a bucket list moment.

One of the goals on my bucketlist, one I never thought I’d actually accomplish, was to visit all seven continents. Enter countless years of singlehood, life paths I never began to imagine and cheap tickets and that equals two continents in one blow. Asia and Thailand made number six so it only made sense to start planning that trip to number seven; Australia. Turns out since it’s on the same side of the planet as number six that flights there are relatively cheap and easy. The vacation itself was on the spendy side but it only cost me $200 to get there. How on earth could I pass that up? Answer: I couldn’t! And of course, seeing as how I was that close, it really just made sense to add New Zealand to the itinerary. I was all set to go it alone but did some pretty decent persuading and ended up having a friend from Virginia join me which only sweetened the deal. A week in Australia and a week in New Zealand were just what this girl needed to ease her back into the realities of paying more than a dollar for a meal, driving a car (though still on the left-hand side of the road), and coping with the phenomenon of understanding what the people around me.

First off was a stop in Melbourne. There was an enthusiastic and somewhat tearful reunion at the airport Sunday after a series of flights from Udon Thani to Bangkok to Malaysia and finally Australia on my part, DC to LAX to Melbourne on Jenny’s part. We were both a tad jetlagged but after taking the train to our hotel and getting settled we ventured out to Queen Victoria Market to wander among the stalls and eating some fabulous lunch. The rest of the afternoon we wandered through Kings Domain and the surrounding parks and gardens, past the Memorial Shrine where we heard an orchestral performance, and then all the way down to the St Kilda pier. Here we watched the finishers of the Iron Man celebrate, walked along the beach, ate an amazing dinner on the water, spied a few of the elusive blue fairy penguins that nest on the pier, witnessed a fabulous sunset and then made the long walk back to the hotel.  

Part two tomorrow!

the city of Melbourne as seen from St Kilda pier

look closely, there's a penguin in there!

a trip to the past.

One of the first non-European/western sites I remember being aware of was Angkor Wat. I don’t know where I first saw or heard of it but I’m sure it must have been because of a perusal through a National Geographic magazine or something. But for some reason it’s always sort of held my imagination and was one of the few places in Asia that I’ve always wanted to visit. When I first made a bucket list back in high school it had a place on there and one of the reasons I decided to come to Thailand was because of its proximity to this wonder of the world. And this weekend I had a chance to finally see it in person.

Since we’re all trying to save money we voted to do it the cheap way and take the bus. Thursday afternoon we took a 5 hour bus ride to Kurat only to find out we’d missed the last bus of the day going to the country border. So we found a hotel, got some dinner and then hit the hay so we could get up at 4 to catch the first bus out in the morning. That journey was another 5 hours to get us to the Cambodian/Thai border. There we were met with long lines, lots of waiting and more than a little disorganization (ah, Thailand.) Several hours later we made it through and found a taxi to take us two more hours through the countryside to the city of Siem Reap.

It was a little disconcerting to be driving on the right side of the road again. But the laws in Cambodia are just as hazy as the ones in Thailand. Basically if you’ve got your blinker on or honk first you can drive wherever you want. After a while I tried to stop looking (which is hard when you’re in the front seat) as we weaved in and out of all the traffic, some moving at the speed of light, some at a snail’s pace, and dodged tuk tuks, bikes, dogs, kids and potholes the size of sofas. Miraculously we made it to the city and found a hotel that could accommodate all five of us in one room and then spent the evening wandering the market area.

We had a delicious meal of Indian food followed by some ice cream and shopping and people watching (one girl even ran into someone that she knew from home…small world!) Jen talked us all into getting a fish pedicure against everyone’s better judgment. You stick your bare feet in a tank and the fish all swarm and nibble at your feet eating the dead skin. It’s as gross as it sounds. We all squealed and laughed the entire time while making faces and pretending we were enjoying it but mostly it was disturbing and freaky. I have a hard time swimming in lakes because I’m afraid of the fish and what they will do to my feet (for some reason I don’t have this fear in the ocean where there are sharks and jellyfish and other things that could kill me…there is no logic) and here I was paying for the privilege of watching it happen! Granted I only paid a dollar and my feet looked pretty good afterwards, but still!

Bright and early the next morning (well, not so bright at that point, just early—four am should not actually exist!) we met our tuk tuk driver in front of the hotel and rode about 20 minutes in the dark to the historic park. There, with hundreds of others, we waited in the dark in anticipation of the sunrise. It was sort of a cool way to do it as the anticipation of what we would see built as we got closer but could still only make out the barest of outlines and silhouettes against the sky. It gradually lightened and lightened and then the sun rose behind the temple, a glowing orange sphere peeking through the towers and reflected in the lotus pool below.

After the sun was up we ate some of the best pancakes ever for breakfast, served to us by Tiger Woods! Each shop owner would come and solicit you while you were standing there in the crowds and had his shop named after a famous personality to make it easier to be found since the shops were all identical and situated right next to each other in a row. Some of the others were Madonna, Bill Clinton and Mickey Mouse.

