loveliness.

Category: life

• twenty eight

  Posted at 10:12 am by jasminedesirees, on March 16, 2015

  Yesterday was my birthday, I spent a great weekend exploring the San Diego area, sleeping on the beach, and eating cupcakes. I was thinking back over the past year, and how amazing it’s been, so I wanted to take a little time to reminisce, and share some of my favourite experiences.

  

  March 2014- On my birthday last year, we were on a trip to visit New York City for the first time, and it was everything I’d been dreaming of. It was kind of one of those spontaneous trips where you’re not sure if it’s really necessary, but you could do it, so we did, and I’m so, so glad. We also visited Niagara Falls, and got one of my friends married off in Toronto.

  April 2014- Last April, my sister came out to visit me in San Francisco for the first time, and we had the best weekend ever. We took a last minute road trip down to L.A. to spend a few days with my family. I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like, so driving down to meet up with them was kind of a no-brainer, even though we had to change a flight we already had booked, and rent a car in order to get there. We also went out to Phoenix for the weekend for the first time, not realizing then that we’d be moving out there in less than a year.

  May 2014- In May, we were well on our way to finalizing plans for our trip. We were spending as much time with family and friends as possible, and really enjoying our last few weeks of living in California, including a lovely day in Capitola.

  June 2014- In June, we spent a few days visiting my family in Montana, and then took off for Thailand, mid-month. I loved visiting Bangkok, the Floating Market and the White Temple.

  July 2014- In July, we moved down to the islands of Thailand, including Phi Phi and Railay, and then spent a couple of weeks in Cambodia, visiting Angkor. Ta Prohm was my favourite place in the world. We also spent a few days in Singapore, and visited the Cloud Forest, and the Supertrees.

  August 2014- In early August we finished up our last few days in Indonesia, including the most amazing time diving in Flores and trekking with Komodo dragons. Then we finally landed in Australia, hung out in Sydney for a few days, then started our road trip up to Cairns, and also, this happened.

  September 2014- In September we were still creeping around Australia. We visited Whitehaven, spent a few weeks working on a farm, and then a few more weeks hanging out in Byron Bay, and hiking to the lighthouse every day. This is still the most amazing graffiti I’ve ever seen.

  October 2014- In October, we made the decision that as much as we loved Australia, it was too expensive for us, so we headed back to Indonesia, to relax on the Gili’s, hike Batur, trek Rinjani, visit the beach of my dreams, and creep around in Kuta Lombok, and South Kuta.

  November 2014- In November we took a spontaneous trip to the Philippines (posts coming this week!) and eventually, made our way back to California.

  December 2014- In December, we spent as much time as we could with our friends and family in California, then packed up our stuff and moved to Phoenix.

  January 2015- In January, we spent a blissful week in Montana, made a quick trip up to Canada to experience the -40 weather and load up on ketchup chips, and then headed back to start life in Arizona.

  February 2015- In February, we finally got our furniture and got actually moved in to our new place, and then got to start exploring our new state with trips to Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and the Grand Canyon.

  Posted in exploring, life, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged Australia, birthday, Cambodia, exploring, Indonesia, life, nyc, Phoenix, Singapore, Thailand, travel

• vegetarian

  Posted at 1:05 pm by jasminedesirees, on February 3, 2015

  I’ve been waiting to post about this for awhile, to make sure that it was really something I could stick with, but it’s been almost 6 months, and I don’t have any plans to stop, so I guess it’s probably safe to share.

  One of the changes I made while we were gone on our trip was that I became fully vegetarian, and completely stopped eating any meat or seafood (not that I ate a lot of seafood before).

  I’ve always been super picky and weirded out by meat, and that always made me feel hypocritical. Like, if you can’t bear to think about what it is without feeling sick, should you really be eating it? So I think it was really kind of inevitable, and it was just the right time.

  Most people when I tell them I stopped eating meat when we were in Indonesia say “Oh I can’t blame you, I wouldn’t eat meat over there either”, but it really wasn’t that I thought it was so much worse than meat we have over here.

