ASIA 2024 Recap; from Kelowna!

Dec 24

ASIA 2024 RECAP

I am home. I never imagined how luxurious and perfect my bed was. Getting up this morning to run water in my kitchen to make a coffee while looking at the beautiful mountain view felt like a dream.

Jorg, along with my parents picked me up from the airport. How incredible it felt to walk out to see them all waiting for me with Jorg holding a MAMA sign. <3. Jorg and I spent all day and evening together – it was a most beautiful day and my heart overflows.

Ready for a family Christmas today.

To recap my past few months.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It didn’t help I was working 18-hour days 7 days per week for 6 months prior to travel. I pieced my trip together with odd minutes I had over the days and weeks and months prior.

What I did know was that I didn’t remember ever really doing something just for me. I definitely have helped to facilitate in different ways in our home growing up.. Then as a mother, and a single mother for the past 13 years, raising my kids alone – it really has been a beautiful, would not trade it experience – tho it has been all-consuming.

This year, it dawned on me that the kids would be in dorm rooms this fall. And that my work season is a little slower from October until January. The thought crossed my mind, that maybe this was the moment I have waited for. That thought nagged at me as I didn’t know when I could find this opportunity again. Maybe next year!! haha.. but I don’t know. So, I made it happen, with the help of a travel agent for the bigger major flights.

I set out with my little rubber toe piece, which saved me. I started having toe pain a month before my trip, I bought these little toe things on Amazon. It was magic. Incredible how this little thing completely alleviates my toe pain, so - a huge plug for these things if anyone is experiencing bunion type pain, it is worth the $30 on Amazon! Haha

To note: I marvel at the fact that I worked 6 months so many hours, no time off, people were sick all around me all the time at Grand Palms – I never got sick one time and never took one sick day. I have traveled all over South East Asia and everywhere I went, people were sick, getting over something, coming down with something. I am coming home now, for Christmas and not one time since April have I gotten so much as a sniffle. Maybe prior to that in 2024, I don’t recall – but I was holding my breath all summer and all my travels. Thank you Lord for my health through all of this. I am coming home a little beaten up, sore, black and blue from my emergency tooth surgery – but otherwise well. The Dentist in Manila fixed my one tooth by grinding it down a little, the other was a root canal where one root died, and part of the crown broke off. The tooth was loose in my mouth and sore and smelled rancid. It was very scary – it kept moving around in my mouth. It had to come out and since it was a root canal it was brittle and kept breaking as he tried to get it out. It was a 3-hour aggressive surgery to get it out, bone graft, and then put in the post for the implant. I am beyond thrilled we were able to fix my tooth, but I look a little worse for wear coming home. Massive kudos to international health care. I walked into his office at 5pm one day, the next morning at 10am he had all materials delivered and had me complete, and ready to head to my next flight just in time!

My recap is as follows.

ASIA!

Initially I preferred Europe, but didn’t want to visit in the cold. I traveled this entire trip with no checked luggage, only a carry on. It was too cold for that at this time of year in Europe. So, I opted for South East Asia. There were many countries I wanted to visit that didn’t make the cut. I feel satisfied with the ones I did visit.

Firstly, the population alone. I have attached a spreadsheet to show person per square kilometer in every place I visited. Canada being so vast, we don’t fully grasp what living is like with such density.

Second, the menu is immensely different across every border. One thing that stood out is that it seems that all countries around the world, outside of North America eat almost every body part of the meats on the table. Gizzards, livers, hearts, tongue, feet, skin, even eyeballs and intestines. This was clear almost my entire trip that most of the world loves and eats all of these parts. As well, we spoke with people in Cambodia who told us they eat dog all the time, and if I remember correctly, I believe he said cats too…. But only certain types of dogs. Cultures are so very different.

Re: cats and dogs… almost every country I visited has 100’s of them roaming the streets, homeless. People feed them but they don’t belong to anyone. Many don’t get fed and are starving as well. Mostly, they do not go indoor, they live outdoor.

One thing I did not realize either is the strong Muslim presence in every single place I visited. I suppose in every country and city in the world. Every city I visited had a full Muslim section of the city with many restaurants, mosques and a great population. Maybe everyone already knew this, but it was one thing I learned on this trip.

One of the big things that stood out to me in Asia is the cigarette smoking. Almost everyone smokes cigarettes. Some countries also smoke pot, but cigarettes are everywhere… also a lot of indoor smoking even in restaurants.

In most of these countries, people marry very young, similar to how my parents’ generation married young. It is common for young people to get married in their early 20’s and have children immediately.

The children of professionals in Asia go to University. The people working at the markets have their children helping them sell from the time they are very young. The children born into families selling on the streets, have very little chance to ever leave that lifestyle. Many of them become charismatic salespeople on the streets of Asia.

