Tomorrow marks the end of my extended post-MBA vacation. Like with all transitions, this one comes with a bundle of mixed emotions. I’m excited to re-connect with my work friends, to settle into more of a routine, to reignite some dormant parts of my brain. And yet I’m sad to let go of the freedom and flexibility of my days, the special time I get to spend with loved ones, and the lower-stress gear my body is now accustomed to operating in. While I’ll never claim to love transitions, I tend to continuously add twists and turns to my life that thrust me into change and growth.
I started this blog to collect stories and images on my trip to South East Asia…and to bring friends with me on my journey. What a trip it was! But there is one very important story from that trip that I saved to the very end to tell. In one of my first blog entries, I wrote about Library Man (a.k.a. Paul) and our romance which has spanned more than a decade. Well Library Man proposed to me in Thailand. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I said yes.
The specific moment happened on a beach on Koh Samui. Paul arranged for a private dinner for the two of us in an open hut looking out on the ocean. We sat on silk cushions and ate at a table covered with gemstones, flowers, and candles. It was about as romantic as could be. We joke that Paul proposed between the first cocktail and the spring rolls so he could enjoy the rest of the meal without feeling so nervous. The whole thing (including a ring he had designed on his own) was a surprise. It is with great tenderness, excitement, and love that we enter this next phase of our lives together. Planning is underway for an autumn wedding in Vermont.
So I guess this is the close of this particular travel blog, but who says everyday life isn’t dynamic enough to document? Perhaps I’ll begin a new blog for this new chapter of life…after I adjust to the pains of waking up early every morning. Wish me luck. :)
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Photos from my 2nd time around in Vietnam
Check out this link for photos from my 2nd time around in Vientam:
A New View of Boston
Yesterday we woke up at 4:00 am, our sense of time still upside down from jetlag. We decided to walk up the street to the Boston Harbor to watch the sunrise. This perspective on Boston is very different from what I’m used to, having spent most of my time in Massachusetts in Boston’s funkier neighboring city of Cambridge. Now we’re living in Charlestown, just a block from the Harbor Walk and our view is of the Boston city skyline. We’re practically on the Freedom Trail, with the Bunker Hill monument behind us, Old Ironsides out our front door, and the Lenny Zakim Bridge beside us. I’ve been practicing saying “Chaaahhhlstown” like a real Bostonian to embrace my new location in this familiar city.
When I left the States we lived in Vermont. Right out our back door were woods and every time we drove around the Upper Valley, I said aloud how fortunate we were to live in such a beautiful area. So much sky and so many trees and birds. Our cat Penguin loved looking out the windows at all of nature’s creatures and I worried for her that our new location in Boston would lack the liveliness of the home she had come to know. Those of you who know me well realize I sometimes project my own feelings onto Penguin. In fact, during business school I would dream that Penguin was creating excel spreadsheets and power point presentations. So Penguin is adjusting and so am I. I guess it is just a little odd to come back to a home that you haven’t yet lived in. It is both familiar and unfamiliar; comforting and disorienting all at the same time.
But part of the fun is making it home, and it is a luxury to have the time to settle in. I haven’t had a kitchen in over two months so simple things like cooking a meal is really fun. Coming back from a long trip is a unique transition time, and it is fascinating to notice what feels different and the ways the travel has changed me. I’m amazed when I step off the sidewalk in Boston and the cars stop to let me pass after the whizzing energy of all the traffic and motos in Hanoi, where we spent our last week. I hesitated to drink the water at the Other Side Café yesterday and then had to remind myself that it is safe to drink the tap water here. Just silly little things like that to notice…and deeper changes in perspective that take time to fully integrate.
I still have stories to share from Thailand & Vietnam - some big & some small - and more photos to post. All that soon…
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Photos from Cambodia
Check out this link for lots of photos from Cambodia...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110035&id=530276774&l=bc1543ff8f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110035&id=530276774&l=bc1543ff8f
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Thai Sunset, Cambodian Tales
The sun just set over the Gulf of Thailand. I can see the ocean through the glass doors and beyond the balcony of our room. After a week in Cambodia, we decided to splurge and found a gorgeous hotel on Ko Samui, an island off the east coast of Thailand. This morning we kayaked to a quiet beach where we spent the day swimming and lounging. This type of relaxation is just what I needed after last week.
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Cambodia was amazing, but upon our arrival I came down with a bout of food poisoning that I just couldn’t kick during my entire time there. Thank goodness for Cipro - after 3 days on this strong antibiotic, I’m finally almost back to normal. The food in Cambodia was delicious (according to Julie & Paul) and I’m excited to be able to join them soon in enjoying the Thai cuisine. We didn’t get to try the spiders, crickets, snakes, or fried little birds that were served up by Cambodian street vendors, but we did get a few photographs of these delicacies.
