All over the map

Mexico Redux

2011-11-28T20:24:00.001-05:00

I never posted pictures from the last leg of our Mexico adventure, so I thought I'd take a moment to finally do that. Part of it is reminiscing and part is looking forward to our next trip down that way, which should be in February. It's funny to look back at old photos. I took a moment to look at my pictures from India just now as well... that trip seems like a lifetime ago.

We spent the last week or so of our trip in San Miguel de Allende, a place that was recommended to us by many people for its beauty, but one that we were wary of going to because it is very popular with Americans and Europeans. We were going back to the U.S. soon, so we were not exactly seeking to be surrounded by Americans. Nevertheless, we went, and it was quite lovely. We really took it easy, spending lots of time in our spacious hotel room watching some very old and strange movies. We found a great little stand in this indoor market just outside of the center that sold delicious tortas (sandwiches) and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Our torta of choice was avocado and cheese. Mmmm... I often crave some of the things we ate on this trip.

Following about four nights in San Miguel, we hit the road and headed back to Mexico City. We ended our trip the way we began, staying with my boyfriend's family, being fed incredibly well, and being shown the best parts of DF (Distrito Federal). One of the highlights was a trip out to Teotihuacán, a collection of pyramids just outside the city.

The cathedral overlooking the main square in San Miguel de Allende.

Beautifully painted buildings line the streets.

Transportation

Pyramids at Teotihuacán

Guanajuato!

2011-08-01T17:39:00.002-04:00

What a beautiful city. There are lots of little hills and narrow alleyways here, and the buildings are painted in bright colors. It has a kind of European feel to it, actually. We arrived here yesterday around noon and have been exploring ever since. Today we took the funicular up to the top of the mountain to take in the view. Then we walked down and wandered some more. It's Monday, which we've discovered is the day when a lot of places are closed. Tomorrow morning we will get an earlier start to make sure we go inside the Teatro Juarez and the Diego Rivera house. We found the Callejon del Beso, where the balconies across from one another are close enough to kiss the person on the other side. I can see why people are so charmed by this place.

Adios, Morelia

2011-07-30T14:48:00.001-04:00

The time has come to leave Morelia and move on to explore other parts of Mexico before returning home. We had our last interactions with students on Thursday and said our goodbyes. Shayna and I had a fun, and very late, night out on the town that night with some of our students. We went to an eclectic restaurant/bar and an even more eclectic club where there was a band playing cover songs on request interspersed with dance music. It was nice to unwind and see another side of these great people we've been working with. We had many, many laughs.

Tomorrow Shayna and I will head to Guanajuato, a couple hours north of here, and spend at least two nights there. From there we will likely make a stop in San Miguel de Allende, a very popular tourist town. We are told there are something like ten or twelve thousand retired Americans living there, which is normally not a selling point when traveling, but we hear it's also quite beautiful. We may add another town to our list, and eventually will make our way back to Mexico City to spend our last days with my boyfriend's family and see a few more of the sights. It is safe to say that both Shayna and I are looking forward to getting home.

The storms here during the rainy season are epic. We've gotten pretty good at reading the weather to know how much time we have before we need to find shelter. This storm was rolling in the other day as we were heading out for lunch.

Forgot to reserve your mariachi band? No problem! Just drive around the streets of Morelia and you will find groups of musicians on various street corners waiting to be hired.

Telma, one of my students, doles out champurrado for us on the last day of school. It's a thick chocolatey drink made with corn and a hint of cinnamon. Delicious.

It was also one of my student's birthday on the last day we went in. Apparently in Mexico the tradition is for the birthday girl or boy to lean in and take a bite of their birthday cake while someone smashes their face into it. Here Monserrat shows off her lovely cake face. The cake was delicious, by the way. It was tres leches, which may be my new favorite dessert.

Last night we went up into the hills to have a nice dinner out. The view of downtown from there is spectacular.

Silent on the scene

2011-07-25T17:58:00.000-04:00

I usually don't blog this infrequently unless I'm home... which must mean this place is starting to feel like home. And it really is. We've been in Morelia off and on for about 3 1/2 weeks. The area where we're staying feels like our neighborhood and I have my favorite spots for my favorite things. There's the awesome lady at the market who sells the best fruit, and who always teaches me things when I'm there, like the names of certain fruits and which ones are maduro (ripe) and which are verde (literally green, not ripe yet). There's the churro place near the cathedral, for those churro cravings that seem to come daily. Who wouldn't crave that fried stick of goodness coated in cinnamon sugar and pumped full of chocolate? Mmm. To counteract those churro attacks, there's the health food store a bit further away where we get our granola... and sometimes ice cream. Counter-productive, I know, but so yummy. Very close by is our friend Azael, a.k.a. "Juice Guy", whom we often visit to order lunch and jugo verde. He delivers.

My students obviously picked up on my love for food because today when I walked into class they greeted me with a small feast. There was a container full of cooked chiles and tomatoes and a small molcajete (mortar and pestle) for me to try my hand at making salsa. They also had a little bit of masa and a metate (basically a tool for kneading dough) so I could learn how to make tortillas. Shortly into this activity, one of the students' relatives brought us all the fixings for tacos - fresh corn tortillas, chicken mole, and rice. It was so delicious! I was informed that this week our conversation classes would be dedicated to food, which totally made my day. Tomorrow they want me to try carnitas and chicharrones, both pork products. Normally I'm not a fan of the swine, but I've had a little along the way here and I'm told these two things are delicious. When in Rome...

Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera this morning, expecting just a regular old conversation class. I'll have some photos of these awesome students and the food we try soon. In the meantime, here's some of the other sights we've seen.

This is Aylín, the daughter of Susana, one of Shayna's students. A-dorable.

Carnitas. In other words, pig. All of it.

On Saturday we went to Paracho where they were having a paper balloon festival. They come in all shapes and sizes and were pretty fun to watch. It rained pretty hard for a while, but fortunately cleared up in the afternoon.

Some of them are enormous. They're made out of tissue paper and held together by glue.

Unfortunately some of the balloons don't fare so well. This one went down in a blaze of glory. Thank goodness for terra cotta roofs.

Paracho is also known for guitars. In fact there is a guitar festival there next weekend.

On why we're here

2011-07-19T01:13:00.001-04:00

All I've been blogging about since we arrived is our adventures in travel, eating, and the people we've met along the way. What I've failed to talk about, however, is our students, which is the real reason we are here. It's taken a little while to get the ball rolling, but now we've got a good thing going and some really nice and interesting students. Tomorrow we start going to the North American Cultural Institute to do a short 1/2 hour of conversation with some of the English classes in the morning. In the afternoons we usually meet individually with the students we are tutoring. Shayna meets with Susanna to help her prepare for the TOEFL, Candace meets with Gabriel for the same, and I am now working with Mireya, the lady who works here at the inn, basically helping her with the English she would need to interact with guests here. I also sometimes work with Miriam, Susanna's cousin, who has lived in Miami and is looking to practice her in English some more. In the evenings we have a conversation group and the participants keep changing. Froy, our most faithful participant, is kind of like a Mexican Deepak Chopra, full of wisdom that he wants to share. Tonight we had two new people join. One was Jupiter, a very cool guy that we met at the organic fair yesterday, who makes and sells instruments, 7-seed energy bars, and jewelry. The other was Azael, who runs a juice and sandwich bar just down the road from us. He is the one who makes and delivers green juice when we call and order it. Super, super nice guy as well. In the evenings I also sometimes work with Dani, who does movie and film festival marketing here in Morelia and in Tlalpujahua.

So all in all, a fantastic group of people. It's work, but mostly it's fun helping them with their English, and along the way we learn a little Spanish as well.

I can't get this image to rotate, but turn your head to the left and you are looking down the leaf of a giant maguey, also known as agave. These things are so impressive... almost a little sci-fi they're so huge. I took this today at Tec, the school where we meet Susanna and Miriam.

On the way back to our hotel just before a huge thunderstorm broke out. An interesting, though perhaps dangerous, way to sharpen a knife.

Taken one night during our conversation with Froy. A nice glass of wine lit by a funky Absolut bottle candle holder.

Daytripping

2011-07-17T10:52:00.001-04:00

As it was the weekend we decided we should head out of town for a little adventure. As we are trying to budget a little, we decided to stay somewhat close. In fact, we just went back to Tzintzuntzan; the first time we were there it was pouring and the main market was closed, so we thought we'd try again. It turned out to be a good decision and we were able to stock up on some nice gifts. On the way there we stopped in Capula, a.k.a. pottery central. And on the way out we stopped by this woman's house, a well known embroiderer who no longer has a shop, but does sell out of her home for people in the know. There, too, we scored some really lovely gifts. I can't say enough about the handicrafts here. There are so many different kinds - pottery, textiles, glass, metalwork, jewelry (and we haven't even made it to Taxco yet, which has 4000 silver jewelry shops). It's impressive.

Here's a little pictorial of some of the sights from the day.

You can't start a road trip without a good breakfast. I went out in the morning and got a gaspacho with mango, pineapple, and watermelon, hold the chile and cheese. They also add fresh orange juice and salt to it. Perfection.

This was part of my lunch, grilled corn on the cob slathered with lime juice, mayo and cheese. Normally I'm a mayo foe, but here I make an exception. This has to be one of the best uses of corn ever invented.

There were quite a few street dogs in Capula. This one was in pretty good shape. Sometimes you can interact with them, but often they shy away from attention and you get the sense that they are probably mistreated. There was one dog in particular, a hound of some kind, that was sleeping in the street and got up, I assume, to scavenge for food. I tried to feed her the rest of my corn, but she didn't want it, even though you could see her ribs. She let me pet her and I could see that she had fleas. I'm glad I got to give her a little love, but it left me feeling sad about her fate. I so wanted to take her with me.

Here is the outside of one market in Tzintzuntzan. Those are all decorative hangings made out of corn husks or some other kind of fiber. You can also see some of the baskets they make with the same material.

The view on the way back. It's incredibly green and lush in the countryside, no doubt thanks to the copious amount of rain we've been getting.

Frida Fever

2011-07-15T22:26:00.000-04:00

So Frida Kahlo is everywhere in Mexico. On magnets, on shirts, on posters. I think I might actually feel weird leaving Mexico without buying something bearing her image. Tonight at the Casa de la Cultura there was a unique kind of Frida celebration, "Pintate como Frida" (Paint yourself like Frida). We learned about it because the group putting it on was out on Wednesday night distributing flyers. There was a woman dressed like Frida and another woman dressed like Diego Rivera, her teacher and questionable choice of partner in life. They were painting these two models who had bravely volunteered to participate in a recreation of one of Frida's paintings.

This went on for a while and they were even doling out free shots of tequila. Not sure how that was related, but why not?

On the ground there was a huge piece of craft paper with various quotes of hers. I really like this one.

This Casa de la Cultura was amazing, and enormous. There were multiple rooms with music and dance lessons of all kinds going on. In the same square as the Frida performance there was a bachata lesson happening. It was all very impressive.

From there we made our way home and stopped for dinner at this little streetside stand. I had corundas, like tamales but served triangle-shaped and steamed in banana leaves. Candace and Shayna got pambazos, like a big chicken sandwich coated in red sauce. Yum. Oh, and for lunch today, Shayna and I went to the most amazing cocina económica just down the road from where we are staying. It was two courses, a soup and a main course, plus a jar of guava agua fresca for about $3 each. Like anywhere, you can spend a lot for food, or you can spend very little and still get great food. In many cases it's actually better than what you get if you spend a lot.

A picture from inside where we had dinner. They put bottles of soda on the table to show you what they have. It started to get dark while we were there so the waitress climbed on a chair and plugged in a lightbulb from a wire running overhead. This also was the power source for the TV.

Dentista!

2011-07-13T16:17:00.003-04:00

Before I came to Mexico I decided that I was going to take care of two medical things here. One, get my teeth cleaned, and two, buy some glasses. Because everything costs less here. Well, let's face it, everything costs less pretty much everywhere outside the U.S. So this morning I asked Maria if she knew of a good dentist in town. Turns out her husband is a dentist! Awesome! So an hour or so later Shayna came with me and we walked to the other side of town, close to the aqueduct. We took a wrong turn at the end, but fortunately he was expecting us so he was keeping an eye out and saw us go the wrong way. It's pretty hard to miss two gringas in this town. So as we were asking some folks about the address we had been given, we turned around to see Doctor Fernando there on the sidewalk; he had come to fetch us on his bicycle. :) Apparently he owns several blocks worth of buildings and Maria had given us the wrong address. No harm done; we followed him up the street to his office and he went to work. He was super super nice. He spoke some English, but spoke mostly in Spanish and I was able to follow. I learned lots of good new words, too, like toothbrush, floss, flat (I should be using a completely flat headed toothbrush). He had me chew on these red tablets which are supposed to show where the plaque is on your teeth. It was pretty shocking; I kind of looked like a vampire and I think my tongue is still red from the experience. Anyway, he gave me perhaps the most thorough lesson on how to brush and floss my teeth that I have ever had. An hour or so later, after the cleaning and after he showed us his pictures of Machu Pichu, we were on our way. And all for about a third of what I would have paid in the U.S. Mexico just keeps getting better and better.

A view of the aqueduct on our way back into town. Shayna has all the dentist pictures on her camera, so maybe I´ll get some of those from her and post them here later.

As promised... here I am in the dentist chair making my best scared face. I really don´t like going to the dentist.

Nice clean teeth and a neon tongue.

Recovery

2011-07-12T14:16:00.001-04:00

Ah, the wonderful world of new and different bacteria. You try to be careful about what you eat, but at some point you will fall prey. First it happened to me, and now Shayna. Thankfully it only lasted 24 hours, and I'd like to say it will be the last time, but who knows? Fortunately for us, we have Maria, our Mexican-American mom-away-from-home, here at the inn. She hooked us up with some yerba buena tea, which apparently is just spearmint. It was super yummy and I guess good for your tummy. I don't know if it was the agave nectar she put in it, but it smelled and tasted a little bit like melted butter. Good stuff. She also called the man nearby who delivers jugo verde, which is also said to be really good for you and I guess cleansing. Then for lunch she whipped up some caldo de pollo, delicious chicken soup packed full of veggies. So that has been lunch for two days in a row, with the occasional saltine (saladitas) and coconut-flavored pedialyte. Good stuff. We also ventured out in the afternoon yesterday to the bakery down the road, La Jarochita. I think I will get to know those folks very well over the next few weeks.

Enjoying some caldo de pollo in our sunny courtyard.

Pátzcuaro and beyond

2011-07-10T11:52:00.000-04:00

Shayna and I got back from Pátzcuaro last night, after deciding to spend only one night there. On our way back we went to the island of Janitzio and the town of Tzintzuntzan, which is super fun to say. Earlier in the day we said goodbye to Carrie, who joined us and was the driving force behind our adventures for the first week. It doesn't feel the same here without her. :( I'm not feeling very verbose at the moment, so I will let the photos do most of the talking.

This is in Pátzcuaro. There are lots of old Beetles all over Mexico, though, and I've heard that they're actually still made here. I was almost run over by a man on a horse while I took this picture. :)

Close to our hotel was this amazing bakery. You turn the corner and all you smell is bread and sweets. We went a little crazy and got just about one of everything to try. The funny thing about bakeries here is that they generally don't open until the afternoon, rather than bright and early in the morning.

I love cobblestone streets, and there are lots of them here.

Janitzio is famous for charales, these little fish that are fried up and eaten whole. You can also get them with chile... you can get just about everything with chile. Vendors offer you samples as you pass by; Shayna tried one and said it was like a French fry.

There are lots of musicians here as well. On our way back from the island we were serenaded by this little makeshift band.

Here are the fishermen of Janitzio fishing for charales. They have very interesting nets. They also seem to coordinate fishing in a circle and lifting up the nets simultaneously.

Food, food, and more food

2011-07-08T11:54:00.001-04:00

I've always felt that one of the main reasons to travel is to eat. My travel companions and I have been putting this theory to the test ever since we arrived in Mexico. Yesterday was a very low-key day. It was sunny and gorgeous out for a little while, and then we had a major thunderstorm that I thought might blow the inn over, complete with some serious hail. The only things we left the inn for yesterday were to go to the mercado de dulces (sweets market) and then later the Inmaculada, a church where every night volunteers serve food and aguas frescas (literally fresh water) for incredible prices to raise money for the homeless. Apparently they raise something like four thousand dollars a week, and all of this at an indivual price of well under $4 apiece. Amazing. We all got a different dish, chicken enchilada, sopes, pozole, quesadilla, corundas, and for dessert a buñuelo, fried goodness doused in caramelized sugar, and gelatina (jello) topped with rompope, an alcoholic drink that is similar to egg nog. The aguas frescas are basically fresh fruit juices that are slightly watered down, and so delicious. We had mango, pineapple, and guayaba (guava). All in all a major culinary success.

