A White Christmas

Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!!!!

I just wanted to put up a really quick little Christmas note.  No, we haven't forgotten about this little 'ol blog, but we have been a bit otherwise occupied.  We had a fantastic time in Cambodia, and Janne, Miriam and Tuit were better hosts than we could ever have dreamed of!  We arrived back in Canada early on Dec 16 and spent the better part of the following week trying to get over the jet lag.  Angela did really well, but I spent several days waking up at 3:00AM, wide awake and ready to go.  Thankfully now we're both pretty much adjusted to this time zone.

Though the cold has been taking some serious adjusting after being in relatively warm climates for essentially the last 2 years, we are really enjoying having a white Christmas.  And above all, being able to share this very special time with family and good friends is just incredibly fantastic.  We appreciate that gift so much more after having spent so much time separated from those closest to us for so long.  We've been blessed with some great time with each of our parents and siblings.  We've also been able to catch up with many aunts, uncles and cousins.  We are so thankful to see most of our grandparents - and are looking forward with great excitement to when we will be able to see grandma and grandpa Ritskes (who we won't get to see this week) sometime after the holidays.

The culture shock of being back in Canada, the wierdness of having a house, a car and more than 2 sets of clothes, how are we adjusting to it all.... this will all have to wait for a later day.

But for now, it is:

Merry Christmas 

[and in the words of Charles Dickens' Tiny Tim] 

"God Bless Us, Everyone!!"

pheom phen ... what's that you Say??

So it is now mid Feb. and I am looking back on what we've experienced. We spent about a month in Phomn Phen (PP.)

Learning to Be Thankful

So you learn about a war, how does that make you feel? Does if matter if it is close by or far away? I think it does. Will you be impacted differently if you know some one, if there is a face put to it or memories recollected? I think it does. Can we learn from those expereinces and try to be a better presence in this world? I hope it will.

We visited the genocide museums of Cambodia. And I am thankful that we don't have such a thing at home. Though I suppose the closest thing would be the War Museum. The stories and history that accompany these places is eery and speaks of the utter destruction of lives, culture,art, religion and community. Perhaps this was all made even worse because the damage was done by and to their own people.

In an attempt to level the playing feild and create their version of a perfect society the leaders of the Khmer Rouge gave the command to kill all skilled people and their families. To simply kill them was too easy, instead they created the worst and most terrible way to interrogate and torture them first and then equally devasting ways to end their lives, often in the presence of those they loved.

If you were not murdered it was quite possible that you might have wished that you were. The people were forced to leave the capital and return to their home villages out in the country. Hard, physical labour was demanded from everyone. Long working hours were expected with very little food. People were given jobs such as digging water canals and rice farming, but they didn't know how to do them and few were left to teach them. Anything even vaguely perceived as disobedience was not tolerated.

Have you ever been to a place where you feel or sense something so great? In the high school turned prision, the laughter of students was cut short and is now replaced with the emptiness. As you wander through the classroms turned into cells, the photographs of the prisoners do much to iluminate the conditions there. In the space known as the Kiling Fields only birds and local traffic break the silence there. The grassy mass graves are slowly being filled in by the rain and years of erosion - but not before the remains of bones and clothes have been removed, to be used as the focal point for the huge monument there.

Hearing the stories of friends of my aunt has put a very personal touch on the recent tradegy (late 70's). Each day as we drop my cousin off at school we travel streets where people beg, have no clothes, sniff glue etc. These are not the back street either, it is the main road. The faces of the people express a mix of emotions from fear and distrust to the occasional glimmer of hope.

There are two ways one can take what is seen and heard; to withdraw and see no value or joy, or to take hold of the faint ray of hope. The examples of moving forward are found in those that grasp for the hope that tomorrow will be a new and different day.

Memorials of Khmer Rouge Genocide

Hong Kong

They say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Does that mean that the definition of beauty is always changing? If that is the case there are many beautiful sites to behold in this strange and wonderful place. A place that has so many ironies, wealth, organization and flair.

We have enjoyed the surprise meals that we've been getting. It is definitely a culinary experience here, made a bit more complicated by the fact that less people speak English here then we were expecting. Feeling a little out of sorts with the language helps us appreciate again how great it was we spoke basic Spanish. Being able to interact with the average Latin American in their own language meant some really great people experiences. There is a certain air of formality about how things are to be done, a set of established rules that are not necessarily obvious to travellers; how to drink your tea, eat with chopsticks, climb the stairs, use the subway. They have thought of many details and it is all very organized around here. It is encouraging that we find ourselves easily adapting to uncertainities. The food is very yummy and flavourful.

Our first day we got acquainted with the neighbourhood by wandering around (we were staying in the Kowloon Peninsula part of Hong Kong). We also went to the flower, bird and goldfish market. It was so orderly as everyone had there own shop with a real roof. We thought of all you flower lovers out there and had a good laugh when we saw tulips and lilies in boxes being unloaded, bearing the name DeBoer and Hilverda from Holland. There is a little bit of everything you could possibly imagine.

