Meetings with Monks

For me, traveling in Southeast Asia was a time of many firsts: It was the first time I accepted an invitation from complete strangers to eat a meal at their house, the first time I rode a motorbike, the first (and last) time I took a 24 hour bus journey... the list goes on and on.

It was also the first time I saw a monk which, I quickly realized, is a very common sight in this part of the world. During the time I spent in Southeast Asia (particularly in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) I met and befriended many monks who, in addition to being some of the kindest and most genuine people I've ever come across, were absolutely fascinating to talk to. I often asked them questions and ended up learning quite a bit about how they live.

Making my offering of Goldfish crackers to a monk in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Here are a few of the things I learned during my various meetings with monks:*

• They live very simply and do not receive any kind of income; they survive solely off donations and offerings from people who use their 'services', which can include performing blessings, teaching and spiritual counselling

• They take vows of celibacy, and females should never touch male monks (though I'm not sure the same applies to males touching female monks)

• They live communally in temples or pagodas

• They are required to shave their heads and wear robes, usually in orange or red for males and pink for females

• If there is ever a situation where non-monks are eating with monks, the latter eats first

• It's not only for adults, children can also be 'monks in training'

• For some, being a monk is something they may try for a year or so, while others remain monks for their whole lives (I met an elderly man who had been a monk for over 70 years!)

• They are not allowed to drive vehicles, however they can use mobile phones and computers

Learning about and befriending monks was without a doubt one of my favourite parts of traveling in Southeast Asia, and is one of the things that I miss most.

* Just as there are different types of Buddhism, there are different types of monks, so the rules I mentioned may not apply to every single monk. I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, this is just some of what I learned while speaking with monks during my travels!

2013: A Year in Review

As cliche as it is to say, I honestly cannot believe another year has gone by.

2013 was certainly one of my busiest years to date. I spent the first half of the year as a nomad in Asia: visiting tea plantations in Malaysia, snowboarding in Japan, volunteering with elephants in Cambodia, overcoming my fear of riding a motorbike in Vietnam, participating in the world's biggest waterfight in Thailand and meeting some of the friendliest people ever in Myanmar.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Sen Monorom, Cambodia

Yangon, Myanmar

Sapa, Vietnam

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Post-Asia it was time to move to Melbourne, where I met up with this guy who became my boyfriend, tried my hand at being a barista and went on an amazing road trip. From there it was off to tropical Fiji, where I explored its underwater world and hung out in a local village. I was lucky enough to reconnect with family and friends in beautiful British Columbia, as well as meet Ben's family in Shropshire, England for the first time. After that it was back to Australia to try living in a different city (and to earn some money for 2014 travel plans.)

This guy.

Barista-ing, Melbourne

Great Ocean Road, Victoria

Coral Coast, Fiji

Tofino, BC

Ben's house in Shrewsbury, UK

Eleven countries, one boyfriend, countless new experiences... 2013 has certainly been eventful. While this year has made me realize that I couldn't lead this type of nomadic lifestyle forever, it's also reaffirmed my belief that traveling is what I'm supposed to be doing right now. There are certain aspects of a more settled life I'm already looking forward to one day but there are still too many more things in this world I want to see, do, learn, taste and experience first.

I don't yet know what 2014 is going to look like, although I have some ideas (Diving the Great Barrier Reef? Visiting my Cambodian 'family'? Attending a wedding in England? Teaching English in Korea?) so stay tuned!

Adios Asia!

After seven months, eight countries and approximately 180 servings of rice, the sun has set on my time in Asia. 

Traveling in this part of the world has been a completely eye opening experience. I had no idea just how different everything, from toilets to modes of transportation, would be! There are many things that I love about Asia and am definitely going to miss...

Beautiful beaches

Riding on the back of motos

Visiting temples and pagodas

Eating cheap and delicious food

Befriending monks

Tuk tuk rides

'Interesting' fashion statements

 ... and some things that I got used to, but will not miss in the slightest

Enough said

Crazy traffic and way too much honking

In addition to adjusting to new norms, I've also learned a great deal about countries I previously knew very little about. The genocide in Cambodia, the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the Secret War in Laos, the oppression in Myanmar... while I could have read about these events from home, for me it's no substitute to visiting these places and meeting people who've experienced things first hand.

Killing fields in Cambodia

Bomb crater in Laos

While I'm sad that this chapter of my trip has come to a close, I'm also very much looking forward to the next one. It's time to explore the land down 'unda, where new people, experiences and sunsets await. Bring it on Australia!

