South East Asia Continues....

From Raya Island Thailand

If you read our blog entries and look at our pictures on Picasa you might get the impression that this trip is just a glorious vacation. There are certainly trying days for all of us but on the whole we have managed to do incredibly well for living with one another for 24/7 for the last four months. The combination of travelling for long hours by train or bus, poor weather, lack of sleep, and grungy accommodations creates the environment for a perfect storm. Quite honestly, we have held up very well.

If you read Jeff’s earlier blog entry then you know we met another very kind and generous person, Wery, on our train trip from Bangkok to the border of Laos. Meeting someone like Wery on our travels more than makes up for the hard days we have had. We are currently in Hanoi, Vietnam and are experiencing some of those day. We have taken the time to make some telephone calls home, post our 600+ pictures from the last month, and ensure we get a couple of Blog entries completed for our friends.

The good news is that our Blackberry is up and working in Vietnam (I broke the screen in Northern Thailand). The kids have had significant time on the internet today to play and send emails. Elaine is a little under the weather (bathroom problems). I think we know can say everyone has experienced a little of this on our RTW trip.

From Raya Island Thailand

After leaving northern Thailand and flying to Phuket (pronounced Pket) in the south, we stayed at a nice hotel for four nights on Karon beach where we had poor weather for two of the four days. We had a great pool all to ourselves and the kids had a blast and got some homework completed. We then headed to a small island south of Phuket called Raya Island where we spent 5 incredible nights on the ocean with GREAT weather. We stayed in a hut on a cliff overlooking the ocean and adjacent to a stunning white sandy beach. We got a great deal on our stay after several hours of negotiating in Phuket which certainly added to our experience. We have stayed in a variety of accommodations on our trip, from 5 star to just the opposite. Our memories of Raya Island will be with u s for a long time (hope you enjoy the photos on Picasa).

We then headed to Bangkok from Phuket by overnight bus and stayed in a good clean hotel in Bangkok where we fixed our Blackberry (we had parts courier to our hotel from HK). Next we headed to the Loas Border via overnight train. The only tickets available were 4 upper bunks separated from one another. A situation that could have been horrible actually turned out to be a very rewarding experience. Jeffrey sat with Wery, Elaine met a gentlemen who had recently left a brokerage house in France (I bet there were more than one on the train) , and Sam and I sat with a young Thai gentlemen that was in his 2nd year of law school in Bangkok.

After our great time with Wery, we left the next day for Vang Viang. We hired a Minivan drive us the 3 hours based upon an agreed upon price the day before. Most of our day was driving through the curvy mountains road (actually as far as I could tell there was just the one long road). We passed through a few towns, and many villages, each with the same, slow Lao way of life. The Lao people are very relaxed and laid back, like they all possess one speed only. This is great most of the time, though apparently infuriating in emergencies ! The villages and the landscape mostly looked the same - gorgeous 100% - and we fell into a trance watching this totally foreign world pass by my window. When we arrived, the driver asked for additional $$ and we stayed our ground but then realized a miscommunication occurred between the driver and the organizer that was neither his fault or ours. We gave him some extra $$ and reminded the kids that people were not out to cheat us but that the miscommunication occurred because we didn’t speak Laos and he didn’t speak English.

Vang Vieng is set on the Mekong and is lined with breathtaking limestone cliffs. It also is home to a huge backpacker culture, a lot of drinking, drugs and strangely enough: continous Friends episodes in many of the bars. Vang Vieng is the Lao version of Ibitha or Ft. Lauderdale during spring break. There are still small children washing their bodies in the river, and bent over women carrying loads on their tired backs, but there is also a street of souvenirs, and sunburnt early-twenties jumping off bars into the river. Beer Laos is, btw, EVERYWHERE - on the shirts (which everyone wears), glasses, restaurant signs, tablecloths - most places don’t serve any beer other than Beer Laos.

From Laos - Vientiane Nov 3

The thing to do in Vang Vieng is go tubing. For the lily-livered, this means you sit in an inner tube and laze down the Mekong (perhaps the world's best Lazy River). For an added challenge, there are bars approximately every 50 meters serving everything from Beerlao to spiked shakes - try and stop at as many as possible. for the super-keen there are huge, rickety, swings that you can climb up and swing down into the river. No, safety is not first here, but it is really, really fun.

From Laos - Vang Viang Nov 4

Samantha and I went tubing. We had so much fun we talked Elaine and Jeff into staying another day so they could experience TUBING the next day with us. We spent the next day TUBING, which is the thing to do in Vang Vieng. We flopped down into our rubber tires, and let the river take us down stream. When we wanted to stop by one of the many bamboo bars on the banks, one of the Lao men in the water would chuck a rope attached to a bottle out, and drag us in! The bars (Samantha called them restaurants) enticed people to come with outrageous ROPE SWINGS, ZIP LINES, SLIDES, which we really had a fun time on. The bars were packed with soon to be drunken young tourists. Some of them had been tubing for SEVEN days in a row!!!
From Vang Viang to Luang Prabang it took nearly 6 hours as the road goes up and down and round and round as it winds through mountainous and beautiful scenery. We shared a minivan with some other very nice people, a couple from Germany, a young men working for an NGO, and a couple from Switzerland who were working in Shanghai, China at the Swiss embassy (Marco and On).

We need to get some fresh air......we will finish up telling you how we got to know Marco and On in our next entry....

