Six month update

I arrived home from my trip on June 27th, almost 6 months to the day ago. Things have changed a lot since I returned home. I started rereading my blog entries from my trip and it brought back so many amazing memories. I'm thinking about writing a short, mostly photos, book about my trip and my experiences. Perhaps I should start soon; some of the details of the memories are already starting to fade.

My trip was life changing but it also seems like a lifetime ago. I learned so much about myself on this trip. I think the most important thing I gained was my confidence in my own ability to cope in challenging situations. It's one thing to travel through western Europe and be confident in one's own capabilities; it's quite another to be thrown into a situation where you don't speak the language, you don't know the customs and you're alone figuring out a new developing country. I am exceedingly grateful to whatever deity (my personal belief is in a mother earth) was watching over me. So many things could have happened and they didn't. The worst thing to happen was a bout of dysentery and an auto-immune reaction, but in the grand scheme of things, that's pretty minor. I was very lucky.

In the end, I traveled and lived abroad for 417 days, I lived in three countries: Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, and visited a total of 12 (in approximate order): Vietnam (3 months), Thailand (nearly 5 months), Lao (3 weeks), Cambodia (3 months), New Zealand (3 weeks), Australia (1 week), Malaysia (2 weeks), Thailand (again), Cambodia (again), Indonesia (Bali, 1 week), France (4 days), Switzerland (2 weeks), Germany (3 days), Austria (1 week).


When I arrived home, I spent a few weeks interviewing for jobs and unpacking, then two weeks in Idaho at my family's cabin. While in Idaho, I received good news that I had been selected for an Assistant Director position at Santa Clara University in the School of Business. I started slightly more than a month after I returned home and I'm approaching my 5 month mark. I'm enjoying my new job and learning many new skills as well. I still have plenty of wanderlust, which will be partially satisfied with trips to Shanghai and Ghana with my students in June. After Ghana I will be flying up to Europe or over to Kenya; decision on location is TBD. I also have a few other trips planned with my boyfriend David. He is Hungarian by birth but grew up in Switzerland so we're planning trips to both countries in the near future.

 These photos are from the end of my trip (above left, in Salzburg, Austria) and my life post-trip (above right, David and me visiting my parents in Napa Valley; below, enjoying Christmas lunch with family). 

I miss so many things about Asia and I do miss the spontaneity of my traveling days. It's wonderful to have so much freedom to go to so many places. There are certain advantages to being in one place as well so it's nice to have the best of both worlds. I am hoping to visit Asia again soon. As much as I love Europe, the US, and other western countries, Asia has left an indelible imprint on my life.

Roots

I'm staying at a beautiful bungalow in Koh Tao, an island near Koh Samui and Koh Phang Ngan, on the east coast of Thailand. I feel like I've been traveling for quite a while; I'm about to hit 13 months of my trip (12 months of actual travel but I left 13 months ago). I feel like I've been gone quite a while and there are things I'm very excited for when I return home in about 50 days.

I met a family who is staying in a nearby bungalow who are about two years into a four or four and a half year trip. They have been all over the world and experienced many different cultures, countries and adventures. The father is German, the mother is from Russia, they "live" in Canada, and the kids, aged about 15 and 13 already speak fluent English, Russian and German and they are learning Chinese and Spanish. I was wondering about this family and how it has been for them to travel for that long. I wonder if the kids miss the same kinds of things that I do, or if they're so used to this way of life that they don't really miss things from home anymore.

In a previous post, I said I would always need to be traveling and experiencing new things. I think I've slightly modified that decision. I will always need to travel but I'm not sure that I could live abroad for continuous amounts of time. I miss my family, my friends, my cats and my kitchen too much. It has been too long since I've had access to an oven and I miss baking bread and experimenting with new dishes. I love Southeast Asian food, but I am very excited to make my own food instead of going out for every meal. I'm excited to have my own bed and run in the woods behind my parents' house. I'm looking forward to Peet's coffee and Mexican food. I can't wait to go to my family's cabin in Idaho. I once heard that a person is a sum of her experiences. I certainly feel like I am both a sum of the experiences I've had on this trip and the experiences I'm looking forward to having again when I return home. I'm lucky I have the option to do both.

