Reflections of 2014.

So were back in the wilds of the beautiful North East, its been a long 6 months  waiting for Sammy to join me but eventually were reunited and the discussions of where we were this time last year have began, reflecting over the incredible adventure and opportunity life brought us to spend 9 months exploring part of this incredible world.

The highs, lows and learning's of 2014.

Many lessons were learnt last year, I fell in and out of love with every country we travelled, I learnt lessons about love not just from my relationship but others, I pushed myself to limits I didn't think I could and I let myself be freer then I ever have, letting my toes travel where the adventure chose.

Travelling.

Day trains, night trains, night buses, day buses, ferries, speed boats, rowing boats, taxis, hiking, flights, walking, up hills, down hills, across country, through continents we did it all and I smiled and cried through so many as I thought my poorly sick mind could take no more, but it always did and there was always another journey around the corner. We took a 32hr train through India, a night insect ridden train through Burma, we waited hours to get picked up in Borneo, we jumped out of a taxi with a drunken Thai driver, lost on the motorway in Chiang Mai, went back in time when heading to Mexico and lost our minds and our way on the way to Bali, however I wouldn't change any of it, as like people say 'its all part of the experience'.

Sleeping.

So part of my agreement was that we wouldn't stay in basic stays and would at least hit the mid way mark, however the excitement of travelling I realised was not always laying your head on a bed and sometimes finding sleep whenever and wherever it came, from bartering cheap prices to sleep in basic but beautiful seafront huts, sleeping on night trains, spooning up in locked bays on night buses, catching a few hours on the seats in a Japanese airport, sleeping in a brothel in Mexico, the middle of a desert in India, a tent in the forest of a Malaysian island, we got everywhere, some places I slept in a perfect dream, one night I woke up with a cockroach on my face, it tested me to my limits but the memories will always make me smile.

Eating.

Samosas from every bus stand in India, Thai curry on the streets of Bangkok, Fish upon fish in Malaysia, Khmer Curry in Cambodia, Kuching Laksa in Borneo, we ate every type of food going, my vegetarianism lacked and although I never chose to eat meat there were at times a definite hint of meat flavour, I suffered but enjoyed and my culinary tastes developed and my hatred of fish bones dissolved.

Friendships.

We met and adventured with so many great people on our trip, friends we feel we have made for life, friends who were just the right people to be there at that time, I learnt and developed from some of these people and changed my views on some of life's important lessons from understanding and searching deeper in my heart for a stronger meaning. Exploring the world you realise how many people are on similar journeys, sometimes even having a parallel life in some aspect, the many nights we spent talking and sharing times and adventures, it was great to have the chance in life to go out there be vulnerable but be open to learn from people I met as strangers but soon become friends.

Love.

Sam and I decided we wanted to spend this year together, we wanted to be away from the stresses and strains life brings and connect to each other somewhere different then England, my job can be very demanding and with training to be a Counsellor the last few years I have gone through a number of changes and unfolding in my own personal world, which Sam has held me through and supported me in every stage. This trip therefore was to move on from that and have a year where the world was just about us. Wow what a privilege, hey, we spent many days and nights talking about our relationship, other relationships, family relationships, how they work, how they don't, who inspires us, who doesn't. We talked with friends we met about the meaning of love and importance of past, the strength it gives us to be who we are in our relationship now and the changes we have made due to that. We argued, cried, smiled, loved, jumped, dived, walked, ran, hiked, made decisions, debated decisions, reassured, got lost, got totally lost, but mostly we found each other, we saw each others vulnerabilities and wants and found that deep love that connects us and inspires us.

Lessons.

I never have to do anything, I get to do it.. My yoga teacher Denise Payne taught me this when one day in teacher I asked 'do I have to do this' she reminded me that I never have to do anything, I get to do it and what a privilege that is.

I have a precious human life and I am not going to waste it.. Bex Tyrer read this poem out one day when in a yoga class, it stuck with me and made me think of the adventure we were on, it confirmed the right choices about going away, about quitting my work and doing something for us, life is precious and I certainly wasn't going to waste it.

Everything doesn't happen for a reason, we live in a cruel world.

What's meant for me wont pass me, a friend text me this one day when I was worrying about something, its a mantra that lives with me always.

The Lonely planet does the tell the truth.

When Sam told me we would have the chance to meet the Dalai Lama, I obviously laughed at him, of course the LP states that in its highlighted blue box, why wouldn't it.... well it only turned out to be true and we did get to meet him, miracles do happen.

Changes.

Babies were born, friends were married, people moved away, people moved home, life carried on whilst we travelled and although people always say everything is the same when you come home for us it wasn't, we were different and we were changed, we came home 6wks early as the bank of Sam and Claire ran out, however it felt the right time and we were ready for the next adventure.

 

 



 



 

Return to Nam

We had decided to go back to Vietnam as we still felt we had undiscovered land to explore there, plus we had managed to convince my parents to come and visit us for two weeks and couldn’t think of anywhere better, with the vast range of different landscapes and the mentalness of Hanoi, we thought it was a perfect stamp for them to acquire on their passports and a ideal reason for us to return.  

 We entered Vietnam on the Mekong from Cambodia, heading to Can Tho for the floating markets and a riverboat canal trip along this bustling water way. Our trip started like any other with the meeting of  locals, the border brought us into a Chau Doc so we had to get a bus to Can Tho, we hopped onto some rather amusing bike taxis and were cycled through the streets to the local bus station, being dropped off at local bus station we climbed onto a mini bus and became enthralled at watching some women eating some hard fruit/veg, dipping it in chili then munching away, my staring was caught out and suddenly some of the said fruit was being pushed into my mouth, yum…. no not really, I still had no idea what it was and thought it was some sort of gherkin, later finding out it was unripe mango (we think). 

Our stay in Chau Doc was short and sweet but was definitely worth it, we hadn’t yet managed to get to a floating market and I really wanted to experience one, we thought the Mekong was the best place to appreciate this with it being such a huge run way for passing trade. We booked a 5am start with a local tour, securing a boat for the two of us and a driver. As sunrise crept in our first stop was the wholesalers market which was full of roaring trade and sellers, Sam noticed on the top of each boat was a stick with fruit/veg attached, soon realising this being what was being sold, after that we headed to a more local market which was a number of women selling a range of goods, so many squashes, toiletries and other goodies. We got right into the middle of all the selling and it was so nice to hear the women chatting away, pushing each other’s boats out and selling like crazy. The floating market was different to how I first imagined and in my mind it would be more a market style on the river, whereas what we found was just loads of boats selling loads of goods, no order, slight chaos but it worked none the less. It made me think of the scooters in Hanoi and to us it looks like there is no order but to the Vietnamese people they know the order and that’s how it works. 

After our market trips we had a wonderful boat ride through the back canals of the Can Tho river, it reminded me of the boat trip we took at the start of this trip in Kerala, souring through the waters, surrounded by palm trees, the backwaters were beautiful and we got off a few times for walks through orchards of jackfruit and bananas. The palms encased the river paths and it was so relaxing (even when it rained) to be away from the roads and people, just us and our boat, I imagined a life of when people only used the waters as their main passageway enjoying the calm we were feeling, wondering if at one time that calm wasn’t present due to the waterways being more like the roads are now in current day Vietnam. The waters is such an incredible beautiful way to travel though and one that makes a complete sense of ease due to the surrounding nature, we pulled in at a local home stay and were treated to a breakfast of pho (traditional Vietnamese breakfast) which was so good, we took an hour to enjoy the surroundings and watch local life pass by. After breakfast we headed back onto the bigger passageways and our lovely boatman shared fruit with us and made a number of different gifts out of banana leaves, constantly surprising us with something new. We arrived back at land at 1pm and headed back to our hotel for an afternoon of rest before our bus journey the following day to Saigon, HCMC. 

