Click these country headings to scroll down faster...

I suppose, since I come from Canada, the first "traveling" I did when I was younger... was here. I've been making the ~3hr. journey from Ottawa to 16 Island Lake, Quebec, since I was 9 months old. If that counts, cool. I've still 'traveled' there every year since and it is where I consider "Home" to be.  Oh...

I guess I should mention that I used to swim competitively, and for 9 years I traveled all over Eastern Canada with the swim team N.K.B. (Nepean Kanata Barracudas)... from London Ontario, to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

So far, I remain unaware of the 'wonders of the West,' only once flying to Calgary for the Stampede when I was but a boy.

I plan on making it to B.C. to see what all the fuss is about sometime in the next 2 years though.

Next on the list, is the 'US'. (or is it 'them'? or is it?), where I've been to, like many Canadians, many times... until recently, of course. What with border crossing 'bordering' on Gattica-like strictness, it's no wonder.

As many a youth, in the 80s & 90s, I went with my grandparents to Disneyland a few times. Mostly by bus, full of old people and fat smelly men, fleeing the harsh cold that sometimes accompanies the month of March.

 
KENYA:



    I visited Kenya 3 times when I was a teenager. Each time was unique and interesting. I saw some amazing things, some normal things... and some pretty crazy horrible things...

    From the downtown Nairobi streets, full of lepers and glue-huffers, tragic side-effects of modernity, to the beautiful and dangerous plains and distant mountain peaks of the countryside, Kenya really has it all.

    The three times I was there (with my grandparents twice, once with my mother), we witnessed an enormous herd of elephants (well over 50) descending a hill to cross the road in a steady stream directly perpendicular to the road we were on... a mere 20 feet from the headlights (wowza!) and another time, we had to wait a good 10 minutes for an enormous water buffalo to un-plant itself from the middle of the road. Trust me, you do NOT want to get one of those things mad - unless you happen to be riding in a tank of some kind... the only to do was to wait, or carve a new path through the bush around them. Wild.

    The Manse ("preacher's house") where my aunt and uncle lived, while working for U. of. T. and the church of E. Africa (respectively) was where we stayed for most of our visit(s). It was a walled and fenced-in property, a bungalow, with a good floor-plan, etc. The kitchen overlooked fields of some high-growing plant, and attached to the right side of the house, there lived 3 or 4 Kenyans, who took care of the house by tending to the gardens, etc. I never really knew what they did, them being so cut-off from the main house (there was no connecting door) and me being too young to ask. Regardless of their no-doubt higher standard of living than most, I still can't explain the unsettling juxtaposition of where they lived with how they lived...

    As for the interior of the house, there was a decent kitchen, 2 or 3 bedrooms, a living room, dining room, the usual. They even had T.V., which was mostly Kenyan advertising... I distinctly remember a commercial with these children pointing into the toilet bowl, shouting "Mommy! What's that?!" in unison. Very odd. I don't remember watching too much TV there. I think I had a book or two, definitely had my cassette-Walkman and lets face it, you don't go traveling to sit at home in front of a screen... in front of a wall. The TV is a great way to explore a culture's perceived reflection of itself... to see what their economy is focused on, what makes 'news,' and what the locals find interesting... but I guess we would just be too busy most days to sit down in front of it (and take it seriously), with all the "real stuff" just outside the door! 

    Speaking of outside the door, there was one tree in particular that caught my eye from outside the house. It was really tall and the branches didn't begin until a long way up. From below, it appeared to have a rather large nest of something, termites? birds? I would check it out for movement over a few days, often with a boy around my age that lived near by and wanted to 'hang out with the white guy.' We'd not venture too far away from the house, but still enough for me to somewhat grasp his peoples' situation: living in red mud-and-cow-dung huts, with thatched roofs that seemed fine in the kiln-like heat of the day, but I wondered how they stood the rain and wind when it came. On the 3rd day, I finally asked him what  exactly it was that lived "up in that tree over there." He did not speak English (that I could tell), and we rarely, if ever, spoke while exploring the area. He pointed up and then looked at me, then made the international 'arm-squiggle' motion for 'snake.'  I smiled... 'Oh--' I started to say... when nearly in the same breath, three ~3ft snakes dropped out of the tree and slithered around, shocked by the huge fall. Needless to say, the two of us ran like hell. It's kind of funny looking back at that day now... [I'm writing this in Costa Rica, where I've just had another close encounter of the snake kind].


