Flashback Friday - Around the World and Back Again!

It's Flashback Friday where I pull an adventure from my blog and we relive the journey. Today we're going to do a hop skip across the world and back on our imaginary plane. Fasten your first class seat belt - request your beverage of choice, and we're off! To where you ask or maybe you didn't as you're just happy to go somewhere. With that in mind, we're heading to a few places; scuba diving in Thailand, horseback riding in Cuba and renting a motorbike again, in Cuba. 

First up - Thailand

Scuba Diving - Note to self - Twenty minutes in a pool does not prepare one for open ocean. On the upside, just because you think you're going to drown, doesn't mean you will. And that was before I got there - swimming against the waves along the width of a boat meant for open water (large) was no fun - I finally put that snorkel to good use and did the old paddle with your face in the water trick I'd do as a kid.  Then there was the actual going under, way under and staying there. Yes, open ocean was a bit traumatic to begin with but it all worked out in the end. 

Moving on to Cuba:

Horses - taking pictures on a moving horse - not recommended! There's something about balance, stirrups, height and creature with a will of its own that doesn't really transpose well for a city bred person. No, I didn't fall off but every time I tried to take a picture the horse would start walking and I had to concentrate on staying on and forget the picture. The horse finally won. And the only pictures I got were, off the horse! 

Motorbike Rental - when you question the notice "No brakes" and and are told, "That's okay." Maybe its not! It's really not that hard to take out the side of a third world house. Or for that matter, come close! It took a last minute swerve to clear the back half of someone's hut. I sure hope they weren't looking out!

And that's memories of past trips. Things to remember for future - when getting on a plane is actually something we all might consider.

Stay safe - take care!

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

   ...a world you never imagined!      

The Dead Sea, a tourist and a whole other  story!

Check out my latest release:  The Tears We Never Cried

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Flashback Friday - It's Off to Angkor Wat

Four years after my first journey to Cambodia, the illusive t-shirt has been bought. Angkor - no not the I saw Angkor Wat t-shirt but Angkor beer the national beer of Cambodia. It's been tested, it's good and we have the t-shirt.


Well here we are, Flashback Friday - where did the week go? I know I spent alot of it outside, on the deck, writing. I'm working on a women's fiction/romance right now. But I was aching to go on a trip. And with Saskatchewan COVID numbers going up, well - it wasn't going to happen before, or later. So we're still doing a virtual trip. This trip takes me back to internet glitches - internet cafes and a whole lot of sun and fun. We're going back on a virtual journey to one of my favourite places - Cambodia...


This is my second trip to Siem Reap. It's just a brief jaunt, an interlude in the midst of our trip as we juggle arrival times into Myanmar. At Angkor Wat there are changes, long awaited restoration has begun on major portions of the structure leaving portions off limits. There are signs now that map out a logical viewing strategy with the usual arrows and signs. Somehow I'm disappointed. The mystery is disappearing with each new sign and regulation. The temple in the inner courtyard where the treacherous three story high, ancient, uneven, worn staircase - terrifying for us height challenged individuals - is now off limits. Apparently it was as dangerous as my overactive imagination had anticipated. Still, despite the changes, when I stand in the centre of Angkor Wat beside a Buddhist shrine with incense wafting around me and a man begins a chant that echoes through the ancient chamber I'm transported back in time when this place was alive with another people. People who built something fabulous not just for the Gods they worshipped but for themselves and for the people that served them. It is all rather overwhelming.



In this picture to the right a little boy is climbing an ancient relic like it was his own set of monkey bars.


At Tonle Sap lake just a little further away - it's that unusual time of the year when during the rainy season the lake floods a major portion of Cambodia as the Mekong river overflows into it. The villages that lie near the lake are on stilts and during the floods they resemble floating villages as the water rises right up to road level. Children, dogs and livestock all roam the roads and make it nerve wracking to negotiate the narrow dirt strip that separates one row of roughly built stilt houses from another.


And then....
Tomorrow we are heading to Myanmar - a repeat of three countries one day - news flash - we're doing it again. January 4 - Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar. I don't know what internet access will be like. I'm assuming for sure no more pictures. I may be going under for the next week but if I can I'll post to the blog. In the meantime should I have to abdicate my role as trip journalist for a week or so standby - at some point I'll be back.

