I’m not often moved by yoga-speak. When I hear about aligning my chakras or a more esoteric call to “release my inner child,” I feel alienated. This instructor’s words were simple and real: “This is your life.” The location was paradise. Combined with the close connection to nature the outdoor studio allotted, the entire experience gifted new insights, and not simply escapism.

He took a few steps before turning back to the group to explain that you not only have to know what the quetzal likes to eat (aguacatillo) and where its nest is located, but you also need a lot of patience. Making eye contact with everyone in the group, he added that “the most important ingredient to seeing a quetzal is luck.” This is how my guided hike through the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica began.

Scanning the forest with an ear to the sky, our guide picked up the pace. “Quickly and quietly,” he whispered. “I think they’re at their nest right now.” We dashed down the wide, gravel entrance to the park. I thought we’d be running deeper into the forest. Stopping at the road’s edge, he set up his scope and peered into the forest. He cupped his hands at his mouth and replicated the quetzal’s hollow, two-note whistle. “No, they ‘re not at the nest anymore. I think one flew up the hill. Let’s go!” he said.

We repeated the same scenario a couple of times. We scurried up and down the trails examining the treetops and listening for its call. I started to think that the anticipation of actually spotting the elusive quetzal was going to be the reward of the hike.

That’s when our luck took a turn for the better.

Through an opening in the thick canopy of trees, we spotted its crimson chest. “It’s a male!” informed our guide. It didn’t have the long tail feathers I had always associated with male quetzals. Its rectangular tail, typical of birds in the trogon family, was pure white, unlike the female’s tail which has black markings. I learned that we were looking at a young male; the tail plumes take a few years to fully develop.

Satisfied and feeling lucky, we continued down the trail…only to spot a second male quetzal with slightly more developed tail feathers! More than satisfied and feeling especially lucky, we returned to observing plant life and eruptions from nearby Arenal Volcano through the spotting scope.

“If we return the way we came, we might spot more quetzals,” said our guide. Feeling lucky enough to want to push our luck, we forwent exploring new parts of the forest for the chance to once again observe the mythical bird.

It was an unusually clear day. Located on the Caribbean slope of the Continental Divide, the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve gets a lot of rain. Hiking uphill, we saw our guide stop and set down his scope. Water break, I thought. He planted the legs of the tripod and angled the scope. With unprecedented calmness, our guide gestured to a nearby branch. Regally perched and wearing a mohawk-like crown in shades of emerald, the mature resplendent male quetzal’s long tail feathers fluttered in the wind like a pennon kite. Speechless.

Side note: Quetzals don’t sit still for very long. Because I had photographed the quetzal on an earlier hike in the Monteverde Cloud Forest (read about that hike here, with photos!), I decided to spend these moments just observing.

Not all dogs in Costa Rica have it so easy. Read my previous post about Costa Rican artist Francisco Munguía’s street dog exhibit in downtown San Jose.

Fulfilling and finding new cravings is one of the pleasures of travel. To recall the first time you ate a carne asada burrito at one of the tiny taco shops in California, enjoyed an ice-cold cerveza with friends after riding bikes to the waterfall in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, or paddled around the pond in El Retiro Park in Madrid, Spain incites a joie de vivre. This joie de vivre comes from the inspiration we get from the fond memory, the experience of enjoying life in the moment and the hope that one day we might be lucky enough to return.

Back in Costa Rica, I’ve arrived excited to fulfill cravings while discovering new ones. Many people will find it hard to believe that there are things I crave in the capital. Before your mind wanders, the first thing I looked forward to seeing was the brilliant green landscape typical of the Central Valley.

To fulfill one of my food cravings, I headed to La Hoja al Aire restaurant for one of my favorite dishes: trucha al aguacate. Alas, I was late for lunch, so that will have to wait.

Now it’s time to revisit and discover new favorites along Costa Rica’s sandy shores. If there’s something you crave in Costa Rica, let me know!

When I read this sentence, I was reminded of the bike ride I took along the Mekong River between Kratie and Kampi to view the freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins. It was a 15-kilometer ride along a paved, albeit bumpy, two-lane road lined with homes and stores. People were busy working in the nearby fields, repairing mopeds, making sticky rice snacks and carving dolphin sculptures to sell to tourists.

As we pedaled along, kids ran to the side of the road to scream hello and wave. Some would continue with “What’s your name?” and “How are you?” If the mother were nearby, she’d often follow with a sua s’dei, which means hello in Cambodian. If she were holding a baby, she would pick up its arm, wave it back and forth and repeat in a high-pitched voice, “hello, hello.” Some kids would run to keep up with us while others stood in place with arms stretched out and palms flat looking for a high-five. The kids who were inside of the house would stick their heads out of the windows to join in the cacophony of greetings.

While this particular bike ride stands out in my mind, I was often struck by the flood of warm smiles, the genuinely kind greetings and the persistence to survive throughout Cambodia. In a country that has suffered so much tragedy in its recent past, seeing how the people forge ahead is certainly a lesson in the endurance of the human spirit.

In Cambodia during Pol Pot’s violent and inhumane regime, millions were relocated and forced into slave labor in the countryside in an attempt to create an “agrarian utopia,” which consequently sparked widespread famine. This is when insects and arachnids entered the Cambodian diet. Today, fried crickets, beetles and tarantulas are sold in markets, on the street and in restaurants.

