Cambodia and Indonesia

Cooper's Perspective

Our time in Cambodia and Indonesia was absolutely amazing! Although I do think I like Indonesia better. I'd love to go back again, to both places.

Cambodia was very beautiful with Angkor Wat and all the other temples nearby. Angkor Wat was truly amazing with all the trees growing out of the rock and they were over 20 metres tall! Daddy told us that Tomb Raider was filmed there, so we wanted to see the movie. Later it was on TV so we got to watch it. When we were in Angkor Wat we got to stop and see about six other temples along the way. Two Tuk Tuk drivers named Sam and Sam drove us around in Tuk Tuks for the whole day for only about $10. They were funny and they told us a lot about the temples.

The bad part about Cambodia was me getting sick. We went to eat at a pizza place recommended by a guy we met at the hotel pool. We suspect it was from the ice in my pop because Katie, Daddy and I got sick but mum had somthing else to drink. That night I wasn't feeling so good and I couldn't fall asleep so I got up and went to the washroom. I threw up after a while so I woke Katie up and she went and got mum. I fell asleep after a few hours but the next day things weren't much better, in fact they were worse. We were going to have to cross the border to get back into Thailand, which is about 16 hours of travel. I carried a bag with me at all times just in case (which I'm glad I did).

In Indonesia we mostly stayed on the island of Bali. We stayed in Kuta with Daddy and when he went home we went to Sanur and then Ubud.When we got to Ubud I was very excited to go look around in the Monkey Forest. I didn't expect to see so many monkeys! Katie was a little freaked out from them all. Lots of the little ones were playing together and chasing each other around. Later we passed a monkey eating a yam and I must have gotten a bit to close because he hissed and tried to scratch me. Mum was the only one who had a picture taken with a monkey. It seemed a bit gross to have a monkey sitting on me.

We met a nice taxi driver, named Sande, who drove us to many nice places like the Elephant Cave, Pulu Reliefs, wood carving factories and even his house. My favourite place he took us was the Elephant Cave. It was probably the hottest day since we got there, and probably the hottest tempurature I've ever felt. There were 6 fountains, 3 in each pool, and in each pool was about a foot of water. There were fish in the water about a foot and a half tall so they had to swim sideways. The actual cave was really cool, actually hotter than outside, but I liked it. The cave was smaller than I expected. It was only about 200 feet cubed.

Another cool thing we saw were the Pulu reliefs. Mum says that when they were digging for a rice paddy they came across the carvings that were thousnands of years old. The cool thing was, the carvings were of the Thai peoples' every day lives. It showed people going and killing what looked like pigs and bringing them in on sticks. Katie's favourite was a guy on a horse with his hair wavy like it was blowing in the wind. There was even a rock that showed an elephant holding a guy with his trunk.

My second favourite time was when we went to Sande's house. It was a lot bigger than I expected and it had a huge open garage with no doors. He said lots of people don't have a place to park so they park on the streets making them hard to drive on. He made room for about 10 cars at once to park in and he charges them rent so he can make more money. He gave us pop to drink and mangosteen tea (mangosteens are an Indonesian fruit) and some fruit off of his tree. He introduced us to his wife and children and when we left he gave us two pottery plates as a gift. We gave him an incense burner and some incense. It was great to see how a family in Indonesia lives.

I hope I get to visit Bali and its black sand beaches, again one day!

Vietnam and Thailand

Katie's Perspective

My first thought of Asia when I got out of the airport was "Hot and humid!" It was like walking into a sauna. This heat managed to carry on throughout our stay in Asia, but it is way better than snowy, cold Alberta! Mom told you about our first stop, Bangkok, so I"ll tell you about beautiful Ha Long Bay, Vietnam and Phuket, Thailand. 

Ha Long Bay was one of my favorite places we have visited. The isalnds were so cool and looked like little, green baseballs floating on the water. We stayed overnight in a boat called a junk. We anchored near a cave that we had toured earlier in the day. The cave was huge and had been carved out of the Island by years of water hitting the roof and walls of the cave. Now though, the cave is not filled with water but you can see the scalloped celing where the waves wold have hit. It was huge and had stalagmites and stalactites that the tour guide said looked like monkeys and aligators. It was the biggest cave I've ever been in.

