asia. unfolding

asia unfolding. a journey in transition.

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 20:04:00 +0000

until we meet again...

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:58:00 +0000

I guess disclosure of why we returned early from our travels is my choice. I wasn’t sure it belonged here or if I even wanted to, but as I write many of these entries after our return, in subtle ways it has already crept in and to be fair, was affecting me during most (all?) of our time abroad. As many of you already know, in August of 2009 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I would be lying to say the journey since has been easy, but life is just that, a journey and i have done my best to make the most of it. In writing these stories I hope to retain all that I gained from our travels, to remember myself and my own experience as vital, valid and accept it for what it is. We all unfold each day of our lives, and really, experience is ever changing. I hope each of you has even a measure of the love, friendship and support I have in my life to be with you for your journey. In peace Laurel

In peace
Laurel

urumqi. xinjiang. china. may 7th – 11th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:53:00 +0000

a night on a sleeper bus. contemplation. a pit stop at 4am in the middle of nowhere, just a hut and the endless stretch of the flat, barren landscape. as dawn rises the most otherworldly arrival in Urumqi unfolds. lying awake i just catch sight of hills dotted with windmills, hundreds of them, lying there as this windfarm is framed magically against a lightening sky.

Urumqi is a series of these snapshots for me. Angela and Joon, guests and immediate friends at our amazing hostel. movie night. children doing morning exercises outside our window.

Jiohe ruins. Toyoq village. vegetarian food. windmills. the mural on our hostel room wall. my time here is bittersweet and what i remember most is stoically visiting the ruins and the amazing people in the hostel. it is the last stop in China. a fitting close to the amazing 9 months we have spent in Asia, we are so grateful to have had this experience and cherish it still 10 years later. to life, love, beauty and the magic of friendship and travel. Stephen and Laurel

laurel's urumqi photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

dun huang. gansu. china. may 1st – 6th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:13:00 +0000

we board yet another train and say goodbye to Sichuan Province and enter Gansu Province on our trek ever further into Northern China. a vital point on the ancient Silk Road, the gateway to Lhasa and India, the edge of the Gobi desert, the far end of The Great Wall of China. our train ride shared with a mother and her young son. no shared language but a meaningful exchange and shared experience with a reluctant goodbye when they get off the train just before we do. we opt to stay 20 minutes out of town in a beautiful hostel literally on the edge of the desert, we catch site of stunning sand dunes on our way in. after settling briefly we head straight to the park and catch sunset amongst crowds doing the same yet somehow it is a uniquely personal experience. and breathtaking. we never make it further into the desert then this, we miss the camel ride and night in the desert under the stars.

there is a day trip to the stunning Yadan landforms, another landscape used by Zhang Yimou in 'Hero', He Cang city and the outlying remnants of the Han Dynasty Great Wall, there is something starkly beautiful about this barren landscape that is magical and reminiscent of the ancient history of this place. our time here is dotted with something as of yet undefined but clearly concerning for me but we pack our bags, get on a bus and spend the next 17 hours making our way further along The Silk Road to the most landlocked city on the planet in the far north west of China.

laurel's dun huang photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

jui zhai gou valley. sichuan. china. april 23rd – 26th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:33:00 +0000

Jiuzhaigou valley. part of the Min Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Unesco World Heritage site. World Biosphere Reserve. one of many stunning locations in Zhang Yimou's film 'Hero'. otherworldly. an intense bus ride through the Northern part of earthquake devasted Sichuan Province. as we enter the valley, staring out the window down the side of huge precipices. truly humbling and breathtaking moments. the hotel is nestled among a very small village, there is little here outside of infrastructure for visiting the park. we sleep early tonight as it is an early start and full day tomorrow. arriving in the park the next morning, we take a bus from the lowest elevation to the highest elevation and spend the entire day meandering down. it is raw, natural beauty and we absorb it all in. hundreds of photos. azure lakes. waterfalls. stunning foliage. stoic trees. words really can't describe the sheer beauty, our photos try to do it justice. and we get to come back tomorrow. continue exploring. getting to see it at our own pace with the handful of others who chose to walk the length of the park instead of just busing to the key sites. we don't even scratch the surface here but are truly awed and grateful for the experience.

namaste.

