Explorasia

Malaysia: Borneo, Jungle

2009-07-09T17:54:00.001-07:00

What's a trip to Borneo without a healthy chunk of time bushwacking through the jungle for Orang-utans.

Orang-utans translated in malay is Jungle People. 100 years ago they were 250,000 strong on the Island. Today they are endangered and numbers hover around 10-15 thousand.

Their land is being consumed by the palm oil plantations which employ a large part of the Island (Palm oil is one of the primary exports of Borneo).

We spent some time cruising the rivers of Ratabangan searching for these apes in the wild. The sides of the river are lined with old growth rain forest, but clear cut behind to allow for the Palm Tree Plantations.

A team was filming next to us on the River from National Geographic. They were filming the Probiscus monkey, a wild creature that is unique to this part of the world. They apparently thought it would be really successful to recreate a cheesy version of one of the monkey's face on the end of a pole to lure them down. We couldn't stop laughing. Who knew Natinoal Geographic operated with Halloween masks.

At night the bats fly barely overhead. They are huge! Maybe a three foot wing span.

Malaysia: Borneo, Mobul Island

2009-07-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

Trent has fully recovered and we're back to filming. It's really exciting to be back on scope. We are currently in Borneo. We are traveling around the Malaysian portion of Borneo. The jungle here is absolutely gorgeous with many sections of the rainforest untouched by development. This section of the world has a unique geographical position, allowing it to be nearly untouched by natural disasters. The rainforest here dates back 100 million years and has not seen hurricanes, tsunamis, or wide spread fires.

Sipidan is a small Island off the coast and contains some of the best diving in the world. It ranks as one of the top three dive locations. Miaken and I did our first dives in this area off the coast of Mabul Island (neighbor to Sipidan) and saw some of the most amazing sealife!

The resort where we stayed was so set just off shore from Mabul Island, surrounded by coral and all kinds of sea creatures.

There was this great dock at the diving shop so we started going for some backflip frisbee fest and the locals thought it was so funny. They joined in, it was hilarious. The frisbee was definantly new to the Islanders. Here's Jabal sending for the frisbee.

Some photos of children in the local island village.

Thailand: Phuket

2009-06-28T05:36:00.001-07:00

Good news to one and all...Trent is back in action! He was released from the hospital in Bangkok about a week ago. Trent and Miaken's parents (Max and Jill) were amazingly charitable and let us all use their time-share in Phuket to allow Trent some time to regain his strength and re-coop. We stayed at this super amazing 5 star Marriot resort on the Northern End of the Phuket penninsula in Southern Thailand. Many thanks to Max and Jill for this. It was absolutely gorgeous. I wish I would have taken some more photos, but here are a couple from the resort.

Feeding some crazy Monkeys on Monkey Island (Near Kho Pi Pi)

Soiling myself near Maya Bay

Rogue Pirate digging for treasure on beaches near the Resort

Cruising through the Pi Pi Island Chain

We rented a scooter and three-donged around the coast lines visiting all the sleepy beach towns. It was so funny and scary. I kept forgetting to drive on the left hand side of the road, luckily Miaken was quick on the draw to remind me. The scooter riding is a medly of breaking all traffic laws, white-lining, and smoothly drifting from lane to lane without blinkers. It's so fun. Entire families continuously travel together on one scooter, no helmets, no problems. In fact, when I finally dropped the scooter off at the scooter rental place, I was about an hour from our resort. I took a scooter taxi home and the guy lectured me for about 5 minutes about how in Thailand I don't need a helmet. Reluctantly he finally borrowed one from his buddy for me to wear.

Laos

2009-06-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

So Trent is now totally stable and in kidney recovery stage. He is doing really well. Miaken and I had been kicking it around Bangkok for almost two weeks and went for a little sabbatical to Laos for a few days while Trent re-cooped in the hospital. Laos totally has a bad wrap. It's amazing. The scenery there is unlike anything I've ever seen. These towering spires of Limestone blast out of flat rice field low lands.

The people we met were really interesting too. The people of the mountains are nearly all Hmong, speaking primarily Hmong but Laotian as well. One gentlemen we met on the bus was the son of a Hmong Vietnamese soldier. The Americans came to the highlands of Laos to recruite troops. If the war was won, the americans would give them their land outside the communist rule, if the war was lost they would gain American citizenship. This particular gentleman's father was killed fighting with American Soldiers in Southern Vietnam. He, his mother, and siblings were all given american citizenship and now live in Sacramento. He was returning for a couple of months to visit with the family.

