That's All She Wrote

    9 months ago, I was boarding a flight to Sri Lanka as a complete mixed bag of emotions feeling unsure as to what I was getting into and starting to second-guess why I had felt so compelled to up and leave home - my comfort zone. My first week at the Millennium Elephant Foundation furthered my feeling of uncertainty, as there I as, living in a very foreign country, no one I knew remotely close by AND I was surrounded by 9 wild animals, at all times. Fortunately, all of those feelings started shifting and soon I was feeling very comfortable in this new place, had made new friends and had fallen in love with at least one of those so-called wild animals. That shift in feelings is something I continued to face as I moved from place to place, country to country but at no point did I not come out the other side feeling the complete opposite of how I had begun.

    To think this trip of a lifetime has come to an end is hard to swallow. It really feels like I blinked and am now boarding a flight to LA, just like that. But when I think about where I have been, the experiences I've had, the people I've met the things I've learned and the memories I now have, I think I packed a lot into that one blink.

    I am more interested in this world now, than I ever was. And why it is the way it is. Why we speak different languages, have different currencies, follow different customs, etc. Putting yourself in other people's world allows you to see that, I think. I have always been curious, but exploring this world has heightened that. I want to know why things are the way they are, how they've become a certain way and I try my best to seek out the answer. I have learned to embrace things. Ideas or customs that originally made me uncomfortable, I may still not see eye to eye with, or bring home with me, but I was able to accept them for what they were. For example, in most of the countries I visited, leaving your car on while you fill up with gas is normal.

    I have finally taken some of the best advice my sister has ever given me, and I read more. Which to be honest, is reading at all. Spurred by the amount of 'free time' I've had, or my feeling of being out of touch with the world, or something totally different, I'm not sure, but I'm enjoying it. I have read 7 books in the last 6 months, countless magazines, newspapers, maps, guides, brochures, reviews and articles about the places I've been. It comes as no news to the rest of you that have had this reading thing down pat for years, but the things I've learned through reading have taken the satisfaction of this trip even further.

    Like I said, I read countless reviews, blogs and advice on places to go and how to get there; some good, some bad. They were a good way to get an idea of what I wanted to do, but oddly enough, it was some of the bad reviews or horror stories that interested me more. It meant I was in for a challenge, which to me is more exciting than having an adventure that is smooth sailing all the way through. Part of why I came out here was to try new things, get lost, find my way again, be challenged and come out stronger, and more open-minded because of it.

    I owe so much thanks to my family and friends for their support throughout the last 10 months and anyone who kept up with my blog and hopefully enjoyed what I had to share, but most importantly, I feel I owe thanks to all of the people I met along the way who let me into their homes, into their temples, into their communities, always with a huge smile on their face, requiring nothing in return but that I share what I experienced. The sense of family and togetherness over here is remarkable.

    I managed to land my feet on 11 different countries, which I know is a small fraction of what this wonderful world has to offer, but it's a step. I am but a tiny pixel on this great blue and green globe and traveling has both brought that idea home and allowed me to further appreciate what I do have to be thankful for.

    My advice to anyone who is considering traveling would be to go for it. Let go of the bowlines and set sail. Sleep in trains, boats, vans, airports and on strangers shoulders. You'll be amazed what changes in your heart of hearts and what you change in the hearts of others. I went away so that I could come back. So that I could see what I call home with a different light and new colors. Coming back to what I started is not the same as never leaving.

    A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.
  


P.s. I was finally able to recover the first post I ever tried writing, that got stuck on my tablet. So, here it is :) -

    Well, safe to say my flight to London was the biggest plane I have been on. B777 Premium holding up to 450 passengers, 3 separate classes and some wonderful service thanks to United. Coming into London was beautiful. Bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky and the ability to see all of London's sights from above - The Eye, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, etc.


    I was picked up from the airport by a wonderful friend and driven into a countryside village I have only ever imagined in my mind and the movies but what turned out to be so much more. Absolutely stunning, West Horsley. The day was spent out on a long walk through the fields, eating a delicious lunch in the garden, sipping on lots of tea, driving through the equally picturesque town of Shire (from my favorite movie, The Holiday) and finally finished off with a nap before I was back off to the airport. I will be back though!
    
