Retrospection

Well, one week today our adventure will come to an end as we fly back home. Two and a half months was definitely not long enough and I have toyed with the idea of extending my flight so I can stay here. But, alas, my Calgary life is calling. This trip has cleared my head in so many ways, it has given me direction and has helped me see what is important to me and where my limits are.

I just read an article in the New York Times travel section called "Why We Travel" by Paul Theroux. Although the travel that we have done has not been as hard-core as what Theroux has experienced in his career, there were things that he said that really stood out to me. He writes, "“Don’t go there,” the know-it-all, stay-at-home finger wagger says of many a distant place. I have heard it my whole traveling life, and in almost every case it was bad advice. In my experience these maligned countries are often the most fulfilling. I am not saying they are fun. For undiluted jollification you bake in the sun at Waikiki with a mai tai in your fist, or eat lotuses on the Côte d’Azur. As for the recognition of hard travel as rewarding, the feeling is mainly retrospective, since it is only in looking back that we see how we have been enriched."

Although "off the beaten track" travel, a highly sought after thing in the backpacker's circle, can be dangerous and/or expensive in some ways, I think that Matt and I have had a few experiences that took us off the beaten track. And I really appreciate when Theroux comments that the enrichment that comes from "hard travel" is when you really look over your shoulder at the experience. Even for the more "touristy" things that we have done, I think we really have tried to go in with a different attitude - and really have been been rewarded for it. Travel changes you, no matter how you do it. You start to realize that there is a life outside your little comfort-bubble at home, and that different ways of living are equally as valid. You learn that germs or dirt won't actually kill you - and that new foods are not always as scary as they seem (though there are exceptions...). Even in situations that made me feel very uncomfortable, I can still look back and appreciate the ways that they challenged and enriched me.

Kathmandu was really good for showing me where my limits are. We had such an amazing, easy-going time in most of the other the places we went to. In fact, while we were on our way to Kathmandu, we noted that the most challenging part of our trip was at the beginning when we had our Hong Kong debacle. We certainly did not anticipate that the most demanding leg was still to come in Kathmandu. Straight from my journal while in Kathmandu:

"When you look at Kathmandu from above, it is a mess of buildings - seemingly stacked together without any sort of order at all. The chaos of the brightly coloured architecture really reflects that of the streets below. Cars or motor cycles are coming from all directions on very tiny roads, without streetlights or signs to direct them. There are no sidewalks for pedestrians, so you negotiate with the traffic as you walk down the streets. Touts are constantly trying to capture your attention, selling their treks, clothes, jewelry, tiger balm or weed (something I have never been offered... only Matt. Always only Matt. In any country that we have been to, drug dealers only ever talk to Matt. So bizarre!). But now that we are feeling settled, and are able to somewhat coherently navigate the streets, we think we are ready to tackle Kathmandu's never-ending quirkiness. The hardest thing to get used to will be the lack of power for over half the day. The sounds of Kathmandu are as eclectic as the directions that make up the streets. Right now I can hear a constant stream of honks, crows, sparrows, a rooster, muted voices from below, and a siren. If we were on street level, we would have all of this, as well as the sound of spitting (all the time!), tuk-tuk bells, and men's whistles. It is a cacophony fit to overload anyone's senses. Our new friend Ian, who grew up in Kathmandu, told us to barter like you've never bartered before. These are words not to be taken lightly. At the outset, the quoted price will often be even four times higher than it should be. In my unbiased opinion, Matt is very good at bartering, and these guys certainly gave him a run for his money. The key: you can always walk away. Not only do you generally not need whatever it is you are bartering for, but you will walk out and I guarantee that you will find it only a few steps away at another shop. Besides the fact that walking away usually reduces the price significantly."

Needless to say, Kathmandu was too much city for us to handle during the last leg of the trip. We really wanted to relax, and Kathmandu is anything but relaxing. I think that we didn't really give it the chance that it deserved, but you really, really need to be in a certain headspace to handle it - one that we just didn't have. However, we did not miss the chance to take what we could out of the experience, and we began to think about what it is we are looking for in life, and what we have at home that we have not found anywhere. It took us two and a half months to fully appreciate the quality of the air and the beautiful mountains that we have right on our back-step. Save for possibly Singapore (though sometimes it is hard to tell through the humidity) we have not breathed clean air since we were at home. Calgary does not have a whole lot going for it (in my opinion), but one thing that it really does have is the location. Even when we were right next to the Himalayas, we were not able to fully appreciate them because we just kept thinking about the mountains at home. We have decided we need to take more advantage of this when we get back.

So now we are back in Singapore, and we are so glad that we made that decision. We have been able to spend more time with my family. As we start to ready ourselves for our trip home next week, I am looking back at the last two and a half months and am so thankful for this experience. I am ending my trip with a mother-daughter trip to Bali, and then I will be ready to return home and tackle the next step. This trip was just what I needed to recalibrate and reassess what I am looking for in life, and what the next step needs to be to get myself there. So - Calgary - here I come.