Rick LaRose & Tynesha Hingst
We are a young couple from Alberta, Canada looking to expand our horizons in Thailand for approximately 6 months. We wanted to find somewhere to focus more on our painting and writing. So, Thailand here we come! Stick with us and we'll let you know how it goes!Rick Neesha
Travel Blog Posts
July 3rd 2006
Ok, you caught me. So maybe I lied a little bit on my location. I'm not really in the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia, but I was there about a month ago, so while my memories may be a bit cloudy I promise that they are based in reality (or at least my perception of it!) To bring you up-to-date, Rick and I are back in Canada, and have been for almost an entire week. Today is the first day that I have woken up and actually known where I was, as opposed to just thinking, "Hmmmm, this guesthouse looks just like my parent's basement!". I feel I have finally beat the demon "jet lag". I have stopped trying to drive on the left-hand side of the road and I have stopped thinking that our western toilet ... read more
Coming To Terms With Cambodia
Published: June 9th 2006Asia » Malaysia » Pahang » Taman Negara National Park
June 2nd 2006
Every blog I write, my mind is always screaming the same thing: "How do I even start? How can you possibly represent what you have experienced? Do you even know what it is that you've experienced?" Talking about Cambodia is no exception. Initially, I was expecting some version of Vietnam. Not for the first time, I was wrong. Within the mass that is Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Cambodia are two different worlds sharing a geographical border. Just like all the other countries I have visited here; I should have known better. First impressions: get these tuk-tuk drivers away from me. Even before the bus came to a halt in Phnom Pehn, the capital city of Cambodia, I could see this swarming throng of motorcycle and tuk-tuk drivers running alongside the bus; pushing, shoving, calling, waving, tripping, ... read more
May 22nd 2006
That ever-present thorn of a rose. Pricking you as the fragrance is sucked up your nose. Being in Vietnam and knowing that coming soon is the leaving. Bittersweet dreams. I dream I am back home, talking to the friends and family I miss. Everything is great, until I suddenly become aware of the nagging question crawling through the back of my mind: "Aren't I supposed to be in Vietnam?" After searching for answers in a seeming eternity, I wake up. Here is my Vietnam: A surf crashing on the sand down a dusty road. A yellow star flapping the wind away from its pole. A cafe you can't place. A conversation you can't repeat, with a man you can't name. The words "Please don't write what I've shared with you," can be devastating to a person ... read more
May 9th 2006
In complete self-defense, I had meant to publish this blog much earlier. But Vietnam put a strange hold on me; it seemed much more important to live Vietnam in real time, without having to strangle my experiences by picking and choosing which to write about and to what extent. Now, with only three days left before I cross into Cambodia via the Mekong Delta, I can look back on everything that has come to pass with reflection, and it doesn't seem like such a crime to limit them to words, as now the complete experience is comfortably solidified in my mind and soul. I have fallen head over heels for this country, the people I have met, the things I have seen. I think that there is more life on one street corner in Hanoi or ... read more
April 20th 2006
I sit at an internet cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam, but my mind lingers back... Ahhh, Beijing. Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, Culture Street, Old city Street, Hutong, the list is endless (I shant forget Sanlitun, the street for the party goer in some of us). I stayed for two weeks and Tynesha for one week, before moving on to Vietnam. Have you ever desired to see a dog roasted by a blow torch? Think Beijing. Have you desired to see Chairman Mao in all his pickled glory? Think Beijing. Have you desired to saturate yourself in historic glory and awe? Or see old men directing soaring eagle kites high above the city from the worlds largest Square? Or equally aged couples practicing the serene movements of Tai Chi amongst the ... read more
April 1st 2006
Well I have to admit, it's very hard to follow Rick's writing but I'll try my best. Every minute of every day seems to offer us a different experience that it's very intimidating to try and write it all down in a way that does it the appropriate justice. There are so many small intricacies here and we just want to share them all with you back home. For example, one thing we've noticed here in China (more prodominantly in the southwest but still evident here in Beijing) is the singing. People here will break into song anywhere at anytime; and not just the kind of singing we all do in Canada, you know the soft whispering kind that everybody does when they just can't help but sing, but don't really want others to hear. In ... read more
March 30th 2006
...And Love the Bus... Today we're in Zhengzhou, population: 6 260 000. Tomorrow we visit the Shaolin Temple to watch the monks practising their age old martial art. Then we take the seven hour train to Beijing; pop: 13.8 million, and there visit the Great Wall and Forbidden city. Cheryl, you asked about the similarities and differences in cultures between China, Laos and Thailand. Well I'm here to tell you, the similarities are an anthill and the differences are a mountain. China simply defies direct description. Here are some of our experiences thus far: It was a crush of bodies. Hundreds if not thousands of Chinese trying to load the train from Xichang to Chengdu. And then there is Tynesha and I, separated by a sea of black hair, forced amid the currents of the throng. ... read more
March 11th 2006
Well, Rick's dream has come true and we are now breathing bonafide Chinese air (I know it's somewhere here amidst the exhaust fumes). We arrived here in Jinghong city, or I guess for Chinese standards village, yesterday evening. It was sad to leave Laos, but we've got so much planned I must admit our grief was short-lived. To catch everybody up, we left Vientiane last Thursday on a VIP bus to travel northwards to Luang Prabang. Here are some of the pros and cons of that trip. CONS: (I find it's always best to start with the negative, then the positive seems just that much better!): the road: this puppy was as twisted as my mother (sorry mom), making wild hairpin turns every 5 meters corkscrewing up mountains and snaking down valleys; the driver: apparently this ... read more
March 1st 2006
Sabaidee! Hey, thanks to all you readers and commenters out there and back home. We really appreciate all the support and the interest everyone is showing. Just bear with us, our time in Asia is slowly diminishing our ability to speak the King's English. I'm not even sure that any of you can even understand what I'm writing right now. Well, here's hoping: We are neither in Singapore nor Malaysia nor Thailand as some of you may have been expecting...we're actually across the Mekong River from Thailand, in the northern Laos capital of Vientiane. It's really not important why we didn't go to Singapore, except to say that over the phone good old uncle Ray offered to take Tynesha and I to Vientiane for our visa renewals (which he paid for as well as meals, hotels, ... read more
February 20th 2006
A couple of days ago, we decided on an imprompto adventure, so we consulted our much loved bible (aka Lonely Planet's guide to Thailand) and away we went. The small town of Phimai caught our attention immediately. Located in the same province as Bonanza, it was only a short 2 1/2 hour bus trip to our destination. What makes Phimai special is that it is home to one of the finest surviving Khmer temple ruins in Northeastern Thailand. Constructed in the early 11th century A.D., these ruins predate the famous Khmer temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia by approximately one hundred years. Although our guide book claimed that the ruins are often devoid of tourists during the weekdays, it was our luck that we decided to visit on "unofficial-primary-school-field-trip-day". Despite being shadowed by some of the ... read more
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