Homeward Bound

So. Here we are. Our last day. After 444 days of adventures around our glorious planet, we can finally say, with no small amount of excitement and anticipation, that today, we are homeward bound!

How to summarize our trip? We've been to 18 countries, and one principality over the last fifteen months. We've traveled by train, plane and automobile. By foot, bicycle, bus, bus roof, campervan, auto rickshaw, cycle rickshaw, tuktuk, tri-shaw, metro, funicular, monorail, ferry, catamaran, longtail, glass-bottom boat, kayak... We've marveled at the sun rising over the snow capped Himalayas, and set behind Cambodia's Angkor Wat. We've met the friendliest locals, ate the most delicious food, and witnessed the most inspiring displays of humanity, and humility. We've been overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers and have had plenty of time to consider our roles, responsibilities and impact on the communities we've visited. We've contributed our time through volunteering in Lao, Cambodia and China and felt incredibly lucky to have been let into the lives of people in each of those places. We've mailed 434 postcards and 6 packages. We've visited old friends, and then made new friends and visited them as well. We've spent time with family and made friends so close that they felt like family. Its really been a fantastic, eye-opening, thrilling, exhausting, frustrating, educating, epic, once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

That being said, we are also super happy and ready to come home. Home. A word that represents so many wonderful things to me. Especially after being away from it for so long and all my memories are especially rosy. Whenever we fly anywhere with WestJet, the flight attendant always comes on the announcements after we've landed and says something like, 'We've landed in Calgary, ladies and gents! If Calgary is home to you, then lucky you, welcome home...!' Welcome home. No matter what, even though I don't live in Calgary, or Toronto, or Vancouver, or wherever it is that we've just landed-no matter- I feel that sad little prickle of tears behind my eyes. Pathetic, I know. But, 'Welcome Home.' Welcome home. It gets me every time. Sweeter words I really can't imagine. Home. Its an all encompassing word for me. My country, my province, my street, my awesome friends, my incredible family, everything that is the most important to me. Though, its not really a physical place as much as it is a feeling. Its where I feel most happy, most loved, most comfortable. Its where I belong. Home is where I belong (when I'm not travelling, of course). And someone, even though she's just the West Jet lady and may or may not mean a single thing by her words is nice enough to welcome me to all this. Welcome Home. Welcome home. Welcome Home.

Home. Canada. I'm always proudest to be Canadian when I'm traveling abroad. At home its not so special. Everyone is Canadian. To be honest, I miss hearing the Canadian accent. I miss people who say 'eh' and know what a toque is and where Newfoundland is. I miss being around people who understand that it is offensive when people first mistake you for an American and then follow it up with 'Well, close enough, right?' Umm. Well, physically, I suppose. Oh! And Tim Hortons and everything Presidents Choice makes. And maple syrup. I miss Canada's majestic rocky mountains, the red roads and lighthouses that dot PEI' s coast, the pristine north channel, the prairie sky, Newfoundland's rocky shore, and, more than any other slice of our great country, the windswept pines, moody waters and the perfect in every way, 30,000 islands of Georgian Bay. No, I haven't been gone long enough forget all Canadian geography- I do know that I can't just hop in the Mooney-mobile and drive over to Vancouver Island for the weekend from Niagara Falls. Yes, I do still know that I actually live no where near the west coast's mountains or the east coast's lobsters. But I just love knowing that hey are there, somewhere in our vast country, my home, and that they are just one quick West Jet seat sale away. No passport required.

Its really been a fantastic, live-changing adventure that I wouldn't trade for all the tea in China, and believe me, that's a whole lot of tea. But now we are ready and excited for the next chapter in the Adventures of J&K- life back in Canada.

