Asia
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India
June and July 2011
The land of infinite contradiction continued to surprise and challenge us. After living there for a few years, we still have a deep appreciation for the richness and beauty of the culture, despite the daily encounters of human and animal feces, wretched smells and intestinal problems. We headed with Matt's cousin Danny to the Himalayas to trek near Stok Peak outside Leh. Among spectacular mountains and incredible views we took turns fighting off the woes of altitude sickness. Afterwards, Matt headed to the USA for a bit of family time and Jennifer and Danny moved on to experience the raw intensity of Varanasi and Bihar. They were welcomed by Dharmendra, who shared his home village in Bihar. Then off to Borneo to meet Matt. |
South East Asia
July and August 2011
At the Borneo World Music Festival, we listened to African musicians make music from their hands swishing through river water. In Singapore, we shared expensive drinks and good laughs with our friend Skimin. As Jen celebrated her sister’s wedding and cousin’s new baby in the USA, Matt and Dan got sunburned in Thailand and river leapt in Laos. We then met up again in Vietnam, where we lounged beachside, floated down the Mekong Delta and gained new perspectives about war crimes and tactics from the American War (or Vietnam War as we know it). |
Myanmar
August and September 2011
It is so difficult to be constrained to only a few words, as Myanmar is one of our favorite places we visited. We spent time with families in rural villages, cycled among the ancient Buddhist ruins of Bagan, road on lopsided overcrowded buses and navigated the bustling market streets of the capital. The simplicity, warm and gentle people, Buddhist practices, rural villages, green landscape, and political strife and intricacies of the country captivated us. Myanmar has a special place in our hearts. |
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China
September 2011
Two brief stopovers in Beijing and Shanghai, gave us the opportunity to see The Great Wall and spend short but special time with friends from ASB. Traversing along China’s east coast by train from the Mongolian border to Shanghai, lent itself to views of the rural countryside and massive polluting factories. When people ask if we went to China, Jennifer usually replies that we did two big city layovers with friends. |
Mongolia
September 2011
This country is fascinating! It is estimated that around 40% of the population lives in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, pursuing the comforts and luxuries of their democratic society established in the 1990’s, while the rest of the population holds onto their nomadic roots tending to cattle, sheep, camels and horses just as their relatives have done for centuries. In Ulaanbaatar, Humvee’s, BMW’s and Gucci coexist with dirt floor and scrap metal roofed housing, while the Soviet style concrete, square block apartment complexes are reminders of the communist connections of the past. While drinking horse milk, riding camels, and taking in the vast fenceless countryside with nomadic families, we felt as if we had gone back in time, until we heard Adel singing out from our guides cell phone...I guess we were the only ones in this world who had not heard of the popstar! |