    We were also taken, by my aunt and uncle, to a tea plantation where I witnessed modern extravagance and near-slavery still in full-swing. It was one of the most awkward trips I've ever had, and I still both embrace and regret that sobering experience. What I saw was an incredibly wealthy old woman, who had inherited the most overwhelmingly out-of-place mansion - complete with a room full of mounted animal heads - the full bit. The house overlooked the tea fields, full of African workers with the most uncomfortable-looking (and big) baskets strapped to their backs, picking tea and tossing it into the basket all day under the blistering African Sun. Meanwhile, the woman explained that she "rarely met with the workers," or invited them up to the house for refreshment of any kind... while we were invited to sip ice water and sample the "top-quality" tea from her very own fields. To this day, I get an ill feeling just remembering the view from that house as it curdled the milk of that chai (tea)...

    Happily, it wasn't all like that.

    We stayed at many 'resort-style', and 'non-resort-style' places over the 3+weeks (x3, over 3 years) I was in the country. At one place, called The Ark I stayed up all night to see those things that come out in the darkness. They had this stone bunker you could hide in, nearly at ground level, and wait with your camera until the animals stepped into the light (also, to get to one of the few watering holes in the area - located there, not surprisingly). The whole thing was a charade, but majestic and captivating none-the-less.

    Other than the people, and the poverty, and the kindness, I naturally remember the animals found in Kenya. Over those 3 years, we visited many parks and 'resort-like' birding/animal-watching places, not to mention the all too common running-into-things-on-the-road.

A few of these places stand out in my memory:
Keep in mind, it is nearly 15 years ago now...

The Ark (Hotel) in Aberdare National Park, where I saw:
~Many Elephants, birds, meerkats, etc.
~Hyenas chasing, catching, and ripping apart some kind of deer-like thing in the middle of the night.
~A rhinoceros masturbating on a disturbingly well-worn rock...

Nakuru ~ The Maasai people - The Great Rift Valley
~The Good: Meeting the Maasai and playing with some of the kids my age, who found so much joy in their toys - consisting of clothes hangers with Coke cans at the end of them which they could roll in front of them and chase around. Really happy people.
~The Bad: While stopped to admire the majestic view of the Great Rift Valley, the presidential motorcade (of the day - you'll know who if you do the math), drove past at astonishing speed - for fear of assassination, I was told - and an unfortunately-timed bicycle driven by a Kenyan man crossed it's path. The man was killed instantly, and sent hurling into the ditch. Like so many times before and since, the crowd did nothing. I pleaded for an explanation, and was told that to take action was to take responsibility for the unknown body... something, it sadly seems, is all too commonly avoided in this often-selfish World.
It was really REALLY sad... and clearly, I have not yet forgotten.
~The Ugly: My grandfather, Gus, let some of the Maasai men look into his video camera 'viewfinder,' and a few days later he developed the grossest eye infection I've ever seen! Poor Gus... but he was a tough one.

Lake Nakuru National Park:
~ Stepping in "hippo-mud" by the edge of a river while trying to snap a photo of an amazingly large group of flamingos... When they flew away, the sky was PINK with their bodies and reflections.
...I had to leave that shoe there.
"I lost my shoes in the bubbling ooze!"

