What you helped us achieve! A MUST READ!

This is to show you what was possible with the support and donations from our friends, family and supporters along the way. There are a couple of quite disturbing images on this post relating to UXO Clearance in Laos but please don't let this stop you reading to the end! These images and stories moved us very much and I promise you will be glad you read it all!

Our intention for this trip was to assist with Children's Education providing tools and transportation to those in need in the People's Democratic Republic of Laos as well as supporting the Mines Advisory Group and other such organisations like UXO Laos who are doing much needed work to clear what's left of the millions of tonnes of Unexploded Ordinance left over from the Secret War in Laos, something to our surprise Many Laotian and American folks don't know about. Whilst we did make a donation to UXO Laos directly of 400 THB, the rest of the money was spent on providing Education Supplies and Bicycles to Schools and villages all over Laos.

Below is a breakdown of the money we raised and where it all went :)

Much fundraising over the past 12 months was done by Chris's wonderful colleagues at his work, the National Service Management Centre for Downer Group in Ashmore on the Gold Coast. I won't name those involved as they know who they are and we thank you dearly for your support, as do the people of the LAO PDR. We raised funds in a number of ways:

Two Money Tins were donated to collect spare change over the past 6 - 12mths, the first of which raised $200 AUD and the second of which raised $207 AUD.

We also ran a Coffee and Cake Day where members of the NSMC Social Club got together to bake some wonderful Sweet and Savoury treats whilst David and Chris bought in some premium Coffee along with 2 Breville Espresso Machines which was an amazing success! We managed to caffeinate and sweeten over 50 staff that helped support our cause! A huge thank you to everyone involved, this was such an amazing day and your efforts and consumption have truly changed many many lives! We managed to raise another $250 AUD towards the cause. Bringing the total raised by the Downer NSMC Team for an overwhelming $657 AUD!!!

Just before we left we started an Indiegogo Campaign to support our cause and by the time we had reached Luang Prabang in Laos when the campaign ended, Friends, Family and complete strangers had made many donations giving us another $440 USD to spend on our cause.

This brought the total money raised to just over $1000 AUD! Fantastic effort to all involved and again, your support and generosity had helped change the lives of many people for generations to come!

So.... What did we do with this money?

Our first Book Party was a donation of approx 150 Books to the Ban Namsanam School in Khammouane Province, Southern Laos. Whilst we ran out of books for all the children on the day, we arranged to have Little Chris revisit with more books a few weeks later that we purchased when we were back in Vientiane.

Our next purchase was a big one, we purchased 400 ABC for Laos and Momosign Books from the printers as well as a dozen advanced learning books to Health Care professionals and teachers along the way. This brought the number of books purchased to about 560 books. As these books cost on average 9000kip each (approx $1.26 AUD each) this constituted around $700 AUD. The rest of these books were given to children and adults alike in small villages on the way from Vientiane to the top of Laos in Huay Xai before we crossed back into Thailand.

Whilst in Luang Prabang we purchased 4 x Bicycles and 10 x Very Nice Helmets to give to students at the LEOT English Learning School in Luang Prabang, one of which was put on a Taxi out to a remote village called Phonsay Village approx 60kms outside of Luang Prabang for a boy who travelled over 5hrs to get to and from school, hopefully this will put a significant dent in that travel time and will allow him to return home to his family from school more regularly. We put the helmet's on and stood in front of the classes with Big Chris giving the Lao students a very important message on how important it is to keep themselves safe and wear helmets, whether or not they think it makes them look less cool! Unfortunately the Lao Police do not enforce the rule of wearing helmets strictly enough and often will let someone off because they have just washed their hair!!! Absolute lunacy!

We presented a two students with a bike whilst the school kept the other bike to give to someone else that really needed it. Later that day we returned to the school to have Pizza and Beer with the Headmaster who is a lovely british gentleman who gained support to build and run the school, he told us that just after we had left earlier, the Girl we presented the bike to had come up to the staff and himself after class and said that Nobody has even loved her like that....... Needless to say we were in tears hearing that and were so proud of what all of us (including all of you) have done. The headmaster explained to her that her Mother and Father love her very much, they just aren't in a position to provide her with some things.... We left that night knowing 100% that what we were doing was absolutely the right thing to do and was really making a difference. All in all the 4 x New Bikes and 10 x New Helmets cost us 4,720,000 Kip (Approx $650 AUD).

