Salad Days, Zen Nights

Back home

2010-03-19T15:22:00.001-07:00

We have been back in Dawson for exactly a week and have been re-instituted to the Museum Board, I have already been to a meeting of the Nurse Practitioner Advisory Committee, and been asked to go back to work early. We have moved into our new apartment and are currently getting used to life back in the north ... there's still a lot of snow here. We narrowly missed missing two complete winters.

It's strange moving in to a new place. We have been unpacking and I've had moments of panic when I think "why are moving in when we're going to be moving on so quickly?". But we aren't moving on...we're home. It's hard to get used to the idea that we are not going to be moving for awhile. Though it's nice to play with all of my pots and pans (and bowls!), I seem to have forgotten how to make anything but pad thai and stir fry, which admittedly are good things to eat (and we transported enough ingredients up here to last us about 3 years), but we just made those two dishes for just about everyone that we visited on our way up north, so I've been going through my recipe books, trying to find new things to make.

Unpacking was a real education on "what you don't really need". We gave away BOXES of clothes. After living for almost 2 years with 2 skirts, 3 shirts and 3 pairs of underwear, it's given me some perspective on what I need. It's nice to have a bit of choice, but do I really need 30 pairs of underwear? Especially now that I don't have to wash them by hand in the sink? Nathan and I made a pact that, since we're moving into a smaller (one-bedroom) apartment, "if it doesn't fit, it has to go!". A lot of stuff went. Boxes and boxes. Though not my bowls. NEVER my bowls.

But now we are free to put up our treasures from overseas: a yellow and green and pink dragon made of rope from Thailand; a brown saree from India to cover the shelves; colourful lanterns from Vietnam in the corner; a green and brown batik print from Indonesia on the couch. We now have about 10 pairs of new chopsticks to use, and when the moment presents itself, I'll wear my outfit that I had made in Vietnam.

I'm a bit sad to be back and nesting again, but at the same time, I'm really happy to be back and nesting again. I must admit to a few teary moments when the plane touched down in Whitehorse. It was really ending. But we have been welcomed back with warmth and open arms, Nathan already has big plans to open a first-run movie theatre at the museum, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things at work...though not so much that I want to go back EARLY!

We will probably have more blogging in the future from this site...though they won't be travel stories so much. If you want off the list, let me know.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch over the last year and a half. It's been great sharing our travels with you.

ACDB

Homeward bound

2010-02-19T12:20:00.001-08:00

It's amazing, when you think about it, that you can travel half way around the world in 24 hours. You can go from being in a 32*Celcius, 90% humidity locale, to a 10*Celcius, 10% humidity locale in the space of a single day. Let me tell you, it's not as easy as it sounds, though.

Jet lag is the pits. When your body is used to peeing at 2pm and your 2 pm is now 2am, it's very disrupting to your sleep patterns. So it took us about 5 days of waking up at 2 am and not being able to get back to sleep before our bodies clued in that we weren't going to be napping all day! But we are through that now, and happily going crazy in North America.

Now we're back in Canada. It's a strange thing to realize that all of the things that used to be normal to you (like cold) are now very weird. After nearly a month of being in North America, it's still a shock to be able to turn on the tap and not only get hot water, but not be afraid that I will get amebiasis when I rinse my toothbrush. Covered shoes are hard when I've been wearing sandals for almost 2 years. Static cling is almost unheard of in places where it's almost 100% humidity all the time...but that's not Canada. Layers were something on a cake in Asia, but now I need to wear 4 wooly ones any time I get out of bed (and sometimes in bed). Sometimes I actually open my mouth while showering. And I even will occasionally leave the house without a backpack...though not very often, I must admit.

North America is a very big place. We traveled by train or bus sometimes in SEA, but mostly we walked everywhere. Here, we DRIVE everywhere, and it's not short distances, either. Everything is so spread out...and there are hardly any people! There are places in India where even where there is agriculture, there are a few people in sight. We drove from Toronto to Ottawa yesterday, and there are vast tracts of land where there is just...nobody. It gives you a whole new perspective when Asian tourists go ga-ga over the vistas and the trees and the lakes...there are very few places over there where you can look out without humanity being in evidence.

I feel a bit...wobbly. My emotions are a bit...fragile. I'm really happy to be home, to be heading back up to the Yukon, to be seeing all of the friends and family that I've missed. But sometimes I just feel like crying, too. Is this culture shock? What is this? I'm a bit sad to seeing the travel come to an end, but I'm very ready to nest for awhile. What am I not telling myself?

It's hard to get my head together. That's why I haven't blogged. Usually I'm composing in my head, but there is so much to take in and so many people to talk to and listen to...I just haven't had the brain space.

But, just so that you know:

We're almost home.

ACDB

Academy Awards

2010-01-31T18:08:00.001-08:00

This has nothing to do with travel (though movies do offer a sort of travel of the mind). However, we are trying to catch up with our movie watching--especially as our big screen experience will likely be very rare once we are back in Dawson City. Based on my Internet research, this is my guess on the upcoming nominations for "Best Picture". Note: we haven't seen all of these films; these are Mr. Movie Picker "algorithmical" guesses.

The US Academy Awards (Oscars) are to be presented on March 7, 2010. The nominations for those awards are happening on February 2, 2010.

This year promises to be rather unique in that the Academy will nominate 10 films for "Best Picture". With that many slots to fill, film buffs are hopeful that some genre films (in particular those in sci-fi, action, and comedy) will slip through and get a nod.

Based on critical and audience reviews, here are Mr. Movie Picker's best guesses for Best Picture nominees:

1.) Up in the Air (R) - Despite all the available slots, this one seems like one of the few sure bets. Strong performances from a likable cast characterize the kind of "little" film the academy likes to lift up.

2.) Avatar (PG-13) - Love it or hate it, this mega-blockbuster ought to get a nod based on money made alone; of course, the story is also rather better than this year's other 10-Ton Monkey.

3.) I Love You Phillip Morris (R) - If you haven't heard of this one, that is what the producers of this film would say the academy awards are for. Look for this one to pull an acting nom (or two) as well.

4.) Crazy Heart (R) - This little one would also get a boost from nomination.

5.) Invictus (PG-13) - Audiences and critics are actually rather underwhelmed by Clint Eastwood's latest effort. Nevertheless, it will not be a great shock to see it gain multiple nominations.

6.) Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (R) - A truly small film with powerful performances. This film is in that weird limbo place of being a long-shot to win the top price but a sure bet to be nominated for it.

7.) District 9 (R) - A truly deserved nomination should go to this sci-fi film which may also be a dark horse to grab top honours.

8.) The Hurt Locker (R) - Thrillers are rarely more harrowing; being one of the most acclaimed films of 2009 doesn't hurt either.

9.) Whip It (PG-13) - This uplifting film is totally worthy, but probably too much fun for a nod. I include it because, in a year when so many of us had precious little to laugh about, some effective comedy should be praised.

10.) Star Trek (PG-13) - Yeah, that's right! The fantastic prequel to one of the most enduring film franchises in history should be up there. If Casino Royale (PG-13 - 2006) came out this year, it would be as well for the same reasons.

Alternates and dark horses (this is assuming that wonderful animations, like Up (G), Fantastic Mr. Fox (PG), and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (PG) do not somehow slip into the best picture category):

11.) Inglourious Basterds (R)

12.) Julie and Julia (PG-13)

13.) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (R)

14.) An Education (PG-13)

15.) A Serious Man (R)

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RE: Waffles (More on Food)

2010-01-17T20:31:00.001-08:00

Yes. I admit it. I am a Philistine. Albeit, a waffle-loving one.

However, I must also admit that the waffles we ate in Bruges are the best we've ever had. Bar none.

Don't get me wrong, Anne is a great cook; perhaps this is simply the opinion of an uncultured Philistine, but I feel that Anne re-produces many culinary delights better than their countries of origin. Anne's pad thai, for instance, is better than that which you will get on the street in Thailand. Even so, Anne's waffles are rank in comparison to those in Belgium. We've had all kinds of waffles now: waffles with crab meat hidden inside, waffles with rock salt (or sugar), McWaffles, waffles in the shape of Texas, the list is endless.

But, the truth is, Bruges owns the waffle. There really is no other.

Looking back, I think the French mindset (and the "European way", perhaps) determines that one should not bother doing a thing unless it can be done extremely well. With Belgium's ownership of the waffle supreme, a French border town would know in advance that it will not be able to re-produce to best waffle AND their proximity to the very best ensures that they endure at least some unfavourable comparisons.

That is why, if you go to France, you should never ask a Frenchman where to find Italian food. The response will be something to the effect of: "Impossible! This is France. We make French food. You want Italian food? Go to Italy. Leave now..."

So, I did not find waffles (or Italian food) in France.

If, however, I had asked a Frenchman for croissants and blue cheese in any language, I probably would have gotten a smile and an emphatic "Oui!"

But this is not Europe. This is Asia; and if you want it here (and if you're willing to pay above average for it) you got it. Hamburgers, hotdogs and chilli, Tex-mex, Indian, Italian, Brazilian, and, of course, "Belgian" waffles.

In Thailand, they have waffles at metro stops and on the street even. However, they do twisted things to their waffles which would probably curdle blood in Bruges. They make 'em with tamarind and squid bits and pork, and the aforementioned crab of course.

Come to think of it, almost everything here is made with pork. But that is so large a topic that I'll save it for another day.

NB

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More on food.

2010-01-16T22:28:00.001-08:00

When Nathan and I first met and later got off the cruise ship, we went traveling, in our first bid to eat our way around the world. We went to Europe, because neither of us had ever really traveled before, and it was easy, and at that time, it wasn't too expensive.

In those days, we had no dietary proclivities, so we ate everything. There wasn't a bakery that we passed that we didn't stop to try the local specialty, with an emphasis on chocolate, bread, and pastries. Crepes in France, in Portugal there was this chocolate cake stuff that we ate almost every day, pide and gozleme in Turkey, pizza and pasta and other delightful things in Italy (even the train stations in Italy had great food). In Spain, we ate these really disgusting sugared egg yolk things that I thought would be lemon...imagine my disappointment.

We were looking for the "real" Europe, the old-timey, romantic place that you can see in some movies. We finally found it in Belgium (along with some really great windmills), in a place called Bruges (if any of you have ever seen the movie "In Bruges", they filmed it there, but the main character's interpretation of Bruges as the most boring place on the face of the planet, and our interpretation was somewhat different).

In Bruges, we found a shop with some of the best waffles we had ever tasted. Belgian waffles, right? They had big pieces of sugar in them and they were dense and sweet and we went to that shop every day.

We eventually had to leave Bruges, but we kept looking for those great waffles. One day we were in Chamonix, in France, on our way over the mountains to Italy, over the Alps. Nathan was desperate for a waffle, a crepe just wouldn't do. We were asking around, looking in different shops. Of course, I spoke french, so I would do most of the talking, but I taught Nathan the word for waffle -- "gauffre" -- and he could say it pretty well, and so we split up and he went on ahead to search out the perfect confection.

I came upon him a few minutes later, totally frustrated with some shop owner who Nathan figured was being deliberately dense. The shop owner couldn't understand Nathan's french.

Now, the French people don't speak all that much english, or they didn't when we were there. For us, the reputation of the French as being rude was totally wrong. As long I spoke french, they were absolutely welcoming and lovely (they think the Canadian accent is very funny). They just get uncomfortable when they have to speak a language they don't know well.

So I could just imagine what the poor French shop owner was thinking when Nathan was trying to communicate with him. Because Nathan wasn't speaking in sentences. Just the one word.

"Gauffre".

In North America, when approached by a foreigner speaking another language, or a poor example of english, we try to encourage them along and figure out what they're saying. For instance, if someone came to a restaurant saying "waffle", the owner would think "Gee, maybe this guy wants a waffle". Not in France.

Nathan: "Gauffre".

French shop owner: "Quoi?"

Nathan: "Gauffre".

French shop owner: "Espece d'anglais de merde!" (waving hands around)

Nathan: "Gauffre".

There were no waffles in Chamonix.

The reason that I relate this story is because waffles have made their way around the world. It's ironic that we couldn't find one in France, very close to Belgium, a neighbour, really, but in SE Asia, where there is barely the tradition of eating wheat, there are waffles all over. Bangkok is the waffle capital, I would say. Coconut waffles, raisin waffles, waffles on a stick, hotdogs in waffles, shrimp waffles...they're all over, smelling up the metro and the streets...it's very pleasant, really.

Nathan has no trouble ordering waffles here. He just has to point.

More to come...

2010-01-13T00:04:00.001-08:00

I took more than two-thousand photos in Cambodia, and the Angkor Wat area contained the most photogenic ruins I have ever seen. I was held back from emailing more of these photos because of worms and viruses attacking my storage devices. I have dealt with these problems and I should be able to download more photos and content soon. Suffice to say, there is a tremendous backlog and sifting the copious photos to pick out ones people might like to see is tough.

Also, the evil people who write worms and computer malware should have their fish spas filled with piranha.

NB

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With the Band

2010-01-12T23:45:00.001-08:00

Anne plays in a temple on the grounds of the royal palace in Phnom Penh. The other photo is a picture of the fellow who invited us in.

NB

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Lotus Flowers and More

2010-01-12T23:42:00.001-08:00

Posted by NB

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Angkor Wat Sunrise

2010-01-12T23:35:00.001-08:00

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Christmas in Cambodia

2010-01-12T23:34:00.001-08:00

Here are a few of the faces of Buddha which watched over Phnom Penh during our Christmas in Cambodia.

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Stopping in Cambodia

2010-01-12T23:29:00.001-08:00

While in Cambodia, a worm infected our storage devices; because of that I did not feel comfortable sending pictures over the Internet until I was sure that the infection was cleaned away. That is why I stopped sending photos... until now.

NB

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Green papayas and butter mangos

2010-01-10T23:25:00.001-08:00

I commented on my Facebook account the other day that I was eating lots of green papaya salad and sticky rice with mango here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and that I would miss it when we came home. A friend of mine commented back that I shouldn't be too sad to leave, since I can get green papaya salad and sticky rice with mango in Canada, too.

I chuckled kind of wistfully when I read that...

Well, yes...

Maybe I can put together a green papaya salad in Canada if I can find the right ingredients. But I can't go to the park after strolling around the city in short sleeved shirt and sandles and find the lady with the Som Tam cart with her big wooden mortar and pestle. I can't order and watch her throw the chillies and the garlic and the palm sugar and coconut sugar and lime juice and fish sauce in and mix them around with her pestle. I can't watch her cut up the tomatoes and squish them around. I can't watch her shave the green papaya with her special shaver and throw it into the mortar and squish everything up a little more. I can't watch her pull out a bit and taste it and offer some to me, so that if I want it hotter (add more chilies) or sweeter (add more sugar) or saltier (add more fish sauce) or sourer (add more lime juice) she can do that. And then I can't watch her add some hand roasted peanuts after fishing all the contents of her mortar out onto a plate and I can't drink the sauce off the plate before I spill it all down my skirt. And I can't eat it in the park under the tree watching the big (huge) catfish eating the pellets that the children buy from the vendors on the street.

As for mango with sticky rice...I'm HOPING that I can reproduce sticky rice once we get home. I have a recipe. You have to soak the rice overnight, and then you have to steam it while it sits in a cotton sack (I think I'll try a pillowcase), preferably in a bamboo-like steamer. Ah, but the mangos. The mangos in Canada are usually from Mexico, unless you happen to live in a place like Toronto or Vancouver, where they might bring the special mangos in from South East Asia and India during the season. The mangos from Mexico are quite tart, and a bit stringy compared to the mangos that you get here, and I've had a bit of trouble with mangos in Dawson...they don't like the cold much. In Thailand, you can easily cut through the bright orange very juicy mango flesh with a spoon. And the flesh isn't tart, it's sweet and and mild and buttery. And then they put on this coconut sauce and these little yellow seeds that give it a bit of a crunch and you start eating and you hope that you can make it last because it's the most delicious thing that you've ever tasted, but you finish it all too soon and vow to go back for more tomorrow.

There's nothing quite like being there and ordering it like the natives do it, and watching it being made, and eating it where it was invented. But I will look forward to trying to reproduce the taste and telling people the story of what it was like when I was in Thailand (and I was warm) and that what we are eating now is good...but not quite the same.

Happy day!
ACDB

Christmas in Cambodia (Khmer Rouge-style)

2009-12-22T02:39:00.001-08:00

This room in the old Phnom Penh High School was converted into a cell in the infamous S21 prison. Note the bed in the photo: People were usually chained to it in an effort to keep them from killing themselves.

