Around the World in 190 Days

Home Again and Final Thoughts

2009-04-29T21:24:00.002-06:00

We flew back to Edmonton via Minneapolis. Due to the connections we had a four hour layover and we spent this time trying to nap as it was 3 am London time (seven hour time differences really can be annoying). We noted that the security at Heathrow and Minneapolis was much tighter than anywhere else we traveled. Mike even got a lecture because he wasn't holding his own passport and boarding card. I was holding it and we were reminded that this was illegal and that both he and Aidan had to hold onto their own passes. After being in twenty other countries where we didn't carry our passports most of the time, Michael just rolled his eyes.

Although our flight back to North America was long and uneventful, it did give us a good opportunity to reflect on the last six months. If we were to summarize our trip in just a few words we would describe it as being an amazing, exhilarating and eye-opening experience. We must also admit that in some places the travel was exhausting and uncomfortable. However, the sites seen and people met make the positives of this trip strongly outweigh any of the negatives.

People keep asking us to name our favourite place or the best thing we did, but it's not that easy. We have a hard time agreeing on our top 10 experiences, let alone the top 5 or 3. No one experience stands out as being somehow far superior to the rest. To many people this will sound like a cop-out, and maybe it is, but hey, it was our adventure and we can summarize it anyway we want. For kids its a little easier. Aidan puts zip-lining in Costa Rica at the front of his list every time.

Mike and I put the following, in no particular order, at the top of our list:

- Climbing in the ruins of Macchu Picchu and the Sacred Valley in Peru;

- Gazing at the marvel that is Angkor Wat;

- The vastness and wildlife of the Serengeti;

- Ballooning over the tower karst in China;

- Enjoying the sun and sand on the beaches in Indonesia and Thailand;

- Seeing the other side of life in the slums of Nairobi; and

- Experiencing the richness of the culture in Marrakesh.

Probably the second most asked question we get is: has the trip changed you? The answer is yes, but not in the way we expected. I think we both went away thinking we would have a spiritual conversion - to drop our old life and take up humanitarian causes in Borneo, or move the family to Singapore. But that didn't happen. What did change was our perspective on life. Going around the world made us realize that we all live in different realities. The reality of our lives in Edmonton and what is deemed "a crisis" here in Canada is not the same as the reality of people in Africa or South America. Most people realize this, but there is a big difference between saying it and experiencing it. For 6 months we got to sample a much bigger world reality - with all its beauty and its failings.

Living out of a backpack also made us realize how little we really need to be happy. A positive attitude, a place to sleep, and a few clothes is all we really needed. Now that we are home, we have decided to stay focused on living more simply, making time for family, and staying healthy. We sincerely feel that we have gained perspective and grown as individuals.

In summary, we will remember this trip as being the most wonderful gift that we have ever given ourselves. We felt very much alive - much more so than at almost any other point in our lives. Are we sad about our adventure being over? Yes. Would we do it again? You bet. We have already started making the list of places to visit for the next trip. Guatemala, Egypt, Turkey, Vietnam, Laos.....

Figuring out how to wrap up our trip journal is tough. So in the interests of ending this on a light note, we offer up the following tongue-in-cheek top 10 list:

10) Best coffee - whether you consider it gross or not, the civet coffee in Indonesia is pretty damm good.

9) Best world wide franchise opportunity - KFC (the world loves fried chicken).

8) Most annoying sound - tie between the Imams call to prayer in Indonesia at 4:00 a.m. and the howler monkeys overhead at 3:00 a.m. in Costa Rica.

7) Worst hostel - the Floating Island hostel in Phnom Penh where you were lucky not to fall through the floor into the lake.

6) Best hostel - tie between the Wildebeest Lodge in Nairobi for the fabulous people and beautiful grounds and the the Riad Pushka in Marrakesh for the sumptuous room.

5) Best cheap food - Pad Thai from the hawker stalls in Bangkok and the Zanzibar pizza in Tanzania was a great deal too.

4) Best airline and most inept airline - the best were Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific and the most inept prize goes to Royal Air Maroc for losing our luggage on a direct flight from Lisbon, Portugal to Casablanca, Morocco.

3) Worst assumption made about Western tourists at the hostels - they all love Nescafe instant coffee (gaaaaa!)

2) Most dangerous place to eat - buffets at four star resorts because we got food poisoning twice at them on two different continents.

1) Most challenging aspect of world travel - schoolwork (Aidan); getting used to the squat toilets (Susan); falling victim to the touts (Mike).

To all our blog followers: If you would like a private viewing of our 3,000+ pictures, please give us a call. Make sure you have at least 3 free days.

Happy travels everyone, and thanks again for the support and comments during our trip,

Michael, Susan and Aidan If anyone reading this blog would like to talk to us about the trip, feel free to contact us at michael.jay.mcdermott at (substitute the @ sign folks) gmail.com

The End is Near

2009-04-20T22:21:00.003-06:00

Hello followers (or any that still might be out there). We are finally back in Edmonton. We have another blog drafted of our final thoughts on the trip, but we haven't got it finalized yet. Soon, soon....

Jolly Old England

2009-04-08T21:23:00.001-06:00

We landed in Gatwick after an uneventful flight from Faro on British Airways. A quick call to the B&B from the terminal and 15 minutes later were were ensconced at the Gable End Guest House. If you are ever in Gatwick we would highly recommend staying here. Joseph and Mary (yes, that's their real names) run a wonderful little place with good sized rooms and a 5 star British breakfast - bacon, eggs, toast, sausage, beans and grilled tomatoes.

We walked down to the local pub - Ye Olde Six Bells - for a pint and dinner that night. It was nice to be back in Britain! In the morning after our huge breakfast we jumped on the Southern Train into London. Interestingly, it cost us only 15 pounds for 3 people and took the same amount of time as the Gatwick Express at 1/3 the cost. Go figure.

From Victoria Station we hopped on the tube and made our way to Tottenham Court Road before walking the last little bit to the 'world-headquarters' for Head Communications where Susan's brother Rob works. After coffee, the rest of the day was spent strolling around showing Aidan the sights in London - Hamley's toy store, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. We caught up with Rob again in the evening and made our way on the train to Bletchley. It didn't take us long to settle into Rob and Nikki's town-house.

Saturday was spent talking and relaxing. A fair amount of drinking was involved as well as a fine BBQ. Nikki's mom Di came over to join the festivities. Michael and Rob finished the day sitting out on the deck smoking Cuban cigars and drinking cognac. Unfortunately for Michael, he didn't realize how much he was drinking and ended up getting stupidly drunk and sick to his stomach (first time in a decade). Not too swift, but it was funny to laugh at both of them the next day.

Sunday everyone piled into the car for a picnic at a local farm. It was lambing season and we had the opportunity to watch several lambs being born. Aidan ran around from one area to the next enjoying the petting zoo, jumping castle and pedal carts among other things. It was a very enjoyable way to spend a Spring afternoon in the south of England.

On Monday Rob took the day off work and the four of us went into London to visit the Imperial War Museum. Aidan was in heaven. He ran from exhibit to exhibit dragging one or the other of us along while the others tried to actually read the information. Tanks, rockets, planes, artillery, guns, model battlefields and two interactive displays - the Trench Experience and the Bombing of London Experience. The whole museum is really impressive (and for once is free!), but the two experience displays really stand out. They were realistic enough that the smells, sounds and shaking floor started to frighten Aidan. Of course as soon as we were out in the hallway he wanted to go right back in again.

Tuesday was the last full day of our trip spent in another country. It was low key affair. Both of us felt that the adventurous part of our journey ended when we left Africa, so this was more of an encore farewell. Aidan played most of the morning, after which we took to a bus to Milton Keynes mall. We spent a pleasant afternoon looking through the stores and getting much needed haircuts. We met up with Rob later that evening and had our last overseas dinner at a very nice Indian restaurant.

The next day Nikki's mom Di was nice enough to drive us to Heathrow for our journey home. Visiting Rob, Nikki and Di in Britain was a really nice way to end our trip, and we're glad we got the chance to visit.

How to Know When It's Time to Go

2009-04-04T02:48:00.001-06:00

The train ride back to Casablanca was a lot of fun, due mainly to the interesting people with whom we were sharing a cabin. An American guy and his Moroccan wife had a lot of travel stories to share with us and so we talked for the full three hours back. We had a pleasant and uneventful plane flight and arrived safely back in Lisbon with all of our luggage this time.

A short taxi ride later and we were at the Pension Bom Comforto. We were welcomed by a nice older woman and shown to our room. This is not a four star place (or much of a star place), but it was generally clean and the staff were very nice. The bad news was that we were paying as much as we were at the last place we stayed at in Lisbon, which was much nicer. The other bad news was that Michael had a bad cold and was miserable. In the morning we slept late and had some toast and coffee while Tanya - the Russian owner - chatted about what to see in Lisbon.

We headed out and caught a streetcar to Castelo de Sao Jorge. Situated on the highest point in the city, it offers some spectacular views. Here we enjoyed a coffee and soaked up some sun. The castle was built in Visigothic times, but took its more modern form about 200 years ago. We all had fun walking the castle walls and ramparts. Since we figured we had worked up an appetite, we wandered down the big hill and found a small local restaurant. Sitting out on the street, we enjoyed wine and local fare (meats, cheese, bread, and some the best salad with tuna I have ever eaten). Knowing that chilly England was only a few days away, I headed to the shops to find a pair of jeans. After trying on 15 pairs in 6 different stores, I finally found some that I liked and because they were on half price - I bought two pairs. Michael made sure he pointed out that I had to fit them in my backpack.

Much later that evening and after a late afternoon rest, we headed out for dinner. Just down the street was an Indian restaurant and here we had some of the best Indian food we have ever eaten. Wow two great meals in one day. Aidan polished off a plate of pakoras and Mike and I enjoyed enourmous glasses of beer with butter chicken and curried vegetables. We all waddled back to the hotel. If you are ever in Lisbon, we highly recommend the Ghandi restaurant for dinner.

The next morning we took the subway to the bus station to catch a bus to Faro. We didn't have tickets, but luck was on our side. We arrived at the bus station at 10:10 and caught the 10:30 bus. Three hours later we were back on the southern coast. We checked into our nice hotel called the Residential Sun Algarve and headed out to another local eatery (yes, our travel tales are dictated by our stomach). The remainder of the afternoon was spent walking through the downtown area and enjoying the nice weather and sunshine. We also stopped for many more pastel de nadas. I must look for a Portugese bakery in Edmonton and see if anyone makes these delectable tarts. Aidan got to pick the dinner restaurant and so we ended up at McDonalds. It really was okay though because in Portugal you can get draft beer at McDonalds. It's right up along side the sodas. Horray for us.

We didn't have much time the next morning before we had to leave for the airport and so we took a quick walk to once again enjoy the sunshine and beautiful warm weather. Unfortunately, while Aidan was playing in a park, I got shit on by a bird and so we had to head back to the hotel. I guess this was a sign that it was time to go.

The reality is really starting to sink in for both of us that our trip is nearing an end. We had a chat last night about our trip really being over. Mike started to see the end of the trip once we flew to Madrid, but I didn't feel like the trip was ending until we arrived back in Portugal. Everything is so, well, European and working. We are being positive about heading back to Canada and our family and friends. Aidan can hardly wait to get home to his toys, school, and his classmates. However, we are going to miss the adventure, the new experiences, the food, and the freedom of an unplanned day without commitments. We haven't finished this trip yet and we are already discussing where to go on our next holiday. Maybe two weeks in Guatemala?? Anyone want to come with us?

Marrakesh - City of Snake Charmers and Mint Tea

2009-03-31T11:02:00.005-06:00

We had high expectations for Marrakesh, and I'm happy to report that it exceeded them in every way.The city is an intoxicating blend of sights, sounds, smells and tastes.

Our journey to Marrakesh began with a pleasant 3 hour train ride from Casablanca. We made the decision to shell out the extra $15 to upgrade to first class which provided us with very comfortable seats in a private cabin that held 6 people. As the scenery of Morocco rolled by we caught glimpses of rural life as well as some interesting small towns. The terrain gradually changed from farmland and trees to rolling hills. Ironically it reminded us of the Prairies in Canada, minus palm trees of course.

We arrived in Marrakesh and disembarked into the city's ultra-modern train station where a taxi driver sent by the riad met us. The station is in the new part of the city so we had an interesting drive to the old Medina. New Marrakesh is palm lined streets and modern hotels and condos; old Marrakesh is quite a bit different.

As we drove through the walls surrounding the old Medina, we seemed to step back in time. The road narrowed quickly to the point where we had to get out and walk the rest of the way to Riad Puchka. Traffic turned into a crazy mix of pedestrians, motorbikes and donkeys pulling carts. A few minutes and alleyways later we arrived at our riad where we stepped inside a calm oasis amid the din of the Medina.

If you ever go to Marrakesh we recommend you stay at a riad, which is basically a household surrounding a courtyard. The open centre allows heat to escape during the day and cool air in at night. Riad Puchka, where we stayed, is fantastic, and at 60 Euros a night was probably the best value for accommodations on our trip. The place was fully restored 5 years ago and even has a small swimming pool and hot tub in the centre. We quickly settled in to our luxurious rooms and listened carefully as Mustafa explained how to navigate around the city.

That evening we successfully made our way down to Jemma-el-Fna, which is the very large main square in Marrakesh. How to describe it? Imagine life a few hundred years ago when everyone came down to the central square of their town for entertainment. In one corner you have storytellers entertaining the local audience with tales of arabian nights; in another corner are fortune-tellers and women applying henna; over on the other side are snake charmers and acrobats. In between all this are the food stalls and their intoxicating aroma. Surrounding the square, in mazes of narrow streets, are the souks, selling everything you could possibly want. And everywhere you go, the crush of people going about their business. All your senses go immediately into overload. What a wonderful place!

We were all immediately enthralled. Over the next three days we explored the souks and area around the main square. Mustafa gave us a very good tourist map that had each area of the souks marked by the type of goods being sold. Over the equivalent of about 10 square city blocks you could find the following types of things: wood carvings, ironworks, skins, leather, music instruments, clothing, Moroccan slippers, jewelery, fabrics, lanterns, herborists, wool, shoes, copper, dried fruits, olives, market fruits and vegetables, tailors, pastry shops, and crockery.

We also discovered some amazing coconut cookies that are sold everywhere on the streets and I highly recommend them. On two occassions we ate dinner at the food stalls in the main square with a thousand others. It was quite fun and a good cheap meal that typically consisted of bread, olives, and an assortment of kebabs and vegetables. It filled us all up. On the way back to the riad each day, Aidan would stop for some popcorn at the popcorn vendor; we became a regular customer during our stay. We also drank a lot of mint tea while in Marrakesh. Here it is made with real mint leaves and is sweetened. Very tasty. Aidan discovered that he likes kefta and had it on several occasions. His food tastes have certainly changed over the last six months.

As well as visiting the many shops in the souks, we also went to several significant tourist sites. From the main medina area we could see the Ali ben Youssef Mosque, which is the largest and oldest surviving mosque in the medina and was built in the 12th century. Alas it is closed to non-Muslims. One day we walked to the Marrakesh Museum which is housed in a restored 19th century palace, Dar Mnebhi. Once again the architecture and design in these buildings took our breath away. We also visted the Ali Ben Youssef Medersa, which is a Muslim religious school with some impressive stucco decoration.

On another day we ventured into the Royal Quarter (Kasbah) and toured the most famous of the city's palaces, the now ruined Palais el-Badi. It once had the reputation as being the most beautiful palace in the world. All that is left now are towering pise walls and the staggering scale of the ruins. We then went to the Palais de la Bahia, which is certainly a beautiful palace and really reminded us of the Alhambra in Spain. The nicest thing was that most of the colours were still present in the stucco decoration. From here we walked to the Saadian Tombs, which are the resting places of Saadian princes. It was a very worthwhile day, despite the 7 odd hours of walking around. Everyone was very tired and I think Susan's comments were along the lines of "That's it ... I'm done."

A funny thing happended while we were wandering between these sites. We ran into Andy from the United Kingdom. It is funny because we met Andy and his girlfriend Kirsten in Parachy, Brazil in November. Andy was in Marrakesh with his father for a short holiday. He came running up to us on the street and said he recognized Aidan. We are now firmly convinced that it is a small world after all.

We're very glad we visted Marrakesh. It was definately one of the highlights of our trip. We would reccomend it to anyone who wants to experience the warmth of the Arabic people. Our only regret is that we didn't have time to go visit Essaouria or venture into the Sahara desert. We'll definately come back.

What I Have in Common with Humphrey Bogart (Besides Good Looks)

2009-03-26T06:02:00.001-06:00

Casablanca of course! Actually I'm not sure if Humph ever actually made it to the famed city since the movie was filmed in Florida.

We arrived here on Royal Air Marroc but encountered a few minor but annoying challenges along the way. After saying goodbye and thank you to my parents we made our way up to Lisbon on the bus and stayed overnight at the Gran Pension Alcobia (50 euro). We heard that Lisbon airport can have some long security lineups, so we arrived extra early, at 6:00 a.m. for our 8:30 flight. Unfortunately, the check-in counter did not open until 6:30, and when it did open we all found out that the computer system for all TAP flights (with which Royal Air Moroc is affiliated) was down. So everyone waited for almost an hour until and then it was announced that check-in would proceed by hand. By this time the line-ups in the whole terminal were huge! Just when they started doing manual check-in, it was announced the computer system was up and running again.

When we got up to the counter, the staff person asked if we had our visas for Morocco. I had checked on the Canadian Foreign Affairs website only days before and knew that we did not need a visa to visit. However, some horribly worded English on the staff person's screen made it sound like we needed a visa. We convinced her that this was not true and she let us go ahead. So off we headed through some frantic security to our gate. We were supposed to board at 7:50 and by 8:00 we knew something was wrong as we hadn't boarded. I checked the departures board to discover that they had changed the gate and were now on the final boarding call for our flight. So we, along with two others, ran to the other gate, jumped on an airport bus and were whisked off to our plane.

Luckily the plane did not crumble apart during our flight because it appeared old enough to do so. The only good thing about the trip was the breakfast. The yogurt and croissant were yummy, but no coffee. Boo. As we landed in Casablanca we thought to ourselves, now nothing else could possibly go wrong. Sadly we were mistaken. Our luggage did not come directly to Casablanca with us. For reasons unknown it was sent to Barcelona, Spain. Seriously.

So we headed into Casablanca on a train as the airport is 30+ km out of town, without our luggage. From the train station we caught a Petit Taxi to the Central Hotel, which just inside the walls of the old Medina. The hotel was in an old building that at one time might have been very nice. Now it is a little worn around the edges and a bit musty smelling. However, the staff were very nice and the location was good.

After a quick freshening up, we headed out for a walk down toward the central market. Along the way we stopped at a cafe for some sandwiches and excellent coffee. The architecture in downtown Casablanca is best described as Moorish design meets Art Deco. Its really quite spectacular, however most buildings have been left to decline and are in need of extensive renovation. This is unfortunate given the obvious potential. Making our way back to the hotel we walked through the old Medina, with its maze of souks and narrow streets, full of interesting sights and smells. We spent the evening catching up on reading and schoolwork and enjoying the mint tea.

The next morning we went down and had a nice breakfast, which included local breads, apricot jam and some excellent coffee. Our plan was to walk over to visit the Hassan II Mosque in the morning, have a quick lunch, and then head out on a city tour for the afternoon (we made the tour arrangements at the tourist office the previous day). After the tour, we would then go to the airport to collect our wayward luggage, which had finally arrived.

The Hassan II Mosque overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and is the third largest in the world. It was started in 1986 and completed 6 years later to commemorate the 60th birthday of Hassan II, the former king of Morocco. The mosque is really impressive and a wonderful showcase of what can be achieved when modern building techniques are applied to a grand religious structure. The building can hold 25,000 worshippers inside and another 80,000 people outside. The exterior is clad in marble and tile. It even features a retractable roof and a laser that points towards Mecca which was visible from our hotel at night. The inside is breathtaking. Its hard to even describe how beautiful the tile work, marble columns, woodwork and chandeliers are. Suffice to say there were 10,000 artisans involved in the project and 3,000 construction workers, working 24 hours a day in shifts. The mosque was definitely the highlight of our stay in Casablanca.

Lunch consisted of really yummy sandwiches and fries bought from a small vendor in the old Medina. Total cost for three people - $3. The tour guide (Susan called him "grumpy Bill') joined us as we were eating and we spent the next few hours in an old Mercedes taxi visiting the other sights in Casablanca. The more memorable places included the waterfront, which is being completely redeveloped, the old lighthouse, several gardens and parks, the area where the rich and famous live, and walking around old streets and palaces in the Kasbah (royal quarter). We also visited a spice vendor where we got a lesson in the many spice products produced in Morocco and purhased some saffron and perfume. Along the way we got to see both the new and the old side of Casablanca and breathe a lot of car exhaust. Morocco will be very nice when they put catalytic converters on vehicles.

With our tour complete, we dropped off our guide and made our way back to the airport. The driver agreed to take us for the same rate that the airline would be reimbursing us for. All good so far, except that the traffic was horrible. Had we known it would be so bad, we would have taken the train instead and saved some money in the process. To make a long story short, it took over 3 hours to retrieve our luggage and get back to the old Medina.

Tired but hungry, we had dinner at a place recommended in Lonely Planet guide that was near our hotel. We ate some good traditional food including a nice tangene (meat and vegetable stew cooked slowly in an earthenware dish) and a mezze (five different small salads), but it was very over priced. One juice drink cost more than our entire lunch in the old Media.

After a quick breakfast the next morning we made our way to the Gare des Casa Voyageurs and jumped on the train to Marrakesh. We were glad we stopped in Casablanca for a day, however that's about all the time I think its worth.

For the Love of My Liver...

2009-03-23T13:24:00.000-06:00

For the health of my liver, I must leave the Algarve. We have had a great deal of fun spending time with Mike's parents - Pat and Paul. They do know how to have good noshies and cocktails before dinner, followed by some fabulous Portuguese reds with dinner. Oh, and I cannot forget about the sangria in the afternoons. Truthfully, I think Pat and Paul's livers could use a break from us as well. Hehehe.

Aidan also had his share of fun with Grandma and Grandpa. He had been counting down the days for several weeks and I don't think he slept much the night prior to seeing them because he was so excited. His early morning cheerio eating contests with Grandpa resumed and he got all the bacon he could eat from Grandma.

Now all joking aside, the six days we spent in southern Portugal hasn't been all drinkies and nibblies. We have seen a few things. Pat and Paul have spent the last four winter's in the Algarve and know it very well. They rent a two bedroom condominium in Sesmarias, which is near Lagoa, which is near Faro. It is a nice place (if you like everything done in marble - and really who doesn't) near the ocean. It was here that we were introduced to many other expats who spend their winters in sunny Portugal. The temperature really was quite nice, around 24 C every day. Most of the communities were quiet, but we were told that in the summers when the temperatures soar to over 40 C each day, the beaches and towns are crawling with tourists (mainly Brits).

We were treated to a couple of rituals. First there was the daily coffee ritual. This involves driving to Luis' cafe and having two cups of very tasty coffee. We went on the regular pilgrimage to the chicken lady's for lunch in Silves. There is a particular restaurant that is owned by the old lady and serves piri-piri chicken. Actually, that is all they serve. First they bring out bread, cheese, sardine paste, and olives. Then comes wine. Then the old lady comes and fusses over Aidan. Then out comes platters of salad, piri-piri chicken and fries. Pat and Paul found out about the place when they spoke to another couple who had stumbled upon it. They sat at a table and asked the old lady for a menu. At which point she slammed her hand down on the table and yelled "chicken." So they had chicken. We also went to sample the famous Pastel de Nadas (Portuguese custard tarts) at the Pastisserie. Finally, we attended the weekly expat Canadian meeting / Canadiana quiz at Smilers Bar. It was here under the maple leaf that we helped Paul win the weekly trivia by knowing the answer to a tie breaking question (Q: The name of the movie about beer drinking Doug and Bob Mackenzie; A: Strange Brew). Yay Paul - a bottle of wine to replace the diminishing collection!

Pat and Paul have a roomy car and therefore we were driven to all the fun sites around the area. We visited the castle in Silves and the Palace of the Verandas. This fortress sits on the highest point in Silves and is quite ancient, like before the Romans. It was the site of the throne of Seville from 1053 onward during the height of the Arab rule. In the 13th century it was conquered by the Christians.

We spent another morning combing through the gypsy market and managed to find some replacement running shoes for Aidan and some very large sugary doughnut like things for all. On a different day we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the beach at Praia da Rocha. Wow what a beach. It was as amazing as any we have seen in our travels, but with no one on it. It is packed in the summer. It was a hot day and Aidan had a good time building sand castles with Grandma. On another day, we ventured to Monshique - both the top of the mountain and the small picturesque town. Here we marveled at the wind turbines, the view and the hot springs. We also managed to fit in some shopping in the small towns, where every street is made from marble stones.

Aidan did manage to get into the brand new swimming pool at the condo complex. It was a fairly chilly day and even he couldn't stay in for very long. A little too early in the season, but Grandpa and Michael sure enjoyed the show.

We also got some exciting news from home. Our house renters (actually my cousin Brian and his lovely wife Wendy) informed us that their new home in Leduc is ready three months ahead of schedule! They are moving in April 1st instead of in June. Obviously the economy in Alberta has gone down hill a bit when homes are being finished before rather than after the estimated completion date. What this means is that we are moving back to our whole home again in April instead of just into our basement. We cannot thank Brian and Wendy enough for taking such good care of the house over the winter.

All in all, we had a great relaxing time in the Algarve and Portual thanks to Mike's parents. Now back to our African adventure.

For the Love of Tapas

2009-03-19T03:47:00.004-06:00

The past few days have been spent in tapas heaven...oh...and we saw some more stuff here in Spain too.

After finishing our time in Madrid we boarded the high-speed train for Granada. There is nothing more civilized than zipping through the countryside at 200+ kmh while you enjoy a glass of wine in the club car. The scenery was also spectacular and changes quite a bit as you move further south. We were also pleasantly surprised by change in weather, and stepped off the train to a beautiful 23 C Mediterranean day.

We looked around briefly for the local buses, but decided to hoof it to the downtown instead. It turned out that the train station was only about 1 km from our hostel and we had enjoyed a pleasant walk along Granada's Gran Via. Its worth mentioning at this point that we're very glad we decided to buy backpacks with wheels on the bottom. Its much easier to pull a backpack behind you than hitch it on your back. Although wheeled luggage is definitely a no-no for chic travelers (only backpacks with shoes and water bottles hanging off will do), we're no longer care. We've only had to carry our packs five or six times on this trip, but we have used those wheels everywhere.

We quickly found our way to Hostel Antares. The manager was elated that we were from Canada as he is a huge fan of Bachman Turner Overdrive. Anyway...we settled in to our very nice room and set out immediately for tapas and wine. We managed to pull ourselves away from the restaurants long enough to see the Cathedral and a few other sights in the city. Granada is nestled at the foot of the snow-clad Nevada Mountains and was a sanctuary for Muslims after the fall of Cordoba and Seville. The Alhambra is really a commanding presence over the whole town and we had tons of fun wandering around the maze-like streets of the town.

At the manager's advice, we walked up the hill (a very big hill) at 7:30 in the morning to get our tickets into the Alhambra. Because of the large number of people who visit each day, entrance to Palacio Nazaries is tightly controlled and everyone is assigned a specific time. We would have booked tickets on the internet in advance if we had known. The manager gave us good advice though and we got to visit the palace at 8:30 a.m., well before the crowds.

The Alhambra is one of the greatest accomplishments of Islamic art and architecture in the Mediterranean. It is at once a fortress, a palace, and a maze of patios and gardens. The Alcazaba - the Alhambra's fortress - dates from the 11th to the 13th centuries and boasts spectacular views of Granada from its towers. The Palacio Nazaries was built for Granada's Muslim rulers and is the centrepiece of the Alhambra. The detail and intricacy of the stuccos and woodwork are really awe inspiring. We spent over 4 hours walking around the area taking picture after picture of carved stone and beautiful tiles. Then we headed back into town for sangria and tapas (again). We also ate some great Lebanese food at the Samarkanda restaurant.

We went to bed at a reasonable time so we could get up and catch a bus to Seville early in the morning; however being Saturday night, it didn't quiet down until 6:30 a.m. Oh well, we had a great breakfast and managed to head down to the bus station around 10:30 am. No need to buy tickets ahead of time here(love the public transportation!). We caught a noon bus and three hours later found ourselves in Sevilla.

We got a little lost trying to find our hotel in the old historic part of town. It is a beautiful city and the streets wind around every which way. Our hotel was down a busy street with no sidewalks. The door to the hotel opened off a cobblestone road approximately one foot from the traffic on the street (really). Fun trying to get luggage in and not get hit by cars.

Gradually, we started to "get" the layout of the crazy streets so that we could get to a tourist attraction and back without getting lost. Along the way we visited many impressive plazas and enjoyed looking in the shop windows. We also enjoyed the sangria and tapas.

Although we only stayed one night we did manage to see a lot. Seville's cathedral is primarily Gothic and it holds the honour of being the largest cathedral in the world (by floor area). Yeah, seriously, wow. It was built over-top of an ancient mosque. A tower adjoins the cathedral and is called La Giralda. It use to be the mosques minaret and dates from the 12th century. We climbed up the 37 floors to get to the top and see all around Seville.

We also visited the Alcazar and the nearby Starbucks. Okay, Susan and I really enjoyed finding Starbucks again. Anyway...the Alcazar was a residence of Muslim and Christian royalty for many centuries and was founded in 913 as a fortress. It has been updated over the centuries and is a real mishmash of styles. The gardens were beautiful and well, it is hard to find other words to describe some of these old buildings. A joy to be able to see inside and every bit as impressive as Alhambra in Granada

Oh, we also had more sangria and tapas.

My parents picked us up at 1:30 pm the next day and we headed to Lagoa, Portugal. Aidan had been driving us crazy for hours waiting for his grandparents so we were very happy to see them arrive. We are looking forward to being pampered for a few days in Portugal.

Real Madrid

2009-03-14T10:21:00.005-06:00

Madrid is a magical city, and we have very much enjoyed playing
tourist here for the past few days. One of the best features of Spain
is the incredible food, and we made a point of visiting several
different restaurants for tapas. Most places have a set menu for
lunch (the biggest meal of the day) and then people eat tapas for
dinner. Typically, this includes small baguette sandwiches. Hams,
sausages and cheeses are important food products here and we really
enjoyed trying the different meats. We had our last dinner in Madrid
at the Museo de Jambon (yes, the Museum of Ham!).

Being in Europe, we knew it was going to be expensive, and we were right.
It is pricey here and I don't know how people manage to
eat out all the time (they do) and dress so nice. The one deal we did
manage was for accommodation. We originally looked into staying in a
hostel, but most were more expensive than the budget hotels, so we
ended up staying at the Best Western, in the centro for less than 50
Euros a night. It was within walking distance of everything.
Perfectly situated.

Yesterday we jumped on the double-decker tourist bus (ubiquitous in
every big European city) to see the sights. Madrid did not disappoint.
Our first stop was the National Museum. Interestingly, the Prince and
Princess of Spain were visiting the same time we were, so there was a
ton of extra security and sections were being closed off as the royal
party toured the exhibits. It took us about 2 hours to go into sensory
overload from all the paintings. We saw at least 20 masterpieces
during our wanderings, including works by Raphael, Titan, Caravaggio,
Goya, El Greco and Reubens. Aidan's favorite was The Triumph of Death
by Brueghel, which featured skeletons doing battle with people. All
that and we caught a glimpse of the future King and Queen of Spain.
Cool!

Our other big stop on the tour was the Royal Palace. After spending an
hour outside at a playground we journeyed back in time to the 17th and
18th century when Spain was still a colonial super-power. We enjoyed
seeing some incredible rooms (the throne room and the porcelain room
have not changed since 1755), a collection of 255 clocks, and 5
Stradivarius violins. Aidan particularly liked the Armeria Real
(armoury).

Once again we are reminded how functional European cities and towns
are compared to their North American counterparts. During the day,
there are hundreds of stores and cafes open and most people are
walking down the sidewalks enjoying the fabulous weather and
window-shopping. If you need to get across the city, you hop on the
Metro for the quick and whisper-silent trip. Airport, bus and train
stations are all reachable by Metro. At night, the streets fill with
even more people as everyone stops for a glass of wine and a tapa. By
9 pm the pubs have opened and the nightlife is just getting started.
The is an incredible variety of people on the streets at all times of
the day. Families, friends, and senior citizens are all out in force.
Groups of older women and men, dressed to the nines, are out having
glasses of beer and tapas or chocolate and churrios. It really was a
pleasure to wander around this beautiful city. What a difference from
the hollowed-out cities we live in!

One other interesting point about Madrid. There is a tremendous police
presence in the downtown, which makes you feel very safe, but also
makes you think about why all the security is necessary. You can't
even get into the national museum without going through a metal
detector. Ditto for the train station and any other important
building. An unfortunate reality for Spain.

Susan had her first severe diabetic low blood sugar of this trip on
our last night in Madrid. Luckily we are carrying several glucagon
injection kits, and after 13 years of marriage, I am an expert on
using them. Once administered, she was as right as rain. Aidan was a
bit freaked out, but once things were explained to him, he was fine.
The low blood sugar was a result of a lot of walking, a light dinner,
and a few glasses of wine. Things do go wrong and you just have to be
prepared to deal with them.

This morning we got up early to catch our train to Granada. Its a
pleasure to travel on European trains. As I write this we're being
whisked through the countryside at about 200 kmh in quiet comfort.
What a change from East Africa.

Out of Africa

2009-03-11T10:21:00.000-06:00

Hard to believe we have already arrived at our last day in Africa.
Susan and I are really sorry to go. We've met some wonderful people
here and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Kenya and Tanzania.
Ironically, after taking it easy in Nairobi for a while, we're ready
to see the rest of the eastern half of the continent. We've heard
great things about Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi, Botswana and South
Africa, That will have to wait until next time.

We spent our last few hours in Nairobi enjoying the perfect weather
and saying goodbye to everyone. We're really going to miss Lynita and
Alan, the two expat Australians who run Wildebeest Camp, and Aidan is
going to miss their young son Oliver. The other person we're going to
miss is Justice, a young Masai man who is living with Lynita and Alan
while he completes his degree in wildlife conservation. We promised
Justice that when he's done, we'll come back and he can guide us
around the Masai Mara. His family lives there and he said we would
have a great time visiting with them as well.