We took a morning bus to Saigon, again a quick stop over to catch a flight to Hanoi to then head to Sapa that evening. We stayed one night in Saigon, my main experience of the city being from our last trip where I enjoyed our stayed but could feel the more business side of the city, it felt ‘cleaner’ and that economy flourished more in this capital rather than Hanoi, it reminded me of the difference between Mumbai and Delhi, it definitely had a Mumbai city feel to it. We didn’t do much apart from arrive, ate and had a small wander before resting up for our long travel day the following day. 

We arrived into Hanoi in the morning and headed straight to the train station, we hadn’t managed to get to Sapa last time due to us only being away for three weeks and had other places on our route so we knew this time it was a must on our list. We booked our night train for that evening and planned 3 days in Sapa, leaving on the 3rd day back to Hanoi for my parents arriving. We secured a carriage all to ourselves, bonus and enjoyed our first experience of Vietnamese trains. The journey went well apart from the unknown time of waking up and therefore being up and down from 4am, however it was comfy and we got some sleep, we arrived into a town next to Sapa then you get the bus up to Sapa itself. We sorted our bus journey and arrived at the Sapa Cozy resting up for the day enjoying wandering around, working out where to get the best cake and tea in the hills. Sapa really reminded me of Dalat, we had visited Dalat last year which is another hill town, both have a real back in time feel with everyone going about daily life, living in the hills like the life down below doesn’t really exist, Sapa had more of a tourist hub feel due to it being a main stop on the travel trail, however in both towns it’s the hills that have the adventure and the town is just sleeping nest. We decided against doing any trekking, we wanted to get on a bike and really explore that way, we had read about the Ta Throm Pass and this seemed a perfect day out and an ideal way to see the beauty of what Sapa holds. 

The Ta Throm Pass is a mountain pass through two mountain ranges, and it was possibly one of the most beautiful sites of our whole trip. The green was like a postcard and the scenery just rolled on and on, never a dull site and always a new landscape to enjoy, whether that be waterfalls, rivers, farmers working, hills, random cows being walked from one village to another or the small delicate looking homes in the middle of nowhere, it was just spell binding to witness and I sat on the back of the scooter dazzled by the spectacular view.  The pass runs for miles and we had chosen to head to a particular village, which would take us a few hours, then turn around and head back, at no point was there a boring moment and the sun blazed down on us making the ride complete, we hopped on and off taking photos, going for river side swims and lazing in the heat of the day, as afternoon started approaching we headed back happy with the feeling we had really seen the Sapa countryside, we ended the day with tea and cake, a standard Sapa requirement and wondered how tomorrow could come close to the beauty we had already indulged in. 

The following day didn’t go as planned and we ended up heading back onto the Ta Throm Pass, finding a nice spot to put our blanket down and enjoy the views again, I got my diary out and Sam found his book, taken a few hours to relax with the gorgeous greenery before heading back to go for our night train. We were so chuffed with our few days ad felt humble with the experience we had, definitely feeling we got what we wanted out of Sapa.

We woke the next morning at 6am, it was Sam’s 30th and we had a day planned in our favourite city, Hanoi, we were booked into a swanky hotel and headed there from the night train, smiling knowing we had two weeks of nice stays and luxury in front of us, travelling digs being left behind, Ma and Ron were on their way. 

I had a number of plans for Sam’s birthday, hoping to make it memorable in every way, I had got a number of videos from friends and family, all of them wishing him happy birthday, and had a street food, bia hoi food plan mapped out. We arrived at our hotel and enjoyed a morning of coffee, birthday treats and relax before heading out for breakfast, Sam was overjoyed with his videos and smiled at the efforts people had put it. 

Our plan was to hit 6 street food restaurants and then whatever beer hoi we passed, we then had a chart I made to score the restaurants so we could take M&R back when they arrived, giving them a real slice of Vietnamese food. Our first stop was delicious pho, Sam enjoyed a tasty pho bo as I sat on and watched, sadly street vendors don’t sell vegetarian pho, the first meal went down a treat and Sam rated it a top high score stating it was his favourite pho bo he had ever tasted. The day went on from there and although we didn’t reach the 6 vendors we wanted we did however manage 4 tasty meals, the best for me being the crab spring rolls and another restaurant that sold a noodle, salad, stew like meal that was really fresh and full of garlic and ginger. Vietnamese really do their street food well and although it’s classed as street food its different from our style of pop up eateries, there more local restaurants cooking traditional food.  We also embraced the bia hoi and found a number of local stops serving the famous 30p locally brewed beer. At around 4pm we retreated for a rest and were surprised with a birthday cake from the hotel staff, after a slice of that was munched down we headed back out to a craft ale bar Sam had read about, sadly it wasn’t as we had hoped, however Sam enjoyed two tasty ales, pleased to have tried out the craft scene in Hanoi, we walked our way back to a bia hoi street stall and spent the rest of the evening watching Hanoi life scoot pass and talking of Sam’s next 30yrs.

We woke early the next morning to head to the airport to meet M&R, there flight was in at 6am and we wanted to be there for their arrival, my stomach was full of butterflies, it had been 7 months since I had seen my parents and I was so excited for two weeks in Vietnam with them. Knowing this was a huge trip for them both (and probably the last big trip they have, mother hen doesn’t love flying) so we wanted to make it the best trip ever for them. We had planned the first week in Hanoi, doing day trips, Ha Long Bay and the second week relaxing in Hoi An. 

Seeing them come out of arrivals was magic, we embraced smiling and laughing, so happy to see one another, there trip had been long so we headed back to the hotel so they could rest up. Their expressions were just as we had hoped, amazed by the manic roads, scooters everywhere and so many people, their faces were a picture and we knew we had made the right decision bringing them here first. 

Our first week was spent exploring the streets of Hanoi, taking them to local restaurants and getting into the life of being a tourist in Vietnam. We headed to Tam Coc for the day which is classed as the Ha Long Bay on land; the day was really fun and nice to see a different perspective of the limestone rocks from the view at Ha Long Bay. We took a boat trip along a lazy river, in awe at our lady Lin rowing and the beauty of the views she was showing us around. So much green with huge beautiful rocks jutting out of everywhere, sitting in the boat was incredible and I felt like a borrower with the grandness surrounding me. 

We also headed to Ha Long Bay, which turned out to be great; however we had planned 3 days, 2 nights but there was a typhoon which meant a number of trips were cancelled, ours being one of them. We did however manage to arrange a 1 day trip which for me was possibly a better experience then the original trip planned. We were picked up in a private car and had an awesome tour guide, Nam. We then had a private junkboat to ourselves (junkboats are what are used for the big trips, so it could normally fit 15 – 20 people on), Ronnie was gob smacked and kept saying, ‘I can’t believe we have this boat just for us’, we laughed away as our boat shipped out of the dock ready for an amazing exciting day ahead.
The day was incredible and like Nam said if you haven’t visited Ha Long Bay you haven’t visited Vietnam, M&R enjoyed the day, and for Mum who loves boat trips she was in her element. We cruised through Ha Long Bay, enjoying a feast of seafood taking in the UNESCO beauty of the centre site and the spell binding beauty of the scene in front and all around us. 