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This is a tough one...Cambodia

2009-12-22T02:36:00.001-08:00

We have arrived in Cambodia.

Cambodia is the country where the Khmer Rouge was in power, most tragically during the mid-70s for a little more than 3 years. During that time, more than 2 million Cambodians died. Many died of starvation because they were not allowed to eat the rice they grew, because they did not own it, and it was sent overseas. Over 17 000 of them were tortured and executed at a detention centre called "S-21", in the middle of Phenom Penh, the capital. It is now called the "Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum" and Nathan and I visited there.

Before the Khmer Rouge took it over, S-21 was a high school. It looks like many other schools in the area, except for the razor wire across the corrugated iron fences. It is strange, after going to Tuol Sleng, to look at all of the other schools around and remember the atrocities that happened in one of them.

S-21 was a horrible place. At its height, 100 people were killed per day. Bludgeoned to death, or whacked on the head and throats cut. There are rooms where the people were tortured, where you can see the iron bars that their ankles were shackled to. They were tortured until they admitted to whatever crimes they were accused of, whether they were guilty or not. Their bodies were dumped in the Killing Fields, where thousands and thousands of skulls have been recovered. Do you know that the people here in Cambodia believe that if a body is buried without a proper funeral then the souls of their loved ones become ghosts and can never find peace?

I won't go on too much about what it was like. My soul feels bruised. There are rows and rows of pictures of the people who were inmates there. The Khmer Rouge documented. Children with sad, empty eyes (how could these toddlers be enemies of the state?); teens, some eyes defiant, some just dead; adults who look at the camera with hate. There are a few pictures of stark terror. And you know that this is not a face that was put on for a movie or because the photographer said "look scared". This was a look because the person was utterly, unconsolably terrified. And they had reason to be.

I walked through the rows and rows of pictures with tears in my eyes. But I knew that I could not cry, because if I started, I would not be able to stop. Plus, I think it might have started a chain reaction with everyone else there, who, quite frankly, seemed to just be hanging on to the grief simmering below the surface. How could this have happened, AGAIN? I owe it to these victims to look at these pictures so that someone will continue to remember. But I did not want to look. I did not want to see our continued inhumanity.

And this happened recently. When I was 6 years old there were 6-year-olds dying in S-21. Every Cambodian alive today has a direct relationship to those years, those tragic, horrible years when anyone who was literate, who could speak another language, who had any higher position in government, who was a medical person, who WORE GLASSES...anyone who might be educated at all was hunted down and put to death. They were a threat to the new regime.

Yet these people smile at us. They get on with their lives.

However, the wounds are still only superficially healed.

We were talking to someone here who works with the Peace Corps. She says that they were interviewing people for new local jobs and wanted to see how well people could write English. One of the questions was "tell us something about your family". They did not talk about their spouses or their children. They innumerated how many of their family had died during the regime. Fourty years ago.

We are so lucky. Most of us have never gone hungry. We have never been hunted because we are educated. We have never been accused of something that we did not do. We have never cried because we fear that our family member is being tortured. It is quite possible that in this country, anyone my age or older has experienced all of those things. And you know that this kind of trauma will be handed down for generations to come.

And yet these people can still smile at us in the street. They are getting on with their lives. They are living.

We are so lucky. So, so lucky.

This is not a very "up" Christmas email, I know. I debated waiting to send it. But when, exactly, is a good time to hear about this kind of thing? The more we travel, the more I come to realize that we as westerners take so many things for granted. Not just things like hot showers and flush toilets.

We can get together with friends and family for a meal. Some people have no friends or family because they are dead. Some people can't get together for a meal because they have no food. Some people are not allowed to gather because their government forbids it.

So when you are getting together with your friends and family for a meal, look at them and look at the food and be thankful that you live where you live, were born wherever you were born. I am so thankful.

"For there, but for the grace of god..."

May this season bring you nothing but joy.

ACDB

For those of you who get these messages directly from me, you should check the blog site, as Nathan has posted some pictures. http://ad-zen.blogspot.com

Wat Tramit in Bangkok

2009-12-22T02:27:00.001-08:00

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International hair

2009-12-19T20:23:00.001-08:00

I stopped having complicated hair after high school. Long hair was good enough, if it wasn't clean, I could put it up. I don't own a hair dryer, a curling iron, mousse, or gel.I've had the same bottle of hairspray for about 3 years. (Though I may have finally thrown that one out when we packed up our stuff and put it in storage) I certainly don't travel with any of those things. The most complicated thing I own is a barrette. Usually Nathan cuts my hair, straight across the bottom. This is fine, and if he makes a mistake, it'll grow back eventually, right?

The first time I had my hair cut outside of Canada was in Turkey, quite a few years ago. They made me look like Jennifer Aniston. I cried. (I used to care more) It's hard when you can't tell them what you want, because they speak a different language. And have you ever noticed, hairdressers often don't care what you say. They nod their heads and then go right ahead and do whatever they want.

So now here we are in Thailand, there is long hair everywhere (long, straight, black hair) and you'd think that they would understand "light layers in the back, long layers in front" and "I DON'T want to look like Jennifer Anniston" and "A LITTLE BIT of layers".

He nodded at me "yes,yes" and said "your hair very dry, madam" and "I make your hair very beautiful" and then proceeded to cut my hair just like Jennifer Anniston, blow dried it within an inch of its life (why would you do this if my hair is already dry?) and at that point, what could I do? Nod and smile. It'll grow back eventually, right?

I've had my hair cut in several other places across the world, and somehow, my hair always ends up like Jennifer Anniston's. Each time there have been fewer tears. International hair dressers can't all be wrong, right? Maybe this is my best cut. To be fair, it's good to have most of the dry stuff off. And although Nathan has compared me to both a Valley Girl and the blond band member in the Muppets since my haircut (he's just not used to seeing me with my hair down), it's nice to wear my hair down without looking like a mop. He USED to call me "shaggy" when my hair was down. I'm not sure which is better.

We'll see what happens when I wash it and go to bed with a wet head (which is what I usually do). There is a bit of a wave to my hair that comes out when I sleep with a wet head. Might be back to being a mop.
ACDB

Cousins Anne and Gunther overlooking the ocean south of Melbourne

2009-12-15T00:37:00.001-08:00

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BAck in Thailand

2009-12-12T21:33:00.001-08:00

Well, we are back in Bangkok and have had our first feed of pad thai. It was much too small, I could have eaten about 3 portions.

Are you feeling overstimulated? Or perhaps you have a child who has ADD and you are looking for a nice quiet place to go. Well, Bangkok at Christmas is NOT the place to come. Christmas season has arrived in Bangkok and let me tell you: They. Do. It. UP.

They must have warehouses and warehouses full of Christmas decorations and lights, because the entire city is decorated. There are float sized displays of reindeer pulling shoes, presents, Nutcracker soldiers, large red chairs, snowflakes, Christmas bulbs. There are fountains that are lit up with Christmas lights. There is a 100 foot long arch, completely lit up with purple fairy lights, which extends up to another fountain which is also lit up. There are large TV sets everywhere in the city, playing music, advertising everything and just generally getting on your nerves. I have heard more piped in Christmas music just walking along the street than I have heard my entire life in the malls of Canada during the Christmas season.

And then of course, there are the people. Asian people are perpetually taking pictures. And Bangkok has provided a multiplicity of opportunities for people to snap and snap and SNAP! It's just kind of overwhelming.

This isn't even a Christian nation. It's roots are Buddhist...non-attachment, non-acquisitiveness...things that really aren't exemplified by the lights and decorations in the big city.

However, it's SOMETHING to behold. Kind of fun in a totally manic and head exploding way.

So we have been eating and trying to get a good night's sleep (which is hard because the mattresses in Bangkok all seem to be made by the same company, which only believes in the extra-firm ie. yoga mat, style) and will start sightseeing the wats (temples) and markets and some of the things that we missed the last time we were here.

It's still warm, and we're still having fun.
ACDB

Bali

2009-12-08T19:33:00.001-08:00

There is a song that plays at the MiniMart down the road - "All I want for Christmas is you" (which is my current earworm). There is a line in it that goes "I don't want a lot for Christmas, I won't even wish for snow..." and really, I can't think of a more unlikely wish to come true in Bali. It is so hot here, hot even for me, who is used to the heat after all this time. Do you know that they do "hot yoga" here at 42 degrees Celsius?! I don't know if you could even get a room up to 42 degrees in Canada. ("For a really good stretch!" - lordy, I'd be eligible for Cirque du Soleil).

Bali is a beautiful place, and many, many people have discovered this fact. I think that the sum total of the industry here is tourism and all things associated with it. We have been in many touristy places over the last year, but i must say that in Bali, I have never felt more like a mark. I keep hoping that someone will say "hello" to me without adding on the "...massage?" or "....transport?" or "...taxi?" or "...surfboard?" or "...come see my shop?" or "...sunglasses?" or any of the other innumerable things that they might be selling here. I realize that this is how they make their money and their livelihood, but...I just feel like we're about to scammed all the time. It's not a comfortable way to feel.

Though there are lovely parts of Bali that you can find if you sneak up on them.

In the morning and afternoon, ladies walk around with platters on their heads with little green baskets made out of palm fronds. They fill them with seeds and flowers and crackers and incense and leave them on the numerous alters that are distributed around the island, making the air smell fragrant.

The funny thing is that people also leave them in front of storefronts and houses and out on the streets, leaving tourists to wonder whether they've just done something sacreligious by kicking the little basket across the road, as so often happens. I think that they are supposed to be kind of destroyed...the birds go and eat the seeds, the incense burns, the flowers dry up. These offerings are replaced twice a day. It IS kind of funny though, seeing a tourist trying to put a basket back together after accidently messing it up.

Yesterday we were walking along an almost empty road (a rare enough occurance in a land overwhelmed by motorbikes along narrow, winding streets) and came across a ceremony in front of one of the temples.

Everyone was dressed in a white shirt and everyone was carrying offerings for the temple. Under a tent, there were more people standing with larger offerings, a chinese-type hairy brown dragon with a moveable mouth, and dancers dancing to the music of the clanging xylophone-type instruments and gongs making melodies on the street.

The ladies would lay the offerings at the feet of the dragon, who would clack his jaws and stomp all over the baskets. Then these guys took knives and stuck them into their chests - HARD! I think the ends were quite dull, and they didn't draw blood, but it looked painful all the same.

We were happy to feel like we had encountered something authentic, something real, that wasn't just put on for the tourists, but that was important to the local people.

Every day we go to the beach and try to simultaneously catch a wave (on the boogy-board) and avoid a sunburn. Everyone's earworm should be "wipeout" because it's an ideal beach for learning to surf...and falling in the water. There was one Japanese fellow yesterday who was taking a lesson and who had trouble lying on the board even when he wasn't moving...I think he'll need a few more lessons.

We leave Bali in a few days. Christmas in Thailand...I think!
ACDB

Magic

2009-11-21T18:49:00.001-08:00

We were walking along the riverwalk in Melbourne, Australia with my cousin Gunther and watched one of the numerous acts which crop up fairly consistently downtown. The guy was a magician, and pretty good - he made tennis balls appear under hats through slight of hand - I couldn't figure out how he did it - he did a lot of banging on the table, which I'm sure had something to do with something. When the show was finished, we gave him some money - not too much, since we had arrived toward the end of the show.

Now we're in Bali, Indonesia, and there is a different kind of slight of hand that we have watched with some outrage, some amusement. They play for much bigger stakes here - they play slight of hand when you're exchanging money.

We have brought a certain amount of Canadian currency with us to use in the different countries that we visit. Mostly we exchange money at banks, which often give the best rates. Here in Bali however, there are a plethora of "official" money changers, all of whom give different rates. So the usual way to do things is to walk around until you find the best rate and go in and change some money.

Which is what we did. There were a couple of places that showed a rate several hundred Rupiah more than the best that we had seen. The usual exchange was 1 CAD = 8600 Rp, maybe 8700 Rp, and this guy was advertising 1CAD = 9105 Rp. Well, the choice seemed obvious to us, so we set out to exchange 100$CAD.

Of course, $100 CAD means 910 500 Rp, which is a hefty sum. Usually you get your money in 100 000 and 50 000 bills, but this guy started to count out 20 000 bills. We questioned him on that, but he said that was all he had. But we figured, it's all coin of the realm, right? Smaller bills work just as well, and it was a good exchange rate. So we watched him count, and we counted, and he counted again, and we left with our money.

Later that night after dinner, we counted our money again and discovered that we were missing about 200 000 Rupiah. We went through all of our pockets and it wasn't there. I was convinced that I was somehow at fault (I was carrying the money, after all), but Nathan rolled his eyes and questioned the idea that I might be able to lose exactly 200 000Rp. He said that we had been had.

Well, we decided to try again.

We went to a different exchanger this time, but with the same rate. Nathan figured out that it was more expedient for us to know how many bills there were supposed to be (say, 46 bills if we were exchanging $100CAD) instead of counting the number of Rupiah there were supposed to be.

So there we were, the guy counted out the 20 000 bills, and there was 920 000 (we gave him the change in coins). Then I counted it and it wasn't right. Then Nathan counted the bills and there were only 36 bills, not 46 as there should have been.

He said "We're about 200 000 Rp short, here".

Then the guy took all the money again and counted it, and it was right (of course). He started making noises about the idea that we should perhaps go to a different money changer, but Nathan refused. Then Nathan GRABBED all the money out of his hand (which surprised even me and certainly the look of shock on this guy's face was something to behold) and started counting.

What must have happened is that the guy didn't have time to palm the money when Nathan grabbed it from him and started counting the bills with kind of crazy look in his eyes (and he was kind of loud, too).Lo and behold, there were 46 bills in Nathan's hand.

Well, the guy was VERY unhappy about this. He advanced toward Nathan and grabbed Nathan and said "Give me my money!", but Nathan shook him off and said "NO, you made a TRADE!"

I was just kind of watching with my mouth hanging open.

Nathan says that he knew that if he made it outside onto the street with the money, the guy wouldn't follow him, since the guy knew that the police might be interested in why a tourist was yelling at a money exchanger.

So we got the better of that crook, but the account is still in arrieres (sp?), as Nathan likes to say.

Later, we went to a real "official" money exchanger (who gave us a receipt and used much larger denominations of bills), wanting to convert all the 20 000 bills that we had. The guy took one look at the wad of 20 000 bills that we had and winced, and started asking us how much we had been taken for. He said that some people get taken for hundreds of dollars. We were lucky (and crafty).

I tell you, you don't want to be on the wrong side of Nathan when he gets mad or when he thinks he's been wronged.

Now we know that if a money exchanger pulls out a bunch of
20 000 bills, we'll just walk out. Nathan can't be expected to get his ire up every time we need money.

All's well that ends well. We lost a bit of money, but in exchange, we have this really good story.

And the story, after all, is what traveling is all about.
ACDB

International vocabulary

2009-11-09T15:26:00.001-08:00

We were at a hostel here in Australia and a German guy looked up and said,

"What's the word in English for a song that goes around and around in your head and you can't get rid of it?"

A bunch of us in the kitchen looked at each other and one of the Irish guys said,

"We don't have a word for it. We just say 'I have a song that's going around and around in my head".

And Nathan asked the German,

"Why, what do you call it?"

The answer was

"An earworm".

He actually didn't say "earworm", he said something in German that sounded like "earworm" and we translated.

It's a good word, though, eh? Very descriptive, and just sinister enough to describe how extremely annoying those "songs that go around and around in your head" are. I'm going to use it.

The other word is pure Aussie.

There is a group of people here in Melbourne who swim every morning in the bay (or somewhere), rain or shine, hot or cold. There are a number of older men who do this, though it is a group of all ages. Apparently there was quite a stir caused by these men wearing their "budgie smugglers".

A "budgie smuggler" is a tight fitting Speedo.

I laughed for about 15 minutes after hearing that one. But if you check the web, it's fairly common usage - they have parades, apparently, where all the men wear budgie smugglers. Again, though, very descriptive, in a crude kind of way.

I doubt though, that I will have much cause to use that one...but it's a good attention grabber.

It was 15 degrees in Melbourne when we arrived, which is a nice day in Dawson. We just about froze and didn't warm up again until the mercury rose to 30. I'm going to have to buy another sweater when we get back. Is there anything warmer than wool?

I hope it's a warm spring in 2010.

