Voyagevixen

Mostly monkey business

2012-02-14T02:10:00.001-08:00

A recent highlight was today's trip to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary which is home to tons of Long tailed macaque monkeys They are absolutely spell binding with their adorable antics. We spent a few hours just watching them eat, play, bathe, argue, and tease the tourists. They are not really afraid of people and I'm quite sure they'd quickly gain the upper hand in any human/monkey altercation. One reached right into my purse pocket, which was empty as I alway remember the cardinal rule; never, ever trust a monkey. One little monkey, who was being chased by a large one, flung himself onto my lap while shooting the chasing monkey a smug "nah nah a boo boo" look. Then he scampered off. Out of no where a bunch of monkeys just starting jumping into the little cement pond all at once, as if they had planned it. They tumbled down on each other, leapt from the overhanging branches, swam under the water and generally created monkey business. Here are a few photos of one the monkeys sweet on J

After the monkey forest we ate at the tranquil and delicious Bali Buddha. I had a great raw vegan lunch of salad rolls, pate and crackers, mint lemonade and a chocolate tart. At the attached heath food store, we picked up some all natural shampoo made from coconut and scented with frangipani flowers.

Last night we went back to the large grocery store near by. We found some mystery white juice at the fresh juice bar. When we inquired about what it was, they pointed out a fruit I'd never seen before and called it "Indonesian fruit". We bought it. All I can say is the taste is best described as highly objectionable. Speaking of objectionable fruit, I also detest Snake fruit, which gets its name from the scaly skin, which also should have served as warning to me not to eat it. It tastes like a creamy onion apple, and it smells. On the other hand I adore the succulent Mangosteens.

The other exciting news is that J and I were accepted to attend the three week Sciences of the Buddha meditation retreat. "In the beautiful setting of Plum Village, from the 1st until the 21st of June 2012, with Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village Sangha, scientists and Buddhists will practice sitting together, walking together, and sharing their experience and insight with each other. The practices of mindfulness and concentration can help scientists to be better scientists and in this way, Buddhism can act as a source of inspiration, suggesting directions for future investigation and discovery. Conversely, we will explore how insights from science can be useful, not only to develop technology and improve our material comfort, but to reduce the suffering of individuals, families, and society. This retreat will bring a lot of joy and confidence in both traditions as we find out that good science and good Buddhism can be much and do much for the wellbeing of the world." Thich Nhat Hanh is one of my favorite Buddhist authors and he wrote the amazing book Being Peace It's an accessible for read for Buddhists and NonBuddhists. I love it so much I've purchased many copies for family, friends and for the prisoner book program.
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Back in Bali!

2012-02-08T06:41:00.001-08:00

We are staying in kuta area of Bali for a month. A few years ago we visited Indonesia for 5 weeks and the Bali section of our trip was spent mostly in scenic Ubud. This time around we are staying near the surf area so J can learn to surf. We will also take some boat trips out to snorkel. Kuta has a lot of mixed reviews as it is quite busy, crowded and noisy but it's also convenient with countless restaurants and shops, and right near the beach where beginners can learn surfing. This blogger has a nice article on the benefits of kuta beach; Kuta; surf beach for the everyman
We are staying at the new Kayun Hostel. It's convenient and has some good amenities; pool, free wifi, free breakfast, rooms with attached bath, comfy beds, and modern decor.
Just two days in and the food has been terrific. We have had two delicious Lebanese meals. The picture below shows the yummy mezza plate I had for the cost of $3.80 Canadian.

We also ate at the lovely Little Green Cafe. We had a veggie burger (ball shaped) with two salads and cake for dessert.

We attempted to locate another vegetarian restaurant today but that is when we discovered that the address numbers are random and not in order. So we will try again tomorrow knowing which landmark is near it. However we did get a chance to see some pretty rice paddies and cute cows.

We ran into some cranky tourists who were not kind to the locals during the landing procedures. They argued very rudely with the visa on arrival people suggesting that the visa was not required and aggressively demanding their change once they finally paid. A quick Internet search of course would reveal to travelers that a visa is in fact required for most, the cost and they fact that you are supposed to have exact change. I wanted to say something but J reminded me that it would not help the situation. I am reminded of the quote “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. ” ― Wayne W. Dyer. I was still harboring some ill feelings towards these tourists when I had a timely reminder of the importance of metta in a huffington post article; Don't put anyone out of your heart. And then I ran across this graffiti near the beach.

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Slight detour

2012-02-05T07:54:00.001-08:00

We had originally intended to spend until the end of February in Malaysia but we've discovered there is very little surf here. One of our trip goals is surfing, for J and snorkeling for me. So we've decided to try Bali, Kuta beach area for the next month. We depart on February 7, 2012. We are staying at Kayun Hostel. It looks decent, is close to the beach, affordable, has a pool and we have a private room with attached bathroom. We had hoped to rent a house or cheap homestay for the month but we found it too difficult to find something affordable with the amenities and location we wanted. The packs are too full so after Bali we plan on shipping back our snorkeling equipment. They are not large packs, 50 liters each, with mine weighing 14.1 kilos (31 pounds) plus our 15 liter carry on packs, which mine weighs 4.7 kilos (10.3 pounds).

As well we had intended on spending sometime in north India but it has proven very difficult to get an Indian visa on the road. Instead we will head to Nepal after Bali and likely spend two months there while also taking a trip to Bhutan during this time.

Melaka has been nice. It's a quaint and historic city and is an UNESCO heritage site. We visited the lovely Chen Hoon Teng Temple. We took many walks along the historic roads and along the river. We ate daily at the yummy Man Yuan Fang vegetarian restaurant

One evening J was mediating along the river (while I was asleep as I was not feeling so well) and when he opened his eyes there was a large (1.5 meters or so) water monitor lizard at his feet. I think they were both a bit surprised! J snapped a quick photo as he was backing away.

We've spent spent quite a bit of time watching the lizards along the river afterwards. Interestingly enough this is not the first time there has been an interesting animal encounter while meditating. Once on a group retreat we were in sitting silent in a circle outside when the peace was pierced with a shriek. When we opened our eyes a hawk took off right beside us with a ground squirrel in its claws. As well when we were doing walking meditation in India, at the Bodhi Tree, a hummingbird just landed for a rest in a monk's hand.

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Leisurely pace

2012-01-30T20:10:00.001-08:00

It's been pretty uneventful these last few days. I've discovered I can easily sleep in quite late! We went to an amazing free photography exhibit of the World Press Photo Contest, which showcases amazing and often heart wrenching photo journalism. The exhibit can be viewed online as well. It exposes so many social issues such as this haunting photo of a girl who has birth defects potentially related to agent orange use during the Vietnam war. I was previously unaware of the potential link.Here is another study on the issue Association between Agent Orange and birth defects: systematic review and meta-analysis and a CBC report

We've spent time walking around and looking at the architecture. We went o the Petronas Towers at night to see them lit up. We also found some vegan dark chocolate at the nearby mall grocery store.

We spent some more time at the Guan Yin Temple enjoying a meal and dharma talk. The people were so kind, helping us find a place to sit and a serving of the extra special soup offered that day. A little lizard tried to hop a cab ride with us to the temple. The driver pulled over so J could safely release him.

Tomorrow we take a bus to Melaka where we will stay for five nights at The Hangout Hotel. We are upgrading to a room with private bath. Two weeks with shared bath gets a little tiring. Things have been quite affordable here. A nice bus for two is about $14.00 Canadian to Melaka which is about 120kms from here. We spend around $10.00 Canadian for two restaurant meals with drinks. We could even eat for a lot cheaper but we enjoy supporting the lovely veg restaurants.

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Way of the Bodhisattva

2012-01-27T05:08:00.001-08:00

We've been in Kuala Lumpur for the last 2 nights and we are staying for 5 more. We are staying at The Reggae Mansion Hostel which is conveniently located right in the heart of china town and has 2 vegetarian restaurants within the block. We had delicious meals at both the Water Lilly Vegetarian Restaurant and Yin Futt Kuok. Below is a photo of the black pepper faux ribs and the Tom yam noodles from Water Lilly restaurant.

Today we made the 6 km round trip walk to view the Petronas Towers, which is 88 stories in height! We also went to the Prajna Guanyin Sagely Monastery which is part of the The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association . We had a lovely time. We listened to part of a Dharma talk (and hope to return to hear more), viewed the temple, spent time in the reading room and had a lovely vegetarian buffet lunch. We picked up 2 books (available by donation); one is a Buddhist dictionary Buddhism from A to Zand the other is parables on the role of vegetarianism and kindness to animals within Buddhist teachings "The Stories of Refraining from Killing and Liberating Lives".

One of the main statues in the temple is of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. One definition of a Bodhisattva says this; What do we mean by Bodhisattva? Bodhi means enlightenment, the state devoid of all defects and endowed with all good qualities. Sattva refers to someone who has courage and confidence and who strives to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Those who have this spontaneous, sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the ultimate benefit of all beings are called Bodhisattvas. Through wisdom, they direct their minds to enlightenment, and through their compassion, they have concern for beings. This wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others is what we call bodhichitta, and it is the starting point on the path. By becoming aware of what enlightenment is, one understands not only that there is a goal to accomplish but also that it is possible to do so. Driven by the desire to help beings, one thinks, For their sake, I must attain enlightenment! ... Bodhichitta, then, is a double wish: to attain enlightenment in itself, and to do so for the sake of all beings. (A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night, p. 12) A great site for the basics of Buddhism is The Big View.

J and I have started to intensify our meditation practice with (hopefully) daily sessions. Today we followed a guided mindfulness based mediation which I received a copy of through the terrific Mindfulness Mediation course I took a few years ago. It was facilitated by Dr Speca via the University of Calgary continuing education. For online mindfulness resources check out one of my favorite websites Mindful.org

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It's only been a week!

2012-01-24T04:07:00.001-08:00

It feels like we've been gone for much longer but it's only been a week. We've crammed in a lot of sight seeing, walking (averaging more than 8 km a day), eating vegan food, etc, and we are looking to slow the pace in Malaysia. We leave for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, January 25, 2012. We are booked for a week at the Reggae Mansion Hostel. Our room has shared bath and I think after this I will make a more concerted effort to get ones with private bath.

Over the last 2 days we have been busy. We spent some time walking in Yoyogi Park. We had a yummy lunch at Sofa Vegetarian Cafe We had a great meal at Eat More Greens which included amazing vegan pie and strawberry doughnuts.

We had a great vegan Indian meal at Nataraj Restaurant which included vegan naan made in part with a Japanese spinach like vegetable called Komatsuna. It gave the naan a greenish color but it tasted just the same.

We took the train from Tokyo out to Kamakura. We spent the day walking all over. We walked along the sea shore and around a few temples. The sea was beautiful and we had a lovely dinner overlooking the shore at The Organic Hemp Style Cafe

One of the temples was Hase-Dera which was on a hill with a steep stair case. It also had a small cave which we walked through, having to bend down to the waist in some parts to get through. The highlight of the day was spending time at the Great Buddha of Kamakura. It was a breath taking sight. It was made in 1252 out of cast bronze and is 13.5 meters in height. Quite the feat of engineering for over 750 years ago! We were able to also go inside of the hollow Buddha and examine to craftsmanship.

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Reflections

2012-01-24T03:01:00.001-08:00

We spent today in Kamakura area. We saw many lovely things but I was also reminded up the terrible suffering that occurred during the tsunami. This area was not directly hit but as I looked at beach garbage it reminded me of the tsunami debris that is washing up in other areas. My heart goes out to all affected.

We also came across this little stranded starfish. It reminded me of one of my favorite guiding poems;
IT MATTERS TO THIS ONE

As I walked along the seashore, this young boy greeted me. He was tossing stranded starfish back to the deep blue sea. I said, "Tell me why you bother, why you waste your time this way. There's a million stranded starfish, does it matter anyway?"

And he said, "It matters to this one. It deserves a chance to grow. It matters to this one, I can't save them all I know. But it matters to this one, I'll return it to the sea. It matters to this one, and it matters to me."

I walked into the classroom, The teacher greeted me. She was helping Johnny study, he was struggling I could see. I said, "Tell me why you bother, why waste your time this way. Johnny's only one of millions, does it matter anyway?"

And she said, "It matters to this one, he deserves a chance to grow. It matters to this one, I can't save them all I know. But it matters to this one, I'll help him be what he can be. It matters to this one, and it matters to me." - author unknown

I am grateful I had the opportunity to put him back into the sea.

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Temple Town

2012-01-22T15:31:00.001-08:00

So it's not really called temple town but yesterday we visited the sprawling Senso-ji Temple which is the oldest in Tokyo, the first building was erected in 645. It was very bustling which I am sure was partially due to the break in the rain.

The temple features Kannon, Bodhisattva of Compassion: Amongst the many Buddhas, Bodhisattva Kannon is known as the most compassionate, relieving beings of their suffering and responding to prayers with great benevolence. This Bodhisattva Kannon, the principle image of Senso-ji, has been an unparalleled source of benefits and miracles, saving and protecting countless people over the course of the 1,400 years since its appearance in the world. The way of devotion to Bodhisattva Kannon can be described as emulating the compassionate mind of this bodhisattva in our day to day lives, treating everyone we encounter with kindness. source http://www.senso-ji.jp/about/index_e.html

Speaking of kindness the temple also had a status honoring Uryu Iwako a noted social worker from the 1800's. It's the first time I've seen a statue of a social worker! She was known for her compassion for the poor and orphans and founded a midwifery institute and hospital.

