a visit to kep [mary & jim in cambodia part 5]

no visit to cambodia is complete without a trip to our favorite sleepy seaside town, kep.  we went with my parents last year for a relaxing weekend get-a-way when cedar was a newborn, but this time it was a lot different with a toddler in tow.  for daniel & i, it will forever be remembered as the god-awful weekend of tantrums & [night] terrors.  luckily my parents were there to help us, the context for cedar  meltdowns was ideal - our guesthouse was beautiful & relaxing, & it seems to have just been a long-weekend freak-out phase. [fingers crossed.....]   

reunion in a russian tourist trap [phuket]

the hastings family reunion really kicked into full swing when we all (blaine, lindsay, daniel, cedar & i) met up with our brother ben & his girlfriend lindsay in bangkok.  we had found a great deal on a trip to phuket, so we headed to the beach!

we had NO idea what we were getting into.  i think i thought that phuket would be like our beloved kep, but just bigger & with more hotels.  

not even close.  

phuket was tourist-filled beyond anything we'd seen in southeast asia.  despite the tourist trap vibe, we had a good time relaxing at our hotel (which turned out to be completely full of russians, even the menu & signs were in russian!) & taking a really amazing boat trip out to phi phi island.  turns out phuket is popular for a reason; its beaches & islands are fantastically bright & beautiful & even a boat full of feisty russians couldn't ruin that.    

& I'll meet you at the station [night train from laos]

[my favorite train photo - cedar & his buddy sophia]

our travels with blaine & lindsay took us on an overnight train from vientiane, laos to bangkok, thailand with our entire MCC team.
it was 12-hours, but we actually really enjoyed it!

our seats had fold down tables where we could eat & play games & after that they folded down into bunk beds! when it got dark a nice train worker came & made up our beds with sheets & blankets & we all snuggled up for a night of sleeping to the soothing sounds of the rolling train.

we heart it because we made it [cloth high chair]

having baby cedar has changed our lives in a very lot of ways, but actually one of the changes we notice the  most is how it has changed the way we move around the city.  in our pre-cedar days, we traveled very happily to & fro on our little 100 cc moto (what they are called here, i think its the french word for motor scooter).

[the "you" sign was for a project - this was the only picture i could find of us on our moto!]

since we have seen several moto accidents involving babies, we figured we'd wait awhile before our family moto riding begins.  so, in the meantime, we've taken to traveling around by tuk tuk. which is basically a little carriage carried behind a moto

now, a tuk tuk feels pretty luxurious compared to a moto, but its still no piece of cake trying to transport ourselves & cedar & all his baby accouterments (really, who knew how much stuff one little baby can use!).  which brings me to our current dilemma - how to eat out (a real cultural pastime here since its often the same price as cooking at home....& doesn't heat up your house & is easier too!) with cedar.  in the past we just took him & set him on the table or on a blanket on the floor (plus the restaurant staff often take turns holding him anyway which is always great!).  but now our little guy can move a lot & basically needs a place to be restrained. since high chairs at restaurants aren't very common here, when we go out, we have to take along some sort of chair or umbrella stroller, which is a pain, particularly when traveling alone in a tuk tuk or by bus, which is how we travel whenever we leave phnom penh. dilemma.

 

so! i was excited to find the perfect solution while we were in kampot a few months ago.  a family there had this cool high chair thing that was made out of cloth & could fold up to be really small.   now, with  the solution to our troubles in mind, i searched high & low on google for "cloth high chair patterns", but couldn't find any in the totseat style.  thankfully, daniel (who is a much, much better sewer than i) was able to make a pattern based on some pictures we took of the baby in kampot & now we have our very own homemade version! (if you want a copy of the pattern, just email me)

so far, baby cedar seems to like it.

we're off for a week in hanoi tomorrow, which will be the true test.  daniel made a sweet little carrying case too, so it sure was easy to pack!

laos [luscious & lovely luang prabong]

its hard to know where to begin when describing our trip to laos.  it was such a beautiful, lush, welcoming country & we loved our time there. 

[daniel & baby cedar checking out our descent into laos]

from siem reap, blaine, lindsay, daniel, cedar & i took a flight that dropped us off in northern laos, in a town called luang prabang.  we were en route to an mcc regional retreat so we joined up with several mcc friends there.

[laotian temple buddhas]

luang prabang is officially one of my favorite place ever (perhaps vying with ubud in bali for tops). the whole town is a unesco heritage site & with good reason.  the town is a great mix of charming, vibrant, & exotic all set along the picturesque banks of the mekong & lush mountain valleys.  highlights included a trip to a waterfall, a boatride on the mekong, great times with friends & family, & the really delicious laotion food.  (its much spicier than cambodian food, which was a fun change.)