And how would a trip to Laos be complete without bathing and swimming with elephants...ZOW!

Thailand: Bangkok-ery

2009-06-13T23:24:00.000-07:00

With Trent's recent medical issues, we've been tied to Bangkok until he is better. We are going on our 10th day here, and Trent's progress is slow but somewhat steady. All in all, we're just glad he's alive and on the road to recovery. He's just waiting now for his Kidney numbers to come down and doing Dialysis every other day. Other than that he is doing quite well, walking, and moving around on his own power. His liver numbers are back to normal.

That said, we've had a LOT of time to kill here. Conor hopped a plain to Taipei to visit some friends, leaving Jentry and I to explore the city and find ways to entertain ourselves.

One way we do that is by finding Chenglish phraseology on items sold throughout the city. Chenglish is a word Conor uses to describe the broken-English phrases placed on t-shirts and other products by Asian marketing gurus. The goal, I presume, is to connect with Americans and those fascinated by American culture. The beauty of Chenglish (or in this case I guess it would be Thailish) is that the words are often random and make absolutely no sense whatsoever, causing copious amounts of laughter from the likes of me and Jentry.

For example. The other day I was at the market and found this little gem.

I rain cloud UK. Um...what? I don't think anyone really knows what this means, but apparently it sounded good when they went to print.

Today at the Grand Palace (one of Bangkok's biggest tourist attractions) Jentry noticed another diamond in the rough--the Mickey Mouse umbrella. Only, the locals seem to have come up with their own words to describe the American icon.

Somehow I don't think 'Lovely Rat' would have gone over as well with American kids. I can see it now: "Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me...L-O-V-E-L-Y R-A-T!"

But the real find, in my opinion, was a beauty product I spotted at a street vendor stall. At first glance, it looks like any other product.

I was baffled as to what a horniness-eliminating cream actually did, and I wasn't sure why it also mentioned whitening. Did it simultaneously eliminate sex drive and plaque? So i asked the vendor lady. She sampled it on my hand and I realized it was an exfoliating body scrub. I guess the best word they could come up with to describe rough skin was horny, hence the anti-horniness messaging.

I'm guessing Asians find it equally humorous when they see Americans walking around with those Chinese symbol tattoos which they think say 'faith' or 'serenity' but in reality say something like, 'I is happy making' or 'smiling I do'.

Anyway, in addition to Thailish novelties, we've managed to take in some of the cool local attractions as well. Bangkok is actually a really cool city. And even though we are here indefinitely and it's hard at times because everything is so up in the air, we've managed to find some new area of the city to explore each day. Here are a few photos from our exploration...

Emerald Buddha

Ornate decor on exterior of temples

Jentry in front of a temple that is completely gold.

Beautiful white Temple of Grounds of the Grand Palace.

Street vendors line the sidewalks of Bangkok.

Enjoying the best chicken schwarma sandwich ever. When we asked for the menu, an Egyptian guy looked at us, then pointed at the two skewers and said, "I have beef. I have Chicken. I am Muhammad." I opted for Chicken.

Thailand: Trent Update II

2009-06-11T01:13:00.000-07:00

So Trent is really starting to come around. He is looking a lot better, has lost a lot of fluid from his system, is still doing Dialysis daily, and the nurses have given him a clean shave. He's been having a hard time eating this whole time, so last night we snuck a Jr. Whopper into the ICU. He totally pounded it no problem. Must be some kind of satisfaction with comfort foods or something. I think he's been having a hard time eating fruit and stuff, but Jr. Whoppers----no problem. We've been trying to spend a lot of time with Trent, but he is chronically fatigued. In the rare occasions when he is awake, we've been catching up on Planet Earth.

Conor took a little sabbatical to Taiwan (photo of the departure). He's kicking it there while Trent is on the mend. The last I heard he was eating snake and going to some Buddhist monasteries. He's kind of waiting there to see how what direction Trent's recovery will take.

Miaken and I have run aground with stuff to do in Bangkok. We saw all the big tourist spots the first few days. Now we're on Day 8. To fill the time I've been growing a mustache. It's totally disgusting and westerners have a hard time looking me in the eye when they talk to me. It matches most Thai mens' facial hair though.

Miaken's been making faces like this to kill the time. She's also been singing an unreasonable amount of Guns and Roses, getting mad massages, street pad thai, and getting hit on by various weird men from around the world.