Alan joined us on the way to the airport. Their Land Rover has been
impounded in Customs for the past month. He was hoping that the import
problem they were experiencing had cleared up. At issue was their
import paperwork. A Customs official told them it would require
200,000 Shillings ($3,000) to make it go away. Lynita and Alan are
both upright people and refuse to pay bribes, which can be a real
impediment when you live in one of the 20 most corrupt countries on
the planet. They countered by writing a letter to the top customs
official who seemed to be willing to act on their behalf. Good luck
Alan!

After doing some last minute souvenir shopping in the airport we
enjoyed a pleasant flight out of Nairobi on Qatar Airways. Upon
arrival in Doha, we were pleasantly surprised to find the the airline
supplied free meals to people who had to wait more than 5 hours
between connections. We'll fly Qatar anywhere. Their service (and
food) is way better than any airline in North America.

We arrived in Madrid, Spain around 7:00 am in the morning. The
temperature outside was a balmy 3 Celsius, What a shock after 5 months
of tropical weather! After stopping for a quick continental breakfast
we made our way on the Metro to our hotel in the heart of the Centro
district.

We really enjoyed our time in the developing world, but its also fun
to be back in a Western country. Hot showers with unlimited water,
fantastic architecture, no litter or crime to speak of, and
outstanding food. We're enjoying Spain already.

The Other Side of Nairobi

2009-03-09T03:51:00.002-06:00

We have spent the past few days learning about the other side of
Nairobi. The side that tourists don't usually see and the rich try to
turn a blind eye to. Over half of the population of the city of
Nairobi live in slums, which translates into approximately 1.5 to 2
million people. Unbelievably the slums themselves only cover 5% of the
land area of the city, so you can imagine the population density in
these places. People are practically living on top of each other.

Our first visit to the other side of Nairobi was to Kibera, which is
the largest in slum in East Africa and one of the largest on the
continent. Kibera covers approximately 2 square KMs and is situated on
government land. This means that nobody in Kibera can own property and
everyone lives under the threat of eviction. The exact population of
Kibera is not known. We heard estimates as high as 1.5 million people,
but more likely it is about one million.

Kibera is the largest but by no accounts the only slum in Nairobi. All
together there are 66 slums in the city. Other well-known slums
include Mathare and Korogocho. Slum populations have grown rapidly
over the past decade and continue to increase as a result of rapid
urbanization in East Africa. Its hard to imagine the living conditions
in the rural areas being worse than slums, but for many that seems to
be the case.

Perhaps our biggest surprise visiting Kibera was that there is large
socioeconomic gradient inside the slum. People are better off on the
outskirts of Kibera than those living in the middle. Many of the
people living on the outskirts have low-paying or irregular jobs and
walk back and forth to downtown every day. There are a large number of
shops and services catering to this group; and there is also hope.
Almost everyone we bumped into in these areas way happy and smiling.
They are trying hard to escape the slum.

Closer to the centre of Kibera the scene changes. Open sewers are
everywhere and people are living in absolute squalor. There is a
general feeling of helplessness. People don't have jobs and most exist
on less than $1 a day. They live so close to the edge that even a
small hardship would push them over the edge. Just walking through
these areas was hard. The smell makes you want to retch and you feel
completely unclean after spending only a few hours there. It was
overwhelming.

Our host for the Kibera visit was a young man named Sandi who
works/volunteers for the Kibera Community Youth Program. The
organization was founded about 3 years ago to help young people in the
slum build a better life. Most of the projects sponsored by the
program focus on self-improvement, like self-education and skills
development for young adults, but they also help offset costs for
nutritional food. Like many small grassroots projects, there is no
formal funding for the organization and they rely on the generosity of
small doners, like us, who visit them. We were impressed with the
group and what they were trying to accomplish. The most exciting
project from our perspective was to set up an internet learning
centre. To do this, the organization needs about 7-10 used laptops and
an internet connection. They figure that they can use 3 or 4 of the
laptops to set up a basic internet cafe, which would pay for the
internet connection and electricity.

Susan also joined our Wildebeest Camp host, Lynita, and her friend
Marion on a visit to the Shepherd's Orphanage Centre in the Kayole
slum. There are many orphanages in the city that are run as profit
making enterprises. Owners get money from the government and most of
it doesn't go to the children. This one was different.

A very caring man named Lusweti started the centre five years ago and
does not have any government support. Well, they do get a couple of
bags of maize every year. The orphanage (think tin shacks) was put
together under a major power line. Basically, they are squatting on
power company land and could be forced to move at any time. However,
they don't have to pay any rent. They do not have any outside support
and rely solely on donations of food, clothing, and money. They get
by on very little. There are 49 children ranging in age from 2 to 16
that live in the small compound. The majority of the children are
orphans whose parents died of AIDS, however there are some that were
abandoned or who ran away (e.g., mother was a prostitute). The
children all call Lusweti, Dad. There are also three women volunteers
who cook and help take care of the children.

Susan was immediately impressed by Lusweti's sincerity and all that he
is trying to do for the children. Thanks to the support from Marion's
donors in the Netherlands, all of the children have uniforms and
attend school. A child cannot attend school in Kenya without a school
uniform. Uniforms cost about 700 shillings (approximately $15). Many
children in the slums only have a uniform and no other clothing. Yes,
this is free education in Kenya.

Susan spent the next four hours talking to the children and seeing where
they live. There are two dorms - one for the boys and one for the
girls. They have latrine toilets and all take bucket baths. There is
no running water or electricity. When it rains the entire yard floods
and they usually have to move into only one section of the compound.
A tiny area is used to cook ungali (a porridge like mixture made from
maize). All of the children are very proud that they go to school and
they are so smart. These were probably the warmest and most polite
children we have ever met. They didn't ask for a thing and wanted to
know all about Canada. The little ones just wanted a hug.

Lynita was doing the tour to find out if the orphanage would be
something that she could funnel some of her great energy toward. We
visited Kibera through the Wildebeest Camp and she was seeing if
something could be set up for visitors to volunteer at the orphanage.
All kinds of options were discussed, including sponsoring a child.
The biggest thing on the wish list for the orphanage is to have their
own land so they don't have to worry about being kicked out. Susan
found out that they need the equivalent of $5,000 to do this. Seems
so small to some of us and so beyond their reach. They also
appreciate any clothing for the children, shoes, and other small
things. Susan found out that many of the girls miss a week of school
each month because they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads for them.

Our trips to the slums were a real eye opener. There is terrible
poverty, but we expected this. However it is one thing to sit in Canada and
discuss it and quite another to see and experience it. It certainly
made us want to get more involved, but what project to choose?

After discussing the pros and cons, we decided to support the
orphanage. We cannot change the world, but we do have the power to
improve the lives of 49 children. So don't be surprised if we hit you up for a little help when we get back to Canada.

Living an Expat Life

2009-03-06T01:33:00.001-07:00

Yup. We are plunked down in Nairobi and hanging out with expats who work and live in Kenya.

We spend our days learning about the people here, going to the Nacomart grocery store, exploring the city, and trying to come to grips with the amount of corruption. We have had many conversations with the expats about life in Kenya, the economy, and the politics here.

On the positive side, Nairobi is exotic and unpredictable, and certainly more exciting than living in the west. The city is relatively cosmopolitan and has access to some of the most spectacular scenery, culture and wildlife in the world. Resource wise this country is blessed in many ways, and the weather in Nairobi is absolutely spectacular. There is nothing, we have discovered, like living in the tropics at a good elevation - warm days and cool nights.

On the downside, Nairobi has one of the greatest economic disparities in Africa. Outside the gated communities there is extreme poverty, urban overcrowding, and massive alienation. There is a soaring incidence of AIDS/HIV (15% of adults infected), and only 42% of the population has access to clean drinking water. Another problem is that Kenyans generally consider their tribal affiliation first and being Kenyan second, which has led to rampant nepotism. With more than 70 tribal groups in Kenya this is a very real problem.

Not surprising given the economic and political situation in Nairobi, crime and violence are not far below the surface of everyday life. As our guidebook notes, 'Nairobbery', is regarded as one of the most dangerous cities in Africa, and most Westerners fly in and flee the city as quickly as possible. We pay heed to these warnings and take reasonable precautions when leaving the Wildebeest compound - like never going out with valuables, and always taking taxis in the evenings. So far our decision to hang out in Nairobi has resulted in nothing more sinister than sore feet from walking around. We are having a great time!

We are using thoroughly enjoying this relaxing time to decompress and see a few sites around the city. Nairobi was built within the last 100 years. The whole place was a big swamp until the 1890s when a rail depot was developed. The old colonial government established it as an administrative centre and built some grand hotels to accommodate the first safari tourists to Kenya. Following independence in 1963, most of the colonial buildings were replaced by modern office buildings. Surrounding downtown on all sides are the suburbs, many of which contain one or more gated communities. There are also slums, the largest being Kibera with over a million people crammed into 2.5 square kilometers.

So what have we been doing?

One day we decided to go out and tour Sheldrick's Elephant Orphanage and the Langata Giraffe Centre. The elephant orphanage is only open to the public one hour every day. The orphanage has teams that rescue baby elephants and then keep them until they are old enough to be reintroduced back into the wild. Many of the babies have fallen in wells or been injured and abandoned. We got to watch them eat and play in the mud. They each have a handler that works with them every day because some have been very traumatized. We also learned about the life of rhinos and were introduced to a 2 month old rhino. The baby walked right by Aidan and both Mike and I agreed that we haven't seen such a cute animal in a very long time. The orphanage does really great work.

We also visited the Langata Giraffe Centre where we got to feed some endangered Rothschild giraffes. There is an education centre with lots of information about breeding, preserving and monitoring the giraffe. Aidan really enjoyed feeding them and getting licked by very long purple tongues.

Our final stop on our tour was the Kazuri Bead Factory. This is a Kenyan success story. The factory was established in the 1980s and employs single mothers to make pottery, ceramics, and beads. The products are exported all over the world. There were so many beautiful pieces of jewelery that I had a hard time deciding what to buy!

On another day we took a taxi downtown to the Kenyatta Conference Centre. The building towers over the city square and was designed as a fusion of modern and traditional African styles, with a big saucer tower. A staff member took us up to the rooftop viewing platform. The sight lines go all the way to the suburbs and to Nairobi National Park. Wonderful views of the entire city.

A visit to Nairobi wouldn't be complete without seeing the National Museum. It is in a nice big building surrounded by lush gardens. It has really good exhibits on culture, geology and natural-history. The museum also has volunteer guides and so a nice young lady led us around and provided all the highlights of the exhibits. Before stepping into one room she asked us if we believed in evolution. I found this rather odd at first, but then realized that many people here believe strongly in creationism (despite the evidence in the next room). So in we went and saw many of the early human skulls that were discovered in eastern Africa. A world-class display on evolution.

There are many supermarkets and stores in walking distance of the Wildebeest Camp, so on another day we visited the Ya-Ya Centre.   We spent a few hours at the shopping centre, had lunch, went to a bookstore and got Aidan a haircut. While at the bookstore I tried to find a book about Kenya called "It's our turn to eat". I was told that I wouldn't find this book in Kenya and that if I did happen to find it, I shouldn't be seen reading it. It is a book about the corruption in the government here. I will definitely be reading the book when I get home.

At the Ya Ya centre we also picked up some cheese, bread and fruit for dinner. We have been eating quite well while in Nairobi. On some nights we eat with other guests at the camp, some nights we have sandwiches, and other nights we go out. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant with two American filmmakers who had been staying at the lodge. We all had some amazing food and even Aidan enjoyed the injera (bread).

The desparate conditions many people face in Nairobi make us wonder what we can do to help, so we have made plans to visit some volunteer organizations in and around the city. Our first stop is the Kibera Community Youth Project. Kibera is the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa and is located near the camp. More on the visit in the next blog.

Nairobi Eye

2009-03-03T01:15:00.000-07:00

The Riverside shuttle service picked us up at our hotel at 7:30 and took us to the mini-bus we would be taking to Nairobi, Kenya. We seemed to be the last ones to arrive. The luggage was put up on the roof and we piled into the bus with 25 others. Okay it was more like a van, and had jump seats down all the aisles. Four people across the rows. Once you were in your seat, you couldn't move or get out. But we thought how bad could it be since Nairobi is only 350 km north. Yeah.... 9 hours later....

Indeed it took 9 hours to get to our accommodations in Nairobi. In a few years there will be a new high speed highway running from Cairo to Cape Town. Right now the road between Arusha and Nairobi is being worked on. This meant that 300 km of our journey was spent on gravel pot-holed detours. Also, it is the dry season and it was soon apparent why the local women on the bus immediately covered their heads with scarves. Oh the dust... the dust.

I should also note that we were delayed for over an hour at the border waiting for our visa application to be processed so we could get into Kenya. No problems but everything must be done by hand in triplicate. For the rest of the trip we prayed that the bus wouldn't shake apart and that I wouldn't throw up. I was really starting to feel ill. Aidan was great for the whole trip and listened to his music player for hours. Once we got to Nairobi, it was another 2 hours of fighting traffic and dropping people off at different hotels. We were able to get a taxi to the Wildebeest Camp and arrived disheveled at about 5:30.

On the brighter side of things, the Wildebeest Camp is wonderful. It is an oasis in the middle of Nairobi. We are in a large permanent tent (with shower, toilet, and running water). There is a large stone mansion where other guests stay and where the owners - Lynnite and Allan and their baby son Oliver live. They have hostel type rooms in the mansion and they also allow tenting on the property. It is a large garden area that is walled and has a security guard. This is one of the best places we have found to meet travelers and we have connected with wonderful people here. Aidan loves it here too. He plays with the two dogs - Fatty and Barney. He runs around and plays and mingles with the other guests. There is a large TV room, a big dining room, and lots of outdoor seating. Breakfast is included with the price and buffet dinners are also served every night, although we've only eaten here once. Aidan has become good friends with the cook, Margaret, and Justice, a young Maasai man who is working and living here while he completes collage. On our first night, one of the resident tortoises (very large) laid her eggs in a hole she had just dug in the garden. Everyone was out watching.

We arrived on February 27 and planned on staying two nights. It is now March 5th and we are still here. I ended up getting quite sick with a stomach ailment that has only just cleared up. I spent a few days in the tent eating toast and bananas. That really waylaid our original plans. Once I started feeling better we started looking into another safari. But it is really expensive and we have already seen pretty much everything we want to on our previous safari. We really started to question what we wanted to do in Kenya. We didn't feel like going to another beach resort and we really didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on another safari in the same landscape. So, in the end, we decided to stay in Nairobi and do some day trips that we can arrange with the camp.

Before I forget, we need to get back to Nairobi Eye story. Michael took Aidan to the Nairobi Hospital to have the crazy rash/burn on his arm looked at. The good thing is that this is the place to go for any weird tropical diseases. They have seen it all. He was referred to a specialist, who took one look at it and said "Nairobi Eye". Nairobi eye is casued by the Nairobi fly, a tiny insect the size of a grain of rice that comes out after the first rains in the Serengeti. The doctor theorized that one landed on Aidan's arm in the night and was mushed in when he moved. This tiny fly has a fluid sac in it and the toxic contents cause an extreme skin reaction in humans. A tiny drop causes a big, red blistering sore, similar to what you would get if you were physically burned. Nothing to do but keep it clean and let it heal. They call it "Nairobi eye" because these little flies like to land on peoples faces at night and then when when you swat it you end up with a swollen, burned eye. Yikes. In Africa, we learned, you brush insects off instead of batting at them like we do in North America. Aidan is very proud of his trophy and made us take pictures.

The other thing Michael found out was that the little bumps on the back of his legs that have been spreading since southeast Asia is actually a large crop of warts. Tiny warts. Great. So the doctor gave us a caustic pencil and we have made an attempt to slow the progression. I think we will end up taking him to a doctor once we get back to Canada, as these may have to be properly burned off. Total cost for hospital visit and medication: $100.

Now for the big show...or so we thought

2009-02-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful overnight at the Sopa Serengeti Lodge we headed out for a day of wildlife viewing on the Serengeti. We were told that we were here at the right time to see the large migration of over 2 million wildebeest, zebra and other antelope across the Serengeti. Unfortunately for us they were not on the Serengeti. Our guide Damas explained that due to lack of water, weather patterns, and by extension global climate change, the herds movement was no longer predictable. Damas said that for years and years they could predict where the herd we be at a certain time, but no longer. The herd was actually much farther south in Tanzania. So we missed the big show.

On a brighter note, we still got to see a lot of animals and the Serengeti landscape itself, which was breathtaking. The grasslands and the kopi rocks are right out of the movies. Damas took us to one of the kopi where we saw some 400 year old Masai rock paintings. We were also impressed by the hyena feeding on a gazelle and the wiley jackal trying to sneak in and get his share. The vultures also slowly creep in until they are chased off. Aidan also pointed out all of the male elephants, baboons, and zebras to us. Oh the discovery of a child.

We left the Serengeti in the afternoon and headed toward to the Ngorongoro Crater. By the time we reached the crater rim it had started to rain and so the last 30 km were a muddy bumpy ride. The Sopa Lodge is on the crater rim and we arrived in time for a beautiful sunset. I am suspicious that the fish I ate for dinner here may have been the cause of the horrible stomach ailment that laid me up for over a week. Anyway, we were up again early in the morning for a game drive in the crater. Our days have typically been about 10 hours out driving around so we told Damas that we wanted the day to end a bit earlier tonight.

The Ngorongoro Crater is like a fish bowl for wildlife. The average height of the crater rim is over 2,000 metres and is the largest dry crater in the world. The diameter is almost 20 km and it is 304 square km. All of the safari jeeps follow a road circuit making it kind of like an animal viewing theme park. This aside, it did allow us to check off the final animal on the big five list and see rhinos. According to our guide, the volcanic soil in this area has a lot of minerals that make the tusks on elephants and the horns on the rhinos very big. We also stopped for lunch at a very large hippo pool and happily munched with 8 hippos and many other tourists. Happily, at least, until Mike had his sandwich stolen by a bird.

For our last night, we were at the Kirumumu permanent tented camp near Lake Manyara. It has a spectacular view of the lake and feels very connected to nature. Our tent was beautiful and had a nice hardwood floor and full bathroom in the back. Actually calling it a tent is a stretch, but its a wonderful twist on the safrari theme and works well here in the tropics.

In the morning we got up and were surprised to see that Aidan had a huge rash on his right arm. It didn't seem to hurt him so we put some hydrocortizone cream on it, ate yet another big breakfast, and jumped into the truck with Damas. Our last day on safari took us around Lake Manyara National Park. Compared to Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, Manyara is tiny. At its widest it is no more than 10 km across, sandwitched between Rift Vally escarpment on one side and the edge of the lake on the other. We saw most of the same creatures that we encountered the previous four days. What was really amazing was the numbers of baboons we saw. We spent some time just sitting and watching the antics of baboons in the hundreds. It was also funny observing the black faced monkeys, which are also called blue balled monkeys. Funny because the testicles on the males are a really nice powder blue colour. :-)

After our picnic lunch at some hot springs, we headed back into Arusha. Boo hoo the safari was over. We had a quiet drive back into Arusha where we settled into the Outpost Lodge. By this time, I wasn't feeling not that well so it ended up being an early night. We were also a little concerned by a rash on Aidan's arm that appeared overnight. A bright angry looking marks up his forearm, which later raised and started turning into a blister. We decided that we would take him to see a doctor in Kenya. We are being picked up at 7:30 in the morning to head by mini-bus the 350 km to Nairobi.

Both Michael and I agree that the Serengeti safari was one of the top 3 things that we saw and experienced on our trip around the world. We definitely will be coming back to this part of Africa to try and see the migration and, when Aidan's a bit older, go visit the mountain gorillas. A young man named Justice, who is studying to be a safari guide, wants to take us to the Mara River during the migration to see the big crocodiles eat the zebra and wildebeest as they try and cross the river. How fun would that be!

Happily watching animals eat and be eaten

2009-02-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of our safari started out with a big breakfast in the lodge while we watched the birds and other wildlife outside. I use the term outside loosely as the dining room had no windows. We spent the morning driving across the conservation area in search of wildlife. Most of the time Mike was standing up with his head poking out of the top of the Land Cruiser The great thing about this is that the vehicles can go off-road to find the animals; the bad thing is that you often end up with 5-10 vehicles surrounding anything interesting (e.g. cheetahs lying in the shade or an elephant and calf), and the tires rip up the soil. Still, it was an absolutely incredible day for wildlife viewing and we spotted more types of animals on this day than any other. Highlights included watching a heard of elephants with a baby not 15 ft from our truck; spotting 12 cheetahs (the most our guide Damas has ever seen in one day) and seeing a leopard up in the trees with two kills hanging in the branches. We also got to watch vultures and Maribouu storks fight over the head of a wildebeest. Yummm.

Wildlife list (mostly new animals listed): Marshall eagle; Love birds; Weaver birds; Hunter's sunbird (beautiful black and red bird); hartebeasts; cutthroat birds (the ones that eat the flies on wildebeest); warthogs; family of 5 elephants close enough to touch; Blacksmith plover; lots of flies (!!); Secretary bird (huge black and white bird); yes 12 cheetahs; 3 female lions (1 pregnant); Crown cranes (national bird of Uganda); kori bustard bird (largest African bird that can fly); white stork; tawny eagle; various ugly carrion birds (Ruppels griffon, Marabou storks, white backed vulture, Nubian vulture; Augar buzzard); hyenas; honey badger; ostrich; bat-eared fox; leopard; Hammerkop bird (king of the birds because the nest is huge and has 25 chambers); more zebra, wildebeest, gazelle; tope; and water buffalo.

We discovered that you really do need a 4-wheel-drive truck to go on safari. It rained while we were eating our lunch at Nudutu Lodge and we were surprised to see that most of the water was still on the ground afterward. This made for some very interesting and impressive driving by Damas. The beating the vehicle took that day was unbelievable. Roads, where they existed, were all pot-holes and washboards with deep ruts cutting through at odd angles. Off-road, we were constantly slipping and sliding around and bumping over small ridges and hills. There were also innumerable mud pits and streams to be crossed. According to Damas there are only two vehicles up to the challenge of the Serengeti - the Land Rover Defender and the Toyota Land Cruiser. Land Cruisers outnumber Defenders by about 4 to 1 and are apparently less prone to breakdowns. We were really impressed by our Land Cruiser. Wish we could get one in Canada, its one tough truck!

At the end of the afternoon we drove out of the Serengeti Conservation Area and into the National Park proper. The landscape is utterly breathtaking. Its impossible to convey the stark beauty of the open plains, or to capture it on film for that matter. It must be seen to be believed. Our day ended with a brief game drive through the kopis (think of Pride Rock in the Lion King) before heading up to the Serengeti Sopa Lodge.

Our room at the lodge had a spectacular view of the Serengeti and we enjoyed watching the sunset on the plains before having yet another fabulous dinner and retiring for the night. Who would have thought that sitting in a truck for 10 hours would be so tiring?

Don't Wear White Socks on Safari

2009-02-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

Seriously, don't wear white on safari because it is really really dusty.

We traveled from Moshi to Arusha on February 21st by mini-bus and settled into the Le Jacaranda Hotel. A nice place with an interesting mini-putt course that Aidan played at least five times. In the afternoon we met with Barbara Cole from Safari Makers and discussed some details of the safari and more importantly paid our bill. I was surprised to learn that we had our own driver and were not with another group of people. Yeah! We stopped at a grocery store and stocked up on juice boxes and snack foods, and we visited several bank machines getting cash. Never assume that they are going to work or have money in them. Always good not to run short on cash.

On to the safari...

Our guide/driver, Damas, picked us up in a Toyota Landcruiser and we headed west to to the Ndutu Conservation Area. Along the way we were amazed by the number of Maasai people herding goats and cows and walking places, many seemed to be walking to nowhere. The landscape is dry and dusty and sub-saharan - just like you would imagine. However, we also passed an area that we learned were tremendously fertile. Damas would become our teacher over the next five days and patiently answer all of our questions on this topic and many others.

We stopped at a Maasai Village and David, one of the residents, gave us a tour. It is actually just one extended family. The father has 24 wives and therefore there were 24 houses. The huts (bomas) were small circles made of wood and cow dung. In the centre of these huts was a barricade of wood to encircle the cows at night. Surrounding the huts was a larger barricade to protect the entire encampment. We were taken into one of the huts which was smaller than my bedroom (about 12 feet by 6 feet). Inside, six people sleep and there is a fire pit in the middle of the floor. We asked David what they eat and he said mainly meat, milk, and blood. Okay. We were also treated to some traditional singing and dancing and Mike joined in jumping with the male warriors. The women all make beaded bracelets and necklaces and sell them for a lot of money. Mike ended up happily trading his watch for one of the bracelets. Thanks, honey. We also were given a tour of the tiny school house for the kindergarten children. Aidan really liked this because all of the children were smiling and waving. The village had 35 children under the age of 7 (all siblings). Overall, the people are fabulous and it really was like stepping back in time. Oh yeah, and was it dusty. Crazy wind and crazy dust blowing everywhere.

A few hours later and we arrived in the Ndutu Conservation Area, which borders on the Serengeti National Park. We spent the afternoon driving around the conservation area and seeing many different birds and animals. I actually kept track of everything that we saw. I cannot say how amazing it was to see the acacia trees and then moments later to see three giraffe wander up and start eating. We had a great first day of animal viewing. By six at night we were pooped out and happy to be at the lodge for dinner. There were two genets (related to mongoose family) in the lodge and a campfire going outside. It was a really great evening. We all collapsed into bed after dinner.

Wildlife list: kites, tawny eagles, blue starlings, baboons, black backed jackals, giraffes (+20), Thompson gazelles, dik diks, Grants gazelles, impalas, zebras, hartebeasts, elands, wildebeests, flamingos, vultures, guinea fowl, elephants, hippopotamus, water buffaloes, cheetahs, genets, and lovebirds.

We are so glad we decided to do a safari!

Getting our Mojo Back

2009-02-21T09:42:00.001-07:00

As my sister Reagan reminded us, everyone should have the problems we
were experiencing in Nungwi. We agree, however it was the first time
on our trip that we were feeling low. Not bad considering that we've
been traveling for almost 5 months now. I'm happy to report that we've
got our traveling mojo back and are really starting to get into the
groove here in Tanzania.

We've spent the last few days in Moshi, which is a small town just
below Mount Kilimanjaro. As the traditional jumping-off point for
treks up the mountain we've run into a fair number of people either
just heading out or just returning from this adventure. Having seen
the mountain now, we have new respect for anyone that makes it to the
top (way to go Michele Moroz!). The summit of the mountain is actually
higher than the base camp at Everest. I'm also happy to report that
Kilimanjaro still has snow on top. We can only see it in the early
morning and later in the evening as most of the day its shrouded in
clouds.

Moshi was a pleasant place to spend a few days. The climate is very
pleasant as the humidity is much more reasonable than Zanzibar. We
spent much of the time researching the next stage of our trip in Kenya
and making travel arrangements. The Keys Hotel was quite pleasant and
we appreciated having a relatively high-speed (for Africa) internet
connection which allowed us to catch up on picture uploading and
e-mail. We've booked 3 seats on a minibus to take us to Nairobi (via
Arusha), and what looks like a neat place to stay in the city when we
get there on the 27th. Now we're looking at options for safaris in
Kenya up the rift valley. Sitting on the beach again around Mombasa
just doesn't appeal to us after spending so much time in Zanzibar.

We've mentioned before that some of the prices here are queerly high.
Laundry is a good example. We have paid anywhere from $2.00 to $10.00
to have our clothes washed around the world; we have also done it
ourselves by hand many times. At the Keys Hotel they were charging
1,500 Shillings (about $1.30 CDN) just to wash a pair of socks! If we
had asked them to do 4 days worth of laundry it would have cost us
over $25. Why it would cost this much in a part of the world where
there are underemployed people on every street corner is beyond us.

Today we took the minibus from Moshi to Arusha. Eventually we will
continue on to Nairobi on the same minibus, so we were happy to see it
was in good condition and reasonably roomy. The scenery between the
two towns nothing short of spectacular; its not hard to see what would
draw Europeans to the area. Leaving Moshi you have views of Mt.
Kilimanjaro and arriving in Arusha you see Mount Meru. Between the two
are plains with several villages along the way. The market towns are
particularly colourful and Susan was quite impressed by the beautiful
clothes the women wear. They may be poor, but they all have a certain
dignity. We also caught our first glimpses of the Maasai people,
including several boys and men in traditional garb hearding cattle and
goats.

The minibus dropped us off at Le Jackaranda hotel around 1 pm. Its the
first place in Tanzania where we feel the price is reasonable ($50 per
night). Our room is basic, clean and comfortable, and the grounds are
beautiful. They even have a funny 9-hole mini-put course that Aidan
has done at least 5 times now. There are lots of travellers and budget
tourists here - our kind of place.

Arusha is a pretty town and we had a good time looking around. Our
first stop was Safari Makers to pay for our safari. Barbara Cole was
very nice and we have a good feeling about the outfit we chose. She is
an American who has been living in Tanzania for 11 years and is
co-owner of the company along with a Tanzanian gentleman.
Interestingly this month has been very good for the company, but
bookings are off by almost 50% next month. Not surprising given the
state of the world economy. The rest of the day was spent browsing
stores, getting some safari supplies from the supermarket and visiting
ATMs until we found one that worked.

Tomorrow our safari starts and we're just pumped. Our first day will
be spent getting out to Serengeti National Park with a game drive and
stops at Olduvai Gorge and a Maasai Village en route. We will be
overnighting at Ndutu Safari Lodge.

Bad things happen in threes...

2009-02-19T08:37:00.002-07:00

Bad things - or at least really annoying, frustrating things - happen in threes. We ended up staying a total of 6 nights at the Munganwi Beach Resort on Zanzibar. Not really by choice.

Based on a suggestion by the resort we contacted Zenith Tours in Zanzibar Town to make some arrangements for us to travel to Moshi or Arusha. Michael spoke with them on Saturday and sent them a supporting e-mail. First they said "no problem", then they misunderstood the request, then they were closed on Sunday, then they lost the e-mail (twice), then the phones didn't work, and then finally made the arrangements on Tuesday night, for a flight to Moshi the next day! And that was a day after we originally wanted to depart.

Compounding this difficulty in communicating was the fact that both Michael and I were both suffering from some food poisoning. There were about 10 people at the resort also with the trots. After 4 days of stomach pains it was clear things would not go away so we started antibiotics. Aidan's bland diet meant that he was fine. We were quite sad that we were at a great spot and were unable to get to Mnemba to do some snorkeling. It is supposed to be spectacular, but we just were not feeling up to it at all. We did a quick 1/2 day snorkeling trip to another spot, but conditions were not great.

The other "bad" thing that spoiled our otherwise good experience happened while checking out. We were told that we could pay by credit card and so we didn't bring a lot of local currency with us. Unfortunately, the credit card reader wouldn't accept/read any of our cards (we carry 4) and so we had to dip into the last of our emergency travellers cheques to pay the bill. Our credit card woes are magnified by the fact that we had large expenditures for flights and safaris coming up in the following days.

I should really be focused on some of the fun things that happened on the beach. We shared experiences with some wonderful people from all over the world: Bruce and Page from Georgia, USA who had been everywhere in the world and at 75 years old were still going strong; the nice Australian guy who is in the UN police training force stationed in the Sudan; the fun Swede who did a 21 day lion safari and loves hard rock; and the young guy who did tsunami relief in Indonesia and was now living in Hong Kong. What a great group. We also had the opportunity to visit a turtle conservation area and see some very large green sea turtles in a natural lagoon adjacent to the ocean. Aidan fed them seaweed and held the small ones. We are also thankful for the hot sunny days, beautiful sunsets, and the mass of stars out at night. Seeing Venus was an added bonus. Last but certainly not least, we really enjoyed the turquoise waters and white sand beachs of Zanzibar. They are truely world class.

The travel day to Moshi was long but nothing major went wrong. Our Mastercard ended up working, but the VISA was declined. We don't know why but are trying to get in touch with the bank and find out. We had a nice air conditioned ride to Stone Town and a nice lunch at the Archipelago Restaurant. Here we ran into an Italian lady that we met a week prior and she told us wonderful things about Spain and Italy. We picked up some snacks and met our driver who took us to the airport. At the airport we ran into several people from the resort or the spice tour that we went on. The flight left about 1/2 hour late and it the flight to Dar was only 20 minutes long. Rush seating.

Once in Dar we followed a very poorly signed maze to our next departure gate. Honestly, a few clear signs would really cut down on the number of questions, and there is really no need for officials to start yelling at people. We ended up going through three more security checks before boarding the same plane that we were just on. The flight to Moshi was only an hour and I ended up sitting beside the Managing Director of Tanzania's only Tanzinite mine. We had a good chat and I learned a lot about this precious gemstone. The decent was quite bumpy due to the 65 km hour winds. Thank you to the good pilots on Precision Air.

A driver arranged by Key's Hotel picked us up and 45 minutes later we were in Moshi, the main town at the base of Mt. Kilamanjaro. The hotel is older but nice and has a pool. As I have said before, everything here is really expensive, and a room that we would pay $50 for anywhere else in the world is $95. Not worth the price, but not much choice. If we go down market, we end up in a hole. We plan on staying here until the 21st and then head to Arusha (1.5 hours away) for the safari that departs on the 22nd.

I am really looking forward to the safari. I am also feeling a guilty about Tanzania. I don't like it as much as I had hoped I would. I know people who have travelled here and through other parts of Africa and love it. I am having a hard time loving it. Perhaps my feelings will improve after the safari.

Nungwi

2009-02-14T09:09:00.001-07:00

After 4 days in Stone Town we decided to head up the coast of Zanzibar
Island to explore some of its fabled beaches. On a tip from some
fellow travellers we decided to go to the Mnarani Beach Cottages in
Nungwi, which is at the extreme northern tip of the island. Mnarani is
Swhaili for 'at the light house' which is just next to the resort.
Because we knew the place was half full, we were able to call and get
a reduced rate for our room and half board (breakfast and dinner).