Wery

From Vientiane Laos

A few days ago, well actually about two weeks ago, I met this very kind man on the night train to the border of Laos.His name was Wery. Wery was from Indonesia, however, was currently living in Vientiane as an employee at the Indonesian embassy.The reason he was in Vientiane was because it is the capital of Laos and thats where the embassy is. We started talking to each other about where we came from. I asked him if he thought that I was American before I told that I was Canadian. He said ''Yes''.I said it really didn't matter if I was American or Canadian and he agreed with me because he believed the same that I believe it is better to have a world that every body likes each other, or at least venders wouldn't charge forgieners more than locals. Well I guess that's only my opinion, but you get my point.

Wery had travelled to Beijing, different parts of Thailand, Laos and Indonesia. You wouldn't believe what Wery did for us. Wery waited for us for over an hour while we got our visas at the Laos border, he payed for our bus fee and our border surcharge and then arranged for a mini van into Vientiane to a great guesthouse. We made plans to meet for dinner and to our surprise he arrived in a beautiful car that he had purchased over the internet from Japan. Wery then took us all on a tour of the whole city. We definately wouldn't have liked Vientiane as much if it wasn't for him. Wery was such a nice guy because he must've thought about where he would take us the whole time he was at work. We are very lucky to meet him because this is the second time this kind of thing has happened to us. We hope to see Wery again some time, maybe he will visit us in Canada.

By:Jeff Misner

Northern Thailand TREK by Samantha [Oct 17-19th]

    There were many things my family and I wanted to do when we were in Thailand. I wanted to go elephant riding, all of us wanted to visit native villages, and my Mom wanted to get exercise trekking through the jungle. We decided to go on a three day trek that allowed us to do all of these thing plus many more. We arrived in Bangkok from Hong Kong and stayed there for three nights. Then we travelled by sleeper train to Chang Mai, the second largest city in Bangkok. After three days in Chang Mai we took a local bus to Chang Doe. We stayed in a really great resort called The Chang Doe Nest. It had lots of green space, a new pool and the owners who lived there had 2 children. One was a 7
year old boy named Joseph and the other was a 2 year old girl named Alice who always hung out with me. Whenever I left she would scream and call my name.

 

We stayed at the Nest for three nights before leaving on a three days/two night trek through the northern jungle. After breakfast of cereal, fresh fruit, bread and jam, we started our journey including my family, a French couple, our guide Sam ,oh and don't forget me of course. On our first day we went elephant riding, bamboo rafting and we went to visit a couple of villages. On our 2^nd day we went to a cave that we had to crawl on our bellies through the mud. Also on the 2^nd day we tried to get to a water fall but we ran into a wasp nest and almost got stung, so we didn't make it all the way. That night we stayed in a village. There we had a camp fire and I got to dress up in a traditional outfit and dance a traditional dance. That is where I met our guide Sam. Our guide Sam was extra careful about me and made shore I was always safe. He was 66 years old and is in great shape because he walks about 10-15 K.M a day up and down the mountains.

 

    On the 3^rd day of our trek I awoke to the sound of the rain. I heard children's voices so I stepped outside and found my mom and about 10 village kids waiting for me to get up. I gave them all a mento and they left with a smile on their face. The main thing I am going to talk about is the 3^rd day cave. Our guide Sam was extra careful about me and sure I was always safe. We walked a long a bumpy, muddy, narrow path to get to the cave. When we entered the cave we had to go through a small and narrow space. After we got through the small and narrow space we had to walk through mud and lots of puddles of water. It was pretty nasty. My brother fell in the dirt and mud. It was hilarious!! There was lots of puddles and stalagmite. I bumped my head on ALOT of theme. Especially my brother bumped his head. I spotted a bat on the top of the cave then I spotted another one and as soon as I looked up I realized there were a ton of bats swirling in circles on top of the cave. They were black and big and Jeffery and mom were freaking out. It was hilarious! We finally got out and we saw tons of Buddha's at the end of the cave. There was a monk living in the cave and I thought that was really weird. The trek was REALLY hard at times but I'm really glad I did it!

My Trip to Hong Kong - by Jeffrey Oct 1st-8th

On October 1st my family and I travelled from Beijing to a friend’s apartment in Hong Kong. We knew each other through a mutual friend in Toronto, so we were kind of apprehensive that we might be a burden to them while staying in their new Hong Kong apartment. Turns out their son, Josh, my friend, was looking forward to us visiting.

I had lots of adventures in Hong Kong but I’m mostly going to be focused on getting to know the boys better. I knew them a little because Josh and Iplayed ball hockey and ice hockey together, but I had only heard about the twins (Brady and Liam).My sister had met them before when Josh and I were playing ball hockey. She said they were really good friends with Reid, another one of my friends. His older brother Jack also played ball hockey with Josh and I.

When we first arrived Josh made me feel really welcome. He asked me if I wanted to go to the Wii room and of course I said yes! First we needed to get his twin brothers who were visiting their friend on the 27th floor. I was wondering what the twins looked like. The twins t were supposedly not identical, however, looked exactly alike to me. The two boys had red hair, were average height, and wearing the same colours. So the twins and their friend came to the Wii room with us. The Wii room was absolutely crazy with the six of us, but it was hilarious. Later that evening we watched outstanding fireworks because it was China Day.

The next day the boys went to school so Deanne, my family and I went to the market. There Sam and I bought really neat things that were called chops. Chops are your signatures in Chinese and English carved into stone. After the market my sister and I waited at the front of the building for the boys to arrive home on the bus. The twins weren’t as crazy as the day before when we first met them. All five of us went swimming and I got a bloody nose (typical). Josh had a lot of homework so he only joined us for the second hour.