  I was almost completely vegetarian by then, but I would still eat chicken once in awhile, until one day when we were sitting in a small home kitchen for lunch. D ordered chicken fried noodles, and a little boy from the family that owned the restaurant ran out to the backyard to bring in one of the chickens so they could kill it and cook it for us.

  And that really freaked me out, but not for the reasons that you might think. I just felt like if I was that uncomfortable eating a chicken that I knew was chicken, and knew exactly how it was going to be killed and cooked, right in front of me, then why would I be OK with eating meat that I don’t know where it came from, and I have no idea (actually I do kind of have an idea, and that’s even worse) how it’s treated and prepared?

  When we were in Australia, I was listening to the radio on our road trip, and a local cattle farmer was being interviewed, and she said that people always came up to her and asked her how she could stand raising animals from babies, and then slaughtering them and eating them? Like how could she eat something if she knew it’s name?

  And her point was, how can you eat something if you don’t know it’s name or where it came from? Which kind of hit home for me.

  So I stopped eating meat, and I honestly really don’t miss it, and I feel great. I actually tried vegetarianism almost two years ago, but when I stopped eating meat I just started eating chips and junk food (because technically that’s vegetarian right?) and I felt awful all the time.

  I decided it must be because I wasn’t eating meat, so I went back to it. This time, I’m actually eating vegetables (what a novel idea), and trying to eat as many different ones every day as I can.

  A few months after I stopped eating meat completely, we were in the Philippines, diving off the island of Coron, sitting in the boat waiting for our divemaster, when a small canoe-type boat pulled up next to us.

  It was a boat from Palawan, bringing live pigs over to sell in the marketplace. There were about 6 of them, enormous full grown pigs, tied to stakes, and tied to each other, and kept that way for the entire 8 hour boat ride. It was very hot that day, and they had no shade.

  The worst part was the sound they were making. I’m not even sure if pigs are biologically equipped to scream, but that’s what it was. They were screaming. It was horrible, I was almost in tears, but I asked D to take a picture so I could share it.

  

  I’ve done enough research to know that compared to treatment animals in some slaughterhouses in America, that probably wasn’t even that bad.

  So that’s where I’m at right now. I’m having fun experimenting with different recipes and trying new foods, and I’m almost feeling up to the daunting task of trying to make my own veggie burgers, but not quite.

  Posted in food, life, nutrition | 4 Comments | Tagged animal cruelty, diet, eating meat, food, nutrition, recipes, travel, vegetarianism

• christmasness

  Posted at 10:48 am by jasminedesirees, on January 13, 2015

  Just a few pics from my dreamy hibernation holiday in Montana, which included too much polar bear plunging (once) and just the right amount of Rumchata (all of the Rumchata).

  I am writing this from a Starbucks because we still don’t have internet (or furniture) at our new place.  There are two older women across from me discussing how one of their ex-husbands has shacked up with “a floozy”, and I’m sneak downloading Shameless to watch later, snuggled up on my inflatable bed.

  Starting tomorrow I should be back to a semi-regular posting schedule, there are still tons of photos and adventures to share from our trip, starting back in Kuta Lombok.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  

  

  Posted in family, holidays, life, Montana | 1 Comment | Tagged Christmas, family, holidays, life, Montana

• if money were no object

  Posted at 9:30 am by jasminedesirees, on September 25, 2014

  Love the message behind this. It seems like we’re told from a very young age that we can be anything we want to be, but then as we get older, as we get closer to actually being grown ups and trying to decide what we should be doing with our lives, we seem to be told instead that so many of our aspirations are childish, and that we need to grow up and get a “real job”.

  It’s true that not everyone can be painter, or a writer or spend all their time outside with horses, but certainly some people are able to. And if some people are able to, then if you dedicate yourself to being the best writer, painter or horse whisperer you can be, then who’s to say you can’t  be one of them?

  

  You can find the original cartoon here.

  Posted in favourites, inspiration, life, loveliness, thoughts | 0 Comments | Tagged alan watts, dreams, favourites, jobs, life, money

• tuol sleng

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on August 8, 2014

  In addition to our visit to The Killing Fields, we also visited Tuol Sleng, which is a school in Phnom Penh which was turned into a prison and torture chamber during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

  
  
  

  It is estimated that between twenty and thirty thousand people passed through these gates between 1975 and 1979 when the allied army finally liberated Phnom Penh.

