Reflections post TRIP and the beginning of Stateside writing

Personal Update, Travel

strong>Hey Y’all

Well it’s been about 3 weeks since I arrived back in the United States of America and it has been nice. I am thankful to have friends who want to hear about my trip, want to take me out to dinner or an adventure. Over the years my friends know that I am a guy who is always down for adventures and so far I’ve been able to go waterskiing and paddleboarding in Lake Tahoe, chop down brush in the middle of the Central Oregon Forest, pick blackberries and raspberries in the Northwest, go sailing in Seattle and roadtrip from San Francisco to Seattle. Guess the traveling hasn’t stopped yet!

Lake Tahoe Summer Time
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One of my best homies, Pawl Clauson

You know sometimes things just work out. You can plan all you want, but at times, I prefer to just have faith. Being the spiritual individual I am, I try to experiment and see just how much one can rely on faith while also acknowledging the “reality.”

So, for example. I felt like driving or taking a train back up from San Francisco, which is where my family lives, to get to Seattle. I am tired of flying to be honest with you. No more baggage checks, airport waiting etc. I want to get in a car and ROADTRIP. That is something quite unique to the US actually. We love to roadtrip and I missed it while I was gone in Asia a bit. So, hey it’s primetime summer, let’s get roadtripping!

For those who do not know, it can be fairly easy to catch a ride up on Craigslist.com rideshares. You find a post that echoes of some driver who seems somewhat cool and email for a ride. You pitch in part for gas and get to your destination. There are interesting conversations that can happen and it’s a cordial experience. Try it sometime.

I was looking at some rides and there were plenty, but wasn’t feeling that this was the time to do a rideshare. While I was looking one of my friend messaged me and said he was driving up to Portland and if I wanted to tag along. Well shoot, catch a ride with a buddy is even better! From Portland I caught a ride up with some summer snowboard hippies. Guess that faith thing really worked. There is something to be said about it and intuition. I don’t try to figure it out and map it though, I accept the mystery.

Out in the Oregon forest with my good friend Brian Swift Dogg
Oregon is really beautiful. Wonderful and magical forests.
Swift's lil' one, Nali, 4 and a half years old. Self Portrait 🙂

So Kevin and I drove up, and we went up to stay with my friend Brian Swift. Brian is a good ole’ buddy of mine from my university days as an anthropology undergrad student. Back then, Swift and I used to take all sorts of adventures, usually incorporating something new and unique and some form of nature. Swift moved to Missouri for some time, and was missed, but now has returned to his home state of Oregon and so I have gotten to see him more recently. Brian really has a unique perspective of the world. He sees things and knows things about nature more than anyone I know. Being with him is always memorable and an educational experience really. I grew up in the woods, so I always love to hear more about how ecosystems function and how forests, rivers and wildlife live.

Well, last year Kevin was motorcycling up and down the west coast and asked me if I could hook him up with anyone on the Oregon coast to stay with. Well, I hooked him up with Brian and now here we are a year later both coming up to see him! I love how connections work like that. Let’s expand the circles….

Nali and I watching Wa Wa woozy kids show.
Friends Darim and David come abroad the boat for a nice day of SeaFair!

Post Reflections on the Asia trip….

*Asia was wonderful again, love the family allegience and community that exists there.

*America, though going through a tough economic phase, is still a great land for opportunity. Make the most of your opportunities here.

*America is also BIG. We got lots of beautiful land.

*America, is also…Comfortable. But that’s nothing new to me, it’s just so much easier to live around here. Lots of organization everywhere, but hey, we are an industrial nation.

It is wonderful to be back in sunny Seattle, swimming everyday in the lake, and sailing. I am about to go for a sail in 10 minutes, so I am OUT, but keep on living and enjoying the summer!

I just came across a cool quote I would like to share with you…

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
– Mark Twain –

Botanical gardens of Bogor, Indonesia. Brian says this tree is a female~
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Thanks for reading y'all.

Shawn

Some further reflections and some long promised photos..

Personal Update, Travel

Further reflections as I sit back in the morning weather of Northern California…Quiet, my dog is still sleeping, sun is shining on the leaves of trees…It’s Sunday, many are sleeping in..

Ah, back in California and the America. It is really organized out here. 🙂 We have good roads all over, signs, a sense of order. It is convienent and offers opportunities to get your tasks done quickly and make the most of your time. Compared to some of the places I just visited, it seems very relaxed.