Lake Turkana - Great Rift Valley - World's largest desert lake - volcanic rock
~ Dr. Leakey's fossils of the "earliest human remains" - "L. Turkana has no outlet, and water is lost from the lake mainly by evaporation. The evaporation rate has been estimated at 2,335 mm yr-1."
(http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/afr/afr-20.html)
~ I remember thinking the little chunks of volcanic rock all over the place were really cool looking, like bubbles in the rocks had frozen upon popping... coooool... [nerd]


Other random memories I've just ... remembered... (more to come, perhaps):
~ Being licked by a giraffe while trying to take it's picture - tastes like lemony-stench.
~ The bumpy ride of the Land Rover, that took us on safari across plains and from which we could
walk down to hidden waterfalls... those trucks really do give you a feeling of safety in the wild, no
matter how false that feeling may actually be.

~ That I was lucky to get to go there, especially on 3 separate occasions. Unfortunately, my amazement at certain things (like the taste of unpasteurized milk, poverty, the absurd tea-plantation) were mistaken as ingratitude by my aunt, souring much of what was certainly a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience.
Ya can't please 'em all... but ESPECIALLY if 'they' are family!

And on we go to...

FRANCE:

My knowledge of France, extends not much further than Paris...
...and all those wacky philosophers.
I visited Paris on my way to Kenya, Africa, for a week-and-a-half when I was around 14 years old. I did, however, take lots of pictures and ask lots of questions while I was there with my grandparents. My grandfather had deep roots in France (and later Jolliete, Quebec). His last (and one of my middle) names is "Chalin," (Sha-laen) which, I'm told is further derived from the Welsh approximation of "Chaplin" (a story for another time, perhaps). These French Chalins made quite a mark in Jolliete, my great-grandfather (or was he my great-great?) Henri Chalin was honoured with the central boulevard in Jolliete being named after him. With the recent passing of my grandfather, Gus (August) Chalin, I've become more interested with things French, as well as the standard "Canadian" interest, what with the majority of our national identity deriving from our French-English historical relations.

What do I remember from when I was 13 or 14? Lots of cobble-stones to trip on, immaculate hotel rooms, people making out on the Metro platform (pretty hot & heavy), and a general "Frenchness" in the air. We did pretty much all you could typically see there, and also found a few specific plaques (found on many street corners around the city) that said something about the "Chalin" side of my family.

ENGLAND:

EGYPT:



I have descended the steps within the mighty pyramids, inhaling the overwhelming odor of...
tourists.

Once you get to the bottom of this cramped walkway, you arrive at... an empty tomb. All the good stuff must be at the British Museum. God, tourists smell. Giza though, is a really neat place to walk around. The Sphinx was cool... and if I'd camped out between its front paws, it might have asked me the age-old riddle: "What walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon, and 3 legs at night?"

The Netherlands: AMSTERDAM:



Amsterdam is an interesting city.

The name "Amsterdam" comes from the river "Amstel" and the "Dam" that was built, in order to divert the water that used to cover its place of existence.... Amsterdam is one of the World's largest 'land-reclamation' projects. A quarter of the Netherlands is still below Sea level - did you already know that???

Any Google-search about the place will getcha plenty of pictures, maps, etc. of what the area looked like before and after the beginning of the 13th century (1200s). This one is not only cool looking, but somewhat educational as well:

MEXICO: CANCUN

TAIWAN: R.O.C.(?)

Shortly after my Ottawa band, "Rocket Surgery," (not the New York prog-rockers with the same name), played our 1st show, after nearly 2 years of practice, I packed up my stuff and took my last $1000 to the "Far-East" to seek my fortune. Actually, I simply couldn't find a job in Ottawa, and Dixie Lee fried chicken just wasn't payin' the bills. It's a damn shame the music store I managed went broke while I was finishing University, that was a job I both enjoyed AND which funded my lifestyle at the time....
Anyway, holy crap I'm digressing...  It was January...

I left Ottawa in a snowy haze. It disappeared from view quickly and soon I was flying high over the clouds. I think I whispered my goodbyes (or maybe they were silent) and the world I'd known was left below.

As we sailed over the cloud cover, the morning Sun appeared. The rolling hills of air and water glided easily below me. Faint traces of the hidden weather above my home reminded me of the many layers left to discover under the surface of my journey.