Nungwi is a fascinating place and we're very glad we landed here. On
one hand, it is one of the island's major tourist destinations, with a
number of guesthouses, hotels and small resorts; on the other hand,
Nungwi is a traditional Muslim village and the centre of dhow-building
for the region. Dhows are the sailing boats with triangle shaped sails
that are commonly seen plying the Arabic / Indian seas. We struck up a
conversation with a South African couple who live in Dar now and are
having a dhow built here. Total cost: $5,000.

On a typical day in Nungwi we have breakfast and then walk down the
beautiful white sand beach to watch the fishermen repairing their nets
and restocking their boats. During low tide there are many children
out in the sand digging for bait for their own fishing. As the tide
recedes, they head out and catch small fish and octopus in the tide
pools. Later in the day, when the tide starts coming in, groups of
local women head out with nets and walk in a line in the water. They
are all dressed in long colourful skirts and head scarves and it is a
pleasure to watch them beat the water with sticks to circle a school
of mackerel and force it into their nets. Cries of jubilation when
they are successful and shrieking and laughter when they are not.

The afternoon usually sneaks up on us and then its pool time. Aidan
enjoys swimming in the pool and we are happy to that there are other
young children here for him to have fun with. Lately he has taken to
perfecting handstands in the pool.

There are a couple of phrases we have learned in Swahili, which are:
Asante (thank-you), Nzuri (good), Sawa (okay), Jambo, Habari yako
(Hello. How are you?), and who could forget Hakuna Matata (No
problem!).

We finalized our Serengetti safari booking yesterday and need to be in
Arusha by February 21st. Earlier today we set the next stage of our
travel in motion and sent an email off to one of the travel agencies
in Stone Town. Options include flying to Moshi, spending a couple of
days around Kilimanjaro and then busing to Arusha in time for the
Safari. We decided that it is a long way to Arusha and, after some
discussion, decided that our preferred option is to fly north rather
than take the bus. It is a good distance north on not-so-great roads,
on not-so-great buses. Then we have the added complication of another
ferry ride. [Susan's note: Please, please let the quotes be
reasonable as I don't want to take the ferry!].

We changed rooms to one with some air-conditioning. Coping with
insufferable heat just isn't for us when solutions are available.
After that we flaked out, swam and generally were lazy for the rest of
the day. We are also enjoying meeting the other guests and discussing
there adventures. A South African family that recently moved to Dar is
having a dhow built for themselves and will be sailing it back.

Wow, this is probably one of the more boring blogs we have written.
Sorry to disappoint. We realize,as Martha Gillman said, "The only
aspect of our travels that is interesting to others is disaster."

The Spice of Life

2009-02-13T11:09:00.001-07:00

Its taken us a few days, but we're finally starting to get the hang of Africa. There is no place in Tanzania like Khaosan Road in Bangkok, which kind of acts as a decompression stop for people entering or leaving SE Asia, but Stone Town comes close.

The Zanzibar Archipelago is a collection of islands that includes Zanzibar and Pemba and are better known as the spice islands. Zanzibar's main hub is Zanzibar Town with the hear of the town known as Stone Town. Arabic, Indian and African cultures collide here in the town's jumbled labrynthe-like maze of alleys. There are also quaint shops, coral-rag houses, baazars, mosques, and the most amazing carved and decorated doors. The other drawing card is the spectacular turquoise sea and fine white sand beaches.

So we don't forget - a bit about the history of Zanzibar. By the 1st century there is documented evidence of Arabic settlements on the mainland and by the 12th century Zanzibar became a major hub and city-state with trade links to Persia and Arabia, supplying gold, ivory, slaves and wood. The island fell under Portugese control in the early 16th century and very soon after was taken over by the British, and then by the Omani Arabs. By the 19th century Oman had control and was exporting slaves, cloves and ivory out of Zanzibar. Zanzibar gained its independence in the 1960's and soon after joined with Tanzania.

Africa, we are discovering, is not a place to go for a cheap holiday. Prices are comparable for what we would pay in Canada for lodging and food. It is a shock coming from SE Asia, however the magic of the place makes up for the cost. We spent the first four nights at the Clove Hotel, which is a wonderful mid-range hotel on the edge of Stone Town. We would have liked to stay longer, but we were lucky to get any room at all. Most places are booked solid because of the Sauti Za Busara Music and Dance Festival, which, of course, we knew nothing about. To sum it up, we had a great time at the Clove and would recommend it to anyone. We had a large family room with a queen bed and two single beds. The hotel is about four stories high and has around 10 rooms. One of the best features was the open air roof top patio with a view looking out to the ocean. It was a spectacular place to enjoy the sea breeze and escape the heat of the streets below. This was where we hung out and drank Kilimanjaro beer in the evening, and ate a great breakfast (included in the price) in the morning.

It is easy (and fun) to get lost in Stone Town. The 'streets' are all about 8-10 feet wide and there is no rhyme or reason to how they are laid out, so every corner brings another discovery. The largest structures are along the waterfront and include the old fort and palace of wonders. There are also the Forodani Gardens, but they are being redeveloped and were not open while we were there. We toured the Beit El-Ajaib (House of Wonders), which was built in 1883 by Sultan Barghash as a ceremonial palace. Here we learned about the shortest war in history, where in 1896 the palace was the target of a British naval bombardment that lasted 45 minutes. Inside are some good exhibits on the dhow (fishing boats) culture of the Indian Ocean, Swahili civilisation and 19th century Zanzibar and the history of Stone Town. Aidan really enjoyed all of the large model sailing vessels, including the life-sized mtepe, which is a traditional Swahili sailing vessel made without nails (coconut fibres and wooden pegs).

The people here in Tanzania are amazingly friendly. Most people greet us with 'Jambo', which is Swahili for 'Hello, I can speak English too'. The children, in particular, are very cute. Of course we also have to put up with a fair number of touts and aggressive shopkeepers, but that is no different from anywhere else we have been. Being a Muslim country, most of the men dress in full length robes or at least pants and long sleeved shirts while the women are covered from head to toe with just their faces showing. The big difference from Asia are the fantastic colours and patterns of the women's clothes. They are more impressive than pictures you might have seen would lead you to believe.

Other news: Aidan has developed some small bumps on the back of his knees. After some discussion with Lisette, the Clove Hotel owner, we took Aidan to see one of the local physicians.These small raised bumps first appeared in Cambodia (we think) and we initially thought that they were insect bites. However, three weeks later and not only are they still visible they are now a bit red and spreading. Not insect bites. So we were helped by a kindly older doctor who took a look, asked a few questions, and felt that Aidan had picked up some kind of skin infection. He prescribed a cream and some antibiotics. Anyway, we got the medication in his office and the visit, pills and cream cost $20. I am happy to report that it has been three days and it seems to be clearing up. I also met a really nice local woman in the phycians office who just found out she had malaria and was telling me how horrible it was. Sad. Most of the medications in the glass case in the office were related to malaria.

Once again we have been very pleasantly surprised by the food. Due to the Arabic influences and the availability of spices, the local dishes are infused with flavours of cinnamon, anise, cloves, and cardamon. Indian influences also abound and Aidan has become a fan of samosas. We stumbled across the local food hawker place by the sea and very quickly became fans of Zanzibar pizza. I actually want to go back to Stone Town so that I can eat this again. It is like a Thai pancake but is stuffed with a mixture of beef, cheese, egg, cucumber, tomatoes and onions. This is fried as a large pancake and then served with both tamarind and hot sauces. Delicious. Add a Tusker beer and all is well with the world.

Oh and as far as food firsts go - Aidan had a hamburger and decided it was delicious. Mike is so proud. We have a normal 7 year old now. Actually we both very pleased at how much more Aidan will eat than when we started this trip. Of his own accord, he decided one day to try pasta WITH sauce and actually liked it!

We arranged a spice tour through our hotel in Stone Town. We headed out with four others in a mini-van to one of the spice farms on the island. To our surprise two of the four were Canadians! The other two were from our hotel (a very fun couple that me the previous evening). At the spice farm we saw, smelled and tasted fresh spices and fruits, including cloves, ginger, tumeric, cardamon, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper, pomellos, starfruit and mangoes. We were then taken to a local villagers house and were served a great lunch. Seated on the floor with large plastic bowls in front of us, we all dug into spiced rice, spinach, and some kind of coconut vegetable curry with potatoes. Delicious and one of the best meals we have had on this trip. We were also entertained by numerous children outside the eating area who were giggling and laughing. After lunch we were taken to a beach and a large cave where slaves were formerly held prior to being taken out to the ships. Spectacular white sand and a quick dip in the turquoise water made for a great end to the day.

Once again we met some fabulous people and hope to keep in touch with the couple mentioned previously - Morten and Milanie. They have lived all around the world and Morten is freakishly like Michael. We all got along well. They left on the 12th to head out on a four week overland tour all the way down the coast to Cape Town. Their mode of transportation is a converted transport truck that holds camping gear as well as passengers. I can hardly wait to hear how there tenting tour turned out. Despite Morten's trepedations, it sounded like they were in for a great time.

Yes, Tanzania is definitely starting to grow on us. We have been working on getting a safari set up and did manage to get that settled today. We leave for a five day Serengetti safari on February 21st out of Arusha. Now we need to figure out how to occupy ourselves in the meantime. We have discovered that this isn't the best place to hop between towns on local transportation.

We are now relaxing at Nungwi Beach and will describe our adventures in the next blog.

Loving Zanzibar

2009-02-08T12:44:00.006-07:00

This morning we got up early to catch the 7:15 ferry over to Zanzibar. The guidebook says that the trip should take 1.5 hours, but as usual it lies. We left Dar in fairly wavy conditions and landed at Zanzibar Town 2 hours and 20 minutes later, motion-sick and grumpy. This time, Aidan was the one that got sick (just once) and Susan managed to hold it together while I didn't have any problems. When are we going to learn our lesson you ask? Well, this is our last long-duration ferry trip....ever.

Arriving in Stone Town, we filled out immigration papers again (what's the purpose when its part of the same country?) and walked over to the Clove Hotel where we have a lovely family room that looks out over the rooftops of the city towards the water ($90 night). All the beds have canopy bug nets so we can open the windows to the wonderful breeze off the ocean and there is a great rooftop lounge.

After settling in we went out to grab lunch and ended up at the Tower Restaurant, where we dined on the highest rooftop in the city. The views are spectacular, and we enjoyed some reasonably good food while we fought with the same stiff breeze creating those damned waves this morning. After lunch Susan and I had a nap while Aidan played. When we got up it was time for schoolwork and play with Aidan, followed by lounging around and reading. That took the rest of the afternoon, so we never really got out to see the city today.

In the evening we walked over to the Mercury restaurant, which is named in honour of Freddy Mercury - lead singer of Queen - who was born just down the street in 1964. Ironically there is not much else linking the restaurant to the singer, just the name. We did however enjoy some live music (traditional Zanzibarian) along with our food. Tomorrow we will go and explore the city.

Onwards to Africa

2009-02-07T22:56:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania after a reasonably pleasant flight from Doha. Getting off the airplane, the first thing that struck us was not the change in scenery but the amazing heat - 32 c and 100% humidity. It made Asia feel positively cool by comparison.

We quickly walked into the airport and proceeded to spend the next hour sitting on the floor filling out immigration forms and applying for our visas. I'm happy to report that there were no problems other than dusty bums and sweaty bodies (no air conditioning).

We were met outside by the taxi driver sent by the Safari Inn where we were staying. The ride through Dar took about 30 minutes during which time we started making the mental adjustments for Africa. Arriving at the hotel, we quickly settled into our very small and very basic room ($30 night, cockroaches free), switched on the air conditioning and spent the remainder of the day getting cooled down and settled in. We walked around the corner to a restaurant named Chef's Pride for a good meal in the evening and went to bed shortly thereafter.

In the morning we got up, had a continental breakfast at the hotel and set out to explore the city. What can I say about Dar Es Salaam? Its not an easy place to like as there really isn't much to see or do. We walked down to the ferry terminal to buy some tickets to Zanzibar ($90 US for the family) and peeked into a few small shops on the main street. We did find a good education store selling English primers, which were perfect for Aidan, and had a decent lunch at a place called Steers.

After lunch we walked over to the Canadian Consulate to say hello, but we forgot it was Saturday and they were closed for the weekend, so we walked a little further to the National Museum. The museum is currently under construction, which is a good thing given the state of the older buildings and exhibits. There are some interesting things to see here including a some fascinating tribal culture and art displays, but my favourite was the family tree for homosapians. I had forgetten that the rift valleys contain some of the oldest homonid fossils on the planet.

After our first full day in Tanzania, we can say 3 things: 1) its really, really hot here; 2) its more expensive than Asia; and 3) its going to be harder traveling here than in the other places we've been.

Made it to the Middle East

2009-02-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe we are really in the Middle East. Doha is only 7 hours
away from Bangkok by plane, but a world away in terms of culture.

Our flight on Qatar Airways went by very quickly and was quite
pleasant. Its nice to see that good service and quality aren't dead.
This flight marks the first time I have ever been handed a dinner menu
in Economy class. The food, perhaps not surprisingly, was the best we
have ever had on an airplane. Combine that with a stellar
entertainment system and some decent wine and we were all happy.

We landed in Doha at 11:45 pm. Almost everyone on our plane marched
through the transit gate to the departures area, so customs took only
a few minutes. Outside the small arrivals building there was a large
crowd of people standing around. We quickly discovered the reason why
- no taxis. Apparently there is a chronic shortage in the city, so we
had no choice but to pay for an airport limo. $40 later and 5 short
minutes from the airport we arrived at the Al Mourouj Inn Hotel.

Next morning we got up and enjoyed having pita bread, lentils, olives
and greens along with the usual breakfast fare. I should mention that
there is no budget accommodation whatsoever in Doha. Our room cost
$166 a night and was more of a 2 star hotel instead of the 3 it is
listed as. Nevertheless it was clean, comfortable, included breakfast
and the staff were very nice.

We decided to go for a walk along the Corniche to see the city and
visit the Museum of Islamic Art and City Centre mall along the way.
The Corniche follows Doha's waterfront for 8 km. It is a beautiful
walkway with flowerbeds, green grass (which is at a premium in the
desert) and palm trees.

Our first impressions of the city were as follows:

1) There is an insane amount of construction here and we appear to
have arrived in the middle of the building boom. Not a single street
appears finished yet, but its going to be absolutely spectacular when
it is. Architecturally many of the buildings are stunning. We couldn't
even begin to count the number of cranes we saw.

2) Doha is not a pedestrian-friendly city. Its built for cars...big
cars...big expensive cars that people like to drive really, really
fast. Every second car is a Mercedes or BMW and in between are Land
Rovers and other large SUVs. The other interesting thing about the
cars is that most of them are white. We speculate that its either a
practicality for the desert heat or a cultural statement (all the men
are in white robes). Down the street from our hotel was a place you
could by used Ferraris!

3) There is a surprising mix of people in Doha. As expected there are
lots of Arabic men in flowing white robes and Arabic women in black
abbayas covering them from head to toe, but there are also large
numbers of Asians, Africans and Westerners. Qataris seem to run
things, but the immigrants do the rest. They clean the streets, serve
the food, construct the buildings and staff the hotels. Obviously many
of them work in the oil and gas and banking sectors too.

5) Doha feels very safe and accommodating, more like walking around in
a big western city than what you might expect given the news on the
Middle East every night. We never felt any pressure because of the way
we dressed, and we didn't see any police or military our whole stay. A
pleasant change from SE Asia and S. America.

What we did in Doha:

1) We visited the brand new Museum of Islamic Art. It as designed by
I.M. Pei and is one of the most spectacular buildings we have ever
seen. The quality of the exhibits was very impressive and we all
enjoyed playing with the interactive exhibits, which Aidan loved
because of the 3D graphics. The art objects were displayed and
documented in a way that made us really appreciate the contribution of
Islam to the art world.

2) We took a local bus to the new city centre. There is not a great
deal available in terms of public transportation - certainly nothing
like we got use to in southeast Asia - but they are working on it.
The only excitement on the bus was that Susan was the only female and
that the men at the front would move so that she could sit in the very
first seat.

3) We toured around the City Centre Mall, which was just like any mall
anywhere in the west. The only difference was the clothing people
were wearing and the Arabic signs on the Starbucks. We picked up a
few groceries in the Carrefour grocery store that seemed to have every
type of food available on the planet under its roof. The groceries
turned into a very enjoyable picnic dinner on our hotel bed later in
the day.

4) We visited the brand new Villaggio Mall, which is located in the
suburbs. It is modeled after Venice and has gondolas running the
length of the mall and ceilings painted like the sky. A very
beautiful shopping experience. In the middle of the mall was an ice
rink and we were very tempted to go skating. The shops are all
upscale, which is not surprising considering there was valet parking
for your Lamborghini.

5) We wandered around the old souks (small stores) in an area near our
hotel. There are stores selling watches, robes, fabrics, jewelery and
appliances. We were all impressed with the variety of jeweled fabrics
available and the amount and variety of gold jewelery available. Very
expensive gold bangles abound and we learned they are all sold by
carat and weight.

Our visit ended with a quick taxi to the airport at 5 am ($7 this
time) for our flight to Dar Es Salaam. We said goodbye to Doha and the
Qatar a few hours later after doing a little shopping in the duty free
store for binoculars. It was an interesting and enlightening visit to
the Middle East and we're glad we stopped.

Into the Golden Triange

2009-01-31T22:33:00.015-07:00

We have been in Chiang Mai now for 5 days. Unlike frentic Bangkok, the city is very laid back and relaxed. We have enjoyed slowing down our pace to match. Traveling and sightseeing all the time, despite what people might think, requires a fair amount of effort, so its nice to have some do-nothing days.

Ironically, we found that we have already done many of the touristy things most people do here in Chiang Mai. Visit temples (check), visit cultural museums (check), do a river cruise (check), see monkey park (check), go to night zoo (check), check out night market (check), go bamboo rafting (check), tour the jungle (check). That left elephant riding and Thai cooking classes as the two big items on our list; hill-tribe trekking would be another option, but we can't realistically do that with Aidan. Chiang Mai also features many exreme adventure tours like quad-biking, white-water rafting or rappelling into deep caves. After mulling it over for a day, I decided to go off-road mountain biking.

So what did we actually do? Well, first we hired a driver for a couple of days. Many of the places we visited can be seen on packaged tours, but for our slower pace it is nice to decide where and when we want to see something. It is also nice to be able to head back to the hotel when we want, especially when Aidan gets tired. It also allowed us to take yet another box of trinkets and trash to the post office to send home.

We ended up spending some time at a very touristy, but very large elephant camp. Here we watched some of the 78 elephants play soccer and paint. We also visited the nursery and observed the two baby elephants. The last hour was spent riding along a jungle trail on the back of an elephant. Aidan really enjoyed this, especially splashing through the river. I kept thinking that this doesn't seem right, and PETA folks would have a fit, but it was fun nevertheless. The elephants are doing nothing different than how we use horses. There are other elephant adventures that tourists can do in Chiang Mai, and I would recommend looking into the Mahout for a Day adventure that is run through a different elephant camp. Although pricey, it offers one-on-one work with the elephant for an entire day, including mud baths and feeding.

We visited a cultural village that is a compilation of all the various hilltribes around Chiang Mai. Aidan really liked seeing the Karen longneck women and even tried on a neckpiece himself. We were fortunate to speak to a lovely lady who told us about the neck apparatus/jewellry. She said that the rings are started at the age of five and are added as the girls get older. She also said that it is quite painful as the weight pushes the shoulders down, hence making the neck longer. The village was fun and Aidan enjoyed shooting with a cross-bow with another young boy from one of the tribes. Many handicrafts were on display and so we ended up purchasing a few little things.

Susan and Aidan went to the Siam Rice cooking school and had a great time. They made spring rolls (Aidan ate most of these), chicken in coconut milk soup, papaya salad, and fried cashew nuts with chicken. Aidan snuck a hot pepper in one of the spring rolls, which was later eaten by a lucky guy from New Zealand. Susan made chicken soup to mild European hotness (4 peppers), while others made theirs to the Thai mild hotness (10 peppers). But she could still barely eat the soup it was so hot (the record that day was 20 peppers for a guy from Indonesia). The teachers were great and a ton of fun. Also, nice cold beer was served at lunch. Aidan amused everyone when he banged his mouth a bit on his own arm, which resulted in a top tooth becoming even looser than it already was. It later fell out later while he was eating an apple.

While Susan and Aidan were cooking up a storm, I went off-road mountain biking down Doi Suthep - one of the first foothills of the Himalaya mountains. It was by far the most fun tour I did in northern Thailand. The tour company - Mountain Biking Chiang Mai - picked me up at the guesthouse and took me to their office/garage to get outfitted with a helmet, elbow/arm guards, leg guards, chest guard, long sleeve biking shirt and a full suspension mountain bike. After a 40 minute trip up the mountain/hill in the truck we unloaded gear. Luckily there were only 2 of us going downhill (30 the day before) and we chose different routes, so I had a guide and the trails all to myself. We started our decent on pavement into a Hmong hilltribe village after which we spent the rest of the time on a dirt 'road' and single-track trails. Over the course of the next 3 hours we decended 4,200 ft through jungle, coffee, lychee and banana plantation before stopping at a lake. The scenery was beautiful, and I appreciated every opportunity to stop ('cause I'm getting old). The highlight of the trip was the single-track trails near the bottom of the hill which was some of the most challenging, technical downhill riding I have ever done. Fantastic stuff.

In between elephants, cooking classes and mountain-biking we also managed to see a couple of more temples, despite Aidan's pleas .... "I can't take any more temples..". We bribed him with fresh strawberries as they are in season here. Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is on top of a panoramic hilltop and is one of the north's most sacred temples. Our driver took us up a very snaking road to reach the top of the hill and from there we climbed the 300 plus steps to reach the top. Spectacular views. We also visited Wat Chiang Man whcih is the oldest wat within the city (1296). The city itself has more than 300 temples and many temples are distinctly northern and show Burmese influences in the carvings. We managed to stop after visiting two.

Learning about jade was also an interesting activity one day. We always thought that jade was green, but we learned that there are many different colours including lavendar, gold, red, and black. They take their jade seriously here and have certificates to prove that you are purchasing the real thing and not glass or plastic. Susan walked away with some beautiful earrings and corresponding certificate. Very nice. The family also enjoyed stopping by the night bazaar a couple of times. It is fun to wander around and, when feeling pecksh, munch on fresh strawberries, thai pancakes, coconut shrimp, or freshed squeezed juices. I am really going to miss all the fresh food that can be bought along the street. We ended our last night in Chiang Mai by having Thai massages at the night bazaar. I'll miss that too.

One other interesting point aboout Chiang Mai. The cisty is also known as the gateway to the Golden Triangle, the fabled opium producing region. Although Thailand no longer has large-scale poppy farming within its borders, the same cannot be said for Myanmar and Laos, the other points of the triangle (Burma remains the second largest opium producing country in the world after Afghanistan). Poor farmers provide the raw material to producers on the Thai border where it is turned into Heroin and other drugs before being shipped through cities like Bangkok to the rest of the world. Interestingly, the Thai Tourism Agency has turned the Golden Trinagle into a lucrative tourist draw (minus the drugs). You can now trek through the mountains to learn about the history of opium and even have your picture taken by a sign saying 'welcome to the golden triangle'.

Tonight we're back on the overnight train to Bangkok for our last 2 days in Southeast Asia. It should be reasonably relaxing. We need to make a quick stop at the tailors to have our second fittings and visit the hospital so Susan can stock up on insulin, but that's it. No sightseeing on the agenda.

One final point, in Chiang Mai we stayed at the Gong Kaew HuenKum Chiang Mai Home and would recommend it to anyone. It is a lovely place set among a really nice garden with water features, fish, an outdoor and covered sitting and lounging area, laundry, drinks, and good internet access. We had a room with a large queen bed, a single bed, and private washroom, cable TV, and Aircon ($30/night). The hotel rooms are actualy styled after duplexes and even the dorm rooms looked really nice. On our first night here, the family (they live in the main house) was hosting a Thai BBQ outside for all the guests. It was a lot of fun and we all ate grilled meat, rice noodles and vegetables with about 20 other guests. A really nice guy from Holland entertained everyone by playing guitar and singing Johnny Cash songs (and he was really good too!).

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-27T04:38:00.004-07:00

It's Chinese New Year and celebrations are taking place across SE Asia. Unfortunately we haven't had much time to enjoy the celebrations as our last few days have been devoted to travel, starting in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh and ending in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. We've covered off all the main forms of transportation - planes, trains, busses, cars and motorcycles. We missed boats in the mix, but trust me, we could have done that too if we had wanted to.

We left the hostel in Siem Reap just after breakfast and headed over to the bus terminal by Tuk Tuk. We ran out out of paved road part way through and spent the rest of the time trying not to breathe in the dust on the gravel roads. I should mention that everything in Siem Reap is coated in the local reddish brown soil - its an extremely dusty city. Combine that with smoke from cook fires and car exhaust and its not hard to see why many people wear face masks. Anyway, we got to the bus station and quickly hopped onto our double-decker VIP bus to Phnom Penh ($10 per person).

This time, the 5 hour bus ride was actually 5 hours, but it was less comfortable than the bus we came up to Siem Reap on. Being a double-decker you would think passengers had more room, but the whole bottom of the bus was given over to storage and the washroom...they even loaded in a motorcycle on board! The top area is for passengers, but the chairs were very narrow and the back support was too low. It was also a very hot day, and the bus grew hotter and hotter despite the air conditioning. Susan and I were cramped and sweltering by the time we got to Phnom Penh (Aidan was fine as usual), so we were delighted when the bus pulled up to curb right around the corner from our hotel. 20 steps later and we were back in our huge room at the Power Hostel sipping cold beer.

We spent the evening in Phnom Penh walking along the riverside, watching the night market and relaxing in the hostel. After a good nights sleep we got up and had a nice breakfast at the same restaurant where we had dinner the night before. The food has been outstanding in Cambodia and we're going to miss it. Aidan was drawing and was soon joined by two boys who had been trying to sell tourists books. Each drew a picture in his scribbler - one drew a car and the other a house on stilts. Aidan loves to draw and spends more than an hour each day with his scribbler and pencils. We carry scribblers everywhere so that he can draw airplanes, battles and, lately, knights. I spent my time counting the number of people on motorcycles and trying to get pictures. It was only after I sat down that all the motorcycles with families of five and six went by.

Our flight to Bangkok wasn't until later in the day so we spent our time packing and moaning about the souvenirs taking up too much room in our packs. One thing for us to do in Chiang Mai is mail another package home. We didn't feel the need to try and do more in Phnom Penh so we hung out in a restaurant on the river and drank earl grey ice tea while we watched the boats go by.

Another tuk tuk ride in the chaos that is Phnom Penh traffic and we were at the airport, where Aidan finished reading his first book - Dinosaurs at Dark. One of the more interesting things about the airline we are flying on is that they charge you $6 per kilo for any excess baggage over 15 kg. Luckily we have fairly light backpacks, so it only cost us an additional $10. We also made sure to line up early for the plane as Air Asia flights have free seating, which means everyone scrambles to sit where they want. Last flight we didn't get to sit together. After paying the airport departure tax of $25 US per adult and $13 per child, we figure that it cost about $100 US to leave the country. Talk about hidden costs.

One hour later we were back in Bangkok. Again no problems with immigration or customs and we quickly hopped in a taxi for the $15 ride to the main train station. We zipped along on the expressway right up until we were within one kilometre of the station, at which point traffic ground to a halt, so it was fortunate that we had lots of time. Our train wasn't departing for Chiang Mai until 10:00 and we arrived by 8:00 pm. We grabbed a quick bite to eat before getting on the train, ordered breakfast for the next morning and settled in for the night.

The night was uneventful, but once again Susan did not have the best sleep. The train bumps around quite a bit and there are lots of creaks and squeals. At about 8:45 the steward came by and converted our bunks into seats so we could have breakfast. The rest of the trip was spent watching the scenery of northern Thailand roll by and teaching Aidan.

We arrived at the Chiang Mai rail station at about 2:00 pm and decided to check on return ticket availability one last time. I had checked the night before at the Bangkok train station and they told me there were no sleeper spaces available on the day we need to get back from Chiang Mai. Ironically, we had no trouble booking return tickets here! Very strange. Anyway, we took a taxi to our hostel and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the common area and getting to know the other travellers here. Tomorrow we'll start exploring the city.

"Mom you be Lara Croft and I'll be the henchman and..."

2009-01-24T03:06:00.011-07:00

We have seen the glorious past of Asia, and it is Angkor Wat. It can be summed up in two words: absolutely stunning. The temple complexes are at the heart of what used to be the capital cities of the Angkor empire which lasted from the 9th to the 13th century. Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world, but it is only one of many temples that sprawl over dozens of kilometers around Siem Reap.

We got a three day pass for the temples at Angkor. Most people only buy a one-day pass and then see Angkor Wat and Bayon. We were happy we got the three-day as it allowed us to spend mornings at the temples and afternoons relaxing. And also because Aidan was not really able to visit for more than about five hours at a time.

Our first day was focused on Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, including Bayon; we spent the second at the temples surrounding the Eastern Baray (reservoir); and the last day around the Preah Khan temple complexes. Most of the time we just looked around in awe at the skill and ambition of the Khmer people, but we also had a little boy to amuse, and I got to run around and pretend to be Lara Croft in the very same temple where Tomb Raider was filmed.

The temples are religious structures, each one at the heart of what was once a large capital city. Angkor Wat, for example, has a moat surrounding it that is more than a kilometer on each side. The moat enclosed a city that at its height had over 1 million inhabitants, and this was at a time when London, England was a little town of 50,000! The houses, palaces and public buildings in the cities were constructed of wood - now long decayed - because the right to dwell in stone structures was reserved for the gods. It is difficult to explain the magnitude of these temples and the pictures do not capture the tingles down my spine when I first saw Angkor. Truly remarkable.

The rest of our time was spent exploring Siem Reap, shopping and relaxing. Aidan and I took a cooking class at one of the restaurants in town and had a blast. After a tour of the market (yum big skinned frogs and water snakes). Together we made curry chicken and some fresh spring rolls. Aidan charmed everyone and found the whole experience to be really fun. He is a great carrot peeler. Some really great people were in the class and I think we spent a lot of time in the class talking. Aidan said if he talked that much in his school class he would be in trouble. We are now planning on taking another class together in Chang Mai.

We have eaten at a lot of fabulous restaurants in Siem Reap. The funkiest place we visited was called the Dead Fish. This restaurant is in an old barn and the seating is on multiple levels through out the large restaurant. The levels are all open and there are no bars or railings over the edges. All the food is brought up to the levels on several different pulley systems. The other interesting thing is that there are 25 very large crocodiles living below the main floor area of the restaurant! You have to pass by the open area of their "pen" when you use the washroom. There is a small warning sign that they are fast and to watch your children. Only the smartest survive here.

Everyday we see more and more motorcycle mayhem, but it seems to work really well. Everyone drives defensively. Road rules don't exist the same way they do in Canada and traffic moves at a slower place. That being said it is a little frightening at first to be on a tuk-tuk zooming into traffic going in the opposite direction prior to merging across the road easily into a group of about 20 girls riding bicyles. The most people we have seen on a motorcycle is a family of five. We have also seen very large pigs (still alive) tied to the back, strings of twenty-odd chickens on poles, three large dressers piled high on a motorcycle, and a stack of hay 2 metres high with a woman perched on the top.

On our last night here we walked around the Night Market and enjoyed a "fish massage". This treat put a smile on everyone's face. A big shallow tank held thousands of minnow sized fish that enjoy feasting on dead skin. So for $3 we all got to put our feet in the tank and giggle, along with everyone else, for the next 15 minutes as the fish nibbled on our toes. Unfortunately, Aidan was too new and so he didn't have any dead skin on his feet, but he put his hands in and fish munched away happily. An old guy in the corner seemed to be a favourite snack and was covered in fish - says something about the state of his feet!

We continue to have interesting opportunities to learn about Cambodia and its history. Aidan talked to a landmine survivor and held silk worms and silk cocoons grown by a village co-op. Michael talked to one staff member at the hostel who lost a father during the war. We also spent four days with the same tuk tuk driver and asked lots of questions. Prior to becoming tuk tuk driver, Shienhai was working in the construction industry earning $2 US a day. Most of this money was sent to his family that lives in a more rural part of the country. He makes a bit more money in Siem Reap, but to be a driver one has to get a motorbike and a tuk tuk and then has to purchase a contract to drive. I think he said it was over $1,000 US.We know that rice is a staple here and so are vegetables and fish. Red meat not so much. At 5:00 a.m. we saw a line of women and children stretching more than 3 blocks to try and get in for free health care. Small children have begged us to buy things from them and we often obliged. We have seen the sadness on peoples faces as they struggle to talk about the Khmer Rouge, and we have also seen the wonders that this culture has built, appreciated the beautiful karamas, silks, and carvings, enjoyed the amok and the curries and the banana leaf salads, and were treated to some fabulous hospitality and smiling faces. We wish Cambodia and its people all the best as they continue to recover from the past and look forward to the future.

Onward (Slowly) to Siem Reap

2009-01-20T02:01:00.002-07:00

We had prearranged to take a bus on Monday to Siem Reap. The bus was supposed to leave at 8:00 but our Tuk Tuk picked us up at 7:00 even though it was only a 10 minute ride to the "bus terminal". We were immediately ushered onto a fairly run down looking bus that left at 7:30 a.m. We were kind of annoyed that the condition of the bus was so poor, because we were told this was the luxury bus; later we found out that it really was the luxury bus! The only foreigners on board were two Australian girls and ourselves.

About one hour into our five hour journey north (yeah right) the bus broke down. We kind of had a bet going to see how long they would spend trying to fix it before they called a second bus. It turns out not less than 45 minutes, which is the amount of time our driver took to get the bus working again. We were a little annoyed that they flagged down the second bus to Siem Reap and loaded three people on aboard - no discussion of who got to go.

The highway was paved but busy with traffic and the road was narrow. We also had to slow down a lot for cows crossing the road. Like China, they keep beeping the horn to tell people to watch out. We eventually caught up to the bus that had stopped earlier and picked up a few folks off our bus. The other bus had hit a cow and there was a scurry of activity as they dragged it off the road. We kept on going.

