Home Articles Posted by Izy Berry (Page 112)
,
Where I Want To Go
Despite traveling for the past two years and visiting amazing places, there a number of places that are still on my list of places I’d love to visit. There are still big pockets of the world I haven’t explored – such as South America, Central America and most of Africa. While there are a lot of special places hard on the tourist trail I’d love to visit, here are five “off the beaten places” I’d love to explore.
Connemara, Ireland: Widely regarded as one of the most beautiful places in the world, Connemara offers picturesque landscapes that resemble something out of a fairy tale. Located in West Ireland, here you’ll find pristine lakes and gorgeous mountains, making it the best place in all of Ireland to hike. The next time I’m in England I’d love to take a ferry to Ireland and spend a little time exploring this enchanting region.
(Photo by Kamil P L)
Northern Norway: For the longest time I’ve been near desperate to see the Northern Lights, but unfortunately budget and cold temperatures have kept me away from anywhere close enough to enjoy them. Every photo I’ve seen of Aurora Borealis has been breathtaking, seeming to be more from a dream than anywhere on this planet. One of the downsides of trying to chase the Northern Lights is that you can spend a week there, and if weather conditions aren’t right you wont see anything.
(Photo by Moyan Brenn)
Thingvellir National Park, Iceland: Whenever I meet someone who’s been to Iceland, there’s a little part of me that’s jealous. Iceland’s natural beauty is both striking and unique and the photos I’ve seen of Iceland really look a world away from New Zealand. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Thingvellir National Park offers the largest natural lake in Iceland as well as the oldest Parliament in the country.
(Photo by Global Ranger)
Palawan, The Philippines: I love a good beach and now that I’ve completely worn out my enthusiasm for Thailand, I’m hunting for a new beach. Palawan is a small island that stretches from Mindoro to Borneo and has emerald green water and bright white sand. It looks like my version of paradise, so is high on my list of beaches to visit as soon as possible.
(Photo by Sehmaschine)
Zona Cafetera, Colombia: I like coffee so naturally I need to visit Zona Cafetera, the coffee production capital of Colombia. Here the lanscape is beautiful and untouched, with giant palm trees breaking through the steamy mist. I’d love to take a coffee class to learn more about the process, the roasting and to see how it’s actually grown.
(Photo by Archdejanon)
Where are the lesser known gems you’d love to explore? Have you been to any of these places?
,
25 Things About Me
It’s almost my 25th birthday which is kind of exciting and a little bit terrifying. It’s funny, because I can remember being five or six and thinking the kids who were 11 or 12 were so old! I was never really fussed about turning 18 or 21, but for some reason 25 feels like a real benchmark; a turning point. It is, after all, a quarter of a century, which is a pretty impressive feat. To celebrate my upcoming change of age I decided to write 25 random facts about me…
1) I can’t swim. I can make movement in the water but it’s horribly inefficient. I am, however, an excellent floater.
2) If I’m really drunk I pick up a fake English accent.
3) I can tolerate spiders but am terrified of rats.
4) The taste of cucumber used to always make me gag, until last year – now I quite like it.
5) I’m not ticklish.
6) I have a heart shaped freckle.
7) I was vegetarian for four years throughout my teenage years, but bacon made me quit.
8 ) Every time I find a song I like I will listen to it on repeat for days or weeks until I’m sick of it and can’t listen to it for a few months.
9) When I was small I wanted to be an airhostess or pilot, now I don’t know what I want to be.
10) I once licked a spider for $50, but I was worried I didn’t actually lick it, so licked it again.
11) When I first went traveling I didn’t set an alarm or wear shoes for two months; it is one of my proudest life achievements.
12) I am terrified of needles, but try to donate blood whenever I can, especially at the Angkor Children’s hospital in Siem Reap.
13) I love taking photos of others, but hate being in photos.
14) I am a decent driver, but I always prefer to be driven than to drive – even when I had my own car.
15) I am a hopeless romantic, but I don’t want to be.
16) I believe in some kind of fate or destiny: that things happen exactly as they’re supposed to.
17) I’ve wanted to get the same tattoo for the last two years, but have commitment issues.
18) I’ve had my belly button pierced for almost 11 years.
19) I really don’t know if I’ll ever live in New Zealand again long term.
20) I think gifting flowers is stupid; I’d much prefer to receive a plant.