  There are reports that only seven people survived captivity at Tuol Sleng or “S-21” as it was nicknamed, although there was a lot of confusion towards the end, and it’s possible as many as 150 people actually escaped Tuol Sleng.

  
  
  
  

  One of those seven survivors was there when we visited, so we were able to meet him, and hear a bit of his story. His name is Chum Mey, and there is actually a picture of his cell further down in this post.

  He was a prisoner at Tuol Sleng for two years, and saw his wife shot and killed in front of him during the chaos when the Khmer soldiers were fleeing Phnom Penh.

  
  
  
  

  Walking around Tuol Sleng is quite eery. It’s very quiet, but the barbed wire is still around the perimeter of the building, and the fencing is still on the front of all of the buildings, it was used to keep prisoners from committing suicide by jumping from the balcony when they couldn’t take the torture anymore. There are several graves running down the center of the first building compound.

  
  
  

  There are chains on the floors, and etchings of letters and numbers on the walls, as well as many pictures of prisoners, their personal effects, and the different torture methods that were employed by Khmer Rouge soldiers to get prisoners to confess to being part of the opposition government (whether they were or weren’t).

  
  
  
  

  There are also personal stories from the survivors, and lots more information about the Khmer Rouge, and that time period in Cambodian history. Definitely a must-visit place when you’re in Phnom Penh.

  
  
  
  
  

  You can learn more about Tuol Sleng here.

  Posted in Cambodia, life, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged Cambodia, khmer rouge, phnom penh, pol pot, tuol sleng

• the killing fields

  Posted at 7:00 am by jasminedesirees, on August 4, 2014

  “It is better to kill an innocent by mistake, then to allow an enemy to go free by mistake”- Pol Pot

  If you’re going to be in Phnom Penh, make sure you allow time to visit Toul Slang and Choeung Ek, better known as The Killing Fields. During the time the Khmer Rouge was in power in Cambodia, 1.7 million people were killed, many of them in execution areas like this. That’s 21% of the population of the country.

  
  
  

  There are hundreds of killing fields all over Cambodia, but Choeung Ek is the largest, and was chosen for the site of the Cambodian Genocide Museum.

  When you enter the gate at Choeung Ek, you pay for your ticket (I believe it was about $4USD per person) and get a small audio player with head set, so you can take the audio tour as you walk around the grounds.

  
  
  

  At each stop, numbered 1-18, you learn more about the things that happened at Choeung Ek, and there are also additional recordings you can listen to, of people telling their stories about life under the Khmer Rouge.

  It is very hard to walk around the grounds and listen to the audio tour, and picture all of the horrible things that happened there. It made me feel sick to my stomach, even though it is a very green and peaceful place now, there are still reminders of the atrocities that occurred there surfacing through the dirt.

  
  
  

  Because so many people were buried in the mass graves, even though many of them were re-buried once the Khmer Rouge regime fell, and Choeung Ek was discovered, teeth and bone fragments, and scraps of the victims clothing can be seen all over the ground, especially after a big rain storm. The staff at Choeung Ek goes around every few weeks to pick up these fragments and place them in sanctified collection cases.

  The audio tour describes how people were transported to Choeung Ek, and then herded over to pits, where they were killed, usually by blunt force trauma. Bullets were expensive, so they weren’t used.

  
  
  

  The most horrible thing at Choeung Ek, for me, was the killing tree. In order to kill babies with the least effort, and without using bullets, Khmer Rouge soldiers would lift them by the feet, bash their heads into the tree, and then throw them into the nearby pit.

  
  
  
  
  

  It is very difficult to visit the Killing Fields, and to be face to face with the absolute worst of humankind, but it is important to understand what those people went through, and to give them the respect of acknowledging that these things really did happen.

  
  
  
  
  

  It also makes you angry though, and really reinforces the point that things like this are still happening in countries all over the world. It seems like there should be more that we can do to stop it now, while it’s happening, instead of waiting 40 years to visit the museum.