While on the Junk we stopped to go kayaking. Since we had sailed most of the day to get there we arrived at sunset. Mom and I shared a kayak while Dad and Cooper shared one. We paddled through the islands to get an amazing view of the pink and gold sunset; a beautiful day to remember. That night we had a delicious meal. On the Junk they never left us feeling hungry. We had 8 or 9 course meals and all of the plates were heaped to the top! There was a big party on our junk that night, and people from other boats heard the music and got rides over to join us. It was a special celebration and the crew shared their party food and their Vietnamese "wine" with us. Mom and dad said it tasted like moonshine. We weren't so interested in dancing or karaoke, so we fished for squid off the back of the boat. Dad caught one and it squirted black ink everywhere. 

The next day our junk dropped us off at the beach hotel. It was a small island that had a  few cottage style hotel rooms built right on the beach or, like ours, built on stilts over the water. That afternoon we went kayaking to an island that was just across from us. I found some neat shells and cool pieces of wood. when we came back the people who had been on the Junk with us started a game of volleyball. I sketched while Cooper, Dad and Mom played. I got some good pictures! That night we had a delicious seafood supper. One of the people on our boat had a birthday so we got cake. That night we had a huge bonfire right on the beach and listened to some good music (not Vietnamese music). 

Vietnam had beauiful countryside as well. Delicate rice paddies and beautiful people. I loved Vietnam but Thailand was tuff to beat! We went back, to Phuket this time, but Dad was in Canada so he missed out on the beaches there. While we were in Phuket we went on some island tours. We went snorkelling around Phi Phi Island. There were some tiny jellyfish that gave us mild stings but there were lots of pretty fish and coral and we even saw some parrot fish and a puffer fish. We stopped the boat in a calm, pretty bay to go swimming and we went to monkey beach to see the wild monkeys. Guides paddled us into some caves and one led us into the middle of the island where it opened up to a hidden opening where there were mangrove trees. It was a great surprise. We also went to James Bond Isalnd. A scene from "The Man wiith the Golden Gun" was filmed there.

Our next stop in Thailand was Koh Lanta. We found a restaurant that served teh best Tom Kah ever. We ate it three times. The lady who owned the hotel drove us to Long Beach every day. We sat in cabanas and drank green tea smoothies. The warer was so warm. There was no sea glass so we collected tiny shells from the beach. I bought a jingley anklet and bracelet there. The hotel had a really pretty grey and black striped cat that was so relaxed. It just flopped on the floor all day and let you pet it all you wanted. 

Asia was great. I hope I can find a good Tom Kah restaurant at home.

 

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Sue's Perspective

About a year before our trip, I downloaded Pinterest onto my iPad and started pinning places to visit around the world. Angkur Wat in Cambodia, Ha Long Bay and the nearby Caves in Vietnam, and a dozen place in Thailand, like the Reclining Buddha, were Pins that I googled and hoped to see. However, we needed to get a visa for Vietnam prior to entering the country. Most countries we visited either didn't require Canadians to have a visa, or you could get a 30 day visa upon entry, which simply meant an extra line to stand in when you arrived at the airport. For Vietnam, the embassy was in Bangkok, so we organised the visa through a travel agent to whom we entrusted our passports. The process takes several days, so we organized a day trip around Bangkok, and a three day tour of Kanchanaburi, which is north and a bit west of Bangkok, to fill our days while we waited for the visa to come through. We were in for some great surprises.

The floating market was a terrific surprise. We were driven by boat down a series of canals to the start of the floating market, where we needed to change to a smaller boat. On the way to this dock, Cooper spotted a strange creature swimming in the water. When the driver saw it he started yelling to nearby boats and was very excited. It was a Kimodo Dragon. Apparently, based on the driver's reaction, these giant lizards don't come around the villages that often, so this was an unexpected addition to the day. He was probably about 6 feet long and was flicking his tongue around as he swam along the edge of the canal.