Earlier in the day we went to the Harajuko area which is known for shopping, entertainment, and teenagers dressed up in cosplay outfits. There we stumbled upon J's heaven; tons of bicycle shops of every kind! He fell in love with a vintage Nakagawa bicycle frame that was sadly too small.

On the walk home from the temple we came across this lovely graffiti.

The day before we went to a great vegan ramen shop called T's Tan Tan. It was rather difficult to find as it is located in the JR Line Tokyo train station. We buy a day pass for the Tokyo metro but it does not cover JR line so we had to buy 130 yen tickets to get into the station. It was worth it! We've been very lucky with the great food options. Each morning we head to our favorite breakfast place and get a great meal with juice for 400 yen each.

Check out J's great photos so far at his Flickr stream

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Subway success

2012-01-20T15:22:00.001-08:00

It was quite cold and wet yesterday with a combination of snow and rain. We figured out the subway and made our way to a great vegetarian buffet for lunch called; It's Vegetarian. We also went through a grocery store, which we love doing when traveling. That's where we spotted the $80.00 melon.

We took the subway over to the The Museum of Modern Art but the main building was closed. We did get to see the The Crafts Gallery Exhibit That's where we saw a piece of art titled Song of Autumn by kashima ikkoku which featured Our Animal a praying mantis which we've seen on nearly every trip.

We managed to stay up a little later and had a lovely meal at a vegan place called Ain Sopf

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How far will we walk to reach a vegan restaurant?

2012-01-19T14:43:00.001-08:00

Apparently 12km. Yesterday we thought it would be a good idea to take a long walk and get to know our area. We walked a little over 12 km and arrived at the Tokyo Loving Hut. It was more of an Loving Hut express, with out the extensive menu of other Loving Huts we have eaten at, but the boxed meals and desserts they offered were very good.

Before the day began I used the showers at our hotel. Unfortunately I am now quite sure I conditioned my hair with hand soap. We had decided to save our shampoo and uses free stuff whenever we can in hostels/hotels. (We were concerened with being able to find supplies on the road but now that we've been in a few more spots I think we will be able to manage finding supplies).The lack of english labels is making that challenging. Over the day we saw a lot of random temples, a lady feeding stray cats, large vocal crows, beautiful buildings, parks, a lake, etc. There are also funny signs and things that remind us that we have no idea what's going on.

We had to take a cab back to our little hostel as our legs were quite tired. The room is not bad but it could use a chair and table and a slightly thicker sleeping mat. But it's clean and good value and location. As you can see from the photo it's compact. I've already bumped my head twice on doorways.

Near our hostel their is a an amazing traditional fancy vegetarian restaurant called Bon they food was more like art and came in small multi courses. We ate in a very traditional room in which the table is low and you sit on cushions while your legs are in a sunken area underneath the table. There was toasty heating blanket for our feet. Many buildings seem to use electric heaters to heat a room at a time. The weather is cool and wet but still pleasant.

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The Weight

2012-01-14T21:52:00.001-08:00

These are the bags for the trip. One 50 litre back pack and one 15 litre day pack each. They are osprey bags and the day pack zips onto the back pack. They hold our clothing, shoes, 2 snorkeling sets, toiletries, mediations, vitamins, cameras and electronics, towels, coats, a sheet sack etc.

We are striving to travel lightly and mindfully and have carefully considered what we've packed and what we've left behind. It reminds me of this song "The Weight."

2 weeks to lift off

2012-01-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2012 we depart Calgary to start our one year travel adventure. We start first in Tokyo for a week's stay at the New Koyo Backpacker's Hotel We don't have a set itinerary for Tokyo yet. Over the year we have a loose itinerary; from Tokyo we fly to Kuala Lumpur and plan to stay in Malaysia until around the end of March, then we plan to spend April-June in north India, Nepal & Bhutan, from there we will travel to Europe for the summer, in the late fall we will go to Arizona so J can take a hand built bicycle course and finally we will end the trip with about 2 months in NYC, arriving back in Calgary January 2013.

So why now? There were a lot of contributing factors. We know we only get this life once and that it is short. That became all too real when our highschool friend passed away suddenly in 2010. We also know that some regions may not be as easy to travel to in the future. Our kitty Mia passed away in 2011 which left us with no furry dependants. As well this Ted talk motivated us to take a year off now rather than wait for retirement:

How are we doing it? I quit my job and will need to look for a new one in 2013 while J has a sabbatical. We have ruthlessly went through our possessions selling or giving away unneeded items, stored personal effects at J's parents, and rented out the house furnished through a rental management company. We are tapping into savings and attempting to travel on a budget. We are also supported by many lovely people helping us with tasks such as J's sister taking care of mail and at home financial management, our dear friend Kate clearing the snow, J's parents for storage and moving and so on.

During the trip I will be blogging and posting photos. Not all photos will make it to the blog but you can check the rest out on J's Flickr stream as well as on my Flickr stream or my instagram. I plan on taking photos with my iPhone and gopro while J has his professional SLR.

I know there will be difficult times when we miss friends, family, familiar surroundings and our home but I am so lucky to be traveling with my soul mate. This video reminds me that home is where ever we are together.

Australia Photos

2011-01-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

Check out the photo album for our trip to Australia and New Zealand at this link below:
Australia Photo Album

Back to the beginning

2011-01-20T20:31:00.001-08:00

We arrived back in Sydney yesterday, Thursday. The flight from Auckland tired us out and upon arriving in Sydney all we accomplished was getting something to eat and having a nap. While in Auckland we watched a few movies, travelled around the city on the bus, ate at variety of vegetarian restaurants, checked out the interesting cafe/bike/motorcycle shop; Deus Machina, lounged at Parnell Baths Pool, and took a a ferry to Waiheke Island and spent the day in the beach. A highlight of the trip was going to dinner and coffee with a dear friend, Sue and visiting with her awesome family.

I also finished reading a second book; That Bird has my Wings: An Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row. It was an extremely profound and engaging book. It detailed the many life sufferings of the author, Jarvis Masters, and how he eventually ended up on death row. There is an active Free Jarvis campaign fighting for a new trial.

Today we made it to Bondi Beach after figuring out the public bus. Then we walked along the ocean walk way for about 4 kms to get to Clovelly Beach, which is narrow small rocky bay which is supposed to have good snorkeling. I say 'supposed to' because once we got there we discovered both of our snorkeling masks were broken and we were unable to snorkel. The shallow area was jam packed with families and further out was too rough so we decided to not swim either. We walked back along the walkway to another beach, Bronte, where we intended to swim around in the more gentle surf. We were pleased to see that water was not very busy. As we started to make our way into the water we realized why; the shore contained multiple blue bottle jelly fish. We retreated back and found our way to our hotel on the public bus. We figure there must be some cosmic reason that we were not meant to snorkel on this trip.

Tonight we plan on spotting possums in the park, and walking down to this terrific vegetarian restaurant: Yulli's Bar. Tomorrow we head home!

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Reflections on the Queensland flood

2011-01-12T17:50:00.001-08:00

We are now sitting at the airport, 6 hours early for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We wanted to ensure we made it as many roads are damaged. The taxi driver was amazing, weaving through the streets to get to the airport. Everyone is the region is impacted by the flood in some way, and no doubt he or someone he cares about are impacted significantly. In all of this, he still went to work ensuring people are able to get around.

Thankfully the Brisbane river peaked this morning about a meter lower than initially expected. However it still caused extensive flooding and damage in the CBD (central business district) area a few blocks from where we were staying. In the west end, the lovely museums we visited only days before are surrounded by water. The floating walk way along the river had to be destroyed to ensure it did not join the debris in the river and damage things down stream. An entire restaurant was ripped from the embankment and was destroyed.

The murky waters hide other dangers as well from raw sewage, debris, and potentially snakes. Other areas outside of Brisbane are equally or more significantly affected and some are still facing increasing water levels. In this environment, brave search and rescue teams have the horrific task of searching for bodies in submerged cars, houses and waterways. Last I heard, the death toll is currently at 13 with many more missing.

I am so saddened for all the losses of human and animal life, property, infrastructure, land and so on. The photos, video and stories are heart breaking. The clean up and rebuilding will take a long time and my thoughts continue to be with the people of Australia.

I am also so profoundly amazed at the stories of survival and bravery and the amazing way in which people are pulling together to assist each other. Everyone can learn from their example and show greater kindness to their friends, family, neighbors and strangers in good times and bad.

"Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can." — Dalai Lama XIV

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Leaving Brisbane

2011-01-12T00:55:00.001-08:00

After much contemplation we are going to leave Brisbane tomorrow, January 13, 2011. The impacts if the flooding are expected to get worse in our area.

We have been following the flooding issue online and we are so impressed with the kind and helpful nature of Australian people rallying together to help each other. From volunteering to fill sand bags, to offering places to stay, offering to take care of pets, donations etc. We were unsuccessful in finding options to volunteer within walking distance of where we are.

We will leave for the airport in the morning and will fly out later in the day to Auckland, New Zealand. We will stay there until January 20, 2011 when we return to Sydney for 2 nights and then we fly home. Our thoughts are with the people of Australia during this difficult time. For those who would like to make a financial donation click on The Premiers Flood Relief Appeal to make an online donation.

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Waiting out the storm in Brisbane

2011-01-11T02:23:00.001-08:00

As I am sure many of you have heard, Brisbane city and surrounding areas are experiencing flooding and heavy rain. Different areas are impacted more than others. We are in the down town area of Brisbane and thankfully on a hill, about 4 blocks from the river. This is a map of the area: Brisbane City Map, we are on ann street and wharf. We have heard that we may may lose power tomorrow for a while as a safety precaution. We are fine, and our thoughts are with all those experiencing loss during this tragedy. We are waiting out the storm and at this point, and plan to remain until our flight to Sydney on January 20, 2011.

Near us the river is very high with trees and debris floating down the river. There was even a jetty that tore away from it's anchor and floated past us. We managed to get lots of food and water and have filled the laundry room sink with water just in case. Most businesses in the area are closed with a few grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants remaining open. The streets are eerily quiet with a few cars and people walking around. The grocery stores we visited have run out of, or low on, some items such as fruits, vegetables, bread, milk, eggs, and perishable items.

We were able to help one small business unload some sand bags to protect their cafe in case the water rose higher. We wish there was a way to volunteer to help on a regular basis.

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The only thing worse than waking up at 4:30am...

2011-01-05T23:55:00.001-08:00

...Is waking up at 3:00am thinking it's 4:30am and the gates to Uluru don't open until 5:00am. At least we figured it out before we left the hotel. We were also very fortunate to run into "Animal" a praying mantis on our way out. We think of praying mantises as our critter since we have seen one on every single major trip since Egypt. When we were in Egypt I spotted a praying mantis in the desert by a small town. I tried to communicate with two locals to inquire what a praying mantis is in Arabic. It was not working so I finally said "what is his name?" The two men exchanged confused looks and had a long conversation among themselves. One of them finally turned to me and said slowly, "in Egypt we call him Animal." I am sure they now think there is some odd Canadian who names every insect. Since then we call praying mantises "Animal." Some websites indicate that a praying mantis is a symbol of stillness and mindfulness which fits for me as I feel most mindful when traveling.

So after such an auspicious start we headed to Uluru. We began the hike at just after 5am with reasonable temperatures in the twenties. It was mesmerizing to hike alongside this amazing geological formation while the sun slowly started to rise. Uluru really looks other-worldly to me, like it came here from another galaxy as a giant asteroid. Along the hike we came across two wild dogs which I am sure were at least part dingo. We enjoyed the serenading birds as they awoke to the sun. The entire hike was 10 kms and at the end the temperature had climbed to a far more sweaty +33C. It was terrific to accomplish the hike in such a powerful place. And I was the only person rocking the flip flops on the hike. Of corse they are the awesome Keen flip flops which performed well, but I think next time I'd bring some running shoes with all this walking!

Tomorrow we head to Brisbane.

Ps Jason insists inquiring minds want to know: the toilets appear to flush straight down and gas costs $1.67 a liter.

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Grow an extra row

2011-01-05T16:59:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I finished the terrific book; "Deep down things: the earth in celebration and dismay." It has Buddhist themes but I think is very accessible to all readers. The author did a good job providing an brief overview of the intersections between ecology and The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path. He told many stories of our interdependence with the earth and all creatures and the ways in which we harm and help, and new ways of considering things. He pointed out in one circumstance where poison was used to kill of mosquitos in response to West Nile disease, but it killed off the critters that fed of the mosquitos as well, and introduced toxins into the environment, resulting in more harm in the long term.

One story that really struck me was of his childhood and the family gardens and farms. There were ongoing problems with rabbits eating the vegetables and many tactics were tried from dogs, poison, traps etc. He pointed out that other things got caught and poisoned as well (such as dogs). Still the rabbits persisted and the methods of attempted removal brought more suffering. Finally the solution that worked was to grow an extra row or so of the rabbits favorite leafy vegetable on the edge of the garden. The author described that by including the rabbit he was no longer 'other' and that everyone was satisfied.

Imagine if we all embraced opportunities to "grow an extra row" not only for those we care about but those unknown or even those who have done something harmful. It has left me thinking of opportunities in 2011 to grow an extra row or two.