laurel's jiuzhaigou photos on flickr
stephen's jiuzhaigou photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

chengdu. sichuan. china. round 3 april 9th – 23rd. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Chengdu round three. We arrive late night, but having done this twice b4 we have our bearings. Manage a cab, Stephen shows the driver a text message from Judy and we are dropped off around midnight. Following what seems like slightly cryptic directions in the dark, we find the right building, Judy and Mark, and proceed to make ourselves right at home. 4 or 5 days… we linger instead for 3 weeks. It is so nice to be here, to cook meals ourselves (for everyone!) to relax and hang out with Judy, Mark and their roommate Eli. It is a much welcomed time to chill, spend time with Judy and feel at home. We visit ‘old’ haunts, are taken to new ones, meet more of Judy’s friends. A lovely dinner at ‘home’, ping pong, nights out, massage, acupuncture, cupping, it is amazing to reflect at all we did do, it seemed like we spent most of the time lounging around the apartment. A really cool visit to Re-c Art Space with Mark, really contemporary, thought provoking work. The find that is the Sichuan Museum. I am glad Stephen brought his camera, the room of shadow puppets was stunning and Judy, Stephen and I practically had the place to ourselves.

Nirvana cover night, Beatles cover night, Eli’s DJ night, dinners out, we definitely experienced a variety of Chengdu. A day trip to Leshan to extend our Visas, a few more days visiting Jiu Zhai Gou and it is with reluctance we make our plans to move on. It is time to let Judy, Mark and Eli have their apartment back though (we slept/lived in the ‘living’ room), and the lure of the Gobi Dessert and North Western China draws our time in Chengdu to a close. Thank you for letting us invade the apartment, we will miss you and our new ‘home’.

laurel's chengdu photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

xiamen. fujian china. round 2 april 6th – 9th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:13:00 +0000

Our return to Xiamen was even more complicated than our first visit and after burdening Stephen with my stress about it, we arrive again by cab to our hostel. Jenny is back too, our friend on staff and a new couple who is enjoying the space and the chance to just chill out as we are. We are trying to figure out how to get to Chengdu from here, not a straight forward journey by train. In the end, we choose to fly to Chengdu and are in no hurry , so spend a few days here first. We watch all of Heroes season 2 again, a couple of films, wander to a nearby temple grounds. Chat with our new friends here. Food is easy and close by, and 7 months in to our travels it is nice to feel no need to DO anything in particular. We are looking forward to seeing Judy again though and don’t linger too long before making our way back to Chengdu. Maybe we will see Xiamen again one day.

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

the hakka earth houses. yongding. china. april 4th – 6th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:43:00 +0000

the long standing and impressive hakka earth houses. round. square. communal. spectacular.

more to come...

for now, enjoy these photos:
laurel's yongding photos on flickr

xiamen. fujian. china. april 2nd – 4th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:36:00 +0000

With much effort on Stephens part we arrive in Xiamen the weekend of Chinese National Holiday (some of you will understand…) the hostel is quiet, far from the airport, so again I leave it up to Stephen to figure out what bus will get us there. I am surprised that we are driven through a city of modern high rises, a raised freeway. A 45 min bus ride to arrive at our connection! For some reason I am stressed and we take a cab the rest of the way. It is dark now, we came through a tunnel to get here and are now in a small quiet street off the main. It is the right place though. I think we warmed to it as we descended the stairs to the building and garden and were greeted by the resident dog and her puppy. The staff is laid back, the space is beautiful, our room small but airy. The other guests we meet on the same page. We don’t wander far for food tonight, but we don’t have to, there are two vegetarian restaurants, fruit stands and a street of restaurants for Stephen within a 5 min walk. We wander our neighborhood in daylight, arrange travel to Yongding, walk along the waterfront, but mostly enjoy the common space of the hostel, our conversations with Stephen (staff) and Jenny (guest) and the dvds. This neighborhood is really nice too, it is an older part of town near the university, out of the chaos and modern aesthetic of the core, but still an urban environment. We are hard pressed to leave, but the Hakka Earth Houses are calling, and after arranging a few nights again at this hostel, we make our trip to Yongding.

laurel's xiamen photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

shanghai. china. march 27th – april 2nd. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:06:00 +0000

futuristic modern china. sore necks from looking up too much. "hai", my chinese namesake... is there a special connection for me here?

more to come...

in the meantime, here are some photos!
laurel's shanghai photos on flickr
stephen's shanghai photos on flickr

hong kong. china. march 19th – 27th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:53:00 +0000

Round 2. No lovely apartment this time. Instead, a smallish, expensive room in what is most likely an illegal space. But we are in the thick of Hong Kong, in Causeway Bay.