We visited the caves in Ha Long Bay, attempted Kayaking but the rain poured so we chose to head to the bay and viewing platform, the rain calmed by this point and Sam and Ronnie decided to climb, mother hen wasn’t feeling great so we took the option to laze on the beach bay letting the boys do the walking work. The viewing platform is a great way to get a bird’s eye view of Ha Long and is worth the walk, it’s a hefty climb though and definitely one you need a good amount of energy for. We took the next hour relaxing on the beach, the sun came out and we swam in the sea and drank some coconuts. Mum perked up after a little snooze and came and paddled in the shore.  Our journey back let us all reflect, taking in the last hour as we slowly cruised back, so happy we got our day and so happy M&R had loved it as much as S and I do. 

The next day we headed out to Hoi An, we had booked our favourite villa, where we stated last time and knew this week was about total relax. M&R loved Hoi An Garden Villas and were overjoyed with their room. The whole week went amazing, we found hidden beaches, cycled loads, got some amazing clothes made, took a cooking course and eat so much delicious food, delving into the relaxing world of Hoi An. M&R looked at home in the cobbled streets, they looked like they were soaking in every moment they could and I could tell the beauty of Hoi An had reached into their hearts and stolen their love. We couldn’t have asked for a better week and were all sad to leave, we had our routine of beach, pool, pre drinks on the river then food and were still wanting more of M&R time, sadly everything must come to an end and we embraced our last few days with a lot of laughter, nice talks and reflecting over their time in Vietnam. 

We headed back to the big city for M&R flight home the following day, we said our goodbyes that evening, so thankful for the holiday and experience and so proud of how they had taken the last two weeks, I knew it hadn’t all been easy and had been a huge culture shock, but as they left but embraced us both stating it had been a trip of a lifetime and they were thankful for the experience. 

We had two days left and spent it doing nothing, we hibernated and slept, catching up in the afternoons with the lovely Mike and Ash again, roaming the streets, drinking bia hoi, catching up on the last few weeks and hearing about future plans. We found some great street music and ate at some of our favourite street vendors soaking up our last two days before we left the capital. 

Our time came to an end quick and we said a huge goodbye to M&A, knowing this time it would be a few years before we saw one another again and not just a few weeks. It wasn’t goodbye but see you later and we group hugged for one last time, talking of how many countries we had travelled together and how thankful we were for the friendship developed. 

As we walked back to our hotel that night the streets were empty, we hugged, I had a tear and we talked of the beauty of our time in this incredible part of the world. SE Asia has been more then I could have hoped for and I know it’s a place I will travel forever, it holds so much beauty and culture, it has everything I love about travelling and this trip has changed me, it’s made me look deeper at myself and made me aware of my strengths and my weaknesses, it’s made me appreciate this life I have and be thankful for it every day. We are blessed to have these experiences and I hope I never forgot that when I return to England, life couldn’t be better than it is now and I feel so grateful for that. 

Now though it’s time to fly away and head to Mexico for our last month.

Courgeous Cambodia

Cambodia to me has been the one place I have left feeling impacted the most, it was like a history lesson from the minute we entered to the minute we left, being able to see the devastation of war everywhere, from the population to the experiences of the Khmer people, Cambodia for me is a perfect example of the courageous survival of human kind.

From Angkor Wat we headed to Ko Tah Kiev island for 3 days at Crusoe Island, Crusoe island is a rustic island stay we found quite a few months back, maybe even last year and we both had been so excited for this experience of island life, Crusoe just looked a dream, it looked what island life should be like, rustic, laid back, hammocks and the sea on our door step, we had booked one of the bungalows, the vie.  When we arrived the sun was shining and the view stood up to its name, It was an open bungalow that looked straight onto a nook of beach and the ocean, ah heaven! We made our nest and got straight into the water, happy, smiling, and content. Ash and Mike were in the explorer cabin next to us and we all agreed things were going to be great, what more could you want then sun and ocean for three days?

Well without going into it too much, the rain come and Crusoe Island went drastically downhill, we did however manage to string some hammocks up in the only communal area and read and drink tea/coffee, so relaxing did happen, just in a very different form to how we had imagined.

We did however find some space when the rain stopped to go and clean some of the beach (in exchange for beer), sadly the beach is cluttered with rubbish and we managed to gather around 8-12 bags of plastic bottles before the drizzle started again, at this we jumped into the ocean and attempted to body surf the waves. For around 2hrs we played like children in the sea, laughing, joking, being swept under, riding on top of the waves and making the most of the storm brewing above us, making the sea a delightful playground.

That evening we were informed the kitchen had run out of food, at that point we knew we couldn’t wait to get off the island and head to our next destination, Kampot. We took a stroll along the beach that evening and went back to the restaurant we had enjoyed lunch at, having a feast of pizza and wine, it was nice to feel humbly fed with food and drink, retiring that night with the joyful thought of no rain tomorrow and a room that didn’t have sneaky mice stealing from you as you snoozed.

We took a taxi to Kampot the next day, Sam had booked us a floating bungalow on the river kampot which just looked so beautiful and M&A had a treetop bungalow out in the gardens of Bodi Villa. Kampot was such a lovely stay, really relaxing and just what we needed after our time on the island. For the three days we were there we just relaxed by the river, swam, ate and drank delicious wine. It was a great place for reading, writing and just enjoying the blissful calm of life in Kampot. Mike turned 29 when were there also so we chose to take a day trip to Kep, sadly the weather turned but we didn’t let it stop our plan, we took our scooters and travelled the hour’s drive to Kep market. Kep is known for its tasty crab and we found a perfect shack to enjoy a tasty feast. It was like a northern day at the beach, the rain was coming down, blustery winds and cool in the air, for us though it made it feel like home, both being from cold countries we embraced the chill and enjoyed the gusty day at the seaside.That evening we headed home in time for our firefly tour, we had no idea what to expect for our evening boat trip but we certainly were not dissapointed. The four of us heading out on a priavte boat, docking up at the side of a mud drawn road, we all looked at each other as if to say 'what the hell' but our lovely tour guide got us walking and took us through a muddy puddle into a bushy area, at this he pointed out one firefly and the moon, great we thought one firefly, oh and the moon! but then suddenly a tree in front of us just flashed, like a christmas tree, the lights of the fireflies intermittently going on and off, we all gasped with happiness and our tour man started singing happy birthday (in Cambodion). With a huge roar of laughter we all broke down, totally unaware of how he knew it was Mikes birthday, we sang away though and enjoyed such a magical moment. Another 30mins passed and we enjoyed the array of activity these little insects brought us, smiling with wonderous joy at each flicker of light, another one of the worlds wonderful creatures. Our tour came to an end and we headed back to Bodi for an evening on the pontoon, drinking wine and talking about Mikes 30th plans ahead.

The following day we packed and headed for our next stop in Cambodia, Phonm Phen, we had decided to take two days to explore the capital, taking in the museums and history of this wonderful country we had been travelling and taking so much richness from. I had started reading a book recommended to me about the Cambodian civil war which for me was a great way to prepare me for the horrific sad information to be given at the museums. My knowledge of history is dire and so I am aware of the Khmer Rouge regime but wasn’t as fully aware as I should have been, by the end of day 2 though my brain felt like it could have exploded with the sadness, terror and stories heard of this devastating period and the impact it still has today.