I learned that when you travel with only a carry on, every item serves a purpose. Almost every day, I had a mild heart attack moment thinking I left something behind – but almost every time I had it with me. I needed everything I brought. I lost my favorite water bottle in Cambodia but found it again in Kuala Lumpur. Lululemon represents globally! Sunglasses! I notoriously leave sunglasses behind, and even worse now that I need readers and I’m switching. I am shocked I did not lose a single pair of glasses, they always turned up in my bag somewhere.

I bought a new pair of runners and a new pair of Teva sandals for this trip and with no time to wear them in, my heel blisters were real the first couple of weeks. No chance to heal as both my shoes had full backs on them. I went through a bunch of band aids and eventually they healed.

Being a chronic hair wash client for many years, I tried to find hair washes each week on my trip. How fascinating to see the different techniques in every single country. Some extravagant!! And some in a dark back room using a cold bucket of water to pour over my head for the rinse. All part of the experience, I continued to find ‘salons’ wherever I went.

NO BUGS! One of the biggest shocks for me was the LACK of bugs. I thought I would be eaten alive my entire trip. Wrong!! I hardly experienced any bugs the entire time! A few yes, but what a pleasant surprise to have windows wide open, no screens, no bugs almost everywhere!

There is a 7-11 on every second block in much of Asia. 7-11 has local foods. In most of these countries, people grab their breakfast, lunch, and snacks at 7-11. The most shocking thing is that not one store sells slurpees. How is it that Winnipeg is the slurpee capital of the world with -40 winters, and these hot, humid countries are chocked full of 7-11’s, yet they do not serve a single slurpee. What an oddity.

Tipping was interesting. Some places found it an insult to tip at all, and others were insulted without a large tip. A quick education every time I arrived in a new place.

Asia, where an hour massage is 10 bucks, and I had many!! – and the culture is bursting on every street, in every direction.

Things I learned about myself …

- I am a little crazy. I definitely learned that I often go where others do not. I learned that I am more adventurous than I knew. I have been saying for years, my middle name is adventure but yeah… more so than I even knew for sure.

- I learned that I LOVE solo travel. There is always one best seat available every time, which I could slip into. I felt that meeting people was very easy when I was solo traveling. And what amazing, wonderful people I did meet, in the most random of ways.

- The moment I get into a cab in another country, I never wear a seatbelt. Strange but fact

- Doing something for myself did help me let go of my kiddos.. understanding they are safe and capable humans

Every culture has their history and their trauma from their past. I learned that despite hardship, people are resilient. People are resourceful and they find their way. And life is hard everywhere, it is relative.

There was more to discover in every city, more and more and more and more, it was endless.

Most Asian countries had 1000’s of balconies, all hanging with laundry. Of the seemingly millions of balconies I saw, I may have seen a total of 2 people on their balcony. Amazing how nobody spends any time on their balconies. When or how do they get all that laundry out there unless in the dark in the middle of the night!?

I did feel a heaviness in Indonesia. Ubud specifically. Every home has a temple, every day each home and shop prepare offerings to the gods. When I started to examine all the gods, most of them were very, very scary looking demon type figures. I questioned about that as I was thinking they could have had beautiful figures of flowers and happy things. Most of their figures looked terrifying but they were so present everywhere, I almost missed it. Once I clued in to that, I felt quite dark and heavy. They said the evil figures are supposed to keep off any evil spirits. Interesting theory.

I felt an absolute marked difference when we landed in the Philippines. The Filipino people were hands down my favorite of all. They do not have an easy life, yet every single place I looked I saw happy people. Kind, loving, laughing, singing, beautiful people. I absolutely loved the culture and the people. I totally LOVED the Philippines and I will 100% be back there!!!!

I wonder how many millions of people I viewed. How humbling and how small I am in this world .. it has put many things in perspective for me.

I have attached a spreadsheet of my personal opinions of where I visited. I attempted to track as I went, so as not to forget. Here is the order in which I ranked my experiences out of 10:

- Japan 10

- Philippines 10

- Thailand 9.5

- Vietnam 9

- Malaysia 8.5

- Indonesia 8

- Cambodia 7

- South Korea 4

- China 1

I feel so super grateful for my experience. Thanks to 2 of my friends for joining different legs. Thank you to all the people who messaged me and supported my journey! I felt most supported and loved. I have incredibly busy 18-hour days scheduled ahead of me coming home from now until probably Fall lol… , but will be happy to connect with people again when I am home.

Love to you all.

One final album of a few of my great memories. Impossible to choose only 20. ASIA 2024,

There is so much more I could tell. A lifetime of stories.

Merry Christmas ALL!!

This same post will be on my blog. www.jennykrahn.ca

PICS BELOW:

1 my welcome home committee!! (guess Jorg is holding my personal treat for myself on this trip one story ;) )

2 Vietnam Old Quarter in Hanoi, Train Street w Sandy

3 my many scooter rentals, this one in Krabi, Thailand

4 Beautiful Sandy and I in Halong Bay, Vietnam

5 Bangkok sky view! Thailand

6 Osaka, Japan!