Into Hillary and Norgay's Footsteps

We spent the morning visiting a couple of religious sites as part of our trek/tour. The first was a Hindu temple which was really beautiful and the second was the largest Buddhist shrine in Nepal. It is very famous and I can't quite understand why I haven't visited it before. It is in "Little Tibet", the part of town occupied by displaced Tibetans. It was lovely to be there - it felt just like being in Lhasa except that the buildings were newer and in better condition.

I am really feeling good here - everything just seems so right. If this continues, I may look at extending my visa after the trek so that I can spend a bit more time here. I'm also thinking of going back up to Tibet. I'll see how I feel in three weeks and take it from there.

In the meantime, I'm champing at the bit to get out into the mountains. We leave on an early morning flight tomorrow for Lukla, which is our starting point for the trek. From what I understand there is one town along the route which has internet access, but other than that I'll be incommunicado until somewhere around May 19. I very well may opt not to use the internet even if it is available in Namche Bazaar as I think a break from technology, noise, machines and all other man-made distractions will do me good. Once again, my trekking company (Peregrine) has all your contact information, so no news is good news. The contact information for Stacey Anderton that I posted before I went to Burma is valid for this trek as well. Please don't use it unless it's an emergency.

I'll be in touch when I'm back from the mighty Everest.

What the @#$%^&* ???

First of all, let me report that I am in Kathmandu and happy to be here. But getting here was a whole different story. This was my first real traveling SNAFU of this whole trip.

I had a flight scheduled with Royal Nepal airlines for April 25 at 6:30 PM. I had been warned that this airline could not take off on schedule, so it was no surprise to arrive at the Bangkok airport at 4:00 on the 25th to find that the flight was delayed until 11:30.

I have travelled quite a bit, and have been through the Bangkok airport about a dozen times in the last 7 months, so I'm pretty comfortable there. I sat down in front of the appropriate check-in counters and waited for the Royal Nepal Airlines sign to appear above the counter, indicating that I could check in for my flight. Every half hour or so, I would wander over to the departure board to check on the status of the check-in counter. From 4 PM until about 10 PM there was no indication of a Royal Nepal sign above the check-in counter, nor was there a change in the status on the board which read only "Delayed" and "Check-in Closed". At about 10:00 the departures status board indicated that the new departure time was 4:45 AM. I settled farther into my seat and continued to watch the counters and to make my semi-hourly checks of the departures board. There was never any change. Finally, at about 5:30 AM, the flight disappeared from the board altogether. When that happened, I made my way down to information, who informed me that the flight had taken off at 5:30 AM.

I was tired, cranky, angry and upset. If I didn't make it to Nepal within a day, I would miss my trek. I signed up for standby on the next (sold-out) Thai Airlines flight to Kathmandu and spent the next four hours in a panic, wondering if I would get a seat. Knowing that there was nothing I could do but wait, I tried to calm my nerves by meditating (worked for about 30 seconds) and chanting "Om Mane Padme Hum" as I walked around the airport pushing my trolley of luggage.

At about 7:30 AM when they opened, I went over to the Royal Nepal Airlines desk to complain that they never opened the check-in counter for the much-delayed flight. They informed me that the counter had been open from 5:00 - 9:00 PM and again from 3:00 - 4:00 AM. I have done stupid things before in my life, and I would certainly admit if this was one of them. However, I would swear on my life that I was sitting in front of the check in counter during the entirety of these time-frames and I never saw the Royal Nepal Airline sign appear in the space above the counter nor the "check-in open" status on the departure signage. In fact, I can tell you with relative accuracy every flight that departed that night from the same set of shared check-in counters. There was never any mention of the Royal Nepal flight to Kathmandu.

Finally 10:00 AM arrived, there was a seat available on the Thai Airlines plane, I bought my ticket and boarded. I was asleep within seconds of doing up my seat belt but only slept sporadically during the flight.

I checked in to my guesthouse in Kathmandu exactly 24 hours from the time I left my hotel in Bangkok. I am upset about the waste of money and, to a lesser degree, the waste of time. But I am absolutely consumed by the inexplicability of the whole thing. I would have fought with the airline, claiming that they never opened the check-in desk. But then how can I explain that the rest of the travelers managed to find it, check in and board the plane. I was the only one who missed it. I know I didn't sleep through this - in fact I read an entire book during the time that I was sitting in front of the desk waiting for it to open.

I was sure that there was some great cosmic reason for the whole thing. I was sure that the Royal Nepal flight would crash or that someone who would become incredibly meaningful to me (e.g. the Dalai Lama) would be sitting beside me on the Thai Air flight. As of this minute, I can't find any reason why the universe would deny me access to the Royal Nepal flight. The whole thing is totally unexplainable and incredibly frustrating.