We woke up early the next morning to go to the boys school to watch a skit that Brady was performing in. He was excellent! My mom, sister and Deanne went to the school in a separate taxi but came home with my dad and me. After that it was a relaxing day until the boys came home. They were pretty hyper being at school the whole day, so we decided to go to the Wii room again because it would be more peaceful for the adults.

The sun was shining the next day only to hear that we were going on a two hour hike with Josh and his dad Andy. I was glad when it was over! After the hike was finished we all got something at the grocery store. I got a 1.25 litre of water for an equivalent of 50cents Canadian. I thought I made a good choice. We came home only to have my favourite, sushi!! Andy and Deanne went out for dinner . My mom and dad spent time on the computer, and the boys friends came over to hangout from a different part of Hong Kong.

The next day turned out to be a perfect day to have a Malaysian lunch. It was delicious! That night the boys, Andy, my dad, my sister, and I all went on a night walk to the Peak. At the top of the Peak I had the most delicious thing in the world. I had my first Caramel Frapacino from Star Bucks and I’m sure it won’t be my last!

Josh stayed home the next day because it would be our second last day with each other. We went to the Hong Kong zoo, also to the aviary because we wanted to see all the birds close up. The walk wasn’t far at all. My Dad, Josh and I went to buy me some shoes at a cool shoe store. The shoes are awesome.

I was feeling sad on the last day when I work up because I knew it was the last day I was going to spend with my friends. We went to see the Giant Budha. We ate lunch before walking to the Budha, and I ate jellyfish. It was surprisingly delicious. The Budha was really big. That night we had to say goodbye to our friends because we were leaving the next morning before they woke up. I was sad to say good-bye, however, already looking foreward to coming back at Christmas.

Beijing or some call it Peking - Sept 27th/Oct 1st

It's been a long time since our last entry but here is a brief summary of our time in Beijing....

We started our Chinise adventure by staying in Beijing for four days. It was our first impression of China after arriving for Tokyo, and the contrast was stark from the moment we arrived. The pollution in Beijing, and much of China, is as bad as they say and you can see it in our pictures. We couldn’t see very much through the smog as the plane approached the runway. There is always an opaque haze around the outside. We heard that spending a day in Beijing is the equivalent of smoking 70 cigarettes. There is also a very pervasive smell in the air around Beijing. I can’t describe it, but would not call it pleasant. We only drank bottled water.
We kind of knew this all before we arrived. All of the news coverage of Beijing prior to the Olympics talked about this stuff and know we had firsthand knowledge. Beijing was our first true Asian experience outside of the first-world luxury we had experienced in Japan. The airport was first rate. It is brand new, just in time for the Olympics, and seems massive when you walk in.

The airport seemed to be very far away from the city and the traffic was reasonable as we arrived in the early evening. That soon changed when we got close to the epicentre of 5 concentric circle roads around the city. As you get closer to the center, the traffic becomes more congested, which is quite a feat since some roads were 10 lanes wide. The taxis were either Hyundai’s or Volkswagens (all produced in China). The cars have to compete with bicycles, scooters, and little motorized rickshaws that are half motorcycle / half carriage.

We pre-booked a hostel just outside of the Forbidden city. We really hadn’t planned to stay in a hostel; however, we needed proof of accommodation to obtain our Visa and this was the cheapest and easiest way to do it. We decided that we would check it out and then look for our real accommodations. It turned out that our Hostel was a little treasure inside a very busy and hectic area. We all agreed that we could live in the Hostel forever had it not been for the one shared bathroom for 15 people or so. Our hostel was on an old hutong, which is what they call the traditional streets of Beijing. Beijing used to be made up of nothing but these dirt streets with buildings flanking both sides. Shops and residences stand side by side and during the day food vendors set up their stalls right on the street. Yes we were brave and tried the “street meet” it was quite good....and NO we did not have any bathroom side effects (something we were quite concerned about knowing we only had one bathroom in our Hostel). Some of the houses on the older Hutongs did not have running water and toilets, ie. Ditches, were outside. This is likely the cause of some of the unknown and unpleasant smells in the city. In recent years, in the race to modernize, the government has been tearing down these hutongs and replacing them with large tower blocks. There are some who criticize such decisions and claim that the essences of Beijing is being destroyed. I would wager that these same people who make these criticisms are not or haven’t lived in a hutong house either. We had a tour through the hutong houses via a rickshaw carriage on our last day in Beijing and loved it. It would be a shame to see them all destroyed and we understand that they are considered heritage type buildings.

Our hostel had running water and a bar and cafe. It was a great place to base ourselves and the room with two sets of bunks reminded us of being at the cottage. Our small little room opened up into the lovely gardens in our hutong house.

On our first evening exploring we decided to get haircuts for Jeff and I; however, we did not find anyone who spoke English. We both got extremely short haircuts as Elaine had attempted to use the translation book we had. She thought she would be funny and use the Mandarin phrase for “just take it all off” as a joke. We don’t think Chinese people can necessarily understand the sarcastic humour of the Misner family as Jeff and I both looked like we were on our way to becoming Buddhist Monks! We really enjoyed trying to converse with the barber and his sister, a simple exercise turned into a lifelong memory.

On our first day exploring, we walked over to the nearby Tiananmen Square, that serves as the center of Beijing, which serves as the center of China; both culturally and politically. To illustrate the point, all of China is on “Beijing Time.” China is a large landmass that would otherwise entail 3 time zones, but officially there is only 1 time zone and it is for Beijing time.