We pulled over for two pit stops and encountered some typical Cambodian sites. I am glad that I am finally used to this stuff now. There were children wanting us to buy water and bracelets, but a young boy took an interest in Aidan and so he proceeded to show us some things at the food stalls. There were a couple of huge woven baskets - one contained some kind of roasted insect, another had very large fried spiders (tarantulas I think) and the third contained several hundred live spiders. The boy spoke very good English and so he showed Aidan how to pick up the spiders and then he put one on Aidan's chest. I was amazed that neither Aidan or I freaked out.

Another site that I have gotten use to seeing is the slow burning fires over which duck eggs are roasted in pots. Cambodian people eat a lot of duck embryos and to be honest it isn't for me. I should mention that we are really enjoying trying different Khmer food because the curries are quite different from those that we sampled in Thailand. Today I had a salad with cucumber and banana leaf and yesterday we tried soup made with morning glory. It didn't seem like a flower and was more like a green plant that had a very nice taste.

Back to the bus. We finally arrived seven hours later around 2:30 p.m. Our hotel in Phnom Penh had made arrangements for someone's brother (who is a tuk tuk driver) to pick us up, so off we went to the Siem Reap Hostel. It is great here ($30 per night). A really nice newer hostel with a pool and good food. Our room is large and has AC and the hostel is in a good location as it is less than a 5 minute walk to the main part of downtown. We dined in the hostel that evening and went to bed early.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed the complimentary breakfast at the hostel - an assortment of fresh fruit, cereal and milk, toast and jam, pancakes, fresh juice and coffee or tea. People in the dorm rooms have to pay a whopping $1 for the buffet, but its included in our room rate. We met our Tuk Tuk driver promptly at 10:00 and head out to see Siem Reap.

Our first stop was the Old Market and surrounds, which are essentially a miniature version of the Khaosan Road area in Bangkok. Lots of shops and restaurants in addition to the market area. Then we visited Angkor Artisans, where we toured the workshops for producing reproduction stonework from Angkor (statues, bas reliefs), silk paintings, lacquer work and wood carvings. Outside the city there is another workshop producing silk goods. Everything is hand made, and many of the artisans are deaf. $50 later we exited with more trinkets for home.

Our next stop was the Royal Park, which was not very interesting except for the fact that there were hundreds of fruit bats in the trees. Their wingspan is enormous, and they keep up quite a chatter. We returned to the Old Market area for lunch and enjoyed more yummy Cambodian food (Pumpkin Curry Soup and Amok Chicken).

After lunch we discussed where to go with our tuk tuk driver. Aidan heard him mention the War Museum among other things and that was that, off we went. Neither of us were very excited to be going, but its something Aidan is very interested in, and if we have to drag him off to boring temples for the next 3 days, its the least we could do.

The War Museum, if you could call it that, was basically a lot of rusting equipment in a farmers field. We knew we shouldn't expect too much when the front gate couldn't provide us change for a $10 note when admission was $6. Aidan, of course, didn't care. He was in his glory surrounded by old Russian planes, tanks, AA-guns, rocket launchers and small arms that he could walk up to and touch. Being the bleeding-heart liberals that we are, it just about kills the two of us that he likes war and the army so much. We take every opportunity to balance his enthusiasm for all things army with an understanding of how terrible war can be. In this case, the tour guides at the museum were all amputees - the victim of landmines, so we focused on that issue. We might have drummed it in a little too much as Aidan is now scared of landmines everywhere we go.

Our final stop of the day was the Cambodian Cultural Village, which features full-scale recreations of the Khmer, Chinese and Minority villages found historically across the country. Each village has its own cultural show, which is usually a series of dances in full costume, but also included a traditional Khmer wedding. We really enjoyed the tour, but Aidan quickly ran out of steam and turned into a rat. We had to leave without seeing the big shows.

Back at the hostel Aidan's attitude didn't improve and we all ended up having a complete melt-down. Considering he's had to live with us 24x7 for almost 4 months now, its surprising it hasn't happened earlier. His behaviour improved during dinner and in turn we promised to limit the amount of time spent sightseeing so he had more playtime. We all went to bed early and woke up the next morning in a better mood.

The Majesty of Cambodia

2009-01-18T04:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a much more upbeat day in Phnom Penh. We left the genocide
behind and focused on the amazing history of the Ankor people and Cambodia.

We grabbed a quick breakfast across the road from our guesthouse before
walking down the waterfront to the Royal Palace. Unfortunately for us
there is currently a big project underway to upgrade the promenade and
sewage system, so the riverfront view is blocked off most of the way
(good for the city though). We arrived at the entrance to the Palace to
discover that it closes down between 11 and 2 (mental note, read
guidbook more carefully), so we walked over to the National Museum instead.

We were deeply impressed by the collection of Khmer sculptures in
Cambodia's National Museum. The oldest artifacts date from the Funan and
Chenlea empires between the 4th and 9th centuries. The craftsmanship and
detail are staggering, and many of the statues are sublime. We loved the
fact that you could touch most of the works and make offerings to Buddha
in support of the gallery at several points. Aidan also enjoyed feeding
the fish in the central courtyard and taking pictures.

We walked down to the waterfront for lunch and found a nice restaurant
to plop down in for an hour. It also gave us time to fix up Aidan's
feet. We bought him new crocs in Bali, but they give him blisters if we
walk too much. We're going to have to find him some more sandals
shortly. I should mention that the food in Cambodia is fantastic. Susan
and I enjoyed some wonderful curries for dinner last night. Prices are
very reasonable, although a bit more expensive than Bangkok.

After lunch we went back to the Royal Palace and got in line to buy
tickets. Aidan was whining by this point and our tempers were getting
short in the heat. Luckily it was worth the wait. The palace and grounds
are just as spectacular as Thailand's, though its not as old. The first
royal palaces were built in 1434 at the north end of Phnom Penh, but
were reconstructed in 1866 at the present day site by King Norodom. As a
result, the buildings are an interesting mix of colonial and traditional
Cambodian architecture. The centerpiece is the Throne Hall, which was
built in 1917 and features some beautiful frescoes on the ceiling in
addition to the royal throne itself. The traditional Khmer roof and
ornate guilding on the exterior are also impressive. Surrounding the
Throne Hall are a number of other buildings including the residence of
the current royal family, which is off-limits to visitors.

Right next to the Royal Palace is Wat Preah Keo Morokot - the Pagoda of
the emerald Buddha. It is more commonly known as the Silver Pagoda
because the floor is covered in 5 tons of pure silver! You can see some
of the silver tiles near the entrance, although most are hidden under
ornate carpets. In the centre of the pagoda is the gilded altar, which
features an extraordinary green Baccarat crystal Buddha. In front of the
altar is a life-sized sold gold statue of Buddha which weighs 90 kg and
is adorned with 2086 diamonds, the largest weighing over 25 carats!
What's even more impressive is that unlike the palace in Thailand, you
can walk right up to and around the altar. It really made you feel that
the treasures were for the people.

A $2 tuk tuk ride later we completed our tour of Phnom Penh by climbing
up the only hill in the city to visit Wat Phnom. As our guidebook puts
it, the first pagoda was established on this site, according to legend,
in 1373 to house four Buddha statues deposited here by the waters of the
Mekong River. The statues were discovered by a woman named Penh, hence
the name Phnom Penh, which literally means 'Hill of Penh'. Wat Phnom is
a very popular pagoda with many people praying in and around the area.
The roof features some impressive frescoes showing the life and
teachings of Buddha. There are also many amputees begging for money,
which is a stark reminder of the land-mine problem in Cambodia. UXOs or
Unexploded Ordnance are a real and daily threat in many rural areas.

Tonight we will hit the night market again after Aidan's lessons and
dinner. One of the front-desk staff at the hotel is heading over and
offered to tell us a bit about what we're seeing. Tomorrow we're up and
off on the bus to Siem Reap at 7:00 am. We're very much looking forward
to seeing Ankor Wat.

'Prevent this foolish regime not to return'

2009-01-17T06:40:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Phnom Penh after a pleasant and quick flight from Bangkok on Air Asia. On arrival we queued up with all the other foreigners to apply for our visa and were a little surprised when we were moved us off to the side while they were processed. Any concerns we had quickly evaporated when we found out that children's visas were managed separately and only cost $5 instead of the $20 adults pay.

After grabbing our bags we quickly jumped in a Moto (think motorcycle with a trailer) for the 7km ride into the city. He dropped us off at the Floating Island guest house in the Boeng Kak area after unsuccessfully trying to get us to change where we were staying. Normally we just ignore the spiel and keep going (drivers get a commission from the guesthouse), but in this case we probably should have listened. The Floating Island guesthouse turned out to be 'basic' accommodation with a capital 'B'.

Boeng Kak is a lake in the middle of the city and guesthouses and restaurants there are built over the water on stilts. It can be pretty neat, however the places are all rickety and our guesthouse was no exception. In many places there are holes in the floor covered over by carpets and the walls are all grimy. Our room had the hardest beds we've ever slept in and an ensuite toilet (Its stretching it to call it a bathroom); it also had constant noise from outside. It cost $10 US a night (US $ are the primary currency in Cambodia) and that's about what it was worth. At least there were no bugs or other visitors. The woman down the hall woke up to find a mouse nibbling on her backpack - her solution was to put some crackers out in the other corner! The staff were really nice and made sure we knew to "ask for anything you need - like beer or marijuana." On the positive side, we saw a beautiful sunset across the water and watched a traditional Cambodian dance in the place next door; the staff were also very, very nice and Aidan quite liked the place (!!).

After surviving the night we had a quick breakfast and made arrangements to move to another guest-house. The staff were quite understanding and recommended a place by the Tonle Sap river. We're now housed in the Power Guest House, which is right across from the Psar Chaa night market. Its a converted colonial Khmer style mansion and we're in a huge room with two queen beds, aircon, a fridge and ensuite bathroom for $30 per night. We like it (so far) and the location is great. The riverfront is full of restaurants and guesthouses in old colonial buildings. It will clearly be quite spectacular in a few years after its fully redeveloped. Right now it reminds Michael very much of Bangkok from 20 years ago.

We immediately headed-out again for some Phnom Penh sightseeing after checking into the Power Guest House. It would not be a 'happy' day as our itinerary focused on the genocide. Our first visit was to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, which are about 14 km outside of the city. .At Choeung Ek alone they executed over 17,000 men, women and children during the Khmer Rouge rule between mid-1975 and December 1978. At the time Pol Pot was deposed, there were over 300 killing fields in use across Cambodia, and over 3 million people were murdered by the regime.

The genocide memorial at Choeung Ek is very striking. The tall white stupa contains almost 9,000 human skulls found during excavation of the 129 mass graves. We put some flowers and incense down at the foot of the memorial and did a short meditation to pay our respects before touring the grounds. Although we did not go into a lot of detail, we did explain to Aidan, in very simple terms, what had happened. He had a lot of questions and was very angry to hear that people in other countries allowed these atrocities to occur. He must have been watching the Buddhist monks closely because he knelt and meditated in a very respectful manner. Throughout the entire area were large pits that had been excavated. Signs marked the spots where buildings use to be located and specific areas were people were murdered. There is still clothing half buried in the dirt along the trails. I will not forget that the entire area was full of butterflies - thousands of butterflies - like ghosts.

On the way back in the moto, we passed by the scene of an accident. A body was lying beside the roadside, thankfully covered up. A crowd had gathered and there was a great deal of blood and body parts in the street. People were trying to scoop dirt up with their hands and cover it up as traffic was skirting around everything. I quickly covered Aidan's eyes and held on. A very sad day indeed.

We then went to Tuol Sleng, which was formerly a high-school that was turned into Prison S.21 during the Khmer Rouge regime. Many of the rooms contain a single rusty bed and a disturbingly gruesome black and white photograph of the last person tortured and murdered here. This was the largest detention centre in the country and over 20,000 prisoners were tortured and detained here. The duration of imprisonment was 2 to 4 months before prisoners were sent to killing fields. Another building had been reconstructed on the inside and was full of tiny cells. The entire building is surrounded by dense barb wire to prevent desperate prisoners from trying to commit suicide. Everything remains as it was except that many of the rooms now hold hundreds of prisoner photographs. In other rooms there are much more disturbing pictures of torture and the mass graves.

We did not hire a tour guide at Tuol Sleng, nor did we feel it was necessary that Aidan see all of the pictures. We showed him a little (not the disturbing stuff) and then took turns occupying him outside the buildings. Both of us were very sad and found everything to be disturbing. I had the same raw feelings that I experienced while visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. This, however, was almost more horrifying as it happened 30 years after the Nazis and vows that these things would never happen again.

It was now getting later in the day so we stopped for lunch at the Boddhi Tree restaurant across from the museum. We had a really good lunch in a delightfully shady spot and this allowed us to decompress a bit. We then headed back to our hotel and got settled in our gigantic room. We had blogs to write and there was schoolwork to get done. Tomorrow we will do some happier sightseeing.

Tuk-tuk Adventures in Bangkok

2009-01-16T02:54:00.000-07:00

It's about time to write about the past few days before I forget everything. We took the overnight train and arrived in the chaotic Bangkok around 9:00 in the morning on January 13th. We made our way to the our hotel located in the infamous Khao San Road area of the city, which is where most of the travelers congregate. We stayed at the Rambuttri Village Inn and it was an okay room but not great ($33 night). Although the hotel had a nice pool and was in a really great location, the rooms could have used a good cleaning and a coat of paint - not the kind of place for bare feet. Once settled in we headed out for a walk around our neighbourhood and were quickly astonished by the number of guesthouses, restaurants, money changers, and shop stalls on the streets. Our hotel was on Soi Rambutri and so the prices were a bit cheaper than Khao San. We ate most of our meals over the next few days at the hawker stalls on the street. Cheap cheap and really awesome food. Thai food is great and I really enjoyed all of the vegetarian options that were available - lots of veggies, rice, and some amazing curries. It was too bad that Aidan wasn't into the food because he missed some great rice dishes. However he did survive on fruits, fruit shakes, and from the nearby 7-11 yogurt and crackers. I think if we could invest in a world wide company it very well would be 7-11.

The next day we caught a river taxi and enjoyed a bit of a walk in the area around the Grand Palace. We were not dressed appropriately to go in (must have legs and arms adequately covered) and so we headed off in a tuk-tuk to see Wat Traimit (the Temple of the Golden Buddha). The Buddha image is 3 metres tall, weighs 5.5 tonnes and is solid gold. Wow. Aidan also had fun as he got some birds in a little cage to release for good luck. We then headed to a tailors shop because we wanted to find out about getting some clothes made. There are tailor shops everywhere here and for as little as $60 suits can be made. We went to a reputable shop that ships clothing around the world. So after some discussion and some fabric picking, our measurements were taken and we made an appointment to come back the next day for a fitting. I am getting a cashmere suit (jacket, skirt, and pants), another skirt, and 5 blouses, and Michael is having a lovely pinstripe cashmere suit made (jacket, 2 pairs of pants), 5 French cuff dress shirts, and 3 ties. With shipping the total price was about $900. Its more expensive than Khao San, but better quality. We went back to the hotel and had a beer to celebrate.

I should mention that a tuk-tuk is a three wheeled motorcycle with some padded seats in the back, covered by a canopy type roof. They are a widely used kind of taxi that scream around the streets amongst the real taxis, motorcycles and cars. We took a tuk-tuk over to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. This area really is dedicated to Thai Buddhism and is full of very holy sites. Wat Phra Kaew is also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This whole place just blew my mind. Everywhere I looked was gilded stupas, mosaic encrusted buildings and pillars, marble pediments, some of the most beautiful 20 foot high artwork I have ever seen, and gold, gold, and more gold. Everything is highly ornamented and in the middle of it all is the ultimate shrine to the Emerald Buddha. The Buddha is actually made of jade and was once hidden under a layer of stucco to hide it from the marauding kingdom of Laos. On the same grounds is the Grand Palace is the former royal residence. Now the palace is only used by the king for certain special ceremonies. We took far too many pictures like every other tourist. I think Aidan's favourite part was the gun museum because it had a large collection of very old shotguns and muskets.

Our final stop was Wat Pho, the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok and dates from the 16th century. It is home to the country's largest Reclining Buddha. The Buddha is 46 metres long and15 metres high and shows the passing of the Buddha into final nirvana. The entire figure is finished in gold leaf and mother-of-pearl inlay is on the eyes and feet. By the time we finished here, Aidan wasn't the only one templed-out. With gold in our eyes we headed over to the tailor's for our first fitting. As expected the clothes look great and only a few minor adjustments had to be made. Happy again we headed back to the hotel to celebrate with yet another big Singha and some people watching on the street, then off to Mr. Jim the vegetarian-only hawker guy for some veggies and rice. A good day.

Mike noticed some big changes in Bangkok since he last visited 20 years ago. He found it much tamer and has a much greater mix of east and west than it did before. Some of the rougher edges are gone and there are a lot of skyscrapers, big hotels, and much fewer motorcycles. There are still, however, the travelers of all different types. Most on their way to more rougher travel destinations in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is apparent from walking down the street that anything goes and everything is accepted here. A very chaotic but very fun city where there is something for everyone. We love Bangkok.

Between our sightseeing we also booked our flights to Cambodia and made hotel/guesthouse reservations in the Middle East and Africa. On January 16th we fly to Phnom Penh and from there we will take a bus to Siem Reap so we can spend some time at Angkor Wat. We have booked 10 days in Cambodia and then we fly back to Bangkok and immediately catch an overnight train to take us to Chang Mai in northern Thailand. We fly out of Bangkok for Doha, Quatar on Feb 03.

Ko Phi Phi and wishing I was 20 years younger

2009-01-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

We stepped off the ferry and onto Ko Phi Phi, which is off the coast of
southwestern Thailand. It is one of many small islands, and was also
devastated by the tsunami in 2004. The islands were made quite famous
prior, during the filming of the movie The Beach.

So what can we say except this is yet another one of the most amazing
places with amazing beaches. The island is shaped almost like a huge
hourglass with hills on either end and a strip of sand and the townsite
in between. We checked in at the Aswindum Resort, which was a strip of
about 12 hotel rooms. The rooms were clean with AC so no complaints
here. They were a bit removed from any of the many beaches, but this
meant that they were cheaper. They also are right behind the Aswindum
Mauy Thai boxing stadium. More on Mauy Thai later. After settling in we
headed out and had a nice dinner at Hippies restaurant on the beach.
Aidan played on the beach for a few hours and then we headed to bed.

We enjoyed having Thai pancakes for breakfast. These are available at
many stands around the island and are thin pancakes topped with a your
choice of topping (e.g., banana, nutella, ham and egg, banana and egg -
seriously) and cut into squares. After getting some chores done in the
morning we headed to one of the beaches for the afternoon. We walked
along the shore to a more secluded beach and enjoyed walking out in the
crystal clear water. We also had fun people watching. Most of the
tourists on the island are 20 something, most with Australian accents,
traveling in packs of 2- 4, and have 6 pack abs or model perfect
figures. Oh to be young again.... because we would definitely come here
with friends for a guaranteed great time.

Later in the evening we booked a snorkeling trip for the next
afternoon. Mike was right about the food in Thailand - it is great. We
went to a more local restaurant called Papaya and enjoyed some wonderful
Thai cuisine in very large portions for very few dollars. Yummy yellow
and red curries and Singha beer - delicious. The other funny thing
about this restaurant was that the cats sleep in the beer fridge, which
Aidan found to be very funny.

I also should note that the town has two distinct aspects to it:
tourist/backpacker places/resorts and the rest of the town/local homes.
The resort might be nestled around a nice pool with some nice bungalows,
but the path to the resort is lined with construction rubble, garbage,
and wood/tin shacks. The entire island is a series of pathways as there
are no cars or motorcycles only lots of people on bicycles trying to get
around all the slow moving tourists on the pathways. It was also
interesting to note the variety of smells while walking as they ranged
from yummy chicken grilling on fires to fish to garbage to latrine and
then back to something yummy again.

Saturday afternoon was spent on a snorkeling trip around Phi Phi Ley
island. We headed out with our guide Josh and one other guy who was
from Denmark in one of the longboats. We passed by some huge caves
along the way and Josh pointed out the bamboo ladders and ropes high
on the cliffs into the various caves. These are used by the sea
gypsies, who harvest bird nests every year, which they sell to the
Chinese. These are worth a great deal of money as they are made from
the bird's spit and the nests are used to make the famous bird nest
soup. The sea gypsies actually live in one of the larger caves and we
waved as we went by in the boat. We soon found ourselves as our
snorkeling site and were soon in the water. The nice thing was the
company provided wet suites to protect us from sea lice bites. So I
learned that the little stings I kept getting in the water that would
disappear within a couple of minutes are sea lice. Great. Anyway we
all had a lot of fun in the water and were happy that Josh guided us
around and pointed out some of the smaller things that we might have
missed. Lots to see including many different fish, but the best part
was the incredible variety of coral along one of the reef walls. I was
really happy to see fan coral, huge areas of brain coral and many giant
clams. Aidan is turning into a little fish so he also had lots of fun.
The next stop was just off Maya Beach (were the movie was filmed). We
didn't go on the beach because they charge a fair amount of money to
step foot on the sand, but we did board the Sea Ranger and had a bite to
eat with the divers on board. The next stop was at a different point
around the island, where Mike had great fun snorkeling into a cave and
then following a large sea turtle around for quite a while. By the time
we got back to the hotel we were tired, but our day wasn't done yet.

It was Saturday night and we had tickets to see the Mauy Thai matches
that started at 9:30. So after a quick dinner and a brief rest it was
off to the stadium. There was no charge for Aidan, who had been kind of
adopted by the two young men at the hotel who were former Mauy Thai
fighters. They really wanted us to go and see the matches. The match
started with two 14 year olds, who honestly looked about 10 years old.
Children as young as 8 years old can be involved in professional
matches. The 14 year olds already had 25 professional fights under their
belts. As the matches progressed so too did the ages and experience of
the fighters. There were 8 matches and each match consists of 5, 3
minute rounds. In the first two rounds the fighters sound each other
out and it is not until about the third round that things really get
going. Of the 8 matches, 6 were won by knockout. Although the fighters
wear boxing gloves, they really score points by using their knees,
elbows, and feet (kicks to the upper body). I couldn't believe how
lightening fast they are and how many kicks and elbows they could
withstand. These guys are solid muscle. The other interesting thing is
that the Thai people go crazy for their national sport. They were all
up screaming and yelling and betting and soon all the foreigners in the
audience were up screaming and chanting along with them. It really was
some interesting entertainment and we all enjoyed the action. We took
quite a bit of video to remember the blood and kicks to the head. It
made Mike want to go TKD sparring. The next day Aidan had his own
private lesson from the hotel workers/Mauy Thai fighters and he really
enjoyed learning some basic moves in the big ring.

On our last full day on Phi Phi we took a longboat over to Long Beach
for the afternoon and did some snorkeling. We were a bit saddened by
the state of the reef. Farther out from Long Beach, near Shark Point,
the reef was in fairly good shape, but as one moved closer to the beach
not much remained. The longboats taxi people back and forth all day and
constantly scrape the boats along the reef, and then there are the
tourists who don't know any better and stand up on the coral. They
obviously don't realize that coral only grows about 1 cm every year and
that standing on it kills it. I would guess that most of the reefs
around Phi Phi will be gone within the next 10 years or so. It really
is too bad.

I almost forgot to mention a funny sign we saw at a restaurant. It was
for an all you can eat BBQ and written on a chalk board was the
following list (amounts are in Baht - 30 Bt = $1 Cdn):
Men ... 220
Ladies...150
Ladyboys...180
Child...100

We managed to get to yet another beach on the island for a last swim on
our very last day. In the afternoon we caught a ferry boat back to
Krabi for the start of our journey to Bangkok. We piled into a flatbed
truck contraption that held about 15 people into the back and were
whisked away to a dirt patch somewhere to catch a bus to somewhere
else. I cannot remember the name of the town. It is where the train
station is located. So the bus left at 6:00 and our train was at 8:45
and we arrived at the train station at 8:30 - but we shouldn't have been
concerned because things don't really run on time here too much. The
train didn't come until about 9:30 so we had time to chat with people
and have tea and jam toasties for dinner from the vendors (well Mike had
pork buns and Aidan and I had toasties made in an ancient snackmaster).
We then boarded the 2nd class sleeper train for the overnight trip to
Bangkok.

Coming up soon ... One night in Bangkok ....actually a few nights in
Bangkok...

Posing with Pythons and other fun things to do in Malaysia

2009-01-08T22:19:00.002-07:00

On our last day in Kuala Lumpur we headed to the Batu Caves. We cursed ourselves for not simply hiring a taxi as they are very cheap. The book said that the bus was only 1/2 hour so we took the bus. Travelers beware - sometimes the travel books lie. So almost 1.5 hours later we arrived at the caves vowing to take a taxi back (the taxi back took under 15 minutes). The Batu Caves are situated 272 steps up the side of a cliff and are home to a Hindu shrine. The three caves are guarded by a 43 metre high Murga statue. These caves are immense - over 100 metres high and also home to a very large troop of monkeys. We missed out on seeing the pilgrimage that happens at the end of January every year when about a million pilgrims come to the caves during Thaipusam to engage in or watch the spectacularly masochistic feats of the devotees. Think National Geographic specials on people skewering body parts. The other fun activity in the caves is posing and having a picture taken with a Burmese python. I did it and it was fun - nice snake. We ended the evening at the Central Market food court. I really love the food courts in Malaysia. They are almost like really good restaurants. We had sizzling chicken and rice on a hot grill that was brought to our table - yum.

The next morning we caught a bus for Georgetown on Penang Island. The bus left late, but it was quite a nice bus with air conditioning and it was cheap. Six hours later we arrived and got a taxi to the Naza Hotel. It was a nice room, but the hotel's location was not ideal - it was a bit out of the main part of Georgetown along the beach and nothing was within walking distance. Our taxi driver's name was Danny and we arranged to have him take us around for a tour of the town the next day. Most taxi driver's will provide this service, and Danny spoke really good English and knew lots about Georgetown and the island's history. After settling in at the hotel we took another cab into Little India as I wanted to go to a particular vegetarian restaurant that was recommended. Unfortunately not all taxi driver's are alike and this one dropped us off and said the restaurant was just within this strip mall area. After a bit of searching and map reading we found out that the jerk dropped us off several kilometers from where the restaurant actually was located. Another lesson learned - pay attention to the streets and make sure that driver understands where you want to go. Anyway we walked for a while and finally got to the edge of the Little India area where we found a suitable restaurant and had some really good Tandoori chicken. All worked out in the end.

Danny picked us up bright and early and we all headed to the Penang Butterfly Farm that not only had butterflies, but also a large assortment of reptiles, turtles, and millipedes. We then stopped at Batu Ferringhi, which is Penang's best beach area and is lined with resorts. This area of Penang was grazed by the 2004 tsunami and Danny showed us some other areas that were completely destroyed. We then visited a Buddhist temple where Aidan and I received a blessing from the Buddhist monks. Aidan was afraid at first because we had to kneel in front of them and they sprinkle water on your head and then tie a string around your wrist. He was fine though and answered the questions they asked. I will say that unlike most Christian churches that make me feel small and inconsequential, I find these temples to be very calming and soothing. Anyway a nice feeling.

Our next stop was to Penang Hill. We took the very slow cable car up to the top and were rewarded by the amazing views of the city. Unfortunately, it was getting late so we rushed around and caught the next cable car down as they only run every 1/2 hour. It was really cool at the top and we all would have liked to stay longer. Our final stop was at the Penang Toy Museum. Aidan says if he has to see temples then we have to see toys. It wasn't that bad and they had the biggest collection of action figures I have ever seen. Aidan was in heaven examining all the Star Wars toys. Finally we headed back to the hotel for a walk down the beach and a swim. The beach near our hotel wasn't in the best shape - it was quite dirty and we were told that farther towards town it was polluted. Beautiful sand covered with garbage, which was really too bad. We ended the evening with a stop at the outside food court area near the hotel. We all ended up having different things - Aidan had pork buns, I had some kind of noodle soup, and Mike had clay pot chicken with rice. Again the total cost was a whopping $4.

The next morning came very early as our mini-van was picking us up at 4:30 a.m. for the 10 hour ride to Krabi, Thailand. So the van came and it was a 12 seater and was full. We got the three seats in the back and away we went. It stopped somewhere around 7:00 a.m. for a toilet/breakfast break and then headed along the highway at breakneck speeds until we reached the border. The crossing went very smoothly. Unfortunately, the rules about visa's for Thailand changed in December and now if you enter by land they only grant a visa for two weeks. This means we need to leave the country by the 23rd and then come back in again (because we don't fly out of Bangkok until the first week of February). Good thing we had always planned on trying to go to Cambodia.

As the day wore on we ended up stopping in Hat Yai and changing to an even more wretched and full mini-van. I only say that because the air-conditioning wasn't working well and by the time we got to Krabi we were feeling the 30C heat and not in a good way. It really didn't help that the area behind our seats was loaded with bags of some kind of dried fish and it really didn't smell that great. The luggage was all tied on the roof. Aidan, of course, was just fine and spent most of the van time either sleeping or playing his DS. There was a couple from Finland in the van and they said it was the worst trip they had ever had and we said - no really it could have been a lot worse - this wasn't that bad. Then we regaled them with some travel stories. So we got dropped in Krabi and then got picked up by a big truck thing that took us to the ferry terminal. Here we boarded a very large ferry that took us to our final destination - Ko Phi Phi Island.

We found a hotel and got settled. More on Ko Phi Phi later - but think Leonardo Dicaprio's film "The Beach" as it was made near here.

Notes on toilets: Yes the squat toilet and I are trying to get along ... become friends... but it has not been easy. I read an article in one of the newspapers while traveling between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur that described with vivid detail the problem with public toilets in Malaysia. The main problem cited by the author is that they are generally dirty and even though efforts have been made to put in "western toilets", many people don't know how to use them and end up squatting on top (which would really make a mess) despite the instructional signs. I have gotten really good at the half squat over the wet western toilets.

Now, I am trying to get use to the full squat toilet. It really seems quite simple - put a foot on either side and squat over the ceramic bowl. It doesn't appear difficult and actually Aidan has no problem with it at all. Everyone in Asia squats and I don't mean only for the toilet. People seem to squat all the time whether for working or resting. I, on the other hand, have not assumed this squatting position since I was about 5 years old, and so it does not come naturally. It actually makes ones legs tremble after a bit and then there is the worry if I can actually stand or if I will fall over. The other issue with the women's toilets is that if you want toilet paper - you better remember to bring your own. Otherwise you will need to use the bucket of water or, in most circumstances, the hose near the toilet. I have yet to figure out how to clean with the the water from the hose without getting really wet. So I have gotten quite good at not forgetting to bring my own paper. As well, I strongly recommend wearing good soled sandals or shoes. I am so thankful to have the thick soled sandals I do as I am ugged out by water, that might not be clean, touching my feet. I have yet to enter a public toilet that does not have a good layer of water on the floor (from the hoses that I mentioned earlier). Trust me - you don't want to be prancing about in dainty shoes or flip-flops. Well, I don't anyway. The toilets haven't frightened me so much that I want to run home, but it does pay to know about these things and not to be squeamish. After all soap will clean up everything. And that's all I am going to say about the toilets.

KL Rocks

2009-01-04T03:09:00.006-07:00

We were out late into the night walking around our neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur. Everyone is out at night and we are a block away from a Chinese night market area. Mike was happy to find roasted chestnuts and I was happy to see the many fruit vendors. We stalked up on oranges and dragon fruit for breakfast.

After a late morning start we headed out to see the KL sights. We caught the monorail and headed toward KL Tower. We took a wrong turn off the monorail and eventually had to ask for directions. We ended up walking up to the tower through a lovely nature conservation area, which was nice and cool in the heat. We headed up the tower to the observation deck and had a spectacular look at the city (just like being up the CN Tower). KL is home to 1.4 million people and looking out at the city left us in a bit of an awestruck state.

The city is densely populated with many many towers and high rises in clusters around large park areas. These are then repeated and are linked by both LRT and Monorail systems. After riding both systems, we were moaning about how horrible our own public transportation systems are in Canada. We are really going to miss the transportation systems of just about every city we have been in on this trip. Buses and trains run every 3 - 4 minutes. Here there are dozens of pedestrian malls where the LRT runs that would rival any of the malls in Edmonton.

The other thing immediately apparent about KL is that everyone speaks English and we have never had so many strangers offering to help us (without wanting us to buy something). I also noticed that this is a real mix of cultures and styles. On the same street you will find women fully covered, partially covered (just head scarf) and wearing western clothes. We have seen Muslim women with tropically coloured head scarves and flowing skirts, Indian women wearing sari's and adorned with bindis, and others in jeans and flip-flops - and nobody bats an eye.

After getting impressive views of the city, we headed to the Petronas Towers and the KL shopping mall at the base of the towers. We headed to the food court for lunch and were treated to some amazing food choices - Malaysian, Thai, Japanese, etc. All on actual dinnerware and people actually clearing the tables. I have never seen such a multicultural selection of food types. That being said, Aidan had a hot dog. After lunch and a quick look around a really fabulous and beautiful mall, we headed outside to the big park at the base of the towers.

The very large greenspace is also home to a huge playground and water splash park for kids. There were many people out and Aidan had a great time playing. The backdrop of course was the towers. They really are impressive and beautiful structures and it was hard not to stop looking at them or taking pictures. Honestly it was hard to believe that we were in KL and not some big city in Canada or the USA.

We were unable to go up the towers because there are only so many people allowed up each day. We will try and go on Tuesday as they are closed on Monday.

We ended our day with a trip to Aquaria, which is in the convention centre across from the towers. Again, a great and inexpensive way to spend a few hours. Aquaria is a great education resource about aquatic species and has a huge array of fish, reptiles and spiders. The biggest thrill was a 20 metre long tunnel that is beneath a huge aquarium. Here we had a close up look at tiger sharks, reef sharks, manta rays, groupers, eels, turtles, many species of fish, etc. It really was amazing. They have done a fabulous job and the information is available in several languages. Can's express enough how great this was.

Anyway, we hope to get to see some other sites tomorrow. I didn't know what to expect from KL, but I am very impressed from what I have seen so far.

