Last Stop - Dim Sum In Hong Kong THEN Home!

A 20 hour lay over in Hong Kong.

You can't stop in Hong Kong and not take advantage of a few more stops, sights, sounds, smells and of course, snapshots to commemorate them all.

Brad planned a great whirlwind tour that took us to the harbour with outstanding skyline views showing off the huge metropolitan city that Hong Kong is. Then a quick ferry ride into the original business district of Hong Kong to a trolley, built in 1898 for a ride to the top of Victoria Peak, one of their major viewpoints allowing for an hour walk around the ridge of the mountain and 360 degree views of the city and harbour.  Navigating the extremely efficient subway system was time consuming but easy and we climbed the 463 steps to Hong Kong's most famous and elaborate Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery.

The steps were done to build up an appetite for yummy Dim Sum at one of Hong Kong's original restaurants and only Chinese restaurant that made it into the top 15 restaurants of the world in 1985.

Hong Kong had a similar feel to Vancouver with its gorgeous boardwalk and sky line along the water,

Just a lot bigger.

Walked along a green space with amazing views.

424, 425, 426......

The steps are all lined with Buddha Monks in different poses.

Creative in a tacky kind of way.

At the top, The Temple of 10,000 Buddhas awaits.

No photos allowed...... Brad,

The temple has a fantastic view point overlooking part of Hong Kong and holds the perfectly preserved immortal body of Rev. Yuet Kai and placed in the front of the temple for people to worship.

A typical busy metropolitan city, helping us transition to the reality of consumerism.

Yummy!  It tastes better then it looks!

Hong Kong reminds me of a larger Vancouver.

On the water, boardwalks, rain forest foliage, expensive realty and  a variety of styles of architecture. 

Of course, Hong Kong is hundreds of years older....

After delicious Dim Sum we headed to the airport for the long haul home.

We left Tuesday 7:20 pm and arrived Tuesday 8:20 pm.

It sure felt longer than an hour......

My mothers heart was thrilled to see and hug my handsome boy waiting at the gate. 

My heart was thrilled, but I have to say the rest of me had mixed emotions.

Someone asked me if the trip was worth it?

How do you answer that?

What measuring  stick do you use to decide if taking three months off was worth it?

Was it worth moving around so much so you could take in and experience as much as possible?

Was it worth uprooting routine and pushing yourself relationally as a family?

Was it worth, in some small way, focusing on trying to get a bigger view of the world?

Was it worth stepping out of the many important relationships that we do daily life with?

Was it worth the missed foods, missed hair dryer, missed options and missed high heels?

Was it worth staying on a tight budget so we wouldn't put the experience off till 'someday'?

Was it worth wondering what the heck are we doing this for?

Was it worth it even if we can't produce a nice little take away nugget of insight?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes it was worth it and now we are home, a little tired and with one extra carryon.

I don't know if it hit me that we were really home when I brushed my teeth before bed and realized I didn't need to have a bottle of water beside the sink after 3 months, and I drank deeply from the tap water?

Maybe it was the fact that I could drive the car, on the right side, and navigate without swerving around 100 motorbikes and honking continuously.  Or perhaps it was the fact that my skin is now
peeling instead of glistening with humidity.

Whatever the feeling is, reality rules.

We are home and family, spring cleaning, work and planting call!

I am scared it will feel like I was never gone.

That I will be swept up in the whirlwind of life before it all settles into that treasured spot in your spirit that somehow makes things become fuller and richer and deeper and more permanent.

Then I remind myself....

The learning will come in layers,  I just know it.

Travel changes you and future thinking.  I believe that.

The time away will only grow in depth of memory and meaning. I can feel it already.

It is the end of the blog.

86 days, 17 airports, 4,000 plus photos and a million memories.

Interestingly it was the last page in my travel journal as well.

Experiences have been had.

Initial reactions felt and if not too personal, expressed.

The rest of the learning, reflecting, changing or whatever it will be, is up to Brad, Anna and myself.

The journey......

Ongoing....

And that is exciting!

Back to work Brad!

....... And thank you Randy and Sandy for a delicious welcome home dinner and a few of my favorite missed drinks......
Red, white and sparkling!

