That wifi thing.

Edit: I wrote this thinking it would be posted while I was out  trekking. I had no idea that there would be an earthquake  of such a magnitude while I was out. The sentiment is still the same and even greater. Thank you so much for all the love. I have felt it from lovely Nepali's here and from so many people around the world. If you're feeling helpless, the donations you make will really make a difference. Nepal doesn't have the infrastructure to handle a disaster like this and rebuilding will take a very long time.  I have had several Nepalis go out of their way to check on me while in the midst of dealing with their own troubles and worries. 

Here is a list that seems reasonable to me. 
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-25/how-help-nepal-7-vetted-charities-doing-relief-work-following-earthquake

I was in a relatively safe area, and the quake and its aftershocks were still terrifying. I can't imagine what the more damaged areas are like. Please keep all that are affected or missing in your thoughts. 

We were set on going out west to see Sittwe and the temples of Mrauk U in the west. It's in the Rakhine state, so everything we read said that we needed to fly or take a ferry. Taking the ferry took longer and added some logistical confusions, so we decided to fly to Sittwe. After an overnight in Sittwe we were then taking a bus to Mrauk U and staying there for a few days. We didn't have a single wifi connection this entire time until we bused to Bagan.

When I arrived in Bagan, I had several messages from both parents and a couple of friends asking me to please text my parents. Oh and they hoped I was alive. Rolling my eyes, I shot the Parental Unit a quick "I'm alive. I'm not going to ignore you and text me friends." I had warned everyone that wifi was sketchy in Myanmar, so that's all I could do.

Then I saw the article my friend had sent me that a ferry headed up the coast we were on had capsized while I was gone and many people had died. Well that's a smack in the face. And now I feel like an ass. A very lucky ass.

These are the sorts of risks we accept in using third world transit. But when you actually think about what could happen if things start to go wrong, it's quite disconcerting. I've had several conversations with other travelers about parents. And we all laughingly talk about how often they want to hear from us and how quickly they get worried. And how quickly we roll our eyes because we know we're totally fine.

But even though I roll my eyes, this is a quick thank you to the people that notice if I'm not online. It's usually because I'm off having a grand time far from wifi or because I simply can't find a connection that actually works. I may get snarky or preach about how its so grand to disconnect from facebook for a while, but it's nice to know there's someone who would sound the alarm for me.