After transferring boats we were told to keep our hands and elbows in the boat. We learned why quickly, as the über crowded canals were jammed with long narrow boats that slid along each other in a tight squeeze that left no room for fingers, wrists, or elbows. Originally, the floating market consisted of ladies paddling their boats up and down the canals, selling fruits, vegetables, meals that are cooked fresh on the boat, household items like handmade brushes and brooms, and many other products, to the locals and to the odd tourist. Over the years, however, it has become a major tourist attraction. We bought two meals from the ladies in the picture below, which they prepared for us, fresh, on their boat. Katie and I also bought two small elephant figurines. I'm so glad we were able to experience this unique shopping trip!

I'm ashamed to admit that we also went to a couple of animal shows during this day trip and during the Kanchanaburi trip. There were several locations with tigers, elephants and crocodiles. We went on two elephant rides. We said we wouldn't go on the second one, but due to communication problems I guess we didn't make this clear enough, and we ended up on the second ride. At the tiger zoo, Katie was able to feed a baby tiger (still huge... +100lbs) a bottle of milk. That was probably the only part of the animal shows that we enjoyed. The rest of it was so sad. Instead of being inspired by the beauty and majesty of these great animals, the antics that they were made to perform seemed degrading. I won't go on and on; I'll just say that if I had it to do over I wouldn't go to any of the animal shows.

Kanchanaburi has a great deal of historical significance regarding WWII. Do you remember the movie, "The Bridge on the River Kwai"? There were actually several bridges, and they were built in Burma and Kanchanaburi. The building of the bridges was engineered by the Japanese and the construction was carried out by POWs and enslaved civilians. The conditions they lived and worked in were inhuman, and many men died. The museum and the cemetery were worth the visit. We walked across one of the famous, re-built bridges, which was bombed by the allies despite the fact that the Japanese made the POWs stand on it and wave their arms in the hopes that they wouldn't bomb it. Sadly, the bridge was blown up, and any surviving POWs were swept down the river. (The movie tells the story of another bridge, in Burma, that William Holden helps blow up just as a train full of Japanese dignitaries crosses over it.) 

We stayed two nights in Kanchanaburi, staying on/in a floating hotel on the River Kwai. This sounds so lovely and romantic, doesn't it? Well... a picture is worth a thousand words. Check out the pictures below, that show our floating accomodations. Take special care to note that the toilet doesn't have a handle for flushing. We needed to scoop water out of the bucket provided, to help swoosh away the contents of the bowl. Also, you'll note that there's no door to the bathroom, just a shower curtain, and that thin blue towel on the end of the bed was the comforter. We nearly froze the first night (yes... we actualy stayed two nights!) On the up side... the meals, three breakfasts and two suppers, were surprisingly tastey.

The highlight of this trip, for all of us, was our hike up the Earwan Falls; absolutely beautiful. It was about 2.5km to the top, passing lovely falls as you go. Many people swim in the pools under the falls, and at one of the pools there were boulders you could slide down. Cooper and I tried it and it was awesome. A bit of a shock was when I stepped into a pool for the first time. Are you familiar with the tanks of fish they have in cities all over Asia where the fish nibble the dead skin off of your feet? Well, we found the wild version of these fish. I screamed so loud the birds and beasts were silent for a moment. I'm not usually a screamer, but I was NOT expecting to be pounced on by these huge fish (at least 4 inches long! : ) I was determined to get in that water (it was very hot out and we'd been hiking for about two hours). After a few more attempts and a couple of slightly less jarring screams, I managed to get in the whole way. (If you flailed a lot, the fish stayed away.) It was totally worth it; refreshing, beautiful, not so peaceful with all the flaling, but....

If you go to Thailand, I'd say that the River Kwai and the Earwan Falls shouldn't be missed. As unique as it was, the floating hotel could probably be happily replaced by a one or two star hotel. If you love elephants, there is a special elephant park in Chang Mai that rescues and recovers abused and neglected elephants. You can go for a week or more, helping with the feeding and bathing of the elephants. We tried to get in but they were booked, so book your stay well in advance. Here is the website: http://www.baanchangelephantpark.com/

Floating down the River Kwai on a bamboo raft.

Bangkok, Thailand in January

Sue's Perspective

After four long months, we finally got to meet Dave in Bangkok! It was a great reunion. It was strange waiting for Dave in the arrivals area. Seeing him come around the corner, with a big smile and a huge back pack, was the best feeling. While still in the airport we went to one of the Thai tourist booths, which help you organize tours and day trips. We booked a day trip that included a river boat ride in one of those James Bond boats with the really long prop coming off the motor, and a tour of some temples and the famous Reclining Buddha. We had a day to sleep in, relax and do some walking around Bangkok. Then we were picked up by our guide, Wan, who was a licensed tour guide and spoke very good English. 

