The 100th Day

Woke up this morning, stretched, hiked 10km, ate salmon cakes. Now I am ready to fly from Rutland, Vermont back to Canada. Wowza. 100 days on the road with the red bag. England, France, India, Thailand, China, USA.

Its truly amazing having friends all around the globe. I must give thanks to the following folks for letting me sleep on spare beds, feeding me and letting me do a load of laundry and making me feel at home (as always):

Alex, Tim and Maya in Oxford and Sussex
Saz and Loz in Oxford
The Halperin's (Claire's parents) in London
Chris, Shaila and Will in Mussourie
Yvonne in Beijing
Jason and Timber in Shanghai
Ann and Aki in New York City
Ari, Lena and Kia in Washington D.C.


And of course thanks to everyone for sending emails, words of encouragement and general well wishes!

I feel like I am making an Oscar speech.

Onto the RED BAG
I didn't use or barely used, but still carried with me:
- first aid kit
- mascara, eyeliner and bronzer
- all medications

What proved to be indispensible:
- a black wicked hooded jacket from MEC
- the Rayban sunglasses
- orange headband to cover up these really bad roots
- lululemon bra
- just about everything else. I packed quite well actually!

I didn't get sick. I didn't get anything stolen or lost. I didn't break any bones. I didn't buy any cigarettes. I didn't eat Peking Duck in Beijing. I do feel fit. I did take 2000 photos. I went on a lot of boat trips. I met a ton of cool people, and saw many old friends.

But to be honest, I am now ready to swap my hiking boots for a cool pair of heeled boots again, I definitely need to get my eyebrows waxed, and I'd like to sleep in one bed longer than 7 nights...

Hiking in the Green Mountain State

I've been doing some amazing hiking in Vermont, the green mountain state. It is the second least populous state in the U.S.A, and about 70% of its land area is covered by forests. What a better place to be as the leaves start to change colours. It really is gorgeous here. I'm at a hiking spa at the Inn of Six Mountains in Killington. I've been doing the organized treks, advanced level, through the forests for a full on week now, which are about 12-15km each day (but sometimes straight up!). The trails are either part of ski hills, mountain bike trails, the Appalachian or Long Trail. Then its yoga and/or a massage and/or strength class and/or a glass of wine in the afternoon. Hee hee. Definitely a fine place to get fit again as I move toward the end of this adventure. Oh and I didn't take the above pic, I scammed it from the internet cause I can't add my own photos using this particular computer!

American History

Wow, there really are some places in the big ole United States of America that are truly beautiful. It helps that the weather has been agreeable, and the sun is shining wherever I have been these past few weeks. I'm now in Boston, intellectual capital of the Americas with Harvard, MIT, Boston Uni, and also, the birthplace of the American Revolution ("the cradle of liberty"). This place has an amazing vibe. I like this town. Before getting to the home of the Red Sox I spent a few great days in the nation's capital, Washington D.C., where I stayed with Ari, a friend from grad school, his wife Lena and dog Kia, and also met up with J.B., my frequent houseguest in Cairo. It was a great time getting to know a really cool and laidback city. Did you know in D.C. that approx. 17% of the population are lawyers? I learned that.

I'm a such a tourist geek here in the States. Why the hell not eh? In Boston I went on one of those hop on hop off bus tours and then proceeded to walk the Freedom Trail. Its basically where they have the famous sites mapped out in a 2 mile not-so-straight line. I saw the navy ship USS Constitution, Paul Revere's house, the church where he made the signal that the enemy was coming, Bunkers Hill... etc. The famous things we hear about but never actually know what they are or why they are important and for whom. Sometimes I am quite amazed at what historians tend to forget to mention or simply omit because it doesn't fit in with the nice story they have built for themselves. I am learning more about the other side of American history through the great book by Howard Zinn "A People's History of the United States". A leftist history from the perspective of the Native Americans, women, slaves, liberals and other disenfranchised members of American society. My Dad is gonna love it...