Onwards to Malaysia

2009-01-03T07:05:00.004-07:00

This morning we packed our things and jumped on the bus to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The trip took 6 hours, but was quite pleasant. Our bus had huge seats with tons of leg room and you could almost lay back flat for a nap.

The highway from Singapore to KL is very impressive. Its smooth and modern and beautifully maintained. There are gardens and hedges the whole way and I did not a single scrap of garbage the whole trip. Unfortunately there is not much else to see on the way other than palm tree plantations (for palm oil) and the odd town off in the distance.

We arrived in KL and had a relatively quick walk to the Matahari Hostel ($30 night) from the bus station. The hostel is in the middle of the Chinatown district, which makes Susan very happy because the excellent souvenir shopping. Tomorrow we'll go visit the Petronas Towers and aquarium.

Our Night Safari

2009-01-03T06:29:00.006-07:00

Susan's written the last 3 blogs, so its my turn again.

We last left our intrepid heroes at the Tresor Tavern hostel where they were getting ready to visit the Singapore Night Safari (night zoo). After finishing the blog, we walked over to another hotel to catch the zoo bus, which was supposed to whisk us there in about 30 minutes. However, our quick trip turned into an hour and a half farce.

The bus arrived packed, with people standing in the aisle. In a third-world country, we would have just crammed on board and gone there, but being Singapore, they called in another bus. We ended up waiting in a very hot bus for an hour while the ticket collector and the bus driver yelled at each other in front of all the passengers. Not an auspicious start to the night.

Luckily the night zoo was worth the effort to get there. We sat down for a quick (and expensive) bite to eat and ended up catching the Borneo tribal show, which included lots of fire breathing. Aidan was very impressed. Then we went on a quick walk to see the fishing cat (leopard that catches fish with its paws) and caught the Animals of the Night show (hyenas, etc.) before getting on the tram to see the rest of the park (lions and tigers and bears, oh my).

We highly recommend visiting the Night Safari if you are in Singapore. The quality of the zoo exhibits was outstanding and we really enjoyed walking around at night. Our favourite moment was seeing the giant fruit bats up close and personal as they whizzed around your head. Our only reservations are the cost ($60) and the crowds (prodigious). Susan would also add that you have to put up with the stupidity of people that can't seem to turn off the flashes on their cameras after being told to do it 10 times.

It's really hot ... so why do I have a cold?

2009-01-02T02:15:00.005-07:00

I am sick with a cold. It just doesn't feel normal to have a cold in 30C heat.

After a slow start yesterday morning, we headed out for lunch in Little India. Then we took the MRT to Raffles station, which is downtown. We spent the next few hours wandering along the river, admiring the buildings, and getting iced coffee at Starbucks. Mike had fun seeing how things had changed since he was last in Singapore (20 years ago). We then headed over to Orchard Road to check out the shopping. It really is an amazing part of Singapore and was all done up with lights for Christmas. We walked into one mall and laughed at the huge lineup of people waiting to get into the Louis Vutton store. All high end stores again and lots of shoppers. By this time it was raining. We headed to Marks and Spencer in hopes of finding brie and grape sandwiches, but alas they didn't have a real food court - only cookies. I really wasn't feeling well so we headed across the street to catch a movie. Although Adam Sandler isn't my favourite, the movie Bedtime Stories wasn't too bad. Aidan really enjoyed it. By the time we made it back to our hostel it was 10:00 and we promptly went to bed.

Our roommate, Christian, didn't make it back to the hostel last night - he was visiting his ex-girlfriend (or is it back to being girlfriend now?). He came back this afternoon and said that he was going to stay at her place for a while, so we have the room to ourselves tonight.

I am still sick. Mike went out this morning and bought bus tickets to Kuala Lumpur (10:30 bus tomorrow), while Aidan and I did some schoolwork. Aidan is currently working his way through one of the Treehouse series of reading books "Dinosaurs at Dark" or something like that. Diane gave us four of them when we were in Hong Kong and he seems to like them.

Mike and Aidan then headed out for lunch and then to run some errands. I went back to bed. Mike got a package mailed home (trinkets and trash) and then he and Aidan went to get a GST refund. When you purchase goods here and don't live here you get the GST back (like home I think). He had to bring proof that he was leaving the country and his passport. It's not a lot of money - but hey $40 can get us a room somewhere in Malaysia. They wouldn't refund the GST because apparently you have to be leaving town by airplane - for some unknown reason buses don't cut it. Mike said he was so furious and frustrated that he actually started yelling at the woman. Oops. So no refund. Oh well. I think he is going to get the receipt stamped by customs at the border and try mailing it in to the customer service people or something like that.

We are headed off to the night safari at the zoo after dinner. Unfortunately we haven't been able to do too much here because I haven't felt all that great. Now Mike has the snuffles and is likely getting my cold. Probably a good thing that tomorrow is being spent on a bus - not a lot of thought required.

Aidan is doing well and enjoys coming down for breakfast earlier than us in the morning and entertaining all the guests.

Happy New Year ... from Singapore

2008-12-31T20:56:00.004-07:00

We made it to Singapore! Our last day in Ubud was spent in bookshops and salons. It poured rain all day so it wasn't bad to wander around and look at things. We spent the better part of the afternoon getting haircuts and having foot massages in a salon. It is important to really be specific about what you want done when having a hair cut. Apparently, saying "Just a trim - take about an inch off" wasn't really clear. Suddenly about 6 inches disappeared from the front of my face and in a very high pitched voice squeaked out "too much" but by then it was too late. "New style" said the cutter (that's what I call her now). So my hair is shorter and I have very long bangs, which I haven't had in more than 10 years. The only good thing is that it is just hair and it will grow back. Michael and Aidan both managed to get good cuts.

Lele picked us up at 6:30 and drove us into the airport in Denpassar. Our flight to Singapore left at 10:30. Traffic on the way to the airport was horrible. Apparently all the tourists from Java were in Bali for the holidays clogging up the roads. They drive over on the ferry. Lele mentioned that he has never seen it that bad. Luckily we had lots of buffer time and arrived for our flight with 2 hours to spare.

We arrived around 1:00 a.m. without incident and caught a cab to our hostel in Little India. The hostel is called the Tresor Tavern hostel. We were ushered into a 6 bed dorm room and promptly went to sleep. Although it is a bit cramped this was one of the better priced places at $35 each per night per person (Singapore is expensive!) We also get breakfast in the morning and it is a bit eclectic - toast, eggs and fried hot dog wieners yesterday and baked beans and chicken nuggets this morning. Aidan is liking the breakfast food.

Mike and Aidan went to explore yesterday morning and Aidan managed to trip and fall just down the street from the hostel. He now has a very large ugly scrape on his knee. It matches the scrape on his other knee that he got in Ubud.

Yesterday we walked up to Sim Lim Square and went camera shopping. After some wheeling and dealing we came away happy with a new Olympus camera and so now the pictures will be better again. We had some lunch at the hawker stalls and marveled at the cleanliness of the city. We were still very tired from our late flight and ended up heading back to the hotel for a late afternoon nap. The 33C heat and humidity also wears you down.

Last night we took the MRT down to City Hall to watch the fireworks and New Year's celebrations. Part of our celebration included taking Aidan for his monthly McDonald's fix. We and a million of our closest friends welcomed in the new year at Singapore's waterfront with a spectacular fireworks show. We were dreading getting back on the subway with all the people, but it turned out to not be too bad at all. Everything was orderly and the trains run every 3 minutes, so no problems whatsoever. We were back at the hostel by 1:00 a.m.

This morning we are all feeling a bit better rested, although I am definitely getting a cold. Off to the Jurong Bird Park this afternoon and maybe the Night Safari at the zoo. We will likely make arrangements to head to Kuala Lumpur on January 3rd.

Fairly boring account of our life over the last couple of days. Mike and I have been doing some serious thinking to what changes we want to make to our lives in 2009. We do this reflection every year and we are in the process of setting some new goals for ourselves when we get back to Canada. More on that later.

Happy New Year everyone!

Aidan chooses the blog title and it is ... Army Aidan

2008-12-28T03:35:00.001-07:00

This morning, Lele picked us up at 09:00 and we headed out to tour this part of Bali. Lele is a guide and we hired him to drive us around Ubud for the day. We had many questions about Bali and the culture and he had just as many questions about Canada's culture. So we all got along really well.

We went to see the Putra Barong dancing performance. The Barong play represents an eternal fight between good and evil spirits. Barong (a mythological animal) represents a good spirit and Rangda (a mythological monster) represents an evil one. We arrived at the performance venue, purchased tickets ($5) and were ushered into an open air theatre that already was packed full to standing room only with Javanese visitors. We were led to a row (note: no one else coming in was really being led anywhere) and suddenly we had seats. Mike seems to think it is just because we are foreigners that we got seats in a completely packed venue. We were provided an English description of each scene in the performance, which was very helpful to understand the characters and what was going on. Musicians played and the performance started. It is difficult to describe the costumes worn in this combination dance and play. The Barong was huge and looked like a very large shaggy dog like creature. Two persons were inside this costume. There was also a monkey and an evil witch and women dancers, and servants. The evil ones were fun because they had very long fingernails. Aidan was spellbound throughout the performance. It was almost as much fun to watch and listen to the crowd as they booed and laughed during each scene. It was also interesting to watch the sexual jokes made during the performance. At one point the three jokers slew a large baboon like character and then to their amazement saw the groin area continue to move. This proceeded to an erect penis appearing and when they pulled it got very large and they kept trying to whack it down with a machete - finally it stayed down and when they rolled the creature over - it was just the tail. People in the audience were howling the whole time.

Lele then took us to a very large artist compound. Here we watched Balinese artists work and then we were toured through the different galleries - landscape, abstract, modern, traditional Balinese and mixed modern and traditional. The traditional paintings are very detailed and one alone took the artist three years to paint (keep in mind these are also very large pieces). The asking price was $20,000. Really beautiful pictures that would show the temples and the people of Bali.

Lele explained to us that the people are very bound to the land here and that nature is woven in with everything that they do. This was very evident in the two temples that we visited. I should also mention that there are temples every two feet in Bali - from large to very small. The two we went to were of the larger variety, but people make offerings three times a day here and many have there own small temples right near to wear they live. We all donned sarongs for our temple visit as the legs cannot be bare. They give them out to tourists to put on as you enter the temple compound. The Gunung Kawi is an amazing group of stone shrines cut into cliffs on either side of a plunging river. The shrines are thought to have been carved as monuments in the 11th century. The Goa Gajah cavern was believed to have been a Buddhist hermitage. Both sites have walkways, waterfalls, and bridges leading through these temples. Rice terraces frame the background and the temples are cool under the large trees. Very beautiful. The several hundred steps leading down into the Gunung Kawi were not that fun to walk up in the heat - but hey we need the exercise.

Our next stop was lunch at the top of the "mountain." The mountain was actually part of a volcanic ring of mountains and hills around a large lake. Our view from our table was of Gunung Agung - Bali's highest and most revered mountain. A 700 metre crater marks its summit. The volcano directly across from us had a lava field stretching all the way down the mountain, whose last eruption was in the 1920's. We watched tiny trucks down below hauling black volcanic soil for use elsewhere. Very impressive views here and because it is a holiday time in Indonesia the place was like Niagara Falls on a hot day. Busy and crowded.

On the way back to Ubud, Lele took us through the more agricultural areas and we stopped at many rice fields and terraces. We learned about the two types of rice grown here and how everything is still done by hand. Most of the rice grown here is used on Bali. There are also coffee plantations nearby, but because we already had experienced that in Costa Rica, we decided that it was time to head back. Besides it was close to 4:00 and we had a full day.

Upon our return we had a cold beer and showed Lele pictures of Canada. He was very interested in the weather, because here the temperature is basically the same all the time. Aidan says munch, munch, munch - so it must be time to head out for dinner. Tomorrow is looking like a spa day (yeah!).

Feeding the Monkeys

2008-12-27T03:53:00.001-07:00

Today was a rest and recovery day in Ubud. Susan and I are still not quite feeling 100% after yesterday's boating fun. We are, however, both very much enjoying this part of Bali.

Ubud is a village of about 8,000 people in the middle of a rice-farming area, but it is now almost wholly given over to tourism (i.e. the 'real' Bali experience). Despite the rapid growth, it still remains a charming place to visit, and we find it enchanting. There is a temple on every corner and Bali's Hindu heritage is really at it's most vivid here. There are many museums and cultural activities and we hope to sample some of these in the days ahead.

We're staying at Warsa's Garden Lodge on Monkey Forest Road, the main street in town. For $35 a night we have a very large room with a king size bed (and additional mattress for Aidan), air conditioning, huge bathroom, and a large private balcony. It has a very pleasant pool and morning breakfast is served to you in your room. In short, its great, and we're quite happy to stay here for the remainder of our time in Indonesia.

We spent a good part of the day walking along Monkey Forest Road and doing a little shopping. Aidan's sandals have worn out and we managed to find him another pair. Ubud is a very artistic community and many of the shops are dedicated to handicrafts and silver. Incense is in the air everywhere. There is also an abundance of body spa, relaxation and spiritual healing centres here. We will definitely be taking part as a 90 minute massage costs less than $20. Susan is also planning on having the Javanese Lulur (1hr, 40 min.) which is a revitalizing traditional massage followed by an exotic tumeric body scrub and then a flower bath for a whopping $11. And since a pedicure only cost $4-5 she has added that to the list, and then a facial..... I am getting off track.

Monkey Forest Road is an appropriate name as the Monkey Forest Sanctuary is at one end of the road. Once again we are cursed the fact that we don't have a proper camera. The cell phone camera just cannot capture the vividness of the colours and the beautiful scenery. The forest is lush and cool and full of several troops of long-tailed Balinese macaques (small, cute grayish monkeys). They do take food out of your hand and Aidan enjoyed feeding them bananas. We also had the opportunity to really observe them very closely and it was fun to watch the antics of the many baby monkeys. The forest is also home to many moss covered temples and statues. There is also an impressive dragon bridge, and two very large komodo dragons carved out of a rock face and forming a shower. A very enjoyable walk.

Later in the afternoon we came back to the hotel to have a swim and do some reading. Aidan is also happy to play with his DS as much as we allow. He has also taken up drawing a lot and we are constantly going out to find new scribble pads. He is working on perfecting World War II army planes right now.

Tomorrow we're going to see a bit of the countryside of Bali. We've hired a car and driver for the day ($50) to take us to the main sites on the island. Should be interesting.

Travel day from hell

2008-12-26T05:06:00.004-07:00

Today started off promising enough; beautiful clear skies, a big breakfast buffet and a quick trip into Senggigi from Holiday Resort. We were well rested and happy.

The fun started at 9 am when we walked down to the ocean to board the little boat that would ferry us over to the larger ship that would then take us back to Bali. The surf was very high and the back of the little boat was bucking up and down about 6 feet in the waves. With careful timing we all managed to scramble on board without incident. After boarding the bigger ship we all scampered up to the upper levels to stake out our territory / shade. The ship was also moving around quite a bit and it didn't take long to realize that the waves were bigger than our trip over to Lombok.

We were looking forward to the ship getting underway with the expectation that the bobbing would stop as we started moving through the water, however we were delayed long enough that Susan was already not feeling well, so we all took some Gravol and tried to enjoy the sun and breeze on the front deck.

Our happy day quickly started turning sour as the waves really started affecting Susan. After the first half hour she was over the railing at the front of the ship getting sick. She was also getting wet as the ship was ploughing though every second or third wave. We all retreated to the main cabin, which is about 10x14 room with some bench seats down the sides and I went to gather most of our belongings from the upper deck. By this time we were out to sea and the ship was pitching enough that I didn't want to go back up and get Aidan's toy backpack and my sandals. I was feeling it pretty bad too, and Aidan wasn't far behind.

Our pleasant 3.5 hour boat ride back to Bali was a 5 hour ride from hell. Susan threw-up at least 7 times, and for the first time in my life I was seasick as well, hanging over the railing twice and pretty close to number three. Our only saving grace was that Aidan felt really bad, but did not get sick. He managed to sleep through almost the whole thing.

When we weren't leaning over the side retching and getting drenched by the spray from the ship bashing into waves, we were lying down on the benches praying for this to end. The waves were 6-10 feet high from what I could tell the few times I looked up, and this was on a clear day. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like out there in a storm.

We managed to arrive in Bali in one piece and board the bus to Ubud. The air conditioning was only working marginally and we had the slowest driver in Indonesia, but we did eventually get to our intended destination by about 4:30 pm. By this time we were very tired, but we still had to find a place to stay. We hired a driver to take us to the hotel that had been recommended to us by friends, but they were full. Ditto for the next 3 places we tried. By this time Aidan was crying and Susan was exhausted, and I wasn't much better. On our next try we managed to secure a reasonable place to stay, and after a few minutes flopped down on the bed.

We realize that despite everything today we do have a some things to be thankful about. We are ever so thankful that Aidan didn't sick, that would have been horrible; we are also thankful that we decided to go to Yogyakarta by plane last week instead of visiting Komodo island, with all its requisite boat trips; and finally, we are also grateful that there was no lasting harm from our ordeal today other than a few upset stomachs. It could have been worse!

Final note: if you are considering island hopping here in Indonesia (or anywhere for that matter), and are even remotely prone to seasickness, we highly recommend you check the weather carefully before you go, or better yet, just fly.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T03:40:00.004-07:00

Merry Christmas!

While Canada is having the snowiest Christmas on record, we are enjoying a perfect tropical day - 33 C, almost no clouds in the sky and a beautiful beach resort. Santa came to visit us in Senggigi and Aidan was very happy to get a Nintendo DS. Mom and Dad got some books to read and we all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner down by the ocean. The spread was amazing and we're all ready for a snooze.

Tomorrow we're heading back to Bali to visit Ubud - the cultural centre of the island. We leave on the boat at 9 am and should arrive around 3 pm. Hopefully there are rooms available - the resort here has gone from empty to almost completely full last night.

Hope Santa was good to all of you as well.

Monuments and Cat Poo Coffee

2008-12-22T02:15:00.001-07:00

The island of Java ... what can I say but really small island and really a lot of people (132 million to be more precise). One city merges into the next and I have never seen so many motorcycles and bemos (bicycle drawn carts) all competing for space on the roads. Any spaces between the few cars are taken up by motorcycles carrying between two and five persons. Many of the women ride side saddle.

We have been having wonderful food on this trip and Indonesian food is no exception.. Aidan continues to enjoy his chicken satay with peanut sauce and Mike and I have been sampling the various curries and rice dishes. I signed up for yet another cooking class on Tuesday at a nearby restaurant called Via Via. Last night we joined Rolph and Karen, a German couple, for dinner and heard all about their adventures. They were planning to rent motorcyles and travel to Prambanan today.

On Monday morning we were up very bright and early at 4:15 a.m and were picked up by our driver to take us to Borobudur and Prambanan. Of course, it was raining. However by the time we arrived the weather had cleared and the rain had stopped. The temple opens to visitors at 6:00 a.m and in the summer months the sunrise is at 6:13 a.m. so tourists flock to see the sunrise. This time of year is not good for sunrises but is good to avoid the later day heat and crowds. Borobudur is one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world. It was constructed in the early part of the 9th century A.D. Borobudur was later covered by volcanic ash by an eruption in 1006 and was only rediscovered in 1814. Buddhists on Java abandoned the temple and Java is now a Muslim country. We paid $5 for a guide and had a great tour of the temple and learned many things about Buddhism and the meaning behind some of the 1500 narrative relief panels carved into the terraces to illustrate Buddhist teachings. There are over 400 Buddha images sitting on the terraces. Aidan was happy to touch the lucky Buddha's foot and make his wish. Aidan was once again was a rock star and was mobbed by countless school girls who asked for pictures. Our guide told us that many visit the temple with school groups from more rural parts of Java and this may be their first or second time that they have seen a foreigner. They are particularly enthralled with the contrasting hair and skin colour and find us funny looking. They all asked politely through our guide and when we agreed they would squeal and shriek with delight. Aidan hammed it up as usual and delighted many. According to our guide, Buddha would approve for making so many others happy.

We stopped at several other smaller temples, including Mendut Temple that has an amazing 3m-high statue of Buddha seated with two disciples. Some academics claim this statue was meant to sit on top of Borobudur but proved impossible to raise to the summit. Our guide disagreed and said that the large stupa that tops the temple was meant to remain empty because it symbolizes Nirvana and infinity. Interesting.

Our final stop was at Prambanan, which is the grandest Hindu temple complex in Java. Unfortunately much of this temple was damaged in the 2006 earthquake and the main temples were still off limits when we visited as they are being repaired. Again we hired a guide who took us around the enormous site and explained much about the Hindu deities. The largest temple is 47 metres high and decorated with thousands of carved deities. The statue of Shiva is in the central chamber, but we were not allowed into this temple. Around the entire complex are the remains of 224 small temples (only two of which remain standing). The complex was built in the 9th century AD and was abandoned soon after completion. Many of the temples had collapsed by the early 19th century and it wasn't until 1937 that any form of reconstruction began. We really enjoyed looking at all of the carvings that told the story of Krishna. Our guide had a good sense of humour and it was fun to look at all of the sex scenes displayed in the reliefs.

We arrived back at our hotel at about noon and promptly fell asleep for an hour. We decided to go for lunch at the Civet Cafe, which is right in the front of our hotel. This was a great choice as they serve Kopi Luwak coffee. While Aidan enjoyed hot chocolate, Mike and I experienced the most expensive coffee in the world ... and it was really good!

Kopi Luwak coffee is found only on the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is "special" because of the process for making the coffee. A type of tree dwelling marsupial called the sivet, which looks like a really ugly cat, and at one time considered to be pests actually is the key to this coffee. The sivet eats only the ripest and reddist coffee cherries and as you would expect, nature then takes its course, and the coffee beans are excreted almost intact. The digestive enzymes of the sivet remove most of the outer layers of the cherry leaving only the bean and according to the information we read, this gives the coffee its unique taste. Only 500 lbs are produced each year and the coffee sells for $75 for a 1/4 lb (on the world markets). Apparently the Japanese are the main buyers, but some places in the US have purchased the coffee for special cuppings (including Starbucks). So hey, for $8 a cup we had to try it. The server in the cafe pulled out the sivet feces to show us what it looks like and Aidan kept saying "Yuck". The French press came out and Mike and I said cheers and tasted. Honestly it was really good coffee and it did have a distinctive note that I have never tasted before (and no it wasn't a crap note). Heavy body, jungle, musty and syrupy without any bitterness and really good after taste. A very enjoyable and fun thing to do. When else could we ever try "cat poo coffee."

Tis the Season ... To Relax in Yogyakarta (seriously)

2008-12-21T01:14:00.006-07:00

Not much to report today. We taking it easy after flying to Yogyakarta from Matram on Lombok. The flights were rather interesting. Andrew, who lives in Jakarta, advised us to show up at the airport at 4 pm for a flight at 4:30. In his words 'they are always late, so don't bother going early'. We were still concerned about making the flight so we arrived at 3:30 and checked through quickly to the departure lounge where we ran into people who were still waiting for their 12 noon flight to leave, so we weren't too surprised when they announced that our flight was delayed until 6 pm.

Once the Lion Air flight was ready to go we got an interesting surprise. Stepping out on the tarmac to walk to the plane we were presented with a boxed dinner from McDonalds consisting of a piece of KFC-like fried chicken and a McRice ball. Why bother with airline food when you can have McDonalds deliver? The funny part is that the flight was only 45 minutes and you got food but not a drink. You had to pay for those!

We arrived in Sumbaya's international airport on the island of Java and disembarked down a ramp at the back of the plane (it was an old Boing MD-80). We could see people from the front of the plane disembarking through the normal gantry to the arrivals lounge on the second floor as we walked across the tarmac; all we could do was hope there was a way to get to the same place from the ground floor.

It didn't take us long to find the stairs up and the transit desk which provided us with new boarding passes for our short flight to Yogyakarta, however we had a harder time figuring out where our flight departed from. Our boarding pass said gate 3, but there was no corresponding flight on the monitor listing departures (and it never did appear!). Once we were in the Gate 3/4 departure area we spent the better part of 90 minutes going back and forth between the gates asking if this is was our flight. Lion Air planes were leaving every 5 minutes and we couldn't hear the announcements because the soccer game was on and everyone was cheering. Despite how this might sound, we really had more of a chuckle than a problem and soon boarded our plane for the short hop.

We are staying at the Prambanan Guest House in Yogyakarta which is very pleasant. For $20 a night you get a nice but basic room, a very nice breakfast in the morining and it has a very pleasant pool.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Borobudur (Bhuddist) and then Parambanan (Hindu) temples. Our tour leaves at 4:45 am to catch the sunrise. I'm very excited as this has been on my 'life list' for 20 years.

Happy Birthday Aidan

2008-12-19T19:07:00.003-07:00

We have been camped on the island of Lombok for a few days now enjoying our time at the Holiday Resort - a 4 star property on the beach in Senggigi. Its proving to be a nice break from our usual accommodations. For $54 a night we have a beautiful room with two queen beds, marble countertops, air conditioning, satellite TV and a private deck. Our washroom is huge and even has a little garden in it! The grounds are immaculate and there is a huge pool, a games room, a full service spa and 4 restaurants. In short, its the kind of tropical resort you see in the glossy brochures back in Canada but can't afford.

Yesterday was Aidan's 7th birthday. The hotel whipped up a wonderful chocolate cake for us and we had the opportunity to celebrate by the pool with a really nice English family currently living in Jakarta. Joel, Charlotte, Andrew and Rachel are spending the week before Christmas in Lombok to escape the crowds that arrive in a few days. Rachel's parents are also visiting from Whales and we have an invitation to look them up when we get to the UK.

Aidan's presents this year were understandably light. We gave him a set of lego he was oogling in China (more military stuff) and 60,000 Rupiah ($6) to spend in town. He also got e-mail greetings from family and a card from the grandparents we have been carrying around for 3 months. Christmas will likely be the same, with a promise of a bigger present when we get home.

For better or worse, we haven't done much else to explore the area around Senggigi except to take a couple of trips into the tiny centre of town to eat. Its hard to drag yourself away from the resort, especially when Joel and Aidan are fully engaged in the pool. Susan did manage to fit a manicure and pedicure into our busy schedule, and I made arrangements for all of us to fly to Yogyacarta for a few days to visit Borobudur - one of the largest Buddhist monuments in the world. We will be returning to Senggigi and the Holiday Resort on the 24th for Christmas before heading back to Bali on Boxing Day.

We have been watching the weather in Canada over the past few days. Everyone seems to be in the deep freeze and the GTA was just walloped by a storm. We hope everyone is snug and safe in their houses and enjoys a wonderful white Christmas. We'll be thinking of you while we're having drinks by the pool. ;-)

Swimming with the Sea Turtles in the Gilis

2008-12-17T03:34:00.001-07:00

So where did I leave off. We spent two days in Kuta Beach, Bali in the midst of party central. A beautiful beach with lots of people and a town that has been developing rapidly for more than 30 years. Had fun at the hotel, which had a nice pool and met a very nice guy from Hawaii. I think the last blog ended with us leaving to head to Gili Air Island.

I love this place. We have been in this wonderful little paradise on earth for three days and changed our boat tickets to allow us to stay one more day. We got here taking the Perama bus/boat. We left Kuta Beach at 10:30 a.m. and eventually ended up at Padamgbai where we had 1/2 hour for lunch (mmmmm Indonesian noodles; gaaa, Indonesian toilet). We were then put on a boat with about 25 others and headed out to the islands. There are three Gili Islands - Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air - are off the coast of Lombok. The first is the largest and is known as the party island, the second is the quietest and only has about 300 residents, and the third is the smallest and is known as being good for families. After dropping off others, we arrived at Gili Air around 6:00 pm. The boat ride really was uneventful with the exception that Aidan was feeling a bit seasick for the first couple of hours.

We had booked into the Gili Air Hotel, which is at the other end of the island. There are no cars allowed on the island (no motorcycles either), no paved roads as they are all sand, and you either walk or take a pony cart to where you want to go. We chose the pony cart option to get to the hotel ($5). Aidan thought it was great. The hotel is very nice and has the only swimming pool on the island. We didn't find out that it was saltwater until later. Actually there is only one hotel that has a freshwater well, so we all wash and shower in saltwater as there is no other option. We quickly settled in and had a late dinner in the open air lounge in front of the ocean.

The next morning we could actually see where we were and start to explore. The tide was out and so we walked out and looked into the tidal pools in front of the hotel. After a hearty breakfast (all included in the $35 Cdn a night room price), Aidan put on his swimsuit and headed to the pool. Here we met Stephanie and her three children: Minot 10, Lucas 8, and Julien 3. Lucas and Aidan and they get along famously. She is on Gili Air for a week with the kids and they were in Senggigi the previous week. Her husband headed back to Singapore as he had to go back to work. They are from France, but all of the children speak English. Aidan was trying to practice some of his French. We had a great chat and all decided to go snorkeling in the afternoon. Mike went and made the arrangements and for $30 Cdn for each family we were set.

We got on the smaller outrigger boat at 1:30 and headed to the harbour as we needed to pick up masks and fins. It took twice as long as normal as the motor wasn't working properly and they had to change the motor once we got to the main harbour. I should note that the main harbour consists of a few boats and a small shop. Finally we were set and headed out to the Gili Trawangan (10 minutes away). Into the water and the most spectacular reef I have ever seen - I felt like I was in the National Geographic pictures. I lost count of the number of different fish and corals I saw - red, pink, blue and all amazing. We spent the next three hours moving from spot to spot. Even Aidan had a great time as he went out and hung on to the boats wooden outrigger and floated along sticking his head under the water to watch everything. The best part was that the water was perfectly clear and the visibility was at least 50 feet down. The highlight for me had to be swimming along with enormous sea turtles - we saw 4 at different spots. One was sitting on the bottom about 20 feet down eating with a very large fish eating along side it.

Side note: All of the cats have tails that look as though they have been chopped off half way down. Mike just came and told me that he found out that no tail chopping is done and that this is part of the breed of cats.

After schoolwork yesterday morning we decided to walk down to the other end of the island, toward the harbour. We followed the road along the ocean and walked by the line of small restaurants, a couple of very small stores, and small hotels very similar to our own. The walk takes about 40 minutes. Toward the other end we hit the jackpot. A beautiful beach with lots of people snorkeling right off shore. Mike and Aidan decided to try it out and rented some gear for a whole $2. Unfortunately I was wearing my glasses so I walked into the main harbour and looked around. Not much to see other than some locals building a fishing boat - which was really interesting as it was all done with pegs. Anyway I found a restaurant that was recommended by a local and thought we should head there for lunch. I got back Mike said that the snorkeling just off the shore was really great, so for a whole $4 return I hopped a pony cart and headed back to the hotel for my contact lenses. We all went for a really good and of course really cheap lunch at GoGo and then Aidan and I went snorkeling as Mike had to head back to the hotel to book a boat back to Lombok.

We had decided to leave the next day for Senggigi and we had to book the boat by 3:00. Mike also had to get some additional cash as we needed to pick up a few snacks etc. While he was away I made friends with an English couple who were on there way to Australia on a one-way ticket. They introduced me to a delicious drink called jungle juice. They had been here for two weeks and he had bought a very large duck from a local. It was going to be killed tomorrow night and the local guy was going to prepare a feast. Funny actually. Mike eventually came back with Stephanie and the kids and soon another boy Aidan's age joined the gang. Nathan is from Belgium and is travelling for 6 months with his mom. All the boys were on the beach playing, while the adults took turns snorkeling, drinking jungle juice around the beach bar and swapping stories for the remainder of the afternoon. The highlight today was seeing an octopus out on the reef and a very large sea snake. The best thing about snorkeling right off shore is that the water depth is only 12 - 20 feet and so you can easily dive under and see everything really close up.

We finally headed back to the hotel where more swimming in the pool ensued. Then a nice satay dinner overlooking the ocean. I should also mention that all of our fun at the beach led us to postpone our leaving. We delayed our departure by a day and will be heading back down to the beach in about an hour to spend the day there. Because we were around another day, Aidan decided to have a sleep-over with Lucas in our hotel room. Yeah the fun.

The only bad thing that has happened is that our camera crapped out on us yesterday. Our stupid waterproof camera apparently decided to not be waterproof anymore. So we are in paradise and sadly cannot take any pictures. Our backup camera is our cell phone so we are going to try but the quality will not be good. The camera did show a flicker of life this morning but it is not working properly at all. It is unlikely that we will be able to buy a new camera until we get to Singapore after Christmas. This has made us very mad, but there is not much we can do about it. Best to just relax and drink more jungle juice.

From China to Bali

2008-12-12T17:35:00.004-07:00

We arrived in Bali 2 days ago, so its a good opportunity to reflect on our recent visit to China.

Overall we're both very impressed with Hong Kong. It is a beautiful city and has a tremendous amount to offer. We had the opportunity to explore a bit more of the city over the past few days while we stayed with Luc, Diane, JP and Sebastian. Diane is the sister of one of Susan's best friends, Theresa. Luc and Diane rolled out the red carpet and we really appreciated the hospitality.

Hong Kong is a dynamic city and you can literally see and feel the energy of Asia and China flowing through the port. We were fascinated by the multiculturalism and deeply impressed by the cleanliness, safety and order of the place. The mass transit system is the best we have seen to date, and its difficult to see how it could be topped. Soho is a wonderful mix of tiny shops and restaurants and Kowloon is also well worth a visit. We also enjoyed the Peak Tram and walking through the many parks in and around Hong Kong. I'm impressed by how much of the island is left in a more-or-less natural state.

The key to Hong Kong's livability is urban density. Coming from some of the lowest density cities on the plant, we are struck by what Canadians are missing out on. You can easily walk to most places or take the MTR, and the variety of shops and restaurants that are available to you far surpass what we have available. If there is a downside to urban density, its crowds. It can be overwhelming at times. Guangzhou and the other cities we visited in China are a good example of this fact.

The cliche we all hear is that the 21st century belongs to China, and we are certainly inclined to believe it after our short visit. There are construction cranes everywhere and we saw every major multinational represented in addition to vast amounts of human capital.

One of the more startling things about China for me was the penetration of western businesses into the country. From Nike to KFC, there are an amazing variety of western brands available within China, many of which are produced here. The offices and factories around Hong Kong read like a who's who list of transnational corporations.