The four of us along with Rosa, the owner of the inn, ended up staying up into the wee hours of the morning chatting and drinking wine. This morning we woke up to the smell of chilaquiles cooking for breakfast, made for us by the fabulous Maria, the manager here. Shayna and I were commenting to one another that we have felt like part of the family ever since we arrived in Mexico, in one family after another.

As I write this the five of us are sitting in the sunny courtyard discussing our plans for the next couple of days. Jesús, a taxi driver who often drives for Rosa and her guests, will be driving us to Pátzcuaro shortly. The main topics of discussion are where and what to eat and where and what to buy, because apparently Pátzcuaro is a mecca for shopping and handicrafts. Rosa has lived in the area here for about 8 years, so she is really a wellspring of information on the best places for many different things. We have truly hit the jackpot here in Michoacán.

This is where you buy your tickets for the meal, in denominations of 5 pesos each. One thing I have found interesting here is that even though the currency is pesos, they actually use the dollar sign.

So much gelatina, so little time.

Enjoying our fabulous meal.

Tlalpujahua!

2011-07-07T00:50:00.002-04:00

After spending a day in Tlalpujahua I can now comfortably pronounce the town's name, and I can say that it is one of the cutest little towns I've ever been to. In fact, it has the designation of being a Magic Town (Pueblo Mágico), of which there are 34 in Mexico and 4 in Michoacán state. Another one is Pátzcuaro, which we are going to on Friday.

We arrived in the afternoon yesterday, checked into our hotel, and then wandered around a little. Later that night we had dinner with a family, friends of Candace, who were easily one of the nicest families we've ever met. The plan was to meet at their place at 7. When we got there just the two kids, Gonzalo and Natlia, were there. They served us tea and we all chatted for a while until their mom arrived. Everyone in the family has studied English with Candace, so the conversation all night was, for the most part, in English. Mom arrived around 8 and we learned that their dad was at a meeting and wouldn't be home until much later. We chatted some more and more time passed. At this point, having hardly eaten all day, the four of us were all on the verge of passing out. All in all, we didn't end up eating until about 10:30, and I don't know if it was the food, the company, or the fact that we would have eaten our napkins at that point, but it was one of the finest meals we'd ever eaten. We had tacos al pastor, chile relleno, frijoles, and for dessert, capulines (kind of like a tiny cherry with a big seed, served in syrup), and atole to drink. I'd been wanting to try atole, so I was pretty psyched. It's basically like porridge, a thick, semi-sweet drink with corn in it, and I think a little cinnamon. Pretty yummy. I could actually imagine having it for breakfast. There's also a chocolate-y version of this called champurrado, which I'm also excited to taste. It's safe to say we all slept pretty well that night.

This morning we went out for breakfast and met another family friend who took us to the top of the hill where we toured the ornament factory. Tlalpujahua is famous for and is one of the biggest producers of Christmas tree ornaments. It seriously felt like we were walking into Santa's little workshop. We saw men handblowing the glass into various shapes and other men and women handpainting them one-by-one. It was impressive, especially when you consider how much time goes into each one. At the end of the tour we were able to buy them, at about 50 cents apiece. Crazy.

We came back to Morelia today, where we were greeted by our lovely hosts, the owner and manager of the inn, who had arranged for a massage therapist from Pátzcuaro to come and give us massages and made us an amazing burrito dinner with homemade guacamole, beans, and rice. Yum. We also had palomas, a margarita-like drink made with tequila... a Mexican spa day, if you will. Needless to say, we are all feeling pretty spoiled and very appreciative of all that we have experienced here so far.

The doors and windows here are really interesting, so much color and texture.

Did I mention there are a lot of churches here?

Ornaments in the making.

What a painstaking process. Each individual ornament is painted and glittered by hand.

Here's Shayna showing this little girl the picture she took of her. She wanted us to buy her paletas, which Shayna paid for but didn't take.

Vacation

2011-07-05T01:25:00.001-04:00

Today was kind of the first day I really felt like I was on vacation. We are here to work/volunteer, but that doesn't officially start until next week. Today the four of us did a few things together, and then I spent some time walking around on my own. I had my first jugo verde (green juice), which is a kind of smoothie made of orange juice blended with nopal (cactus), pineapple, and parsley. There might have been something else in there, but those were the only words I could decipher. It was super yummy and healthy.

We met a couple of our students today and set up a tentative schedule for next week. Both young women are interested in taking the TOEFL exam as well as just practicing their conversation skills. There is tourism here, but it seems to be predominantly other Mexicans, so opportunities to speak English are rare. From a traveler's perspective this is kind of nice because it feels a lot more authentic. There are American brands and things here, but it doesn't feel completely Americanized like a lot of other places in the world. And from a linguistic perspective it's awesome because people don't just automatically switch into English. I'm learning a lot by floundering my way through (and by interrogating Carrie, who is fluent, as we wander around), but I'm hoping to take some Spanish classes here as well. Some of the interesting/funny/fascinating things I have learned so far are:

enchilarse - there is actually a verb in Spanish that refers to overdoing it with chile

The words for married and tired are really close. I'm not sure if that is intentional, I just think it's funny. I thought someone was asking me if I was tired the other day, but they wanted to know if I was married.

Direct and indirect object pronouns run rampant. I feel like the word "se" appears all over the place and sometimes I can't figure out what purpose it's serving.

I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of at the moment. Tomorrow we head north to Tlalpujahua (yes, good luck pronouncing that... the native words here are like tongue-twisters) where we will meet some more of Candace's friends from years past. Apparently they make blown glass ornaments there so we will see some of that in action.

They are serious about locking their doors here in Morelia.

Tonight there was a fire twirler outside a cafe where we met one of our students. The first time I ever saw this done was in Montreal. Now whenever I see them, though, I can't help but think of the guy I saw in Tommy's Park in Portland who was trying to do some crazy move with a rope around his neck and started to catch on fire. Fortunately he had a friend there to put him out. Crazy.

Yoga face

2011-07-04T01:20:00.000-04:00

I was able to sleep in a little this morning and ease into the day with some yoga. When I finally emerged from the room I joined my friends who were in the common room chatting with Rosa, the owner of the inn, who arrived here late last night. After a brief introduction and a little conversation, Candace mentioned that I taught yoga and Rosa's response was, "You have a yoga face." I had never heard anything like that before, but I dig it. :)

Rosa was kind enough to take us around and show us a bunch of cool stuff here in Morelia today. We went to a market, which was mainly closed because it was Sunday, but we were able to eat lunch at a popular stall there. I had chile relleno, one of my favorite Mexican dishes, and was invited to try my hand at making some tortillas. It's harder than it looks to get it just right; it took me three tries before I was able to transfer the tortilla from the press to the griddle without it breaking. Yet again, I was amazed by the openness and hospitality of the people here.

Later in the evening we stopped by the square near the cathedral and there was live music happening. The performer's name was Abraham Salazar, a local guy I believe, and he was singing and playing guitar. We really liked his music, so both Shayna and I bought a CD. The general vibe in the city today was both relaxed and jovial. There were families all over the place spending time together, laughing, playing, eating. Although it's a French expression, it seems like Mexicans have a pretty good grasp on the "joie de vivre".

This was what we had for breakfast. It's a local specialty called gaspacho. There are different varieties, but this one contained mango, pineapple, jicama, chile sauce, chile powder, and cheese. I got one without cheese. Just looking at that pile of mango now makes my mouth water. It's a pretty substantial amount of fruit and both Carrie and I hit the "gaspacho wall" about halfway through devouring ours. We'll try again tomorrow. :)

Here I am working the tortilla press. At one point I pressed it too hard, causing the owners to kind of gasp and tell me I should only press it "un poquito," which is true because that tortilla started to sort of squish out the side. They were all smiles the whole time, though, and super encouraging.

This little cutie pie was in the square where the music was playing. I think Shayna wanted to take him home with us. :)

Morelia!

2011-07-03T00:57:00.001-04:00

After two whirlwind days in Mexico City, Shayna and I, joined by Candace and Carrie, have made our way about 4 hours west of DF (Distrito Federal) to Morelia, a lovely colonial city which is the capital of Michoacán state. The bus ride here was pleasant and it was easily the nicest bus I've ever been on. The seats were super roomy, each one with an individual TV screen on the back, and there were about two dozen movies to choose from. I went with Taken, a movie I had seen before, so it was a nice little Spanish workout. Also, the bathroom on the bus was super clean, and it has to be said that in general the bathrooms here are really nice. This is such a nice surprise after so many sketchy bathroom experiences in Asia.

We're staying at a place which is kind of an "in the know" little inn and we basically have the place to ourselves. There are about six rooms altogether, of which we are occupying three. There's a couple from New Orleans in another one, but they are leaving soon. The inn is owned by an American woman who splits her time between here and Chicago where she runs a business. She should be here at some point while we're here. We have a living room and dining room area and a very well appointed kitchen. Tomorrow we're planning to go to the market to stock up on food. Tonight we went out for dinner near the cathedral and saw the weekly fireworks show. It's raining again, so I didn't take pictures, but I plan to later. Speaking of rain, we've seen an impressive amount of rain since we got here. I suppose it could be annoying, but we're going to be here for so long that I don't really mind. Besides, it's really nice at night; it kind of lulls you to sleep.

So far I have an incredibly positive impression of Mexico. The people are really friendly, helpful, and quick to smile, the food is phenomenal, and the weather is mild. I feel really at ease here and although I'm aware of my surroundings, I feel completely safe. I'm also traveling with three other women, which is a totally new experience for me, and it's actually pretty awesome. It's nice to be able to go do something while someone else watches your bags, or have someone to process a new experience with. Maybe I'm maturing as a traveler. :)

A view from the bus to Morelia.

The window of one of the many shops that sell quinceañera dresses in Mexico City. There was a quinceañera party at the family restaurant last night and we got to witness part of it... over the top!

I Heart Mexico

2011-07-02T01:23:00.000-04:00

Shayna and I arrived in Mexico City just about 48 hours ago, but it feels like so much longer. We were picked up at the airport by Claudia, my boyfriend's sister, and whisked away to their house, where we also met his mom and grandmother, and a menagerie of pets. The house has multiple terraces and plants, there is always incense burning, and there are so many beautiful works of art everywhere that I keep noticing something new every day.

From the moment we arrived it felt like we were part of the family. We've had breakfast every morning at the family restaurant and have been virtually chauffeured everywhere. So far we have seen Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo's house, the Anthropology Museum, the National Palace, and several vibrant local markets. The food here is beyond amazing. I have discovered a new favorite fruit, guanabana, which one of the vendors in the market was kind enough to offer us. It's not the prettiest fruit in the world, but the white flesh inside tastes as sweet as candy. I plan to eat as much of this as possible while I'm here.

Right now I am running on fumes and must get some sleep. We leave tomorrow for Morelia, which is about 4 hours west of here, where we will spend about a month tutoring and exploring. The adventure continues!

Outside one of the markets a vendor steams sweet potatoes and plantains for some delicious nosh.

Today we went to the Catedral Metropolitano, and because of some killer family connections we got to actually go up into the organ area of the cathedral and explore a place where most tourists don't get to go. Amazing.

Awwwww

2011-06-11T15:48:00.001-04:00

I recently took some engagement pictures for my friends who are getting married this August. We went into the Old Port and walked around on a semi-gray (perfect for picture-taking!) day. They were so much fun and you can just see how much they love each other. So cute.

Their dog, Argus, also made an appearance and he was a riot, his tongue hanging out in most shots.

Heat!!!

2011-05-30T20:57:00.001-04:00

It's been a long holiday weekend and I'm not ready for it to end. The weather has actually been nice - sunny, warm... kinda like summer! Sitting on my bed with the windows open I almost feel like I'm back at the ashram in Varanasi. I think I somehow upped my heat tolerance there, because I say bring it on! Which is good, since I'll be going to Senegal next year, and the weather where I'm going was 108 last week. Yeah, baby. Dry heat, though, which will be better. Don't get me wrong, I'm probably gonna fry, but strangely I'm looking forward to experiencing the climate there. I realized that I've wanted to go to Africa for about 20 years now, so it's about time! One thing that I've found absolutely shocking, however, are the prices of flights within the continent, like basically the same as a round-trip from the U.S. there. There are alternate modes of transportation, of course, but overland travel there is a serious time commitment, not to mention having to dodge places you might want to avoid. So hmm... I'll have to plan any travel there wisely.

I leave for Mexico in a month as well, so it's going to be a busy summer. From Mexico I'll be flying to Phoenix for training for this program in Africa, then back to Maine to pack and prepare. Gearing up!!

Random people photo from Venice Beach in LA. I liked the lighting with the sun setting in the distance. That and I thought these guys had a cool look.

Viva California!

2011-04-23T21:34:00.001-04:00

Four days in California... total awesomeness. Having lived in San Fran for a while, I'm kind of partial to Northern California, but SoCal, when done right, can be pretty amazing as well. Day 1 - Magic Mountain. I hadn't been on a roller coaster in years and years, and these roller coasters are no joke. Upside down, getting whipped around, feet dangling... insane. But in that fun kind of way. Day 2 - A chill day exploring in the 'burbs and then dinner with my old roommate from San Fran in Manhattan Beach, which is simply gorgeous. Day 3 - Venice Beach (a.k.a. Muscle Beach) and then Santa Monica Pier and the Ferris Wheel. Day 4 - Horseback riding followed by a big plate of authentic Mexican food. Doesn't get much better.

I decided to practice taking people pictures at Venice Beach because it's known for its craziness there. It seemed like a pretty quiet day, but there was still a lot for the eye to see. What's amazing is the number of "pot doctors" along the strip. Go in and give them any reason why you need a prescription and they'll make it happen, "free gift" and all. Crazy. Muscle Beach itself was pretty slow, but we did find a big skate park which lent itself to some good shots, and of course the usual interesting street performers.

Roller-blading guitar-playing man. All day long...

I wish the skater were in focus, but I like how the arc of his hair frames the people in the background.

I just loved this guy's look.

Cute little skater kid who kept getting stuck in the pit and had to ask for help to get out. He will be awesome one day.

The beach! Beautiful.

An experiment

2011-04-18T17:00:00.002-04:00

So I'm sitting in the Portland Jetport right now and thought hmm, I wonder if I can update my blog from my Kindle. Turns out I can! How cool is this? My flight should take off in about an hour. In the meantime I can people-watch and revel in this pending trip euphoria. Seriously, there are a lot of cool feelings in life, but few give me the natural high I get from traveling. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not. As long as I can keep exploring el mundo, I guess it isn't! OK, back to my pre-flight activities. This is cool, but the mini keyboard is not. :)

Change of season

2011-04-17T20:10:00.000-04:00

Maine is trying really hard to find her Spring this year. It's crazy, we'll have a 60 degree day followed by a 35 degree day. I think we all prefer the former at this point. Today started out rainy and gray, and then turned quite lovely. I went for a walk on Mackworth Island with my friend Shayna, who is coming with me to Mexico this summer. The air smelled fresh and when the wind wasn't blowing it felt almost there. That said I'm still looking forward to being in LA where it's supposed to be in the 60s every day this week. Will I get to the beach? Not sure, but you can bet I'll be wearing my sandals!

Back in love

2011-04-10T22:27:00.000-04:00

... with my Nikon. I went to Portland Headlight today and rather than taking pictures of the lighthouse, I instead got a couple nice shots of some seagulls. I'm suddenly more interested in photographing living things, rather than inanimate objects. I have a personal goal of taking better people pictures this year because those are always the ones I enjoy looking at most.

I wonder what this bird is thinking as he stands on his rock looking out at the ocean...

I couldn't tell that these birds were snuggling until I looked at them through my zoom. So cute.

Gearing up

2011-04-04T18:22:00.001-04:00

I recently busted out my trusty old Nikon to take some pics. I've gotten lazy with having this little point-and-shoot on me all the time, but it just doesn't really compare. That said, the pics below were taken on it. Nevertheless, I'm starting to get reacquainted with my travel camera as I am planning some upcoming travels! I'll be heading out to LA this month (that's Los Angeles, not Lewiston-Auburn for the Mainers reading this). Going to visit a not-so-old but very dear friend and catching up with another at the same time. It will be nice to get a change of scene as I've pretty much been in Maine for about a year now. Yikes. Time does fly.

Summer will bring with it a trip to Mexico, my first ever if you don't count Tijuana and Cozumel, which I don't. And the Fall, if I'm lucky, will take me to Africa. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I've been getting my own vicarious travel fix through the blog of a friend of a friend, who frequently travels to Tibet: http://evdecleyre.wordpress.com/

Another friend recently returned from India and a brief stopover in Lebanon. Her blog was also fabulous: http://newarktomumbainonstop.blogspot.com/.

So here are a few recent pics from the great state of Maine... great despite the fact that we have an unfortunate choice of governor in office now.

This reminded me of my blogger friend Elspeth, who takes tons of pictures of hearts in nature. Here is her blog: http://www.nowiswowtoo.blogspot.com/.

