Author: DawnO

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Rat Race

After our first day of temple touring we knew that we needed to change tack. We had visited the 3 most famous ones in the heat of the day with full sun washing out our photos. Plus we felt like we were being herded from place to place in a mob of other tourists. I mean, they were beautiful temples, but we knew we could have more enjoyment with a different approach.

We opted to start our day 2 in the mid afternoon for less heat, softer light, and fewer people. We also did the ‘Grand Circuit’ in the opposite way of what is typically done. Our strategy paid off: we had the chance to see the temples at our own pace, feeling the unique personality of each. We could linger in the shade, take time to look from different angles, and be more mindful of the experience.

At one point our tuktuk had trouble driving on the freshly graded road, so RobO had to help out.

There is a small temple surrounded by water.

We finished the day back at Bayon, the temple with the faces on it, in the golden light before sunset.


We took a ‘temple break’ day where we cycled out to my watermelon family, had massages, and visited a restaurant with a pool.

Then, contrary to our previous lessons, we got up really early for the obligatory sunrise at Angkor Wat experience. Tourists elbow each other as they jockey for the perfect position, intent on getting the infamous reflection photo. I heard a tourist telling off a group for ‘saving someone a spot’ in the 5th row. Another tourist may possibly find a photo-bomb of me flipping the bird as she took a gloating picture of all of the people standing behind her. The antithesis of a serene sunrise experience. Here’s the shot you’ve been waiting for:

As always we rebounded and hit our stride again, visiting 2 peaceful temples bathed in the morning light. One of my favourites was Banteay Srei, the ‘lady temple’ with it’s intricate carvings in pink stone. We timed it perfectly, leaving just as 6 tour busses unloaded.

Our final stop in Cambodia was a visit to the Apopo Centre. They are an NGO that trains rats to sniff out land mines. Sadly, there are still between 2 and 4 million live mines in Cambodia. The rats can search an area in 2 hours that would take humans about 2 days. We got to see Zila the rat do a demonstration. She and the other 28 found almost 300 land mines in 2018! If you’re really interested you can check them out on Facebook or YouTube, and you can even adopt a rat.

Tonight the adventures continue with a flight to Vietnam.

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Perspective

If my younger self was looking at my past few days, she likely would have been bored. My current self has been content to relax and sit with the ebbs and flows of Cambodian rural life.

Each day I have walked to the village. When my watermelon stand family sees me, they immediately pull over a chair and invite me into the fold of their lives. The women cluck amongst one another, stitching and tending to customers, often with babies on their hips. The children come to translate occasionally. A brief description of my unimaginable life. I’m not sure that they understand what snow is. 30 hours of flying to get here? They shake their heads and pass around snacks.

School children ride by and, seeing me, start asking their well practiced script of English questions: What is your name? Where are you from? How many brothers and sisters do you have? How old are you?.

In the evenings I’ve been mesmerized by the stories from my homestay family. The dad, Maden, is like a cat with 9 lives, surviving the Khmer Rouge, living on the streets, falling victim to human trafficking and slavery on a fishing boat, a harrowing journey through Thailand to get back to Cambodia, and 3 bouts of malaria when guiding in the jungle. He had a vision of creating this rural homestay. He said that the neibouring people laughed at him. He has built it, and we have come. His next plan is to start a tree farm to grow saplings of fruit trees to give/sell to the villagers.

One day I went on a tour to 2 different farms. The crocodile farm was much more than I expected. There had to be 100 000 crocs sunning and mud bathing in concrete tanks. I learned that they sell the crocs for their meat and their skin (in Siem Reap I saw ads for Crocodile skin purses). Maden had told me that a few years ago during a flood the crocs got out. I could not comprehend the horror of this until I saw the scale of the farm.

The second was a silk farm. As I learned each step of the process my brain exploded. One cocoon can make about 400 meters of silk thread, thin as a spiderweb, which are added together to make a specific thread count. The thread is then intricately wrapped like tie dye and dyed so that a specific pattern is formed when woven. For an intricate pattern it can take 4 days to weave 1 scarf. Just like ceramics, I think once the process is understood the large numbers on the price tags makes much more sense.

My inner explorer is ready to move on. Next stop is Siem Reap for some temple touring with RobO!

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Cambodian Village Life

I left Canada right as the temperature dropped this winter. There was about a 60 degree improvement when I arrived in Cambodia so it felt pretty nice to replace my sweater and shoes for tanks and sandals.

