London – The Curtain Comes Down

London!!

London, May 10 - After our 10 days of wanderings in the English countryside it was back to London for a few days before our flight back to Canada. We were all looking forward to this last leg of our overseas trip, a few more days and we would be back home! London was where our trip had begun 7 months ago but now we were returning as comfortable travelers to a familiar city. We had simple plans for our 2 days in London; see the Lion King, let the kids visit Hamley's toy store, and take in a few sites we missed last time.

Waiting to see The Lion King

The Lion King was amazing, we all enjoyed the whole spectacle of songs, sounds, sets, and the incredible animal costumes. And after seeing the behaviour and movement of the animals on our African safari, we got an even greater appreciation for the efforts made in the costumes used to portray these same animals on stage. It was a great play and even Aaron was totally enthralled. Every time I glanced over at him he was wide-eyed and totally absorbed with the play. As we all so enjoyed this play, we decided to take in another play the next night. If we could get the tickets, it was going to be Wicked, the story of the Wizard of OZ but from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Trafalgar Square

The next morning, after getting our tickets for Wicked, it was off to Hamley's toy store with the boys and their birthday money. The boys spent a couple of hours scouring the 6 floors of toys for that unique or special toy they could not get at home. In the end they both made some tough choices as to what toys they would not buy. With Aaron's and Niall's shopping spree complete Susan took the afternoon for her own shopping spree while myself and the boys wandered through some of the parks of London and revisiting Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace. Then it was another great night at the theatre before the curtain went down on the this part of our journey.

Hyde Park

It was a great couple of days in London. We were leaving contented with what we had done but knowing there was much more to see and do. Over the course of our travels we had learned there are always things that would need to wait for another visit. It was this in mind that as we boarded our plane back to Canada, we discovered we had mixed feelings for the end our trip. There was the excitement of going home and the regret that this part of our journey was ending with so much more to see. Susan and I have already decided there will need to be other trips.

For a few more pictures of London, check out our web album.

Wanderings in the English Countryside

Enjoying the Countryside

Watchfield, England, April 30 - We had a great time in England. The weather was warm and sunny. After arriving in Heathrow we took a bus trip towards the small town of Watchfield to visit my brother Andrew and his family for a few days. Watchfield is conveniently located to a number of classic English sites. It is about a 45 minute ride west of Oxford, a 45 minute ride east of Bath, and few hours drive down the M4 gets you to Wales. Watchfield would become our base as we spent the next 10 days wandering around the English countryside by foot, bike, bus, and car.

Safari in Legoland

Our first excursion was off to Windsor with Andrew's family but not to see the castle. We had a much more important part of the realm to see, Legoland! The visit was a birthday celebration as Aaron was turning 10 the next day, Niall would be 13 two days after that and two of Andrew and Sandy's children also have birthdays in early May. We all had a good day there enjoying the rides and seeing some very life like African animals built with Lego.

Unfortunately 3 days after arriving, my brother and his family had to return to Canada for a week. Left on our own we began our wanderings starting with the village of Watchfield. Andrew had already given us a tour of the Defence Academy he was attending, complete with its antique furniture, silverware, and original art depicting famous British battles. A series of geocaches gave us a tour of the town leading us through “kissing gates”, to a 200 year old pub, a 500 year old church, and a former RAF airfield from World War II.

Stone circle at Avebury

The next day an hour bus ride brought us to the small village of Avebury, site of the largest stone circle or henge, much larger and older but perhaps less famous than Stonehenge. Unlike Stonehenge, here we could wander through the henge, touch the stones, chase sheep, and watch a group of pagans practice their rituals. The site was so large that a stone lined avenue stretched into the surrounding farm fields. A series of footpaths took us through the fields and to even more stone age sites. Then it was back to the village of Avebury to catch a double-decker bus back to Watchfield.

