City review

By Jen Hawse on City Review, Europe tagged City review, Culture, Europe, Heritage, Ireland, love, travel

Spin Again! — Traveling from Ireland to Back Home

Let’s continue on our journey through Western Europe. You are now arriving in Dublin, Ireland! Please keep your seatbelts fastened until the aircraft has come to a complete stop. We hope you enjoyed your flight. Welcome to Ireland!

Ireland, every inch of Ireland, is an overflowing flower pot.

All the streets, in all the towns we went in Ireland, embrace the rains and plant vibrantly colored flowers on buildings, sidewalks, and in every nook and cranny they can, just to brighten up your day. But, no matter how vibrant, all the beautiful flowers in the world couldn’t compare to seeing my mom and Aunt Monica for the first time in 10 months! Before Jason and I left we made a plan to meet with my mom in Ireland sometime in 2017. In February, it was decided we’d do a week long tour from Dublin to Shannon with Aunt Monica, our resident photographer and ever cheerful compadre. Ireland, unlike Germany, is a place where I really do hold heritage and it was fun to see my mom’s maiden name in various locations throughout the country.

The tour was jam packed and we always felt like we were on the move, so I’m very grateful we schedule a day before and after to chill out together before moving on. Seeing the Cliffs of Moher was a check off the old bucket list, as was having a Guinness and listening to Irish music in a poorly lit pub. Dirty old town. It’s amazing how much of one country you can see in a little more than a week. Next time, we’ll move at our own pace, and revisit all little spots we fell in love with.

Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is home.

Before leaving Ireland I was feeling pretty stressed out. We’d been traveling for so bloody long and felt drained, lonely, and done. In December of 2016, a women in Scotland reached out to us on WorkAway and asked if we’d like to stay with them over the summer of 2017. We were in the process of looking for a place to work/live in Australia, so work-trade was already top of mind. I reviewed the profile and thought it felt like a great fit for us, so I said yes and we planned the entirety of our time in Europe around being in Scotland for mid-July through early August. As the time approached to do our WorkAway I felt very resistant to going, but we’d made a commitment so go we went.

After spending two days in Glasgow, mostly getting Jason a raincoat, we took a bus up the Scottish countryside all the way to the tip top of the country, by the North Sea. There, we were greeted by Mike, one of our hosts for the next three weeks. Him and Rosie have a smallholding operation with a variety of animals, garden products, and lots of land to manage. They share the property with Rosie’s dad, a charming and energetic 90 something year old man with early stages Alzheimer’s, and their four dogs: Jasper, Maddie, Sprout, and Ruby. There’s also Raffles and Harry, the donkeys, Tino and Emily, the unique sheep, and Huey, Dewy, and Lewy, the more common sheep, plus a boatload of chickens.

Top Left: went to a county fair that had a car show as part of it. Top right: Took Jason to a scotch distillery for his birthday and this is the view from the distillery door. Bottom left: squinty selfie on the beach of the North Sea. Bottom right: well groomed horse from the fair.

Rosie and Mike provided more than just a place to stay and meals to eat during our Scottish days — they became lifelong friends of Jason and myself. They love having a big group of people around their table for meals, sharing stories and jokes. They love to joke and Mike has the best sense of humor. Generally, they have four WorkAways at a time living in their home. This meant, for Jason and I, that we met four new friends from the world over in addition to our hosts. Jodie is an early 50’s “retired” dentist from Colorado, traveling with a mission to care for animals and see the world. Vicki is a nurse from Australia who had been living in the UK for years, and decided she needed a break, so she quit her job and started working on the farm. Laura is training to be a vet and is a spunky Spaniard. She was looking to improve her English skills and so was Steffi, a German economist turned school teacher. These last two came at the same time and formed a tight bond, which Jason and I enjoyed being part of as well.

Left: Jazzy J the terrier standing guard. Top Right: My poor cake. Bottom Right: A walk in the woods.