Our stop is brief, dim sum, vegetarian restaurants, a movie (!), stocking up on some basics and meetings with friends, old and new, while waiting for our Chinese visa. Lunch with jimmy, drinks with Phil, lovely dinner and evening with Ron, Eileen and Fleur, highlights of this second visit. The night time wanderings through the neon streets of Causeway Way, having made peace with our accommodations and visas approved we get ready to re-enter China, next stop, Shanghai, somewhere to which Stephen is drawn and we are eager to continue our journey.

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

hanoi. vietnam. round 2. march 17th – 19th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:43:00 +0000

We have only 2 nights left here. We ‘splurge’ and get a room at another hotel (still on the 6^th floor…) tonight we try meeting with Jackie, after that, it is preparing to leave for Hong Kong. There is a lovely place across the street we revisit for dinner, then a taxi to Jackie’s home, which we never would have found on our own. We are dropped off in a dark lane that almost doesn’t seem residential, but Jackie’s husband answers the door, and we are welcomed to a beautiful environment that the exterior gave no hint of. We have a really lovely evening catching up, hearing of life in Hanoi and meeting two of their friends. The first a business partner/friend of her husbands, the 2^nd, and 18 year old woman, Mei, who is captivating as soon as she enters the room. It is a really wonderful evening full of stories, conversation, though. We catch a taxi back to our hotel with Mei. and spend the next day preparing for Hong Kong. It is a good way to leave Vietnam, having enjoyed some peace, company and the spaces we last were in.

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

halong bay. vietnam. march 16th – 17th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:31:00 +0000

The beautiful limestone karsts are the draw to this UNESCO World Heritage site. Like everywhere else in SE Asia, our only option to get there is through a guided tour, which in this situation is a good thing, since neither of us can operate or sail a boat! Our boat tour options were numerous and we settle on a recommended tour company who’s fleet accommodate up to 12 passengers per junk boat for a 2 day, 1 night visit. We are about to board and all is well up to this point, until our tour guide asks all passengers to hand over their passports for them to hold on to for the duration of the tour. I immediately refuse to do this and continue to have a disagreement with our tour guide as to why I do not want be without my passport. Basically, I was told if we refuse to turn over our passports then we cannot go on the boat. He reassured me it would be safe and we would get them back when we leave the boat the next day. So relunctantly, we hand them over and board to begin our tour. Later, as we are on our way to the bay, we found out that one of the other tour operators had all of the passports on one of the other boats!!This infuriated me, but I stayed calm, and hoped just for the best. That was our first hurdle to overcome, which I recognize is my own issue. Not that I necessarily distrusted them in this situation, but it is my passport and my responsibility, and I can’t keep it safe, if I don’t have it. Anyways, I let it go and wasn’t going to let it affect my mood for the trip. And just as I was finding my zen with this, a fellow passenger starts arguing with the tour guide. She is clearly distraught with her situation, which we figured out through their discourse, was because she had to share her sleeper cabin with a stranger who was male. The boat had sleeper cabins that had two single beds each and I believe only 1 private cabin with 1 single bed. After much more discussion, and the tour guide offering no effort to find a reasonable solution, nothing was resolved and she was still clearly distraught at her predicament. The simple solution would have been for the gentleman who had the single cabin, to offer it up to her, but he wanted nothing to do with it whatsoever. So, us being the kind Canadians we are, and me being my Libra self needed to find a solution for this situation. It didn’t take Laurel and I too long to offer up a possible solution. Which was for us to split up for the night. The Lady could sleep in our cabin with Laurel, and I would sleep in her cabin with the strange man. She was happy with this solution and we were happy that we could finally move on and start to enjoy this visit to Halong Bay.

