Should I Stay or Should I Go

Whenever I write a post after neglecting my blog for a while, I always like to start it off with some type of greeting. So, a big 'hello!' to anyone still interested enough to be reading my blog nearly two years after I started it (time flies doesn't it?!)

After another nine month stint abroad (mostly spent working in Australia and doing a bit of traveling around Europe) I'm back at home once again. Much to my parents' dismay however, I'm still not home for good; I'm here to apply for a British Working Holiday Visa, which would allow me to live and work in the UK for up to two years.

The idea of living in the UK first appealed to me years ago while studying abroad in France. I traveled to many countries that year and while I absolutely loved places like Italy, Greece and Morocco, I couldn't really picture myself living in any of them long-term. Cultural differences and language barriers are a fun challenge while you're traveling but (as I discovered while living in France) can be slightly more frustrating if you're trying to pay your rent, see a doctor or open a bank account. In the UK, however, I realized that although the cultural differences and language barriers weren't entirely non-existent (That couch you sit on? Brits sit on 'settees'. Pleased about something? A Brit would say they're 'chuffed'. Toilet paper = bog roll. I could go on and on...) they were far less of an issue for me being a Canadian. It was a lovely place, different enough to still be exciting but similar enough that I never encountered any major difficulties and I remember thinking to myself, I can imagine myself living here some day.

Although the idea of moving there has been in the back of my mind for some time, the main reason I'm (hopefully) going there now is Ben. Luckily he absolutely loves Vancouver and is not opposed to moving here BUT we want to try living in the UK to see how we like it. (I don't know exactly where yet, we'll see what happens!)

Luckily the visa process wasn't too difficult, just tedious. My application package (along with all of my current/expired passports) has been sent away for processing and I'm now waiting to hear if I've got it!

 My passport collection - guess the Brits want to see where in the world I've been!

Like the last time I was home for a visit, I'm trying to cram a bunch of visiting/activities/errands into a very short amount of time and have been pretty busy, hence the lack of blogging. But I'll be updating the blog again soon with what I've been up to. Until then, fingers crossed I get this visa!

T-Minus 21

Recently I was musing about the less-than-stellar jobs backpackers often do to keep our travel funds topped up. I concluded by saying that although the work isn't always fun, it's worth it, and it is (the proof is in the pudding turtle-filled ocean!) But after an epic week of gallivanting around Queensland it's back to the grind (on my own for the time being, as Ben's visa is up whereas mine's valid for another month) and I'm already counting down the days until my next bout of travelling begins (21 days to be exact.)

Here's what's happening:

- Working in Manly for the next three weeks (living in a new flat with four new housemates: an Italian guy and three girls from Finland/Germany/England) and saving up as many dollars as possible
- Flying to Siem Reap, Cambodia on May 3, where I'll be riding in tuktuks and visiting friends for a week

- Flying to Paris on May 11, where I'll meet up with Ben and spend a few days eating baguettes and drinking wine under the Eiffel Tower, or something equally as stereotypical
- Taking the train to London and meeting my family, who fly in on May 16
- Travelling around England/Scotland/Italy with my family for three weeks

- Spending the rest of the summer in Ben's hometown of Shrewsbury (he has to be home this summer to be in his friend's wedding!) with a little Euro travel/visiting friends thrown in as well hopefully!
- After that, who knows? Teaching in Korea perhaps... 

Needless to say I'm beyond excited for these upcoming plans and to get back into 'travel mode' for a longer period of time. But I need to make a couple more coffees and clear a few more tables before then... T-minus 21 days until it all begins!

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!

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!

Unexpectedly Awesome

I woke up this morning without the slightest idea of how I was going to spend the day. There was no school (it's a holiday in Cambodia right now) and being that my time in Siem Reap is coming to an end I felt pressured to "do" something and make the most of my day. After trying and failing to come up with something more exciting to do, I settled on going for a bike ride. Although I was initially a bit disappointed with myself for not doing something more adventurous, the day ended up completely exceeding my expectations.

I ventured out to the "countryside", as people call it (only a few kilometers outside of the center of Siem Reap but a very rural area nonetheless) and came across a pagoda. I went inside to have a look and met a delightful old man named Chian. He spoke no English but he did speak French so luckily we were able to communicate. He explained to me that the monks were just about to go into the temple for lunch (whenever there is a holiday in Cambodia people prepare lots of food and offer it to the monks) and invited me to join, because after the monks finish the "non monks" are allowed to eat too.

Upon entering the temple Chian showed me the special way to pray before eating which entails kneeling in a certain way, holding your hands together and touching the floor three times. After we had all prayed the monks began to eat while Chian and I chatted, waiting for our turn (which came about 30 minutes later). At first I felt extremely guilty that I had nothing to offer the monks, but then I remembered the Goldfish (American fish-shaped crackers, for anyone who doesn't know) in my backpack that had arrived in my package from home just yesterday. I figured it was better than nothing and so my Goldfish were placed on the table alongside the rice, fish, soups and other Cambodian dishes, which I found quite funny.