Jason celebrated his birthday while we were in Scotland and I made him a terrible cake. Now that I’m obsessed with the Great British Bake Off I’m even more embarrassed with myself! No one seemed to mind though and the tacos Jason and I made together were a smashing hit! Rosie and I formed a tight bond. We have some unique similarities and she is so exceptional at being a great listener and asker of important questions. I miss her very much.

While I’d love to tell you more about our time in Scotland, I’ll wrap it up with a little musing that sums up how it felt to go:

It’s a great honor to be heartbroken
It’s a privilege to give your heart away
To love without limits
To give while knowing it’s over too soon
A blessing and a curse

We were so lucky to have so many rainbows

Barcelona, Spain, is architecture alive.

The details that lace the building take my breath away. While I have no religion, being here makes me want to run my hands along the doorways and pray.

Barcelona is a stamped out grid shaped city, which you can clearly see from above, but in the streets it doesn’t feel as sterile as that sounds. In fact, one particular architect helped shape much of Barcelona’s unique structure, Gaudi. Inspired by both God and nature, Gaudi’s work is still under construction today at La Sagrada Familia, a church that will take 145 years in total to construct. We didn’t think we’d be able to visit after stopping by on Thursday and being told tickets weren’t available till Sunday, but we were able to grab two and step inside this masterpiece.

Tapas — every meal should be tapas. Small, sharable, bite-sized snacks eaten with an alcoholic beverage. They’re everywhere in Barcelona. Other enviable cultural traits include relaxed work and sleeping schedules. Siestas are real and alive in Spain, making for a happier populous. Having a beach in the city isn’t too shabby either. It was Jason and my first topless beach experience and, my goodness, was it eye-opening!

Top Left: gothic church. Bottom Left: meat snack! Top Right: leg of ham. There’s a ham museum in Barcelona, so they take this very seriously. Top Middle: Auto garage door. Most garage doors are painted with murals, so this is a common sight. Bottom Right: dragon in a church

Barcelona has the world’s greatest street art, in my humble opinion. As you have most likely noticed, it’s a hobby of mine to photograph street art in every city I go. The caliber and abundance of Barcelona’s street art is rivaled by none other.

I could do a post completely dedicated to street art.

As most of you know, Barcelona suffered a tragic terrorist attack four days after we left. What you most likely didn’t know is the day after the attacks La Rambla, where the attacker plowed his car into a group of people, overflowed with even more individuals that ever thought possible. La Rambla is the main tourist street in Barcelona and they did not let terrorism win after the deadly attack took place. My heart goes out to Spain.

Arc de Triomphe in Barcelona (not Paris)

Bordeaux, France, is rosé.

Top Left: Beautiful lighting at night. Top Right: Grapes are a way of life and a clothing choice. Bottom Left: narrow alleyways. Bottom Right: French dining is the best dining

Bordeaux is a place I felt necessary to visit so that I could learn to better appreciate wine. I realize saying this is akin to saying, “I went to the bakery to appreciate cookies and cakes.” Unless you’re broken, you should appreciate some cookies and cakes and, unless my tastebuds don’t work, I’ll appreciate wine in Bordeaux. While red wine isn’t my thing, rosé is! In the states, rosé seems to be a lesser wine, but not so in most of Europe and especially not in France. God bless the French, for all of their wines range from perfectly palatable to downright mind blowing.

Bordeaux isn’t solely about wine, it’s also about food. French food. Do you know who created fine dining? The French. Hate them for whatever jealous reasons you may have, but the French know how to eat, drink, and be alive. While not every meal was the greatest, we did have some unbelievable food throughout France. Like mussels and escargot and pork belly and steak tartar… Sadly, because we went in August, the best restaurants were closed so their chefs could go on vacation. Good for them, poor for us, but that just gives us yet another reason to return.

Top: Who doesn’t love a carousel? Bottom left: these naked man statues were all over the place. Bottom Right: Our first two bottles of vino

We found a great cooperative space in Bordeaux. It had workspaces for various professions, from offices to auto mechanics, and included a restaurant and art space. There was an art installation about cruelty to animals that really hit home. All of the street art here was strikingly well done! Heaven!

Paris, France, is pure romance.

A postcard from Paris. To you, with love, from me.