My first stop was Hariharalaya, which is a 6 day yoga and meditation retreat just outside of Siem Reap. This place is pretty special as it is integrated into a Cambodian village, which meant we had traditional foods (made vegan style) and experience with Cambodian culture, dances, and music (some better than others… there was a wedding nearby that blasted really bad dance music 24 hours per day for 5 (!!!) days). The retreat was similar to others that I have done, with a set program of daily yoga, meditation, and spiritual teachings. Where it stood above was in the options for ‘free time activities’: a zen garden for rock stacking, a little gym to practice slack lining and hula hooping, bikes to use to explore the village, an art room with instructions for mandala rock painting, and an extensive library, to name a few. This was, I think in part to make up for the strict digital detox for the 6 days. Even though I don’t believe I’m addicted to my phone, this sure helped me to see patterns of turning to electronics when ‘bored’.

My open air room:

I felt great during the retreat and am happy that I chose to start this 6 month vacation with a ‘reboot’ to living a simple, more mindful life. Some highlights:

– connections with new friends around the world (with more places to visit!!)

– getting closer to my bucket list goal of being able to hula hoop for 2 minutes straight. I did a twice daily training regime and got up to 15-25 seconds (inconsistently, but great progress nonetheless)

– feeling comfortable with integrating a daily practice now and when I get back to real life

Following the retreat I headed west of Siem Reap to stay at a real Cambodian homestay I found on Air BnB. My room is VERY basic but has the necessities (mosquito net) plus a great little porch with a hammock. This is the 2nd place I’ve stayed here where the sink drain isn’t connected to anything underneath (ie. my feet get wet when brushing my teeth), but it’s got a western toilet and a ‘refreshing’ bucket shower.

I was going to wait until I left the homestay to publish this blog, but today I had an incredible experience that I wanted to share. After a delicious Cambodian breakfast I decided to walk to the little village nearby to explore. I wandered the tiny market, then was standing near a watermelon stand watching life unfold. The family who owns the stand invited me to sit with them in the shade. I sat for a long time observing the women cross stitching, children riding home from school (often 3 per bicycle), the ice truck delivering huge blocks of ice to each home, families Jenga-ing a week’s worth of groceries and 4 people onto a scooter. I found that because I slowed down to experience the moments, I was able to see so many intricacies of Cambodian life.

The watermelon stand family then did charades to indicate that they wanted to share their freshly made lunch with me. They served small bowls first to their religious altar, then a large bowl to me. The mom stood and watched me eat the (delicious if I didn’t think about it) fish head lettuce wraps and huge portion of rice. I was humbled that these people who don’t have much were so generous and welcoming to me.

I’m looking forward to a couple more days of village life before I meet RobO in Siem Reap on the weekend.

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La Vida

On Boxing Day morning my mom and I hiked up the mountain that overlooks the whole bay. This was something still left on my mom’s ‘Cabo bucket list’, but it is no longer possible to do without a guide. Our guide Enrique lives at the base of the trail with approximately 1 million dogs. He explained that the mountain has a special synergy of energy from the vibrations of the waves hitting it from both the Pacific and Sea of Cortez sides. He’s a pretty spiritual guy: he ‘called on the hawks’ to spread their scent on the trail to keep the snakes away, and he has dogs come along as they help to remove people’s negative energy.

This is Enrique and the 17 dogs that hiked with us. The poodle was surprisingly nimble.

Thursday we took the local bus to the neighbouring town of San José del Cabo for the weekly art walk.

The rest of the time was centered around great food, lots of reading by the pool, and catching a couple of the World Junior hockey games in local pubs.

On Friday my parents flew home and we moved to an Air BnB just outside of the city. I had chosen this place because it has a tennis court. Our last 2 days in paradise have revolved around (you guessed it) tennis!

Now it’s back to winter, though only for 1 month for me. I start my 6 months off work at the beginning of February. Stay tuned!

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Bucket List Blitz

This weekend felt very blog-worthy!

On Friday night I drove to Calgary for a catch up with my long time friend Cheryl. Both of us wanted to try ‘The Dark Table’ restaurant. This is a spot where you eat your meal in pitch black so it encourages use of your other senses. All of the servers are visually impaired.

We were both feeling adventurous enough to have the surprise 3 course meal. It was fun to try to figure our what we were eating and navigate the eating process without vision. We both had a few ‘air bites’ and I ate my main course with my hand. We noticed that the restaurant was very loud. Without the eye contact and cues that someone is listening, I think people get louder! There were also many clangs of dropped cutlery and smashes of broken glass.

