We’re back home in the cold, cold north…trying to forget about the warm and sunshine and short sleeves and sandals and bright flowers and cold smoothies of the other side of the world. We were hoping, albeit a bit unrealistically perhaps, that we would get back and winter would be over and spring would have arrived. It’s not here yet…but soon! Like I’ve said, I’ve had fun with a good northern winter…but running around for two weeks in the warm temperatures of south east Asia makes you realize just how awesome spring and summer are.

Our trip to Thailand + Cambodia was good…really, really, really good. There is something about being in another culture that makes me feel alive and inspired and passionate. Something about the different ways of living, talking, eating, and relating…it’s invigorating! It’s refreshing! It’s wonderful!

Our primary reason for this trip was to visit and spend time with my mom-in-law who has lived in Thailand for the past two years or so. I know how special it is to have family come and see where you work, live, and do life when you are somewhere other than home…because my family made the trip to Ghana, Africa when I was there for a year and it was such a great time for both me and them. I loved being able to show them around and introduce them to the ones that I was working and living with. So Ben and I wanted to make the trip sometime, although it was definitely not all for unselfish reasons. I’ve never been to Asia before this trip, so it was great to have a “reason” to go! And, uh, we wanted to do the trip before any little ones come along…but don’t get any ideas any time soon about that just because we did the trip now. Ok? Ok?!

Ok, I’m glad we had that talk.

Here are some shots + chatter from Thailand:

One of the things I noticed right away when we arrived was all the color and freshness. Lots of flowers along the highways and in gardens…and the markets! So much freshness! The markets made me want to just linger and touch all the fresh, colorful produce (i’m a touch-er shopper…i touch everything! it’s kinda weird).

One of the attractions we took in was a thing called Walking Street, which is basically a street full of food booths and craft booths and all-kinds-of-things booths. It happens at night, so we went and roamed around for a few hours. I wish I would have gotten more shots of some of the items and crafts for sale…there were so many delicate, beautiful, and ingenious things there. My purchase of the night was a facial mask made from spices…in this photo, the vendor is mixing up the spices for the type of mask I chose. You then mix the spices with honey, sesame oil, and yogurt and try not to throw up while you have it plastered on your face for twenty minutes. See? It actually worked pretty well and my face feels so pleasant and soft now.

Street food…it all looked and smelled so good! Sometimes we would be walking and I would catch a whiff of something, and I just wished I could follow my nose to wherever it was coming from and take a bite.

We got around mostly by motor bike in Thailand, and at first I was a little freaked out by it all and kept imagining all these horrible ideas of how we could crash and get run over and die…but eventually I realized how awesome and free it was! This shot was a common sight for us…speeding around after mom-in-law, trying to keep up with her. I always rode with Ben, because I’m a scaredy cat and don’t even know how to drive motor bikes because the one time I tried when I was a teenager, I ran into a clothes line. I’m bad for convincing myself that I can’t do something if I’ve tried and failed before…it’s something I need to work on.

One of the highlights for me was the day we spent at a Thai cooking school. We love love love Thai food and what a dream to learn to make the real deal stuff! These are ingredients that are about to transform themselves into curry paste using the heftiest + awesomest of mortar and pestles I’ve ever seen. I brought one back with me actually, and can hopefully make as yum a curry paste here as we did there.

My husband was such a good sport and seemed to have as much fun at the cooking thing as I did. He whipped up some pretty good stuff! This is his Drunken Noodles dish, which totally won over my noodle dish (pad thai).

Ok, sorry for all the cooking class and food photos…there was just so much color and prettiness to photograph! This is my pad thai dish about to get thrown into the wok for cooking…see the little dried shrimpies? It wasn’t the best pad thai I’ve had actually. And supposedly most pad thai you get in the states is actually made with…ketchup. Such shocking un-originality.

We took an afternoon trip on the motor bikes around the mountain one day, which was about a five or six hour journey. We made a few stops in a few villages, and this photo was taken in one such village way on top of the mountain. The smog was pretty thick and you can usually see much farther from what we were told. But it was still a beautiful view and a fun adventure!

We went up the mountain to the elephant camp one afternoon, which was a pretty neat show. The trainers had these elephants doing everything from playing soccer + basketball, throwing darts, playing harmonicas, and painting art. They can paint a better picture than I could, anyway. Amazing!

A little post-show rendezvous with one of the elephants. They did this cute thing where they put a hat on you and then gave you three little pats on top of your head…it was pretty funny + entertaining. I was content with being the photographer and not the photograph-ed in this particular experience, ha!

Thailand was such a fun time, especially spending time with our family there and getting to be a part of their world for a couple weeks. We spent some time at IGO with them and learned more about the work and vision and cool things going on there, as well as meet many of the people that are a part of their life. We ate sticky rice + mango, shopped the markets, drank lots of fresh fruit smoothies, and loved every minute of every experience we had there.

We also spent a few days in Cambodia as part of our visit to Asia…stayed tuned for some shots + chatter on that experience!

What about you: do you enjoy experiencing a different culture? How do travel and culture experiences impact you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

There is something almost a bit magical about being in a world different than your own. Something magical about the way people look and the way they talk and laugh and walk and live…something about the way there can be thousands and millions of people who have an entirely different sense of normal than what I do.

There is something magic about the contrast of life in south-east Asia. You have the best of smells and the worst of smells, the best of tastes and the strangest of tastes, the prettiest sights and the most awful of sights. It’s a world of contrast…and I’m starting to realize that I come from a comfortable western world of very minimal contrast. Maybe it’s the contrast that creates the amount of compassion that wells up inside when we come face-to-face with a mother begging for food for her young child…as we sit there in front of her with a full plate of food, eating the first of my three square meals a day. Maybe it’s the contrast that fills my heart with sadness when I see a young mother sleeping on the street with her two children beside her…because I’m on my way to my safe and comfortable third story room with a balcony, shower, and bed. Maybe it’s the contrast that fills my heart with despair as we walk by women lined up in front of the bars, just waiting for someone to come by and use them…because I’m walking beside a man that doesn’t use me for my body, one that truly loves and cherishes me.

The contrast…it can wreck you.

Currently, we are sitting in the Bangkok airport on our way back to Chiang Mai, where we will spend a few days yet to finish out our trip. It’s hard to believe our time in Asia is almost over! It’s been a full and busy experience, but not so busy and full that I don’t feel like it all happened without me knowing it. We have taken in a lot…and I feel like I have so much reflection and processing to do once I get back home.

I’m sure there will be a more detailed update on our trip coming up in the future, so stay tuned!

What about you: do you find yourself wrecked by the contrast of lives that you come across? How do you deal and process those really difficult things?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!