365 Days of Summer

One year ago today, October 4th 2010, Wally and Karly picked us up for the airport run before the sun had even thought about opening his eyes. Wally was quiet; he was losing both his daughters again for a little while. Karly wasn't talkative either. This could probably be chalked up to the early hour, but she was sad to have to leave, too. It was dark with only some streetlights and our headlights illuminating our path. Pulling from our driveway, Sixpence None the Richer came on the radio. It was their single Kiss Me. Within everyone's mixed emotions in the car, enveloped in a serene darkness, the gentle rhythm of Matt Slocum's 12-string guitar, coupled with Leigh Nash's soft voice seemed the most perfect way to begin our journey. I don't know exactly why that is; it just was.

Not including our touchdown in British Columbia, we weren't sure what was to lay ahead for us after our car ride to the airport. We were alright with that, though. Its part of travelling.

Now, we could give someone a bit of a heads-up as to what to expect in the countries we have visited. We didn't race through them, trying to check off as many countries in the world as possible. We took our time (and even extended our visas if we felt we needed more time) to really try to get even a bit of a grasp on some of the things that are important to each country.

It has given us a good opportunity to learn more about each other and discuss the What's Next? question. Without any doubt we have changed over the course of the trip so far. (K: Maybe the most obvious change you'll notice is in our blog photos: I left Canada with my husband and now I am travelling with a wookie).

So far we have more than 50,000 photos (K: ok, maybe I am a bit snap happy, but how else are we going to remember a whole year, that's 365 exciting days?) We narrowed down our collection 'a bit' to one of our favourite photos from each country we have visited this past year. Boy was it hard!

Black Tusk, British Columbia:
I earned this photo! I had to hike up a mountain for it, encouraged with a dangling chocolate bar in front of me the whole way. So that we wouldn't succumb to hunger on this arduous journey, Adam brought us to the supermarket to stock up on supplies. We suggested looking through the bulk section and Adam replied, 'Do you mean the grazing aisle?' Adam was in no danger of succumbing to hunger in the supermarket that night.




Barry Town, South Island, New Zealand:
We had driven our spaceship Adama down the path to the ocean so that we could have dinner with a view. We were relaxing in our chairs after dining and saw this horse-drawn sled galloping down the beach silhouetted in by the falling sun.







Broome, Western Australia:
Oz is a country of extremes. Its extremely big, extremely hot and extraordinarily beautiful. The contrast of the red rock, blue sky, turquoise ocean and white sand in Broome was simply spectacular. Did I mention that it was really hot in Australia?












Lovina, Bali, Indonesia:
We were in Lovina with our Parisian friend Sandra and heard loud music and clanging symbols down a nearby alley. We investigated and found a wonderful family festival taking place and were invited to join in! The festive-goers were dressed beautifully, there was endless amounts of delicious food and everyone wanted to chat. It was a great day!






Marina Bay, Singapore:
We flew into Singapore for New Years Eve. It was a great place to kick off what I deemed to be 'Our Year.' The epic year of travel. There was quite the bash at Marina Bay and everyone in the country seemed to be there! The craziest thing about New Years in Singapore was that the malls around the Bay were open and people were actually still shopping as the massive fireworks display started at midnight! 'Hello, 2011! And, do you have this in blue?' Our favourite Singapore saying that we saw on a girl's beach-type bag was especially hilarious after we witnessed how much Singaporeans really do like to partake in their 'national pastime' of shopping: "I see it. I want it. I'm buying it!"



Cameron Highlands, Malaysia:
The Highlands were our favourite place in Malaysia. For us, it had it all: Beautiful rolling hills lined with tea bushes, a cool climate, great hikes, delicious food, cheap accomodation and wi-fi. We celebrated our 100th day of traveling in the Highlands and made some great friends. I can't believe that it was, well, 265 days ago! Most importantly, though: the Malaysian roti. Oh my, it was so delicious! Like a pancake, only bigger and stuffed and more pastry-like. Especially yummy when I ordered it with chocolate and peanut butter melted inside. I'm now drooling.