ACDB

Back in Medan

2009-10-19T01:34:00.001-07:00

We are back in the big smoke (literally) and someone just lit up beside me in the enclosed internet cafe, which isn't unusual but it's still choking, so this will be a short email.

We have been in the jungle looking at the monkeys and the orang-utans (literally "jungle people") and enjoying the rain in the evenings, which pelts on the tin roof so loudly that we can barely hear each other speak, even when we are right next to each other. There is a river where we swam and we drank passion fruit juice every chance we got (with fresh marquisa! - that's Indonesian for passion fruit). We could have gone trekking from Bukit Lawang, but it was so expensive that we forwent (?) that pleasure and just saw the monkeys and apes and other creatures as we saw them. It was still good.

Now we are back in Medan, which is a big city, and has all of the negatives of big cities, namely exhaust fumes, smoke, heat and not enough air to breathe. The opelet (minibus) drivers still hum while they drive though, sometimes they drive with their wrists, as they collect fares, watch for possible passengers, let people off, avoid a becak (motorized tuk tuk) here, a car there, a bicycle here, a truck there, yelling what I think may be deprecations out the window, all the while changing gears about every 2 minutes. We always get where we need to go...for about 50cents per person. The taxis tend to quote us the equivalent of 5 or 6 dollars, so we learned to use public transportation, which is fun, as we whisper to the other passengers "how much does it cost to get to...". They are always very helpful. Of course, we say it in Indonesian "berapa harga ini ke...". Indonesia, or at least Sumatra, is one of those countries where people would like to be able to speak English, but really don't. So we have learned. I have a whole sheet of vocabulary. We're going to wow them when we go to Bali.

Must go and get some air now.
ACDB

Sumatra: Interesting Times in the Volcanic Land

2009-10-11T01:35:00.001-07:00

It's pretty darn tough to follow that last blog from Anne on Banda Aceh; with all the good vibes and hope for a better future emanating from it I must say I got kinda teary.

But, alas, in my way, I shall try.

Sumatra is beautiful and terrible. Beautiful because the landscape is made up of volcanoes. There are about 5 volcanoes here on the island of Subang (AKA Pulau Weh) and these volcanoes are draped in lush and relatively untouched jungle. So, in a word, beautiful. Right?

But also terrible and deadly because jungles are filled with dainty creatures that can stop your heart in about 45 minutes. (I'd download the photo of the pretty green poisonous snake which camped in a tree next to our guesthouse in Ibioh but, apparently, today is not the best day for downloading pics to the Internet. Trust me when I say it was rather little and bright green, and cute. For a deadly snake.)

Also, the volcanoes these jungles hide sometimes detonate in a blaze of god-like fury.

Krakatoa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa) is still one of the busiest and biggest of the world's live volcanoes. Right now there is a standing scientific warning not to approach it by more the 3 kilometres. Krakatoa is along what is called the "Great Sumatran fault" which spans the island of Sumatra and arcs into Java.

Lake Toba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba), which also lies along this fault line in the center of Sumatra, is actually a massive crater which once contained a "supervolcano". It is theorized that the catastrophe there, the "Toba event" some thousands of years ago, killed most of the people then alive on the planet and altered the course of human history by creating a human bottleneck in Asia and thus reducing the gene-pool. Read: we're all inbred and it's Sumatra's fault, literally.

In any case, volcanic lands tend to be accompanied by attendant earthquakes which themselves often spawn tsunamis. So, it's barely hyperbole to say the land itself here might be out to kill us all. While the Sumatrans we've met so far have mainly been wonderful and friendly, their land provides a brutal contrast to that. Since we've been here during the latest earthquake in Padang, I've wondered if they might be better off giving it all back to the jungle.

The other major downside to life in Sumatra is the Indonesian love of smoking. Smoking is a national past-time. Some countries play football or volleyball or baseball. Indonesians smoke. Like convicts. They puff and suck and blow rings and really enjoy the myriad cigarettes available here. And they enjoy them everywhere! On the bus, at the Internet cafe, before, during and after meals, in bed...

And everybody smokes (or so it seems): all men--young and old--of course, but also old ladies and even children.

I could barely email in Medan for all the chain-smoking seven-year-olds. I kid you not. It's a weird thing to watch a small child with a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth while he plays a first-person-shooter-war game and roars at the monitor like he's got Tourette Syndrome. I'd have thought he was especially crazy if not for the fact that about a dozen other kids his age were doing the same.

I even saw a guy smoking while he was working out at a gym in the basement of a mall. He was lifting weights. People were playing pool nearby. I thought I was watching an episode of "Oz" or some other prison drama (or comedy).

This all means that bus rides are the worst. Imagine being trapped in a bus for 4 or 5 or 16 hours with a bunch of chain-smokers. It makes for hard travel. Harder travel even than India which has recently passed laws forbidding cigarettes on trains and buses, etc. The roads in Sumatra are better than India, but I'd take poor roads and clean air any day.

So, how's that for a parallel? The volcanic land smolders, and so do the people.

Still, we're having an interesting time. I'm not sure I'd call it "fun", exactly. But "interesting" is better; it's more exciting somehow. And we avoid the second-hand smoke and the small pretty green snakes as much as possible.

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Banda Aceh

2009-10-10T21:45:00.001-07:00

It's a funny thing about life. Sometimes the things that seem most awful at the time end up being the best thing that could happen to you...if you can turn your perspective a certain way.

You will remember that Sumatra was hit very hard by the tsunami in 2004. We visited a town called Banda Aceh, one of the hardest hit places in the world. One of the people that I spoke to said that Banda Aceh lost over 300 000 people because of the tsunami.

I remember some of the footage on TV 5 years ago and it's true that the waves were huge and the devastation was enormous. I must say though that it is a completely different perspective actually being in the town where it all happened.

We met people who talked to us about running ahead of the wave. The ground shook for 5 minutes (which is a long time to be outside of your house, crouched down because if you stand up, you will fall down). Then when the ground stopped shaking, people started going back to their crumbled houses to see what they could salvage. But then people started running by, heading away from the water.

"What is happening?", they asked.

"The water is coming! Run!", was the answer.

"Mama, what should I take?", asked one girl.

"Take your Engineering degree, you need it for your future", said her mother.

So they ran ahead of a wave that was more than 6 metres high. SIX meters. In some cases, it was a wave taller than 2 telephone poles. It was a black wave, because there was so much debris; so many houses and boats and cars and trees and rocks and lives.

There is one story of a boy who wanted his friend to run up the hill, because he remembered the myth that if the waters recede, it means that a big wave is coming. His friend didn't know this myth, and didn't want to run. So the boy stole his friends' money and the friend chased the boy up the mountain, and beat the boy for stealing his money. And then the wave came.

When we were on our way up to Banda Aceh, our plane was delayed. Delayed and delayed and delayed. And I was tired and hungry and growly and frustrated.

I noticed a person at the back of the airport who had been there about the same length of time that we had, and Nathan and I went and introduced ourselves. Jocelyn is an Aussie who works in community development and was travelling to Indonesia for a conference, and was making a side trip up to Banda Aceh to meet a friend of hers. As it turned out, we were able to spend time the next day with Marissa and Jocelyn, Marissa being a native Indonesian, and we toured the town in a way we never would have been able to had our plane not been delayed.

For instance, there is a boat in the middle of the city of Banda Aceh. It is a boat that rode the tsunami wave and landed on a house about 5 kilometers inland. This is not a small boat. It is more than 230 tonnes. Marissa had never seen it before, and when we were driving through the back alleys of Banda Aceh looking for it, and she said,

"There it is".

We said,

"That can't be it. That' a 4 story building!".

"No, that's it".

"It can't be".

"It is".

And it was. In the middle of the newly rebuilt city is a huge ship that cannot be moved back to the sea because of its size and weight. Only the sea can move such a huge bulk. It is now a memorial to the people who lost their lives during the tsunami.

We spoke to a man, one of the men who had run ahead of the wave. He was a guide on the boat, explaining to tourists why the ship was there and what had happened. Jocelyn asked him how Banda Aceh had changed since 2004. What he said was so interesting.

In 2004, Banda Aceh was basically under marshal law. There was a 9pm curfew. There were bombs going off almost every day because military forces had taken over the city.

The man said, "There is more peace now. It is safer." That was the first thing that he said. It wasn't about what was lost, but about what had been gained through the millions of dollars in international aid that had been poured into the area, and the rebuilding process itself. He was so hopeful, and optimistic and seemingly non-bitter.

I must say that going to Banda Aceh affected me greatly...the difference between seeing something so terrible on TV that it's unreal, like a movie, and actually seeing the effects of the devastation, and climbing onto a 4 story structure whose only true home should be on the sea, and realizing how tall and powerful a wall of water 6 meters high actually is. It is terrible to consider the tsunamis and the earthquakes and the wars and the madness that is in the world.

And yet, and yet. My plane was delayed and we made new friends and experienced a beautiful, wonderful, enlightening day. A tsunami devastated a city and now there is more peace. Could it be that after all of this madness and war and credit crunch and environmental crisis and famine and all the difficulties and heartbreaks we will emerge into a better place, a safer and more informed and more peaceful place?

I hope. I hope. I hope.

ACDB

sumatran earthquake

2009-09-30T22:45:00.001-07:00

Hi there,

Just in case you were thinking of worrying about us due to the Sumatran earthquakes, we are fine and were not in either of the danger zones. We will be travelling to the north of the island instead of to Padang, and from there we will be headed briefly to Malaysia, then Australia.

All is well.

Danau Toba

2009-09-28T02:29:00.001-07:00

We have stopped at a little island in the middle of Sumatra - Lake Toba. To say that the recession has hit hard here would be an understatement. The population is agriculturally based, with lots of guesthouses and hotels for the tourists. If the accommodation options are 1/3 full, I would be very surprised. So, the prices are pretty good. A room with a first class view of the lake is 6$ Canadian, dinner is about $4 CAD for 2 people - and that's a fairly hearty dinner. Granted, there isn't THAT much to do, but if you can swim, read a book, play cards, talk to people, take a walk, see the sights...what more do you need?

For instance, the other night we went to another part of the island to see one of the local cultural productions - singing and dancing. It started out with a 5-part band which included guitar, drums, xylophone type thing, cymbals, flute. The rhythms reminded me of Carribean music, though with less steel and more wooden drumming. It was fun, but just okay, you know? Local. Then there was some dancing. The steps were traditional and simple, and it was fun to watch what their customs demanded years ago. I don't think that they do the same kind of "greeting" dance for visiting tribes, for instance. So we were happy that we had come, and were considering leaving as we had finished dinner and it was getting late. However, we decided to stay for the second part of the show, which involved singing by a bunch of gentleman. We were expecting the same kind of "okay" singing, enthusiastic but not necessarily impressive.

Enter the 5-part harmonies and the show.

I would compare it to mariachi singing, though with closer and more complicated harmonies. To say that we were impressed would be an understatement. It was extremely entertaining, and the men were SPOT ON in terms of pitch and tune, even though we couldn't understand a word of it. One of the songs was introduced as one of the local drinking songs, and in the way of drunk people everywhere, we all swayed back and forth with our mugs (or tea) held high. The guys stumbled around a bit in a show of drunkeness, then resumed some more serious singing, to be followed by jamming at the end of the night.

What fun! The people here are laid back and friendly. It's a bit of a mystery to me why there aren't more people here, though the ride to get to this area was a bit harrowing, with near misses and clenched jaws (on my and Nathan's part at least) all the way. There also seemed to have been some kind of bug in the seat cushions, as we have bites all over our shoulders that are ITCHY.

Although we know that we should be getting on with seeing things and experiencing more of the highlights of Sumatra, it will be extremely difficult to leave this little slice of heaven, not only because it's beautiful here, but because we want to avoid another bus ride for as long as possible!

ACDB

Sumatra

2009-09-22T21:19:00.001-07:00

We hit Medan and it was 39*Celcius. Pretty hot, but we are not finding it too uncomfortable, which makes me quite nervous about returning to Dawson in March. we will have to wear about 6 layers of clothing to stay warm, I think.

the email is not so good in Sumatra. We're in one of the larger cities right now, Medan, and are stuck here for a few days because there's a big bank holiday (can you imagine...banks closed for a week straight!) and we can't get anyone to change canadian dollars for us. this is the end of Ramadan, so it's a big holiday. I'd have a big holiday too, if it meant that I didn't have to fast anymore. Can you imagine ME, FASTING!? HAHAHAHAHAHA! So we are hanging out and walking around a mostly deserted city, but still eating (!) and there are few places open that we have been able to visit. But if the email is so-so here, it's going to be even worse in the smaller places, so please be patient with our lack of correspondence.

We went to a mall for instance, yesterday. It would appear from looking at the population at the mall that about 75% of residents of Malaysia are below 16 years of age. Also, they are all quite petite and short. They watch us and grin at us and we try to avoid stepping on them (especially Nathan whose bulk might break bones if they bump into him) because they seem to have very little awareness of people behind them or in front of them and just kind of walk without looking. This is okay if someone of your own size is behind you and about to step on you, but with people like Nathan and I, there is danger...for them. So we have to be careful.

the place that we are staying is 60 000 Rupiyahs. We spent a total of about 200 000 Rupiyahs yesterday, which is the equivalent of 22 dollars. The month that we spend here should cost us about 7 million Rupiahs. Very weird to be handling money worth 100 000 anything, though not so unusual since we have done the same in Vietnam and Turkey...but still kind of awesome.

"What about love" (by Cheap Trick? Pat Benetar? Heart?) is playing right now. LOUDLY!!! Who sings this? Very 80s. Eighties music is very big here. And everyone SMOKES! At least they smell like cloves. They're allowed to smoke in restaurants AND IN THE MALL! Ugh. It's still fun, though. As long as the rat that we saw run from the kitchen to the toilet yesterday doesn't come into our room, I'll be fine.

Penang

2009-09-15T02:08:00.000-07:00

One of the many Chinese temples in Georgetown (also called Penang), Malaysia. Here it is not uncommon to see a Hindu temple across the street from a Muslim mosque which is also across a Chinese temple like this one.

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Singapore Airport

2009-09-15T01:56:00.001-07:00

They have a butterfly sanctuary in the Singapore airport. They also have three movie theatres, several "gamezones", at least three hotels, and dozens of expensive places to eat. They even have a fish spa, were you can have little watery creatures nibble on your feet. Yep, it's pretty darn nice. While the amenities didn't quite make up for that 12 hour layover, I must admit that if you must have a massive layover, you should do it in Singapore.

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Bats!

2009-09-15T01:48:00.001-07:00

The swarm of animals in the second photo are millions of bats who live under the Austin Bridge (under the shadow of the capital dome). The other photo is Anne doing the local American Sign Language sign for "bat". I'm not sure which is more frightening.

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Flea Marketing

2009-09-15T01:40:00.001-07:00

Anne pushes Grandma and Mary appears to be caught--I think she was about to purchase yet another ceramic chicken.

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2009-09-15T01:32:00.000-07:00

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2009-09-15T01:23:00.000-07:00

Matt and Leslie.

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2009-09-15T01:20:00.001-07:00

Noah, deep in thought. Yes, it can happen.

And, for his next trick, Micah produces Lily from a hat.

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The North Carolina family

2009-09-15T01:01:00.001-07:00

Of course Lily gets a solo shot, because she's awesome.

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Friends

2009-09-15T00:47:00.001-07:00

One photo of Choune and Edith and another of (left to right) Hugo, Lou-Ann, Anne, Edith, Choune, Reme, and some fella who looks like he's about to fall asleep. We took this one twice and everyone (except me) looked best in this first one. So...

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2009-09-15T00:33:00.001-07:00

Another photo of the gang at a park. And Jesus in the lotus postition. Micah made this prototype and plans to reproduce a limited number of copies for sale in Asheville.

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Umbrella shopping

2009-09-15T00:19:00.001-07:00

It rains alot here. This is what one would expect in an Asian country, especially on this side of the dry season. So it rains every day.

Some of you may know that Nathan is quite...frugal. He resists buying anything. ANYTHING. Except food, of course. He makes an exception for food.

However, it's been raining a lot. I brought a small umbrella with me, but as broad shouldered people, we can't both fit under it, which we discovered on our way over to the department store. We walked in with wet clothes...we each had a dry shoulder and a dry head. I had convinced Nathan that we needed another umbrella on the walk over...surprisingly easy it was, too.

We started opening collapse-able umbrellas (to see the colours and to make sure they work) and closing them again and putting them back into their cases, like the good citizens that we are. The security guard came up to us. He was an older Indian gentleman with a wide, white smile.

