At Various Altitudes
A South-Asian Travelogue
April 23, 2009 My dear wonderful family. I may never be coming home. Just kidding, it’s wayyy too hot here for me, and I can’t go for runs or eat fresh vegetables, so two of my favourite passtimes are nixed. But for a little while, this gorgeous, sunny paradise is perfect! Kim and I are doing great. We stayed last night at the Bamboo B & B, which is on Jl. Legian (the main street that runs through the surfer/backpacker haven of Kuta, the city we are in). We’ve switched to something a little less expensive, and actually a place that I like much better for the next two nights, at which point I think we’re going to leave this coastal city and move inland to Bali’s capital and cultural centre, Ubud. Say it just like it looks. Ooo-bud. Bali is a lot like some parts of southern India: there is a lot of poverty next to a lot of wealth, there are tourists all over the place in various shades ranging from pasty, pasty white to dark, glossy, chestnut browns that Alicia would drool over, and at every turn there are hawkers trying to sell you sunglasses, taxi rides, and saying “I love you, sweetie.” Kim and I are pretty pro at taking it all in stride, and we usually just laugh back. They’re only kidding, anyways. Everything is dirt cheap, except for the bounty of designer (real, not fake although there is lots of counterfeit LV and D&G to be had) and brand name surf wear along the main drag. It’s a lot like Lahaina, except that it’s not chubby Americans walking the streets, but bronzed Germans, Australians, and a surprising number of Asian tourists. There are even a bunch of used bookstores, Mum and Dad. I’m in heaven. I miss you all a lot, but we’re pretty busy right now and so I don’t have much time to think about not being at home. We spent this morning (and we’re talking before 9 am, because later it’s just too hot)
on the beach, watching perfect wave after perfect wave roll in. I nearly lost my bottoms when I went for a dip - the current is super strong! Don’t worry, there are plenty of lifeguards on duty. Tomorrow we’re going surfing, and our hotel has a gorgeous swimming pool so we can chill out without being sand-covered and harassed by women looking to “massage” us or paint our nails. Those are both frequently on offer here! I’m trying to take a lot of pictures, and hopefully I’ll be able to post them sometime in the next few weeks so you can SEE, not just hear, what I’m up to. Love you all very, very much. April 24, 2009 Thank you, Shannon for your email and for including Nana. She’ll be showing a copy to everyone she can find in Arbutus Ridge who is not suffering from dementia. Your descriptions of what you are seeing and doing are wonderful. (She should consider becoming a writer). Seriously, if you can find the time you should write a short article describing what you are seeing and submit it to a travel magazine or some other publication when you return. We all miss you but we know what a great experience this is for you and Kim. Have fun! Love. Dad April 25, 2009 Sister! I’m so glad that you’re having fun!!! I’m on the Liberal party election tour again today... In Victoria and Nanaimo. Lots of fun, but it’s not Bali. I’ll write more later... Have fun, love you lots! Steve April 27, 2009 It was good to hear your actual voice last night, daughter, but I am distressed that you are feeling a bit down. I hope you are chuffed up today. I did look at your guide books and Ubud looks like a place I would absolutely love, lots of art and architecture and a completely different culture than what I am used to, something to make the anthropologist in me sing a very loud song and bang on a great big drum. I will continue to try to follow your travels with your books, which I have moved to the kitchen counter (sorry, Cordell). Dogs are missing you. Tansy is fine, by the by. I have changed her prednizone regime and I think it is helping a bit. The stinky stuff all over the back yard is daunting -- even Wiggles has been nibbling on it -- but this too shall pass and we’ll have a nice grassy area for them soon. Fence is all stained and pretty now. Next I am going to turn Dad and
Jesse loose on the bamboo and get a bit more light into the back yard. It will all look lovely by the time you come home, which is in seven weeks, as you know. OK, I am going to go and pack my crap up and go home. I leave for Whistler tomorrow afternoon and I am just not ready. I will have my cell phone with me and I will try to answer it while I am away, so phone me if you need to. Wish I could call you back..... Love you up to the sky and back down again, Mum May 2, 2009 Hello Family, So I think I emailed a proper big email last from Ubud, which is actually where Kim and I are back at now, but we’ve been a few places in the last four days! A lot of Bali is pretty quiet right now, and so as flaming white tourists, we’re basically easy targets. This is one of the many reasons we’ve returned to a place we know we love. But I’ll get to that in a few minutes. Skip this next part if you’re busy and just want to make sure I’m alive (I am, Mum, but if you’re interested in what I’ve been seeing, then soak it up, babies! After leaving Ubud, in beautiful, rice-terraced, central Bali, Kim and I took a stuffy little bus up to Lovina, which sits on the North coast of this fantastic bit of the Indonesian Archipelago. Sadly, Lovina was a dud. It’s a nice place in theory: fine, black sand beaches, reefs to snorkle and dive, and dolphins to watch in the early morning. The only problem is that right now, in the “shoulder” season (neither high nor low for tourism), there are not so many people for the salespeople to bother. I can’t even count how many times some leathery old lady with a goofy smile on her face tried to sell me a rub down on the beach and/or a papaya. “You want massssaaaaage??” rang out every time we left the hotel. I hear it in my nightmares! Shudder. But we stayed in Lovina two nights, in 35C with no air-con, and then made our escape to a TINY little town called Kedisan, right at the base of one of Bali’s (active) vocanos, Gunung Batur. Gunung means “volcano” or “mount” so they all start like that... Gunung Agung, Gunung Bratan, etc.