But now here I am in Kathmandu, loving it and thrilled to be here. Contrary to other places I've visited on this trip, it is exactly how I remember it. I can walk down a street and say "that's the shop where I bought my bracelet" or "that's the restaurant where I had lunch with Dan after the Annapurna trek". Everything is exactly how I left it last time. It feels great to be here and I know that despite my troubles getting here, this is the place I should be right now. I went out for a dinner of pasta with a couple of glasses of wine - I know it's totally out of place, but I was looking for a sleep-inducing meal. I could hardly keep my eyes open to get my key in the lock of my door. I slept for a glorious 12 hours last night.

I met my trekking companions tonight and at first glance it looks like a good bunch. Mostly Australians, with a Brit (my roommate) and a Yank thrown in for good measure. So far, they all seem normal.

I can't explain what happened in the Bangkok airport or why it was so hard to get here. I guess I'll just have to live with the mystery...maybe some day I'll find an answer. For now, I'm just happy I finally made it and can't wait to get into the mountains.

Myanmar (Burma) - Mandalay to Inle Lake

The morning we left Mandalay, I woke with the beginnings of a head cold. I can't imagine how that might have happened after spending a couple of days soaked through to the skin. We caught a ferry to Began, which lasted about 6 hours and was very uneventful. We had a lovely hotel in Bagan with bungalow style rooms. We had lunch when we arrived, which took forever, and then Jason and I walked into the main town from our hotel. Once again we were drenched - there is really no hope for escape when you're on foot. We got back in time to change our clothes and hop on bicycles to watch a sunset from a nearby temple. There wasn't much of a sunset due to clouds on the horizon, but the views were amazing. Bagan is situated on a plain and the countryside is dotted with temples. There used to be in excess of 4000 of them within a 42 square kilometer area, but due to weather, earthquakes and government decisions there are about 2000 remaining. It's still an awful lot of brick in a very small place. Since it's so flat, you really only have to climb to the first story of a temple to see spires around you in all directions. It's truly amazing and one of those places where your camera just doesn't do it justice. We were hoping to do a balloon ride here, but the season just ended and the pilots are all on holiday back in Europe. We rode back to the hotel and had dinner in a restaurant down the road. Fortunately the water-tossing stops at 6:00 every evening, so you don't have to walk around soaked after dark when it can get quite cool if you're wet. After dinner we had some drinks on the lawn of the hotel. They had karaoke set up for the festival so we joined in and sang the only English songs they had.

The next day we enjoyed a great bike tour through Bagan. A few people chose to ride horse-carts instead, as the sun was very hot and they were concerned about the exertion in the heat. I took a Sudafed to keep my runny nose in check and decided to give the bike a go. I'm not totally comfortable on a bicycle but we we going slow enough that I did okay. I have to admit it was a bit of a challenge staying upright when you have dozens of people hurling themselves at you from the sidewalks with buckets of water or hosing you down (or both!). We visited all the major pagodas and learned of their histories (mostly from the 14th century). There have been a lot of earthquakes in the area and the damage is quite obvious. Some replicas have been built of major temples that were lost to earthquakes. Most structures are made of brick and some still have residual stucco on the outside. A very few have murals or carvings on the inside walls. In the middle of the afternoon, we stopped the entourage to go take some photos off the beaten track. We ended up walking through the fields for more than an hour, visiting all these temples with absolutely nobody around. This was one of the highlights of the trip - the views were spectacular and it was wonderful to be in such a quiet and peaceful environment. We watched another non-sunset from a temple roof then cycled home for dinner. Given that this was the true new year's eve, a few of us stayed up until midnight and sang Auld Lang Syne.

The next morning we all (except Gabrielle) rented taxis to take us to Mt. Popa which is about an hour and a half east of Bagan. Andrew had warned us that it was a festival day there and it would be crowded but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves in for. As with other hill-top pagodas in Burma, this one is accessed by a covered and walled stairway up the side of the mountain. There are little shrines and gift shops all the way along the route. In the case of Mt. Popa, the stairway widened and narrowed along the way, and with the excessive amount of people, this created many traffic jams. There were monks and policemen trying to control the pedestrian traffic, but it was an absolute zoo. It reminded me of trying to get into rock concerts back in the day of general admission seating. Asians aren't exactly known for their politeness in these situations, nor do they have anything close to our western concept of personal space. We were packed in like sardines in something akin to a slow-motion buffalo stampede. It was actually pretty frightening at times but we all made it up and back without any major mishaps. The pagoda at the top was nothing to write home about but the views were lovely and it certainly was an experience different from any others I've had. The shrines on Mt. Popa are largely for nats, or spirits, rather than Buddha, so it was interesting to see a different side of the faith.

We were back in town for the afternoon and I was able to do a bit of shopping despite the fact that it was new year's day and the market stalls were largely closed. It is apparently inauspicious to be open on new year's day, although the few vendors I bought stuff from kept telling me that my purchases would bring them good luck all year. I'm not sure if that was to guilt me into buying or not. I was going a bit stir-crazy by this point, since Gabrielle was never out of the room and I had no time to myself. I'm not sure what she was doing on this trip, since she really just wanted to watch TV. It was difficult for me, as most mornings I'd have to shower and get ready in silence and in the dark for fear of waking her (which she didn't react well to). If I wanted to spend any time alone I had to leave the room, so I did all my journaling or reading in restaurants. After I did my marketing that day, I had a quiet lunch alone and then took a bicycle and headed out to the temples by myself. I sat on the top of a deserted temple all alone for an hour or two until the sun had set and darkness was falling. Ironically the water stopped flying that day when it was over 40 and a good soaking would have been welcome.

