Home.

Wed, 3 Mar 2010 20:44:04 -0800

written by: Andrianne

I am overwhelmed at the thought of even where to begin this blog. February has been a complete whirlwind of a month. I have wanted to put up a post for a little travel “closure” for weeks now, then the hard drive on our laptop crashed, we were in Saskatoon, I started work, etc.

We spent our last week of travels in Bangkok. We ate amazing Thai food, did tonnes of shopping and spent a day at the Tiger Temple and one of the floating markets. By the end of the busy week I felt ready to fly back to Koh Lanta and spend another week relaxing on the beach again before heading home :)

For me, adjusting to life back in North America has been a way harder adjustment then leaving it. For so many reasons. Leaving had a huge excitement attached to it, the unknown, adventures around every corner, new places and people. While it was wonderful to come home to friends and family, I come back to the “known.” I know what work is like, I love interacting with people all day long, but the past few weeks back I’ve kept asking myself “was I really gone? Did our trip really happen?” Our trip was a dream for both of us for so many years. And yes, we achieved it, had an amazing time and were able to fulfill the dream. But it’s over. I feel this deep sense of sadness that it’s gone. Almost like I’m grieving a bit. I feel lost being back. Like I don’t quite fit in anymore. I don’t feel part of this culture anymore. But I guess I don’t really feel part of anywhere. I just know that right now, my heart is not here. I know this comes from all my experiences. From the millions of lessons I learned, all the growing I did and all the things and people I had the privilege of encountering. But how do I come back? I feel so different on the inside, but everything here is the same. How do I keep my new found perspective on life and not fall back into my old self? These are questions I’ve been struggling with everyday. A dear client and friend encouraged me to embrace my feelings. To not shove them down and let myself become hardened. To let myself cry over this loss. So I sit here and do just that. She also encouraged me to remember that God has me exactly where He wants me. So I take comfort in that. I’ve been able to have some incredible conversations since being home. I’m thankful for those because they keep me reliving my time away. I get to take a little break and go back.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how blessed I am. It overwhelms me. We had 6 months to see a huge part of the world. I got to spend every moment of those 6 months with my best friend, who I also got to know on a completely different level. We met beautiful people and had amazing encounters with locals and other travellers. I got to take photos to my hearts content. We ate incredible food. We saw some of the most beautiful places I only ever could have dreamed of. We never once were really sick, we had nothing stolen from us, we didn’t even have a flight cancelled. I got to read as much as I wanted, was challenged mentally, physically and spiritually, which can only lead to growth as a person. And I had the opportunity to learn about life and how it’s done outside of North America. There was immense beauty that came with that. I am so, so thankful. I know that I need to keep going back. I know that there is still so much I can learn from my experiences. And bit by bit learn to apply them to life here. I have this tendency to feel the need to not just wade in, but to jump in head first. Sometimes it’s better to wade. Maybe then more will stick :)

Andrianne asked me to finish it up, and she is such an amazing writer that I don’t really feel like I will be able to give this post the justice it needs. She was bang on by the whirl wind of being home, trying to figure out life as we now know it. While it has been hard at times for me, trying to process all we saw and experienced, and realizing nothing has really changed here, I have also felt a sense of relaxation as my stress about places to sleep and our next stop is done. I still want more now that I have had time to rest, and I can’t wait for the day to continue on in ‘Our Journey’.

Thanks for everyone who took the time to follow our journey, and live the experience through this blog. Thanks for the all comments, prayers, and encouragements! It meant a lot!

The Tale of Koh Lanta; the Indian, the dancing German Persian cling-on and a pink scooter...

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:08:31 -0800

written by: Andrianne

Well, first off, I have to say that I’ve come a long way in the making friends with random people department. I’m not a pro, but I can stand my own now days. To really make Koh Lanta come alive for you, I need to introduce you to a few key characters first...

We stayed at the greatest little beach bungalow “resort”, I use resort because there really isn’t a better word, called the Banana Garden Home. Two adorable Thai ladies run the place. Annie and Matie. Annie is a middle aged woman, with the heart of a grandma. Matie is in her early thirties, loves to help out any way possible and I am thrilled because I am taller than both of them! Next up is our Indian friend, Piye. He runs a pub on the beach front of the Banana Garden called “the Indian.” Piye has long hair, a yoga physique to write home about and the tendency to wear a large feather sticking straight up at the back of his head. I’m not sure where he “hails” from, India, Thailand or an immigrant from northern Saskatchewan, none the less, he is a self proclaimed Indian with a huge heart and smile to match. One more key character is Maryam; the dancing German Persian cling-on. This is where my new friend making ability came in... Now that you know everyone involved I can begin our story.