    The airport was complete chaos inside and out this time but I managed to make my way through security (not without a heavy search of all my belongings) and onto my gate. This time, I was boarding a Sri Lankan airlines flight, 64 rows long and settling in for an 11 hour flight. One interesting anecdote from that flight - the forward and downward cameras outside the plane that are setup and accessible through the TV channels....freaky! but kind of pretty during sunrise. Next I'll be checking in from Colombo! 

Last stop - Hong Kong

    Talk about doing everything you possibly can in the 2 days you're given. Or at least trying to!
    I arrived in the concrete jungle that is Hong Kong with immediate views of the city, various islands, beautiful blue water, and buildings like you've never seen before packed into the valleys created by the mountains, as my flight descended. I followed the directions given to me by my hostel and exited the airport on the lookout for bus A11. Found it with ease and shortly thereafter I was comfortably seated in my second-level seat with my hands and face plastered against the window as the sun was starting to set and the shipyard lights and glow from the city slowly started appearing over the horizon. First observation, everything here is double decker! Which, I suppose makes sense - more people, less space on the ground. The buses are all two floors high and even the streetcars look like something straight out of Harry Poter...! I was expecting the amount of people, in one of the most dense populations in the world, to overwhelm me at first, but when I stepped off the bus in Causeway Bay and walked the few blocks to my hostel, it didn't seem too intense. My first night was spent situating myself and getting my hands on a map to plan everything I wanted to get done in the 2 full days that I had. 

    Day 1 - Getting my hands on the city.
    I set off early in the morning towards the central station to purchase a ticket for and board The Rickshaw Bus. One of those typical tourist open-top, hop-on, hop-off bus tour type things, and a great way to cover a lot of ground while having the main sites blatantly pointed out.i tackled both the Heritage Route and the Metropolis Route, staying on for the ride at some points and hopping off at others to see a few museums, beautiful cathedrals, HKU, temples, fascinating outdoor escalators, incredible buildings and the Soho district.

    Before arriving in Hong Kong, I discovered they had a Disneyland, so naturally I made a point to at least go check out their version of the happiest place on earth. Getting out to the park requires a few stops on the MTR plus an interchange onto a special Disney subway train, fit with Mickey-shaped windows, blue crushed velvet seats, Disney character display cases and Mickey-shaped handles. As soon as I arrived, stepped off the train and heard the classic Disney tunes playing through hidden speakers, I felt happy. Crazy how good they are at that. There was plenty to do around the outside of the park without paying the hefty ticket price, so I enjoyed my time, picked up easily some of the best caramel corn I have ever had and was back on the train into the city. 

 

    Hong Kong turns into a symphony of lights at night, which is no surprise with the number of buildings here. I had heard the boardwalk over on Kowloon Island was the best place to look back at the city, so I made my way over there once nighttime had fallen. The boardwalk, or the Avenue of Stars, was my first encounter with total congestion and overcrowdedness but I eventually found a comfortable spot to take in the magnificent light display and it's mirrored reflection on Victoria Harbor. 

    Day 2 - Getting my hands on nature.
After playing tourist in the city for a day, and reading much about some of the incredible and somewhat secret hikes Hong Kong has to offer, I chose to tie up my laces and set off to Dragon's Back trail. It was a perfectly beautiful day for a 6km hike - the sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, one of the hottest temperatures I've felt and fresh (maybe?) air filling my lungs. The trail itself was not too tricky and offered a lot of shading, tiny glimpses of views in various spots, natural waterfalls and THE biggest spiders I have ever seen, chilling in their webs high enough up above my head to not have me totally freak out. The view from the highest point of the trail was absolutely breathtaking. And quite unexpected as I didn't know much about the hike except for it's name and how to get there, or that Hong Kong had such a beautiful landscape. 360-degree views for miles of mountains, bright blue water, white sand beaches, golf courses and green, green, green. I could have sat up there all day but continued the second-half of the trek, back down with the hopes of finding a bus. (Found one).
   

    

    I had been recommended to go to The Peak, which is HK's highest point and offers views of the city, so I made that my plan for the afternoon. I knew there was a hike that can be done but there is also the tram, and after my morning of hiking I decided I'd cheat and take the tram up and maybe walk the trail down. Well, at the sight of a line just to buy tickets that I guess was probably about an hour and a half wait, I concluded it was a sign to force my legs to keep going. I asked one of the tram representatives where the starting point of the trail was and she pointed in the direction of a road next to the tram and said 'walk straight and just keep going.' Easy enough.    