Ending our trip in Paris always felt like the right decision. Cities the entire world over want to be Paris. They sell memorabilia that resembles Paris. People wear hats and shirts with Paris sparkled all over them, with no regard to whether the wearer has visited or not. Nowhere comes close to the fan fair Paris gets. It’s the most iconic city in the world, with NYC following close behind. We had to visit. Plus, Paris had the best flight deal home, so it won by default.

Paris is a city you have to cram everything into because there are endless possibilities. While we were only in Paris four days, one of which was our travel day back to the US so we did nothing but get lunch, we kept busy. We visited the Louvre, the Catacombs, Notre-Dame, Moulin Rouge, Père Lachaise, the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysee, and of course, the Eiffel Tower. All in three days.

Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die… But instead of saying all of your goodbyes…

My one request for Paris was the Catacombs. Paris has miles of hidden underground tunnels connecting the streets of the ancient city. A portion of these tunnels are home to millions of skeletal remains. These skeletons are arranged in delicate patterns, honoring the dead, and serving as a tour of a different time. The walls of the catacombs are lined with bible verses and French phrases and poetry, which I couldn’t read very well but could feel their sentiments of mourning and revere. In a similar vein, Jason wanted to see Jim Morrison’s grave at Père Lachaise cemetery, since it has that rockstar appeal. In fact, several famous people are buried here and many of the gravesites are intricately decorated, making for a great walking spot.

Various tombs at Père Lachaise. The Egyptian looking one is Oscar Wilde’s.

We spent seven hours in total in the Louvre, a museum I was ambivalent about going to at first. Who doesn’t want to go to the Louvre?! My main concern is I didn’t care about the Mona Lisa (Ah. Shocking!). It’s fine, but it’s a great deal of hype. Jason put it best, “It’s a nice painting.” In reality, the Louvre is far more than a single painting. It’s art from all over the world and in our seven hours we only saw about 20% of the museum. 10/10 would go again and try to see another 20% or so.

While it seems like we couldn’t fit anything else into our time in Paris, we were able to check one more box off of our collective bucket lists. After visiting the Eiffel tower, Jason insisted we head to Champs-Elysee, the main shopping street of Paris. As we walked, his palms were very sweaty. We were trying to check in for our flight back home and I wasn’t sure if he was nervous about that or something else… After a few moments Jason tells me we’re going ring shopping. OK, let’s do this!

How beautiful is that tower? Never gets old.

When you’ve been with someone for 4.5 years, you don’t just get engaged on a whim. At least, Jason and I don’t. We spend months/years talking about it, deciding what our lives will look like, and ensuring we both have a place in our hearts and homes for one another. So, after about an hour of completely unsuccessful ring shopping, something we’d actually never done before, I told him let’s try at home. Ring shopping is something that I now see often happens over weeks, not minutes. We’re both loathful shoppers, so the whole process drained us, but we gave it the old college try.

Locks. None is Jason and mine. That’s OK by us.

Later that night, after drinking my first real glass of champagne and dining on French bread paired with cured meats and cheeses, we were walking along the waterfront gazing up at the Eiffel Tower as it brilliantly sparkled. Jason takes the ring I wear everyday from my finger, ensures he sets the lighting just right, drops to one knee, and asks me to marry him. I said yes.

The next day we headed home. Home to America at least. We flew into NYC first and met up with Jason’s parents. These two adorable people rented us a hotel room, brought us celebratory bubbly, fully equipped with glasses and ice, and bought us pizza. While we were away, Jason’s mother made a chainlink out of paper that marked the date and number of days we were away. It has 342 links in total, one for each day we were gone. They’re some of the most kind and thoughtful people in the world.

That’s it. I have one more final recap to post, then the blog comes to a close. I hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did!

When one door closes, you know what they say…. Take a picture if it’s a nice looking door!