The next morning we were up early and caught a bus to Inle Lake. Despite the shape of the roads, we made excellent time: it only took us 10 hours to travel the 200 miles. We found a great restaurant for dinner when we arrived and I had my best meal to date in Burma (pumpkin and pork curry). We stopped for a couple of beers on the way home then back to the hotel.

The next day we hopped in a long boat and had a tour of the lake. It is about 13 miles long and a couple of miles wide. There isn't really a shore line - rather the lake is surrounded by marshland that gets denser and denser until it becomes solid ground. All of this is inhabited and the houses are built on stilts above the water/marsh. There are canals between the rows of houses rather than streets. The lake itself is very shallow and every inch of it is used for fishing and cultivating the vegetation. It is at a fairly high altitude compared to the plains of Bagan, and the lake is surrounded by hills. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed Inle Lake the most of any the places we visited and so ended the tour on a high note. I guess it was a combination of being on the water, seeing the hills and feeling cooler air on my skin.

Our tour included a visit to a blacksmith, a silk and lotus spinner (they make fabric from fibres in the flower stems), a boat maker and a floating market. There were also cheroot makers who have a very simple but efficient technique for hand-rolling the small cigars. They make 1000 in a day and earn about $1. We also visited a few temples and monasteries, including the "jumping cat monastery" where yes, they teach house cats to jump through hoops. We had dinner at the same place as the night before and a few of us went to a puppet (marionette) show. This is a traditional Burmese art and the show we saw was given by Burma's premiere puppeteer. Rather than doing skits, they do traditional dances with their puppets, and strive to make them as human as possible. It was really very good and he even had them doing flips and playing with soccer balls. Pretty amazing since he only has two hands and there are about 20 strings on every puppet. On the way home we stopped at a little art gallery. I really wasn't that fond of the work, but there was one painting that I spotted the minute I walked through the door and fell in love with. I just couldn't take my eyes off it. I really hate shopping in a group, especially when bartering is involved and the vendors are starving to death. Eventually one of the others stepped up to the plate and asked how much it was. He said $20 (I was expecting $200). It is now in a box with some other of my purchases on its way to Canada.

The next day was a free day, so a couple of people went trekking and four of us rented a boat for the morning and went to visit a temple at Indien across the lake. It was really lovely - a dense collection of old stupas and shrines that are rather reminiscent of the Angkor area in Cambodia. When we came back to town, we hired a taxi to take us to the only winery in Burma, about an hour outside town. It is owned and run by Germans who had their first batch about 3 years ago. The wine isn't the best - that will take some time - but it was lovely to be there. It looks just like I imagine Tuscany to look and we sat out in a gazebo set in the middle of the pool and sipped wine for the afternoon. We came back to town in time for dinner to find that Gabrielle hadn't left the room all day. We all went out for pizza, yes pizza, for dinner. I guess there's only so much rice a western person can eat in a week.

The following morning we flew back to Rangoon and I spent the afternoon doing a lot of nothing. I managed to get a photo of a building that I really loved, but last time I tried to photograph a policeman stopped me. I finally figured out it was a bank and I guess he thought I was casing the joint. This time I was smart and hid behind a tree where he couldn't see me to get my photo. As per a request from the group, we all went to dinner at Andrew's house for our final night. His sister spent the day cooking for us and it was a fabulous feast - by far the best meal I had in Burma. This was really a wonderful thing for them to do for us as they're not exactly rolling in cash and they wouldn't take anything from us by way of payment (although we left them several bottles of good booze which was probably a real treat for them). It was really neat to see a "real" Burmese house and eat a "real" Burmese meal.

The next morning I was up early for a flight to Bangkok which is where I'm writing this. As I'm sure you can imagine, I was thrilled to get back here to a hotel room with nobody else in it. I spread all my stuff from one end of the room to the other and claimed the entire room as mine. A couple of girls from the tour were on the same flight with me and took me out on Sunday night to celebrate my birthday. I'll spare you the details, but I finally saw a side of Bangkok which I've been interested in seeing but never wanted to venture into alone. The remainder of my time here has been spent in front of the computer writing this blog and uploading photos. I'm not going to get all my photos up before I leave for Kathmandu tomorrow and I'm not sure how much I'll get done there. I don't want to spend all my time in front of the computer, and last time I was there they didn't have the technology for me to do it anyway. I'll have to see how it goes.

I've had to start a new web page for my photos as the first one is full. The first one will stay intact as it is, so you can always see what's there at http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hahonegger/my_photos. However, all the photos that I post from now on will be at http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/feelitturn/my_photos. I hope this isn't too confusing, but there didn't seem to be an alternative.