    Not exactly. After walking for roughly 45 minutes, completely out of breath and having sweat through every inch of my clothing, on a 'trail' that was taking me every which way, with no one on it, I decided there was no way this was the trail. Luckily, I was going to The Peak, so as long as I was going up, I was doing something right. After walking through rainforests, along roads and through what I think may have been the backyard of someone very wealthy (with a tennis court) I eventually made it to the infamous Peak, 7km later. I was greeted by hundreds of tourists and a mall, of course, fully equipped with Starbucks, McDonalds, restaurants, Coach, Chanel, Dior......
   
    From the top, it was very obvious where the actual Peak Trail begins/ends, so I ran the (only) 3.5km back down the paved trail, along with quite a few other people going in both directions,  which made a lot more sense. Spent the rest of the evening doing some window shopping, walking around downtown, along the water and then back to the hostel to pack up my backpack one last time.
   
    Even though I encountered a few bumps in the road on Day 2 (literally and figuratively), setting out without having done a lot of research into my plans and therefore holding no expectations is actually a lot of fun.

Somewhere in the Middle

    Somewhere in the middle of Vietnam, lies the beautifully historic town of Hoi An. Jenny and I had the pleasure of staying in Hoi An for the 5 days, and loved every relaxed moment of it. It was nice being able to settle in a bit and get to know a town, instead of the constant moving between cities, ups and downs in planes, back and forth in vans, and never really being able to feel comfortable in a place. We planned our trip together in a way that allows us to experience a bit of both. Unpacking in Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang and Hoi An, and being on the move throughout all the cities in between these stops.

    Where we stayed in Hoi An was located just outside the Ancient Old City, which meant hopping on the complimentary bikes everyday and cycling into town. Hoi An has in place a great initiative to see some of the historic sights - purchase one ticket, that gives you access to whichever 5 sights (of the 23) that you'd like to see. Majority of them are quite similar, and we found the ticket takers were sometimes not at their post, so we managed to see a few more than 5!

    Throughout our 5 days there we were able to cross off the Japanese Bridge, the Old House of Phung Hung, Nguyen Tuong Family Chapel, Hoi An Museum of History and Culture, Museum of Folk Culture, Quang Trieu Assembly hall, Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, AND we caught a traditional Folk Game of Breaking Pots. My favorite spot was the Museum of Folk Culture as it displayed a large number of artifacts and information giving insight into music, dance, home life, work life, etc of the people of Hoi An. A number of the highlights in Hoi An were unfortunately filled with people selling gifts and souvenirs, directly inside the sites, which took away from the experience. For instance, the Old house of Phung Hung, which was beautiful with it's wood carvings, traditional furniture and lantern-covered balcony, had almost completely been turned into a shop and the history of the house was left in the background.

    Hoi An turned into a magical town at night. The streets in the Old City were covered with lit lanterns strung across the roads and the area around the canal had even more lights, dragon-lit bridges, people sending off Wish Candles into the water, and a plethora of restaurants and cafes to choose from. It was exactly how I had imagined it and identical to the pictures I had seen before arriving. Even the famous Tailors of Hoi An kept their doors open into the wee hours of the night. Which proved to be quite useful as I ended up stepping into one after dinner and came out having been fitted and measured for a dress to wear to my brother's Big Day!  

Exploring the famous Mui Ne Sand Dunes...in a typhoon!

    Following Hoi An, it was time to make our way into the final, busy, non-stop 12 days of our trip. We hopped on a plane down to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for a night, had a very cool 'Sleeper Bus' take us to the beach town of Mui Ne (2 days), jumped back on that Sleeper Bus to Saigon where we explored the history of Southern Vietnam for 2 days, got on another bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia where we put our things down for only 2 days before getting on our LAST bus to Siem Reap. We are now saying goodbye to Cambodia and getting ready to experience the last leg of our trip together, with a flight to Bangkok, where we will be for 3 days before Jenny heads back home.