When I come back from a trip, I try to apply the things I learned from the trip and not immediately forget what I just experienced and get back to daily life again in the US. I believe each trip abroad has it’s own learnings and purposes. Every trip I have ever been on has expanded my worldview, bestowed me with other ideas and creativity and grown me as a person.

Some things I’ve learned on this trip from each nation I went to..

*China is changing with it’s growing middle class and more expressive younger population. (Remember thirty years ago, everyone only wore green, blue and grey)

*Korea is an industrial powerhouse nation that considering how poor it was 60 years ago to today is impressive to say the least. Koreans work long hours.

*Cambodia is a country that in many ways is uneducated, but is growing. Women need more opportunities available to them so they don’t have to be exploited. Angkor Wat is beautiful. Laid back atmosphere.

*Thailand is the most touristy country I visited, Bangkok is big and funky. Chiang Mai is nice.

*Malaysia. Only went to Kuala Lumpur, and it was a clean city. Lots of Chinese influence.

*Indonesia. The most hospitable people on earth I have encountered.

PHOTOS

View from the room in Bangkok
Bangkok Rivers
On the way to Malaysia via train
Family riding
At the Savoy Homann Hotel, a ritzy hotel my family used to socialize at back in the 1920's
In a Javanese restaurant
At the Botanical Gardens of Bogor
Hindi Temple in Bogor
Loving the water on my head
My good friends in Indonesia
Time to go home

Thanks for all the reading and encouragment. Who knows where I may go next~

I’ll post some personal learnings nexttime

The Last post of the trip, Back again in USA

Personal Update, Travel

It is finished. The trip has come to a close and it is probably good that I write now from San Francisco while my memories are fresh. Sure some memories will remain forever, but let’s do a recap shall we?

Three and a half months, trekking, living, meeting, adventuring, loving, watching, playing, writing, reflecting, laughing, swimming, jumping and smiling.

Yes yes, it has come to a close. But you know, to me, going to Asia for this time is just like any other place I would go to and come back. Traveling is so normal to me now that I don’t ever feel that “reverse culture shock” that many people who do travel for a while and come back experience. I experienced that feeling back in 2002 coming back from Tibet. And I ended up engaging in various forms of escapism to amend those feelings. The feelings and realities of differences in societies. The difference between the simple nomadic herder lifestyle and the middle class american lifestyle, the thoughts of what really is important in life, what makes humans happy and content.

Sure it rocked my world for a while, and as I continued to travel trip after trip, my understanding of the global village increased and I became more of a global citizen as opposed to solely an American. There are observations of mine that have been strengthened again on this trip.

One thing about all the Asian countries I went to on this trip is the importance of Family. Family is the core. When growing up you respect your elder family members and support your family. When you come of age, you make a living and give some if not all your salary to your family. When your parents get older, you support them. After all, they supported you for many years.

That can be a big difference between the states and Asia. In America, sometimes people are anxious to “get out of the house.” To be free as a bird, do what you want, when you want and however you want. Individualism. It is a strong aspect of our American identity. Is it really a virtue though?

We are all very different. We all have different physical forms sure, but also different mental capabilities, thoughts, experiences and upbringings. Combined, we can make beautiful things. Like an orchastra or a beef vegetable stew, like a painting with many colors or a garden, things individually have their own beauty, but things combined become even more beautiful.

Maybe this is the true natural way we were supposed to live. When we work together great things can be accomplished. And sure, many work together everyday, but do we really LIVE with each other? Do Americans really trust their neighbors, have them over for dinner often, take care of others in the community, even providing financial support if necessary?

I really have come to appreciate the communal form of living. The idea that one is a part of a group and the group is the identity. The idea that we are always there for one another, if one suffers, we suffer, if one rejoices, we rejoice. Life never really gets boring in a scenario like this, because each member of that community brings something unique to the table and each member is growing like a tree, blossoming, or dying and everyone is there for everyone.

There are ways of living around the world that all vary. It is good to experience it and see what type of life you may want to live.