The day was foggy, but it added to the atmosphere of this serene and beautiful place. It also provided a sort of blanket that masked the over population of boats around us. The views are spectacular and vast as we weave our way through the bay and eventually dock, as do all the other boats, to visit the colourfully lit up Thien Cung Cave. After some time docked, we board the boat and get ready to spend the night back on the water. The night is calm, the sky is as dark as can be. Then sleep. The next day, the fog is again heavy in its cover, providing a picturesque backdrop of translucent layers, gradually disappearing into the distance. We make our way back to town and are handed back our passports as we deboard the boat. I learned a lot about myself on this short trip. Maybe learned isn’t the right word, maybe reaffirmed is more appropriate. I won’t get into the details of my self reflecting, but I'll just say it’s all positive.

laurel's halong bay photos on flickr
stephen's halong bay photo's on flickr

w r i t t e n b y s t e p h e n

hanoi. vietnam. march 10th – 16th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:16:00 +0000

An overnight sleeper bus from Hue. A grey and drizzly dawn, with stories of taxi and hotel rooms seems active in our minds we opt to walk again, packs and all. Not quite as far this time, Hanoi is still asleep and our walk, fairly calm. Overpriced hotels finds us in a decent enough place, but a tiny room on the 6^th floor. Hanoi is not what I expected. It is narrow streets, low buildings, few traffic lights, bustling and chaotic, but somehow in a laid back way. It is a big sprawling, confusing city that lacks a lot of the glaring lights, booming music and ads that have somehow become trademarks of an urban environment. It is cooler and grey here, but I know Stephen welcomes both and it veils the city even more. We wander out mostly for food. Like any big city, there is a large span of prices and choices. We discover (NAME OF RESTAURANT) early on and definitely frequent it most often. Closest in our room, this restaurant is airy, quiet (it is on the 3^rd floor), full of windows and somewhere that we can linger for a few hours. We wander another day and end up close to a site called the Temple of Literature, so we decide to make our way there. Lack of intention aside, there are several other things that make our random encounter there seem exceptional. The admission almost deterring us, taking a path through other then the main and crowded ones, I hear a woman say hello and I am aware that she is talking to me. I know I recognize her, but am racking my brain to remember how, when she says ‘Nelvana?’, then I realize it is Jackie. Someone I haven’t seen in 10 years since she left Toronto for Hong Kong and who I had no idea as to where she was now. It turns out she is living in Hanoi, with her Husband (!) and she is only at the temple today showing her in-laws around. We make plans to try and contact one another before we leave for Hong Kong ourselves. I hope to meet and catch up. Timing really is everything and I really look forward to the opportunity to reconnect. The only other thing we do in Hanoi meet with a girl named Chi, a young woman living in Hanoi who befriended someone we know from Toronto traveling in Vietnam last summer. She takes us to the Ethnology Museum and we realize at the end of the day that we would have preferred to just hang out with her in a more personal environment. It was nice of her to hook up with us, especially on the word of our friend. I think we had enough of tourist environments and didn’t appreciate the museum (and cost) as a result. That said we are still drawn to Halong Bay and leave Hanoi for 1 ½ days to go spend a night.

laurel's hanoi photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

hue. vietnam. march 5th – 9th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:58:00 +0000

An overnight train, quiet, relaxed. Sunrise over the beautiful landscape that is Vietnam. Cooler climates and in your face moto drivers greet us as we disembark from the train. A LONG stubborn walk towards the hotels. Exasperated by an environment that doesn’t give you a moment to breathe, think or get your bearings. Then something extraordinary, I leave Stephen with the packs and go in search of a room. We settle in to our temporary home here in Hue, a place in a small alley just off a main street. The burdens of travel seem to be weighing heavily at the moment and we are put off by the constant cajoling for a taxi ride or a room. That night we find a nice Japanese restaurant for a quiet meal and check out (photographer café) where we find info, beautiful photos and a hospitable host. Armed with a map, we wander the next day across the bridge to see the Forbidden Purple City and a different part of town. Then the next day another surprise, we bump in to Rik and Mirjam at lunch! We had made plans to meet them here, but this was an earlier than expected rendez-vous. We have been just missing each other through all of Cambodia and Vietnam and we finally co-ordinated a day together in the same city, we all part ways, Stephen and I wander and book a tour for the next day. Too early a start the next morning, larger than expected group and boat for the Perfume River boat tour. We keep to ourselves and do our best not to feel rushed. Visits to a pagoda, royal tombs and many photos later, we realize the ‘see as much as you can in as little time as possible’ is just not our thing, we could have spent all day at 1 tomb and on the water, a really enjoyable evening with Rik and Mirjam catching up on all of our travels since Tibet. We part ways again tomorrow, they for Laos, we to Hanoi. It was nice to see friends and escape the heat of the last couple of months, tomorrow we head further north, Hanoi.

