Andaman Rising reels in awards!

Andaman Rising received its first awards in the National Press Photographers' Association's September multimedia competition.

Congrats are in order for:
The entire team - 1st place Multimedia Project
The entire time - 2nd place Team Video
Eileen Mignoni - 1st place Individual Audio Slideshow
Nacho Corbella - 2nd place Individual Video
Nacho Corbella and Nick Scott - 1st place Team Video

I did not enter this competition, but I just entered the College Photographer of the Year competition with "InSight" and a bunch of individual photos.

AndamanRising.org is LIVE!

After much anticipation, AndamanRising.org is finally live! Please check it out and pass it on to your friends, family, and colleagues.

--
For immediate release---
UNC-Chapel Hill journalism students debut multimedia documentary
website, http://www.AndamanRising.org.

UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Journalism & Mass Communication
announces the release of http://www.AndamanRising.org, a
collection of 15 student-produced multimedia stories about life
in southern Thailand after the 2004 Asian tsunami.

The site's debut follows a month-long foreign reporting
assignment in which 14 journalism students traveled to the
province of Phang-nga, Thailand to explore some of the most
intimate corners of Thai society.

Based out of a village next to the Andaman Sea, students used
photos, audio, video, graphics and design to craft cultural
snapshots of a region that has risen above tragedy. Working with
a team of Thai translators, they documented the story of a
teenage cross-dresser in a traditional Muslim community, the
narrative of an illegal immigrant family from Myanmar, and the
spiritual transformation of a young monk.

We welcome you to view these stories and more at
http://www.AndamanRising.org.
--

A preview of my story, "InSight:"


Andaman Rising Thailand from Andaman Rising-Thailand on Vimeo.

Bye Bye Thailand :(

Don't worry everyone, I didn't get lost in transit or stranded in Thailand. I've just been too tired/lazy/busy/jet lagged to write a final blog entry.

I've been back in the United States for a little over a week now and I am STILL recovering from jet lag. For the first few days, I would go to sleep at 6 or 7pm and wake up at 4am. Now I fall asleep around 11pm and wake up around 4 or 5am, but then go back to sleep until 8 or 9am. Before Thailand, I would go to bed around 2 or 3am and wake up around noon!

Last time I wrote, I had just finished my story page and was preparing for a trip to Koh Panyee. I went to bed right after writing that and then somehow slept through my 6am alarm and almost missed the van to the island! Someone called my cell phone at 7:20am because Selket and I were supposed to meet up with the group at 7:15. We sprung out of bed, threw on some clothes, and bolted out the door. Good thing we decided to pack our backpacks and camera equipment the night before.

Poor Kendrick hadn't slept at all the night before and Grace had slept about an hour. But they finished the website before we left for the island, so they were excited!

The van dropped us off and we boarded two longtail boats. How to describe this place? There is a huge body of water with massive limestone cliffs jutting out all over the place. If you've ever seen "James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun," it was filmed there. In fact, there is a whole island named James Bond Island.

Starting our adventure to Koh Panyee!

We zoomed between the cliffs and mangrove trees and finally stopped at the boat pictured above. From there we boarded sea canoes (like blow-up kayaks) and boated amidst the cliffs. Selket and I were in a boat together with a guide paddling. We went into caves that were so low that you had to lay completely back to float under them! It was awesome. Once you got through the tiny entrance, it would open up to a big cave in the limestone cliff.

See that teeny tiny hole behind us? We had just come through that.

I paddled for a little while. Selket got out and swam back to the boat...I didn't have my bathing suit on. We had beer and pringles for breakfast since we had slept through our alarm and didn't get to eat.

After canoing, we got back in the longtail boat and headed over to Koh Panyee, a Muslim village built entirely on stilts at the bottom of a cliff. On the way there, I laid down right at the front of the longtail boat...I think that was the best part of the whole trip. Someone got photos of me laying on the front, but for now this is the best I have:

We got to Koh Panyee and ate a delicious lunch. I even ate and enjoyed the whole fish (head, eyes, fins, and everything on a platter) that we got! Then we walked around the village, which was mostly houses and then a long row of shops. I bought some nice Thai silk shawls and other gifts for people at home.

Mike (one of the coaches) and his wife, Desi, with a monkey!

Aaaaaah, 'tis life with a roving band of photographers.

