Guest Blogger: Christie "Mama" Sumner

CIA-type investigation at kilimanjaro airport comes up empty as mama-traveller goes undercover to arusha with the u.n. envoy.  all were reunited in a tearful, ecstatic gathering, in anticipation of "things to come."  first, striking out in 4-wheel drive to tarangire to find the big game. find it we did: elephants, baboons, giraffes, zebras, thomson gazelles, smaller types, and to amazement of our guide, aaron, a lion in a tree, not generally found in tarangire. next, off to serengeti, which gave us more of the above, and many lions, both male and female, and some very sickly year old cubs, giving us a first look at natural survival.  we saw our first leapord and then a very grisly stop at three cheetahs on a wildebeest kill (another first for our guide, the wildebeest kill by cheetahs) which we watched for an hour, as they took turns feasting and resting, as the scavenger storks, vultures, etc were at bay at some distance, waiting their turn with the 'beest! pictures and video to follow. by now, we are totally engrossed in the safari experience, appreciating the experience of our guide, if not his gregariousness despite ryan's best efforts.  the landscape is different from any. the animals drawing our attention on a fairly regular basis. okay, so what about this wildebeest? look it up online, as a matter of fact the wildebeest migration should show up on youtube, and we came up right in the middle of it as we crested a hill on our way to ndutu, southern serengeti. think buffalo herds in early america.  we are utterly entranced.  the wildebeest, along with zebra, migrate in a clockwise pattern following the feed as the rainy season circles the serengeti.  we continue through the herd where we can go off road and they are all around us, making their way across the rivers.  our first "tented camp" is right "out of africa."  we have two nights there, with game drives during the day.  the second day, we are treated to another exciting event.  we have observed a couple of very lazy male lions in the dry riverbed and soon realize there are a couple of females in the grass, not far away.  we go back and forth, watching each group, when the males struggle forth and saunter toward the females who also have a kill of some sort. as the males come closer at one point about 2 feet away, one of the females strikes out at them.  they are easily cowed, and back off, at which point the female struts out her three 3-week old cubs directly in our view, about 10 feet from the jeep.  our next area is ngorongoro crater, one of the largest volcanic craters in the world and home to many animals, some of which are a first for us: flamingos and black rhinos. we get up close and personal with annie's favorites, the elephants, as well as a pool of "laughing" hippos.  our accommodation for the night is on the crater rim with a view, a long view, of the whole panorama. after 7 days of riding and game viewing from our 4-wheel, it is time to stretch out and start the walking and camping portion of this 14-day journey.

A year ago we sat in our Brookline apartment staring at a map of the world and plotted our extreme adventure of what we’ve now learned to call a ‘gap year’.  Being a big picture thinker this was the only way I could even grasp what we were about to set out to do.  Each night placing another push pin into a new exotic place we learned about during the day we came up with a rough itinerary.  One place that always made the top of my list was Africa.  I’ve always been drawn to uncharted territory and Africa presented itself with a world of unknown to me.  After having been here for six weeks it has over exceeded expectations of variety and we’ve only explored one country, Tanzania.  We’ve spent time in the hills (Mt. Kilimanjaro and Lengai), the highlands (and depressions of volcanic craters), the expansive sky of the Serengeti and pristine beaches of the Swahili coast. 
  One of the highlights of this portion of our trip was to be able to spend a month with my mother and we kicked off that time with a two week safari.  The animal’s performed as expected,  exceptionally well - to be able to join their world without iinfringing on their lives was truly amazing.  You just don’t see giraffes walking down Comm Ave.  It’s hard to imagine this becoming a bore for someone that’s lived here their whole life as we order our guide to stop the truck at the first sighting of zebras and impalas.  It’s a little clique to say our safari was a dream come true but it’s the only way to describe my stunned expression that lasted the entire two weeks.
  In comparison our trip up Kilimanjaro wasn’t even a desire until the morning we reached its summit.  I’m always willing and normally able for a new adventure but climbing Kilimanjaro wasn’t ever a life long dream or goal.  The enormity did however shock me as I witnessed the sun slowly shed light on all of Africa after climbing straight up hill for six and half hours in the darkness of this mountain.  Ryan’s most memorable quote from the journey came from the depths of altitude disorientation with such clarity, “how could they ever have thought the world was flat?”   We’d decided on a route and a guide in Arusha two days before we left and set out on the biggest mental test of our lives without ever questioning our gear, physical ability, or purpose.
  After safari my mother wouldn’t stop hounding us for a little beach time (easiest to blame it on her) so we followed up game drives and a rather grueling attempt at summiting an active volcano in the pouring rain, with one of Tanzania’s best kept secrets, Mafia Island.  I have a wise older brother that has pointed out the strong similarities between my mother and I and one that I’ve seriously developed is my draw to the water.  The water of the Swahili coast is the color of glacier ice but the temperature of a warm bath, wouldn’t you be drawn as well? 
  Having hit the tri-fecta of Tanzania we again realize that we haven’t really seen Africa but rather tasted a fragment of something much bigger and need to return.