Tintern Abbey

Over the next few days we would visit lots more ruins. These included the iron age Uffington Castle, an ancient barrow or burial chamber, the supposed grave site of King Arthur's father, the Tintern Abbey abandoned in the 12^th century, and ruins of Castle Raglan which played a role in the English civil war in the 1600's. The boys enjoyed exploring these places and no doubt were imagining life as an ancient warrior or knight. Susan and I particularly enjoyed the ruined cathedral at Tintern. Here the walls were still intact but with no roof the sun poured in highlighting the soaring beauty of the cathedral. This was a feature that had been lost to us during our visits to the intact but dimly lit cathedrals of Notre Dame and Bourges.

City of Bath

Visits were also made to both the city of Oxford and Bath. In Oxford we took time to visit a market and roam through some of the many colleges of Oxford University. As we strolled along the River Thames we watched the famous rowing crews of Oxford practice. At Bath we treated ourselves to a visit to the Roman baths but perhaps more spectacular was walking through the city's neighbourhoods of Georgian style buildings. Both cities seemed to have kept their historic character while capturing a modern vibrancy. Both Susan and I felt it would be a real treat to live in one of these cities for awhile.

Willow Cottage

Our longest sojourn was to visit our friends Ian and Claire near Dartmoor. It was a short visit but it was great to catch up with them and get a taste of their English lifestyle, complete with a stay in their 400 year old thatched roof cottage with its slanted floors and cozy fireplace. A short drive, through some very narrow hedge lined roads, took us to the moor, a large elevated plateau topped with rocky outcrops called tors. This was a vastly different landscape from what we had been seeing. Exposed to the winds and with cooler temperatures the lush farmers fields of below were replaced with low shrubs of the moor that was more a kin to the barrens of Newfoundland than the lush farmer fields below.

Castle Raglan

It had been a great 10 days in rural England. We left feeling refreshed and wanting to see more. There was just so much history here that you can hardly go outside without tripping over some historical feature. In England, it seems historical features are not preserved but simply kept as part of the infrastructure. Ancient pathways continued to be used, ruined castles and ancient earthworks are left to age gracefully in the landscape, while old buildings and churches just continued to be used. And connecting them all are 100's of kilometres of footpaths. You never know what you will discover around the bend but I guess that will have to be another trip.

For more pictures of our wanderings of England, check out our web album.

The Sands of Dubai

Dubai, April 24 - Dubai was a planned 2 day lay over to break up the flight from Australia back to London and to provide us with a taste of the extravagance of this quickly developing city. But after almost 7 months of traveling we were getting exhausted and found our hearts were not into our visit here. On top of that, the new $250 dollar welcome charge in visa fees further cut into our enthusiasm and budget for Dubai. Thank you Mr. Harper.

Jeremaih Beach, Dubai

We landed in Dubai at 5:30am local time and it was already hot. A 30 minute taxi drive took us through the sprawling city of Dubai to our hotel. Along the way we saw the world's tallest building and the world's first 7 star hotel before arriving at our relatively modest hotel near the marina. At about the same price to just walk into the 7 star hotel we scored a 2 bedroom 3 bathroom suite next to the beach. Oddly our room was not ready at 7:00am in the morning so we headed to the beach. As usual the heat got to Aaron first and he jumped in the water clothes and all. After a nap in the hotel we all returned to the beach in the afternoon where we got to watch the rich play with their yachts and take turns paragliding from airplanes.

Camel Riding in Dubai

Our second day it was a choice of going shopping, downhill skiing, visiting Wild Wadi's water park, going shopping, checking out the old city, going shopping, or taking in a desert safari. The desert safari won out and after spending the morning at the beach it was off to the desert surrounding the city of Dubai. As a safari it was far from our African experience, instead it was a joy ride through the desert bashing over dunes in a Toyota Landcruiser. Niall enjoyed the thrill, Aaron got scared, Susan almost got sick, and I hoped Susan wouldn't kill me when we got out of the car. Luckily, the event also included some sand boarding, a short camel ride and dinner in a desert camp complete with traditional(?) dancing. The male dancers were impressive and reminiscent of the twirling dervishes in Turkey. As for the belly dancing it didn't even compare with what we had seen in Istanbul. The experience wasn't what was hoped for but showed us one facet of Dubai in the short time we had here.

