This is Maya Hatch speaking, since I was the only one who went to India, Mom is making me type this one. So to get into this school trip to India, I had to create an essay saying why I wanted to go with them. In the end, I was selected as one of ten children. We left the night of March 9th and took a 9-hour flight to New Delhi. From there, we rode in a Pathways bus two hours to the Pathways school, in which we would be spending most of our time.
The first full day was a Sunday, so none of the classes were in session. We had a tour of the campus, which included the amphitheater, the cafeteria, and the dorms. They had three cats walking around the campus. We immediately named all 3 of them: Persimmon, Anastasia, and Georgie. We joined a group of Pathways students playing soccer. Shannon fell down and hurt her knee. Me, Shannon, and a Pathways student named Serena went and sat on a bench instead. Afterwards, on our way back to the dorm, a teacher showed us a gooseberry tree. Gooseberries are known for giving you thick and luxurious hair. We slept in the dorms, which had four rooms per floor. Each room had two connecting mini-rooms with 2 beds in each.
the gardens!
On Monday morning, we attended a small announcement where they were introducing the Chadwickians to the Pathways students. They dipped their finger in a candle wax-like substance and made a red dot on our foreheads. They also gave us flower wreath necklaces to wear. Then we ate breakfast with the Pathways students. We had toast and butter and fruit. Afterwards, we went to art class in which we made an Indian type of art known as the honey bee forest (translated in English). This particular type of artwork is made using big shapes then using double lines and adding patterns in the small spaces and large blocks of paint in the bigger areas. Mine was of a fish in the deep sea. After our art class, we played tennis with some Pathways students. Me and Evie would bounce the ball back and forth over the net. We had curry and rice for lunch. Next we went back to art class and made clay seals, I made a sunset. My favorite one of all of them, was Mattie's Taj Mahal. For dinner we went out and had a bonfire. We ate curry, rice, naan, and water. It was fun and we tried to climb a tree, but Annika got hurt, so we didn't anymore.
When we woke up on Tuesday we went straight to the bus and we rode for 4 hours, very long boring hours, to the Taj Mahal. I learned it is pronounced Taj Mahel. The Taj Mahal is actually a grave site for a queen. The king of India at the time had thee wives. The first two gave him no children at all. But the third wive gifted him with fourteen. so in return he built her a giant place which he named after his beloved wife, Taj Mahal. He planned on making a black version behind it to be his own grave site but his son arrested him for spending too much money on the first Taj Mahal. To his delight his daughter gave him a diamond with which he could see out his window at the Taj Mahal. So he could watch his wife all night and all day.
The first thing we did on Wednesday was attend an assembly in which we presented a little about our Korean culture. Myself and Evie told them how to say some Korean words. The Pathways students put on a two dance numbers for us and sang two choir songs as well. They then spoke to us and we gave them a present. We had a Hindi lesson in which we learned "Hello" and "My Name Is ____" and several other Hindi words. "Hello" is "Namaste". "My Name Is __" is "Mera Nam _ Hey". Afterwards, we went to a music lesson where we learned how to play traditional Indian instruments like a two-sided big drum, a smaller two-sided drum, and an instrument somewhat like the violin with seven strings and a little plucker thing that goes on your finger. We learned some traditional dances and a Bollywood routine at the dance class with a bunch of 8th graders and the dance teacher. Chadwick students all went out to the field to ride the horses. There were seven ponies in total. Tuffy, Socks, Red River, Ginger, Magnet, Sea Lance,and Sparta. I rode Red River but my favorite horse was Tuffy. We rode around in a big circle on the Pathways track. We didn't really ride the horses because there was a man in front who was guiding the horse around. We were just sitting on their backs.. After which, we borrowed saris (a traditional Indian garment) and we traveled to a very famous Bollywood musical studio called Kingdom of Dreams. It was really fancy and we watched the musical Zangoora. We, being English speakers, did not understand Hindi. So, the studio loaned us translators. This musical was about a king who had his baby and the king died and the baby was lost in a gypsy kingdom. So a gypsy woman raised the baby as her own child. Eighteen years later a princess came to meet the new king. The princess and the gypsy prince fell in love but a man came to the gypsy kingdom and told Zangoora, the gypsy prince, that he was a prince, but now he was the King. The princess was not actually a princess. She was actually a commoner trying to save her father from the prisons of the new king's dungeon. So, she and Zangoora got married and defeated the evil king and freed the princess's dad.
The next day we went shopping. I bought a chess set for my brother, a ring for my mother, some tea for my dad, and I bought a gold spinny thing for my sister, but I lost it. My friend gave me something she had which was a bunny necklace and a moustache ring. So I gave that to my sister instead. While we were in New Delhi we had lunch and I got some ramen stuff that wasn't really ramen. It was like ramen, but without the soup. It was really good. At least it had meat! Afterwards, we went to the India Gate. The India Gate is a gate for all of the people who died serving their country in India. They have an ever-burning flame that is watched by a person at all times day and night, just standing there, doing absolutely nothing except feeding the fire wood.