  You can learn more about Choeung Ek here.

  
  

  Posted in Cambodia, life, travel | 1 Comment | Tagged Cambodia, choeung ek, khmer rouge, killing fields, phnom penh, war

• green gecko

  Posted at 7:00 am by jasminedesirees, on July 30, 2014

  This is kind of a sad story, and it was definitely a learning experience for me, but the point of traveling is to get out of your comfort zone and learn about the wider world, so I guess this counts as that.

  Cambodia is a very poor country, I looked it up, and the average annual income for a Cambodian family is only $750 US per year. There are a lot of children who are poor, homeless and hungry, and a lot of children who are used by their families in order to make money, taking advantage of the visitors to the country that want to help where they can.

  We were chatting with a Cambodian man on one of our first nights in Siem Reap, and he was telling us about some of the schemes that people use to try to make money off of their children, including having tourists buy rice for hungry children, and then returning it to the store after they leave, and splitting the profits with the store owner.

  The tourists want to help the hungry children, and figure since they aren’t just giving them money, but actually buying them food, that they are really helping, but then the rice is returned, and the money is split between the adults, and often the children don’t get anything out of it.

  A few nights later, we were walking through the night market in Siem Reap, and a little boy, about 13 years old, came up to me, carrying a young child, less than two years old. He told me that his little brother was hungry, that he didn’t want money, or anything for himself, but just begged me over and over again to get some milk for the child.

  I still had that story in my head, so I was pretty cautious, but I decided to go along with him, because if there was any chance that he really did just want to feed his brother, I wasn’t going to say no to that. I was kind of suspicious right away, since the child was carrying an empty, and totally spotless sippy cup, that had never had anything in it, it kind of seemed like a prop.

  He also took me to a store about a block away, we didn’t pass any other stores, so it wasn’t openly strange, but he was quite intent on going to one certain store, so I thought that was a bit suspicious as well.

  As we were walking into the store, another obviously tourist couple were walking out, and I just had a bad feeling. He followed me in, and tried to get me to buy a canister of baby formula, and tried to get me to buy the large, expensive one, by telling me that the child needed that one because of his age, even though the smaller canister was exactly the same.

  At this point, the store door opened again, and another boy about the same age walked in with another tourist, and I heard the guy asked where he could find baby formula. I realized then that it was definitely just a money making scheme, and apologized to the boy and tried to leave, but he wouldn’t let me. He blocked me in the aisle, kept grabbing my arms and wouldn’t let me leave.

  I didn’t want to force my way past him, he was young but he was almost as tall as me, and I didn’t want to hurt the child that he was holding, but he wouldn’t let me go. Eventually I managed to get by him, but he followed me out of the store, yelling at me and grabbing my arms. When he finally realized that I was leaving and I wasn’t going to buy him anything, he swore at me, and grabbed the back of my arm, pinching me as hard as he could.

  He started to walk away, and then punched the little boy he was carrying out of rage. It made me sick, and I felt horrible, for the little boy, and also for the older one, because I wasn’t sure if he was going to get into trouble.

  The reason I shared that story is because I learned the hard way that there are good and bad ways to help. When you give children who are begging on the street money, and they become a viable income for the parents, it can cost them opportunities for education, since they are spending all of their time trying to earn money. But there are good ways to help as well.

  We learned about the Green Gecko Project through talking to some locals in Siem Reap, and decided to pay a visit. It is a school for former street kids run by a local Cambodian man, and his Australian wife. It started as just a one room school where kids could come to learn and get at least one good meal per day.

  It’s been nearly 10 years since it started, and some of the kids they started with are going off to university, law school, or pursuing internships in music and the arts. They currently have 75 students, and do a lot to support former students, and the community in general.

  They have visiting hours every week day, so if you are in the area and want to stop in, make sure it is during those hours. You can also check on their website, they have a wish list, including toothpaste, soap, clothing, shoes, that they are always in need of, if you’d like to help.

  They also accept volunteers, so if you have a special skill that you can teach, art or web design, or dance, etc and you’d like to spend some time in Cambodia, reach out to them.