Me and Ari on a paddle boat on the Potomac River. There are also a few monuments close by... Jefferson? Lincoln? Washington? Can't remember which is which!

George Bush wasn't in on this day. Apparently he was at his ranch in Texas. I wanted a tour of the White House, but there is a 90 day waiting list!

A not so unusual sight in NYC.

And, what better way to learn about America then to try out my hands at a local shooting range? Thanks to Aki for suggesting this as our adventurous activity in NYC! But I'll never shoot a gun again.

Labour Day Weekend in the Catskills

I met up with Mark and Ann and Aki, friends from Ottawa now living in NYC, for a weekend in the Catskills, New York State. We rented a house and Neil, one of Aki`s lawyer friends joined us for the long weekend. The five of us had a great few days hiking, swimming in lakes, odd moments of frisbee playing, devouring local produce and blueberry pies, enjoying our Scapa whiskey and Californian red wine and general chillaxing.

We also learned that the defining concert of the 1970`s, Woodstock, was not actually held in Woodstock, but in the town of Bethel about 42 miles away from Woodstock in the Catskills. The hippies are still out in full force in the artist colony, and it is definitely a town still bringing in the tourists being famous for something it actually had nothing to do with!

Along the California Coast

What better way to re-enter North America then through Los Angeles, a city completely devoid of substance or character. I did the touristy thing and took a bus tour of Hollywood, movie star homes, Venice Beach and Sunset Boulevard. Didn`t see any stars, but did notice that they have Lululemon on Rodeo Drive, and caught a glimpse of Barbra Streisand`s hybrid Ford in her driveway.

I then quickly got out of the hostel I was staying in with the pimps and prostitutes of Inglewood alongside the wannabe actors and actresses from smalltown US of A, and rented a car to set forth along the Pacific Coast Highway. An absolutely stunning 12 hour drive through the winding roads through the Big Sur, amongst the trees and mountains up to San Francisco.

Spending Time in the Big Cities

Well not much to say about Beijing and Shanghai except that I am totally digging it. Beijing was ultra-cool because of all the hype surrounding the Olympics at the 8th minute of the 8th hour of the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year (i.e. August 8th 2008). When I was there the city was experimenting with pollution control as they get ready for next summer. This involved a few of the following actions: a) only allowing cars with even license plates to drive on Monday and odd ones on Tuesday; b) shutting down something like 80% of factories to ensure a "blue sky day" (one of 260 such days planned for this year) and c) fining the horkers and spitters.

In Shanghai I stayed with Jason, a good friend who left Cairo 2 years ago and moved to Shanghai with his partner Timber. They are living in something like the Club Med of Shanghai at the Racquetball Club with a pool and a jacuzzi in their back garden, tennis courts, an in-house spa and a fantastic restaurant. Needless to say in my three days there I managed to get out only for reflexology, DVD purchases and Chinese silk. The Red Bag has now been joined by a lesser quality carry-on to hold these fine purchases!

The Great Wall

"The original 'wall' was begun over 2000 years ago during the Qin dynasty (221-207 BC) when China was unified under Emperor Qin. Separate walls, constructed by independent kingdoms to keep out marauding nomads, were linked together. The effort required hundreds of thousands of workers, many of them political prisioners... An estimated 180 million cubic metres of rammed earth was used to form the core of the original Wall, and legend has it that one of the building materials used were the bones of deceased workers...The wall never really did perform its function as an impenetrable line of defense...


The myth that the Great Wall is visible with the naked eye from the moon was finally laid to rest in 2003, when China's first astronaut Yang Liwei failed to see the barrier from space." (Beijing Lonely Planet 2005). Below are pictures from the 2250m long granite section of the wall at Mutianyu, where I went up by cable car and down by luge!

