could see a few fish flopping in the sand as the receding water left them behind. Then we saw it, the white crest of a massive wave breaking to the south of us moving in our direction. Roger said "I think we need to get out of here, NOW!" and started motioning for the boys to run down the path away from the ocean. Carrie and I stood there mesmerized but the unique beauty of what we were witnessing. Then the beauty turned to shear terror as my brain subconsciously calculated that this wave as going to be 20 ft high when it reach the spot I was standing on and traveling at a speed that would put it there in a matter of 10-20 seconds. Joellen and the kids (ours and theirs) had about a 100 yards head start when I turned to Carrie and said 'RUN!!'. I am positive that the next 10 secs was the fastest I had ever run in my life.... I could see Joellen and the kids at the base of steps to a home on the 'back row' of houses. I yelled "GET AS HIGH AS YOU CAN!!!" I then heard a cry from behind me that is still echoing in my mind "HELP ME!!". I look over my shoulder only to see the white foam wall closing in on me, no Carrie. I still had another 20 yards to go to reach the steps to the raised house. I gave it all I had to give. I could hear the ROAR of the cutting edge of the wave and palm trees snapping right behind me. My right foot jumped right to the 3rd or 4th step with my first bound as I heard the water crash over into the front yard of the house. Two more leaps and I was up on the front porch. I turned to look for Carrie. All I could see was a sea of grayish, green water with suitcases, lumber, tree trumps, chairs, pillows splashing about. I yelled "Carrie!!! Carrie!!!". No response. "Carrie!!!!!!!!! CARRIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!". Nothing. "Ohh my God... PLEEAASE help me....", I murmured to myself as I paced the front deck. What do I do, Jump in???? Where could she be??? Then I heard "Over here!" coming from a grove of palm trees to the left of the Cabin. THANK YOU GOD, I thought, she is not trapped under water.

This is where my memory get fuzzing... I think Carrie then yelled "ROGER!!!!". I then realized we had their kids huddled in the bedroom with ours, but Roger was nowhere to be found. I started yelling "ROGER, ROGER!!!" at the top of my lungs, scanning the top of the water that was now just a few feet below the 12 ft high deck. Joellen was running back and forth, helping with the search, calming the kids, checking the 2 other huts that the deck connected to trying to identify the safest place. I then caught sight of Carrie swimming with the current that was still rushing past the Cabin. All the while the other Cabins were being blown apart with sickening CRACKS and BANGS!! The impulse to vomit eased as I ran over to the steps to help Carrie up. As I gave her a hug, we heard Roger's voice coming from the right of us. I am not sure how he did it, but before I knew it he had made his way to the steps. I then noticed that he was it great pain, one of this fingers was hanging on only by a thread.

We all ran into the bedroom where Joellen and the kids where. Roger laid on the bed and Carrie, a RN, went to work on him. I gave Jojo and the boys hugs and whispered over and over "It's going to be OK...", I am not sure if I was trying to convince them or me....

Then we heard a deep male voice outside, "CAN YOU HELP ME??". I ran outside as saw a man wading shoulder deep in the muck carrying his young daughter. The sea was now flowing back to the sea. Atleast it had dropped several feet. He told me his wife and 12 year old daughter where pretty badly injuried and he need help to get to the cabin. I ran down the steps and waded into the water with my digital camera in my hand. Not the smartest move, but no time to restart - I stopped and with what I thought was a gentle toss launched the camera up onto the deck. I heard a shattering crash as it hit the ceramic covering on the deck... Oh well....

He told me his name with Michael and pointed in the direction we need to go. He left his daughter on the steps and we waded about 50 yards to the left and found his daughter, Grace, clinging to a tree. I realized I had met both of them the night before at the bar during the Christmas dinner party. She was 12 years old. I could see she was badly hurt and already drifting into shock. I thought Mike and I could make a seat with our interlocked hands and carry her to the deck, but then I realized that Michael was hurt as well - he had a broken ankle. He hid it well, but I knew he couldn't stand the extra weight. With Mike's help, I picked her up and waded back to the bedroom. Carrie took one look and said "We need more bandages, pain killers, anything...". I was going to go looking for some when Mike said "We need to get my wife!" I was embarassed that I had already forgotten what he had told me. We ran down the steps and found his wife, Mona, also clinging to a tree a another 50 yards beyond. The water as receeding now. I can't imaging what it was like for her to be there as the water was rising, not knowing how deep it would get. She was more alert than Grace, but I could see she was in great pain. I pulled her onto my back and pulling her legs forward around me I could see that most of the skin had been torn off her left foot. We got her back to the Cabin and laid her next to her daughter, who was now white as a ghost. Good thing we had Carrie's medical knowledge, I was clueless.