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Adventures in the Outback

2011-01-03T23:03:00.001-08:00

We made it to Uluru area yesterday. Jason describes our hotel area as post-apocalyptic, which makes sense given the harsh desert climate and the piles of vegetation and leaf debris around. It just looks like the day after the world ended. As well, I am disturbed by the large numbers of roaches/beetles and bugs twitching on their backsides with legs flailing. I finally may have figured it out after attempting to right one of these little guys and he kept flipping over. I can only assume it is the effects of toxic pesticides. Sigh. I also can't help but contemplate the impact of the overuse of pesticides in our food, homes and gardens, on our own well being and that of the planet. I also wonder if pesticides are potentially one factor in colony collapse disorder among bees, the critter essential for pollinating our food supply. It is much better to buy organic, use natural repellants, use natural household cleaners, and preventative measures, where ever possible. (for example India taught us to never keep unsealed food in the room).

Now the flies have tried every ounce of my Buddhist patience and I briefly pondered breaking the First Precept (do not kill), as hundreds of flies dive bombed me trying to get into every facial orifice. But I found sanctuary in a fly head net, which envelopes your entire head and neck in a fine mesh and conveniently fits under your hat. It's not attractive but it works. Of course one sneaky fellow got under the net on a water break, that was fun trying to get him out with out inviting in all his cousins.

I met the worst of the flies in our 2.6 km hike at the Kata Tjuta which is a collection of 36 giant rock monoliths. Now a 2.6 km hike does not seem like much but imagine doing it in a 35+ sauna (with flies all over your sweltering head net). It was a gorgeous view with incredible outback flora. There are a lot more trees than I expected. I've seen a few small lizards, giant grasshoppers, and some lovely birds. I hope to see some larger critters like kangaroos as well.

"You can tell I'm signaling because my windshield wipers are going" ... Or how Jason keeps mixing up the wipers and signal controls in the right side drive car. I also find it odd that in a highly tourist area, with warning signs about driving on the left side, and giant arrows painted on the highway in case you forget, that there would be, not one, but two traffic circles with in a few kms of each other. I imagine some planner sitting back with binoculars laughing at th tourists trying to maneuver through. So far Jason has only driven on the wrong side of the road once.

Tonight we went to Uluru to watch it at sunset. Jason successfully drove on the wrong side of the road in the dark as well!

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Last night in Sydney

2011-01-02T02:23:00.001-08:00

For new years eve we watched fire works at the harbor. It was super packed and they closed down all the roads leading the the viewing areas.

Yesterday we went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, by far the best museum we have been to in Sydney. We saw some of the amazing Terra Cotta Warriors from China. They were quite life like and included two near full size horses. It is quite an example of artistic skill, ego, as well as cruelty since the artisans were apparently sealed into the tomb with their creations. The museum was vast and included other exhibitions of contemporary art, Indigenous art, historical items etc. I regretted not seeing the terra cotta army while in China so it was great to see some of them at the museum, While at the museum cafe we were entertained by two lorakeet birds that descended upon the table next to us and feasted on a piece of cake. I wish I had ordered cake.

We walked 6.6 kms round trip to get to a vegetarian restaurant, Badde Manors, which was well worth the trek. I also discovered that I apparently do like sherbet which is great news since I've cut out dairy.

Today we just walked around to Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens, again and watched the cute flying fox bats. We ended the night with dinner at an Indian Restaurant. Tomorrow we fly out to Uluru airport and then drive our rental car to the hotel. I am totally looking forward to seeing a perentie lizard, second largest lizard to the Komodo dragon. I am also stoked to check out the astronomical marvels, interesting critters and plants, and walking around Uluru rock (the indigenous people of they area request that you do not climb it, which I will of course respect. Not to mention climbing in 38+ degrees might kill me). This part of the trip promises to be a science nerd's dream!

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A lazy day

2010-12-29T22:47:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art but unfortunately we did not think the exhibits were very good. (we did not go to the Annie leibovitz photography exhibit and maybe that was better) Perhaps we have been spoiled by other museums!

Today we walked 6kms round trip to see a an antique mall. Some nice items to check out. We also went by a Lotus Elise dealer, amazing cars. We are heading to Peace Harmony again tonight for dinner. Tomorrow we plan on going to paddy's market to search for a beach blanket and then hang out in the park reading one of the many books I brought. The evening will be spent in the harbor watching the fireworks.

The blog photo is a lovely tree in one of the parks.

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Cheaper than I am lazy

2010-12-28T13:24:00.001-08:00

Or "how I walked the entire route of the monorail to save $5" Sydney is quite expensive for food, transport, and hotel. The monorail was 5 per person one way! We have walked about 10 kms a day!

Yesterday went to the botanical gardens where there were thousands of flying fox bats! As I stood looking up wide eyed with a gaping mouth and local wisely warned me to watch out for falling bat poop. thankfully there are no incidents to report. Plus an amazing assortment of birds; cockatoos, little parrot like birds, Australian magpies etc etc as you can see from the photo. And lovely ponds and plants. We also saw the opera house which is an amazing feat of architecture! And we had a great veg dim sum at Bodhi Restaurant. We went to the Australian Museum as well but I was not that impressed with it. It was mostly filled with taxidermy animals which I hope were collected from road kill or confiscated from poachers! There was an interesting (and rather sad) section on the Aborigines and the invasion and colonization by Europeans.

We took a cab last night to get to this great vegetarian bar/restaurant, Yulli's, that was rather far away but then we walked back. On the way home we cut through Hyde park and saw all these curious possums in the trees along with more of the flying foxes bats. We also walked by a local HIV and social service agency and I was impressed to see they had an after hours needle vending machine!

Today we plan on slowing down a bit as our legs hurt from walking on the cement. We are going to see the museum of contemporary art and check again to see if the Peace Harmony veg restaurant is open yet. A lot of things close for part or all of this week.

The Last Continent!

2010-12-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

I am now in the planning stages for our December 25, 2010 departure to Australia, which will mean we have been to all seven continents. As usual I will blog about our adventures and where possible include clickable links to websites that offer more information.

I have selected the itinerary; landing in Sydney and staying for a little over a week, then 5 days in Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock), then nearly 2 weeks in Brisbane and area and finally back to Sydney for 2 days and our flight home. Sydney will have amazing fireworks for New Year's eve, Uluru will be a great place to relax and explore the desert, and Brisbane offers opportunity for for animal reserves and snorkelling!

I have purchased the required SPF30 sunscreen from Kinesys, which performs well and rates high on "health, environment and society" from the GoodGuide ranking and is not tested on animals. By this point in our travels we have most of the required gear. However, I picked up a new Lug Travel Purse for this trip so I can leave the bigger one at home. I have filled my carry on with vegan snacks; Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks, Nature Path Organic Granola Bars, and Camino Dark Chocolate.

I have the books selected: Be the Change: How Meditation Can Transform You and the World, That Bird Has My Wings, Justice: What's the Right Thing To Do?, & Pass it On: Five Stories That Can Change the World (being that this last one is a super short book it might be read before we even leave!). If I finish the other books I might also pick up the book; Deep Down Things: The Earth in Celebration and Dismay.

I have purchased carbon offsets for the flights from the Canadian company Less which received a high ranking in the David Suzuki "Purchasing Carbon Offsets Guide" What is a carbon offset you ask? A carbon offset is essentially a way to support reducing carbon emissions in one area (like investing in solar cookers in a developing nation) to compensate for a carbon emission such as a flight. This handy film tells you how they work; Carbon Offsets Video.

And of course the airline tickets are purchased and the accommodations booked!

Re-Entry

2010-01-26T21:06:00.001-08:00

We arrived home on Friday, January 22, 2010 to Canada's wicked winter weather. To view the photo album please click; Indonesia Album

We are slowly adjusting to the frozen wasteland and the brutal jet lag. I am waking up at 5am and I am NOT a morning person.

Getting Schooled by a Mad Momma Monkey - Ubud, Bali

2010-01-16T05:03:00.000-08:00

This morning we went to the Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest, filled with wild long tailed macaque monkeys (aka moustache monkeys). We paid the park entrance fee, even though we could just visit the monkeys hanging outside the entrance as well. My previous hypothesis proved correct again; where ever there is tourists and monkeys, there will be someone selling bananas. I bought the obligatory monkey bait, and since I had no bag to hide them in, I was quickly liberated from my bananas. When a squealing pack of monkeys run at you, you give up the goods.

They are super friendly, a little too friendly in fact. One scaled up the side of Jason and tried to take his umbrella out of his bag pocket. Jason snapped some great shots. He took some amazing pictures of mommy monkeys and their teeny tiny babies. When he was going in for a close shot of one of the babies, his or her mommy came running up and slapped Jason across the forearm. Jason said it was quite gentle but she was letting him know he was too close. The monkeys have hands that look eerily like human hands, right down to the fingernails. We also watched some inventive parenting with a watchful mommy hanging onto the end of her tiny infants tail while he played.

The photos are copied from Jason's photo stream. To see them in higher resolution check out this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/devildotbunny/

Other than that it has been a repeat cycle of walking around, eating (mostly at this great super veg friendly place Bali Buddha), pool, reading (almost finished my 4th book) & sleeping. When I am on vacation I feel very in the moment, giving my full attention with out worry of what comes tomorrow. All we have is this one precious moment.

Goa Lawah - Bat cave photos

2010-01-13T06:25:00.000-08:00

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Critter capers

2010-01-13T02:27:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd better get a blog up so those who are not on facebook know that I have not disappeared. We've been taking it pretty easy in Sanur beach area.

A few days ago we took a speed boat out to manta point and 2 other sites for snorkeling. We were informed that the 50 minute ride was a little choppy. Tossing around in a dryer would have been smoother. I actually have a bruise on my left shoulder from slamming into the side of the boat repeatedly and violently. There were 6 tourists on board and all but 2 tossed their cookies, often several times. I and the Swedish guy where the lucky ones. He took medication and I was medication free. Sadly it remains my one superpower to be able to take violent transportation and not puke. Of course perhaps I did not puke because all my energy was focused on hunkering down and holding on for dear life. Unfortunately, as previous evidence has alluded, Jason was one of the 4 pukers. He puked so much that he actually blocked out large sections of the boat trip.

We did make it to the first stop, manta point, which is this area by a rocky cliff where the giant mantas gather to have the fish clean them up. The waves were insane and I could not get off the boat to snorkel even though the guides said go ahead. It's funny, on vacation I always become acutely aware that I am now and adult and that others will freely allow me to put myself in danger. Even with my little vest I am sure I would have drowned. The guides went in as did 4 of the other snorkeler/divers. Jason had to endure sitting on the boat (with me) while the rest did their thing. It's hard to believe but once the speed boat stopped it seems to get even more gut wrenching and it bobbed up and down, back and forth, like a cork. I am very disappointed I missed the manta rays but we went to 2 more sites and i snorkeled at both. I got a great picture of a moray eel with my waterproof camera (most trip photos will be posted when we get back). At the last site the painful realization manifests.... we still have the same ride home. Truly this was Jason's last boat ride.

Other fun stuff; apparently the big lizard (the water monitor i mentioned in a previous post) loves bread. I couldn't help myself and fed him a little from my table, which he gobbled up. There is nothing quite like a 2 foot lizard with forked tongue begging for a little bite of bread. I realized soon that the lizard was eyeing up the adorable pair of birds that were trying to get their share of bread. This put an end to the bread buffet as I did not want to be responsible for the side of bird.

I have come across some interesting signs which reinforces why I don't buy antiques when travelling; "Antique furniture: Made to Order" Now perhaps there is something lost in translation and they mean reproduction furniture, but who knows. We saw a lot of fake antiques in China.

Today we went to the Goa Lawah AKA Bat Cave Temple which is a Hindu temple home to thousands of fruit bats. The temple is built around a large cave filled with the bats, and apparently hungry pythons on the ground waiting for their flying fast food. We did not see the pythons but we saw the mass horde of squeaking bats, with wing spans of 1 to 2 feet. They are quite adorable but they stink, like really stink. Bat poo is nasty.

After the Bat Temple we stopped a little road side Hare Krishna Vegetarian food stand. We each had a dish, an order of rice and 2 bottles of water for $2.00! So far the cheapest meal in Indonesia.

Moustache monkeys & mangosteens

2010-01-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

Today we took a car and driver and explored north Bali. We stopped at a large Hindu temple where I saw two cats swiping the offerings left by devotees.

We also went to large botanical garden and stopped at a Buddhist & Hindu temple. It was ok but am very spoiled by the amazing Buddhist temples we saw in India and china. At a later stop, We did a short 20 minute hike down too a large, breathtaking water fall.

The highlight was the monkeys I call moustache monkeys as they look like little old men with moustaches. Their real name is long tail macaques. They were gathered on the side of the road and of course I had to stop by and see them. And anywhere monkeys and tourists gather there will be someone selling monkey treats. I bought some bruised, over priced bananas as I am a sucker for monkeys and the old kukum (grandma) like lady selling them. So in reality I supported local women and fed monkeys. A word to the wise when feeding monkeys toss them the food, do not hand it to them. Sure they are adorable and sweet but you can't trust them. They are like little people with a low moral code, and high thrill seeking. Thankfully I already know that rule and I was not monkey mugged. And leave your hat, glasses etc in the car (as the driver insisted I do).

On the way back we stopped and bought mangosteens, my new favorite fruit! Mmmmmmmm

Luckiest bird in the world

2010-01-05T03:09:00.000-08:00

We took it easy today and basically hung out at the pool. While at the pool a great Aussie woman rescued a little baby bird that plumeted into the pool from an overhanging ledge. She placed him on the edge and he ran soaking wet into the flower bed.

Unfortunately there was a 10 inch Water Monitor Lizard in there who promptly chomped onto the bird. We both started yelling at it and the lizard jumped into the pool and took off. She recaptured the bird and we located a folded up banana leaf bowl and placed the bird in it and then in a tree. I did not hold out much hope.