Tiananmen is the world’s largest city square and measures half a mile long and is capable of holding over a million people. It’s hard to see the entire distance when the smog is at it’s thickest. To the south is Mao’s mausoleum , to the north is Tiananmen Gate, to the west is the Great Hall of the People, to the east is a museum. Security is pretty tight. The roads which encircle the square are at least 4 lanes wide and fences prevent you from crossing. You can only enter the square via underground passageways that have random police bag checks. I think there were numerous plain clothed police in the square at all times. Everyone is definitely being watched (CCTV cameras, uniformed police) but it wasn’t overly intrusive and maybe it was because of the Olympics? Certainly the immense size is the perfect target for protesters and demonstrations.

Something we were not expecting.....so we are walking around Tiananmen and we noticed toddler wearing trousers with the crotch out (basically a pair of chaps). We don’t think the concept of diapers have caught on yet and when the kids need to go, they just go wherever they happen to be!

Tiananmen is of course the sight of the famous 1989 protests for democracy by students from all over the country. They were timed to coincide with a visit from Mikael Gorbachev from the USSR, and Gorbey's motorcade had to be diverted so that he didn't see the demonstration. The protests were peaceful and lasted for more than 3 weeks. At that point the government lost patience and sent in the military to disperse the students. The resulting casualties were either in the hundreds or thousands, no one knows for sure. There hasn't been as large a demonstration for democracy within China since then (that we know of). We read this as we would never discuss these things in China!

At the north end of the square is Tiananmen Gate. This is the famous gate with the large portrait of Mao Zedong. Flanking either sides of the gate are large sets of bleachers. The wide boulevard in front is the site of all their military parades. Several people asked us to be in their photos . We kind of felt like a rock-stars, but this would be repeated again and again throughout our couple of days in China. I guess they still don't get too many white guys over there.

Behind Tiananmen Gate is the Forbidden City, which was the home to China's emperors for nearly 5 centuries. It puts European castles to shame. There just seems to be an endless number of halls and gates behind the walls. Most of the buildings in the inner court seemed to be where the Emperor's concubines and wives lived. Basically the emperor couldn't be bothered with the day-to-day work of running the country and just used to spend all day shagging. Most of the important decisions were made by the empresses or the eunuchs. The Forbidden City was used as an imperial palace until the last emperor of China, Puyi, was forced to abdicate in 1912. He was only a child and was allowed to remain in the inner court until he was finally evicted in 1924. He later went on to be installed as head of the Japanese's puppet government in Manchuria. He eventually came back to China after the CCP had taken over and was "re-educated" in the ways of communism. The Forbidden City is a magnificent site, but we found ourselves suffering from palace fatigue by the time we reached the end of it. I suggested we call it a day, even though there was a lot more to see, and save our energy for the Great Wall.

On our way back to our hostel Jeff said to me, “Dad that looks like our underwear!” The night before, Elaine and I had found a drycleaners to get all of our dirty clothes cleaned and some kimonos we purchased in Japan. On our way back from the Forbidden City we saw ALL OF OUR LAUNDRY HANGING IN THE MAIN STREET. We are certain that the smog laden street did not clean our clothes. It is a memory we will certainly never forget and gave us the biggest laugh of the day which we all needed.

We stayed in our Hostel for two nights and then had to move as they weren’t able to accommodate us for two additional nights in the same room. We ended up staying in the Somerset Residence apartments. They were outside the main city but truly 5 star accommodations by any standards.

Our trip to the Great Wall was amazing. Our driver took us to Jinshanling, a less touristy area of the wall about 2 hours from Beijing. The car ride was crazy and no one in China follows traffic rules. It was a good thing Elaine fell asleep in our taxi on the way to the wall as she would have never been able to handle the passing on the roads.

Throughout our trip many of our incredible experiences have been the result of having no preconceived knowledge (a polite way of saying we are uneducated Canadians about the world) about where we were. We found out our walk would be over 10km and the kids were starting to have reservations. Even I thought you could ride a bike on the wall! The plain fact is that you have to be a “billy goat” to walk the wall. The terrain is very hilly and the wall is very steep. Our taxi driver told us that our walk should take about 4 hours. We asked him what his fastest group ever walked the wall in and he told us that is was 3 hr 40 min which didn’t help alleviate our apprehension about our walk in the hot sun. Like many of our friends know, we can be a little competitive and I immediately started the family out on a record setting pace (yes me not Elaine). We were almost exhausted before we even got onto the wall to start our journey. Then when we arrived we couldn’t believe the terrain and how difficult the walk was going to be. We were accosted by several Mongolian women who tried to befriend us before we understood that ultimately we were the potential buyers of their cheap T-shirts and warm beer. I eventually got very harsh with them when they were causing Jeff to be very concerned for his safety. The good thing was they kept us on a pretty good pace during the first 1/3 of our walk. There are many other memorable things to tell you about our walk on the wall but I’m running short of time and we need to pack.

Needless to say the walk was difficult at Jinshanling as the wall was in poor shape in several places, but well worth the effort. In several sections we were the only people on the wall which was incredible. At the end we think we all could have gone on for another couple of hours but were glad it was over. Guess what.....WE BROKE OUR DRIVER’s RECORD...3 hr 25 min...thanks to our fast start and our Mongolian stalkers!!

4 Days is not enough time in China.....maybe we will be back again sometime?

Last few days in Japan....