Refreshed and Ready

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I've been experiencing some travel burnout. To deal, my plan was to just hang out in Laos for a couple of weeks without doing any real sightseeing. I was a little skeptical about going to see the waterfall here in Luang Prabang, one of the city's main attractions, but I decided to check it out anyway and I'm actually so glad I did.

Flying off the rope swing and plunging into these beautiful blue lagoons all afternoon was refreshing in more ways than one. In addition to cooling me off, it reminded me that there is still so much more that I want to see and do. These past couple of weeks haven't exactly been thrilling but they've definitely served their purpose. Now I'm feeling not only ready but excited for what's ahead! 

Coming up....
- Trekking and a cooking class in Chang Mai, Thailand
- Celebrating Songkran (Thai New Year) in Bangkok, Thailand
- Traveling all around Burma, my one last big Asian adventure
- Flying to Melbourne, Australia  on May 16 where I'll be living and working for... well, time frame TBD.

Stay tuned!

Teaching English (again)

Once I had finished my volunteer stint teaching English in Cambodia way back in December, I could not wait to get traveling and start moving around from place to place. Since arriving in Laos, however, I've been craving a little break from my nomadic life. 

Spending five days doing practically nada in the capital city of Vientiane definitely gave me a boost but I still don't feel like my batteries are fully charged, which is why I've decided to spend about a week in my current destination of Luang Prabang. It's a charming city with endless amounts of boutique hotels and trendy restaurants that cater to the hoards of tourists who visit. It reminds me a lot of Siem Reap actually: at first glance it might seem like an upscale and almost artificial place for foreigners to eat and shop 'til they drop, but my experience teaching English in Siem Reap made me realize it's so much more than that, and I have a feeling Luang Prabang will be as well. I plan on finding out by teaching English here too!

There are several opportunities in Luang Prabang for people wanting to teach English, even if it's only for a day. The Luang Prabang Library holds daily informal conversation sessions, attended primarily by monks from the pagoda across the street. I showed up today hoping to help out but it turns out I'm not the only tourist in town wanting to volunteer! Seeing as they already had enough volunteers, I wandered over to The Children's Cultural Center (The 'CCC'), a building attached to the Library that seems to host a sort of drop-in program for kids of all ages. 

When I arrived the kids were in a circle listening to a man (who I assume to be the Center's program leader) playing the guitar. One girl greeted me by shouting 'hello!' and then shyly hiding behind her friends. I went over to the group and started chatting with them, only to discover that many of them had a pretty high level of English. I asked them if they wanted to play some games, and after getting an OK from one of the staff I taught them how to play duck duck goose and go go stop, and they loved it.

After playing for a bit a few of the older kids asked me if I would do an English lesson with them, and I said I would. They were a group of about 10 teenagers in total, all very bright and happy to be there.  For an impromptu class it went extremely well, and when I asked the kids if they would like to do another class they said they would. I gave them some homework and will be seeing them again on Tuesday for our next class.

This evening I'm going to teach another English class at Big Brother Mouse, a more established organization that promotes literacy in Laos through book distribution. I had a look at the organization's center earlier and it looks great, so I'm excited to see what the class will be like.

I think spending some time teaching English here in Luang Prabang will be a perfect way to get geared up to start traveling again, and hopefully help some kids improve their language skills along the way!

I don't have any pictures of the kids (didn't seem appropriate) but I may have some by the end of the week!

The Antithesis of Travel

I left home to go traveling nearly six months ago now, which to me is a pretty significant amount of time. Although there have been a few low-key days thrown in there where I didn't do much, for the most part I've kept quite busy and have usually felt optimistic and upbeat since being on the road.

As my jam-packed month in Vietnam slowly came to an end, I started to hit a wall. On the miserable night bus from Phonsavanh to Vientiane, which was on the windiest road known to man that had half the passengers puking, I pretty much crashed right into it (in a figurative sense of course, although the bus ride had me wondering if I'd literally be crashing into something as well). I just felt tired in every sense of the word. Tired of long, uncomfortable bus rides, tired of sightseeing, tired of unpacking and repacking my bag, tired of meeting new people every other day, tired of being tired. In addition to sheer exhaustion, I felt guilty for not fully appreciating where I was and what I was doing because I know there are heaps of people who would love to be traveling right now. Suffice to say it was the lowest I'd felt since this trip began.

To remedy the situation, I decided the best course of action was to stop traveling. By that I don't mean booking a ticket home (sorry Mom!) I just wanted to stop acting like a traveler for a bit. Since arriving in Vientiane, the sleepy capital city of Laos, I haven't gone sightseeing, haven't stepped foot in any of the city's temples or made any sort of effort to find out what there is to do here. Instead, I've spent the last couple of days doing the exact same thing: wake up, eat breakfast (toast and peanut butter with banana), go to the gym, lay by the pool (oh yes, the gym has a pool), spend the afternoon in a cafe, eat dinner. Boring as it may sound, I think it's exactly what I've been craving. Less moving around, more routine and stability... essentially, the antithesis of travel.