laurel's hue photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

saigon. vietnam. february 28th – march 4th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:54:00 +0000

Another place I have been drawn to for a long time. When last we were in south east Asia 9 years ago, my thoughts were of (now) Ho Chi Minh city (but it has always been Saigon to me (pronounces Shai-gon) and is still in the minds and hearts of most). We arrive after dark and are taken to the backpacker tourist area, but it is not so cheap. We settle on a room for the night, but thankfully find a far more airy one for the rest of our stay. We do little here, spend most of our time eating, walking around our area and chilling out. Our biggest adventure was going to the train station to buy our tickets. It really was an adventure though, we took a cab there, but it was a long walk back, through narrow streets back to huge intersections and it gave us a feel for the dichotomy that is Saigon. We decide to wander to an area north of our hotel, along the water, through the glitzier tourist area, past the open house. Visits to the night market, three different vegetarian restaurants, fruit stands, the circle K were punctuated with a visit to the Independence Palace, the old post office and a juice bar Monika had told us about. The rest of our time was spent eating within a block of our hotel, or next door where we met two sisters, born in Hanoi, working at this restaurant. It was hidden off the street , quiet and pretty unfrequented, a lovely respite from the rest of our street and really lovely conversation with these two women. The Saigon I had imagined? I’m not really sure. My focus seems elsewhere and Vietnam is falling through the cracks. I think both Stephen and I were getting tired of the tourism industry, how people traveling though South East Asia get funneled through and have little interest in taking the time to travel Vietnam another way. Our compromise? Only I stop on the way north to Hanoi, and we forgo the cheaper tourist bus circuit and take an overnight train.

laurels' saigon photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

can tho. vietnam. february 27th – 28th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:44:00 +0000

A small settlement in the Mekong delta. Just over 24 hours here. Spectacular floating markets, the draw . We discover another vegetarian restaurant, check emails, and organize our day on the Mekong. 5:30am start. Don’t remember if Stephen even slept! Sunrise was not dramatic, but really beautiful to watch dawn creep above the banks of the Mekong. Just the two of us and our driver. We arrive at the first floating market, which is bustling and captivating, but seems more active with photographing then with a thriving trade. It is a unique and textured environment and it is nice to share it with Stephen in a quiet, not as part of a larger group. The next stop, a vermicelli making shop and we seem to have connected with another small group for the rest of our day. A female boat driver and two young women. We dock and walk through a field, past a pen of pigs to the shop. I will let the photos speak for themselves. A quick stop for drinks, the 3 women are a lot of fun and I am glad we are travelling in tandem. Back on the water we see more of the settlements now that it is late here, make our way to the second market. The rest of the afternoon is quiet meandering through the waterways of the delta, lush vegetation, sedate communities ‘monkey’ bridges. The driver from the other boat weaves origami cricket bracelets out of grass! For her passengers and me. She is full of spirit, while being laid back and seemingly genuine. A final stop for fruit and the journey back to our hostels. Waiting to catch our ride from the hostel, I see the face in the wall. We leave the Mekong today and enter Saigon.

laurel's can tho photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

chau doc. vietnam. february 25th – 27th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:39:00 +0000

a crazy high speed boat (not our intention), two border checkpoints. our way into vietnam. a surprisingly interesting city with much to offer, even a vegetarian restaurant!

more to come....

ban lung. ratakaniri. cambodia. february 16th - 22nd. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:29:00 +0000

yeak loam arts group. a volunteer opportunity to creatively help out a local arts group. for now, an ongoing project.

...more to come.

laurel's ratanakiri photos on flickr

siem reap. cambodia. february 10th – 14th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:17:00 +0000

The temples of Angkor. So many photos. The sweltering sun of Cambodia. I have been drawn to this place for a long time. Riding our bikes on the road through the jungle, it feels in some inexplicable way like coming home and I can’t take my eyes off Angkor wat as we ride along the water towards the entrance. It is a strange kind of awe, I touch the stones of the bridge crossing the moat to the temple and we spend hours here. So many details, textures, entrance ways, carvings and it is true, one day exploring the many temples would not be enough. The beyond, its complex, sunrise, sunset, Ta Prohm, bonteay srei and many other temples, it is amazing how different they each are. 3 days, and the heat. there was only so much we managed to see. We lingered most where it was quiet, rushed the spectacularly restored temples that were crowded and it makes one contemplate, art, life, quiet, the environment, the 1000’s of people who were involved in creating this place. It is hard to spate the suffering they endured, the labour that would have been demanded to build these temples. Then Cambodia’s recent past is all too fresh in the mind and it is hard to know how to feel. But these people persevere and these temples, monumental, are still standing, and there is something in the ability to endure against all odds.