I scribbled this on a Japan Airlines napkin I had with me a week after arriving:

Touchdown - hit ground
Hear a sound - turn around
Catch phrase - in a daze
Growing maze - still stays
Earth quake - I sway
Straying from the sharp repeat.


My priorities, upon arriving at my sister's apartment, were as follows:
- To get a cell phone (which I was given - thanks!)
- To buy some t-shirts, because I had left in the winter and thought I was going to a warm country. Comparatively, it was warm... however, it was also winter there, which meant sweater weather for the locals. You would not believe how difficult it was for me to find a t-shirt in Taiwan in January!
- To buy a camera, computer and a guitar (this took about 3 months of hard work, but was accomplished)
- To find an apartment of my own. Luckily, someone at the school my sister worked at was moving shortly after I arrived and I took on their space. It was pretty dirty, what with their two kids' fingerprints and the excessive smoking indoors, but I managed to clean and paint everything worth doing and moved in after a few weeks of arriving.

Almost immediately, I found my way around the town of Nankan (near Taoyuan and close to Taipei), where we lived. My sister and her husband took me on a special trip all the way down to Kunming in the South. We traveled down the West coast of the island with a kind of Buddhist 'congregation,' intent on stopping at all the major or significant Buddist temples on the way. It was a tremendous opportunity to see the country and gauge the religious tone of the people. You find these temples nearly everywhere! From the enormous and statuesque to the converted storefront. We even spent one night in the monks' dormitory, and I'll never forget the smell of sandalwood incense and burning 'ghost money' (burned, so it might travel to their ancestors in the afterlife). It was incredibly fascinating, and a great early start to my acculturation. I took a few photos of this mini trip, but Facebook didn't exist yet (and I didn't have a computer), so you probably haven't seen them.

From this point on, the days seemed to fly by. I got into the routine of preparing a teaching plan for the elementary school I worked at, teaching the classes, finding food that I could pronounce, and getting home to mark homework and pass out in order to do it all the next day.


Aside from the everyday teaching English in Taiwan stuff, I made friends with many of my neighbours and had the added benefit of knowing Jessie Tsai, who was a friend of my sister. Jessie, through her English-speaking and otherwise amazing friend Monica Chow, told me a lot about the area I lived in and was very kind in offering to take me along on trips all around the Northern part of Taiwan. She and her family were nice enough to take me to places like Hualien, on the East coast of the island, which is possibly the most beautiful 'province' in Taiwan. We got there by way of the North-East coast (places like Taipei and Ilan), and returned though the beautiful foggy mountains of Nantou. A family car is luxury compared to a tour bus or taxi, and I probably have the most vivid memories of the entire trip due to this. I must say, to get to know a country is best done by getting to know the local people as though they are family. The Tsais treated me like family, and so I learned a great deal from them and other people in their lives.
Monica Chow was an indispensable aid to my understanding, and reminded me about the value of bilingualism. She bridged the gap between those who were eager to help me settle-in and other people I might have otherwise had difficulty with (landlords, store owners, etc.). She and Jessie also taught be how to play Mahjong and the three of us, with Monica's niece, Juliet, often played the game. I rarely won, but it was fantastic fun.


I could go on and on about the people I met in Taiwan and how nice they were. After beginning to branch out on my own, tutoring English and teaching guitar to local high school kids and FedEx employees, I found great joy in conversing with my students' parents about a variety of things Asian that were interesting to me. With Vincent, James' father, I discussed the mysterious Wu Xing (or "Five Phases/shifts"). With his mother, I discussed law and local police matters. I would often find myself still drinking tea with them into the afternoon, long after my 10am guitar lesson with their son had ended.


In a different building in the complex where I lived, there was also Daniel and his wife Beth, who repeatedly asked me to join them on trips around. Selfless and kind, we took trains and went places I'm certain most English teachers rarely get to visit.


I think that's the best thing about Taiwan: the smallness of the country, like a big small town, and the desire for the people to show off their home to a stranger and friend. After a while it reminded me about the best parts of Ottawa. I don't mean to get too cheesy here, but I was honestly touched and marked with a renewed love of humankind.