The next day, Friday, we hiked up a hill and we saw the view of a small town and another hill. The teacher who went with us from Pathways gave us butter cookies and milk cookies. They were delicious. We rode on a bus to the Lohagara Farms. At the farms we got henna tattoos, camel rides, pottery, and we went to a haunted house. When we got back to Pathways, we attended a Holi Festival with flowers and songs and fun. We would find flowers on the table, pick off the petals, and throw them at each other. It was amazing and we had flower petals in our hair for the rest of the day. At 8pm, we rode two hours in the bus to the airport. We had a seven hour flight and I slept six hours of it. When we arrived at baggage claim and walked through the doors, all the parents were screaming our names and were holding up a sign saying Welcome Home. It was very amusing seeing other people in the airport trying to find the people they were looking for.
In the end, this was a very nice, fun cultural experience with all my friends and teachers. This was a great opportunity to meet new friends and explore new places around the world.
I hope that you have taken the time to read and watch the videos from my three-part series about our trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Although the temples were amazing, it was the trips we took around the countryside and through the floating villages that will likely leave the strongest impact on us. It is very hard to see people living in such an impoverished state and not feel some emotion towards them. It is even harder to fly home and then forget. We live in a First World Country where getting clean water to drink from the tap is something we can do every day, without a thought as to where it comes from. We can flush our toilets, take hot showers, run our washing machine and dishwasher, and wash our hands a hundred times a day. Most of the folks we saw in Cambodia cannot.
Drinking dirty water can spread many illnesses, such as cholera and dysentery. Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death for children under 5 in Cambodia.
These are a few snapshots of people washing in dirty water.
Imagine if you collected your water in these pots and then let it sit out uncovered for mosquitoes to come lay their eggs in it. Cambodians are at risk for getting Zika Virus, Dengue Fever, and other mosquito-carried diseases.
There is something we can do about it though. I am happy to announce that our amazing tour guide Poy Pines not only takes people on wonderful tours of Siem Reap, but also collects donations and drills wells for the people in Siem Reap. As a native to the area, he is striving to give back to his community to improve their living conditions.
Here are some snapshots of a family that just received a new well, thanks to a donation from one of the tourists he guided.
On our last full day in Siem Reap, we switched gears and got a little more physically active! We joined Grasshopper Adventures for a 4-hour bicycle ride around the Siem Reap countryside. At the last minute, Charlie decided he was not comfortable actually riding on his own, so I asked the tour folks to attach him to the back of mine. He got an amazing cushy seat, complete with a cupholder for his water bottle.
Since it was the dry season, the path we rode on was sometimes sandy, sometimes very compacted dirt, but either way a lot of dust got kicked up, caking our sweaty shins and the lens of the GoPro I had mounted on the handlebars. The sound quality is not great on the video, but you can get an idea of what it was like.
Our first stop was at some agricultural fields. We met a 60-year old woman planting in her field. She had lemon grass, holy basil, baby eggplant, aloe, and a local vegetable similar to spinach.
Next, we rode to a local market. We walked through it and the kids got to see a butchered pig's head hanging by a hook, red ants used for seasoning beef, and the locally caught fish waiting to get their heads chopped for a fresh-kill buy. Our guides bought us some fresh fruit and little doughnuts to snack on later.
Next, we stopped at a little stand that had a bathroom for us to use. There was a puppy that the kids fell in love with.
Charlie's posh seat is the little red chair attached to the back of the bike in the center.
The bike ride through the countryside very much reminded me of my time living in Malawi. The dust on the path from having no rain for months, the little kids waving hello and shouting "Goodbye" as we rode past, the leaves along the sides of the paths turned reddish brown with the layer of dirt/dust coating them, and the cows just walking around with no fences keeping them penned in. I was really glad overall that the kids got to experience this perspective of Siem Reap.
Our next stop was a mushroom farm. I had never been to a mushroom farm before, so it was definitely a new experience for me. They stuff small bags with sawdust and spores and really tightly pack them before tying them off. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of them all over the place. After a month, they stack them sideways in tall walls under a tarp roof where the mushrooms grow right out of the neck of the bags.
Then we rode to a very large Buddhist pagoda. It had beautiful statues, educational buildings, ornate murals and many stupa.
Our last stop was at a lotus farm. We had a long rest there, eating some delicious mango, dragonfruit, watermelon, coconut waffles, coconut donuts, and coconut cake balls. Eric tried some kind of sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf. The kids had time to relax in the hammocks and Eric enjoyed a cold beer.
Then we had one final ride of about 25 minutes to get back to our starting point. In total we rode about 10.5 miles (17km). That last ride really pushed my endurance. It was getting really hot and humid out. I think the high was around 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit and we were so close to the equator that the sun was really beating down on us. I was so impressed with the girls, who kept at the front of the pack the whole time. They were such troopers! Eric, thankfully, stayed behind me and shouted words of encouragement during the last haul. I really should have let him take a turn at pulling Charlie, but I was too stubborn.
We returned to the Grasshopper cafe, where we were treated with freshly cut coconuts with straws. I think that the coconut water is supposed to have a lot of electrolytes or something, like natural Gatorade. After wiping off the layers of dust that coated our faces and shins, we caught a TukTuk to an artisan workshop.