We were keeping our eyes fixed on the ocean, waiting for the next wave. I had thought this was the 2nd wave, and with as high as it was I knew the house we were in was not going to withstand a 3rd wave. I knew we had to get everyone up to the hill 100 yards away as soon as possible. As luck woud have it, I was wrong, That was the 3rd wave. Maybe the one that got our attention was the 2nd.

This is about all I can write now... Stay tuned for the rest of the story (along with some corrections after Jo and Ben read this)... I just got word that Jojo and the kids will be here soon, safe and sound!!!

Thanks again for all the emails, phone calls and prayers.... Please keep the many who were less fortunate than us in your prayers as well....

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,11795063,00.html

Happly Holidays Everyone!!!!

2004-12-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

Blessings to you family and friends,

We are in sunny, quaint, old town Lijiang and it’s 3 days until Christmas. Decorations are scattered about and you hear an occasional merry tune. This past week in Yunnan Province has been a wonderful respite in a heavenly spot: lush farm land, fruits and vegetables galore, sun all the time, friendly folks, bicycle riding and time to play. We find ourselves especially grateful to our wonderful hosts Junyi and Waters and their friends who have welcomed us into their homes, restaurants and lives. Our three week visit to China has given us but a taste of this vast and wonderfully diverse land. We will leave with so many fond memories and a strong desire to return, especially to Yunnan.

Although we are far away, we think of you all especially in the moments that seem most appropriate. Uncle Ross and Lauren, we needed you to find the hidden treasures at the Shaping Market (a huge bazaar of handicrafts, everyday items, fruits and vegetables, chickens, raw meat and more). We thought of Uncle Mark and Timmy when we went to see the fishing birds (birds with a piece of reed tied around their neck who swim and fish while the fisherman makes noises that resemble a sheep herder). Every time I see a baby on the back of a mother or grandmother farming on the sculptured green farmland, I think of Juliana and all of my activist momma friends. Aunties Rosie, Mary and Carla would love the shops lining the maze of cobblestone streets here in old town Lijiang. We think of the Higgins and their baby dog Stella with every cute small dog we pet (there only seems to be small dogs, Mmmm). Grandma, we think of you when we see the pick blossoms on the Camellia trees that resemble dogwoods or when we see the women shop keepers knitting with 5 thin needles. The fish head soup among other culinary delicacies makes us think of Uncle Drake (only one of us was brave enough to try it and no one would touch the head). Keith and Steph, spending time in little cafes makes us think of Duo. Uncle Dick, we’d love you to see the farms of Yunnan. Can’t think of anyone who would enjoy the squatty potties, but we have discussed who might or might not be able to handle them. Grandpa Jerry and Bob would love the bargains, almost all prices are negotiable. Leonard, Cam and Rex would enjoy traveling around each province to sample the local beers, 50 cents for the bomber size. And of course we think of the Lacy family when we choose physical activity over lounging in a coffee shop. And wow Jessie, there’s plenty of work for you and Gary here in China. Katherine, the Naxi (pronounced Na-she) traditional dancers with their wonderful costumes reminded us of you. The rest of you have appeared in our quest for candy, taste-testing pizza, card games, lack of central heating, loud families, crazy drivers (Marty, you would never survive a taxi ride in China), and the list goes on and on.

We are also reminded of you by some of the treasures you sent along or helped us purchase: the Chicken Soup for Travelers book is great for read aloud, the journals are filling up, my facial scrub from Rebecca’s Herbal Apothecary reminds me of home, the hackey sack knows no language barriers, the green mushy pillow, this tiny laptop, the postcards of Boulder, and music (tears filled our eyes as we listened to Bob Wiz’s poetry & piano compilation on the train to Chongqing). And yes, it is possible to survive with only what you can carry on your back (although I must admit bringing the lime green sweater was a big mistake as it is now gray and all of our socks and perhaps the t-shirts too will need to be fumigated or discarded once we reach the warm beaches of Thailand).