In the words of fellow Canadian Michael Buble, 'It'll all be alright... we'll be home tonight.. we're coming baaack hoommme!!!'

ps. See you at the airport TONIGHT Mom and Dad Mooney! Be ready for the Morning of Maple tomorrow Mom and Dad Moldie and GG! (Cutest Gramma in the whole world- its official now- we've checked)

Iceland: A Winter Wonderland

When our plane was descending upon the little island of Iceland I couldn't help but be completely charmed. Down below, was Reykjavik, the northernmost capital in the whole world! The city sits up on the peninsula jutting out into the ocean. It gets better. Miniature houses were lit up by warm yellow lights, smoke billowed out of miniscule chimneys and everything in sight was covered by a blanket of thick, fluffy looking snow. It was like a real-life miniature Christmas village spread out before me. It could have actually been twinkling with sparkles. I would have believed it.

It was six in the evening. It was cold, clear, dark and white. Snow! Winter! It had been so long since we had seen the snow and it was dazzling. Everything was white and fluffy and wonderful. Well, it is now, anyways. I may have felt differently in those first few hours. I didn't appreciate the snow at first, of course, because I was too busy being tired, annoyed, cold, wet and hungry as we trudged through the (incredibly inconvenient, stupid, cold...if you had asked me at the time) snow looking for a place to spend the night. 'Look at how beautiful this is!' J exclaimed every five steps twirling around in a circle, as if it would make me take notice to the winter wonderland that surrounded me. I didn't look. I was concentrating on scowling and not falling on my frozen bottom on the snow-covered, unplowed, slippery, bumpy sidewalk. I have no idea how, seeing as we had booked this flight nearly a year ago, that we could be so utterly unprepared for our arrival in Iceland, the land of fire and ice. But we were (J: says K) . And I was annoyed.

As always, everything eventually worked out, J speedily found me some food (smart man) and the wonders of Iceland began to make themselves apparent to me. Almost like they had been there all along. hmm. Downtown Reykjavik is so wonderfully festive and lit up like no other city we have ever been to. The city has reason to put so much thought and effort into their lights- they have more darkness in which to show them off. This morning, at 10:30, when we had set off down the main street to find an ATM-we were still appreciating the light show. It was still dark! By eleven-ish the sky was a tad lighter-that eerie 6:00 am kind of blueish-grey light, that at home lasts mere minutes and here continues on into the afternoon. Its a strange, strange feeling to be wandering down a festively lit main street-completely deserted besides ourselves- on a Sunday morning that looks like its 2:00 am on a Monday but feels like its transported out of some horror show where you are the only ones left on the entire planet. Creepy and fascinating at the same time. By early afternoon Reykjavik was as bright as it was going to get. It was light in a grey cloudy winter afternoon kind of way- which made sense, considering it was a grey, cloudy afternoon. By 16:00 the light had faded back into the twilight, grey sky and by 16:30, everything was black again. And that just about sums up the sun's brief appearance in Iceland today.

Being here in the Holiday season not only allows us to see all the festive lights (almost all day long) but we also get to learn about Icelandic Christmas traditions. One that I find especially fun and interesting are the 'Yule Lads.' These 'lads' are descended from trolls and have a terrifying ogress as a mother. Starting Dec 12, one Yule Lad comes down into town from his mountain cave every night until Christmas Eve. The Yule Lads traditionally get themselves up to all sort of trouble from door slamming and pot licking to swiping sausages and window peeping. These are actually their names too- so you know exactly the sort of trouble you can expect from 'Spoon Licker' and 'Candle Beggar.' The boys are usually looking to steal some food and pull a few pranks. This is mild compared to their cannibalistic mother who, it is said, always keeps a pot boiling on her stove in case there has been a child in town that was particularly naughty and needed to be eaten straight away. Needless to say, the Lads and their mother were traditionally used to terrify poor children into behaving here in Iceland. It got so bad that in 1746 the Icelandic authorities issued a public decree forbidding parents to frighten their children with such tales. The lads began to behave themselves a tad and fear was transformed into bribery. Good little boys and girls could now leave an empty shoe by an open window and each night, the arriving Yule Lad would drop a present in their shoe on their way past. Bad boys and girls would wake up to a lonely potato in their shoe. Mother 'Gryla' Ogress comes into town from time to time these days. We saw her Saturday night, actually (seriously) wandering down the main street, waving and greeting the little children she passed, warning them to behave. Oh, and Mrs. Ogress has a cat too- that attacks and eats anyone who hasn't received a new item of clothing for Christmas! (What a shopping excuse! 'Sorry hunny, I had to or, you know, The Yule Cat....) These lads are no Santa Claus, however. 'We have no needs for your big, international, fat, jolly, capitalist, greed-mongering Coca Cola Santa Claus here in Iceland, as we have thirteen of our own that are much cooler...' (The Reykjavik Grapevine). Wowzahs, Iceland. Tell us what you really think. Suspiciously enough, the photos of these new, less threatening Yule Lads portray the lads, all white haired with long white beards and jelly bellies, dressed in red and green and looking very Santa Claus-esque indeed. All pettiness aside, I think the Yule Lads are a fantastic tradition here in Iceland. Warning to Dad, Uncle Dan and your sopressata: Tonight, Dec 20th, is the fateful night that the Sausage Swiper lad comes to town. 'The name of this guy says it all. He snuck up in the rafters and nicked the sausages that hung there for smoking. It was all full of soot and smoke up there, but that didn't bother him. If there were sausages to be had, he was in the house.' (Reykjavik Christmas Guide) Maybe someone should stand watch...