The river boat ride took us past some very rich river side homes, as well as some homes built on stilts, half on land and half on water. We saw families cooking, doing laundry, and looking after their boats. Each home had a designated area for offerings, which they give three times each day without fail. These include burning incense, saying prayers, and leaving trays of food, drink, coins, clothes, etc. Anything that they think deceased family members might need in the other world. We could see beautiful temples with giant statues of Buddha along the river, as well as the King's Palace. 

We didn't visit the palace, but we did vist a few temples. One in particular had the steepest most treacherous staircase I've ever climbed. There's no way they'd allow people on it in Canada. Worker's Comp would be all over it! But the view from the top was great, and we survived both the up and the down trip without injury.

The Reclining Buddha was fantastic. Covered in gold leaf, it's 15m high and 43 m long. My favourite part was the huge feet, with swirls on the bottoms of the toes like fingerprints.

We also went to the Wat Traimit Temple. This temple houses a remarkable, solid gold Buddha with a neat history. While historians believe it was originally built in the 13-14th century, it was significantly altered in about 1767 when Thailand was under threat of invasion by the Burmese. To protect the solid gold Buddha from luting, the monks plastered over it with stucco, and decorated it with mosaics of broken glass. In 1954 it was being moved to a new location, when the ropes broke (they probably weren't expecting a stucco statue to weigh so much!) and some of the stucco broke off, revealing the gold. The monks removed the remaining stucco and discovered the beautiful statue underneath. The clever artisans who built it, had separated it into nine sections that were easily taken apart with a key, that was also found hidden in the stucco. This made it easy to transport the statue to it's new location at Wat Traimit Temple. In the picture you can see that this solid gold, 3m tall, 5.5 tonne statue sits upon a high pedestal that looks like a pile of cushions. At $1400 an ounce the gold is worth about $250 000 000, but of course, to the Thai people, it is a priceless piece of their history.

Along our way we found statues for the kids to pose with. Katie does have luck finding statues of cows!

For dinner, we went to a terrific sushi restaurant. We had mackeral tetaki, served with the bones of the fish beautifully and artfully displayed, showing the freshness of the fish.

We also snacked on the food cooked by street vendors. Usually this consisted of some sort of meat on a stick. One time, Cooper chose a stick that turned out to be chicken livers! It was actualy very tastey. This picture shows a lady selling bags of fresh fruit all peeled, cut up and ready to eat.

Finally, I can't miss mentioning the famous Tuk Tuks! What a great way to zip around town. And I mean ZIP! Our driver looked like he couldn't have been more than 16, and he drove like Enzo Ferrari! If visiting temples isn't your thing, spend the day eating food from the street vendors and zipping around town in a tuk tuk. Too fun!

A monk snoozing on a bus...

<font size="6">Barcelona</font>

Cooper's Thoughts

Barcelona is now one of my favorite places in the world! There was so much to see. We went on a "hop on hop off" bus tour from 9:00am to about 7:00pm two days in a row. I was soooooooo tired! The food there was amazing, we ate tapas with paella 3 nights in a row. It was sooooo delicious! We stayed in the gothic district of Barcelona, right next to the Christmas market. It had lots of cool Christmas stuff. 

Barcelona is a huge city, so we probably didn't even see half of it! Out of the places we did see the Sagrada Familia Church was my favorite. We also saw Guell Park and Casa Batllo. Visiting Barcelona was a great experience and I would love to go back sometime.  

The Sagrada Familia Church ceiling

Stained glass at Sagrada Familia Church

Guell Park

Casa Batllo

Some crazy guy photo bombing Katie's picture...

Spain

By Katie

We arrived in Spain on November 10 and stayed for about 2 and a half months. We stayed by a lovely beach in Puerto du la Duquesa near Manilva. We found lots of sea glass, and surprised mom at Christmas by turning a piece of blue glass into a pendant for her. We played on the beach quite a bit, but it was too cold for swimming.  