I decided a long time ago that getting a steady job, buying a home and working out in my local gym, wasn’t the lifestyle I desired. I’m sorry, but it’s just too boring. Sure, if I want it, I can have it at any time. And someday I will build my home, or buy one, but it’s sure as hell not going to be a tract home that looks like everyone else on the street. Natural building has caught my attention and living off the grid appeals to me much more than living on it. When the economy crashes and panic ensues, I’ll be self sustainable. Already I am on a sailboat. 🙂

Okay, enough digression, back to the Asia trip. Family was core, yes. Respecting elders, valuing food, sharing meals with friends, yes. I love Asia. You know this is fourth time I have been back? It is my favorite continent (sorry Europe). Asia has so much to offer and so much to see, do, eat, learn and experience.

The trip has been amazing, though for me, it’s just living. Wherever I go, I try to love on people, try new things, experience the rapid change our world is experiencing these days in different environments and make friends. Friendship is beautiful. Friendship will always be there for you in your old age. It will still bring smiles to your face. If you are old and decrepid, in a wheelchair, all you have to do is taste that cup of tea, eat that certain dish or listen to that song that was part of the original memory you made so long ago. Then you are transported back to that time, to that place, to that person and you sit back, smile and thank God for everything.

Indo Indo

Travel

Hey friends, family and fellow bloggers,

It’s about time I post again, but when you are enjoying your atmosphere so much, getting on the internet doesn’t seem so appealing. But, I get a free 30 minutes here at the local KFC (they are all over Asian cities) where they have three computers. How convenient.

So currently I am in Bogor, Indonesia. Home to one of the most famous botanical gardens in the world, it is what attracted me here and I have to say, there were some amazing trees and all sorts of variations of nature I had never seen before. It’s wonderful to see all the forms of this planet. I’ll be sure to post some pictures later.

Bandung

I have spent the past week exploring the town my family used to make its home for many years, Bandung. Nicknamed the “Paris of Java,” it is a charming town though it suffers now from an over population of people. Indonesia is the 4th most populated country in the world following China, India and USA.

The weather has been great, all around 67-83 degrees fahrenheit. I have visited the same places my grandparents and great grandparents used to frequent and I am getting a much better idea of what sort of lifestyle my family had lived these 70 plus years ago.

The trip shall soon wind down as I need to go back to the states for work with World Vision and assisting with some summer projects, some of which include working and sailing my boat and doing some landscaping with the family in California.

I have been hanging with local Indonesians everyday and the couchsurfing group here is the strongest one yet I have encountered. They are a fun and hospitable bunch.

Ciao!

INDONESIA BABY

Travel

Welcome to Indonesia!

It is so good to be here. I write to you from Bandung, where my family used to live before WWII. Yes, for those of you who do not know, I have Asian descent, both genetically and culturally. For most of my life, I grew up eating Indonesian cuisine and learning about the history and many stories of Dutch colonial life in Indonesia.

Now while I am not for colonialism and occupation of countries, it was fascinating to learn of how my family used to live in Bandung, Java before the war and Japanese occupation. It was utopic to say the least.

Nice homes, nice cars, social gatherings, dances, equestrian shows all surrounded by a beautiful mountain range with hot springs, waterfalls and rainforest. Paradise really.

My Oma, who lived the first 40 years of her life here still vividly remembers the times she spent here and the pictures of this time 60-100 years ago attest to the good times. She still is alive today at 100 and was very happy I am here in Bandung.

Yesterday I went to Braga street, which is a main street here in Bandung. There I had a nice sausagebiscuit (typical dutch pastry) and sweet coffee. Yes! My great-grandfather used to come here everyday and here I am, sipping on the same recipes that he had a century ago.

I am stoked to be here, it feels like home really. And my couchsurfing friend Freddy hooked me up with all his buddies here, so I have like 7 personal tourguides and hosts! Thanks Freddy! For those of you not familiar with the community of couchsurfing, get familiar. It will change your world, and if you are one of those who cannot get the time to travel, going to a couchsurfing group meet will make you feel like you are in a coffeeshop or pub anywhere in the world because of the diverse mix of nationalities that attend.

I’m going to post photos in time, but I’m soaking in the Java lifestyle. Later today I am going to visit a tea house that our family owned before we immigrated to Holland. Can’t wait.

Ciao!

Shawn

Welcome to Thailand

Travel

Welcome to Thailand my friends. A new country and a new post.

Lots has happened, days have been full and I’ve not posted as consistent as a result. Here is a post to make up for the days of recent travel.

Thai buddhist monks? Look twice.