I have separated our time in Siem Reap into two different stories. I didn’t feel they would come together as smoothly as they would on their own. We ventured only in to the town for dinner and the next day’s supplies, it is a town built for tourists and both restaurants and hotels range from backpacker haven to the opulent. We forgo the latter; explore the middle ground and the former. Aside from the temples, our greatest interaction here is with the children. I have told of our first encounter many times, I hear this boy’s voice clearly still over 1 year later. It is about 10pm our first night in town and we wander the city centre a bit after dinner. A boy walks up to me and says ‘where are you from?’ (Canada) ‘ I like your hair’ (thanks.), ‘bracelet?’ (no thank you!) he is maybe 10 and he makes me laugh, while fully realizing just how sad this is in the same moment. the next day, in front of angkor, I tell another boy of similar age that I will buy postcards from him maybe on the way out and hours later he comes running when he sees me. I keep my word while telling the other kids who surround me ‘no thank you!’ a girl his age catches me with my own words when she comments ‘but you said you didn’t need the postcards and you are buying them’ and I realize that I have to be careful what I say, because many words hold no meaning here, and these are children who know little of the politics that create poverty and shouldn’t be made to feel like no one cares. The next morning some teenage girls try to sell us water while we are waiting for sunrise at Sras Srang. Like many of the kids here, they are charming in their approach, they don’t pester, but persist. I have already bought a bottle of water from one girl, another is trying to get Stephen to buy some. As we already have water with us, he asks her for a coffee instead. When we are leaving, she asks again and explains that she got him the coffee from someone else, so he hasn’t given her anything. He buys an even bigger bottle for even less money than mine, and the weight of how little they even understand what they are doing or saying makes it all even sadder. I am not trying to diminish the motives of Stephen or in any way of lives of these children by telling these tales, just retelling an important aspect in our experience of Siem Reap. It strikes me how being understood through a lens of such narrow focus can sometimes lend to you seeing yourself that way too, then maybe you didn’t before and how the lens somehow overshadows accountability, equanimity and honest exchange.

laurel's siem reap photos on flickr

stephen's siem reap photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

phnom penh. cambodia. february 5th – 10th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:22:00 +0000

meeting new friends. our hosts monika, yeng and meow. back in the hustle of a big city. a sobering visit to the cheung ek killing fields and the tuol sleng genocide museum. admiring the architecture of the national museum. many home cooked meals.

. . . more to come.

stephen's phnom penh photos on flickr
laurel's phnom pehn photos on flickr

kratie. Cambodia. february 3rd – 5th. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:15:00 +0000

We catch and early morning bus to Kratie from the front of our hotel. The search for a hotel, setting in, food. It is far more ‘tourist’ orientated here, but small. We wander a market, catch sunset on the Mekong (across from our hotel!) and chill in our room. Stephen is still recovering from the later part of Laos, so we wait a day to venture out. I am excited about Krolan, a vegan ‘snack’ we read about in the Cambodian Mekong booklet we picked up in Laos. We decided to rent bikes and ride out to take our chances with spotting the dolphins again. It is a good choice, we have a really nice, if long and sweaty bike ride to see the dolphins even closer this time. We lounge in the shade afterwards, watching them from shore and enjoying a quiet afternoon together. I gave up on trying to catch a photo of the dolphins, and just simply watch them play. And for ‘Krolan’ Yummy! picked some up on our ride here and recognized the woman I bought it from as the woman picture selling it in our book! Unable to communicate, I pull out the booklet and show her the photo, which she had very obviously never seen before! Then she tries to offer us money for the book, which we picked up for free from the Cambodian embassy in Laos, (I of course give her the copy and refuse her money. It is sad that the government, who gives the booklet away never even showed her the book and her picture, much less provided her with even one copy) it would be interesting to know if my interference had any impact either positive or negative. We ride back to Kratie and do a quick ‘tour’ of town before catching sunset and returning the bikes. Tomorrow we head to Phnom Penh, the largest city we have been in since Kunming, not sure what to expect.