Enough about China for now. I need to thank the Muller/St.Amour family for all of their hospitality while we were in Hong Kong. We ended up spending our last two days with them and stayed at their beautiful apartment in the mid-levels on Hong Kong Island. We had a fabulous time relaxing and seeing the sites on the island.

We quickly settled in and it was great to see Aidan have so much fun with Diane and Luc's two boys - JP and Sebastian, who, despite being older than Aidan spent a lot of time with him playing. They are also fabulous hosts. On our last night, Diane got a chocolate cake for Aidan's birthday and we all celebrated with an early birthday party. Laura also made our stay awesome and cooked some great ribs for dinner one night. Thanks again to you all.

We left for Bali on Thursday morning and had no problems getting to the airport - checked our baggage and got our boarding passes at the airport express train station on the island (how great is that!). Arrived in Bali to be greeted by a scorching 31C. No complaints though.

We quickly found a family hotel that costs $20 Canadian per night for all of us, has a pool and includes a good breakfast. This is in the Kuta Beach area. We are leaving in about 10 minutes for Gili Air Island. We have booked into a hotel for a couple of days. Mike was right about the prices here - very cheap - we all ate a big dinner last night (e.g., three chocolate shakes, chicken and shrimp satays, two appetizers, salad) and it was $9.30 Cdn total. Food and drink is very cheap and so that leaves us more funds for other things - yeah.

I'm a Rock Star in China

2008-12-07T06:31:00.021-07:00

The last two days have been a fun-filled adventure here in Yangshuo. Yesterday began with a bacon and egg breakfast after which Susan ran off to her cooking class out in the countryside. Aidan and I played guns around the hotel. This really amuses the staff, who think Aidan is the cutest thing ever. Personally, I find it boring, but we realize that Aidan really needs his play time, so we both take turns being a surrogate six-year-old. Aidan and I also did some window-shopping and then went out for lunch where he scarfed down a dozen dumplings while I enjoyed some pork and vegetable soup. Real Chinese food, yum!

During lunch, Aidan and I met a Chinese couple from Guangzhou. We had a nice conversation and posed for yet another round of pictures. I think we have now posed for enough photos to fill a small scrapbook. If you ever feel lonely, I would suggest coming to China. I guarantee you will have a room-full of new friends in no time. The people here are truly happy to meet foreigners.

The downside of being a foreigner in China is that you often feel like your are a walking money machine. Everyone says 'hello' to you (the only English word many know), followed by a request to buy whatever they happen to be holding at the time. Its very funny for the first little while but gets stale fast, so we quickly developed the 'im-not-interested' stare you see on all the foreign faces here.

Susan returned from the cooking class saying its the best thing she's done so far on the trip. It started with an introduction to the local market, including the slaughtering areas. We went back today for photos and got some wonderful pictures of the amazing array of fish, vegetables and meats she had the opportunity to learn about. The Chinese have the most varied diet in the world, and you get to see it all in the market, including more exotic items like dog, cat and snake. Not for us, but it was certainly interesting to see. Susan also learned how to cook properly with a wok and the secrets to making good Chinese dishes. I'll have to let her elaborate on the rest.

Susan's note: Not much more to elaborate on except that it was really really fun to go through the market with someone from here. Yes a varied diet and the sights from the market I won't soon forget. The grocery stores are very small here as all produce, meats, spices and eggs are sold in the market - they only goods at the grocery store are packaged or cans - and there is no real refrigeration to speak of so all the meats are killed and eaten same day.

We had a quick discussion about activities for the afternoon and weighed the option of sitting around the hotel drinking beer and soaking up the sun against the opportunity to go to Xingping village and take a cruise on a bamboo boat up the Li river. Xingping is very famous in China as the view up the river from the village is on the back of the 20 Yuan note. Despite the fact that Susan was cold and tired from standing all morning in an unheated house in the country, she agreed to go to Xingping anyway.

We jumped on a local bus for the 30 minute ride to Xingping, stopping along the way to pick up and drop off people in the little villages. We got down to the docks and were treated to one of the most stunning landscapes either of us have ever seen. We boarded our bamboo boat (this one had a motor) and proceeded up the river at a leisurely rate enjoying the spectacular scenery. About 10 minutes into the trip, the sun dipped behind the first mountain and the air got much colder. It didn't take us long to realize that we were under-dressed. I had shorts on and a fleece sweater; Aidan had pants on and a jacket, but no fleece; and Susan had a fleece on with a skirt and leotards. To make a long story short, the views we had from the 1.5 hour river trip were spellbinding, but we were all popsicles by the end. Susan in particular was starting to shiver uncontrollably.

We finished the river cruise and warmed up on the way back to Yangshuo on the bus. We were all looking forward to a hot meal and a hot shower before heading out to a night show on the Li River. However, by the time we got back in was 6:30 and the bus was picking us up at 6:40 so we only had time to do the fastest layering on of clothing in history (three shirts, two pairs of pants, etc.).

Off we headed to see the San Jie Liu Impression, which is the core project of the Li River Mountain Water Theatre and was created byy the same individual that composed the opening ceremonies for the Olympic games in Bejing. The theatre is the biggest natural stage in the world - built on the Li River and stretches for 2 km in length with 12 karst mountain peaks as the backdrop. There are over 600 performers in the production. We didn't know what to really expect, but I can now say that this will go down as one of the highlights of our entire trip. The 70 minute performance was absolutely incredible with singing, fishing nets, bamboo rafts and lights making a show beyond belief. The sheer magnitude and scale of the production was something we won't forget. Mike also says that it was really weird that people don't clap here - everyone just got up and left and we could tell where all the foreigners were sitting.

On Sunday we started out again bright and early with our regular foreigner breakfast of eggs, toast, and yogurt. We made arrangements to take a sleeper bus to Shenzen on Monday night (this will get us just across the border from Hong Kong). We leave at 8:00 and arrive at 7:00 in the morning. Mike also made arrangements to go on a hot air ballon ride for us all in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, Mike and Aidan climbed up the Yangshuo peak in the park to look at the views and the pagoda. I went shopping. I don't normally like to shop much and so as a walking dollar bill I found this a bit difficult. I really need to practice my bargaining skills. All worked out okay and I did end up with a few souvineers.

Hot air ballooning in China - yes check done that now. Okay it was really cheap compared to what it would have cost us in Canada (we have checked into it) and Aidan was only 1/3 the price. Off we went in a van to a deserted road somewhere outside of town. Three balloons were going up and we were in the second one. Not a lot of room to turn around in the baskets, but Mike managed to get some spectacular video and pictures and I managed not to freak out. Aidan really enjoyed the ride, but once we hit 1.2 km up he politely requested that we please go down a bit. Mike was loving it. Amazing scenery and we managed to pick an orange off a tree on the way down. Fun.

That was enough excitement for us (well for me anyway). Our last day has been spent packing, relaxing and wandering around town. We leave in a few short hours. Mike promises to write some further thoughts on China tomorrow.

Pictures of the Yangshuo market here.

Pictures of the Li River boat trip here.

Pictures of the 600 person river show here.

Pictures of the hot air balloon ride over Yangshuo here.

Into China

2008-12-05T02:59:00.014-07:00

I am sitting here in a lovely warm hotel room and both Michael and Aidan are out having body massages. It's okay because I am going to the Yangshuo cooking school tomorrow for a class. More on that later. So we made it to Yangshuo ... today is Friday and we left Hong Kong on Wednesday morning. What follows is how we got here.

We left our hotel in Hong Kong on Wednesday morning and headed to the bus station, only to find out it was the wrong station. We didn't despair and took the subway to the correct station and then bought bus ticket for the 1:00 bus to Guangzhou, China (directly north of Hong Kong). The bus stopped at the border and we went through customs and immigration without any problems. The ride took about 4 hours and it seemed like we never left the city as it was one apartment building and high rise after another for the whole bus ride. The bus let us off at a hotel travel shop and we were lucky to run into someone inside who spoke English. We found out that to get a bus to Guilin we needed to go to one of the large bus stations. They wrote out where we needed to go in Chinese and then we caught a taxi - all was no problem.

We arrived at one of the largest bus/train stations that I have ever seen and immediately headed to the information desk where the lovely lady spoke English and answered all our questions. We were then able to book tickets on the 10:30 p.m. bus to Guilin (about a 10 hour ride). Now we just had four hours to hang out - so we walked across the street to the only restaurant around - KFC - and had a bite to eat. Note: it was interesting to be introduced to the Chinese practice of horking and spitting - especially the spitting on the floor.

The bus wasn't a sleeper but the seats were fairly comfortable and Aidan was asleep before we even got on the bus. I am not sure I would have wanted to do this trip in the day time as the traffic would have been horrible (it was bad enough at night) and I am not sure I could have handled seeing all the lane changing and fast driving. It was probably better that it was dark. We realized on the bus that we really wanted to stay in Yangshou instead of Guilin and so when the bus stopped here first we got off.

We all hopped in the back of a motor-bike-like vehicle that was pulling a cart and headed to the centre of the town. Yangshou is a village of about 30,000 people that is connected to the bigger town of Guilin (about 66 km away) by the Li River. The most stunning feature of this area of China is the karst topography. Soaring limestone peaks are everywhere and below are smaller villages and rural agricultural areas - rice, oranges, and vegetable fields are everywhere.

We quickly found a good hotel recommended in the Lonely Planet Guide called the Morning Sun Guest House, which is right down in the centre of town and close to everything. We are very happy with the large three bed room and after checking in we popped across the street to one of the many cafes for coffee and breakfast. Because this is such a popular tourist destination there are many touts and others trying to sell everything from flowers to CD's. We did make arrangements with a local guide named Teng to take us out on a bike tour for the next day. As we were all fairly tired from the long overnight bus we took it easy for the rest of the day, which was spent exploring the town and, in Aidan's case, eating very large quantities of pork dumplings.

Although this may all go to Aidan's head when he is older I should note that many many people have been stopping and staring at him and making comments to us that he is so beautiful. He is quite the ham and enjoys posing for pictures and soaking up all the attention - especially when it means people give him cookies!

After breakfast on Friday morning we met up with Teng and got our bikes - Aidan and Mike were riding on a tandem bike. This worked out well, but by the end of the day I think Mike was missing having a bike with gears. Teng led us out of town and this was interesting in and of itself as the primary mode of transport is the bicycle and motorcycle so the roads are full of people biking and pulling carts and bikes with many people on them. It was hard to concentrate on my own bike because I was so busy looking around at everything else that was going on. We then proceeded into the countryside where there were stunning views of the landscape.

We reached the Yulong River and Teng made arrangements for us to take a bamboo raft ride down the river for abott 1.5 hours. Off we went on a very long and skinny raft with a strong young man poling in the back. We floated down through some very scenic landscape and had fun during the trip as we had to go over a series of small dams (like very small waterfall shoots) in the raft. The raft actually goes under the water and then pops back up so for each one we put our feet up (we were on chairs). However the rafts are only meant for 2 people and we had 3 squeezed on so for one of the larger drops, the raft went under very far and Mike and I both ended up with wet butts.

We then biked to the base of Moon Hill, a rock formation that is in the shape of a crescent moon. We all walked (well Aidan ran) up the 1200 steps to the top and took in some wonderful views of the countryside. The 80+ year old women also walked up to the top with us in hopes that we would buy cold water and pop from them as they cart small coolers with drinks up the route several times a day.

Teng took us to a restaurant for lunch near the village where she lives and we all enjoyed a very Chinese lunch of rice and vegetables. They did make Aidan some special dumplings that are made with pork and vegetables but the outside is egg. They are special because they are more difficult to make and are usually only made on special occasions.

After a great lunch, Teng took us to her house in her small village. She lives in a very small house with 9 other family members including her mother and sisters and their families/children. Her small 2 year old nephew was asleep in the common room. The large common room has a cement floor as they build a fire on the floor in the coldest winter months (January and February) as none of the homes have any heating. Here we tried pomellos which are grown in the area. We were also honoured to meet her mother and an elderly aunt. She then took us to the primary school in the village. The children were having a 15 minute recess so we went into a classroom. It was very basic with wooden desks and a blackboard - that was all that was in any of the rooms. Teng said that when she went to the school there were 60 students in her grade 1 class and today in the class there were only 7 students. She said this is the result of the 1 child policy in China. We left Canada pins for the children.

Teng pointed out many things in the village (water buffalo, ducks, all crops tilled by hand) and told us a lot about the customs and the crops. She also showed us a cave in the nearby karst tower that was used by the villagers during World War II. She said her father was born in the cave and lived there with the surviving members of the village for three years when Japan occupied this part of China. She said her aunt was a young girl then and still tells them about what happened during that time and how they survived living in caves in the surrounding area. Very sad stories.

We took the long route back to town through the trails in the fields and crops and finally made it back to the hotel around 5:00 - all very very tired and a bit sore - but all very very happy for having had a fabulous tour and for seeing what Teng referred to as the real China - the countryside.

Stinky feet, jet lag, and Chungking mansion

2008-12-02T07:33:00.009-07:00

We made it to Hong Kong and what follows is the detailed account of this part of the trip.

First I should note that we broke our computer on our last night in Rio. To be accurate, I broke the computer screen by stepping on it in the middle of the night. I use the word "we" because Michael left it on the floor.

So after realizing that we couldn't do anything about the computer until reaching Hong Kong and seeing that our last day in Rio was bright and sunny we headed out to Sugar Loaf Mountain. Aidan was very excited because over the past several days he watched Moonraker several times and wanted to ride the same cable car as James Bond and Jaws. We had a magnificent view of the whole city and were really taken by how stunningly beautifully situated it is along the ocean. After our little tour we headed back to the hostel to pack and do some last minute shopping before heading to the airport. Rush our traffic in Rio is no different than anywhere else and what should have been a 40 minute bus ride turned into a 2 hour bus ride. Good thing the flight didn't leave until 8:30 p.m.

We settled onto the plane for our 12.5 hour flight to Houston. Aidan's shoes had to be put into a garbage bag and then stored because they stunk so badly. Poor kid - the shoes don't breath well and his feet really sweat - bad combination and new shoes are definitely in order. The flight went well and we all got some sleep - Aidan a solid 8 hours, me 5 hours and poor Mike only a couple of hours. We landed in Houston around 5:30 in the morning and had no problems clearing Customs and immigration. We then ordered coffee and bacon and eggs for breakfast and waited the three hours until the next flight to Los Angeles.

The time keeps changing on us and messing us up but we arrived into LA around 11:00 a.m. Our flight to Hong Kong didn't leave until 10:30 that night (November 29th) so we took a bus from the airport to a bus terminal as we had been told we could catch another bus to a mall. However this was Saturday and we were not in South America anymore where buses are constant and you never have to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus. So once we determined that we had a 45 minute wait, Mike started talking to one of the other bus drivers that was at the stop and asked him if there was anything interesting to see on his route. After hearing our story he said that he headed toward Hollywood Blvd and to get on board. He then made us transfer to another bus that would get us there faster, wouldn't let us pay for the bus, and slipped Mike three transit day passes as we left. Nice nice guy.

So we ended up wandering around Hollywood Blvd and saw the stars outside that famous Chinese theatre where they all have there handprints and people are all dressed up as characters. Aidan was thrilled to be able to meet and have his picture taken with Master Chief from the game Halo. We were thrilled to find a shoe store and buy Aidan some new runners. By this time exhaustion was setting in and we headed back to the airport on an express bus. We had some dinner, checked-in (our baggage had been checked through already from Houston) and set Aidan up under some chairs to go to sleep. Mike ended up carrying him onto the plane for the last 15.5 hour flight.

We all went to sleep right away and this time it was me who really didn't sleep well. I will say that it was nice to fly with Cathay Pacific - lots of room and great service. We were fortunate to have in-flight personal entertainment systems in the seats with over 300 movies, 100 television shows and games to choose from. The flight went well and was uneventful. We arrived in Hong Kong at 5:30 a.m. on December 1 and somehow lost November 30th in there somewhere.

We walked through customs no questions asked and picked up our baggage. This island airport is huge and quite something to see. After freshening up, having some coffee, and trying to check email on the limited amount of screen that was still working on the computer, we jumped on a bus and headed to Kowloon where we had reserved a room in the Chungking Mansion. The area we are in is across from Hong Kong island and is very close to shopping, the ferries, and the cultural centre.

We enjoyed the hour long bus ride and were all amazed by the port facilities and skyscapers. We are actually staying at the Guangdong Guest House in the Chungking Mansion. I wouldn't use the term mansion to really describe this housing/store complex. The building has been accommodating new immigrants to Hong Kong in its maze for over 500 years. We are staying on the 5th floor in a three bedroom room with its own ensuite. Simon, the manager, is wonderful and very helpful. Aidan particularly enjoys the bathroom as it is a 3x3 square with toilet, sink and shower in the little square. He likes showering and getting the water all over the toilet and not having to worry about it. Michael says welcome to Asia.

After settling in we headed out for a walk and some dim sum. Lots of neon, lots of shops, lots of smells, but no litter. Jet lag was really setting in so we headed back to the room for a two hour nap. The nap ended up being four hours. Oops. Out for a snack which wasn't hard to find because the mansion is full of east Indian restaurants and food stands. Then off for a walk. We headed into the maze of stores and followed signs to where there was a wing of children's stores. An example of some of the stores were: Armani for Kids, Burberry children's store, DKNY Kids ... Yikes. We spent most of our time with Aidan looking at toys in Toys R Us.

We realized on our walk back to our room that Aidan had lost his stuffy George on our walk. So back we went. After going back to the toy store and searching for 1/2 hour with Aidan on the verge of a breakdown we finally found George in a bin with other stuffed animals. Someone must have found him and thought it was a stuffed animal from the bin (how I don't know because this old thing is a real wreck)- lucky us as I was not looking forward to a miserable night. Aidan finally believes us now that George should stay in the room when we go out.

Up very bright and early in the morning and Aidan and Mike headed out in search of breakfast. They came back with Aidan's personal favourite - yes McBarfy's, I mean McDonalds. This was good as I had been promised a Starbucks later in the morning. We eventually headed out to Star City, near our hotel, which has 12 computer stores in one building. We quickly found a new computer and made arrangements to have all of our data transferred. We brought our old computer back to the hotel and then headed to the Star Ferry terminal to get tickets for the harbour tour. Aidan was hungry again and so we stopped at a one of the many bakeries for snacks. After getting the computer set up, we got it back and made the walk back to the hotel one more time. We then headed out for our ferry tour. We had to get off at one of the ferry stops on Hong Kong and find another computer store so that we could pick up the extra free battery that came with our new computer.

We had a good venture on the island although I was not enjoying the throngs of people that you constantly have to battle through on the streets. While waiting for the ferry, Aidan enjoyed watching two men fish and they enjoyed watching Aidan. He is getting use to people touching his hair now. Funny. Once the harbour tour was over we were all really really tired again and had to come back to our room where we repeated our try for a two hour nap that ended up turning into four hours. Hopefully by tomorrow our internal clocks will be reset.

First thing in the morning I am going to try giving a call to Diane St.Amour, the sister of good friends of mine, who lives on Hong Kong island with her family. She has sent a couple of emails that I finally was able to get tonight. We are going to head into China tomorrow and likely take an overnight bus to Guilin along the Li River. We would like to come back into Hong Kong on the 9th as we fly out to Bali on the 11th. We still have some Christmas shopping to do.

We are really enjoying the city and the public transportation system here puts every other we have used to shame.

It's like Christmas in your mouth...

2008-11-26T13:24:00.010-07:00

We arrived in Paraty (pronounced Para-chi), which is a four hour bus ride south of Rio on Sunday afternoon. After passing countless beaches on the bus ride we knew that we were going to like this area. The town use to be a port for shipping gold to Portugal from Brazil and has quite a pirate history. We made our way to the Misti Chill Hostel and Poussada that is right on the beach. Turns out this little gem is being run by a couple of Canadians from Montreal. After much joking and swapping of stories we settled into our room and then took a stroll on the beach.

We really enjoyed this hostel. They have great staff and Mel is awesome. The other fun thing is that they have a Brazilian lady cook, so for $10 Real ($5 Cdn) you can sign up for dinner if you like what is on the menu. Tonight we are having chicken lasagna and salad. Cheap and big portions - should work out well since we had cheese and crackers for lunch (by choice as we are eating too much). I have also realized that I am really preoccupied with food and probably shouldn't write about it so much. Anyway on with the tale...

This is going to be fairly factual as I have three days to cover and we actually have done some stuff. Paraty is really lovely with cobblestone streets that are pedestrian only and white washed buildings. The town is a UNESCO world-heritage site, and its easy to see why.

On Monday we headed to the main pier as we had booked a schooner trip. We headed out on the Francis Drake and spent the next five hours touring beaches on other islands and doing some snorkeling. It was a really fun day and would have been even more fun if the weather had been a bit better. It started out sunny and then turned gray and overcast for most of the day. We still managed to get a bit sunburned. Once the tour was over, I headed to the Supermercado in the pouring rain to purchase a few items for dinner. As it was cold and chilly we agreed that a chicken stew would be good. I ended up coming back with ingredients for a beef stew. Couldn't find any chicken and had a hard enough time buying the beef. Nothing is sold pre-packaged so you ask for exactly what cut you want and how much - yeah right this would be hard enough for me in English never mind Portugese. I ended up with some meat and found out later that if you want chicken you have to ask the butchers for it from the back room.

Tuesday was spent relaxing. As it was sunnier than the previous day we walked over to an adjacent beach and lounged around for a few hours. Aidan made friends with a local boy and they played army men and built sandcastles together. We then headed to the small fort on a hill overlooking the ocean, but were sad to find out it was closed. The walk was good and Aidan was happy to see cannons. The rest of the day was spent wandering around town checking out the shops. We ended up at an ice cream shop where, yes you guessed it, they sell it by the kilogram. Put whatever you want in a bowl and then get it weighed. Fun for all. There were 4 people behind the counter and it is self serve place. This is typical as we have seen tiny shops with lots of clerks (e.g., at a juice place I counted 8 people behind the counter). One guy behind the ice cream counter had the sole job of putting clean water in the containers with the ice cream scoops as soon as a scoop was used.

We didn't know what we were going to do on Wednesday and then after talking to a few people around the breakfast table we decided to do a jeep tour for 6 hours, which takes people to waterfalls, a museum and a distillery where they make cachaca (alcohol from sugar cane). We were off in a half an hour. A big army type jeep truck with about 9 of us piled in the back. Our driver didn't speak any English so we really had no idea what we were in store for, but day turned out to be a lot of fun. Our first stop was a waterfall where people could climb along a trail and then slide down huge rocks to a pool at the bottom. Mike and Aidan both had a great time doing this. I was unable as I was in charge of the pictures (and I am a chicken). We have some great video of Aidan coming down.

The group then hiked up a trail, crossed a hanging bridge, to another spot where you could take a dip in a pool, but the current was quite strong so only Mike ventured in. The next stop was the distillery where we all sampled sugar cane and then the cachaca. It is made into different flavours and we really enjoyed the cinnamon flavoured one - a guy from the U.K had the best comment as he said "It's like Christmas in your mouth." So we bought a bottle.

The jeep then headed to another spot and after a short hike we were again at a beautiful waterfall. The trail led up above the waterfall where there was a great swimming hole below another set of falls. The water was freezing but we all went in anyway. Very refreshing. The more adventurous types of the group took turns jumping off the waterfall into the pool (yes Mike included).

The next spot was kind of a museum/restaurant type place where we all had a late lunch. In the museum a lady made coffee over a wood stove and Mike and I agree that it was some of the best coffee we have had on this trip. Tiny cups and only about 3 ounces of strong black coffee. Very good. Aidan enjoyed trying all the different pieces of equipment he kept finding around the farm place as nothing is roped off and you can pick up everything. The peacocks and ducks were also entertaining.

The final stop was at a greenhouse where we wandered by various plants and found frogs and snails living in the water in some of the big ones. Got some nice pictures and met some nice people. A really fun last day in Paraty. Back to Rio tomorrow morning and then we start our crazy 30+ hour travel to Hong Kong on Friday.

More pictures of Paraty here.

Not Perfect Weather, but Perfectly Cold Beer

2008-11-25T12:11:00.019-07:00

We arrived in Rio on Friday and made our way on one of the airport buses to our hostel in Botafogo. It was interesting riding the bus into the central city area from where the international airport is located on the outskirts. We had good views of the different neighbourhoods (favelas).

The hostel is home to many musical types and Aidan enjoyed learning to play the bongo drums from some experts. After settling in, we took a short walk around the area and had a light dinner at yet another kilograma restaurant. Works for us!

We started out on Saturday with plans to see both Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer statue that overlooks Rio) and to go up Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf mountain) on the cable car. First we went on the subway to a specific travel agency to get bus tickets to Paraty for the next day. This saved us from going to the central bus station that is quite a distance from where we are staying. Mental note: write out what you want to say on paper before getting trying to make your request as this will cause a lot less stress. It took a bit of thumbing through our language book and looking at calendars to communicate getting return tickets to Paraty.

We hailed a cab and headed to Corcovado so that we could take the cog railway ride to the top and take in some of the best views of Rio. Perhaps we should have paid more heed to the very cloudy sky because by the time we got to the top we couldn't see the top of the famous statue, never mind the magnificent views of the city (check out the pictures). The mist did move and we did get to see the statue. We decided not to head to Sugar Loaf mountain and as the rain started to fall we hopped on a bus to check out Copacabana. We walked along a very deserted beach and could imagine how packed it would be if the weather conditions were better.

Hunger set in and so we stopped to eat at a beach side restaurant. Mike decided to order the mixed grill for two. It takes us forever to navigate through the menu with our little dictionary trying to figure out what everything means. Aidan wanted eggs so we ordered scrambled eggs with bacon for him. We had no idea if our meat meal would come with additional food so we drank our chopp (draft) beer and waited. In Argentina if you order meat you get meat and then you order your potatoes or salad separately. We didn't have to wait long. Yikes we are in Brazil - food for a crowd arrived. A platter of fries, another of rice, another of bread crumb stuff, and a platter with the grill - two sausages, two steaks, two pork chops and two lamb chops. So we proceeded to stuff ourselves silly and swear we wouldn't eat any dinner. We then took a different bus back to our hostel. We were quite proud of ourselves because we took different buses and wandered around without having a map or directions of any sort with us.

I almost forgot to mention the cold beer. Brazilians love their beer served very cold - at a particular temperature. So it always comes out icy cold and then they put the 600 ml bottles (hey only $1.50 Canadian) into special thermos containers to keep them cold. Great.

Have poked our heads around some shops and we are finally starting to realize that Christmas is fast approaching. Hard to get our heads around this when the weather has been so warm. Home seems very very far away right now.

More pictures from Rio here.

I Love the Super Muffato

2008-11-21T16:33:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday we made the trip across the border from Argentina to Foz do Iguazu, Brazil. The trip is routine enough that you can get on a public bus and make the trip. It is only about a 30 minute bus ride between the towns, but the bus does not wait while you clear immigration at the Brazilian customs and immigration. Travelers need to wait for the next bus, and this can mean up to an hour wait. We took the public bus into downtown and then transferred to another bus to get to our hostel. Cheap and fairly straightforward, but time consuming. The quicker, but more expensive option would be to take a taxi from the border. It did give us some time to practice Taekwondo patterns and do some spelling exercises with Aidan.

We stayed at the small and fairly new Charm de Iguazu Hostel. It turned out to be a perfect place for us. We got to the hostel in the early afternoon and Michael ventured up the road to find an ATM and a grocery store to pick up some lunch. Aidan and I hit the pool. Poor Mike, the directions to the ATM were not very clear and he ended up not finding it on his first venture out. He came back after wandering in the heat, fueled up with some water and set out again. He returned with a fixings for a wonderful lunch, and by this time Aidan had completed quite a bit of schoolwork between dips in the pool. We dug into ham and cheese sandwiches, bananas, apples and beer. The rest of the hot afternoon was spent lounging by the pool, which was really appreciated by Aidan.

We were originally going to try and see the falls from the Brazilian side (everyone recommended this), but by the time we got settled into the hostel, got money, and got lunch it was already after 3:00 and no one really wanted to venture out on buses again. We didn't realize that Foz has some great attractions and in hindsight we should have planned to spend some time here. Besides the falls there is also a bird sanctuary with over 400 species, the second largest dam in the world, and a monument that marks the spot where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet. Perhaps on the next trip.

Later in the evening we all walked to the Super Muffato (supermarket) and it was, well, super. Huge store with everything - almost like a fancy pants superstore and it had the neatest rows of items. Amazing what you can do with lots of cheap labour. We saw an employee patting down bags of sugar so that they would stack in perfect columns. The Super Muffato also had a large cafeteria with a typical Brazilian buffet. Apparently this is a normal site in restaurants where you pay by the kilogram - in this case about $12 reals for a kilo ($6 dollars). Lots of variety and something for everyone; the entire meal cost us $10 Cdn. We love the Super Muffato!

Note from Aidan - I was swimming in the pool and started sneezing and wasn't looking and banged my mouth on the side of the pool and then my tooth was bleeding for a bit. The end.

We had a great rest and woke up bright and early to enjoy a buffet breakfast (included in the cost). A very nice lady does all the baking and Aidan certainly had many thank yous to say for the chocolate cake that was available at breakfast. We then headed off to catch our 10:00 flight to Rio.

Rain Ponchos are for Babies

2008-11-21T06:23:00.002-07:00

On Tuesday we made the trip to Iguazu Falls. We knew it would be spectacular from the pictures we've seen, but nothing quite prepares you for the breadth and beauty of it.

Iguazu Falls is is on the Rio Iguazu and bordered by Argentina on one side and Brazil on the other, with Paraguay just a few kilometers upstream. After a little confusion about which bus we needed to jump on, we had a quick ride out to the national park. It costs about $20 per person to get in, but Aidan was free. One of the things we have learned on this trip is that traveling with a 5 or 6 year old child is just about perfect age since they usually get a discount or don't cost anything.

A short walk later we boarded the Green Train which takes you out to the main trails. There are several to choose from and they cover the upper and lower falls at several different points. We elected to go right out to the edge of the Devil's Throat, which is the picture you usually see on the postcard. A raised catwalk takes you out over the river for about 800m to an island on the precipice. Along the way we saw many wet but happy people returning so we knew what to expect. The view over the edge literally takes your breath away. Thundering over the edge are millions of gallons of water - more than Niagara - with a mist so thick you can't see the bottom of the falls; it also does a good job of drenching people. Hundreds of feet down are swallows darting back and forth in the mist. They live along the cliffs and presumably are catching bugs or fish that have gone over the falls.

It is hot enough here that by the time we got back to land we were pretty much dry. We decided to take a float tour down the river to the next set of falls, which was an enjoyable alternative to waiting in line for the train. After a quick bite to eat we set off to explore view Iguazu from the lower trails. For those not acquainted with area, there are dozens and dozens of waterfalls, each more spectacular than the next. We enjoyed the walk down immensely, stopping several times to take pictures and marvel at the sites.

At the bottom of Iguazu was our next tour - the Nautical Adventure - where you board a speedboat that takes you to the edge of the waterfalls. This turned out to be the highlight of our visit. After putting all our gear in a dry-sack, including my shoes (note to anyone else who goes: just wear a bathing suit, shirt and flip-flops) we boarded the boat, which was 'docked' with the bow on some rubber tires over a rock. The boat eased its way out and proceeded to go down the Devil's Throat right into the mist, which turned out to be like sitting in a shower with the water going full blast. Everyone was laughing like kids. Then we went around to the upper falls and repeated the maneuver 2 more times. I was very glad to have a waterproof camera, watch our videos and laugh.

If you ever doubted that negative ions from waterfalls make people happy, then to Iguazu Falls. There wasn't a frown in the park.

Pictures from Iguazu Falls here.

What country is our next flight from?

2008-11-18T18:29:00.004-07:00

We made the hop from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu without a hitch yesterday. We flew out of the city airport on Lan airlines and landed an hour and a half later no worse for wear. All of us are starting to get used to good service, good food and plenty of legroom on flights in South America, which is bad news when we head home.

On arrival at the airport in Iguazu we walked off the plane into blast-furnace tropical heat. It felt like being back in Costa Rica. How soon we forget! This time we were smart and bypassed the taxi stand and took the transfer bus into the city, which was over 50% cheaper and accomplished the exact same task. I'm getting tired of taxis overcharging for rides into the city (this goes for many places in Canada and the US too). The bus dropped us off at the Puerto Canoas hostel, which is clean and relatively comfortable, however it lacks a pool. In this heat you really want a pool.

We spent the afternoon getting acquainted with the town and resting. The evening was spent in the kitchen preparing pasta and salad for dinner. After eating out for weeks, its nice to have a home cooked meal, and we all felt a little better for it.

Today was spent doing school work and making preparations for the next stages of our trip, including booking accommodations in Brazil and China. We also did a little research on Iguazu Falls, which we will be touring tomorrow and Thursday.

Buquebus to Uruguay

2008-11-16T17:21:00.003-07:00

We are on the Buquebus (pronounced boo-key-boos) heading back to Buenos Aires from Colonia, Uruguay. Neither Michael or I can remember when we posted the last blog or where we left off so I am going to try and so a short synopsis of the last few days.

We managed to get our Visas for China on Wednesday morning without any problems and at much less cost than we would have paid in Canada. Mike went to the nearest post office to mail a parcel home but they only took parcels under 2.5 kg and ours was 2.6 kg so off Mike headed to the main post office. Aidan and I focused on schoolwork for the rest of the afternoon.

On Thursday morning we took a cab to the ferry terminal and caught the Buquebus for Colonia. We took the cheaper ferry (3 hours), but we ended up getting there in an hour and a half (???). Anyway after a short walk we found a lovely little bed and breakfast hotel to stay - nice rooms and it had a large sitting area and a garden with a pool in the backyard. As it was a hot day we were happy. Colonia is a sleepy little "colonial" town that was founded by the Portuguese and hence we did hear the occasional 'bom dias' instead of the usual Spanish. Mike and I enjoyed some of the best sangria I have had in a long time at lunch and then after walking around town (15 minutes) we headed back to relax around the pool in the afternoon. Much later, we ventured out again to grab some dinner and ended up at a family run street stand. Aidan had the biggest pancho (hotdog) I have ever seen and Mike and I split a completa sandwich, which was huge and had everything on it - breaded streak, ham, fried eggs, cheese, tomatoes, corn, peas, etc. We also ordered a 1 litre bottle of beer - all this for under $10. The added enjoyment was the friendly conversation with a man from Chile. The other thing we immediately noticed was the number of people drinking mate. Almost everyone carries around a thermos of hot water and a mate cup (carved gourd) with a silver straw. People drink their mate as they walk and in some cases drive - we saw a girl on the back of a motorbike pouring mate for the male driver as they rode down the street.