I spent the last few days of my 30 day Cambodian Visa in Sihanoukville on the coast. It was lovely to be by the ocean and get refreshed before heading to a new country.

Kicking back enjoying the night come slowly

THAILAND.
A Country I have long-awaited to visit, and a country where more than one friend told me I would love. It was time to come here as I had arranged to meet a friend of mine in Bangkok, and because South East Asia has been a dream of mine to visit for some time now.

To be honest, I came to Bangkok and got overwhelmed. It was a much larger city that I anticipated it to be, lots of buildings spread around a wide radius, highways, transportation, city life going on. There wasn’t as much lights as one would see in an American city, but plenty of going ons. I wasn’t ready to do the city for the next week before I met my friend here. So I crashed at a hostel, left my suitcase in long term storage, packed a small pack and hopped on the first train out to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand the next morning.

It was the best decision I could have made.

Leaving beautiful Bangkok from the train station
On the way up north....Rice fields abound..

CHIANG MAI.

I got into Chiang Mai with my small backpack around 8:30pm. I had no clue where I would end up staying that night and that’s okay, because in South East asian towns and cities, guesthouses are easily found and people are more than happy to assist you if you require direction. I sort of like trekking into areas with an intentional flexibility, you let the painting paint itself and it’s beautiful. I throughly enjoy the experience, but I do have some friends who cannot fathom ever doing such a thing with no plans. Hey, we’re all wired different right?

Anyways, I started walking and checked out some of the activity going on, people eating in restaurants, some music here, and I followed the direction where most cars were going. I stopped by an internet cafe to see if my friend Rachel, who lives in Chiang Mai, had recommended any guesthouses for me. She did. It was called Mountain guesthouse, and for about 7 dollars, you could have a nice AC room near the main part of the city. I noted it and found where it was on the map, identified my current location, and stored it as a backup plan as the night moved along.

I decided to check out the local Couchsurfing.org group for Chiang Mai and see if any events were happening. After all it was a Friday night. They had about 1,000 members active and it just happened so that some surfers were gathering outside of a 7-11 to listen to some music and hang out. Seemed interesting enough and the guy who posted the event looked really interesting, having recently served in Banda Aceh for five years after the tsunami and from Bandung, Indonesia where some of my family has roots in. The 7-11 was only a five-minute walk from the internet cafe, so hey, let the paint paint!

7-11's are all over Thailand.

I came to the group only expecting to see two or three people, and instead there were about fifteen sitting around in a circle in an open area, some playing guitar, some singing, some chit chatting, and most everyone having a beer or soda of choice. I noticed the Indonesian couchsurfer Freddy, and starting talking with him about Indonesia and we hit it off immediately. As the night progressed, I found that most of these surfers were all working for organizations that fight for Burmese human rights, or enviromental awareness or education. These were all good hearted individuals and it was a pleasure to share a drink with them and discuss life under the moonlight.

Freddy offered to host me at his apartment for the weekend and I accepted, there was a lot to talk about and Freddy was a really unique individual. 36 years old, he lives life to the full. To give you some background, he has over 2000 facebook friends, and over 140 good references on couchsurfing. I have 30 references and have been a member for 4 years. TO get 140 references takes a LOT of experiences. I was looking forward to the weekend.

Chiang Mai

As the weekend took place, I ate well, explored water falls, spent time with other couchsurfers like Evan from the US, Nicole from Germany, Pan from Burma, Marie from England, John from New York and Sonja who is half Swiss/Half Thai. We went to a K-POP show that was sponsored by MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) It was a free concert that raised awareness to human trafficking and how to not fall victim. Lots of trafficking happens in the Northern Thai and Burmese villages, so it was really good to spread the message to the 10+ thousand screaming teenagers in the audience. I tell you, the K-POP band, Super Junior is big stuff out here!

Super Junior M. N'Sync meets South Korea.

The weekend continued and Freddy played a great host taking me around town on his Moto bike and showing me the sites. Throughout the weekend we had some of the deepest and realist conversations I have had in a while. It was fully comfortable and refreshing to me to talk to Freddy and we found we had more in common than we thought. We shared stories of our lives by a river in a rainforest listening to the birds and insects. Some rain fell down, it was a lovely time and I was thankful.

Freddy and I enjoying an American breakfast, my treat. It's always nice to thank your hosts whether that be through a bottle of wine, a meal or flowers.