Chiang Mai, Thailand:
We were in Chiang Mai and visited a Buddhist temple up on the mountain overlooking the city. We went late in the afternoon so that we could see the gold temple shimmer in the warm light of the setting sun. It was a very picturesque place with many saffron clad monks, Thai devotees, colours, bells and statues. On the way back down the mountain we had our tuk tuk driver drop us off at Dairy Queen. Now that was exciting! haha





Sunshine School, Vientiane, Lao:
We loved volunteering at Sunshine School! Didi, the headmaster was fantastic and we really enjoyed getting to know the teachers and kids. The students seemed to take a special liking to Jonathan and his facial hair. His beard was a constant source of entertainment for the kids. The just loved playing with it. Poor kids. Who knew what was living in it at the time....




Angkor Temples, Siem Reap, Cambodia:
We half expected to be a little disappointed by the temples of Angkor. How can something possibly live up to such an immense amount of hype? But, happily, we were completely blown away by them. There are so many temples, crumbling but still detailed and fantastic. So many trees with magnificent roots taking over the ruins. So much atmosphere! When we were lucky enough to visit a temple when it wasn't overrun with tourists, the experience was complete magic. Its easy to feel like the Lara Croft or Indiana Jones in Angkor, losing yourself in the abandoned corners and courtyards of even the busiest temples.





Halong Bay, Vietnam:
Touring Halong Bay on a Junk boat was a wonderful experience. Just when you think the calm waters and eerie rock formations of the bay can't get any better, your Junk drops you at a cave with a hidden entrance and you get to go exploring inside its extensive hallows (although lit with a rather unfortunately tacky display of neon bulbs). I loved wandering through the caves and taking in all the unique stalagmites, naturally ornate entrance ways, wall 'decorations', cathedral ceilings, underground rivers and cave dwelling creatures.


Litang, Sichuan, China:
I'm sure you all read the blog about my photoshoot with this 'Tuga, tuga' Tibetan monk. I just love the colours in this photo. To this day I wonder what the monk wanted me to do with all these photos he insisted I take of him. He jotted a page of what we thought were instructions for us regarding these photos in our note pad in Tibetan script. Upon returning to our guesthouse, we interrogated its Tibetan proprietor as to what it says. "Who wrote this?" she asked us. "A Tibetan monk up at the monastery," we replied. She studied the page again. "It just doesn't make any sense. His Tibetan is very poor," she concluded. "Are you sure he was Tibetan?" We just smiled.



Swayambhunath Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal:
Kathmandu has turned out to be our favourite of all the major cities that we have visited this year. Here, we are visiting one of the city's numerous temples high up on a hill (aka- up a million and one stairs). The steep steps are lined with colourful prayer flags and mischievous monkeys looking to steal anything that even remotely resembles food. They will even settle for snatching your water bottle, if you happen to have it sticking out of your backpack! I loved watching the monkey mayhem and could have sat there and photographed their hilarious monkey shenanigans all day long.



Agra, India:
The guesthouse that we stayed at in Agra had two resident baby goats that were tied up outside in the alleyway. They were so cute and every time we passed them to go to or from our room they would strain their leashes to try and get close enough to us that they could rub up against us for a good cuddle and scratch behind the ears. One morning this kid was affectionately playing with the goat the same way we play with our dogs. It was too cute to resist snapping a pic of these two 'kids'! Who says the Taj is the most photogenic subject in Agra?! I love the colours and texture everywhere in India. To me, India equals delicious food and one big photograph waiting to happen!