18 Apr

By Jen Hawse on Uncategorized tagged asia, City review, reflection, Southeast Asia

Lessons from My Asian Sojourn

We’re seven months into this insane eleven month trip and for all but three weeks we were in Asia, a place I previously had no intention of visiting. Why would I not be interested in visiting the area of the world where most of the people live? Plenty of reasons come to mind, but chiefly I was afraid it would be too different and too difficult. Language barriers wouldn’t be traversable. People would push and shove. Transportation would be impossible due to unreliable schedules and insane driving. I’d get sick. I’d be overwhelmed. I’d be bored. I’d be lonely. I’d be missing home.
It’s easy to worry when you don’t know what you’re up against. But, “worry is the interest paid in advance on a debt you may never owe.” It’s stress for stresses sake. This is not to say I was completely wrong in my worries, but that my worries were in part easily managed in the face of living through them and often totally overblown or entirely misplaced.
A few of the lessons that Asia has taught me is:

Trains run on time, almost all of the time. Even when we’ve believed we were going to have a flight delayed or a bus would be late it hardly ever happened and never interfered with our schedule. It feels like a myth, or just a sad misfortune, that so many people have had experiences where their mode of transportation was completely late or even non-existent. Most of the time people are on time, at least all throughout Asia.
You can communicate without words. That said, almost everyone has a basic understanding of English that we spoke with, but even for those who knew nothing more than hello there was still common ground to be found and transactions to be made. Smiles are your greatest currency when speaking without words. Kindness can get you so far. I’ve eaten food without being able to speak a word to the food stall owner, just pointing and nodding. I’ve played with kids in the street who chase me with sticks for swords and RWAR at me. I’ve gotten through so much with “Hello” and “Thank you” alone. It’s not perfect, but it’s not as hard as you’d imagine.
Beauty is wordless
Street food isn’t going to kill you, most of the time. While I had a few run-ins with some illness along the way, with one recent notable experience in Bangkok, but I ate almost exclusively street foods for months without major incident. Jason has never had a true case of food poisoning this entire time and despite a little sickness along the way it was worth the tastes and experiences to eat soup on a tiny stool and throw napkins on the ground when you’re done (it’s hard to “litter”, but that’s how it works sometimes! They sweep it up.). Street food showed us what culture is, because people express themselves through their regional ingredients and we are big lovers of that expression.
We didn’t eat these, but we would have!
You’re never far from luxury if you really want it. While not every hotel or guesthouse we stayed in was exceptional, most were above and beyond what I expected when we first planned this venture. Only once did we not have air conditioning and that was my mistake. Beds are harder here (our “mattress” in Mumbai, as I write this, is about two inches thick) and the bathrooms are “wet”, meaning they shower in the same space as the toilet and sink so everything gets wet, but mostly you have the same western standards available that you’d expect anywhere in America. There are Asian “squatty potties” here too, meaning you don’t sit but instead straddle a hole, facing forward, to go to the bathroom and then use a hose, or bidet, as your cleaning practice. It’s something you get used to, but almost always you can find a regular western style toilet too. Even if there are things that aren’t as comfortable as home, almost everything is still fine after some adjusting.
You get used to goats being in the city, but you still think they’re adorable.

Food wise, if I ever wanted pizza or eggs and toast I could find it no problem. We in fact ate pizza at least half a dozen times. Mexican food doesn’t translate well outside of the US or Mexico, but we even had that a few times to get a different taste than rice or noodles day in and day out. If you want to eat something, most often you can find a place that will serve you at least an approximation of that dish.

Prawns. Fresh!
Road rules are mere suggestions, most of the time. In Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore there is considerably more order while driving, but in almost every other place we went the amount of people who took road signs and signals as suggestions far outnumbers those that followed them, leading to overall “chaos” most of the time. You can adapt to chaos though. Traffic here is a flow, and as my friend Jon Dallas said about Vietnamese traffic, “There’s always room for you”. Horns indicate you’re there, you’re turning, you’re in someone’s blind spot, or less frequently that you’re pissing someone off. While Malaysia and Cambodia had considerably less horns blowing even these places are uproarious compared to the way we use horns in the states.
Proof Vietnam is made for bikes. and bikes love to use their horns

Walking across the street was a challenge that started in our first country, Korea. You just learn that you move with the flow of traffic and no one wants to hit you, just don’t stutter. Jason would get very frustrated with me if I started panicking in the middle of the road, because it’s more dangerous to slow down or stop completely while crossing than move at a steady pace. Be predictable and you won’t get hurt.