"Let me show you how to put away the umbrellas", he said, very nicely. You could tell he was being friendly and trying to help. We had been folding the umbrellas and putting them back into their sleeves so that they fit, but were perhaps not being as careful as we could have been.

He started kind of ruffling the nylon and kind of folding it while it was upside down and then he rolled it, as you do an umbrella, and presto! Perfectly flat and neat.

"Are you an umbrella expert then," I asked.

"No, I used to sell umbrellas, but now I am a guard," he smiled.

"So what do you think of these umbrellas?" I asked, "they seem quite thin to me". The material DID seem thin - kind of porous. They had lots of colours though. The people here use umbrellas for sun as well as rain, so they use A LOT of umbrellas here..

"They are nylon. They are good umbrellas, but the material is not thick. They are just for normal rain. If it is raining harder, you should wear a rain coat, but if it is raining very hard, you should stay in," he said in his lilting Indian accent..

I laughed. It is the way of people in rainy countries everywhere - if it's raining too hard, stay inside.

He showed us again how to fold the umbrella and said, "If you fold an umbrella well, it will never spoil".

We are now proud owners of a new blue and grey collapse-able umbrella. Goes with Nathan's eyes. Nathan's very proud of his new purchase. We have still not mastered the technique of folding though.

And when we went outside again, it had stopped raining.

ACDB

Which Organ Shall We Eat Today?

2009-09-09T17:27:00.001-07:00

Hello all. We're back in the land of Pig Organ Soup, the ubiquitous Fish Spa, and "Carrot Cake" that looks more like a Waffle House omelet. Ah, joy!

The flights were uneventful and we rested for several hours in the Changi Singapore Airport, so things are pretty good overall. I say "overall" because Tiger Airways cancelled our morning flight and we are stranded in Changi. While Singapore's airport is not at all an uncomfortable place (they even have free Internet), it is pretty far outside of our jet-lag recovery plan. Anyway, that's life on the road.

Anne and I now plan to wander the corridors and stare at people like zombies and occasionally ask passersby for "Brains?!" Either that or we'll be eating a lot of horrible and expensive airport food.

In any case, it should be fun.

Tips-of-the-day: the best airport food (we've yet found) was in Mumbi's International airport; and the world's best train station food can generally be found in India or Italy (those two tie).

Yep, it's all about food with us.

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Heading back out

2009-09-07T18:52:00.001-07:00

It is important for everyone to know this: It takes approximately 2 months of rich food (and BREAD - yum!) and little exercise to gain 15 pounds. I know. I've done it.

Of course, I'm lucky. I'm going travelling again and will lose it all. We are about to hit Singapore and Malaysia and Indonesia and Australia and Cambodia and Thailand and I've no doubt that it's going to be 35 degrees and we're going to slosh again with all the water we'll be drinking. We've been in North America for the summer, but North America has this interesting thing that they call AIR CONDITIONING, and the places we stay in Asia really don't. But it's something to remember when we hit the USA in January, when I WON'T be going travelling again in 2 months - keep exercising and watch your diet! ("no bread, no bread, no bread!").

We've had a great time visiting friends and family. The focus has been outward, the discussions have been stimulating. I even got to practice my Sign Language with my cousin down in Austin, Texas, which I always love to do (along with having a great visit with my cousins). We've some lovely lakes (though cold - all the water in North America is SO COLD!) and visited with some of our favourite people and eaten some fabulous food, including the Ontario tomatoes which are so delectable right off the garden vine. Far be it from us to stop eating when we get home...I mean, that's the whole point of travelling, right? Eat your way around the world!

We have snuggled down into the North American scene: We have driven hundreds of kilometers (unlike overseas where we try to avoid driving - they drive crazy there!), we have looked over huge tracts of undeveloped land (those tend to be few and far between in Asia), we have looked at and swum in SO MUCH WATER (fresh water overseas is precious and getting preciouser - I know that's not a word, but you know what I mean). That was one of the things that hit me hardest about North America. We have so much water for so few people compared to overseas. We are so lucky.

And that is one of the things I learned in my travels, though I knew it already, it's really been brought home: We are so lucky to live in North America. We are geographically isolated and are safer from the wars that plague the countries whose borders are so close (and sometimes disputed). We have so much SPACE. Space to grow food, space to live, space to build. We don't have to live on top of each other. We have so many resources, water especially. North America is so clean. Some of the places that we have been have left me hacking and my eyes watering. I wouldn't get into the lakes or rivers (even if it was allowed) to swim.

Our travels have given me such an appreciation of everything I have. The peaceful history in my countries (USA and Canada) in my lifetime. The cleanliness of our water (and if you think your city water is bad, imaging fearing typhoid every time you turned on the tap) and air. The freedom of our nations.

These are all things that we don't appreciate enough. But a trip to a place where some of those things are absent makes me see things in a different light.

And imagine - I still have 5 months of travelling left!

Send us good thoughts while we're in the air. We leave Tuesday morning and arrive Thursday night! (The international date line is working against us this trip!)

Peace and health,
ACDB

This is a re-post of some of our favourite recipes...

2009-08-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

Green Garden Dip

540mL kidney beans (or pretty much any bean)

1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

2/3 cup mayonnaise

½ cup sniped fresh chives (about 2/3 bunch)

½ tsp. pepper

¼ tsp. salt

1.) Process beans, parsley, lemon juice and garlic in a food processor using a metal blade until the consistency of a paste (about 30 seconds)

2.) Transfer white bean mixture to a mixing bowl and fold in mayonnaise, chives, pepper, and salt.

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to two days or freeze.

Pad Thai Sauce

2 tsp preserved tamarind (let soften, stir, put through sieve to get rid of seeds and stringy bits; end up w/ ¼ cup dark watery tamarind stuff)

¼ cup boiling water

¼ cup ketchup

2 Tbsp. lime juice

1 Tbsp. soy or tamari sauce

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. oriental chili paste

Combine ingredients and let sit for 24 hours.

Pad Thai

Sauce (see above)

8 oz. rice noodles (1/4" wide)

3 cloves minced garlic

½ lbs. cubed chicken breast (optional)

½ lbs. shrimp (optional)

1/4 lbs. tofu (optional)

2 eggs, beaten

3 cups bean sprouts

½ cup peanuts, coarsely chopped.

3 green onions

1 cup fresh cilantro

Lime wedges

Put noodles in a bowl of hot water for a minimum of 20 minutes.

Heat oil in wok. Add chicken, shrimp, tofu; stir these constantly until browned, then push to the side. Add eggs and scramble until done. Add noodles, garlic, and prepared Pad Thai sauce. Stir until all well mixed.

Garnish with chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, green onions and lime wedges.

Thai Noodles w/Green Curry Broth

2 cans or 4 cups of coconut milk

1 Tbsp. Thai green or red curry paste

2 Chicken breasts, thinly sliced

4 cups chicken stock

2 Tbsp. graded ginger

8 lime leaves (optional)

2 bunches of lemon grass, halved lengthwise

1 bunch cilantro

2 Tbsp. fish sauce

2 limes, juiced and zested

1 8oz. package of rice noodles

2 cups bean sprouts

4 cups chopped Asian greens (bok choy or spinach)

1 bunch green onions, green tops chopped, white bottom discarded

Heat a heavy-bottomed saucepan or soup pot over medium-high heat. Add I cup of the thicker coconut cream and the curry paste. Cook, stirring constantly, until the coconut begins to separate (about 5 minutes). Add the chicken and continue cooking and stirring for another 5 min.

Add the remaining coconut milk, chicken stock, ginger, lemon grass, lime leaves, cilantro root, fish sauce, lime juice, and lime zest. Bring to a full boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes. Remove the lemon grass sections and discard. Bring the broth back to a boil. Stir in the noodles, bean sprouts, and bok choy. Turn off the heat and let sit 5 minutes. Stir in cilantro leaves and green onions, then serve immediately.

Cameron's Super Salsa

7oz can of green chilies

8-10 hot jalapenos, chopped fine

One bundle scallions

18oz can whole tomatoes, pureed

15oz can tomato sauce

2-4 cloves garlic, chopped fine

3 whole fresh tomatoes, chopped

Salt, pepper to taste

2 tsp ground cumin

Combine all and enjoy. Serve with chips over chicken, potatoes, rice, enchiladas, etc.

Coconut Curry Simmered Fish Fillets

1 Tbsp. (15mL) vegetable oil

1 onion, sliced

1 sweet red pepper, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. (15mL) minced gingerroot

1 Tbsp. (15mL) curry paste

2 cups (1 can or 400mL) coconut milk

1 lb (500 grams) skinless, firm-fleshed fish fillets (any edible fish will do)

2 tsp. (10mL) cornstarch

½ cup (125mL) chopped fresh coriander

1 tsp. (5mL) grated lime rind

¾ tsp (4mL) salt

1 lime, cut in wedges

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; fry onion, red pepper, garlic, ginger, and curry paste, stirring, until pepper is softened (about 5 min.).

Add coconut milk, stirring and scraping up any brown bits on bottom of pan; bring to a boil. Cut fish fillets into 3-inch (8cm) pieces; add to pan. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until fish flakes easily when tested (about 6 minutes). Using slotted spoon, transfer fish to platter; keep warm.

In a small bowl, stir cornstarch w/ 1 tbsp cold water. Stir into pan and bring to a boil; boil until thick enough to coat back of spoon (about 1 min.). Stir in coriander, lime rind, lime juice, and salt. Pour over fish; serve with lime wedges. Makes 4 servings.

Green Curry Chicken with Sweet Potato

1 kg (2 lbs) sweet potato, peeled and diced

2 Tbsp peanut (or vegetable) oil

2 Tbsp Thai green curry paste

1 Tbsp peanut (or vegetable) oil, extra

4 chicken breast fillets

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup coconut cream

4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

1/3 cup coriander leaves

Preheat the oven to 200° C (400° F). Place the sweet potato in a baking dish and sprinkle with the oil. Bake 25 minutes or until golden and soft.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the curry paste and extra oil and cook, stirring, for two minutes. Add the chicken and cook for 1 minute on each side to seal.

Add the stock, coconut cream and lime leaves. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.

To serve, place the sweet potato on plates and top with the chicken. Spoon over the curry sauce and sprinkle with the coriander leaves. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Serves 4.

Thai Noodle Salad

Salad:

½ lb (225g) spaghetti or large, flat rice noodles

2 cups baby spinach

1½ cups grape tomatoes, sliced in half

1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned

½ red bell pepper, seeded and sliced in thin strips

½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Dressing:

3 Tbsp. lime juice (6, 9)

2 Tbsp. toasted (dark) sesame oil (4, 6)

1½ Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated (3, 4½)

3 cloves garlic, minced (6, 9)

1½ Tbsp. tamari (3, 4½)

1 Tbsp. rice vinegar (2, 3)

1 Tbsp. sugar (2, 3)

1½ tsp. chili paste (3, 4½)

Cook the noodles until al dente. While they are cooking, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Rinse and drain the noodles thoroughly and place them in a large bowl. Add half of the dressing to the noodles and stir gently until noodles are coated. Add the fresh vegetables and the remaining dressing and stir to combine. Let sit for ½ hour. Serve at room temperature.

Golden Sauce (Hollandaise Alternative)

1 small potato, diced

½ small carrot, diced

1&1/3 cup water

2 Tbsp. clean, raw cashews

1½ Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

¾ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. celery salt / Mrs. Dash

Simmer potato and carrot in water. When cooled, process with remaining ingredients (including cooking water) in a blender until very smooth. Yields 2 cups.

Cranberry Relish

3 cups of chopped fresh cranberries

2 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger

1/3 cup of chopped cilantro

2 Tbsp. minced fresh jalapenos

¼ cup chopped green onion

1 clove minced fresh garlic

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

½ cup sugar

Konbu Stock

3 x 4 inch piece konbu

1 quart water

Soak the konbu in the water for 30 minutes. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the konbu. (The konbu can be sliced and added to stir-fried veggies, etc.)

Lettuce-Wrapped Vegetable Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Sauce:

1½ tbs. tamari

1 tbs. fresh lime juice

¼ cup peanut butter

1 clove garlic crushed

1 tbs. minced fresh ginger

¼+ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

4 Tbsp. water + small amount more if necessary

Process all in food processor.

Spring Rolls:

6 large soft lettuce leaves (Boston or leaf lettuce)

1 cup finely shredded Napa cabbage (or shaved carrot)

1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 cup fresh bean sprouts

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Arrange a small amount of each filler in lettuce leaf. Bring bottom edge over filling and fold in the sides gently but tightly. Use toothpick as needed to hold in place. Serve with sauce.

Thai BBQ Veggie Skewers

BBQ Marinade:

1 cup oyster sauce

1 cup chili garlic sauce

¼ cup lime juice

1½ tsp. soy sauce

Mix these ingredients in a small bowl or glass jar and set aside. Marinade may be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Vegetable Skewers:

1 zucchini

1 red pepper

4 large mushrooms

24 8" wooden skewers, soaked in water for 10-20 minutes

1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Cut vegetables in half, place in bowl and pour marinade over them. Toss to insure veggies are well coated. Let stand 20 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat oven to broil and place oven rack at the highest position. Place vegetables on a lightly greased baking sheet and broil. Reserve marinade. (Vegetables may also be cooked on the grill.)

Remove vegetables from the oven and cook. Dice into ½ inch pieces.

Place vegetable pieces on skewers. Store in fridge until serving. Just before serving, brush reserved marinade over skewers, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

All-Purpose Marinade for Skewers

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

2 tsp. dried oregano leaves

2 cloves garlic, minced

¾ crushed red pepper flakes

Pizza Dough

2 cups flour

3 eggs

1 cup lukewarm water

Pinch salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Blend flour, salt, oil, eggs one at a time. Add water as needed; makes dough for two pizzas.

Spread olive oil on pizza pan.

Cook at 450° for 15 – 20 minutes.

Banana Nut Oat Waffles

2 cups rolled oats (not instant)

1 Tbsp. Sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 cup rice milk

2 large eggs

2 ripe bananas

½ c chopped nuts

More rice milk if needed to thin batter

Combine dry ingredients in food processor and process 1 minute, until oats are finely ground.

Add rice milk, eggs, and bananas; process until well mixed. Stir in nuts.

Serve with maple syrup.

8 Excellent Waffles

2 egg yolks

2 cups rice milk

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1/3 cup oil

2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Preheat waffle maker.

Put all ingredients except egg whites in large mixing bowl and beat slowly until moistened, then mix more quickly until smooth. Then gently fold in beaten egg whites.

Pour ½ cup batter over grids on waffle maker, bake until steam no longer escapes, 3 – 5 minutes.

Company Cornbread

1 cup flour

¾ cup cornmeal

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 beaten eggs

1 cup rice milk

¼ cup oil.

Preheat over 400°.

Combine wet / dry ingredients separately. Add wet ingredients to dry; stir until just moistened.

Place cast iron skillet in oven x 3 minutes. Remove skillet from oven. Pour batter into hot skillet. Bake 20 minutes or until light brown.

Cornmeal Crepes

The key to these crepes is having your pan at the right temperature—too high and the crepes will burn; too low and they'll never brown.

2 cups rice milk

2 Tbsp. arrowroot

½ cup cornmeal

½ cup unbleached white flour

½ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus more for pan

3 Tbsp. chili powder

2 Tbsp. finely chopped scallions

1.) Put rice milk, arrowroot, cornmeal, flour, salt, and 2 Tbsp. oil in blender and puree until smooth. Let batter rest about 20 minutes, or until it is the consistency of heavy cream. Stir in chili powder, ½ cup water and scallions.

2.) Lightly oil 10- to 12-inch skillet. Heat over medium-high heat. Ladle in ¼ cup batter, tipping pan in circular motion so batter covers entire surface. Cook 45-60 seconds, or until crepe bubbles and becomes golden around the edges. Loosen edges with spatula and flip crepe. Cook about 10 seconds on second side. Slide crepe onto a plate and cover to keep warm.

3.) Repeat, lightly oiling pan between crepes, until batter is used up. If batter thins, add water to thicken.

4.) Server crepes with refried beans, guacamole, and salsa.

Rhubarb / Apple Crisp

5 – 6 apples (tart – spy) with ½ to ¾ cup white sugar

5 cups rhubarb cut into small cubes, add lemon and 1 cup white sugar

Place in 9 x 9 pan.

Topping:

1/3 cup flour

¼ tsp. salt

½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients. Pour in oil; stir until crumb mixture.

Put on fruit, press down.

375° for 40 – 60 minutes.

