Back where it all began!

    YVR April 10, 2014. Finale of 132 days on the road.

                      (Trying to hide the Starbucks!)

Backpacking Buddies Forever!

Bangkok April 9, 2014

The red is our tally to date. Still lots to see!!

           

Bhutan

We've been on the go for some long and arduous days lately, leaving little time for blogging! Fortunately Pen has taken the time to email some family and friends and once again I'm copying and pasting it here. Here's her take on our week in Bhutan:

We flew from Siem Reap in Cambodia to Bangkok to catch our flight to Bhutan. We were excited about this opportunity, facilitated by Peter's cousin Cate who works with the Australian Electoral Commission in Canberra. This agency assisted the Bhutan government through the process of organizing their first election. Through her work, Cate has visited Bhutan over twenty times and has many contacts there. She was able to assist us in the process of getting a visa at short notice and when applying from outside your home country!

We tried to visit Bhutan in the Seventies but it was essentially a closed kingdom at that time. Due to Cate’s contacts and reputation in Bhutan, we had a very personalized tour on our 6-day visa. Bhutan requires all tourists to be accompanied by a local guide who provides cultural context and information. We like to visit historical and cultural sites but really enjoy meeting the local people and seeing how they live. Our guide was willing to adjust parts of our tour to accommodate these interests.

Bhutan is a Buddhist country and many of their cultural sites and customs reflect their strong, widely held religious beliefs. We visited Dzongs built centuries ago, which are a combination of Buddhist monastery and seats of governance in Thimphu, the capital city, Punakha and Paro. After a visit to the Punakha Dzong, we crossed the river on a long suspension bridge and visited a small rural village. Our guide was able to spontaneously facilitate various encounters with local villagers.

One man, whose wife had left to help their daughter who had recently given birth, invited us into his typical Bhutanese country home, played us a few tunes on his traditional stringed instrument and sang us a song about missing his wife and the joy of his new granddaughter. We were invited to tea at another residence and while there a young woman from the village, who is studying tourism in Thimphu, rushed in to ask us to complete a survey about our stay in Bhutan – an assignment for one of her courses. Word had spread of our presence in the village and we were warmly welcomed!

The next day in Punakha we were supposed to be going for a hike but heard that there was a Tsechu at a Monastery/Dzong about 30 minutes drive on the top of a high hill. We were very excited to have this opportunity to witness the dances, songs and ritual that go along with these festivals. The following day very early in the morning we hiked up to Taktsang Monastery (at 9,700’ altitude), the most revered monastery in Bhutan. It clings to an impossibly craggy cliff face. Josh was the first visitor to arrive that morning, with the result that we had a very private visit. We were guided by local monks through 5 very special and different chambers, with the opportunity to meditate in extremely sacred surroundings. We departed just as the sun was catching the roof of the monastery and the first wave of international visitors arrived.

The high point of our Bhutan adventure - Taktsang Monastery at 10,000'. We were the first visitors for the day.

That evening we had dinner at a farm house built 350 years ago that still contains some of the original furniture and implements used at that time. The dinner came complete with rice wine, arras and genuine Bhutanese food. Laura, who loves taking photographs, was rapt! Of course our visit was much too short but we all agreed it was just an hors d'oeuvres tour. We hope to return one day to explore more of the country. Canada has many NGO’s there so volunteers are always welcome. There is a hospital in Thimpu that always needs nurses and of course there are outpost clinics in villages all over the country if any of you are looking for an adventure!

More pictures to follow!

Update from Penny

We've covered a lot of miles in the past week, with long days and nights of travel and exploration leaving little time for blogging. Today we took a rest day in our hotel close to the Bangkok International Airport, prior to our flight to Bhutan at 6.50 am tomorrow. Pen took some of the time to write a detailed email to family and friends, which makes an ideal blog catch-up post. So if you're reading this post and some of it seems like deja vu, now you know the reason! Here's Pen's perspective on the past week or so:

We were lucky to arrive in Hoi An, an interesting old city on the east coast of Vietnam just south of Da Nang, on the night of the monthly Lunar Festival. The festival was attended by thousands of people and featured paper lanterns that looked very pretty floating on the placid waters of the river. This practice obviously has special significance, but due to my limited Vietnamese the explanation eluded me, so I decide that if two people floated their lanterns down the river it signified their undying devotion to each other!