Desert near Dubai

After our excursion out in the desert, Susan and I headed out for a stroll along the outdoor mall. At 10:30pm the heat of the day had dissipated and we found the restaurants and sidewalks were now full of people. Of all the places we had been in the last 7 months, we heard more different languages being spoken in these few blocks of Dubai than anywhere else. It had become obvious to us that just as in the past, the Middle East is still a crossroads of world trade and commerce and Dubai is a symbol of the riches that come with it. Our 2 days in Dubai showed us that we were really just visitors to this realm of riches and as we departed Dubai we knew our own riches of home were becoming that much closer.

For a few more pictures of Dubai, check out our web album.

Close Encounters of the Australian Kind

Pebbly Beach

Pebbly Beach, February 28 – After leaving the Blue Mountains we headed back to the coast and started heading south towards Victoria. Along the way we spent a few days enjoying the beaches and warm weather of the late Australian summer. For the first time in 48 years I got to celebrate my birthday camping and swimming at a beach. The boys enjoyed playing in the surf with Niall trying body surfing and thanks to a friendly Australian family who loaned us boogie board. Aaron had a much more simple approach to playing in the surf, he simply enjoyed being pounded and tossed about by the waves. As fun as all this was, Susan and I wanted to begin taking in some of the truly unique features of Australia, namely the animals. So far we had yet to see a kangaroo.

Wallaby - Jervis Bay

Further south along the coast were some national parks and the promise of seeing kangaroos. A short stop at the beaches of Jervis Bay gave us our first encounter with a wallaby, a kangaroo like animal but perhaps a little cuter. But it was Pebbly Beach that would be our main destination. There we were told kangaroos frequently visited the beach near the campground.

A couple pf "roos" at Pebbly Beach

Arriving at Pebbly Beach it wasn't long before we had our first encounter of the kangaroo kind. While setting up the tent a young male kangaroo joined us in our campsite. After calmly hopping into our campsite, we found ourselves looking eye to eye with him. The kangaroo stood there looking at us as if trying to introduce himself and with the help of the park ranger introductions were made and Niall was able to pet the kangaroo! This was the first of what would be many kangaroo encounters over the next few days. Later that evening we discovered over 30 kangaroos grazing near the beach. The next day hiking along a coastal trail we came across several other large groups of kangaroos. They seem to be everywhere and many with young joeys in their pouches. We were just enthralled watching them as they hopped around so gracefully and easily. They were such a different animal to anything we had seen before and we all just loved watching them.

Cooking on the "barbie"

At night it was the possums that joined us at the campsite. These are Australia's answer to a raccoon. About the same size as a raccoon these animals made a nightly patrol of the campsite scavenging for food and licking the barbecues clean. With their very dexterous paws and inquisitive eyes they seemed very cute but this was betrayed by their growling as they seem to argue with each other and fight over scraps of food. Needless to say we were not about to make them to welcome in our campsite and as in Canada took the usual precautions of storing our food in the trunk of the car.

Susan with one of the locals

At lunch the next day, the local population of parrots, lorikeets, and other colourful birds introduced themselves. These birds are also very habituated to campers and quickly invited themselves for lunch. Setting themselves up on the roof of the kitchen shelter they eyed our lunch and if we turned our backs on them they would swoop in and help themselves. If we left the kitchen shelter we ran the risk of being mobbed especially with other visitors encouraging this behaviour by feeding them. Aaron got a fright when a bird pitched unexpectedly on his shoulder and it wasn't long before a parrot took up residence on Susan's shoulder. It was all very comical and we all enjoyed the opportunity to see these very colourful birds up close.

Aaron checks out a kangaroo

It was a great couple of days watching wildlife at Pebbly Beach and we enjoyed seeing so many Australian animals for the first time and so close. Seeing these animals for real is just so different from what we had imagined. For us it was amazing and we wondered what the first Europeans to arrive in Australia must have thought.


For more of our pictures of our encounters at Pebbly Beach see our web album.