The last days.....

We can hardly believe it,  we are in our last days.

Anna is already mentally home  and eagerly planning her schedule for the first week back.
Brad and I are trying to keep our minds and bodies in the present while also doing all the reflecting and planning of goals  and such, as we know home will bring with it a whirlwind of activity making that more difficult.  I'm not succeeding very well and will just have to be okay that I can't wrap this time away up in a neat package.

We are enjoying our airbnb villa in the rice fields.  It's charming, artsy and a treat to spread out.  It took a bit of getting used to, this whole open air living with local critters part of your space, but in the end, we left them alone and they left us alone. A treat to be away from the busy city center of Ubud and it was fun to take one of the many many paths that weave in and around small rice paddy farms and find a local warung (restaurant) for lunch or dinner.

The rice fields outside our door.

A maze of back lanes, all more interesting at night with no streets lights.

Can't get a way from the steps.

Time was spent checking out the temples, the Ubud palace, art museums, local market, bicycling to the outlying areas and our ongoing quest to find a piece of art.

The Ubud Palace which is still a family residence, but areas open to the public and for occasional music shows.

Not quite the same as our orchestra instruments back home.

Ubud market is a huge complex and we headed to the basement area where the locals do more of their shopping.

Ubud sits on the slops leading up to the central mountains of Bali and is quite a tourist hub with the focus on Balinese culture in its different forms.  From checking out the traditional Kecak Ramayana and Fire Dance, to taking a silver jewlery course in an outlying village where silver making has been in the family for generations, you get a different flavour of Bali when away from the beaches.

Evening entertainment.  Not sure how to describe the music.  Listen to Brad's new ring tone for a sample.

Brad ready to take in some art in one of Bali's most stunning homes, now museum.

Love the colours of Bali!

It seems that Ubud is filled with earthy, yoga loving, organic living, artsy and inner enlightenment exploring travellers. Organic restaurants, yoga classes, meditation retreats and art shops galore.
It was disappointing to not connect with a piece of art, but abundance didn't always mean good technique or personally moving subject matter.  Oh well.

I had just told Brad that I wished I could watch how the rice got harvested over a fresh fruit smoothie while biking.  Ten minutes later, back on our bikes and around a corner, there they were.

Amazing hard work in the midday heat, and on these small farms, it is still all done by hand.

Biking was one of my favorite ways of getting around the places we have been.
Unfortunately, with the massive growth in Ubud, bicycles have been changed for motorbikes and motorbikes changed for cars making the streets noisy and busy.
One thing mentioned by many, read about in books and seeing for ourselves, progress is happening everywhere.  What you see and experience is not always going to line up with your preconceived ideas or daydreams.

One thing that stands out for me as different than with other cultures is the religious devotion of the Balinese.  Or maybe just more outward, I'm not sure. But the Bali people are very religious and ritualistic and their devotion to their beliefs is admirable.
It is hard not to stumble on little beautifully made  and put together offerings everywhere which is a big part of their daily routine.  They bring new offerings to each station in their home/business two or three times a day.
The gift of ritual helps you to stop and remember truth.
Ritual, discipline? Is that the same?  Stopping to acknowledge your need of help, being thankful, etc.......  That is a good thing.

Gifts are placed on banana leaf or put in ornate little woven baskets and set in front of home doors, at the family temple or other areas of significance like a garden or pond.

Pura Agung Besakih

It wasn't enough to hike up a volcano,we filled in our day till we arrived in Ubud exhausted.
Stop one:
 a local spice garden and tried yummy teas and the infamous "poop coffee" made by feeding coffee beans to civets and when they poop out the beans again, they roast them and brew Kopi Luwak.  We were looking for a good coffee to bring home.....
This wasn't it.

Sampling of teas and coffees.

Mangosteen tea being my favorite as it was also our new favorite fruit on our travels.

Stop two:
Pura Agung Besakih

Also known as 'The Mother Temple' of Besakiha and is considered the most important and holiest temple fort he Hindhu religion in Bali.

It sits 1000 meters up the side of Gunung Agung and is a complex of 23 separate but related temples.

