AMICK’S ASIAN ADVENTURES
Hello family and friends,
This is a very overdue message to let you know what Warwick and I are up to these days. I’m going to cheat and skip a bunch of details and just give an overview, in the interests of time and not overwhelming email networks. If I have a chance, I’ll send out separate descriptions in the future for the countries we’ve already visited, but no promises….
We’ve been having a fantastic time. We left San Francisco on February 15th, and visited Japan (for 1 week), Taiwan (for 1 week), Hong Kong (for 4 days), Thailand (for a couple of transit days), and Cambodia (for 2 weeks). We started out visiting college friends of mine (Dave in Tokyo and Josh and his family in Taipei). Having people to stay with and show us around was a great way to ease into traveling mode. Many thanks to Dave, Josh, and Terry for being such excellent hosts!
We’ve experienced a lot of extremes on this trip. We’ve seen a wide variety of locations, from huge, developed Asian cities to a pretty remote area of eastern Cambodia. We’ve visited some amazing temples in many places (especially in the Angkor Wat area of Cambodia) that indicate the heights that human beings can achieve. And we’ve also seen the horrible things that human beings can do to each other, as we visited the area known as the Killing Fields near Phnom Penh, Cambodia and learned more about the terrible actions of the Khmer Rouge. We’ve seen people living in luxury, as well as people living in little shacks or on the streets and barely surviving. We’ve eaten some very tasty food and some food that we hope to avoid for the rest of our lives! And we’ve ridden very clean, efficient subway/train systems, and gone on an elephant trek through a forest. These are examples of the kinds of experiences and exposure to new things that draw me to traveling, and I’m looking forward to many more adventures to come!
Speaking of adventures…. We’re in Kathmandu, Nepal right now, and have been here for about 5 days. We’re leaving to fly to Lukla, Nepal to start a 3.5-week trek in the Himalayas. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years, but I have to admit to being a little intimidated about it now that we’re about to start. I think Warwick is wondering what I’m getting him into (and not for the first time this trip)! 🙂 Our plan, assuming things go well and we don’t have any altitude sickness problems, is to trek from Lukla to Everest Base Camp, and then trek back to Lukla via the Gokyo Lake region. We have a really conservative schedule, and plan to take our time and enjoy the process. We’ve hired a guide/porter, and, in addition to the benefit of learning more about the Sherpa culture through him, are very thankful that we’ll have someone to help carry our gear!
Once I have a chance to recover from the trekking, I’ll send out an update about how it went.
One more note for those who just can’t get enough information about this trip…. Warwick’s dad has put together a great website (www.websitesuk.clara.net/sweat). I’ve been lazy about sending out updates, but Warwick has provided lots of commentary about our trip so far. One warning – Warwick likes to combine truth and fiction in his accounts, so don’t base your opinions of these countries on anything he has to say! I’ll provide more factual accounts if I ever get caught up…. The site also has photos that we’ve been able to send on email. (Thanks, Kimber, for loaning us the digital camera!) Hope you all enjoy it.
Okay, that’s all for now. Take care and send email when you have a chance.
Love, Sharon
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