I stuck around and watched the area for a few hours (hey it's vacation, no agenda!) and the little guy sprang back and jumped down from the tree all dry. His one wing is missing some of the key long flight feathers but he can run really fast. The lizard came back and chased him but the bird out ran him and I came up to guard. (I know a lizard has to eat but he can eat some anonymous creature I don't know). The birds parents showed up and are hanging out with him.

I hope he can recover with the big fall, near drowning, traumatic rescue, and lizard chomping. When I left the Aussie lady was back and delighted to see him alive. I departed and she was keeping an eye on him.

In other news, Jason finally met his goal of being a "nacho nacho man" in Asia with today's lunch of... You guessed it, Nachos! Trust me, from our experience, Mexican food is hard to come by in asian countries.

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Tuna Roll Deja Vu

2010-01-03T03:35:00.000-08:00

For those who don't remember the Great Tuna Roll Incident of 2008, click on the underlined section for a recap. I seriously feared a repeat today. We went snorkeling around Bunaken island after a boat ride from Manado. I can always get out of the boat. The problem is getting back in, which I must say is an act against physics. They did have a ladder this time but of course it did not have enough rungs on it. It had a scant 2 rungs with the bottom one skimming the surface of the ocean. So imagine this, me trying to hoist my legs up to shoulder height and then stand up on the bottom rung. Again, that just goes against physics. I managed to shimmy my knees up to the rung, which resulted in burning calf cramps, and then yank myself into a standing position. I am left with a huge bruise on the left knee but the good news is the obscure dent in the right knee has popped back out. I vow deep knee bends and repeated practice exits from the 2nd rung in the pool ladder before the next snorkeling trip. At least I did not have to be rolled in like a giant tuna.

On the trip we saw a variety of fish with the highlight being a leather back turtle! The coral was not as vibrant as in other trips and was quite damaged. However, we saw a great deal of soft coral which was new for us. My awesome new inflatable snorkel vest worked great, giving me that little bit of buoyancy and feeling of safety. The new shorty flippers were also terrific and such a space saver. Unfortunately either I missed the back strip of my upper legs with sunscreen, or it wore off. So now I will sit on the plane to Bali in the morning with searing bacon butt. We will be heading to Sanur beach area in Bali which looks great. We are taking a little break from the more rustic hotels and going to the Bali Hyatt. I am looking forward to the giant pool and the non-smoking atmosphere. (Did I mention that it seems most men smoke here, and you can smoke pretty much everywhere?)

Observations from Planet Indo

2010-01-02T00:04:00.000-08:00

The title of this blog is in homage to the book I read on the flight between Barjamasin and Manado, Lost on Planet China, a funny account of one man's trip through China. So here are some of my observations of Indonesia:

Fire Ants
Now I know if you have been following me on facebook you are probably tired of me ranting on about the fire ants but I must rant a little more so you can get the full view. To recap; While in the orangutan tour I stumbled into the middle of a huge gathering of army of fire ants. Naturally I was most concerned with leaping gazelle like (ok drunk giraffe like) out of their way to avoid harming any of them, and taking a sandal full if them along for the ride. I shook them all loose but one of them was victorious in leaving me a swollen burning big toe.

I looked into these little creatures and apparently they diabolically bite in a circular fashion in order to remove the maximum amount of skin, spray the area with an acidic substance that burns and also calls over all their buddies to join in the attack. Now that's just mean. To see this in action click on "Fire Ant Bite" to get a glorious photo of their handy work.

Paradox of Security
When entering into malls and hotels there are metal detectors, security guards and people checking under cars with mirrors. The domestic flights at the airports are interesting. First off I have yet to be asked for my passport. Secondly there are signs pointing out the limits on liquids and the need for them to be in a plastic bag. I was worried about my 15ml of eye drops but then I saw people going through with thermoses, 2 litre bottles of water, 500 ml pop bottles and so on. By the way, opening a pop bottle on the plane after a change in air pressure means it will explode all over. Trust me, I saw it happen. Then on one flight, despite the clear no smoking signs, I could definitely smell cigarettes from the general vicinity of the cock pit, that and the door between the pilots and the passengers failed to remain closed. As interesting as it is, the flights and travel have all been good and safe :)

I am a Walking Freak Show
Again I know I mentioned before on facebook that people stare, point and laugh at me. However it continues to the point that today children followed me around the grocery store pointing wildly and laughing hysterically. One of the children followed me out into the street, staring like a deer in the headlights. I am not sure if his expression was awe, shock, fear or some combination. I think I would attract less attention dressed as a Sasquatch, then again with my stature and frizzy hair perhaps I do resemble one.

Dogs
While we were careening down the winding road to our first hotel in Manado we came around the bend to find a dog in the middle of the road taking a crap. Like right in the middle of the road, and the speeding taxi was not about to stop him. I would think it would scare it out a little faster, but no, the taxi swerved around him and we continued on. There are dogs all over Manado & according the the guide book some people do eat dog on this island. Jason has taken to calling the dogs NumNums, which is an attempt to make it less disturbing. That being said, it is no different than the momma boar and her boarlets (Bacon and her Bacon Bits) discussed in the previous post.

Smell Adventure
I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveller and I have some across my fair share of smells around the world. However I have topped my previously "worst smell ever" (experienced in Thailand) with a smell on the street yesterday that can only be described as fermenting feces and fish heads. Sadly many areas lack proper sanitation and water systems. Access to clean potable water is a big issue now and I think it will become even more so in our changing climate.

Tomorrow we plan on snorkeling Bunaken Park and then the next day we fly to Bali. I am hoping Bali will offer a bit more to do, better accommodations and better food than we are currently finding. Today we switched from our hotel that was outside of Manado to one that is right downtown. The previous hotel was far out, higher priced and had worse food selection.

funny, large primates... & orangutans

2009-12-30T02:24:00.000-08:00

We just arrived in Banjarmasin after spending 2 nights on a boat viewing the orangutans. The boat is smaller, 2 levels and had a crew of 4 (cook, captain, guide and the deckhand). We sleep up top in the open air with a mattress and mosquito net. On the first day we saw several types of monkeys (proboscis, macaque, gibbons) from the boat as we travelled down the river. On the first day we stopped at a feeding station, used to give supplemental feed to orphan/injured orangutans that were returned to the wild. We watched as a large male ate his bananas and cassava root. He was an intimidating fellow!

Then we docked along the edge for the night. The next day we went to another feeding station and saw several orangutans; moms and babies and assorted single adults. Unfortunately there ended up being around 20 other tourists there and some were not respecting the rules of not touching or feeding directly. So we left early and walked around the area. We were fortunate to come across a wild boar mom and her 6 piglets (boarlets?). I nicknamed them Bacon & Bacon Bits. (I've always imagined that if I ever had an acreage I'd rescue a few livestock and give them ironic names like for chickens I'd call them: noodle & nugget). That night we again docked along the river to watch the amazing fireflies. It is hard to describe but they twinkle in the palm fronds like Christmas lights. I've never seen anything like it. One even landed on me & was quite neat to see up close. However, we soon had to abandon our first dock site. We could hear loud splashing and palm frond trunks snapping. After the crew and us debated whether it was a crocodile or an orangutan, we decided it sounded like a strong and angry orangutan. Then we moved down the river! There is a potential that orangutans that are released may come looking for food on the boat. The idea of waking up to a hungry, large, strong, hairy red primate going through your stuff is rather unsettling. We did in fact see one female orangutan at the second feeding station eyeing up a banana bunch on a docked boat.

So now we are in Banjarmasin for the night with plans to fly to manado via Jakarta in the morning. Manado is in a good snorkeling area so we are hopeful we can find a place to stay. Today we went out to the mall and more so than in other areas of Indonesia we are quite the spectacle. If I interpret the stares, pointing and laughing correctly, we are quite hilarious. I just respond with a big smile and everyone smiles back and continues to giggle. In all fairness we are both giants by local averages.

wedding crashers

2009-12-27T16:35:00.000-08:00

So yesterday, Dec 27 (today in Canada), we had a 3 hour drive to Semarang. Along the way the driver asked if he could stop to say Hi to his friend who was getting married. We of course agreed. The driver insisted we come into the reception. So here we are in this beautiful, formal Muslim wedding where everyone is dressed in their finest, with all the women in gorgeous Hijabs, while Jason and I are in beach ware. Everyone is smiling and so friendly but I wonder if they are thinking "who are these slobby wedding crashers?" And of course the reception was being filmed so we will live on in memory and digitally! We proceeded through the entire reception line with me extending my one hand for shaking to which each person grasped it in both hands. Only after did I clue in that I was supposed to extend both hands in a closed prayer like stance and then they would grasp them both. Then many people wanted us to stay and eat! Not only did we just finish a huge breakfast we did not want to insult anyone with our need for vegetarian food, so we declined, which was also probably insulting, but I hope not too much!

So we made it to Semarang and were put up in the Hotel Grasia by the airline who had to change our flight until today. The hotel is decent. clean, free wifi, free breakfast, tv, AC, and all for about 35 CDN a night (free for us). Last night we found a veg place in china town called, HA HA Vegetarian, and had a great meal with the nicest owners, who refused to take our tip. Afterwards we asked the owners where the Buddhist Tak Kay Sie Temple was and they insisted on driving us! We decided they seemed fine and we hitched the 10 min drive with the family to the temple. Once at the temple and older lady insisted on taking us around so that we placed the incense in the correct order at the different altars. After a friendly man chatted us up about the area. We did get into and odd conversation about washrooms in which the man commented that it was a pity that I, as a woman, could not just pee into the river easily. I must say it was the dirtiest river I have ever seen!

In all my travels this has been the most friendly place!

one more day in Borobudur

2009-12-25T17:26:00.000-08:00

We are staying one more night (tonight) in Borobudur so that we can take a direct flight tomorrow to Pangkalanbun by the Tajung Puting National Park to see the orangutans. We will be picked up by a river house boat and stay on it for 2 nights and trek into the jungle to see the orangutans.

Yesterday we went to the Borobudur a huge and ancient Buddhist monument with over 500 Buddha statues. We went before sunrise and saw the sun peek through the over cast sky. On Christmas eve we had the amazing experience of meditating at the Mendut temple. It was a great place to do Tonglen Meditation , which is a method of connecting with suffering and awakening compassion. I had a lovely & peaceful experience.

the chicken incident

2009-12-24T16:53:00.001-08:00

It's not really my fault, but all the same, one local thinks I am obsessed with chickens. Mind you the chickens here are quite striking. They are really tall, like 2 feet, skinny and with long long legs, the better to out run your camera with. (I know this as I made Jason make several attempts at getting a shot of these elusive creatures. Perhaps one of the many signs when added together does in fact make me look a little chicken obsessed). There hasn't been a huge abundance of critters so of course on this mornings trip to the temples I made several observations to our guide about the chickens scurrying about. He in turn humoured me with facts about how the chickens return home at night on their own etc, & i remarked in awe about the difference in stature and plummage to our fat factory farmed chickens; I submit to you evidence #2. but seriously you have to see these freaky athletic chickens! Then conversation at some point turned to the fact that we are vegetarian. So of course all of this led to our guide taking an impromtu detour to show me a chicken market with the many types of chickens available that are used for singing/crowing competitions. I saw jungle chickens, fancy chickens, white chickens, and even one very prestigious lazy chicken who had the best cage. So there may now be a misunderstanding that canadians love chickens or that I am just a weirdo.

Ps the guide informed me that cooked jackfruit tastes like chicken. Seriously, you can't make that up.

Borobudur

2009-12-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

We are staying in the amazing Amanjiwo Resort which is breath taking with each room a villa and an amazing pool. It is is surrounded by misty hills, rice paddies and jungle. There are geckos, grasshoppers, butterflies, finches and giant bumblebees all around. It is an ironic place to contemplate the terrific book I am reading on how individuals can end world by donating their share to aid agencies. The book moves beyond guilt and proposes a calculation system to determine how much each person, based on income, should give. I highly recommend the book as it delves into a detailed ethical analyses of not only our responsibilities but how, even unintentionally, we in developed countries contribute to poverty in developing nations; The Life you Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty Written by Peter Singer, (click the title to learn more and read an excerpt).

The food, people and sights have been amazing. Everyone is so kind and lovely. This morning we had a slightly funny incident. As many of you know Jason & I are long time vegetarians but recently we have been cutting back on dairy, and avoiding eggs as well. The hotel staff are aware we are vegetarian and have been so accommodating. Jason ordered the the fruit salad this morning and the waiter soon came back to explain that it contained yogurt. Jason misunderstood the option for replacement of the said yogurt and ended up with a lovely fruit salad in a bowl of orange juice. ;)

This morning we are heading out to see some small temples and this evening we will spend time with some local monks, meditating and chanting! I will report more on that later.

Jakarta

2009-12-22T18:37:00.000-08:00

Today was our first full day on vacation. We slept 15 hours last night and are still feeling the jetlag. We went to a Buddhist temple this morning that is from the 1600's. We also went to a great vegan restaurant called "the loving hut". At one point we ended up in a store similar to home depot to escape the rain. I have never seen rain like this! Tomorrow we fly to Borobudur. I am trying put my new blogger iPhone app with this post so we'll see how well it works :)

Why We Travel

2009-12-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

An excerpt from Why We Travel: A Love Affair with the World by Pico Iyer; "We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again-to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more." - I could not have said it better myself. The entire article is well worth the read.

