purplelara

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This day in paradise begins a little differently than most. Today we are setting out on a much anticipated snorkeling trip, my brother and I, our (now ex) partners, my brother’s best friend, his best friend’s dad, brother-in-law and nephew. The water and skies are as crystal clear as I’ve ever seen them as we reach our first stop. We swim into an island tunnel, a long, watery cave with a pirates’ oasis hidden in the centre.

We leave the cave island and head to our next destination, about an hour away. Suddenly, the boat stops. The driver and his mates point to the water – over 50 dolphins are circling the boat. They jump and spin in the air, splashing us. It’s magical and fantastic and we snap picture after picture, toasting with cold beers to the “BEST DAY EVER!”

The next island is my favourite snorkeling spot in the world. But on this day, the water is unexpectedly cloudy, not clear. The tides are rough, not peaceful. Standing on the shore’s edge, water is at your ankles one minute, the next, your neck. We leave, disappointed.

We jump in the ocean a couple of times on our way back inland but the water is too rough. “Strangest tides I’ve ever seen” says the friend’s brother-in-law, a scuba instructor.

We head back home in the glorious afternoon sunshine, still reveling in a near perfect day.

As we approach the shore of our island, we notice things in the water. Strange things, like a cooler. A lawn chair. A whole palm tree. What the hell? A baby bottle. Oh god.

There is no one on the miles of beach. No one. Not a soul. What happened here? What is happening here?

The boat is silent.

We come upon our beach and see crushed bungalows. The once white beach is now black – wet with dark sand; covered in debris. The entire place is deserted, except for one man who owns the beach bar next door.

We run to him “What happened Rocky? What happened? Where IS everyone?”

“Gone”, he says. “All gone. Earthquakes, all over the world. Everything. Gone. Everything. Everywhere”.

My heart stops and a shiver runs through my entire being. I look at my brother; we cry silent tears and hold each other close.

I count my blessings that I didn’t see worse that day and pray (in my own way) for those who didn’t make it through, who weren’t as lucky as we were.

It turns out Rocky was wrong. It wasn’t everywhere and everything, but in his world, it was. It was December 26, 2004 on a small island in Southern Thailand.

I’d like to thank the always kick-ass Linda at All & Sundry for giving me permission to snag the comment I left on her site about a year ago that formed the basis for this post. Thanks Linda.

your nation’s capital

I completely lost the first draft of this post, which made me suicidal, or more accurately homicidal. Towards gmail. Yes, I know I confirmed I wanted to leave the page when I hit the back button and I know I shouldn’t be creating drafts in gmail, I know. So YES, technically MY FAULT but I’m only human and it was not at all UN-DO-EY, GMAIL.

The first draft was way, way better too. But this one has pictures.

Anyway, back where we left off, or rather back AT THE BEGINNING: Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to go to Washington, DC to attend a course and write an exam to become certified by an international software testing qualification board. My original post had some thoughts on the certification debate as well, but hell if I’m recreating THAT now too.

Grump grump grump.

I believe I started the original, spectacular post by saying that I jumped at the chance to attend the course, not just because I love learning, but because I also love to travel – like, anywhere.

I know DC is home to many historical sites and I’m a history nut, but as a Canadian, it never ranked very high on my list of places to visit, so I was a bit surprised that I ended up loving every minute I spent there.

I arrived in DC on a Saturday afternoon in June, grabbed a cab headed to my hotel, the lovely Hotel Lombardy on Pennsylvania Avenue.

This former apartment building has been converted to a lovely boutique hotel I can’t recommend enough. The historical details, the staff friendliness and even the old, extremely slow and noisy manually operated elevator were delightful.

Yes, I took pictures of the bathroom. I loved the all white look and want to decorate my next bathroom just like this. It felt so clean and fresh, and isn’t that how everyone wants to feel in the bathroom?