On Our Last Legs

More than once during our adventure people have replied to something or other that we've said with, "You have way too much time on your hands!" And as we are quickly coming to the last leg of our trip we can't deny it: we have had almost nothing but time to think.

Maybe you could call it 'free' time. The issue with calling it so, however, is the idea that free time is only the leftovers or scraps of time remaining after everything else that is more important is done. It tends to be approached in a passive gait. It is no wonder someone who feels overworked can look at another person who talks about enjoying 'free' time and ask, "How does she do it?" In the nearly nine years Kristen and I have been an item, many people have asked us this question. And we've queried plenty of people this as well. Whether they were talking about a long trip or a short trip, a regular time to pray, a regular tee off time, or whatever it happened to be, their answers were the same as ours. They didn't hope to find scraps of time leftover to do whatever it was that they enjoyed doing. They gave a degree of priority to their 'thing' and made time for it. In other words, they took an active approach to their free time rather than being overly passive about it. In our particular situation we made sacrifices to open up room in our lives for a fifteen month adventure. But it isn't the amount of time that is of primary importance.

What is most important is to give yourself enough time to still your mind and body, and to regularly take that time to come out of the driving currents that carry along most of the daily schedule. And, of course, you don't need fifteen months to do this. You would be surprised with what can happen when you dedicate five to ten minutes each day to this. Things long forgotten or ignored are then given a space to wake up and remind you that despite how busy your life has become, you are still you and your depths are still stirring. I have a small example. As a child I loved to draw. On this trip my love for drawing reasserted itself and it lead me to carry a sketch book around to capture some scenes along the way. It is a true joy to be reminded that sketching something here and there is an activity I want in my life, even though it will probably occupy only a very small part of my time. It was an enriching rediscovery for me.

For us, we have had time on this trip to really piece together our more deep-seated interests into a possible framework for our life in Canada. We might say it has given us some perspective on what we think is a worthwhile way to live out our life together. So, yes, we have had a lot of free time. We are happy we scheduled it in. And we have a feeling that the echoes from this trip will continue happily and hopefully into our lives, gently shaping our married life for many years to come.

A Few of Our Favourite Things

Over the past fifteen months we have tried to let you into our life on the road through our blog. If you are really interested in what our ups and downs have been you will get a better picture of what they are by reading our blog posts. Of course, lists are helpful sometimes, especially if you're short on reading time. So here it is: a few of our favourite things from this fifteen month romp.