The Blue Mountains - First Experiences in the Australian "Bush"

The Three Sisters

Katoomba, February 20 – Our first encounter with the Australian “bush” would be the Blue Mountains about 2 hours to the west of Sydney. So newly equipped with our rental car and trying to get used to driving on the other side of the road, we headed to the hills of Australia's Great Dividing Range and the town of Katoomba, home to a rock formation known as “Three Sisters”.

View from Govetts Leap Lookoff

Katoomba like all the communities in the area is built on the mountain plateau overlooking a large canyon. Here we found a climate more akin to our Newfoundland summers, mid-20's during the day and mid-teens with a heavy dew in the evenings. This cool moist climate supported a lush and vast temperate rainforest that carpeted the canyon floor. This seemed to be Australia's version of the Grand Canyon.

Descending into the Canyon

We spent the next 3 days hiking and exploring this spectacular canyon. Trails led us along the edge of the canyon. Another trail equipped with many ladders and steep stairs cut out of the cliff took us to the canyon floor and into the forest before we returned top side by the world's steepest and we like to think scariest funicular railway. The railway started on a flat but quickly steepened to a 128% grade or over 52 degrees . It felt like being dragged vertically backwards up a rickety roller coaster. But we all agree the most spectacular hike was along the National Pass trail that descended halfway down the canyon wall before taking us for several kilometres along a narrow ledge.

Canopy of Tree Ferns

The trails let us scale up and down 100's of metres of sandstone cliffs leading us to spectacular waterfalls and some outstanding views. In the canyon, we were treated to a rainforest of beautiful tree ferns and huge gum trees shedding their bark. We encountered one of natures best mimics, the lyre bird as it foraged for insects and hidden in the forest was also the remains of past human endeavours. Old coal mines were now being reclaimed by the forest and human exploitation has been replaced with preservation. The canyon is once again filled with a vast temperate rainforest and has become a World Heritage Site.

Showing the Flag

The Blue Mountains are impressive but almost as impressive was the work of the trail builders that created safe passage ways into this spectacular landscape. Australians seem to love exploring the landscape around them and have taken a lot effort to provide access to it. We were happy to oblige ourselves of these opportunities and enjoyed our first excursion into the Australian bush.

For more of our pictures of the Blue Mountains check out our web album.

Arriving in the Land of Oz

Happy to be in Australia

Sydney, February 17 – We were all looking forward to our time in Australia. When planning our trip, Australia was top on our list to visit. Like many people we were intrigued by its beautiful landscapes and unfamiliar animals. Now after 3 months of traveling in non-English speaking countries, we had an additional reason to look forward to our 10 weeks in Australia. We were all looking forward to the comfort of being in a country with a familiar language and culture.

Darling Harbour, Sydney

We arrived in Sydney and started our Australian visit with a few days exploring the city and preparing for the rest of our 10 weeks in Australia. Our first stop in Sydney of course was Circular Quay to see the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Both of these structures where impressive and definitely in the same class as other great civic monuments like Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, and the Blue Mosque. Having seen Sydney's iconic sites we were now free to get on with the bigger goal of preparing for our entire visit to Australia. In other words shopping for camping gear, cell phones, and clothes as well visiting information centres.

Sydney Aquarium

Our preparations also included familiarizing ourselves with the animals that we hoped to see in the Australian bush. This required spending a day visiting the Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Wildlife World. There Aaron got to pet a kangaroo, we all saw a huge saltwater crocodile, and dozens of lizards. At the aquarium we got some amazing views of sharks, dugongs, and sea turtles. Both places had made a real effort to house and display the animals in very natural like settings. If seeing the real animals wasn't enough, both places had some fantastic full size replicas of the animals all made of Lego.

Niall with a Croc

We enjoyed both places and appreciated the close views of the animals as well as some good insights from the exhibits and guides about these animals. Hopefully we would have some of our own opportunities to see these animals in the wild. Well perhaps not all of them, as Wildlife World was complete with some of the many large insects and poisonous spiders that would also be lurking out there. This of course did not help to ease Aaron's or Susan's concerns about our plans to camp in Australia.