We started the day by heading to S21, this used to be an old high school before the Pol Pot regime took it over and used it as a prison, we chose to get a guide for the few hours we would be spending there, our guide was a women who had lived through the regime and told us her story of how she had lost her brothers and sisters due to the child labour camps and starvation they suffered as children,  her parents had also been killed for no other reason than being from the city. Her story was like so many others and my heart broke at the information surrounding us. The high school – prison – museum held such strong messages and a proportion of it was still in the same structure as it had been in the 1970’s. In one part the walls are lined with images of child soldier’s, innocent faces turned evil for power, brain washed by a man clearly unstable in his own mental health all for a notion of sheer madness, I read somewhere that even if you wore glasses you would be killed. We learnt that over half the population were killed, that’s 1 in 2 people were murdered for no reason, I don’t even know If I can still digest the information now but I know I feel utter admiration for Cambodian people, their courage to carry on is inspiring after such a brutal attack on their society. We entered one part of the museum which was dedicated to foreigners caught up in the attack, one guy was from Newcastle, my home town (as most of you know), it didn’t have much information so I chose to read some more on the internet, it again was another tale of horror, he was seized whilst yachting and was taken to S21, captured and tortured and made to admit he was part of the CIA,  this was a method the Khmer Rouge used when killing, by people admitting they were part of the CIA they then felt they had allowances to kill the said victim, none of it makes sense, the Pol Pot genocide was one of sick  intention and in S21 alone 14,000 people were tortured and killed.

From here we headed to The Killing Fields, I had no idea what to expect from this museum and was surprised at how well it was organised for such a horrific but important memorial site. The Killing Fields was another area people were taken to before being killed, there is a number of these all over Cambodia but the one in Phonm Phen is the biggest. The memorial is carried out as a audio tour,  each stop informing you what this area was and what was carried out here, the detail is to harrowing to write up and I think it’s more important to experience or read more about it yourself if interested. The emotion it stirred in all of us was indomitable and we all had to take some time out to regain ourselves and feel the sadness and devastation that was being stirred.  For me at first I didn’t really understand the true importance of people going to visit these museums and have these experiences but as I walked around I realised I was mourning the loss of thousands of lives, mothers, babies, fathers, children, families taken away for no reason, butchered for no reason, the killing fields was a memorial to these people to be remembered and never forgotten, it’s so important to remember these periods of history and stop civil wars and genocides like this happening again and if places like this do that then the message is being put out there and a nation is not being forgotten.

We took the evening and following day to be with ourselves and enjoy the feeling of being in PP after the devastation it suffered, looking at the pictures of how the city was prior to it being captured to how it was during and how it had been built back up now, booming with industry and travelers. I was proud to wander the streets and experience the culture, feeling blessed to be in this life and with the people I was with. Our last day in Cambodia was one of reflection and my time in this beautiful country had been more then I could have expected a highlight on the travel train, how it has opened my mind and eyes, making me feel a different appreciation for life and the experiences I am having.

We said our goodbyes to Mike and Ash, arranging to see one another again in Vietnam, they headed up to Kratie for dolphin spotting and we had to get ourselves to Vietnam for our time in Sapa before the parentals arrived. We took the mighty Mekong out of Cambodia, crossing the border to Vietnam on the river, entering back into familiar territory and excited for the next month of travel. 

From Sunset to Sunrise, the Temples of Angkor Wat

We entered Cambodia through the notorious land border Poi Pet, known for its shady scams and dodgy sales staff, Sam had prepped me to let him sort the visas and not freak out if his pointing finger ‘you’re lying’ face came on. All the guidebooks and internet reading tells you of the fake buildings and fake security staff in place, supposedly helping you with your visas and quick route into Cambodia, however what will happen is you will be over charged, money taken and still be waiting in the long line with all the other weary travelers and locals passing through. We managed to make it off the bus, our bus driver being so lovely and in his broken English pointing at the actual border control offices, as the scam men started to surround us demanding our time and notes, we pushed through no finger pointing but lots of no no no, NO THANKYOU.  We got to the border control and even there the guards tried their luck, stating they needed an extra few $’s to put our visas through, at this Sam informed them, no sorry, we don’t have it and with a few exchanged words our visas were processed and we were in the queue crossing to Thailand, phew. 

We caught the bus to Siem Reap to meet lovely Ash and Mike, the journey wasn’t too bad apart from the fact we found out just before getting on the bus our friends had gone into labour, meaning the whole bus journey was a panic of if they were okay and how the labour was going. We somehow managed to get 10 seconds of internet at a random service stop and a beautiful picture of baby Heidi came through, we were over whelmed with emotion and both were teary eyed at the happiness we felt our besties had a brood but sadness at feeling so far away when such a special moment was occurring. 

We arrived into Siem Reap in standard SE Asia fashion with the bus turning into a dark dodgy bus terminal and a 100 tuk tuks awaiting our arrival, we bartered a price and then got on our way to our hotel. When we arrived we were greeted by the lovely smiles of our Canadian friends and instantly felt at home in their embrace.  The evening was spent settling into Siem Reap and making plans for the next few days, M&A had already been in Siem Reap for a few days and had bought the 3 day tickets to Angkor Wat, we knew we only wanted to do the one day, as with the one day you also get the previous evening, meaning we would buy our tickets the following day at 5pm, have that evening and the whole of the next day. M&A informed us they had done the two outer routes of Angkor but had saved the big temples for us for our full day together.  So with plans made we enjoyed the rest of the evening on ‘pub street’ drinking lots of wine, local 30p beer and a lot of good chats with two very good friends, we missed the fact a river of rain had flooded the streets and when we emerged from the bar at 3am we fell into a puddle and stumbled into a tuk tuk. We awoke the next morning with fuzzy heads and happy thoughts, I woke up earlier than the rest so went for a nice swim and enjoyed the morning sunshine on my back, after my swim I went and enjoyed breakfast catching up on my diary and filling in my last few days of Thailand. Soon the others joined me and we arranged a lazy day in Siem Reap before Sam and I hired some bikes and went for our evening cycle to Angkor. 

We arrived at Angkor spot on 5pm, we got our faces snapped and our tickets purchased and set out without any real plan, not planning to go in any temples, more just enjoy the cycle of what was to come and find a spot to watch sunset. I had no idea what I expected of Angkor and after being at Bagan (Burma) I had a similar image in my mind of the temples being smaller and quite similar and had no understanding of the distance between them all, some are miles away in a taxi (the outer route).  It was great to get a feel of the place before our main day and we nestled on a bridge at the end of the day to enjoy sunset. We headed back that night, prepared for our voyage into the mystic temples the following day, we chose to have a quieter night then the previous, meeting with a friend from home who was in Siem Reap also, we enjoyed a feast of Khmer curry’s and a few beers, oh and some tasty tea, heading to bed with full tummy’s ready for a 5am sunrise jaunt. 

We woke super early and were greeted by Mr Thom (who soon become Uncle Thom) for our days adventure, we chose to take a tuk tuk for the day at Angkor as our plan was to do sunrise to sunset and knew on bikes we wouldn’t make it, plus the sun gets so blazing hot at midday we wanted the shade of the tuk tuk and not the blistering heat on our faces. Uncle Thom was a total sweetie, he told us our route for the day, thankfully what we had planned and how he would drop us at each temple and wait for us as we explored. We joined the procession of tuk tuks and tourists and were dropped at Angkor Wat, the main temple in Angkor, everyone heads here for sunrise so as we entered it was slight chaos, everyone heads to the lake to watch sunrise, as the reflection of Angkor in the lake is spectacular, however it becomes a ipad, iphone photograph hell and for this reason we headed right as everyone to the grassy garden. We had our lovely trusty Indian blanket so put that down and settled ourselves for the morning, at that point Ash said ‘wouldn’t it be great to have a coffee’ with that James Bond (yep that was his name) came over with a list of coffee and promised he would bring it to us for our morning view. With coffee and comfort we were ready for a beautiful morning, or so we thought, sunrise was spectacular but sadly we had a child learning there ABC and was playing a very strange song out of his parents iphone, it did stop after a while but did leave us all laughing at such a random situation at such a beautiful spot. The joy of iphones and music, my definite travelling pet hate! We didn’t let it spoil our time though and managed to smile through it and embrace the beauty of what we were experiencing in front of us. 

