Our Last Hurrah!

Erik and I have come to our final 24 hours together. How did that happen? We have just arrived back in Bangkok and we fly out tomorrow -- him 5 hours after me. 

What do you do at the end of a trip? We are planning on eating, showering, walking, and just enjoying each other's company one last time. After this we won't see each other until July 19. That seems like an incredibly long time as we have spent every single moment together for almost six months. 

Aside from it taking me over a month to recover from whatever illness I began our travels with, we have come out relatively unscathed. A few days of diarrhea (one bout), one leg gash, two skin infections, one case of vomiting induced by motion sickness, and... I think that is all! I would say that is pretty good especially when compare it to the evident injuries of other travellers. 

I don't remember what I have written about and I am composing this offline, but I will briefly recap the last couple weeks. We spent some time in Kuala Lumpur, which was awesome! KL had incredible thunder storms, an unbelievable amount of twins, beautiful buildings, a lovely central park, free transit (holla), cheap movie theatres (we went twice), and delicious food. 

After Kuala Lumpur we went to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. We ate some more incredible food, explored a few trails that ended up going nowhere, and went on an adventure (mossy forest, tea plantation, butterfly and reptile farm, and a strawberry farm). 

And we spent the last few days in Koh Tao. Yes, we were there earlier with our friends. We thought about going to the west coast of Thailand (ko lanta or railey beach), but decided to end somewhere we knew. We loved Koh Tao equally on both occasions. It was nice to finish off with something familiar instead of expending all the extra energy to explore a new location. 

And now we are in Bangkok. 

I was looking through some of the photos from the beginning of our trip. Peru feels like a vague and distant memory. I think I took as many photos in our first two weeks in Peru as I have in all of South East Asia. Believe it or not, I have 3650 photos... A far cry from the 16,000 I was expecting. I have been very diligent about going through and deleting. I was at least, but that has become more relaxed as I have taken way less photos. 

But I digress. It is time to go enjoy the last bit of our trip. 

Eliah Len

We had two nephews born in the same week! The second finally named five days after making his way into the world. Here is the boy himself. 

Eliah Len

Born May 31, 2013 at 02:13.

Weight: 8lbs 3oz.

Height: 22 inches.

Mr. Eliah, you are absolutely precious! 

We were so excited to hear about your arrival 

and now we can't wait to meet you.

We love you.

Welcome to the world!

A Letter

To the Individual Who Stole My Sandals,

I really hope you were in desperate need of new ones. You see, I loved my Berkenstocks -- I really did. They have been around the world with me and have proved to be the most comfortable piece of footwear I have ever owned. 

I was baffled when I realized they weren't where I left them at the entrance to the beach side restaurant. I did not see any sandals similar to mine so I know they weren't taken accidentally. I quickly experienced frustration over being robbed and sadness over it being one of my favourite possessions.

Allow me to share some of the grief I have experienced in the hour since you took said sandals. I had to walk back to my hostel in bare feet. I suppose this doesn't sound too terrible, but my hostel is over two kilometres from the beach we were relaxing at. As you know, 2pm is one of the hottest times of day, the sun is high in the sky and there is no shade making the pavement incredibly hot. My poor feet were subject to this intense heat. My husband was kind enough to spell me off by giving me his sandals, but those gave me blisters on the tops of my feet. We traded on and off most of the way home. So now the bottoms of both of our feet are burnt and the top of mine are blistered.

And we have you to thank. 

We only have five days left of our vacation together so I suppose you could have taken them at a much worse time. I plan on wearing my runners for the rest of the holiday which isn't terrible, but made slightly less comfortable due to the blisters. 

I hope they serve you as well as they served me. They are wonderful little sandals so treat them well. 

Sincerely,

Ashley

Nourishing Traditions

I have always been wary of food and diet fads. I find them incredibly intimidating and counter-intuitive. I have been interested in "eating healthy" for years, but failed to do any research because I had an invisible barrier between me and knowledge: fear.

I was afraid of what I might find.
Of what it would require of me.
Of how much work it would be.
And of how expensive and time consuming it would be.

This trip has given me an overwhelming amount of time to leisurely think about whatever I please. It has been wonderful! For the first while I just thought amazing thoughts. Made amazing life plans. Did plenty of self reflection. Talked with my husband about anything and everything.

And thirsted for knowledge.

I have read things on the internet. About birth, doula-ing, parenting, relationships, eating, and current events around the world. And all this has been interesting, but internet is often hard to come by and who wants to sit staring at an iPad? That requires low-light and seclusion.

When our friends came to join us last month I asked them to bring me a book. I took some time to think about what precious book I was interested in and decided on a big, heavy book.

Nourishing Traditions. By Sally Fallon.

I decided it was high time to face the giant and learn more about this thing called nutrition.

And you know what, it has been wonderful.

This book has made me fearless. It has shown me that our family really does an excellent job of eating healthy and nutritious foods. It has validated my fears about various food fads and shed light on benefits of a balanced and inclusive diet.

Everything I have read has revealed how intuitive healthy living really is. And how easy.

Yes, there are a few changes we need to make, and even more that I would like to make. For example, I want to start soaking grains, nuts and seeds. I want to add more fermented foods to our diet (more sauerkraut please) and make some of those foods myself. I want to purchase better butter, better salt, and raw dairy products. I want to make bone broths.

But I feel affirmed. We have a firm foundation to continue building on and I feel excited and empowered to continue on this journey. Inspiration has replaced fear.

Nourshing Traditions. Read it.

More thoughts to come.