Lisa Niver's Blog: We Said Go Travel, page 461

#LosAngeles: See you TONIGHT October 16

SEE YOU TONIGHT at Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel 7pm
RSVP: Click here!

Please join us LIVE October 16 at Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in Los Angeles for a travel talk! If not, join us October 23 for an  online webinar with the University of Pennsylvania on Exotic Burma!

More of our recent news:

Aloha Hawaii,  Hello Los Angeles

Our recent 5 days in Kauai were filled with hiking the Napali Coast, enjoying Waimea Canyon and driving a car! During our 5 days in Oahu, we were hosted at the Lotus Honolulu and theOutrigger Reef on the Beach . We can highly recommend these hotels and look forward to sharing photos and videos with you. We loved hiking Diamond Head (photo above), learning to Stand-Up Paddle board, Yen’s INCREDIBLE Hawaii Five-0 Tour and our rides around town with Uber.

Giant thank yous to Yen from Gogobot, Josh and Liz from Lotus Honolulu, Lisa and Malie from Park Restaurant and Tommy from Uber for the incredible reception and event! (See photo below). We had nearly forty people come to our Travel Talk Story. It was so great to meet new travel friends and share about our memoir, Traveling in Sin and our last 15months on the road. We hope to see you at one of our two upcoming events.

We chose to return to Los Angeles to be home to celebrate my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. We are fortunate to be supported by our families in all our adventures. Next update from PANAMA!

We appreciate all of you who read our newsletters, articles, website and BOOK! Thank you to everyone for your support of our journey and all our writing. Connect with us on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest,  SlideShare ,  Twitter, and YouTube.

Happy and Safe Travels! Mahalo and Aloha!

Lisa and George (Click here to sign up for this newsletter. )

More articles to enjoy: More about our event with LACOT October 16, our final video on Myanmar leaving to Thailand!, and our site in the TOP 100 Travel blogs! WOW! The last 15months of travel have really grown our site!

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Cambodia: Back to the Heart

Cambodia: Back to the Heart of Youth Work

People have asked me “Why? Why teach abroad? You have everything at home. A support system: family, a girlfriend, a job. Why do it?”

Nowadays, with company cut-backs and layoffs, seniority is no longer a factor. It’s about the business’s survival not yours. Job security is dead. You can no longer rely on working for an employer for 20-30 years and then retiring with full benefits. The economy will eventually recover and companies are slowly starting to increase hiring. But you can’t be fooled into trusting your financial security with another seemingly-reliable company ever again. If the opportunity comes up, of course, take it, but people are learning not to rely solely on income from a job. This recession has proven that companies will not honor their end of the bargain when the going gets tough.

But why did i choose to work in Cambodia? Am I running towards something or running away from it? This really hit home when, during an interview for a teaching position, the school director explained to me that there are three different types of teachers:

-the teacher who failed back home and is seeking a fresh start;

-the teacher who is altruistic and truly wants to give back; or

-the teacher that is only interested in drinking and partying.

It was clear he was trying to size me up, but I don’t believe I fit into a specific category.

I began this journey as a way of gaining a more realistic picture of a culture rather than reading about it in a book or googling it. I wanted to see the world and return home with the satisfaction of having contributed to a community and experienced a new culture as no tourist can. So, I traveled nearly 9,000 miles to sell my brand.

Teaching abroad has allowed me to use leadership skills to conduct a class, pick up a new language (even just conversationally), build an international network and communicate across cultural barriers. Back home, my extroverted personality has always gotten me into trouble but, in Cambodia, it has been my saving grace. I’m more confident in who I am and in my abilities. I may have been selling my brand, but I am getting something much more valuable in return

Cambodia. The new Wild, Wild West.

Practically no police presence. Their transportation system is inadequate. No one practices road safety. Mothers and their infants ride on the back of motorbikes. Two, three, four people on one motorbike. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone wearing a helmet. Pedestrians step into and stroll through traffic as if there are no cars and motorbikes zooming by. They would put a professional New York City jaywalker to shame. You may spot the stray officer attempting to direct traffic but his efforts are in vain.