Angkor Wat temple completely blew my mind and I was completely in awe of the beauty before me, Mike and I both had our guides/temple books which I would recommend to anyone visiting the temples, the books tell of all the bas reliefs (carvings/stories) engraved into the walls, stories of life times ago, wars, dietys and religious beliefs, they tell the tales of suffering and change and you can see the new carvings from the old, you can see where there has been change when the Khmer people left the Angkor complex and the temples were changed from Hindu to Buddhist carvings. For me the most beautiful carvings were the Apsara depictions, beautiful images of women nymphs/pixies saturated the walls, there were a number of similar images but everywhere the images embraced and flowed in groups and singular elements of these incredible women. I hadn’t ever heard the term Apsara but Mike soon explained they were seen to men as goddess and were worshipped for their beauty, I chose to do some further reading when home and loved the description of female spirits of the clouds and water, and they are youthful, elegant and superb in the art of dancing. How could these women not be respected and worshipped these mythical goddess sounded heavenly. Some of my other favourite carvings were the Rishis, Hindu sages, the representations was of old wise men, crossed legged like Buddha, with a long beard, looking wise and calm in his posture and positioning. My favourite statues led to a lot of laughs (and slight sex education lessons), these statues were the lungi and yoni, now some back history on yonis. I recently completed a course around feminist studies and working with vulnerable women, in this course we talked about what we called our lady parts and everyone had their hilarious name we all learnt as children. We were asked how we felt saying the word out loud and every one of us felt uncomfortable with the word, mine being ‘fairy’ which has always left me feeling awkward as I become obsessed with flower fairy’s and the magical world of fairy’s throughout my younger years and early twenty’s, therefore using the word fairy to describe my vagina and my best friend just felt wrong. After this course I chose a new word and one I would teach my child, that being yoni, so to see this word used to describe the fertility statues in Angkor Wat led me to informing M&A and Sam about my story of a change up in words. I went off on a wander around one of the temples to find one of these statues and joined a Chinese tour group as it was explained to them what they were, now this was amusing, as the tour guide poured the water and said some proactive words that made the ladies giggle and the men groan. The belief with the statues is that at one time the Khmer people poured water over the top of the lungi, the water then flowed into the yoni and out through a drainage system that led outside the temple, the people living outside the temple could then collect the water, drink it and wish for good fertility. It just made my mind spin how everything has such meaning and beauty wherever you step and wander. 

After 4hrs we exited Angkor Wat, hungry for breakfast and amazed at the humble amble we had just experienced. Our next stop was Bayon, we were welcomed by the most beautiful elephant trudging along, sadly carrying tourists on its back but the beauty of an elephant  a few steps in front of us was stupefying and I couldn’t help but let out a small gasp of excitement seeing its beautiful face and outstanding stature.  Bayon is a world of difference from Angkor Wat but just as magnificent and jaw dropping. I believe Bayon was built 80yrs after Angkor Wat by a new Khmer King, from far away the temple looks a pile of rubble but as you come closer it becomes a mass of smiling faces that at first glance could represent the familiarity of Buddha but when reading I learnt the images were to represent the Kings face, spread across 47 towers the faces envelope the towers, supposedly representing the 47 provinces in Cambodia at that time, the king watching down on all, creepy right? For me Bayon was a beauty but did hold a gothic eeriness and when learning about the kings faces I soon felt I understood why. Like Angkor, Bayon did have bas reliefs also which we attempted to understand but parts of the temple walls had fell into disrepair which was part of the beauty of this ruined attraction. 

Bayon is situated in the Angkor Thom complex; therefore we wondered the rest of the complex, enjoying various smaller temples and the terrace of elephants. We took a rest with a group of local boys who were playing in one of the pools and I enjoyed being splashed as they ran and jumped in front of me, giggling with excitement and happiness. 

Angkor Thom means big city and it was where the Khmer people once lived when residing in the Angkor complex, for me what astounded me was that is no evidence of settlement due to the residents using wood as there means to nest and live, stone was only for the gods and that’s why the temples were stone and still stand. When reading up about the movement of the Khmer residents there is no actual understanding as to why everyone left and therefore no records of how many people lived there.  Exploring these temples and  once distressed lands felt enjoyable but uncomforting knowing people were maybe run out of the home, their city and moved on to places nobody knows. 

We headed back to meet Uncle Thom for lunch then headed to our next stop Ta Phrom, known to all as Tomb Raider temple. Ta Phrom was what I was most excited to see, I had seen so many pictures and knew when planning this trip it was one of my top things I wanted to explore and experience and it sure didn’t disappoint. Ta Phrom is very different from the other temples as it has been left in a similar state to how it was found, piles of rubble, trees dominating the temple walls, nature taking back what belongs to it, land. The tetrameles nudiflora trees is what makes this temple so spectacular, it has literally been brought to ruins because of some of the trees, the roots engulf the insides of the temple and are beautiful to look at and photograph. We found so many nooks to climb into and climbed high as sun was coming down embracing the vast maze of ruins in front of us. 

After a few hours we exited Ta Phrom, with Uncle Thom telling us we didn’t have long for sunset and he would show us one more temple, Banteay Kdei, before our chosen sunset spot, he gave us 15minutes to explore our next one, which was a quick walk through, more beautiful apsaras, doorways upon doorways to walk through, another beautiful maze in the temples of Angkor. 

Like our morning jaunt we decided we didn’t want crowds of people so chose to ignore the guidance of the sunset temple and head to the kings royal bathing pool, Sra Srang to watch sunset on us. We didn’t pick wrong either as we enjoyed our time with a group of local kids, watching them play a game Sam played at cubs (therefore we learnt the rules from him), smiling and laughing like children should. As sun come down we reflected on what was an amazing day and how blessed we were to spend it together but also be on this incredible journey in this incredible place, one of the incredible wonders of our astonishing world.
 

Angkor Wat

Rishi

Apsara and Sammy

Bayon

Fertility Statue

Ta Phrom

Ta Phrom exploring.

Sunset at the Royal Pool.

 

Beautiful but Bewildering Burma

We chose to have two weeks in Myanmar (Burma), a few people had recommended shorter and some longer but with our time in certain countries in SE Asia being limited we wanted to make sure we fitted everything we wanted to do in but with a good amount of adventure, and for us two weeks suited nicely for the places we had chosen to visit and the attractions we wanted to see.

