http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Munchkin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Munchkin en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:50:57 +0000 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:50:57 +0000 Roses have started to bloom ldquoso beautiful theyrsquore tackyrdquo as David says. But they really are burgeoning bouffanted blossoms in pastels and bright sunshiney yellows and sunset pinks like art deco in South Miami Beach. And the scent is so powerful so inyourface that it is as if someone has soaked them in potpourri seemingly artificial. The rhododendrons have dropped their http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-408635.html Molly sets her tee up on the 15th green. Above black crows and seagulls and eagles swoop in and out of view between tall pines. The smell of lilacs and sea and cut grass wafts on the air the breeze a forgiving pace and temperate compared to the harsh winds off the Pacific on Manly beach only a week ago. The sun is warm on my shoulders and even the clouds seem complacent to shift and dissipate http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/Stanley-Park/blog-403202.html When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in the wilderness. Our family living only a short 40 minute drive away from some of Canada's most spectacular scenery the Rockies would take our little tent trailer and drag it behind the van into this camp site or another for a couple of nights. There are bits of memory now the scent of pine the sound of chipmunks in the trees creaking tree trunks c http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Manly/blog-388608.html It's funny the way you move in and out of truths in life.And it's funny the impact perspective and timing can have on travel.At work the other day Hugo's a lovely little pizzeria and cocktail bar on the Wharf in Manly while pouring Brut for an older couple from the UK I had one pure moment of presence. They said something simple along the lines of you really couldn't have chosen a more beau http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Manly/blog-369233.html I have an image of a woman on a beach. The sand is soft and smooth the sky is clear. She is wearing a floppy sun hat and khaki shorts. Her arms are open wide as if in dance. She is smiling. Behind the camera the sun is at an ideal angle to stimulate the color of the water vibrant against the shore. She is glowing. Everything about this image screams perfection.This image is from a Freedom 55 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/blog-340294.html I canrsquot believe Irsquom going to say this but here it goes I am bored in the Galapagos. Thatrsquos right bored stiff aching to get a taste of North American cartoons or house music or a coffee house or ANYTHING but this stupid sand and sea.OK thatrsquos pushing it.But herersquos the thing traveling is still living and part of living is boredom. It is an important part of l http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/blog-330889.html At this point just past the halfway marker of 2008 I can already say that this year is one of the most epic of my life. From January to May I have spent two glorious months in Korea months that topped all other 24 prior months spent in the country singlehandedly without effort experienced the true meaning of happiness on one of the world's best kept secrets the romantic magical island of Gil http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-316626.html ....I wake up once again having to shake the disorientation out of sleepy eyes eyes that just can't seem to get enough rejuvenating sleep and are perpetually drying out and remember that I am in fact in my parents house. This is my room the room I wanted with all my heart at the age of 12 and was denied unfairly so my brother could have his own space in the basement. Apparently this is sti http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-274949.html Rain falls drip drop leaning a slow steady din into Ray Charles' crooning voice aching strings. The roll of thunder. Wine slips down my tongue. Lightning softly flashes. Katie's fingers gently fight with ehr hair. Thunder echoes again. Again I am feeling my heart swell my gratitude release in tiny pulses of invisible energy tenderly rustling the flower petals the grass in the rice fields http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Ubud/blog-263023.html ....I wake up the morning of the 9th feeling melancholy. It feels very very foreign...like sadness doesn't belong in a place like this. I decide to do my best not to look too far ahead my own footsteps. I am still afterall in paradise...We all wake up and have breakfast Adam packing his things and hitting the road slash slow boat to Lombok then Bali before the rest of us. I take one mor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Ubud/blog-259834.html Where to start....Stars No too cliche. No one wants to hear about how you rediscovered the immense empyrean that exists right above the hazy fog of Korean nights skies and how somehow it opening up above you opens up the crevasses inside to reveal all kinds of vibrant emotions that were seized in the heart like air embedded in rock. Too obvious. Start smaller...White sand Come on now really http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Lombok/Gilli-Trawangan/blog-259100.html So eventually I had to teach my kids the happiest song in the world also my favorite and in doing so it was only natural to also make them dance around like little Earth Wind and Fire prodigies. Eat your heart out MJ. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-247663.html OK so once upon a time I was a drama queen. I know this is a difficult thing to admit and if there's any place a girl should be able to let it all out itrsquos her blog. It's taken me a long time to get here to the place where I can admit my problem....I mean my problem of days of yore.....but here I am naked to the world recovering drama queen.God I feel so much better.......So now tha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-245487.html SkyCar wheels roll wheels crunch wheels squeak Over rocks on dark black ice spread Haphazardly on open swelling highway Heaving hills and open gaping Sky.Space. Lights of the city lie flat Spread wide and I open open Up and out and up the stars Dance subtly against a stark black Canvas.I smirk as a smile wonrsquot do not With http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Kananaskis-Country/blog-232122.html In a loop or a figure 8 it is difficult to know where the line begins. In fact it's downright impossible unless you get REALLY close to the paper and see where the smudge on the line exists where the 'blob' of ink is just a little bit thicker. And maybe in the end it is irrelevant where the line begins...just knowing that once upon a time it began and now it is a full circle is enough to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Kananaskis-Country/blog-231421.html Through the Looking Glass....My parents will arrive on Korean soil in T minus ten days. A few months ago I was completely unable to wrap my head around this idea...my parents in THIS context as part of THIS life. Last year it wouldn't have even been a possibility. And a few years before that I was going to finish my second degree in Calgary and get a job in Alberta...skiing in the winter and ima http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-198563.html My second contract has begun. The first day of classes of the new semester it rained. Like I have become accustomed to in this country seasons begin in one day. The earth literally just wakes up one morning and decides its time for a change. The humidity rolled in Friday morning along with some yellow dust and the smell of moist fertile earth quite possibly my favorite smell in the world. Wi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-134566.html I will lose 20 pounds this year.I will stop drinking so much and spend more time at the gym. I will call my mother more.I will never smoke again.I will eat healthier............................Blah blah blah blah blahOK fair enough it would be lovely to actually succeed with goals like that. But resolutions shouldn't be so cut and dry. I have now almost offically spent a year away from home. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-116465.html Just walked in the door. Slumped in the door is more like it. I always get that feeling of disassociation when I return home from a trip. But coming home to Korea has that extra oomph of oddity. I feel like I am sitting in a stranger's room. Maybe I am a stranger to the person that was here before December 22nd.....at least I hope that is partially true. The past few months in Korea warped me mor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-114784.html It doesn't need to be said but in typical Shawna fashion I will say it nonetheless......Christmas is tough when you are abroad. In all honesty I am handling it much better then I ever would have thought possible considering my roommate and best friend is going home to Calgary to do everything I would sell my SOUL to do right about now ie. Banff hockey dinner with MY family.....however I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-111426.html