Gabe, my parents' dog.

Paris needs no introduction.

The ghost of blogs past

2011-02-15T20:36:00.001-05:00

It seems as though blogs are like many things in life... they start out with a bang and then fizzle. I've considered shutting down the blog altogether, but I'm quite sure I will find my way around the world again in the not-too-distant future, so I'll probably want to keep up with it more at that point. In the meantime, here are a few pics from the last few months, all taken on my ultra-portable mini-camera which I bought for myself around my birthday.

Taken on the way to the airport early one morning.

Grace Potter rocks the State Theatre.

I know it's not good for the Earth, but I love the way gasoline looks on the pavement after it rains.

My nephews adore Paris. I love how they both look angelic in this pic.

I have no idea what these girls were doing on the prom with this huge bunch of balloons, but it was a really cool contrast on a very gray day.

I’m like “Waaah!”

2010-11-24T23:46:00.000-05:00

So it's safe to say the blog is really not a priority these days. Lots of good things are going on, but I seem to have hit another one of those introspective stages... taking time to reflect on the past and consider the future. I've also found myself enjoying the now more than I think I ever have. It's a pretty cool feeling, especially when you realize that's what you're doing.

A few weeks ago I asked my littlest nephew how he was doing and his answer, with eyes wide and hands up in the air, was "I'm like 'Waaah!'" What a great answer, using a word that doesn't really exist to describe a feeling that is beyond description. But I know exactly what he means. I've had some pretty "waaah" moments myself recently.

So, this is one of several coy that I saw in a pond on my recent trip to New York. I'm not sure if this is how it breathes or what, but I like to think it is saying "Waaah!"

Hello, Joe

2010-10-23T11:39:00.000-04:00

It's official... Trader Joe's is coming to Portland! The rumor mill has been churning for a while now and lots of people have petitioned for it... and alas, here it is. :) I drive by the storefront every night on my way home from work. I remember the day I saw the "Trader Joe's Now Hiring" banner outside... I nearly drove off the road in excitement. I realize this makes me a serious food nerd, but I got hooked on Joe's way back in my California days. It's a simple concept: a limited selection of really good food at really good prices. I think the best thing about it for me is the limited selection part. On the very, very rare occasion that I go into some megastore (Super Whatever, Such-and-such World), I usually end up wandering the aisles aimlessly, overwhelmed by the enormous selection, and more often than not leave empty-handed, having completely forgotten what I went there for in the first place. Kind of a soul-sucking experience, complete with harsh fluorescent lighting. TJ's has fluorescent lighting, too, but it's just not the same. So, welcome to Maine, Trader Joe's. We're glad you came. :)

Really, life? Really?

2010-10-19T14:05:00.001-04:00

I just learned yesterday that a former student of mine passed away. This follows the recent news that the daughter of a childhood friend also passed away this week… 21 and 5 years old. How is this OK? Answer: It’s not. I’m trying not to think about that “bad luck comes in 3s” expression. I guess from every experience, every beautiful or harsh reality, the important thing is to glean some sort of lesson from it. As my friend whose daughter died said to me, it’s a reminder that you should live your life the way you want to. Sounds cliché, I guess, but it’s true. You never know what’s gonna happen in life, good or bad, so why not take chances? Dream a little dream. And try to make that dream a reality. Maybe we do actually get more than one life, but that’s not really an excuse to take the path of least resistance in any one of them. If you subscribe to the philosophy of reincarnation at all, to that idea of birth and rebirth, it’s about learning, perfecting in a way… but I don’t think that “perfection” actually exists. Maybe we need to find perfection in imperfection. Works for me. Who isn’t flawed? What situation isn’t flawed? I think maybe the key is how you accept or work with that imperfection.

Since my recent departure from Facebook, I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship and connection. With every passing year I feel like I understand more and more how important it is to surround yourself with people who lift you up, and try to limit or eliminate the time you spend with people who bring you down. It’s funny how you can spend oodles of time with someone and still feel completely disconnected from them, as if life has just thrown you together against your will, whereas you can spend very little time with others and yet feel a genuine connection. What is that? Is it a past life thing? I will never know. I only know that's it's pretty cool when it happens.

I have no new photos, sadly. An upcoming trip to the Big Apple should take of this, but for now, an older photo. The thought of this experience always makes me smile. It was my first day out in New Delhi and was an introduction to the way things were going to be for me in India, and to some extent other parts of Asia as well. When this huge group of Indian tourists noticed me taking pictures they all started waving wildly and smiling and laughing... and then I ended up in their family photos. It was so confusing, but so amusing at the same time. Random connections with strangers, gotta love it.

Portland or busk

2010-10-12T14:06:00.001-04:00

Now that I'm no longer a teacher I don't have the usual holidays off, but I happened to have yesterday, Columbus Day, a.k.a. Indigenous Peoples Day. This is one counter-holiday that I think might actually take hold as most people aren't really down with the whole wiping out an entire culture thing. One of my yogi friends came up from New Hampshire and we kicked around Portland for the day. The weather was amazing, as it has been for several days now. We had Indian food for lunch and talked about all things India as she is going there in December for another yoga teacher training. I'm so excited for her. I'm sure it will be a mind blowing experience.

Here and there you'll come across somebody playing guitar and singing on the streets of Portland. This guy was really good. He had a beautiful voice and was singing his original tunes. He also looked like he was doing pretty well with tips, so that's awesome. I talked to him for about 30 seconds and you could immediately tell he was a really good soul. I love nice people.

One of the stops on our walking tour was Standard Bakery, a must-eat on any given day. I would put bakeries on my top ten list of the best things in life. These guys have the best baguettes this side of the Seine and pretty much everything they do is delicious.

Weddings, love, and really bad song lyrics

2010-10-04T22:08:00.001-04:00

So this weekend I went back to my roots, at least as far as my love for my fancy camera is concerned. I helped my friend Nicole shoot part of a wedding, the same friend I worked with almost two years ago when I started this blog. The wedding took place in this tiny chapel... located in a cemetery. Strange place for a wedding, I thought. But the chapel was cute and the ceremony was over in record time, which is good because I'm not a big fans of weddings.

I wasn't involved in the reception part of the ceremony, but I bet we can all put together the play list of songs, because there seems to be a limited rotation of wedding tunes. My friend who's currently working in catering can attest to this. Speaking of songs, I've been listening a little more closely to some of the music on the radio these days, especially the snippets I hear when I go into stores. And I've noticed that there are a lot of really bad lyrics out there. Tonight in Staples it was the Backstreet Boys, "I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did, as long as you love me." Hmm... those seem like pretty low standards. And the other day in the car the catchy tune by Crosby, Stills and Nash, "If you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with." This strikes me as really bad advice. But of course the underlying theme of nearly every song is love - finding it, losing it, reveling in it, reckoning with it.

A-MAZING

2010-09-30T23:02:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday I went to see Ani Difranco in what felt like somebody’s living room. Okay, it was a little bigger than that, but still astonishingly small for such a huge presence. It was just Ani and her guitar, and that’s really all you need. She is a one-woman powerhouse of musical and lyrical prowess. I’ve been getting more into her more recent stuff and she played a bunch of new songs. She writes songs the way most people breathe - effortlessly - although she did say she’s been putting more effort into writing her more political tunes. She’s still very much a feminist and an activist, but somehow not quite as aggressive as she was in her early days. I was thinking how strange it must be to have on record, literally, the things you went through when you were a teenager and in your 20s. How much we change. It’s amazing some people can stay together through all of it. That was another interesting point she made, in a joking way of course, but I think she made a good point, that monogamy should be illegal until about age 35 or so. Because you probably don’t really know anything until then… and maybe not even then in some cases! Anyway, I adore Ani, as do many, many other women. I think for so many of her fans she voices so eloquently the things we cannot or do not say.

So in addition to this amazing gift of a show, I also got to spend time with my dog and a great friend at my sister’s in-laws’ camp. It was this freakishly beautiful day the day after the show so we went for a nice hike in the morning, which Paris thoroughly enjoyed (see picture below), and then took our time getting back home. Lucky days.

Slip slidin' away

2010-09-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

Yet another kiddo birthday party has come and gone. Unbelievable. How is it that time seems to go by slowly at times and faster at other times? It's all in the perception, I guess. Like everything!

This guy is a mini version of me. Here he is playing party photographer.

I'm a sea without a shore

2010-09-09T00:06:00.000-04:00

Last night was the last concert of the L.L. Bean outdoor concert series. Joshua Radin played and it was awesome!! As I said to my friend, I cannot believe that I've spent seven out of the last eight summers in Maine and never gone to one of these free shows. Great music for free... what was I thinking?? His lyrics and melodies are simple, clean, and beautiful. He has such a sweet voice. The weather yesterday was perfect as well, hot during the day and cool at night. Fall is definitely on the way.

Fake Plastic Trees

2010-09-01T09:21:00.003-04:00

I've been listening to a lot of Radiohead lately. I have a lot of their music, but have only delved into a little bit of it, but that is changing. One thing I'm not delving more into these days is Facebook. Not at all, in fact. I should have quit it a long time ago, and in fact almost did once, but couldn't quite pull the trigger at the time. When you do finally make the move, they pull out all the cheesy stops and show you pictures of your Facebook "friends" with the message "So-and-so is going to miss you!" Oh really? Well, maybe we can communicate in another way, like e-mail, phone, or - imagine! - in person. And if we can't, honestly, are we really even friends? I'm sorry, but I don't have over 200 friends, even though my Facebook page says I do. Before I logged off I made sure I had the contact info of the people I really wanted to stay in touch with. A lot of them were people I met on my travels. Why? Because it's that whole kindred spirit thing, people who, like me, have wanderlust in their DNA.

So what to do now that I don't have Facebook to waste my time on? Well, two things: play more guitar and work on my Hindi. I really don't know if or when I will get back to India, but I think the language is really cool. And if I do make it back, it would probably help out a lot. I kind of feel like India defeated me the first time. The tough parts overwhelmed the beauty. But there's still so much to see and learn.

Random cloud photo from the other day.

More cowbell!

2010-08-25T14:05:00.000-04:00

Twice in the past week, at the same light on my way home, I've seen two cars with something saying "more cowbell" on the back. The first was a bumper sticker, and yesterday somebody had it on their license plate! What a riot... and is it a sign? Do I need more cowbell in the soundtrack to my life?? ;)

Yesterday I caught a free show at LL Bean's outdoor concert series, Ingrid Michaelson. I don't own any of her songs, but everything I've heard's been pretty good. And her show was pretty good, too. She did a great cover of Radiohead's "Creep" and had a few other nods to other artists here and there. One of the coolest things about the show was that there was a sign language interpreter on stage as well, which got the audience signing, as opposed to singing, along to some songs. Really neat.

Reminiscing

2010-08-21T15:32:00.003-04:00

It's been almost a year since I left for India and Southeast Asia. Sometimes it seems like forever ago. I've been thinking about the ashram a lot lately and wondering how everybody's doing there. It's a strange thing - you spend a short while somewhere and then leave, but everybody else is still there. That is home for them. It would be neat to go back and visit sometime. If I hadn't canceled my ticket I would be in India right now. I still feel like I will get back there at some point; there's still so much to explore and learn. For now, though, I'm content to be doing what I'm doing as I figure out the next step. There are still so many places I want to see, and I'm not down with the idea of doing it when I retire. The future is too uncertain. I've had little motivation to blog lately, which is not to say I haven't been learning and reflecting, just in a different way than I did on my trip. But most of this is just for me. Suffice it to say that I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do in the world, I'm just not quite sure yet how to do it. At the same time, I'm less worried about figuring that part out than I was before. Everything in its own time.

One of the coolest things I got to do while at the ashram was eat sugar cane straight off the stalk while we were visiting the village of one of the boys. Yum.

Montreal, baby

2010-08-03T09:29:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a 4-day weekend in Montreal... the city now ranks up there as one of my favorite places in the world. The culture, the food, the joie de vivre all around - irrésistible! I went to visit a friend, my old roommate from San Francisco who I hadn't seen in about 7 years. But time is irrelevant as we picked up right where we left off. It was a non-stop weekend of fun, friends, and fantastic music. On Sunday we went to the Osheaga festival and saw, among others, Devo, Weezer, and Snoop Dogg, who was ridiculously entertaining in his own ridiculousness. We sat up on the hill and it was awesome to see tens of thousands of people waving their hands and singing along. I would have had some amazing pictures, but they copped my camera at the entry because my zoom lens was not allowed in... at least not without a photo pass. Grrr.... so there's another reason to break down and buy a point-and-shoot as a backup.

I'm still on a travel high, one which started on Friday as I hit the road and I'm sure will continue for several days at least. I think I'm addicted to exploring and learning; few things get me as pumped as traveling, really. And even though I've been to Montreal several times, it's somehow different every time. As soon as you get there you're surrounded by dozens of languages and cultures - English, French, Greek, Portuguese. It's like a mini-U.N. Thanks to one of Cord's friends, even the visit up to Mont Royal was new. Apparently there are these raccoons that hang out there during the day and you can go right up to them and feed them by hand. What an experience to look a wild animal in the eye as he takes a piece of bread from your hand with his cute little paws. Communing with nature - nothin' like it.

The other thing that just blows me away is how different the vibe in Canada is from the U.S. We share a border, a language, some cultural norms, and yet Canadians are so much more chill than Americans. An example: I witnessed an accident that took place between a car and a man on a bike. After it occurred, the man got out of the car and as I was expecting a big shouting match or some scene to ensue, both the driver and the biker began apologizing to one another. ??? Maybe I'm wrong, but in the U.S. I would expect both parties to be a bit more aggressive, blaming each other, and at least one threatening to sue by the end of it all. Oh, the many things we could learn from our neighbor to the north.

So there you have it. Montreal rocks. Here are some pics...

On the way home I hit some rain, but it was all worth it when I saw this rainbow.

Old friends

2010-07-24T23:32:00.000-04:00

I spent the weekend up in Orono with my oldest and dearest friend, her husband, and their new baby boy, who I have to say is quite possibly the cutest baby ever born. Sooooo sweet. Add to his beauty the fact that he is the mellowest baby around; he can just chill in your arms for hours. Paris came with me to hang out with their two dogs, Stella and Cassidy. These pups have been friends for years as well. It was nice to get away. I've been working so much lately, which I've been enjoying, but it's always nice to take a break every once in a while as well.

Look at those baby blues!

BIG yawn.

Paris, looking pretty satisfied.

Bad blogger, bad blogger

2010-07-06T23:41:00.000-04:00

Nearly a month has passed since I bothered to post anything. School has ended and my other job has taken over in full force. But more than anything, I've been hunkering down and reflecting on my motivations for doing what I'm doing. Needless to say, it's been an exhausting exercise, but one that I've learned a lot from. Growth is painful I've decided.

I finally picked up my camera today after a long hiatus. Every day when I go to work I think, "There's some interesting stuff to photograph down here," on the Portland waterfront. And so finally, here it is. The working waterfront is a fascinating thing, but I think I like it best at the end of the day, when everything sits dormant, waiting for the next day to roll around.

What time is it??

2010-06-10T21:36:00.001-04:00

A rainbow appears after the storm on Sunday.

Today has been the weirdest day in terms of time. We lost power yesterday and I reset my clock with what I thought was the right time, according to my computer, but which turned out to be about 45 minutes slow. So my morning was all off. Then this afternoon my cell phone was saying it was about 25 minutes ahead of the actual time. What is going on??

And speaking of time, at this moment I ought to be doing some planning, but have less than zero motivation for doing so. It's that whole end-of-the-year thing. I think teachers check out even more than students, especially the burnt out ones. Three and a half days... I can do it!

Rain, rain, go away

2010-06-06T15:15:00.000-04:00

It feels like a rainy day today... maybe because it is. The skies just got super dark and it poured down rain. Bleh. Poor Paris is a wee bit bored. Right now she is being entertained by my mom, who is tossing her pieces of popcorn.

It's definitely a day for reading a good book or watching a movie in bed. The weathermen are particularly animated today because there's a chance of tornadoes, very odd for this part of the country. Hopefully it will be baseball weather again soon.

Five years

2010-05-29T21:50:00.001-04:00

Today was my oldest nephew's birthday party. He's five. There's nothing like measuring time by the age of a child. To think back to where you were five years ago, what has changed, what has not. Today was super fun - spending time with family, great food, and a game of baseball with my nephews. It's amazing to watch them grow and learn. I'm so grateful for them. :)

Acha!

2010-05-14T12:50:00.000-04:00

It's Friday! Who doesn't love Fridays? Maybe the same folks who don't love chocolate. Life is pretty groovy at the moment. I've booked my ticket back to India, leaving in July. It promises to be incredibly hot there at that time, perhaps hotter than I've ever experienced. My website is well underway, although it still needs some polishing to be sure. I've started talking to some local shops about carrying my stuff and so it feels like I'm finally getting some things done. More than anything, I'm having a great time and learning a lot. I have two new students from Africa and while I thought it would be a lot harder than just having two, in some ways it's easier. There are more opportunities to pair them together and they can all learn from one another.