21) I get really anxious before I fly, but love being on a plane.
22) I pronounce “i” as “e” and vice versa. I’ve been teased numerous times for how I say “bed” “head” “leg” “six” and so on.
23) I don’t like people touching my elbows. I will freak out if people try.
24) I commonly get mistaken for being younger than I am. Just the other day a few other volunteers thought that I was 18 (score!).
25) My real name is Christine but I prefer my nickname Izy. Christine seems just far too serious for this stage in my life.
So there are 25 random facts about me!
I know there are a lot of people that lurk on my blog and I’d love for you to introduce yourself so I can learn a little more about my readers 🙂
,
Costs in Siem Reap
So I put a post on The Wrong Way Home’s Facebook page about what people would like to hear about more on this blog. I’ve been neglecting it a little bit – trying to find a work/life balance (which I’ll blog about soon) but one of my goals for this year is to be a lot more active on here. One of my awesome readers suggested that I do more frequent posts on what it actually costs to be in the places I am in – which always helps with budgetting and planning. So here’s my first guide to the costs in Siem Reap!
At the moment I’m in Siem Reap, in Cambodia and I would say this prices are fairly standard for Cambodia, although Phnom Penh tends to run a little more expensive for accommodation in my experience. Let me introduce to you my humble abode that costs around $8USD a night. It’s a private room, so if I was traveling with someone my accommodation expenses would be $4 a day or $28 a week. You can find dorms in Siem Reap starting from $1, private basic rooms from $5 and you can pay as much as you want for high-end accommodation. My room rates include a towel, a simple breakfast (fried eggs and toast or noodle soup) and some bottles of water.
Eating out is really inexpensive here and you can enjoy a sit down meal in a restaurant for as little as $2 and local street food can be had for around $1. I am really enjoying Viva Restaurant which is a Mexican place and I ordered these delicious enchiladas for $5.50.Cocktails are a tempting $2.50 in most places, local beers are from $0.50-$1.50 in restaurants and bars, coffees range from $1-2.75 in most places depending on style and a small bottle of water in a restaurant is $0.60.
Considering my breakfast is free I can easily keep my food costs under $10 a day – eating well – assuming there’s no drinking.
I decided to rent a bicycle because I need the exercise and it’s less hassle than dealing with tuk tuks. Siem Reap has changed a lot over the past two years. It seems that Siem Reap is the New York of Cambodia and every second Cambodian has moved here to be a tuk tuk driver. I rented my bicycle out for $1 a day and my guesthouse offers free tuk tuks during the evenings, so my transport costs here have been really low. You can rent a tuk tuk for the entire day for $12 or $15 if you plan to cover substantial distances (like the far between temples). Or single trips around the city are usually $1 on the back of a motorbike, or $1-2 dollars for a tuk tuk depending on distance and number of people.
Other costs in Siem Reap:
I had a punctured tyre, so took it to the local bike repair shop. He worked on my bike for about twenty minutes repairing the inner tube and charged me 1000 reil which is $0.25
$4-6 an hour for a foot or body massage. I think the Cambodians are rougher than the Thais – you’ve been warned.
$1 for a Sim Card and $10 for 5 GB mobile data so I can work wirelessly
Angkor Wat is relatively expensive if you plan to visit $20 for a day and $40 for a three day pass
As my work is location independent, it’s a lot cheaper for me to travel around Asia than it is to live at home. Soon I’ll be heading to Takeo to volunteer where my costs will drop, but I’d say it’s very easy to get by on $20 a day, or $140 a week in Siem Reap assuming you don’t go out drinking all the time. If you stay in the cheapest hostels and eat at the cheapest places you can keep things under $10. This doesn’t factor in the costs for Angkor Wat, as I’ve been three times before.
Please let me know if you found this post helpful and if you think I missed out anything important!
If you’ve been to Siem Reap before I’d love to hear your highlights for this city – I’m here for another few days.
,
Cambodian Border Scams
I love Cambodia! It’s absolutely no secret that Cambodia is near and dear to my heart as one of my favourite places in the world. I love volunteering here, I love the beautiful Cambodian smiles… but I resent the Poi Pet border crossing. It’s just tiresome and difficult, so if you can fly – take that option… but if not, be prepared for what you’re in for.