After 4 days, I had to leave and it was back to Bangkok.

I think this is enough for now, stay tuned for Shawn’s latest post properly titled “Bangkok’d!”

Bangkok comes next post~

Thanks for reading~~~~~~

S-21 Tuol Sleng

Travel

So let’s recap here….

April 9-May 4, China travel in Beijing and Xian

May 4-May 22, South Korea travel, Seoul, Busan, Gyeong-Ju

May 22-June 20 (Today) Cambodia travel, Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville.

Currently, I am in a bungalow about 70 meters away from the ocean. It feels good to be by the salt air again, it always has been a natural environment for me, and I suspect it will continue to be so…

Cambodia thanks you for coming

It’s been almost a month since I’ve stayed in Cambodia, and the trip has been thoroughly enjoyed and experienced. I’ve traveled in a circle around the whole country, met some amazing people doing good works, made many new Cambodian friends, experienced an ancient history and a more recent history that had a severe effect of the people.

Tuol Sleng S-21. A place where lots of people were interrogated and killed during the Khmer Rouge rule from 1975-79.

One cannot come to Cambodia without knowing about the Khmer Rouge. The “Killing Fields” and the genocide that occurred post Vietnam war in the seventies in Cambodia are well known and are visited tourist sites in country. Estimates are about 1.7-2.5 million of the existing 8 million people at that time were killed or died of disease. It was a horrific time in the history of the people.

Coming to understand the truth of how such killings can take place is depressing, numbing and stirs up anger.

It is good though to see some of the sites that still exist today like Auschwitz and Tuol Sleng, because they reaffirm what we DO NOT want to see happen again.

Unfortunately, today there are people being tortured, being held against their will, having their rights taken away. We do what we can in our own power to prevent such injustices from happening, and to practice accountability and oversight.

Blood on the floor, 30 years later.

When in Cambodia, I talked to a good many people, but the Khmer Rouge period was hardly mentioned. While it is a time in history that affected the whole country, the Cambodians would rather forget that period happened. I don’t blame them, many people died and those that survived were psychologically affected. Maybe that’s why Cambodians love to watch horror films here so much.

Some people have yet to be tried, and some are being tried finally after years of still living. There are still Khmer Rouge in the current Cambodian government. They are proposing making an amusement park next to Pol Pots grave, for “tourism.” Pol Pot was the driving force behind the Khmer Rouge. I say Screw that.

It’s a downer post I know, but it had to be written sometime.

Cambodia has been wonderful to visit. There is much happening here, and there is hope for the future development of this nation. More and more people are becoming educated in the arts, sciences, business and hopefully will use these skills for more than just providing for their own way of life, which is very easy to fall into here. Corruption wafts around…Especially the 4 x 4 Lexus vehicles one sees around town…

But besides all the corruption that exists in this country, there is a friendliness that is bestowed to the foreigner. Whether it be genuine or not, it is given and I have struck up good conversations with many Taxi tuk tuk drivers, restaurant workers, business owners, internet cafe employees, guesthouse keepers, merchants of the markets and youth and children. If you come to Cambodia, it won’t be difficult to get around and be given assistance into what you need.

I’m leaving the country in a couple of days, Thailand calls and it shall be a good time I imagine. Already I have prepared to stay at the best Hilton in Bangkok for a couple of nights thanks to my acquired hotel points stays. I’ll text you while I’m in the pool 70 floors up in the air.

Cheers!

Shawn

To all my friends

Personal Update

To all my friends..

Thank you for keeping in touch with me while I travel. It’s really quite a bit easier to keep in touch these days as a traveler. Anyone can text, call, skype, or email. This wasn’t always the case. People sent postcards and saw each other when they did. 🙂

I remember going to slow internet cafes in 2002, there were no cell phones that worked internationally and expensive phone cards could be bought every once in a while to call home.

Now, you can buy a sim card for cheap, call in country to anyone you need to get in touch with and Skype call to your friends off your phone for 3 cents a minute. It works well for the traveler.

So Wanna see some pictures?

Getting some climbing in at a Japanese guesthouse.
In a village
Well for children at school to drink at

I spent about 10 days in Siem Reap, soaking in the culture, making friends with the local Cambodians and expatriates, visiting some of the rural villages and of course, Angkor Wat was enjoyed for a couple of days.