Favourite places: There are so many! Cameron Highlands (Malaysia), Ningaloo Reef (Oz), all of New Zealand, Northern Thailand, Angkor Temples (Cambodia), Litang (China), Gili Islands (Indonesia) Langmusi (China) Zhanjajie (China), Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay (Vietnam), Ninh Binh (Vietnam), Ashok Nagar (India) Naggar and Vashist (India), Golden Temple (India), Rishikesh (India), The Cadbury Factory (NZ) and of course, British Columbia (Canada), Hiking the Annapurna Circuit (Nepal), Haputale (SriLanka), Cappadocia (Turkey), Bruges (Belgium), Lyon & Paris (France), Belfast (Northern Ireland-as always), London (England)

Favourite Major City: Kathmandu (Nepal) (More so in July, the off season), Istanbul (Turkey)

Beach: Northern New Zealand beaches, Western Australia beaches, especially 50 Mile Beach, Nha Trang (Vietnam), Ko Jum (Thailand), Gili Islands (Indonesia)

Food: Everything made by Raj or her family in India, Pad Thai and Curry in Thailand, Fresh spring rolls from Hoi An, Vietnam, Jacqui's Ozzie chickpea burgers and Darwin market food, Maureen's vegetarian dinner in Auckland, the western food with Paul and Dorothy in China (real butter!), The Darwin mango, fresh tropical fruit in SE Asia, Pulled rice noodles (China), Moroccan breakfast with Dave and Bron (Sydney), Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies with the Haberstocks (Thailand), Nepali momos, Everything in Singapore, Malaysian rotis (esp those with chocolate and peanut butter!) Thanksgiving Dinner 2010 in Vancouver, Sri Lankan rice and curry and kotthu rotti, A. Eileen's cooking, Belgium chocolate and fries, French cheese and Racette,

Drinks: Raj Mahal chai (India), Lemonanas (India), Fresh fruit shakes in SE Asia, 'Top Cup' Mango Ice drinks (China), ice cold water on a hot day, A. Eileen's tea, oreo shakes (Lao), Ceylon tea (Sri Lanka)

Desserts: Keer (similar to rice pudding) (India),

Country with the most consistently good food: India, Northern Ireland (Belfast in particular), Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka

Spiciest Food: Sri Lankan, with no competition

Animals: Turtles, tropical fish, sharks and kangaroos in Australia, monkeys everywhere, goats, cows and water buffalo that wander the streets in India and Nepal

Most Amazing Thing: The people we've met along the way

Most Frustrating moments: When they wouldn't sell us a bus ticket in Sichuan, China so we would be forced to pay for private transport. When Budget Car Rental in Vancouver charged us $300 for a dent we didn't cause and has still, over a year later neglected to respond to any of our numerous emails. The Budget Boycott lives on.

Scariest: Bus rides in the mountains in China

Best Balconies: Cat Ba Island (Vietnam) Naggar (India), Vashist (India) Nuong Kiaw (Lao), Gili Air (Indonesia),

Best Hikes: SO many in New Zealand, Black Tusk in B.C (Canada), lots in Tibetan China and the Hill Stations of India, Annapurna Circuit (Nepal)

Most surprising thing: How good Chinese food really is in China.

Best Sunset: Christmas Eve 2010 from the beach on Gili Air (Indonesia), The Darwin Sunset that Jacqui and Josh ordered for us

Best sunrise: Watching the first rays light up the mountanin peaks in golden light from the window of our room in Bragha, Nepal (Himalayas)

Fav activities: Hiking, snorkeling and sitting on balconies with fantastic views

Fav view to wake up to: Almost every morning in 'Adama' our campervan in New Zealand. We had a 'room with a different view' almost every night!

Fav Birthday Moments Abroad: K: Walking into the atmospheric dining hall where the Tibetan monks were chanting before their lunch

Hottest Place: Northern and Western Australia- it was 50 degrees Celsius!!

Place we wish we could have stayed longer: Sejuk Cottages, Gili Air, Indonesia. Private shaded rooftop in our own fancy bamboo hut with a hammock, pillows and free delivery of frozen drinks... a two minute walk to the ocean...what more could you want?

Word Jonathan couldn't wait to use: Bamboozle!

Most Festive Festival: There seems to be a festival every other day in Asia. We were privileged to experience a great festival in Lovina, Bali (Indonesia) where we were invited in to take part in the family celebrations, the Flower festival in Chiang Mai (Thailand), Ganesh Festival (India) and many other festivals the origins and meanings behind which we didn't know, but we were dosed in water, flour, confetti and fun just the same! Fete D'Lumiere in Lyon (France)

Most Titillating Architecture: Golden Temple (India), Angkor Temples (Cambodia)

Best Snorkelling: Ningaloo Reef (Oz), Gili Islands (Indonesia)

Worst Public Transit: Indian Hill Town buses. Hands down horrible.