I booked a bargain 250 baht bus from just around the corner from Khao San. They offered me a VIP combo visa pass, which included transport and the Cambodian visa for a cool 1,500 baht. As someone who’s been to Cambodia three times before, I knew this was a scam (1) and politely declined.
The bus was due to pick us up at 7.30am, but didn’t arrive until 8.30am which is somewhat standard in Asia. We headed to the border and arrived near by sometime around 12:30pm (after a royally flat tyre), at this point everyone sat down. People were confused, was this the border? It looked more like a travel agent piggy-backing on the side of a restaurant. My friend and I were discussing how we had been to Cambodia before and I mentioned I was heading to my village in Takeo. At this point, one of the travel agents came up to us and asked us if we’d been to Cambodia before and we were led outside onto the street and pointed towards the border, which we walked to.
Along the way we noticed there was a handmade, and written, sign saying “Cambodian Visa Here”. My friend and I laughed it off, because it was on blue card and was obviously a scam (2). We wondered how many people fell for it, but hoped it wasn’t many. We kept walking towards the border, where I paid my Thai overstayed fine (500 baht a day) and was stamped through. Then we made our way to the Cambodian border – THE ONLY PLACE YOU SHOULD PAY FOR A CAMBODIAN VISA – and filled in our forms while handing over a crisp $20 USD note.
The Cambodian border police tried to ask for $5 or 100 baht “express” fee, which is another scam (3) and then insisted I pay another 100 baht for not having a passport photo with me – which was never a problem the three other times I passed the borders, so that’s another scam (4) as it simply goes in their pocket. I ended up paying for the lack of photo, but not the express service.
Across the border we met up with some people from our group and the people at the stop just before the border had tried to charge them $40 for 1200 baht for the Cambodian visa – double the actual cost of it, which is another scam (5). Many people had paid this, simply thinking it was the only option only to find out on the other side that they were ripped off.
So there’s corruption on both the Thai and the Cambodian side, but there’s no problem going the opposite way on this border crossing because there are no fees for the majority of those entering Thailand. All in all, we arrived in Siem Reap around 8.30pm, meaning this entire trip took a whopping 13 hours and it was not comfortable or fun.
Once on the bus, a Cambodian “volunteer” for the government got on board and was openly discussing the border scams. Unfortunately nobody mentions it to you beforehand, because there are at least 5 different routes people are trying to scam you.
Notes for taking this crossing:
Use USD, if you pay in Baht you’ll be paying 200 baht or around ($7) more
Only pay for your Cambodian visa on the Cambodian side, once you’ve walked through the Thai border
Only pay $20USD for the visa
Bring a passport photo, or you will be asked to pay $5 or 100 baht (I have gotten out of this before, but they seem firmer now)
Be prepared to wait for a really long time in queues and to be ushered off by yourself if you refused to pay more for your visa
Anyone else had any experiences crossing this border? It’s not the most fun and I’m really sad it sets such a bad introduction into such a wonderful country.
,
New Years on Koh Phangan
It wasn’t really the plan to go to spend New Years on Koh Phangan, a big part of me knew it wasn’t my thing. I came to Koh Phangan for the first time over two years ago, during off season. The island was bland, it rained a lot and seemed to be a western’s playground rather than anything authentic. Two years on, not much has changed although it’s considerably more built up. There’s a lot of the island I haven’t explored and there are definitely beautiful sides of it to be found, but I ended up here on New Years just wanting somewhere to party and say goodbye to a year that was full of a lot of highlights and a lot of heartache. And Koh Phangan was my drug of choice.
So it was decided: I would spend New Years on Koh Phangan.
New Years Eve was one of those days where it felt like everything was a challenge. I was staying on Koh Samui at a luxury resort (the result of an accommodation miscommunication). My friend and I had decided to rent out scooters for two hours and drove around the island soaking in some serious sunshine and some local markets. We came home to have a nap and then to get ready to head to Koh Phangan. As we were walking to our room, I turned to my friend and said “it’s going to rain soon” before pausing for a second and continuing “it’s going to really rain” and not a second later it was as if the clouds separated and oceans fell out of the sky.