Wednesday, September 24th

As we traveled throughout Australia we met many people who had traveled in Japan. One couple suggested that we purchase Japan Rail Passes that would allow us unlimited rail travel within the country. These passes had to be purchases prior to entering Japan, so in Sydney we went to an Asian travel centre and bought one week passes. We decided to only get a pass for the second week because they are really expensive and we were on the subway line while staying in Tokyo. We took a Hikari (bullet) train to Kyoto where we had arranged four nights accommodations, using it as a base to do day trips with the rail pass. It was our intention to spend two days in Kyoto, a day in Osaka, and another in Nara before heading to Hiroshima.
Our accommodation was in a Japanese guest house, Japan’s version of a hostel. We had a traditional Japanese room for the four of us; there were four rolled up futons on a tatami floor, a small TV, a beanbag chair and a table. We did not have our own toilet or shower but the YAHATA house was very clean, had internet connection, a small common room, a small kitchen, a traditional Japanese shower and soaking tub, and most importantly very helpful and kind staff and owners.

In our last post, Elaine eloquently told you about our new friend Agnes. The day after meeting Agnes we took a one day excursion to Nara. It was a short ride from Kyoto (45 min) and we were rushed to be on time for our prearranged English guide.

Just a side note.....most people know that our family is always trying to maximize our time whether it be finding the most efficient route from point A to B, splitting up to accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously, or taking advantage of an opportunity for an additional 10 minutes sleep in the morning. Certainly the later has been apparent in Japan! Hence, this continues to be a Ying/Yang type of thing.....stressed to get to things on time while exhilarated that we made it and still got that extra 10 minutes sleep. It seems to work for us but I wouldn’t suggest everyone follow the same path.

Anyways, Nara was a very beautiful and quiet city in Japan. Our guide, Mio, was a young woman who is going to university in Nara to be a high school English teacher. We had a very pleasant day in Nara with Mio as it was unrushed, tranquil and afforded us an opportunity to relax. In Nara, deer are sacred animals and also a bit of a tourist attraction. I’m sure Mio thought Sammy was crazy for her fascination with the deer and the number of pictures she took. On our walk through the old town we probably saw a hundred deer . I bought some food for Sam and Jeff to feed the deer and quickly found out that they get quite aggressive. Jeff, Sam and especially Elaine found it hilarious that I was being mauled and bitten in the backside. In fact, Elaine wanted to go back at the end of the day and have me recreate the attack so we could video tape it and put it on the blog. Sorry folks.....I’m just not that dedicated to keeping you up to date on everything we do! We went to a noodle shop for lunch with Mio and it was very good, however, I did have some issues with bodily functions that the family thought was funnier than the deer story but I’ll save that for a dinner party. If you ever go to Japan you should spend some time in Nara .

Thursday September 25th

Elaine and Sammy had been chomping at the bit for this day to arrive. We planned to go to a monthly market at a Kyoto temple. Elaine had read that this would be a great spot to purchase Kimonos so she and Sam were pumped to go shopping. Jeff on the other hand wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about it as Elaine and Sam. After all, what was in it for him? Certainly the thought of going to another temple and shopping for clothes should be enough to make any 11 year old boy run for the hills. After a long walk to the train station followed by a 15 minute walk to the find the market we arrived. The market was very big and the first booth had tons of Kimonos. I decided to leave the girls and take Jeff with me to continue to explore the market before we both lost our minds. There were a lot of Japanese food booths and this made Jeff a little happier. There were many antique stalls, clothing, food, plants, and carnival games.

Samantha and Elaine were shown how to dress Samantha in a Kimono by a gentleman who became much friendlier when he realized we were not Americans but Canadians. Elaine and I felt that as soon as he realized we were not Americans that his entire demeanour changed towards us. He helped dress Samantha like a model in a fashion show, calling out for string, undergarments, and the proper colour belt while he fit her. The man was just a shopper in the market. An older couple owned the stall and seemed to take pride in the way the English speaking gentleman was dressing Sam. They were so nice to Samantha that I didn’t even negotiate with them on the price, which is not like me in any of the markets we have been to in our travels. The elderly Japanese couple gave Sam two gifts after we paid which was a very nice gesture.

Jeff and I made a few purchases ourselves. We bought some nice mementos of Japan but don’t want to mention what they were as someone reading this may get one for a present! Needless to say, we really liked what we bought and couldn’t stop talking about different negotiating tactics. We employed the LMBIRMD strategy today (LMBIRMD =”Last minute before imminent rain- multiple discount”). Jeff has also taken an interest in collecting old coins on our trip. He bought a 1964 Tokyo Olympic Medallion and a US Liberty dollar which I thought were good purchases, unlike the PSP video that only works on Japan video games.

We ate some street meat, a couple of overpriced crepes, a few unknown cooked vegetables and headed back to the train station. Once again we were running tight for time as we had two bullet trains to catch to Hiroshima at 2:00pm. We let the girls stay at the main Train station while Jeff and I ran through the streets in Kyoto to go pick up our bags at YAHATA house and meet Sam and Elaine back at the train station. We were soaked with sweat and our legs and feet were really sore by the time we made it back.....but like always we made it on time...while maximizing our time at the market.

We took two bullet trains to Hiroshima each about an hour long. I had a large beer out of a vending machine, they’re everywhere in Japan, for about $2.