We arrive in Koh Lanta via ferry, pulling in as one of the most beautiful sunsets I have every witnessed is taking place. Rob and I hobble off the ferry, balancing all our bags while walking across these little ramps (wooden balance beams) and make our way towards the many Thai people waiting to collect “their” tourist. Annie and Matie are there waiting to pick us up with their white 4X4 truck. They smile. I know instantly that I love them both. As we pull up to Banana Garden, I realize that the post we read about it having “the most charm out of any other place on the island” is bang on true. We drop our stuff off in our hut, which is adorable and has the cutest little porch (where for the next 6 mornings we will be served breakfast) and are quickly bombarded by Annie to come to the beach to watch the sunset. Piye is down at his pub, feather and all and has an amazing mango, papaya fruit juice waiting for us. So we sit and drink and watch the beautiful sunset. Tough life. I know.

The next morning we enjoy our breakfast and coffee on our little patio, we do a little skyping and relaxing. We make our way down to the beach around 2. “GOOD MooRRRNNING!!!” Piye hollers at us as we walk by, this quickly becomes my favourite start to the day, it really doesn’t matter what time we wander by, the first time Piye sees us, we are met with this very cheerful greeting. The beach is perfect! Hardly anyone else on it, small waves and the water is so refreshing! It doesn’t take long till our tummy’s are growling and we decide to try out the Banana restaurant, right beside Piye’s pub. We decide to share the green coconut curry with shrimp, and oh my! this is by far the best thai curry either of us have ever consumed! (and it was a whopping $2) When Rob goes up to pay, Matie is there. He informs her that the food was incredible and wants to learn to make it. She laughs and tells him there’s lots of orders in the kitchen that need to be prepared... he says no seriously, I really want to learn. She’s thinking about it, we’ll talk more about it later she says.

While enjoying our breakfast on our porch the next morning, Matie walks by. “You want to learn to cook with me?” She asks. Umm yes! Yes we do. “ok, I come for you at 11.” 11 it is. We aren’t sure where this is going to happen, or how much it’ll cost, but we are game. Bang on 11 she comes to collect us. She’s not alone. Maryam (dancing German Persian cling-on) is with her, as is Vivian, an Italian. We introduce ourselves and keep following Matie. We stop in the backyard of her little shack. She says “sowrry, it poooor kitchen.” She has a table set up with all the fresh ingredients that we’ll need as well as a camp stove, so to speak, hooked up to propane. No! not poor, it’s perfect. The best place to learn to cook thai, it’s authentic. We learn to make green curry, red curry and a thai soup. Rob does the hands on and I take notes. He’ll ask something like, do I cut it like this? Matie responds, “MMM mm m m m, no like tis, I show you.” How about these chilies, can I put them in the pot? Rob asks. “MMM mm m m m, no, no, not yet.” This is the best cooking class ever. No measurements, everything is just to taste. “Just like Thai” Matie says. “Keep adding little and den little more.” I love it. Rob then asks Matie about learning to cook pad thai noodles, every time we make them at home they end up in a big clumpy ball. “MMM mm m m m, I take you to restaurant, they show you, I come get you in half hour.” Once we finish sampling our yummy creations, Matie presents us each with a bottle of thai fish sauce. Then explains to us that the class is free... we argue... she just wants to be able to teach people to cook thai. We give her money anyway and she insists on only taking half of what we give her, and sharing it with all the staff...

Sure enough, in a half hour Matie comes to get us and takes us to the restaurant. We get a first hand demo of making pad thai, then Rob even gets to make one himself. This has turned out to be the best day ever! Needless to say, Rob is now contemplating opening a thai restaurant back home, I tell him, why stop at that? Why not have your own thai cooking show?!