It was late evening and the rain hadn’t subsided, so I decided to call my hotel’s reception to ask for more information about ferries to Koh Phangan, when I was told it was simply too dangerous and there would be no ferries, period – unless the weather cleared up. So, I waited an hour and called back, same story. But this time I decided to stress to the hotel staff that I had to get to Koh Phangan because my friends were there. They suggested we head down to the “Fisherman’s Wharf” to take a speedboat across, but emphasized it was dangerous and they wouldn’t suggest it.
We were dropped off at Fisherman’s Wharf and the rain belted down, the roads had flooded mildly and both our clothes and shoes were drenched right through. I hadn’t even arrived at the full moon party and I was a mess! After some confusion, we finally found the guy selling tickets to the boats and parted with a cool 1,500 baht.
The boat ride was terrifying, I’ve never been on a boat where the journey has felt more like a severe cause of turbulence than a ferry ride. As thunder roared and lightning shook the sky, there were a number of times where I questioned my decision and wondered if the little boat would actually make it. As we pulled up to the dock a policeman photographed the boat – any captains who were crossing during the stormy weather were losing their licenses. We were soaked, but we’d made it to Koh Phangan by about 10.30.
We headed straight to Mellow Mountain to meet up with some people – If you’re not familiar with Koh Phangan, Mellow Mountain is a seedy bar perched on the edge of the water, a steep staircase up the side of the hill. This is where you can buy mushroom shakes (legal) and one of the seediest places on the island, but most people end here at some point or another.
After a few shared shakes, we set off to explore the rest of the party. Walking along the beach there were hoards of people, crammed in front of zones playing their favourite music. There was fluro Koh Phangan shorts, girls wearing bright bikinis, fire poi, painted people and almost everyone was carrying an obligatory bucket filled to the brim with their poison of choice. I couldn’t help but think this was some kind of twisted theme park for 18-25 year olds who like to drink a lot – it didn’t feel real.
As midnight rolled around, a clock counted down the end of 2012 – a deal breaker of a year for me. As the clock flipped over to 2013, I began to feel excited about the possibility this year will hold. Then started a fire work show quite unlike any other, that lasted for a solid five months, before being mimicked at another location further down the beach.
It was just like any other beach party I’ve been to before, but times a thousand. By about 5am things got a little seedy; the hoards of guys who hadn’t managed to pull yet seemed to focus their attention more aggressively and the ocean washed up a thick belt of bottles and buckets, drawing a sharp line between the sand and the sea. Regardless, I danced right through as the golden sun clawed it’s way back into the sky, marking the first day of the year. While New Years on Koh Phangan was never a great priority for me, I’m glad I did it and it will probably go down as one of the craziest New Years of my life.
I’ve been in Thailand almost a month and I’m done! I’m really struggling to maintain a good work/life balance and I’m feeling really disconnected from myself, which means it’s time for one of my favourite places in the world: Cambodia.
Tomorrow will see me heading back to my Kingdom of Cambodia, via Bangkok. Taxi. Ferry. Minibus. Train. Train. Minibus. This is all that stands in the way from being back to the place that changed me most.
And next month I’ll be home.
How was your new years?!
,
Highlights of 2012
This has been a year of ups and downs, with a lot of contrast. I started off the New Year quite royally in Budapest, blind drunk on their delicious and unforgivably cheap wine. Budapest is a really magic place, especially during the festive season so it was a great way to start off the year.
At the moment I’m on an overnight bus making my way down to Thailand’s islands, namely Koh Phangan for one of the world’s biggest parties. This year I have a lot of goals and resolutions to satisfy but above all I want to make the transition properly into full time freelance writer and explorer.
I feel like every year I say “This year is going to be the biggest and best” but this time somewhere deep inside really means it.
Coachella
One of the biggest highlights for me was my first trip to America, which was for the sole purpose of attending Coachella. I fell in love with San Diego in the process, ate too much mole and tuna tacos and enjoyed Coachella so much I knew that it wouldn’t be my last. I can’t even describe how it feels to run between different stages at a concert, only to be absolutely spoiled with good music and overwhelmed with choice.
Visiting Home
After being overseas since June 2011, I finally ventured home in May 2012, marking the longest I’d been away from New Zealand, ever. I got to catch up with friends, enjoy time with family and see a little more of my country I love so much. As much as it sucks being away so much and missing people, it’s a really incredible feeling being connected with friends you’ve kept in touch with well.
