Coming to America

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Merry Christmas! My cousin Ellen and I had a wonderful Christmas Day, exploring and hiking around the beautiful Mount Tam, making crab bisque, and bringing homemade eggnog to friends. There wasn’t a single present to unwrap nor a Christmas Tree, but it was good for us.

Last week I took a short trip up to Santa Rosa, an hour north of the city. (Two + hours via the bus.) I chose it because it was one of the few places with hiking that I could get to using public transportation. More on that later. I found …

Landing in San Francisco

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Wow. I’m in the US again, for the first time since March. It has been over a year since I left my job in Vermont, and almost a year to the day since I moved out of my apartment.
So how does it feel? Good. The first couple of days I kept having a physical feeling of vertigo: that the world was still spinning around me as I was trying to stay in one place. Now, over a week into my stay here, that has diminished and mostly I am thoroughly enjoying exploring the area …

Balancing in Bali

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On my way from Cambodia to Bali I wasn’t sure why I was still traveling. I arrived late at night and woke up in my “bungalow” to dog fights and roosters crowing all night-not exactly what I had pictured for my final retreat. That was until I embraced being woken up and walked outside to realize I was in exactly the right place, and watched the sun rise from the beach with the enormous Agung volcano in the background.

I was in Amed, a small fishing village on the northeast coast of Bali. It was …

Kampot

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As Daisy left to return to Vermont and my new friends Molly and Dan (check out their blog veganhop.com about traveling the world vegan style) went to honeymoon on an island on the coast, I found an outdated Lonely Planet Cambodia book on the rack and in under an hour had spontaneously bought a ticket to Kampot for the next morning. My criteria: beach, mountains, and quiet. After a 14 hour bus ride I found myself in a quaint little post-colonial town with crumbling french style buildings and a promenade. I sat next to …

Angkor Wat

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Re-exposure to American society has started in earnest. Seeing and hearing so many Americans in Chiang Mai was jarring, somewhat uncomfortable, but a healthy change as my time to visit CA nears. Spending time with my friends Daisy and Katie started me remembering good times in Vermont and things I miss. Using actual USD, supplied by all local atms (I don’t know how it’s possible) was a celebration. But occasionally, like last Monday, I see an unwelcome side of America.
Getting on the bus to shuttle me to the plane at Bangkok airport, I was …