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

   ...a world you never imagined!      

The Dead Sea, a tourist and a whole other  story!

Check out my latest release:  The Tears We Never Cried

Don't miss a thing - Sign up for my newsletter The Walkabout!         

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Flash Back Friday - Out of the Comfort Zone and Over the Edge

Today we're going to head over to Thailand. On this imaginary trip I thought we'd book again book that private jet. Might as well have the elite of trips, after all, in the land of fiction, money is no object.

While that part of the trip is fiction, what happened next, what follows, was real - a handful of years ago. Welcome to Flashback Friday!

Yesterday was a scuba diving adventure. The first time in scuba gear since certification four years ago. Although it seemed like I had forgotten everything, it all came back. Let me say that scuba diving was not on the top of my list of things to do. With only four dives under my belt I may be certified but still a beginner. But I'm so glad I didn't listen to that little voice that screeched something about remaining comfortable, dry and on shore. Instead, I stepped off that boat and dived into another world that I thought I had long forgotten. But how could you forget such sights.

Sting rays scurry for cover. Jelly fish float with delicate tentacles that bob in an undersea exotic dance. Sea urchins waft in silent currents. Cliffs of red and orange and blue hued coral undulate in hills across the sands. Brightly coloured anemone harmonize with the urchins and schools of fish flit here and there. A sucker fish follows, biting one of the divers as he cleans off anything that may have lodged on our equipment. An hour and a half under water will be part of this trip that I'll long remember.

Take one step out of your comfort zone - you'll be glad you did.

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

   ...a world you never imagined!      

The Dead Sea, a tourist and a whole other  story!

Check out my latest release:  The Tears We Never Cried

Don't miss a thing - Sign up for my newsletter The Walkabout!         

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Flashback Friday - Border Crossings - Beneath the Law?

For Flashback Friday, I thought this post was interesting. Another take on border crossings. This time we're traveling to the Myanmar/Thai border (at a time when Myanmar was just Burma - times, borders, names change but some things never do). Here's a look at that border crossing...

Borders are tight in most parts of the world.  They've been tight for awhile and only today are they, well - tighter.  Actually, I've entered few countries in my travels where forms weren't required and passports not expected to be at ready.  There's always the stern looking officials.  But it's all in the presentation, some checkpoints are just a little more intimating than others and on the northern border of Thailand - the Burmese/Myanmar checkpoint was one of them.

Or so I thought.  But in that little village in Northern Thailand that butted up against Burma, borders took on a completely different meaning.  While officials manned an immigration point on a bridge that marked the border between Thailand and Burma/Myanmar, commerce thrived on both sides of the border.

Mae Sai, Thailand was bustling with people wanting to sell everything from cigarettes to t-shirts.  And on the other side of the bridge, for those a little more adventurous - Burma/Myanmar.  But no one was going there without filling out the forms, answering the questions and facing men dressed in military fatigues holding automatic rifles.

No one that is except for one man who was desperately trying to sell us a t-shirt on the Thai side of the border.  When he had none in the size we wanted, he held up his hand.  Told us to wait in that universal sign language and bolted toward the bridge.  While people lined up or even debated whether crossing into Burma/Myanmar was a wise thing, our t-shirt salesman ran under the bridge, right underneath the immigration stop, crossed the border into Burma/Myanmar and within minutes returned back into Thailand with the correct size t-shirt in hand.

Daring to us.  Just another day at the office for him.  Anything daring in your day?

Take care, keep safe!

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

   ...a world you never imagined!      

The Dead Sea, a tourist and a whole other  story!

Check out my latest release:  The Tears We Never Cried

Don't miss a thing - Sign up for my newsletter The Walkabout!         

Follow me on:

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Flashback Friday - Where There's Smoke...

Today we're hopping on that imaginary plane and we're flashing back a few years. We're heading to Pattaya, Thailand and from there a few Thai island hops to our destination. Thailand, a beautiful place to visit, I'll go there again when, well, when I can.

So here's the trip, of course, with a few glitches in between:

Flashback Friday - Hazards of the Road:

This blog post was originally created in a Thai cyber cafe and there was trouble immediately. 

"The other day my blog is going right to left - yesterday left to right. Now, language was an issue. Today language was not the problem - go figure. And the mouse, another issue - it has an e-brain of it's own. Even in paradise there is the occasional fly."