A Few China Pics

It seems I am able to edit on Blogger from Beijing, but I'm not actually allowed to view the blog site. Strange. Oh well, gives me a chance to add some pics. Here are a few from Yangshuo, definitely China's tourist mecca and locale of the odd-balls in the country, including the hot underwear model, the albino fortune teller and a great personality banana-seller.







My photos of the Pandas in Chengdu are not the best as they weren't very playful or outgoing the morning I saw them.


This is a guy about to cut the head off his goose in Fengdu, the "Ghost City" on the Yangtze.

This was, thankfully, not our Three Gorges Scenic Cruise #1, but our boat was not much better. We did have a top deck though which made all the difference.

And this monk is definitely making some peace with himself...

Third Class on The Yangtze

I am typing this from Yichang, a city somewhere on the Yangtze. The "Three Gorges Scenic Cruise #1" dropped us off here last night. The 4-day "cruise" was definitely an adventure! I had booked 2nd class, which meant a 4-bed room, somehow assuming that I would be put in with a nice Chinese family where I could teach the kid the a-b-c's. No such luck, instead I got three sweaty men in tank tops rolled up to their necks smoking and drinking lager. I quickly changed rooms to third class, which had six beds, and shared with 2 foreign couples. One couple, a French guy and a Vietnamese woman, were absolutely horrified at the state of our room. Cramped bunkbeds, squat toilet, brown water, malfunctioning 'aircon' and the roar of engines at our heads. The other couple, Steve from England and Dr. Zuzana from Slovakia, were much more positive and optimistic about the adventure and the showerless days; so I hung out with them and chilled on the top deck with two young Dutch lads who were also happily enjoying the scenery.

The Yangtze river itself and the gorges are absolutely stunning, though the water is murky and the air was smoggy for most of the time. It was a peaceful ride, and we went through the lesser three gorges on a traditional boat with Chinese singing folk songs. At the end of the journey was the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the largest and most ambitious engineering project "in the world". The purpose of the dam is to provide hydroelectric power to Shanghai, much-needed water up to Beijing and elsewhere for irrigation, and most importantly for the Chinese, flood control. While Lake Nasser (the human-made reservoir from the Aswan Dam in Egypt) has the highest capacity for irrigation, the Three Gorges claims to have the highest storage capacity for controlling floods. It is estimated that about 1.5 million people have been displaced (official Chinese figures), and lost their homes and livelihoods. We went through the town of Wuchang, where the farmers and mountain dwellers have been resettled. At this point we got off the boat and enjoyed a hotpot and beer, and witnessed the Chinese doing their nightly communal dancing and aerobics in the main square.

I'd like to say more about the Three Gorges, but won't until I am in another land.

Now I'm about to enjoy another 20 hour train ride to get up to Beijing, where I am looking forward to duck pancakes, trekking on the Great Wall, seeing the Olympics sights, and drinking red wine with a couple of friends of friends living up there. Would be nice to have a bit of normalcy at this juncture!

Thanks again to Joey for posting this for me :)

Experiencing Technical Difficulties in China

Hi All. I am writing this as an email and have asked my lovely sister Joanne to cut and paste and post this for me on the blog. China is not allowing the access of Blogger, and in some places, I can't get into Yahoo either. Firewalls! I'll also be unable to download photos I think for awhile, but will do so as soon as I get the chance...

As I had done Hong Kong with some luxury, I have decided to do China on the cheap as a backpacker; by staying in dorm hostels, taking smelly overnight buses and spending too many hours on trains. I am trying to see if I can do this amazingly large country without taking any flights (aren't you proud?!) So after Hong Kong, I took the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) to Shenzen, where I met two young lads from England studying medicine, and who had just cycled 1000 miles from Shanghai to Hong Kong for charity! Great to see the young ones doing something productive in life. We were on the strangest bus I had ever seen, with three rows of sleepers and a French movie dubbed in Cantonese for 12 hours. I hung out with these two cyclists, Dave and Chris, who look remarkably like Prince William and Harry, for the next few days in the tourist mecca of Yangshuo, just south of Guilin on the Li River. We met up with another traveller Madeline, and the four of us managed to get in a bamboo rafting trip, a cycle through the countryside, and a mud bath in the Buddha Cave. Yangshuo is a bit of a hippy tourist mecca, and attracts the many sides of Chinese folk to the town. The best was an albino fortune teller who totally had the hots for Madeline, and I just had to get my portrait painted on a t-shirt from a disabled artist. I also, perhaps not too surprisingly, bumped into an American I knew in Cairo four years ago!