What is a big attraction for tourists and expatriates is the standard of living. Beers are $0.75. Well drinks are $2.50. A complete meal costs anywhere between $2.00 and $5.00. A standard room at a guesthouse, like the one I stayed at during my first week — Rory’s Guesthouse — costs $11 per night. The average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $150 per month. But these are luxuries that foreigners indulge in since a large percentage of the population live below the poverty line. Adults and children make a living on the street, begging and stealing and eating food from the trash. They don’t have social security, so a job is essential to survive. The average salary for a full time hotel employee is $95 per month. But a foreigner working as a part-time English teacher (15 hours a week) can make $150 per week. Cambodians treat foreigners very well, often better than they treat fellow Cambodians. It certainly puts one’s life back home into perspective.

My journey through Cambodian culture left a mark on my soul and created friendships that will last a lifetime. And I hope to one day revisit Cambodia. Only fear of the unknown, of abandoning the comfortable feeling of the familiar that one finds in one’s own land, stands in the way of embracing other cultures. Ultimately, by embracing another culture, you may just find your own, your self, as I did.

About the Author: Ruvane Schwartz I am 41 years old, Jewish and grew up in Brooklyn,NY . I graduated from Baruch College with a Marketing Degree but have discovered my passion for travel and trying things outside my comfort zone. I especially love Cambodia. I am sarcastic, easy going but a little neurotic. I am Jewish. Its in our DNA! Follow him at www.khromozomes.com 

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Los Angeles: Uber it! Join Gogobot, LACOT, Dave’s Travel Corner for a travel talk and Raffle Oct 16

From LACOT:  Join us at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel on October 16, at 7:00 PM. Our friends and LACOT members Lisa Niver Rajna and George Rajna are back in Los Angeles from a career break, and eager to share their story. The first 40 guests to show up for this Festival of the Pacific meet up in Los Angeles will receive drink tickets, but don’t come just for the wine!

If you’ve been to one of the LACOT meet-ups before, you know what they’re like. This one will be similar, but also with a strong focus on Lisa and George’s experience. Come connect with LA-area travel bloggers, travel writers, and members of the tourism industry. If you’ve ever daydreamed about quitting your day job to become a world wanderer-slash-travel blogger-slash-book writer, you should meet Lisa and George, because they’ve done just that. Their talk will be moderated and they’ll stick around afterwords for the usual mix-n-mingle (that’s the most fun part).

Festival of the Pacific is a celebration of travel and transformation hosted by PennClubLA, LACOT, Dave’s Travel Corner, We Said Go Travel and partnered with Gogobot.

First 10 people that are registered with www.gogobot.com that attend will get complimentary drinks on Gogobot!

The theme, “Living Without Regret: Travel, Love and Success: Make your Dreams a Reality,” is presented by the founders of We Said Go Travel, Lisa Niver Rajna and George Rajna, who will give an inside look into their long-term exotic international travel across Asia over the last fifteen months. They will share their travel expertise, read an excerpt from their new memoir, “Traveling in Sin,” and provide information about We Said Go Travel’s writing contest.

Every attendee will receive a raffle ticket — for free! –  upon entering our meeting space. The raffle includes a handful of neat travel-related prizes. For example, someone will win a great voucher for Uber, the taxi alternative. Have you heard of Uber? It’s the luxury car for hire service, a nicer ride than most taxis, and someone will win a $150 voucher for Uber use. That’s a lot of rides! People new to Uber will also receive up to $20 on their first use of the service (it’s an app, too) with a special code.

Another item in the raffle will be a night at our wonderful host hotel, the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel. Perfect for a local getaway. We also have tickets to the Skirball Cultural Center, and two vouchers for like a billion museums (well, that’s an exaggeration) for LA Museum Season. This is actually good for free admissions and gift shop discounts at over 25 Los Angeles cultural institutions including LACMA, the Getty Center, Hammer Museum, Pacific Asia Museum, the Paley Center for Media, and many more.

