DAY 12 - WHO DO I MISS THE MOST?

Today, in this the twelfth day of my self-isolation, it is the children, the kids, the wees ones, the darlings, the sweethearts, the gems who make my day, every day that I am able to go to school and replace their teacher that day. I hope they are all doing well... getting outside a bit, reading,  socializing online with their friends, spending quality time with Mom and Dad, and being loved and cared for in the best way possible.

Here are a few "one liners" that I picked up in the new year, before our world fell apart. As usual, they are too cute for words.

When I was locked outside with a Kindergarten class, one little one suggested I call 991!

Another one did a little dance, and stated, "These are MY moves!"

"What's your mother's name and your father's name?" I asked one child.  Well, my Mom's name is MOM and my Dad's name is DAD! (Ask a stupid question!)

Liam - Madame, I need a poon!

Hurrying up a few lollygaggers in the cafeteria, so they could get out for lunch recess, one little fellow looked up at me a little indignantly and said, "We were having a conversation here!"  Man, they crack me up!

Handing out agendas at the end of the day, Gary held up his hand, "That's my Vgenda."  Whew, scared me for a minute.  :)

Our wastepaper basket was overflowing in this Kindergarten class, so I stepped into it with my two feet, to tramp it all down. "Why did you step in the garbage can? That's disgusting!"  "Yuk!" added another bystander. 

Si je me suis répétee, tant pis! If I have repeated some of these stories, too bad. They can be just as cute the second time around, don't you think? Here's hoping come the fall, that we will be back in the classroom. Namaste. 

MY REALITY ON MARCH 17TH, IN THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS OF NEPAL...

That day, I woke up to the news that Canada was seemingly falling apart. I was getting frantic messages to come home, while I still could.  I simply couldn't take it all in. I simply could NOT wrap my head around all that. I felt safer in Nepal. It was like the entire world, except the one I was living in, had blown up!

I was about to embark on a two and a half day hike in the Himalayan mountains.  We knew our flight from Kathmandu, back to Bangkok, had been cancelled. We had been advised that there was nothing to be done until we got back to Kathmandu. Rose and I were determined to do our trek... the reason we had come all the way over here in the first place.  Mind you, we were in the wrong country, with a very much shortened agenda, because Bhutan had closed its border forty -eight hours before our arrival there, making Nepal, by default, the next country on our list to visit.  We didn't know at the time, that Vietnam would close its borders that day, and thus leave us without any place to go... but home.

Although I have journaled on FB and posted videos about those two and half days, March 16, 17 and 18th, I have but given you a glimpse of my days there.

With this blog, I want to share an experience I had in the mountains, that seared my soul and left me shaken and humbled.  We had started out early on our only full day of hiking, straight up the mountain, 1500 feet if I remember correctly.  Not a really big deal but it was a steady, upward trek.  Rose and Kaji had gone on ahead.  Suddenly, we saw two brightly garbed women just ahead of us, coming DOWN the mountain.

One woman was quite elderly, although probably younger than me. Life is INCREDIBLY hard for these mountain people of Nepal. I noticed she had a sling on her back, which she carried with a strap across her forehead, much like MB, with his porter's basket. 

Mekh struck up a conversation right away.  I observed them and was instantly taken aback by the fact that they were both wearing "FLIP FLOPS!"  Yes, thongs, gougounes, whatever you want to call them. The younger one was smiling graciously, but the older lady was quite serious.  

All of sudden, the latter removed her sling, and inside was a teeny, tiny newborn baby girl! OMG! I didn't know what to think. I was GOBSMACKED!!  I had wanted to take a picture of them in their beautiful garb, as they approached us, but I am always so conscious of violating anyone's privacy, so I hadn't. I didn't know what was in the sling. Rose, up ahead, had had a better presence of mind. These are her pictures that I am sharing. She had met them earlier. My only picture is the spot where we left them, Mekh and I going up, and they continuing their downward trek.

Mekh told me their story as we continued climbing.  He informed me that they had a very sick baby.  The local midwife had advised them to get medical attention. They had an hour and a half trek down the mountain, to the nearest little village, and then a bus ride to Pokhara, where hopefully they could see a doctor in a public clinic, and thereby pay less than going to a private hospital.

I swear, I was just totally useless and stood there like a fool! Rose told me later than her guide had suggested she give them money, if she could, (which she did) as they had very little.  Mekh never said anything to me, and I .... will live with that regret the rest of my life, that I did not offer anything.  Money they would have needed for food, possibly for lodging, for the doctor, for medication, for the bus ride... the list goes on an on.

COVID-19 is NOT a reality to be feared in Nepal!  Daily life is THE fear, the struggle to survive on the barest of life's necessities, for so many Nepalese.  Yet they smile, laugh, talk, are generous, positive, loving and kind. They will be devastated by the Covid-19 virus, but not by the disease itself. There will be no more tourists and no tourists means no jobs, so no money.  No jobs means that 5.5 miliion young Nepalese who are foreign workers working in countries like India, will NOT be sending much needed money home to their families in Nepal. Money that is needed for basic survival, and maybe the chance to get ahead a tiny bit.