We took a TRAM/Streetcar from the Hiroshima train station to the stop nearest our accommodation. We had to walk down residential streets with our laptop open with the map that had been emailed to us earlier in the week. We stayed at the World Friendship Centre where we slept on traditional tatami mats and futons again. We had two rooms divided by a paper door, a shared bathroom, internet, a library with hundreds of books about peace and war. Our hosts had graciously arranged for our family to meet a living survivor of Hiroshima and a English guide for the Peace Park the next morning. I had mentioned that this might be a possibility to everyone but I wasn’t counting on it as I had not heard back after my initial request. Needless to say, we were all very excited about the next morning. As soon as we were settled in, we went out to a noodle shop for dinner. We had Ramen noodles and cold beers while watching the Hiroshima Carp play the Tokyo Giants in baseball. Jeff didn’t think the quality of play was as good as the MLB but the fans intensity rivalled any Toronto sports team we have ever watched. After dinned I wanted to walk to the Peace Park to get our bearing s for the next morning and thought it might be illuminated at night. It turned out to be a beautiful evening and we had an opportunity to get ourselves acquainted with several monuments in the Park like the eternal flame, the A-Dome, the children’s monument, the rivers, and the museum where we would be meeting our survivor for our talk the next morning.

When we arrived back to our room, Elaine began her blog entry while I read the kids the true life story “Sadako and A thousand Cranes.” Sadako is a well known figure and throughout the world. The book is based on a true story about a girl named "Sadako Sasaki". Ten years after the bombing of Hiroshima, Sadako Sasaki died of leukemia at the age of twelve. The story of Sadako who continued to fold paper cranes throughout her illness in hopes of recovering from the disease touched the hearts of many people. We were all in tears by the end of the story after realizing we had been standing right beside the monument in the story. Although our intention was to get to bed early, everyone found books in the library to read about Hiroshima and the war. I found a book that provided more details about Sadako and her family. I ended up staying up until about 2am reading and booking a hotel in Beijing.

Friday, September-26-08

We started our day with a great breakfast, fruit, granola, yogurt, toast, juice and coffee. Then we ran to make our 9:30am seminar. This seminar was the most moving seminar I have ever attended. Mr. Keijiro Matsuchima was a boy of 12 sitting in a classroom about 2 miles from where the bomb landed in August of 1945. You can imagine how moving Mr. Matsuchima’s recount of his experience at that time was for all of us. What I found interesting was that only in recent years have survivors, or Hibakushas as Japanese people call them, begun talking about their experiences. After the war there was great prejudice against the survivors. They were often considered “dirty” as people were unsure if they were contagious or would bring bad luck. Many kept their experience a secret in fear that their children would be unable to marry or find jobs. However, now many survivors, who are aging and realize their stories may be lost, speak openly and often with a deep conviction that they must tell their stories and educate people in order to prevent a horrifying event like this from occurring again. And most humbling and moving was the great humility and sorrow with which Mr. Matsuchima apologized for their country’s attack on Pearl Harbour. Surprisingly, he communicated no resentment at all towards the United States for having dropped the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He felt as though Japan provoked this occurrence by it,s armies stubbornness to continue a losing war at that time. Mr. Matschima’s final words were, “Now we must stand together and say Never Again!” After the dozen people in attendance for this private seminar left, Elaine, Sam, Jeff and I stayed to thank Mr. Matsuchima for his time. I learned that Mr. Matsuchima had intended to be an Engineer while enrolled at the technical college days before the bomb dropped. After inconceivable hardship for him and his family, he decided to change his career aspirations. He became a school teacher and retired a principal. Mr. Matschima very seldom ever spoke to his students about being a Hibakusha (survivor). There is so much more to share but I will save it for another time.

After our “survivor talk” we wandered around the museum basement. We viewed the artwork of survivors and their accompanying stories. Each picture stated the age of the survivor at the time of the bombing, their date of death, and the proximity they were to the hypocentre. We arranged for an English speaking guide to show us the Peace Park. Jeff and Samantha asked many interesting questions they had about the war.

After our guided tour we quickly went through the Museum. Samantha and Jeff were really moved when they saw some of the cranes that Sadako had folded throughout her illness. Elaine and I both felt ashamed that we could not spend longer here as it was so important. It was a solemn day for us and we would suggest that everyone try and visit someday......as Mr. Matschima said, “Never Again!”

A new friendship!!

One of our main excursions everyday on our journey is to figure out what, and where we are going to eat. In Japan, an area known for good, cheap food is Osaka. Osaka is the third most populated city in Japan with 2.5 million people. It takes about 15 minutes by bullet train to get from Kyoto, where we were staying to Osaka, with trains leaving regularly throughout the day.

After a busy morning exploring Kyoto’s Castle we set out for Osaka without any real idea of where we were going. As the train approached I asked a man in front of me if we were on the right platform. He said no and pointed to the opposite track. We began racing for the stairs, when to Kevin’s annoyance, I stopped once again to clarify what track we needed to be on. That’s when we met Agnes.

Agnes, it turned out, spoke English really well. She is originally from Malaysia and has been working in Japan for the last 4 years. Agnes was enjoying her last day of summer vacation, heading home to Osaka after being at a concert in Kyoto. She quickly assured me that we could get to Osaka on the train she was waiting for. She then went on to offer to take us to an area in Osaka where the local people eat. I quickly accepted and we all boarded together.

After about 15 minutes we arrived at the train station and then transferred to the subway line, something I had not planned for. I began to wonder If I would be able to get us back to Kyoto at the end of the night. After about 15 more minutes we got off the subway, and to my surprise Agnes did not just point out the eating area, but began leading us throughout Osaka’s downtown. She jokingly held up a fan leading us as though we were a tour group! We walked through some really busy streets taking photographs and eating street food. After shopping for a while, Agnes brought us to a really neat restaurant that specialized in Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes). Okonomiyaki is a pan-fried Japanese dish cooked with various ingredients. Okonomi means “what you like “or “what you want,” and yaki means “grilled “or “cooked”; thus, the name of the dish means “cook what you like, the way you like.” They are not anything like our breakfast pancakes, and are made from seafood, meat, eggs and sometimes noodles. Our meal was cooked on a large frying pan right at our table. The food was awesome! After dinner Agnes led us to an amazing crepe stand where the kids had banana split crepes.