Bangkok is an amazingly diverse city. It has small neighborhoods representing cultures around the globe. Last night we were in the Egyptian district for some bizarre shopping and food. There are English, American, Indian, French, African, and all other types of mini neighborhoods filtered throughout the city.

The saddest thing by far here is the prostitution. They are everywhere. They stroll the malls and all the street markets. They roll through food districts and open restaurants, and pilfer backpacker communities. If Miaken and I are walking down the street they won't approach me. If she starts looking at something though, through a shop window, the prostitutes will try and make eye contact with me and solicit me even if Miaken is standing right next to me. It's so sad.

Thailand: Trent Update

2009-06-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

So Trent is starting to do better. He's been on Dialysis now for a several days and that has really helped out on his kidney numbers. He is still very high, ie he has about 5 times the toxins in his system than he should. His liver has returned to nearly normal. One of the complications of all this illness is he has contracted the pneumonia. His lungs have been filling with fluid and the doctors have removed about 11 liters of fluid from his lungs over the past four days. They are giving him anti-biotics for any infections to the system that he may be experiencing. The hospital care is amazing here. That facilities are comparable to what is standard in the U.S., but the personal care is over the top. Trent has 3 nurses taking care of just him. The price of care here is about 20% of that in the states. I think we should start importing mass amounts of Thai nurses. Today was his best day for sure. He was sitting up, talking normally, and even joking around a bit. Trent is truly a remarkable person. The day before this incident happened was the day he spent several hundred dollars on food, toys, school supplies, and a trip to the zoo for 17 orphaned children living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia. Hopefully that karma will swing back around for a quick full recovery. The doctors and nurses are very confident about his recovery and his health has followed their predictions thus far very closely. He really appreciates all of you that have prayed, sent some Karma, an email, or whatever to show you care. Thanks for all your concern, Trent sends his best.

Thailand: Trent

2009-06-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Fam and Friends,

We've run into an unexpected hurdle in the southeast asia trip. Miaken, Conor, and Jentry are totally fine and healthy here in Bangkok, Thailand.

Trent (miaken's brother), the funder of the trip, has a fairly serious health issue going on. When we were in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, somebody drugged his drink and due to the drugging, he has become hospitalized. In Phnom Penh the doctors did blood tests and found out that he had tested positive for morphine and valium, which was stacked on top of whatever alcohol he had been drinking. He was incredibly dehydrated. The combination of the drugs, alcohol, dehydration, and lying static for several hours (muscle membrane breakdown and blood contamination), he is experiencing kidney failure as well as liver problems. The doctors in Phnom Penh decided that evacuating him to Bangkok was the only solution as his situation grew worse. He needed dialysis and the cambodian health care couldn't provide. Right now we are all in a phenomenal hospital in Bangkok and he is getting the treatment he needs. All in all it was quite lucky since he got pneumonia as well on top of it. He isn't doing too hot right now but he should be fine in two weeks or so. We are thankful for the doctors advice on sending us to Bangkok. Unfortunately, I believe Trent is down about $18,000 (from our film budget) as of now and he is probably paying about a grand a day to be on dialysis. Needless to say the trip will probably be changing quite drastically. It has been a bummer of a week and we are all very rooting for Trent's health. Huge bummer but what can you do.

We talked to the doctor today about his current situation. His kidney numbers are not improving, but expect to improve over the next few days following dialysis treatment. As the doctor explained to me, his creatinine levels are floating between 6 and 9.5 (they are supposed to be .6 to 1.3). These numbers represent the amount of salt, toxins, and water in the system. The bottom line is renal function is abnormal causing the kidney failure. His liver is also abnormal. I'm not sure what this represents but the normal number for the liver test is below 40, he was at 12,000 and is now down to 3,000. This is likely caused by the alcohol consumption in conjunction with the drugging.

We have now been in Bangkok for two days and the doctor expects a full recovery. This will likely take on the order of two weeks.

I'm not sure if we'll be flying home soon or staying here to travel or what. We should have a decision made within the next couple of days.

Please pray for Trent or send him some good Karma or whatever you're into. He could use it.

Cambodia: Killing Fields

2009-06-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

Seeing the killing fields outside of Phnom Penh has to be one of the most sobering events of my life. Once the Khmer Rouge gained power of the Cambodian government after the civil war ended in 1970, a strict execution order was completed over the following five years. The new government started by killing all the leaders of the civil opposition. They continued by killing all educated and skilled citizens (doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers). They took 2 million lives.