etc. Volcanos are a really big deal in Bali, with it’s highly Hindu population. They believe here (which is more a mix of Balinese and Hindu culture rather than straight-up Hindu) that the gods, like Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahman, only cause “problems” (read: catastrophic eruptions) when they are unhappy with the people. In Bali, the people are very respectful of the gods and so the gods LOVE the Balinese (phew!), but in Sumatra and Java, apparently not so much. Even the bombs that exploded in Bali a few years back were considered the fault of the Javanese - that’s where they originated, so NATURALLY the gods aren’t mad at Bali! Right? All fascinating cultural differences aside - and believe me, I’m eating this stuff up! It clearly runs in the family, Anthro-Madre - Kim and I made the trek up Batur this morning. It’s really not much harder than the Chief. The only thing was that it was the middle of the night, and we had a 20-year-old guide that practically ran us up the mountain! He DID run on the way down - we walked. To give you an idea of our speed: it took us an hour to scale to the summit, while in the guidebook it says to budget at least two. I was sweaty to be sure. Even worse, it was before 4am when we started! Our guide, Gede (pronounced like the Aussie “G’day!”) picked us up at 3:15 on his motorbike, and the three of us (!) rode the 10 kms to the base of the mountain, in Toya Bungah. Sketch. Very sketch. Then we climbed and climbed in the dark, and reached the top around 5am, where we waited an hour for the sun to rise. Totally worth it, despite the cold (we were freezing even in long pants and three layers on top) and the time of day. Gede cooked us a breakfast of hard-boiled egg and banana mashed on toast (you would have loved it, Dad), and we hung out with about 25 other climbers and their guides and a bunch of monkeys, drinking hot tea and waiting for the sun to come up. I’ll get my pictures up as soon as I can. Oh, and Nana! Thanks for your wisdom about putting your hands on your knees/thighs on the steep bits, I was thinking of you as we made our way up! That was this morning - I can’t believe it’s still the same day, but that’s what happens when you start at 3:30. We had planned to leave Kedisan after just the one night because it was so deserted, and head to Besakih, where there is the most important temple in all of Indonesia. There was supposed to be a huge celebration, called Odalan, happening right now, but we arrived and it looked like
it had just finished. So we hopped into the nearest “warung” (cafe) and asked the Indonesian-speaking owner if he would drive us to Ubud, about an hour away. It’s really fortunate that Bali is so small. So now we’re back in what has become our home base on this far-off island, and feeling quite comfortable. We’re staying at a different guest house, with no A/C, but it’s cool enough in the night and there’s a swimming pool if we get really desperate. Nothing like the Four Seasons, Leeshi, this pool is more like the one you set up in the backyard and made a crop circle on the lawn with. But it’s still a great way to beat the hot, hot, HOT days, or at least to punctuate them with little oases of cool.
Vietnam :( Since you’ve been away – I received an email from the Uni in Edinburgh. However – it was good and bad news. The head of Product Design department suggested that I shouldn’t take Product design, but instead take the Masters of Interior Design. I called him, and managed to convince him to let me submit a supplementary section to my portfolio, outlining only the product design projects that I have worked on. I sent it off last Friday, so I’ll follow up on Monday and hopefully badger him into letting me in. As my boss encouraged me: only the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Although I was disappointed that he felt I wouldn’t be prepared enough to handle a masters in product design – his feedback really gave me insight in to what my portfolio was missing. So I’m going to take this chance to send the remaining silent schools the ‘supplementary’ portfolio in hopes of making my name known as well as showing my determination.