In three months we will be back in Canada and all of this will seem like a distant dream. Our large amount of time has dwindled down so quickly into what we feel is almost (but not quite yet) the home-stretch. A weird concept, considering that three months really isn't a short period of time at all. Before this trip, the longest we had traveled was when we went to Europe in 2006 for 'A Once in a Life Time Trip, Part II' and that was four months. We can almost fit what was previously our longest trip into the home-stretch of this trip! It's mind boggling for us! Anyway, everyday we wake up and feel extremely lucky to still be traveling. We're 'living the dream,' and we know it. Don't get us wrong, we are really looking forward to coming home in December, but seeing as we still have 79 days left (I just counted! wow!) of our 'Once in a Lifetime Trip Part III' we plan to squeeze the adventure out of every last drop of time we have left!

Happy One Year of Travel to Us!!

A Day in the Life of a Couple Superstars

'Who are these superstars?' You are maybe asking. Well myself and Jonathan, of course. Surprised? Yeah, so were we. We didn't even know that we were famous either, until we got to China. Turns out we're big here. Jonathan even has a fan club-widespread, although not that well organized. They just seem to pop out of every where.

Its hard to tell whether we are a traveling freak show or superstars- but we choose to go with the latter, because it makes us feel better. If we started charging for photos, like they did to take a picture of nature in Tiger Leaping Gorge (still a little annoyed about it, yes) we would be able to finance our entire China trip. No exaggeration. And that would just be from the profit of people who actually have the gull to ask us if they can take our photo as opposed to all the other people who think that they are being super sneaky about it. They're not. We see them. Subtley is not a widespread talent here.

When my friend Laura came back from Africa she talked about people staring all the time. Now, I totally understand. Its not easy to understand what its like unless you've experienced it. You probably think, yeah, whatever. People look at you and take your photo a lot. But its weird and it can get really frustrating. People are ALWAYS staring at us, and that is not even the tiniest exaggeration. If I happen to glance at any random person in our vicinity, about 99% of the time I find them looking back at us. We can't even sit on a bench and people watch. Because they are all watching us. Gramma wouldn't know what to do! We draw a crowd. All the time. Like people will be walking along, laa tee daa, and we walk past and they actually STOP walking, and stand there, staring. It doesn't stop there. They have to swing their head around so their stare can follow us the entire time until we are out of view. This ordeal isn't all the time, of course, mostly with older people and kids, who get to do whatever they want in any culture. One time a kid fell down a flight of stairs because he was so busy staring at Jonathan. People walk into each other. We wonder if we've caused a car accident or two. Or maybe its just the horrific driving...

Sometimes we feel like we are like a one legged guy in a wheelchair with a mohawk or something. Small kids stop what they are doing and stare, wide eyed, sometimes pointing at us. They make some comment in Chinese that results in a smack across their head from their blushing mother as they are dragged away while being lectured. Obviously they had just said something offensive. Not that we have the slightest idea what it was. We like to adlib though. 'Mommy, have you ever tried those weird looking animals barbequed and on a skewer before?'

My reaction to the staring goes in cycles and is largely affected by my mood of the moment. Jonathan, the ever calm one, always just smiles affably, unfazed. I know that people aren't trying to be offensive when they stick their camera right in our faces or stare openly. I guess we are just like a car crash and people just can't look away! ha Sometimes I want to stick my tongue out, or scream 'BOO' and jump in the air, just to see what would happen. When we first got to China this whole staring phenomenon was interesting. Then it got annoying, then we thought it was funny and we started posing randomly, smiling and waving, then it was annoying again. Sometimes I just want to scream, 'STOP LOOKING AT ME!' Jeez. It makes you quite self conscious. Is my skirt tucked into my underware? Is there a poisonous spider on my face? Something in my teeth? Do l look fat in this? Am I really that bad with chopsticks? But no, I'm just me. Well, Jonathan does have a pretty enormous beard- even for lumberjack standards.