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We spent our first two nights in Cambodia in Phnom Penh. We visited S-21, a suburban school that had been converted into a prison during the Kmer Rouge massacres of the 1970’s. The stories of torture and murder were horrific and unlike a museum in the U.S. where exhibits are kept behind glass, you could walk through prison cells and see the weapons the prison guards used on their victims. The Kmer Rouge documented S-21’s prisoners with black and white photographs before and after torture, and thousands of photos of women, children, and men are displayed inside S-21. These images combined with being in the physical space where such atrocities had been committed became so over stimulating that I started to feel numb by the end of our visit.
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From there we went to the Killing Fields, where thousands of skulls and bones from mass graves are displayed in a multi-story shrine. To save money on bullets, victims were literally beaten to death with blunt objects and babies were smashed against trees. Before we went inside, our tuk tuk driver told us that it makes him sad to go there because he lost his entire family under Pol Pot’s reign. After that, I imagined that every local person we met in Phom Penh must have a personal relationship to the Kmer Rouge tragedy.
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We also saw more poverty in Phnom Penh than I’ve seen yet on this trip. There were many people on the streets with missing limbs, possibly as a result of land mines. Many children were on the street selling things to tourists and an entire family seemed to be living below our hotel balcony. The sex industry was also very prominent and was sad to see. Trafficking is a major problem and we saw blatant prostitution in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
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I make Cambodia sound so depressing, but it wasn’t all sad stuff…there are just many painful elements to the country’s history and present that you simply can’t ignore. Despite that, it was vibrant and lively and we had some wonderful experiences there - like driving around town in a tuk tuk during a massive thunderstorm through the flooded streets, watching the local children splashing in the puddles.
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The majority of our time in Cambodia was spent in Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor temples. Our first morning, we woke at 4:15 am and caught a tuk tuk to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. The temples were truly magnificent and we spent the day exploring this ancient holy city…climbing to the tops of temples, stumbling over fallen stones, and snapping a zillion pictures that I’ll have to trim down before I post. One day we took a boat to see a floating village - homes, the school, a church, a Buddhist wat, the shops - all of them were on boats. That evening, Paul & I took a cooking class at a lovely Kmer restaurant and then enjoyed a meal with an American couple from our class.
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I’ll post our Cambodia pictures soon and in no time I’ll have photos and stories to share from Thailand too!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
New Friends in Laos
Sitting in the front seat of the bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in Laos. Passing small villages where schoolchildren run by and naked toddlers squeal in doorways. We honk at the cows standing lazily in the road conjuring up images of India in my mind. Boys and girls hold umbrellas as they ride by on bicycles. The bus is muggy despite the air conditioning. But at least I’ve got my own seat and the volume of the music is not just bearable - but actually pleasant.
We’re heading back to Vientiane after five lovely days in Luang Prabang where we spent time with a wonderful cast of characters. Our first night in town we had the good fortune of sitting next to two Austrians and two Germans who were then joined by two Frenchies. Soon enough we were all sharing Beer Lao and Lao Lao (shots of rice wine). When the restaurant closed we hopped in a tuk tuk and hit the local Lao nightclub. We were the only tourists there and we danced the night away with the locals. Who would’ve known we’d return there two more times that week?
Then there was kayaking on the chocolate brown Mekong where we met Dana from San Francisco, Marceau from Germany, and David from Northern Ireland - who would accompany us later that night to dinner, bowling, and more dancing. The next day we took a tuk tuk and a small boat to a series of waterfalls where we went swimming. Our last big night out we were joined by two Kiwis and two Brits and were reunited with the Austrians - Hans and Elmar - who micromanaged our grill your own meat bbq while the Kiwi side of the table drank beer tower after beer tower.
Yesterday, tired from all the revelry, I napped in the afternoon and went out for an evening walk by myself to a Buddhist Wat on a hill. Luang Prabang is full of Wats and young monks in saffron colored robes are a common site. I took my time at the Wat appreciating the view and pausing to take pictures of the golden Buddha statues. On my descent I was thinking about how I wanted to learn more about Buddhism. I tried to learn about Hinduism while in India and wanted to likewise ask questions about Buddhism.