(I have no idea why this is indented, but it won't let me change it.)

Then we took the longtail boat back to the pier, rode back to the resort in the van, and got back just in time for our showing. A ton of people showed up and filled the treehouse! My story was one of the ones that got shown...they couldn't show a few because they didn't want to offend the man from the Tourism Authority. He thanked us and gave a speech at the end. The blind masseurs from my story were supposed to come, but canceled at the last minute.

Erin taking a picture of herself and the orphans from her story, Forging Family.

After the showing, we went down to the pool for the "surprise" party. It was really really nice...they had a small buffet dinner out, our own bartender, lights on the trees, snacks, and music. It was really nice to just relax and talk with everyone without the project hanging over our heads. Everyone headed to the beach at one point and we tried to set off fireworks. We had a coil of about 1000 fireworks and it had a very short wick, so the plan was for Mike to light it and run away. Well, they all exploded as soon as he lit it and we all watched Mike get engulfed in a giant spark. He was fine, just a few burned chest hairs. Then we all went into the sea for some night swimming. It was the perfect end for the trip.

The next day, Selket and I woke up early and headed into town for a Thai massage and shopping. Unfortunately, I left Thailand on sort of a bad note. I went to a store and haggled a saleswoman down to 500 baht for a North Face backpack because I needed something extra to pack in. The saleswoman's boss even came over and confirmed the 500 baht. I told them I would come back because I wanted to ask Selket if she thought it was a good price. So I went to find her without luck. As I was walking back toward the store, the boss got up and went into the store. As I got closer to the store, I noticed that she grabbed the backpack and shoved it behind a clothes rack. I walked in and told the saleswoman I would take it for 500 baht and she said "oh, we sold it." When I said "no, that woman just hid it over there," the boss came over and said "we sold it and they pick it up later." Turns out they didn't want to sell it for 500 even though they told me that was the price before. Long story short: I argued with them for over an hour, the shop owner even drove down, and I ended up not buying the backpack. I did get a free ride back to the resort, though, because I told them they owed it to me. By the time I got back to my room, I had about an hour to pack, shower, and eat before the van was leaving for the airport. When I got back, I was so angry that I just threw all my stuff into my suitcase, yelled and complained to Selket a lot, showered, and went to the lobby.

On the way to the airport, I got really carsick. Then Pat got a call from Steven because Selket had forgotten her camera bag. So we pulled over and waited for someone to bring it in a cab. Selket had to pay a lot for that cab and felt really bad for making everyone wait.

We got to the airport and it took forever to check in because we had so many bags. My bag was overweight by six kilos, so I bought a little bag from a shop in the airport. I went into the shop and said "I need a big bag." The woman then said "how many kilos you need to take out?" When I said six, she immediately pointed to a bag up on a shelf. I guess she gets that a lot!

I slept through the entire flight from Phuket to Seoul. Seoul to New York was not nearly as bad as the way there. It was 12 hours instead of 14 and I was sitting next to Selket. I watched a bunch of movies, tracked the plane on a map, ate some good Korean food, slept a little, and joked with Selket. Once in New York, my dad met me in the terminal, met the other people I was traveling with, and then I said goodbye to everyone. We picked my sister and her boyfriend, Mike, up in Manhattan on the way home. When I got home, I watched a little TV and fell asleep around 4pm!!

Since then, I haven't really done anything exciting because I've been so tired. It's been nice to have a break from all the work, though! Too bad I have to get a lot done this week before I drive to North Carolina on Friday. I can't wait to get back to Chapel Hill, move into my apartment, see all my friends, see Alex (it's been TEN weeks!!), and get back into the swing of things.

A few nights ago, my dad and I were trying to think of places to go out to eat. I was missing Thailand, so we went to Thai Thai Cuisine down the road. It was good, but not nearly as delicious and fresh as it was in Thailand. I really hope I get to return someday.

I miss the fresh fruit. I miss the smiles. I even miss the weather. I miss the beach, the sunsets, the resort, Khao Lak, haggling, fresh seafood, fruit shakes. I miss not caring what I look like and wearing wrap-around skirts everywhere. I miss being surrounded by a big group of friends and learning from the coaches. I miss my translator and the blind masseurs. I miss the language and trying to pick up the words I know. I miss saying "Kawb khun kaaaa." I miss the sun and the rain. I miss being as "tan" as a redhead can be. I miss the stray dogs and cats and the elephants by the side of the road. I miss the colors and patterns. I miss the greenery. I miss sticky rice and fried rice. I miss longtail boats. I miss my room. I miss Chang beer and pina coladas in coconuts. I miss motorbikes and soong taos. I miss ordering food and not knowing what it will be. I miss the smell of the sea following me everywhere.