Travel for me isn’t just to “see” places and do “cool” activities. You can go see the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids and the Great Wall and while they are amazing feats of engineering, the reality is that they are all overcrowded with tourists everyday. I did enjoy seeing them all, but after a while, most of the famous monuments of this world start to look the same.

For me, travel isn’t even travel. Travel is living for me. At some point in your travel life, you evolve from a tourist to what I term a “global citizen.” We are all on this planet together, let’s learn from each other, and help each other as needed. The world is large…There are over 260 countries, tens of thousands of languages, a vast array of cuisine, music and environment. A wealth of ideas, businesses and family structures. Relationships, love and marriage looks different everywhere.

One thing to factor in this life is the physical ability we all may or may not currently have going for us. For me, as a man going onto 30 years, I am still quite active and have all my physical and mental abilities intact and strong. While I still have use of all these faculties, I plan to use them while I can and do “adventurous” things like travel around Asia. My “creature comforts” have not settled in yet, though I expect they will in time.

Once you have your own family, these circumstances change yes. Once you get over 40, you may begin to have some physical issues. One of the top things people said to their caregivers while on their deathbed, was “I wish I lived out my dreams and did what I could when I was physically able to.” If you wait till retirement, unfortunately, it may be too late. Live your dreams now. You may think it’s difficult now, but you have to think differently. Anything can happen.

I have seen much of the world already, I recognize I have a unique vision and voice, and my current goal is to expand and sharpen that vision, build partnerships with other like-minded individuals and groups for future collaboration and support, and to just simply give some love, however possible, to a country that is limited and being tied down.

Sambath, a good friend I made. He started a school to bring education to 1400 children.

There are others in the world, who are committed to seeing people helped. Simple things like basic education are lacking in a country like Cambodia. Teachers will get paid $40 a month, and they may only be interested in the paycheck, not the real education of the kids. If the kids suffer from abuse at home, who can they turn to? Will the education they receive from the state really do anything for their future? Likely not.

I met a man named Sambath and he showed me his school he started. Kids in Cambodia go to the state school from either 7am-1pm or 1pm to 7pm.

They then can go to an additional school in their free time. This is the school that Sambath created. In it, kids have specific focus tracks like english, computers, sports, agriculture or teaching. 700 kids come in the morning, and 700 kids come in the afternoon. There are about 30 teachers, some of which are foreigners.

I visited the school and enjoying seeing “real change” in action. Here, children could really have an opportunity to build specific skills beyond what the state could provide. They were happy on the campus, they had fresh water from the wells at the school and materials and resources to learn from. I played some soccer with the kids and had a blast. Reminded me of when I played soccer with kids in Mexico back when I first starting doing volunteer trips.

Water anyone?

I am continuing to be blessed while here in Cambodia. I have connected with people from YWAM here, which was an organization I used to work for. I had stayed with contacts in YWAM in the town of Battambang for 4 nights, and when I left Battambang for Siem Reap, I ended up running into them again! The funny thing is, I was hanging out with another YWAM group, and so I connected them together! Funny how things work like that, but they’ve happened so much in my life, I don’t react as crazy as I used to, I just smile slightly and go about my way.

Thanks for reading

My buddy Samboan taking a break while enjoying a cool beverage.

Ywamers driving down to Phnom Penh

In the warm tropical Siem Reap

Travel

So, it’s been a few days since I posted last. I’ll keep this short and sweet for those interested in what I’ve been doing…

Jasmine encourages relaxing, and that's a good thing every so often.

*Been staying at the Jasmine Lodge, making good friends with the owner, staff, housekeeping and tuk tuk drivers. I’m watching how the owner manages a place like this in SE Asia.

*Making friends with local Expats, english teachers, and even attended a local international church picnic.

*Went a 2nd day to Angkor, still beautiful.

*Eating some great food. Lok Lok, Amok, and rice dishes.

*Met one YWAM team here in Siem Reap from Paris, and connected them to another YWAM team from Kona when we all collided at a restaurant.

*Went rock climbing on a wall in a Japanese guesthouse.

*Having good conversations all around and look forward to seeing friends later this weekend.

That’s it. 🙂

one most amazing day at Angkor

Travel

I woke up in the morning with a dream that had given me a strong message. While waiting for my Tuk tuk driver to come pick me up from the Jasmine lodge, I enjoyed the morning sun and the high 70’s weather slowly rising to higher temperatures.

