My last post was February, 2019. Over the next year, I continued to travel. I took a lot of little trips within Europe and I also visited family in the States. Here were a few of my big highlights:
April 2019: China
I spent my spring break in China! There I fulfilled a dream - being abandoned by a taxi driver "near" (aka about 750 meters) my hotel at 2:30am..... Oh wait. Yes, that really happened.. but I actually fulfilled the dream of walking along the Great Wall of China. I started my trip in Beijing, staying near Tiananmen Square and then flew to Chengdu, home of pandas. I also got to spend a bit of time with my friend Troy and see how China was treating him.
My top 10 experiences in China
10..... The Panda Channel on TV, all day, every day...pandas!
9.... Failing miserably with Google Translate
8.... Seeing live Pandas (it was really hot, they didn't really want to come out much)
7.... Getting my feet scraped "clean"
6.... Eating Hot Pot in Chengdu
5.... All the temples
4.... Visiting the Leshan Giant Buddha
3.... Seeing so many incredible unique foods at the open air markets
2.... Visiting Tiananmen Square
1.... Climbing the Great Wall of China
I definitely learned a few things in China that really surprised or intrigued me:
- Everyone carries a bottle for tea. Even security guards had tea bottle holsters on their belts!
- The outer doors separating the subway car and platform shut with serious force. (I sported a nasty bruise from them on my arm for a while - just a temporary souvenir.
- Evenings are for dancing in groups on street corners.
- There are a lot of tofu dishes, but they are not always vegetarian!
- China is loud and the lack of lines can be intimidating, but most people are really willing to help out foreigners! <3
October 2019: Albania
The plan was Georgia and Armenia. However, as my break drew closer and I realized I had nothing booked or planned, I decided I should save that trip for better planning in the future. Searching a map, I realized that Albania was. not too far and offered up a new country to explore. Honestly, I knew almost nothing about Albania before I went and despite the trip being planned on a whim, it was well worth it!
I flew to the capital, Tirana and stayed four days in the capital before heading to Rome and Venice. (I packed a lot into 9 days!) Tirana still has a very Soviet feel - lots of concrete and slower infrastructure. I immediately loved it! As I often do when I first come to a new city, I took a walking tour of the city and really began to understand it's history and culture. In addition to my walking tour, I visited the Bunk'Art bunkers (original and 2), the main city market and also saw a lot of street art and sculptures. The food was delicious and I appreciated the warm, welcoming feel I found in Tirana. A few months later, when Tirana was hit by an earthquake, I was even more grateful having had the chance to visit this city before that destruction occurred.
December 2019: China
About a half of year later I was on a plane bound back to China. This time, Harbin. My friend Troy flew from Chengdu to Harbin to join me. Harbin is a city of ice in winter! The city is filled with incredible ice sculptures and exhibits. We spent Christmas among the snow and ice and visited the huge light-ice sculpture park Harbin is also known for its white tigers. We visited the Harbin Tiger park to see the tigers - traditional and white. I definitely had some mixed emotions about this park. I did not buy a goat or a chicken to have fed to a tiger, but I saw feeding happen none the less. The animals were magnificent.
Harbin presented some challenges with transportation - taxis were challenging to get and couldn't be fully trusted. One taxi driver drove us to some house where we could "buy tickets" to the Tiger Park. When we declined, he just left us there. Another taxi got into an accident and then once again we were just left. Luckily our hotel wasn't too far from the center of town with the ice sculptures and so we just walked. We found a place with traditional Szechuan food, and so Christmas dinner was delicious hot pot!
December 2019: 22 hours in Seoul
After leaving Harbin I had a 22 hour layover in Seoul, South Korea. The airport actually offers free tours and so I got to see so much more than one normally can do in less than a day! I visited the football pitch where the World Cup had taken place, I saw future K-Pop stars performing on the streets, hoping to be discovered, I ate delicious food and I visited a small temple near the airport. Plus... I slept a full night's sleep. This visit to Seoul was just enough to make me want to come back for a proper visit!
December 2019 - January 2020: Mongolia
My main reason for heading back towards Asia was a trip to Mongolia. This was an adventure! My colleague Lynn and I signed up for a tour into outer Mongolia. First stop, the capital city Ulaanbaatar. The best part of that was getting out of the well developed city center and into the neighborhoods, where we were able to visit a volunteer youth organization founded in the remains of an old quarry. One of the things that surprised me most was to see Mongolian language is written with the Cyrillic alphabet. I expected otherwise. It is because during Soviet occupation they were forced to do so. The art of Mongolian script in the traditional language is sadly being lost.
After a day in the city, we headed out beyond the city into outer Mongolia. Our tour was a small group tour with just the two of us, a driver and a guide. The vehicle was an old Soviet van, converted into a comfortable space for a tour group. We used an ethical, responsible tour company that hires women and provides for education and the opportunity to earn money. Our guide spoke English and our driver, although he spoke little English was always friendly and helpful. The van was incredible. We drove over ice and snow and throughout the mountains, there were times when it seemed like no vehicles could ever drive in the conditions we were in, but we kept going.
During the tour we stayed in family yurts, rode camels, rode horses, tried traditional Mongolian foods, learned how to make traditional Mongolian dumplings, used long drop toilets and wore traditional Mongolian clothing to stay warm. At one point on our tour we were given access to community showers in a small town. Our tour included celebrating New Years, which involved a lot of vodka, and ended with a traditional Mongolian ceremony, which also involved a lot of vodka. Everyone we met was friendly and truly welcoming. It was an experience like no other. I want to go back. Plus, the Genghis Khan museum was closed, so I hope to one day return to visit it.
February 2020: Thailand
My February break loomed and the words "Covid 19" were all over the news and on everyone's mind. I questioned if I should even go, but in the end, I decided that Thailand's infection rates were low enough to risk it.
I flew first to Bangkok and spent some time with my friends & former colleagues Jamie and Veronika. In Bangkok, they helped me to hire a trusted private taxi driver who took me around to see many of the big sites including the Wat Phra Rattana Satsadram, The Royal palace and the traditional markets. I was able to try traditional Thai foods and really enjoyed the warm sunshine.
After Bangkok I flew to Krabi. Now it was time to relax on the beach. I swam in the water, took a boat out to sea, kayaked in Ao Luek (including kayaking in a cave) and enjoyed traditional Thai massage. In Krabi the weather was fantastic, the food was delicious and people were living life as if Covid did not exist. It was a relaxing, energizing experience.
I loved being in Thailand and hope to return and visit more of the country. I really want to visit Chiang Mai.
March 2020: Estonia
Despite the news about COVID-19, February 2020 was one of my most traveled months. I was in Bucharest, Warsaw, Berlin, Bangkok, Krabi and Tartu. Early in the morning on March 1st, I woke up in Tartu and headed to the bus station. I boarded the bus back to Riga. Little did I know, that was the last time I would cross the Latvian border until mid-late July 2020. Just days later, flights and events around Europe began to be cancelled. Shortly thereafter school was moved online and we were in lockdown. Although I would travel briefly to Germany to buy a car in 2020 (and then drive it home through Germany, Poland and Lithuania), I would not be on a major international flight again until July of 2021 when I flew back to the States to see family and meet my 1.5 year old niece who had been born at the cusp of the pandemic. My wings were clipped for quite some time.