Our next adventure takes us on our longest journey yet; 5 weeks traipsing through Indonesia. We leave December 19, 2009 and arrive in Jakarta and stay at the Hyatt. After a few days we will head to Borobudur an ancient Buddhist temple and stay at the Amanjiwo Hotel. I am looking forward to hiking, meditation and reflection. After this we are planning time in Borneo to visit Orangutans at the Tanjung Puting National Park

We arrive back in Calgary January 22, 2010. The rest of the time in Indonesia has yet to be planned. I look forward to the wandering.

PS I also look forward to the chance to read some good books. My vacation book list includes: The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty, In the Face of Fear: Buddhist Wisdom for Challenging Times, Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You, & What the Dog Saw

PS I've included a photo of the gear I am taking. One back pack, one purse sized carry on. The essential gear I have includes; flippers, snorkel/mask, camera, clothes (in red stuff sack), Iphone (with roaming turned off so I don't have a repeat of the enormous mexican phone bill) running shoes, flip flops (plus one pair of slip on vans that I'll wear on the plane), big bag of medicine (grey and burgundy bag), bag of toiletries, travel towel, jacket (takes up too much room! - the black roll next to red stuff sack in the picture), 4 books ... & still lots of room!

no hablo espanol ~ counterfeit what?

2009-01-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

It started as a simple desire to get ice cream and gum while we waited for an antique store across the street to open (which it never did). We paid for the items (or attempted to) with a 10,000 chilean pesos bill ($20 canadian). The lady at the till examined the bill for some time and then disappeared into the back. She came back finally with a second person and both excitedly tried to explain something to us. We thought the bill was too big so we showed her we only had the 10,000 peso bills (damn bank machines). Then she held up the bill we gave her to the light to show that there is no hologram and once we looked at it, it was an obvious fake. like photocopied with the silver security strands glued on. ~ sigh~ so then she gave it back and we paid with another bill. And I put it in my pocket, not sure what to do with it. She waved her finger in a "No" motion (as in do not use it) and made the international gesture for handcuffs. We are lucky that she could tell we were hapless gringos totally like fish out of water and we just left the store.

Jason wanted to keep the bill as a souvenir but I thought explaining that to the guy with the rubber gloves at the airport did not seem like a good idea. So the bill has been ripped up.

Other than that adventure, Santiago, Chile is a great. Nice metropolitan city. We can't get a whole lot done as I start melting by 2pm. We did see a Frida Kahlo and Deigo Rivera exhibition, the museum of fashion, and antique store, the vegetarian restaurant (only one in santiago - thank god i found tofu i was dying on the boat with out it), and the pool.

On that note..... I am off to the pool.

Stanley, Falkland Islands

2009-01-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

We landed this morning in the port of Stanley (pop. 2115 people), Falkland Islands. We took a short bus tour (with a funny local guide) through the town to see such curiosities as the peat moss farm (used as fuel), the museum, areas fenced off due to land mines (from the 1982 war), assorted wild birds and so on. Then we walked up and down the 2 main streets looking in shops and trying to find some vegetarian food. Lunch was just so so, but we did luck out and get some snacks at the grocery store. I did see a one footed water bird that was doing quite well; I wonder what is his story? Lots of cats around as well but I am pretty sure there is no connection to ol’ one foot, as the bird is pretty large.

The Falkland Islands are a British Overseas Territory in which the local government takes care of internal affairs and Britain takes care of external issues and defense. They have their own currency which is equal to the British pound. We learned about the 1982 Falklands War and visited a memorial to the fallen British soldiers. Essentially Argentina forces invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands on April 12, 1982 until they were overcome by British forces on June 14, 1982. Over 250 British soldiers, and an estimate of over 600 Argentina soldiers died. Argentina was claiming ownership of the islands while Britain has maintained administration of the Falklands since 1833. Prior to this, it is reported that English navigator John Davis first sighted the islands and in 1690 British Captain John Strong made the first recorded landing. There were no Indigenous peoples in the Falklands, when the British landed.

Then we had the bright idea to walk back to the port to get on the ship. You know when movies show those mirages in the desert where the water just seems right in front of you but you never seem to get there? It seemed like the boat was so close but we walked for quite a while in the rain. About 3/4 of the way back a local gentleman took pity on us and offered us a ride. He said he could tell we were from out of town. Like the hitchhiking incident in Thailand, I figured the walk back was more of a risk that accepting the ride. :) He was a lovely fellow and dropped us right at our boat.

Tomorrow we will start to explore some of the further out areas and see the local wildlife such as Rockhopper Penguins.

Reflections on the world we share

2009-01-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning Jason, and other guests & guides, completed the last 3 miles of the arduous 30 mile hike that Shackleton and 2 of men had to make after landing in Fortuna Bay. The details of the trek and survival story are in a previous blog posting. They ended in Stromness, a now abandoned whaling station. I decided against the hike as I thought my bruised backside would not do so well.

Yesterday afternoon, we took the zodiacs from the boat to land at Grytviken, the site of Captain Larson’s whaling station. The station is of course abandoned but a large amount of buildings, machinery and vats that used to hold whale oil, remain on the site. There is also a museum & gift shop, British Antarctic Survey research station, and the grave of Ernest Shackelton who had died from a heart attack. Grytviken has up to 20 staff in the summer, with the museum staff, and it drops to about 8 people in the winter, primarily scientists. Some of the scientists came on board to present on their work and life in Grytviken. One of the most important things highlighted is the importance of Krill, a small shrimp like animal, that basically support the entire animal web in the Antarctic area. Several animals such as penguins, seals, whales etc depend directly on eating the krill. Other whales and leopard seals depend on eating animals that eat the krill.

I encourage those who eat fish to ensure they are eating fish caught in sustainable manners. For instance, in South Georgia there are several things in place to reduce the thousands of Albatross Birds that used to be drowned in the area due to long line fishing (as they dove to catch the bait and were pulled to their deaths). The initiatives include faster sinking hooks, bird deterrent devices, night fishing etc. You can go to www.blueocean.org to view which fish species are less likely to be overfished, poorly managed, and have a lower by catch (the animals that are killed ‘by accident’ when fishing), less pollution etc. You can also purchase fish that have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

It is imperative that we all realize the impact of pollution, discarded plastic, fishing etc has on our delicate ecosystem. Things that happen down here impact us on the other hemisphere and vice versa. Many of the whale species are still in low numbers from being hunted to the brink of extinction. There is a swirling plastic mass (the size of Texas!!), called The Plastic Vortex or Garbage Patch, in the ocean of all of the bags and plastic refuse that have collected here from dumps etc. Sea turtles are particularly vulnerable as they view the plastic bags as jelly fish and then eat them and die. One small thing that anyone can do is to use reusable cloth bags, & generally reduce, re-use and recycle. You can also save money and reduce pollution by converting to CFL bulbs which use far less energy.

"Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life, we are merely strands in it. Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves." — Chief Seattle

Gold Harbor & Ocean Harbor

2009-01-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have been taking advil and using an ice pack so my backside is starting to feel better. It is the worse and largest bruise I have ever had. Quite the souvenir! I stayed in for the morning as I wanted to rest. Jason went out for the 5am zodiac trip to land in Gold Harbor. He said it was similar to yesterday with King Penguins, elephant seals, fur seals, skua birds and so on. One of the fur seals got annoyed and ran up and bit through the protective pants of one of the naturalists. He was fine though and the seal did not reach skin.

This afternoon I felt better to I brave another zodiac trip into Ocean Harbor. It is an abandoned whaling station and the wreck of the Bayard, an iron hulled sailing boat, has remained since 1911. We went ashore and took a mapped out route to avoid the cantankerous fur seals. The harbor has a small flat area of land and then it is surrounded by mountains on one side and a steep moss and grass covered hill on the other. As we were enjoying the view a herd of reindeer stampeded through. They are not native to the area and were introduced in 1911 for sport and for meat. It is quite the sight to see reindeer gallop through a gathering of fur seals!

The area had quite a few fur seals and elephant seals. I like the elephant seals the best. They look like huge blubber slugs and are believed to be the deepest diving animals. It is hard to believe as they move slowly on land. They have a better disposition than the cranky fur seals. They also making this really loud burping sound which is apparently their bark. But I tell you it sounds like a huge beer belch fest. I swear they let out huge farts too but apparently that is just their snorting. They are so offensive that they are cute. The fur seal pups are really cute as well. Fur seals were thought to be extinct, due to hunting, but started reappearing in the 1950’s. by 1825 about 1.2 million fur seals had been killed for pelts.

The whaling station has been torn down with a few remnants remaining including a brick shed and some pieces of metal machines. There are quite a few whale bones strewn about. Whales were hunted for their blubber (oil for things like margarine, lanterns etc), meat, and so on. It was an somber sight to see the bleached whale bones next to the graves of whalers who had died. Whales are now protected in the South Georgian waters but are hunted in other areas on a small scale. Back in the day, 175,250 whales were killed and processed in the whaling stations of South Georgia.

I thought I’d also mention that the tabular ice bergs (or table top icebergs as they are also known), that posted photos of, are around 100-150 feet tall (above the water!). The portion below the water is another 700-800 feet! These icebergs are breath taking and hard to capture in the photos as there is little to offer scale.

Antarctic Tumble

2009-01-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

I had my first mishap today when I took a tumble in the zodiac boat in rough waters. The zodiacs pull up beside the lower side of the large boat to a door opening (on the side of the hull) where you embark or disembark the zodiac. The ocean was rough today with waves and swells. The zodiac was bobbing up and down more than 6 feet! All of a sudden as I was stepping up on the pontoon edge to get onto the large boat I went down hard. Thankfully I fell back into the zodiac and not into the ocean. However, I of course hit the corner of the wooden storage chest in the zodiac and now sport a large bruise and scrape on my backside. But all is well, except for perhaps again my pride. I was approached by another guest who, of course, had been taking pictures of the zodiac disembark from the boat deck above and caught the action as he was in rapid picture mode. So tomorrow I should be able to see the 10 action shots and rate my dismount. I think it is a clear 9.5.

Prior to the little tumble, I was exploring St Andrew’s Bay, on South Georgia Island, this afternoon which is home to the largest King Penguin colony in the area. There were also hundreds of assorted seals, mostly fur seals with some elephant seals mixed in. One teenage fur seal charged us but we successfully evaded. The seals are adorable. The King Penguins currently have chicks who are nearly as big as they are but covered in “grizzly bear brown” down feathers. In the morning we took a zodiac tour of Cooper Bay to observe the Macaroni Penguins and assorted seals as it was too dangerous to land. National Geographic/Lidbald Expeditions area really excellent at ensuring guests are well informed and that we all adhere to respecting the wildlife. Honestly, none of the critters seem bothered by us and they are to always be given the right of way. We ensure that we do not get too close, nor interfere.

We will spend another 3 days in South Georgia and will then head to the Falklands.

Stories of Survival

2008-12-31T11:23:00.000-08:00

We took the zodiacs out around Elephant Island, which is steep and rocky with little actual flat area, and home to a colony of Chinstrap Penguins and one solitary Macaroni Penguin. This is where 22 men of Ernest Shackelton’s crew of the ship called The Endurance were forced to spend the winter in 1916. This is after being on sea for over 400 days and previous to the island surviving in a make shift camp on ice flow after their ship was crushed. They reached Elephant island split between 3 life boats. The entire crew numbered 27 of which 5, including the leader Shackelton set out on an impossible journey of over 800 miles in open sea in one of the life boats to try and reach a whaler station in South Georgia. Once the miraculously reached South Georgia, 3 of them, again including Shackleton, marched for 36 hours straight over dangerous crevasses and unyielding landscape for 30 miles to reach the whaler station. At the end of August, after 3 attempts, Shackelton and crew successfully rescued all 22 men who had been left on Elephant island, for the past 5 months. What all 27 men endured is mind boggling. I encourage you read more about their story online or pick up one of the many books available.

There are many such stories of early explorers, whalers, seal hunters, scientists and so forth that have made astonishing travels to Antarctica. There is a quote that goes “For scientific discovery give me Scott, for speed and efficiency if travel, give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shakelton.” - Sir Raymond Priestly

We will spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at open sea traveling to South Georgia islands.

The Littlest Penguin

2008-12-29T12:53:00.000-08:00

We have seen and done many great things over the last 2 days. Yesterday was Port Lockroy, former British Base, turned museum (open for 4 months of the year). Today we were at Deception Island, so named as many ships missed the small entrance into the bay of the donut shaped island. It is also an active volcano. We hiked to a volcanic crater here. Later we went for an Antarctic ocean dip in an area where there is geothermal activity which makes about 1.5 metres of the shore warmish as it bubbles up through the sand. It made for a cute picture of me in my swim suit and fluffy fake fur hat and Jason in is swim shorts.

We also visited a huge colony of Chinstrap Penguins numbering around 250,000 with chicks. They take up a huge space from the shore up the cliffs, and it can be a dangerous world for a penguin. This is where I met the little one I call “The Littlest Penguin.” It was a heartbreaking sight. A little tiny baby penguin, covered in downy feathers, abandoned on a penguin path. With wounds on his back, perhaps from a predatory sea bird, struggling to breath and flapping his little flipper. But there was nothing I could do, and believe me I racked my brains to come up with a solution for this little soul’s suffering. I could not identify his parents, nor would they necessarily take him back in this condition. And with the huge penguin population it is a reality that this occurs. I can only hope he passes away quickly and perhaps fills the belly of some other creature trying to survive. I cried my eyes out for some time.