Most of all, we are especially grateful to have the time with each other as we explore new territory (and yes there are trying times like tonight at dinner sitting with Dragon Breath, BO Monster and Mr. Mexican Jumping Bean). Even if they are smelly and loud, traveling around China with three sons earns us pseudo celebrity status. People ask all the time to have their pictures taken with the boys and so many mothers and fathers have complemented us on our good fortune. And perhaps that is the greatest gift of all, having the time to recognize so completely just how fortunate we are to be on this rotating wonder of a planet with our boys, all of you, and the 6 billion other folks who cherish their babies, work really, really hard and give it all they’ve got. With two countries under our belts, it’s safe to say that stereotypes don’t hold true and what unites us is far greater than what divides us!

From Quin: I wish you were here. There are really cute puppies just as cute as Stella (our next door neighbor’s dog) here in China. I wish you all a great, great time around the world. I’ll be in Thailand and I won’t see any snow. Luckies, you get snow. I haven’t ran into any trash cans or elevators or fallen into any ponds lately. There are lots of streams in Lijiang and really good desserts. Love, Quin

From Ben: Ni hao from Lijiang! All is going quite smoothly as we approach the holidays. Most of the shopping is done and we won’t have anything to do in Thailand. The old city of Lijiang is very cool even though it’s streets are dominated by jewelry and dried yak meat stores. The streets are very thin and are paved with cobblestones. No wheeled vehicles are allowed in the old city aside from garbage, fire and mail trucks. The fire trucks are a good thing because all of the buildings are very old and made of wood. Unlike Quin, I’m glad we will be sitting on a beach in Thailand as opposed to freezing our butts off in Boulder (ha ha ha). Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night (okay, I guess it’s morning there, sue me). Ben

From Max: Hola! (oh I guess that’s he wrong language, o well). It’s now the eve of Christmas Eve and there isn’t much Christmas cheer in the air. The fact is that no one seems to celebrate Christmas here. Most of the Christmas trees are plastic and the decorations are for tourists. But it’s still pretty great here. It’s hard to leave China. The cool thing here in China is that I only spent $25 dollars (200 Yuan) on all my Christmas gifts. I am sad that I’m not going to see any snow this year, but I am happy because I will be able to be on a beach. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEWWWWWW YEARRRRRRR!!!!! Max

From Scott: We have just arrived in Bangkok on the night of Dec 23rd. It looks as though Thailand may have a bit more Christmas cheer than China, but I still find myself missing the caroling, the gathering with loved ones, the feasting, the last minute frenzy and the frigid weather (as long as you have a warm house to return to unlike our last three nights in Lijiang). I miss all of you very much, especially during this week, and being on the other side on the world from you makes me miss you that much more. This journey is teaching me many things. The most significant is how fortunate I am to be apart of a loving and supportive family, to have a beautiful place called Boulder to come home to and having such wonderful friends to look forward to seeing again. I wish you all the Happiest of Holidays!! I hope that you think of us sometime during your merry making this week and know that we are think and toasting to you as well. Cheers!!! Scott

As we begin the next leg of our world adventure and celebrate the birth of one of the greatest peace-loving guys ever to walk on this planet, WE SEND YOU BLESSINGS AND LOVE!

Happy Holidays to All!!!!!!

Journey Recap by Max

2004-12-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

*** This entry is a copy of a letter Max sent to his 5th Grade Class. ***
*********************************************************************

Hey every body,

I’m sorry I haven’t e-mailed you yet. But this e-mail’s extra long because I have two weeks to write about. Some very interesting things have happened to me. Here are some of them.

Week 1, Thanksgiving in Japan:
I arrived in Japan on Wednesday November 24. When I got there we waited in a short line for customs. To get to are friend’s house, where we staying, we took 2 trains. The first was an air port express to Shinjuku station. Shinjuku is the busiest subway station in the whole world!!!!!!!!!!! When we got of the train we met the mom of the family that we were staying with. She told us that we were in the busiest station in the world at the busiest time of day. So it was very busy. From there we got on a different train that took us to our friend’s station. But before we got there the train stopped at at least 8 or 9 other stations. When we got to the station we had to get in a taxi and ride for at least 20 minutes. When we finally got to their house it was 7:00 P.M. the day after we left L.A. All of that I described is the average amount of travel you do to get from place to place in Tokyo.