With only a little over a week left before we had a flight out of Bangkok we decided to make the most out of our Thailand time. We were able to visit with some family friends, take a Thai cooking class, rent a moto bike for a Pai excursion (one of the most chill places on Earth) but the highlight for this chick was the day we spent as elephant owners. This is no elephant in a zoo or on television, this is your own personal elephant that you get to take care of for the whole day. It's a big job to care for an elephant. The day started with us checking to make sure they were healthy by inspecting their droppings to make sure it was moist enough and they were drinking enough water, their toe nails to make sure they're sweating and checking for dirt on their sides to make sure they laid down to sleep the previous night. Then we took them in the stream to scrub them up, they get baths everyday. After that we climbed up and rode them out to the river where they all took a swim and we jumped in too. It was so amazing! I've always felt that these animals are so large and graceful but also so untouchable, this experience brought us closer to them in an unthinkable way.

Along the southern boarder of Laos, bumping up against northeastern Cambodia there's a group of islands, smack dab in the middle of the Mekong River. The mass is named after the sheer quantity of islands... supposedly 4,000, but I wouldn't know, I stopped counting after 12. Of the 4,000 islands you only hear about three of them and we chose to spend our time on Dong Khon, the southernly most island.


The highlight of the islands is that there is no highlight. It has to be the most relaxed and chilled out place we've encountered on our entire journey (perhaps only usurped by Pai, but we'll get to that later). We spent 4 relaxed days mainly on our bungalow's porch overlooking the Mekong watching life go by, when not catching up on reading and writing (who am I kidding, I didn't write a word) but seriously folks, the place was a small sleepy fishing and farming village, with just enough tourism comforts to be convenient without being tacky or overrun. It was magic... and in addition the people were spectacular! The place we stayed at was a small operation, four bungalows total. Three generations lived on the premasis, which was perfectly set right on the river, as well as being adjacent to the island's only wat (Buddhist Temple).... that's how I spell p-e-a-c-e-f-u-l. Most interesting about the family as well as the majority of households is that tourism is not the main source of income. They're all doing other things in order to make ends-meat... for most the main source was fishing. The fishing market ended up being across from our accommodation. When I say market I mean people congregate with their last night's catch (mostly catfish) on the ground, it's weighed out, people are paid appropriately, some is immediately sold to interested parties, and the rest is stacked into baskets and carried to a boat which is headed to the mainland. On good mornings, I'd get back from a run to see the guys celebrating with the local beverage of choice called laolao, rice whiskey... yeah that's at about 7:30 AM, and of course you can't say no to celebrating Laos gents.

But that was it. We spent time with the family, one night sitting around husking nuts used with betle, which once husked only gets them about $2 per kg.. NOTHING! and spending time with the kids of the family... throwing a cd back and forth was a good one, until we gave the boys a tennis ball, which they loved.

We actually did do one touristy thing... we went to see the fresh water dolphins. There are supposedly under 40 left in the world and this set lives right along the Laos, Cambodian boarder. You take a 30 min long nose boat ride out to the viewing area. We chose to pay the extra $1 to run aground on the Cambodian side of the river have a couple of Beerlao and watch the dolphins from ashore... just as the sun set. It was magic and a great way to start our last evening. We then proceeded to be invited to the boat driver's beach side restaurant for dinner with his family. It ended up being a type of hot pot with fish and vegetables, oh and laolao of course. It was so quinessential Laos, making it difficult for us to leave.

But alas plans called and we had to head north. Luang Prabang was our next stop and our party was about to grow to 4, then 6. We said good-bye to Dong Khone with fond memories and the hope that this fairly unspoilt spot would keep its charm and innocence until our next visit, in a few years.

After spending some quality time in Vietnam we realized if we wanted to taste the other three countries on our itinerary we would have to skip some intricate exploration.  Entering Cambodia we realized right away that we would have to return to get a the full flavor of the lives these people live and decided to make Siem Reap our focus after a brief stop in Phnom Penh. 
  Siem Reap is conveniently set up for tourists and backpackers making their way through Cambodia. So not to get confused they've even labeled a street 'Pub Street' with happy hours from open to late with buy one $.50 draft get a second free.  The town has a carefree Southeast Asia feel to it with night markets selling silk, silver and just about anything you can write Angkor Wat on.  There are many western comforts lining the streets from pizza and hamburgers to massage tables and convenient stores.  The true attraction and often why so many people stop in this town is because less then 10km outside of town lies the lost city of Angkor. 
  What was once a bustling city is now only remnants of the finest artisans in history.  The carvings that remain in the sandstone and plaster describes their lives in amazing detail and tell stories of gods that these people devoted their lives to.  Angkor is the most hands-on experience you will ever have with art from thousands of years ago.  You feel mischievous as you climb over large pieces of sandstone with elephants and buddas carved into them, almost as if you snuck into the museum after hours and crossed the velvet rope.  In the land of Angkor nothing is off limits as you wander through the Khmer world. 
  Although we had an incredible time exploring this piece of Cambodia's past it pains me to look around and realize that everyone my age and older has lived through one of the most horrific periods in our worlds history.  We know that we must return to this beautiful country to get a deeper feeling for the battle these people have had to fight in their lifetime.  There is so much beauty in Cambodia and the people are amazing in their generosity as we travel through a land that is so foreign to us.  It makes me step back and think about how solid the ground is in our country and how shaken it has been for so many to this day.