Petermann Island

2008-12-27T18:37:00.000-08:00

Today we took the zodiacs out to Petermann Island, where Jean-Baptiste Charcot wintered in 1909 with his boat the Pourquoi-Pas?. The island is home colonies of Gentoo Penguins and Adelie Penguins. Thousands of penguins were all around. The Gentoos are my favorite I think. They build rock nests, and several had chicks at different ages. Jason filmed a Jentoo building his wife a rock nest. We set out a few rocks we had picked up from a short distance away. He was delirious with joy at seeing the four rocks and quickly scooped them up, one at a time, in his bill. Then he spent a few minutes earnestly searching that same area for any more. Once he realized there were no more, he tried to steal a rock from another nest and was promptly bit in the bum.

The island also has a bright red building which is an emergency refuge in case someone is stranded. We hiked around in our heavy rubber boots. We have the Fort McMurray special; -40 rubber boots, steel toed, with grips on them deeper than the best winter tires.

I have attended several lectures. I think thus far I have enjoyed the lecture on ice the best. It detailed everything from the chemical composition, how it forms, to bergs, and ice caves. Do you know what a chunk of floating is is called if it is between 1 and 5 meters (area seen above the water)? It is a Bergy Bit. If it is over 5 meters it is an Ice Berg. And if it just a wee thing less than 1 meter visible it is a growler. These ice bergs and chunks are made of fresh water. The portion you see of an ice berg is approximately 1/9 of the total size with the remainder hidden under water.

Another favorite aspect of the trip is the evening re-cap. Each night the staff do a presentation that combines power point, video, pictures, lecture etc on the days events and sights. The re-cap today had an amazing microscope view of arthropods and plankton shown on the projection screen. One of my favorite things is when they show the footage from their undersea camera (called a ROV) that can go up to a thousand feet. They showed footage tonight that was taken yesterday. We saw amazing creatures; snails with amoebas living on them (they work together; the amoeba gets a free ride through the muck while the snail gets protection because of the amoeba’s stingers), prawn, krill, a tiny octopus, starfish, and so on.

I am also reading the book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer about the true story of Chris McCandles, a vagabond, who travelled across the USA, and who died from suspected starvation in the Alaskan wilderness. I also watched the movie by the same name, and while both are good, I think the book is better as it goes into greater detail.

Tomorrow promises to be just as exhilarating as all those before it. We are planning a trip to Port Lockroy, where we can actually purchase a few souvenirs. It was a British base that is now a museum, and a post office!

Click to see the PHOTO ALBUM

Boxing Day Among the Bergs

2008-12-26T09:27:00.000-08:00

Another glorious day full of adventure! A few facts first; today was +12 celsius, at our further point south we were 67.5 latitude, the Arctic Circle is 66.5 latitude, and water is about -2 celsius (colder than ice, but with the salt it does not all freeze solid).

We were in dog leg fjord this morning. We were told that last time a vessel was in this particular area was the 1950’s! The National Geographic boat is very nimble and seems to get around easily.

We started the day by kayaking in these great 2 person inflatable kayaks. They have it set up well so you you can easily get in and out of them on a floating platform. Quite honestly Jason did 99% of the paddling but what a view! We were among small ice bergs and chunks of ice. We paddled up to 5 adelie penguins hanging out on the fast ice. In fact we heard later that one of the female staff who does the filming had quite the adventure with one of these little fellows. As she was standing in the zodiac, she felt something hit her in the leg and looking down one of the penguins had jumped in the boat. I guess he wandered around and then jumped off the bow. We also saw more seals lounging on the ice. I dipped my water proof camera into the icy water to try and get a picture of the ice edge. However, with no camera cable I can not download it to see if it worked out.

After the kayaking we switched back to the zodiac and made a landing on the rocky edge of the Antarctic continent. Our previous landings have been on Antarctic islands but not the main continent. Jason scaled up the rocky scree slope with all this loose rock. It was too steep and high for my liking so I only went a little bit up. I found a nice warm rock, took off my jacket and meditated. What a feeling :)

Now we are back on board, full from lunch, considering a nap, and awaiting a presentation this afternoon on a Oceantis research program, and later tonight a showing of the penguin cartoon Happy Feet.

I have also managed to squeeze in a short but fabulous book; “The World We Have; A Buddhist Approach to Ecology” by my fave Buddhist author Thich Nhat Hanh. It has thoughtful insights on the need for environmental protection for both Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. It really points out how if we ignore the environment we ultimately are killing ourselves and discusses some practical ways to make changes. Not just things like recycling (also very important), but how we view the world, how we value ourselves and other beings, how we consume and how we act with either compassion or lack of compassion. A profound excerpt “We have created a society in which the rich become richer, and the poor become poorer, and in which we are so caught up in our immediate problems that we cannot afford to be aware of what is going on with the rest of the human family or our planet earth. In my mind I see a group of chickens in a cage disputing over a few seeds of grain, unaware that in a few hours they will be killed” (p. 3) I feel very fortunate to to have all that I have in my life and hope to live each day compassionately and mindfully. This book reminds me of this.

Antarctica is in me, I am in Antarctica

2008-12-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we had an amazing experience when the ship docked straight into some solid fast ice. We then descended the gang plank right onto to the ice. Once there Jason and I ate some snow, so Antarctica would be in us as we are in it!

On the ice we saw several ‘crab eater seals’. Their name is actually a mistake, given by an early explorer, as they mostly eat krill. Some had red krill juice around their mouths. Others showed the tell tale signs of violent encounters with leopard seals who had sliced into the skin. The crab eater seals then twist to get free of the grip, and deep incisions are left. There was one lonely Adelie penguin as well. There were some large sea birds, and one actually swooped down on the penguin but no harm was done.

We made a quick xmas call home to Jason’s family and had a brief chat as it costs about $7.00 USD a minute! I tried my mom and my sister Madeline, but no answer! So Merry Christmas to all via the blog.

PS you can also click on the underlined words above to learn more about it.

Tuxedo Christma

2008-12-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

We entered Marguerite Bay this morning and took zodiak boats out to land on Pourquoi-Pas Island. The island is home to around 3000 Adelie Penguins. Those are the super cute little ones that are all black and white. But let’s be honest every singe kind of penguin is cute. We wandered on the island for about two hours watching the penguins, snapping photos, looking and glaciers, and even saw 2 weddel seals.

Many of the penguins had little fluffy grey chicks. Other penguins were sliding, running around, squawking, and so on. The rule is to stay 15 feet from the animals unless they approach you as they did not get the same briefing. You also stay out of the well travelled penguin highway that is all flat smooth snow from the upper area to the water. Like seals, penguins are also little stinkers as well. But you get used to the smell. We are now back on board and in a few hours will try to make another landing. Today the sun does not set at all.

Check out some new photos here: Antarctica Album

Christmas Eve with humpback whales

2008-12-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

We awoke to a glorious display of humpback whales surrounding the boat. One of the staff stated there could be as many as 100 in the surrounding area. We saw a mother and calf right beside the boat. The captain slowed the boat so we could see all the whales very well. They were flapping their fins and tails and blowing out water through their blow holes.

I was feeling a little sick this morning but it has passed and I am happy to say I have not yet lost my cookies and have not taken any sea sickness medication. Jason is much better as well and joined us for breakfast and lunch.

Tomorrow we should see Antarctica itself. From some of the lectures it seems with the wind and ice is agreeable we will see many awesome sites. I thought I would get in a lot of reading but with the boat movement I am still avoiding it. However, they keep us really busy and of course I have had some naps. At 4pm today we are having Swedish Christmas Tea, 5pm is a lecture on polar seals, dinner is at 7:30. The sunsets at 1:00am and rises at 3:47am. It is really a bizarre feeling!

2008-12-24T02:06:00.001-08:00

Just a warning that I may not be able to post for several days as we are heading close to Antarctica now and will be crossing the Antarctic circle. The satellite internet may no longer work. So don't worry if there are periods of days when you don't here from us. It is unlikely that we have been eaten by seals.

Check this out for videos of past national geographic Antarctica trips: http://www.expeditions.com/Theater17.asp?Destination=283&Theme=0

Jason would also like to publicly declare he hates boats but loves that magic shot the doctor gave him. He is actually going to leave the room today and try breakfast!

Is it really that bad?

2008-12-23T16:30:00.001-08:00

Yes it is. It really is that bad. I am quite sure the Drake Passage is the most miserable section of sea known to mankind. The captain said we are having 25 foot waves. I feel like a lightly whisked egg where as Jason is fully scrambled.

Last evening seemed fine so I was lulled into thinking how bad could it be? Now I should have seen the warning signs. The railings on ever hallway wall, the protective edges on the shelves and tables, the pictures bolted to the walls and even the non-slip material under the place mats. Being jarred awake at around 1:30am by what can only be described as a fair ride I don’t remember agreeing to get on. So I could not sleep and spent the night wandering around and trying to help out poor Jason. He has been sick from 1:30am until 2:00pm today. The only thing that helped was a magic shot from the doctor on board that knocked him out. Gravol and the patch failed.

I am very fortunate that I have not been sick and have not yet taken any medications. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t feel awesome either and am carefully rationing my tums. And, I do look like a giraffe on the ice trying to stay right side up as I bounce around the hallways of the boat. The 5:30am shower was beyond belief. I made good use of the hand railing and watched as the water sloshed over the edge into the rest of the washroom. I kept thinking I have to get in and out quick as I do not want to be found by the cleaning staff; naked, soapy and knocked out. No one is paid enough for that! The constant rocking makes my brain feel like it is bouncing from one side of my head to the other. I am also convinced it makes me pee more as I must have a mini replica of the Drake Passage sloshing around in my bladder. They lost a few glasses out of the bistro which made for an interesting breakfast. They have also strung up a safety rope between the bistro and the restaurant where the area is open with out railings.

I spent much of the day napping to make up for the lack of sleep last night. Since my tummy has been a little off I have mostly been eating bread and fruit. Which is about a zillion more than Jason. I believe he has just recently had a banana. I am quite sure that the trip will be worth it and much smoother out of the Drake Passage but I am also quite sure this may be our last boat trip! Tomorrow should bring better weather and less waves, and if you are all lucky, less of my whining.

We are heading towards Marguerite Bay where we will anchor for at least 2 days, over Christmas. Tomorrow we have a zodiac boat safety briefing in preparation. They actually have lectures, films, camera lessons on board but as I said I spent most of today sleeping.

Beavers & Stinkers

2008-12-22T17:17:00.000-08:00

We flew into Ushuaia mid-day and toured around the national park. This is where I learned of the failed 1940’s experiment in which Argentina introduced Canadian beavers to the country to start a fur trade. I guess they found out 2 things; the fur was not popular and the beavers populated! In fact the guide said there are around 100,000 of them now and they are trying to find ways to control the population. With temperatures moderate temperatures all year long and no natural predators it is beaver paradise.

Then we boarded the cataraman and toured around. We stopped at a few rock outcroppings to watch the birds. We came across of group of seals sunning themselves. Now imagine the most disgusting smell you have ever had the mis-fortune to smell and that might come close to how these little stinkers smell. I was however told that a whale burp is worse. Hopefully I’ll get to see that for myself.

At 5pm we embarked on the boat. It is a lovely vessel. It is about the size I anticipated and nicer than I thought. It was totally gutted and re-done from a working ice breaker to become the expedition vessel it is now. I can really feel the boat moving but no one is sick yet. I guess we get to go start going through the drake passage tonight. The Drake Passage is known to be the roughest part of the sea. We did hear that on their last trip through it was quite smooth. Time will tell. The extended sun light is wrecking havoc with my mind. It is about 10pm now and it is bright out. I guess the sun sets at 11pm and rises at 4:30am, and the day keeps getting longer as we get closer to south pole. The room on board is nice and compact. It reminds me of what I hope Myrtle, my motor home, turns out like. All the drawers and doors latch so they don’t fly open in rough sea. The food on board is really good so far and we’ve met some super nice people.

Tomorrow the agenda reads; eating, some films and lectures, digital photography class (maybe helpful with Jason’s new 5D Mark 2 Cannon, that shoots HD movies as well!), tea time, cocktails, watching the sea go by, and the like. It is a few days travel until we start hitting land. We went through the safety drill today so I feel all prepared to evacuate on the life boats, which of course won’t happen. They run a great vessel.

Santiago, Chile

2008-12-21T16:51:00.000-08:00

We are just settling in for the night in our hotel in Santiago, Chile. We met with some of the staff of the expedition and there are about 80 guests. Tomorrow we get up at 4:30am and breakfast at 5am and then on to a plane to Ushuaia, Argentina where we will go on a catamaran tour to Tierra del Fuego National Park

From there we will get onto the boat and start our tour.

Getting ready for Antarctica!

2008-12-13T16:57:00.000-08:00

We leave December 20th on our adventure to Antarctica. We go through Santiago Chile then to Argentina and then onto the National Geographic icebreaker were will live for 3 weeks. You can view the boat here: National Geographic Explorer

We have bought all our extra warm items and I have broken in my new winter boots. A lot of people are wondering about the temperatures. Well it is currently summer there so it seems the average is -15 to -30 celsius. Apparently on July 21, 1983 they recorded the coldest temperature at Antarctica at -89 celsius. To view more click here: Antarctica weather

For a nice balance Santiago Chile has be recording +22 to +30 celsius lately. We will stay there for 4 days on the way back from Antarctica.

Mongoose & Monkeys, Oh my!