Fried Bananas

4 ripe bananas

3oz rice flour

1oz vegetable oil

1 cup coconut milk

Pinch salt

Oil for frying.

Easy-Kneading Whole Wheat Bread

Makes 2 or 3 loaves.

7½ cups whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. yeast + ½ tsp yeast

Combine these dry ingredients.

3 cups water

1 Tbsp. salt

¼ cup honey

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup molasses

Oven-heat these ingredients in a large steel bowl until very warm (120° – 130° F); then stir.

Gradually stir in dry ingredients.

Knead dough in bowl until smooth and elastic. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Remove dough to lightly floured surface; divide into 2 or 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a rectangle. From short end of each rectangle, roll up tightly as for jelly roll. Pinch seams and ends. Place, seam sides down, in 2 or 3 spring form pans (option: spread cornmeal on bottom of pans). Cover; let rise 60 minutes.

Bake at 375°F for 35 to 45 minutes, or until done.

Dolmades (Stuffed Grape Leaves)

1 onion, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil, divided

2 cups short grain brown rice, cooked

2 Tbsp tomato paste

½ cup raw sunflower seeds

½ tsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp lemon juice

½ tsp sea salt

Pinch black pepper

8oz jar of grape leaves, drained

1. In a small saucepan, sauté the onion in half the olive oil, then mix it with the remaining ingredients, except the grape leaves.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. Spread out 10 grape leaves, with the darker side facing down. Spoon a teaspoon of filling onto each leaf.

4. Fold the bottom up, the sides toward the middle, then roll toward the top. Place them on an oiled pan, then brush the tops with the remaining oil.

5. Bake, covered, for 35-40 minutes.

Makes 20–30.

Denver Chocolate Pudding

¾ cup sugar

1 cup flour

2 Tbsp. baking powder

Pinch salt

1 square unsweetened chocolate

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (olive)

½ cup rice milk or water

1 tsp vanilla or mint extract

Combine ingredients "A" above and pour into a square or oval baking pan.

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

4 Tbsp. cocoa

Combine ingredients above. Sprinkle over ingredients "A".

Pour 1 cup cold water over all.

Cook at 350° for 40 minutes.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

¾ cup olive (or other vegetable) oil

1 & ¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla or mint extract

½ cup rice milk

2½ cup flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. cloves

2 cups grated zucchini

¼ cup chocolate chips (optional)

Mix "wet" ingredients together: oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla (or mint), and rice milk.

Mix dry ingredients and add to "wet".

Add zucchini and chocolate chips to whole.

Bake in oiled and floured pan at 325° for 45 minutes.

Or bake cupcakes at 325° for 20 - 25 minutes.

Classic Icing

½ cup vegetable oil

3 cups icing sugar

2½ tsp. vanilla or mint extract

3 – 4 Tbsp. rice milk

1/3 cup cocoa powder (optional)

Cream oil and 2 cups icing sugar together. Beat vanilla or mint, 2 Tbsp. milk and 1 cup sugar into mixture. Gradually add 1 – 2 Tbsp. milk into icing until smooth and of desired spreading consistency.

For a chocolate icing, add 1/3 cup sifted cocoa to the first addition of icing sugar.

Fills and frosts two 8" layers or a 13" x 9" cake.

Mayan Chocolate Sparklers

Preparation Time: 60 min. | Baking Time: 10 min. | Makes: 5 dozen | Freezing: excellent

Topping:

½ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Cookies:

1¼ cups olive oil

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1¾ cups flour

1¼ cups cocoa powder

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. pepper

Pinch cayenne

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.) Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2.) Topping: Combine sugar and cinnamon for topping.

3.) Cookies: Beat oil and sugars until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add next 6 ingredients, mixing until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

4.) Roll in 1" (2.5 cm) balls, don't flatten. Roll into cinnamon and sugar topping. Place on prepared cookie sheets, about 2" (5 cm) apart.

5.) Bake 8-10 minutes. Cookies should still be soft in center. Let cool on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Remove, cool on wire rack.

Note: Cookies can be frozen raw and stored in an airtight bag or container. If baking from frozen, add 5 minutes to baking time.

Curried Pecans

2 cups pecan halves

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tbsp canola or olive oil

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

¼ - ½ tsp cayenne

¼ tsp coriander

¼ tsp cloves

½ tsp ginger

Place nuts in a pan of boiling water. Boil 10 minutes.

Drain well while hot, toss nuts in bowl with sugar and oil. Mix well.

Let stand 10 minutes.

Spread nuts in single layer in jelly roll pan.

Bake at 325° for 15 minutes, until crisp.

Turn several times.

Combine seasonings. Sprinkle over nuts and toss to coat. Spread in single layer to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Super Peanut Butter Love Cookies

2 cups peanut butter (just peanuts & the oil from them)

2 cups sugar (white or brown or half of each)

2 eggs

½ cup water

Mix "wet" ingredients above well.

2 & ½ cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2 cups chocolate chips

Mix above ingredients, then slowly stir into "wet" ingredients.

Bake at 325° for 11 to 15 minutes.

Ginger Snaps

¾ cup olive or other healthy oil

1 cup sugar

1 egg

¼ cup molasses

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. ginger

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

Combine ingredients and cook at 350° 8 to 10 minutes.

Oh-So-Good Cookies

½ cup olive oil

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 egg

1 ½ tsp vanilla

Mix above together well.

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oatmeal

½ tsp. baking soda

Combine with "wet" ingredients above.

½ cup raisins

½ cup sunflower seeds

1 cup chocolate chips

Stir in above.

Bake 375° for 9 – 12 minutes.

Kathy's Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats

½ cup wheat germ / bran

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sesame seeds

¼ cup honey

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup peanut butter

¼ cup chocolate chips

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ cup raisins / currants or other chopped dried fruit.

Mix peanut butter and oil together. Then mix all.

Grease pan. Press down before and after baking at 350° for 15 minutes.

Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to Yahoo! Answers.

Back in Canada

2009-07-24T07:19:00.001-07:00

When we came off the plane in Toronto, the officer asked "So where are you coming from today?".

I couldn't remember.

We had been to so many places, on and off buses and trains and planes and taxis and tuk-tuks and elephants...I just blanked.

She looked at me oddly when I glanced at Nathan and he responded "North Carolina".

"So have you been to a lot of other places?"

For some reason, I had no trouble answering that question.

"Yes! We were in Houston before that, and Singapore, and Malaysia, and Thailand, and before that we were in India, and Vietnam, and Laos and Thailand and India!".

"Is that all?" said the officer.

When we first hit N. America, the thing that tripped me up the most was the light switches. In Asia, press up to turn OFF. So there we were, eating lunch at midnight because we were so jet-lagged, but having trouble with the lights because I kept trying to turn them on by pressing DOWN on the switch. Quickly remedied.

Our time in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur was great and relaxing. We enjoyed the big cities. We cooked pasta puttanesca and ate Tricuits (at a premium price) and went to movies and rode the metro and window shopped and did all the things that we didn't do while we were more upwardly mobile. What we did wasn't exactly blog-worthy, but it was great for us.

Now we are back and appreciating North America. It's great not to worry whether the water is potable. It's strange to tap my belly and have a jolt of anxiety that my money belt isn't there (I can leave it home now, and I only need my (expired) driver's license for ID, not my passport). It's exciting and wonderful to see family and friends that we haven't seen since we left. It's excellent to be here in the summer, for garden season. We are eating MANY fresh tomotoes!

Being constantly around family and friends presents its own challenges. The nature of the challenge came to me when I was at the Art Gallery of Ontario yesterday, just staring at a painting. Not really examining the painting, just staring unfocusedly at it. And then it occured to me that part of the reason that I have such a hard time THINKING in my normal life, and why I got so much good thinking done while we've been travelling, is largely a question of focus.

In normal life, when you have a family, a job, friends, you're cooking meals, you're involved in your community, your focus is outward - it has to be, or your relationships falls apart, your friends hate you, you burn the casserole and the boards you're on fire you for lack of attention. When you don't have those distractions, you are much freer to focus inward, to allow issues to come to the surface, to examine your own thoughts, to talk about them, to come to terms with them, and then to dismiss them as reconciled.

It's amazing how long it takes to discover things about yourself, how you work, and why. I can understand why meditation is such a help to some people. Maybe now that I understand, I'll be able to meditate without all those day to day intrusive thoughts attacking me.

Course, that might take some practice.

More later, ACDB

Spitting on Singapore

2009-06-25T05:26:00.001-07:00

Spitting is illegal in Singapore--as is chewing gum, littering, etc. Singaporeans have a thing for cleanliness, which is kind of refreshing after spending quality time cleaning the beach in India. However, it is possible they might go overboard. After all, Malaysia and Singapore are known for their tough stance against drugs. (Signs at boarder crossings and on all tourist literature proclaim in bold letters: TRAFFIC IN ILLEGAL DRUGS CARRIES THE DEATH PENALTY. I kid you not.) We've heard that you can be fined for bringing chewing gum across the boarder and Anne and I generally prefer not to test just how harshly the local laws are applied.

However, one day Anne was feeling a bit nauseous and she asked me if I thought she'd get in trouble if she vomited on the street. Of course I calmed her and told her they would probably not enforce the death penalty, but a few smacks with the infamous Singaporean cane might be in order.

Swimsuits for everyone!

2009-06-14T00:45:00.001-07:00

We went to a water park the other day: Sunway Lagoon. It's always interesting to see local people at an activity where wearing bathing suits are required. Much of Malaysia is Muslim.. And most of the Malay women here wear headscarves all the time and sometimes socks with their sandals and sometime GLOVES and then sometimes the full burqa. The only skin exposed part of them that you can see habitually is their face (though there are lots of non-Muslims in Malaysia, and with them you see the same gamut of skin that you would see in N. America - well, maybe not QUITE the same, but close!), and for the ultra-religious, just their eyes. So it was interesting to see them try to swim.

Some of them just go in with their regular clothes on. Others have special suits which have long sleeves and long pants and little hoods that cover their hair and neck....I looked online and you can find suits like this under "modest swimwear".. And, I know what you're thinking, what they wear for modesty is not unlike what I wear for sun. And I must admit, their gear is very effective in blocking out the sun. I admire it from a purely practical view, but I'm thankful that I can choose to wear what I wear, and not have it subscribed to me through religion. My suit when we went swimming was actually one of the LESS modest ones, if you can believe it. I mean, there were some people with bikinis on, but usually, with my long-sleeved-covered-torso-shorts-attached suit on, I'm one of the unusual ones out on the beach.

But it's funny and ironic that I should admire what I consider to be clothing associated with religious fervour, when I can get fairly worked up over the discrepancy between men and women's freedom within ANY religion.

When I mentioned my feelings to Nathan, he asked me whether, if I could, would stop wearing the long suits that I do, providing there were some (very) convincing evidence that I wouldn't get burned from the sun. It gave me pause. Would these women also stop wearing their headscarves if suddenly their religion changed and they were allowed to wear anything they wanted? Or would they continue covering up just because they were used to it? I must admit that don't know whether I would stop wearing long suits...though they might not be QUITE as long as they are now.

Certainly the women here don't seem to be chafing under the yolk of headscarves. Perhaps they also don't chafe under their burqas. Perhaps they don't mind having to cover up when the men seem to be allowed to wear just regular street clothes. Maybe they can't imagine wearing what I wear just like I can't imagine wearing what they wear. Despite my many travels, there are still things that I don't know about people. Note to self: Must keep travelling.

ACDB

2009-05-06T22:28:00.001-07:00

2009-05-06T22:25:00.001-07:00

A rare and prestigious photo of the reclusive Nathan Bird.

Anne Flexes Her Jungle Muscles

2009-05-06T22:15:00.001-07:00

Mango Anne

2009-05-06T21:55:00.001-07:00

Anne processes mangoes for our morning salad on Pulau Tioman. Ah, life is tough.

Kitchen Snake

2009-05-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

This python was found in our hotelier's kitchen in the small beach town of Cherating. The snake had caught a squirrel, obviously.

Later, some neighborhood men came by and captured the snake and brought it away, unharmed, to the jungle. The snake is lucky there weren't more Chinese folks around. We've heard that they will eat almost anything--and python is a delicacy.

Just Phuket

2009-05-04T03:12:00.001-07:00

Phuket looks like a casually vulgar phrase of some kind. For instance, if Naomi Kline sold her soul to the devil and started writing copy for Nike, her first ad might sound something like "Just Phuket". Or... Tired of the rat race, I quit my job without telling them. I went to the airport and stumbled in anger and resentment up to the counter, and I must of muttered something that sounded like Phuket because this is where I ended up...

But, alas, this is SEA (South East Asia), which means nothing is pronounced according to the rules of normal English. So, Phuket is actually (unfortunately) pronounced "Poo-get", which is perhaps somewhat vulgar-sounding but somehow infinitely less cool. Likewise, the island of Phi Phi is pronounced "Pee Pee". Perhaps this was an omen.

We visited both Phuket and Phi Phi and they, unfortunately, are very over-developed. In terms of more sustainable development, we have much preferred the Malaysian islands: Pulau Perhentian and Pulau Tioman.

Have I mentioned that Anne swam with sharks? Yep, and we saw a giant blue-green sea turtle which was the size of a Volkswagen.

Malaysian Heat

2009-05-04T03:07:00.001-07:00

Before visiting Malaysia, I considered that it might be the kind of place where the sight of a woman's naked elbows or ankles caused the local men to spontaneously ejaculate. In other words, perhaps not so great.

But the truth is that we've been having a fine time here. And while most of the Muslim women, young and old alike, wear conservative headscarves, the younger ones also tend to enjoy hip-hugging blue jeans and tight tops which show off their bodies. In light of that I suppose you could argue that the headscarf is just a practicality; heck, I might wear one myself to protect from this powerful sun.

I've enjoyed being outside most of my life, but getting burned in S.E.A. is a very easy thing to do. As soon as the sun hits my skin I feel what must be the prickle of UV particles; and I don't think that has to do with heat alone, because in the Cameron Highlands, where it was quite cool, I felt the touch of the sun very strongly.

Still, so far the sun's power has been the only major downside--if you can truly call it a downside considering that a kind of sunworship is that is part of the reason that we're here in the first place; our fear of the sun is greatly outweighed by our utter joy that it is nowhere near 50 below.

Deep thoughts and big fish

2009-05-04T02:58:00.001-07:00

I have found that as our travel extends for such a long time, our days settle into something of a routine, despite the fact that we are in a different place every week, and sometimes more often than that. We discover our new place and find the markets and buy vegetables, we walk, we talk to the locals, we find interesting places to eat and visit, we cool down after sweating a lot, we swim, we read. In the end, there is just living, where ever we are.

We have recently been at several very pretty beaches where we have seen lots of fish and I have even swum with sharks! I am not a very brave person when it comes to sharks, as "Jaws" scarred me almost irreparably when I was younger and now I sometimes fear sharks in the freshwater lake at the cottage (I mean, what if someone dumped a shark, or it swam up a river, or something?), irrational as I know this to be. However, I saw this great movie "Sharkwaters" about sharks and how they're becoming more and more endangered because people (especially Asians, unfortunately) fish them for their fins (shark fin soup). Anyway, this movie instilled in me a great respect for sharks and their place in the ecosystem. When we went snorkeling in Thailand, there was a shark infested area and I went and I swam and I SAW them SWIMMING NEAR ME and I hardly freaked out at all. Then we went again here in Malaysia and saw some more and it was just exciting, really, with some fear, but mostly fun. Nathan went out alone and swam through a whole school of sharks, so if he could do that, I figured that I could handle 4 or 5 of them. Although these are not huge (wo)maneaters like they have in Australia, they are still 5 or 6 feet long black tipped reef sharks and respectably sharky to be quite recognizable and a bit scary for someone like me. So I'm quite proud to be overcoming that fear, though I won't be going steel cage diving yet.

We have also seen quite a few sea turtles, one the size of a small volkswagen, which was nice and kind of exciting in a non-shark way, as the big ones are the old ones, and it's nice to know that they're still OUT there, you know? The big ones tend to be quite calm around humans, and don't swim away, probably because they've seen so many of us slow, fin-less creatures flailing around on the surface and know that we can't catch them. But when they get tired of you, it's flit-flit-flit and they are GONE. They move so gracefully, but so quickly.