After breakfast we ventured into the temple itself to wander around the grounds, up into the towers and marvel at the beauty, mystery and history found there. It was incredible to be in a place so old and revered, somewhere I’d wanted to see for such a long time and to be there with great friends. It’s up there with Stonehenge, Rome, Greece and Egypt as one of the most incredible and ancient things I’ve seen.

Originally a Hindu temple it reverted to a Buddhist one after one of the many governmental overthrows. The area is actually about 400 square km, sort of a complex or city really, the ruins of various Khmer capitals spanning the 9th to 15th centuries.  I hadn’t realized there were so many other ruins and temples nearby but we had our tuk tuk drivers for the day so they shuttled us around to a couple of the other areas including Ta Prohm where Tomb Raider was filmed (another movie I have to go home and watch now so I can say “Hey, I’ve been there!”) and Bayon Temple known for its giant heads. I think Ta Prohm was actually my favorite. It was surrounded by trees so you felt like you were in the middle of a jungle and I honestly expected Indiana Jones to come running around a corner being chased by Nazis. It was easy to imagine yourself stepping into the movie. Sometimes, too, I had the feeling I was on a Disneyland ride that was on steroids. It was so great!

We climbed and explored and channeled our inner adventurers until early afternoon. We also had a pretty fabulous lunch, fed some road-side monkeys, and basked in the scenery from the backs of our tuk tuks.

fish pedicures

exchange rates sometimes make you feel like a millionaire

 

sunrise at Angkor Wat

Ta Phrom

Bayon Temple

feeding the monkeys

More tomorrow!

a bucket list moment.

One of the top 5 on my list of things to do while in Thailand was to ride an elephant. And I got a chance to cross that one off my list during our orientation week. We all loaded onto buses and drove a couple of hours west of Bangkok to Kanchanaburi where we were able to visit an elephant refuge. Situated right on the river it was exactly what I had pictured when I thought about Thailand; thick green jungle, rather primitive buildings, giant golden Buddhas rising out of the trees, water buffalo trudging through the water, birds of all colors, mountains rising in the distance. It was beautiful!

We spent the early afternoon with the elephants. They put on little shows for us, playing the harmonica, basketball and lifting people up with their trunks. And then we got to ride them! They’re so sweet and majestic but it broke my heart just a little to see them put to work for our amusement. No amount of ‘proper treatment’ can make up for what their lives in the wild should be. It made me think twice about visiting a tiger sanctuary (number 1 on my list!) There are horrible rumors about how they’re treated, drugged to remain docile for the tourists. As much as I want to see and pet a tiger I just don’t know that I can do that in good conscience.

Anyway, later that afternoon we were treated to a float down the river on a bamboo raft ala Swiss Family Robinson. It was the first bit of stillness and peace I’d really experienced since coming to Thailand. Bangkok was definitely the opposite of both of those things. It was also the first time my brain had had a moment to sort of process all the information and emotions that had been thrust at me solid for over a week. I sort of melted into it and regenerated for a few minutes. It was great!

Next was a stop at the famous bridge spanning the river. There's a movie, you may have heard of it or at least its catchy theme song, though it promotes the mispronunciation and spelling of the river’s name as Kwai (kwy) when it’s actually Kwae (pronounced like quack without the ‘ck’ at the end) all about the horrible conditions surrounding the building of the bridge during WWII. Thousands of POWs were killed during construction and it was bombed several times. The bridge is still there and still in use but now it’s surrounded by t-shirt and refreshment stalls. Progress? Hard to say. But it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon and a much-appreciated respite from the week’s events.

a to do list

I've got a really crowded month trying to squeeze in a million and a half things before I leave the DC area for good. Some things I've not had a chance to do before and some things I need to do one more time. Here's a quick highlight of some of the cool things I've had a chance to do in the last couple of weeks.  There will be more to come, never fear!

A last visit to the Shenandoah’s to hike Old Rag which is one of the most popular and difficult hikes on the East Coast. The 2500 ft climb and mile or so of rock scramble is pretty intense and makes you feel as if you've really earned your views from the top.

A last performance at the Kennedy Center. Great music, silly story, fabulous tap dances.

One last hike at Great Falls, Billy Goat Trail.

A first/last visit to the Marine Barracks for their evening parade with the silent drill team and The President's Own marching band. It was quite the spectacular event, typical of the patriotism and spirit of the DC area.

And a visit to the tidal basin at night to view the rising of the super moon (too bad I don't have a camera worthy of capturing it!)

So many things I'm going to miss about this place! Sometimes I have to remind myself of the great things to come to keep from tearing up. *sigh*

looking back at a to do list and making a new one.