Speaking of learning languages, I've completely fallen off the cliff on the Hindi front. I bought a book while I was in Thailand and studied some while I was traveling. When I get back there I'm hoping to sign up for some lessons. I should probably learn some Tibetan while I'm at it, since those are the folks I'm hoping to work with. So much to learn, so little time.

I kind of feel like I'm floating today. I know part of the reason is because it's Friday and I have a pretty fun weekend planned, but I think the overall reason is because I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing. I have a million part-time jobs (OK, only 4), my mind is stimulated, and the pen is in my hand so to speak. Of course, I'm fully prepared to get to India and end up veering in a completely different direction from what I'm envisioning, and that would be OK too. The point is, life is full of possibilities, and while that blank slate can be pretty scary sometimes, it's also pretty exciting.

So life is pretty "acha," which is one of the coolest and most versatile Hindi words ever. Depending on how you say it, it can mean, "good," "OK," "I see," or "really!" I'm sure there are other uses, these are just the contexts in which I have heard it said. And this is one of the funniest signs I saw on my trip there, using the word.

I don't know about you, but this massage doesn't look very "acha" to me! Maybe if you're in Cirque du Soleil.

The aftermath

2010-05-08T22:12:00.003-04:00

On Thursday the now-empty Jordan's meat factory caught on fire as they were in the process of demolishing it. There was a huge dark grey cloud of smoke pouring from the building. On that day I didn't have my camera with me, but I went back to Portland on Friday and took some pictures. It's weird to see a building reduced to twisted metal. The adjacent buildings were fortunate in that the wind was blowing in the opposite direction that day, saving them from destruction as well.

Mmmm...

2010-05-01T13:00:00.006-04:00

Even though it's gorgeous out today, I was determined to do some long-overdue baking. Currently the house smells like pumpkin chocolate chip scones. YUM. After that I'll be baking off some chocolate decadence cookies. Any takers??

The windows are open, the breeze is warm, and the birds are chirping... feels like summer!

Art in food

2010-04-29T20:52:00.004-04:00

Dinner tonight was a fabulous veggie stir-fry and for a change I included purple cabbage, mainly for color. When I sliced into the cabbage I was struck by the beautiful pattern inside, so of course I had to take a picture. There's art everywhere.

Getting artsy

2010-04-26T22:28:00.006-04:00

I've been working hard over the past several days to build a website. First I started with Dreamweaver, an awesome program to be sure, but I'm in waaaaay over my head there. So now I'm working with the templates that are on offer through my hosting service. They're pretty cool, but may be limiting. It's too early to tell. It's always about balance, isn't it? This theme keeps coming up constantly.

Yesterday I spent some time taking photos of a few of the products I hope to sell, with an eye toward using them on my website. They're not all necessarily a clear picture of what the item is, but more artsy, to convey a texture. It was fun. My roommate was kind enough to model a few things as well. Progress!

"There's no reason this can't work!"

2010-04-22T18:34:00.006-04:00

Now that's the kind of encouragement I'm talkin' about! This week I met with some business counselors to discuss a business idea I have, one which would allow me to travel and hopefully do some good in the process.

I got an hour and a half of free counseling through SCORE, a fantastic organization with branches all over the country, which offers free advice to those with potentially good ideas, but a lot of questions. My counselors were two lovely and very knowledgeable retired professionals who helped me to focus my thoughts and goals. I now have some concrete steps laid out and a more solid plan in place. Woohoo!

Vacation week is pretty much flying by and soon the stress of planning will return. Ugh. But I think the school year will be over before I know it and then it will be off on the next adventure. I love working multiple part-time jobs. It's way more interesting than having just one, in my opinion.

Again, using "old" photos, this one from Cambodia, on that day that I wandered for quite some time and ended up hitching a ride back into town. Somehow I think things always work out, at least I'd like to hope so.

Vacation!!

2010-04-17T07:59:00.004-04:00

I feel a little silly celebrating the fact that it's school vacation considering I just returned from a ridiculously extended one. And honestly, it's not a total vaca for me as I'll be working more hours at my other job. But it's great nonetheless because I don't have to do any planning. Hallelujah!

I haven't picked up my camera since Easter, also ridiculous, but probably a confirmation that I shouldn't be investing in the most expensive option out there as I upgrade. Restraint, restraint. :) A couple weeks ago I decided to try my hand again at applying to one of the stock photography sites online. How cool to make a couple bucks from my images. Well, I think my stuff has improved tremendously since my first attempt, but still they said no. Kind of disappointing, but yet another confirmation that this is just a hobby for me, not my bread and butter.

I'm hoping to spend some time this week doing a little research, both for a company I'm doing some writing for, and for myself. How best to fund a life of travel and adventure? Hmm...

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T19:52:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe it had been a year since I last saw my extended family, but it's true. So today's Easter gathering was especially sweet. We had an epic egg hunt for the kids, each one getting at least 20 eggs apiece, the weather was phenomenal, and we all had a great time, cooking and eating and catching up.

Overall it's been a fabulous weekend, in part due to the gorgeous weather. Yesterday I headed to Portsmouth for a yoga class at my old stomping grounds and afterward visited my favorite shoe store of all time, Footnotes. I bought myself a new pair of Birkenstock sandals to replace the ones I chucked back in Vietnam. And even though it's a brand new pair, putting them on felt like reconnecting with an old friend. Ahhhh... Birkenstocks, how I love thee.

Later that afternoon I did in fact reconnect with an old friend and we walked around Portland for a while. Gotta love the weekends!

Yeah, that's right. Check this egg out.

Stepping in

2010-04-02T20:58:00.012-04:00

I took a fabulous yoga class last night. If anyone lives in the Portland, Maine area I would highly recommend taking David's class on Thursday nights at the Yoga Exchange. He's an amazing teacher, both in the way he structures his classes and the language he uses. Last night's theme was fluidity and he talked about stepping into challenges, rather than resisting them. Even though life may not turn out the way you expected or hoped, you need to adapt to the way it is. We all know this, of course, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded.

The thought of the physical act of taking a step reminded me of the elephants I met in Thailand. How we were cautioned to keep an eye out for each other in case an elephant was behind someone, because despite their enormous size, you couldn't hear them when they walked. This is one of the reasons I love these gentle giants. That and the fact that they are highly intelligent. I hope I get to spend some more time with these beauties someday.

Bird in a cage

2010-03-30T19:30:00.006-04:00

Oh nooo!!! It's been over a week since I last blogged. Real life is taking over my blog life. ;) I've hardly taken any pictures since I got home. I feel like I've been running around from job to job, makin' some green, and thinking about other ways to make it. I spent part of the weekend printing, cutting, and mounting about 50 photos onto handmade cards, in hopes of selling them. They look pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Weather update: rain, rain, and more rain. BUT it's supposed to be gorgeous this weekend. Woohoo!

Fruit!

2010-03-21T16:29:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I went to the Maine Squeeze Juice Café for a smoothie fix - mango, coconut, blackberry, and cider. Mmm... how I love my fruit. I made one at home today as well. I got to talking with someone at a party last night and he was about to embark on a trip to Thailand to study Theravada Buddhism, and anytime I talk about Thailand I always talk about the food, especially the fruit. Nothing like it in the world.

Star fruit.

Another fave

2010-03-18T13:49:00.004-04:00

I've gone through and flagged all of my favorite images from my trip. This is one of them. It's from the puja in Varanasi, way back at the beginning of the whole adventure. I'm hoping to print some of my images on blank greeting cards and sell them in shops locally, and maybe online. Hmmm... one of many ideas floating around in my head.

The weather here has been gorgeous the past couple days. Yay! And I've actually been running here and there. I'm a big fan of the walk-run-walk-run method. That way you get a good workout but you don't feel like you're dying by the end. I guess I've just never run enough to experience that "runner's high" that people talk about. And to be honest, I'm not particularly motivated to get to that point. As long as I'm in decent shape and doing something good for my heart, that's enough for me. I had contemplated running a 5K with my friend, but I think I've decided against that. I'm just not really that competitive, even with myself. That's true for me with yoga as well. When I started 7 years ago I was determined to eventually be able to do all of the "hard" poses, but I've gotten over that. That's not what it's about at all. It would be nearly impossible to describe what it is about, because I think it's different for everyone. Suffice it to say that balance plays a big part, and I don't mean the kind where you can stand on one foot and contort the rest of your body into something resembling an eagle. More like the kind that applies to life in general.

Memory lane

2010-03-09T13:30:00.003-05:00

I just imported all of my photos, over 3,000 of them, into my Mac. It was an interesting experience to watch them flip through a couple seconds at a time, like reliving my trip in a matter of minutes, and remembering how I was feeling at the time.

They look so much different, and in some cases better, on my Mac than they did on my HP Mini. I guess it's because of the bigger screen and the better resolution. Some photos that looked in focus on the HP are clearly not on the Mac. I've been flagging the ones I like best, some of which I hope to sell in the form of greeting cards, and the one below jumped out at me for some reason. I think the contrast could be better, but I like the composition. Unfortunately I only shot in JPEG and not RAW, but honestly I didn't want to take up all that space with RAW files. Maybe next time. I've also been scoping out Craigslist looking for better Nikon DSLR models because I've totally outgrown the D40. I also dream of a luscious telephoto lens. We shall see. I am only working part-time, after all!! Maybe these things will fall off a delivery truck that I happen to be driving behind. ;)

Food prep at the Sikh temple in Delhi.

Woohoo!

2010-02-25T00:34:00.003-05:00

I am HOME!! And I should be sleeping, considering I only got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours or so. But at the moment I'm pretty wired. Ah, jet lag! All my flights took off and landed without a hitch. There was no overbooking and in fact there were plenty of free spaces in both business and first class. First class is particularly sweet on international flights because you can actually turn the seat into a BED! I wish they held some random lottery for these extra spaces: "The following passengers are being upgraded to first class for this flight: seat 17A, 35C, etc. etc." How sweet would that be? But I guess you don't want to upset the very high-paying customers up there already or upset the folks who wouldn't get chosen.

I'm not sure if I'm all that coherent right now, so I guess I'll try to get some sleep. Just a quick note to say that I'm soooo happy to be home. The sight of Dunkin' Donuts at the airport brought a grin to my face. And I'm currently falling in love all over again with my MacBook. Was the screen always this ginormous?? Also, how exciting is it to be able to brush your teeth with the tap water... better yet, you can even drink it! :D

And we're off!

2010-02-23T00:45:00.004-05:00

... sort of. My plane leaves around midnight tonight. I just checked out of my hotel and now have about 6 hours to kill until the taxi picks me up. Hmm... what to do? I think it will involve a lot of sitting around in cafés and eating. If this were a career option I think I'd be a millionaire at it. Speaking of being a millionaire, I wonder how it will feel when I see my bank account balance drop from seven figures to three. Dong is a silly currency, but you definitely feel rich playing with it.

So the plan is Hanoi to Seoul, Seoul to New York, New York to Boston. Part of me is hoping they'll need volunteers to give up their seats on an overbooked plane to NY for a fabulous flight voucher worth big bucks, but those kinds of things never seem to happen to me. We'll see. If you're still reading this blog after all this time, thank you first of all, but more importantly see you soon!!

In your face

2010-02-22T03:58:00.004-05:00

That's how Vietnam is. If there were an award for overuse of the horn, it would definitely go to this country. It even beats out India I would say, and that is no small feat. I would love to see the authorities attempt to institute a no honking policy here... people would have no idea what to do with themselves. I've done a considerable amount of mumbling to myself here, things like, "Yeah buddy, I hear ya" and, "Dude, what is your @$! problem?" This of course accomplishes nothing, but makes me feel mildly better about getting beeped at constantly when I'm crossing the street.

The other way Vietnam is in your face is in the food markets. Produce I can handle, but the meat and seafood sections are just too much. If I were a hardcore carnivore it wouldn't be a problem, but as someone who flirts heavily with vegetarianism it is stomach-turning. Today a fish flopped out of its little bucket as I was walking by, a cry for help I believe. And then there were these three turtles, destined shortly for turtle soup I imagine, and one of them was craning its neck to reach the water that the fish were in below. So sad. I'm easily reminded of the first time I went veg, after spending a year in France and seeing the flagrant displays of dead animals in the markets there.

I couldn't bring myself to take any pictures of these animals on death row, so I focused on the spice section instead.

Ah, Vietnam's famous weasel coffee. There are other countries with variations on this theme, but it goes something like this: weasel eats coffee beans, stomach acids go to work on them, weasel passes coffee beans, harvesters pick them up and roast and grind them, then sell them to the coffee-loving public. Mmm...

Au revoir, les sandales

2010-02-21T07:09:00.003-05:00

It's time to bid farewell to my trusty sandals, my vegan Birkenstocks. I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of these puppies, but they've seen far too many miles and way too many squat toilets to merit a place in my pack for the flight home. I've officially entered Lazy Tourist mode, just biding my time in Hanoi until my flight on Tuesday night. I actually dig this city, though; I'm starting to have my favorite "spots," like the vegetarian restaurant down the street from my hotel and the frozen yogurt shop around the corner. Overall I'm not really keen on Vietnam, but Hanoi is pretty cool. I definitely notice the pollution here more than Bangkok, though. My eyes are a bit irritated and I'm fighting a cold, although this is probably not related. In that sense I don't feel bad being lazy; I need my energy for my 30 hours of travel on Tuesday into Wednesday.

One thing I did accomplish today was getting a haircut, just a trim around the ears. And I did it in a little shop despite the fact that the hairdresser didn't really speak English. I was able to mime what I wanted, covering the top of my head protectively while saying khong (no), then pointing to the area around my ears and making the universal sign for "a little bit". It's amazing what you can accomplish with very little language. On that note, I have managed to understand a bit more Vietnamese in my time here, either from repetition or necessity. It's not as bad as it seemed at first, although the tones still pose a great challenge.

Trip Superlatives

2010-02-20T00:19:00.003-05:00

As I near the end of my trip, it seems appropriate to compile a list of the best, and in some cases the worst, of all the places I've been to. Here goes:

Best food: Thailand
Best coffee: Vietnam
Best tea: hot - India, iced - Thailand
Best public transportation: Thailand
Worst public transportation: Vietnam
Hardest stares: India
Easiest smiles: Cambodia
Hardest stares that you can turn into smiles: Vietnam
Cleanest city: Luang Prabang, Laos
Dirtiest city: Varanasi, India
Best market: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Best islands: Thailand
Best temple: Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Cutest kids: All of them
Cheapest place to travel: India
Most expensive place to travel: Thailand
Places I didn’t go, but wished I had: Pai, Thailand, the south of India, and Nepal
Number of vaccinations I got before the trip: 6
Number of times I got sick from something I ate or drank: 3
Number of strange diseases I worried about getting: multiple
Number of strange diseases I actually got: none, that I know of
Benefit of worry: none
The one thing I didn’t pack but wished I had: pocket knife
Strangest currency: Vietnamese, which has two plastic cutouts. Also called the dong.
Easiest language to learn: Hindi
Hardest language to learn: Vietnamese
Language that most resembles choking when spoken: Khmer
Highlights of the trip: seeing the Dalai Lama in India and hanging out with elephants in Thailand

It's certainly been an adventure!

Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk

2010-02-19T04:02:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure how many miles my feet have clocked today, but they are sore and I am exhausted. I read about this great sounding Lebanese restaurant in my guidebook so I decided to hoof it over to the neighborhood where it's located. I checked out the map and thought, OK, so it's a little far, but I can do it. Well, a little far turned out to be quite far in reality and then when I finally got there, the place wasn't even open! The other place listed in the area that sounded interesting as well didn't seem to exist. Thanks, Lonely Planet, thanks a lot. Fortunately there are a couple of gourmet markets in the same vicinity so, starving at this point, I bought supplies to make myself a nice little European picnic - bread, olives, and cheese. Mmm. I'm currently in the other gourmet market across the street enjoying a latte before I figure out how to get back to my hotel. I'm thinking taxi.

I visited the Temple of Literature today. It was packed, mostly with Asian tourists on holiday for the new year. I had a few India flashbacks as a couple of tourists wanted to take their picture with me, exotic white girl that I am. Lots of people were buying Chinese art, either sayings or their names written in Chinese characters, I'm not sure. I walked by the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which I've heard is cool, but I'm not sure I'll be going in. I've been to Lenin's in Moscow and really, once you've seen one embalmed communist leader haven't you seen them all?