Can't wait to get back to the Himalayas. I have a one-way ticket to Kathmandu so this could be my last hurrah in Bangkok for a while. It seems weird to be leaving my "home base" potentially for good. I'm writing this on April 24 - happy birthday to me.

Myanmar (Burma) - Rangoon to Mandalay

I'm back in Bangkok after a couple of weeks in Burma. I've decided to use the most common/recognizable names for places in the country independent of whether they are Burmese or English. This is just for simplicity's sake, it's not a political comment of any kind.

First, a comment about the weather. It was very hot for almost our entire stay in Burma. Inle Lake, which is in the mountains, was a bit cooler and a very welcome relief at the end of the trip. The local women make a pale yellow paste out of a plant, which they apply to their faces (and those of the children) as both a form of makeup and as sunscreen.

I met with my tour group on the first evening of my stay in Rangoon. There is an interesting mix of people, all them traveling alone except for one couple from Canada. There is one American, my roommate Gabrielle, and the rest are all from the Commonwealth (Australia, England and Scotland). For most of them, this tour is a small portion of larger traveling plans. After our meeting we all went out to dinner together and then a few of us went out for a few more drinks. We had a great time finding the local watering holes and listening to Burmese karaoke. The bars close at 10:00 here, so there was no chance of a late night.

The following day we had a tour of the main pagoda in town, Shwedagon, which is a major pilgrimage site for the Burmese. All of the pagodas here have large bells situation around the compound. The worshippers ring these bells after their prayers to share their blessings with others. We also visited a nearby reclining Buddha and the attached monks' quarters. It's interesting to note that in Burma all the Buddhas have lovely manicures and pedicures, as well as generous amounts of lipstick. After lunch, a few of us decided to visit the national museum which is quite large, rather sparse and hosted no other visitors that day. Needless to say, it is run by the government, so security is tight and cameras aren't allowed. The museum itself wasn't overly inspiring so we amused ourselves taking illicit photos of a skeleton sporting Jason's sunglasses. Later in the afternoon we met up with the others to watch the sunset from the Shwedagon pagoda. We had a great dinner in a nice Chinese restaurant and went to bed fairly early.

The next day was largely a travel day. We had to cover 160 kms which took us about 6 hours. The roads are absolutely atrocious there. We stopped to visit the war cemetery along the way which was absolutely beautiful, impeccably maintained and very moving. We reached Kyaiktiyo at about 2:00 and jumped in the back of a truck, sitting on uncomfortable wooden slats with about 30 other Burmese. We had a 45 minute drive up the hill, followed by a 45 minute hike on foot to the peak of the mountain. We were rewarded at the top with a visit to the "Golden Boulder" one of the holiest sites in Burma. This huge boulder sits very precariously on the edge of a cliff (it really seems physically impossible for it to stay in place) and is painted gold. A huge complex has grown up around it on the mountain-top to support and cater to all the pilgrims who come here. Women are not allowed to get too close to the boulder, but men can buy small squares of gold which they use to gild a portion of the rock. I had one of my traveling companions, David, place some gold on the rock on my behalf. We stayed overnight at a lovely hotel on the mountain top, and were able to visit the rock after dark when it was all lit up.

Several of us got up early and watched the sun rise from the shrine. The site was already bustling with activity at that time of the morning, with worshippers spreading out vast amounts of food in offering. We made the assumption that this food was later donated to the monks and nuns on pilgrimage but could never get that confirmed (we can't imagine it would be wasted in a country with so many hungry people). After breakfast we went back down the mountain and to board a bus to Bago. The water festival started the next day, and ran for five days ending on new year's eve. We could already see the locals gearing up so we all bought ourselves plastic water pistols in the local market to defend ourselves - what an incredible display of naivete that would turn out to be.

In Bago we visited the largest pagoda in Burma as well as a huge reclining Buddha and a replica of the former palace. There is really nothing else of any interest in Bago, but several of us stayed up late on the roof of the hotel having a couple of drinks, chatting and singing quite loudly, much to the dismay of our companions trying to sleep in the rooms below. I bought a bottle of local gin which cost me about $1 US. Unfortunately the tonic was twice that per can (imported products are quite expensive) so I had to ration the mix.

We were up very early the next morning to board a train for Mandalay. We were traveling upper class but it was still fairly basic. At least the seats were comfortable and we could open the windows to get a breeze. Each time we passed a village, people would throw buckets of water in the windows of the train and soak us. Our little squirt guns were useless for retaliation and in fact invited more attacks than they discouraged. We gave up on them very early on and just accepted our fate gracefully. We were on the train all day, and when we arrived in Mandalay at about 8:00 we transferred to our hotel and went to bed early.

The next morning we took a lovely relaxing boat ride up the river to Mingun, home of the worlds' largest unfinished pagoda. It was deliberately left unfinished as the astrologers predicted that the king would die upon its completion. Gabrielle decided to skip this trip, as she felt she had seen enough temples to last her a lifetime. I enjoyed watching life along the river as much as the visits to the sites in Mingun.