Watching the tides come in and go out and listening to the waves gives me time to think. I am amazed at how much thinking I do when I have the time to do it. I know that I've commented on this before, and perhaps I'm unusual in this sense, but I find that I don't really do much thinking when I'm in my day to day working life. There is too much going on in the moment to think about who I am and what I believe and what I want to do with my life. I can think about my job and my friends and my husband and my next meal and maybe a few deeper thoughts about my current book or some news article, but the deeper issues within myself often go un-scrutinized. So I've been interested to have time to delve into some issues that I didn't really even know that I had. And I think that I've gained some insight into myself and become firmer in my beliefs and perhaps even solved a few mysteries about myself. It's very nourishing. Like I am becoming more myself. It helps, of course, to have Nathan to bounce things off of, who is ever supportive and insightful and willing to talk for hours about how I feel about

such-and-such a topic. I am amazed at how much thinking along these lines that I HAVEN'T done. But I seem to be doing it now, better late than never, and I'm certainly benefiting now, so it's all happening as it ought.

Hope all is well and that deep thoughts combined with sharks aren't two too disparate lines of thinking.

ACDB

Cameron Highlands

2009-04-12T22:43:00.001-07:00

One of the great things about Malaysia is that there is a variety of everything. Variety of food (of course, or we wouldn't be here), variety of people, variety of climates, even.

For the last few days we have been in the Cameron Highlands, checking out the tea plantations and the jungle, and practically freezing our asses off! It went all the way down to about 20 degrees Celsius up there at elevation! We didn't even need a fan and the mosquitoes were too cold to bother with us. We needed TWO blankets and I had to wear my T-shirt AND my fleece to bed at night! I am in SSOOOOOOO much trouble when I get back to the Yukon.

The Highlands are about 2000 metres above sea level and it's a real agricultural area. Lots of gardening up there, not only because the soil is good, but also because it's not 40 degrees all the time. The hills are covered with gardens and plasticated greenhouses.. Lots of fresh produce, and they even grow strawberries, which we would have eaten, except the lady at the front desk of our guest house said that not only are the strawberries heavily laden with pesticides (as are most strawberries, unfortunately), but that they actually pump COLOURING into the berries to make then redder. Her doctor actually breaks out in hives when she eats these strawberries (but not organic ones, so it's the berry per se). So, we passed on the berries, though they certainly smelled delicious. We found other good things to eat, among them a great chocolate banana cake that I'm going to try to emulate when I get home.

And ah, the tea plantations. I'm not really one for tea (real tea, that is), but picture hills and valleys covered with a patchwork quilt of tea bushes in vivid greens and browns, with people cutting tea from the bushes and throwing it into a basket on their backs. Very picturesque...though as this was not an organic operation, the tea bushes were probably covered in pesticides too...but they certainly looked lovely.

It was cool enough in the day time to go on hikes up into the hills, something that I tend to avoid when we're at sea level, since I tend toward heat prostration in the afternoon. Beautiful orchids and other flowers in the forests, and though we did see a huge blue and orange caterpillar, there were no other big bugs (except loads of huge spiders which were content to stay in their webs, thank god), so I was quite happy.

The Highlands were a nice sojourn, but now we are back at sea level in Kota Baru in the north east (enjoying our fan and back to wearing as little as we can get away with in a Muslim country without offending the locals), on our way back to the beach of the Perhentian islands, where the fish are purported to be numerous and the snorkeling spectacular.

ACDB

A few funny international things

2009-04-03T23:04:00.001-07:00

You know, we have been travelling for a while and I was thinking the other day that I tend to talk about food a lot. Admittedly, eating is what we are travelling for. We like to talk about "eating our way around the world", and Nathan has already admitted that he doesn't really want to go anywhere that there isn't great food. Though how we'll know whether there is great food without going there is another question.

However, I thought I would relate a couple of non food-related incidents, which interesting happened on the same day:

"FISH SPA AND REFLEXOLOGY" was what the sign proclaimed. Was this a fish-friendly Hollywood-esque spa for fish, a la Paris Hilton purse-doggie? We went to investigate, to be confronted in the window with a large tank of small fish with some human feet dangling in the tank. The fish seemed to be nibbling at the feet and legs of this guy, who was reading a magazine. We took a picture, since who knows when this person would jump out of the tank screaming? However, it turns out that there is a clinic here where you can dunk your feet into a tank with small, medium or large fish (the large ones are barracude size, with teeth! - just kidding, they're about the size of small coi, no teeth) and the fish eat the dead skin off of your feet and legs. "So, you're paying them to feed their fish," said Nathan. Yes, you would pay them the equivalent of 15$ CAD to feed their fish with your flesh for half an hour. We weren't convinced of the advantages, so we passed on this "spa" option.

SUNSCREEN SURPRISE

I feel that I am a pretty knowledgeable person when it comes to sunscreen. I have done a bit of research, since I wear it pretty much every day. I don't like the chemical sunblocks, like oxybenzone and and PABA, since they soak into your cells and who knows what they do in there besides block UV? So I am constantly on the lookout for physical block sunscreens with Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide in them. They are not so easy to find in this part of the world. The natives of this area, including Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, don't have much need for sunscreen. They aren't roasting in their clothes like the tourists, so they can really cover up, including hats with scarfy-bits, which ensures that not much skin is exposed. They tan pretty well anyway, but they don't WANT to be browner. They have lots of products here that purport to LIGHTEN skin, one in particular that gives you a colour swatch so that you can compare the colour of your skin before and after using the product for a couple of weeks.

We constantly are ducking into shops that might have sunscreen, and I am constantly reading labels. There was one shop in this nice air-conditioned mall called "Skin Food" and I thought that I would check there. Their schtick is that they include different fruits and vegetables in their skin products, which are proudly advertised on each lable. There is Tomato skin cream, and Papaya under-eye conditioner and Citrus this and Lettuce that. They did in fact have several sunscreens there, SPF 46 and SPF 23 and I turned over bottle to read the ingredients, as is my way.

The writing was in Korean. You can alway tell Korean, since it looks like stick figures with too many arms and legs, as opposed to Chinese, which looks like little houses. I said to the girl who was standing oh-so-attentively by my side, "This is in Korean, do you have the list of ingredients in English?". She said no, they only had them in Korean because it was a Korean company. So I said, "What is the active ingredient for the sunscreen?"

"Brocolli", she said.

Now, as I said, I've done a lot of research on skin protection, and I think that I would have heard if brocolli was an effective UV blocker. I passed on this skin care option.

We are still in Georgetown, Penang, where we have found a nice hotel which changes the sheets and gives us new towels every 2 days without our having to ask. Ah, the things that become important when you're travelling.

In the end, this blog was still obliquely about food, though not about eating it.. I just can't help myself!

ACDB

In Malaysia...

2009-03-31T00:34:00.001-07:00

We have changed countries yet again and are now in Malaysia. This is a place where many different nationalities come together and all live fairly peacefully. Indians, Thais, Burmese, Chinese, Malay...you'll find someone from everywhere here. And of course, along with the people comes the....FOOD! Nathan was afraid that we would never have Indian food again, but lo and behold, there is a thriving Indian community here in Georgetown, Penang, our first stop, and we have been eating India food every day. Hurray for idli (rice dough balls that you eat with curry sauce for breakfast)! Nathan is very happy.

It's getting on into the really hot season here (or so it seems to me) and the sun is so fierce that when I stop walking and my feet are in the sun (the only part of me habitually uncovered and facing up at the sun) it feels like your face feels when you're right next to a big campfire. You know how your face is very hot but your back is cool? Well, my feet feel like your face feels in front of a campfire...like they're burning and you should move away. Tough to move away when you're outside and the sun is up there, though. I have decided to just go ahead and take the plunge and order one of those full length swimsuits: to the wrists and to the ankles. There is just no point in trying to get a tan over here, and sunscreen is heavier (and more expensive) than just carting around a full length suit. So, ho hum, geekdom again.

When we were in Koh Phi Phi, which is an island in Thailand, it was so hot that the cats actually hung out in the fridge in this one restaurant that we ate at. I looked down one day and there were two cats sleeping under the cans of soda and beer. I actually wouldn't have minded curling up with them. I will enclose photos one of these days.

It is official and we have bought tickets so that we can spend the summer in Ontario and the US. We will be hitting Houston, North Carolina, Toronto and area, and Ottawa. It will be good to see some family and friends and regroup a bit. I think that I will enjoy the rest of our travelling that much more, after I have recharged my batteries with a summer in North America. I've been a bit homesick.

Well, that's all for now. We will be travelling to the tea plantations in the Cameron Highlands and to the Perhentian islands to see some more fish sometime in the next little while. We will hit Kuala Lumpur and maybe stay a month, if the location suits us. We are still pretty footloose and trying not to decide anything too far in advance...execept, of course, coming home.

ACDB

Asia Visitors

2009-03-16T06:41:00.001-07:00

While we were in India, Anne read a newspaper article which ranked countries according to their desirability as tourists sights. The writer of the article was dismayed that India did not score better than many of its neighbors. India scored an 88, while Thailand (16) and Malaysia (11) were both way ahead in the top twenty.

Well, I'll tell ya. India is a wonderful country, but even if you spend 300 US dollars a night on swank accommodation (which is very possible) you still have to deal with the real India whenever you leave your posh estate. And being in India means putting up with a massive sub-population of beggars, numerous broken sidewalks covered in cow/human/dogshit (where there are sidewalks), and garbage everywhere: on the beach, in the sea, on the cliffs facing the sea, in the trees, at the train station, etc...

In the ocean at Varkala, one of India's finest beaches, Anne discovered a red shirt that had caught the barbed tail of an adolescent stingray. This is what I mean by trash "in the sea".

In short, being in India is somewhat like going to a job. And people on vacation don't usually want that. Nor, for that matter, do they want to step on the bodies of dead stingrays while wading through low tide.

India's saving grace is the people. Indians are very friendly and happy to help. As foreigners we stood out and Indians almost always made some collective effort to watch out for us. On numerous occasions we were rather lost and without fail someone intent on making sure that we found our way would appear. With the exception of Turkey, this is not true of the other parts of Asia we've seen thus far.

Some Thais like to say that they are actually too accommodating to tourists. However, I don't find them substantially more accommodating to us than their counterparts in Laos or Vietnam, and sometimes I find them downright hostile. I cannot speak to Malaysia (as we've not yet been) but hostile encounters with angry or apathetic hoteliers seem more the rule than any exception. We've witnessed at least one yelling match between tourists and hoteliers (over use of the Internet), and we've participated in two altercations ourselves, all in Vietnam.

On one occasion we argued over the day's exchange rate. Vietnamese like to quote prices in US dollars and then offer a crappy exchange when it is time to settle the bill. And on the other, we found out that we'd been lied to and forced to change rooms in what amounted to a complicated bait-and-switch scheme. Asians don't like it when they are caught in a lie and unable to "save face", and I wasn't disposed to help them out of this one. The hotelier in question went so far as to attempt to insult us into leaving, but to their consternation we just shrugged that suggestion off and stayed another 3 days. I suppose we all learned that Westerners have stupidly thick skin.

Even here in Thailand, "the land of smiles", apathy seems to be the rule of the day. Just today we had a guesthouse operator suggest that because we had only rented one room we would only get one towel. Of course there are two of us and this has never been an issue before. However, many hotel managers are bullies and behave like their low-budget accommodations are actually tourist prisons. We never had trouble of this kind in Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, or most of Europe. And hostility of this nature was also rare in India (Chennai left somewhat to be desired).

Of course we've already talked about how much we love the food here. But India still has an edge, if only because being a vegetarian in Vietnam, Thailand and Laos is tantamount to declaring a hunger strike. I love pad thai, tom ka (coconut soup), mangoes and sticky rice, glass noodles, and green curry with just about anything. But the food in India just seemed more accessible somehow. Even eating with your hands in a literal hole-in-the-wall restaurant, weird as that was, it always felt just right.

Perhaps India should score lower than its neighbors, but it certainly does not lose points on account of its excellent people or wonderful cuisine.

Everyone wants what everyone else has

2009-03-08T07:24:00.001-07:00

It is always a shock to leave India and hit Bangkok. You get used to India after being in it for awhile, but then you hit a place like Thailand, which is usually the place that we hit after India, and you realize just how surreal India is.

I know I've mentioned this before, but just about everywhere is so much cleaner and more organized than India. There are empty spaces in India, but there are still people in sight and at least one empty plastic water bottle on the ground. You hit Bangkok and the streets and clean, the green areas around the highways are MANICURED, for god's sake, and there isn't a speck of garbage. Anywhere. There are legions of people, it seems, who are employed by the city to clean things up. It's just a shock. We were SURPRISED today to see a dog trotting along the skyway (the sidewalk ABOVE the street where pedestrians walk). In India, there are about 1000 mangy mutts that don't belong to anyone roving around in packs, along with the goats and cows wandering through the alleys and highways and biways, but in Thailand, ONE nice looking dog is an occurance. Funny.

We were talking to a guy in Mamallapuram who was telling us how westerners that he's met love India and wish that they could like there all the time, because animals and humans all live together, which is true, since as I mentioned, dogs and cats and rats and cows and goats and chickens and humans all kind of congregate in the same places. This guy also said that Indians would like to try western life. Although there are advantages to life in the west, I think that the difference in family life, the cold, the high cost of living would all make them see through different eyes...it's not all fun and games, though I admit, for many people, life is a whole lot easier than it is in India.

However I was also thinking about Thailand and how people want what other people have. For instance, Thai people are very petite. They have very small frames and although the western diet is creeping up on them, most of them are quite thin. So what do they want? They want to look BIGGER! Some of the Thai women actually wear dresses then make their hips look BIGGER! I mean, all I can do is slap my forehead and look in amazement at these women wearing dresses that look like potato sacks and these other things that have elastic at the thighs so that the hip part poofs out...I wouldn't wear something like that in a million years! I am constantly amazed at how we all think the grass is greener on the other side. Though to be fair, lots of them also wear high heels and hip huggers, so there are all kinds here.

Ah, ain't life grand. Must go eat pad thai now.

ACDB

More Cool Pics and an Update

2009-03-08T07:08:00.001-07:00

Well, we're back in SEA proper; Bangkok, that is.

FYI: It's Year 2552 here, which either has something to do with the Buddhist calendar or we've traveled forward into the future. I'll try to figure it out in the next month or so. Maybe.

In any case, we're still having fun--burnin' the town down, so to speak. The downside is that we are totally ruined for western food. For the remainder of our lives, we may have to make periodic visits to Thailand for fresh mangoes and sticky rice with coconut milk.

And what these lovely folks do with vegetables is amazing. Today I ate mushrooms which tasted like beef. In fact, I thought it was beef and I was just lied to; so I investigated more thoroughly and, yes, success, it was definitely a beef-tasting veggie, but maybe not a mushroom; the Thai find it easy to be very unclear about mushrooms, among other things.

So, here's to, soy products... God, I must love them.

Dosa-Making Man

2009-03-08T06:43:00.001-07:00

Temple Details

2009-03-08T06:40:00.001-07:00

India has some of the world's most remarkable temples and these structures are a major reason that tourists and pilgrims visit the country. So I suppose it makes some sense that the country would try to gain monetarily from them. The cost to enter many sacred sites was between $5 and $10 CAD. And in Varkala we were approached by a police officer who informed us that we had to purchase an extra pass of some kind to take photos of the temple; this was also fairly common practice.

All I can say is that it was nice to be in a place where the major law enforcement duty was to insure that someone properly pay for the privilege of taking a photo of something pretty. We should all be so lucky.

You might be in India if...

2009-03-04T22:59:00.001-08:00

We took a bus the other day which had higher population than Dawson City in wintertime. Seriously, there were at least 150 souls packed in; we were literally hanging off the rafters, leaning into each other for support, and too often banging together like pinballs trapped in an arcade wizard's super-extended bonus play.

Of course it probably didn't help that our bus driver's favorite bumper sticker read: "The Devil is my Co-pilot." He cranked the Hindipop, laid on the horn, and damn-you if you were on the street (unless you were a cow).

As the bus careened wildly around the streets of Trichchiruppalli, usually shortened to "Trichy" for obvious reasons, I just had to laugh at another one of those experiences we might only have in India. Hopefully.

So, with mad traffic as inspiration, I bring you the list below.