We flew into Burma, we had planned to go overland but needed to maximize time, we found a cheap flight with Air Asia and bit the bullet and booked a return ticket from Bangkok to Mandalay.  I wasn’t sure how I would find Mandalay, I had heard mixed reviews but felt it attracted us more than Yangon, Sam and I always have a two-three day rule in cities, we both love the coast and country so much more and always find after two days in a city were ready to move, we had 2 full days to adventure Mandalay so planned our time well with lots of walking, palace adventures and cycling. Our first day was literally just spent walking; we walked for miles and went to some extraordinary sites.  We visited a beautiful teak monk monastery which was hidden up the back streets of Mandalay, walking there we got to speak broken Burmese to a number of different locals and send a lot of smiles out there such happy humble faces. The monastery, is a really old monastery but had such a relaxed calmness surrounding it, we spent some time just sitting down under the shade of a tree, enjoying the silence and observing the day time rituals of the monks who lived around it.  From there we walked to the main pagoda in Mandalay, I should say that Mandalay is filled with stupas and pagodas all over the city, there dotted every few yards/miles and its incredible to see as you bumble around. The main pagoda we had read about held a huge Buddha inside that had been covered with so much gold leaf over the years it now was washed daily (this started at sunrise and could last until sundown). When we arrived we were both blown away by what we witnessed, the Buddha was inside a room which I believe couldn’t be accessed by civilians, and however there was a carpet which was filled with Buddhists worshipping, sitting and being present in his royalness statue. There were also video cameras on the Buddha which allowed you to see the men washing it; we read that this water is then kept by some as it’s seen as holy. We sat for some time in awe of what was happening around us and really took in the spritualness that could be felt in the space.  We then decided to head to Mandalay palace, due to Burma only just being opened up to tourism a lot of crazy rules still apply, one thing being that tourists are only allowed into Mandalay palace from one entrance, we chose to take the long walk to the entrance, sadly when we got there it was 5pm and tourists have to enter by 4.30pm, oucha, we turned our bums around and went and found somewhere to eat, sadly for me the restaurants don’t cater for vegetarians and everything has some sort of pork in it, meaning it was a plate of rice to end the day for me and a mutton curry meal for Sam.

The next day we decided to hire bikes and cycle out to a nearby village then onto the world’s longest teak bridge, we started cycling early but the heat of Burma got the better of us and we had to take shelter in a park, we ended up being there 2-3hrs before being able to finish our cycle, sadly the cycle didn’t end how we wanted and the teak was pretty disappointing. We commiserated our long day out over a chang and a coke and headed on the long road back, achy bums and tired heads we decided to go for pumpkin curry and a lassi to end what had been a tiresome long day.

Sadly the day had not ended and we took a night train to Bagan, the night train was possible my worst experience of train journeying in this whole trip and I won’t deny it but I was slightly broken by the end. The train was cheap, so what did we expect, we definitely paid for what we got and ended up slouched on smelly chairs, ducking (and probably swallowing) a mound of insects, being blinded by the strong bright strip lights (that remained on all through the night) and being face on to the stranger opposite you.  We arrived at 5am that morning and I have never been happier to get my bags and run off the train.

Our first day in Bagan was a total wipe out, we slept and recovered preparing ourselves for the wonders we wanted Bagan to bring. Bagan certainly didn’t disappoint and it is probably one of my top visits on this trip so far, it’s hard to explain the grand beauty of what Bagan holds and also is completely bonkers to think such a land exists and has only just started being fully explored by travelers. Bagan once held over 4000 Buddhist stupas and pagoda’s, a number of them are now in ruins but still standing is over 300, this small town comprising of old and new Bagan, is arid and dusty but a wealth of religious buildings spread across the town, they spread across a vast plain of land and can be accessed by foot, bike and some car. Most of the pagodas and temples left standing can be accessed by all and a lot have secret stairs in which you can climb up high and breath in the landscape all around you.

We chose two mornings and one evening to really get the full beauty of Bagan, during the day the weather was too hot to be out and about so you really had to start as early or in the late afternoon. We read a few blogs on which temples were recommended and looked in the LP at what the main temples were, we also enjoyed a few that we just came across as we cycled around. The splendor of Bagan is that every temple is magnificent to see and for me I wouldn’t have cared if I had got to see the top temples as some of the most beautiful ones we looked at where smaller ones. Sam had told me how each temple held a Buddha statue in it and in my mind I had a Russian doll sized Buddha, how wrong I was when every temple we visited had giant ones in, some being up to 30ft. The grandness of the statues blew me away and at times we just sat at the front of one in awe of this amazing creation in front of us.

The evening we chose to head out was one of pure magic, we visited some incredible stupas, climbing high and exploring these dilapidated buildings, Sam had picked a temple called North Guni to watch sunset, the temple was behind a main temple recommended and therefore we hoped wouldn’t be as touristy. We got there for around 6pm and managed 30mins alone at the top of this temple, in front of us was a mist covering the plains and peeping out the top was oodles of pointy pagodas and stunning stupas, I sat silent for some time just watching and smiling at the experience we were having and how blessed we were to be witnessing such a beautiful moment of stillness and serene peace. At that moment my heart felt so content at what we were doing and why we were on this discovery of new worlds, at that moment in front of me was this mystifying magic world that my brain couldn’t comprehend how these buildings got there and had survived so many years of destruction and change but were still giving and allowing people like us to enjoy and embrace such special experiences like watching a sunset over a plain of glory. That night we ate tea and were both filled with content, overwhelmed at the evening and what Bagan had given us. We could have stayed longer in Bagan but had a night bus to Inle Lake, we caught the bus and arrived in good time to our hotel, sadly the time was too good and we had to snooze out in the owner’s office until our room was ready the next morning at 8am.

We got our room and again snoozed off catching up on lost sleep, we had planned 2.5 days in Inle Lake so had that afternoon wandering and eating, planning the next day to take a trip onto the lake. The town you stay in is right next to Inle Lake, all the boats go from Nyaungshwe driving up the river onto the lake, you mostly have 5hrs out on the lake, doing touristy trail stuff, visiting certain points, factories, seeing certain village lake life’s, as much as I enjoy this I also find it quite cringe as I always feel it would be so weird if tourists paid to watch me at work. For me the beauty of Inle Lake was just being in the boat and observes life on the lake and the rolling hills surrounding the lake. Sam and I you could be in the lake district the scenery was so beautiful, the difference was is that Inle lake is used to survive, life grows in the lake from the fish being caught to the hoards of tomatoes growing in the middle to the orchids growing for the fabric factory it’s a way of living for these people and not just a tourist hub like other lakes. We did visit one amazing factory, an umbrella factory and I was taught how to make homemade paper with pressed flowers, something I will definitely be crafting when home. The whole day was so fun and the surroundings was spectacular to see, the colors of the lake and the green of the hills just left such a palette of shades in my mind and it felt great to see life and beauty in the surrounding of Burma.

The next day we took a day train as Sam wanted to explore the countryside some more, the train was a 8hr train and the first 6hrs were so glorious, like Inle Lake the colours were beautiful and for 6hrs it was just constant landscape and colours to fill the mind, I was so pleased to be on the train and experiencing the iridescent countryside as just never imagined such a thing in Burma. Sadly the train was delayed and without going into it too much it became the journey from hell with drunk train workers, urine stench, toilet flow into the train, wet backpacks and the standard overcrowding, we got into our destination 4hrs late and exhausted, ready for bed, we tried to remember the train for what it had been and not how it ended as it had been utter glory to start.

Our last few days we headed back to Mandalay, we still wanted to explore the palace and climb Mandalay hill and I was dying for more of the pumpkin curry I had relished in when first there. Mandalay didn’t disappoint and we ended our Burma trip with a lovely day exploring, climbing and eating. It was great to see the palace as I was reading the glass palace (a book about Burma and Mandalay palace is a main part of it), I could see the books descriptions in the palace grounds and enjoyed seeing the photos of the king and queen and felt a real understanding to the events in my book now I was at the place it talked of. The pumpkin curry didn’t disappoint and we enjoyed a long evening in the restaurant soaking up our two weeks, writing in our diaries and talking out the highs and lows. 

