lost in the bush

yesterday i rode into Mburo National park on a Boda boda (something similar to a small motorcycle) I drove for a few hours after i hired the bike at the town at the foot of the mountain road that led to the park. It was absolutely amazing. I dont' think I've done something that awesome ever. The first step was actually learning how to drive the sucker, which proved a lot easier than i might have originally anticipated. a bit wobbly at first i picked it up pretty fast. The boda boda owners only looked a little hesitant as i drove up the red dusty hill, getting smaller and smaller and leaving them behind.....
amazing.
driving along, it took a while to get the hang of driving on the left side of the road.. in the hills and bush of Uganda with no cars around.. when we passed people and especially children on the way they looked shocked to see the white girl driving the boda boda and some cracked up laughing and most just shouted Muzungo!!! (white girl!!!) with enthusiastic smiles and waves.. up and over and down the hills i drove... passed bannana plantations, and small villages and people and goats and crazy long horned cattle.... and into the park where the guard only looked mildly amused at us coming into the park on boda bodas... there were a few signs posted warning that no one should walk into the park without an ARMED guard... hmmm.
we spotted zebra, and water buffalo, baboons and warthogs, crazy birds and waterbucks.. breathtaking and surreal. I was in the middle of africa..... holy kamoly..
at one point the bike of the friend that i was traveling with broke down. and we were in the middle of no where.. well. close to the water.. close enough where we could hear the hippo snorts.. just enough to make someone extra nervous. we tried pushing the boda boda but then we got to a very daunting hill and decided it would be better to send someone for help...
i took on this task and drove up to find someone.. on the way hit a sand pit and dropped the bike but after laughing my way out from underneath managed to find someone to come back and help figure out that the bike was more than just flooded..
we got out of the park around nighttime..
the day before that, brent and his friend jen had taken me into a Rawandan refugee camp.. how do you prepare yourself for something like that? Aparently Uganda is famous for the space and land and nature of it's camps. The ugandan govt supplies space for crops and buildings so unlike the sardine nature of most refugee camps this camp that i visited, like most camps in Uganda had a more friendly open feel to it. As we drove around from village to village within the camp we were met with excited wonderful playful children. who just relished any sort of attention or touch... overwhelming and exciting it was a lot to digest.
just before we left the camp we played a game of ultimate frisbee and my team and i laughed through the whole game. I feel like i have only met wonderful.. amazing people here..
there is so much to express..
VERY different from my touristy thailand experience... it's so different here from anything i have known before... amazing amazing amazing.
Anyway, this is the short version. no time..

media bias?

the question:

Former network correspondent Bernard Goldberg argues in his book Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News that the media are biased in favor of liberal causes and issues. Do you agree with him? are some media outlets biased in favor of conservative causes and issues?

The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog

The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog


Check this out.... important info on how we can help.

Chaing Mai

The images that are presented in the Bangkok post daily are powerful. I walked past a wall of missing people, with pleas of help from their families to help find them. A huge donation box sat at the end of the wall with cut out images and an article from the newspaper. Bloated bodies face down in the water and faces of utter sorrow. Before I left Bangkok for Chaing mai I got into a couple conversations with some local Thai women about the disaster. I don't consider myself an emotional person, but it was hard not to be emotional about the images and the thought of so much tragedy. Every time I even think about this, goose bumps rise on my arms, and I twist in my seat.
The local friends I made for the day in Bangkok, Bah and Yod explained that from what their friends and family down south said, Thai people were giving as much as they could to help the foreigners out. That there were images though, of the foreigners not helping the other foreigners out but hoarding supplies that Thais so graciously gave them.. what sad western ideas we have.
I had already bought my ticket up here for Chang Mai, but would in a flash turn around and head south to help in any way that I could for the relief effort. The day I got here to the beauty that is Chang Mai, I would have turned around and gone south were it not for this group of people I met that showed me a bulletin explaining what kinds of help was needed down south. They don't want foreigners helping to catch more disease, or get in the way if they have no experience in relief work.

here are some sites to go to if you want to help: https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp
www.bethechange.org www.tsunamipage.com also www.khoasanroad.com has some ideas.

just a few..