Sun is shining, the weather is bright...

We departed, I had my pack set, water, check…Nice ripe mango, check, Cambodian avocado, check. Fuji apples, check, rambutan and mangosteen fruits, check…bread, some funds, camera…Scarf for neck, sunglasses for eyes, small pair of scissors to cut fruit with..let’s do this!

I came to the gate, paid my entrance fee and we started to cruise down a street that was bordered by a big forest. I started to smile, for I was about to engage in an adventure and exploration that would likely make an imprint on my mind for life. When given those opportunities, I try to make it a beautiful memory.

Already giving the thumbs up as we enter~

We entered into the open, WOW! I could see Angkor Wat, the large moat surrounding it, the sub-tropical rain forest spread everywhere. Where was I??

let the forest engulf you..

Here I was…Angkor.

Angkor is spread out throughout many miles. There isn’t just one temple, there are many and they are all over. I decided I’d let my Tuk tuk driver Vandee be the navigator since this is his job quite often and he’s getting to know me and my interests, (like when I’m looking up at the forest going, this is amazing!) so I’ll let him be the judge of what he thinks I will appreciate.

I got to Angkor Wat first, Vandee tells me to meet him on the other side. I begin to look at this magnificent structure and the vastness surrounding it. I walk slowly… I got all day and this is a day to simply explore and let it unfold.

I step on large stones across the moat, I try to understand the significance of this location, this temple as it was utilized before, this design and it’s symbolism. I enter in…

I’m greeted by a couple of guys who say, “here light incense for temple before entering.” He hands me some incense sticks, tells me to say a prayer for family, friends and good luck with girlfriend. It can’t hurt, and I’m a praying man, so I close my eyes, say a prayer and stick the incense before the Buddha Shiva. They offer me some green plum berries from the grounds and I chat for a bit. They give me some chili salt to go with the sour berries and it’s nice. They think it’s funny I enjoy them. Fruit from the temple grounds, brilliant…Whoa! Did I just see a monkey run by outside??

Time for me to go inside….

I look at the path ahead of me. It’s stone, wide and goes directly to the temple. I can imagine what my experience would be like if I walked down this path ahead of me, sprinkled here and there with some fellow Korean and Chinese visitors. But, if you know me, you know I don’t always follow the path everyone else is on. I go on the path not many people tread, and find that path most if not always very rewarding.

So I veered to the right as I admired the walls and intricate designs and noticed a trail head. I started to walk and immediately noticed some of the massiveness of the trees here. I continued to walk slowly…Smelling, breathing, listening…Looking.

self portrait 1

The forest caught my attention and I wondered in awe over the life there, the big trees, and how lots of water encourages all sorts of growth.

I entered the temple~

Amazing, unique and intact.

self portrait 2

So I walked out of Angkor Wat after a good hour or so and headed to meet up with Vandee. Wow! Check out that tree!

I got back to Vandee and we drove to another temple site. There I saw my first massive stone face that had been imprinted in my mind over the years….I saw some unique ruins, saw some more amazing trees and met some very sweet little girls. I couldn’t resist purchasing some bracelets and flutes from them.

Stone face with even more beautiful faces down below 🙂

I've never seen a triple trunk tree this big ever. Amazing.

self portrait 3

Nice cambodian family who works in the temple

Then Vandee and I trekked over to “Ta Phrom.”

Tuk Tuk driver taking a rest
"Ta Phrom"
Hello Tree
Nature moves in mysterious ways...

I had some lunch…Mmmmm, avocado and apple sandwich..Some water, fruit. Vandee didn’t want any, he said he already had eaten. But I offered three times, just to be sure.

Vandee took me to some other temples~

Man these steps are STEEP! Can't do this when you're retired! SP 5.

Yes, there are steps beyond what you cannot see in this photo. Crazy steep!

It was an amazing day, truly one of the most amazing days of my life. This vast land was magical and I enjoyed the day thoroughly. Trekking through this garden, I’m reflective of how the earth used to be when it wasn’t inhabited by as many people. The forests were big, lots of animals, clear water abounding…Makes me wonder how heaven can be. Today in some ways was like heaven. It was just a perfect day. I hope someday you will be able to travel here. It is most definitely worth it.

Photo by "Vandee"

I close off with a photo that defines my day and Angkor for me. Thanks for reading~

The End.