Phew, okay that was a long one. We are going to stay in Ubud for at least three nights, and then decide if we want to stay for two more, or go somewhere else for a bit before we fly to Singapore on Thursday. There is so much to do in and around this city: there’s a yoga festival on right now, there’s a bevy of rice paddies to venture through, bicycles to rent for longer trips to temples outside the city, and an erotic museum that we missed on the last stop here. We also want to do a cooking class, and maybe a language class.
BAH... Wow... Those last two paragraphs sound SO boring when I read through them... Ouch... Now it hurts even more that I’m not in Asia with you! but I guess the whole point is that I may have to take off to Europe for an interview at some point... Or I’ve begun working on PLAN B.
Thanks for reading it if you did! I hope you’re enjoying these letters! Send me a response sometime...! And we’re all going out for Indonesian food (don’t worry Dad, it’s all cooked) when I get home. Super tasty! Love you all, miss you, and see you in six and a half weeks. As they say here, selamat jalan - see you soon.
The sinking feeling that no school will let me in this year has forced me to look at my next option. Step one – a couple courses at Emily Carr... In hopes of gaining some of the technical skills I appear to be lacking. Step two – setting up 3 to 4 internships in Australia. (I don’t know if I told you that part of the plan or not...) Essentially the working holiday visa only lets you work in one place for up to 3months at a time... So I figured if I set up 3 or 4 all over Auz (ie. Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane) places to go work and gain specific product design experience... Then my next round of applications will be far more relevant. Who knows – maybe this is a better plan. Things happen for a reason, right?! at least that’s what I keep telling myself. :P Ok... Again... I sound boring. Yikes. Bullet points from now on.
May 10, 2009 SHANNON!!!
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First off... We’re missing you big time on this side of the Pacific!
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I can’t believe the adventures that you’re having!!! so incredibly jealous... You should totally buy a motorcycle while you’re there... (haha as long as you get a pink helmet.) I was just watching a T.V. show last night about Hawaiian surfers that go on this huge Indo trip and end up in Bali... My stomach was eating itself the whole time – it’s tragic that my timing is so off. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to join you ladies in
Neil is lightening up... I think he wants to move to Montreal. Jackie got her ID taken away because the bouncer knew the girl who actually owned the id! playing the in VIT next weekend... •
mother’s day is going well... Don’t forget to send your Mum an email! •
Yup... Ok... That’s about it. STAY SAFE!!! I can’t wait to hear your next update! :) Diana
May 14, 2009 Forget any other accomplishments...This one takes the cake. Rebecca’s car had a flat tire and I changed it. No instructions, nothing. Just me, the spare, the jack and the lug wrench.That’s Smart 1 -- Genetics 0. Steve
finished a book called “The Gate” by Francois Bizot, a Frenchman who lived in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge’s occupation, and one of the few foreigners to survive the whole ordeal to write it down. Fascinating, but really grisly.
May 20, 2009 Just wanted to send you all a quick note to let you know that life is good. I haven’t written a proper long email for a while now, so this may turn into one. Kim’s got some kind of stomach bug that is keeping her pretty much hotel-bound, so I went out and explored Bangkok today solo. It’s a CRAZY city. It’s just about 4:00 now and I’m back at our hotel, the A-One Inn in Siam Square. It’s a little divey, but it’s very clean and we have separate beds, which was a requirement considering how frequently Kim has to dash to the loo. NASTY. Anyways, keep that between us! Assuming she’s feeling better, we’re going to try and get to Cambodia tomorrow, which requires a 4 hour bus to the border, then getting across, and then another bus on the Cambodian side of things to a town called Siem Reap. That name means Siamese Defeat, which isn’t a very nice sentiment towards the Thai (the Siamese), so heading there immediately after leaving “The Land of Smiles,” as Thailand likes to call itself, is a bit of a jab, but so be it. I’m tired of this country!
