Montreal

The frigid temperatures of Montreal, Quebec set the stage for this past weekend’s adventures. It all started last Friday after work when Lucas and I decided to drive five and a half hours north into Canada for a couple of days checking out what our northern neighbor has to offer. The adventure started off on an exciting note with my little car coming close to running out of gas somewhere in the middle of Vermont… at ten o’clock at night… during a snow storm!

Never the less, my little car made it’s way across the border into Quebec finally stopping in a snow-accumulated Montreal just before one in the morning. Luckily for us, we made it just in time! As the hostel where we stayed at, the Alternative Backpacker’s Hostel, locks their doors at 1am.

We did a lot of exploring in this great little city. Due to the freezing temperatures, the majority of the exploring was done via the very convenient and very much appreciated "underground city" (locals call it the RÉSO) that sprawls for kilometers and kilometers under the city providing easy and warm access to just about anywhere in the city. The downside to the “underground city” is that it feels like the entirety of Montreal is one huge shopping mall.

The Auberge Alternative du Vieux-Montréal was located in Old Montreal and was a great price for a cozy little hostel at a great location. It was a couple of blocks away from the underground city and had some great cafes near by. The for a dorm bed was CA$20 which is about US$16 a day… can’t beat that price! And I personally really enjoy the hostel atmosphere where travelers are abundant and friends are easy to make.

During the trip, we visited the spectacular Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal, where they had a great exhibition on the ever blurring relationship of art and music in our modern times of rock and roll. The exhibition was called “Sympathy for the Devil” and included the distinct interaction of art and rock in the different scenes through out the world, such as New York, London, Continental Europe and West Coast and Midwest US, amongst others. Lucas had a field day taking pictures with his IPhone as the museum security folks followed us around.

We also got a chance to meet up with some of the “frenchie” folks from the guild at an Irish Pub where the beer flowed and the WoW references never stopped! It’s always so much fun to meet the folks behind the keyboards and see how great people they really are. I’ve met a bunch of them over the past year or so and I have yet to be disappointed by the their warm hospitality, great company and interesting conversations.

In heaven the beer is…

In heaven the beer is Belgian. The bread and cheese are French and the beaches are Brazilian. The waves are from Australia and the landscape from New Zealand. All the prices are Cambodian.

In heaven the soup is Vietnamese but the goulash is Hungarian. The city squares are Czech and the meadows are Irish. The bars are Irish too, but you don’t need to go to heaven to find an Irish bar.

In heaven the wine is Italian and the mountains are Nepalese. Dinner is Indian and lunch is Thai. Breakfast is Spanish and served just before going to bed. Whatever the meal, the steak is from Argentina.

The nights are short in heaven because the days are Swedish and it’s always July. The trains are German and always on time. The drug laws are Dutch.

In heaven the sun is Greek and the rivers Lao. The golf courses are Scottish. The composers are Austrian and the school children are Korean; I didn’t spend long enough in either country to nominate anyone else.

Brook Silva-Braga

Back to your regularly scheduled program

It’s been close to a week since I’ve landed “state-side” and have been adjusting to the time difference. All twelve timezones worth of it.

I am very happy to be home, in the sense that I can see my friends and family again. The timezones is not all that I am adjusting to. I hate to admit it, as it makes me feel very conceited, but since coming back, it feels that everything is sprinkled with the flavor of insignificance. I guess it’s just something I have to learn to adjust with now that i am back in the “real world” of work, bills and responsibilities. Though it does make me really wonder about the necessity for a lot of things, living on so little for so long.

I have just under 1000 pictures on flickr. I’ve gone through a good number of them already and given them captions and/or descriptions and will continue to do so in the coming week. Going through them is something I am enjoying very much. Reliving all of these great memories of a trip that seems so close, and at the same time so far away.

Saigon

Revision Coming Soon!

Angkor Wat

It seemed to me that where ever I heard about Angkor Wat it mentions the wonder that was Angkor Wat during sunrise. Even a good friend of mine (an expat living in Vietnam) made a point to describe how the world’s largest religious structure appeared to him as he witnessed the first morning rays reflect on Angkor Wat.

My little velcro wristwatch began to beep at five in the morning. I tumble my way into some clothes and then tumble out of my hostel room. I manage to make my way to the lobby. Outside, I find Ratanan already waiting for with his motorbike puttering.

Ratanan, a clean-cut Cambodian in his mid twenties, is my driver and guide. I met Ratanan by chance. When traveling, everyone you meet is “by chance”. As a moto-taxi driver, it was Ratanan’s turn for a customer when I stepped out of the airport. It did not take the exchange of too many words to settle on a price for him to drive me to and within the temples Angkor Wat.

The ride to Angkor Wat takes us through the quiet ghost-town of what will be the city of Siem Reap once the sun rises. The darkness is creepy. My eyes try hard to make sense of all of the turns through town. We arrive at the temple complex where the chatter of tourists began to replace the quietness of the early morning.

Ratanan pulls up to the steps leading up the main temple at Angkor Wat. I pull out my little key-chain flashlight and begin to walk down the stone path towards the darkness of the temple. I find myself an almost perfect spot by one of the pools. I can sit down to watch the great spectacle and snap some good-enough-to-frame photos. I begin to see the darkness of the sky fade away and I wait. I wait.

The rainy season of Southeast Asia brings, well, rain. The rain is accompanied by large dark clouds and overcast skies. Unfortunately, this morning was no different. The beautiful scenery I have heard about like a legend will remain that way for me, or at least until next time I visit the temples of Angkor Wat. Nevertheless, watching the early morning mist fade over Angkor Wat has been an experience I will never forget.

This entry is part of a series of posts on my trip to Southeast Asia in August of 2008. You can see all of the posts in this series the post: A look back to my trip to Southeast Asia.