The tour didn’t end there! Instead of going to the subway station we walked to a beautiful mall and boarded a glass elevator. We shot towards the roof, peering through the glistening glass. When the doors opened we stepped out into a beautiful green space, a park above the city! The five of us walked around, spending some time sitting on a bench gazing at the city lights.

Our great day ended with Agnes not only taking us to the subway, but going out of her way by riding the subway all the way to the train station with us. We hugged good-bye, sad that our time together was over, however, happy to have forged new friendships. We have heard from Agnes twice since our day in Osaka by email. Our time together will not be forgotten and I have a funny feeling we will meet again someday.

The Day of the Sumo!! (By Jeffrey)

One day on our family’s world trip we were rushed, very rushed indeed. We were going to something you can only see in Japan....SUMO WRESTLING!! We weren’t sure we could even get tickets. I was thinking that we had a fifty-fifty chance of getting them because we had read that you needed to be at the stadium very early to get tickets for the same day.

It took around 30 minutes to get there by train and subway on Thursday, September 18th. We got the tickets for an awesome price. It cost 4600Yen in total, about $46Cdn. Each adult was $21 and each kid was $2. We weren’t expecting it to cost so little. The matches started out by showcasing the lower ranked Sumo wrestlers. We had the best seats in the house, only four feet away from the place they wrestled. We could also ask for tea in our seats. The seats were actually cushions arranged in a group of four to one box. We sat in these seats until lunch.

After lunch we sat in seats closer to the top of the building. Also after lunch the quality of the Sumo increased. We also met an Australian whose parents were Japanese. It was really weird to hear an Australian accent in Japan.

Many people believe that Sumo wrestlers are extremely fat. Of course some of them are, but the best aren’t that fat. The bouts were actually very interesting. My dad even said “I’d rather se Sumo wrestling than see a Leaf game if given the choice again.” I don’t necessarily agree with him but I do think Sumo wrestling offered better value. Four people could attend a full day (8 hours) and have a great lunch for the price of a decent seat at a Leaf’s game!

You can watch approximately 220 Sumo bouts in one day. The average bout was about 20 seconds with the longest running to about a minute and a half. Each bout had a repetitious 3 minute ceremony prior to the bout. We had no idea what the ref and his assistant were saying at this time even after 4:00pm when we got our English commentary radios. I thought the ceremonies were not necessary, however, I enjoyed every other minute of Sumo. When the current champion (no losses in his last 20 bouts) lost to the worst wrestler in his group, everybody on the lower deck started throwing their cushions at him. It was hilarious!

On our way home we saw a Sumo wrestler all by himself on the subway. It shocked me because Sumo wrestling is Japan’s national sport. I thought he would have been treated like royalty. Well I guess that probably only the top Sumo wrestlers would be treated like royalty. The funny thing is that we weren’t expecting to get into the match because there are only 6 tournaments per year, however, not only did we get in but we had fabulous seats. Without a doubt I would go to another Sumo tournament. Even my sister enjoyed it!

(P.S. – you can leave me a comment if you have any questions about Sumo)

Blog Entry by Sam - Tokyo apartment

Blog Entry by Samantha - Tokyo

After flying from Australia to Japan, we rented an apartment in Tokyo. I am going to describe what the apartment looked like. The bathroom, well the toilet area, because the toilet area and washing areas were separate, had an electronic toilet that massaged and cleaned your bum. It also dried your bum with hot air too! It was a really clean toilet area, so that was nice. I spent most of my time on the toilet! The other half of the washroom had a Japanese style bath and shower. The washing area was divided into two areas. One had the washing machine and a sink for general use. The other had a Japanese style shower with a soaking tub. First you have a shower in one area and then you soak in a really deep tub. Our whole family loved the Japanese tub. It even had a heater to keep the water hot!

The bed in our bedroom was on the floor instead of carpet or tile, there was tatami mat. A tatami mat is about 1m x 3 m and made out of Styrofoam with a grass covering. In our living room we had a plasma screen TV that actually had English channels. We also had high speed internet access in our apartment, which was really useful. We had a really cool kitchen with all the supplies that we needed, so we usually ate at least two meals in every day. Also there was a nice balcony that we could see parts of Tokyo from. I loved everything in the apartment. I really liked the couch because it was a pull out bed and we made a fort with it, however, my parents would always tear it down. I would colour, read and have fun in my fort. I had a wonderful time staying in our two bedroom apartment in Tokyo!

Konnichiwa - Hello from Japan

Preface to Japan

After a 10 hour flight to Narita airport via Cairns we were finally in Japan. Everyone was looking forward to going to Japan after spending nearly 3 weeks in Australia. Quite honestly, we really were let down a little by our Australian segment of our RTW trip. The scenery was without a doubt spectacular. We only saw the east coast of Australia so we can’t say we would never come back...it’s a big country! Even though we all felt this way, the funny thing is that Elaine and I both agreed that we would move and live in Sydney in a heartbeat if given the chance. Sydney is without a doubt world class city and I have rethought my initial feelings about cities that choose to take on massive amounts of debt to host the Olympics. The infrastructure was extraordinary, the waterfront never-ending, and the makeup of the city was very multicultural. I have a friend who was offered an incredible job in Sydney but choose to turn it down....were you crazy?? We were told that Melbourne would have been nice to visit but it wasn’t possible on this trip. Outside of Sydney, the missing piece for us was the singular culture......there were no faces other than white. I think this is why we were all so excited about Japan.