Mekh's newborn daughter was very sick at a few weeks of age. He had the equivalent of 400$ US put away for a rainy day, and it was all taken up for her care.  He is grateful that she is fine, and says he will deal with the hardships that are coming, due to no tourism, as best he can.

As I am sure this new mother and her mother-in-law will, with grace and humility, resilience and strength.  Will we, here in North America, be able to do the same?  


NB:  Je partage les beaux mots de ma cousine Ginette, qui connait aussi le peuple népalais. Elle avait raison. 

"Tu n’oublieras jamais ces visages qui resteront dans la mémoire de ton coeur! Je t’avais prévenue, chère cousine, un peuple heureux, un peuple touchant, un peuple résilient qui nous touche à tout jamais!"

  

ONE DOOR CLOSES...

or in our case, s*l*a*m*s, but another one OPENS up! We are on our way to NEPAL, tomorrow. We will be doing a twelve day tour and trek in that country, beginning and ending
in Kathmandu. I am TOTALLY thrilled. If we can’t do Bhutan, this is THE next best thing. We are going to take a pass on climbing Mt. Everest  😉

Rose and I will both end up with a sizeable credit with GoWay Travel, our tour operator, which means I will be traveling again, but not to Asia. That I know for sure!! This will be my one and only visit to this continent.  Maybe South America next though?

So a day that started rather dramatically, turned out happily re-adjusted, as we received our delayed luggage, ate out lavishly, explored our neighbourhood, took two Tuk Tuk cab rides, shopped in a leisurely fashion, booked our tour of Nepal, and inadvertently stumbled into a red light district in the Pat Pong Market.  We skipped out of there in a hurry!

My only dilemma as we prepare our suitcases, is what to do with half a dozen pair of men’s argyle socks?  We were told Bhutanese men ( sherpas, guides) love these socks as they go well with their ceremonial dress? I wonder if Nepalese men will feel the same way?

You can be prepared all you want, but $&@! can still happen.

We have masks, gloves, all kinds of wipes, disinfectant, hand sanitizer... you name it. We saw no masks in Toronto, more Asians wearing them in Mumbai and decidedly many moreso in Bangkok. My foot masseuse wasn’t wearing a mask yesterday, but her colleague who was Rose’s masseuse, wore one. Interesting... Rose is of Chinese ethnicity. Hum?

We are young and healthy and are so pumped up for our twelve day hiking tour in the Himalayan Mountains of Bhutan, set to start Monday. Bhutan is a small zen-like nation of 740,000 people, nestled between the behemoth China to the north and India to the south. Thimphu, the capital, is the only capital city in the world with NO traffic lights. Druk Air, with its 15 pilots, has the ONLY pilots  in the ENTIRE world, who are certified to land at the very dangerous Paro airport, because it is surrounded by the Himalayan mountains. I may have to pop a Valium or two before getting on that flight.

Oh wait!!! With less than forty eight hours to our departure for Bhutan, a phone call from our agent in Canada early this morning, advised  us that our trek has been CANCELLED!  An American who traveled from India into Bhutan, has brought Bhutan its first case of the Coronavirus, so the government has closed its borders, effectively for the entire time we would have been there.

Are we disappointed? HELL yes! Upset? NO,  because it is what it is. It is out of our control. What are we looking at doing? GoWay Travel, our agents, are looking for other options for us. We will stay put in Bangkok for now. Are we coming home? No way! We didn’t come this far to run home with our tail between our legs.  Stay tuned! The adventures continue!

GOOD NEWS? Our luggage should arrive this morning. 😃

PS: For any naysayers out there, we had no option of cancelling our trip before leaving Canada. Our insurance did NOT cover changing our minds, nor the threat of a pandemic. So we had no choice but to set out on this adventure. No regrets here! YOLO! Qui ne risque rien, n’a rien!

JET LAG... NO LUGGAGE... MAD DASH...

but we landed in Bangkok almost twenty four hours after we left Canada. Of course, I cannot travel without my usual adventures! I landed in Toronto late March 2nd, with less than 48 hours to departure and what happens? At 3:00 am I am up the rest of the night, with vomiting and you guessed it! I spent the entire day in bed, well nursed by Rose, aka The Princess Traveler.   As usual, my timing was bad, but it could have been worse.  By departure time I was right as rain. Some kind of twenty-four hour stomach flu I guess. At my weakest moment I thought, “OMG, they will take my temperature in Bangkok and put me in QUARANTINE!” I think stupid thoughts when I am sick!

We made our connection in Mumbai by the skin of our teeth. The maintenance crew clapped when
we rounded the corner of the embarkment bridge. We were escorted from immigration, but no courtesy cart. We hoofed it! Our luggage has yet to follow, twelve hours later, but we are hopeful of delivery tomorrow. What do I remember of my first steps on Indian soil? The airport terminal was mainly carpeted.