I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. The only thing that tends to make me queezy is a viscous texture. (Read my earlier post Snot Yam and Hairy Chicharrones.) So when I popped the large, pilose spider into my mouth, I just hoped the bulbous body did not explode with a mucilaginous surprise. Check out our bizarre foods audition by ContemporaryNomad.com:

I have an 8-megapixel digital camera small enough to fit into my pant pocket. I don’t take a lot of photographs and I rarely spend time trying to achieve just the right composition. I see something that catches my eye and I quickly pull out my camera and shoot. This way I can capture one of life’s moments while still remaining a participant. Just like the surprises spontaneity grants, candid photography allows you to capture something outside of the anticipated.
While I was crossing the bridge to Angkor Thom within the temple-city of Angkor Wat in Cambodia the other day, I saw three Korean girls photographing each other kissing one of the Buddha statues. Sometimes it’s just as interesting watching the other tourists as it is admiring the monuments.

I was drawn to one of the far corners of Bayon temple by the sound of a sweet and melancholic voice, which echoed throughout the stone courtyard. There was one other tourist nearby reading a book. Despite her public performance, the young girl seemed completely uninterested in her audience.

Tuk-Tuk is the best way to explore the hundreds of temples spread throughout the ancient city of Angkor Wat. Between temples our driver stopped at one of the many roadside filler stations which dot Cambodian roads. Petrol is stored in glass Pepsi bottles and stored under a large umbrella. Even though there may not be a formal gas station for kilometers, this system makes it easy to fill up your moto or tuk-tuk even in the most remote areas.

In my raincoat negligee, a term coined by my friend Thomas (who snapped this shot with my camera), I held an umbrella over Tony while he photographed the stunningly detailed stone carvings at the Bantei Shrei temple. Don’t miss Tony’s amazing pictorial of Angkor from ContemporaryNomad.com here.

Then and now

At its height, the ancient temple-city of Angkor Wat was one of the great powers of Southeast Asia with a population of more than one million. A short but interesting animated video in Cambodia’s National Museum in Phnom Penh recreates what it must have been like in the city during its heyday. Described as a “hydraulic city” because of its sophisticated aqueduct system, ancient Angkor is depicted within an agriculturally rich landscape. The stone structures were reserved for the Cambodian God-kings while wooden houses gave shelter to ordinary citizens. The video shows people working in the rice fields, walking past temples set within a lush yet tame landscape and paddling in dugout canoes along the waterways. Fast forward ahead seven centuries where one million no longer live in the city, but millions visit every year.

I was slightly disappointed when I first realized it was going to rain during part of my visit to Angkor. Exposed to the elements all day, I knew it could get uncomfortable. After a few moments of hesitation in the rain at 5:30 a.m. with my friends from ContemporaryNomad.com, we decided to start the day with a visit to Ta Prohm.

We entered the temple along a short, muddy road. Shrouded in jungle and mist without another soul in sight, it was easy to put ourselves in the shoes of early explorers stumbling upon the temple for the first time. The damp, lichen-covered stone was black with bright green spots. Strangler figs wrapped their snake-like roots around the Ta Prohm temple, slowly crushing and reclaiming the man-made structure.

Tony from ContemporaryNomad.com, who visited the temple on a sunny afternoon a few days earlier, pointed out a waterfall of vines which had gone unnoticed on his previous visit. With a photographer’s eye, he found the rain-saturated stone carvings revealing new details. “We should go to Banteay Srei today,” Tony said. Famous for its delicate carvings, the wet afternoon was sure to highlight the stone narratives.

Venturing out into the rain reminded me of the rewards of spontaneity. Embracing the unanticipated leads to a treasure trove of adventure.

A hub for travel throughout Asia, Taipei’s airport has a dedicated transfer center which even offers free half-day tours of Taipei twice a day. The clerk filled out a brief form and handed me a green and white sticker with an image of a polar bear in front of two pine trees to adhere to my sweater which read: Miramar Golf Country Club.

The shuttle driver vigorously shook a larger version of the same logo as I exited baggage claim. Even though my bag had been checked through to Phnom Phen, Cambodia, everyone followed the same route through the airport. Seven tourists climbed aboard the shuttle and we wound through dark streets lit most noticeably by occasional pairs of red paper lanterns hanging from store awnings. About 15 minutes into the drive, the road narrowed. Dim streetlights highlighted gardens, rice fields and scattered houses. Ten minutes later, we passed through the hotel’s security gate and manicured grounds to the glass and cream-marble entrance.

After a quick check-in and paying a lower room price than originally quoted (How often does that happen?!), I was submerged in a tub frothy from the bubble bath I selected from the generous assortment of toiletries. Between the drive to LAX, the 14-hour flight and the hot bath, I was more tired than I had thought. I was out the minute my head touched the pillow.

I picked up the phone at 4:27 a.m., jumped right out of bed and mixed myself a hot cup of Nescafe. Spoiled by Costa Rican coffee, I started to wean myself off of the good stuff a few days before my departure, so the steamy cup of Nescafe was nothing but bliss on this chilly morning.

Like a recharged battery, it’s full speed ahead. Next stop, Phnom Phen!

Beyond the visual serenity, it’s the silence pierced only by the wind creating waves and sweeping through dry brush which ultimately soothes the body, mind and soul.