Phew. Okay, then after Cambodia, we’re on to Vietnam, where we’ll spend a few days in Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) in the south before flying up to midway along the country’s long coast, to a city called Danang. Then we’ll work our way up the coast and end up in Hanoi, in the north, where we can do some tours to Halong Bay (which has over 3,000 islands in it! makes the Gulf of Georgia look pretty shabby!) and up to Sapa, where we can do a little trekking. THEN...I’m coming home. I miss you all very, very much. Especially right now (actually, especially last night, when I was on a late-night flight from Phuket to Bangkok and Kim threw up on my foot.)(Just a little.) I hope you’re all well, happy and healthy, and are surviving this heat wave. Oh wait - that’s just here! I have lots of fun things to tell you about when I get home, in greater detail, and with photos to accompany the stories! Suffice to say Thailand is a party-land, and although we snorkelled, kayaked, swam, and sunbathed, I’m really excited to move on. AND, I’ll see you in four weeks, (HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!) which is another nice thing for me to look forward to. Plus, a shower that’s built for a person taller than 5’5” (SIDENOTE! Steve, Leesh - you’ll appreciate this. This morning I was taking a little rinse-off in our midget bathroom, and the line from Zoolander ran through my head and I literally laughed out loud. “What is this, a shower for ants?!?!” And it was. Oh, it was.) Take care, my lovely family. Don’t worry Mum, I will too.
From Siem Reap, we’ll be in a prime spot from which to explore the temples of Angkor Wat, the 8th wonder of the world! Exciting! They’re a whole lot of different sites jammed together in about 5 sq. km., so we’ll hire a guide. Take a look at these pics: Indiana Jones-ish, no? It’s a pretty big deal, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site to boot! Okay, now I’m on a roll! Here’s some pictures of Koh Phi Phi, where we spent four nights after leaving Koh Lanta. It’s also where the Leo DiCaprio movie “The Beach” was filmed. http://images.google.co.th/ images?hl=th&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:enUS:official&hs=trh&q=ko%20phi%20phi&lr=lang_ th&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi Or, if the link doesn’t work, you can just google “Koh Phi Phi pictures.” It’s a really incredible place. So I pretty much can’t wait to get to the next part of our trip. Cambodia is going to be a real adventure. After we leave Siem Reap (post-exploration of the temples), we’re going to Phnom Penh, the capital of the country and also the location of the Killing Fields and a number of museums dedicated to the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s - early 80s. That’s not an easy one to handle. I just
May 23, 2009 Awesome pictures. You are SO dark! I’m jealous! I hope your having a good time... definately looks like you are! The water is so clear and blue so pretty. Is the water super warm as well? I’m watching the greys anatomy season finale right now. Your missing a good one! Dad and I planted tons of flowers in the pots in the backyard today it looks awesome out there! It was really warm here today I think about 25! Not bad for May! Anyway we miss you here thanks for the postcard! Talk to you soon! Love Leesh May 23, 2009 Scamming buses and headless buddhas huh? sounds alright but does it stack up to midterms in the summer and rigorous yet terribly average labour? i know your jealous. I finished the wire and i am pumped on it all but sad that its gone, anyway enough about me i’m just wondering when the pictures are coming possibly of Angkor wat ? personally i have a thing for temples. Oh and keep me updated on your proximity to the thai/burma border if your into that camp my aunt is running, if you can get some pictures with you there i think that could really help me grab some fundraising here in canada. Take it easy Shannon and have alot of fun, the real world can only be delayed for so long unfortunately. Gus
May 24, 2009 argh, sorry! we ended up only going as far toward the border as bangkok. we’re heading east now, having left siem reap and the temples at angkor (pics as SOON as i get home, promise!) and arrived in phnom penh this afternoon. despite not having any photos to assist, i’d be glad to help you with fundraising. being in this part of the world again has rekindled my interest in making it better for the amazing people here (how could i forget?) and fyi, i can delay the real world for at least three more weeks. so there. good luck with midterms, see you BOH when i surface in a month or so. xoxo May 25, 2009 no apologies necessary, it sounds like your having quite the time over there I must admit I may have been embellishing the actual amount of fun midterms and work are, nevertheless I’m glad to hear your seeing the turmoil that those people have to go through it really helps put things in perspective. To say the least though your absence has left a lack of cognitive stimulation at browns which is becoming increasingly stagnant, there is literally not one person to have a good chat with there and its getting old fast. All that aside my knee should be fixed by the time your back so if you feel like losing in a foot race hopefully i can facilitate that once your back, until then keep delaying the inevitable and have a blast I am super jealous. Gus May 27, 2009 I’m in Cambodia now, and have been for about a week. It’s been jam-packed, hence the lack of communication from my end. We started out with a looong busride from Bangkok on...Wednesday? Anyways, it took all day, and in the heat it was far from comfortable (although the first leg of the journey was air-conditioned! Hallelujah!) Our introduction to the country was that it was a place of scamming officials and sleazy guesthouse owners, which, fortunately, is FAR from the case. Cambodia is incredible; it’s a place with so much history, the cities can’t contain it all. Phnom Penh, the capital, is literally bursting at the seams with ancient, Angkorian-era sculptures, textiles, art, and monuments. And we’re not talking “ancient” like, oh, way back when Nana was young scamp at Guelph High. No no. (kidding!) The incredible artefacts from Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples all date back from between 500 and 1100 CE, LONG before Canada was even a twinkle in the Imperial eye. In the past few days, we’ve seen the temples that comprise the 8th wonder of the world (those include Angkor Wat, and are also a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and had the chance