Biggest Ripoff: Money exchange at the Siem Reap Airport in Cambodia

Where we would go back: Pretty much everywhere, but we would make sure we went in the right seasons. Where we would go back to next, besides Western Canada and Belfast? Probably New Zealand and India

What we miss the most about home: Family, friends, the cottage, flush toilets and general sanitation, traffic rules, maple syrup, green salad, baking cookies, sidewalks (that you aren't allowed to drive on)

What we are looking forward to at home: Christmas, meeting all the new babies, church, baking cookies!

Favourite Souvenirs: Suits and scarves that Raj gave me, keychain with my name written in Chinese on a grain of rice from Winter in Yangshuo, dangly earrings from Thailand and China, pearls from Halong Bay in Vietnam, cashmere scarf from Kathmandu, chocolate from Bruges (although this souvenir probably won't make it home...) sarongs from SriLanka

Saddest Things: Pollution and garbage of every kind, everywhere, animal abuse, poverty

Best thing I packed: K: sunglasses and camera. And the sarong I got in Indonesia. Sarongs are the greatest invention, if you can call a square piece of material an 'invention.' Sarongs are like chameleons: skirts, dresses, bathing suit wraps, towels, beach loungers, blankets, walls, a device to hide you from creepy indian men on trains... so many uses! J: a second pair of underwear

Stressful Moments: Often, usually on transit days, in the heat

Best books we read, en route: First they Killed my Father, The Girl in the Photo, Born to Run, Three Junes, Indian Summer, A Year in the Merde

Starriest Sky: New Zealand- the stars actually twinkle

Most Memorable Night: So many! Especially our first night in the camper in NZ. We looked up through our moon roof and right above us in the starry sky, was the southern cross, a constellation you can only see in the Southern Hemisphere!

Friendliest People (friends and family aside): Kiwis, Cambodians, Balinese, Nepalese (outside touristy areas), Sri Lankans

Most foreign culture: Han Chinese

Most fun places to shop: A scarf storage emporium that I had all to my self in Lijiang, China- two floors of scarves and me (J: and unfortunately, me too). Also, the sale in Dharmashala, India where every scarf was less than $1 and the shop owner distracted Jonathan long enough for me to choose a whole bunch! The night markets in Chiang Mai (Thailand) and the Night Market in Siem Reap (Cambodia) were also great fun.

Best massage price for husbands who need to be detained while his wife finds all (ALL) the "bargains": $2 per hour at the Siem Reap Night Market

Best advice we were given: 'You can't see it all' and 'Don't feed the monkeys'
oh, and of course, 'Every'ting is possible!'

Things we can't wait to try at home: Cooking all the food we have loved to eat on this trip. Be warned Gord and Cathy, J is determined to make his own pulled rice noodles!

Best chocolate: Cote D'Or (Belgium), Chocolate Line Chocolatier (Bruges, Belgium)

Fastest Day: Oct 13 2010- It didn't exist! We lost it when we flew over the international date line!

Fanciest Airport: Delhi (India) was pretty fancy

Grossest Thing: Flower dump...I can't bear to write the details. You'll have to ask Jonathan what he saw (but not when I'm around).

Moving Moment: When Vikramjit, Raj, Pradesh, Rohan, Rabu, Mrs. Sandhu, Sandeep and the family all came down to the train station to see us off, waving and smiling and chasing the train down to pass us cold water bottles through the window to go with the packed lunch they had already prepared for us....

Favourite Hotels: SriLak View (Haputale, Sri Lanka), Sejuk Cottages (Gili Air, Indonesia), New Yak (Braga, Nepal). There were plenty more, of course, but we can't remember their names...