This gourmet market is co-owned by a guy from Chicago, with whom I just chatted briefly. It's always interesting the people you meet while traveling, either ex-pats or fellow travelers themselves. There are lots of folks like me who quit their jobs to travel, others on vacation, others living and working abroad. Yesterday I met a couple of guys in the post office, one British, one American. I had a chance to talk to the American as he had to put a series of three stamps on each of his sixteen cards, so having time I decided to help out. This guy definitely ranks as one of the most interesting travel stories I've heard on this trip. He's 30 years old, lives in Chicago, and is an ER doctor. But not in Chicago... in North Dakota. He spends two weeks straight working in ND and then gets six weeks off back in Chicago, except he doesn't stay in Chicago. He travels. If anyone's got it figured out, it would have to be this guy, at least in terms of working the least amount of time for the most amount of money. Nice.

An artist puts the finishing touches on his piece.

They weren't kidding about the traffic in Hanoi. You could literally grow old waiting for a good time to cross, so you just take a deep breath, step out into the road and make your way across, slowly and carefully. If you're lucky, a Vietnamese person will also be crossing and you just walk next to them!

Brrr!

2010-02-17T23:25:00.006-05:00

I just got to Hanoi this morning and it is chilly... and I love it! I would much rather put on extra clothes than walk around sweating all day. The overnight bus arrived around 5:30 a.m. when it was still pitch-black out and very few things were open. The bus ride itself was an adventure, as most travel in Vietnam has been. I'd taken sleeper buses before, but on this one I got stuck in the way back, which instead of individual bunks is a row of five, and I somehow ended up in the middle. I had two Poles to my left and two Brits to my right, all lovely people to be sure, but there are very few people in the world I enjoy sleeping next to, let alone limbs touching. My only solace was that this was the last bus ride of my long and winding journey. I've decided to stay in Hanoi until Tuesday, rather than overnight it to Sapa or bus it to Halong Bay. I'm sure they're both worth seeing, I've just totally run out of steam.

I'd heard from fellow travelers that two days in Hanoi was enough. They may be right, but so far I'm feelin' like this city was made for me, or at least made for my favorite pastime, which is wandering through narrow and charming backstreets. The Old Quarter seems like an endless maze of these. I think traffic in Hanoi can be pretty bad as well, but it's still rather sleepy here due to Tet. Perfect. All I plan to do over these next few days is wander, eat, maybe catch a movie or two, get a haircut (if I can find a hairdresser who speaks adequate English or French), and get a facial.

I'm still amazed by how much food business is conducted at ground-level. Southeast Asia has a ways to go in terms of food and just general sanitation.

Fish for sale.

Sweet relief

2010-02-15T07:12:00.004-05:00

I arrived in Hue around noon today and learned that the weather here is notoriously bad compared to the rest of Vietnam. Bad is relative, however, as I am totally relishing the cooler temps. It was actually misty today and the sun was hidden behind the clouds as I walked around town. There's a big citadel here and various buildings around it to check out. There's also a supermarket that I'm looking forward to exploring... only I would include a supermarket on the list of must-sees. It was a pretty slow day here as a lot of businesses are still closed for Tet, but one of my favorite sights of the day was these two novice monks on a bicycle. Cute.

Chúc mừng năm mới!

2010-02-14T01:15:00.006-05:00

In other words, Happy New Year! Or if you're anywhere other than Asia, Happy Valentine's Day. Tomorrow I head out of Hoi An for Hue, about 4 hours north, where I'll probably spend a couple days before heading to Hanoi. The weather in Hanoi looks to be cooler, in the 60s, and rainy, which is fine by me. Bring it on!

A woman buys goodies for Tet.

Taking it easy

2010-02-11T23:16:00.006-05:00

The trick to not completely sweating to death here seems to be to wait until the late afternoon to do anything outdoors. My approach has been to emerge from the hotel only for breakfast and lunch and then wait until dinner to do any extensive amount of walking. I don't know how anybody lives in this kind of climate, and the funny thing is I think this weather is still pretty mild compared to other times of the year. The crazy thing is some of the locals dress in a way that would suggest it's actually cool here - long pants, long-sleeve shirts, sweaters even! Some women in particular attempt to cover up completely, having nothing to do with the weather but rather in an effort to keep their skin as shielded from the sun as possible. I saw a girl on a motorbike the other day with a helmet, face mask, gloves, full-length clothing, and sandals with socks. She was serious! Apparently lighter skin is highly prized here. In fact, it's nearly impossible to buy any kind of skin cream that doesn't have a whitening agent in it, which is pretty funny considering most of us Westerners come to places like this specifically for the sun.

Pics from Hoi An

2010-02-11T02:24:00.006-05:00

Tet is also the time in Vietnam when everything gets cleaned from top to bottom, kind of like our spring cleaning. One shop had put all its furniture out on the sidewalk while they cleaned, including their mirror. In the reflection is the tree above and some of the holiday street decorations.

Dragon fruit, probably the coolest looking fruit around. The inside is white, similar in texture to watermelon, and full of little black seeds. It's kind of flavorless, but definitely visually appealing.

Lamps for sale.

A step up

2010-02-10T01:34:00.005-05:00

I'm now in Hoi An, about halfway up the coast of Vietnam, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and therefore a very put together town. This place is by far the most charming little place I've seen yet in Vietnam, so I think I'll be riding out Tet here. Unfortunately I think all of the tailor shops close down tomorrow for at least four days, which means I likely won't be able to get any clothes made, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it means I won't be spending the money. And frankly the deals aren't that fantastic. It's incredible how many tailors there are here, though. Much like the malls in Bangkok, I have no idea how all of these places stay in business.

I'm now rooming with another American, Lizz, whom I met in Dalat. She's from "the other Portland," Oregon, and is a university student who's been studying international development and Vietnamese. We're staying at what is probably the cheapest place in Hoi An, technically part of the hosteling network, paying $12 a night for a room with a fan and cable TV. Not bad. The weather here is pretty darn hot and humid, which is a change from the much cooler Dalat. As they say, "It isn't the heat, it's the humidity," and Hoi An has plenty of that, meaning that you're pretty much sweating as soon as you step out of the shower. I think when I get home I'm gonna do some sort of detox and spa treatment to try and wash away all the ill effects of this trip.

Speaking of which, I had plenty of time during the 20-hour bus journey from Dalat to Hoi An to think about the things I'm most looking forward to when I return. The countdown has begun. In no particular order, here they are:

1- Whole grains. White rice and white bread reign supreme over here. Utterly lacking in nutritional value and just not good for your system.

2 - Grocery stores. I get the whole argument of specialized shops over the big box stores, but there's no matching the convenience, abundance, and quality of products available at American grocery stores.

3 - Toilet paper. No longer will I have to carry around a roll of TP or a package of tissues with me everywhere I go. That's always the great mystery when traveling through Asia - what kind of toilet will it be (usually a squat toilet) and will there be toilet paper (usually no).

4 - Going to the movies. I'm kind of a movie junkie and I've totally missed watching movies. I haven't been to one since I saw New Moon in Bangkok. On the bus to Dalat the other day they showed the movie 2012. For a moment I was completely transported and almost forgot where I was. Unforunately the movie was dubbed in Vietnamese. Dubbing itself is bad enough, but this one was dubbed entirely by one woman. Oddly enough they also didn't completely record over the original soundtrack, so I was able to strain to hear the English. Just not the same, though.

There's more, of course, but those are the big ones. :)

On the bus ride from Dalat to Nha Trang.

One of the shops in Hoi An.

I love all the mannequins and mannequin parts everywhere here.

Standards of cleanliness

2010-02-08T21:50:00.003-05:00

A little tale about food hygiene, or how much do I miss America right now? I came to this little café this morning before leaving on my epic journey to Hoi An and ordered a white coffee and an omlette. The omlette was lookin' might fine, until I started cutting it and noticed a hair in it. Ironically I had just been discussing food hygiene with some fellow travelers the other day and they said their standards have really lowered on this trip; on more than one occasion they've eaten food even if they found a hair in it. Sometimes I can let it go, but for some reason I just couldn't this time. Do I say anything? Do I not say anything? I decided to flag down the manager and pointed it out to her. She smiled apologetically, removed the hair, and said, "sorry," and then walked away. I guess I was supposed to eat the omlette anyway, but I just couldn't do it. A small crowd of employees started gathering near the bar and assessing the situation from afar. When they realized I wasn't going to eat the thing, they actually brought me a new one. So nice! But... this one was undercooked. I tell you, if it's not one thing it's another here. Haha. Well, I ate around the uncooked parts, and that was the best I could do. I do think that sometimes America is an oversanitized culture, but I'll take that over this anyday.

Tet is coming

2010-02-07T20:19:00.005-05:00

So this will be interesting, being in Vietnam during Tet, which is the New Year holiday. Prices for just about everything increase, as I just discovered when buying my bus ticket from here to Hoi An. So it may be that I find someplace I like and hunker down, as apparently some hotels even close around this time. (Again, different approach to customer service.) I keep waiting to find that place here that I really like. So far I've been pretty underwhelmed. To be fair, this is also likely due to the fact that I'm pretty much over the whole travel thing, which I guess is good; get it out of my system. Not that I never want to travel again, just not for such an extended period of time without a home base. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think I'm ready for some routine. A regular eating schedule, exercise, etc. I guess this is the ideal situation, really. I would hate to be going home feeling sad about it and like I "missed" something over here. I'm definitely ready... now I just need to get through two more weeks!

Dalat isn't a bad place to kill some time. It's a quirky town and it's got a lively market. It's a huge market, actually, where you can buy clothes, shoes, toiletries, produce, meat, dried fruit (I've never seen such an enormous collection of dried fruit), fabric, flowers, and currently a wide selection of gifts to celebrate the new year. I learned from a fellow traveler that everybody celebrates their birthday on Tet as well, which is an interesting way to do it. Gifts for this holiday seem to be mostly candy, cards, and flowers. On the bus ride here they were showing some Vietnamese variety show in celebration of the holiday. It was... entertaining.

Flowers galore.

Watermelon art. Chuc Mung Nam Moi = Happy New Year. It's going to be the Year of the Tiger.

Happy BIrthday, Paris!!!

2010-02-07T02:56:00.004-05:00

Today Paris turns 5! So in honor of that I'm posting a picture of her from last winter. I can't wait to see her in a couple weeks and get caught up on big, wet, slobbery kisses. :D

Where am I?

2010-02-06T21:58:00.004-05:00

I left my hotel yesterday morning around 8 a.m. with some bad info from a French woman who told me the bus station was about a 5-10 minute walk from there. 30-40 minutes later, with all my gear on and sweating like a sow, I got there. Begin the chaos. When you get to bus stations in Vietnam, the touts swarm, each one trying to figure out where you're going and get you to use their bus service. I was hoping to go to Ben Tre, the little town where they make the coconut candy, but had a hard time finding a bus that went directly there, so I bought a ticket to My Tho, a town about 30 kilometers from Ben Tre. Well... I ended up in Ho Chi Minh City. I had sort of imagined this scenario in my head and told myself if this happened I would just continue on to Dalat. Well, there were no obvious signs saying where I was and I couldn't find anyone who spoke enough English, or understood my sign language of pointing to my map, my feet, and the surrounding city with a look of question on my face. They all knew I wanted to go to Ben Tre, but the ticket cost the same as the price I had just paid, which didn't seem right. So finally one of the guards came up and said, "Vous parlez français, oui?" Oui, fortunately, but it turned out he also spoke pretty good English. In any case, we established that I was in HCMC and that now I wanted to get to Dalat. But buses to Dalat leave from the south station, and I was at the north station. He told me which bus I needed to catch and I was on my way. It was about a 40-minute ride to the other station, during which I met an Australian-Vietnamese guy who spoke perfect English.

There are a lot of French-speaking tourists traveling through Asia. I'm not sure what it is, but I've been mistaken for one on several occasions. Maybe it's the short hair. I guess I don't look like a typical American tourist, which is fine by me. And I guess I should start trying to use French first as opposed to English because I haven't really had much luck finding many Vietnamese people who speak English. In any case, I'm here, having arrived close to midnight last night. I found a great hotel room and I'm hoping to park it here for a few days, until I'm ready for the next leg of the journey, which promises to be even longer.

River livin'

2010-02-05T02:37:00.003-05:00

One of the biggest draws for tourists to the Mekong Delta is a visit to the floating markets. Having visited some in Thailand that turned out to be geared solely for tourists, I was hesitant to do another such tour here. However, I’m so glad I did! The markets here are about as authentic as you can get. There were very few tourists floating about and it really felt like you were getting a peek into the daily lives of the locals. Laundry hanging out to dry, produce exchanging hands, all as the sun was rising.

We spent about 8 hours on the river, setting out at 5:30 a.m., with a few stops to check out some rice paddies and have lunch. Our boat driver was kind enough to offer us plenty of fresh fruit along the way - pineapple, papaya, and pomelo. I shared the ride with a Dutch couple who are three months into their trip. Like me, they bought a one-way ticket and aren't quite sure when they'll return home. We also met a woman from England who's been traveling for 9 1/2 months... solo. Impressive. Traveling alone is cool, but I don't think I could do it for that long. I wasn't sure if I'd feel sad about ending my trip, but as the end nears I'm definitely getting more and more excited to go home. It's time.

Our boat driver multi-tasks - steering the boat and making art out of palm fronds.

This is how people advertise what they're selling - they hang one of each of the fruits and vegetables they have from a pole on their boat.

Recovery

2010-02-04T01:34:00.005-05:00

After a good night’s sleep I woke up feeling quite a bit better. I finally emerged from my room around 10 a.m. and made my way to the riverfront, where there are many hotels and restaurants. I wandered for a bit, taking some photos, and ended up at Cappuccino, a little restaurant that caters to tourists. Sometimes I like the local restaurants, but not feeling 100% I really appreciate more familiar foods. I think I’ll be returning there for dinner… pasta! The last time I had pasta was at the ashram in India, made by my Italian friends there.

Feeling under the weather was definitely affecting my outlook on Vietnam. I even explored the option of flying home sooner, but the ticket prices are now out of control. Apparently I got the last good deal. Anyway, I have about 2 ½ weeks to go and I think that’ll be just about right. There’s a lot of ground to cover; Vietnam's a pretty big country if you travel south to north. I think I have my itinerary more or less mapped out. From here I’ll go to Dalat, Hoi An, Hue, Sapa, and Hanoi. This is subject to change if I get any hot tips from fellow travelers along the way. I’m hoping to only pass through Ho Chi Minh City. It sounds like a crazy place and I don’t think I’ll be missing anything particularly charming by skipping it.

Vietnam’s a really interesting place. In some ways it’s the quintessential Asia, at least what I think of when I think of Asia. There’s no shortage of people walking around in those cone-shaped hats, which seem really well designed in terms of sun protection, and the place just feels authentic. There’s a seamless blend of ancient and modern, people going about their daily business as usual while signs of modernity appear as well. Today I was struck by the rap lyrics I heard coming out of one of the cafés downtown (and I quote, "Shake that ass, girl") while folks were buying their flowers and bonsai trees at the market.

As I've mentioned before, the parallels between Vietnam and India are many, so it seems appropriate that I'm ending my trip here. Both places are culturally fascinating, but in general they don't try too hard to impress the tourists. If they could speak, these countries might say, "Yeah, I'm awesome, and if you can get past the rough exterior you might find that you love me." Thailand on the other hand has the whole tourism thing down, Laos isn't far behind, and Cambodia clearly relies on it for its livelihood, almost bending over backwards to please. I think maybe that's why tourists who've been to these other places are a little turned off by Vietnam; there just isn't quite the same level of customer service. On a couple of occasions, in fact, I'm pretty sure that some of the locals have laughed at me when I've tried to ask for help. That probably sounds paranoid, but if you were there I think you would have agreed. It's a good thing I was a teacher for so many years as it gave me a pretty thick skin.

Even though I won't be going to Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, there's really no escaping the man. Here's a statue of him downtown in Can Tho.

And the award for Worst Public Transportation goes to…

2010-02-03T04:53:00.003-05:00

… Vietnam! I have no photos today, but I think I can paint you a pretty good picture of the nightmare/farce that was my trip from Phu Quoc island to Rach Gia and then on to Can Tho. We were picked up (we being myself and two Aussie girls staying at the same place) at 6:45 this morning and taken to the Superdong (it‘s okay to laugh), the boat that would take us back to the mainland in 2 ½ hours. The ride was a little rough, but not bad really. We got free water again and I was highly entertained by a group of Vietnamese kids sitting near me who kept saying, “Hello! What’s your name?” or, “Hello! Sit down,” repeating what they must hear in school. Very cute. Once we got off the boat is when the nightmare began. We were swarmed by motorbike taxi drivers (“Where you go?”) claiming to be able to take us to the bus station for 150,000 dong, which is like $8. I almost fell for it, but then spotted what looked like an official building and it turns out this was where they sold tickets for the bus, and transported you to the bus station at no extra cost. The price of the ticket? 60,000 dong. Big difference. The Aussie girls went for the motorbike scam and were basically driven around the block and dropped off nowhere near the bus station. Hmm… they got away with just paying a small fee for this “service”.

