On my way home to...
To:
Thailand
|
There
were many
opportunities for me to travel during my Peace Corps
service. Thailand was always a popular location for all PCVs
- only $170 round trip, and no visa requirements. Cheap
travels, warm weather, and good food were all draws, and I took full
advantage
of all three. The first vacation was in March 2004: I decided to meet
my parents in Bangkok, and then spend a week with them on Phuket island
in the south. Dad planned the whole thing, of course, and we had a good
time seeing the sights, scuba diving, boating to beautiful islands and
snorkeling almost every day. Of
course it was good to see them and tell them things that I couldn't
write in any
e-mails or letters about how things really were in T-stan. I
also got to meet up with my good friend, Riss, from elementary school
who was doing short-term missions in Thailand. |
I couldn't resist
not having a Big Mac during my first trip out of the
country (six months after leaving the US). My parents were of course
very gracious to accommodate my cravings.
To:
Turkey
|
My next
vacation was to
Turkey, my favorite trip during my service.
For two weeks, I traveled around with my parents, and two other
close family friends - Uncle Dick and Auntie Eva. We had a
blast touring Istanbul, celebrating Ramadan with the locals, being
swept up
by all the activity in the Grand Bazaar, the Hippodrome, the Blue
Mosque, and the Hagia
Sophia. We then flew to Cappadoccia in the western-central
part of the country to hike around the interesting land formations,
take a hot
air balloon ride, and explore the cave churches built by persecuted
Christians shortly after Christ's death. |
Here we're standing in front of the Library of Celsus in the ancient
city of Ephes. We also saw the hot springs
at Pamukkale, a natural wonder negatively affected by a burgeoning
tourist
industry
that is diverting the springs into luxury spas and Turkish baths.
To: Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan
|
I was
also lucky
enough to travel
through Central Asia with some fellow PCVs and my cousin, Peter, whose
friend from college happened to be the Cultural Affairs Officer at the
US Embassy in Turkmenistan. We went to Almaty in Kazakhstan, and
then traveled to Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara in Uzbekistan after
bypassing Kyrgyzstan (where a very inconvenient revolution had just
started). The
picture above is of the madrasa in Samarkand. The Muslim tile
work and architecture was breathtaking, in more ways than one...
|
|
Peter
came back to
the states with more than just crazy stories about crossing the
Uzbek/Turkmen border with my limited Turkmen language skills. He also
took some great pictures of the highly advanced geometric tile
patterns
found on the many Muslim buildings we saw; with some follow-up research
and visual analysis, he concluded that Muslim mathematicians and
architects applied these complex geometric patterns hundreds of years
before Western scholars re-discovered and understood them. |
To: Los Angeles,
Scotland
and Ireland
|
I had
the wonderful
opportunity to surprise my cousin at his wedding in
Los Angeles, CA, during the summer of 2005. On my way back east to
Turkmenistan,
I stopped in Scotland and Ireland where I toured the countries with
family and friends from home. Both places are two of the most
beautiful places I've ever seen, and I could not have had enjoyed it
more than with the present company. |
To:
India
|
Finally,
after my
official COS (Close of Service), I
skipped across southern and southeastern Asia on my way home. First
stop: Amritsar in
Northern
India. My friend, Elynn, and I tried to carry as little as
possible to go to
as many places possible. This picture (on left) is of the Golden
Temple, a sacred
pilgrimage site for Sikhs; here, all travelers can stay within
the temple walls for a nominal fee (we slept on rough wooden
beds in an airy courtyard). There, the rich served the poor by
cleaning the temple and operating a 24-hour canteen where natives and
foreigners alike could eat their fill of rice and lentils. |
After a
trip up to McLeod Ganj in Northern India where the Dali Lama is
in exile, Elynn and I took a harrowing bus and train ride to one of the
wonders of the world - the Taj Mahal (on right). Too bad we got there
when it was
sunset and none of our pictures turned out very well, but it was
certainly an awe-inspiring site that no words or pictures can describe
sufficiently (I've promised myself that I will return). |
|
|
Photos
by Sarah Francis |
To: Thailand
(Chiang Mai)
|
Next
stop: Thailand
(again), this time, the northern city of Chiang
Mai where we went on a 3-day hike, rode elephants, ate ourselves silly,
toured a Buddhist temple in the
clouds, and got an invigorating Thai message. I highly recommend
Thailand for anybody
who wants an easy and cheap vacation to some place beautiful, relaxing,
and fun! |
To:
Cambodia
|
From
Thailand, we made the
fool-hardy decision to take the
bus from Bangkok to Siem Riep, Cambodia, the tourist town nearest to
Angkor Wat (pictured above).