You might be in India if:

Your bus screeches to a halt to keep from shmucking a dozen wildebeests on the highway;

A cow blithely joins the sunbathers at a swank beach resort;

Most of the businesses with "hotel" or "inn" in the name are actually restaurants with no accommodation whatsoever;

Your hotel posts the following warning: "Inmates who Violate Themselves Will be Intimated to the Police;"

Advertising for a local haberdashery reads: "M.A. Jestic: Seller of Opulent, Extravagant, and Jealousy-Creating Sarees;"

Local restaurant ad-boards proclaim: "Hotel Lakshimi: Tastes to excite tongue and mind" or "Come and provoke your taste buds";

You go to a restaurant and they expect you to eat with your hands (and preferably only your Right one);

You don't open your mouth in the shower for fear of dysentery;

You find a fully-framed picture (with intact glass) of Krishna as a baby on the beach--or, more specifically, under the water (yes, this actually happened to us in Varkala);

A policeman demands that you pay 100 Rupees to take a photo of the outside of a temple;

A queue at the train/bus station is more reminiscent of a scrum at a rugby match;

Instead of toilet paper, the better hotels provide kitchen sink spray nozzles just to the right of the commode (for clarity sake: this nozzle is intended to be an aid to wiping with one's left hand, and sometimes there is only a plastic bucket and one's imagination as to how to use it).

More to come. I'm sure.

2009-03-04T22:38:00.001-08:00

I was sitting on the bus the other day and thinking that India is a place where something new is happening every second that you look around. If it's not the lady sweeping garbage into the street, then it's the kids playing cricket barefoot in the back lot, or the beggar on the sidewalk, or the cracked cement, the juice seller crushing sugar cane, the samosa vendor on the corner, the infinite saris, the storefronts that that are only about 3 feet wide but are packed with engine parts, the tuk-tuks, the cows and goats eating garbage in the streets, the metro stations that have no attendents or ticket offices and that look like demilitarized zones, the buses, the heat that stifles you, the breeze that cools you and always the people, people, people.

You get used to it, though. WE walk around and through the traffic like locals, and the tuk tuk drivers have stopped asking whether we want rides (well, not completely). We eat with our hands...gracefully and Nathan can almost do it without getting anything on his shirt, though it's better if he wears his black shirt so that the stains don't show as much. We are even getting used to the heat, though it's been 35 degrees for the past week, and it's only going to get hotter. But we can walk around in it all afternoon and not be too much the worse for wear at the end of the day. We find A/C too cold though, and usually turn it off at night, settling for the fan which is enough for cool, but the mosquitoes still love Nathan and if there is anything less than a gale force wind blowing, those little blood suckers find him and go into throes of ecstacy at the taste of his blood (you should see Nathan act it out...it's very funny).

We still have trouble being understood though, and the Tamil language here is very fast, and practically incomprehensible. When we think we are being our most communicative and understandable, we realize that our English sounds to them the way their English sounds to us...unintelligeable. So, we don't have a lot of long conversations with people, though a lady did try to sell me Amway products while I was waiting to mail a parcel in the post office this morning.

We missed India when we left, but now we are ready to be away from it for a while. We head to Thailand on the red-eye on Friday night and will explore southern Thailand and Malaysia for the next couple of months. As much as we love Indian food, we are ready for some Tom Kha Gai and Pad Thai.

I bought 4 saris yesterday for I'm not sure what purpose, but they are beautiful and colourful and I may not even wear them, just hang them decorously somewhere and take them down for Hallowe'en or a fancy ball (there are so many of those in Dawson). Nathan grumped the whole time that I was buying that I would never wear them, and he may be right, but I had a pair of pants made in Mamallapuram out of an old sari, so maybe this cloth is destined for something great.

We are still having fun, relaxing, eating, sweating, sight-seeing, enjoying life. Nathan will try to post pictures in Bangkok.

Love, ACDB

Back at the beach

2009-02-13T02:47:00.001-08:00

We are in Varkala at the beach. As usual, there isn't much to say about the beach. This is some down time where we don't do much of anything except sleep and eat and swim and jump in the waves.

Actually, the sun is so HOT here in the afternoons that I find myself having long tracts of time during which to read, or just watch the wind blow through the coconut palms. Sometimes I watch the fuzzy black and grey crows fly around and steal food from the garbage cans. Other times we read and read and read until our bums get numb. At night after the sun has sunk into the haze that seems perpetually on the horizon and the sea and sky are deep purple, you can gaze out and feel that you might fall into the cosmos. The only thing reminding you of your tether to the earth are the fishing boat lights bisecting the horizon.

It is strange that until now I have felt that we have been travelling madly, quickly, seeing sights and smelling smells and swimming in warm seas and despite the fact that we are on "vacation", it did not seem very relaxed. Now we are starting to relax and slow down and be more in the moment.

There was one time that we were in Thailand and had climbed up the mountain to see a big Buddha (REALLY BIG) and there was this huge bell that this monk was clonging every few minutes and the sound kind of got under your skin and into your head and up the back of your neck, it was such a deep and booming sound. And the monk told us that we should get in UNDER the bell, INSIDE the bell, and it was so big that Nathan and I could actually fit if we sat side by side. So we sat in the bell and the monk rang the bell while we were inside and he was saying some kind of prayer while we were in there, surrounded by sound. And we sat for a while and then kind of looked at each other and the monk was still saying the prayer (I THINK...he was speaking Thai) and so we stooped out and got up and went to see the BIG BUDDHA. But when I look back to that moment, if I hadn't been looking ahead and in a hurry, we might have stayed in the bell for longer, and listened until the monk had finished his prayer and pulled us both bodily from under the bell, ears ringing and spirits soaring.

I think that now, I might have the patience and the...the
"moment-ness" to stay in the bell.

But I think it may take 6 months after leaving the day to day life of work and food preparation and friends and on-call to slow down enough to live more in the moment. At least, it took me 6 months.

Here's hoping that you have time to find the moment.

ACDB

Back in India

2009-01-31T00:41:00.001-08:00

Well, if ever there was a place to get your feet wet in India (and I don't mean during the monsoon), it's Kerala.

As some of you know, we were in India a few months ago for two months before our visa ran out, and it was an INTENSE experience, especially since it was our first country in our India-South EAst Asia tour and when you're dropped into a country of 1 billion from a province of 22 000, it's a bit of a shock.

However, this time we knew what to expect and we didn't land in Delhi, we landed in Ft. Kochin, a port town which was a Portugese colony first (Vasco de Gama "discovered" it and died there) and the green Portugese eyes still look out from many faces. There is also a strong Catholic strain in Ft. Kochin which, despite my arguments with the catholic church, was somewhat comforting.

We got up one day when the sun was still low and the air was still cool, to see people walking laps around the church block, and to see the fishermen coming in with their catches. BIG SQUID! Big fish too, but squid are so much more exotic. They have these huge (15 feet x 15 feet) Chinese cantilevered nets that they dip into the water from the shore and then lever back up to see if they caught anything. They have the get to the nets quickly, before the birds steal anything. There is mass in the many churches about 8 times a day and that morning there was some kind of Gregorian chanting going on in the basilica. We had breakfast at the local food stall (still not sick!) and watched all the uniformed kids go off to school. Pretty idyllic.

Very friendly down here. Not quite as crowded as the north, it seems. And the food is REALLY great! They use a lot of coconut in their food, and they eat dosas here, which are a rice based bready pancake, instead of a wheat based bread like naan (white flour) or chappati (whole wheat flour). And the spices! THIS is why the Europeans were so keen to discover India! There is nutmeg growing and pepper and ginger and cinnamon, of course...and they have this great garlic pickle that we are eating as much of as we can (of course).

We have since moved on to Alleppey where we will stay for a few days until we go out overnight on a houseboat and eat all day and go visit small villages in the backwaters of Kerala. Should be fun. We are staying in this great place - a homestay, they call it - where we have a balcony, a LIVING ROOM (we don't usually have one of these), a bedroom and a bathroom and an alcove they call the "dressing room" - all for 400 Rupees, which is the equivalent of about 12$ CDN. What a BAR-GOON! We have gone back to making our own food for breakfast and dinner - lots of fresh fruit and veggies down here...ah, the pineapple! And mango season is just around the corner! Food food food!

Well, must go eat again. The mushroom masala (spiced mushrooms) and aloo palak (potato with spinach) down here are great!

ACDB

Re: Anne's Search for Drugs in SEA

2009-01-24T20:43:00.001-08:00

Following Anne's feeling that she is being left out somehow because no one has been annoying enough to offer her drugs:

The next time someone offers me drugs I plan to say something to the effect of: "No thanks, none for me. However, please ask my wife. She really wants someone to offer her crack. She wants the cultural experience. Maybe you have a few methamphetamines you could show her? She would really appreciate that. Thanks."

Drugs in South East Asia

2009-01-19T02:17:00.001-08:00

We've been at the computers a lot lately, so I thought I would blog again, just for fun.

Thanks to everyone who sent me a newsy and for the part of the Canadians "it's-really-cold-up-here!" email. It's great to hear from everyone.

So here we are in South East Asia, land of milk and honey but also land of hash and marijuana. I mean, I know this in a global sense, not in an actual sense, since tours of the ganja fields aren't on the regular tourist track. However, I know that it's around because Nathan keeps getting offered "smokie" or "ganja" or "some really good stuff". At least, he says he does. Either my hearing is going, or he only gets offered when I'm not around (which isn't very often), because nobody EVER offers me drugs.

Actually, nobody has EVER offered me drugs, ANYWHERE. I mean, really. I am JUST as likely to want drugs as the next person. Nathan doesn't look any more like a stoner than I do. And yet, he gets offered drugs and I don't. I'm sure that now that I've written this complaint, I will get tons of offers and have to wade through the crowds of opium dealers, but it just doesn't seem right. Now, I realize, that we don't even drink alcohol over here, so why am I complaining, I've never used drugs in my life, I don't even take Tylenol if I can help it, but that's not the issue, is it? There is some serious stereotyping going on here in South East Asia and I thought that I would let everyone in on it. And by the way, it's not just the fact that I'm a woman, I've met other women over here who have been offered drugs. Just not me.

Ah, that feels better.

I would like to address the issue of Vietnamese furniture. Mainly the issue is, they don't seem to use any. Rooms are furnished in a hotel type way for the tourists, but not in the Vietnamese living space.

In a regular north american household, there is a dining room with chairs and a table, there is a living room, with a couch and/or chairs, and there are bedrooms with beds and mattresses. Although there is some of that in Vietnamese households, the places that we see here that are next door to our guest house or down the alley, even at our own guest house...none of these places seem to have any furniture, at least for the permanent residents. There is a living space downstairs with a TV, but everyone sits on the floor. If you want to eat, you go to the kitchen, which habitually has no oven, just a two-burner stove type thing and a bar fridge, and you make your dinner, and you sit around the living space on the floor. Even seniors sit on the floor. They lie on the floor to watch TV and sometime a concession is made for a lawn chair in the living space.

There are no beds, they sleep with blankets on the floor, sometimes in a seperate space, but often in the same living space. It's no wonder that Nathan and I are having a heck of a time finding a place with mattresses that are slightly softer than a marble countertop. It's because everyone sleeps on their tiled floors. I mean, it really saves money, not to have any furniture. I can't imagine, though, having people over and asking them to sit on the floor to eat dinner. They must all have very strong back muscles. Whereas I, softie that I am, wake up every morning with a sore back, because the mattresses are all so hard. However, I can see the sense in the way of the Vietnamese. There isn't much room (mostly people have a 12 foot by 12 foot living space, if that, and that's including living/sleeping space, bathroom, and cooking areas), there isn't much money and families are often big. Imminently practical to go without a table or couch. The floors here are VERY clean.

Also, people don't spend that much time at home. There are always huge crowds at the parks in the evenings, and people ride all over on their cyclos. Vietnamese think we are the weirdest people because we walk everywhere. There are very few people walking on the sidewalks, though perhaps this is because the sidewalks are taken up by parked cyclos, kids playing, food vendors selling their wares, people just standing around taking a break, people lying and taking a nap (no kidding)...sidewalks in Vietnam are really for everything EXCEPT walking on.

Other cultures are so interesting. There are a million different ways of being.

Thanks for reading. My next installment may be from India. Happy days!

ACDB

2009-01-17T01:22:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned that South Asians love dragons?

Saigon, Vietnam

2009-01-17T01:18:00.001-08:00

A roving salesperson attempts to cross the road in the face of everyday cycle traffic.

Hoi An, Vietnam.

2009-01-17T01:14:00.001-08:00

A seller of Chinese lamps makes an adjustment to his wares in Hoi An, Vietnam.

Buddha Art

2009-01-17T01:10:00.001-08:00

There are numerous ways that Buddha is represented. In this sculpture in Hue, Vietnam the Buddha is "ascending" or what Anne's dad, Joe Dietrich, would call: "Entering timeless life." This is my favorite representation so far that I've seen of these "ascending" or "transcending" poses. Here the Buddha is halfway to a nirvana wherein he (or she--the Buddha form is often female) is actively returning to the universe and releasing little silver shard-bubbles of life force.

The proverbial doorway to adventure...

2009-01-17T01:03:00.001-08:00

This is an image from the imperial palace in Hue, Vietnam.

Mui Ne, Vietnam

2009-01-17T00:58:00.001-08:00

Fish sauce is stored and fermented in these huge vats. The savory smell of it in this area was overpowering.

Ho Chi Minh City

2009-01-17T00:54:00.001-08:00

The guidebook did not cover this among the dangers of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City): Anne is attacked by a giraffe who later attempts to eat her skirt.

Pig Faces

2009-01-17T00:41:00.001-08:00

Despite the fact that seeing a multitude of pig faces on display in the market may strengthen the resolve of some to never eat flesh again, it is rather difficult to be a vegetarian here. The problem is that most ingredients, when added to soup--for instance, are rather unrecognizable to the untrained eye. And asking restaurant wait staff and food vendors is no guaranty of clarity. We take some risk that we will be given something we'd prefer not to ingest--like beef, pork, or dairy--whenever we eat.

For instance, Anne and I came upon a stall with two girls selling what signage said was: "The Father of All Buns." It looked like a bready dumpling that had been deep-fried. We've have a few of these things up to now and most have something inside them, like beef or beans or pork--South Asians love pork.

When we asked what was in the buns, if anything, the answer came back was simple, "Yes."

Knowing they did not understand us, we asked very clearly if the buns had meat in them.

"Yes," was the reply.

"Oh. What kind of meat?" we asked, and added, "Ga (chicken)? Or beef, bo? Or is it pork?"

They nodded. "Yes."

We thought it unlikely that chicken, beef, and pork would all appear together so we asked, "How about fish? Do you put any fish inside?"

"Yes."

Getting nowhere, we tried a different tack. "Do you have any with just veg, no meat, only vegetables? Any with chay (vegetables in Vietnamese)?"

"Yes."

"Well, which one?"

They smiled and made a motion like we should choose one and find out.

The upshot of all of this is that we bought one of these buns and discovered that the inside was filled with nothing. We suppose all those "yes" answers meant that meat or veg could be inside if we put them there. Thanks for that.

The price for the above-mentioned bun was 10,000 VND (Vietnam Dong), which sounds like a lot, but is really about 0.80 CAD (Canadian Dollars). So, while not as bad as it looks, it still was not a great value.

Where lunch costs a minimum of 10,000 VND, a cheap night's accommodation is 170,000 VND and dinner out easily costs 250,000 VND, it's easy to get sticker shock. For Pete's sake, I've bought junker cars for less than 500 USD (United States Dollars).

On the subject of value: I must say that Laos was a disappointment. Everything in Laos was 2 to 5 times more expensive than everywhere else we've been; that combined with accommodations which generally had horsehair mattresses, and toilets and poor plumbing which caused sewage to back up into the floor of our bathroom (I kid you not) made Laos a poor value indeed. Insult to injury, the Laos food is meat-heavy and rather tasteless in comparison to Thai or Indian. In fact, our best meals in Laos were Indian.

Come to that, the best value place we've been thus far--even with the immense overcrowding, poverty, air and sound pollution, and screaming touts--is, incredibly, India. What makes India great that it is too big and crazy to focus too much on tourists. Laos is small and squeezing the tourists for every dime while keeping them at arm's length is fast becoming an easy passtime.

Don't get me wrong, India has its share of vermin gougers and Vietnam also practices some gouge tactics, but more is going on in these larger countries and most of the people have lives outside tourism. Heavy import placed on tourism breeds contempt and/or apathy for visitors. That's a bummer most of the world's garden spots have yet to come to grips with.

Good morning for Vietnam!

2009-01-17T00:10:00.001-08:00

Well, it's not actually morning here, but it is morning in North America. So strange that the end of the day here is the beginning of the day where home is.

We have been in Vietnam for almost 4 weeks, and although the first 2 weeks it RAINED all day every day, it has been a great trip.