Bangkok and UNESCO

Relaxing in JJ Park.

This is Tesco's; a large supermarket near my house.

I've been living in Bangkok now for a little more than 6 weeks. It's a huge, wild, crazy, frenetic, polluted city. I must admit to being a little intimidated by it because it is so big. I need to get out and see more of it while I still have the opportunity to do so. There are so many different neighborhoods here and it's even more of a mixing pot than San Francisco. There are amazing little markets everywhere and people with rolling carts of food who just set up in the middle of the sidewalk for lunch or dinner. One of my favorites is a woman who has a cart for making crepes and pancakes. She'll make the crepe or pancake while you watch and then you can have a banana crepe with chocolate or sweetened condensed milk or a fresh pancake in several different, as yet to be determined flavors.

Chrysanthemum juice.

I try to only eat Thai food once a day because it's very high calorie, but delicious. I live right next to a street called Soi 38 (Soi means street in Thai) and every night there are small restaurants and carts set up with plastic tables and chairs for dinner. I can eat noodles, rice, curry or soup for about $1-2 with a drink. There's also a woman who is known for making the best mango sticky rice (fresh mango sliced on top of coconut sticky rice) and another who makes delicious smoothies which are a meal in themselves! I especially like banana/passion fruit and mango/passion fruit/ strawberry smoothies. I'm lucky, most people understand "jay" which means vegetarian and most places can accommodate me.

Everything is transported by motorbike!

Motorbike taxi

I eat a lot of tofu and egg, although not as much as I did in Vietnam. In my room, I also have a refrigerator and hot water kettle so I can make salads, coffee, oatmeal, etc. On my salads, I've been splurging and adding feta cheese, which is between $5 and $8 for 200 grams. Cheese in general is extremely expensive in Asia. I definitely miss Trader Joe's when I'm here.

Flip-flops anyone?

UNESCO also has a canteen serving Thia food. Yesterday I tried pink coconut noodles with egg and tofu. It was a little heavy on the fish sauce but very interesting nonetheless. I was trying not to think about the dye used to make Easter-bunny pink noodles but I guess you only live once and it's interesting to try (vegetarian) things at least once.

Mango sticky rice.

I mentioned the small markets, but there's also one that is probably the biggest market I've ever seen. It's called Chatuchuk Market and it's in the northern part of the city. It takes about half an hour to get there by the BTS (the Bangkok metro) and it's primarily a weekend market. You can buy ANYTHING in this market. My favorite is the fresh coconut ice cream served in a coconut shell. It is delicious. Thailand is very hot, so they give you a cup of fresh coconut juice to cool down before you dig in to your ice cream. There's a section for tourists, with lots of silks and t-shirts and kitschy stuff, housewares, shoes, clothes, instruments, plants, vases, pets, dried food, fresh food, fruit, and anything else you can think of. The problem is actually trying to find what you're looking for. I have a great map of the market but even with the map, it can be challenging to find what I want. I bought some beautiful jewelry there last week and I'll be going back before I leave for more gifts.

Slicing mangos

I live on Sukhumvit road in Bangkok, in a tower next to UNESCO with hundreds of rooms. My room is about 12x12 with an attached bathroom (with hot water, such luxury!) and a small balcony with a sink. I also have air conditioning, which I've been thoroughly enjoying when it gets really hot and humid. My room is quite basic, but it works. It's not too noisy most of the time, although last night around 1:00 a.m. someone was skidding his motorbike intentionally and the squealing was pretty loud.