We went on hikes up in the mountains with a lady named Johanna who had a hiking company called Sur Walks. She showed us the culture and beauty of Spain. We enjoyed tapas, delicious olives and even drided pork legs! She took us to a cave with neolithic cave drawings that was really amazing. The tour guide said that the cave was about 250 m long! It was very dark and we had to use giant flash lights to see. They didn't put any permanent lights in because over time it could make the drawings lose their colour and disappear. The cave ws also very wet and quite slippery so we had to be very careful, especially on the steps. The outside temperature was very cold compared to the inside of the cave which was about 16 degrees. There were lots of stalagmites and stalactites wich were so amazing considering one cm. takes about 100 years to form!!! Some were even connecting from the ceiling to the floor! There was also two small ponds in the cave that did not have any fish or bugs in them but they were still cool to see. I thought it was so cool to see drawings that were made so long ago! I'm really happy we went.

My favourite place, though, was the city of Ronda. I loved the look of the truly Spanish town. White houses with red roofs and cobble stone streets! Old bridges and bull fighting arenas, happy people and beautiful veiws! Our hike took us through an olive tree farm and up a long hill to some stabels where you could ride horses!  The town had an old bridge built in the 9th century and the "new" brige built in the 13th century!  The old bridge also doubled as a prison to put the bad guys. We ate a beautiful Spanish tapas lunch in Ronda. The restaurant was built of old stone and had tall archways and exposed wood beams. We had delicious potato cakes, dried pork leg slices with cheese, salad with oil and vinegar, and sausage slices in a red sauce. If I were to go back to Spain I would probably live in Ronda and eat lunch at Bodega De La Veradad.

Of course we couldn't go to Spain without seeing Barcelona and some of Gaudi's works of art! Barcelona was drop dead gorgeous! Gaudi's buildings were elaborate and well, Gaudi ! My favorite building and probably his most famouse was the Sagrada Familia Church, which means sacred family in Spanish. It was so tall, and it wasn't even finished ! It ws Gaudi's life's work and he only got to work on it for 40 years of his life. His goal was to make 12 tiny towers representing the 12 apostles, two larger towers representing Mary and Joseph and one final tower, the largest, representing Jesus. We were able to walk up one of the towers and had a magnificent view! Inside, the first thing you notice is the elaborate and beautiful  stained glass windows! They are extremely tall and flowed in colours of cool blue, warm red, sunny orange, lush green and bright yellow. Looking at them you might forget to look up and see the beauty of the arched ceilings! Tall pillars reach to the top and detailed paintings look down at you. Smooth rock and soft colours bring the wide room to a comfortable and beautiful place! 

We celebrated a Spanish Christmas back in Puerto Du La Duquesa with my Aunty Kyla and Uncle Tom. It was so nice to have them come visit us for the holiday! I made a small origami nativity scene to put under our 2 foot tall Christmas tree and an angel to put on top of it. Mom made an extraordinary dinner with a little help from Cooper and I. Uncle Tom and Aunty Kyla brought Stove Top Stuffing along from home, which was the added touch we needed. We played games and had lots of fun.

Spain was beautiful and even though I would have loved to learn more Spanish!!

Spain

By Sue

We arrived in Spain on November 10th. We had a terrific condo right on the Sea! Beautiful sunrises every morning. Manilva was the town up the hill and Sabinillas bordered us along the sea. We often walked to Sabinillas, but the next big town, Marbella, required a bus ride or taxi. Taxi's we're pretty costly and buses always seemed unreliable. It was hard to find a schedule online, and if you did it wasn't always up to date. One day, in Manilva, we sat at the bus stop for half an hour. No bus came so we went in to the nearest tapas bar and asked about it. They said there was no bus. I showed them the schedule but they just shrugged and said that those schedules aren't always right. If you go, I would recommend a rental car. If you shop around, you can get very reasonable rates, and you have the freedom to visit all the beautiful little towns that dot the hills and coast.

Our Beach

View from Our Balcony

Fish Market in Marbella

Smoked pork legs are available in all shops and most tapas bars.

I was really happy to find Johanna, a wonderful lady who organizes hikes through her company, Sur Walks. Unfortunately I didn't find her until only a few weeks before we left, so we weren't able to do all of her hikes. The ones we did go on were terrific. I highly recommend tracking her down if you are in southern Spain. Her website address is http://www.sur-walks.com/index.php.