I met Sasha in Taiwan, towards the end of my journey. I was beginning to feel a bit 'burned-out' again and Sasha took me out to mingle with the other 'ex-pats' in the area. We went to some interesting clubs, some like the kind you see in movies (that place is real sometimes!) and I began hanging out with a motley crew of English teachers, musicians, and independent business people - realizing a lot of us were in the same boat and just dealing with it slightly differently. This relaxed me for a while, but soon I felt the overwhelming work schedule getting out of control again and knew it was time to pack it in. Sasha was leaving, having already spent five tumultuous years in the country, and I just went with my gut in asking to join her. We went on a vacation to Thailand and said goodbye in Bangkok, where she went on to tour and visit Laos, while I returned to take on her old teaching job for a few more months, in order to pay my own way on our future adventures together.


The last months in Taiwan were difficult for me, with feelings like I had just arrived mixing with those of a welcome outstayed. I longed to continue my travels and not get stuck in a rut like the one I left back in Canada. At the same time I felt like I had only scratched the surface of what the country had to offer (and the experience as a whole), and would sincerely miss the friends and 'family' I had made during my stay. My students had become my buddies, and hadn't even set the GuZheng I bought there in tune before heading home.


Despite these things, I saved and saved and took off for mainland China just as the school semester was winding down. The last few days are still like a blur, with so much left unsaid and undone. With a huge mess waiting for the garbage crews at the elevator on my floor, I caught a taxi to the airport with only two suitcases (a few boxes would be shipped later, with heavy books and random-yet-meaningful knickknacks). I got to the airport and felt like a dream was ending. As I took off for Hong Kong, all I could think about were the clouds that the plane hovered above, just like the ones I noticed a year earlier. Taiwan is still a dream - come true and past.

THAILAND:



Thailand is a wonderful country. The weather is hot and humid in Bangkok, but the accommodations are cheap (if you're adventurous), and there's usually a fan in the room. :)


I've been to Thailand three times now, and each time it seemed new and interesting. I guess, since it's mostly geared towards tourists, your options for entertainment / exploration are pretty limitless.

My favourite place in Thailand was the little island of Koh Chang, South-West of Bangkok by about 5-7 hours (I fell asleep on the bus, sorry!) and at first it felt like we had just sold our lives away to some dirty man in a Khao San Road travel agency. Once we arrived at the dock somewhere near Laem Ngop, and boarded the ferry to the small island paradise, I felt a *bit* better... It was a beautiful boat ride as the sun rose and the land came clearer and clearer. We landed, and waited around for one of the few pickup trucks that cycle around the island (there is only one road that does not actually go all the way around the island - the old, 'stop and turn around' thing happens). Finally, after much complaining by some fellow tourists and patience on the part of some cooler ones (ourselves included, a-hem-hem..) we made our way to the first of three 'hotels' that we stayed at on the island...


I thoroughly recommend Thailand to those intent on discovery. Spend a day or two in Bangkok, but be sure to get out to the surrounding areas, the forested North, and the Southern beaches (and everywhere in between). You will probably not be disappointed. The whole country makes you feel like you're the first person to see it all since ancient days... enjoy!

 


CHINA:


After a few more months of saving money in Taiwan, I headed to China, via Hong Kong, to reunite with Sasha in the city of Kunming, Yunnan Provence.


We traveled from Kunming, "the City of Eternal Springtime," to Dali, to LiJiang, to Tiger Leaping Gorge, to ShanGeLiLa (not the 'real' Shangri-La), near the Tibetan border. We then took a train North-East to ChengDu, in the SiChuan (Si=4, Chuan=River) Province. After nearly a month, we caught a plane back to Thailand, before returning to Canada, via Taiwan & Japan &, in my case, Chicago.

I will regale you with more recollections at a later time...

 
COSTA RICA:
 
Awesome. Delicious. Terrifying... and their flag seems to be the opposite colour scheme of Thailand's flag. Enh? Enh.


But I've really got to get some sleep, so I'll write more soon! Promise!
For now...