Yesterday was a travel day. Stocked with tylenol cold (yes, even in the tropics) I emerge from the hotel to see our airport transport with the hood up. Worse - there's smoke beginning to waft - and then billow from the engine. "Grab the packs!" is the call to arms. With your life in a canvas bag you can only grab what's important and stand back. Unfortunately, for the car, it wouldn't be going anywhere today. Left to stand on the street corner amidst Pattaya's endless rush, there's no guarantee we're going anywhere in a hurry.

But fifteen minutes later another car is on the road and the airport is in sight. Koh Samui, the only airport where even the airport bathroom is appealing with a room size aquarium dividing men from women's. Open air terminals with lush foliage spill into the waiting areas. And then it's time to be off again - on to the ferry, across narrow gangplanks and off to Koh Pha Ngan. 

After landing it is a grueling run across hot pavement and through anxious hotel peddlers for one of many small pickups where a ride in the back means being jounced across rough roads,and being careful to keep your head bent or crack it on the roof as the truck pitches and rolls at a quick clip down the road. Right now there is nothing to see but iron bars, dust and heat and the occasional glimpse of what might be paradise. An hour later and a few misturns before a final deposit in a place so beautiful it is surreal. An aqua cove shimmers in the heat as it snuggles up against the restaurant and the tiny bungalows melt into the emerald green lushness of Thailand. It is a place where you could stay indefinitely, languishing under the hot sun, lounging by the pool and immersing yourself in a good book.

Take care, keep safe!

Ryshia

www.ryshiakennie.com

   ...a world you never imagined!      

The Dead Sea, a tourist and a whole other  story!

Check out my latest release:  The Tears We Never Cried

Don't miss a thing - Sign up for my newsletter The Walkabout!         

Follow me on:

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Canada Day Enters Strange Times

It's Canada Day, except there are no fireworks, no bands and no festivities in the park. Most years we'd hop on our bikes (easier to maneuver through a crowd) and head to the park to see some of the events. Not this year. This year everything changes. But there's still celebrations, life goes on even though we're still social distancing united world wide by that virus - of who, today, we shall not name.

Nope, today we're going to talk about fun things like celebrations, books and squirrels - and maybe a bit about social distancing squirrel fashion.

That's what comes to check out my handful of treats each morning - squirrels and one widow crow - He may or may not be a widow but he always comes in alone for one of the peanuts I lay out every morning. The squirrels? - they're all carrying on like nothing has changed in their word. And social distancing, they've always done that. It's called: "Take one step closer to that peanut and we'll see how fast you can run!" Yes, when it comes to food, the squirrels aren't too social. And this morning, after yet another rain, they were looking a little damp as they came in to see what I may have left for them.

Hopefully, the damp gives way to some heat this afternoon. For even though there's nothing to attend, we can still celebrate.

So in these crazy times - celebrate who and where you are!

And to all you Canadians, wherever you might be - Happy Canada Day!

An excerpt from my latest release and first women's fiction:

The Tears We Never Cried 

The only solace Cassie has, is in the arms of the man who emerged from the shadows of the past.

(Cassie's just endured another crisis with her mom):

Eventually I went home, I slept little and finally gave in to a cup of tea and an old black and white movie. I couldn't tell you what the movie was about.

I do remember that Bette Davis played in it and Russ showed up somewhere in the middle. He was in his uniform. I guessed he had driven by and seen the living room light on--I didn't ask. That led me to guess he'd done it before--driven by, checking on us, on me. All those crazy words I'd said to him before about not wanting a relationship, about not wanting him, they'd been words I wish I could take back. But there was nowhere to begin back-shoveling the sludge I'd spewed out as my life had crumbled around me. With every crumble he'd been there, and I knew it. He'd been there and I'd wanted  him to be there. I couldn't imagine my life now without him. And I couldn't stop saying words that might drive him away.

"I don't have time for anything but Mother," I said while my inner self screamed to shut up. "I don't know if I ever will." Despite all I'd said, Russ stepped over it all. He manned up when I had only let the potential of us down. I've never been held so tenderly in a man's arms--ever.

Now available in audio!
                                       

   ...a world you never imagined!

The Dead Sea, a tourist and a whole other  story!

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