The3Wanderers

And now our big adventure is coming to an end.  So sad... we are happy to returning home, to our family, friends and a new puppy, but oh so depressed that our days of freedom and wonder are over!

 

We're spending a week here in Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands visiting family.  

 

Arriving in Vancouver we experienced some culture shock and sensory overload, which is common when going to another country, but we never expected it of coming back home!  Some of you will remember my first description of Delhi...how the smells of humidity, marigolds, inscence, cattle and several million people all living together accost your senses and are so overpowering but wonderful and exotic at the same time... Well after that experience, Noah and I were more accutely aware of that particular sense in every country we visited.  Arriving in Vancouver we were amazed by the "smell of Canada".  Something none of us would ever have noticed before!  It's fresh and sweet and fresh and sweet again and just "so much air"!  It's hard to describe, but you can just take deep breath after deep breath and it's feels so nice, so clean so "filling"...   Sounds weird, I know... but it's air that holds promise, potential and good things...

 

We were also overwhelmed by voices... it was if our hearing had just been "turned up".  For so long we had learned to tune out the conversations around us, not understanding them anyway.  Suddenly we were on the Air Canada flight from Beijing to Vancouver and in the Ferry Terminal to Vancouver Island and we could hear, and comprehend every single conversation!  And rather than being a pleasent sensation, as expected, it was rather annoying.  Suddenly we had to listen to everyone else's story, be it bragging, complaining, nagging or just plain monotonous litany, whether we wanted to or not.  Our heads were spinning!

 

To be in our beautiful, clean and oh so green country is wonderful.  Cars quietly go up and down the streets and not a piece of litter can be seen.  But the shopping malls, the "big box" complexes, huge parking lots, shiny cars and houses full of "objects", attesting to the materialism of our society is overwhelming after living where we've lived the last ten months.  People in Asia and Africa would say to us, "oh you're so lucky to live in Canada, Canada is so rich".  And we'd reply, "well it is a very nice country, but we're not rich, we all struggle to make money and we are all so stressed that no one is really happy, like you are...."  But coming back we certainly can see how they get the impression...  just the shops, the homes, the stuff, the green space and small things we all take for granted and don't count in our definition of "rich", look mighty excessive and definately "rich" to us now... we struggle to make money for things we don't really need.  It'll be hard to remember this lesson and not fall back into the trap.

 

Anyway, we've enjoyed our time here in what is definately "God's Country" and we are so lucky to be able to call BC part of "our country".  We enjoyed a few nice days of sunshine in the Queen Charlotte's (on my Dad's sailboat), kayaking and fishing... and we even rescued a drowing Bald Eagle! Quite exciting!  Definately a nice way to re-enter and make the transition back to "real life"...

 

 

We've been doing a whirlwind tour of China from bottom to top (Shenzhen to Beijing) in a week.  Lots of night trains and lots of rain!  What a wonderful, curious country!

 

Talk about "Lost in Translation"!  With all our travel experience we were unprepared for the total lack of English spoken in most places here.  It certainly lends to the sense of adventure and we try to navigate our way around, buy tickets, find accomodation and order food that isn't chicken head, brain or feet.  Thank God for our guide book with translations written in chinese characters.  We do a lot of pointing and gesturing.  The Chinese we've run into are friendly and do their best to help us, sometimes with frustration on both sides, but ending always with the best effort and smiles....

 

Shenzhen, and now Beijing with its new Olympic makeover, are so modern they make Canada look 3rd world.  The cities are well organized and they do an amazing job of moving and accomodating the huge population (the cities actually seem less crowded than most others we've visited).   The public transportation system is extensive and easy to negotiate (would be even easier if we knew the language).  They talk about Beijing being polluted but we haven't witnessed that.  It is no worse than any other city and a good deal better than any Indian or or African City.  The ex-pats who live here however, bemoan the loss of the traditional chinese aspects of Beijing (old buildings, street vendors, traditional markets, etc), as it rushes to modernization.  In all places we visited there is an obvious care for the environment and new trees, gardens, parks, lakes and "green" initiatives are common, such as solar power and electric cars and motorbikes.  The locals are very excited about the Olympic Games and very proud to be hosting.  The stories of the Tibetan situation are reported in a different light here, but I will leave the comparisons for later, for obvious reasons.

 

So, we were pleasently surprised by China and its people and hope to come back someday to explore more.  We are really only getting to see some big cities, and would love to explore the gorgeous countryside while some of the traditional ways of life still exist.... next time I guess.

 

Having trouble up-loading the pictures, so once again...stay tuned...

 

 

We now find ourselves in Thailand...and we're not complaining!  We are reminded why this was one of our favourite countries to visit.

The people are friendly, it's beautiful and it is so easy to get around (relatively speaking) and the food is AMAZING (gaining back all the weight we lost in India).  The cities are modern (with 7-11, McDonalds and Subway and everything!...sinkin' our teeth into a burger for the first time in 8 months!) but there is enough of a cultural difference to make it interesting.

 

We spent the first few days on the gorgeous beaches of the south, enjoying the sand and surf.  It was amazing to see the recovery they have made since the Tsunami and also sobering to realize that we were speaking, laughing and interacting with real survivors of this natural disaster (heard some very sad stories and once again, reminded how fortunate we are -see photos: one of our boat guides lost his 7 month old son and had many bones broken). 

 

We hit Bangkok for "Songkran" the Thai New Year Festival.  What a wild time!  Among other traditions, throwing water at each other is the biggest and most fun!  4 days of water fights in the streets.  So fun, and thank goodness because they were having an almost unbearable heat wave.  This was probably a highlight of Noah's trip as she joined other kids in throwing water at scooters and passer-bys and, dancing in the street and riding in the back of pick-up trucks throwing water at everyone in sight! (Pics to come).

 

Then we spent the past week at "Elephant Nature Park", and elephant sanctuary run by a fantastic little Thai lady named "Lek" who has devoted herself to saving the Asian elephant (now dangerously at risk of extinction due to mistreatment and overwork).  So now we have been introduced to the world of saving animals as well as people.  Many of the elephants in the park have been rescued from horrible situations and Lek and her staff made us aware of the terrible abuses these beautiful, intelligent creatures are subjected to just so they can paint pretty pictures, give us rides and log the timber out of disappearing forests....  Anyway, we had a great time getting to know the elephants, and it wasn't all just fun, we worked hard too (elephants make a lot of Poo!).

 

We have a few days left here exploring ancient cities and hill tribes.... stay tuned.