Peter and I spent a few days staying in rustic bamboo huts very near the ocean in An Bang. This made Peter happy as he hoped to re-create an experience we had on the East Coast of Malaysia when we were travelling in the 70's. There's a lovely beach and we were lucky to be at the quiet end of it. We swam and ate and watched the local fishermen bring in their catch in their round woven bamboo boats that reminded me of the ones that “The owl and the pussycat went to sea in”! It was fascinating, and a tad alarming, watching them navigate through the surf standing up in the boat with one oar used as a scull. Initially they pulled the boat forward by using the oar to catch the first wave and then spun themselves around through 180 degrees, placing themselves on the seaward side of the round craft, facing the shore and using the oar to steer themselves in. We watched several come home in the dark, no lifejackets, no whistles, no margin for error! 

After our coastal respite we were ready to tackle Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City. The bustling capital wasn't nearly as bad as we had been led to expect. We enjoyed some great weather, delicious food including great French bread and pastries, music and site seeing.  Somehow we managed to avoid the Motor Scooter Bag theft, the card game scam, pickpockets and tainted alcohol! Peter and I spent an afternoon seriously looking at beautiful handcrafted ukuleles on the music street in Saigon.


In Saigon we arranged bus and boat transportation for travel up the Mekong River to the Cambodian Border. The Mekong River trip was amazing and the experience of life on the river exceeded our expectations. We spent several days meandering up channels on small boats, visiting artisan villages where they make value-added coconut products which vary from cooking and serving utensils, to coconut wine, oil and delicious coconut candy. We also toured a tropical fruit orchard where they made dried fruit products and rice wine. We visited several floating villages where we met the locals and shared meals, music and everyday life. We stopped at fishing villages in the middle of the river and on the shore and even a village of Indonesian Muslims who moved to the Mekong many years ago as refugees.

We saw much evidence of the annual flooding and the various adaptations that the locals make to cope with this ongoing situation. They are a resilient people. The Mekong was by far our favourite region of Vietnam. It is a vibrant, fascinating area that offers history, adventure and opportunities to interact with the local people.

Our final day in Vietnam was spent travelling by boat to the Cambodian border. We enjoyed being spectators to the working river traffic and life along the riverbank. Crossing the border was easy and the Cambodian border officials warmly welcomed us. The trip from the border to Phnom Penh in a small van was uneventful on highways that were in good condition with the only delays being areas of construction.

Earthen Wear Pot Sellers - Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a busy city that sits beside the Tonle Sap River, which flows south from Tonle Sap Lake near Siem Reap. The dramatic floods that occur annually on Tonle Sap Lake are considered one of SE Asia’s natural wonders. The Riverside promenade makes Phnom Penh a pleasant place to wander and gives relief from the tuk tuks!  We visited the impressive National Museum and had our first glimpse of treasures from Angkor Wat that had been relocated to the national museum to prevent damage. There was very interesting information on some of the architectural features relating to temple construction that were useful once we actually visited Angkor Wat. We also visited The Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. Josh and Laura found some amazing restaurants that are mentoring street kids that served some of the best food we have had in SE Asia.

Cambodian villager in front of home.

After 2 days, we took a 9-hour bus ride to Siem Reap, the vibrant city at the heart of the 400 square kilometer region encompassing Angkor Wat and hundreds of other temples. We spent an incredible four days exploring there. When we were in SE Asia in the 70's it was impossible to visit because the Viet Cong were occupying the site and using it for their barracks so I despaired of ever seeing it. Somehow that made it even more special to actually be there. It is impossible to adequately describe the immensity of the site. It is the biggest religious site in the world. Most of the temples were built between 900 and 1200 AD and the stone wall enclosure of each included wooden structures for the approximately one million inhabitants who lived and worked in the temple grounds. Today all that is left are the massive stone structures and the remains of their moats. 

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

We weren't the only ones to show up for the sunrise!

Our anthropologist son who has a special interest in archeology was rapt. It was wonderful seeing it through his eyes and with his perspective. Our daughter-in-law Laura is a passionate and gifted photographer and she was busy trying to capture the essence of the site. We all loved Cambodia and agreed that we wished that we could stay there longer. The Cambodian people are lovely. They are such a gentle people and their faces light up when they smile. I find them so engaging! They experienced unspeakable, horrendous suffering under the Pol Pot regime but somehow seem to be getting on with their lives. The work that they are doing to protect and restore these monuments is impressive. They have some international partners but after completing training programs the Cambodian archeologists and support staff are leading the projects.

Now we are in Bangkok before catching our flight to Bhutan tomorrow. We are very excited about this opportunity facilitated by Peter's cousin, who has been working with the Bhutan government assisting them in their transition to democracy. Cate works with the Australian Electoral Commission in Canberra that has been assisting Bhutan through the process of election organization. Through her work she has been to Bhutan twenty-three times and has many contacts there. She was able to assist us in the process of getting a visa when you are applying outside of your home country and are short on time. This is also a place that we tried to visit in the Seventies but it was essentially a closed kingdom then. We will only be there for 5 days but are grateful to be going there at all. We fly home April 10.