Both times in Mandalay there was a curfew on meaning we had to be in by 9pm, this didnt affect us as much the first time but did open up a number of conversations about the limits and boundaries and the effect we felt at not being allowed out after a certain time. It also led us to discuss the reason for the curfew which was a religion war between Buddhist extremists and Muslim extremists, it was crazy to think that there was such danger that caused the army to man the street corners and although we never felt unsafe the presence was felt. Our 2nd visit to Mandalay really hit home when on the afternoon coming back from the palace we witnessed a number of people crowding round the moat which surrounds the palace, we couldn't work out what was going on and being intrigued took a look, only to find a floating body, our belief was this was a just one example of the behavior taking place late at night.

Burma has been a country I am so pleased to have come too, explored and experienced, I am not sure it’s one I would come back too but would be one I definitely recommended to others. It holds places of such joy, delight and wonder but for me it was hard and strenuous at times and really unenjoyable.  However the beauty and feelings Bagan gave me can never be taken away and without Burma I wouldn’t have experienced that uplifting high and pure joy as sun started to set over the vast plains of an enchanted land. 

Temples of Bagan

Inle Lake

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North India – into the Himalayas

We moved on from Jaisalmer to Amritsar, somewhere Sam was dying to get too, a place I was hit and miss about. Amritsar is where the Golden Temple is which is a the holiest Sikh pilgrimage site, now I think this was my first problem, I do enjoy seeing temples/places of worship but there is something in me that also feels rather uncomfortable about me visiting, like I don’t believe places like this should be used as a tourist attraction, if that makes sense? I can see why they are and for others it maybe amazing to see a place that means so much to another but there is an air of unease within myself when I am there, it’s like I have entered someone’s house uninvited. However even with all these thoughts it was spectacular to see and did hold a real sense of pure beauty about it, its grand statue was incredible and the place was buzzing with prayer and believers that it did hold a fame of magic around it, with my thinking shifting I could see why this was a place of awe and beauty and I felt rather privileged to have visited somewhere others are dying to see.

That evening we did the standard border parade, which it seemed everyone there was going to do, in my mind I had that it would be a normal border with a few guards and a military style patrol, oh how wrong I was, it was a spectacle even Walt Disney would have been proud of, the ‘wind the crowd up guy’, the theatrical uniforms, the music and dancing, the stalls which everyone was ushered too, the whole thing was a performance that could have been performed at a theme park. The border parade happens every evening when India and Pakistan close the border to each other for the night, somehow this day to day occurrence has become a show in to itself and for two countries that are enemy’s the whole thing felt quite jovial. Sam had this on one of his top things to do so I was pleased we had been able to enjoy it and it had lived up to more than it could have expected, all in all our day in Amritsar was jam packed but full of beauty and hilarity.

The next morning we left early for our bus to McLeod Ganj (Dharamshala), sadly we had to do a bit of a journey as we couldn’t get a direct bus and had to stop off and then get onto a night bus, so with a full day of travel we arrived into the mountains and our breaths were taken away with the beauty in front of us, snow capped mountains, tasty Tibetan street food snug woolen wear, after all that heat we were ready to get wrapped up and enjoy ambling the mountain streets. We had planned 7 days in McLeod but ended staying 10 due to an unexpected meeting with the Dalai Lama, we had chosen a beautiful guesthouse that offered the most spectacular views, we had a top star balcony that overlooked the Kangra Valley and a bed that eventually looked comfy, for £7.70 (a night) we couldn’t complain. Our first day when we arrived it rained down and we bought some new yak woolen scarf’s and nestled into our jackets, we found a café that served cake and tea and I enjoyed an earl grey and delicious slice of chocolate cake, with the rain beating down It really did feel home from home, and you know what, I liked it.
We enjoyed a beautiful thunder storm that night that kept us at our window and eyes ablaze as the whole sky lit up then boomed down upon our heads, it felt magic being in the mountains, the weather felt so fierce and loud and the sky was just amazing to watch, we eventually drifted into our beds in the early hours and woke the next day to bright skies and a spring in our step for exploration.

McLeod is around 1850m above sea level, it’s classed as part of the Himalayan range and although is part of India its population is mainly Tibetan as its where the Tibetans took refuge when China invaded, then occupied Tibet (1950’s), the Dalai Lama escaped the Chinese occupation in 1959 and fled to McLeod taking with him a number of Tibetans, although they are classed as refugees the Indian government welcome the Tibetans and have offered them a place where they can still be who they are and not reform to what the Chinese government wants.

It was refreshing to have new foods to eat, new religion to understand and new conversations to have, we knew with our time there we wanted to do a couple of treks, visit the Buddhist temple complex, hear a talk in the museum and enjoy Bhagsu Falls, we managed all this and more, although some days were spent wandering, eating and indulging in the views around us.

Our main trek we did was Triund Hill, we climbed from 1850m – 2900m, we were able to do the trek alone which was amazing, as with my knees I knew my pace would be slow and it allowed me to plod, my favorite way of trekking. The trek took us from McLeod – Dharamakot, where we had a delicious breakfast getting us ready for the trek ahead, as we set off all pumped and ready we were amazed at the beautiful prayer flags in front of us and the ease of the wind around the hills, after 30minutes we asked someone the way and they informed us ‘you’re going the wrong way’ grumble, we took ourselves back and realized we had just walked straight past the uphill climb to start the trek, oops, we took a positive from it though and were pleased we had seen the amazing prayer flags and seen a part of Dharamakot we would have missed if we had gone straight onto Triund. We then started the ascent and the sweat started, basically from the start to end it was an incline, there was no letting go, 4hrs of uphill climb, we stopped at beautiful tea shops on a couple of occasions and enjoyed looking at how far we had climbed (not looking at how far we had to go), the sites around were of true beauty and looking at all the little villages nestled into the mountains felt incredibly serene, I couldn’t believe how high we were up and how proud I was to be challenging myself to such a arduous climb. I can’t deny I went all the way without a moan and there was a point where I stated to Sam ‘no more, I can’t do it’ but with his cheerful smile, sweaty kiss,  good words and hand in hand he encouraged me on and I couldn’t thank him more when we reached the top I welled with tears, it was beauty beyond thinking, the snow capped mountains lay directly in my vision, we sat for some time just taking in the mountain air and being chuffed at our achievement, we drank chai, chatted with others and took the mandatory pictures before making the decent downhill. That night we both slept with smiles on our faces, it felt special achieving something so large and knowing I didn’t give up but carried on right to the end, and what an end it was.