Then there's the pictures. Like at home, pretty much everyone in China has a camera, and I think pretty much every camera must have a picture of us, by now. Sometimes teens run up to us, all excited and enthusiastic and ask if they can have their photo taken with us. Of course, we say yes, and pose for umpteen different cameras and groups, all while sporting the essential peace sign look. Why the peace sign? I still don't understand. (J: We have discovered that this "peace sign" is actually a sign for "Victory." Still, that doesn't make any more sense then if it were the peace sign. Like many things in China, no one can explain why they do it, but it is still important to do it anyway.) We do think that these little photoshoots are fun though. And it all seems to make the teens irrationally, Hanson teeny-bopper happy extreme. Fifteen minutes later, with our photoshoot complete, I begin to wonder how I actually look in these photos that these Teens'R'Us are giggling at. I'm usually about twice the size of any given Chinese girl. Jonathan towers over everyone. Am I wearing makeup? Did I brush my hair? Did I even shower today? (J: no, no and maybe) Man, its tough being a superstar.

Although, admittedly, Jonathan is slightly more popular in the photo polls than I am. Not that I'm complaining. Monks even chased us down the street one day to have their photo taken with him. It was pretty funny. Even for the shop keepers where we were at the time of the 'attack' innocently trying to blend in and purchase some noodles. Sometimes, no, always, I wonder what people are going to do with these photos.

One night in Lijiang when we were walking home from dinner with Joel and Sonia we somehow got pulled into a foursome photoshoot. Sonia and I are both blonde, and with savvy looking Joel and werewolf Jonathan, we quickly drew a sizable crowd of photographers. What a jackpot. Now thats a photo to hang on your wall. Four people I don't know, in a dark square somewhere in China. In Chongqing Jonathan and I got separated in a crazy crowd in their 'ancient town.' As he was standing on a cobblestone curb waiting for me to complete my search and rescue mission he started his own photo shoot and counted no less than 29 people taking his photo! Crazy, right? The other day in Zhanjiajie National Forest Park I was standing there, minding my own business, trying to take a photo of the spectacular scenery when I sensed someone very close to me- this is not unusual, given that the concept of personal space is completely foreign here, in a country with 1.3 billion people. But, no, this lady just wanted her photo taken with us. When I didn't immediately drop my camera and smile happily at her friend, aiming the camera at us- she smacked me! Not hard or anything, more like a mother to her child misbehaving in public. I was a little shocked, but I let the camera fall around my neck and smiled obligingly for the photo. One photo became two, and the there was a line up- like we were signing autographs or something. Then people who didn't know us (obviously) nor the person who was posing with us started taking photos! No, really WHAT are you going to do with that photo? Oh, I know. Give it to your kids for show-and-tell. haha

Then there's the super sneakers who prefer the drive-by shooting method. They are too whimpy to just acknowledge that they want to take our photo, so they have to go into stealth mode to achieve their goal. The funny thing is that this photo-mobbing is actually a recognized issue. On one of the signs posted in Zhanjiajie National Forest Park (and translated into English for our entertainment) it reads #7. Do not take pictures of our foreign friends without their permission! It's an actual rule- written on a sign- that apparently no one reads.

Sometimes this super-sneaky method of photography means nonchalently holding their camera at their waist, pointed up at us, finger poised and ready on the shutter, so when we walk past they can get their oh-so-important shot. Good one. Then there is quick phone shot, while pretending to talk on the phone. Another super stealth move. Once a lady videotaped us eating icecream on a bench for, no joke, ten minutes. We just sat there- and ate ice cream. The other day I noticed a lady with her phone pointed at me. I wasn't sure if she was trying to videotape me being all entertaining and standing there, or if she was trying to take a photo of something behind me, so I tried to move out of the way. Her phone followed. So I started zig zagging back and forth, for fun. 'Take a step to the left, one to the riiiight, out your hands on your hips, pull your knees in tiiight...' haha It took her a good couple minutes to realize that I had actually (gasp) noticed her videotaping me. (How stupid do some people think we are? Don't answer that.) She quickly put her phone down and, get this, glared at me!!!! Like I said, being a superstar is hard.

