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Cambodian rendezvous

After 5 flights, 2 days and 4 hours of sleep I finally made it to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where DawnO was waiting for me outside the airport. We went back to our hotel so I could unload my bags and we headed out.

We decided to take a boat tour that took us up a river through the Chong Khneas floating village and out into Tonle Sap Lake. It is currently dry season so the water is low enough to expose the stilts that each house is built upon. In the wet season the water rises up to meet the main floor.

The end of the tour was spent on a floating restaurant out on the lake viewing the sunset. Not a bad start to the holiday.

The next day we decided it was time to see some temples. We bought a 3 day pass and hired a tuk tuk driver through our hotel to take us on the small circle tour of temple which included Angkor Wat, the capital of the Khmer Empire.

The above picture was taken moments before I had a game of tug-of-war over my container of potato chips. I’m still not a fan of monkeys.

The next stop on our tour was Prasat Bayon. This temple was built in the early 13th century and features many intricate stone faces.

Or last stop on the tour was Ta Prom, which was used as a filming location for Tomb Raider. It was interesting to see how nature had embraced the temple’s structures over the centuries.

Today we will continue on our temple tour. Stay tuned for more from Siem Reap.

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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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¡Feliz Navidad!

We took a break from our usual Canadian Christmas and headed to Cabo San Lucas for the holidays to meet up with DawnO’s parents. All it took to convince me was the promise of warm weather and guacamole.

We’ve had a few days to explore the town and I have practiced my Spanglish while DawnO has been having full-blown conversations in Spanish with the locals. She is learning about the subtle nuances of the local geo-political climate and I am an expert in ordering things with cheese.

Yesterday we thought we’d have a healthier breakfast so I suggested we go for a smoothie. As I was pulling on my grande strawberry chocolate yogurt blend, DawnO took a series of pictures. One is of me, and the other is of the gym across the street featuring a woman with forearms bigger than my ambitions.

Here are a few of the sites we’ve explored, including a local beach and a ridiculously large Mexican flag.

Christmas morning we were supposed to meet up with a local waiter that DawnO sweet talked into taking us on a hike to Playa de Divorcio (Divorce Beach) and Playa del Amor (Lovers Beach) but he was unable to meet up with us. That wouldn’t stop us though! We soldiered on and created our own route, which included infiltrating a resort and then climbing over boulders to reach our destinations.

We took a boat back to the marina stopping by the picturesque rock arch. Not a bad way to spend Christmas morning.

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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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Jumping into 40

It’s my 40th birthday weekend, and if you know me at all, you know that I needed to plan some kind of an adventure. After work on Thursday we drove to Whitefish and checked into our solar powered yurt for the weekend (bucket list check!).

This morning we woke up with some anticipation. After choking down a granola bar and signing a million page waiver, we boarded our plane for our first skydive. Do you recognize the plane? I guess it was used in the movie ‘Blow’.

The 20 minute scenic flight was cool, but a little lost on me because of the adrenaline pumping through my body. Once at 10,000 feet, things moved with precision. There was really no time to think. I was sitting at the door of the airplane, a final safety check done, then I was hurling through the air toward the ground. RobO says that I was there, then like a magician I was gone.

It was everything that I imagined, but nothing that I expected. I knew we were falling, but never felt my stomach in my throat. What was seconds felt like hours. It was impossible to think of anything else; an experience of being truly present in the moment. It was so loud I couldn’t hear my own screams, then so quiet we could converse without raising our voices. It was exhilarating, then peaceful. I can’t remember anything but relive it when I close my eyes.

This was right after they sang Happy Birthday to me, and moments before the jump:

We landed perfectly in the exact spot where the plane took off. I would highly recommend Skydive Whitefish.

The rest of the birthday weekend is filled with great food, great weather, lots more fun activities, and a long awaited celebration with friends in Lethbridge.

Bring it on, 40!

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Blog on a River Kwai

Our final stop on DawnO’s 40th bday trip is a small town called Kanchanaburi. This is where the infamous bridge on the River Kwai is located. It was constructed by prisoners of war of the Japanese army. Once constructed, the bridge allowed Japan to expand its forces further west. Thousands of POWs and civilians died in in order to complete it.

I’m not certain but I don’t believe it is quite the bridge it used to be as this was made of metal. I believe the original was constructed out of wood. People are allowed to walk on it but trains still use it. There are platforms off to the side where people can stand out of harms way.

Near one end of the bridge is the WWII and Jeath Museum which only I visited. There was a sign at the entrance that claimed you hadn’t truly arrived in Kanchanaburi if you didn’t enter the museum… I guess DawnO is forever on the doorstep.

The museum was filled with old WWII relics and though it was pretty disorganized, it was worth a walk around. Where else would I find the following words of wisdom:

Kanchanaburi allowed us to check off another bucket list item. One of their forms of transportation is a scooter with a sidecar. Riding in a sidecar just happens to be on our list.

On our last day we took a day trip out to Erawan and hiked to a series of 7 waterfalls. Dawn convinced me to take my swimming trunks but I wasn’t sure I’d want to jump in the water. By the time we reached the final waterfall I suited up and took the plunge.

Thailand has been a lovely country to visit. We’ve enjoyed every day of our trip. Luckily the weather cooperated and we didn’t see too much rain at all. We are leaving here wanting to return some day and see more. I asked DawnO to give me a rating out of 40 and she gave me a solid 40 so I guess the surprise birthday holiday was a success.

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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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Charlie Bucket List

Most of you know that DawnO has a bucket list that seems to grow at the same rate we check things off. When I began planning her birthday trip, it was the first thing I looked at for inspiration. It is quite an eclectic list but there was one item in particular that stuck out:

  • snuggle a baby elephant

This is how I decided on Thailand. This country has many Elephant Sanctuaries to choose from, although none would guarantee an “X” on DawnO’s list.

I booked an overnight trip that promised a home stay at a local Karen village, a hike to a waterfall and exclusive time with the elephants without the crowd that comes with the 1 day tour. We were quick to discover that the online description was not exactly what we would get. The “home stay at a local Karen village” turned out to be a group camp with 11 other tourists. The furthest we would ever hike was about 200 meters between our truck and a lunch site with other tour groups. This was slightly disappointing but the experience with the animals was still worth it.

We spent day one with about 25 other people interacting with a family of 6 elephants. There were 2 younger elephants (named Lady GaGa and Rhiana), but both were a bit big for a proper snuggle. We fed them bananas, sugar cane and “medicine” made up of bananas and rice. DawnO and I each got a kiss from and elephant, which is about as weird as a giraffe kiss. Basically the elephant uses his trunk to suck on your cheek making the sound of a raspberry while leaving behind a slobbery wet spot.

Next on the itinerary was a mud bath followed by a rinse in the nearby creek.

The evening group camp was not too far from the elephant camps. We were able to escape the others and do some exploring while our delicious Thai food was being prepared.

Day 2 involved a trip to another elephant camp which included the mud baths. Afterwards we went to a cascading river (I think this was supposed to be the “waterfall”) for lunch and then spent some time with an elephant away from the large crowds. This girl was a hugger.

Our tour was almost over but we had one last stop to make before we headed back in to Chiang Mai…

…meet Charlie

This handsome young man is a 1 month old male that was shy at first, but eventually warmed up to a snuggle.

  • snuggle a baby elephant X