I then survived a 26 hour train journey by getting through half of Mao's biography (wow, what a brute), and am now in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Home of one of my favorite Chinese dishes, szechuan shrimp. As I am only here for less than a day, I have managed to get in a Chinese opera (not too bad, great acrobatics and mask-changing stunts), and this morning ventured to the largest Panda breeding centre in the world. The movie highlighting the park announced that "panda breeding is as important to China as sending a man to space".

Today I am embarking on a Yangtze River Cruise. Believe me, it will not be luxurious (no five-star treatment and there are doubts about whether or not there will be anyone else speaking English). My only reason for doing this trip is to the see the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, and to hopefully do some research on the environmental impacts of the dam just for the heck of it. I have been emailling folks to try to get someone from a Canadian NGO I know working there to talk with me, but no luck so far. In any event, the Three Gorges is suppose to be absolutely stunning, and after the dam is finished in 2009, the river from Chongqing may be unpassable. So I am getting there just in time.

More soon from the land of Buddha, fake Rolex's and cool bamboo hats.

From Joanne: I did it!!!

The Fragrant Harbour on Day 50

I am on Day 50 of my adventure, and still here in Hong Kong. I am totally into this place. It really doesn't feel that different from hanging out on Dundas and Spadina. Every second shop sells mobile phones and camcorders and you can smell that infamous chinatown aroma at every street corner.

Today I spent the day at the Museum of History to learn the fascinating Hong Kong Story: the boat dwellers, opium, the Brits, opium, opium, opium again, the Japanese invasion and absolute desolation, the Brits again, typhoons, water shortages, the Chinese again. Its peculiar, this is a modern citystate with a breadth of history that seems to be lost. Since July 1997 Hong Kong is officially part of China again, but when I ask people what has changed since British reign, they are reluctant to say anything. Perhaps really it isn't that different? Though I always thought that Hong Kong was more British than Chinese. I was wrong. Malesh, here are some pics of the modern fragrant harbour. The pics from the market are when Martha, my cooking teacher, took me on a tour through the food market here in Kowloon. Chinese like to eat their animals fresh, so I saw a lot of chopping off of heads of chickens and fish to give to be cooked for the evening meal. I also saw the longest green beans; like seriously over 2 feet long, as well as eggs that literally just dropped from the hen. The last picture is from the jade market. Jade is thought to bring good luck and when Chinese people are brought into this world or celebrate an event such as graduation, childbirth or marriage they are traditionally given a piece of jade. The Chinese are incredibly superstitious and accordingly, because of the year I was born (pig), I am actually not in a good position to take risks at the moment. Hmmmf. Seems I have taken quite a few this year. Well I'll buy a piece of jade, eat some fish heads, rub a few yellow-haired monkeys and hope for the best.

Oh, and since I am at my half-way point of my adventure, I thought I should celebrate it somehow. But wasn't sure... do I do an assessment towards meeting my objectives (ha! a mid-term review!)? Lessons learned? Challenges faced? Most memorable moments? Then I thought, nah. I really am just going with the flow anyway and I really am not out to achieve anything, but rather to experience. I suppose the greatest semblance toward progress of some kind is that I am not smoking. Yes people, I am seriously not smoking. Okay, I had a slight lapse in Thailand one day with the rock climbers and then the next night while out drinking with folks; but since leaving Krabi a week ago, I have again been without nicotine. So yes, I have had more smoke-free days in the last 50 then I have had smoking. And now we don't need to discuss it anymore, we just know that Lor is a non-smoker. Yay. I will however commemorate the half-way point with a fine glass of red at the hotel's bar. I've just realized its happy hour. Happy happy :)