to view some of the most beautiful architecture in existence today. We then moved on from that town, Siem Reap, to Phnom Penh, the city that was evacuated for 45 months (!) in the late 1970s when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took over the country and proceeded with the genocide that would wipe out a quarter of this beautiful nation. Over two million people died in the four years that Cambodia was under the KR’s control, and the whole experience is still very fresh in people’s minds. Anyone older than about 35 can remember the occupation; in this way, the Cambodian genocide is very different than, say, the many deaths that happened in Germany under Hitler. The men and women who took part in the killing...many of them were only teens at the time (similar to the Hitler youth) and are now carrying on “normal” lives as members of the general population. It’s an interesting time in Cambodia right now especially, as one of the former high-ranking Khmer Rouge soldiers, a man who went by the name of Duch, was recently (finally) tried before the International Human Rights Tribunal for his crimes. He was in charge of overseeing Tuol Sleng (a.k.a. S-21), a former high school located just about a kilometre from where I am right now, that was used as an interrogation centre and death camp for “treasonous” Cambodians. Basically, that meant anyone who wasn’t a farmer, as Pol Pot’s vision for the country was one that eliminated anyone with an education, anyone who wore glasses, anyone who was too old or too young or otherwise unfit to work, and anyone who asked questions. At Tuol Sleng, under Duch’s supervision, over 15,000 prisoners were executed in less than four years, peaking at about 100 per day sometime in 1977. And that was just one location. That’s not even the “Killing Fields” made famous by the movie of the same name that came out in the early 80s. (And which, by the way, I highly recommend watching if you’re interested in learning more about what happened to Cambodia in those years. It’s a fantastic film.) Phew. Okay, so we visited Tuol Sleng this morning, and the whole experience left me pretty much speechless. I think one of the hardest things about visiting there - other than the kids you can hear playing in the streets below, and the women you can see through the barred windows hanging their washing on their balconies across the street - is that the whole place has been preserved exactly as it was when the Vietnamese liberated Phnom Penh in 1979. The iron bed frames are still in the middle of otherwise empty rooms,
with the torture instruments just beside them. The classrooms, with orange and white tiled floors, still have blackboards on the walls, below which sit iron shackles and chains, and the metal dishes that the prisoners were fed their pathetically small meals from in between interrogations. So many people died in these rooms. I went for a long walk and tried to comprehend (with modern Phnom Penh whizzing by me) how things like the genocide here - which, again, happened only 30-odd years ago - come to be. I finished my walk, mid-monsoon, no closer to an answer. I suppose we just have to try and learn from these events, as nothing now can bring back the many hundreds of thousands of people who were killed. Nothing. And on that happy note...! Cambodia outside of Phnom Penh, where there is the greatest evidence of the atrocities committed here by the Khmer Rouge, is an incredible place full of kind, beautiful, incredible people. The optimism of the Cambodian population is astonishing. This is perhaps helped along by the fact that about 80% of the country was unaware that Duch’s crimes were even being presented to the courts (read: the rural population, which makes up most of the people here, don’t have the faintest clue that the genocide is even still an issue today, and have moved on out of necessity.) Siem Reap, the jumping-off point for all the incredible temples that Kim and I packed into just a couple of days, was fantastic, with a thriving market, great roads for walking, a delicious selection of Khmer (traditional Cambodian) restaurants, AND an icecream parlour. Seriously, what more does a gal need? Plus, the town was only a few kilometres from the temples, so one of the two days we spent there, I rented a magenta, entirely gearless (but decked out with a basket!) bike and pedalled my way to the ruins. Lots of fun, and a great way to see the town without adding to the