So after a restful night, we caught a bus to Montevideo on Friday morning. We found a room in a small, family run hotel within walking distance of the main square of town. We got into town in early afternoon and spent the rest of the day walking and looking around. It was a beautiful hot day and we enjoyed walking down to the rambla to watch the container ships come into port. We also visited Jose Artigas' mausoleum. Uruguay is known for its fabulous beaches and so we had it all planned out - Saturday would be spent on a beach - sounds simple. It is important to note that our little hotel room did not have any windows. We got up Saturday morning, put on our beach clothes, and headed out for a quick breakfast before we planned to catch a local bus to the beaches. One step out the door and we were met with a blast of what felt like winter - the temperature must have dropped at least 20 degrees overnight. It couldn't have been more than 10 C outside with a gusty cold wind blowing and gray skies. No beach for us. Back up to the room to put on pants and fleece sweaters. Aidan took this all pretty well considering the change in weather. After dawdling at the cafe over breakfast and schoolwork we thought we would walk about a bit and then try and catch the bus to the beaches just to have a look. Problem was that the #64 bus wouldn't stop to pick us up and after 20 minutes of trying to figure out where the bus stopped in the cold wind we gave up and thought maybe we could find a cinema and see a movie. We found the cinema, but they weren't showing any American films so that was a no go. We ended up back at the hotel around 3 to have a nap and watch The Hunt for Red October on television.

Sunday (today) is a lovely warm day. We again went out this morning as we had some time before we had to catch our bus back to Colonia and the ferry (if we had been thinking we would have booked the ferry back from Montevideo - oops). Sunday is a day of family bbq's and church. The only things open were the occasional restaurant. So for two hours we let Aidan be the leader and we followed him around. He ended up leading us through a local farmer's market to the rambla where he was content drawing sketches of ships. We chilled for an hour, headed back, caught our bus and should be docking in Buenos Aires in about 10 minutes.

Also, before I forget, Aidan is doing really well with his reading and is starting to be able to add numbers (1 - 10) in his head. We need to spend a bit more time with math though. He has also recently learned what strategy means and has invented his own game/system of drawing armies and ships and tanks and making strategy moves between two sides. I seriously think he could kick my butt in the game Risk now.

Despite the weather, we really enjoyed our short time in Uruguay - really friendly people and generally a calmer city than BA. I would like to go back and experience the beaches. BA was fun, but in hindsight a couple of days would have been enough. Good thing was we managed to get our visas for China. We are all happy to be heading to Igasu tomorrow.

End of night note: Once again another great meal in BA - wine, salad, steak and appetizers for under $30 (and another fun waiter in a white dinner jacket). Topped off the evening with more fabulous ice cream. We love that you can order ice-cream delivery. We saw them putting it into coolers on the back of motorcycles and off they went. A good way to spend our last night. Aidan enjoyed the evening also and discovered that he likes beef empanadas!

Pictures from Uruguay here.

Have Meat, Will Travel

2008-11-11T14:54:00.016-07:00

Our last few days in Buenos Aires have been relaxed and enjoyable. We have lots of time to see the city, so we aren't pushing it.

We had dinner on Sunday night with Brandan, a nice guy from L.A. we met at the hostel. Brandan is spending 2 months studying Spanish in B.A. before he heads out to tour South America. He's currently trying to find a room in an apartment in B.A. to save some money. We had a great dinner at El Desnivel, a highly recommended restaurent in San Telmo. I ordered a tenderloin steak and was not disappointed. These Argentinians know how to do meat! It was easily one of the biggest and most perfectly prepared steaks I have ever had the pleasure of eating.

Monday was spent in the city centre visiting the Florida Avenue shopping district. Our downtown tour started with a quick bus trip to Galleria Pacifico, the country's swankiest mall. The Galleria is set in a historic downtown building that has been completely revitalized; it even features fescoes on the ceiling. Needless to say it puts almost anything we have seen in North America to shame.

We had a quick lunch and enjoyed looking at all the Argintenian stores (we could care less about the expensive American and European chains) before heading up to catch the World Photojournalism Award exhibit. The dispay has been touring the world's capitals and presents the best photos taken by news journalists over the past year. The pictures are all gripping in their own way, and many are downright shocking. Its hard to believe what still goes on in our world. There were several pictures that I was particulary moved by. If the exhibit ever makes it to your part of the world, go see it.

Susan has now taken over some blog writing. I need to apologize for any (and probably many) inaccurracies in the blogs on our adventures in Peru. My knowledge of Peru's history and the Quechua people is extremely limited, but I do know more now than I did before I visited!

So back to Buenes Aires...

The hostel has been having some problems with internet connections and so we had been spending every opportunity trying to look up a few bits of information every chance we got.

On Monday morning we called the Chinese embassy to inquire about getting a visa for China (instead of applying for a visa from Hong Kong). They said certainly we could come to their office and fill out the forms, but that it wouldn't be processed until Monday because the embassy is only open in the mornings from Monday to Thursday - problem is we leave on Monday. After another phone call we found out that for an additional fee they could turn it around overnight so we quickly made plans to head to the Chinese Embassy on Tuesday morning.

A great work collegue, Lou Espino, was touring through Peru and B.A. and we kept trying to meet. She had been sending me emails and I hadn't been able to read them. On Monday night I got a call from Lou. She was a few blocks away in the El Desnivel restaurant wondering if I got her email and if we were joining her for dinner. Aidan and I raced over and met her and about 20 others from the tour group. Mike had to make a quick stop at the Internet cafe to make some hostel bookings for Hong Kong (so we could get our visas). Another great dinner and it was really fun to hear all about their adventures. Seems they all suffered from some form of altitude sickess in Cusco and we were all fine. Whew for us.

We attempted to get up bright and early on Tuesday (well 7:30 is now very early) since we needed to get to the embassy. We walked downtown, took the subway to the end of the D line (Congresso de Tucumon or something like that) and then a taxi ride to the embassy. It was a little stressful trying to fill in the forms (Spanish and Chinese) with the help of a swamped young girl who spoke very little English but ried really hard. After an hour everything was submitted and we were told to come back tomorrow at 10:00 - fingers are crossed.

The afternoon was spent in Palermo, which is an area full of parks and much to Aidan's delight, the zoo. Guess where we went. Personally, I don't really like zoos very much, but it was hot and the zoo was full of trees and shady spots to sit and we had a very enjoyable afternoon looking at animals and spending time at the playground. Came back, picked up laundry, Mike got a haircut, and we picked up some food for dinner.

Tomorrow we need to do a bit of research into getting to Uruguay. B.A. is really nice, but it is a big big city. I am starting to prefer smaller places, preferably with beaches and pools. I also am not a fan of the letting your dog poop wherever it pleases rule. Yuck there is a lot of dog shit on the sidewalks. Anyway, we met a delightful couple from Minnesota at the hostel, who are now living in Costa Rica. They not only gave me some insights into the municipal system in Costa Rica and the lack of infrastructure, but they also were big fans of Uruguay and said that it only takes an hour to cross over by boat to a nice little town called Colonia or from Tigre to Carmelo - melo places and only a couple of hours from Montevideo. We are thinking of heading here from Thursday to Saturday or Sunday. Aidan is looking forward to some swim time and if it's this hot we might as well try to head for the beach.

That's all for now - will see what tomorrow brings.

More pictures of B.A. here.

Where do you get change for the bus?

2008-11-08T12:58:00.004-07:00

We arrived in Buenos Aries on November 6th at about 5:30 pm and had a smooth trip through customs and immigration. The international airport is about 40 minutes outside the city centre so we hired a cab to take us to the hostel for about $30. After the poverty of Peru, the relative opulence of Argentina is quite a shock. The city looks like a European capital and is closer to North America in its standard of living than it is to the rest of the continent. After dropping our gear off, we had a quick bite to eat at a wonderful pasta place and went to sleep.

Our first full day in Buenos Aires was spent getting familiar with the city and exploring the San Telmo area where we are staying. San Telmo is an artsy community just a few blocks away from the city centre and is known for its Tango shows. However, most tourists stay in Palermo, which is more upscale and has the majority of the parks in the city. We had a fantastic time looking in all the antique shop windows and enjoyed a fine lunch with good wine. The afternoon was spent in the city-centre marveling at the architecture and just enjoying the 29C weather. Dinner cost us just $7 as we sampled the local empanadas and quiches. Yum!

By our second full day in Buenos Aires we were comfortably settled into Tanguera Hostel ($55 night), so we decided to let Aidan determine what we would do. He complains regularly about having to do everything we ask, so we decided to institute a regular 'Aidan in Charge' day during our trip. His first decision was to spend the morning lounging around the hostel playing games like Uno and soccer with the blow-up beach ball we carry around. After that he wanted to visit the cemetery in Ricoletta, which was fine with us as the mausoleums are spectacular and we got to visit Evita's grave. Aidan, of course, had different motives for his visit.

The funniest part of our day-trip occurred when we tried to catch the bus. First we couldn't find the bus stop, probably because it has been moved for construction. We figured it out by watching where the locals were standing. Then when we got on the bus we went to pay the 2.70 peso fare ($1) with some 2 peso notes, but the driver wouldn't take them. He kept pointing in an annoyed way at a fare machine behind him which we soon realized only took coins. Luckily a nice lady made change for us and survived our first bus trip in Buenos Aires. It turns out that getting coins for the bus is no small feat in Buenos Aires.

The cemetery in Ricoletta is really impressive and we spent quite a bit of time wandering around looking at the artistry of the mausoleums of Argentina's rich and famous. The highlight was Evita Peron's grave, which had a steady stream of tourists and well-wishers. We paid our respects and spent a bit of time looking around the surrounding nieghbourhood. Ricoletta is one of Buenos Aires ritziest areas and it truly is a beautiful place, however the prices for food and goods goes up considerably compared to San Telmo. We spent the rest of the day at Aidan's request back at the hostel playing games again. He's starting to miss playing with kids and clearly Mom and Dad are not as fun. Aidan's choice for dinner was the same pasta place we went to the first night we were in Buenos Aires. By the end of the day, Susan and I agreed that Aidan would only be in charge once a month, or we would both go crazy.

We spent Sunday in San Telmo again because there is a big market here every weekend, and I mean big. Over 8,000 people drop by, and Defensa street is closed off for about 12 blocks. The air is filled with the smell of good food and great music. By the end of our meanderings, Susan and I were convinced we live in a cultural wasteland. There is nothing to compare the market to back in Canada, except perhaps Canada Day. There were Tango dancers, puppet shows, drums, singers, guitarists, mimes, magicians and hundreds of people selling crafts, antiques, clothing, food and a hundred other things.

I should mention at this point how late people stay out in Buenos Aires. Dinner doesn't seem to start until about 10 pm and many places don't open until 11. Lunch is late as well, with 2 pm seeming to be the busiest time. Luckily we have had no trouble adapting because Peru is 3 hours behind B.A. so we just continued on like normal. In Peru we were always up by 7:30 am, whereas here we generally roll out of bed around 10:30 for breakfast; and Aidan doesn't get put to bed until 11 pm.

During our trip we are always trying to plan ahead. Right now we are trying to get our act together regarding China. We're hoping that we can get visas while we are here in Buenos Aires. This will allow us to do some sightseeing in Hong Kong rather than stand in line at the Embassy. We'll see how it goes.

More pictures of beautiful Buenos Aires here.

Farewell to the land of the Incas

2008-11-05T19:29:00.002-07:00

Our last few days in Cusco have been relaxed and entertaining. The day after we returned from Machu Picchu, we decided to slow the pace down and enjoy the city. The day began with our usual breakfast of coca tea (which we all love) and warm buns, an egg and some preserves. We then strolled down to the Plaza de Armas (central plaza) where Aidan amused himself feeding the pigeons and we bought our Bolleto Turisticos (tour pass) for the ruins around the city (130 Soles each or about $50). After lunch we decided to tour the Cusco Cathedral which is as impressive as any cathedral we have seen in Europe, perhaps more so. Aidan listened intently to the entire tour, which we found amusing. The afternoon was spent on Aidan's schoolwork, play-time and a movie. By the evening it was raining and we decided to forgo dinner, but changed our minds at the last minute. Aidan ended up falling asleep in the restaurant across two chairs we put together. Great food though, so it was worth it. We have learned that $30 - $40 in Peru buys you the equivalent of a $150 dinner in Canada.

The next day we decided to visit the town of Pisac, which has a large market every Tuesday and Thursday. We weren't sure if we would be going because a strike was being planned that would have stopped all buses and trains. As we understand it, the strike was to support local farmers, who are very angry that a large company is planning on taking over the water supply in the valley. Unfortunately, the only way to get the government's attention seems to be stopping the tourists from moving.

Lucky for us, the strike didn't materialize and we had an interesting 1 hour long bus ride to Pisac for about 5 soles ($1.50). After a wonderful lunch in town, we strolled around the market and purchased a few souvenirs before returning back to Cusco. The ride back went much, much faster due to the fact that the bus was going up and down the mountain roads at a breakneck speed. This was confirmed by the the women next to Susan started making the sign of the cross at every turn! We decided to get off the bus early and tour the ruins of Saqsaywaman (which everyone remembers as sexy-woman). This turned out to be a good choice. Not only did we save our hides from the crazy bus driver, but we got a personal tour from Hector, a local college student studying English and tourism. For 10 Soles ($3.50) Hector spent an hour with us pointing out many interesting features. Saqsaywaman was the fortress protecting Cusco, but it was overrun by the Spanish in a battle that killed thousands. We ended up walking down into Cusco with Hector after the tour, and quickly returned to the hostel to watch the American Presidential election on CNN. We were relieved to see Obama win, as was every American we talked to in Peru.

Our last day in Cusco was spent touring the Sacred Valley. The trip started at Pisac, which is as impressive in its own way as Machu Picchu. The fortress / city sits high above the surrounding countryside and commands an impressive view. The path up to the ruins is carved out of the side of the mountain, which drops off steeply to the valley below. Looking down gives you a strong sense of vertigo. When the tour guide was done informing us about the site, we were given a few minutes for pictures before heading back. I decided to head up to the top of the mountain to see the sentry posts with Aidan in tow. Our little mountain goat is quite comfortable scrabbling up and down the paths, but half-way up, Aidan decided to turn back. The view from the top was spectacular, but I got caught in tour groups while descending and ended up being late coming down. Aidan in the mean time had descended most of the way back to the ruins but got upset when he couldn't find Susan and so climbed back up again. Reunited with a crying kid we both came down again and met with Susan and the tour guide. No harm done, but some sheepish apologies on my part.

Our next stop was Ollayantaytambo, another impressive Inca site in the Sacred Valley. The stairs to the top of the ruins tired all of us out, but the view and the history were again fantastic. All of us are impressed with the skill and patience of the Incas. The fortress took over 50 years to construct the city and required the labour of tens of thousands of workers. The craftsmanship involved in the stone walls is such that no mortar is required and earthquakes have almost no impact. In contrast, the brickwork of the Spanish churches over top of many of the Inca sites looks crude, and most of the complexes have been rebuilt more than once over the centuries.

Lunch was interesting. We stopped in one of the many small towns at a restaurant only to be told by the tour operator that this was the wrong place!?! We re-boarded the bus and headed down the road another 40 minutes before stopping again. By this time we were famished. The second restaurant we stopped at was a buffet, so we had the opportunity to sample many dishes. Yum! We also ended up paying a total of 50 soles for lunch (about $16), whereas those people who had purchased lunch with the tour package paid 35 soles per person. Weird. Aidan really enjoyed the Peruvian band that payed for tips while we ate.

After lunch we visited Chinchero for what turned out to be a fascinating demonstration of local techniques for wool-making, dieing and weaving. Susan and I were impressed enough to purchase a blanket which we plan to use as a table runner. This one piece of weaving took over 35 days to make. The design is typical for the area and has some beautiful patterns. We plan on mailing it home from Buenos Aires along with our Peruvian handicrafts, which include sweaters, belts, jewelery and some other small items. Susan would have bought an extra suitcase of goods there if I let her.

Our ride back to Cusco after the Sacred Valley tour was interrupted by some light hail, which apparently was much harder around the city because the whole valley was covered in white. It looked just like snow. After a quick pizza at our favourite restaurant we headed back to the hostel to pack up and get a good nights sleep for our impending flights.

The trip to the airport and departure from Peru the next morning was relatively uneventful. The security check-point in Cusco was the fastest we have ever seen (5 minutes!). We were surprised to discover that you cannot pack coca tea in your luggage, but you can take it carry-on!?! Less of a surprise was the fact that you had to exit the passenger area in Lima and re-enter for the sole purpose of paying their airport improvement fee. Annoying, but understandable as well.

Peru has been a wonderful place to visit and we appreciated every moment we had in the country. We will definitely be coming back. But for now, we look forward to Buenos Aries and Argentina.

Pictures of the Sacred Valley are here.

To Machu Picchu and Back Again

2008-11-05T05:49:00.005-07:00

We've been very busy the last few days having fun in the Sacred Valley of Peru. I can't begin to tell you how spectacular it is. Machu Picchu was the icing on the cake.

Friday was spent exploring Cusco and making arrangements for train tickets with PeruRail. We enjoyed visiting the Inka site Qorikancha and Iglesia de Santo Domingo, the Spanish church that was built on top of it. When the Spaniards took over Cusco, Qorikancha was the richest site in empire, with buildings full of solid gold artifacts. We also visited Iglesia San Blas, which has the one of the finest examples of Colonial wood carving in the Americas. We almost didn't tour San Blas because the price was 15 soles per person (about $5 each), but the person at the front let us in at the student rate of 7 soles (God, we're cheap). Surprisingly, Aidan has shown a real interest in the Inca and the Spanish and is also very curious about the religious paintings in the churches. We finished the day with an amazing dinner at Chez Maggy. For $15 we got the best pizza either of us have ever had, with corn relish and a white garlic sauce on top!

Saturday we were up bright and early to catch our train to Aguas Calientes, the village at the base of Machu Picchu. The 4 hour train ride was scenic, however we didn't get to enjoy the panorama of the mountains as much as we would have if we have splurged on the vista car tickets. Actually we count ourselves lucky that we got tickets at all. Note to others: book your tickets early!

When we arrived in Aguas, we spent about 30 minutes searching for the El Presidente hotel, which was recommended to us by another traveler. It turned out that the hotel was only 2 minutes from the train station, but we went in the wrong direction. Aguas Calientes is like a wild west town with train tracks 3 feet from the doors to the restaurants and hotels. It didn't take long to get our bearings. We stumbled into another great restaurant called Indio Feliz, where Michael discovered Pisco Sours. Mike's new favourite drink is made from some sort of liquor, sugar, water and whipped egg whites. Note: We are eating entirely too many large good meals and really need to cut down on our caloric intake. We marched up a long street (yes, two steps and a stair, two steps and a stair for about 7 blocks) to get to the hot springs. For $3 dollars we were able to experience one of the strangest hot springs we have visited. We were not expecting Banff, but these were definitely unique. There were 5 small pools, the water did not appear filtered as it was fairly brown, and the bottom of the pools were gravelly sand. We were also able to purchase our entrance tickets into Machu Picchu and the bus ticket to the site for the next day.

We boarded a bus for Machu Picchu on Sunday morning at 7:30. Many tourists take the first bus at 5:30, but start lining up at 4:00 because they want to see the sunrise. We just wanted to get there before the train from Cusco arrived with larger tour groups around 11:00. The bus zigzagged its way up a very steep road for about 2 km. It was cloudy and drizzling when we got to the top and followed a small group into the site.

I will not be able to adequately describe what we saw but I will try. We followed a path that led us up through a series of terraces to a point that looked out over the entire site. The sky was clearing and the mist that had been hiding things started to clear. Despite having seen many pictures of the site, nothing can do it justice and watching the mist clear and the sun come out and reveal the full site was breathtaking. A very "wow I cannot believe I am here and I cannot believe what I am seeing moment". We spent the next few hours exploring and wandering around the entire site.

We met a lovely lady from Vancouver that is traveling with her husband and four children for over a year. Good to chat and exchange stories (we just got an email from them!). Aidan got to help one of the archaeologists clear out grass from between some of stones. The original surviving stones are fitted together with perfection and nothing in between them to hold them together. We were also fascinated by the drainage system carved into the stones at the site. Just before noon it started to rain and we headed back to the village. We spent the rest of the afternoon window and street shopping. We boarded the 5:00 train for Cusco. We actually ended up getting off the train at 8:30 and hopped a bus to get back to town faster. It takes the train an hour to navigate down into valley that Cusco is nestled in (the train actually does some strange zigzagging and lots of backing up and moving forward to maneuver down). A small min-bus had us down in 15 minutes and cost us an extra $6 dollars. We were tired and Aidan needed to get to bed. A great two days.

Observations from Cusco:

We are impressed by the friendliness and proud quietness of the people, by the beauty of the city and are astonished by the history and culture here
The historical Inca sites (Machu Picchu and many others) show what masterful architects the Inca were and how they were able to build communities and fortresses high in the mountains (it is actually indescribable and I get chills thinking about it)
Watching porters carrying items, such as seeing a man carry a dining room table on his back
seeing many bright colours and the traditional clothing worn by many of the women here - bright shawls that are used for carrying things on their backs (e.g., bread) or for carrying babies and young children, knee length skirts with petticoats underneath, sweaters made of llama or alpaca, and bowler style hats
Peruvian people are generally quite short - have not noticed many men or women over about 5'2. A local women was surprised to learn that Aidan was 6 as her son was 10 and about the same height.
Most of the buildings are made of clay bricks (adobe) and have terracotta tile roofs or tin roofs.
In Cusco the homes are built up the sides of the hills that surround the town and the roads are very steep.
Many of the homes are pieced together and many of the areas are very poor with a lot of garbage strewn about.
We noticed that on the top of every home was a cross and one or two pottery bulls.
There are many smells including burning wood fires, and food like grilled meats and corn being sold by street vendors
There are many many people selling goods on the streets - and many of these people are older women. The goods range from food items such as buns, soups, juices, and skewers of meat, to handicrafts such as blankets, paintings, jewelry, and massages. There are also many young children out with their mothers selling things to make extra money
Aidan liked seeing all the old buildings, huge stone walls built by the Inca that survived a large earthquake in the 1600's, and churches filled with beautiful carvings and works of art
Aidan did not like seeing poor people on the streets, especially an old women who was not wearing any shoes or socks and was sleeping on the street on a very cold night - we had fleece sweaters and jackets on - he is getting a good idea of some of the differences from Canada - especially in terms of how people live and how much they have, and what they do to try and make money
You can buy food from the window of the trains and buses and we enjoyed trying Cusco corn that we bought on our way to Machu Picchu
The food is very good and lunch is often a bigger meal. Restaurants have set menus and patrons can choose a salad, soup, main course and desert for between 15 to 20 soles (5- 7 dollars). We have enjoyed grilled meats, including alpaca and both pumpkin and quinoa soups. The other special meat that is served here is guinea pig.
Cocoa tea is very popular and is good for helping keep away any negative effects from being at such as high altitude (it tastes nice like a nice mild herbal tea).
There are many large markets where the people set up small stalls and sell items targeted to the tourists such as silver jewelery, sweaters, hats, and woven linens and wall hangings.
There is a tremendous amount of history here, especially with respect to the Peruvians and the Spanish. The Spanish brought the Roman Catholic religion to the country and today more than 80 percent of the population is Catholic. There are many old churches and Franciscan monasteries illustrate how the beliefs and customs of the Inca were incorporated into the teachings of the church here (for example, biblical paintings show potatoes and Inca symbols).

Our pictures from Machu Picchu are here; and Aguas Calientes is here.

Cusco High

2008-10-31T20:54:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we had to get up at 3am for our 5:40 flight to Cusco. The trip to the airport was uneventful and check in went well, but the plane had technical problems and was delayed by an hour. We were on a bus on the tarmac waiting to go out to the plane when they told about the problem and had us head back to the departure lounge. It was a little disconcerting because they kept making announcements telling people to come to the counter, but never told us why. It sounded like they were putting people on other flights, but we later found out that that they were calling all the people on standby.

We arrived in Cusco and got a taxi to our hostel. They don't waste any time trying to sell you tours because we were joined on our taxi ride by a travel agent. He was nice enough and we listened as he outlined options and prices. In the end, we decided to organize things ourselves. The rest of the day was spent acclimatizing to Cusco's elevation (over 10,000 ft above sea level). We ran into several people who were suffering from altitude sickness, but luckily none of us have had a problem.

The Hostal Llipimpac where we are staying ($40 per night), is a wonderfully cozy and rustic place. The rooms are spotless, the beds are very comfortable with big blankets, and there is hot water for showers. The blankets come in handy because it gets quite cold at night and there are no heaters. The hostel is behind a courtyard so it is dead quiet at night. We really like it and would recommend it for any travellers staying in the city.

They say Peru has the best food in South America and we are beginning to see why. We had an excellent 3 course lunch for less than $10, and dinner at Chez Maggy on 'Gringo Alley' was the best pizza either of us have ever had. We had another extraordinary lunch today. It remains to be seen whether we will try typical foods like Alpaca steaks or roast Guinea Pig.

This morning we went down to the PeruRail office and purchased rail tickets to Aguas Calientes, which is the town just below Machu Picchu. After listening to everyone tell us that we might have problems because we hadn't booked in advance, we were relieved to get tickets for tomorrow ('backpacker' fare - $96 per person round trip). Our plan is to stay overnight in Aguas Calientes and see the ruins the following day. We are leaving most of our gear at the hotel in Cusco and just packing overnight bags.

I should mention something about the wonderful people of Peru. Cusco is about 350,000 people, and many of them are quite poor, but they are warm and wonderful and almost everyone has a smile on their face and a polite word for you. Everyone tries hard to make your stay enjoyable. I can honestly say that we are quickly falling in love with the country.

More pictures of Cusco here.

Of Bones and Potatoes....

2008-10-29T20:39:00.001-06:00

I cannot believe that I am in South America. The first thing that we noticed was the change in weather. It is much more temperate and somewhat cool and we actually put on our fleece sweaters to walk around. We also found out that Lima gets very little rain - only 5 mm each year. The resident of Lima who was telling us this had never used an umbrella in his entire life! (I should note that Aidan and I will be making some comments on life in Peru for my good friend Sherri Humphry's grade three class).

Lima is situated right on the Pacific Ocean and has a population of approximately 10 million. It is known as the Cty of Kings and was founded by the Spanish. At one time, Lima was the continent's richest, most important town, though all this changed when an earthquake devastated most of the city in 1746. The European influence is very noticeable in the architecture of the buildings in the historic centre of the city. We took a taxi to the city centre and visited the Monasterio de San Francisco, which is a Franciscan Monastery famous for its catacombs and thousands of antique texts dating back to the Spanish conquest. The underground catacombs are home to about 70,000 burials so you can imagine that this was Aidan's favourite part of the tour.

I should make a couple of comments about our trials and tribulations because we do not speak Spanish. This was less of a problem in Costa Rica because most everyone spoke some English - not really the case in Lima. First example, we got confused by the money given back to us by our cab driver who was trying desperately to use our Spanish/English book to show that he gave us the correct change. The real problem was that he gave us much of it back in coins and we didn't realize that many were 5 soles coins. Second funny adventure occurred when we went for lunch. Since it is typically the main meal of the day, most of the restaurants have a set lunch menus and you choose from options under each. A typical lunch might include soup or salad (e.g, ceviche - raw marinated fish, mixed salad, meat and cheese and vegetables), a big bowl of soup, a drink and a main course such as chicken with rice and potatoes and might cost about $2.50 Canadian. Anyway, back to my story. So the menu was in Spanish and we thought we ordered correctly, but we ended up not ordering salads and so didn't get these and then found out the hard way that the word coffee and hot in Spanish (when pronounced with a horrible accent) are actually similar. So we ended up receiving hot milk instead of coffee with milk. I really do not like hot milk.

One more interesting fact about the food. Peru is home to the largest variety of potatoes and there are about 3,000 different kinds. Peruvians have been eating potatoes since before Inca times. Most are cultivated high up in the andean mountains over 10,000 feet. A popular dish is made from both dried and fresh potatoes and llama meat. I had great fun looking at potatoes in the grocery store I visited.

After lunch we walked between the two main plazas in downtown - the Plaza de Armas is linked to the Plaza San Martin by a pedestrian street mall called Jiron de la Union. The plazas were beautiful and we took in the many sites, such as the presidential palace and the cathedral church of Lima. The street between is lined with shops and restaurants and there are many many street vendors as well. Almost half the population of Peru lives below the poverty line, and employment is very high. This means that many people work as street vendors selling everything from chocolates to clothespins in the streets to try and make extra money. To be honest we really have not seen the poverty that we know is part of the city. We are staying in Miraflores, which is a middle to relatively wealthy part of the city. We have heard from other travelers coming in on buses from other areas that the areas farther out are very poor and can lack electricity, water and adequate sanitation. There is definitely a large gap between the rich and the poor.

We ended up heading back to the hostel earlier than expected because Aidan was not feeling well. By early evening he was running a temperature and then this degenerated to vomiting. Most of the night was spent tending to him. The good news is that by morning he was as right as rain.

We met a very nice young couple from Oklahoma and discussed U.S. politics and Naomi Klein's book Shock Doctorine - very fun conversations. They are are traveling extensively through Central and South America and John is doing a six month stint in a medical clinic in Bolivia in a few weeks. We were in awe as they had just come in from Equador on a 36 hour bus ride. Honestly yikes. We also enjoyed talking with a different John from Michigan who just arrived in Lima and had not done much traveling. He spent five years in the navy as a submarine mechanic and was off on a big adventure through South America. We hope that they all have a wonderful time and keep on traveling and experiencing the world. Everyone really made us feel like we made the right choice doing what we are doing.

We started Wednesday with some school work and then walked 10 minutes from our hotel to Huaca Pucllana, an adobe pyramid of the Lima culture dating from AD 400. We went on a guided tour of the site, which is being excavated, and thoroughly enjoyed the ruins. From here we took a taxi to a mall that is built into the side of the cliffs along the Pacific Ocean. We picked up some lunch and Aidan had fun in the playground. We ended our day at the Artisans market (near our hotel) and had fun bartering for souvenirs (or at least Mike had fun). There were a lot of items to admire like the silver, knitted sweaters and scarves and woven items. I am looking forward to shopping in Cuzco!

Well our flight leaves at 5:40 a.m. so we will be off to bed early tonight as the taxi picks us up at 3:30 a.m. Off to Cuzco we go!

Why won't this ATM work?

2008-10-28T16:53:00.001-06:00

Sunday was our last full day in Costa Rica. We started with our usual breakfast of toast and eggs at Mi Casa Hostel. After eating we did some school work and took a taxi to the Children's Museum, which is part of the National Gallery, and housed in a restored penitentiary.

The Children's Museum turned out to be a real treat. Aidan's favourite part was the Egypt exhibit where he got to dress up as a pharaoh and lie in a sarcophagus. Susan and I were impressed by the quality of the exhibits and the number of staff that were available. After the museum, we went downtown to the central square. We had an outstanding lunch at the Gran Hotel Costa Rica, where many heads of state have stayed, and sauntered down the main pedestrian mall.

Monday morning dawned bright and beautiful. We were off to the airport at 7:15 for our flight to Peru. Check-in was straightforward, but we forgot that our Swiss Army knife was still in Susan's purse. Needless to say it was confiscated. We boarded our jet on time and were pleasantly surprised to find that the plane was brand-new and had more legroom than anything we've ever flown on before. The service was also fantastic and we have no trouble recommending Taca Airways to anyone.

We arrived in Lima, Peru in good shape. Our first order of business was to get some local currency (Nuevos Soles or New Sun in English) for the taxi ride to the hotel. The first ATM we tried stymied us with an unusual screen asking us to re-enter the amount we wanted in multiples of 50 or 100 soles. No matter what we entered, it didn't work. The second ATM did the same thing. We were starting to think we might have to exchange some of our American money, but we walked over to a third ATM in the Departures area and it worked perfectly. We quickly realized that the other ATMs were simply out of money, because the same thing happened in the Arrivals area in Costa Rica. One other interesting point about the ATMs - they would only let you take out 400 nuevos soles at once (about $150). Thus you were forced to do multiple transactions and incur more fees to take out a reasonable amount of money. Tricky!

Getting a taxi in Lima is an adventure unto itself. The 'official' airport taxis charge about double what the other taxis do to go downtown. If you are brave, you can walk out to the main street to flag down an 'unofficial' taxi and haggle about the price (you have to bargain for all taxis here), but there is also a small element of danger when doing this. Not speaking the language, we decided to use the official taxis, which cost 45 soles ($17). The ride to Miraflores in the chaotic traffic took about 40 minutes. You start in the poor outskirts with kids running between the cars trying to sell stuff end end up in a nice, modern suburb that looks like a chunk of Europe.

We are staying at the Inka Lodge ($36 night), which is a very nice hostel just off the main avenue in Miraflores, so its nice and quiet. More on our Lima adventures tomorrow.

Subway - Eat Fresh

2008-10-25T20:25:00.003-06:00

Not much to report today. We're back in San Jose after a 4 hour bus ride back through the mountains. We've gone from sweltering heat to pleasantly warm. After dropping off our gear at the hostel we sauntered through La Sabana park to Soda Tapia, a local favourite. We had a huge lunch there (sandwiches with black beans on top are good!) and waddled back. Aidan enjoyed the children's play area until he fell in the mud. We've spent the rest of the afternoon on school work and loafing around. Dinner was half a sub from Subway - we're still full from lunch. Tomorrow is our last day in Costa Rica. We're probably going to hang around the city and might look for a book store with English books. We've read everything we brought from Canada. After that, we confirm flight arrangements and start planning for South America.

Montezuma's Revenge (for Real!)