Six levels  all terraced.
Yay, more climbing.

Dates back to prehistoric times with stone bases dating back 2000 years ago.

Definitely used  as a place of worship from 1284 when the first Javanese conquerors settled in Bali.

We were all required to wear below knee length sarongs.

Shopping for something unwanted.... Oh well.

Sash and Brad's stunning head scarf on loan.

Each color represents a manifestation of their god.  Black is wisdom, red is fire, 

white is wind.... Can't quite remember the meanings or all the different manifestations that their one god has.

Once prayers were finished you were sprinkled with holy water and rice gets placed on your forehead for good luck and prosperity.

The people move from their family temple to the central place of prayer.

What was great, was that there was a holy festival going on during our visit  so we got to see it full of families  and  priests worshiping.

Though allowed in the complex, we were not allowed in to separate family temples where they were performing ceremonies.

The grounds had a party atmosphere as families gathered for picnics or visits with friends before or after their prayers which goes on all day and for 21 days in a row.

A come and go atmosphere with prayers etc every hour.

A welcome plunge pool in our private garden oasis.

Outdoor bathrooms.... Very funky!

Colourful, charming and a great place to chill on our upper balcony.

Our own fish pond with greens all around....

Tranquility in the rice fields...

Midnight hike for Morning sunrise - Mt, Batur

Mornings

Other than the occasional morning walk to the beach, Brad has been the one who was out the door first thing in the morning.  Getting in some peace and quiet I think, while watching the city around him wake up.

It seems that, to ensure Anna and I got some early morning time in, we had to go to the extreme.
A midnight hike for the morning sunrise from the top of Gunung (Mount) Batur, an active volcano with the last minor eruption being in 2003.

Wake up: 1:00 am
Meet driver: 1:30 am
Hopes of sleep on two hour drive to base of the volcano: Impossible
Bumps, speed up, slam on brakes, sudden turns.... Yep, no more sleep.
Streams of women coming from the hills at 2:00 am to get produce to take to market: needed to see it to believe it
Meet up with guide: 3:30 am
Time of sunrise: 6:20 am

With flashlights in hand we began the 1717 meter ascent.
Following along the path made by nature.  The lava from the 1968 eruption left rivulets cascading down the mountain and created our means to navigate to the top.  With uneven steps and twists  and turns the lava was less loose than expected but still a somewhat strenuous ascent.
With thankfulness, I took the offered hand of our guide as he pulled and balanced me at times along the very narrow path to the top. Two hours uphill.... Not my normal morning routine.

Highlights going up:
One was stopping and resting along the way and gazing at the blanket of stars in the clear and dark night sky.  The other was looking ahead and behind at the ribbon of lights creating a garland of decoration all the way to the top.  It looked like a massive pilgrimage.  A community of seekers all with a similar goal.

Arriving,we settled in to watch and wait for that gift of light and promise of a new day.  With warm tea in our hands, our breakfast box at our side we gaze and I wonder at what thoughts go through the many onlookers minds.
Slowly the sky begins to lighten. The clouds in the distance change color and the mist over the lake begins to grow.

Just as the sun is about to burst over the clouds, the monkeys appear.
Brad, not quick enough, loses his breakfast box to one of them and we watched as the monkey expertly opened the jam, and peeled an egg with amazing speed and dexterity.
This sudden switch to what now looks like a scene from planet of the apes almost made us miss the sudden ball of sun rising above the clouds.  Almost, but not quite.
Stunning!

The whole mountain top now took on a different glow and we explored the rim and steam rising from the center.  With no safety railings, I heard quite a few "be careful lady" shouts.
The views of Danau (lake) Batur were stunning. This is the largest crater lake in Bali and a major source of fishing and fish farms.

Our guide took us down a different route allowing us to hike along the edge of the mountain, through a ravine and to another crater where we cooked eggs in the steam of the volcano.
Only 15 minutes and we had breakfast number two.

Sliding down volcanic black sand and back to lava paths we made our way down to the base village.
Exhausted but empowered, it was a fantastic trek with stunning views.

View of Mt. Batur as we were driving away.