Walking along a roadside in Malaysia.
It’s OK to be bored, lonely, and unsure, some of the time. My fears about how I’d feel were in some ways spot on and in other ways self induced. I have had moments of deep and utter boredom. “How?!” I hear you asking. Because, we have had so much downtime that we’ve spent days just sitting in hotel rooms, only leaving once per day to eat or get supplies. Not having a job adds immensely to your “time”. Having no hobby increases this into new dimensions of ennui. Of course we saw amazing sites and had many days of what seemed like endless travel and adventure, but between those we waited. We waited in airports for hours on end because we’re always early to flights. We sat and stared at the walls (read: internet) because we decided there was a greater need to save money than going out and doing one more expensive excursion. We did miss going seeing things I’d have loved to see, like the country of Myanmar or other parts of Indonesia, and there were a few temples, waterfalls, and caves that would have put a little more magic into the trip, but we still found plenty to keep occupied with along the way. I wish I could say I found a better way to occupy my restless mind, but I haven’t, and it’s a struggle I hope is soon alleviated with the faster pace that Europe is going to provide.
When I’m bored I can remember I was here.
You’re never going to get it “right”. I’ve been craving bigger travel challenges lately. I have a friend who’s hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and I’m madly jealous. She’s going to sleep under the stars, play in the woods, survive on her own will and trail magic. How cool! If I keep up at this logic I’ll never be “happy” with our trip. If I want deeper challenges, now that our trip has become easier due to greater experience, than I need to build that in. Every trip could have been better, had more fun, more relaxation or excitement or adventure, but if you don’t accept that it’s going just fine the way it is you’ll never be happy. Be happy where you are or what’s the point of going anywhere or seeing anything new if it’s never enough?
It’s worth it. So many people tell me “I wish I could travel” and, while finances can absolutely hold you back, it’s really an inability to plan or a lack of motivation that keeps them stuck. I met a 78 year old man traveling solo in Malaysia. I met an Egyptian Muslim women traveling for four months in India by herself. I’ve seen a couple who were both in wheelchairs on the beach of Malaysia, drinking cocktails and talking to locals. If you want to go to Southeast Asia it’s not a matter of money, once you buy your flight over, but more so a matter of how far you’re willing to leave your cushy comfort zone. Believe me, I didn’t want to go! I understand the draws of comfort and stability. But, I’m glad I did and I know people who tell me they “can’t” most likely could and just aren’t finding the motivation to push through and make it happen. If you want to go, you should commit to it. If you don’t really want to go, that’s OK too, but don’t let yourself hold you back if it’s what you truly desire.

I could tell you more lessons that I’ve learned about myself and my travels. I could celebrate or complain. But, I’ll leave it here for now, because I need to leave at midnight to catch this flight to Greece at 6:20 a.m. tomorrow morning. See you in the EU!

Coconut trees standing tall, bearing their heavy fruits
Banana bunches reaching desperately for the ground
Buzzing mosquitos, barking dogs, beeping cars
Bitter melon and sour soups
The inescapable heat that leads to endless summer blossoms
Water in, sweat it out
Drink it in again
With urgency now, to quench your thirst
Drink it in one last time
Realizing not the depths you’ve dove
Or how much you may miss this moment
Years from now
As the details turn to dust
All you have is that feeling in your chest
About how it once was
About how good it felt to be

1 Dec

By Jen Hawse on Asia, City Review tagged Animals, Bangkok, Buddhism, Chiang Mai, City review, Elephants, Festivals, Temples, Thailand, Tropics

Chiang Mai This Place is Nice

When people think about Southeast Asia, Thailand often comes to mind first. Formerly Siam, this ancient civilization is a culturally rich tourist haven. Tourism accounts for 6% of Thailand’s GDP. For comparative purposes, the US generates 2.6% of our GDP from tourism. Thailand’s main economy is export focused. I bet you have a few clothing items in your closed that are “Made in Thailand”.