We had a great time in Tokyo. Probably the worst thing that happened to us was I got huge cavity and had to have a partial root canal. But other than that every thing went fine. Tokyo was a great city but I was happy to leave. On the other hand Quin was not. He threw a tantrum and cried the whole taxi ride and screamed “I don’t want to leave Sophie and Sam’s” (those were the kid’s of the people we stayed with). Eventually it got really annoying. He didn’t stop till we got to the bullet train station.
If you ever get to ride on a bullet train don’t get too excited. It’s really fast and that’s good, but all it does is make the ride shorter. But during that two and a half hour tip there is nothing to do. One thing is that there is no entertainment like movies or anything. Another thing was that there wasn’t any sort of refreshment car for food or drink. The only things there were, were an occasional drink vending machine with about six choices and a refreshments cart that sold coca-cola and coffee. The only good thing about it was the view. But if you don’t arrange early you will not get a window seat. (The bullet train is always full.)
After a short bullet train ride we got to Kyoto. We stayed there for a few days going to temples and plays, and some very good restaurants. One of the things I remember was the most boring play about ancient Japanese customs. The worst part of it was probably the Emperor’s orchestra. The way we described the instruments were a duck strangling devise, a bagpipe with God knows what stuck inside of it, a tin can beaten with a log and various other unpleasant sounds. The whole orchestra was lead buy a dancing guy with a mask that looked like a mutated goat. The one word that described the show was SNORE!!!! (This was what we did through most of it.) But eventually we were back at the train station and headed towards the peace central of the world, Hiroshima.

We were only in Hiroshima for1 night, but we got to see a lot. The day we got there we went to the peace park and wandered around there a little bit. Although all Quin wanted to do was play catch with a football. The next day we went to the PEACE MUSEUM. They had a good exhibit on the a-bomb dropping. It really made you think it was a really bad idea. But eventually we had to leave Hiroshima too. Soon we were back in Tokyo airport again and were boarding a 777 to Beijing.

The best candy of Japan is HIGH CHEWS!!!!!! You will find out what they are when I get back. (Only 5 more months.)

Week 2, Cheap ol’ China:
As I’m writing this e-mail, I’m on a train headed for Chongquing, China. (Our third stop in China.) So far we have gone to Beijing and Xi’an (Shi-an). We arrived in China on Dec. 3. When we left the terminal in Beijing airport my dad’s workmate’s husband’s college roommate was right there. (He was going to be our guide and translator for part of China.) After buying tickets we got on a bus that stopped near our hotel. From our stop, we got in a cab that took us to our hotel, THE DOWN TOWN BACKPAKERS INN. We were lucky enough to land a bunk room with four sets of bunk beds that cost 5 dollars a bed!!!!!! That was about 40 dollars a night for eight beds!!!!!! You have to admit that that’s cheap!!! That night we didn’t do any thing but the next morning we went to the FORBIDDEN PALACE.

We went though just a fraction and it took almost the whole day!!! It was really a city not just a palace. There were at least 20 buildings (probably more). We started at the back door and worked our way up to the front and Tiananmen Square. While in the palace Quin managed to run straight into a garbage can and get my mom to buy us all snacks. After walking through the square, we hailed a cab and went back to the hotel. The next day we woke up at 6:30 A.M. and hopped on a bus. After a boring three hour drive we arrived at THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. On the Great Wall, I hiked the length of the Boulder Boulder. Yes ten kilometers. The Great Wall was amazing and I wish I could have had more time. But we were going to miss our bus, so we had to leave. (See pictures on www.raderstorf.com.)

Soon we got on a night train to Xi’an. The trip was twelve hours long!! Surprisingly I found that I enjoyed it so much I wanted to do it again and again and again and again. We arrived in Xi'an at 7:00 in the morning and headed to our hotel. Almost as soon as we got there, we headed out again to go to the eighth wonder of the world, THE TERRA-COTTA WARRIORS.
The Terra-cotta Wariors were thuosands of clay wariors buried underground in one of Emperor Qin’s tomb. A few farmers uncovered it in 1974 while digging a well. (I guess they didn’t have to dig anymore wells.) After spending a day there we headed back to the hotel.
The next day was Dec. 8 (my dad’s birthday). That day we went to a panda reserve with lots of pandas, monkeys, birds and various other endangered species. One of the non-endangered animals was the KILLER COW!!!!!!!!!!!(Dun dun dun) It had actually gotten into someone’s house and killed 4 people!!!!! After spending a few hours there, we went back to the hotel to prepare for my dad’s surprise birthday dinner. After walking a few blocks, we arrived at the famous dumpling house; Du Feng. They had all sorts of dumplings of all shapes and sizes. They even had dumplings in the shape of a Chinese dragon. Sadly we didn’t get that in our 10 course meal of chicken, duck and normal shaped dumplings. There was even a pot of soup with dumplings in it. After a big meal, we were all ready for bed. But on the walk back, we stopped at a few street venders to buy dried fruits, paintings and roses. Sadly the next morning after a bike ride on the city wall and shopping for 6 sent candy boxes (little candy boxes about the size of a normal deck of playing cards cost about 6 cents) and little ceramic figures. We got on a train that Waters didn’t get on. He was going back to Shanghai. After a very uncomfortable night we hopped of the train and met our new guide Junyi (Junnie). After spending the day in Chongqing, we boarded a river cruise boat going down the Yangtze, to THREE GORDGES DAM.