  You can learn more about the Green Gecko Project here.

  

  Posted in Cambodia, life, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged Cambodia, children, donation, green gecko, volunteer

• martial law

  Posted at 8:35 am by jasminedesirees, on July 3, 2014

  We are having the time of our lives exploring Thailand, and as much as I want to share all of our fun adventures, I also wanted to take a minute to talk about some of the things that are happening politically in the country.

  As most of you probably know, there are some changes happening in Thailand right now. The government has been relieved of some of its duties by the military, and there is a some uncertainty as to what this means for the elected officials, and whether this is truly a coup, which has happened 12 times before in the country’s history.

  This creates some difficulties, since it was a government elected by the people of Thailand, but because a struggling economy and a feeling that the country was not on the right path had led to mass unhappiness and protests, the military stepped in, and declared martial law.

  We were a little nervous about coming here during all of this, the U.S. State department put out a statement dissuading all non-essential travel to Thailand a couple of weeks before we were supposed to leave, but we already had our trip planned, and we knew this was probably our only shot at getting to visit Thailand, at least for a long time, so we decided to come anyway, and hoped for the best.

  To be honest, it hasn’t really affected us, there is a curfew designating that everyone has to be home by midnight every night, it was originally 10 o’clock, but they saw a drop in tourism immediately after the curfew was enabled, and since a lot of the Thai economy is based on tourism, they have to do what they can to keep people coming here, even during this chaotic time.

  We’ve noticed a military presence for sure, especially further north, in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Many of our tuk tuk drivers liked to point out the groups of soldiers stationed along busy intersections, and an increase in check points along main roads.

  From talking to locals, and watching the news here, it seems that the media has been instructed not to speculate on the current political situation and  many of the national Thai broadcasting channels were shut off by the military when they seized power. There are reporters covering these events, but they have to be careful what they write, and must stick to only the bare facts, or they can be accused of inciting riots.

  Also, I heard that some news outlets are being censored via the internet, and a few times when I was trying to read an article, once from the Daily Mail, I was redirected to a rather official looking Thai page, and wasn’t allowed to access it, although I wasn’t able to read what it said.

  From what we’ve seen, reporters are using social media to get the news out, and protestors are also using social media to let people know where to gather. Some Thai locals are in favour of the military intervention, and some are not, it’s a complicated situation.

  We didn’t see any rioting or anything like that in Bangkok, but we met some guys from the UK a few weeks ago that were here when the military first took over, and they had to avoid the palace and all of the major temples in Bangkok because of rioting, and there had been incidents where pipe bombs were used, so they weren’t able to visit many of the landmarks of the city.

  We’ve had such a wonderful time traveling around Thailand, and meeting its people. It’s hard to say what is going to happen with all this, the last time martial law was declared it went on for a year and a half, but I hope it’s resolved in the best interests of the Thai people.

  You can read more about the situation here.

   

   

   

  Posted in life, Thailand, thoughts, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged coup, martial law, military, politics, Thailand, travel

• preparation

  Posted at 11:26 am by jasminedesirees, on May 28, 2014

  On our way to Australia, we’ll be spending some time in Thailand, Cambodia, Bali and Singapore.

  Yesterday I spent 3 hours at the DMV, and then had to go to the doctor to get 5 shots. I hate shots. My dad once hired an off-duty nurse to come over to our house early in the morning to give us all flu shots, and I hid in my closet. And I was 18.

  And the only reason I came out at all was because my 8 year old little brother said “don’t worry jazzy, it’s not so bad, I’ll show you” and went first.

  But I know it’s all going to be worth it to see these amazing places in person.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Posted in exploring, life, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged adventure, Bali, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, travel

• twelve days

  Posted at 10:26 pm by jasminedesirees, on May 27, 2014

  

  Today was running all sorts of errands to try to get a few more things knocked off my list.

  It was also the first day that I would have been working if I was still working, but I’m not, so I wasn’t.

  So I guess this is really happening then. Twelve days. Yikes.

  Posted in life, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged adventure, Australia, Bali, Cambodia, Pacific, Singapore, Thailand, travel

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