We’re trying to keep a closer eye on the RSVPs this time, so please go to Lisa and George’s special events page on Facebook and RSVP there. Alternatively, you can go to the PennClubLA website and RSVP there.  If you forget, no worries, just show up anyway. While we’d like to know how many people to expect, this is more of a ballpark figure.

Long story short: join us for conversation, drinks and the raffle, at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel on October 16, at 7:00 PM.

Luxe Sunset Blvd Hotel

11461 Sunset Boulevard

LA, CA 90049

(310) 476-6571

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Nepal: Dance Practise

The girls sit in a line in front of me, eagerly watching the instructor as he starts to explain the task. He walks around the open hallway in front of them carrying a handful of items that the girls know well, such as an embroidered scarf, a ceramic round water jug and a metal plate. He demonstrates the activity to the girls, “Interact with the object and feel the rhythm of the music to turn the everyday into a dance.”

We are sitting in a care home for teenage girls in the rural outskirts of the Kathmandu valley. The girls have come here from all over Nepal, removed from environments where their childhoods and innocence have come to a stop too soon. The home has offered them solace, and care and at this point in time the opportunity to fulfil every nepali girls dream, to dance on stage like a bollywood starlet. The girls listen intently to every word the instructor gives, and excitement radiates from their eyes. They have never had this chance before, and they all seek the opportunity to feel special, to feel like the women they dream of being. Earlier during the day, the girls took us on a walk through the rural village where they now live to show us their beautiful Nepal. They hold our hands, and play with our hair and ask questions to learn of another world outside of their own, one that they have only seen on American sitcoms and movies. Some have also shared their story with us, which is in stark contrast to the hollywood blockbusters discussed. Their stories bring images of dark rooms, mistreatment and yet these girls as they talk to us also emit something else, a strength, resilience and wisdom whilst reflecting on where they now find themselves and what the world awaits. Perhaps we are a sign to them that they are now in a better place, a sign that a different world has now opened up to them.

They have brought us to their dance practise. The home has organised dancers to choreograph a dance with the girls, to be performed in the heart of Kathmandu. The girls line up outside the hall everyday before the practise starts, hoping to get a seat in the front, to have a chance to perform in front of the group. We all watch as the instructor places the items around the room in front of us. He surveys the group to see who might be the first to attempt the dance, and he calls a name aloud. The chosen girl leaps to her feet and runs to the front, carefully observing each object as she walks around the room, already pointing her toes, already creating a dance, a new step forward. She chooses the water jug and immediately swings it above her head in a graceful arch before lowering it down to the ground, bending her body onto one knee with the other leg stretched out to the side. She has begun her dance, and another girl is called forward to join her and they may work together to create the steps.

Gratitude is not enough to describe how the girls feel as each stands up to take a turn, to join the dance. Their movements are guided by their past, but also by their passion to engage in this new life, this new experience. Gratitude is what I feel as I witness this before my eyes, as I realise what an honour it is to watch these girls as their hearts unfold before me.

About the Author: Sarita Slater is an avid adventurer and budding travel writer. Sarita has spent the last year traveling some of the world’s most beautiful areas. Her favourite travel destinations so far have been Antarctica, Cuba and Nepal. This article was written whilst trekking through the Annapurna region of Nepal.

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Tinkerbelle – a fairy tale cottage in Scotland

I was supposed to be in New York, but instead I found myself in northeast Scotland being chased by a goose through a forest – and it was all thanks to Tinkerbelle.

My husband and I had planned to be at his brother’s wedding in New York that week, but we were stuck in the UK thanks to delays with our visa applications. Since I’d already taken time off from work and we were both feeling a bit sorry for ourselves, we decided to book a last-minute trip to the countryside to get away from it all. And that’s when we found Tinkerbelle.