That’s all that’s happened so far. Try to e-mail me back soon

Sincerely, Max

P.S. Catarina, what is the name of your grandparent’s restaurant in Tucson?

P.S.S. I wrote this e-mail from various different places so it might say that I’m writing from this place then say I am writing from a different place. (Sorry major run on sentence.)

P.P.S.S. Notice Ms. Burianek, I wrote a lot like “a lot” instead of “alot”. (Ha ha ha)

P.P.S.S.S. I have been keeping up to date with my reading.

The City of Peace and Okanami-Yaki

2004-12-02T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hiroshima is, by far, the most enjoyable city I have explored. Although it is most famous for the 1945 nuclear tragedy and the Peace Park, travelers also enjoy lively nightlife, picture-perfect temples, and some really tasty Yaki-tora.

As the train was pulling into the station, I expected Hiroshima to be more or less, the same as Kyoto and Tokyo. I was very soon proven wrong. There are three major things that make Hiroshima special: The roads are much wider, and everything isn’t so crowded together. I guess that’s because everything has been rebuilt since the bomb was dropped. Also transportation is much easier. In addition to subway and bus lines, there is a streetcar system much like San Francisco. The best part is that most of the signs, and other assorted things, such as menus, are in English. This is extremely helpful when you can speak about 10 words in Japanese and can read two (even though it is kind of fun trying to order dinner when the waitress has absolutely no clue what you are saying).

When we got to the station, Dad was sent off to the information booth with the mission of finding a suitable hotel for the night. From past experience, we knew this was a bad idea, but he was the only one willing to risk getting the blame. When he came back and exclaimed “what a good deal he had gotten”, we all slapped our foreheads and asked each other why we had let him go. But the room had already been booked, so we had no choice.

The half-an-hour tram ride was easy and painless. Better yet, it only cost 520 yen, roughly equal to five dollars, for all of us. When we reached the hotel, all four of us were pleasantly surprised (sorry I doubted you, Dad). It was a fairly new building with five floors. The room was nice, a little small, but would do the job. It had a private bathroom and coin laundry right next door. It also had a shower and a Japanese bath.

As soon as we settled in, it was off to the peace park while we still had daylight. It’s amazing, and quite sad that anyone could do this kind of thing. The bomb was dropped during morning rush-hour without any warning at all. Over 140,000 people, almost half of Hiroshima’s population, perished. It wouldn’t feel quite so bad if it wasn’t our country that had committed this horrible act. It must be how a German feels going to the holocaust museum in Washington D.C.

The worst, is the A-bomb dome, originally an industrial architecture center, it had been reduced to a skeleton of brick and iron half the original size. It had stood only 160 M away from the hypocenter. It’s amazing it survived, because almost all buildings within 2 km of the blast were destroyed. The entire city was leveled in less than two seconds.

We were finally able to drag ourselves away from the park with a promise we would be back first thing in the morning. We soon found ourselves strolling down the Hondori St. in search of the best Okanami-Yaki (a savory pancake made with cabbage, soba, egg meat, and various other sauces and spices), Hiroshima had to offer. Because Hiroshima is famous for its Yaki-Tori, it was not hard to find what we were looking for. It was, on the other hand, very hard to decide. The streets were lined with yaki-tori restaurants. We decided on a four story complex full of restaurants. With Yaki-tora, not only is the food good, but it’s quite a lot of fun also. You sit at a bar and the food is cooked directly in front of you on hot surfaces. Yaki-tori is a name for all food of his type, and includes Yaki-soba (fried soba noodles), okanami-yaki (fried pancake), and other items.

We all slept quite nicely, even though the pillows were as hard as rocks. We had breakfast as a place called Choco Cro, a coffee shop chain specializing in chocolate croissants. The Japanese really know how to make pastries.