After lunch the monks returned to their duties and Chian had to go back home. I wandered around the pagoda a little more and met another monk, Sony, who was very friendly and spoke excellent English. We got to talking and he informed me that he could tell fortunes. I asked if he would tell me mine and he obliged. All he needed was my birth date and off he went, writing down and circling various symbols I had never seen before; it was absolutely fascinating to watch. (For anyone who's curious I am apparently brave and will do well if I ever work in politics/government).

After leaving the pagoda I was tired from biking in the heat and decided to finish off the day sitting by a hotel pool, which I had all to myself, drinking a coconut and listening to my iPod. 

When traveling, there are times when you know exactly what you are going to see or do and you know it's going to be amazing. I found that to be the case when I saw the Eiffel Tower, experienced the Venice Carnival and explored the temples of Angkor Wat. Then there are times where you don't plan anything at all, when you don't even do anything that significant and yet those days often end up being just as memorable, if not more so, than the ones where you planned something major. That's what today was: unexpectedly awesome.

The countryside of Siem Reap

Making my offering (of Goldfish!) to a monk

In Cambodia it's monks, not ladies, first!

The cats were hungry too

Adorable 'pon pro' (young boy) in the temple

Monk eating

One of these foods is not like the others...

Chian and I in the temple

Sony predicting my fortune

Unlike anything I had ever seen before

Staying Put vs. Moving On

I've been in Siem Reap volunteering for over a month now and have been enjoying my time here immensely. The people are friendly, cheap eats are plentiful and the atmosphere is ultra chill. At times I feel like I may never want to leave.

This past weekend, most of the other teachers left for a weekend trip down to the beach. I opted to stay behind and somehow ended up spending most of my time with a lovely group of English backpackers who, unlike myself, were in full travel mode. They had just arrived from Bangkok, stayed four nights in Siem Reap and have already moved on to Phnom Penh. They're actually traveling. Which made me realize that I'm really not. And kind of made me wish that I was.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very content with where I am. But spending even just a few days with these people got me thinking about just how different what they're doing is from what I'm doing. I'm teaching English, which means I have be somewhere at a certain time every day and I'm accountable to an organization.

While this experience has been incredibly rewarding and I'm glad to take on the responsibility, I don't think it can really be considered traveling. According to dictionary.com, "travel" means "to go from one place to another, as by car, train, plane, or ship; take a trip; journey: to travel for pleasure." I'm not going from one place to another. On the contrary, I've been staying put and as a result I've gotten pretty comfortable: I know my way around the city, I know where I like to eat and drink, I see people I recognize around town. There is of course a lot to be said for getting to know a place in this way but I also don't want to get too comfortable. At some point I'm going to have to move on.

Although hanging out with this group of Brits got me a bit antsy to move on to somewhere new, I know I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready to leave the school I'm at and there are still lots of things I want to see in and around Siem Reap. I'm sure I'll know when the time is right. But I'll admit, I'm already a little bit excited for what's to come.

Tentative Itinerary

I have been thinking about this trip for a while now and I thought I had a pretty good idea of where I was headed and what I was going to see/do. That is, until I had appointment with the travel clinic nurse a couple of months ago to discuss what vaccinations or medications I might need to take. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Will I need to take anti-malarial pills for Southeast Asia?*

Her: It depends on your travel plans. If you're only going to be in main cities you should be fine, but if you're going to be heading into rural areas you should probably take them. What is your itinerary? Will you be in any rural areas while you are away?

Me: Umm... maybe? Should I take them just in case?

Her: Well, like I said, it really depends on your itinerary and what you'll be doing exactly.

Me: Oh, right, hmm, well, I don't really know yet..?

Although I felt a bit silly during the appointment, there is no way I could have known at that point what exactly I wanted my trip to look like. Heck, I still don't! Southeast Asia is a region totally foreign to me and I honestly have no idea if I'll want to just stay in urban centers or venture out to more rural places.

While I don't have all the details figured out, I do have a tentative itinerary for this trip:

October 4-7, 2012: Stopover in Seoul, South Korea.

October 7, 2012: Arrive in Cambodia.

October-November-December 2012: Volunteer in Siem Reap, Cambodia for roughly two months.

January-February-March 2013: Travel around Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Indonesia.

April 2013: Head to Australia with a work visa. Work there for roughly six months (although a work visa is valid for one year).

September 2013: Head to Fiji for one last hourrah.

September/October 2013: Return back home.

Again, this is how I envision the trip going but I am 100% aware it very well may turn out nothing like this. Maybe I'll hate it and want to come home after two weeks, or maybe I'll love it and never come home at all! The point is you never know what might happen, and I'm okay with not knowing. I just want to go with the flow and take things as they come.

*For the record I decided against taking anti-malarial pills. They are expensive, can have very unpleasant side-effects and I shouldn't be in rural areas very often, if at all. I am relying on my mosquito net and lots of DEET to protect me!