The Bicycles and Helmets combined with the Books took our total Good Cause spending to approx $1350 AUD. A little more than raised but worth every dollar to help improve the lives of these beautiful people.

Whilst in Luang Prabang we also visited the UXO Laos Centre and saw first hand the damage that was and still is being done to the lives of these beautiful people by the relentless bombing by the allied forces around the time of the Vietnam war. To this day on average 1 person is killed or mamed by Unexploded Ordinace in Laos every single day! Hence this is the most bombed country on earth. As we were well aware we had spend alot more than expected to that point, we made a token donation at the UXO Laos Centre of 400 THB. We can only hope that by others learning of this more support can be given as there is so much need for donations to help clear farming lands still littered with unexploded Cluster Bombs killing and maming innocent people to this day.

If you would like to support or contribute to any of the causes that have inspired us and given us hope that there are some beautiful people in this world, please feel free visit some of the links at the bottom of this page to read and understand what it is they do to help these people.

Thank you again to everyone who has followed and supported us on our adventure, we are truly humbled by the support given and of course the reception provided by the beautiful people of South East Asia!

Returned home, we are so grateful and hope that our Son/Godson Mason Alexander Burrows will never have to deal with such hardship, we are blessed to live in a country where there is so much infrastructure and support from the government etc, that said just remember not to get distracted by what really isn't important. ALWAYS Remember what is important, that is Unconditional Love for your fellow Man or Woman, we are all on this earth for a finite amount of time, lets all smile and make the most of the time we have.

Respectfully yours, Christopher Jilley, David Burrows and Christopher Corbett! And of course Mark Knott! :D

Links to Good Causes:

http://www.motorcycle-tours-laos.org/ - Christopher Corbett's Riding Laos for Good Causes

http://www.uxolao.org/ - UXO Laos Organisation, Laos

http://www.maginternational.org/ - Mines Advisory Group, UK

http://www.momobooks.org/ - Momobooks with Martin Momoda

http://www.pencilsofpromise.org/ - Pencils of Promise, Laos

http://www.lelclaos.org/ - LEOT English Learning Centre, Luang Prabang

http://www.smileproject.us/ - Smile Project with Michael Sebastian

Day 22 - Homeward Bound

Sawadee Kup :)

After another unimpressive breakfast at the Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel, we caught our Airport Transfer to take us to Chiang Mai international Airport for the long day and many flights back home to the Gold Coast, Australia. With 92kg's of Baggage in tow! :P

We were well prepared and with a few smiles and some Kop Kuhn Kup's/Thank you's we managed to avoid paying excess luggage fee's on our return flights the whole way.

After two relatively short flights and a few hours stop over in Bangkok's Don Muang International Airport we arrive in Singapore at Changi Airport, one of the best featured and nicest airports on earth. We headed straight for the Ambassador Lounge where we spent the next 5hours waiting to board our ScootBiz overnight flight back to the sunny Gold Coast :)

The flight home wasn't terribly however with David coughing and spluttering the whole way and only getting about 5hrs broken sleep we arrived somewhat jet lagged at the Gold Coast International Airport in no mood to deal with the 'Always Friendly' Gold Coast Airport Customs. After pulling our bags apart as usual and confiscating about a dozen gifts then sent us on our way and we were glad to be free again.

Big thanks to Mum and Dad for getting up early to come and collect us and putting up with the inevitable Gold Coast Airport ranting Chris loves to do every time he passes through. Seriously one of the worst airports in the world!

That said, we are home safe and sound and glad to be back in our own bed's and of course to see our beautiful little man Mason who was very excited to see us both! We love you little man :)

Thank you again to everyone who supported our cause, followed our trip and of course helped or inspired us along the way, you are all such wonderful people and for those overseas we really hope to meet again.

If I could pass on an enlightening thought to those reading as with those we have met, remember to always make the most out of your short time here on earth, be good to others but more importantly be good to yourself. If you can do what you enjoy without taking away from or hurting someone else, then you are ABSOLUTELY doing the right thing in life!