Holding true to our word, we returned to the peace museum and the remembrance hall. It is so full of information I could spend all day there, and even longer writing about it. The museum displays many interesting, but depressing facts about our government. The atomic bomb took many years to develop and cost over two billion dollars. At that time, that was enough to completely eradicate poverty from the earth. The project was started by Roosevelt and the initial order was given by Truman. It was carried out even though Japan was attempting to negotiate a cease fire through the Soviets. It seemed that the purpose off dropping the bomb was to gain the upper hand over the Soviet Union by making Japan surrender and to justify the huge cost of manufacturing it.

The atomic bomb was about three meters long and weighed four tons. It contained 50 kilos of uranium 235, but only one kilo actually split and provided the force of the explosion. Only one kilo provided the energy equal to 15,000 tons of high-performance explosive. The bomb, nicknamed “little boy” was dropped by the air force bomber Enola Gay. It exploded 580 m above the ground approximately 200m south-east of its target. I have seen “Enola Gay” many times in the past at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson AZ, but I never knew what kind of damage it had caused.

The museum had many very interesting artifacts from survivors and victims. There was some of the well over 1,000 paper cranes that were folded by Sadako Sasaki while she was hospitalized by radiation inflicted Leukemia. There is an old Japanese belief that says “if you fold a thousand paper cranes, your wish will come true. Even though Sadako folded well over a thousand cranes, each one possessing the wish to live, she passed away after an eight month struggle.
Another story is that of a large step of stone belonging to the bank of Hiroshima, about 260m away from the Hypocenter. The step was whitened by the heat, except for the place where a person had been sitting, waiting for the bank to open. Now a dark area exists like a permanent human shadow.

I am now writing this from the bullet train bound for Tokyo. The one thing I have learned about bullet trains is that you are not allowed to take pictures out the windows. It isn’t a rule, but a law of physics. Even if you do get your target, it’s so blurry, it is impossible to recognize.

Tomorrow we are off to Beijing and it’s a farewell to Japan, land of funky toilets, tiny cars, overcrowded cities, and last, but not least, very good food.

Ben – 12/01/2004

Okonomiyaki, Squatty Potties and Potty Slippers

2004-12-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

Konnichiwa from Three Sisters Inn Main in Kyoto Japan, the sweet place we landed when we left the Krauth house in Tokyo. We have been in this beautiful and bustling city since Sunday exploring temples, shrines, gardens, a castle, restaurants and the mother load of sweetshops.

I sit here typing, fighting against a food induced coma, watching the boys clad in kimono (actually called a yukata-cotton kimono) robes playing poker (kimono poker). We discovered that our favorite kind of cuisine in Japan is Yaki-tori, especially the Okonomiyaki (a pancake made of cabbage, noodles, meat, egg and spices). We were fortunate enough to stumble upon the wonderful food experience our second night in Kyoto. We popped into a tiny sheik-looking place with the chefs cooking at the table. The menu was in Japanese which posed little problem for us, as we had been pointing and gesturing for twenty-four hours by this time. We watched the food being prepared, pointed and held one or two fingers up. Fortunately the words beer and vegetarian are widely known by all!

OUR 1st Full Day in Kyoto

Our 1st full day in Kyoto was truly wonderful. We awoke in our cozy Japanese style room– a 3 sectioned room suite layered with tatamis (new grass mats that really smelled like grass) and futons. Each section was divided by paper screens donning Japanese paintings. The bathroom was next door and the showers down stairs.

This might be the time for a small departure describing Japanese bathroom culture. First off the toilet is usually in a room by itself. It is customary to wear potty slippers while in the toilet area and only there. Well, it goes without saying that this takes some getting used to. While at the Inn, we kept exclaiming, “Ah, you have the potty slippers on,” always pointing and laughing at the perpetrator. Potty slippers are not to be confused with squatty potties – the toilets on the ground that are usually found in public restrooms. As a woman, you straddle the little toilet and whish. The hard part is keeping the whish in the potty. We have had a few laughs thinking of a little old grandma (of which there are many) sliding into the squatty potty after me. As the old adage goes, practice makes perfect.

Back to our first day, we enjoyed a communal continental breakfast with the other guests downstairs (I was the only one brave enough to show up in my yukata.) The breakfast consisted of a very thick slice of bread with butter and jam, orange juice and coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Max and I were pretty excited to share stories with other Americans. Once we left the Inn, we would be back to pointing and gesturing.