So after we’re shuttled to the bus station we get onto the “bus,” again another mini-van, where we’re packed in nice and tight. Well, I wasn’t feeling that great to begin with (having Googled sandflies I’m a little paranoid currently that I may have contracted some horrible parasitic infection) and so for the first five minutes I’m sweating buckets in the backseat, trying to hold it together when I spot a little black bag in the seatback pocket. I reach over to get it as nonchalantly as possible and moments later it’s full of the contents of my stomach, which fortunately wasn’t much. Anyway, I feel better immediately, of course, and this feeling lasts for most of the rest of the three-hour journey. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one to fall victim to the ridiculously bumpy back-and-forth of the mini-van. A woman in the seat in front of me starting throwing up just minutes later… and continued to throw up the entire ride. When I threw up I didn’t make a sound. This poor woman was literally retching, which leads me to believe that maybe she didn’t just have motion sickness. Lovely. I felt bad for her, but at the same time I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation - stuck in a van with nowhere to go, forced to listen to this for hours. (My counterfeit iPod from Bangkok also died, by the way, so I had no way to drown it out.) And if that weren’t bad enough, dude in the backseat with me decides that now would be a good time to smoke a cigarette. Hello?!? We’re in a VAN, man, small enclosed space? Three people are sick (a small child had joined the ranks at that point), airflow is limited, and this guy decides to light up. Awesome. I started coughing, partially because it made me cough, and partially to let him know I was not happy about his decision. He looked over at me and said, “Sorry, ma’am,” which really I’m not sure what the point of that was. Sorry but I’m going to keep smoking this cigarette, and in fact smoke another one shortly after it, despite the fact that you’re looking a little yellowish right now? Um, OK. One of the Aussie girls gave him a nice death look when he lit up a second time, but to no avail.

Now I'm in a hotel room in Can Tho, one that has AC and cable TV. My Aussie companions were kind enough to go out and get some crackers for me, so I just ate a bunch of those and drank some water. We'll see how that goes. I could be feeling sick because of the sandflies, because I got too much sun, because the heat is getting to me, or maybe even because of something I ate. Who knows? Regardless, this day ranks as one of the lowlights of the trip, for sure. Not every day can be wonderful, of course, and if nothing else, at least it makes for an interesting story.

Deceptively calm

2010-02-02T03:13:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was so nice, lying on the beach, swimming in the Gulf of Thailand... so peaceful. Even more peaceful because I walked a little ways away from where all the resorts are to find my own little quiet patch of sand. I threw down my beach towel and sunbathed for about an hour. It was so perfect until later that day when I realized I hadn't been alone after all... nope, I had many visitors in fact, in the form of sand fleas. "What are those bumps on the back of my arm?" I thought as I toweled off from my shower... "and my legs?" Basically every part of my body that didn't fit on the little beach towel now has a nice collection of bites, some big, some small. I guess there’s a reason all the resorts provide beach chairs here!

Not because of this, but I'm done with Phu Quoc island. There's a limit to how tan I can get and frankly lying in the sun is kind of boring. I know this sounds so ungrateful to all my friends and family freezing their butts off back in Maine, but I'm sorry, it's just too hot here. You don't even have to move and you're sweating. Tomorrow I'll head back to the mainland and work my way north until I find some cooler temps.

I have a really high tolerance for pain and bug bites, but it sure would be nice to scratch like this dog is doing!

Another strenuous day

2010-02-01T03:19:00.004-05:00

Today was tough. After waking up and taking a shower, I decided to catch a motorbike taxi into town. Having sat on my sunglasses in Cambodia, I decided I really needed another pair. They're indispensable for travel, not just for the sun, but even more so to protect your eyes while you're riding around on said motorbike taxis. After a much more pleasant ride back to my hotel, I slathered on the sunscreen and went out to fortify my tan for an hour. Today was not tough, obviously. Today was dreamy. I am filing away this day, and the many others I've had like it on this trip, under "happy place" so that I can return to it in my mind when I'm cursing the Maine winter a month from now.

I stocked up on some fresh fruit at the local market - mini bananas, oranges, and rambutan. Yummy. The market here is bustling, with loads of produce, meat, and clothing for sale. And like the rest of Vietnam, at least what I've seen so far, this place seems to be hovering somewhere between falling apart at the seams and on the verge of serious development. It's a strange contrast and there's a fair amount of rubble almost everywhere you look. More than other markets I've seen in Asia as well, Vietnam seems to have an inordinate number of fish products. Phu Quoc island, in fact, is the country's biggest producer of fish sauce. You can even visit the factory, although I think I'll pass on that one. In any case, because of all the fish there's a distinct aroma as you roam around the market. On my trip to Ha Tien the other day, when we stopped to switch vans again, the air smelled like coffee, leading me to believe that I was in one of the coffee-growing regions. I suppose you can get used to the smell of fish, but I'd much rather live where they grow coffee.

A very crowded harbor.

A Vietnamese woman prepares fish for sale. Pretty much all food prep is done on the ground here, at least in the markets.

Island paradise

2010-01-31T04:41:00.004-05:00

After a very choppy two-hour boat ride off the coast of Vietnam, I arrived on Phu Quoc island, a.k.a. paradise. It's different from the Thai islands, but from first appearances it looks beautiful. We were transported in a mini-van from the pier... the world's longest pier, it seemed, although it had to be because the water was so shallow there's no way the boats could get any closer to shore. Also, the waters on either side were crawling with jellyfish. Yikes! I inquired at my resort whether the jellyfish are also on this side of the island and they said no. Phew! The owners were very happy when they learned I was American, which was nice. Once again, I'd say the majority of tourists here are European. Anyway, everywhere in Vietnam they take your passport at the reception and keep it until you leave. Apparently they have to take them down to the local police station every night so the authorities know who is where. Interesting.

A group of us - 2 Brits, 4 French, and myself - were transported from one side of the island to the other and the driver was kind enough to stop at the various resorts to find out who had rooms. After the third full one, we all started to get a little nervous. Technically it's still high season, plus Tet is coming up, so the Vietnamese also vacation here. Fortunately we found a place at a pretty reasonable price, reasonable for an island that is. My room is bright and airy, with a fan and a cold shower, and is just steps from the beach. For this location, I can deal with the lack of AC and hot water. Plus, there seems to be a very nice sea breeze here.

First order of business: find food. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was about 4 in the afternoon, so I set out for the restaurant we passed that said "free wifi". Turns out it's kind of an English pub, owned by an English guy and his Vietnamese wife. The Australian Open final between Federer and Murray is on, so the place is packed. Afer a few days of Vietnamese-only restaurants, I'm glad to be somewhere again where there's more variety. Here you can get both Western and Asian dishes. Currently I'm treating myself to some apple pie à la mode.

Again, I have to say that I think the people I've met have been wrong about Vietnamese people. I walked around Ha Tien this morning and found people to be generally very smiley. This may change as I head north, I suppose, but the French guy on the boat said they were really nice there, too. But then again, he's French, and the French don't exactly have a warm and welcoming reputation either. I wonder if maybe the problem is the language barrier. In contrast to a place like Thailand, for example, it seems that a lot fewer people speak English here, and sometimes as a tourist this can be frustrating. But after all, we are in their country, so technically we should be making the effort to speak their language. As I've said, Vietnamese seems impossibly difficult to me, and I'm a language person, so I can imagine it's frustrating for others as well. When all else fails, sign language and a big smile go a long way.

A lot of kids here tend to flash the peace sign for pictures. Hippies. ;)

Bookends of chaos

2010-01-30T07:32:00.005-05:00

I started this trip in a chaotic land, and it appears that I'll be ending it in another chaotic land. I took what should have been a 3-hour "bus" ride from Chau Doc to Ha Tien today. It was easily the craziest travel experience I've had on this trip, and one that I hope is not indicative of what travel in all of Vietnam will be like. First, I took a motorbike from my hotel to the bus station, transporting me, my big pack, my small pack, and the big handbag I'm now toting around full of scarves. This was at 11:15 as the bus supposedly left at 12:00. Turns out it didn't leave 'til 12:30, but I think that's just because I was the only person on it and the guy didn't feel like going. In any case, the designated time rolls around and the "bus" won't start. I say bus in quotations because it was more like a mini-van... a very old mini-van. Well, we tool around the parking lot for 5 minutes or so and a big group of guys tries pushing it to get it going, but to no avail. It was all very amusing and disconcerting at the same time. So then another employee lifts up the platform of one of the steps up into the bus and pulls out a piece of rope. What they were planning to do with this, I have no idea, and more importantly I didn't want to know. I decided to call it and just get off this bus because even if they got the thing going, I don't think it would have made it and frankly, I just wasn't in the mood to die today.

Fortunately there was another bus heading that way an hour later, so I got on that one. I showed the guy my ticket for the previous bus, but still had to pay. I think it was a different bus company, but still I essentially paid $6 for a 10-minute motorcycle ride from the hotel to the bus station. The bus itself only cost around $3. Anyway, I paid it, and then the guy motioned to my bags, which I had put on the seat next to me, telling me I needed to pay for them, too. I had heard that folks here have a reputation for trying to rip off foreigners. Knowing this, I stood my ground and flat-out refused this ridiculous demand. He backed down, but tried a couple more times during the trip to get me to pay, even enlisting the help of a couple other passengers. I decided just to ignore him after that. I could have put the bags on the floor, but the point is, the bus was half empty.

One woman I met the day I left Cambodia told me, "Vietnam is a beautiful country. Just ignore the people." I may well end up doing this, but I refuse to believe that all of them are "out to get you". One lady on the bus showed me the way to the WC at our rest stop, and another man bought a few plums from a vendor who came onboard and then offered me one. This was cool because I had seen these fruits throughout Asia, but never bought one, mostly because I wasn't sure what it was or how to eat it. So that was nice. Take the good with the bad, I guess, as with everything.

There is a bit of a hard stare thing going on here, I'll admit, but my approach is just to smile. As opposed to India, where people will often just keep staring no matter what you do with your face, I find that people here will usually smile back if I smile at them. And I have to say, the kids really make this place. They are completely adorable and always smile and say hello. They kind of sing it, actually, which makes sense because Vietnamese is a tonal language. A nightmarish tonal language, I might add, having six tones altogether. I'll be happy if I can master simply hello and thank you here.

Tomorrow I head out to Phu Quoc island. If it's as beautiful as I've heard, I think I'll be staying there for several days. Away from the madness.

Boats along the coast at Ha Tien as the sun goes down.

They weren't kidding about the traffic

2010-01-29T21:18:00.003-05:00

There were three of us traveling around together in Vientiane. One had been to Vietnam, two hadn't. You could tell the difference because the one who had been here was the one who didn't wait for a break in traffic. Instead, she just stepped out and made her way through the traffic. I'm quickly beginning to see why. The traffic here is insane, maybe even more insane than India, and that's saying a lot. I haven't seen many cars since arriving, just a sea of motorbikes, bicycles, and rickshaws. The funny thing is, this is nothing compared to the big cities like Saigon and Hanoi, apparently. I guess I'm in for a treat. There are a few places, traffic lights, where you can "safely" cross, although at these intersections I've found that even when I get to a spot I think is safe, folks are turning left into the left-hand lane (they drive on the same side of the road as the U.S. here). So it's pretty hilarious. You really have to be on your toes. This morning I almost got taken out by a a pedal rickshaw, a pedal rickshaw! I guess if you want to feel alive, come cross the road in Vietnam.

Also, on a random side note, apparently Cambodia isn't the only place where women wear matching pajama tops and bottoms out in public at all hours of the day. It might even be more prevalent here than in Cambodia. What's up with that? I mean they're nice, but they're pajamas. ?!

Final destination

2010-01-29T07:51:00.003-05:00

I’m now in Chau Doc, Vietnam. I left Phnom Penh at 7 this morning, took a mini-van and then a boat, and seven hours later, here we are! I hesitated to come to Vietnam so soon; I would say that 9 out of 10 travelers have told me that people here are not friendly at all. So floating into the country I expected to see nothing but hard-faced stares. I’m happy to report that so far this has not been the case. Maybe the Vietnamese generally are not as quick to smile as the Cambodians, but there were lots of people smiling and waving at us from the shore. Folks were friendly when we got off the boat and a woman even stopped to ask me where I was going when I was trying to find my hotel. I’ve also heard that people are less friendly in the north, so maybe I’ll encounter some of these “mean people,” but so far so good. No two people experience anything the same way, so it’s important to not take others’ opinions to heart until you form your own. There are so many things that can affect your perception - maybe you’re sick, tired, or in a bad mood when you arrive somewhere. All of these things can cloud your judgment. There’s also a lot to be said for past travel experiences. I bet a lot of these people have never been to India. I kind of feel like if I can travel in India, I can travel anywhere.

Another thing I heard about Vietnam is that the coffee is really good here. This could be dangerous for a former addict like myself. I’ve been having coffee occasionally on this trip, maybe once a week. I decided to try an “icy white coffee” at the visa checkpoint when we got into Vietnam, basically iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk, like Thai iced tea. First of all, add sweetened condensed milk to anything and you’ve got yourself a pretty good treat. Well, all I can say is: better than Starbucks. I’m not shaking or anything, but that is some strong stuff. Another thing I’m pretty psyched to find here is the coconut candy that my traveling companion in Vientiane, Laos had with her. I was reading about where this candy is made and have added that to my list of places to see. I don’t think anything can compare to Thailand in terms of culinary delights, but I’m willing to find out if Vietnam can give it a run for its money.

Depressing

2010-01-28T02:44:00.003-05:00

I don't have a lot to say today. What can you say when you learn about the indiscrimate slaughter of 2 million people? I took some interesting photos today, but there was also a lot of just reading and trying to process in my mind signs like, "Mass grave of 166 bodies without heads" and "Babies smashed?" It's amazing to think that all of this happened during my lifetime, when I was a toddler. So anyone my age or older in this country lived through this and lost loved ones. Ugh.

One of the cells in which prisoners were kept.

The handle on one of the window shutters at S-21, the former high school turned into a detention center for prisoners of Pol Pot's despotic regime.

Beauty in a place of horrors. Palm trees grow at the site of the killing fields.

Phnom Penh is nuts!

2010-01-27T06:57:00.004-05:00

That is my first impression of this city. The bus ride here was the nicest bus ride I’ve taken this whole trip - AC that worked the whole way, a TV onboard showing Cambodian TV shows and a Stallone movie dubbed in Khmer, and a free bottle of water at the start of the trip. The rest stop was also pretty nice. There was no vegetarian food, so I had a plate of rice with soy sauce. I’m not veg right now, but tend to eat veg when I travel. It’s usually a safe bet, especially at rest stops. Dessert was a freshly cut mini pineapple. Yum.

Pulling into the city it felt more like India than ever, mostly because there was so much trash along the side of the roads. I took a tuk-tuk to one guesthouse and then another because I got a sketchy vibe from the first one, despite the fact that it’s the Lonely Planet’s top pick. I can’t remember if I mentioned this already, but the Lonely Planet seems to be the most widely used guidebook over here, and probably everywhere. It’s a good place to start, but there’s also the “Lonely Planet effect,” which means once a guesthouse gets listed in it their prices just about double. Sometimes it pays to look around on your own. In any case, I found one that’s also in the book, and I was glad I made the wise decision to take a tuk-tuk rather than walk around trying to find it because this city is huge. It seems really spread out. So for the first time this trip, tuk-tuk drivers are my friends. I’ve booked a half-day trip with one tomorrow. He’ll pick me up at my guesthouse in the morning and take me to the Tuol Sleung Museum, Cambodia’s version of the Holocaust Museum. I’ll catch the documentary they show every morning and after the museum, we'll head just outside of the city to the infamous Killing Fields. I’m not sure if I ever saw that movie, actually, but I’m looking forward to learning more about this horrible period in Cambodia’s history. It promises to be an informative and highly depressing day. However, I think it’s worth doing.

I’ll probably call it good on Phnom Penh after tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’ll try to explore another part of Cambodia, like a village or something, or head straight to Ho Chi Minh City. I’ve heard great things about Phu Quoc island, off the western coast of Vietnam, so I’m hoping to get one more beach injection before returning to the frigid Maine winter.

Wicker baskets.

The joys of getting lost

2010-01-26T04:45:00.005-05:00

This morning after I dropped off my laundry and had breakfast, I decided to wander in the opposite direction of the center of town. It looked like it might be a little more local, and happily it was. I walked down paved roads, dirt roads, past farms, schools, mansions, and shacks. I had no idea where I was going. Well, I had a general sense, but basically I got lost. It was fun, though. Lots of folks, young and old, would smile as they passed by, either on foot, bicycle or motorcycle. The further I walked the more the greeting became just “hello” instead of “hello lady”. I actually got past my camera shyness and took some pictures of people, mostly kids, who were more than happy to have their picture taken. The kids are so cute here and so smiley. I’ve managed to suppress my tendency to reach out and pat them on the head and instead just go for a little handshake now. Touching the head is a big cultural no-no here as the head is the most sacred part of the body. Conversely, the feet are the least sacred and so it's best to avoid putting your feet up on tables and chairs or gesturing towards anyone or anything with the feet.