During our trip planning Thailand was highest of the list of places to dig into and explore, chiefly because it’s fairly cheap, safe, and open to foreigners (or farangs as we’re called by the Thai people). Our original plan was to get a six month multi-entry visa (MEV) for Thailand and make it a sort of “home base” for our travels. We wanted to explore all around Southeast Asia, while knowing we could go back anytime. After weeks of research we realized the requirements for the MEV were too much to handle. You needed to have a job at home (nope, sorry), plus proof of that job that isn’t a paystub (what, how?) then statements showing $7,000 in the bank, plus we’d have to pay $200. We didn’t want to lie or pay that huge $200 fee, so we opted to just keep hopping and avoid having the “home base”. That meant our first stop out of the Far East and into Southeast Asia was Thailand for a one month stay.

Chiang Mai ladyboy cabaret. — Chiang Mai ladyboy cabaret

As you know, we jumped into Bangkok first and spent a pretty intense 10 days there. The King had passed away six days prior to our arrival and the city was transformed in ways that no one could have envisioned. A sea of Thais were arriving daily to pay their respects and mourn his loss. The sadness was visceral and all entertainment was cancelled, including even simply playing music at bars. Black was the standard garb and locals and tourists alike were encouraged to wear it. For being in the tropics, Thailand has some fairly strict standards of dress. This includes no shoulders or knees showing, with many Thais opting to fully cover their legs and arms. No, tourists don’t have to comply, but it’s again encouraged. So, when temperatures feel like 107 F, you’re suppose to wear all black and be covered up in order to be modest. Jason and I care about respecting culture and modesty, so we wanted to make sure we covered as much as possible (read, it’s hot and just got hotter for us).

img_20161113_152436852 — Hot, but worth it for this craziness

Really, it’s mostly important to be covered at temples. Thailand is a swarm of Buddhist temples. They’re everywhere, with over 40,000 throughout the country, and my goodness they’re stunning works of art and religion. 94% of Thais follow Buddhism, a religion that has origins in the country from the 3rd century. I’m personally a big fan of Buddhism for their culture of nonviolence and belief in the changing nature of the universe. Out of all religions that I’ve encountered this one speaks to me the highest.

img_20161112_214034428 — Temples everywhere

Something I never got over was seeing monks draped in flowing orange robes, walking the streets, with canvas shopping bags carrying their simple belongings. Thailand has between 200,000 – 300,000 Buddhist monks, so they’re easily found. Monks can be of the city or forest variety and the monks have to follow over 230 rules. How do I know all this? When in Chiang Mai I participated in a Monk Chat to learn about their unique way of life. The monks were very open to my questions and were actually quite interested in what I was doing in Thailand and where my travels had taken me. Many were intermediate English speakers, so the conversation provided them an opportunity to speak with a native English speaker while engaging in a cultural exchange.

img_20161102_170556944 — Extremely old temple in the middle of Chiang Mai

We spent 17 days in total in Chiang Mai, so besides spending time with Buddhist Monks and sweating we also had a great day playing with elephants at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. My mom had gifted me some spending money for my birthday (thanks again, Momsie!) and this is what we opted to spend it on. In Thailand there are several options to interact with wild animals. You can pet sleepy (read: drugged) tigers at Tiger Kingdom or ride elephants at several parks, which is terrible for them on many levels; or you can go to one of several elephant preserves in the area to help care and interact with the big lugs in an environment that’s specifically designed to make them happy and keep them safe. We opted for the humane elephant preserve (of course!).