our kratie photos on flickr

w r i t t e n b y l a u r e l

stung treng. cambodia. february 1st – 3rd. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:09:00 +0000

We arrive in Stung Treng late in the afternoon and have to convince the driver we don’t want to stay where he is dropping us. Another gentleman with us is also adamantly refusing, so we convince the driver to drop us off in the ‘main area’ of town. We all end up at the same place. I am not going to give a blow by blow account, but our lack of preparation combined with no infrastructure at all makes our visit to Stung Treng little over 36 hours. We realize now that starting in a small town with no language skills or sense of Cambodia itself was probably not the best introduction. Had we visited at another point in our travels though Cambodia, the lack of a tourist driven setting would have been refreshing and welcomed, but we weren’t prepared, and I guess I was a little bit shaken up by the border crossing. It is only a couple of hours away from Don Khon, but it is totally and completely different here and we hadn’t had a chance to switch gears and get any feel for Cambodia before arriving. It is probably fairly telling that I didn’t take a single picture while here and Stephen took only very few. I think my sense of adventure had waned at this point and Stephen’s attempts to inspire me through his were unsuccessful. We decide to move on.

our stung treng photos on flicker

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border crossing. laos into cambodia. february 1st. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:05:00 +0000

A boat ride to the mainland amongst many now familiar faces. Divided in to two groups, we all board buses and head for the boarder. It is an involved process, departing Laos, a small amount of USD paid illegally, arriving in Cambodia for more official ‘you play by their rules, but it’s legitimate if somewhat uncomfortable in its intimidation, and we all get admitted in to Cambodia without any escalating incidents. Then a scramble to figure out who is going where and which bus we need to be on. Stephen, I and 4 other people had asked to go to Stung Treng. We have all prepaid for the trip, they divide everyone up but keep asking the 6 of us. ‘why do you want to go there?’ amidst many attempts to convince us all to go somewhere else, the three buses are loaded up, take off and suddenly the 6 of us are left standing at the Cambodian border with no one left but the border guards and a quick assurance from the now disappeared bus manager that we will get to Stung Treng. I will leave out the details, but it took 3 hours, and 2^nd load of tourists crossing the border (and disappearing on buses bound anywhere but Strung Treng). A loss of patience on my part, much questioning of the border guards, the manager (when he appeared) and a healthy dose of western indignation creeping in before we are on a bus bound for Stung Treng. It was a pretty mishandled situation, but my response to it gave me far more insight into myself more than anything else. It really makes you reflect on a perception; your own insecurities, how you come to have both and how they affect your sense of being. There are certain expectations that should be left at home when you are abroad, none the least of which is that we just entered a new and unfamiliar environment.

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don khon. laos. january 31st – february 1st. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (laurel + stephen) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:58:00 +0000

The last stop in Laos before we cross into Cambodia. Picking the southern most island, it is rustic here, full of people taking their time to travel south east Asia. We are here only for one day, our objective, to see the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins that live in a very small area of the Mekong (remaining population approx. 12 in this area and estimated 7,000 worldwide). We hop on the bikes and make our way slowly. A stop at the bridge built by the French and the old locomotive sitting on our side of it. Really overwhelmingly beautiful waterfall, ‘simply through its majesty and power and the reverence it inspires in those of us here to witness them’. Lingering for some time, drawn to this place, it is hard to pull away, but it is mid afternoon and the dolphins are so close. We bike, uncertain of the path, but find the beach and the boatmen is waiting. A woman joins us as we make our way to the inlet, which is the boarder between Cambodia and Laos. We join other in a small rock outcrop and my disappointment at not staying on the water is overcome when the dolphins make their shy appearance, in front of us. They are several 100m away, but I am sure there were 3 if not 4 of them, and we sit for well over an hour watching them play. It is brief glimpses and we all watch silently and carefully, really honored to be seeing them. We part ways for now and enjoy a really beautiful ride back as the sun starts to set on our last night in Laos. Dinner, careful packing for our boarder crossing tomorrow and the generator shuts down around 10pm (as it does every night), and Don Khon is embraced by the night. Tomorrow, we leave for Cambodia, tonight, we sleep.

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