Tinkerbelle is a cottage on a Balnaboth estate in Glen Prosen. She is bright yellow and round with a pointed roof, and so tiny that the surrounding trees threaten to overwhelm her. Staying in Tinkerbelle is like being in a fairy tale, in the way that fairy tales are both magical and slightly dark.

Take the goose, for example. The fancy estate house next to Tinkerbelle is guarded by a goose who struts back and forth in front of it all day. A goose guard? Magical! But when that goose tries to chase you away from the holiday cottage that you’ve paid to rent like you’re a common criminal? Dark. Being surrounded by rugged, unspoiled wilderness? Magical! Discovering that said unspoiled wilderness includes abandoned farmhouses, rusted farm equipment and a ruined stone chapel that’s being slowly torn apart by trees, reminding you of the very transitory nature of human existence? Dark.

The creepy magic of Glen Prosen overwhelmed my sense of logic. On our last night there, I went outside the cottage and saw a large frog sitting a few feet away from me. My first thought was not, “This frog must have come from the river that runs just outside this cottage.” It was, “This frog might be a prince.” We stared at each other for long time, neither of us willing to make the first move, until my husband came outside and the frog hopped away into the darkness.

“There’s a big frog out here,” I said to my husband.

“Gross,” my husband said, and we left it at that.

The glen was so many kinds of green, the result of so much Scottish rain. It pulsed with movement from rabbits and rivers and our feet on its paths. We explored it while using long walking sticks and pretended that we were Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. At night we put on thick socks to protect our feet from Tinkerbelle’s cold stone floor and watched 90s movies on VHS in front of a wood-burning fire. I remembered how much I hate Adam Sandler. I forgot about New York. I relaxed for the first time in months.

On our last day we packed up the car and drove away from Tinkerbelle, honking at the goose as we passed the estate house. He honked back angrily and flapped his wings. I knew that some other couple would arrive at Tinkerbelle later that day and he would hate them just as much, and it made me a little bit sad. This was our fairy tale, our angry goose. As for the ending to our story, “and they lived happily ever after” seemed slightly optimistic at the time given the uncertainty of our visa status. “And they lived” was probably the best we could hope for. As we drove out of a canopy of overgrown trees into the early morning sunlight, I decided that was good enough for me.

About the Author: Katie Lee is an American web content developer based in England. She writes about Cheshire, Scotland and all the stuff in between at www.eatingthecheshirecat.co.uk.

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Water-Borne Love in Varanasi

Water-Borne Love in Varanasi

Awe.

It’s not a three-letter word. More like a three-letter feeling that is known to inject rapid bursts of Faith, Hope and

Love, into disillusioned grown-ups and children. Now the story I am about to narrate does not involve ravines, Burning Men

or shooting stars.

This particular story is simpler, shorter but unforgettable nevertheless.

Three years ago I was dispatched on a work assignment to conduct a reccé of India’s holiest city, Varanasi (Benares). One

of the world’s oldest cities, Mark Twain once famously remarked in 1897, “Benares is older than history, older than

tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”

Over the centuries, faithful Hindus traversed through the country’s scorching plains, carrying with them the corpses of

their loved ones, to have them cremated along the banks of the River Ganges. The belief being that a cremation in Varanasi

instantly frees the soul from the never-ending process of rebirth, thereby paving the way to an easy Nirvana.

As the sun goes down in Varanasi, an aarti (ceremony) is performed along the river banks. Every conceivable space is

occupied: the steps, terraces of tired-looking buildings around, the stage and the boats which serve as a vantage viewing

point. A constant clanging of sorcerous chants, bells and drums is accompanied by dancing sadhus draped in orange,

floating behind screens of smoke and incense. So much for the exotic nature of the city that beckons to photographers from

over the world.

Each day, an endless stream of cremations are held along the ghats which are a series of steps along the river.