2008-10-24T21:29:00.004-06:00

Today was our last day in Cahuita, and we're sad. It's a wonderful place. We will miss being surrounded by beautiful flowers and tropical plants, and the sounds of insects, birds, and animals (even those howler monkeys). We will also miss Yvonne and Thomas, our wonderful hosts at the Alby Hotel. Finally, we will miss the beautiful beach. It seems we were so relaxed this week we were almost catatonic. Each day was simple - have some breakfast, answer some email, do some schoolwork, read, have lunch, go to the beach, have dinner, read, go to bed. Today was a busy day as we had to not only get bus tickets back to San Jose, but we also had to mail a small package home. Sending the package home (Mike's broken sandals and a few souvineers) was a small adventure. The very cramped and very hot one room post office actually looked like an abandoned and cluttered old office space. The very nice postal worker, who had completely sweated through his nice white collared shirt and had to undo it during our discussion, had us fill out paperwork in triplicate and insisted that I write the names of four items on the customs form. Not two items or five items, but four items. Thank goodness there was more than one item in the box. The whole procedure of forms and payment took over 45 minutes. We were all very ready for the beach once the transaction was completed. Actually, the other reason for the very slow week was that we were all afflicted with a case of Montezuma's revenge. I had it the worst, followed by Michael and finally Aidan. Aidan doesn't really count though as his lasted a total of one hour, whereas Mike and I have been taking Imodium for several days. It was bound to happen sooner or later and we still cannot figure out what we ate or drank that may have been the cause. We do know that we have enjoyed everything that we ate and drank and wouldn't change anything. Other interesting things that happened during the week involve creatures and water. We have enjoyed seeing new insects, including a huge locust type insect as long as my middle finger - we have pictures to prove it - that we chased out of our room one night. We also happened to look up into the mosquito netting the other night and saw a blue crab hanging in the top and on the inside. We don't know how it got in there but we had fun trying to catch it as they scuttle very quickly. Finally, Aidan managed to slip and fall in the ornamental pond/water garden here at the hotel. He was out in the morning looking for frogs and in he went. Luckily the pond is only a few feet deep. He managed to walk out just fine but was quite shaken up by the whole thing and is quite embarrased - currently we are not allowed to talk about/discuss/mention/or tell anyone else about the pond incident. Our day ended with another great swim at the beach and a nice dinner. We are off to San Jose tomorrow and then fly to Lima, Peru on Monday. We will definitely miss Costa Rica. Pictures of Cahuita are here.

Reggae Retreat

2008-10-22T19:36:00.005-06:00

Well its been a while since our last post. We were starting to get inquiries about why we dropped off the face of the planet. Never fear, we're here, but so laid back right now that writing blog entries seems like a lot of work. After leaving Manuel Antonio, we took a 3.5 hour bus ride back to San Jose where we decided to try Hostel Pangaea for the night ($40) instead of Hostel Mi Casa. What can say about Pangaea...If I were 20 again and wanted to party with 60 other like-minded people this is where I would head. For a family of 3, it was good for a laugh. Our room looked like a jail-cell: 2 beds in a 10x10 enclosure, no other furniture. The place was a maze with a tiny pool in what looked like the parking area and a quirky roof top bar/restaurant. The hostel is in the wrong area of town, so they give everyone a wrist-band to ID them as guests and the door is locked and guarded 24x7. On the positive side the food was cheap and good, its completely safe and fun inside, and the place was very clean. The next morning we went down to the bus station only to find out that the 10 am bus to Carribean coast was sold out. Shame on us for not buying tickets the day before. We completely forgot that it was the weekend. We ended up waiting around for 2.5 hours until the noon bus and then had a long, hot 4 hour bus ride to Cahuita ($8 per person). We arrived in Cahuita at about 4:30 pm, sweaty and dehydrated. We knew the place where we wanted to stay was booked, so we started looking around town for a decent alternative. Running short of choices and light we ended up at the Sunshine Hotel ($35), which is shall we say slightly run down. Susan was not happy at all. Then we all changed to go to the beach at the National Park for a swim only to discover that it closed a half hour earlier at at 5 pm. Aidan went ballistic. Needless to say, it was not a good day. Luckily, we went out to dinner and joined up with a nice couple from Israel we met earlier and spirits lifted considerably. The next day we got a chance to really look around Cahuita. Its the kind of place where everyone walks down the middle of the streets because there are so few cars. There are lots of rustic little restaurants and places to stay catering to backpackers and you can hear reggae music everywhere. The beach in the National Park is absolutely spectacular. Miles of white sand and palm trees with no development in behind. A day later we moved out of the Sunshine motel leaving Wilbur the cockroach running around in the tub and headed over to Alby lodge where we have been for the past 4 days. Imagine little grass-roofed huts on stilts with polished wood floors, a big hammock out front, bug-nets over the beds and full bathrooms with a shower and toilet. Now imagine these huts set back in the trees surrounded by beautiful gardens. Its a little slice of paradise, and a steal at $50 per night. We are very, very happy here in Cahuita, and very, very relaxed. The place is so laid back, the food is great, the water is warm as soup, and the only sounds we hear are the crickets chirping. Well, that and the Howler monkeys, which paid us a visit at midnight, 3pm and 5 am in the morning the first night, and boy were they loud. They kept us awake and laughing for several hours. We've had many other wildlife adventures here including almost getting pooped on by a monkey, seeing fish, a manta ray, a moray eel, an octopus and a lobster when snorkeling on the coral reef (including Aidan!), blue crabs under our deck and a bug on our door as big as your hand. Aidan's favourite are the dozens of geckos running around the shared kitchen area. We plan on staying here for the remainder of our time in Costa Rica, which is quickly drawing to a close. We fly out to Peru this coming Monday. We're already sad about leaving this place and we're not even gone yet.

It's raining, it's pouring....

2008-10-16T08:19:00.001-06:00

I do believe that the family has a new theme song. According to the locals, we are here in green season. Everything is a beautiful green - due to the incredible amounts of rain.

We caught a local bus out of Jaco and headed to Quepos (1.5 hours and $6/person) on Tuesday morning. From Quepos we would be able to catch another bus to Manuel Antonio. There had been a tremendous amount of rain over the previous two days and we had heard that there was some flooding in Quepos. On the outskirts of Quepos a main bridge had been reduced to one lane. As we waited in line we could see that a new and much higher bridge was being built along side the old one. Due to the rain, the river was raging and the water level very high. It was a little scary crossing what appeared to be a very unsafe bridge (think rusted beams and railway ties). In Quepos we quickly boarded another bus ($1/three people) and made the 8 km trek to Manuel Antonio.

Manuel Antonio is a little resortish type place with beautiful beaches and a national park. We decided to splurge and stay at a "nice" hotel for a couple of days - large comfortable room, large sitting areas around the hotel, monkeys, a swimming pool, and included breakfast. We didn't count on the $20 per load charge for laundry - absolutely absurd considering that it has not cost us more than $5 anywhere else. We were told it would cost $10 and because we didn't want to walk into town in the pouring rain we said okay. Turns out this was not the right price - "Didn't anyone show you the price chart?" Mental note - don't assume anything and always confirm the prices.

After a beautiful Tuesday, we awoke on Wednesday to rain .... buckets and buckets of rain. Considering the beaches and hiking trails in the park that we wanted to explore we were a little depressed. We spent the morning doing school work with Aidan, cataloging photographs, and watching television. Took a bus into Quepos for lunch and a quick wander of the streets. I ordered vegetable soup. It was the brightest green soup that I have seen in a very long time and tasted like limes. Not bad actually. Since we are trying to stick to our budget, we picked up a few staples at the grocery for dinner - good old peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit.

We did some more school work with Aidan, which was necessary considering the bit of a struggle that we had in the morning. Aidan has been a little out of sorts the last couple of days and isn't showing much interest in his school subjects. According to Aidan he "hates all school and only like to play." Insert big Susan sigh here. In once instance I resorted to acting out the animals that he was spelling just so he wouldn't be so miserable about any work that he has to do. We are trying to keep things interesting ... but he is easily frustrated when he makes any type of mistake. It's not so bad and we are making progress - I have been breaking up the work into very small segments - work, play, work, listen to music, etc. Kudos to all the great teachers out there - please don't underestimate the tough job that they have. If anyone has any other suggestions for keeping Aidan engaged we are all ears!

Jet Boat and Martinis from Montezuma to Jaco

2008-10-15T18:14:00.001-06:00

We decided to leave the beaches of Montezuma for Jaco and move our way up the coast to Manuel Antonio. Your choices to get there are a) a 7.5 hour bus ride; b) a 2 hour bus ride and 1.5 hour ferry ride followed by another 1.5 hours on a bus, or c) a 1 hour 'jet boat' across the bay. Needless to say we chose the jet boat option ($35 per person).

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day, but our luck did not hold much past that. After we all put our backpacks on, Susan took 2 steps (literally!) and slipped on the wet pathway, wrenching her leg and scraping her palm badly. Our first injury of the trip. After a few minutes to recover, she valiantly limped into town. Three steps later, the sole on my expensive Chaco sandals decided to come apart. We had to stop again so that I could make emergency repairs (you can fix ANYTHING with duct tape!). Our first equipment casualty of the trip.

Back to the 'jet boat'. In my head, I'm imagining a cigarette boat that cuts its way majestically between the two ports. Reality is a little different. When walked down to the beach with about 12 other people, we were greeted at a local fishing boat outfitted with a 110 hp outboard motor and a tarp to keep the sun off you. The friendly locals were kind enough to take our backpacks and hermetically seal them in industrial sized garbage bags for the trip. Then they launched the boat and held it in place as we waded out into the surf. A few minutes later we were whizzing across the Pacific ocean.

About an hour and a half later we arrived in Jaco; wet, but otherwise none the worse for wear. In hindsight it could have been a lot worse, especially if the weather was bad. I can't imagine doing the trip in even the lightest wind and rain. For anyone considering following in our footsteps here are our lessons learned:

1) Pray for good weather 2) Wear your bathing suit and prepare to be wet 3) Put ALL your luggage in the plastic bags, even your valuables 4) Girls, put your hair back in a pony tail (it took Susan an hour to get the knots out of her hair) 5) Sit near the front of the boat (less spray, but more sun) 6) Enjoy the ride - we did.

We were picked up at the beach by one of the ubiquitous Turismo busses and dropped off at the Blue Palms hotel ($35 per night). After heading to the local Soda for Casados, we spent the rest of the day swimming in the small pool and resting.

There is not much to report on Jaco. It is a great place to be if you're into the party / bar scene, but otherwise its kind of kitschy and boring in the rain. You can't even swim at the beach because the water is polluted. We spent one day there finding shoes and looking around and quickly left for Manuel Antonio. One good word about the town - we had some great food at the Taco Bar (Mexico meets L.A. meets Japan meets Costa Rica) and Big Bamboo Pizza.

Renewing our Wedding Vows

2008-10-10T21:35:00.000-06:00

Not much to report today. It was bright and beautiful this morning and
we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in town after dropping off our laundry
($1 per kilo). Then we sat around our bungalow enjoying the view and
having school lessons. By lunch we were on the beach, but the weather
conspired against us and we had to retreat back to town in a thundershower.

We ran from shop to shop and ended up in a store that sells some
beautiful hand-made jewelry. This worked out perfectly, because Susan
and I have been looking for rings to replace our wedding bands which we
left at home. A few minutes later we settled on matching silver bands,
which are being made today. We'll pick them up tomorrow.

After wandering around the 2 main streets of Montezuma for a while we
gave up and walked back to our hotel in the rain. The rest of the
afternoon was spent in the pool and lounging around. The skies cleared
up around 5pm, just in time for dinner and a movie at one of the
restaurants (Jumper).

Given all the rain, we are reconsidering how much time we are going to
spend on the Pacific Coast. The Caribbean is looking more inviting all
the time. Tomorrow we'll probably make a decision.

Montezuma's Revenge

2008-10-09T20:38:00.003-06:00

Today we left the cloud forests for the Pacific coast. We walked to the bus station at 6:10 am with our packs on to catch the bus to San Jose along with about 35 other travellers. The regular bus was broken so we all piled on the less broken bus for the 3 hour trip. About 10 ft out of town the pavement ended and we were on single lane gravel roads going down the mountain. The sights were spectacular, but unnerving. There are no guard rails, lots of gulleys and sheer drop offs. Navigating down the mountainside was a slow task - it took about 1.5 hours to go 35 km! Once we hit the bottom of the mountains the paved road reappeared and we started to make better time, that is until the bus driver pulled off into a Soda and had his lunch. Most people got off to go to the washroom and get a snack, but instead of getting back on the same bus, another bus came, and after much confusion we all piled on that one. We left the previous bus driver eating his dinner and continued on to a little place called Barranca. After more confusion we all got off and got on a local bus for the 20 minute trip to Puntarenas. An hour later we arrived at Puntarenas and got a taxi from the bus station to the ferry terminal were we got tickets to Paquera.

The ferry ride to the Nicoya peninsula was a pleasant 1.5 hours. Once we arrived at Paquera we boarded another bus for the 2 hour bus ride to Montezuma, during which we had our afternoon siesta. Arriving in Montezuma, everyone got off the bus and started off in all directions looking for a place to stay. We decided to go upscale and get a bungalow at Hotel Los Mangos for $65 per night. Its not quite worth it when we compare it to our hotel in La Fortuna, but its right on the ocean and the pool is crystal clear.

We plan on spending the next few days in Montezuma on the beach and exploring the local countryside.

Pictures on Picasa.

Where's George ...

2008-10-08T20:48:00.002-06:00

We had Aidan at his schoolwork early this morning as we were heading out for a canopy tour at 10:30. Aidan was making observations about the differences between Costa Rica and Edmonton and he indicated that there were no evergreen trees, there was a lot of flowers and plants, and lots of rain. He is enjoying writing and drawing pictures in his own journal book every day. We were picked up by the Monteverde Extremo Canopy tour company and whisked off to somewhere in the forest. As it turns out we were the only ones on the tour. The guide told us that during peak season the tours average 25 - 50 people, three times a day. Of course, we said "yeah us!" We chose this company because we were told it has the highest and longest zip lines and we were not disappointed. Our guides were having difficulty saying "Aidan" so they decided to call him George during the tour - George of the Jungle. We were all put into harnesses and given instructions and a demonstration. Aidan was attached to a guide, who would take him across all of the lines. There are 21 platforms in total and 14 cables, 4 of which are very long: 425 m, 465 m, 600 m, with the longest being 750 meters(over 2250 ft.). The cables have an approximate height of between 225 ft and 450 ft (!!) and there is also a 90 ft rappel. We had an exhilarating time and Aidan couldn't stop smiling the whole time. I saw a beautiful toucan down in the canopy as I zoomed by and only screamed a few times going across some very high parts. Seriously, really really high. The best part was the Tarzan swing, where you are attached to a rope swing, go off the edge of the platform and drop vertically approximately 20 + feet before you actually start swinging up into the canopy. The guides got some great pictures of us on this and said that many people chicken out of doing this one. To be honest, I was ready to say no, but then I was given, shall we say, an encouraging nudge and away I went. Aidan of course was having the time of his life and now wants to go back and be a canopy tour guide when he is older. The most amusing part of the tour was that Aidan kept running slightly ahead of the guides along the trails between platforms. Actually, most of the 2.8 km of walking was up stairs and so as I huffed my way along, Aidan the goat boy was off and running ahead. We all arrived at one platform, where there was a guide waiting - but no Aidan. The guide said that he must have taken the wrong trail and so soon the guides were off yelling "George, George ... where are you ... come back ... you on wrong trail." Aidan was soon back with us and a bit embarrassed - a valuable lesson about staying within site of mommy and daddy. Pictures on Picasa.

This money belt makes me look fat ...

2008-10-07T20:46:00.003-06:00

Seriously, I do not like wearing the money belt. This is my only complaint and so I will whine about it and then be done with it. It just makes things look even larger and I really don't need the additional baggage. Oh well, I don't have a choice and so my belly keeps the passports safe.

Aidan wanted to say hello to all his friends and family and says "I went to on a boat trip in a swamp. I smelled monkey pee and the howler monkeys were noisy. When I come back home to Edmonton I will have playdates with all my friends."

Yesterday we arrived in Monteverde/Santa Elena from Fortuna. We took the highly recommended jeep-boat-jeep trip, which saves several hours of travel time. The jeep is actually a van that transports streams of tourists to Lake Arenal and then everyone piles into a boat across the lake and then into another van. The road into Monteverde was, shall we say, bumpy. We were all treated to the infamous Costa Rican back massage. It is apparent that not a lot of money is spent maintaining road infrastructure (or much of any infrastructure for that matter). I think 10 km took over one hour travel time. We have taken up residence at the Cabinas Vistas Golfo - again a very interesting and enjoyable family run hotel perched on the side of a hill. The upper floor has about 10 rooms with an open air hammock area, kitchen and sitting areas. It was fun to watch the fog roll through the hotel later in the evening. The staff are amazing and we have also met lots of great people from the US, Germany and Israel.

As this is a cloud forest it rains.... it rains a lot... and this is the less rainy season! We didn't let this stop us from doing tours and so we spent the afternoon learning about coffee. This tour guide relayed a lot of Costa Rican history and we learned about the coffee industry in the country, the quality of coffee and how it is made. Even Aidan wasn't bored and enjoyed himself by pretending to be a coffee cherry (bean) picker. It was interesting to learn that all of the beans are hand picked, usually by workers from Nicaragua. The majority of the coffee produced in Costa Rica is first grade and the country's Coffee Institute has very strict regulations surrounding the coffee quality (some of the world's best arabica coffee is produced in Costa Rica). It was interesting to learn that the darker roast coffees have less caffeine than the lighter roasts. He also told us about other types of coffee that is produced in other countries and talked a bit about the process for making decalf coffee, which uses a lot of chemicals, and that instant coffee is made with some very low quality coffee, some sugar, and some chemicals (the guide really did not consider this actual coffee - sorry Shannon). We were treated to several cups of coffee at the end of the tour, and I made the mistake of also eating three chocolate covered coffee beans. Let's just say I didn't sleep very well last night.

Pictures on Picasa.

Vipers and Volcanos

2008-10-07T20:35:00.002-06:00

It has been an interesting last few days for us. We decided to do the volcano / hot springs tour, which involves a walk in the rainforest followed by some night-time viewing of lava flowing down the volcano and then Baldi hot springs. We booked the tour in the morning when it was beautiful, bright and clear out, but by lunch it was raining so hard you couldn't walk across the street without getting soaked. Needless to say, we were not very happy. As luck would have it, the weather cleared up by 3pm when our tour started, and we were treated to a crystal-clear evening. Pure luck.

The rainforest walk was really beautiful. We did not see much wildlife, but what we did see was interesting. It started with toucans flying from tree to tree and ended with a poisonous viper curled up in a tree not 2 feet from the path. Needless to say, when the guides say do not touch anything and stay on the path, they mean it!

La Fortuna is on the eastern side of the Arenal volcano, which has jungle running right up to the top; the west side of Arenal is completely different. Lava is actively flowing down this side, so it is grey and black with nothing growing on it. This is the side of the volcano that blew up in 1968 killing 89 people, throwing boulders 5 km or more. Nowadays it is the side of the volcano with the hot springs and major tourist hotels. Arenal's lava is about 900 degrees, which is not hot enough to see red during the day, but at night you can see it clearly as chunks flow down the side at speeds of up to 150 kmh. I got some great pictures using the low light settings on the camera.

We ended the evening with a trip to Baldi hot springs. By now we were cooler and a hot dip was just what we needed. Baldi turned out to be a wonderful place. There are about 20 pools of varying temperatures, the largest of which is about as big as an olympic sized swimming pool. The sides and bottoms of the pool are all done in rocks instead of tiles, and there is an incredible array of flowers and trees around it. All this really made you feel like you were swimming in a tame jungle. In all, a great experience.

Pictures are up on picasa.

Nicaragua by accident...

2008-10-06T12:23:00.003-06:00

We have been kicking back in La Fortuna and exploring some of the surrounding area. Yesterday was spent taking a boat tour in the wildlife reserve Cano Negro. This area is approximately 1.5 hours northeast of La Fortuna and is known for incredible bird watching and wildlife. We were not disappointed. The tour van picked us up at 7:00 a.m. and we headed off with five others. The guide with Canoa Aventura was very knowledgeable and along the way stopped the van so we could all see a sloth hanging in a nearby tree. We also stopped to see the 'chicken of the trees.' Along the route a shopowner started feeding the iguanas and now there are hundreds that occupy the trees along a small river below his shop. Apparently they taste like chicken, but we were assured that they were not being served in the adjacent restaurant. We reached Lost Chiles, a small town three kilometers south of Nicaragua. It used to serve as an important supply route for the Nicaraguan Contras. Today tourists ply the waters of the Cano Negro or take boats into Nicaragua. We spent three hours on a boat and with the help of an "eagle eye" guide were very fortunate to see many different birds and animals, such as cayman, Basilisk lizard (Jesus Christ lizard), Anhinga (snake bird), cormorants, kingfishers, howler monkeys (phew they stink and are very loud), long nose bats, snow egrets, eagles, vultures, limpkin bird, white-faced monkeys, the common potoo (king of camouflage) and spider monkeys. We were really astounded by how hard it was to spot all of the wildlife and how good the guides were at finding everything hidden in the jungle. Prior to going back to the dock we went north along the river and low and behold suddenly we were in Nicaragua. Everyone got off the boat at the boarder crossing and had pictures taken. Later today we are off to Arenal Volcano park and the Baldi hot spings. It is so hot here..... I am sweating and gross just writing this. Aidan is handling things just fine and has been a trooper about doing his school work. He can also swim the entire length of a pool now unassisted - yeah! Tomorrow is the jeep-boat-jeep ride to Monteverde. Aidan will get to do his zip line canopy tour in the famous cloud forest. Pictures are on Picasa.

Mom, I can't pull up my underwear up because my bum is too sweaty

2008-10-04T12:05:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we took the bus from San Jose to La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal. We got to the San Carlos bus terminal around 8:00 am and boarded the bus at 9:00 after eating a quick breakfast of toast and yogurt back at the hostel. You have to love the value of the country; our taxi ride to the terminal costs $3 and a 4.5 hour bus trip costs $6 per person.

The bus ride went through some spectacular countryside, and we can certainly see now why the 'as the crow flies' distance on the map bears no resemblance to the time it really takes to get between places in a mountainous country. By about 3/4 of the way through the trip the bus really started to heat up and people were crammed in the aisle. Aidan was on our lap, but he never complained or had to go pee, which was good because there was no toilet on the bus! What a trooper.

We arrived in La Fortuna with no accommodation, but had no trouble finding a nice place to say. Forgoing the guidebook, we decided to go with Eco Arenal, a nice quiet hotel about 5 minutes by taxi out of town down a dirt road. We're very happy with the choice as it is a very clean, comfortable and quiet place with a wonderful pool. At $60 per night with breakfast included, you can't beat the price.

La Fortuna is a very fun and touristy place. Its right next to the Arenal volcano and very close to the Monteverde cloud forest. Arenal is the most active volcano in Costa Rica and you can see it smoking away on days that it is not covered in clouds. The area boasts an amazing assortment of things to do from zip-lining and rappelling down water falls to horseback riding and ATV tours and more laid-back things like nature walks and hot springs. We're going to stay here for 3-4 days and enjoy some of the activities before heading on to Monteverde and the coast.

We also got a small taste of what rainforest means. It started raining at 3pm and didn't stop until 10 at night. And when I say rain, I mean rain. Edmonton would have been flooded out with that much water. We really enjoyed sitting in Don Rufino's having a gourmet dinner with the rain coming down .

Pictures here.

Cafe ..... Can We Say Yummm

2008-10-02T19:06:00.002-06:00

Yes, Costa Rican coffee is very delicious (Note to Shannon - I have not used that particular word in a long time so it must be good!). Our day started waking up to the sounds of birds outside our window and then some eggs and toast for breakfast. Aidan amused himself by observing the three large turtles that live in the courtyard area of the hostel. While Michael did a bit of reading in the guidebook, Aidan buckled down and did a good bit of school work and journal writing. By this time it was noon and so we called a cab and went downtown to the San Carlos bus terminal to purchase tickets to La Fortuna for tomorrow morning. La Fortuna is a town near the Parque Nacional Volcan Poas (volcano national park). Yes for $7 we can go to the visitor center and then to a lookout over the 300 m deep active volcano. As you can imagine we can hardly wait. We spent much of the afternoon wandering around the central market of San Jose. Hundreds of open air stalls and stores collect along the streets and in enclosed areas that reminded me of mazes. Many of the stalls are selling food - meats, fish, spices, cheeses, etc. and Aidan really took notice of the various smells. At one point we passed a man throwing pig parts and offal into barrels in the back of a truck and various things were spilling out onto the street - Aidan had a lot of questions about this. Although the guidebooks often warn to be vigilant with respect to money and personal safety - honestly we did not feel unsafe at any point during our wanderings and had a fun and relaxing afternoon. Well that's all for today. I am off to enjoy a beer and then pack a few things in preparation for our early departure tomorrow.

Down in Costa Rica

2008-10-01T22:38:00.002-06:00

Not much to report today, other than we made it to Costa Rica safely. The flights from LA to Houston and Houston to San Jose were uneventful. We arrived at LAX at about 8:15 in the morning for an 11:30 flight thinking that it will take time to get through security and such. Much to our surprise, we were through in less than 25 minutes. So the rest of the day was spent waiting, teaching Aidan and eating every now and then. We arrived in San Jose at 9:30 pm where it was raining pretty hard. Henry and his wife from the Hostel picked us up at the airport and drove us across the city. We had enough time to say hello and check in before bed, which is where I'm heading. We're looking forward to seeing San Jose in the daylight.

L.A. Living

2008-09-30T22:11:00.000-06:00

Day 1 turned out to be very nice. Susan's cousin Brian drove us to the airport at about 5:30 am. We had an uneventful flight to L.A. and landed about 11 am. After a few minutes of waiting for a Best Western shuttle that didn't come, we called the hotel, got picked up and checked in shortly thereafter. We enjoyed a great Mexican lunch two doors down and then took a taxi down to Venice Beach for the afternoon. It was one of those beautiful, sunny warm SoCal days. We had a good time walking along the beach and looked at all the shops. Afterward, we went back to the hotel had a nap and then a swim. Nice day. L.A. is an interesting town. Beautiful climate but way, way too many cars and incredible urban sprawl. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here without a lot of money. Couple of pictures on Picasa. Tomorrow we fly to Houston and then on to San Jose.

Last Day in Canada...

2008-09-29T20:59:00.003-06:00

Well our bags are packed and we are ready to go (8:00 a.m. flight Tuesday morning). The day before departing (and also our 13th wedding anniversary) proved to be very relaxing and we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather in Edmonton - it really did feel like summer. We took a last look at the river valley and the fall colours were a nice way to see Edmonton on our last day. I keep saying that we have spent the last few days running errands and finalizing details and today was really no different. We finished our emergency contact information for family (a listing of our critical information such as banking, insurance, health numbers, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, our lawyer, etc.). We dropped off some books for friends and attempted to pick up our drycleaning (it wasn't ready and we actually forgot to go back and get it - oops). The rest of the day was spent packing the bags one more time, sending a few emails and saying goodbye to family and friends. So, off we go......

Calm Amid the Chaos

2008-09-28T21:00:00.000-06:00

I had a wonderfully calm and relaxing day considering the chaotic nature of things. My cousin and his family officially settled in today. It was nice to see the fridge magically get refilled. Despite their stress (sick kids, packing and moving), I was really happy to get a couch back in the family room to sit on and watch television again. Aidan spent a wonderful day at the zoo with his aunt and cousins. This allowed Michael and I to do a full pack. I am very happy to report that everything fits into the three backpacks and two carry-ons - no problem. As the malaria drugs are consumed and as Aidan works his way through his school materials, room will be created that will allow me to purchase silk clothing and various other necessary trinkets. I did have this all planned. That's all to report for now. I am sure that Michael will have more to say in the next post.

Last Minute Tasks

2008-09-27T23:54:00.000-06:00

We're down to the final few days and the small but numerous tasks that remain. Susan is finalizing Aidan's education material; we're packing away the last bits and pieces of furniture and clothing; the banking is just about done; our watches and wedding rings are replaced; the trailer is stored (thanks again Rob!); and we're starting to pull together the documents that needs to go to family for emergencies. Tomorrow we'll try packing. This weekend also marked the start of our goodbyes - goodbye to my parents; goodbye our friends at Taekwondo; and goodbye to many others both near and far. We'll miss you!

Getting Sick

2008-09-25T21:14:00.000-06:00

Susan and I have been down and out with a nasty virus these past few days. It has not been fun putting in 10+ hour days at work while being sick, but at least the symptoms are relatively mild in my case. Poor Susan has been out of commission for the better part of 3 days. Despite this, our trip preparations are moving ahead. We're now moved out of the upstairs of the house completely. The main floor is not far behind. Brian, Wendy and the boys move in tomorrow and we're in the basement. My parents are out visiting and getting a kick out of the situation. Its nice to have family around before we go. My last day of work is tomorrow. Yay!

More Medicine

2008-09-22T21:02:00.000-06:00

We weren't kidding about the medicine. At the rate we're going its going to take up half our luggage. We don't even have Susan's insulin in with this. Whats in the Pile? Malaria pills (3 types), altitude sickness pills, diarrhea pills, constipation pills, oral rehydration pills, broad-spectrum antibiotics, daily contact lenses, needle tips, glucometer test strips, glucagon (for low blood sugars), first aid kit, sterile injection kit, polysporin, sun-screen, bug-screen and I think some asprin.

What have I done...and other emotions.

2008-09-21T14:29:00.000-06:00

Yes the final countdown is on, as indicated in the previous post. Over the last week I have had the good fortune of spending time with family and friends. The main questions being asked are "Are you excited?" and "Are you ready to go?" I will admit that my initial response was to say "Aghhh, what have I done!" This was quickly followed by a listing of all the things that I still had to do and all the things that could possibly go wrong. Sorry Mom, but I really do take after your side of the family sometimes. Wow, five years of saving and planning has gone by quickly. When I initially proposed that we should save for an extended trip, I didn't anticipate that the time would go by so quickly. The trip always seemed so far in the future and over the last few weeks I have continued to move along thinking that the trip is still far far away. It has only been recently that I have really realized that we are leaving for six months, thus resulting in the tide of anxiety ridden emotions and panic. Panic over things such as, teaching my son for six months (will I doom him to repeat grade 1?), will we fit all of the medication in the luggage (I will post a picture soon), how will I survive for six months with only one pair of pants and three shirts (seriously). Not to worry, this set of emotions was temporary and I have my perspective back. I can happily report that my answer to the above questions would be "I can hardly wait to get going!" As for my other concerns - yes, everything will fit into the backpacks; thanks to my good friend for providing me with resources and assuring me that Aidan will receive an excellent education on this trip; and thanks to our wonderful family for helping with moving and packing and all the other last minute arrangements. Over the next week I plan to finalize all of the educational materials and monthly plans, stop a few payments, finish packing, move the tent trailer, and clean the house. I suppose I should also confirm the flights...

Just One More Week

2008-09-20T23:04:00.000-06:00

This is our last full week in Canada. Our preparations are really starting to ramp up now. The house is getting packed, we're starting to move furniture, and the car is sold. Pretty much all of the gear we will need is now sitting out on our basement floor, and the last of the medications arrived a few days ago. Between Malaria drugs, daily contact lenses and diabetic supplies, it looks like almost a quarter of our luggage space will be devoted to persnal healthcare! We are close to having all our paperwork and household arrangements completed. Our passports arrived back safe-and-sound from the Brazilian consulate a few days ago, so we're now set for Central and South America. Banking arrangements have been made and we're down to the last of the billing issues (like freezing RRSP auto-purchasing). On the home-front, my brother Ryan arrived from Ontario yesterday to say hello to his new niece and see us before we leave. Mom and Dad will probably arrive on Monday. Should be a full house shortly, although Chez McDermott-McFarlane is looking a bit sparse right now.

E.T. Phone Home

2008-09-07T23:05:00.000-06:00

Staying connected to life back in Canada is something that is reasonably important for us. Bills still have to get paid, family events keep occurring, and there is always the possibility of an emergency, either for us or someone else. With this in mind, we made the effort to always be reachable by phone during our trip. While it's not difficult to do, it does take a little research. It's one thing to be reachable by phone when you go away to one country for a few weeks on a vacation; quite another to leave for half a year and visit developing countries across multiple continents. The Starting Point One would think that in the 21st century you would simply grab your existing cell phone and leave it on for the duration of the trip. But there are two big problems if you do this. First, many phones from North America do not work overseas; and second, you will have to pay huge roaming and long-distance charges. Why don't many phones work overseas? It turns out that North America is one of only a handful of places in the world that doesn't use the GSM standard for cellphones. We use CDMA instead, which is completely incompatible. Even if you buy a phone that can be used on CDMA and GSM networks, it sill may not work because there is more than one type of GSM technology. Ultimately, you need to look for a tri-band or quad-band phone (i.e. world phone). How do you deal with roaming charges? Simple. Swap out your Rogers/Telus/Bell SIM card (kind of like the brain of the cellphone) and replace it with a SIM card for the country you are currently visitng. This eliminates roaming charges and allows you to make relatively inexpensive local and long distance calls. The only problem with this approach is that you need to purchase a new SIM card every country you visit, and you get a new phone number every time you make the swap! How do you avoid buying a SIM card for every country you visit? The answer is buy a World SIM, which works in multiple countries but gives you one phone number. World SIMs have more expensive rates than country-specific SIM cards, but they are not nearly as expensive as roaming charges from North American carriers. You can get World SIM cards from companies like Telestial. Great, grab a quad-band phone and a world SIM card and you're set right? Wrong. Once again, North America is out to lunch. All the major carriers here lock their phones so that you can't swap SIM cards. Why? To prevent you from switching carriers! The solution is to get an unlocked cell phone. Where do you get an unlocked cell phone? Simple, on the Internet. There are also companies that will provide an unlock code for most cellphones if you send them your make and model. What did we ended up with? An unlocked Motorola Razr quad-band phone purchased on E-Bay for $125 and a World SIM card from roam+simple that works in 200+ countries and has a number in the UK. Just don't be surprised if you get a call from Indonesian phone number - it just means we swapped SIM cards so we could talk to you longer!