Meeting My Nephew
As much as travel is a priority for me, nothing can compare to meeting my nephew for the first time – to see the next generation of your family and to meet someone that your sister made, entirely. It was one of the coolest things that I have ever experienced, and while not at all travel related it is definitely a highlight of my year. This was his look on his face when he realised his mama had left him alone with me overnight – oh no! 🙂 We both survived!
Moving To Spain
Although I didn’t post about it nearly enough, moving to Spain was one of the greatest things I’ve ever done. I’ve spent a lot of time in countries where I’m not particularly interested in learning the language, but Spanish is something I’m very keen to learn. Above that, Spanish people are very fun and San Sebastian certainly holds its rightful spot as one of my favourite places in the world. I did have to put up with a lot of weird Spanish things though!
Traveling Morocco
Although at times traveling Morocco was frustrating and tiresome, it was really cool. I’ve not been anywhere like there before, and while I complained a little too much about the surplus of Targine, I must admit I’ve found myself missing it a little. The medinas were really an experience in themselves, too.
Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
One of the most breathtaking sights I’ve ever seen – so much so that my travel buddy actually thought I was being sarcastic because my enthusiasm was too much for him to take. Crystal clear water, beautiful scenery – it’s really a dream and a must-see if you’re in Croatia any time soon.
The Alhambra
I hadn’t really heard of the Alhmabra, but I’d heard of Granada and from everyone’s account I was sure to like it. I loved Granada and thanks to the gratis tapas (free tapis) it quickly made its way into my “I could live here!” book. We explored the Alhambra on a sweltering hot day and although we were desperate for air con, it is certainly one of the most incredible buildings I’ve ever seen. Move over Eiffel tower, Spain’s got something on you!
Returning to Asia
I love Asia – it’s no secret. I have a long standing love affair with this region and I can’t seem to shake it. Europe’s comfortable.. America’s America… but Asia is fun, and it pushes the boundaries but only in the best way. When I was recently in Bangkok we finished off a night out with a ride in a supercharged tuk tuk – it had crazy lights, amazing sounds and we tore around Bangkok’s streets at ridiculous speeds with Michael Jackson blasting. This stuff just wouldn’t happen in NZ, especially not for $8… and it’s part of the charm. It feels good to be back and I’m already feeling anxious about leaving!
Getting Paid to Write
For the past 2.5 years my mind has been focused on travel; there’s been nothing else that’s pulled me or captivated me as much. Now I’ve figured out a way to do something I love (writing) for money, which in turn allows me to fund something else I love; travel. I feel like people spend their whole lives trying to get to the point I’m at – although I must admit my bank account is looking pretty dismal and my work/life ratio is out. Either way, I’m getting started and it’s going good.
I can’t wait to see what I can write about 2013 at the end of the year 🙂 Hopefully it’s jam packed with awesome adventures!
Have you got anything cool planned for 2013? I need some inspiration.
,
My Biggest Travel Regrets
This post was originally done by one of my favourite travel bloggers: Man Versus World, and then Flashpacker Family.
So I decided I’d join the cool kids and write about my biggest travel regrets.
Before I start, I’d like to say that I don’t really believe in regrets – because whatever you chose to do at that moment was the thing that you thought best at the time, so how can you regret that? But hindsight is a luxury we all have now and there are things I’d certainly do differently, if I could.
Not going up the Eiffel Tower
I didn’t like Paris. I am just going to outright say it. It was the third city I’d visited in Europe and I guess because I’d spent my entire life dreaming of visiting Paris it simply didn’t measure up. I stood below the Eiffel Tower and looked up – my phobia of heights talked me out of going up and I thought I’d return one day. But there are so many places I prefer over Paris, I’m not sure I’ll bother visiting again which means maybe I’ll never get sweeping views of Paris from the Eiffel Tower.
I didn’t get to climb Rinjani volcano
Indonesia isn’t the easiest country to travel; distances are large and it cost a lot more than I anticipated. But there was one thing I was certain I wanted to do on Lombok island and that was to climb Rinjani volcano. Unfortunately I was stabbed and found myself rushing back to Ubud, Bali, to relax and recover.
Leaving India
On my second day in Calcutta, India there was a big earthquake in my hometown and I lost a family member. A few days of misery and sulking later and I was on a flight back to Christchurch to be with family. I’m glad I went home and I would never regret being there with my family, but I wish I hadn’t left India. After four days in Calcutta I finally scratched the surface and the sensory violations subsided. I was finally seeing the charms and appeal of this magical country just as I was thrust on a flight back home to a city that resembled a war zone.
