Hard Travel and Sacred Places

Hard Travel to Sacred Places is not only the name of a good book but an accurate description of what it took to finally get to Siem Reap, Cambodia. After last minute involuntary itinerary changes and 20 hours in the air I finally make it. Interesting that all my destinations started with an S: Seattle – San Francisco – Seoul – Siem Reap – and the Soria Moria Hotel!

The intense heat and humidity combined with a 15 hour time difference is quite an adjustment but it is all worth it when I finally get to feast my eyes on those amazing faces of the Bayon Temple.

Just how big are those faces?
Here is a photo with some tourists in it to give you some perspective.

More photos of Cambodia

Temples:

Angkor Wat

Banteay Srei

Bayon Temple

Preah Khan

Ta Prohm

Life in Cambodia:

Artisans d’Angkor

Monkeys, Bats, and Butterflies

The Kingdom of Wonder

. . . 

“Wherever you live is your temple, if you treat it like one.” – Buddha

Vancouver BC

Beautiful British Columbia!

Last weekend I attended a conference in downtown Vancouver. It was raining so I didn’t really need these cool shades but I did enjoy my stay at the environmentally-friendly and artsy Listel Hotel on Robson Street. They had compost and recycling bins in the room!

Learn more about their environmental commitments here.

(I don’t get any credit for posting this link I just like hotels that are willing to go the extra mile for our environment!)

Secha

Why Secha?

SechaNua is a name given to me by the Shuar. Secha is an iridescent blue bird who warns all the other birds and animals when danger is approaching. Nua at the end of it makes it feminine. I thought it would be an appropriate name for a travel blog since I have to fly like a bird to go to far away places and I always need to be on the lookout for danger. (I dropped the Nua because the URL was too long already)

For the Children

Bringing clothes for some of those awesome Kmer kids!

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
– Buddha

Siem Reap, soon!

Bayon Temple in Ankgor Thom

Looking forward to my visit next month to see amazing temples and beautiful smiles.