The website will be public around mid-August and I will post when that happens. Other than that, I'll consider this blog finished!

Sà wàt dii kâ!

Andaman Rising

My entire story page is built and ready to be published to the web. If all goes well tonight, the website should be up and running for you all to see tomorrow!

I got a Thai massage today! It was VERY different from a Swedish massage, but still incredibly relaxing. All the aches and pains built up from days hunched over the laptop were gone after an hour of massage.

After the massage, I got completely sucked in to making my sen lines flash graphic for about nine hours. I am SO proud of it and SO impressed with myself. I have never used Flash before, so I had some help from coaches and then figured the rest out myself. I did absolutely everything on it and I can't wait for everyone to see it.

Now it's almost 3am and I have to get up at 6:30am to go to Ko Panyi, a Muslim stilt village where Phil did his story. I'm going with a bunch of people from the group, so it should be really fun. It will be nice to leave the resort and see a little bit of Thailand before I go.

After the island, we have a showing of all the stories and the website. The Foreign Ministry will be there because they funded part of our project. We also invited the subjects of the stories and the translators. I hope a lot of people show up!

Then there is some sort of "surprise event" going on at the pool. I'm pretty sure it's just a pool party to celebrate the completion of Andaman Rising.

The Andaman Rising team!

Sunset Photo Shoot

Selket taking a picture of a hermit crab...it pinched her a few minutes later.

I call this "Three Photographers."

Julie taking pictures of the sunset.

Julie and the sunset.

The finish line is InSight.

As of 3:30pm yesterday, I am done with the major part of my project. I put the finishing touches on my multimedia story and preview and exported it all. Then I spent about 5 hours alternating between the sea and the pool with a bunch of other people. My muscles feel loose and relaxed now, but I'm also really tired from all the swimming. So that means I'm going to try to get a massage today ;)

Today I need to finish my sidebar content (extra related stuff that will be on the page with my story). I also want to go into town, finish my souvenir shopping, and get a massage. Hopefully I can go to Charissa's screening of the Canon kids project...that's the thing I went to a few days ago at a school. Charissa combined all the kids' photos and photos of the kids working into a multimedia story, which will also be on the website. Everyone is going to the school at 4pm today for a big showing and party.

I can't believe I have less than a week left here. It feels like it has gone by so fast...but when I think back to the first night when we arrived at the resort, it seems like so long ago. I've been thinking lately about changing my flight so I can travel to Bangkok and Chiang Mai with some other people in the group, but I still haven't made up my mind. That decision is also on my To Do list today.

If I am in fact leaving on the 18th as planned, then my goals are:

• Ride an elephant
• Find a nice souvenir for myself to remember my time here (Thank you Grandma and Aunt Linda)
• Go to the outdoor market (exotic foods and such)
• Take photos for myself
• Go back to Phuket to give the blind masseurs a CD of the audio from the story and a CD of American music
• Give a CD of American rock music to my translator, Num
• Bring a big group of people to Num's bar
  
• Get a Thai massage
• Spend every spare minute on the beach and in the water

Well, that's a long list of things to do on top of the work I still have to do...I better get started!!

p.s.: There is not a typo in the title. You will understand it in about one week.

Home stretch

Lesson of the day: Always have a memory card (that's the equivalent of film, Grandma) in your camera for spur-of-the-moment situations when you need to grab your camera and start shooting. In my case, the situation was a 4-inch long stick bug on the balcony. And I didn't get any photos because the CF card was not in my camera.

My story will absolutely positively be finished tomorrow! Then I'll have to make a 15-second preview and write up my sidebar material. Once it's all done, a massage is in order.

I spent all day today editing. The only break I took was about 2 hours to swim in the sea and the pool.

I tried to jump for the photo...I'm not sure if this is me taking off or landing. That's Phil next to me! The beach was so nice today :)

Selket says "Sa wat dii ka babaaayyy."

Pina Colada in a coconut by the pool. I could get used to this.