Bless you all and until next time......... Keep Smiling and remember, don't sweat the small stuff.... It really is all small stuff!

Day 21 - Chilling in Chiang Mai

Sawadee Kup!

We awoke and made our way to the breakfast buffet at the Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel. A lovely restaurant and nice hotel, only let down by the cold fried eggs served at breakfast and the rude Executive Chef that didn't believe the eggs were cold, however wouldn't touch it to find out, geez we can be a bunch of wringers when we want to be :) First world problems indeed :)

After breakfast we headed to the post office to post our 2 bikes down to Udon Thani where they will live until we return for our next adventure. From the post office we called the Chiang Mai Gems gallery and requested a pickup from the Post Office to take us to look around the biggest jewellery store in the world!

Unfortunately the ring Chris wanted couldn't be resized to fit his large fingers and as this was our last day in Chiang Mai, there was not time to have a new one made for me. That said we got our Jewellery cleaned and polished free of charge and made use of the free return transport to the Night Bazaar. :)

When we arrive back at the Night Bazaar road just around the corner from the hotel, we decided to stop for lunch at an English Pub just off the main road about 30mtrs walk from the Night Market street. There we have some lovely food and ended up chatting to three wonderful people who invited us to sit at their table. Terry, Gill and Gerry are in Chiang Mai on business and over a few drinks we spent the next 8hrs chatting and getting to know them. It was so great to meet these three individuals, as with many of the other folks we have met along the way, we can't help but think we met for a reason. We hope to meet again soon and wish you all the best in your travels. :)

Just after the sun went down we decided to head back to the Hotel and David had unfortunately come down with what ended up being diagnosed as a Bacterial Infection due to forgetting to wash his hands between Breakfast and Lunch that day after some finger lickin good Buffalo Chicken Wings at the Dukes Restaurant in Chiang Mai. David hit the sack and Chris ventured back out to the night market to peruse their wares (And returned to the hotel with two massive bags of stuff in hand, little did David know he would be sharing this in his baggage on the return trip. hehe)

All in all a very good day and again lovely to meet the folks we have met along the way and shared some wonderful stories with.

Day 20 - Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai

Sawadee Kup :)

Today we started off packing the bikes and had a relatively slow start from Chiang Rai. We gorged ourselves at the breakfast buffet before waddling back to the rooms to sit in air conditioning whilst in a coma from the breakfast buffet! :)

We said our farewell's to the lovely staff at the Dusit Island Resort (Including Sopop who was the most amazing, gentle and happy man who vigilantly ensured the lift and doors where opened for us at all times, apart from making us smile from inside everytime we saw him! Bless you and your family my friend)

Whilst the security and hotel concierge's looked on in partial amazement at our luggage setup on the bikes we rode away with smiles all around. The ride back to Chiang Mai on the superhighway wasn't particularly eventful apart from the occasional crazy bus or truck. :)

We arrived early afternoon in Chiang Mai and checked into the Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel as our usual old favourites (Centara Duangtawan and Le Meridian were fully booked).

We headed down to the post office to make arrangements to post the bikes the following day down to Udon Thani where they will live until we return :)

Day 19 - Riding around Chiang Rai

Sawadee Kup :)

Today we had a lazy day riding around and exploring Chiang Rai. This is a lovely city with much to see, much slower than the traffic in Chiang Mai so was a pleasure to ride around.

We rode out to Wat Rong Kun (The White Temple) which we have visited many times before, they have built more of the temple now and it truly is a marvelous building.

We then headed back to the Dusit to make use of the facilities and relax around the Aqua Bar and sit in the spa for a while :)



Tonite we pack our bikes ready for an early ride to Chiang Mai tomorrow down the Superhighway. We were going to take the more scenic route however which David's Gearbox malfunctioning it seemed logical to go the easy straight road where we can stay in 5th and 6th gear for much of the ride :)

Kop Kuhn Kup!

Day 18 & 19 - Relaxing and shopping in Chiang Rai

Sawadee Kup!

We couldn't resist it so we extended our stay at the Dusit :) This resort is amazing and is far better than Le Meridian which was up until now our favourite resort in the World!