Photography is forbidden however opportunistic touts charge Westerners a few dollars to get up, close and personal with

the scalded corpses, and grotesque limbs that crackle and pop as the heat blazes through. Meanwhile, tonsured male

relatives look on with a resolute silence while the womenfolk are almost conspicuous by their absence. Later, the ashes

are dispersed into the water along with the remains of bones, leaving India’s Untouchable class (the Doms) to dive into

the river bed in search of a stray gold tooth perhaps found in the deceased member’s ashes. Cremations happen throughout

the night. But not everyone is cremated…

Sitting on the balcony of my hotel room at midnight, I watch a pale yellow moon rise ominously over the Ganges. The night

is almost still after the frenetic pounding and crackling of the day gone by. And then I hear a splishy-splashy sound out

of nowhere. It’s a boat plowing its way into the night, carrying with it a family who discreetly lower a wrapped corpse

into the river. I watch as the corpse sinks into the inky black waters leaving no trace save for a ripple. The party

returns to the shore. I see neither their faces, nor their expressions but the heaviness in their hearts becomes mine. A

heaviness ironically brought on by letting go of their load. The next day, I am told that pregnant women, children,

lepers, those who have committed suicide and holy men can not be cremated; they have to be offered directly to Mother

Ganges.

At the break of dawn, the pilgrims are already to be found submerged waist-deep in the river, a river floating with errant

human corpses, fruits, vegetables, flowers and animal carcasses. Reverent women, children and men pray in earnest to the

rising sun while temple bells peal, completely oblivious to the surrealistic sights around them. Further ahead, a woman

scrubs her laundry furiously, while a little boy scoops some water to rinse his mouth after he empties toothpaste froth in

to the river.

You have the right to ask me, “Is this your idea of awe?”

Yes, it is. Because it defies 21st century logic, pre-historic logic and all kinds. I know that faith and logic were never

meant to go hand-in-hand. But this beats everything. I am Indian myself, a city-bred Indian who steered clear of the Holy

Dip. And I watched how other urban worshippers gingerly performed their rituals on the ghats, wanting very little to do

with the sacred water, whilst the others stood unshakable in their faith, taking in the sun’s warm rays, while infant

corpses brushed gently past them.

And this, my friends is what Faith is all about. To truly believe that a river you consider a Mother is intrinsically

pure, and will protect you no matter what the conscious eye perceives. I couldn’t do it. But millions have been doing it

through the centuries.

And they lived to tell to the stories of a Water-Borne Love.

About the Author: Nicola Desouza is a travel writer based in Mumbai and occasionally Pondicherry, who loves the human aspect of travel.

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Dubai, UAE: The Fun Factor Depends on You

I constantly hear people talking about not seeing the draw of Dubai.  After visiting the country several times I realize that it is not the city that has a problem, it is the mindset of the travelers passing through.  Dubai has been turned from an everyday city into a booming business and cultural center as well as a cosmopolitan tourist destination.  When planning a trip, regardless of my destination, I always begin by determining how luxurious I would like my stay to be and how much I’m willing to spend to make it happen.

Once this is accomplished, it is time to decide on which hotel and part of the city I would like to stay in.  Whether it is at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah Island, The Dhow Palace Hotel in Bur, Dubai, The Golden Tulip in Al Barsha or for the high rollers perhaps the Burj Al Arab, Dubai’s self-proclaimed seven star hotel.  You’re hotel decision alone will determine to some extent how awesome or generic your vacation will be as well as how outgoing you will be.  For instance; on one of my many trips through Dubai, I decided to go with the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah Island.  The hotel was the attraction.  From the dimly lit, yet gorgeous aquarium in the basement to the attached waterpark and even the swimming pool and private beaches, I knew that visiting here meant I would not be doing very much sightseeing, unless it was of the hotel grounds.

For me, Dubai is a fantasy world waiting to be explored.  There are so many options available, it is impossible to put them all down without writing your own self-help travel Dubai book.  For you history buffs out there, the Dubai Museum holds a mass of pre-oil historical stories and heirlooms that date back to before Dubai’s booming pearl era.  A self-guided tour lets you spend as much or as little time exploring the museum as your heart can handle.

