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A post from Myanmar

I was excited to receive the following email from our Director in Myanmar Tin. We are huge fans of Myanmar and it’s amazing people and we are excited that the government seems to be moving in a positive direction!

We’re also excited to announce a new direct flight between Yangon and Siem Reap…this is great news for us as we can now easily reach Myanmar, but also great news for our travelers who will be able to go directly from Yangon to Siem Reap or vice versa starting this month! The inaugural flight will be February 23rd from Yangon to Siem Reap and then returning February 26th. And now, a note from Tin:

“Greetings!   The situation in Myanmar is quite and normal as usual.  National Assembly has successfully held in the past few days with elected new president, vice presidents etc.  There is no doubt that a large part of power and decision-makers are rendered into the hand of military-associated personnel.  But, there shall be some civilian involvements in the provincial parliaments that could, to some extent, affect to change the mind-set of old bureaucrats.  This 2010-2015 five year tenure of Parliament could be the confidence-building time between military and civilians.  A change is going to happen for sure.  But, no one knows how long will it take. It all depends on the qualification of the members in each parliament, to what extent and in what way they work of the country.

But still, the country is safe to travel.  More and more people believe that tourism is benefiting the local life rather than straightening the military’s power-grip. We are excited to see what 2011 has to offer us!” – Tin Htun… Read more »

Leavin’ on a Jet Plane – response!

When Andrea was on her way to the States she wrote a blog post about all the fun times she had in Cambodia over the Winter. I responded to that post with a challenge to do more things in the States than she did over the winter in Cambodia. Well, now that she and the kids are on a plane back to Cambodia I’ve compiled a few photos from this Summer and I think I’m safe to say that we met the challenge!

June:

Attended Arienne’s wedding at Lake Tahoe, Went to Disneyland (was that June or another month??)

wedding june
The JW Crew at Arienne and Ben's Wedding

wedding june2
Andrea and April at Arienne's Wedding
Callie
Callie with Princess Jasmine at Disneyland

July:

Just a quick trip back to SE Asia for Guide Training and Callie’s 4th Birthday

In Luang Prabang, Laos
On the Mekong River in Laos

vietnam july
Andrea and April in Hanoi
The Birthday Girl
The Birthday Girl

birthday july 2
At Callie's Princess Birthday Party

August:

Celebrated Andrea’s Birthday in Reno and Took a fun day on the Truckee River

birthday aug 2
Out for Andrea's Birthday
birthday aug1
April and Andrea out and about for Drea's Birthday
river Aug
Steering the Boat!
river Aug 2
Gavin and Couper in the boat

September:

I can’t even list all the places she visited in September. Narla was in the States for a whirlwind JWOC fund raising tour. They visited Truckee, San Franscico, Sacramento, Washington DC, Philidelphia, Rhode Island, New York, Los Angeles, Orange County… and those are just the places I can list off of the top of my head!

Narla speaking to a class in San Francisco
Nalra speaking to a class in San Francisco

sept
At the FilmAnthropy Festival in Los Angeles
sept 3
Taking a break to tour Philidelphia

October:

Winding down from the hectic summer, letting the kids play together and enjoy each other’s company before they head off again to another wonderful winter in The ‘Bodia.

Couper and Gavin in their Pumpkin shirt made by Andrea and Callie
Couper and Gavin in their pumpkin shirts made by Andrea and Callie

oct2
The Jack-O-Lantern Kids
Read more »

The Perfect Father’s Day Gift

I find Father’s Day one of the toughest holidays of the year, men are just harder to shop for! This year however we’re trying to give you a great Father’s Day gift option that not only will make your dad feel good, but will also help another family in Southeast Asia. Here are some ideas on what you could get your dad this June 21st:

** He helped put you through university now show him how much that gift meant by putting a student in Southeast Asia through university in his honor. Only $500 a year for four years and your dad will get monthly updates from his student about school, volunteering and life in Cambodia. Imagine how pleased your dad will be to hear from a university student he ISN’T having to foot the bill for!