I didn’t take their photo
There have been a few friends I’ve met along the way, locals who I’ve sat and talked with. We’ve shared secrets, dreams and fears and then gone our separate ways. There was the lovely boy from Ubud who took me on the back of his scooter to his family’s home and the shop keeper in India who comforted me when nothing else could. For me, travel photography is important and I do fairly well to document things well, but there are no photos of some of my favourite people and for that I’ll always be a little sorry.
I’ve never been to South America
When I was in University I was saving to travel; I was saving for South America. I reached a little over half of my budget and then family issues came up and I stayed home. When I finally went traveling on my own, I couldn’t afford flights to South America so found myself in Asia instead. Since that first trip I’ve been to Europe and Asia a few more times, never actually making my way to South America. It’s still high on my list and somewhere I want to go within the next two years, but I know it’s going to be a commitment of at least six months so I’m hoping to find a travel buddy; feel free to apply!
I didn’t budget more time for America
When my friend and I decided we were going to Coachella I budgeted as little time for America as possible. Just enough time to see Los Angeles, head to Coachella and maybe even a sneaky little trip to Mexico. I didn’t think I’d like America and part of me didn’t want to. All I saw was California, but I really, really like America. I’d happily live in San Diego (Green Card please) as it’s one of the most chilled out places I’ve ever been with a great climate and that friendly Californian vibe. Now I’m curious about America – I want to see New York while I’m young and to visit Austin, Texas just cause.
Have you got any travel regrets? I’d love to hear them!
,
Travel Musings: The Now
I knew that this time when I left home, much like the first time I left in 2010, that it would be a big thing. Not just a holiday with coconuts on the beach and awkward tan lines, but that there would be big change within me. I know I wont return home the same.
That change, the shifting of my core and the things that really drive me, deep down, has already started.
14 hours of transit from Auckland onto Melbourne and Singapore left me with an opportunity to think, to mull. I was hurt when I was home, by someone I cared about but there was something else that was stinging deeper – I was hurt by the loss of the future I’d imagined; the possibility that had baited me home in the first place was long gone.
I’d loss my tomorrow, which gave me two options: to reinvent a new tomorrow, or to focus on today.
I’ve spoken about things I wish someone had told me and missing out on things, but one thing that I think travel forces you to do to is to be present. Whether it’s because you’re in such awe of the beauty of Ha Long Bay that your breath is literally ripped from you and you can’t do anything but stare, slowly, and breathe it all in. Or maybe it’s because you arrive in India in shortshorts, busloads of men staring and no real plan, only to find that any form of comfort has been winded out of you.
In those moments: those beautiful moments of true chaos, whether of supreme beauty or unfamiliarity, there’s nothing else. For those moments there’s no tomorrow, yesterday is well and truly gone so all you have is now. You’re forced to maintain eye contact with this moment. Instead of hiding behind the future you let this moment fuel you. You surrender to the now.
In normal day-to-day life there’s responsibility, there are bills, commitments and plans. There are things we should be doing better: our diet, our exercise, our finances, our relationships… we should just do more, better, all of the time. Because if we do then eventually we will get to a point in time where we are really happy. Hell, even if we’re pretty happy right now, we could be happier – if we had this or did this.
We’re always so close to happiness, but we never really reach it or if we do we guilt ourselves into thinking we need more of it.
I think a lot of us get lost in the possibility of tomorrow, or next year or in a decade. We fall in love with our future selves; they are fitter, nicer, smarter and more settled. Their bank accounts are richer, our future kids are cute and we’re finally doing what we really, truly want to do – but only in our minds.
What I learned when I was home in Christchurch, a little too abruptly, is that tomorrow is certainly not promised to us. All you have is now.
I wonder what I could have achieved in life if I’d stopped daydreaming about what I would or could be, and just was me, right now.
There’s that silly quote that the present is called the present because it’s a present: a gift. I think that’s a horribly cheesy way to look at it, but the truth is right now is all we’ve got, so it’s time I start enjoying it completely.
Started things off with a 40 baht Thai dish that burned my face off, wandering around unfamiliar streets and falling in love with this side of the world all over again.