Two little girls helping their parents on the weekend

I'm working with two units at UNESCO: Education for Sustainable Development and the Asia Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development. I'm about halfway through my internship and I'm getting a good idea of what it's like to work for a government-type organization. So far, I've been writing concept notes, editing case studies, writing newsletter articles, preparing notes and a summary from a conference and researching gender equality, sustainability, graduate employability and other educational topics.



Next week is Songkran, or Thai New Year, and Thais go wild with water guns. I expect to get very very wet. I'm still trying to figure out which part of the city I should go to for the holiday (next Wednesday) but I'm thinking that I should get something to protect my camera before I do!

In three weeks, I'm traveling down to the Thai islands for a week and I'm excited to get out of the city. I may be getting certified to scuba dive while I'm down there; we'll see. It will be nice to spend time on the beach and relaxing.


If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send them!

Some random food I haven't tried.

Coconuts galore!

My coconut ice cream.

Delicious!

Yes, I stalk monks.

Anyone want a mini?

Curry powder/ paste anyone?

Assorted dried foods.

Yummy fruits for immediate consumption.

Very fresh shrimp. Ew.

Thaifood for sale!

I want the red one; but you can supersize it?

Something with tentacles.

You can get this t-shirt for Songkran where you will, indeed, be "so wet"

De-gustatory delight!

Pretty candles.

More photos from Tescos

Back online

Hi everyone,

I've been remiss and haven't updated my blog in a while. Let me see if I can give a quick recap. This is the first of several update blogs and then I'll start blogging about what's happening now.

The Harpswell girls trying jelly beans

My last blog posting was on November 4th of last year. My Mom arrived on November 8th and spent a month with me traveling through Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia; DaNang, Hoi An, Sapa and Hanoi, Vietnam; Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Yao Yai and Koh Yao Noi, Thailand. We had a wonderful time together despite some health problems I encountered. I came down with a form of dysentery, probably E. Coli or Campylobactor in late October. Three weeks later, my ankle swelled and became painful and after waking up at 4:00 in the morning in incredible pain and not able to put any pressure on my ankle. I was diagnosed at the emergency clinic in Phnom Penh with Reactive Arthritis, a genetic auto-immune reaction to a stomach enteritis. The arthritis also spread to my knees and hands and made it necessary to alter plans occasionally. Fortunately it seems to have mostly resolved in the last five months and likely won't reoccur. I'm just thankful that it wasn't something worse.

A woman selling vegetables in Hoi An

My friend Chi Lien showing us how to make Banh Xeo or Vietnamese spring rolls

Hoi An floods every year but this was just crazy!

In that month, we spent a lot of time in markets, drinking umbrella-decorated cocktails and trying lots of the local foods. Of course I also appreciated the non-Asian food as well particularly Italian, Mediterranean and, of course, Mexican cuisine.

Saying good bye to my Harpswell girls

In Phnom Penh, my Mom met the Harpswell girls I had been working with for three months and I said some, sometimes tearful, goodbyes to them. We had some amazing breakfasts at The Living Room and The Shop and enjoyed Russian Market and all the wonderful silks on display. We brought home an entire suitcase full of our purchases at the end of the trip but it was so much fun just to find our treasures.

In Siem Reap, we explored the temples, indulged in delicious fresh mango daiquiris and mojitos at Moksha, and enjoyed our guesthouse, the Golden Mango, with the delightful Wann as our host. Of course, we also spent a lot of time in the markets and exploring the little shops throughout SR.

I became close friends with Kristen, another volunteer, in Cambodia

Enjoying mango daiquiris and mojitos in Siem Reap

The colors of the monks robes against the temples was stunning.

Taking time out for a water break. Too bad they're celibate; they're cute!

The nuttiness of Hanoi.