2008-02-28T05:22:00.000-08:00

So today we went to Buddha Park in Delhi

It has a lovely gold Buddha in the middle of a sprawling park. It was lovely with wild monkeys, mongoose, chipmunks (even in India I can call them right to me!), ducks, geese, parakeets, varied birds, dogs (one with the cutest puppies), and so on. It was great fun, I just wish I had some bananas for those cute monkeys.

Yesterday we went to the Taj Mahal. It was a long trip about 4 hours each way. The Taj is very very pretty with amazing inlay. We basically went to it and viewed the grounds with a guide who explained all the history. Then we took the long ride back. Due to our time limits we had hired a car which was very helpful.

We fly home in the morning and arrive around 5pm, Feb 29, 2008.

Funny observations and Museums

2008-02-24T23:27:00.000-08:00

so last night we were at dinner at this busy veg restaurant and it really started to fill up. All tables were full so waiting patrons just accumulated at the front watching for tables. then all of a sudden this eldery Indian woman jsut sat at our table while her friends hovered. We realized our dinner was over and we needed to give up the seats! :)

we have been to the following museums in port blair over the last 2 days; cellular jail, anthropological, and the saw mill.

the cellular jail was fascinating and documented the English occupation of the island and how they set up this huge jail, which according to the monument as quite cruel and house mostly freedom fighters and political prisoners. http://www.andamancellularjail.org/History.htm

The anthropological museum is small but had some interesting artifcats and re-creations of tribal homes. there are 2 Indigenous groups on the islands that have nearly no contact with the outside world and are protected by the government (although there are debates on how well). they are the Sentilese and the Jarawa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarawa_(Andaman_Islands)
http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/jarawa
http://www.survival-international.org/campaigns/uncontactedtribes/mostisolated
http://www.survival-international.org/campaigns/uncontactedtribes/justforfun

The chatham saw mill was quite interesting. It is a working saw mill and we saw workers in barefeet among the splinters and heavy machinery cutting timber! they have a small forest museum onsite that shows the different wood types.

we leave tomorrow for Delhi via a Chennai

Everyone and their dog, cat and goat are going to Delhi

2008-02-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

Well that is how it would seem! We have contacted over 10 hotels and all are fully booked. We found one posh room at the Radisson so we are just taking it. It will be a nice respite for 3 nights before returning home. We are in Delhi Feb 26 and fly home Feb 29.

We finally sorted out our money problem. The hassles of money (finding ATM's that work on CDN cards) and travel times in India are a little tiring. we had to get money western unioned to us as no ATM's will work in Port Blair!!! Thank goodness for Jason's folks making the trek to western union!

We will spend the next few days seeing any sights in Port Blair such as the historic penal colony, museum etc.

Crustacean Crusade

2008-02-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

Well we made it to Port Blair and are now doing the money chase again. I HATE India's ATM's. Our cards only work on 2 banks, neither of which are on this island. sigh.... we'll sort it though. Anyways, on to crabs...
Hermit Crabs
We have spent quite a bit of time observing the adorable little hermit crabs on beach 5 and 7 in Havelock. We spent a few hours collecting empty shells and lining them up where the crabs congregate. We even witnessed one switch from his shell to the new one (but he did switch back, a little roomy for his tastes). We then leave the empty shells and nearly all of them disapear within a short time (sheltered in areas away form tourists seeking shells). Quite fun!

The Crazy Crab Canadians
We made a bit of a reputation for ourselves on the island with the next adventure. It started one night when we were in the hut restaurant and these 2 crabs persistently escaped the bin they were held in 3 times! (They were to be dinner). Well we felt so bad we bought those 2, as they are locally caught, and released them into the ocean. I won't pretend it changed the world but it was a wonderful experience. I have always wanted to be able to release crabs but in landlocked Alberta it is not an option. We did the release quietly but word got around and people kept chatting with us about it over the coming days. Many travellers thought we were nuts and others shared stories of feeling bad for the crabs. But I did notice not one crab was purchased that night for dinner. The experience reminds me of one of my favorite touchstones (see below):

IT MATTERS TO THIS ONE - Anonymous
As I walked along the seashore, this young boy greeted me. He was tossing stranded starfish back to the deep blue sea. I said, "Tell me why you bother, why you waste your time this way. There's a million stranded starfish, does it matter anyway?"

And he said, "It matters to this one. It deserves a chance to grow. It matters to this one, I can't save them all I know. But it matters to this one, I'll return it to the sea. It matters to this one, and it matters to me."

I walked into the classroom, The teacher greeted me. She was helping Johnny study, he was struggling I could see. I said, "Tell me why you bother, why waste your time this way. Johnny's only one of millions, does it matter anyway?"

And she said, "It matters to this one, he deserves a chance to grow. It matters to this one, I can't save them all I know. But it matters to this one, I'll help him be what he can be. It matters to this one, and it matters to me."

well, i guess i always wanted to be a vet...

2008-02-18T23:49:00.000-08:00

what a day... Jason found a female dog on the beach that was injured and then he came and got me. I immediately realized she must have been recently spayed as her incision was open with part of her intestines hanging out, now covered in sand. It was a horrific site. She had a blue collar on so I held out hope that she had an owner. We ran up the beach to try and locate and owner and we could not.

So I talked with the owner of our resort and he called ahead to a vet in another town a short trip away. Jason got the dog by the collar and walked her up to the resort. From there I wrapped her in plastic and lifted her up (about 40lbs!) and me, her and Jason took an autorickshaw to the vet. It was a bumpy ride and she did well and didn't even try to bite. We got a lot of stares from locals who could see the dog on my lap as we raced through the roads.

The real adventure began when we got to the vet. It was very basic with no running water and only a rusty enamel table but he helped us right away. Ilifted her to the table. The vet tied her muzzle and then Jason and I assisted in the operation. We had to flip her on her side and hold her. That's when I realized there was no anestetic coming. We held her and I stroked her face while the vet cleaned out most of the sand with an antiseptic, pushed it all back in side and stitched her up. He gave her an antibiotic shot and some salve. The smell of blood was pretty bad and I had to change my bloodly clothes when i got back.

Now I was terrified of what we would do with her and had thoughts of her healing in our hut. Thankfully a local woman came rushing in looking for the dog. She explained that the dog was a stray that had been spayed due to the island being overpopulated and that she had her tied up until she healed but that she got away. Her spay was on the 10th so I don't know how her stitches just came out, unless it was perhaps a dog fight. Anyways this woman agreed to take care of her, adminster pain medication and the salve. We may try to visit the dog later. I am very thankful this lady showed up, the vet performed the surgery for free and that we were able to get the dog into the clinic in a autoricksaw.

"What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?" - George Eliot

the great tuna roll

2008-02-17T03:32:00.000-08:00

today i lost any shred of dignity as I was assisted to basically roll into the boat after a great snorkelling trip. Imagine a great big tuna being pulled aboard, but less pretty and less graceful. really it was not my fault. There was no ladder and I have no coordination. I am just glad I made it in rather than being towed 2 hours back ;) The snorkelling was amazing. Lots of coral, like big fan coral, lots of fish too. It was worth it to haul our gear (fins, masks and snorkels) most of the gear for rent here are well used and smaller sized. We will likely go to elephant beach tomorrow to snorkel.

Havelock is much more laid back than the cities. And there is much less poverty here. Perhaps this is due to the smaller number of people to land mass and the vegetation grows well too.

The invasion

2008-02-15T02:55:00.000-08:00

Well my worst fears were realized last night when i spotted THREE GIANT cockroaches in our hut. And I mean HUGE! One in the bathroom, one in the garbage and one on the mosquito net on my BED!. So i had a rather unrestful sleep. It is amazing what fears you can overcome when there is A. no other accommodation available and B. the sneaky bugs are likely everywhere. Of course every time jason moved I had a little freak out thinking they were in the bed.

Today we snorkelled at the lagoon on beach #7. The bus back was only 5 rupees each (12cents) Jason got motion sickness from the snorkelling so hopefully he will soon be feeling better. (He is having a gravol nap right now). We may catch a boat to another island for tomorrow.

Giving hippies a bad name...

2008-02-13T23:57:00.000-08:00

Well Havelock is gorgeous! we did finally sort out some accomadations at 'pristine resort' at about 40/night in these rustic gilligan island 2 story huts (whith shower, toilet, electricity). We were worried last night as we only got one night in an expensive place and everything here is cash. But we got it sorted now.

The entire place is full of wandering hippies. some very nice but some cheap and argumentative with locals, over what amounts to small change at home, which i think is terrible.

We are on #5 beach and will take the government bus to #7 beach to explore tomorrow. We are getting ready to go snorkelling today :)

"This is, because that is"

2008-02-12T01:18:00.000-08:00

I spent the day contemplating and reading my new wonderful book "Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism" by Thich Nhat Hanh.

The rich are rich because the poor are poor. Now it is not completely as simple as that, but in order to have that $10 t-shirt someone must be paid a meager wage. In order for me to be a social worker someone must be suffering. This is not to say that the rich or middle class are bad and the poor are good, or vice versa. It is also not to say that those with means purposely restrict those with out, (although some certainly do). It is simply to acknowledge that in order to have wealth someone/something pays; low salaries, environmental destruction etc.

And through this I believe we have a responsibility to reduce our negative footprint as much as possible. I think we can begin to accomplish this through being thankful, making informed decisions, and compassionate actions. How we consume, how we earn, how we invest, our words, our actions can all be helpful or hurtful.

"Suffering can have a therapeutic power. It can help us open our eyes. Awareness of suffering encourages us to search for its case, to find out what is going on within us and in society. But we have to be careful. Too much suffering can destroy our capacity to love. We have to know our limits, to stay in touch with things that are dreadful in life and also things that are wonderful." ("Interbeing" - Thich Nhat Hanh)

Both the best and the worst

2008-02-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

India is a country of contrast from great beauty to great suffering.

Today began with a lovely breakfast buffet. Then we went to the Kalighat, Hindu, temple http://www.indiantemples.com/Bengal/kalighat.html And today happens to be a festival "Saraswati Puja" http://www.bangalinet.com/saraswatipuja.htm so the temple was PACKED! I some how ended up on a tour junket where we were whisked through all of the things one is supposed to do at the temple. It was rather expensive in the end but it was the only way we would have actually made it through with out waiting hours in line. The guide was excited to tell me that he thinks I will soon have a son. Man did I ever stay away from that fertility cactus he showed me at the temple!!! He was also eager to show us the goat sacrifice which we quickly avoided. (However I did see some ones that had already been sacrificed in a side alley).

After this we went to New Market, which is a 7 block shopping district founded by the British in the 1800's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Market,_Calcutta We wandered around for a while and looked at the various shops; household items, fabric, souvenirs, and so on. I went to the pharmacy and picked up some antiseptic antihistamine creme for my WICKED mosquito bites. Seriously they are viscous biters. I now wear shoes and repellent.

We came back to the hotel and had a light dinner and then went for our spa treatments. The treatment was 2 hours with a salt scrub and massage and was lovely (and reasonably priced). It was so relaxing.

All around you see the vast economic divide among the very rich Indians and the very poor. The contrast of opulent saris and people in tattered clothing. I suppose this divide exists in Canada but here it is much wider.

In contrast to lovely food, friendly people, rich culture and amazing architecture we also witnessed much on the other side. We saw dogs eating the severed head of another dog (whom I just hope was killed in a car accident - we have only seen people being very kind to the dogs), sweet puppies - chewing on a dead piglet in the garbage heap, elderly women and mothers with infants begging for rupees and children digging through the miles of garbage piles to pull out bits of plastic. The level of poverty continues to break my heart.

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." - Buddha

I have found heaven

2008-02-10T02:31:00.000-08:00

...& it is the Kolkata Hyatt Hotel.

We arrived here today after taking a sleeper train that left at 4:30am. The train was quite good with 2 sleeper bunks in a private room, and breakfast for the 7 hour trip to Kolkata.

We decided to have a nice hotel here to celebrate my birthday. The Hyatt is AMAZING! Gorgeous rooms, lovely amenities, pool, spa etc. We plan to stay 3 nights here and then go to the Andaman islands. (We are cutting our Darjleeing as it is proving too time consuming to get to.) http://kolkata.regency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

We went for this amazing gourmet Italian lunch that had an antipasto buffett (1/2 vegetarian!), then you are served like 7 different hot dishes in small portions (ours were all veg) and then you top it off with a dessert and cheese buffet. I will be full for a week. The vegetarian options in India are just wonderful. We have each booked 2 hour spa treatments for tommorow night.

Tommorow we plan on spending the day exploring the city. With the change in plans I am now researching sites to visit.

Misquitos 1, Capri 0

2008-02-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

I have the WORST misquito bites on my feet. They woke me up in the middle of the night. Thankfully I am taking my malaria medication and am now using repellent.

Last night we spent some time at the main temple which was all lit up with little lights. Very beautiful.

I am really enjoying the Indian food, which I was unsure about. I have been eating a lot of 'masala dosa' and naan. We always go to the same restaurant here and it has the filthiest kitchen ever but with so many people in and out the food stays hot and is excellent, and super super cheap.

We have bought a few things; some prayer flags, singing bowl, anklets which the guy had to make bigger and then was shocked he had to make the left one even bigger on account of the size difference since i broke it, a book and 2 cd's.

I did find some high protein bisquits that I fed to a sick dog. they are friendly here but mostly eat from the garbage and since there is not a lot of meat I am not really sure what they eat!

I met the CUTEST baby who hitched a ride with her mom on our auto rickshaw yesterday. So sweet.