Johanna with the kids at the sulphur bath in Cesares where Julius Ceasar bathed

I'm torn about which hike was my favourite. One day we hiked around the city of Ronda in the morning and then went into the city for lunch. It was beautiful. We saw a gentleman knocking olives out of his trees the way they've done it for centuries. He seemed quite pleased to have his picture taken. We also stopped by a beautiful horse ranch and watched a ferrier at work. We visited the ancient Roman baths and and the bull fighting ring. Back in town, I got a kick out of the way the people there refer to their two main bridges as the old bridge and the new bridge, since the new bridge was built in the 13th century!

Old Bridge

New Bridge

Olive Farmer

Ferrier

I do think I have to give the edge to our hike up to the La Pileta cave, followed by a hike down along the Guadiaro River with lunch in Jimera. The cave was such an unexpected surprise. There is only one other cave in the wold, discovered so far, that has drawings as old as these, and that one is in France. The drawings were of mainly two types, red, which were neolithic, and black, which were Paleolithic. The stalagmites and stalactites were also incredible, especially when you think that they grow about 1cm every 100 years! We weren't allowed to take pictures, as the light damages the drawings, but I bought some postcards, and this image is from one of those postcards...

The hike along the Gaudiaro River was beautiful. We saw goats and birds, and we found loads of acorns. The hills were green and their were huge fish in the river. When we arrived in Jimera, we were starving. I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant as it was in an old train car service building, with huge wooden sliding doors and a fire burning away in the fireplace. The food was another pleasant surprise. Gourmet, but at a reasonable price. The company we shared also made it special. Johanna is a kind hearted, nature and animal lover. I felt like I'd known her forever. A lovely German couple, Roman and Juta, had joined our hike that day, and we enjoyed their company as well. 

After being in Spain for about five weeks, and two months in Croatia and Turkey before that, we were sure starting to get homesick! But we had something great to look forward to... Kyla and Tom we're coming for Christmas! Their visit was awesome and helped us get through those last few weeks before meeting Dave in Thailand. What a fantastic Christmas! They brought Stove Top Stuffing for our turkey dinner, which I don't mind saying, turned out terrific! And they brought all kinds of other surprises... Cheese Whiz, peanut butter, and lots of Christmas treats, like brightly coloured socks (I'll never wear boring old white again!) and this terrific oil called Peppermint Halo. We played charades and a blind drawing game and had lots of laughs. Kyla and Tom made Christmas extra special.

While Kyla and Tom were here, we rented a car and visited Tangiers in Africa, Ronda, Seville, and Granada. The Alhambra Palace in Granada is a must see. In Seville I liked seeing the Metropol Parasol in La Encarnación Square, which claims to be the largest wooden structure in the world. I wish Dave could've seen it. We also shopped. And shopped and shopped! I think we saw every shoe store Spain had to offer, some of them twice! Katie and I both bought a pair of boots, but I think Tom was the winner with several pairs of desert boots, in a variety of colours. While we were in Tangiers Tom, Kyla and I all bought Jelabas, a hooded, floor length, long sleeved tunic. I bought one for Dave as well. It's rare to see a man there not wearing one or some version of one. Cooper was very patient through all of this shopping, never complaining once. 

A Bakery in Tangiers

Dressing Up Tangiers Style

Thread Store in Tangiers

Street Performers doing a Flamenco Dance in Granada

The Alhambra Palace in Granada

After Tom and Kyla left, the kids and I visited Gibraltar. We saw the rock, St. Michael's Cave, and the monkeys. We ate fish and chips, spent British pounds, and posed for a picture by a classic London style phone booth. It was like being in Britain for the day, but only took us about an hour and a half by bus to get there. It was a fun day, and a good break from school work. 

Overall our time in Spain was a great experience. We stayed in the Manilva condo because we had a connection that helped us arrange it. It was way nicer than any other place we had stayed in, and was within our budget. If I had it to do over, however, I would probably choose a smaller town near Seville or Granada, where there are fewer British expats. We didn't learn any Spanish, but I think we ended up with British accents! Haha!

Just a Couple More Pics!