I write this knowing that I as well, take photos of people. We have, after all, come half way across the world specifically to see foreign people and their culture. I do, however, refrain from shoving in camera in someone's face without permission. Its a novel idea. I just find it funny that we come to China to see it and the Chinese and then, more often then not, we are the ones on the other side of the lens. Don't we just look like normal tourists bumbling about? Would I chase tourists to take their photos in front of Niagara? Obviously not- I would avoid them at all costs. Its a different world over here, let me tell you.

fyi: Another helpful tidbit: When a Chinese ATM asks you if you want 'advice,' much to my dismay, it does not mean that a fortune cookie stuffed with words of wisdom is going to come popping out of the slot. Believe me, I've now been waiting over two months and still- no fortune cookie. Apparently they just want to know if you want an ATM reciept. How boring.

My Photo Shoot with a Tibetan Monk

We were hiking up past the monastery in Litang to the grassy hills behind it when we were approached by a monk. He was smiley and friendly and couldn't speak a lick of English. From his wild hand motions in the direction of my camera, I could tell that he wanted us to take his photo. Ok. I was the tinsiest bit apprehensive as most people who request to have their photo taken (other than Han Chinese who want to pose in photos with us) ask us for money after we have gone ahead and taken their photo. But Litang has been different in so many aspects, and this seemed to be another one. So I took his photo.

He wanted to see it. He was mildly pleased, but wasn't completely satisfied. He wanted another. He posed. I snapped. Who am I to turn down such a fantastic photo opp? A monk's saffron and maroon robes set against the colbalt blue sky? Click. Click. He posed more. He pretended to read my little notebook. He pretended to meditate, to pray. It was entertaining. Mostly for myself and the monk though. Not so much for Jonathan, as he was left to fend off all the salivating stray dogs on his own, while protecting all the monk's belongings that the monk had dropped into his arms.
The real question was, why was the monk so adament that I take a slew of photos of him? We were finally able to slip away and go on the hike that we were intending to go on. On the way back down the hill, however, we were spotted by the model monk and chased down. Quite literally. He wanted more photos. After each time I took a picture, he would inspect it. He rubbed his greasy fingers all over the screen and pointed out various ways I could improve my shot. He kept pointing to the sky 'tuga,' 'tuga' he said over and over. That's what it sounded like anyways. Finally I got the idea that what he wanted was a photo of him and just the sky. I tried to convince him that because we were standing on a hill, with the ground rising up behind him, that a photo of his whole body surrounded by blue sky would be impossible. 'Tuga!!' So we went further up the hill. He framed the shots with his fingers to try and show me exactly what he wanted. Nearly a half hour later I finally managed to take a photo that he was happy with. But the question remained: 'what did he want me to do with this acceptable photo?' I tried writing down my email address and giving it to him so I could email him the photos. That didn't seem to be what he was going for. He wrote something in Tibetan in my notebook. I don't know how familiar you are with the Tibetan language- but it might as well be morse code with all the incomprehensible lines and dots. Did he want me to mail him the photos? I couldn't see how well that would go. I copy the Tibetan down on to the envelope and just drop the package in the mail? How far could it possibly get? Do I write, 'Tibetan monk, Litang Monastery, Middle of no-where, China,' on the envelope? I began to wonder if he wanted the camera. I got the idea that perhaps he wanted me to take my camera down to the village and somehow bring him back up prints. Apparently he wasn't aware where he was. Yaks were the main traffic. There was no Walmart photocentre. There were barely flush toilets. I brought his message down to the owner of our guesthouse, who was also Tibetan in hopes of shedding some light on his mysterious message. 'This doesn't make any sense,' she told me gravely, shaking her head. 'He doesn't write Tibetan very well at all.' So, maybe he wanted the photos to be displayed on our blog? That must be it.