In a few days we leave for Asia and I'm so excited I'm practically vibrating. It's a long journey, unlike all those trips when we lived in Manila, but it's of a pace so that's OK. We'll take the ferry to Vancouver and spend the afternoon and night there, then fly to Hong Kong where we'll also overnight. The next day we fly to Yangon transiting through Bangkok, where I can absorb a brief touch of that Thai design and style. BKK is full of orchids and statues and eye candy.
These days, as the trip has been planned and designed, little tidal waves (we won't call it a tsunami, will we) of memories keep washing over me. Thousands and thousands of memory glimpses, making me catch my breath, I'm smiling all the time. For example, I see a picture of the boat we will take down the Ayerwaddy from Mandalay to Bagan and I remember those two boat trips a few years ago now on the Mekong, one in northern Laos with its beautiful mountain scenery and another in southern Laos where the land is flatter, the river is wide and on that trip was very low, revealing big sandbars along the way.
Memory flash. On the trip in the north we watched The Dutchman in his cream linen suit, who couldn't stay away from the sunny outside deck, always standing, gazing for hours and hours at the scenery as we made our way through the northern mountains. As the day progressed through to the second morning the Dutchman's face grew redder and redder from the sun and his linen suit became more and more wrinkled. When we stopped at a weaving village we smiled as we watched him exuberantly buying scarves from every vendor it seemed, draping a dozen or so around his neck, adorning the rumpled linen suit. Through most of this, his family of wife and teenage boy and girl, sat in the shade deck of the boat with backs to the scenery, playing cards.
I haven't been to Burma before but I've seen it. In July 2009 in northern Thailand Maristella and I stopped here for a look see on our way to catch our boat for a two-day trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang in Laos. This is the Golden Triangle, the spot by the Mekong River where 3 countries meet. I'm standing in Thailand, Laos is across the river on the right, and Burma is to the left. The poppies are in them thar hills.
Friends of mine have recently returned from Burma - two couples (traveling separately) from Manila and another couple from here in Qualium Beach - so I've been hearing the stories and looking at their photos and videos. One couple took a 10-day boat trip down the Ayerwaddy from Mandalay all the way to Yangon. (That's about 8 or 9 days longer than would suit me to travel with the same group of tourists, but 'chacun a son gout', to each his own). While they were not far from Manderlay there was a strong 6.8 earthquake and they witnessed, right in front of them, a part of a bridge under construction collapse, taking with it several workers - some lost their lives. This was last November 11th. As it happens one of their fellow travelers makes videos and here are links. One is a 6 minute video of the boat trip itself which shows glimpses of Burmese life and some of the places we will be, as well as giving a sense of what their tour was like with their fellow travelers.
The other, a 2 minute video, is more specifically scenes of the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the bridge, the local people gathered outside, afraid to go back to the buildings, the search for survivors and the temple damage. Check them out, they're pretty well made and I think give a good sense of what it is like. I'll let you know. I just bought another memory card for my camera. 16GB. That should do it. Maybe.
Today on this second day of the new year, I awoke to blue skies and sunshine, an event truly worth celebrating.
Here on the Wet Coast, skies have been gray and more or less drizzling since October 11th, so this is a very welcome boost to the waterlogged spirits, to say nothing of a very waterlogged GreenHouse. Out there the fuchsias are in winter hibernation under the benches, while the saturated cedar drips and the rivers of condensation flow down the inside of the windows. I mop up with sponges and run the fan all day long. The door hasn't shut properly in months.
Just as I was admitting how fed up I was with all this gray and wet, I spoke to Number One Son yesterday in Ottawa. "There's 5 feet of snow here and it is minus 24 degrees", he tells me. OK, I'll shut up. I prefer this for sure. He is also making plans for his return to British Columbia in a few months, to live here again, likely on the Island somewhere. I'm not holding my breath, but he does sound serious.
Sun or no sun, I still go for long walks most days. Yesterday I noticed a blooming pink rhodo in someone's garden near the ocean, as well as two well flowering hardy fuchsias. Daffodils I planted in pots and left beside the house under the eaves are showing their green tips. Hellebore buds are fattening up to bloom later this month. So some know that spring will arrive before too long. In a few weeks we leave for southeast Asia, where I will no doubt have my early fill of warmth and sunshine.
Christmas this year was quiet - no visitors, but still, by yesterday, I was well and truly sick of the whole thing. After staying up till midnight watching an old George Carlin performance on the Comedy Channel the night before, New Year's Day was a day of deconstruction as I took down the tree and the lights to pack away for another year. We officially celebrated New Year's at what was 9:30 in the morning New Year's Eve day here, New Year's in Yangon(Rangoon) where they were publicly celebrating with fireworks and all for the first time. Times appear to be changing in Burma, and I'm on my way.
Happy New Year - off to enjoy the sunshine before it vanishes again. New Year Resolutions? Yes I have one. I resolve to stop pretending I like dark chocolate and only eat the milk.
