Royal Wedding

The last time, 30 years ago, it was 2:00 in the morning when I woke up to join the rest of the world to watch The Royal Wedding, sitting on the floor with my roommate Kelly, glued to the tube. This time, the Manila time zone worked in our favor as it was a most civilized 6:00 p.m. on a Friday evening. Loved it all, of course. Like so many I have a very soft spot in my heart for Her Boys. Much better dress this time too. On the new Duchess, I mean. He looks good too.

The Queen even stole my look in her yellow finery. I was perched on the leather recliner drinking root beer dressed in yellow pedal-pushers, yellow T-shirt and yellow flip flops. (Such is my normal attire in the fierce light of the tropics). I didn't begrudge her. She looked great.

I did notice something a little curious. Among all the clergy (guys) on stage were two women, nuns it would appear. I couldn't help but notice that amidst all the wedding finery, these two gals were dressed in grim, boring gray. The guys, on the other hand, were strutting their stuff in gold and red brocade embellished with ribbon, embroidery, buttons - the whole shabang. I wonder why the nuns get stuck with drab.

A good time was worn had by all.

Princess Beatrice

Signs of Laos

And you also better watch your step!

This sidewalk is in the capital city of Laos, Vientiane

The bridge to Don Khon Island.

If you decide not to jump after all, this awaits on the other side:

We spent an afternoon walking around Don Khon Island after driving through a road between rice paddies to get there. It looks like a place to go back and stay for a few days. There are lots of guest houses, it feels beyond relaxed, and unlike what the guidebooks say, it DOES have electricity (and cold Beer Lao). Power came to Don Khon a year ago.  We spoke to some people who stayed there and apparently it's a good base to visit the Irrawaddy dolphins on the Cambodian side of the Mekong and hang out on the river. Don Khon is on the Mekong in the far south of Laos, near the Khon Phapheng Falls and the Cambodian border.
Speaking of Falls...

This scene is from the observation deck at the Khon Phapheng Falls, which actually stretch 13 km long in a series of  huge rapids that make the Mekong impassable.  The French sent expeditions up the Mekong looking for a way to navigate the river all the way up to Tibet where it begins. A clear river trade route through French Indochina to China would have been a very valuable thing to have. But they were thwarted by these huge and powerful falls. We were there in February which is dry season and the river was very very low. It must be even more amazing during rainy season. The French eventually tried to solve the problem of the impassable falls by building a railroad alongside them to transfer goods from one part of the river to the other. It operated for a little while as a very imperfect solution. We saw the old French locomotive abandoned on Don Khon Island.

Speaking of dry season, here's a shot of the road we travelled in the Bolavens Plain, visiting coffee and tea plantations and a few of the waterfalls.

Tat Yuong ("Tat" means "waterfall" in Lao)

Pharmacist

This is the pharmacy at the ethnic market in Bolavens. An impressive variety of dried seeds, twigs, leaves along with dried wildlife body parts and potions. Our guide was able to translate and tell us what a few things were and what they were used for.

Every part of the forest is used by the upland people of Laos and for sale at the market along with all the things "Made in China". Away from the markets, for those in villages too far and remote for their people to regularly travel to market,  traveling peddlers bring the market to them.

Traffic. A shot through the van window as we passed by on the road.

Old friends - A retired mahout and his former charge. Paul Wager

Appreciation

I have a pretty good idea, especially after my recent trip to British Columbia what I'm looking forward to when we return in a couple of months, but now that I am back at home in Asia thoughts turn to the things I love about my life here. When people ask me how I feel about leaving, I usually say that I'm not dwelling on it. You could say I'm resigned to the inevitable, as it were, and the new adventure ahead, so what's the point of having regrets or feeling bad about it?

However, that being said, a little appreciation helps me stay grounded in these days of an uncertain state of betwixt and between. Half the time I'm thinking about things to do in Manila, the other half I'm thinking of what needs to be done across the Pacific. Whether I will miss all this when I'm gone and living a different life remains to be seen but for sure there will be so many things to remember.

So here's today's list of 6 things I appreciate about my life in the East West and Upside Down:

Mangos. I start every morning with mangos, without fail. 1/2 cup of good yogurt, a cut-up mango - put it all in the blender with a few ice cubes and away you go. I'm sorry, but the Mexican mangos in the supermarkets at "home" just aren't good enough. Philippine mangos may just be the best in the world. I would certainly argue that case.

The View. I love living in our home in the sky. After almost four years of looking at that sunset over Manila Bay, I am still in awe, each and every evening. What a treat this has been.

The Gym. At the bottom of the elevator shaft is the gym - the cardio machines an absolute must in this life where you can't walk or otherwise get any exercise in this hot, horribly polluted city. The convenience of having this makes trying to come up with excuses not to do it nothing but silliness.