I am OVERWHELMED by Bangkok. By EVERYTHING... the sights, the sounds, the smells, the crushing contrast between excessive opulence and deep poverty, the language, the heat (34 degrees with the humidity, at 9:00 pm) and just the size of the city itself, population 10.5 million! I have never seen so many skyscrapers of assorted sizes, shapes and colours, along with pitiful hovels.

Out and about in Bangkok...

Our Air BNB condo view, from one end.

A school for monks. See them in orange?

This little Eileen entertained us while we treated ourselves to an hour long foot and leg massage for the princely sum of 13$ Canadian, tip included. 

I am going back tomorrow for a pedicure, and I will leave a bigger tip. The average monthly income in Bangkok? $150. 😔

We will soon be on our way to Mumbai, India!

What the hell? That destination wasn't even ON our radar, NOR on my Bucket List!  However, right now, if our ticketing doesn't change, Mumbai is our best chance of getting to Bangkok, Thailand, and from there, experiencing our great adventure, which involves a twelve day trek in the Himalayas, and some R & R on the shores of the South China sea in Vietnam.  All our exploring has been in the works since last spring, (Thailand, Bhutan and Vietnam) and will hereby be referred to as the TBV TOUR.  It almost sounds like a disease!

You know how you have these feelings of great anticipation, and sometimes a little trepidation, when you are about to embark on a big trip or vacation, especially if you are going far, far away?

W...E...L...L, how about TONS of trepidation, and ZILTCH of anticipation, because every day in the news, for the last month or more, there has been talk of nothing but Covid 19, and its spread worldwide. Each day the news gets worse! However, our countries are not on the A list. Bhutan has no cases of the virus. Knock on wood!

The Princess Traveler and I refuse to be cowed.  I am an Intrepid Traveler. Despite four itinerary changes by Air Canada, Asiana Airlines and Thai Airlines, we remain undaunted.  Asia or be damned - Coronavirus be damned too!

We are ready! The Princess Traveler is a health and food safety inspector and next to a doctor/nurse, she KNOWS germs.  We are very, VERY well prepared in every way.  So I am positively relaxed about this virus thing. I am almost comatose. Check me for a pulse why don't you? :)

Now, once it comes time to return to Canada in a month... I may be feeling a little differently, if this Covid 19 has been declared a worldwide pandemic. For now, it is all systems go!!  I must admit though... our timing was NOT the best!

 STAY TUNED!

This old lady is heading E*A*S*T...

TO the far, far East. At least, that is the plan, s..t...i...l...l.   It will be the furthest east I have ever been in my life, on what may well turn out to be the BIGGEST adventure of my life (other than being a mom and grandmother!).

Well, as you know, the Coronavirus (aka Covid 19) is in the news daily, and although we are NOT traveling to China per se, we will be in the vicinity.  While I am NOT worried, I must admit the steady barrage of depressing news from China, kind of puts a damper on things. How many people have to worry about a possible world wide pandemic when traveling?  As usual, my timing is impeccable, don't you agree? J'entends déjà de mes cousines dire "This could only happen to you cousin!"

This trip has been in the works for almost a year.  When my former Toronto neighbour, and old friend, asked me if I wanted to join her on a trek to Asia, I jumped at the chance. Paying a single supplement to travel really limits your ability to be intrepid, so we are both very fortunate to be able to do this together.  Have other single girlfriends... WILL travel. :)

I shall call her the Princess Traveler, as that is what she calls herself.  She has been to Asia quite a few times, is Canadian, and of Chinese ethnicity.  We are NOT going with a tour group, but we did have help planning our itinerary.  If you surmised that she likes to travel well, by her traveling moniker "Princess Traveler", then you HAVE surmised correctly.  Suffice to say, we will NOT be slumming our way through Thailand, Bhutan (I didn't know where that country was either. I had to look it up on a map!) and Vietnam for four weeks, starting March 4th. It shall henceforth be referred to as my Asian Adventure!  More details on that subject will follow in my blogs.

For those of you who enjoy reading my travel blogs, and have told me that they travel with me from the comfort of their home...all I can say is HOP ON for the ride then!  I will try to blog as often as the availability of technology will allow.  I will also attempt to post a map of where we will be traveling.  I am not too savvy with technology though, so that may not happen. 

As I inquired about top-up medical insurance recently, the agent with whom I chatted, wished me a good vacation in Florida. Funny eh? She assumed that I was a snowbird.  No, not me! Not yet!!  Nor am I a 3G RETIREE - Golf, Gardening and Grandchildren.  I golf now and then, do NOT garden any more than I absolutely have to, and while I adore my one and only granddaughter, I am living my life right now, as I want to live it; that involves traveling the world as much as time, my health and my bank account will permit.  YOLO!!!! 

Our final destination in Bhutan, will be this monastery, in the Himalayas, called

TIGER'S NEST. Sharp eh?