pollution or the noise that already smothers the small city day in and day out. What else. This has turned into quite a long note! I guess that’s what happens when it’s a week between emails, and at this rate, it will only be two more before I get home! We fly out of Hanoi three weeks today, on Wednesday the 17th. Good thing, then, that we’re headed to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon) tomorrow morning, on - yes - another bus. Vietnam, here we come! I hope you’re all very well, I miss you all SO much! Can’t wait to see you when I get home. If you’re interested in the high school/prison that I was talking about, here’s a link that explains a little more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng Love to you all, sorry for being a big downer! Hopefully Ho Chi Minh will be uplifting! Xoxo May 31, 2009 Flying to Danang this afternoon, which will be the middle of the night for you. Don’t worry, our budget airline experiences have been good thus far, and this is our last flight before we come home on (drumroll please) Cathay Pacific, potentially the most comfortable airline EVER. They give you socks. SOCKS. And free wine. FREE. As much as you want. That, combined with the Ativan Mum supplied me with will have me home in no time...or it will feel like no time. :) Once we arrive in Danang (on a map, look to the coast about halfway up this lovely country), we’ll take a taxi to Hoi An, about an hour away, where we’re staying for two nights. The town is famous for its tailors, so we’re going to look suddenly a lot less grubby, I think! Any requests, let me know! Then, on to Hue for a few nights, and finally we’ll go to Hanoi. That will be our base from where we will do two tours. I’m going to book them very very soon, and Mum knows the ones that I’m thinking of (with Handspan, check their site!) The first is to Halong Bay (aka The Desolation Sound of S.E. Asia, Dad) where we’ll sleep aboard a junk and go kayaking around some of the 3,000 islands in the bay. The second is up to Sapa, about 12 hours north of Hanoi by train (overnight!), where we’ll do some light hiking around the villages and meet some very cool ethnic minorities (woo hoo!) and sleep in a homestay one of the two nights we’re there, plus visit a traditional sunday market which is supposed to be AMAZING, in a town called Bac Ha. Then it’s back to Hanoi (all this will take from the 8-10 in Halong and the 11-15 in Sapa) for two nights, and off to the airport! See you in 16 sleeps. Love up and back down. June 2, 2009 Hello Family! Vietnam is a-mazing. Seriously. I love it here. I knew
I would enjoy it, but it’s really surpassing all my expectations. Kim and I have been in Hoi An, about halfway up Vietnam’s snakey coastline, for the last two nights, and it probably isn’t enough time but we have less than two weeks until we have to be at the Hanoi airport, waiting for our flight home. Also, the shopping here is going to put my bank account out of commission, so I have to get out. Fast. Hoi An is known for it’s tailors, and there are about 250 shops in an area the size of... Kits beach. It’s a little town, with beautiful old architecture, jewel-coloured lanterns hanging in just about every window, kids pottering about on rusty little bicycles, and wrinkly old women selling mangosteen, rambutan, and dragonfruit (wearing those amazing conical hats, the superstereotypical Asian ones) on the street corners. It’s like transporting back to precolonial Vietnam. And the shopping. Oh the shopping. It’s not ready-to-wear. It’s look-through-photos-and-pick-what-youlove, and then they’ll make it for you in a matter of hours. To measure. For cheap. I had a sweet little cotton dress and a belted wool coat made, plus TWO pairs of shoes, all for under $100. We’re on to Hue today, which is about three hours north of here by bus. I’ll write a proper email in the next few days, as we’re heading to Hanoi on the 5th. It will be nice to be in a big city again, and we’re doing two tours based in Hanoi, to the beautiful islands of Halong Bay and also up to the hilltribe town of Sapa, 12 hours north by train. Then, I’m coming home! My backpack is getting massive, so it’s good this trip is coming to an end. I miss you all lots, and love you very much. See you soon, and I’ll update you again even sooner. June 2, 2009 Hey Shan! Just thought I would write you a little note to say hi! Sounds like your having an amazing time and enjoying
yourself. I’m writing this email from the houseboat in shuswap lake. Its so much fun and absolutely gorgeous! Its super hot and not a cloud in the sky! This is our 2nd full day on the boat and were here til Sunday. You would love it were having such a good time! We went on a hike this morning to this giant waterfall and then floated in the lake on a tube for the rest of the afternoon. Definately my kind of vacation! I burnt my nose really badly tho yesterday and it got worse today so I look pretty funny lol. I will show you lots of pictures when you get home. Anyway I’m writing this on my blackberry so its not the easiest thing so I will keep it short. Have an awesome time on the next part of your trip and I will see you soon! Love Leesh June 3, 2009 Hi Shannon! Thanks for the emails, I have been enjoying them! Sounds like the trip is fantastic, which is totally great! Things here are pretty much the same. I am still unemployed but working at MT full time until the work runs out. However, it will dry up soon, which is probably a good thing, as it will actually force me to look for work since I am pretty much slacking at the moment. Who wants to come home and apply for jobs after working all day? NOT ME! Other than that, things are good! The weather is amazing at the moment, so I have been spending a large amount of time on the beach, which is, of course, awesome! Liam and I graduate tommorrow, him in the morning and me in the afternoon, so it will be a full day! Then we are going to celebrate at the Roxy on Friday night! Wish you two could be here for that! It will be fun fun times! I have not booked anything for Tofino. That camp site we stayed at last year is all booked, and I did not want to do anything without speaking to you guys about it first. We can try to make something else work - or do something else fun...like maybe camp somewhere else on the Island then take a day trip to Tofino for some surfing? Or we can do something else fun... but we should make sure we get away somewhere this summer! Alright, well I am supposed to be working, so I should probably get back to that! Hope everything is still going great! Hopefully we can get together before I leave for the giant Ride!! Miss you! Meghan
Resort. You can check their website, it’s crazy nice. We have a balcony that overlooks the ocean and a swimming pool full of Vietnamese kids and their parents (it’s school break right now).