*pictures by a combination of hastings, talstras, & fowlers


a note to travellors: don't be tempted by the $1 street food buffet, even after 3 years of living in cambodia, it knocked both daniel & i out with gusto!

benjamin & lindsay in cambodia

after our mini-family reunion in thailand, ben & lindsay came back with us for a week of fun in cambodia.  they had just finished a trip to wild india & crazy phuket, so we did lots of relaxing on the porch, but also some fun cambodian sight-seeing too.

[ben & lindsay exploring angkor wat]

[they fit right in]

[touristing in siem reap complete with fish feet massage, coconuts & cambodian mojitos]

[apsara dancers]

[learning how silk is made] 

[besides all the touring baby cedar spent a lot of time enjoying his aunt & uncle & smiling ]

it was a quick & full visit & we're already looking forward to our next visit!

akuun preh-a ung [visit home]

last month the combination of my graduate school graduation, an ailing grandpa, a delta voucher & a good priced ticket meant that baby cedar & i made a last minute trip home. last minute as in i bought the ticket on monday & then flew halfway around the world on thursday! clicking "purchase" was exhilarating & then terrifying & i spent one nearly sleepless night fretting about making such a long-haul by myself with a three month old. what was i thinking?

but the next day, when i told ming kohm, our wonderful house helper & nanny, that i had bought the ticket, the first thing she said was akuun preh-a ung, which translates as "thank you, Lord".

[ming kohm]

not "thats crazy!" or "how will you travel alone with a baby?" or even "thats so much money!" (even though the ticket was more money than most cambodians make in five months). just a simple akuun preh-a ung.

& i took those words to heart.

i decided to recognize the whole trip for what it was - a precious gift - a cause for gratitude, not guilt or fear. akuun preh-a ung became my motto for this last minute trip & it turned out to be such a blessing in every way.

baby cedar was a totally amazing traveler, so smiley & hardly even crying throughout our 36 hour journey home & back (seriously, the seems like a minor miracle!). we got to have a number of lovely visits with dear friends & family, (on such short notice!), most especially with my grandpa. i got to celebrate my graduation with my family & classmates who traveled from so far. & we got to enjoy resting in being home in the comfort & the cold for a few joy-filled weeks.

akuun preh-a ung, indeed.

the trip was so wonderful that i think each segment deserves its own post. i'll begin with the fun of introducing cedar to my hometown in new york & to his friends & family there.

[reunited with grandma & grandpa & introduced to cool spring weather]

[mother's day lunch at java junction]

[meeting uncle seth!] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[getting cozy with great aunt tracy]

[cedar's first WoW - wine on wednesdays]

[watching my brother seth's final tennis match of his college career]

[a tropical fish out of water]

[baby cedar enjoying his first taste of pajamas with feet, sweaters & fun american baby toys]

escape to the seaside [kep]

while amanda's parents, jim & mary, were visiting we had the chance to escape phnom penh & explore a bit of cambodia. our first excursion was a long weekend at the seaside village of kep, one of our favorite cambodian getaways.

we stayed in bungalows, had leisurely breakfasts, played scrabble, took photos where we tried to look very serious & very cool, ate seafood, stared at the baby, napped in hammocks, walked by the ocean, went swimming, played more scrabble, stared at the baby some more...

& visited a mango & pepper farm!

stitches of gold [sabbatical part II]

"Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery. "

— Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

apart from visiting with family, we LOVED spending our sabbatical times catching up with old friends. it was a whirlwind of visits, guest beds, tea, lingering evenings, quick catch ups, friends, friends, friends & we loved every minute of it.

[a delightful night with our old menno house-mates dan & cindy in brooklyn]

[delicious ny style pizza with sylvia, friend & pastor of manhattan mennonite fellowship]

[picnic at the mark twain house in connecticut with chris, daniel's college housemate]

[mexican lunch with old chums mike & maren in philadelphia]

[seattle with dear, dear friends zack & amber (sadly not pictured!)]

[ottawa mark in rochester, ny]

[precious brockport high school pals]

[daniel's high school crew together again in vancouver]

[college roommates - katie & hannah & amanda celebrating in connecticut]

[vancouver visit with karla, baby drew, dave, liza & recent arrival baby vincent still in utero]

[levi & daniel as homeschool cool]

[visit in quesnel with the vanvught clan]

[settlers in terrace with high school friends - craig, anny & dave]

[picnic with kindred spirits cris, michelle, suj'n & shepherd in gasworks park, seattle (picture by suj'n photographer extraordinaire)]

[the boys - daniel, james & josh - in seattle (picture by suj'n)]

one day in kuala lumpur [towering towers]

on our recent trip to bali, we got to spend a one-night layover in kuala lumpur, malaysia. it was a good time of wandering the streets, eating late night street food, riding the sky train, checking out the famous petronas towers, the chinatown market & indulging in a delicious starbucks coffee.

the trip was so brief that i can't say i was struck with anything much besides noting how stylish & beautiful the women in head scarves were & how disorienting it is to get on a plane in one very poor asian country, fly for an hour and a half, & then disembark in a different, highly developed & wealthy asian country.