A Touch of Heart in Hong Kong

Anyone who knows me for longer than like a day usually knows that my bro, sis and I grew up eating a heck of a lot of dimsum from an early age. While in Cairo, I would often get cravings and would immediately get to SoHo or to Ken's as soon as I landed in London or Toronto while en route. Yep, as we know, I have a thing for Chinese food. Well now my dear friends, I know how to make the best of dimsum!! To chop, to mix, to roll, to saute, to deep fry, to steam...

Dim sum in Cantonese translates to English as a "touch of heart". It takes a hell of a lot of patience and time to get those lovely pieces on a bamboo steamer to a trolley for your weekend consumption. It seems that almost all of the dim sum treats we know and love consist of the same ingredients, but the dough may be slightly different or the flour a different variety. There exist a few secrets in dimsum cooking which I am finding out in my 3-day cooking class with Martha Sherpa (http://www.cookery.com.hk/). Martha usually trains proper chefs from all over the world and domestic helpers in Hong Kong, but I emailled her a few months ago and she agreed to put me into her classes. This new found skill will only come out for special occasions! It takes a long time, but I promise that my first real dinner party in Ottawa shall include some dimsum pieces :)

P.S. Can you believe I am actually cooking with mushrooms. Yuck. I still think they are gross even if they are in absolutely everything here.

Rock Climbing in Railay

Although my sojourn in Kerala was totally relaxing and rejuvenating, I was really in need of some activity. So I took the restless red bag to Thailand, where I knew for sure that fun and further adventure was to be had. Thailand has got to be the absolutely easiest place to travel in... people are totally friendly, very little hassles, cheap as you want it to be, and everything is catered for the idling tourist. I have been here before, in January 2005 right after the tsunami, so I knew enough that I did not want to stay in Bangkok for long. After about 20 hours on Khao San road, following a yoga-like and painful Thai massage, a repiercing of my nose (hey at least I didn't get another tattoo :), the purchase of a few crap t-shirts and an amazing sleep, I arrived to Krabi. I only have a few days here, so I came down to Railay Beach.

What better amount of activity than learning how to rock climb eh! I've been on a course, did 6 climbs with the highest being about 30 meters. I was pleasantly surprised that I really enjoyed it (especially the absailing down part). Here are a few pics on the rockface and a new profile pic feeling pretty damn pleased with the accomplishment!

I'm Rejuvenated!

I am now officially rejuvenated. Fourteen days and feeling pretty great. I've lost 3.5 kilos, but no need to get too excited: it was really just the red wine and escargots from France coming off. Gotta tell ya, I am not sure if I have been really lazy here or simply relaxed. I have done ab-so-lute-ly freakin' nothing... The typical day continued and I had quite the routine going. I did however eat different foods, but yes Joey, steamed bananas were a staple, I loved them! And I did manage to talk to people and have interesting chitchats with quite a few folks (mostly German and Russians, and one Canadian family). But I am telling myself that I really really shouldn't feel guilty for being a complete sloth and seeing nothing of Kerala. Hanging out in the hammock staring at coconut trees were just far more interesting for me than walking through the town of Trivandrum. Having said that, I would love to come back here and really see Kerala properly, maybe next time on a fishing boat.

So here are a few more pics: one of me in a steam bath with a red face from the heat, my two therapists who completely thrashed my poor body with their hands and feet, and another of a few herbs that I have been ingesting.



And yes, still no cigs.

A Typical Day...

So, its my 7th day towards rejuvenation, and my 10th day smoke-free, and gotta tell ya, feeling pretty darn good. I am beginning to feel that everything about me is cleaner, from my bones, blood and brain.