That evening we are enjoying more thai food at the Banana restaurant, and Myram (dancing German Persian cling-on) walks up. I invite her to join us. We have a lovely dinner, amazing food, and we learn lots about Persians. Myram is from Iran originally, but she doesn’t like to tell people she is from Iran, she is Persian. She now lives in Germany, but hates it and all the people there. On holidays she doesn’t speak any german so that she doesn’t have to meet any and have a conversation. We learn a lot about Iran and I am fascinated by this woman. I get to ask a lot of questions I’ve always wanted to ask. (I am currently reading a book about Iraq, and the Iraq-Iran war is talked about a lot, so the timing of meeting her is pretty cool.) After dinner Myram tells us of a night market that she wants to go to. We decide to go along. Annie and Matie won’t let us take a motor bike there “it dangerous for youuuu” so after a very confusing conversation and being told that they don’t think there is a market over there, Myram decides we will find it anyway. Matie offers to drive us there. We pile into the truck. We drive halfway around the island and come to the conclusion that no, there is not a night market during the week, just like Annie and Matie said.

The next morning we walk down to the beach, “GOOD MooRRRNNING!” hollers Piye. We settle into some beach chairs. Myram joins us. We have lunch. Myram joins us. We shower, change take some time relaxing and then go for supper. Myram joins us.

The next morning there is a knock at the door. It’s Myram! (surprise) and she wants to know what we will do today. Should we go find some national forest and a look out? No. We don’t want to. We have the day to ourselves. It was lovely. We read, drink Piye’s yummy drinks and are lazy in the sun. Late afternoon while still enjoying our beach chairs, Myram joins us. She tells us all about her day. Piye is playing some wonderful arabic sounding music. Myram gets up and starts dancing on the beach. It’s pretty cool to watch, and part of me wishes I had the guts to join in. I don’t. So I watch and laugh. Once the sun goes down we head back to change. We decide not to be adventurous and to just eat what is now our “regular.” We’ve ordered and are enjoying the view, and guess what. Myram joins us.

The next day, to Myram’s dismay, we decide not to join her on her day trip to Pi pi, but instead to go check out some of the island. We borrow her pink scooter (she insisted) and boot ‘er around the island. We have a wonderful day just the two of us, and even managed to have dinner by ourselves!

We fell in love with Koh Lanta. The people are by far the friendliest and funniest that we have encountered on our entire journey. It was wonderful to spend time reading, relaxing and reflecting on the last 6 months. With heavy hearts we got into the truck and Annie drove us to the ferry. But not without a farewell to everyone, and Matie gave us a gift of all the sauces we could possibly need for our thai restaurant back home :)

ramblings from railay

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:07:46 -0800

Written by: Andrianne

I spent some time writing in my journal today. I’m going to share some bits and pieces of it.