I took a moment to review my New Year's Resolutions earlier this month. The half-way mark is always a good time to reevaluate. (Unless you have fallen completley off the wagon and have nothing to show for your hours of carefully documented goals, then it just makes you feel like a failure!)

 

Ok, not a complete failure. I've made a bit of progress in some areas (my scripture study, shockingly enough has improved leaps and bounds) but other areas, well, you'd never know I'd made a goal for as little as I've tried to do anything about them. Let's take a look.

  

• Visit 5 new states and 1 new country--I've got the goal to visit all 50 states by the time I'm 40 and all 7 continents (and at least 25 countries) before I die. The way things are going down this year I doubt I'll get more than 1 new state in but I'll have 1 new continent and at least 4 countries for sure.
• Start a bookclub--check! (it still counts even if I'm abandoning it, right?)
• Take a yoga class--check! (though unfortunately I've had to abandon that too)
• Play the piano every day--uh, what I really meant was 'look at the piano every day but never actually touch it, ever'...check!
• Finish a book--writing one, that is. Hmm, I did do a bit of work on it so that's got to count, but I'm not really any closer to finishing than I was in January. I am hoping for some good time to work on this come August though.
• Catch up my scrapbook--uh, nope. 2 years behind and counting!
• Attend at least one performance per month--done! Though I haven't made it to as many concerts as I'd like. Curse all you concert buddies who moved on me! I blame you! :)
• Take a photography class--nope
• Make pickles--wha?
• Complete a Pinterest project each month--if by project I meant spending hours and hours pinning stuff and then never looking at it again then I'm a winner!
• Be on time--Ok, this one I really did put some effort into at first. I'm at least more conscious of the times that I'm late even if I haven't quite transitioned that into actually being punctual.
• Stop swearing--again, I've made a bit of effort. It still comes spewing out unbidden as a gut reaction to various circumstances but I've gotten better at thinking before I speak and more often than not I think of something besides a curse to say.

Now that I look at it it's really not too shabby after all. Often the goals that are more project oriented are easier to accomplish and dominate in the finished results category while the character building/habit forming type take a backseat or get abandoned altogether and kind of the opposite has happened this time around. There's added proof in the accomplisment of the biggest and least defined goal of all which has taken more of my time and mental energy than I'd anticipated but has surprised me in so may ways. On one sheet I had it listed as 'make a decision and stick with it' and somewhere else I wrote down 'find a new job'. Those were not necessarily the same goal to begin with but they've morphed into my Thailand decision and I'm excited and hopeful with what else will come with that.

So, this brings me to the next, and more immediate quest. Summer goals.

I've got about 6 weeks left here in DC and while there will be a flurry of packing and last minute preparations for Thailand I've also decided I need to make an effort to squeeze in some last minute fun as well. It is summer after all. And summer should be filled with all things good. Things like lemonade and movies under the stars and trips to the beach. There's not enough time to do all the things I'd like to and I'm not even going to start on the list of things I want to do one last time before I leave but here are the few things I'm going to do to make this summer count.

• frozen custard at the Dairy Godmother
• screen on the green
• watching a parade
• seeing the monuments by moonlight
• a trip to the beach
• a concert under the stars
• fireworks

What's on your list?

a silly tradition.

One of the items on my bucket list (particularly since right now I'm living in the 'south') is to experience a Civil War reenactment.  Being from Northern Virginia we've got a bit of a different twist on the subject. Depending on who you talk to we're not actually considered the south but all you have to do is drive an hour or so out of the beltway and there's no question about it. But with the Civil War (aka the War Between the States or if you go deep enough south, The War of Northern Aggression) commemorating its sesquicentennial over the next couple of years, I figured this was the perfect opportunity. So,I gathered a few friends and we drove to Spotsylvania to witness the reenactment of the Battle of Chancellorsville.

The only thing I really know about reenactors is what I've seen in movies and on TV, which is highly caricatured; the participants being portrayed as obsessive and ridiculous, often along the lines of ComiCon attendees. Well, that's not far from the truth! Take the conversation I had with General Lee all about the devil incarnate, Abraham Lincoln.  I was also schooled in the thought that the war had nothing really to do with slavery and how our country was no longer a democracy. And this was all after he'd stepped out of character!

There were a lot of informational booths about life during the time period, the people who were involved and how one can support and participate in keeping history alive as well as traditional vendor booths with food and t-shirts and confederate flags galore!

It was great fun to see the troops mustered for battle, the tents and encampments lined up for miles and the variety of beards on display.

The General himself

We also had a chance to march with women advocating temperance, witness the battle itself (well, most of it), eat delicious food and do some terrific people watching.  It was a highly entertaining excursion and if you ever get a chance to attend one, do it!

And since this scene was mentioned at least a dozen times throughout the day (and overheard in the conversations of others at least as many times!) I figured I'd better share it as well.

Start whistlin' 'Dixie' and practice your best rebel yell and I'll meet ya'll at the next battle!