The first room we walked through was the woodcarver room.
Willow and Charlie helped by sanding down the rough parts.
In the next room we visited, the ladies were mostly on break, but we did see one woman working on the copper leaf, pounding it with stamps to make imprints for later silver plating.
Then we walked through the rooms where they do silk painting and ceramic tile painting.
We got some ice cream at a cafe called Blue Pumpkin and then caught a shuttle out to the Silk Farm. We were led on a guided tour of the farm, beginning with the mulberry tree plantation where they harvest the leaves to feed the silk worms. They have to bring the leaves inside to feed the worms because if they let the worms go outside they would be eaten by birds.
When the worms turn yellow, they are transferred to this circular basket weave to spin their cocoons.
The cocoons are collected and put outside in the sun to kill the worms while they are still inside.
Then the cocoons are boiled and the workers pull the softened cocoons gently apart to spin the silk thread on a spindle. Willow even saw one of the workers eat the worm she pulled out of the middle of the cocoon!
We learned that 'raw silk' comes from the outside of the cocoon and 'fine silk' comes from the inside. Material woven with 'raw silk' is generally less expensive than its counterpart. They bleach the naturally yellow silk to make it ready to take any dye they treat it with. They showed us how they use natural dyes like leaves, bark, coconut shells and seeds.
In another room we saw all the weavers making intricate patterns for scarves, tablecloths, and tapestries.
They also had a technique I hadn't seen before called Ikat, where the weaver ties sections off in knots. in a pattern. After completing the knots, the fabric is dyed. The dye doesn't reach where the knots are.
At the end of the tour we walked thru the gift shop. We could now really appreciate the amount of work that went into all the carvings, hand-woven fabrics, and hand-made jewelry. And could understand the reason behind the high price tags.
We took the shuttle back into town and then caught a TukTuk back to the hotel. After all of the day's activities, I needed a shower and a nap before dinner! The kids went with Eric to the pool. Where do they get all that energy?
We went to a restaurant called SPOONS for dinner. SPOONS is run by a non-profit called EGBOK (Everything's Gonna Be OK). Eric and Maya ordered forest sausage seasoned with tree ants! Maya was convinced she could somehow wipe the tree ants off. But they were in a sauce that just wouldn't wipe away. The sausage was quite spicy and very tasty. All the food was delicious.
From dinner we did a little souvenir shopping in the Night Market and then went to the Phare Cambodian Circus! I have no pictures or video, because I was too busy watching the show! The show was called "Same Same, but Different". It was funny, intelligent and jaw dropping. I saw it as a commentary on how tourists have influenced their society and culture. The performers who were dressed like tourists had white masks covering the top half of their faces. We could still see their mouths and hear if they spoke. They showed tourists walking around, taking pictures of everything, running from the rain, pushing their way to the front of all the lines, drinking hard alcohol and saying "Blah Blah Blah". Towards the end, they showed two Cambodian girl friends but one of them started dressing more like a tourist. Her outfit changed slowly, first with sneakers, then with a crop top, then jean shorts. The friend who had not changed started getting upset and acted like she didn't know her best friend anymore, now that she dressed that way. In the end they made up, but the message spoke volumes to me in the audience. Throughout the performance, the circus stunts were incredible. They did acrobatics, juggling, balancing, climbing, swinging, hanging by their wrists spinning around, and enormous feats of strength. It was very powerful.
Back to the hotel and straight to bed.
The next morning we woke up all relaxed and lazy. I thought our flight didn't leave until 1:10, so I arranged for a Tuk Tuk to pick us up at 10:30. We ate breakfast and then lounged around the hotel, packing up slowly. At 10:15 we went downstairs and the Tuk Tuk was already there. So, we left and went to the airport, arriving at 10:45. We slowly meandered into the airport, thinking we still had hours, when I noticed that the departures board said the only flight to Guangzhou was at 11:10am, not 1:10pm. I started to panic. I pulled out my paper itinerary and only then did I realize that the 2-hour time difference had not been reflected in my phone calendar. I apologized sincerely to the airline clerk who made it very clear that we were very late. She called out to the gate and had an airline person come and guide us all the way through. We agreed that it was not possible to check our bags, and thank goodness we had packed small enough ones to carry on board. We tried to stay calm as we told the kids to not screw around, stay as close to our sides as possible and keep their mouths shut until we were seated on the plane. The airline person came and walked us through getting our boarding passes, going through passport control, filling out our departure forms, passing through immigration, then security (where they confiscated Charlie's souvenir of a dead scorpion and python in a glass bottle of alcohol), then the gate, and finally the long walk out onto the tarmac and up the stairs. They definitely had held the plane for us. I had heard the final boarding call way back when were still at the immigration desk. Everyone was waiting for whoever it was who had held them up. We were so relieved and grateful that they stopped everything to get us on board. It did shorten our connecting time in Guangzhou, but thankfully we made that flight as well. We did it! We made it home safely! A huge shout out to China Southern Airlines and their amazing customer service.