As I was pondering a statue of a familiar female form holding a long pony-tail, a handsome young man with a beaming smile asked me where I was from. We started a conversation that would last for the next hour and a half at least, standing beneath a Buddha statue as the sun set. He is a former Buddhist monk who studied in that Wat for six years and then studied Buddhism in Thailand for another six years. He has been out for only a year and teaches English at a teachers collage. We talked about the pace of life in different cultures and he had many questions about education in America. I learned about his family - his six siblings and mother’s three marriages. His 16 year old sister’s desire to get out of rural Laos but her lack of education and limited options. His last conversation with his father - who was also a monk - before his father was tragically killed in a car accident. He shared his impressions of the tourists who always have a list of things they want to see and how fast they move and how different this is from his simple way of life.
I got to ask him about the statue I’d been so curious about and learned that she represents the Goddess of the Earth who helped protect Buddha from three evil sirens who tried to distract Buddha from meditating beneath the tree. I learned of the significance of the lotus flower, which lives in the dirty mud below the surface and then blossoms into something beautiful. I learned the routines of the monks - waking at 4:00 am to chant, sweeping, meditation, studying. I learned so much in just that one conversation that I simply can’t capture it all. As the sun went down, I had to say goodbye to my friend although I knew we could’ve talked for the rest of the night. I hope to hear from him again to ask my many unanswered questions about Buddhism and his life.
This morning we got up at 5:00 am to make an offering to the 300+ monks who live in the Wats in Luang Prabang. They walk in a procession through town and accept sticky rice, fruit, and other gifts, which they eat throughout the day. We bought bananas for the occasion and Julie kneeled and offered the bananas as I tried to capture the procession with my camera.
From Laos to Cambodia...More to come from Cambodia next…
We’re heading back to Vientiane after five lovely days in Luang Prabang where we spent time with a wonderful cast of characters. Our first night in town we had the good fortune of sitting next to two Austrians and two Germans who were then joined by two Frenchies. Soon enough we were all sharing Beer Lao and Lao Lao (shots of rice wine). When the restaurant closed we hopped in a tuk tuk and hit the local Lao nightclub. We were the only tourists there and we danced the night away with the locals. Who would’ve known we’d return there two more times that week?
Then there was kayaking on the chocolate brown Mekong where we met Dana from San Francisco, Marceau from Germany, and David from Northern Ireland - who would accompany us later that night to dinner, bowling, and more dancing. The next day we took a tuk tuk and a small boat to a series of waterfalls where we went swimming. Our last big night out we were joined by two Kiwis and two Brits and were reunited with the Austrians - Hans and Elmar - who micromanaged our grill your own meat bbq while the Kiwi side of the table drank beer tower after beer tower.
Yesterday, tired from all the revelry, I napped in the afternoon and went out for an evening walk by myself to a Buddhist Wat on a hill. Luang Prabang is full of Wats and young monks in saffron colored robes are a common site. I took my time at the Wat appreciating the view and pausing to take pictures of the golden Buddha statues. On my descent I was thinking about how I wanted to learn more about Buddhism. I tried to learn about Hinduism while in India and wanted to likewise ask questions about Buddhism.
As I was pondering a statue of a familiar female form holding a long pony-tail, a handsome young man with a beaming smile asked me where I was from. We started a conversation that would last for the next hour and a half at least, standing beneath a Buddha statue as the sun set. He is a former Buddhist monk who studied in that Wat for six years and then studied Buddhism in Thailand for another six years. He has been out for only a year and teaches English at a teachers collage. We talked about the pace of life in different cultures and he had many questions about education in America. I learned about his family - his six siblings and mother’s three marriages. His 16 year old sister’s desire to get out of rural Laos but her lack of education and limited options. His last conversation with his father - who was also a monk - before his father was tragically killed in a car accident. He shared his impressions of the tourists who always have a list of things they want to see and how fast they move and how different this is from his simple way of life.
I got to ask him about the statue I’d been so curious about and learned that she represents the Goddess of the Earth who helped protect Buddha from three evil sirens who tried to distract Buddha from meditating beneath the tree. I learned of the significance of the lotus flower, which lives in the dirty mud below the surface and then blossoms into something beautiful. I learned the routines of the monks - waking at 4:00 am to chant, sweeping, meditation, studying. I learned so much in just that one conversation that I simply can’t capture it all. As the sun went down, I had to say goodbye to my friend although I knew we could’ve talked for the rest of the night. I hope to hear from him again to ask my many unanswered questions about Buddhism and his life.
This morning we got up at 5:00 am to make an offering to the 300+ monks who live in the Wats in Luang Prabang. They walk in a procession through town and accept sticky rice, fruit, and other gifts, which they eat throughout the day. We bought bananas for the occasion and Julie kneeled and offered the bananas as I tried to capture the procession with my camera.
From Laos to Cambodia...More to come from Cambodia next…
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