I took off on my little jaunt around 10:30 or so. A couple hours later with no water left and the hot sun beating down in a cloudless sky, I started to wonder if maybe I had wandered too far. Luckily an older man, probably in his 50s, passed by me on a motorbike on a dirt side road. I was heading in the general direction of town and he asked if I needed a ride. In some cases this might be a bad idea, and I’m sure there’s crime in Cambodia, but it seems to me that 99.9% of the population here wouldn’t hurt a fly. So I hopped on his bike and 10 minutes later I was back in town. I gave him $1.50 and thanked him wholeheartedly for the lift.

I decided to go get myself a fruit shake somewhere and as I was heading toward the restaurant area, I heard my name being called out from inside an internet café. I turned around to discover that Helena from Sweden (also a Hansen!), whom I had met in Vientiane, Laos, had recognized me. So she joined me for a shake and we caught up on recent travel stories. It’s a small, small world indeed. Tomorrow I head to Phnom Penh, the capital. Who knows who I’ll run into there!

This little boy’s parents called out to me from the other side of the road. I said hello back, then decided to take the window of opportunity to ask if I could take a picture. He's even more adorable in person.

This little girl crossed the dirt road to say hello to me as I was taking a picture of some ducks. She was on her way to school.

Back in town I went into a fair trade handicrafts shop where this man was at the pottery wheel.

Pleasantly surprised

2010-01-25T03:25:00.005-05:00

It’s just after noon here and already I’ve been up for almost 8 hours. Jesica, Andrea, and I woke up before dawn this morning to take a tuk-tuk to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise there. It was lovely. Despite being templed out, Angkor Wat is definitely worth seeing. It’s enormous and essentially you’re walking around centuries old ruins. We spent about 5 hours there altogether, seeing the main temple and a couple others nearby. I bought a one-day pass and I think that’ll be sufficient for me. Those guys are going back for day three tomorrow. I’m sure the other temples are amazing, too, but I guess I’m more of a drive-by tourist. I’m OK with just scratching the surface of most things, unless it’s something I’m really passionate about. If it were a temple dedicated to the history of food, for example, it might be a different story.

The weather here continues to be hot and humid. What I wouldn’t give for a pool! A few of us were speculating about the possibility of paying one of the higher end hotels in town to let us take a dip. Hmm… Last night I walked around the night market here. It has a different feel than other night markets around Asia. The food section is sparse, unfortunately, although I did manage to get a nice fruit shake. I also got the Siem Reap version of a crèpe, with banana, egg (sort of a custard in a can), and Milo, which is the Nestle Asia version of Ovaltine. It was delicious, if not nutritious.

I have to say, I kind of had low expectations for Cambodia. I decided to come here and to Vietnam because they’re so close, but neither one of them has ever held any special appeal to me. Cambodia has been a really pleasant surprise, however. For one, there’s an incredible amount of social entrepreneurship here, businesses operating with a purpose - employing HIV-positive women, the disabled, or using their profits to fund literacy projects. There’s also an incredible amount of recycling going on - the bags and wallets made out of rice bags, and last night I saw a number of products, from jewelry to photo frames, made from recycled paper and newspapers. So cool. I’m totally inspired and am pretty sure I want to do something like this next. Although I had no idea what I was looking for when I started this trip, it’s possible that I may have just found it.

Welcome to India... I mean Cambodia

2010-01-24T02:15:00.005-05:00

I arrived in Siem Reap last night around 8 p.m. Travel days, especially long ones like yesterday, are my least favorite part of the backpacking experience. Of course you meet some great people, but by the time you get to the new place you’re tired, hungry, disoriented, and all you want to do is find a room, a shower, and some food. I traveled with some cool folks yesterday, Andrea from Canada and Jesica from Argentina. Jesica had also recently traveled in India and we both agreed that there’s a bit of an Indian feel to this place. Maybe it was the experience of filling up the bus with gas, which consisted of two boys running up to the bus along the side of the road with three buckets of fuel and a funnel. Or the fact that the poverty here is so apparent; this is definitely not Thailand. Twice already when I’ve been working on my laptop I’ve had people ask me how much it cost. This seems to be the equivalent of the question that Americans ask when they meet people, which is, “What do you do for a living?” Sort of a means of assessing how successful you are and how much money you make.

The other strange thing about Cambodia is that the price for everything is listed in U.S. dollars and this seems to be the preferred currency. You can also pay for things in Thai baht and Cambodian riel, although apparently you can’t take out riel from an ATM. You’re given the choice of dollars or baht and if you want riel, you can only get them at a place of exchange. So in a way, it’s easy to keep track of exactly how much you’re spending, but at the same time it’s a bit odd to be using your home currency in a place so far away.

My traveling companions hit the ground running today and headed to Angkor Wat already. As usual, though, I decided to kick around town. I’d like to get a sense of where I am and besides, I’m not exactly in a hurry, so I don’t need to rush to squeeze things in. Apparently you can get up to a three-day pass for the temple site because it’s so huge. I’ll have to talk with them tonight and see what they think. It’s on the expensive side, for Asia, to get in, about $20 a day. I was already overcharged at the border for my visa, so already I'm a little annoyed with the way things are run here. You can get your visa on arrival, but the folks who bus you over offer the convenience of getting it for you as you wait and eat lunch at a rest stop, however you have to pay them about 50% more. A little for the bus operators, a little for the border guards. Ah well.

I’m staying at a place called the Garden Village. They only had dorm rooms last night, which consisted of a mattress with a mosquito net outdoors, community bathroom, for $1. Jesica and Andrea stayed there, but I decided that while I’m adventurous, I’m not that adventurous. So I got a room down the road, but moved back there today. $6 a night, with a fan and private bathroom. Sweet.

I spent a couple hours walking around what seems to be the center of town. Siem Reap is pretty cool. It's definitely touristy, but not to the point where it feels completely inauthentic. You can't take five steps, though, without hearing, "Hello lady, where you go? You go see temple? You need tuk-tuk?" I do appreciate the fact that they've mastered the difference between sir and madam here, but if I find a t-shirt that says "No, I don't need a tuk-tuk" on the front of it, I'm buying it. I'm just getting really good at saying no again, like India. The other thing that's prevalent here is kids trying to sell you things, like postcards and such. Their shtick seems to be, "Hello lady, where you from?" And then when you tell them America, they start naming off facts about your country. "America. Capital Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama. Population 300 million." And so on. One little girl asked me how long I'd been in Cambodia and when I told her one day she was pretty sure I needed to buy postcards from her. I told her sorry, but I wasn't buying anything, and what I think she said to me, in broken English, was something along the lines of "Sorry doesn't buy food." So... this aspect of Cambodia might be a little hard to get used to. You feel bad, but then aren't you just perpetuating the problem by simply throwing money at it?

There seem to be a lot of organizations here aimed at helping people help themselves, particularly the disabled. There's a pretty significant population of disabled people here because of the landmine problem. In fact I remember I did a big research proposal on it when I was a student at UNH. It's a sad situation, but it's good that there's help. One of the things these organizations do is train people to make things, which they then sell to tourists, and use the profits to fund the organization. One of the coolest products I've seen so far is bags and wallets made out of recycled rice bags, a brilliant reuse for this material in my opinion.

Baby bath, Cambodian style.

This man appeared to be teaching these young fellows something. He was kind enough to let me take a picture, but then of course asked for money. $10 I think he said. Ambitious. I gave him 1,000 riel, which is about 25 cents.

Hot, hot, hot!

2010-01-22T05:53:00.004-05:00

Today in Bangkok is like a day in Maine at the height of summer - so hot and humid that moments after you step outside you’re sweating. I literally only went out today for my meals and to do a few errands, like buy a few supplies at the drugstore and pick up my passport and bus ticket. I leave tomorrow morning for a 12-hour bus ride to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I don’t have a guidebook for that country so I’ll be relying on the kindness of my fellow travelers and the internet, both of which have been pretty sufficient for most of this trip. I did, however, sell my copy of Lonely Planet Thailand and buy a Lonely Planet Vietnam as I expect to be in that country for about a month, unless of course I just love Cambodia and want to spend more than a few days there. I’m going to see Angkor Wat just because it’s the place to see in Cambodia. I have to be honest, though, just the fact that there’s a wat in the title I’m not all that excited about it. I’m not sure how many temples I’ve seen in the past three and half months, but I think it falls somewhere between 100 and enough!

I enjoyed my favorite street foods today for the last time - fresh fruit, pad Thai, Thai iced tea, and of course the one dish that I don’t even need to name. I just need to master the art of making sticky rice and I’ll be able to satisfy this craving back in the States, albeit at a much higher price. If I’m not careful my mango addiction just might break the bank when I return. Of course I shouldn’t say “the last time” because the thief, I mean fortune teller, from yesterday told me I would be back in Bangkok in 2012. He also told me I would be going to Japan soon, which I just don’t see happening. I ran into him today and said hello. He asked me how I was feeling today and I told him I was feeling scammed, which he simply deflected and told me to do the meditation he had told me about. Whatever!! I’ve decided to forever swear off any sort of astrology and psychic stuff and instead just live for the now. See? Something positive came out of that whole experience - I learned my lesson!

Sunset on the river.

Did somebody say scam?

2010-01-21T02:07:00.007-05:00

Well, it happened... I fell victim to my first tourist scam. I'm not devastated by it, though, more amused than anything. I went to the post office this morning intending to mail home the things I had bought in Laos. Well, it turns out it costs even more to send them from here than it did from there. I could send it by sea, which would be somewhat reasonable, but I would like for it to be there when I arrive, which wouldn't happen. So it looks like I'll be lugging around a bunch of silk scarves for another month or so. Oh well.

Anyway, on my way back to my hotel as I was walking along Khao San Road (a.k.a. tourist central), I got sucked into conversation by a Sikh "fortune teller" who shook my hand and started saying all kinds of things that completely resonated with me. In fact, some of the things he said were almost the same as the things the Vedic astrologer in Varanasi told me, and he had spent almost two hours with me looking at my chart. Yes, I know, I KNOW, I should have just said "thanks, but no thanks," but I didn't. I went and sat down with the guy. I'm not sure how long I was there, but by the end of it he had me convinced to pay him way too much money for Thailand if he could tell me x,y, and z about my life. Not surprisingly he did. In fact, the way he did it is something my mind is still spinning about. Memory is a funny thing. He had me write some things down on a piece of paper, with my own pen, which he then folded into a tiny wad and put in my hand. This piece of paper stayed crumpled up in my hand until the very end. Well, when I finally opened it, information corresponding to what I had written was now on the piece of paper in pencil, written by him. Hmm. There was also another wad of paper in my hand that he had put in there at another point. Now, since I can't remember exactly the sequence of events, it's possible that the first piece of paper was not the one with the new information on it and that he had written this down as we talked. This had to have been what happened... although I'm almost positive I never said or wrote my mother's name at any point and this was written down. But there were a couple other things that happened as well which I can't quite explain. One was him writing down a number somewhere that I later chose at random, and they matched. The second was he had me write down three fruits, circle two, and then the one remaining was one that matched what he had written on the back of a piece of paper which I had in my hands the whole time. ???

Now, I know this sounds like a bunch of parlor tricks which anyone could master, and maybe they are, but nevertheless he also said some things that were true about me and my life. But maybe there are certain things that are universal and could apply to anyone. Anyway, I do believe that there are some people out there with a gift for seeing things that are beyond this world. I'm just not sure if this guy is one of them. So part if me is annoyed with myself for wasting money that I could have used on the rest of my trip, but at the same time I'm also thoroughly entertained by the whole thing. It gives me something to think about for a while. Mostly, how did he do it? I also think it's just so a propos that the guy is Indian, adding yet another layer to my relationship with that country. Ultimately, it's just another testament to the fact that I'm totally floating out there in space at the moment, hoping for answers in any form. I'm certainly not alone in this, however, because when I went back to pay him, there were other people getting their fortunes told as well. Yes, I went back, which just adds a whole other layer of patheticness to the whole thing. We agreed on a price and I didn't have quite enough baht to cover it. Now, I know what you're thinking. I could have just called it good with what I paid him, but as I was walking back to my hotel I started thinking, "What if this guy is for real? He has my name and my mother's name on a piece of paper somewhere... he could put a curse on us!" I am laughing out loud as I write this because it just sounds so ridiculous. In fact, I just reread this whole entry and confirmed for myself that yes, I was totally scammed. The funny thing is, when I went back I asked him a couple questions and he gave me some very spiritual answers, smiled and shook my hand, and we shared a look of, "You and I both know what just happened here." Hey, at least he was a nice guy... a nice guy who's going to enjoy a very good meal later on because of me. :)

I don't have any pictures of me with "sucker" written on my forehead, so instead I'll just post an image of the sky from the boat last night.

Made in China

2010-01-20T06:35:00.005-05:00

Today I took the Chao Phraya riverboat to get from near my hotel to Chinatown., about a 10-minute ride. I can't believe I didn't use this mode of transportation here before - it rocks. Plus it serves as natural air conditioning. It was another beautiful day here in Bangkok. It actually sprinkled briefly, but otherwise it was generally hot and sunny.

It's been a while since I've been to a Chinatown anywhere, and this one is unlike any of the others I've visited. It was incredible, I don't think there's anything you couldn't find here. From sunglasses to hair accessories to packaging materials, the list goes on and on. It seems to be the supply hub for all businesses in Bangkok. I also stumbled upon the largest collection of gun shops I've ever seen in one concentrated area. Weird. I have no idea what the gun laws in Thailand are, but there must be quite a few people who own them to keep all of these places in business.

Not far from this part of town there's also a huge Indian market, row after row of shops selling fabrics, incense, and Hindu art. I've been feeling really nostalgic for India lately, which I would have never imagined possible at the heights of my frustration with the place. I have this knack for appreciating people and places way after the fact, however, so I guess this isn't too surprising. Plus, they keep playing this awesome ad for tourism to India on the BBC, which I get in my hotel room, and the images are stunning, many of places I didn't get to but would like to. I'd like to take another trip at some point and include a jaunt up to Nepal as well. In keeping with my love-hate relationship with India, though, a funny thing happened as I was waiting for the boat back to my hotel. A group of 3 Sikh men (many of the Indians here seem to be Sikh) were also waiting, and reminiscent of my experiences as a tourist in India, one of them decided to take out his camera and take a picture of me and a couple other Western women who were waiting at the pier. Grrr. This brought it all back, the feeling of being stared at and photographed like an animal at the zoo. I finally realized why I'm not that comfortable taking pictures of other people, although these ironically are the photos I usually find the most interesting... it's because I hate having my picture taken!! Especially when it's by complete strangers!

Nevertheless, I'm having massaman curry for dinner. India definitely keeps it interesting and I think that's what I like about it. Here's a link to the ad so you can see for yourself. If this doesn't make you want to go there, I don't know what would. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUFg-ujVqMI

Soup spoons drying outside.

I was especially excited when I saw these empty glasses of chai. I definitely miss sharing a chai with friends.

I like this picture for some reason. Maybe it's the guy's expression, or just the fact that he's riding a motorcycle with all that stuff piled onto his back. I don't know.

Eeeek!

2010-01-19T23:41:00.002-05:00

That's the sound of me actually making a decision. Holy cow. Well, I booked a ticket back to the States. On February 23rd I'm scheduled to fly out of Hanoi to Boston. That gives me five more weeks to explore Cambodia and Vietnam. I think this should be enough time. I only get 30 days in Vietnam anyway due to visa restrictions. In fact, my passport is now out of my hands and being processed by the Vietnamese embassy here. It's strange to be in a foreign country without your passport on you.

So... slowly, slowly the decision is beginning to set in. I've started the process of getting some part-time work for when I return. Oh boy, work, schedule... eek indeed. It will be great to see my family and friends again; hopefully they will help ease the transition. I just ran into an Aussie friend I made in Laos, here in Bangkok, who is returning home at the end of the month. Needless to say, we're both feeling the same way.

I haven't really taken many pictures since I've been back in BKK, partially because it's my second visit, but also because it's hard to take pictures when you're double-fisting mango sticky rice. Hahahaha. Just kidding. Anyway, here's a picture from my first visit, which seems appropriate at the moment.

Back in Bangkok

2010-01-18T00:37:00.004-05:00

I arrived in Bangkok around 6:30 this morning and shared a cab with a Belgian guy into town. I'm staying near where I was, but a bit further away from the madness (but not too far from the great street food!). I was curious to see if I would like Bangkok less the second time around because it's such a big, busy city. But I don't, I love it! It's like New York, only Asian. Oh yeah, and much cheaper. I've heard fellow travelers complaining about it, or saying that's it's just a place to pass through, not really to stay, but I couldn't disagree more. I'm not exactly sure how long I will stay here this time around, but while I'm here I'll try to figure out a plan for the next month or so. I keep checking airfares from various places. I should probably book soon as they seem to be inching upwards.