During the afternoon, we all (except Gabrielle) rented tri-shaws and toured around town. It was here that we came to understand the full ramifications of traveling during the water festival. As we rode down the streets, we were bombarded with bucket upon bucket of water. We were traveling slowly enough on the tri-shaws that the locals could just run along beside us and take careful aim before dropping their loads. Most of them just dumped the buckets over heads. All along the street there are platforms built like stages, hovering about 10 feet over the road. These are sponsored by local companies and have music blaring out of loudspeakers. Crowds of people (usually teenagers and young adults) fill these stages and shower water down on the street with hoses of all sizes. More people gather in the street below to dance and party in the deluge. They all drive open jeeps and trucks which fill up with water as drive along the street under the hoses. When I say we got soaked, I mean it was literally like we went swimming in our clothes. Once we reached the point of saturation, we decided we might as well join the festivities so we stopped the tri-shaws and danced with the masses in the street.

Unfortunately, many of the sights we wanted to see that day were closed because the festival is a national holiday. We were able to see a couple of monasteries which interested us, including one which houses the world's biggest book written on thousands of marble slabs about 3x5 feet in dimension. In addition we saw a beautiful Buddha statue carved out of a single piece of marble. I can't remember the exact dimensions, but it was one big chunk of marble. At the end of the afternoon we climbed Mandalay hill to the temple at the top and watched the sunset. After dinner we went to see the Moustache Brothers' show. This is a political satire comedy routine, interspersed with traditional dance and skits. Because they are less than sympathetic towards their government, the three brothers were arrested a few years ago, and one of them, Par Par Lay, sentenced to prison for 7 years. (You can see mention of this in the movie "About a Boy" when Hugh Grant is volunteering at the Amnesty International call centre.) Due to the outcry from the international community and several celebrities, he was released a couple of years later. The show is now allowed to go on, however it is conducted entirely in English and locals are forbidden to see it. Gabrielle apparently did not leave the hotel room all day.

The following day was free to explore, so we all (except Gabrielle) rented a truck to take us to a couple of ancient cities outside of Mandalay. We rode in the back of the truck which had no seats or sides but was covered with a roof. This did us no good in keeping dry and we were soaked through before we were a block from the hotel. We drove to the river bank and then took a ferry across to the town of Ava. This is actually little more than a few old buildings scattered around the countryside. We rented horse-drawn carts and visited a few monasteries and temples in the area. The first monastery was in the middle of nowhere and was built out of teak. It was very quiet and peaceful and when I laid my cheek against the sun-warmed wood of a railing, it felt like I was lying on my dock. It was great to be away from the hustle and bustle of Asian city life.

We had lunch at an outdoor restaurant, shaded by a beautiful big tree. We ferried back across the river and jumped back into our truck, but not before we were treated to another deluge of water by the local children. The next stop was Amarapura which was a former capital city. The festival was in full swing here - imagine Parliament Hill on Canada Day. We could hardly navigate the streets for all the people, food stalls and festivities. There is a long teak bridge in this town that connects it to the town across the river. After a quick walk along the bridge, and taking many photos of drunken revelers who insisted on posing, we visited a temple as well as teaching monastery which was very quiet and peaceful. It was then back to Mandalay for a quiet evening of journaling and packing.

Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma)

I have only been here for about three hours but my first impressions are great. Judy, you'll be happy to hear that the black market is alive and well, but it's really more of a dove-gray as it's really not that illegal and is the only sane way to change money. You get 2-3 times more on the black market than from a government-sanctioned money changing place, so it's crazy not to use it. I was "found" by a lovely man on the street named Hillary who offered to change my money at the rate I was looking for, so I followed him all over town to his cache of cash and got quite a nice little tour along the way. The exchange rate is 1200 Kyat to the dollar and it all comes in 1000 K notes, so after exchanging $300 I'm carrying around several bricks of cash in my bag. Hillary directed me to this internet spot that allows me access to the outside world so I'm off to a great start.

I arrived at 8:00 this morning and have my first meeting with my tour group tonight at 6:00 so I have the whole day to explore on my own. The city is really interesting - lots of colonial buildings that are juxtaposed against market stalls, gold-topped stupas and general Asian street life. It's really a great mix of all the
best parts of Asia: the people are lovely and laid-back like they were in Laos, but the city has lots to offer. I expect that the countryside will be even better. I fear that two weeks will not be enough time here - I guess we'll see.

I read a bit of the history of the country on my flight over from Bangkok. I've been struggling with the Myanmar vs. Burma thing and was hoping to sort it out. Many people prefer to use the name Burma as a show of non-support for the current (nasty) government who reverted back to the name Myanmar when they took over. However, the country existed as Myanmar for centuries before the British came in and decided to change the name to Burma, so I'm not sure which is worse. I'll reserve judgement for now.