Enjoying the surf at Manly

Our last full day in Sydney was a Sunday and we decided to spend it like many Australians with a visit to a beach. As it was family day on the Sydney transportation system we took advantage of the cheap ferry fares to Manly Beach. This gave us a 30 minute cruise of Sydney Harbour before arriving at Manly wharf where a 2 minute walk took us to the beach with the open surf of the Pacific Ocean. There we spent the afternoon playing in the surf under the supervision of the iconic yellow and red dressed Australian surf guards. We finished the day with a meal at a local bistro (aka pub) before cruising back to Sydney and enjoying the view of the city lit up at night. It had been a great day.

Harbour Bridge at Night

After only a few days it was easy to fall into the lay back and friendly lifestyle of the Australians. This is a place that is less about wearing suits and more about wearing flipflops or going barefoot and when an Australian says “no worries” they really mean it.

Check out more of our pictures of Sydney in our web album.

Return to Bangkok

At the Grand Palace

February 15, 2011 - Returning to Bangkok, we set out to visit the Grand Palace and some of the city's temples. Arriving at the Palace we were immediately informed by a “helpful” passer by that the palace was closed for lunch. He immediately suggested a tuk-tuk tour of the areas other temples and of course shopping districts. This was all of course for 40 baht or about $1.50 and within seconds a pair of tuk-tuks were waiting for us.

Tuk-tuk riding in Bangkok

With the boys wanting a tuk-tuk ride through Bangkok, temptation took over our better judgment and we soon were headed through the streets of Bangkok in a pair of colourfully decorated tuk-tuks. We did manage to see one temple where we had a quick introduction to their typical design before we were led to some “shopping districts”. These shopping districts of course were specific stores, mainly jewelery stores and tailor shops which Thailand is known. After just window shopping in the high end stores I took the opportunity to purchase some tailor made shirts and Susan found a nice ring. But we were tiring of shopping and anxious to get back to see the temple. Unfortunately the tuk-tuk drivers seemed to have a quota of stores we were to visit so after a little more time than we wanted we found ourselves back at the Grand Palace for our visit there.

Temple at the Grand Palace

The palace was large and ornate as most palaces seem to be but in typical Thai style gilt gold, coloured glass, and jewels seemed to cover everything. Dragons, elephants, and mythical Thai dragons were incorporated everywhere. There was no mistaking this for the palaces and castles we saw in Europe but it was by no means less grand. We spent several hours exploring the palace, visiting the temple of the Emerald Bhudda, looking at 100's of metres of murals of Thai mythology. Here was another of the world's civilizations that we know so little about.

One of many markets in Bangkok

Leaving the refuge of the palace we were again facing the hustle of Bangkok's street sellers and its traffic. We wandered through some markets and found ourselves down by the river which was just as busy as everywhere else in Bangkok. Boats were rocking and bouncing through the chop and everywhere there were long narrow open boats taxiing people up and down the river. There was almost as many water taxis on the river as taxis on the streets. With Susan's “love” of rocking boats and crazy taxi drivers we thought it best to to be a spectator to this part of Bangkok life. Our last full day in Thailand was coming to a close, we would end it with a visit to one of Bangkok's night markets.

Water taxi on the Chao Phraya River

Our visit to Thailand was finishing better than it had begun but in many ways, we feel our 16 days in Thailand was a missed opportunity. We had arrived unexpectedly and unprepared for our 2 weeks here. Most of our time was spent relaxing and convalescing in Phuket. Our appetites were not up to exploring very much of the Thai cuisine. Visits across the Cambodian border to Angor Wat were not possible due to border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia. Shopping was cheap and once again to Susan's frustration, time and luggage space limited this activity. We did see enough of the country to learn that the people are friendly with perhaps the exception of some of the taxi drivers. Susan and I both agree that Thailand is definitely a place we would like to go back to but next time with more notice and with more of a plan.

For more of our pictures of our Thailand exerience check out our web album.