We have been to the beach, which made Nathan very happy, but honestly, the waves were SO big, that I was afraid that I would be swept away every time we got into the water. And in fact, we both lost sunglasses to the surf (but only cheap-o ripoffs, so that was a good excuse to buy more sunglasses) and I nearly lost my Tilley hat, which would have been a tragic, sun blistering loss, but happily it washed back up on shore, true to the hype, it floated back to me.

We have also gone to a great mud bath that left my skin very soft (I should have bought some of the mud, darn it) and I had some very pretty clothes made in Hoi An, though I'm not sure that I'll EVER get to wear them, unless I get really dressed up to go for dinner, or to have people over for dinner, or something, because there are just so few occasions to wear silk in Dawson. However, it was fun to do and the colours look great on me, and really, why not? So cheap it was almost criminal NOT to have something made.

We have eaten some great food, though not all of it Vietnamese, since they use a lot of MSG here, and it's made us sick a couple of times...not sick sick, but nauseated sick and having hot flashes sick. We have discovered Korean restaurants here in Vietnam (who'd have thought?) and can I say, Korean restaurants are great when you're really hungry because after you order your main meal, you get all of these little plates full of appetizers that you didn't even order! So you get to eat right away and not have to wait for your actual meal to arrive. This was very good for us, since we are generally only eating 2 meals a day and are ravenous by the time we actually sit down to supper. Anyway, Korean food: fast and good. Most people had leftovers, but not us. We ate everything. And the spicy food was good to eat our garlic with.

We were in Mui Ne, which is also the beach, same problems with the waves, and it was packed with Russian people! There were so many Russians that the signs and the menus were in Russian. I realize that English speakers don't have the monopoly on, well, monopolizing the tourist trade, but it was so interesting to have touts speak to us in a language that we didn't even think to understand. Nice to be able to legitimately ignore the touts because we couldn't understand them, too. Did I mention that they make fish sauce in Mui Ne? Vats and vats and vats of fish sauce. Mui Ne is permeated with the smell...it's actually kind of a good smell. Reminds me of green mango salad and Thai food, which is strange, but there you go. I don't really see a lot of fish sauce on the tables here in the Vietnamese restaurants.

I have noticed that I am talking about food a lot in this email. We try to eat as much as we can, but we have still lost a bit of weight and Nathan is a RAKE, though I'm not (don't worry mum) though I have lost some weight. I should advertize a new and exciting "See the world, walk for 8 hours a day and eat anything you want" diet. Actually we started losing weight in India, where we almost stopped eating altogether because it was so hot and we were drinking so much water. I think we actually sloshed when we walked. Sloshed with steam rising off our bodies. Anyway, back to talking about food...:)

We are now in Saigon which is a hip, happening town. Lots to do, lots of places to eat, LOTS of motorbikes. Motorbikes in Vietnam are so ubiquitous, you can't actually go anywhere without seeing one. There are motorbikes in the living room of our guesthouse. And when you cross the road, because there are very few traffic signals and because the traffic signals that are there are ignored anyway, you have to literally dodge motorbikes. Or better yet, have them dodge you.

Picture this: you approach the road from the sidewalk. You get to the edge and you look up the street: motorbikes as far as the eye can see. No break in the throng. No light to allow for pedestrians. So you step off the curb. No slowing of traffic. So you just start waking across, and an amazing thing happens. You don't get hit. You just keep moving at a steady pace so that the bikes can see you and avoid you. It's a bit disconcerting to have 2000 motorbikes bearing down on you every time you step off the sidewalk, but really, I've seen very few pedestrians hurt...none,actually, though I can't say that about the cyclists themselves. They seem to crash regularly. Usually on the bigger roads, though.

Here in Saigon, we have walked all over the town. We went to the zoo and the giraffe came over to be pet and to get leaf snacks. We went to this big waterpark and stood in line with about a billion little kids who all said "What is your name?" and who were very happy to be able to say "My name is..." (usually something totally unpronounceable to a native English speaker like myself). The park was fun though and the slides were fast and we only had to kick a few kids to the back of the line after trying to butt in front of us.

The Vietnam war, or the "American War", as the Vietnamese call it, is a history that I'm sure many Vietnamese recall. We don't have the language to be able to speak with them about it, but yesterday we went to the "War Remnants Museum", which is a memory to the Vietnam war. The Vietnamse are proud to have repelled the oppressor, the USA and France, and judging from the carnage that was depicted in the pictures, they are probably right to be proud. That war lasted 17 years. The pictures show acres and acres of craters caused by bombs. The dioxin content of Agent Orange is apparently still causing birth defects in some areas. And all for what? The Vietnamese still went communist after the USA left, and they seem to be doing okay despite that. Do you know that the War Crimes Tribunal accused the USA of crimes against humanity and genocide as a result of that war? And was restitution ever made? Was an apology ever forthcoming? I don't know. Maybe there was. Certainly diplomatic ties have been re-established with the US. But from what I read, originally the US got involved to support France in their bid to continue to get cheap tin and tungsten. It is only too familiar a reason to go in to a country, take over a more primitive culture and then rape the land. Isn't that what's happening in Iraq? When will there be a new way of thinking? A more constuctive way of life? Ugh.

From here we are going back to Thailand and then on to India again. BUT we are going to the very peaceful southern area, Kerala, where people rarely get shot at, and the majority of people are Hindu, and don't even eat meat, much less blow it up.

If you have read this far, you may be willing to put in a few more minutes and just drop me a bit of a line and let me know how you're doing. I need CONNECTION every so often, with my near and dear ones.

ACDB

Water bug flavor

2009-01-01T02:20:00.001-08:00

South Asians seem to have a rather odd palate when it comes to snack food. Many things which we expect to be salty turn out to have loads of added sugar and, while the sweet things may indeed be sweet, they too-often also taste of fish. Imagine eating a chocolate cake which is light on the chocolate and sugar and cooked in cod liver oil. Yum.

Wander through any given market and you can find the most exotic tastes: Sugared Green Bean and Rye Cake, anyone? Or how about Butter Cookies With Pork Bits? And no, that's not a typo: I said Pork, as in Pig. Mmm-mmm, just like Mama used to make.

Of course, if you want something more substantial, then you can also find hard-boiled eggs which conceal a fairly well developed baby chick--beak, downy feathers, talons... I don't know if you add sugar or salt to that but in our case I doubt it would matter.

We saw a young lady (20's) in the market carrying two live rats by the tail. It appeared that she was looking for some fresh cilantro and I don't think it was to feed the rats. No, I'm pretty sure those poor rats ended up in a hybrid apple pie.

The market is also one of those strange places where you can find condiments with ingredients like "water bug flavor"; this, of course begs the question: Is it too expensive or perhaps too icky to harvest "real" water bug flavor?

Imagine if it were your job to create authentic-tasting water bug flavor in the lab.

Technician Wang sips a teaspoonful of liquid. "Hmm," he says. "I don't know, Yip. This tastes more like eye of newt to me."

Yip sighs. "Yeah, I know. Back to drawing board. Pass me some more rat pie."

Perhaps you can better understand the mindset here if I provide some Thai witticisms and maxims I found on a box of rice cakes:

"If one wants to go away, make other feel pity. If he passes away, make other praise and memorize."

"Asking is more expensive than buying, reputing is more expensive than saying."

"The steady house has many poles."

That last one actually makes sense to me. But this is my favorite:

"Look at the female beauty when she is searching for the fish; look at the male intelligent when he is drinking."

Ah, the things you can learn while munching on a rice cake...

Happy New Year!

2008-12-30T03:08:00.001-08:00

We are in Vietnam where it has rained every day for the past week. Yuk. However, we are eating different types of weird food, which is pretty cool. We ate the best spring rolls ever in the Hoi An street market; 4 rolls cost us less than $1.5 CAD, which was a pretty good price. A lady customer helped us put our spring rolls together because we were so obviously helpless. Seriously.

Anne has fulfilled a life-long dream and bought two tailor-made dresses. For my part I've discovered that clothing shopping for women is a highly inventive level of hell. Remember the cute little raptor dinos that kill and eat the tourist in the beginning of Jurassic Park? Well, our tailors were rather like those beasties--small, cute, and aggressive. "You buy now!" Aye, comrade. Just don't shoot.

So, overall everything is pretty good.

Happy New Year!

Merry Holidays! From Vietnam. And South East Asia.

2008-12-24T17:44:00.001-08:00

'Tis the season to say, "Ho, ho, Ho Chi Minh..." or at least it is this season. For us.

Peace and much love to all of you.

NB

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2008-12-19T01:20:00.001-08:00

It's tough to remember that it's the holiday season when it's 25 degrees Celcius, but there are a few cues, even here in Laos. There are lights and decorations in a few places, but there is no Christmas music and certainly no snow. The natives think it's very cold right now. I'm actually okay with the fact that it's not 35 degrees. They shiver and wear all their warmest clothes, though I must admit that our blood must be thinning, since we shiver along with them, especially in the early morning when the sun has not yet warmed the streets.

We have been passing our time innertubing down rivers, kayaking and shooting rapids, getting our fill of pastries in the French influenced city of Vientiane in Laos. We were on a river boat tour for 2 days down the Mekong river (which is very grubby looking, though the hills around are great and craggy and green). We were in Luang Prabang for a few days looking at temples and climbing mountains. We also went to a Laos sauna (it's actually quite cool here in the evenings - it might even go down to 15 degrees celcius!) and hung out in the hot hot hot (there are no thermometers in these saunas - you just stay until you can't stand no more!) steam for a bit - very relaxing.

We seem to be moving quickly through Laos - too quickly, really. I don't know what we think we are trying to accomplish - we have barely begun our travels. At this rate, I will be ready to expire in a couple of months! We are looking, it seems, for the "perfect" place to spend an extended period of time. For Nathan, this entails the beach. For me, I'm not even sure. I just need some non-travel time every few weeks so that I don't feel like I'm living life out of a bag every day. I guess in the end, I like having a place to call home, even if it's only for a week. A chance to catch up on my diary, read a book while sitting still and not swaying in a bus, recognize the streets that we walk through. Vientiane is quite small and gridded out, so we are able to find our way easily. We are becoming world travellers.

Wherever you are, I wish you the best of the season and happy times in the new year. Stay warm!

ACDB

More Erawan Falls

2008-12-10T04:25:00.001-08:00

Note that the clear water held many large fish. Some of these fish enjoyed nibbling at your toes when you dipped your feet. Excellent fun.

2008-12-10T03:46:00.001-08:00

More flowers, and odds and ends

2008-12-08T01:27:00.000-08:00

Flower Market

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

Ruins at Ayutaya and working temples in Chiang Mai

2008-12-08T00:58:00.000-08:00

Thai tech -- old and new.

Obviously, not all of the temples in Ayutaya were ruins. This one in a park with all those above seemed very much in use, and rather new.

Below is a Chiang Mai temple chedi covered in gold leaf.

Oh, did I mention that Buddhas are sometimes green.
Anne and protective dragon. The temples in various places are influenced by numerous religions. While Thailand's temples have more dragons than multi-armed horse-headed men (see the carving below, for instance), it is clear that the carvers and creators of these sacred places had (and still have) in interest in the fantastic.

Wat Pho

2008-12-08T00:50:00.000-08:00

These images are from Wat Pho in Bangkok. This wat has been very well kept--unlike much of the ruined ones further north.

Buddha, Buddha, Buddha

2008-12-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

They say Thailand is the land of a thousand Buddhas, and that is not hyperbole. There are more Buddha statues here than people in the Yukon.

Is this Buddha smiling? Or is that just an effect of cracks in the rock? In any case the Buddhas in Thailand very often seem to have a hint of smile--moreso anyway than those in India.

Of course there are more than just Buddhas here, like this gargoyle watching over a temple entrance.

Above is a Reclining Buddha--a pose which refers to Buddha receiving enlightenment. Also, Buddha clearly got very large during this process.

Another gaurd--this one from Wat Pho.

Wat a Pricetag

2008-12-02T02:33:00.001-08:00

First off, I'm sorry that I've not posted pictures recently. Pictures take time to download and we sometimes have little time to spend on the Internet. However, Anne is thinking of taking a cooking course in Chaing Mai during which time I may spend the requisite 8 hours I need to get all my net needs sorted.

Until then, dear reader, you will have to do with my written stuff, and thank you in advance for forgiving the clumsy and / or ignorant parts.

In world news, due to corruption (apparently or supposedly), the Thai government is being ousted by high court order. Meanwhile, due to the fact that most people don't seem to like them, the Conservative government in Canada is being ousted by a coalition of Canada's other three parties. So, there is weird stuff going on everywhere.

Will this weird stuff lead to violence? Probably. Will we be in the middle of it all? Probably not.

We've been told: "If you see a crowd of people in yellow shirts (anti-government folks) or red shirts (pro-government folks), then we should quickly go the other way. That is advice we will take if we need it. We have time to go the long way around.

I specifically wanted to come to India and SEA (South East Asia) for a longer time so that we could take our time and allow for whatever life, however odd, must take place. Charging through a foreign country on a quickie tour-bus timetable is a recipe for missing lots of good stuff (including interaction with the locals) and can be very annoying when, for instance, the airport is hijacked in Bangkok the day before your flight.

Perhaps one of our flights will be disrupted in this way. But the difference is that we will just prolong our stay in place X. Disruption can therefore be part of the experience, rather than a deeply frustrating event.

Of course, terrorism aimed at tourists is a concern. However, I'm uncertain if anywhere in the world is absolutely immune to this kind of activity. Of course our Yukon friends would point out that if you want to be really safe from terror, we'd all live in the Yukon where there aren't enough people and those few are too spread out to make mass murder an viable option.

But, darn it, I just don't want to live in one place my whole life. And I certainly don't want to remain in one place my whole life simply out of fear that some morons want to kill us all. That's not a life.

So, we are currently in a tourist place called Ayutthaya in Thailand. Ayutthaya is home to many ruined "Wats" (a wat is a Buddhist monestary). The most annoying thing about Ayutthaya is that they want to charge 50 bhat (roughly 2 Canadian dollars) per person to see each wat--and there are at least 20 of these wats, so that's around 1000 bhat (or 40 CAD). And that's the biggest problem we have here: whether or not to pay $40 to see a bunch of temples.

If this is torture, somebody please, chain me to the wall.

Out of India

2008-11-28T01:22:00.001-08:00

Given the recent terror acts in Mumbai, my brother Joshua has asked me to explain why we visited India in the first place. (And I am sure he will be somewhat unhappy to hear that we are likely to go back at some point.)

Honestly, my initial thought was some desire to see humanity "in the wild" so to speak. We wanted an exotic experience that we would surely not have in Europe. Plus, we quite like the food. On those counts India did not disappoint. We saw strange people and places, amazingly colorful culture, and the food was generally excellent everywhere. In fact, considering the price, Indian food is easily the best cuisine in the world.

However, India has its drawbacks--and I don't mean the terror variety, though confronting extremists of any "faith" is an appalling notion:

1.) Everyone bargains in India. They say bargaining is expected. But I don't really enjoy buying stuff at the best of times, so the feeling that I should bargain for everything got tiresome. I often just purchased and assumed I was being ripped off; that is, until I knew I was being ripped off. Much of our time there I felt as if we were trapped inside a giant flea market (or, in the case of Pushkar, a town-sized mall).

2.) All the garbage in India gets burned. Okay, maybe some of it is recycled somehow, but, mostly, they burn everything. And I don't mean at a dump. Little piles of trash are swept together everywhere and burned on the spot. In the street. In ditches. Amongst palm groves. On the beach. Everywhere.

Perhaps that is a good thing in a way. Maybe we would all be better consumers if we had our garbage burned right in front of us and if, in essence, we were forced to breathe our trash. In any case, the smoke from these fires meant hazy skies and, long term, would probably take a few years off the average life.

But those two problems are really the main ones. As people, Indians are not radically different from any of the other people we've met on our travels. They like a good joke. They like making and spending money. They love and fear in equal measure. And, while acts of terror like the horror which just took place in Mumbai are upsetting for us all, you can be sure that Indians in India are the folks who are most angry and saddened by it.

As for us, we're now in Thailand, in which the prime minister has just announced a state of emergency concerning the "protesters" who have taken over the international airport here and stranded a bunch of tourists. Of course, most tourists could suffer worse fates than being stuck in Bangkok. However, given the world's recent economic downturn, this was probably not the best time to give the country's tourism industry a punch in the gut.

That said, we leave tomorrow for waterfalls somewhere. But we won't be flying.

So, life is good. Weird, but good.