Here’s what my meal looked like:

LOL.

All in all it was a novel and fun experience, but not something that we would do over and over.

Saturday we did a few fun activities, which included a visit to the amazing new Central Calgary Library. Anyone who believes that libraries are a thing of the past needs to take a visit here. There are so many amazing activities and learning opportunities, all under amazing architecture.

On Saturday night we completed the final bucket list check with a zamboni ride at the Flames-Oilers game. Can you believe that the 2nd zamboni seat was free so RobO got to ride too?! What a cool experience! The only thing that would have made it better would have been a win for my Oil!

Who looks more excited?

We finished off the weekend with a great visit with the Bristow’s.

Livin’ the dream!

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All the Things…

We’ve loved our time in the city of Chiang Mai. I think we’ve done pretty much all of the stereotypical ‘tourist things’ that people do in Northern Thailand. I mean, we’re pretty much one Full Moon Party away from being qualified to write the next edition of the Lonely Planet.

Temple visits: we followed the guide book walking tour, as well as enjoyed exploring without a map.

Mango sticky rice: we’ve been enjoying this classic dish for breakfast every morning. RobO said he’s pretty sure that it’s what Captain Crunch and Toucan Sam eat for breakfast. If you haven’t had it, imagine rice, coconut milk, sugar, and mangos. Then give yourself a shot of insulin.

Cooking class: we chose an ‘express class’ that was 2 hours and happened to be at a vegetarian place. I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to replicate the 4 dishes that we made (which includes mango sticky rice) when we’re back home. Yum.

Tailor-made clothing: RobO’s workmates better get the catwalk ready. Cue ‘I’m too sexy’…

Tattoo: it’s been on my list for a while and I’m thrilled with the result. It’s a reminder of the lessons I learned when I walked the Camino de Santiago. For the moms reading, the place was very sterile and clean.

Thai massage: I got up early and stood in line to get an appointment at the Women’s Prison Massage Center, where inmates are trained so they have a career when they get out. It was an amazingly relaxing 2 hours!

If you are in Medicine Hat and want to try an authentic Thai massage without having to buy a plane ticket you can book with Roxanne at shine8out.ca. She was trained here (not in the prison, but in Chiang Mai).

Street market: Every Sunday the centre streets close to traffic and open to every kind of trinket seller you can imagine.

Throw in delicious Thai food at every meal and it’s pretty much the perfect holiday.

Tomorrow we’re off to our final stop on our Thai tour. Sorry RockyB, you have to wait for the next blog to find out where we chose!

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Say Wat?!?!

It’s my turn for a big birthday and big trip! I was supposed to find out the surprise destination on July 1st, but RobO innocently let it slip about 3 weeks early… Thailand!

We had a late night arrival in Bangkok and left there about noon the next day. We really only had time for a great night’s sleep, some street food eats, an underwear purchase (someone forgot to pack them!), and an array of transportation to get to the town of Ayutthaya.

Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam between 1350 and 1767 and is home to many elaborate temples (called Wats). It’s popular to cycle from Wat to Wat, which is what we spent today doing. We also took a boat tour to a couple of spots. I guess they’re also lit up at night, but we’ve had monsoon rains both of our nights here (the 2nd time we were smart enough to have raincoats at the ready!).

I don’t want to overdo it with ruins pictures, but these things are so beautiful I have to put them in.

No Thailand blog could be complete without some food pics. We have been eating Thai food to our heart’s content and loving everything we’ve tasted.

Now we’re headed up north for (spoiler alert) time with some elephants!

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I’m Walking Into Spiderwebs

It seems inevitable that the energy changes as I near the end of a holiday. There are more frequent thoughts of home, I typically get that urge to check my work email, and I find it more challenging to stay in the moment. This was even more the case when we pulled into the Cameron Highlands and had a negative first impression. The bus ride was longer than expected, the landscape filled with ugly greenhouses, and the main town seemed very touristy. Plus it’s much cooler here and dumped a torrential rainshower when we were walking around to scope out the sights.

But you should never judge a book by it’s cover. We woke up early with the plan to hike ‘Trail 10’. It is a steep jungle path that leads up to a beautiful viewpoint. I think we must have been channeling RobO because a street dog came with us for the entire 3.5 hour hike (we named him Freddy 2.0). On the way down we stopped at a strawberry farm for invigorating strawberry juice and fresh berries, then made our way back to town along ‘Trail 4’. The photos don’t really capture how beautiful it was.