I've also just finished reading all 620 pages of Gandhi's biography, and I bet you didn't know that he took a sabbatical for a year. He said it "nourished the body and cleansed the soul". Okay, I'm only taking 3 months off, but its good to know that selfless and saintly men such as him have also given in to chilling out every now and then.

As for the moment, my typical day consists of the following:

8:00am Open Eyes

8:15am Go to Breakfast of steamed bananas, herbal water and carrot tea, say hello to this guy



8:45am Check emails

9:45am Yoga (Asanas and Breathing exercises)

11:45am Read Indian Express newspaper overlooking the sea and drink a lime juice with a wee bit of honey

12:30pm Lunch of lemon ginger rice, red spinach with carrots, dal and a mango lassi (yummy) while overlooking the sea



1:00pm Quick nap and/or read book hanging out on hammock


3:00pm Treatment begins of 1/2 hour back massage, 1/2 hour massage on floor with therapists feet, 1/2 hour two therapist massage, 1/2 hour oily stuff poured on forehead

5:00pm Come back to hut looking like this after drinking coconut milk


6:30pm Emerge from hut following a hot shower and check emails again


7:00pm Dinner of leafy vegetable soup, spinach and potatoes, raw veggies, indian sweet of some kind and hot herbal water

8:00pm Read book, send texts, chat on phone and/or write in journal

9:00pm Sleep

I seriously don't think I have ever enjoyed sleeping this much. It must be the nicotine and other poisons getting out. Yippee, and I have another week here!

"The Gateway to Serenity"

Okay, so this is a big part of what this whole adventure is about. Me doing some sort of detoxifying, balancing of the mind-body-spirit deal to clear my head and rid myself of all sorts of crap that has been floating in my system. To get on to that healthy road after living in one of the most polluted cities in the world. And of course, to quit smoking.

I'm on Day 3 now of the non-smoking and feeling pretty good. I was on the patch, but then read Allen Carr, who says "you are a nicotine addict, smoking is not a habit, you are a drug addict... as soon as you realize that nicotine is the problem, you will rid yourself of the god-awful terrible disgusting weed thing hanging from your mouth. Smoking offers you no benefits whatsoever, it robs you of money, health and happiness. Your inability to quit is dominated by fear. You have been brainwashed by big tobacco companies, the media and your teenaged peers who were cool when they were 15, but are now just idiots for continuing to smoke". (Paraphrased)

So for the detox I'm in Kerala, the land of mangoes, jackfruit and coconut trees in south-west India. Also the birthplace of Ayurveda, the ancient science to balance the body's energy, strengthen the immune system and protect oneself against disease. I arrived this morning and got my body type tested (I am dominated by the fire-y one, go figure) and my herbal meds are prescribed. My ailments are mainly toxin build-up and also my recurring neck and shoulder issues. So I'm on a 14-day rejuvenation therapy, no meat, no alcohol, no smokes. Instead I get daily 2 hour massages, daily yoga, lots of oils, lots of herbal teas and lots of veggies.

I am here at the Manaltheeram and am in one of those huts overlooking the sea that are on the pictures. I really, really, really don't think I will regret the cash spent on these few weeks...

Rishikesh. The yoga center of India, and also the place that 'hippy-ized' India in the 1960's when the Beatles met the Maharaji. I went yesterday for the day to see what all the fuss was about, and to also get a chance to see the Ganges River and perhaps witness a few pilgrimages. Rishikesh is where the Ganges comes out of the Himalayas.

The first thing that struck me were the tourists, mostly German, who were obviously inspired by John Lennon's wearing of Indian garb and Gandhi's bare feet. I suppose if I hung out doing yoga all day, meditating, living off of lentils and rice, and chilling with the roaming cows and monkeys; then I too may be wearing bindi's, smoking bidi's and wearing free-flowing linen blouses. A few photos of the murky Ganges waters and the sadhu's, traditional Indian wisemen, and of course, the cows. Moooooo.