The day started with an 8:15 a.m. pickup from a “red truck”, a Ford that’s been outfitted with bench seats and a cap on the bed that had windows cut out of it. The back of the cap was completely open to climb into and out of, there was no door. Staying by the train station meant we were a good 30 minute walk from the city with few hotels that far out, so we weren’t sure if this truck was going to take us to a van to drive up the mountain or if we’d be getting more passengers and going on our way. The latter ended up being true. By 9:10 the truck was filled with 10 people, driver included, and we were heading up to the sanctuary in the mountains of northern Thailand, in a truck, with no door on the back. Hey, at least we were all the way on the inside!

img_20161104_091511354 — In the truck, heading toward elephant sanctuary

Zig zagging through the mountain passes we drove fast. The driver claims we were making up time because two of our fellow riders were late. It seemed likely that they were very young newlyweds, at least according to me and the three hilarious German ladies that I shared a few laughs with. The couple surely wasn’t dressed like they were going to play in the mud! Either way, as for the crazy drive, you eventually became used to the crazy conditions and almost comfortable with it. A cool blew into the cabin and all around us were beautiful vistas. Peace set in, that is until the road no longer became a road, but instead a kind of truck “path” that steeply jetted us into an even closer to near death situation as we drove inches away from sheer cliffs on tracks wide enough for just the two truck tires. Somehow, we didn’t die (either coming or going!). The day has hardly started and yet our adrenalin is pumping at full force.

Instead of going into great detail with the elephants I’ll just share some pictures here to show you what happened.

Another special treat in Chiang Mai was the Loy Krathong Festival. This was one of the main reasons we decided to go north to Chiang Mai instead of south to the world famous Thai beaches. Loy Krathong roughly translates to “to float a basket” and is celebrated throughout Thailand on the full moon of the 12th month of the year. These baskets are generally banana leaves decorated with colorful flowers and sometimes hold a coin as an offering to the river spirits. Fireworks and big celebrations are generally part of this annual event, but with the King’s passing all of these extra demonstrations were toned down. Paper lanterns, however, were still part of the event and were just as magical as you can imagine.

img_20161114_235803176 — We are cleared for liftoff!

Yi Peng, another full moon even, is the reason these lanterns are part of the Loy Krathong Festival. For Thais, the lanterns are a symbol of merit, a Buddhist belief in doing good deeds to bolster personal enlightenment and ensure you have a better next life. I’m happy regardless of their reasoning, because watching these lanterns take off was a top bucket list item for me and completing it is like floating on air 🙂

img_20161112_200622823 — A celebration of lights!

Chiang Mai has become a favored city for Jason and I because of it’s medium size, natural setting, good food, mixed culture, and some great people we met during our stay. It’s #2 thus far for me, right behind Seoul, for this trip.

It’s funny how each place we’re only at for a short time, yet in my mind I keep thinking, “Oh, we can always go back if we want. We’re in SE Asia for a while.” but, in reality, we will most likely never return to these destinations and I have to be OK with that inevitability. Travel, to me, is the definition of bittersweet. Often, I’m thinking of home and wondering what you people are up to out there, living normal lives and spending time with those you love. When I’m not thinking of that I’m planning our next move, where to go and how to get there. I’m thinking of what’s on the agenda for tomorrow. I’m worrying about the budget. I’m looking at maps. I’m dreaming of our time in Europe. I’m considering how I feel both guilty to live this way and immensely blessed. I’m trying not to kill Jason as well, and vise versa 🙂

Travel requires patience and perseverance. I’m no model for either of those traits and often I’m rushing through something and stressing me and/or Jason out or bored that there’s nothing to do for a brief period of time instead of being productive and planning or just being. Patience and perseverance. I’ve never been a hobby kind of person. I’m a worker bee and that’s always been my hobby. I like to feel useful and I’m grateful that I’ve had great jobs where that feeling has been realized. In travel, you consume everything and you don’t give anything unless you make a concerted effort to take on volunteer work. This week, I signed Jason and I up for Work Away, a website that connects hosts looking for volunteers all over the world with their projects and willing workers. Like WWOOFing, Willing Workers on Organic Farms, Work Away is for all types of work and the great part is they most often pay you in room and board. With this we can save money, learn some new skills, feel useful, meet new people, and keep having fun traveling. I think this is exactly what I need to make this trip go from good to great.

img_20161108_185132838 — The fishies cleaned up our feet!

If you have specific questions about anything or want me to cover a topic, versus a country, just ask! Before I left people wanted to know about our budget and backpacks, if there’s interest I can write a blog on those topics or others. Thanks for reading! Until next time!