** Some men just appreciate good business. Rather than the obligatory tie this year invest $100 in our Microloan Program and help a business in Cambodia go to the next level. For those business minded dads this is the perfect way to be practical and make a difference.

There are other options on the Nikaya website to find the perfect giving back option for Father’s Day. The great thing about these gifts is your dad will be pleased to know he raised you to be interested in helping others and across the world another dad will be receiving the greatest gift ever, a chance!

While you’re at Nikaya Handcrafted you can always get yourself a little something and feel good that 10% of all profit goes to Journeys Within Our Community! Have you seen the Krama Scarves, they’re perfect for summer!

Visit www.nikayahandcrafted.com/giving-back/community-support, 100% of the donation goes to Journeys Within Our Community and we will send you a gift card to present to your dad on Father’s Day.

Best,

Andrea… Read more »

Out on a limb

One of the things I miss when I’m not in Asia is the lack of death defying acts! Sure, you can turn on Fear Factor or Jackass, but really in every day life America is lacking in people that are willing to put their life on the line for simple things. For instance today, on our way home from the bank we pulled over to watch this little accident waiting to happen as a crew tried to get a water tank up on a new hotels roof. Sure the tank had a rope around it, but what about the guy balancing on the rebar!?!?

Water tank going in

The man in charge

Man on a wireRead more »

Leavin’ on a jet plane…

I always get a bit nostalgic when it comes time to switch continents. The truth is I love both my homes and in Cambodia I miss the calm of my Truckee house, and the girls in my Truckee office, but when in Truckee I miss my staff and friends in Cambodia and the constant adventures that happen while living in Southeast Asia. With Saturday and our flight home approaching fast I pulled some of my favorite moments from the last eight months, it made me realize…we’ve been busy!

October:
We left snow covered ground in Truckee and headed back to the tropics. The kids were more than happy to get back in the swing of tuk tuk’s and chicken feet:

October Back to Cambodia

October Eating Chicken Feet at a Wedding

November:
Couper turned two along with Sabai and we had a great visit from my parents. I also had a busy and rewarding trip to Laos to visit hotels, try out some new tours and visit the JWOC language school. I ended that trip with a visit to Bangkok where I went to a Salsa competition (as a spectator):

November Birthday Cake

November Visiting Luang Prabang and the JWOC school

December:
A busy month at the B&B, but Brandon and I managed to sneak in a trip to the farm in Koh Ker and Callie was in her first (we imagine of many) performance:

December, Romantic trip to Koh Ker

December At the school Christmas Party

January:
A busy month for JWOC with a documentary being filmed on clean water in Cambodia. I hopped over for a weekend in LA for a Nikaya Trade Show and we enjoyed a family night at Angkor Wat. The month ended with a fun mother son and nanny trip to Phnom Penh:

January Working on A Drop in the Bucket

January Nikaya trade show in LA

January Night Tour At Angkor Wat

January Phnom Penh with Couper and Mom

February:
We had a new class of scholarship students at JWOC, our biggest class ever, but I had to take a trip to Bangkok to bid a fond farewell to Thailand Director Waew:

February Working with a new class of JWOC scholarship students

February In Bangkok for Waew's goodbye party

March:
Narla graduated! and we took a much-needed family vacation to the beach enjoying Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and Krabi and ending with some time in Bangkok:

March Narla graduates

March Thailand Beaches

March McDonalds in Bangkok

April:
After celebrating the Khmer New Year Callie and I decided to head North to Chiang Mai where we tried out a new elephant experience and some new hotels, a great mother daughter trip for us:

April New Years BBQ dinner

April In the tuk tuk in Chiang Mai

April Mahout Training in Chiang Mai

May:
This month has been a blur, we delivered sewing machines to the prison for our new program for Nikaya, we did a spur of the moment trip to Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh for Mother’s Day and we have the Grand Opening of the new JWOC Center this Saturday!

May Delivering sewing machines to the prison

May Mother's Day trip to Sihanoukville

This doesn’t even touch on the amazing guests and volunteers we had and the huge leaps the kids have made in school and swimming and just growing up in general. It’s been a fun time and I am looking forward to summer in the states and then back for more soon!Read more »