If you find your pockets lined with cash and would like to do a little shopping, why not head to either the Dubai Mall or The Mall of the Emirates to do just that.  If you get to the mall and find that you are feeling a little more daring, why not take a dive into the world’s second largest aquarium for some scuba diving with the sharks, or if that is a little too risqué, you may enjoy snorkeling in the shark cage or a glass bottom boat tour.  Not in the mood to jump in the water?  Dubai Mall also comes equipped with a state of the art movie theater, a fantastic assortment of delicious restaurants, a full sized ice skating rink, the world’s largest choreographed water fountain and the gateway to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.  View the entire city and surrounding area from the observation deck on the 124th floor.  A slightly smaller, yet equally thrilling display of awesomeness is located just down the highway inside of The Mall of the Emirates.  The mall showcases an indoor ski/snowboard resort with five slopes with varied difficulties, to include a black diamond run for you professionals out there.

If you are in Dubai and would like to get out of the city or possibly do a little more exploring, you could always get a chartered fishing boat, rent jet skis from Ski Dubai, head on out on a boat for a little scuba or get yourself a reservation to hit the dunes of the Arabian desert to include an authentic Arabian dinner with belly dancing and camping.  Watch a beautiful sunset like you have never seen it before from the top of the large golden dunes.

The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter if you are in Dubai for a day; a week or a month, there is something that you could be doing besides sitting inside of your hotel.  Unless of course the hotel you chose was the attraction.  I highly recommend that no matter how long your stay, that you get out and explore no matter where you are, you never know what you’ll find.  Sometimes the most magnificent experiences can be found in the seemingly ordinary places.

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Unforgettable Cuba

Last spring when I was researching potential places to take my yearly holiday, a number of destinations were put on the table. Costa Rica, Barbados, Cuba and various places in the United States such as Texas, Illinois, Montana and California all made the final cut but in the end, it was Cuba that won the call to my travel agent and my heart after it was all said and done.

My first morning in Varadero was spent unpacking and exploring my immediate surroundings but it take long for me to feel comfortable enough to leave the hotel and venture on my own to see the real Cuba and meet real Cubans. This allowed me to I learn a lot about the Cuban way of life.

One of the things I learned about Cuba is that the average Cuban makes the equivalent of fifteen dollars a month and acquires his or her food and other goods through a rationing system. Yes, this rationing system means there are caps on how much food a person can eat each month but no one is starving to death in Cuba. Imagine if we all rationed what we ate and just ate what we needed; no one would go hungry and maybe there would never be a shortage of food and every single person on the planet would get their fair share. Everyone eats, no one is homeless, education is free, healthcare is free and among the best in the world and, as one will notice while interacting with the Cuban people, they are always smiling and always cheerful.

I few other things I noticed about Cubans is their lack of material possessions, their devotion to family and their knack for being very social. And by social, I am not talking about chatting to someone they will never meet on an online chat-line. The average Cuban does not own a computer and this reflects largely on their way of life. When I drive or walk around my neighborhood here in Canada, I rarely see people sitting outside on their steps. Even beaches and parks are empty on beautiful sunny days and the only time I see children is when they are walking to school. While walking around the streets of Havana, there were people everywhere. Adults sitting on stoops talking to their neighbors, vendors chatting to anyone who will lend an ear and children playing in the street.

While the rest of the world is working eighty hours a week to pay their bills racked up due to the frivolous spending they do in while their children are being raised by a television, Cubans have learned to survive with very little while maintaining a positive attitude that is rare in our society. In Cuba, no one cares what material possessions their neighbor has and no one is in competition with one another.

My time in Cuba allowed me to discover that there is still at least one place left on this continent where the people and the experiences one has are more important than their material possessions and I learned that it is possible to be happy with very little and enjoy life to the fullest like many Cuban people do every day despite hardships that most of us here in Canada and the United States will never have to endure.