Rob and I enjoyed a glorious day at the beach today, and then finished off the afternoon by the pool. On the way to our hut, we walk down this path that has a large bush lining it like a wall. Along this bush are the most fragrant white flowers, I’ve nicknamed it the “white way of delight” (for all those Anne fans out there, yes I copied her!) On the other side of this wall of flowers, is the pool. So while we were lying on loungers, Rob fully immersed in his book (a little role reversal here) I am taking this opportunity to sniff to my hearts content! He emerges from his book to figure out what the heck I am doing... I laugh and tell him I am drinking in the flowers, while staring at the big beautiful tree on the other side of the pool. He’s not surprised in the slightest that I am “drinking” in the flowers. This tree for those of you who are curious has not just one shade of green to it. It has six. lime green, grass green, mint green, forest green, sage green and lemongrass green. I’m very pleased with my eye for being able to pull all these greens out. I do love green. As I sit and stare at the big beautiful tree, I notice a bird perched on the very top branch. I watch it for a few minutes. This bird reminds myself of myself. While he is perched up there, his head is turning in every direction tirelessly. Trying to figure out where to fly off to next, and possibly even after that, totally oblivious to this massive haven of a tree below him. All I think of, is how often in life I do the same. Always looking ahead and restlessly awaiting the next curveball thrown at me- hoping to be a little prepared- but in the meantime missing all the beauty around me. Then these words pop into my head : Be still and know that I am God. (I can not remember the reference, any help here would be appreciated!) hmm. This doesn’t happen to me a lot. I wonder what would have happened if the bird would have looked down. Would he have found what he was looking so tirelessly for in the big tree? If I would just slow down, how much more would I enjoy? Even more so, how much am I missing? (this is a hard question). I know in a few other blogs I’ve talked about simplicity. Less is more. I’m brought back here again. This time I am realizing a big part of this simplifying needs to happen IN me. Why has this not crossed my mind before? or has it?? My mind races. Almost all the time. I’ve asked Rob numerous times why he thinks God didn’t create us with a brain switch. Then again maybe some of us would turn it off and leave it off. That would not be good. I don’t think that I realized before this trip just how much my brain is always processing. Over the past 6 months or so, the one piece of advice that has not only stuck out- but was beat into my head- was to enjoy every moment. I believe, truly, that I have enjoyed many, many moments. I also know that I did a much better job of enjoying than I could have even a year ago. I think that because of this, of slowing down, of taking more time, I’ve had my eyes opened to this relentless brain of mine. I’ve even had a few anxiety attacks lately... over the stupidest things. The other day we were walking around Phuket. And God spoke to me. (haha I love saying this... it gets so many great reactions) No seriously something cool happened. Whether it was God speaking or not, it pointed me directly to him. A rather “pimped” out (there really isn’t a better word) SUV drove by. And very boldly across the front window was this: PROVERBS 3:5&6. I had to laugh. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” (You don’t even see this kind of God advertising in Abbotsford!) Bing, bang, boom. Back to the trust issue. Ok. Maybe living simply, really means living in trust. So this is what I am going to do. Since seeing the poster board for trust, every time a thought or a worry pops into my head, I just repeat the verse over and over until my heart/head is calmed. For me right now- this is how I trust. Just thinking about the fact that this journey is soo close to over causes anxious feelings to start bubbling... but that is for a whole new blog...

“Amazing Thailand”....kind of

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:21:43 -0800

Written by: Rob

First off, I just want to make a comment on the last post’s title. I had no intentions of calling it ‘Mega Malls and Me’, I actually forgot to finish the title, but before I realized it the post was published and so it just stayed. Sorry if it made very little sense! :)

We have been in Thailand for a whole 5 days and I will try to explain the title a bit more so everyone can understand where it is coming from. First off, the Tourism Thailand slogan is ‘Amazing Thailand’, which we have seen on every TV commercial since Turkey and pretty much everyone we have talked to about Thailand has glowing reviews (Josh and Tara were a little bit more careful).

Our first stop was in Phuket. We knew that it was going to be tourism central, but we figured we might as well at least see if the beach is any good. The first impressions we got of Thailand was from Phuket, Karon Beach to be exact. Maybe not the best place for first impressions. It is pretty much a cross between Hawaii (nice beach, incredible water but very busy) and Mexico (seedy bars, typical tourist shops etc.). But we expected and wanted more. We spent 2 days enjoying the hot sun, and the incredible water and some of the most amazing food on our entire journey....vegetable coconut curry and rice, and PAD THAI!!!!!. While it didn’t have the beauty we expected with the overloaded beach, which was massive (two rows of lounge chairs and umbrellas the entire length of the 2km beach) it still provided us with a relaxing first few days....but not up to the Amazing Thailand slogan we have heard way too often.

The second problem we have had so far is traveling to this tourist hot spot during peak season. This causes two glaring issues, one is the crowds, two is the prices. We have heard so many people say “oh Thailand is so cheap, you can live like a king on $15, blah blah blah!” Not so true. Maybe 10 years ago in the middle of the summer (monsoon- low season). While we have managed to find places to sleep in guesthouses, and some islands still have the classic bungalow on the beach for $15-$20, they are becoming few and far between as the number of tourists continue to sky rocket. We have managed to live on $60 per day, but that is with nothing extra besides our $40/night guest house and $20 for meals....but Railay is a different story and not in a good way...more on that next...

Now onto the real Amazing Thailand. We boarded a ferry this morning for the small village of Railay. (thanks to Nate and Chels for pointing us in this direction!) Located south east of Phuket, connected to the mainland but only accessible by long-tail boat as the limestone mountains cut it off from the rest of Thailand. When we pulled in we knew right away we found the AMAZING Thailand. A beach that wasn’t packed with umbrellas and lounge chairs, glowing white sand and the most incredible jade coloured water, surrounded by limestone cliffs....seriously Amazing. The only problem with Railay is a blessing and a curse, its size. Since development is incredibly restricted due to how small it is, it has lead to room rates being priced much much higher than many other locations in Thailand. We have only been here 6 hours, and while the price is double what we would have loved to pay, it is by far one of the most amazing places we have stayed and been to on our trip....very very close to the Andaman Islands (but I am sure nothing can ever match that place!).