It was wild to see this as it is such recent history. We walked the grounds and saw the mass graves. These were all excavated in 1980, but as you walk the grounds you, clothes and bones still intertwined with the dirt pathways around the area.

Miaken in the wooden cells where they held prisoners before execution was completed using only implements (shovels, pipes, hoes, etc.). They would sometimes kill up to 300 a day without bullets. Unbelievable.

Conor by the prison block surrounded in barbed wire.

As this only happened about 30 years ago, the affects still heavily linger. When you cruise around town and see people over 50, you know they either did the killing or were directly affected by the killings. Those who were forced to do the executions were threatened with their own lives. Today they live peacefully together. We talked to several of these people and they have forgiven one another. It's an amazing example of the human spirit.

Cambodia/Vietnam Border

2009-06-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Miaken here...

One of the final stops in Vietnam was at a small town on the way to the Cambodian border. The name of that town, at the moment, escapes me, but the memory of the city's floating market is still alive and well. We woke early in the morning and hit up the Mekong riverbank to catch a boat. Our minibus driver, Huang, joined us, and got us half price fare. Thanks Huanger.

After a few minutes heading upriver, we approached a mass of boats floating in the river, selling goods from each. Some sold fruit, some fish, but my favorite was the coffee boat. Utilizing a tiny stove and simple, metal coffee pot, a small Vietnamese woman created one of the most delicious coffee concoctions on the planet, which was by far the best coffee drink I've ever had. The Jack Mormon in me took over that morning, and I gulped one down with the rest of the gang.

After that delicious treat, we hopped on a pineapple boat, where a man artistically carved and sectioned the fruit for us. It was like eating a pineapple popsicle, as I liked to call it. It was another beautiful realization that Vietnam has the best fruit in the world, and we were lucky enough to partake.

Next we hopped off the boat and onto the banks to visit a local garden, where they kept snakes, turtles, fish and crocs in cages for eating. Even the little kids were walking around holding dead snakes, ready to bake up a little snake surprise. Ew.

As another side trip, we stopped at the local rice factory on the river banks. Its incredible how much rice they pump outta that place. The highlight for me, however, was seeing the massive amounts of huge spiderwebs hanging just above the machinery. Based on what I saw, I'm guessing that rice from that factory is probably also a good source of protein, not just carbs. Mmm...bugs.

To finish up, we cruised some local tributaries and saw the way locals on the riverbanks live. It was a really cool glimpse at a unique niche of Vietnamese culture. The lush vegetation and the friendly smiles from everyone on boats and banks made us all happy. It's so cool to see such different ways of living; it makes me appreciate what we have, but its also reminded me that more simplistic lifestyles can bring just as much happiness as the complex ones we live. I was so impressed with the Vietnamese people--you won't find more loving, happy people anywhere on Earth, and our last taste of their warmth on the Mekong will always be a happy memory for us, I think.

Cambodia: Sunflower Orphanage

2009-06-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So the day after we visited the Killing Fields and the S21 prison we decided to do something good. We were picked up in a tuk tuk by a guy named Sury. He works with an orphanage called the Sunflower Orphan Centre, and he was picking us up to go hang out with the kids. On our way over we picked up a bunch of rice, toys, school supplies and soap for the kids. After driving through some very poor alleys and backstreets we finally arrived at the orphanage, and we were all blown away. There were seventeen kids at the Orphan Centre, all between about eight and fourteen, all had AIDS, and all were AWESOME!

We spent the morning playing volleyball and hackysacking with the kids at the orphanage. We all fell in love with the kids and eventually decided to take them all to do something fun. We wanted to take them to the waterpark, but the city doesn't allow people with AIDS in the waterpark. So we figured that taking them to the Phnom Penh zoo would be a sweet alternative. We were totally right, and our trip to the zoo was way better than any water park could have been.

After waiting out a quick monsoon we all began walking through the coolest zoo I have ever been in. All of the animals pretty much are in there natural habitat and they all looked super healthy and happy. Where most zoos are sad and terrible for the animals, this one seemed like they were actually doing good.

Anyway, we enjoyed playing with and feeding the monkeys (we didn't have much of a choice since the monkeys just followed us through the whole zoo), seeing a few ginormous Burmese tigers, and watching two elephants dance and molest Miaken. All of the while we were all having the time of our lives. We ate dinner in a restaurant where the only seats are hammocks, and after our meal the kids put on a dance for us. The whole day was perfect and it was a really awesome experience hanging out with such amazing kids. They were all so happy even though they were unfairly dealt the AIDS card. We were eventually dropped off at our hotel in the evening and were forced to say goodbye to all of our new friends. Alrighty, more later.