Notre Dame Cathedral

    Ho Chi Minh City was bustling and filled with historical sites we wanted to see. Not as hectic as Hanoi and we enjoyed the contrast between the big city feel, while still having the chance to feel like we were in nature with the heavy number of parks, boulevards and huge tree-lined streets. The amount of history I have learned about Vietnam is more than I ever could have imagined. Which I suppose is to be expected when you have the chance to be standing right where history took place. The cities we have been to have done an incredible job preserving sites and building museums to inform people, remember, and commemorate what happened during the war. While in Saigon, Jenny and I visited the Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office, Saigon Opera House and a few historic hotels in between.

    The highlight for me, though extremely depressing, was the War Remnants Museum. The exterior of the museum includes a heavy display of old US Army helicopters, fighter planes, cannons and tanks, while the interior has a number of exhibits, explaining in great detail and providing photos, what led to the war, what took place during it, what was left after and the effects of Agent Orange. The graphic accounts brought me to tears and it leaves me speechless to think about how people were treated and how human beings can treat other human beings.

    While still in Saigon, we took a day trip to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels to further our history lesson. There, we learned about the Viet Cong soldiers and the incredibly intricate tunnels they constructed to survive the war. The tunnels go 3 levels down, are over 200km long, included kitchen areas, and sleeping quarters and once upon a time could hide up to 9,000 people! 150m of the tunnels are open for tourists to experience and crawl through, following a guide, which Jenny and I both tried but after the first 50m, opted to get out through the short-cut route as we were feeling extremely claustrophobic already.

Found a piano shop in HCMC willing to let us sit down & play for a bit! (Missing my violin)

 
     Next stop, Cambodia. Phnom Penh was a very interesting city. Right away, I felt the warmth of the people there, their openness to foreigners, their kindness, and all without knowing much about the history of their country (which I am not too proud to admit). I was completely in the dark about the genocide that took place between 1975 and 1979 but after a 2-hour, audio-guided visit to The Killing Fields Museum and the S21 Prison, I now feel like I know everything. The Museum is located directly on the fields where thousands of Khmers were killed and buried across 86 mass graves. The leaders of the Khmer Rouge believed 'to keep you is no gain, to lose you is no loss.'

Royal Palace - Phnom Penh

   We took the most interesting road to get from the center of the city to The Killing Fields, which really stressed why I found Phnom Penh so fascinating. Dusty, dirty roads lined with piles of garbage, tiny shops (very similar look to Rambukkana) and warehouses/factories that appeared to be sweatshops and all the while Range Rovers and Mercedes were passing us in our Tuk Tuk. There is such a huge divide and obvious extreme between poverty and wealth in Phnom Penh - more than any city I've seen. Not only with the cars, but in the center of the city, one could easily walk down the street and pass a mega mansion or one of the many over-the-top Ambassador Residences and right next door find a metal shack, waiting to fall apart.

5AM crossing the moat into Angkor Wat

    After a 7-hour bus ride, we arrived in Siem Reap and are now just about to leave! We have done a good job at packing in as much as we can, which in this case means a long day at the temples of Angkor Wat. I was so excited to see Angkor Wat (the 8th Wonder of the World and the second Wonder I have seen on my trip!) as it was one of the things I have been looking forward to since leaving home. We were up at 4AM yesterday to make it to Angkor for sunrise and 7 hours later, we came stumbling out ready for bed but completely amazed at the incredible size and detail of the temples. We saw the 5 main temples, plus a few of the smaller ones, leaving me to understand why some people can spend a whole week there but still feeling like we saw a good chunk for the time we had. The detail in the construction and the time it would have taken to construct this city of temples is so hard to grasp. Sanskrit and images of the story of Buddha could be found carved on almost every column and wall. Stones that had been carved into faces of the King or elephants were another bit that amazed me. And finally, the way nature has grown around the temples was extraordinary. Ta Prohm, in particular (where Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones were filmed), was the best place to see huge, overbearing trees that have started to swallow the walls of the temple.

    Following our day at Angkor, we finally treated ourselves to a South East Asian treat of getting our fish 'massaged' by FISH. Well, sort of. We attempted the famous Dr. Fish Fish Spa, but after a few too many minutes of being too ticklish to submerge our feet in the water, we opted out. At least we can say we tried.

    Back to Thailand now, for the 3rd time, followed by my adventure over to Hong Kong!

XOXO Nicky