We are not sure of the plan today but we leave at 3:30AM to catch a train in Gaya.

on the move

2008-02-08T03:19:00.000-08:00

We have booked a train from Gaya to Kolkata (Calcutta) for Sunday early morning. We take a taxi to Gaya. The from there we will spend one night in Kolkata and fly towards Darjleeing.

Today we went to the Mahakala Cave where there is a small cave carved out of the mountain with an ascetic Buddha statue in it. Buddha spent 6 years meditating is this tiny cave. http://www.interzone.com/~cheung/World/India/Mahakala.html There were tons of cute wild monkeys which I fed bisquits (i could not resist and it gave some money to the man selling them). We will have some cute photos. Then we had milk tea with some lovely monks who also shared with the 2 cats.

I have been trying to find a local charity but there seems to be much debate on whether or not they are honest. It is so difficult to find a way to make a tiny difference here. I suppose paying fair prices for food, goods and hotel helps somewhat but I am still searching for another way.

sorting out travel plans

2008-02-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

Jason is taking the lead on sorting out our travel plans and is currently at a travel agency. We may not make it up to Darjaleeing as it is quite the adventure to get there and then to the Andaman Islands and back to Delhi in our time frame. So by tonight I should know more about our plans.

emergency adverted

2008-02-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

After a dodgy autorickshaw ride into Gaya and 5 bank machine attempts we found one that worked. Thank goodness or we would not have money for our hotel etc.

We went to several temples today and one of the loveliest was the Thai one. There was a beautiful sight of some nuns and monks meditating. One of the nuns had a small dog with her in the temple who was quietly at her side thuroughout the meditation. Very sweet.

We've met some nice people and had some illuminating converstations on Buddhism, poverty etc.

always a classy lass

2008-02-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well it began last night when i tripped walking home and i fell completely flat on my face like a giant tree. Of course it was in front of tons of locals. As I hit the ground all I could think was please please please no cow poop. Thankfully i hit the one flat, dry and reasonably clean peice of land in India. It was a miracle really. I have a few bruises but I am ok.

Then this morning I puked my face off at the side of the road. Very classy. Several nice locals were worried about me. I think the culprit was taking my malaria medication and thyroid on an empty stomach. And of course it happened one bite into breakfast so i ran out of the restaurant and down to the garbage pile to puke in front of some bewildered dogs. Then of course I had to bury it to prevent the inevitable. I do wish there was some sort of dog food I could buy in this place.

we have hit a little snag as the 2 ATM's do not work with our cards so we are off today to try and find away to get money so we are not stranded! We will probably spend 2 more nights here and then up to Darjleeng i think.

For today I am recovering at the internet cafe at this moment which is only 75 cents an hour. We plan to see the rest of the temples in Bodhgaya today and perhaps a day tour to some Buddhist caves tomorrow.

I don't think we will be able to move on until Monday due to the trains and planes. Jason is attempting to book a plane from gaya to kolkata and then we'll try for a train to Darjleeing

Things are really cheap here. Like today breakfast with 2 meals, 1 side, a milk coffee, a litre of bottled water and a coke (for my upset tummy) was $5CDN

a most beautiful sight...

2008-02-06T02:45:00.000-08:00

So today we went to several temples. We went to the main temple which has the sacred Bodhi Tree underwhich Buddha gained enlightenment (it is actually a descendant of the original tree from a sapling that was saved after the original was cute down). http://www.Mahabodhi.com/

At the site of othe Bodhi tree, as a I was circling the main temple, I came accross two lovely moments. The first was a monk moving an ant out of the way while he was also circling the temple. The second brought tears to my eyes as it was so emotional and beautiful. A monk was standing near the Bodhi tree holding a royal purple humming bird. When I asked if the bird was injured or a pet he replied neither that the bird merely wanted to sit there. It is hard to explain but it was so lovely.

These moments contrast the heart breaking poverty here. So many children, elderly, disabled people and dogs living in difficult circumstances. We plan to donate to one of the local charities but I wish there was more I could do.

Other observations; the food is very very good. at the airport we had McDonald's and even it was good! (Huge veg section and no beef at all! - but there was fish and chicken). I have been eating a mix of western and Indian cuisine. No mater where we have travelled it seems that westerners inspire banana pancakes.

We bought a Tibetan Singing Bowl (Which i am sure I paid too much for but much cheaper than at home and I figure since I support "fair trade" I should also do it while travelling). I am terrible at bargaining too, at least overseas. Jason says I get cheaper as a trip wears on so we'll see. I also bought a great book by my fave Buddhist author Thich Nhatt Hahn on engaged Buddhism. http://www.plumvillage.org/

I also bought a punjabi suit in a lovely dark red/burgandy that reminds me of the color of monk's robes but more ornate. It will be nice to wear as I find it hot (of course the locals have toques on!) However, I don't think anything I do will combat the staring. I look a little odd here. http://www.utsavsarees.com/pages/punjabisuits.htm

In other news we switched hotels. The one we had promised soft beds and they are like a board with a sheet. If it was at least cheap I could forgive it but it was the 2nd most expensive here. We switched to a hotel called Siddartha Vihar which is cheaper and costs $20.00 a night. It has it's own bathroom and shower and the beds are still as hard a rock.

PS Excuse any typos.... the spell check does not seem to work!

we made it to Bodhgaya

2008-02-05T03:07:00.000-08:00

Ah.... It began with a flight from Delhi, then a train ride to Gaya (34 rupees each less than one dollar) and then an autorickshaw (tuk tuk) to Bodhgaya. The train was cramped and very hot. I spent a lot of time chatting with some of the local men. The one was rather surprised at my height and thought it was funny that people stared at me. Our seats were built for 8 but 13 crammed in.

We are just settling in and will soon be looking for food. Tommorow we will start to explore the temples and the giant Buddha. The air is hard to breath here. Our hotel is the high end one for the area but still relatively cheap. we may check out another one tommorow. Our current hotel http://www.sujatahotel.com/

Electricity has been intermitant here :)

Poo on the shoe

2008-02-04T05:20:00.000-08:00

So the shoe is Jason's and the poo... who knows? We were walking in Delhi (made it here this morning) and Jason ventures into a park and soon spies a shoe shiner coming over and he knew... the old poo on the shoe scam. You see one guy squirts poo on your shoe while his accomplice shortly after points it out and of course comes to your rescue with his poo on the shoe removal kit. And really, what are you going to do? walk around with poo? it is the perfect scam and cost Jason 200 rupees or $5CDN (from 350).

Delhi is crazy busy. Lots of friendly people chatting you up trying to convince you of a tour, shopping, hotel that this is closed or that etc as people get commission if they bring you in. You can't fault them too much as there is a lot of poverty here.

The weather is very nice and not too hot. Our hotel is the 'best one star in Delhi' http://www.hotel55.com/ Cheap and basic. We had a nice dinner there. The BEST naan bread and some good spicy stuff. Not sure what it was but it was good and vegetarian

Anyways we decided to get out of Delhi to relax in Bodhgaya so we booked a flight for tommorow morning to Patna and then we will catch a train. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/bodgaya.htm

Off to India

2008-02-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

Our plane departs tonight at 8:45 pm. We stop in London and then on to Delhi. We have not for sure settled where we are staying. We may stay in Delhi for one or 2 nights or we may catch a plane out. Our itinerary will likely be:

Bodhgaya This is where Buddha gained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree (a descendant of this tree is still there)

Darjeeling (where you can view Mount Everest)

Andaman Islands (for snorkelling!)

And back to Delhi for some city time and to see the Taj Mahal (a few hours from Delhi)

Antiques in Rio!

2008-01-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

We spent a lovely day wandering in the outdoor once a month antique fair. Along the route we came accross my new favorite store with some of the best examples of mid-century modern peices I have even seen! www.mercadomodernobrasil.com.br Then we went to the indoor antique fair which was interesting but not as good as the first one.

The weather is very overcast today. Tommorrow is our last day and I am hoping for lots of sun. Our flight leaves 10:45pm Rio time. So we'll hang out at the pool for the last day :)

Rio at night

2008-01-04T17:22:00.000-08:00

I hope i am not jinxing it but Rio does not seem nearly as dodgy as all the reports I hear. I of course would not venture to isloated areas. However we just came back from a crepe place and it is now 11:20pm and it was fine. I suppose seeing many big cities with a variety of issues has helped. So we survived the evening in Rio ;)

Tomorrow it is all about antiques!

Rio

2008-01-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

So we have been in Rio for 2 nights (we fly out on Sunday night). Everyone wears the teeny tiny bikinis.... everyone, grandmas, big girls. it is quite the phenonmenon.

as for veg meals it is rather uninspiring but at least there are options. much of the veg stuff is like pasta, pizza etc. we went to one veg restaruant but it was quite bland

the weather is great 34+ it is a little hot for me actually :)

Today we went to the museum of modern art. Quite a nice building and exhibit. http://www.mamrio.com.br/

We spent some time in the pool and had a nap. I know our adventures are so legendary. I just don´t move that fast in this heat.

tommorow we are off to a once a month antique fair and a antique mall :)

New Year´s eve

2008-01-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that we spent NY on a large 2 story wooden boat on the river, arranged by the lodge for everyone. it was complete with a DJ and drinks. Before this we had a lovely dinner at the lodge. Nice way to ring in the new year!

Amazon Update

2008-01-02T08:04:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a fantastic few days. We did so many things! A jungle trek in which we learned about local plants for food and medicine, a snake refuge where they breed and release snakes back to the wild, many many boat trips on the river negro, canoe trip, swimming with the wild pink dolphins, visit to a village and a town, caiman (alligator) spotting and learning to shoot bows and arrows (which gave me a nice burn on the wrist from the string). I have some photos holding the little alligator (they catch them in the river and then let them go) and a picture with the snakes at the refuge. The lodge was lovely and they had terrific food with lots of veg options. The only thing missing was a laundry service and we did not want to trek to the nearest little town to find one. (So later tonight locating a lavanderia/laundry is the #1 priority in Rio).

The weather has been good with sun and warm rain. There have been no major upsets other than some scratches and bug bites. There was a minor set back this morning when the strong Brazil coffee disagreed with me. But I am feeling better and grossly the fish in the river ate all the evidence!

On the way out we took a small float plane, just with us and the pilot, for a 30 minute flight over the river and to Manaus. In Manaus we went to the Amazonian research centre in which the research local flora and fuana. We saw the manatees that are brought in when injured or weak and then are rehabilitated. It was not like a zoo (which i don´t generally like) but more like a preserve. There were some man made lakes with fish, caimans, turtles etc. And running loose all over are these giant guinea pigs! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavia_aperea

I am now at the Manaus airport internet cafe and we are off to Rio soon. As luck would have it the first Saturday of the month in Rio has a huge antique fair so I will be there!

layover in Sao Paulo

2007-12-27T08:25:00.000-08:00

We have arrived in Sao Paulo. See: http://www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br/ingles/ We are in the airport for about 9 hours waiting for our flight to Manaus. Originally we would be flying to Rio first but our flight was changed due to a delay (and it ended up being a good thing saving us a flight). I managed to find an internet cafe at the airport. I am right now assisting a tourist in accessing her email :) good times...

I am super duper tired and looking forward to the brief hotel stay (1 night) we have in Manaus before going to the ecolodge. The flights were fine although they did not have a veg meal so we got 2 salads.

It is very hot here and the cement floor is looking inviting for a nap.Only 5 more hours to wait for our flight.

Take 2 tablets daily in left ear...?!?

2007-12-23T19:58:00.000-08:00

so said the instructions on our travel diarrhea medication.... When I phone the pharmacist she was laughing so hard and said that certain things you type in their system will auto fill in. Preparing the medications for travel is always fun.

We are now fully vaccinated against: rabies, cholera, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, dyptheria, Hepatitis A and B, tetanus, and others I probably can't recall. For over the counter medications pepto bismal, imodium, ibuprofen are the absolute necessities in my book.

Packing for Brazil

2007-12-17T18:48:00.000-08:00

After many trips we are fortunate to amass most of the essential items. I have learned from many a heavy pack to really pack light when traveling unless it is directly to a resort. For clothing I recommend the following: one pants, 2 shorts, swim suit, 2 pair of socks, 7 underwear, one long sleeve shirt, 4-5 short sleeve shirts, one pair walking shoes, one pair flip flop/sandals, and a hat. Remember where ever you are... everyone has to do laundry so it exists in either a laundromat or by having it done by someone.

Other items I bring are a good back pack, day purse/hippie bag, (nothing screams "rob me I am a tourist" like a big ass fanny pack), a microfibre towel if the accommodations are on the cheap side, and a good assortment of over the counter remedies.

I know what you are thinking... 2 pairs of socks.... really? But I literally live in my Keen Antigua flip flops no matter the terrain unless it is absolutely freezing. They are amazing supportive flip flops (which seems like an oxymoron). See: Keen Flip Flops

Now when we go to northern India which is cold and then all the way south to snorkel I am going to include the super duper light long johns and snorkeling equipment (such a pain to haul but worth it if you are spending a good chunk of time snorkeling. rented stuff is dodgy).

Trip Planning for Brazil

2007-11-26T18:44:00.000-08:00

We fly out to Brazil on December 26, 2007 and have a terrific friend baby sitting the kitties. We are staying in an eco-lodge in the middle of the rainforest. You can see it here: http://www.anavilhanaslodge.com/ Then we spend a few days in Rio on the way out at the Shertaon Hotel, which you can see here: http://www.sheraton-rio.com.br/ We arrive home on January 7, 2008.