Cheers,

Conor

Vietnam: Saigon

2009-05-31T03:51:00.000-07:00

Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) has to be one of the world leaders in moto-transportation. The city has about 8 million inhabitants, many living illegally, and everyone rolls a scooter. No one really bothers with traffic laws, but the motorists amazing flow together very well, like a river.

We spent a few days here checking out the War Museum and cruising around town. The Vietnamese perspective of the war is very sobering and different than that painted in the states. The people amazingly have no ill will against us being americans, but have seen some horrifying attrocities by our military. The military order "burn all, destroy all, kill all" and "if they're dead they're VC (Viet Cong)" left some disturbing aftermath.

Vietnam: Tribal Villages In Kontum

2009-05-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Conor here. So on day 7 of the trip we set out with our fearless driver, Hoang, and two guides, Rut and Bein, and went out to visit the villages of the central highlands in Kontum. Our guides both spoke the language of the tribes so they showed us around and helped us communicate with the villagers. We had some great moments trying to catch pigs, sitting down with a blind old war veterans for a chat, and playing games with the local children. After a few hours of touring the villages we set down for lunch in one of the villagers homes, where we enjoyed some rice, cucumbers and a fish head and frog casserole. It turns out that just after lunch the wedding ceremony of some local villagers was taking place. The whole village showed up to enjoy a band and copious amounts of local alcohol. Each family brews their own rice wine in a large clay jug. They call it Jesus wine because drink it out of the straw, then you poor water on the top, and drink some more wine out from the bottom. Thus turning your water into wine. Anyway, each jungle brew was different as some were sweet and others very very strong. Being the only foreigners in the village, everybody wanted us to try their homebrew, so it goes without saying that one or two of us got a little tipsy off the jungle brew. This may or may not have had something to do with the fact that halfway through our time at the wedding, Trent was playing the guitar from the band, and Miaken was singing. So in front of the whole village the two Christiansens (backed by the vietnamese band) were singing Poison's 'Every Rose Has It's Thorns' and congratulating the couple on their wedding. It was hilarious.

Once our time at the wedding was over we headed up to another village for the night. We enjoyed a trek through the jungle, a swim in the river and a ride on a canoe before heading in for dinner at our longhouse. We had a more standard Vietnamese meal inside our hut: rice, various meat and vegetable dishes, and fruit. Hoang, however, brought his own little treat to dinner. He pulled out an old 2 liter water bottle full of cloudy liquid with some stone looking things in the bottom of it. Now, Hoang being a man who likes himself some whiskey, told us he spent 2 million Dong (about 160 bucks) for this strange beverage. That much money will go a long way in Vietnam so we were very intrigued. The guides told us that the brew is fermented for 100 days and the stone-like things in the bottle were deer antlers. So this beverage is made with deer antlers. If it was good enough for Hoang to spend that much money on, it was good enough for us. It was very strong and very strange. That is all there really is to it.

Anyway, after the meal the chief of the tribe came in with a bunch of gong players and dancers. We sat down with the chief and drank rice wine with him out of a clay jug to get the evening started. Once that small ritual was over, the gong performance started. We all enjoyed some tribal music and Jungle brews until we decided to set up our I-pod and put on an American performance for the chief and his tribe. We obviously decided on doing the Robot to The Safety Dance. To my great surprise, the chief was not offended. So we continued to dance and drink with the chief and the tribe until very late in the night. We eventually set up our mosquito nets and went to sleep in the longhouse. Thus ending the most epic day of the trip so far. Stay tuned for more adventures.

Cheers,

Conor

Vietnam: Halong Bay

2009-05-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts about the boat we rented was the Karaoke bar. At night we docked up against another ship in this huge gorgeous bay. A group came over from the other ship. They were from Áustralia and England. Here you see Trent and the crew singing 'Wild Wild horses' late into the night.

Miaken getting her groove while filming the scenery.

Vietnam: Halong Bay Scenery

2009-05-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

Along the coast near the Capital city of Hanoi is this gorgeous region called Ha Long. We rented this personal vessel to cruise us around these epic towering limestone formations. It is absolutely unlike anything any of us had ever seen.