After getting our bearings and purchasing all day bus passes, we set off on foot to find the Colorado Coffee Café (a place we had seen the night before on our taxi ride from the train to the inn). I had secretly hoped to find a friend from home. Instead we discovered that ICC is a big chain and no one really cared that we were from Colorado. Language makes our experiences at times more challenging and at times more fun. We have decided that the Japanese people we have met are most friendly when they see someone in need. As I imagine in most cultures, people are most forgiving when you are willing to make a fool of yourself.

From there we hopped on the bus to Kiyomizu Temple. This was my most favorite place in all of Kyoto. We walked through the grandest and most picturesque mausoleum surrounded by hillsides bursting with red, orange and gold. As Ben astutely pointed out, “Canada move over because the Japanese maple is the most beautiful tree of the fall.” The temple area is spectacularly beautiful. We had a lunch of soba, udon and tofu next to the Sound of Feathers waterfall (some of the most holy water in Japan). A Japanese couple seated at the table next to ours made the tiniest peace cranes for each of the boys and then showed them some magic tricks. With hand gestures the man told us that his wife’s brother was from Texas and was now in Iraq (at least that is how we interpreted firing guns, saluting, and his words “you know Texas, boom).

After touring the grounds, we winded down the hillside past more sweetshops that you can imagine. There were machines that made little cakes, machines that made these ravioli-looking sweets with chocolate, plum or hazelnut inside, machines that made soya milk donuts, and we tried them all. I kept saying, “Look, we are the only ones eating and it was true. Thousands of people on the street and we were the only ones eating. You can take the American out of America, but you can’t take the America out of the American.

With the setting sun as our companion, we all enjoyed our picturesque walk back to the Inn. That evening we discovered our favorite food and took in a little of Kyoto’s nightlife.

(excerpt from Ben’s journal)

The Worst Show in the History of the World by Ben Raderstorf

Gion corner, Kyoto (a Geisha show with hardly any geishas)

I knew something was wrong when there were barely any people there for the closing show. It was all boring, but the worst was the Imperial court music, the so called “elegant music.” Even though it was horrible, it’s very easy to describe. A bunch of old guys playing the worst instruments I have ever heard. A copper pot, a wind instrument that sounded like a duck strangulation device, an old bagpipe with god knows what stuck inside of it, and various others that sounded like they were as far out of tune as possible. As if the music wasn’t bad enough, it was all accompanied by a conductor/dancer. He looked like a mutated goat with snot hanging out of his nose. To make things worse, he danced like a chicken. If I was the emperor, all six of them would be executed without a thought.

Tokyo

2004-11-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

I am the guest blogger!! So exciting.

This is Kathy in Tokyo blogging for the Raderstorfs. The visit so far has been exciting, fun, and funny. No earthquakes yet, but always to be expected.
I met the Raderstorfs at Shinjuku Station. Shinjuku is the biggest, busiest train station in the world and while I was waiting, the pushers were busy packing the trains with as many people as possible.
The Raderstorfs got off suprisingly unencumbered with luggage and surprisingly awake and ready to go. We got home, stayed up to bond and laugh and then to bed.
Oh, and then the fun began. First we had to get everybody set on their bikes, with helmets of course, and then we rode a few kilometers to Jindaiji, a 8th century Buddhist temple in western Tokyo. Because it was a weekday, the temple was not crowded and still beautiful with autumn leaves and foliage.
But that was not the memory that we made here. Jindaiji is famous for water and the soba noodles made from this water are particularly delicious. Sitting outside to enjoy both cold and hot noodles was the plan; pulling Quin out of the koi (carp) pond was not. But as travellers, you go with the flow and Quin was rescued and the noodle shop owners again came to the rescue with dry, but huge clothes for Quin. The tramatic experience was soon forgotten and the kids soon learned how to make leaf boats to float down the stream. A wonderful older woman from Hokkaido stopped to teach the kids what she said all young Japanese learn.

Okay, I guess we also didn't plan on a very high fever for Ben or an excruciatingly painful toothache for Max. Ben slept it off, while Greg and Scott got up at 4:30 to go to the Tsukiji fish market. A great, unique experience for them, but I still think Joellen and I were happy to sleep. Ah, but the toothache continued, but Greg to the rescue for Max. Friday morning was spent by Max, Scott and Greg in a dentist's office--root canal. Again, not in the plans for Tokyo. But better Japan than the jungles of Borneo.

Then off to Shinjuku to enjoy the city which included lunch, a visit to Tokyu Hands, and the basement of Takashimaya--Joellen and my favorite memory of her previous visit to Tokyo-cheese and wine in the basement of Takashimaya department store.

