Shoshin-Zazen

Today I talked with a fellow YEP (Youth Expedition Project) New Dawn participant about him being in Luang Prabang, a place where a team of us did a project in a village called Muang Kham. He told me all about the villagers who saw him in town and called him to joined them in drinking beers. I can almost visualise the old quaint town of Luang Prabang - its architecture, and its people. Food carts line up streets with litter and funny smells, and its beguiling night market filled with Karen wares and bags. I remember the village and how we managed to stay tried to live in a moment in a Laotian’s life - a hard life, if I might add.

As I now write this in my room in Stockholm, Sweden I find myself rather disconnected with the South-East Asian culture and places. I am far away from home, missing dearly local foods and delicacies. Home is in South-East Asia, a place that I can identify with straight-away.

I met a Thai student just a floor above me who just moved in. She was a student studying for her Masters in “Strategic Management” in KTH. With some anguish written all over her face, she complained about the cold - and it is only the end of summer now. I told her about Chiang Rai and it was also cold - just like this, now.

The Zen masters say a mind flows like water. My mind is just doing just that now; flowing here and there. So when I talked about Chiang Rai, I remembered my first project in an Aha village and lived in a  humble bamboo hut for two weeks. The nights could be very chilly, temperatures could drop to near zero celcius. We would always need a fire to keep our hands warm while we chat over hot tea in the evenings.

I cannot help but feel that the disconnect I feel between now in Stockholm and home in South-East Asia is largely due to simplicity of life that I came into contact with in Thailand and Laos. Rather, this “complication” does not really lie in the lifestyle but with the local people’s mindsets and thinking.

All these make too much thinking, I am going to eat my sandwich now.

Project New Dawn Laos - YEP Muang Kham Village, Luang Prabang, Lao P.D.R from slurpyslurpz on Vimeo.

As I write this entry in the seemingly air conditioned, humidless air of Stockhom, I thought about the days in Muang Kham. I remember mentioning that the project will come by quick and fast - like a blink of an eye. Now it is over and I am in far-away Sweden, not seeing the prennially sunny isles of South East Asia for one entire year.

It must have felt quite lonely. Then I watched this video, freshly uploaded, and smiled. Things like these travel wherever you are, and you feel comforted with them, just like eating Mee Pok Ta.

Project New Dawn Laos is a student initiated Youth Expedition Project to Luang Prabang, Laos in 2008. The project is endorsed by The Singapore Buddhist Lodge (SBL), and is supported by the National Youth Council of Singapore (NYC). Twenty-two volunteers comprising of different nationalities, religion and race participated in a two week long expedition to Muang Kham Village to construct a concrete stairway and sport court from the 16^th to the 31^st of May. In addition, a documentary about the lives of the villages was filmed and is aimed at bringing back home the stories as experienced by the volunteers themselves.

`Who are YOU?’ said the Caterpillar.

Alice replied, rather shyly, `I–I hardly know, sir, just at present– at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.’

Lewis Carol  “Alice in Wonderland”

Things never happen without a cause. Buddhists call it causality; in simpler terms: cause and effect. Youth Expedition New Dawn Laos (in short- YEP Laos) is one such endeavor that was presented innocently by Peter Tan, the host for this project in Luang Prabang. This was back in July 2007 when I was backpacking Laos and Thailand. Feeling extremely itchy for another YEP challenge, my buddy Eric from the past Mettaheart 3 project to Vientiane talked to me about it in school and I said, “Ok, let’s do it.

The seeds have been planted.

Back home, I had to dig out fuel for this project, besides I already have guns pointing at my brains in my university engineering course. Where can I find the fuel to feed the “motivation monster?” I recognized that a project of this scale needs to be sustained with a heart of uncompromising stoicism and passion. I knew that I need had to find this first.

Typical expectations given by volunteers often range from experiencing another culture to leaving the comfort zone to learn, etc. A certain part of me hankers after these expectations, but I knew I have already experienced these during my past YEPs.

The entire lifespan of a YEP takes place slightly more than half a year, during this time, volunteers put in a lot of time and effort. I decided that maximizing all of these makes very good sense. As such, the short two-week expedition will be even more precious. Hence, I decided that my motivator would be to ensure that the participants have a YEP experience that they will want to share. As a participant before, I know how a good experience will leave an indelible mark. I would expect a good YEP experience to not only generate great learning outcomes, but also create a desire to share what they have learned and henceforth spread this experience to their friends and family

Fleshing out the project details took longer than expected, however this was easily circumvented because we started planning early. Afternoon lunch breaks at the National University of Singapore arts and business faculty canteens were favourite meeting times.

The project took on various shapes and sizes. During the initial planning stage, we discussed about a dual project in Vientiane and Luang Prabang but threw the idea out because it diluted the project. We also sought advice from Alvin, the experience leader that I had for my past two YEP trips. Thanks to him the learning curve was more bearable.

A few weeks into discussion, emails were flying from Singapore to Laos and vice versa. Our host, Peter was very helpful and we started into writing the proposal for funding from NYC. This was back in October 2007.

We had to break for exams in November. In December, we had to plan for a Reece in January. This is where the fun starts, I recalled. At the same time, I wanted a documentary for the project which I feel can be a good vehicle for the public to see what we have done in the expedition. There came an opportunity when a few people with the right expertise volunteered their services. However after a few discussions with them, we felt that the cost of doing a separate documentary was out of our budget and spiraled out of our desired aims for the project.

The reece took place in January because Eric had an internship. It was quite a journey because TigerAir decided that Udon Thani was not worth their dime. Anyway, we flew from Singapore to Chiang Mai, then to Udon thani via Nok air (a purple bird with a funny beak airline) then took a land transport to Vientiane, where we finally met up with Peter. The next morning, we took a 9 hour ride up to Luang Prabang during which I ate the most number of peanuts while listening to Lao KTV.

And so we finally reached Luang Prabang with a befitting picturesque sunset in the mountains. We had to stay a night at the UNESCO World Heritage Site before taking on a boat to Muang Kham Village. We had steamboat with Peter and some of the villagers in the cold of the night. A silent, awkward meal plus Beer Lao lingered through the rest of the evening.

The next morning, we boarded a long boat to Muang Kham village. I could still remember that it was a bright sunny day, with clear blue skies. We had meetings with the assistant village chief and school principal. The primary school had this old kampong feeling. Sited on top of a small hill and backdrop with rolling green hills, the primary school was a “classic”. It seemed like a very nice place to do a project.

At night, away from the merry beer Lao folks, I stole into the outside of the villager’s house and placed a bench in the middle of a sandy pitch. I lay there for an hour, oblivious to the singing and bitter cold, marveling at the stars in the sky and counting the shooting stars.

The next morning, I had to leave the village while Eric had to stay behind. I was to backpack Vietnam and took a flight to Hanoi from Luang Prabang airport.

After the expedition has been completed and in restropect, I felt that the Reece, to be put bluntly, has been quite useless. The Reece had only served to dish out some romantics for the project, something that harden our resolve to do a good job in the expedition to come. I think a better Reece could have been done. Indeed, I will look back upon this expedition if I would to attempt at any Reece again.

This marks the end of the planning phase (aka invinsible but important) of the project. The next few months will be filled of fenzied recruitment, team bonding and expedition preparation. It is ironic to note that back in January, I could already see the end of the project.