We were able to use this time to the max. Yesterday (Oct 31st) we spent the day on a guided bus tour around Hong Kong Island. It was a very diverse taste of religion, markets, and the local geography. We rode a tram to the highest peak in the area and Jay visited his first Buddhist/ Taoist temple. We bought my first set of pearl jewellery. It is even handmade! We thought it would be the perfect accessory for tea and chocolate cake at a fancy hotel ( The Penisula) where there is a dress code. We took an old fashioned boat around the remnants of the floating Aberdeen fishing village, which will soon be demolished to make room for an amusement park. We saw the famous Jockey Club and a beach that had all if its sand imported from Australia. We wandered around Stanley market but held off buying anything until Cambodia, which we are assuming will be a lot cheaper. The evening was spent watching the daily light show, which involves over 50 different buildings and is recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records.

Today ( Nov. 1st) we took a cable car on Lantau Island to the biggest Buddha statue around, Tin Tan. We climbed the 268 steps to stand near the 34 m, 250 tonne bronze, outdoor statue. Everything is very lush, green and a live. It was a little bouncy on the way home as the wind had picked up. We also floated across the harbour on the Star Ferry, not to be confused with the very prestigious Star Cruises (maybe next time!). A final great experience was discovering flamingos, parrots and the mandarin duck in the Kowloon park near our hostal.

All in all it has been a very different experience here in Hong Kong than anywhere we've been on our trip so far. It was a real eye-opener for me (Jason) being in my first big-crowded Asian city, where there is so much wealth, but certainly lots of poverty that is pushed to the edges. We saw everything from $500,000 1ft tall statues for sale in a shop near the harbour, to the condemed Aberdeen fishing village where everybody lives on a tiny fishing boat in an out-of-the-way corner of the island. We are very glad that we took the opportunity to spend a little time here on our way to Cambodia, it has been WELL worth the 4 days. Enjoy the photos!

Kowloon Peninsula

Hong Kong Island Tour

Lantau Island

And We Are Off Again ... To Cambodia This Time

So much has happened over the last few weeks. We were able to celebrate and share in many different things. Visiting with so many people was tiring in ways that we couldn't have imagined, but we so badly wanted to catch up with as many people as we could. After spending over a year with just the two of us it was important to mix it up! Since we were only home temporarily we tried to lay low. Strange is the single easiest word to describe a quick visit to Ottawa.

Tomorrow bright and early we are flying to Toronto (Oct 28.) From there we will be flying to Hong Kong where we will spend 4 nights. Jay will be taking his longest single plane ride ever at 15 hr and 35 minutes!! Throw in a little jet lag and I'm sure we'll be a little bit confused. Good thing English is pretty common in Hong Kong. We met a young women who grew up in HK while we were hiking in Machu Piccuhu. She gave us several pages of suggested tourist destinations, right down to the details of using public transportation.

We are not entirely sure what to expect in Cambodia. In some ways it will be similar to Latin America ( for example the poverty, broken history) but I imagine there will be some differences as well. We will be spending some time with my aunt who continues to assist with an aid organization she started there about ten years ago. We look forward to seeing her in motion and sharing in her life there.

Many blessings to you all. We hope that these last few weeks of our travels will pass by splendidly. Being home for a small break in between has given us just a small taste of what awaits when we return. Not too sure how we feel about that but look forward to whatever those adventures will be.

Hanging Out in Florida

Being greeted by a familiar face at the airport is something I always look forward to. To me it is the perfect ending to travelling. What I thought would be tearful exchanges were replaced by big hugs and cheerful conversations. Phew!

When we first arrived back into North America we spent 5 days in sunny Florida. Fort Myers was not a place I'd thought about visiting but when friends of ours invited us to join them there for a few days we looked into changing around our flights to make it work. It was worth it! We were a little nervous but that was just butterflies after being away for so long.

Our favourite parts were meeting and playing with the two young girls and playing games after the busyness of the day was behind us. There was lots of swimming, walking, shopping, girl time and relaxing. What a life!

These are a few of my favourite pictures from that time. I couldn't easily fix the spacing and the captions. If you click on any of the captions you can go directly to the collection of photos.

From Arriving back in North America

From Arriving back in North America

From Arriving back in North America

From Arriving back in North America

La Paz ... Peace?!?!?!

Though we didn't end up spending much time here, La Paz did seem to be a place that was worth more time. It is a bustling metropolis of people and traffic with beautiful look outs, the "death road" biked by many tourists, fabled markets and lots of variety on the food front. Of course there are a few big, snow capped mountains near by as well.



Though we didn't have much time as we had hoped, we did manage to taste ice cream and the gooey local empanadas ( pizza pocket style delicacy.) We visited a chocolate shop and brought home all sorts of flavours of chocolate. We spent a morning wandering the streets buying the last of our souvenirs. Who knew it would be so hard to find an alpaca blanket? We'd been warned about the llama fetuses in the witch market but it was still strange to see all sorts of items and trinkets that get used in rituals we don't understand. We spent the afternoon at the Coca Museum, where we got a lot of insight in to this local tradition. The hotel we stayed at had a great common area with a fireplace and a portable DVD for when we were tired of the crowds. It was such a treat but we did have to sleep in separate beds (no doubles.)

The shoe shine men all wore balaclavas. This anonymous element allowed them to be a little rude with out you knowing who they were. We found them to be a more aggressive then any where else. Over all we found people to be very friendly and generous, especially the American Airlines ladies who helped us sort out our flights. Thanks for a great visit Bolivia, short and sweet.