Vietnam: RENEW Foundation

2009-05-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

This week we met with members of the RENEW (Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War) foundation. Here is some interesting info from the foundation. •15,350,000 tons of ammunitions were used by the U.S Military during the war. •BOMICEN/VBMAC estimates 800,000 tons of war-era ordnance remain scattered all over Vietnam.
•Vietnam has an estimated contamination area of over 6.6 million hectares (21% of its area). • 92% of Quang Tri’s area is contaminted with ERW, primarily unexploded ordnance including cluster munitions.
•The province sustains a total of 7,024 UXO casualties since 1975: –2,618 deaths –65% of accidents were triggered by cluster munitions and 40mm grenades. –31% have been children.
You can check them out at: http://www.landmines.org.vn/

This group does some amazing work with micro credit loans and education to alleviate the pain caused to victims and victim families of these munitions.

The woman in the right hand corner of this photo has seven children. Some years ago, her husband stumbled across a cluster bomb one day and was killed along with two others. To provide an income for the family, the children all had to come out of school and labor in the peanut fields. Their income was literally peanuts. They would work three days in the peanut fields for one day use of a neighbor's water buffalo. She would then work her own fields with the buffalo for the family's crops. The family was suffering terribly. The foundation was able to loan her funds for her own buffalo and the family is now thriving.

Vietnam: Lady Borton

2009-05-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Lady Borton has been in Vietnam since 1975. She was the first woman allowed to document other womens' stories after the war. She is associated with the Quaker community which has no political affiliation with government. Lady is a well respected author and journalist with several published works documenting the life in Vietnam post war and affects up to present. She is also an advocate for education and fights extortion existing in the Vietnamese government. She was kind enough to meet with us for the film.

Hanoi, Northern Vietnam

2009-05-18T07:02:00.001-07:00

Hanoi is rapidly advancing in liberal thought, while maintaining strong roots in communism. The city streets and back alley ways ring strong of symbolism of communist reigns. The people are very welcoming to foreigners and gracefully accept the commerce.

Today we met Chuck Searcy, an Athens Georgian southerner and Vietnam vet, who has been living in Hanoi for the past 15 years ago. His foundation is working towards helping victims who have accidentally stumbled on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW). The victims are innocent civilians who stumble upon land mines or missle buried under the ground and denonate. He is working with Explosive Ordinance Destruction (EOD) teams who seek these ERWs out and destroy them using advanced technology metal detectors. Chuck and his colleagues pursue funds and means to obtain prosthetics for these individuals. He and his foundation have created a micro credit system for victims and their families to maintain an income. The foundation helps them get mushroom seeds and rubber plant sawdust (used as soil). This allows the families/victims to grow mushrooms from their homes and sell them in local markets. This also allows their children to return to school; who may have been working to support the family. Chuck is an inspiring man with great energy to do good for the people of Vietnam. We look forward to meeting some of these families first hand in the central part of the country within the coming week.

Introduction of the Group

2009-05-17T04:02:00.000-07:00

As official sponsor of the trip, Trent is the most seasoned world traveler of us all and is a native to America's best state (Kansas), Trent has spent the last 10 years working on nearly every continent around the world with the US government. Throughout the trip he hopes to document the southeastern culture, cuisine, the daily highs and lows of traveling, and highlight the peaceful peoples of southeast asia. He will undoubtedly score a gig with Discovery Channel and have his own travel show in the short future.

Miaken, born to goodly Kansas soil, is a grad student in film at the University of Utah. The scope of one of the films is Child Labor and its role in Education. Children in these developing countries face huge challenges in gaining education while playing a crucial role in the economic survival of their family. They are torn between their formal studies and agricultural work, factory labor, tourism, and a variety of other labors which bring an income to their family. This documentary hopes to shed new light on the struggles children see in these developing countries. This film will double as Miaken's thesis.

Jentry, an aerospace engineer by trade, has graciously received a leave of absence from work, and looks forward to learning about the art of documentary film and craft of still photography. He is a Salt Lake native and has been working with several therapists along the Wasatch Front dealing with Pornography Addiction and its affect on interpersonal relations. A group of therapists in Indonesia are battling this same issue with young people. We will film their project and progress, and couple that with similar work in the United States.

Conor has spent a significant time in Asia studying Chinese culture and language. He is a Senior at the University of Utah in Film and Asian Studies. He boasts full feature film experience and global traveling with extended stays on multiple continents. Conor is originally from Park City and thrives on trying exotic foods.

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2009-05-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

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