Reflections on Southeast Asia - it's been a slice

We're taking it pretty easy for our last few days in Bali, before we head off to Sydney Australia on Saturday evening. We thought about going to the beach today at the end of the strip but we heard there were a lot of hawkers there. So we're spending another day at the resort by the pool, near the ocean. I really like this spot near the pool, next to the seawall. It has some beach sand in a contained strip, with some beach chairs and umbrellas setup here. It's like we're at the beach, without being on the beach. Very nice. 

It seems to be low season here with few tourists. Sometimes we're the only patrons in the restaurant. Even so, there are many hawkers on the street as we walk to local restaurants and shops. As we stroll along, we are invariable asked every 50 or 100 feet whether we want to purchase sunglasses, whether we need transport, or if we want to go snorkeling. It looks to me like a great number of Balinese men around here are idle without much to do, at least at this time of year. Or maybe it's worth it for them to sit around most of the day, waiting for the odd tourist to show interest. 

The meals we've had on the strip near the resort have been excellent - less so at the resort. On the strip we've had good breakfasts in particular with the best coffee I've had on this trip. We've also been to the Hungry Crocodile restaurant across the street a couple times, which has been consistently good. I particularly enjoyed the steak in a black pepper sauce. 

So on our last full day in Southeast Asia before heading off to Australia and then New Zealand, with lunch over, it's a good time to reflect. I'm glad we came to Southeast Asia, having visited Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia in succession over the last three months or so. I think we had a pretty good idea of what to expect, having visited Thailand a couple of times over the years. We expected and found new sights, sounds and cultural experiences, different and unique from experiences back home. We expected and found some adventures and hiccups along the way. We knew things wouldn't always be as comfortable as life back home. This is still the developing world after all, striving to improve its standard of living and infrastructure. They are not there yet but they're working on it, especially in hard working Vietnam.

The weather cooperated for the most part, although it was a bit too hot for my liking throughout most of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. We sure did sweat it out, but it was always nice to come back to reasonably air conditioned accommodations at the end of the day. The first time we came to Thailand as backpackers in the '90's we didn't have much air conditioning; it was a relief to have it on this trip, especially with the kids in tow. We didn't experience the rainy season anywhere, which was a pleasant surprise. It really is dry here in Bali, with the brown hills, waiting for the delayed rainy season to turn the countryside lush and green. 

I enjoyed learning about the history and significance of a new place or site, and I always liked observing what the locals were up to. We've talked to locals and fellow travellers along the way to hear some of their stories. Here in Bali we constantly witnessed the locals bringing offerings of flowers and incense to their small temples and spirit dwellings and make silent prayers. We've found the locals friendly and welcoming everywhere we've been. As we pass the Balinese we are greeted with smiles, with their hands held together at their face like they are praying; we try to return the greeting in the same manner. 

The food has been excellent on our trip for the most part. The Indonesian food has not been as varied and interesting as the Vietnamese or Thai cuisines, but it's been good nonetheless. I think that is why there was more variety on the menus in Bali and Java, where we could usually have good French, Italian, or American meals at just about every restaurant.

One of the main things I wanted to get out of our trip to Southeast Asia and the Pacific was a career break with some time spent with Catheleen and the kids. I was I little worried whether we would all get along for this long but I was hopeful. I think this has panned out just fine so far. John and Elizabeth certainly had to rely on each other for companionship, and I'm happy how well they've gotten along most of the time. 

I have always thought of travelling as a good opportunity to gain a better appreciation for my home country, by learning how others live. Travel opens the mind. I hope we have learned a few things - I think we have. The people we came across were happy for the most part, although we've seen some poverty and hardship, especially in Laos and Vietnam. I hope the kids better appreciate how lucky we are to live in Canada, with everything it has to offer.

Overall I've enjoyed the time spent in Southeast Asia, but I must admit I'm ready for Australia and New Zealand with its spring weather, and with its food, language and infrastructure so similar to Canada. I haven't worn long pants since we left Canada though, so I'm wondering if they will fit; but that's what we call a personal problem. At least I won't have any more excuses for not running. 

Here's Elizabeth and John with their endless horseplay at the pool. Best friends?

Thank god for the French

I am enjoying the local Asian food and we have only weakened and had a western meal a few times - usually to the disappointment of whoever ordered it. Almost every meal I've had since we arrived in Asia has been good to great. But last evening at the local night market I stumbled across fresh baguettes and I couldn't help but think, thank the heavens for the French influence here! I've tried not to focus on the bread since it's been non-existent to poor throughout Japan and Thailand. Think wonder bread in all its variations  - toasted or not, with or without crust, fresh or most likely not. How fresh can wonder bread be anyway?  Now we're hitting two former French colonies, Laos and Vietnam, so I'm expecting big things in the baguette department - a little butter wouldn't hurt either. 

This morning John and I took bicycles out for a spin around the quiet town of Luang Prabang in search of a geocache. It would have helped if I had checked the brakes before we left, but I didn't, so we took it slow and I used my flip flops to slow down; not a lot of treads on flip flops by the way. We eventually needed to leave our bicycles behind to walk through a road grading project but we eventually made it to the small temple that hid the geocache. The monks who lived there were supposedly fine with the geocache being there so we were free to look around for the cache. I noticed young monks or novices no older than John going about their business, dressed only in orange coloured trunks because it was so hot I suspect. The cache was near a small stupa, which I learned is a Buddhist monument commemorating some event or marking a sacred spot. John eventually tried lifting the spire from the stupa's hemispherical base. When he did so, small ants poured forth in all directions. He reached in and found the small cache which consisted of a film case. He was so excited to find the cache that he didn't seem to notice all the ants crawling up his arm until I mentioned it. John must have thought of himself as Indiana Jones finding the holy grail or something. 

The afternoon was very hot by my reckoning, but perhaps not so much for the local workers next door to our hotel, who were renovating the nearby property. They had bamboo scaffolding up which looked to be doing the job fine, but what surprised me were two workers doing hard manual labour in black jackets. I don't know if it was cold for them or whether they were protecting themselves from debris as they mixed concrete, but I was hot just looking at them from a partially air conditioned hotel room. I wonder if they would feel the cold bite of a Canadian winter more than me? Or maybe they are just tougher. Probably the latter.

This country seems less developed than just about anywhere else I've been, with the possible exception of Cambodia. We took a taxi to the local swimming pool this afternoon. The taxi looked like someone tried to attach a flat bed from a mini pickup truck to a motorcycle. I wonder who would manufacture these contraptions. I suppose they are much cheaper than a car. 

The pool we visited this afternoon was just what we needed to get out of the hotel but still stay cool. I think it was the only pool around and pretty full up with tourists mostly who must also have been there to beat the heat and to have some fun like us. The pool would have been fairly big if it was someone's back yard, but not so big compared to a public pool. It was wild west at the pool with a lot of safety violations, like kids and adults jumping from a platform into the shallow end with no lifeguard present. But there was a pool bar and the water wasn't too warm. We had fun.

We went back to the hotel to relax and wait for the sun to go down and the temperature to drop a little before we ventured out again. On the way in I saw a couple of the hotel staff playing a game of hacky sack of sorts. They were keeping a shuttle in the air with their feet, which consisted of something with shortened rooster feathers attached to it.

Here's a dragon at the entrance to the local temple with the geocache. Looks like a snake to me.