I love Asia. It feels really good to be back.
,
2013: Goals and Plans
I’m not in Asia at the moment.
I was supposed to be somewhere in Thailand drinking fresh coconuts and rocking some awkward tan lines, but I’m not. I decided to stay, for something – for someone. It didn’t work out, in fact it exploded in the worst possible way and something that was quite lovely became toxic and painful. But, at the very least, I know and I can move forward with a clear mind and a heavy, but hopeful heart.
This poster is probably the single most moving piece of text I’ve ever read, because it always seems to find me when I need it most. Sometimes we get so caught up in our day-to-day lives or heartache that we forget to start living, truly and without restriction.
The thing is, we only get one shot at this life thing so you gotta do what works for you.
It’s always sad, mourning that loss. But one thing I’ve learned over the years is to trust in the universe, no matter how uncomfortable or confusing something is. Because it always seems, somewhere down the track – whether it be a month or a year – you get this sense of knowing, of understanding.
You finally understand everything before this moment had to happen exactly as it did so that you can be here, present, and in this moment.
Right now that feels a world away, but I know it’s awaiting me and I’m excited to experience that feeling, in time.
For now I’ve decided to focus on the wonderful and beautiful things in my life, rather than all the hurt and confusion. So these are my goals.
* At present I’ve visited 31 countries, which is pretty decent for two years travel. For 2013 I’d like to get up to 40 and I probably should finally tackle China seeing as everyone goes on about how amazing it is.
* I want to volunteer, a lot. It’s the one thing that really speaks to me, and it’s the thing I’ve failed to do more of on my travels.
* I want to see my friends and family more. I’m pretty good and disappearing off the face of the planet for a year at a time, but after meeting my nephew and being around my family and friends a bit longer this trip, this no longer feels like a viable option
* I want to learn to meditate. I want to get deep inside my mind and learn more about myself.
* I want to take a Thai massage course
* I want to get to South America, or at least Central America.
* I want to do more random acts of kindness
* I want to finish my photography E-Book that I’ve been neglecting since April
* I want to cuddle some elephants
* I want to find a balance between enjoying now but preparing for my future
* I want to turn this blog into the helpful resource I know it can be
But most of all, I want to fall in love with this crazy world all over again. I’m giving myself the world, like I’ve done many times before, but this time I’m going to give myself to the world too. I’m going to dive in, arms wide, and I’m going to see what kind of adventure I end up on.
What’s on your list for 2013? Inspire me! This list will be a work of progress and I’m looking forward to reflecting on it at the end of next year.
,
Chiang Mai
There are few places in the world that, on reflection, can generate such a deep sigh in those who have visited. When you meet local Thai people in other parts of Thailand, often one of the first things they’ll question is whether you’ve been to Chiang Mai, and if not, when?
And so you go, because Thailand couldn’t be truly Thailand without a visit to Chiang Mai.
It was two years ago that I went there and I haven’t been back since, although it’s somewhere I think of often.
The last time I was there I was going through a bit of a rough patch, emotionally. Trying to figure out where I wanted to fit into the crazy world and what everything meant. There was a lot of sadness in my life, but above all there was a lot of happiness and I was becoming more aware of it.
I’m not a spiritual person, but I lit some incense and kneeled, taking a moment to gather my thoughts before I prayed to find happiness in strange places – a weird request, but everything I needed to ask of the universe.
Since then I’ve found it – I’ve found magic in the little things, the things that others might overlook with disappointment or because they’re such a staple of their everyday that they’re taken for granted. I find myself watching leaves blow in the wind and sinking into the melody behind a bird’s song. I meet people and wonder what battles they’re facing deep below and find myself falling in love with the smiles of strangers. I savor things, things I could easily choose not to notice, but I acknowledge them and feel blessed to be aware of them.
That’s what travel does, though. It allows the ordinary to be extraordinary, because it’s foreign and more fleeting than usual. Because travel, for most of us, is a something we know we wont have forever we are more grateful and more aware.
Travel is a heightened state of awareness.
So, I think of this temple and my silly little wish and all of the ways it has shaped and influenced me up until this point. And I think of how much I’d like to return there, sit in the same place, light some new incense and I wonder what blessing I’ll ask for this time around.
Ah, Chiang Mai – You’ve still got me.
Have you been to Chiang Mai? What did you think of it?