As much as tourists are warned to avoid discussions of a political nature with locals for fear of them being punished, Hillary was quite open with me and willing talk about whatever I wanted. He was, of course, discrete on some matters of a particularly sensitive nature and did lower his voice at times. It will be interesting to see how other locals open up to us (or not) along the way.
I have just determined that the new year, which is marked by a water festival, falls during my stay here. I'm not sure where we'll be for that, but it will be great to participate in a local festival.

That's it for now...I think this was a bit of a one-off situation and I don't expect that I will continue to find access to e-mail and my blog on a regular basis. I will stay in touch if I can but don't worry if this is the last you hear from me for a couple of weeks.

Bangkok, Thailand (again)

I arrived in Bangkok after a night in Ho Chi Minh city. Given the amount of time it took us to get through the airport and then through the city to our hotel (crazy traffic), I didn't have much time to see anything, and no daylight hours at all. I wasn't overly impressed, but I suspect I was in an uninteresting part of town. I have heard that Ho Chi Minh city is not exactly the jewel in the crown for Vietnam, so don't feel that I saw enough to make any kind of judgement about the country as a whole.

It's great to be back and I've been walking around with a smile on my face for three days. I was a bit concerned that after three months of first world living I would have trouble adjusting to Asia. Instead, it was like putting on my favourite slippers. I wonder if it is possible for me to be culture shocked any more, or if I've seen enough that I could take anything in stride. I guess I'm still somewhat within my comfort zone here as South-East Asia has become like a second home to me. I'm guessing that India, Bangladesh and much of Africa would still have the ability to send me into a tailspin. I'm not sure if I want that or not, as much as I said in my last blog that I needed to move outside my comfort zone.

On my second night here I went for a foot massage. There is a gas station at the end of my street that closes in the evening. Half of the space is set up with chairs for massages, and the other half is covered with candle-lit tables and serves as a restaurant. It's really quite pretty despite the fact that the tables are jammed in between the gas pumps. The restaurant has a big screen TV that they play concerts and other low-key shows on. I picked up a gin and tonic from the bar and walked over the chairs. I had a fabulous massage as I sipped my drink and listened to a beautiful concert broadcast on the TV. I had found that contentedness that I felt so often in Asia before I left for Australia. I'm not sure what it is about this place, but I just feel so good being here. Bangkok, and more specifically Khao San road should really be putting me off with all it's backpackers and the hundreds of people catering to them, but it has the opposite effect on me. I wonder if it's the constant feel of being on vacation that is so nice - I'm sure if I was living and working here I'd absolutely hate it. (As an aside, the masseuse commented on the strength in my legs, so I guess the hiking in Tassie did some good. Hopefully that will help when I'm stuggling up Everest.)

I have done some sight-seeing as well as all the running around that I had to do while here. I revisited a couple of places that I went to 13 years ago which have been nice but don't have the same power to impress that they did when I was a more inexperienced traveler. Given the requirement for modest dress in Myanmar, I had to buy a new wardrobe, which I did for about $30. I bought some wrap-around pants and several long-sleeved loose-fitting cotton tops which is a bit of a coup for someone my size in Asia. Most vendors see me coming and hide under their tables, but I was able to find one style of top that actually makes it all the way around my back and chest with room to spare. Not the most elegant garb, to say the least, and I think it's safe to say that I won't be facing any unwanted attention from the Burmese monks. Still, I should be comfortable, as cool as can be expected and unoffensive.

I was also able to book my flight to Nepal as well as my guesthouse for the few nights I'll be in Kathmandu before my trek starts. Apparently you can't get to Nepal from Bangkok on any day other than Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, so I will be flying on April 25 rather than the 24th as I had hoped. As a result, I will be spending my birthday in Bangkok rather than Kathmandu. I'll have to try to find something different to do here to celebrate.

I bought a one-way ticket to Kathmandu, and at this point have no idea what will come next. I'll have to see how I feel after the trek and take it from there.

I'm off tomorrow morning for Myanmar. As previously mentioned, I won't have access to e-mail from there so I will be incommunicado until about April 22 when I return to Bangkok. Talk to you all in a couple of weeks.

Kinglake, Australia (reprise)

I arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon and Brian picked me up at the airport. It was kind of strange – I’ve done so much in the last couple of months, but driving back to Brian’s place it felt like I hadn’t left.

My time in the Melbourne area has been pretty quiet. Brian has been working most days and he doesn’t have a spare car this time around, so I’ve mostly been hanging around the house. I did get into the city one day to run some errands and post a few photos to my website. I checked in with Vietnam Air, who is flying me back to Bangkok tomorrow. I have had quite a time with them trying to secure dates for my return trip (among other things) and was glad I dropped into their office as my itinerary had changed for the third time. I will now have a layover in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) on my way through. This is actually a good thing despite the fact that it is wreaking havoc on my hotel plans in Bangkok. I didn’t make it to Vietnam in the fall as I got sidetracked in Laos and I’ve been struggling with whether or not to try to fit it into my upcoming schedule. I think that I will likely not come back to SE Asia after Nepal as it will be unbearably hot at that time of year. Perhaps this short visit to Ho Chi Minh City will help me decide whether or not Vietnam will be a priority for me. As mentioned, I’ve run into quite a few problems with Vietnam Air and will do everything I can not to fly them again. Fingers crossed that I actually arrive in Bangkok on April 4 as planned.