We had heard stories about the vastness of the temple complex, the
beautiful intricate carvings, and the eerie atmosphere created by the
deserted structures consumed by the jungle- all of which are larger
than life. Angkor Tom, pictured
below (right), is famous for the mysterious
faces showing sublime peace and enlightenment common in the Khmer
religion. |
To:
Vietnam
|
From
Ankor Wat, we
traveled to Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, where
we had a day to explore the remains of the destructive regime of the
Khmer Rouge. We would have liked to leave for Vietnam
earlier, but it took an extra day for us to get our visas.
Vietnam is an amazingly rich and diverse place where motor
bikes and young lovers occupy the public spaces of Saigon,
the tourist trade dominates the Mekong Delta, the beaches of Moi Nei
rival those in Thailand, and Halong Bay near Hanoi inspires artists the
world over (as well as all who can afford multi-day boat cruises.) |
To:
China
|
The last
stop on my
journey home was China. I met up with my
dad and brother in Hong Kong where my dad showed us where he and my mom
grew up, went to school, and attended church. We crossed into
China by train to explore the rivers and land formations around Guilin
and YangShuo. From there, we flew to Shanghai where we
experienced China's exponential growth first hand. Shanghai
was our jumping off point to SuZhou, HuangZhou and HuangShan.
We felt like we fell into an old scroll painting, watching poetry form
on the
rocks and the water. |
|
The time
I spent with my
dad and brother was the best form of
decompression and distraction
after ending my Peace Corps service. While submerging myself in the
Chinese culture, I saw
my heritage in a completely new way. Listening to my dad's poignant
comments about the changing
countryside and developing villages, his translations of Chinese poetry
and stories from local
tour guides, all while exploring beautiful land and city scapes with my
closest sibling was
absolutely priceless (nothing beats climbing up snowy Huang Shan
mountain with our luggage after the tram stopped
running). I will love going back and studying more of the language,
history,
and culture so I will be able to appreciate an ancient yet
ever-changing land
and people. |
|
The best place to end
our epic journey was with my cousin, Cynthia, and
her husband, Ray,
who live and work in Beijing. Though it was very cold, we shared many
days
exploring the city, eating good food, sharing stories, putting up their
Christmas tree,
visiting friends, laughing, and crying, sometimes at the same time. I
spent a few days in San Francisco with some old friends and family,
then finally arrived
in West Chester
on Friday, December 17, 2005. After being away for a little over 27
months, I was so
glad to be home. |
To:
Home
|
Our
family vacation to Virginia Beach was the first in a long, long
time. It was fun getting to
know my nephew,
Nathan, and spoiling him as a goo-goo (affectionate term for aunt). And
now I can do it two times over! Oh the joy of seeing my second nephew,
Brandon! |
Since coming home, I have lived and worked in
Washington,
DC, taken many trips to Longwood Gardens and Disneyworld, a trip to
Spain, the Pacific
Northwest, and New York City (where I live and go to school presently).
It goes without saying that I appreciate my life opportunities more
now, especially with so
many loving friends and family. God's been good to me and true to His
promises, that I don't have to be afraid, He has plans for me, and He
will be
with me wherever
I go.
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