Reflections On Our Year in Thailand

So it's finished. We've packed up all our things, said goodbye to this incredible country we've come to love, and headed back home. It's something I've been looking forward to for nearly a year now, but also something sad. We've had homesickness and job uncertainty as well as amazing adventures and wonderful friends, and somehow it seems nearly impossible to be back to our old lives in Canada.

We've talked several times together while we've been here about how our life here seems so totally separate from our life back home. It feels vaguely dreamlike in its dissimilarity. This has been really apparent whenever people come to visit us; crossing the divide between our Canadian life and our Thai life, but is becoming a glaring reality now that we're coming to the end of our time here. Will it all seem real once we're back home? Will home be everything I've been missing and longing for for? What will we miss about Thailand? Will we ever get the chance to come back?

Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy to want to leave this place; there is so much here that I love. But, there are a lot of things I love and miss about Canada too. Before I fall asleep I imagine myself going on a walk in the woods back home; with the crunchy earthy smell of the fall leaves all around. When I'm feeling homesick I think about sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper on a Sunday morning while enjoying a good cup of coffee. I always knew that I was kind of a homebody; that I am a person who needs to be close to my friends and family to feel really content; but this has come sharply into focus through the homesickness I've felt here in Thailand. I now know that although life sometimes doesn't take you in the direction you expect, I really hope that I can convince it to let me be near my community of people.

On the other hand; we'll miss a lot of things about Thailand. Shane will certainly miss the beaches and the surfing. I will miss the amazing food, the excitement of my students when I walk in the classroom, and how incredibly Thai everything and everybody is (sometimes amusing, sometimes exasperating but always opening my eyes).

So we're both happy and sad to be leaving and coming back home. We're so glad that we've been able to share our experience through this blog, and I hope that you have all enjoyed reading it. Who knows, maybe we'll have to start a "Shane and Hannah's Adventures in Canada" to keep up with our exploits back home? Overall, this has definitely been an experience that has helped us to grow as individuals and as a couple and I wouldn't trade it for anything. As we close this chapter in our lives we'll just hope that the next one is just as full of amazing experiences as this one was. "The straight way's short, but the long way's pretty."

One orangutan, two orangutan, three orangutan four...

So far this vacation has been incredibly memorable! Our first stop after arriving in Sumatra was the jungle town of Bukit Lawang, home to the Gunung Leuser National Park. We signed up for a two day, one night trek in the jungle. The other trekkers were sporting some pretty flashy backpacks and trekking gear while Shane and I hiked the jungle in crocs (on me) and chucks (on Shane) but we made do.

Gunung Leuser National park was home to an orangutan rehabilitation centre, and is now home to wild and semi-wild orangutans. A semi-wild orangutan is one who was originally in captivity but was rehabilitated at the center and now lives in the jungle. At this point they are no longer taking rescued orangutans as the park has a healthy and stable population. The park is also home to other monkeys and even some Sumatran tigers (although it is VERY rare to spot one of these).

Our guide was a charismatic fellow named Thomas who has been leading treks into the jungle for over 20 years! He was really knowledgeable about the jungle and a great guide. We were impressed with his commitment to keeping the orangutans and the forest healthy as he asserted that even our fruit rinds had to be packed out with us so that the orangutans don't get used to following around tourists for food!

This is a Thomas Leaf Monkey. They have hilarious hair.

 After a long day of trekking we got to our campsite which was near this beautiful waterfall. What a great way to wash off the grime from a day of walking in the jungle! After a delicious camp supper of various Indonesian dishes our guide told us some interesting stories about the differences between Western and Indonesian cultures.

During our trek we saw a total of 11 orangutans, including a bit of a close encounter with one named Jackie. She was one of the orangutans who was released into the wild by the rehabilitation centre so she isn't shy of humans. Jackie is a clever girl and has figured out that she should go for people's backpacks in the hope that there will be food inside. If that fails, she grabs a hold of a tourist... luring the guides into bribing her with food to make her go away. Although our guides do not normally feed the orangutans, this was a special case as they were holding us hostage! Shane noted that the orangutan's grip is surprisingly strong...

We also saw several other kinds of monkeys in the park, as well as birds and some beautiful plants. Thomas showed us all kinds of plants and trees that are used for food, medicine or other things in the jungle. We even got to taste the bark of the quinine tree (not advised, it is VERY BITTER) which helps to keep away malaria.

It was definitely an experience that neither of us will forget, it isn't every day you get to see an extremely rare ape in the wild!