Brenda. Brenda is my pilates instructor. I go there twice a week and look forward to it. I'm getting stronger all the time, my posture has changed, I'm taller where once I was shrinking, and all those aches and pains have vanished (well, most have vanished, after all there is all that inevitable mileage to face). Brenda is Canadian from Vancouver and the first Fletcher Pilates instructor in Manila. I am SO impressed with her and have loved this practice for several years now. Very high on my list of things to do is to find someone to continue with, but Brenda will be a hard act to follow.

Brenda

Laos and others. I will miss the ease of visiting southeast Asia. I will miss the ability to go to Laos whenever I want relatively easily. I will miss being immersed in Asia, in all the colors, sights, sounds, tastes and smells (the latter often the scent of sewers and fish sauce). I will miss exploring all the art and design and collecting the textiles and other art pieces that make me happy, sometimes meeting the artists. I will miss the elephants.

Friends. I will miss my friends who come from all over the world and have such interesting tales to tell. In the past year or so, so many have left. They came from all over and they've left to go all over. It's been difficult to say goodbye and soon I will be the one to leave.

Garbage Can

Enough reflection, time to get back to work. This past week I have been tackling the accumulation of papers in my cabinet. Going through the files, sorting, tossing and shredding, I've come to the realization that my hanging file folder system is nothing more that a hanging garbage can. My first clue was when I went through a folder called "bills" and found a huge pile of little bits of paper, including if you can believe it, Starbucks receipts from 2008. This might take awhile.

3 Months and ...

... Counting

I have just returned to Manila after my trip to Canada. I was away for 24 days but it feels like I've been gone for months.

What a trip this has been! Living out of my suitcase, I visited 5 cities/towns. 8 hotel beds, 6 flights, 1 train ride, 1 bus ride due to a diversion when a train derailed and lots of driving up and down Vancouver Island between Victoria and up-island. I saw my mother-in-law, The Boys and lots of friends along the way, some I hadn't seen in the 4 years we've been away.  It was gratifying to see that they still remembered me. I crossed more time zones than I can bear to think of. I read this morning that it takes one day to recover from jet lag for each time zone crossed.  I don't believe that but if it does turn out to be true, I should be out for the count until mid-April.

I was very discombobulated (technical term) for most of the time, and it seemed to get worse the longer I was there. What day is it? What time is it? Where do I go next? Not only did my computer and 2 cell phones (1 Philippines, 1 British Columbia) all have different times on them, I was there during the March 15th time change and every hotel room I went in to had a least one clock that hadn't been re-set. Why didn't I correct them myself? Well you might ask. I couldn't. The clock radio settings had me completely mystified and if I can't figure it out within the first 60 seconds, I give up. Fortunately I had with me a calendar print-out of my itinerary that I had to refer to constantly to figure out what day it was and what I was doing next. That was hard enough. Keeping track of hours was way beyond me. Perhaps I should write a song about "Does anyone really know what time it is?" Oh. Someone has.

It became obvious that something has shifted in my core temperature over the past years in Asia. In Canada, in March, I was cold the entire time, inside and out. West Coast drizzle cold, Ottawa winter cold and everything in between. To top it off, even the 13 hour and 40 minute flight home from Vancouver to Manila was freezing. I had to wrap myself in 3 blankets as well as my own wrap which is usually sufficient. I feel like I'm permanently chilled to the marrow and have yet to run the air conditioner. However I have returned to what is Philippine summer so no doubt in a short time I'll be complaining about the heat. After all, I am Canadian, and complaining about the weather is a national character trait.

Patti Austin

I lost a crown and a diamond along the way. I developed a huge crush on Patti Austin and sought out every old CD of hers in used music stores. Also following that particular path I found a fantastic concert DVD of the Quincy Jones 75 birthday celebration at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2008. I've been bopping along to both Patti and Quincy's "The Dude" on my iPod all the way home.

Now back in Manila, we are truly into the home stretch. Our time in Asia is coming to an end. We are officially finished here on June 30th and will be returning to Canada shortly after. 3 more months, and counting. Although usually I try to avoid them, being retired and all, I feel "to do" lists coming on.

Dentist for the crown, jeweler for the diamond and surgery to remove and biopsy a nasty lump on my arm. Which reminds me of something. A friend of mine who used to live in Bangkok told me that it was fairly common to find her expat friends mysteriously disappear for a month or so just before they were scheduled to leave. Medical tourism, cosmetic surgery. Will I? Would I tell you? (Just kidding).

Reupholster a couch or two, design and have a couple of pieces of furniture made, get some remaining art pieces framed. I need to dispose of all the 220 volt appliances and get rid of a couple of large furniture pieces we won't take back with us. Although we did a huge purge before coming here, I still need to do it again, especially with all the papers and books and magazines that have accumulated over these years. Lots of clothes to give away. I need to find a mover, book the move and oversee that. Go to Taiwan. Go to Viet Nam. See my friends. Play mah jong while I still can.

"To do" lists are making me exhausted. Time for a nap.