My hotel is right near the water. One thing I want to do, which I didn't do last time, is take a water taxi from place to place.

Buddha Park

2010-01-16T03:26:00.003-05:00

I've been hanging with three other solo female travelers for the past couple days and we all agree that there's just something about Laos that slooooows you down. The pace of life here is so slow, people are so relaxed, that you can't help but chill out yourself. So none of us has done much of anything here, until today when we all grabbed a tuk-tuk together out to Buddha Park, about 25 kilometers from the center of town. It was the weirdest place, just statue after statue of different Buddhas and Hindu gods. There was one giant structure you could enter, through a big mouth, and climb up to the top for a view of the whole place. It felt a little like Raiders of the Lost Ark inside. And at the other end of the park some guy had climbed up into the temple and was playing the flute, which for whatever odd reason just seemed to fit. It was definitely one of the strangest tourist attractions I've ever seen.

Remnants of an offering on one of the statues.

Travel observations

2010-01-15T03:46:00.004-05:00

I've booked a train ticket to Bangkok (12 hours, overnight) from here for Sunday, so I'll spend another couple days kicking around Vientiane with Margarita, my roommate. She leaves on the same day to fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I anticipate spending a little more time in Bangkok, and perhaps exploring a bit outside of the city, before continuing on to Siem Reap myself. I decided against arranging for my Vietnam visa here in Vientiane because it's Friday and it takes 3 working days (or 3 days working as it's often written here) to process. You can pay to expedite it, but what's the point? I'll just take care of it in Bangkok, where there's a lot more to do (and of course where the food is better!).

Not a lot to report, really, so I'll just post a recent pic from Luang Prabang and share some observations from my travels.

1 - White on vacation is just a bad idea. I've seen people rockin' the white linen pants and thought, "Ooh... how long 'til those are ruined?" It's hard enough to keep my white tops white, even when you "wash" them. Today I picked up my laundry from one lady and I question whether any soap was used at all. My white EMS shirt was a lovely shade of brown with a few white spots remaining. Hopefully I can handwash it and restore it a bit to its original state.

2 - Thai fisherman pants - cool concept, not so cool on. I haven't bought any for myself and although they're comfortable, and frankly probably made so you can eat to your heart's content in Thailand and not realize you're gaining weight, they're just generally not flattering. In Luang Prabang I saw a French guy wearing hot pink ones and this just drove the point home for me.

3 - Same, same, but different. How can I explain this phrase? They sell t-shirts with this slogan everywhere here. If you've ever spent any time in Asia, it just starts to make sense. Kind of like in every country there are tuk-tuk drivers standing around calling out to you, "tuk-tuk?" as if by simply saying this will make you realize that you do, in fact, need a tuk-tuk to wherever it is you're going. Tuk-tuk drivers are often best avoided, by the way, as they tend to way overcharge.

4 - Smoking. I could go on and on about this, but I'll just say that apparently Asia and Europe never got the memo that cigarettes are bad for you. And unlike in the US, you can still smoke all over the place here, sometimes even indoors. I don't know how many times I've had a perfectly lovely moment - a sunset, a boat ride - ruined by the second-hand smoke of somebody nearby. Ugh.

One afternoon as I was strolling around Luang Prabang, I came across a whole slew of these screens where papadum-style crackers were drying in the sun. Women were peeling them off and packaging them for sale at the market, I believe, and although I looked for them, I never found them to try. I heard they were tasty, though.

Vientiane

2010-01-14T03:26:00.006-05:00

Oh no, am I getting so uncreative toward the end of my trip that I can only title my blog entries with the name of the city I'm in? I've hit another limbo moment... after the incredibly charming Luang Prabang, the rest of Laos just seems a bit blah. Actually the nature, in particular the mountains, are amazing, but as I am without appropriate footwear (I know that one hiking shoe is still out there somewhere on the side of the road in Kashmir!) I'm a bit limited as to what extent I can get out in it. Yesterday I settled for a lovely bike ride. It reminded me a bit of Taos, New Mexico in that everywhere you looked there was an amazing view of mountains.

I arrived in the capital of Laos today and am rooming with another solo female traveler from Austria. Our neighbor is also a solo female traveler from Australia. I'm not sure how many days I'll be here, probably at least a few days in order to arrange a visa to Vietnam. After a bit of research on airfares, I think I've decided to continue in Southeast Asia, down through Thailand into Cambodia and then up into Vietnam. As I start to think about my triumphant return to the states, all the usual questions are returning - what to do about money, health insurance, yadda yadda yadda. Maybe I can just hide out in SE Asia forever. ;)

I pulled over to take this picture on my bike ride. Holy gorgeous!

Humorous typos are everywhere here. In fact, there's a whole website dedicated to them, http://www.engrish.com/. I may submit this one. I have no idea what else they were possibly going for here... needless to say, I didn't order it to find out!

Vang Vieng

2010-01-12T23:17:00.005-05:00

I'm now in Vang Vieng, about halfway between Luang Prabang and Vientiane, the capital of Laos. There's not a lot to do here, unless you want to go tubing (i.e. get wasted and float down the river) or watch reruns of Friends all day. No joke. Nearly every guesthouse/restaurant has TV screens playing episodes of Friends, all day every day. It's weird, but entertaining at the same time.

I'm using my time here to plot my next move. I'll leave for Vientiane tomorrow, but I'm not sure how much time I'll spend there. From there I expect to cross back into Thailand. When you fly in they give you 30 days, but when you enter overland they only give you 15 days. So... I'm very up in the air as to what to do or where to go next. I'm sort of craving another week at the beach, so perhaps another island destination.

The mountains surrounding Vang Vieng.

A little boy at one of our rest stops along the way to Vang Vieng. As if on cue he fell off his ball as I was taking pictures of him. :)

Ahhhhh…

2010-01-12T10:02:00.003-05:00

Nope, I didn’t get a massage, I just got rid of my backpack. Today was a travel day, which means you’re going to get some serious exercise whether you want to or not. I bought some things in Laos to add to my collection and was planning to send them home. However, as I discovered, it costs way more to ship from here than from India. That seems to be the general theme of this trip: India is super cheap. So I decided to compress them as much as possible and stuff them into my backpack. It worked, but now my bag is chock-full and weighs three kilos more. I may end up giving in at some point.

I definitely have the sense that I’m nearing the end of my trip. It’s a self-imposed pressure, I suppose, but I’m being way more budget-conscious these days. I’m trying to prepare myself for the shock of spending as much on groceries as I can get by on for a week over here. Yikes.

Yesterday I met a guy from Alabama who had spent the past six years in Ladakh, northern India working for an NGO. He also happens to be into photography and is hoping to try to make a living doing that now. His stuff puts my photography skills to shame. Check it out: http://www.photoshelter.com/c/nomadruss. Definitely National Geographic material if I’ve ever seen it. Anyway, he was fun to talk to, and we ended up going to an Indian restaurant. He remarked that even in pristine Luang Prabang, this place definitely had an Indian feel to it. It was rundown, almost a little dirty, but the food was delicious. And the strangest thing is that I actually found myself feeling nostalgic for India. Yes, there are definitely things that I absolutely hate about India, but at the same time there’s something special about the place. I never ever thought I would consider it a cooler place to travel, but it kind of is. Southeast Asia is easy, which is nice, but in some ways it’s too easy. India really makes you work for it. It’s amazing what time and distance can do for your perspective.

Yesterday I went to Kuang Si waterfall, the one my friends had biked to. It was lovely.. Here are some pics from the day.

The waterfall.

Outdoor bath.

Village woman sewing.

Nothing is sacred

2010-01-10T20:04:00.006-05:00

For the first time in a long time, I woke up while it was still dark out this morning to go observe the offering of alms. Every morning here in Luang Prubang, as in many cities and villages across Southeast Asia, the monks come out en masse. They form a long line and proceed to advance through the streets where locals, and now tourists, line up to give them food. From a hygiene perspective, it's kind of a nightmare as everyone uses their hands. But then, that is still my over-sanitized American mind at work.

It's a cool ritual, one that a friend of mine participated in, as a monk, when he lived in Thailand. It was quite a sight to see - hundreds of monks, young and old, shuffling down the street in silence. It was beautiful. At the same time there was something not beautiful about it as well, and that was the fact that the tourists just about outnumbered the monks. I had seen signs around town showing pictures of obnoxious behavior - camera-happy tourists standing too close to this procession to get that "perfect shot". The posters serve as a plea to "please respect this tradition" by not doing this. Sadly, some folks had missed these signs. I never got closer than the other side of the street. In a way it was a missed opportunity as I don't have a good enough zoom lens to get the kind of shots I could picture in my mind. But at the same time, there's something to be said for sitting back and observing with your own camera, your eyes, sometimes. At one point, overwhelmed by the spectacle of it all, I decided to turn the lens on the tourists. It was almost as interesting as taking pictures of the monks themselves.

Don't get me wrong, by my mere presence alongside everyone else I was anything but above the fray. I wonder how the monks feel about it. I wonder if any other tourists felt the way I did. I wonder why I was born with such a keen sense of observation. It's a blessing and a curse.

Nearly empty baskets of rice wait to be picked up after the procession.

Unfortunately this shot is a little dark because I didn't want to use my flash. I just think this is the epitome of cluelessness and poor form. She even had a point-and-shoot, most of which have ridiculous zoom capabilities.

I Heart Laos

2010-01-09T10:41:00.006-05:00

They sell t-shirts here with that slogan and it's true, I do. I'm not sure I've ever been to a more chill place. Today I walked around some more and ended up crossing a rickety bamboo bridge which led me to a village where they weave the many silk scarves you can find in the market and make paper out of mulberry, bamboo, even elephant dung. It was a beautiful walk. The weather here is perfect at this time of year - cool at night and hot during the day.

Cristiano from Brazil left this morning and the rest of the gang heads out tomorrow, but I'll be staying on for at least a couple more days. Tonight we hit the night market and Jasper bought some things to try to sell back in Belgium, inspired by my plan. He has so much energy and was a blast to shop with. We were able to pool our buying power as well, which is always good.

Everything pretty much closes here at 11:30, even the bars. So it's maybe a little too sleepy, but I guess it keeps people out of trouble, namely the tourists. Currently I'm outside at a table of a closed restaurant, next to the restaurant where I got tea this morning. This morning's restaurant had free wifi so I am now stealing their signal. And listening to really, really awful karaoke from some bar near the river. Why is it that the tone-deaf are the most enthusiastic crooners? Ay yay yay.

Monk robes hanging out to dry.

Silk worms, right, and the fruits of their labor, left.

Silk thread waiting to be spun into a fabulous scarf.

Sleepy town

2010-01-08T07:30:00.005-05:00

The guesthouse I’m staying in overlooks a tributary of the Mekong River, which actually has a pretty swift current. The sound of the water is so peaceful and is punctuated occasionally by the sound of roosters crowing. Those things seem to go all day and night.

My traveling companions rented bikes today to check out the waterfall outside of town, but I decided to stroll through the streets and get acquainted with the new city. There’s nothing I love more than happening onto some random alleyway; you never know what you’ll find at the end of it. There are plenty of alleyways in Luang Prubang - lots of great images to be captured. The traffic here is pretty light, which is a nice change from most of the cities I’ve been in so far, and I’m having to get back into the habit of looking left when I cross the road, instead of right, as they drive on the same side as we do in the U.S.

I anticipate my time here being pretty relaxing. The nice thing about having an open schedule is you don’t have to run around trying to see this temple or that statue; you can take your time. And honestly even if you don’t see those things, that’s okay too. The point of this trip is to take time to reflect and enjoy the moment. And if that means sitting in a café or wandering aimlessly for hours, then so be it.

I noticed a disturbing trend at the night market tonight. Almost all of the vendors are women, but many of them look very, very young. Granted, no one in Asia looks their age, but there are definitely kids working. My first thought is, Isn't it a school night? But the literacy rate in Laos is pretty low, so it's likely that these kids don't go to school. So do you buy something from one of these girls, thereby supporting this trend? Hmm...

One of the many golden Buddhas at one of the many temples. The temples here seem a little bit cooler somehow, maybe because they feel a little more weathered.

My walk led me to this one shop where the owner’s dog had just given birth to these puppies 9 days ago. Adorable.

Luang Prubang

2010-01-07T08:53:00.007-05:00

We just arrrived in Luang Prubang around 5 p.m. today and already I'm in love. There is the most chill vibe in the air here. People are friendly, all the shops look lovely (with uniform wooden signs I might add), and they sell nutella-banane crèpes on the street. What more do you need? Actually, what more would you expect from a city that is a world heritage site? I see myself staying here for several days. I was lucky enough to meet a great group of people on the slow boat - two women from Argentina, one man from Brazil, and another man from Belgium. Two of them are a couple, so I shared a room in Pakbeng, Laos last night with Maria and Cristiano. We're also sharing a room here, which is great. Traveling alone is cool, but companionship is also cool, not to mention the added benefit of splitting the cost of a room.

The boat ride was lovely... and slow. The shores of the Mekong are lined with mountains and forests and tiny fishing villages along the way. There were mostly farang on the boat, but a few locals would hop on and off at various points. Almost every time we pulled into shore a crowd would gather. I had heard that Laos is even more beautiful than Thailand, both in terms of the country and the people, and so far this seems to be true. Tonight we walked the night market, where we also ate, and it seems that good food is just as plentiful here as it was in Thailand. The handicrafts, although repeated in some fashion from one stall to another, seem to be of higher quality as well. And the great thing is that the vendors are really quick to drop their prices. All you have to do is stand up and they're knocking 5-10,000 kip off. (One dollar is about 8,400 kip, so this visit will be a test of my math skills.) This is great because unlike some people, I don't really enjoy bargaining.

So, more to come. Right now it's off to shower and meet some lovely English ladies that I also met on the boat. This trip just keeps getting better. :)

Morning on the Mekong.

Women and children greet our boat.

Lazy indeed

2010-01-05T04:49:00.005-05:00

One of the best things about being on vacation is the ability to wake up whenever you feel like it. I'm really not a fan of schedules, although I see the benefit to them. Nevertheless, I love not having one. These days I tend to wake up at a decent hour, but since there's really nothing that I have to do, I usually take my time getting going. Today, for instance, I didn't have breakfast until noon, and so I'll probably end up only having two meals. This is probably not a bad thing given the food marathon I've been on since arriving in Thailand.

I'm at an interesting point in my journey. Two countries down, probably two more to go. I'm hoping to avoid as much of the winter weather as possible, so perhaps another couple months on the road. But I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family again, and to hanging out in Portland, which by any standard is a really cool city. I didn't really have a goal for the trip, just to explore really. I guess part of me was hoping I'd figure out what it is I want to do with my life, but that hasn't exactly happened. I know that I'm very lucky to be able to make this trip. I've heard people say they wish they could do something like this and my response to that is, "Why not?" If you really want to do something in life, I think you just have to do it. Granted, there are many external factors that affect us all, but I think the greatest obstacle is often ourself. I know this is true for me. I know that what I'm doing seems like it's so freeing, and in some ways it is, but in other ways so much freedom can be scary. There have been times during this trip when I've felt absolutely paralyzed by indecision, on the smaller scale of "Where do I go next?," but also on the larger scale of "What am I doing with my life?" The first question is so much easier to answer! In some ways I envy people who have been able to choose a career path and stick to it. But then, to each his own, as they say. There's no use trying to force a square peg into a round hole. That's me, I guess, the square peg. But as my friend says, "If everything were easy and we were all the same, then life would be bloody boring!" Cheers to that!

Tomorrow I hop on the slowboat to Laos, spending one night in a village before arriving in Luang Prubang. I'll try to have it all figured out by the time I arrive there. ;)

Lollipops for sale at the market in Chiang Rai. Fortunately I didn't want one, so I didn't have to decide. ;)

Ch-Chiang-Chiang

2010-01-04T05:07:00.005-05:00

I'm now on my third Chiang... Chiang Khong, a two-hour bus ride northeast of Chiang Rai, right on the Laos border on the Mekong River. I had considered visiting Chiang Saen, but decided that might be a litle too remote. I learned my lesson on that with my first island. There's that delicate balance between a place that is overrun with farang (foreigners) and one that is desolate. As it is, Chiang Khong seems like a pretty sleepy border town. Most people only stay here one night on their way into or out of Laos. I think I might stay two nights, though, as this guesthouse is super chill and has a beautiful view of the river. There are actually more hill tribe people in this area than Thais, so I may try to visit a village nearby.

Technically I have until January 10th to stay in Thailand, but I'm feeling ready to move on to the next destination. I'll be passing through Thailand at least once more as I plan to fly out of Bangkok, where fares tend to be cheaper. I feel like I'm hitting a lazy stretch of my journey as I get away from the cities and into the countryside. No complaints here.

View of the Mekong from the guesthouse.