Autumn has definitely arrived in southern Australia. The weather has been very fickle but yesterday was the most awesome Indian summer day. In the late morning I went up the back hill for my run through the pine tree plantation and was absolutely gobsmacked by the beauty of the day. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and the pine trees stood out so vividly against the blue backdrop. It was hot and sunny but the air had that little crispness that comes to us in September at home. It was a perfect football game day. It was very odd to feel this air but not to see the accompanying colours in the trees.

On my way back down the hill I noticed a snake in Brian’s back yard, but am getting quite blasé about the whole slithering reptilian thing by now. When Brian got home, I told him about the snake and he went to investigate. There was a roll of plastic netting on the ground in which not one, but two copperheads had managed to entangle themselves. Brian was unable to find a snake handler in the area on a Sunday evening (go figure!) so he decided to store them in a garbage bin and take them to the Healesville animal sanctuary this morning to have them extricated from the net. I figured that a hatchet or a round of buckshot would do the trick, but I found out the hard way to not even joke about such things in the presence of a National Parks employee.

Given that I hadn’t taken any photos of my snake encounters in Tasmania (I generally had other things on my mind than grabbing my camera) I decided I’d take a few shots of these guys. Wanting to know what I was getting myself into, I asked Brian what the consequences of a bite from a copperhead would be. He told me that I would probably make it to the hospital, but that when he called 911 they would be sending a helicopter rather than an ambulance to get me to improve my chances. Great. I put on my hiking boots and jeans and headed out. I took a couple of snaps but couldn’t bring myself to get too close to them so Brian took a couple of close-ups for me. Then came the moment of truth. Using a long-handled forceps-like tool he picked up the bundle of netting with the two snakes dangling from it and tried to fit it into a large plastic drum. When this failed he decided to use the garbage bin which had a larger mouth and was successful. I took a couple of photos which I’ll post, but as you’ll see they’re not my best effort. I’m not sure if I had the camera on the wrong setting or if I was just shaking so darn hard that I couldn’t hold it still, but one way or another they’re very blurred. So much for blasé. I wasn't quite as convinced as Brian that they were well and truly stuck in the netting and I kept waiting for one or both to break free and lunge at me (as they do). I hope that Michael is reading this in Sydney and is proud of me for living another day during which I scared the crap out of myself. Brian spent most of the evening fretting that the snakes were going to be cold in the garbage bin and debating whether he should go cover them with a blanket. As for me, I was very happy to see the bin with it's venomous cargo gone this morning. Apparently the copperheads were delivered safely to the sanctuary and they are going to be dropped back off here this afternoon once they’ve been disentangled. Goodness knows we wouldn’t want to disrupt the poor things by permanently removing them from their home.

Tomorrow morning I leave Australia and head back to Asia. I am very much looking forward to this as I feel I’ve been here much longer that planned and I’m ready to move on. Life here is very similar to life at home and as Brian put it, I need to get out of my comfort zone. It is also autumn here, so it’s time to move back up to the northern hemisphere. I was just thinking how great it is to be able to follow summer around the globe until I checked out the weather in Myanmar, which is where I’ll be in a week or so. Lows are about 25 and highs are about 38 – yikes! In addition, this country is quite sheltered and very Buddhist, so I’ll have to dress very modestly. Nothing like needing to cover your arms and legs in 38 degree weather.

I will try to post another blog from Bangkok and also to get up-to-date with my photos while I'm there. I will not be able to communicate from within Myanmar due to the political situation there (no access to outside websites etc.) but will be with a tour and very safe. The tour company, Geckos, has all your contact information so just remember that no news is good news. If you need to find me while I’m there, please contact Stacey Anderton, my booking agent in Brisbane. She’s at 011-61-7-3854-1022 (from Canada) or Stacey@backtrack.com.au. I’ll be keeping a journal in Myanmar as I expect this to be quite a different and interesting leg of my journey. I’ll provide all the details in my blog afterwards. Dates of the tour are April 8 – 22.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

I arrived in Sydney on Tuesday morning and hopped a train to Pierre’s office. Pierre and Tracey are the other Australian couple that I met while in Peru and are best friends of Paul and Nicole from Brisbane. Pierre and Tracey were kind enough to put me up in their lovely suburban Sydney home. They were both working when I arrived in town, so I dropped my luggage at Pierre’s office (which has a wonderful view of Darling harbour in downtown Sydney) and went out to explore. Sydney is just as I left it 13 years ago – in fact it’s the only city I’ve visited on this trip that remains largely unchanged in comparison to my memories of it. I repeatedly visited landmarks that triggered memories and it was reassuring to know that my entire collection of gray matter hadn’t melted in the intervening 13 years as I was starting to suspect.