The guidebooks said that the hike signage is difficult to follow. We had no problem with RockyB using a sweet maps.me app and, of course, Freddy 2.0 showing us the way.

In the afternoon we went to the Cameron Bharat Tea Plantation. In true British fashion we treated ourselves to tea and scones white looking over the magical viewpoint.

Final verdict of the Cameron Highlands is that I’m glad we came here, but the 1 day that we had was sufficient. I definitely prefer the heat!
This has been an A+ holiday. RockyB and I share the same travel values, which makes for easy companionship. We spent a lot of time walking, eating street food, avoiding tour groups/tourist traps, and playing a never ending stream of ‘would you rather…’ questions. I’m quite sure that Rock-Awn will ride again one day!
The next blog update will be in July when we venture on my surprise birthday trip. You can ask RobO where we’re going for that one, then feel free to pass the info over to me!
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I Heart Street Art

We have spent the last 4 days in George Town, the main city on the island of Penang. The Center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of beautiful old colonial buildings and mix of 3 different cultures.

First a shout out to our hotel. If you ever find yourself in Georgetown, do yourself a favour and stay at Ren i Tang. It’s an old Chinese medicine wholesaler building that has been converted into beautiful and inexpensive rooms. And it’s right in the heart of Little India. Yum.

It’s always a plus to know a local who can show off the city, and here was no exception. We’ve spent some time with Rocky’s yoga classmate Sarah, who showed us some Buddhist and Chinese temples, oriented us to the city, and took us to the beach. As an extra bonus we even got to go to one of her yoga classes.

One of the things that put George Town on my list is the amazing street art by a Lithouanian guy named Ernest Zacharevic. Feast your eyes…

Yes, you did just see Bruce Lee karate kicking a cat.

Other highlights have included a funicular up Penang Hill for city views and a visit to the grand Kek Lok Si Temple. We actually went there twice. The first was when we were heading to Penang Hill and accidentally got off of the bus too early because we were following the other whiteys on the bus, then the next day when we wanted more time to explore there.

Of course we’ve enjoyed some relax time, reflexology foot massages, and the famous street hawker food.
The final chapter of this Rock-Awn holiday will be spent in the tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands.

 

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Welcome to the Jungle

We’ve had 3 full on, hot and sweaty days in Malaysian Borneo. Our home base is a city called Kuching, which the guidebook says is a cosmopolitan Paris of Malaysia. I guess so, if you like Cats. Now I don’t mean the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, I mean cats, like the feline pets.

I guess the word ‘kucing’ means ‘cat’ in Malaysian, so they’ve taken this to a whole new level. Some of the main tourist attractions are these crazy weird, huge cat sculptures.

Kuching is also known for these elaborate (and delicious) layered cakes that can take up to 5 hours to make.

 

There’s interesting, interactive street art throughout the city, and a stunning waterfront with an S-shaped pedestrian bridge crossing the river to an elaborate state assembly building.

Yesterday we took a bus and boat along the South China Sea to Bako National Park.  Our jungle hike finished with views of probiscus monkeys.  We also saw some regular monkeys attacking tourists looting their backpacks. Monkeys are such jerks.

Today we were up early to catch the bus to Semenggoh Nature Reserve, which has an orangutan sanctuary. This was a bucket list checker for me. We were the first people there so had unobstructed views of a 10 year old orangutan feeding until Richie arrived (cue heavy base rap music).

Who’s Richie? He’s the alpha male who is basically the king of the place. When he eats, no one else can. Props to RockyB for some great shots of him.

This afternoon we used our guesthouse bikes to ride along the river. We caught a lot of attention of the locals (even though many of them ride bicycles). Maybe they were just amazed to see how sweaty a human can actually get. We came across an orchid garden on our way back.

 

We’ve been eating a variety of Malaysian, Thai, Indian, and Chinese food and every meal qualifies in the ‘plate licker’ category. Highlights have included a popular breakfast soup called ‘Laksa’ (coconut milk, lemon grass, tamarind, lime, rice noodles) and the unofficial national dish of ‘Nasi Lemak’ (coconut rice with peanuts, salted fish, sambal, hard boiled egg). 3 times in a row Rocky B has been finished her meal before mine even arrives. The pattern seems to point toward a strange type of whitey-treatment. We’re planning some experiments to test this theory, but regardless I’m willing to wait for this delicious food!

 

 

Tomorrow we’re flying to Penang, an island known for it’s street art and street food.
Rock-Awn!