The price that we pay to live the lives we live in our developed society may not be noticeable to the average person but one only needs to turn off the television, the computer and the video game system and take a real look around them and they may be quite surprised to see that that price is quite high as our culture disappears, our lives become overrun with trivial things, our health fails, morals take a steep nosedive and children no longer know how to be children.

In this regard, the Cuban people who fight to keep their culture intact, who continue to instill morals in their children, who get to know and love their neighbors, who make every attempt to be happy with what they have despite adversity are many steps ahead of the rest of us.

About the Author: Andrea MacEachern:  I am a freelance writer and photographer currently living in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It wasn’t until I was asked to write a script for a 30-minute short film that I realized my passion was for the written word and I’ve been writing ever since!  My work has been featured in numerous publications including Chicken Soup for the Beach Lover’s Soul, Cats and Kittens, Simple Pleasures of the Kitchen (anthology), and Fate Magazine.

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Malaysia: My Place in Life

More than a decade after qualifying as a Doctor and having bounced around various jobs in India and the UK, I am now practising in a College in Melaka, Malaysia, charged with sharing my knowledge with budding Doctors and Dentists. Hence, most of the time I spend my days shuttling between classes and clinics dreaming of my own student days and how similar, yet how different they were from what I see now. And when I’m not doing that, I sit at home and marvel at where I am in life, literally and otherwise.

I moved to Malaysia four years ago and it’s been a good ride. I’m on the other side of the fence, watching students become doctors, some living their dreams and some fulfiling their parent’s aspirations. I see some huge talent here-people I know will become great doctors, not because of the knowledge they have, but because of how they carry themselves. How they communicate, how they are willing to learn.

And that, really, is what the art of medicine is all about-the empathy, the art of listening to a patient, really listening. Without the art, the science of medicine is a lonely figure. I hope my students will understand that, if not now, then perhaps at some point in the future. It took me a while but of course, I’m still learning too.

I don’t harbour illusions that they will remember all that I have taught by the time they graduate, but in every Convocation I come away hoping that perhaps, somehow, in some small insignificant way, I was able to make a difference.

I’m fortunate to have my family here with me-my wife who’s been a rock and my four year old daughter, who define our lives. I feel very lucky-I’ve been through more downs than ups before I arrived here and my family has always been right there. I’ve made mistakes, but all have been my own. I’ve let people down but I’ve (hopefully) made up. At long last, I feel settled.

I’m at peace here, in Melaka, this little UNESCO World Heritage City in the heart of Malaysia. The Lonely Planet calls it the “Soul of Malaysia” and who am I to argue? I find peace at home, with my daughter playing catch in the bedroom while my wife waits for something to break, I find happiness in the silence of a walk by the quiet Melaka riverside, with the gentle splashing of the water briefly broken by the wake of passing boats and I can sit for hours by the seaside watching families flying kites and couples holding hands, with the wind in my hair and the sand under my feet.

I enjoy the calm that descends when I write and I’m grateful my current job allows me the luxury of having the time to pursue it (not that I’ve written anything much and of any significance). I like the odd badminton game, often with students who harbour no qualms at beating me effortlessly but who always ensure I don’t leave the court thoroughly embarrassed. I love the occasional banter with the students, sometimes in person and sometimes on “Evil Facebook”. ( I am a Facebook addict).

I love the smell of the rain coming in from the sea and the rush of the wind on the empty roads and I love the sight of the vast green palm plantations and the ribbon of smooth tarmac snaking through them.

I love the fact that people know how to drive.

I love the smile on my daughter’s face as I pick her up from school and I stand at the door and watch as she runs and hugs her mother, with a big “Mama!” and the look on her face when I create a story with her as the hero.

I look forward to the few quiet moments we get when she finally, but usually reluctantly, goes to sleep and I wait for the sounds of “Papa!” when she yawns and gets ready to start a brand new day.