We used the next few days to relax, recover and read planning what other delights McLeod had in store for us, on one of our bumbles down to the Buddhist temple complex we spotted a poster stating the Dalai Lama was holding a receiving ceremony that Saturday in McLeod, we couldn’t believe our luck, Sam had stated he hoped to meet him but I had laughed at the remark never believing an opportunity like this would or could arise. The poster informed us to take our passports and register the Dalai Lama office, then turn up on Saturday, we couldn’t believe it could be so easy but it was, once we registered we were told to be in line for 7am and the line would go as planned. Our next day was a bit of a haze, filled with excitement we rang our parents and informed them what would be happening, much to my mother’s disbelief (and ours really), it just didn’t feel real, we speculated about what it would be like and how the day would go, if he would speak to us, shake our hand or just bless us, it all just felt an excited dream.
On the Friday we went to the Tibetan Museum and went to a talk on the missing Panchem Lama, it was really interesting and due to it being the Panchem Lama birthday there was a lot of awareness talks and information sharing occurring in the museum. The Panchem Lama is like the son of the Dalai Lama and China have stolen him and replaced him with their own Panchem Lama, due to China wanting Tibetans to stop believing in the Dalai Lama and pushing their own beliefs onto the Tibetan population. The afternoon was so informative and afterwards we had chai and biscuits with a few of the speakers and others listening, we got talking to one women who moved to McLeod from American some 14yrs ago and one conversation led to another and we started talking about the meeting with the Dalai Lama, she informed us he hadn’t done something like he was tomorrow for around 20yrs, so we were very lucky, she told us we had good karma and her warming smile and interesting talks just got us more prepped for the big day.

Saturday came around and we joined the long line of people arriving to meet his high holiness, the queue was hyped with excitement and you could see the smiling faces of a long line of tourists and locals, the line moved quite quickly and we soon found ourselves in the main hall, there was around 2-3k people, a lot more then I imagined they thought they would have sign up and my guess was the receiving line wasn’t to happen as expected. After some time we were informed that they only expected around 500 but 2500 had signed up therefore meaning the proceedings had changed and instead of a receiving line, group photos would be taken then a talk. We were grouped into different countries, ours being a brilliant mix of different countries (as organization went a bit hay wire), when he came out from his home it was magical, the swarms of people left there photo group to get a glimpse but I decided to wait until he came over our side so instead of a stolen glace I could see him in his whole. After around 15 minutes, he came tottering over, smiling, happy and full of jubilation, he had around 5 body guards and stumbled into the middle of our group, reaching for hands and sharing smiles, my body filled with warmth I haven’t felt before when meeting someone and it was just this heightened sense of overwhelmed happiness. I looked at Sam and his eyes had welled, there was such a strong sense of spirituality in the room and people were awe struck at how laid back the whole event was and how the Dalai Lama just took it all in his stride. Our photos were taken in such a quick shot and it was time for him to move on, but wow, that feeling, that magic of him standing right in front of me will never leave me and it days like this that reminded me the importance of travel, new experiences and looking into the hearts of others.

The talk after was about the importance of making peace through our actions and not through prayer, I think this is an element a I love Buddhism so much as that even though its classed as a religion it is more of a teaching and I think the essence of learning rather than preaching is so important, something I feel this talk really opened my eyes and ears too. A lot of what was being said really rang home to my learning I have just completed back home around feminism and sharing the message and I think the power of sharing thoughts and feelings is so important as it spreads the word and allows it to be brought to the surface. The talk last around 30mins and was just inspirational, there were laughs, tears and just a lot of very happy listeners. When he finished and left he walked straight past Sam and I, it felt a welcome goodbye and I couldn’t have been more thankful for the experience had.

In all of India I have never felt as welcome as what I did when in McLeod, the smiles on people’s faces, the daily hellos from locals, knitting with the women on the street and talking about wool, eating the most delicious street food (momos), dining on pumpkin pie and caramel lattes in my favorite café, eating at the same restaurant four nights in a row, the whole place just made me feel so comfortable and Sam and I both agreed it would be a place we were sad to leave but would definitely come back too many times again. 

We left the following day and heading on an early morning bus to Manali, Manali was totally different to McLeod and although we enjoyed it didn’t feel near as beautiful or community based and it did feel more like we had arrived at a skiing/activity town rather than a place people lived. The beautiful snow capped mountains had buildings upon buildings on top of each other and it felt more like a construction site with all the work being carried out. Besides all this though we did get on one amazing trek to Solong Valley and although the end result was as amazing as Triund, the walk there was really special and was a brilliant trek to undertake. We chose to take the route through the forest rather than the road and enjoyed trekking through a number of apple orchards, sadly the apples weren’t in bloom but the trees had started to flower and it was just amazing being so far up and all these incredible fruit trees around us. We came across a beautiful waterfall and used it to bathe our faces and cool down, we also managed to get stuck on the wrong side of the river, thinking we could take a short cut and sadly couldn’t, it was great to explore though and see the locals working away and watch the fast flowing currents. When we came to the end of our trek we found a nice grassy knowl and enjoyed the sun before catching the last bus home.
We enjoyed an amazing day down by the river the following day, the sun come out so we took advantage and went for a dip in the mountain water, and we found a sandy nook and spent the day, reading, relaxing and enjoying the scenery that surrounded us. Our second trek was sadly cancelled because of me falling ill, so a day of bed rest and sleep took over as Sam planned our last week in India.

We knew we had to be in Rishikesh for the Saturday as our long awaited reunion with Ben and Claire was to take place, we were filled with nerves and excitement at the prospect of seeing them both after a year and a half. It felt weird as even though we have spoke over the last few years when they were in Oz, it was just the sense of seeing them and maybe those nerves were just pure excitement. When we saw them it felt we were all overwhelmed with emotion and group hugged on the side of the road spreading the love and holding each other with sheer delight to be in each others company again.

The next four days were filled with a highlight of our trip so far, we spent pretty much every moment with each other, talking, listening, hearing of each others adventures and experiences over the last years and filling each other in on tales of home and plans for when back.

We used our time in Rishikesh well and felt it was a perfect setting (apart from the lack of alcohol for a glass of vino or a beer), we explored abandoned ashrams, swam in the clear blue ganges, losing hours of time in cafes, drinking numerous amounts of tea and coffee, swimming in waterfalls, eating tasty food and shared travelling tips and do's and dont's, Rishikesh held an awe of beauty and peacefulness about it and it was brilliant for wandering around aimlessly enjoying each other’s company and being in each other’s presence. We even managed a few sneaky drinks on the beach before being asked to go home by the police, oops. All in all we couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend our last few days and I felt our relationships hadn’t just strengthened but had grown also at this sense of newness about us all, we have all grown and changed and it felt great to still have that sameness when together, I always feel it’s the element of true friendship.

We said our goodbyes on our last night, knowing it wouldn’t be long before we saw each again but still feeling sad the last four days had passed like a flash, it started with a group hug and ended with one, our loves were said and it was time to head to Delhi for our last India stop.

We got an early bus the next morning and arrived in Delhi for the cricket, with no time to stop and think we dropped our bags off and headed straight to the cricket. I am not a big sports fan and cricket is certainly not one sport I love but Sam was dying to go as he had followed the IPL whilst being in India, it was a fun atmosphere and I actually found myself enjoying the four hours we spent there, sadly the Delhi dare devils lost but I so learnt cricket is not like football and you cheer for the runs not for your team. We headed back to the hotel that night and had news of some very exciting news back home, making me miss the homelands but being reminded of how important this adventure is now, the news left us falling asleep with happy hearts and big smiles knowing we were on our journey and what a journey it was.

We used our next day well and did our last bit of shopping, sent our last post and headed to the airport ready for the next 24hrs to Kuching, Borneo, Malaysia. With India at an end I felt relived but also sad; my body was ready for cleanliness and some sort of order, rather than the manic times of Indian ways. The first 3 months of the trip have been beautiful in every way and however challenging India didn’t throw as many curveballs as I expected, I left knowing it would be a place that will always be in my heart and will always be a place I travel back too, now there is just more places I will want to visit and those 3wk holidays will become a bit more crammed. 

Link for North India pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152159453141716.1073741836.513626715&type=1&l=c1765b2faa