On to Vietnam, where it was pouring rain and ended up flooding the streets of Hoi An. Mom met some of the friends I had made when I lived in Vietnam last spring and we had amazing massages, pedicures, manicures, sea salt scrubs and mud wraps at the spa where one of my friends works. It was about 3 hours of bliss! We loved the food, especially the fresh pomello salad at Streets and everything at Cargo Club. We had a "small world" experience in Cargo Club. One of my Mom's coworkers told her his wife would be in Southeast Asia the same time we would be. My Mom tells me this and then starts looking around jokingly but not 20 feet away sat four people from my hometown, including her coworkers wife. That was crazy! In DaNang, we visited another friend I had volunteered with and Mom saw where I lived when I was volunteering in Vietnam.

Sapa

The lake in Sapa complete with little boats.

The view from our hotel.

The Hmong woman carry their children on their backs while they sell their wares.

On to Hanoi, which is crazy and the traffic is beyond hectic. I saw more accidents in Vietnam in 3 months then I had seen in my entire life prior to this trip! We walked around the city center before catching a night train to Sapa. I loved Sapa. It's a mountain hill station situated 8 hours from Hanoi. We stayed in a darling guesthouse with beautiful views of the town and we drank mulled cider and had delicious soups and other warm foods because it was actually quite cold. I highly recommend it. Sapa is known for great hiking but my knees weren't allowing me to do much so we mostly walked around the town and bought handicrafts from the local Hmong people.

Spectacular, huh?

We loved this little cafe and ate there frequently.

These women were very friendly 

Mom, Maya and me

After two flights, from Hanoi to Bangkok and Bangkok to Chiang Mai, we finally reached Chiang Mai. On my previous visit to Chiang Mai, I had met a friend of a friend, Maya, who used to live in the Santa Barbara area but is now one of tens of thousands of expats who live in Thailand. We enjoyed visiting with Maya again and we also did a cooking class, where we learned just how many calories are in Thai food, and a trek, to burn of all of the said calories. It turned out that the trek covered the same route as part of a previous trek I had done in Chiang Mai, but it was still fun. On our trek we visited waterfalls, rode elephants and bamboo rafted down a river (well really more of a stream). We also went to more markets, including the massive Sunday market, where we bought more textiles, earrings, including some made with beetle wings, and tried various foods at the food stalls. We also talked to a monk at a temple in a program called "Monk chat" and learned all about his life. He was a cute 24 year old from a nearby province. Apparently when he was ten, he wanted to try a novice monk program with his best friend but when his friend dropped out after two weeks, he wanted to as well but his mother wouldn't allow him to. Monks are extremely well respected and receive a good education, but, just as priests in the Catholic religion, they are required to be celibate. Our monk told us that they usually eat twice a day but if they've been having "unpure thoughts", such as kissing a girl, then they only eat once a day and spend the rest of the time praying. Poor guys.

Carefully chopping ginger, shallots and chillies. 

Delicious!

Tom Yum soup with lots of veggies.

From Chiang Mai, we flew south to Phuket and took a boat to Koh Yao Yai (which means big island) where stayed for three nights in a cute bungalow at a little guesthouse overlooking the ocean. I had the flu for two days so I didn't do much and Mom got some reading done. Next, we traveled to the next island, Koh Yao Noi (which means small island) for two nights at a guesthouse perched on top of a hill with stunning views of the bay. Yao Yai was a little quiet but Yao Noi was the perfect combination of non-partier atmosphere with enough restaurants and cute little beach eateries to keep us busy.

Our final stop was Bangkok, where we visited Chatuchuk market, which is the massive weekend market in the north of the city and saw UNESCO, where I would begin an internship in March. We had our last dinner at Cabbages and Condoms, a Disneyesque non-profit restaurant which raises money for HIV awareness and gives out condoms to customers instead of mints at the end of the night. It was a nice end to a great trip.

More updates to come.

This man uses his macaques to pick coconuts.  

Riding our elephant.

We saw women thrashing rice stalks to release rice.

These elephants were adorable! The younger one had a "crush" on the older one and they were playing together.

The view from our place in Koh Yai.

And from our bungalow in Yao Noi.

Living the life

Loving the views.

Our beautiful hotel in Bangkok

On our last night at dinner.