Greg was exhausted so home for the rest while Scott, Ben and I explored the electronic area of Shinjuku. Scott found this laptop that I am writing on to still be the best buy, but apparently other recently purchased electronics were obsolete. They seem fine to me.

Another yakinuku meal was enjoyed by all and here we are on Saturday considering a bike ride to the Tama River to see Mount Fuji. The kids are having the greatest time playing dog Monopoly and kick ball while the adults talk and talk and talk.

The Raderstorfs are off to Kyoto tomorrow and then Hiroshima. All too short here for us, but we know they have so much to see and we are looking forward to travelling virtually with them.

One Flight down -- It's beautiful in Tucson

2004-11-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

The goodbyes are over... After a few tears (well maybe more than a few) and many hugs & kisses we hopped on the bus to DIA. Thank you so much to all of the wonderful friends who came by to help and send us off last night and this morning. Checkout the web photo for the parade from our house, to the Trident and then on to the bus station (oh our aching backs!). The flight was quick and then our chauffeur (AKA my brother Ross) picked us up in Gretel The Hunk Of Metal (who recently retired to sunny Arizona). There is nothing like cruising with the top down in beautiful Tucson!

At this moment we are slipping cocktails in Ross & Carla kitchen, looking over the photos and thankful for a great start on this epic journey.

This is Scott 'Kerault' Raderstorf reporting on location in Tucson, AZ. Stay tuned for late breaking news.....

World Wide Adventure Map

2004-11-08T23:49:00.000-07:00

World Wide Adventure Map
Originally uploaded by scottr123.

This is it!!! Now you know where to find us!!

The tickets are purchased!

2004-10-22T14:55:00.000-06:00

Dear All,
As some of you know and some of you don't, we are heading off on a great journey on November 17th. The whole family is going and our education will be to learn about the world; different cultures, food, music, games, religions, our common love for our children and more. We have been pondering this trip for a long time and the time has come to make it a reality. We have met many families who have traveled anywhere from 5 to 15 months, all with a different story and suggestions of how to do the trip and all so grateful for the journey and the special time with their family. What a blessing to have advice from so many people who've journeyed before us.

So, we've booked the tickets and we've visited the travel clinic. Good first steps. Our plan is to know where we are going when we first get to a country and then have some open time to explore places we learn about. Scott and I will be the schoolmasters (more than likely Ben will be the one teaching us all!). As a passionate advocate for the world's inhabitants, Max will be researching the the health and well-being of all creatures on the planet. His class will track his journey on the "Where in the World is Max?" bulletin board. Quin will be our goodwill ambassador with his contagious smile and love of people. I will be gathering stories for the 2006 Mothers Acting Up Calendar: Mothers Beyond Borders. [Perhaps this is a good time to plug the 05 Calendar that arrived last week. It is really brilliant, and it has literally moved everyone to tears. So, if you can, consider buying one or ten (and get one free). It will make it much easier for me to leave town if half the calendars are sold! Visit http://www.mothersactingup.org/ to order!]

We will be staying in touch with people via email. You are on our list if you have received this email. (And you can opt out from the emails if you like, by sending an email to WWA@raderstorf.com , no insult will be taken). We will also have a Blog setup soon @ http://www.raderstorf.com/. We will be keeping a journal on paper and of course we will put it online for all to see when we return.

If you have any contacts along our route we would greatly appreciate their names and emails and perhaps an introduction via email. It will be great to connect with folks along the way. Also, we are trying to balance adventure with service, so if you've heard of any great service projects please share this too. Please send any info to scott@raderstorf.com .
Attached you can find our itinerary. More to follow...
With big love and hugs,
Joellen, Scott, Ben, Max and Quin

The Raderstorf’s World Wide Adventure

11/17 – 11/23 Tucson, AZ
11/24 – 12/03 Japan Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima
12/03 – 12/23 China Beijing to Kunming via Train, 3 Gorges Dam
12/23 – 01/02 Thailand Golden Buddha
01/02 – 02/08 SE Asia Northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia
02/08 – 02/15 Bali
02/15 – 03/08 New Zealand Auckland, South Island – Depart Christchurch
03/08 – 03/15 Australia Melbourne, Sydney, Depart Brisbane
03/16 – 03/17 Dubai
03/17 – 04/03 South Africa Johannesburg, Kruger National Park, Cape Town??
04/03 – 04/07 Mauritius
04/08 – 04/18 Turkey Istanbul, South Islands
04/18 – 05/02 Italy Cinque Terre