2 WEEKS! Craziness!!!! We don’t really know what our plans are for the next 10 days, as we planned on staying here for 3 nights, then heading down to the island of Ko Lanta for 6 nights, before we make it to our last stop, Bangkok. We love it hear, but the price is high and we don’t know if we would be missing another great place in Lanta, so who knows. All we know is that we want to enjoy every last second we have left on our journey, as the last 6 weeks have flown by in a wink! We hope to take some time to digress all we have learned and experienced over these most amazing months of our lives. From Ramadan in Morocco to the deserted beach in Samos, Greece, to the trek in Nepal...we feel so blessed! This world is full of amazing places, people, and cultures and while we have just touched the surface of what is out there, it has been one amazing ride!

PS. thanks for all the comments on the last post, we really do love knowing people actually read these!

Mega Malls and Me

Tue, 5 Jan 2010 18:22:44 -0800

Written by: Rob

Sorry it has been a while since we last posted, but we have just been taking it easy these last few days between both Luang Prabang and Vientiene. We spent New Years in Luang Prabang, as we decided to extend our time there to avoid the Christmas Holiday travel rush. LP was such a nice quiet place to be, with great food and easy to walk streets (something that you appreciate once you leave Europe). New Years, was pretty low key, the country has a midnight curfew, and while it was extended for the 31st, it was still pretty quiet.

Jan. 2nd, we made our way to Vientiene, the capital city of Laos. We decided that since we had the extra time, we would try to save a little money and take the bus. The scenery was incredible as the bus ride was working its way through the mountains. This also made the bus ride very slow and very windey! There were times that I wasn’t feeling to great from the twisting road, which is something I have never experienced before. While the ride was not the most enjoyable, it was incredible to see all the local villages that were on the way. Laos is an incredibly poor country, probably one of the poorest places we have ever been (parts of India are comparable I am sure). The one thing that I kept thinking about when we would see a new village was how clean it still was. The people had pretty much nothing, living in very small makeshift bamboo huts, but they seemed to really take care of what they had, and kept their homes and towns in a very neat manner.

After the long 10 hour bus trip we arrived in Vientiene. The capital city of Laos, listed in Lonely Planet as the quietest capital city in the world, which was bang on. With only 230 000 people, it felt very similar to downtown Saskatoon in terms of the amount of people and traffic. It was a nice place for a couple days, but besides the temples that were all pretty similar to those in Luang Prabang, we didn’t really see anything that was very eye catching. As a Danish man said in our hotel one breakfast, “Vientiene is the quietest capital city in the world, it is also the most boring.” While it wasn’t boring for just a few days, him and his family had been waiting 5 days for a visa, so I can see where he was coming from.

Laos was a great country! Besides our host at our second guesthouse in Luang Prabang everyone were so friendly. The landscape is absolutely incredible, so lush and green. Both cities we were in were very low key and so easy to walk around with NO hassle, which after traveling for a while wears on you with people always trying to get your attention. It is a place that would be great to see more of someday.

We flew from Vientiene down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We have been here for 3 days and head up to Thailand tomorrow for our last leg of our trip. Crazy! Kuala Lumpur has the feel of an older smaller version of Dubai, with massive modern shopping malls (almost on every corner of the downtown!), the huge Petronas Towers, and crisscrossing monorails and light rail trains. It also has all the western restaurants you could think of, A & W, Subway, TGI Fridays, etc.

We both have very mixed emotions about the end of our trip. It is crazy that we have only 20 days until we head to the airport and board our last flight. We are excited to see if Thailand can live up to the rave reviews it seems to always get. But we are also sad to know that our adventure is quickly coming to an end. While it is tiring being on the move so much and always living out of a suitcase, we feel so incredibly blessed to have had this opportunity.

PS. The comment box is to be used for comments....so since some of you must have broken fingers, we still love to read those comments from people who’s fingers are still functioning :)