I still don't feel as enthusiastic towards traveling as I would like but I'm hoping that will have changed by the end of the week. I'll be here in Vientiane until Friday, waiting for my Burmese visa to get processed. (It normally only takes two business days but there's a Burmese holiday this week, meaning their Embassy is closed for two days and my visa won't be ready until Friday. If that's not a sign from the travel Gods that I'm supposed to stay in one place for a while than I don't know what is!) I plan to spend the rest of the week doing the same old thing. I can't wait for travel and I to be on better terms again but until then, I'm pretty excited about my week of not traveling.

Chilling by the pool post-workout, reading up on Myanmar

Learning In Laos

I really didn't know what to expect before coming to Laos. Out of all the countries I've visited on this trip, it's probably the one I knew the least about beforehand. Thanks to an informative tour I took here in the town of Phonsavanh, located in central Laos, I've already learned a lot about the country's history and it's been fascinating and disturbing at the same time.

The first stop on our tour was the Plain of Jars. I'll admit it: when I first heard the words "Plain of Jars" I pictured a field filled with loads of little glass jars, the kind my grandma used to use to preserve fruit in. Turns out the image I'd formed in my head wasn't totally accurate...

The Plain of Jars

The jars are actually not glass at all but have been carved from large pieces of rock, taken from a mountain about 10 kilometers away. Although there is still much uncertainty regarding the story behind the jars, most archeologists believe that they were originally used as urns due to the human remnants discovered inside of them years ago. Locals disagree; they believe they were used to store lao-lao (Laotian rice whiskey). Regardless, considering the Plain of Jars dates back some 2500 years the effort it must have taken to create these 300+ jars is mind blowing - and this was just one of three jar sites!

A detailed carving found on one of the jars

There are over 300 jars at this particular site

The atmosphere at Plain of Jars could not have been more calm or peaceful, but we learned that it had not always been that way. Our guide told us that during the Vietnam War, Laos got bombed relentlessly by the Americans and many of those bombs landed on the Plain of Jars, causing irreparable damage to this archeological site. And the bombing didn't end there.

Trenches found all over the Plain of Jars

A swimming-pool sized bomb crater (jars in the background)

Now I knew Laos had been bombed during the Vietnam War but I didn't know to what extent. I've since learned that from 1963 to 1974, the US illegally dropped over 2 million metric tonnes of ordnance over Laos, giving it the unfortunate title of the most bombed country in the world. This action (known as the "Secret War") was illegal because Laos had officially been designated a neutral country during the war.

What's more, approximately 30% of these bombs did not explode on impact and since the end of the war, unexploded ordnance (known more commonly as UXO) has severely injured or killed an estimated 50,000 people in the country. The worst part? A mere 1% of UXO has been cleared to date, meaning that these bombs are sure to claim more limbs and lives of Laotians in years to come.

One significant site we visited on our tour related to the US bomb campaign was the Tham Piu Cave, where no less than 374 civilians had taken refuge during the war. In November 1969, a rocket hit the cave, killing every single man, woman and child who had been hiding there. I hate to say it but I had never felt less proud to be an American citizen than at that moment.

Uncovered belongings of the victims

A very moving statue near the cave

The cave where almost 400 people had been living

While the majority of the tour was incredibly grim (and rightly so) we also got the chance to visit a few traditional villages. What struck me most was the way so many people had built and decorated their houses.

Notice anything?

Many people had either built their houses or decorated their gardens with old bomb shells. I couldn't believe it; surely people wouldn't want any reminders of their country's tragic past right in their front yards? But the fact that they are able to take these terrible relics and turn them into something beautiful to me shows a possession of spirit and resourcefulness that I find astounding.

Bomb shells holding up a house

A bomb shell turned plant holder!

Like their neighbors in Cambodia and Vietnam, Laotians have gone through their share of trauma. It was difficult to hear about it and did not make me proud of the nation in which I was born, but it gave me such an appreciation for the people in this country. Amidst all of their struggles, not only do the people here seem willing and determined to overcome the hand they've been dealt, they'll do it with a smile on their face.

A shy girl I met, playing a game with some beans

Adorable boy named Toc with his little sister

Lovely young fellow who wanted a picture with me

To learn more about UXO in Laos visit http://www.maginternational.org/ or http://www.uxolao.org/