Favourite (almost) Christmas moment: We were in Belfast a couple weeks before Christmas, jonesin' for some Christmas tunes. We found a free radio station on the internet playing Christmas music and were really excited! It was beginng to feel a lot like Christmas and we were coming home for the holidays! 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas' was the first song to come on- one of our favs. 'Look!!' J exclaimed pointing behind me. I turned around and looked out the window. It was snowing!!! In Belfast! Big, fat, white snowflakes!!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Each of you really helped make this one of the best times for us yet!

Laura & Rosemary; Adam; Hazel & Brent; Kathy & Steve; Maureen & Maurice; Josh, Sharon & Jade (congratulations on the engagement!); Dave & Bron; Sophie; Jac & Josh; Jacqui; Sandra; Joel & Sonia; Ani, Rini & Indir; Dalen & Abbie; 100 Day Crew; Banana; Taylor; Steven; Swedish Couple; Haberstocks; Satit & family; Didi & Sunshine School; Saba, Jock, At & Phout; Randall; Tobias; Luba; Lis, Ian & Libby; Mark & Rachael; Paul & Dorothy; Attila & Candy; Sophie & David; China-boy on the bus; Mila & Quiz-Night Friends; Zhouyue Students; Marvin; Vikramjit, Raj, IFM & EM; Amritsar Family; Mr and Mrs Sandhu & family; Mr and Mrs Ram & family; Mommyjit; Everyone else who welcomed us in Ashok Nagar; Ladies of the Shack; Kevin & Vicky; Marco & Nadine; Couple in NZ who brought us the coffee cake; Amy & Mike; Antonio & Andreas; Mark & Claire; The Nepal Threesome; Aunt Eileen & Uncle Trevor; Pappy; David, Holli & Jake; Rosie & Jane; Jean, Trevor & family; Everyone who read our blog; All our family and friends for your support and blog comments; and Sarah and Ed for getting married on October 2nd and starting this great time off!

The Chimp (and her Hairy Husband) are Loose in London

As expected, we had a blast in London with Lis and Libby. The first thing we did, after arriving in London town was hop straight over to a proper English pub for some tasty pub grub. Welcome to a typical Thursday night in London. Well done, us, we were experiencing the culture already!

And we didn't stop there! It was a very cultural weekend, indeed. Friday morning began with a big Ole' cuppa tea. Because, while in London, I was dedicated to all things English, you see. We went to the Christmas market 'Winter Wonderland' in Hyde Park, which was perhaps slightly more German than British, but it was a British interpretation of a German Christmas market anyways. I know this because there were significantly fewer stalls selling meat on a stick and more selling fried bits saturated in sugar. British, I say.

Later that afternoon, because we have amazingly important friends, we had our very own private tour of the Parliament building! It was absolutely amazing and so interesting. Eli, our tour guide knew everything-most importantly the scandalous tibits, and even after an hour and a half -I still wanted to hear more. Fascinating stuff- like a clock given to the Queen by Mary Antoinette, where all the single ladies sat to display themselves to the Lords in Court and where William Wallace was put on trial!!

After all that learning, Libby decided we needed another cup of tea (of course we did!) and took us to the cafe at the National Gallery for traditional High Tea. It was delightful! Laughter, sandwiches, scones and sweets... and tea of course, enjoyed with a view over the massive Christmas, glittering tree in Trafalger Square! How lucky we are.

Libby and ourselves scooted up to Picadilly Circus (no tigers) next to meet up with Lis' boyfriend Ian and go to the concert. What concert? Not only are our friends super cool, but they are also super talented. Lis plays the violin in an orchestra and they were performing that night at St James' church! Awesome, right? It was a fantastic night of great music, finishing off with a wonderful Anderson Christmas medley that had us humming all the way to the post-concert pub. Of course our second and last night in London came to a close in an old, atmosphere pub! It was a weekend of, and intriguing lesson in, British culture, after all.

We has such a wonderful time with Lis, Libby and Ian. We are so lucky to have met Lis and Libby in Vietnam, and to have stayed friends with them since then, and hopefully for a long time to come. We have such a great time whenever we are with them! It was far too short of a visit, sadly, but thanks to our friends, our two days in London really packed a British punch. Culturally, I mean.