We visited a Honda Dealer who had a look and told us that one of the gears inside the transmision on David's CRF was broken and he suggested Chiang Mai would be a better place to get it fixed for parts availability. That said, they adjusted the chains, checked everything over for a good 20mins and then told us it was free :) No Charge! Gotta love these people :)

We then headed shopping to the Central Plaza, Chiang Rai and were looking to get David's Samsung Galaxy S4 Active repaired as there was a problem with charging it. After being directed to a Samsung service centre we went there and were told they don't sell the phone in Thailand and cannot get parts. (This is exactly what Samsung in Australia had told David when he mentioned he had purchased it online, they then said he had to go to a 3rd party repair center to have it repaired at a cost!) The difference here was that even after saying that, they said come back tomorrow afternoon and we will try to fix it in the mean time. 2 Hours later they rang back and said it was fixed :) Something Samsung in the western world isn't prepared to do. When we returned they gave the phone back and said there was no cost for pulling it apart and having the USB Port re soldered on and cleaned out! No Charge Again!!!! Samsung head office could learn a lesson or two about Customer Service from their Thai colleagues :)

We rode around Chiang Rai before returning to get a Thai Massage and relax in the pool.

All in all a lovely couple of days relaxing in Chiang Rai before heading back to Chiang Mai in the morning tomorrow for our last few days in Thailand :)

Thanks again for all the support our friends (New and Old) and family have shown us through this trip and our good causes. Also a huge thank you again to Hasse Olsen, Chris Corbett, Mark Knott for helping to make this possible! We love you all dearly!

Kop Kuhn Kup & Choc Dee :)

See you all tomorrow!

Day 17 - Border Crossing to Chiang Khong, Thailand and then onto Chiang Rai :)

Sabaidee/Sawadee Kup :)

When we woke up, whilst Big Chris faired very well from the alcohol binge the night before, David has a very bad headache, sore back and neck and felt very very seedy :) We headed to breakfast and met a group of German tourists who are riding around SE Asia on Kawasaki KLX 250's. After one of them assisted with bending David's gear lever back to its normal position, we played around with the gear box and figure out that with some effort (and Crunching noises) we could get the bike into 1st and 2nd Gear.

We had approx 120 learning books left and decided to walk around to hand these out to many of the children living in and around the main street. With many smiles and Kop Jai Lai Lai's (And a few confused children and parents until they realized the books were a gift to them), we headed back to the Hotel to get geared up and head for the Laos Customs and Immigration offices to begin exporting the Bikes and ourselves back into Thailand across the mighty Mekong River. Thankfully it was overcast with some rain which made for a coolish day crossing the river.

As we are now experienced in the inexperience of some Laos officials at the borders, this made of an easier crossing with us helping them to do what they needed to do to get the job done.


We then went to wait for the next barge to Chiang Khong, Thailand which was about an hour wait at a restaurant by the river.

When the barge was ready we rode the bikes on and snaked our way to the front of the barge to get off before the 4 petrol tankers we were wedged between tried to drive off :)

We rode up to Customs and Immigration and thankfully were only there for approx 30mins whilst we signed and paid our way back into to Thailand.

As we were quite hungry at this stage and David was feeling a little better, we headed for the Chiang Khong Teak Garden Hotel and Restaurant where we had stayed the year before for some well deserved tucker!

Once we had relaxed and come to grips with being back in Thailand and driving on the left side of the road (After confusing some local cars :P ) as well as accidentally continuing to speak Laos then correcting ourselves back into Thai :P (Which of course got a laugh from the locals), we decided to head for our next stop for the evening in Chiang Rai which whilst only being 140kms away, with David's Broken bike, the constant downpour and diminishing sunlight, this was going to be another endurance effort.

At just before 8pm we arrived in Chiang Rai at the Dusit Island Resort Hotel...... OMG!!!! This place is a palace. After we took our reserved VIP Parking at the front door :P We checked into our suite and took many photos to show off to all our friends and family at home. ;)

We headed to the Restaurant for dinner of Spring Rolls and a lovely Smoky Burger and Fries which definitely hit the spot.

Time for bed :) See you all tomorrow!