Oh there is so much to be grateful for. The peace I have found here is second to none. I am in love with this wonderful city and its wonderful residents. I hope to stay for many more years to come.

Thank You Melaka.

About the Author: Nishikanta Verma: I am an Indian doctor currently residing in Malaysia. I am passionate about all things related to Cambodia and also have current interests in World History, Buddhism and Quantum Physics. I am married with one daughter and another on the way. Twitter: @jipmerdays.

The post Malaysia: My Place in Life appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

Night Diving in Koh Tao, Thailand

Night Diving in Koh Tao, Thailand

“Scuba diving is easy! It’s not rocket surgery!” Magnus, our Swedish scuba diving instructor told us with a grin. My fellow PADI classmates looked at one another before I sheepishly asked, “You mean rocket science?” “Ah! Yes! Scuba diving isn’t Rocket Science!”

Over the next few days, we learned the basics and continued on to do our Advanced PADI course. We finished our incredible journey with one last dive… at night! We watched nervously as the sun went down, carefully getting into our scuba diving gear and checking and rechecking our air supply. Magnus gave us one final dive brief, and then it was time.

Jumping off a boat into pitch black water, with nothing but a torch to light my way, was the most exhilarating experience of my life. Bubbles exploded around me as I dove in. I quickly made sure I had a tight grip on my flashlight and my dive buddy was in close proximity. As the bubbles slowly dissipated, my fears subsided and I regulated my breathing to a low and slow breath. A wave of calm washed over me, and I looked out at the dark shapes of reef before me. Life on the ocean floor was completely different at night; little crustaceans, octopi and sea turtles came alive after dark, along with something I had never heard of.

We drifted to the bottom, equalizing on our way down. As soon as we were all together, and the ocean sediment billowing up around us had cleared, Magnus motioned for us to turn off our lights. Heart racing, I switched the Off button and watched as everything went black around me. Thoughts of hungry sharks crossed my mind more than once.

Suddenly, tiny green phosphorescence were aglow in the black ocean surrounding us. Every movement stirred the glowing plankton in bright green swirls of light and bubbles. We moved our limbs to a silent rhythm and watched the phosphorescence burst into tiny stars right in front of our eyes. I felt like I was dancing in space, surrounded surreal galaxy found on the bottom of the ocean floor.

Eventually, we turned back on our lights and made our way around the reef. Magnus pointed out a hungry looking giant barracuda with a sharp, toothy smile. Using his flashlight, he blinded an unsuspecting fish swimming by. The giant barracuda darted forward and snapped its jaws on its prey. Without a hint of gratitude for his free meal, he swam away in search of his next meal.

All of a sudden a giant sea turtle poked his head out of the reef and swam out towards me. Turtles are curious creatures, and his big sleepy eyes stared straight into my goggles, attracted to his own reflection. We swam with him as he bobbed up and down the reef, looking for his breakfast. And then, just as quickly as he had appeared, the giant sea turtle swam up to the surface to get a gulp of fresh air and disappeared into the pitch black night water. Watching him swim away towards the moonlit surface of the vast open ocean, I found myself completely mesmerized. I tried to hold onto that moment, to let it sink inside me so that it would last forever frozen in time, and then felt it slowly slip away into memory.

We ascended back up towards the glowing lights of our boat at the surface. The choppy waves tried with all their might to pull us back under the night water’s embrace, but eventually we made it out and back safely onto our vessel. Looking out at the night sky, shivering with cold or delight- I don’t know which- I felt completely alive in that moment. It is that rush of adventure and pushing ourselves beyond our perceived limits that we strive for, and that I experienced that night. Past all fear and doubt, I found a sense of pure wonder and awe from the courage contained within me and the beautiful night ocean world.

About the Author: Lauren Rose Metzler aka The Wandering Orange, is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Sydney, Australia where she works as a freelance illustrator. For over three years, she has been traveling and drawing comic books about her adventures abroad, including the UK, Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia.

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