June 3, 2009 Shannon. Thank you for your messages. You know that if you need some extra money just let us know— don’t pass up great shopping. If your backpack is too heavy-I remember Norway—why don’t you mail some of it home? See you in less than 2 weeks. Love. Dad June 5, 2009 Happy Birthday Dad! (and hi Steve!) Mum emailed that you were going up to Hornby, and I wasn’t sure whether you were at home still or were sleeping at the cabin where Steve will, undoubtedly, have his Blackberry close at hand. If that’s the case, Steve, pass a birthday hug AND KISS on to Dad from me. Otherwise, sorry you had to get this at midnight (I’m very prompt with my birthday greetings), and Dad, have a fantastic birthday and trip up to the cabin. Love you both! See you in, um, 12 days! xoxo June 9, 2009 Hey Fam, Just a quick note to say that everything is going just swimmingly (a fitting word, as we really have been doing a lot of water-related activity recently) on our tour of Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. We spent yesterday on the junk, which was really just a modern replica so it was outfitted with all the bells and whistles, and I took a TON of pictures, so you’ll be able to see the incredible beauty that is Halong when I get home in EIGHT SLEEPS. After doing a lot of relaxing, we had a fantastic 9-course dinner, and a swim in the evening. I got stung by a school of jellyfish. I thought I was making it up, but then I got out of the water and had all these red blotches all over my stomach, and the Vietnamese guides were all hopping around the boat getting me some lime juice to pour on the stings, which gets rid of the pain. Fortunately, it was just a bunch of little ones that got me, and I was totally not in need of that sort of panicked attention. It did hurt though! It felt like a bunch of little bee stings, but less intense. And Alicia, where were you when I needed a “Friend”?? (I think you get my drift). But the evening was really lovely, with a beautiful sunset and tequila sunrises on the upper deck with our four tour-mates. Today we kayaked for a couple of hours around some really cool lagoons and near some caves, and stopped for about 6 swims, then had lunch and kayaked some more. We’re super pooped. I’ve got all the tan back that I lost in the last month of being away from beaches and keeping my skin covered (respectfully!) up at temples and shrines. I still probably won’t come close to my sis’s “Natural” glow, but we’ll compare in a week or so :) We’ve arrived at Cat Ba Island, the largest and the only populated island in Halong Bay, and are staying at a BEAUTIFUL spot right on the beach called the Cat Ba Sunrise
Tomorrow we have until 2 pm to explore the island, and then our tour takes us back to Hanoi, about 3 and a half hours away by bus. I’ll email you from there if I have the chance, and Mum and Dad, expect a call on the evening of the 10th, if all goes as planned. Then we’re off to the far northern part of the country for four nights (two on trains going and coming back) and three days in Sapa and the surrounding hill villages. We’re doing a homestay with the Black H’mong minority group, famous for their indigo dying techniques (read: SHOPPING), and are visiting a super-famous Sunday morning market where they sell everything from water buffalo (don’t worry Nana, I’ve saved room in my bag to bring you a little one!) to corn-based moonshine, to embroidered silks, to the freshest produce you’ll ever taste, apart from Gordon’s Bio Farm’s offerings. Okay, that’s all for now! Going for a walk with Kim and James (my friend from McGill) down to the little town. Then we’re back for dinner, and probably off to bed pretty early because of all the sun and waves today. Love to you all, hope all is very well! June 16, 2009 apparently, there is some volcanic activity in the north pacific, which is affecting flights from asia to vancouver. all is well with cathay pacific at present, but do check your flights.... ...as i know i will be doing. i cannot believe that you are almost home! tansy and wiggles miss you so much. they will turn themselves inside out when you get home. all is well here. i’m just counting hours. love you up to the sky and back down again, mum.