I had only slept a couple of hours the night before my flight and didn’t sleep on the plane at all, but it was only about 4:30 pm once I finished checking out my room. I felt like I should go explore, find something to eat, do *something*, but I was exhausted, overwhelmed and feeling a little homesick already. But then I realized I hadn’t adjusted the time on my laptop yet and hurray! 7:30 is a perfectly acceptable time to hunker down in my room, order room service, watch American TV and check out Hulu videos on-line (thanks American IP address!)

The next morning I got up bright and early and headed to the Metro station. After initially getting on the train going the wrong way (der), I ended up on back on track (literally) and sped off to Arlington National Cemetery, which is actually in Virginia, just across the Potomac from DC.

I hadn’t initially planned on going to Arlington, but my dad (who is the only person I know who has been to DC) recommended it, and I’m glad I listened to him (for once).

This picture has been used for an online map of DC and it’s surrounding areas. I’m PUBLISHED. I know I let them basically steal it for no fee, but I like seeing my name in lights as much as the next person.

After asking around a bit, and knowing the main sites I wanted to see at the cemetery (thanks again to my dad), I decided to buy a ticket for the hop-on/hop-off bus and I’m so glad I did. It was much hotter in DC than I’m used to in June and I hadn’t thought to bring sunscreen with me. I had applied some earlier but it pretty much melted off in the first five minutes spent in the muggy, muggy heat. Also, whoa, hilly.

One of the things I love about traveling is meeting new people and I met a great couple in the line for the bus. She was American and he originally from South Africa, and they were in DC celebrating the finalization of his American citizenship. I kept running into them all day, at different sites around DC, and as anyone who has had this happen will tell you, running into someone you know – however slightly – while traveling is like seeing a long-lost friend. I can’t remember their names (I should have written this sooner), but I do remember their faces and their story, which is now part of my story.

My first stop was JFK’s grave site. Jacquie is there with him now, and they are flanked by the two children they lost in infancy.

JFK Jr. is not there, but I understand he would have been eligible for burial there, had his family so chosen.

At the request of Jacquie, an eternal flame was placed on JFK’s grave and has burned all day every day since his burial (yes, hence “eternal”, shut up). I hate my brain sometimes, but as I stood there, wrapping myself in the surrounding history, thinking about JFK’s life and death; thinking of Jacquie and what she went through and remembering the pictures of little John John saluting his father in this very place, all I could hear in my head was “and is this BURNING an ETERNAL flaaame?” Shut up, brain.

Near JFK’s grave is RFK’s:

At the time, his was the only grave in Arlington marked with a single white cross, although I understand Ted Kennedy is now buried near his brothers and that his grave too is marked with a simple white cross.

After wandering around a bit more, I headed over to the amphitheater that houses the Tomb of the Unknowns, or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as it is also known.

The tomb holds the remains of unknown soldiers from World Wars I and II and from the Korean War. It also once held the remains of an unknown from the Viet Nam war, although his remains were fairly recently identified through DNA testing and disinterred. While there are hundreds, if not thousands of unmarked graves in Arlington, mostly from the Civil War, this tomb is the symbolic resting place of all unidentified soldiers and is guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The Changing of the Guard ceremony itself is very formal and militarily precise.

The guards and spectators take the ceremony very seriously and despite the crowd being over one hundred strong, you could have heard a pin drop. From Wikipedia:

It is considered one of the highest honors to serve as a ceremonial guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Less than 20% of all volunteers are accepted for training and of those only a fraction pass training to become full-fledged Tomb Guards. The sentinels do not wear rank insignia on their uniforms so that they do not outrank the Unknowns, whatever their rank may have been…

It was very moving and it’s in a spectacular location, I’ll never forget it.

OK. Time for a rant. There are signs everywhere in the cemetery reminding visitors not to sit on tombstones, not to run between graves, to be quiet and respectful of grave sites and mourners, and to turn off cell phones. WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO NEED THESE REMINDERS? It’s a CEMETERY, you shouldn’t need a reminder. Not only that, it’s your National cemetery – the final resting place of many who died fighting wars FOR YOU. So, kid. Yeah, you, teen aged kid who thought your text messages were more important than the Changing of the Guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns and yelled “WHAT?!” at your grandmother when she tried to grab your phone from you when it started chiming it’s hip-hop ringtone DURING the ceremony honoring people who DIED for YOU: I don’t care if you are only 13 or 14. I don’t care if you’re still a kid. FUCK YOU.