I had been staying in touch with Michael who I had met in Byron Bay about 6 weeks previously and who lives in Sydney. He was working in Kings Cross that day and we met for a lovely lunch on a patio overlooking the porn shops and strip clubs. (In case that last sentence requires any clarification, Michael works in the wireless industry, not the sex trade.) I continued my sightseeing in the afternoon and then met Pierre at his office for the commute to the ‘burbs. Tracey cooked us a wonderful meal and we spent the evening catching up.

Wednesday was a full day of running around for me. I had several visas to obtain while I was in Sydney one of which proved to be somewhat problematic. After several sprints across town from the embassy to Pierre’s office to use the internet, telephone, fax and photocopier, I managed to get everything sorted. I did a bit more sightseeing and was sure to take the train to Bondi Junction but did not meet anyone or find true love as suggested in the 1973 song of that title.* Tracey and Pierre were in the process of buying a house so that afternoon I went with them to view the property and offer my expert advice. I gave the house my stamp of approval (which I'm sure was the deciding factor in their decision-making process) and they placed their offer while we were there. An event such as this required a celebratory toast so we went to one of their favourite haunts for a drink. Back home we continued to celebrate until Paul and Nicole arrived from Brisbane after a very long day in the car. This was a great reunion for all of us, and the festivities continued well into the wee hours. The men were a little more sensible, but Tracey and Nicole didn’t see their beds until about 4:30 (I dropped somewhere in the middle). Needless to say, Thursday got off to a pretty slow start. We ran some errands at the local mall then came home for a nap.

Michael had managed to take the Friday off, so I headed into town in the late afternoon on Thursday to join him for a day or two. We spent the evening at his place – he has a wonderful downtown location with views looking out over Sydney harbour. Late into the night we went for a walk down under the harbour bridge and enjoyed the beautiful city lights. He gave me a bit of a lesson with my camera and I got a couple of great shots of the harbour bridge and the opera house.

The next day we took his “tinny” (small aluminum boat) out on one of the tidal rivers that run into middle harbour. We found a nice secluded beach and spent a few hours sunning, swimming and snacking. Later in the evening, we went back out on the main harbour in the boat. There was quite a wind by this time so the water was a bit choppy. We cruised around a bit but also stopped the boat to drift in several spots: in front the opera house, under the bridge, near Fort Denison etc. While this all sounds so relaxing, it really had an edge to it, as the harbour is full of big boats and I felt very small and unprotected by comparison. We cruised beside a replica of the Bounty that was motoring through the harbour virtually unlit, which was very eerie - just a dark outline against the black sky. We had to keep a constant vigil for ferries, which seemed to materialize out of nowhere. (It was somewhat chilling to hear of the ferry crash in the harbour just a few days later.) Michael lives by the credo that you should do something every day that scares you – I’m not sure I could keep it up for more than a few days. Still, it was really neat to get this view of the city and Sydney is an absolutely stunning city. I think it’s one of those places that you’d never get tired of looking at.

The next day Michael and I parted company fairly early as he had a family gathering to attend and I had to get back to my friends for Paul’s 40th birthday party that evening. We went to a local pub where we had a great dinner and were joined by Paul’s family and friends. It was a great time – they were a really nice bunch of people and they didn’t hold back on the shooters. We left the pub and continued the party back at the house until the last solider had fallen.

On Sunday Paul and Nicole headed off to Canberra to visit some other friends and Pierre had a soccer game, so Tracey and I headed up into the Blue Mountains. The weather didn’t really cooperate for us, but I was still able to appreciate the views. We had lunch in a quaint tourist town (think Merrickville in the mountains) and explored the shops.

On Monday it was back to work for Tracey and Pierre so I went back into the city. I took the ferry to Manly which I hadn’t done before. I got some good daytime views of the harbour from the ferry. They offer harbour bridge walks, where you actually walk along the top of the bridge arches. I can’t imagine how much they’d have to pay me to do that, but apparently a large portion of the population is actually willing to pay them for the privilege. I saw a couple of groups on the bridge when we went by on the ferry and I got an ache in my gut just watching them up there. Once in Manly the weather was iffy so I didn’t stick around too long. There’s not much point hanging out in a surfing town in the rain. It was nice to have seen it and I imagine it is really lovely in the summer sun. After I returned to the city, I walked around “the Rocks” which is the oldest settled part of Sydney. It is very pretty and provides lots of interesting historical information.

I had my final dinner with Tracey and Pierre that evening. I spent the following morning packing and caught an afternoon flight to Melbourne where I met at the airport by Brian.

* For all of you in Australia who never heard of the song “Bondi Junction” and who thought I was totally off my nut for wanted to go there, I Googled it for you. It turns out it was done by a guy named Peter Foldy who was born in Budapest and grew up in Sydney. His family moved to Toronto when he was a teenager and he has lived there ever since. The song only hit the charts in Canada so you’re all excused for not having heard of it (especially those of you who weren’t born yet in 1973).