(James’s word portrait) hello mystery sauce oh it’s spicy ‘hai!’ ‘but he’s not japanese...’ miro mcfurry ‘damn nice’ hand me some frogs fish spa fish massage feet ‘you have a very lucky face’ ‘you will remember my face?’ ‘don’t care her’ CMI in need of O ‘james damn cock one’ danie’s waist ticklish to the max ‘EHHHHHH JAMES’ ‘don’t talk slang’ what? confirm ang moh smell don’t have thank you ‘matsalehmatsaleh’ = speak english can? ang moh present clown kids modern dance creepy narration ang moh power chop seats at coffee bean buildings split into narrow buildings locals saving man from hoan kiem lake ‘why you buy from her and not from meee?’ meet nguyet (moon) and dieu (ostrich) in which tiger teaches me about vietnam happy house, happy tree, happy rock motorbikes carry everything rice paddy duck snail crab ecosystem whipping snake around to get to its head challenge wen to chinese chess tiger ‘how are you?’ child (viet.) ‘i don’t know’ tiger (viet.) ‘how do you say “how are you?”’ child ‘how are you?’ one wife one buffalo rice wine with kitchen staff it’s a full boat in tam coc pick fresh peanut ‘lady boom-boom?’ 1 kilo lychee best snack ever yes you can share my lychee yes i can pose with your children crossing the streets of hanoi ride on back of nguyet’s motobike walking with traffic on hang bac junk jumping with shannon lime juice soothes jellyfish stings favourite sink-toilet-shower setup stream’s bed time story (attempt to) sleep under the stars kayak lagoon in halong bay cat ba motorbike brigade i ♡ pho bò, i ♡ pho gà tuyen’s ‘sweetened porridge’ singing at lake with nuns ‘it’s okay he doesn’t sweat’ ‘pancaaaake best pancake my friend must try’ triggerfish sleep with mouthes open eyes open
‘you like computers more than people?’ ‘what kind of question is that?’ lesson #1 how to say ‘don’t fuck around’ boat jumping with new way diving g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-geckkoooo ‘most farang don’t like the smell’ bathing suit tan, wet suit tan, tricolor tan ‘where you from? how old are you? you want sleep?’ ‘but you are so good for meeeeeeee’ ‘james james come here he’s fucking crazy’ ‘you want her?’ ‘50 baht’ ‘fuck youuuuuuuuuuuuu’ no spare key? saw the window lock ‘if there’s a more useful expression than “same same” I don’t want to know’ the colorful dress of muslims in malaysia ‘mat saleh...’ = eh ang moh must switch bus some more palms up palms out praise party christian rock medley finale ‘maximum depth of 22 meters, unless you’ve brought a shovel’ semporna marine police mostly come out in daytime... mostly rats come out en masse at ten giant cockroach ‘whoa’ x2 beuchat distributor dive operator wonder boy richelieu rock guitar shark whale shark dolphins please my travel pack is smaller than your day pack vulgar nudibranch sign confusion lesson #2 how to say ‘come here asshole’ monkeys bouncing off the walls of a cage sila berhati-hati ruang di platform nga’s frustrated squeals and growls nerf-guns-in-the-office 3d animator ‘hell would be hotter’ pyrotechnics old beggar outside sultan mosque giving raspberries revelatory mental patient photo exhibit muezzin calls from sultan mosque ‘everything also must conquer’ too much food so just the novelties mee soto, goat milk, sesame paste, tang yuan, soft-shell crab, kaya toast half-boiled egg, crayfish, lychee, cow skin, boiled peanut, dragonfruit, goat meat, red bean ice bars, mangosteen, mini waffles, barracuda, beef noodle, nonya laksa, satai celup, pig ear, durian dodol, carrot cake, frog porridge, martabak, rambutan, shanghai renjia, shokudo, tom’s palette, thai express marmite tastes awful ‘i’ve missed you’ ‘i’m going to miss you’ ‘i’m going to miss you so much’ ‘i’ll miss you’ i’ll miss you all