I’m Canadian, not American, but my feelings on this subject aren’t new and aren’t a result of infused American patriotism obtained while visiting such a patriotic place. My grandfather fought, and was injured, in WWII. I dated a man for many, many years who was (and still is) in the U.S. military. I grew up with a father who was a firefighter, which I know is not exactly the same, but is a profession where you chose to say “I will risk my life to save yours”. I may not support the wars world leaders choose for their soldiers to battle in and die for, but I have the utmost respect for soldiers (and firefighters) and absolutely no respect for anyone who disagrees with me on this subject. I usually try to respect other people’s opinions, but on this matter, there is no room for negotiation. In other words, suck it.

Anyways. Hi. What were we talking about?

I wandered around Arlington for a while longer, stopping in at Arlington House, which unfortunately was ungoing renovation, but from where amazing views of DC can be seen.

Note JFK’s grave at the bottom of the picture – I wasn’t on a tour, but when standing here I heard a tour guide say JFK visited Arlington shortly before his death, and upon seeing this view said “I could look at this view forever”, which was why this particular site was chosen for his grave. I’m not sure if this is true or not, but it certainly is a spectacular setting.

I decided to head back to DC and visit some of the memorials in the National Mall area. Checking out the Metro map, I noticed that none of the stops would put me really close to the Mall, so I walked from Virginia back to DC (sounds impressive, doesn’t it?) It was a longer, hotter and muggier walk than I anticipated, but I’m glad I walked as it gave me the opportunity to watch people enjoy the green spaces along the Potomac.

After I took a bit of a rest under a lovely big tree in a lovely green park, ate a horrendous sandwich and had a bird shit on me, I walked over to the Lincoln Memorial, where my camera batteries died.

By the time I got back to my hotel, I was absolutely exhausted from the heat and many hours of walking and I had to start studying for my course, so I packed it in for the day. I did go back down to the Mall the next night, and visited the Smithsonian museums (plural) during my stay too. I’ll write more about those later.

I enjoyed my Sunday in DC and Virginia far, far more than I ever expected to. I saw natural beauty, touching memorials, and historic places. I stood in attendance at a ceremony honoring people I respect, I had the courage to explore new things on my own (which I often find intimidating) and I met wonderful people. I’m grateful to have had the chance.

better late than never

I finally got around to putting up some of my pictures from my earlier (2003/2004) trips Thailand and Cambodia up on flickr. Here are the links:

Cambodia — this is a link to a collection. There are several different sets within the collection. Hopefully I have the right temples in the right sets…it’s been a while since I looked at these pictures!

Thailand — another collection link. This collection also includes the set from my most recent trip, which most people have probably already seen.

The set with the most pictures is here. This set includes pictures of Somewhere Else in the days after the tsunami.

There are links in this blog (over to the right) to individual travel categories for Cambodia, Thailand and India (obviously India is the most complete, since I started this blog for that trip) if you are looking for stories that go with pictures. I’m still working on updating the blog with pictures from the 2003/2004 trips.

new (old) entries

One of the reasons I started this blog for my trip to India and Thailand is that when traveling in the past I wrote really long boring emails that no one probably read, but part of the reason for sending them was as a bit of a personal journal for myself.

Since I now have this “travel” blog, I thought I’d post those emails here, so I have a more complete journal of my travels over the past few years.  The posts are at the very beginning of this site, since I’ve posted them under the dates I sent them, back in 2004 and 2005.

I’m also working on getting pictures from past trips up on my flickr account…we’ll see if i get that done before the sun comes back out for Spring!

home

I have a few entries from the last few days in Lanta but they’re all like “wah wah, don’t wanna go, wah wah ” so I’m not going to post them…

It was a great trip but I’m glad to be home. Looking forward to seeing friends and getting on with 2007: find a new home soon and maybe a car…we’ll see how my luck holds out. Fingers crossed.