On to Tokyo...

We arrived on Sunday, September 14. We took an express train from the airport to Shinjuku station and then transferred to another train line to arrive at Nakano station. Shinjuku station is one of the busiest stations in Japan. About a million and half people travel through this station each business day between the hours of 8am-9am. Needless to say we haven’t traveled during these times very often.
Tokyo has met many of our expectations and at the same time been quite the opposite. First off, the city is immaculate; every piece of glass is sparkling from handrails to shop windows. The subways and trains are clean and of course without graffiti. There are a massive amount of trains, subways and busses run by several different companies but somehow they manage to keep everything working together in harmony. The stations, trains and platforms are numbered in a logical manner. The trains announce each station in Japanese and then English, which has worked out quite well for us.

The Japanese people in Tokyo are very kind, courteous and of course orderly. Perhaps in a city of such magnitude there is no other option but to conform and be orderly. We have all enjoyed and tried our best to conform to their standards while visiting. There are a lot of bikes in the streets, many taxis and certainly a lot of sushi which has made Jeff and I happy.

Top 10 things that really have shattered our initial perceptions about Tokyo:

1. The subways are not as crowded as we had initially expected. We have been on the subways during rush hour a couple of times but the crowds are not that much different then on the TTC in Toronto during rush hour, although everyone does line up orderly to gain access to each car on the platform!!

2. Food is not more expensive. In fact we have found prices to be significantly less than Australia. Now with that said it it possible to spend a couple of thousand dollars on a dinner for two...and $20 for a nice sushi or other suitably delicious meal.

3. The city is clean. With a population of 35 million it is incredible that there is little to no garbage on the streets or in subway stations. The garbage men are immaculate and come each day for various collections. Tokyo is very proactive in recycling. Get this.....the garbage men have neatly pressed (you can see their press lines) uniforms, wear white gloves and use very quiet trucks.

4. There is very little noise. We have heard only 1 horn beep in our 6 days here and that was from a Western driver! The traffic is silent.

5. The Japanese youth will do anything for the latest fashion. Case in point....A new H & M clothing store (all over Toronto Samantha tells me) opened in Tokyo earlier this week. Every young, fashionable, cell phone texting Tokyion had an H & M bag. We went pass the store..... there was a line over 10 blocks long. Police with white gloves were stationed on each corner to ensure no intersections were blocked, everyone was lined up in three’s to ensure that exactly half the sidewalk was available to regular traffic flow. The line was incredibly orderly and neat and no one had seemed to have any reservations about being in such a long line. Mental Note: open a new store in Tokyo.

6. Electronics are not cheap but they are plentiful. In fact we found electronic items cheaper in Sao Paulo Brazil than in Tokyo. This has certainly disappointed Jeffrey. We have read that China is far better off for great deals on electronics.

7. Having a sitdown meal and beer at a National Sporting Event is not as expensive as one might think.

8. There are dollar stores in Tokyo (well 100Yen stores).

9. People don’t stare at us all the time. We thought that being white and travelling with children would draw a significant amount of attention. This hasn’t been the case. We were told that people would not want to sit beside us on the subway but that has been far from reality.

10. A Japanese TV converter can be worked by a Gajjin (name for white guy in Japan). The gentleman who we rented our 2 bedroom apartment from in Tokyo gave us instructions on how to use various things in the apartment (bath, shower, hot water, doors, toilet, security, elevator and of course the TV). I think he exact words were....”whatever you do just push these two buttons on the converter to keep the English channels available”. Like any other 11 year old boy, Jeff decided to push one of the other 150 Japanese buttons and we were confined to Japanese only stations for a few hours before I figured out how to get things back on line again.

So what have we been up to for the last week??

Well first off we realized two days before leaving Australia that we didn’t have a Chinese passport. That became our immediate concern when we arrived in Japan. We had to find a Chinese embassy in Japan to process a Visa for our Canadian passports. Monday was a holiday (respect your elders) in Japan so we set out for the Chinese embassy first thing on Tuesday morning. We had researched the passport issue in the airport business class lounge and printed out everything we could find as well as firing off a couple of emails to the Canadian Embassy, the Chinese Embassy in both Beijing and Honk Kong. We finally got typical government responses back 3 days later. Fortunately we were able to get things accomplished on our own. The only thing we didn’t have was a travel voucher indicating we had arranged for accommodations in Beijing for our arrival. We found a 5 star hotel close to the embassy and I snuck into the business lounge and booked a cheap hostel for 2 nights and printed out a receipt and we were off. The kids and Elaine stayed in the hotel lobby and met some very nice people from South America and Europe. The visas were ready for our pick up yesterday (Friday) and Elaine took the subway herself to pick them up while I stayed in the apartment and began planning and booking accommodations for our travel to Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and Hiroshima. Jeff and Samantha slept in and then got a couple of hours of reading and math done, something we have been a little lax on.

We spent most of the day cooped up in the apartment and this was getting to all of us. Jeff and Sam made a fort out of the couch and some blankets, Elaine and I urgently tried to get some affordable accommodations for the next few days via email and the telephone.

We ended up going for a walk in the evening (it was grey and rainy most of the day) in the rain with our umbrellas. We are in a suburb of Tokyo (Nakano) which is about 3 minutes by train to the main core of the city. Nakano is quite nice, small streets, lots of restaurants, bars, stores, gambling parlours....something for everyone. We had a great sushi dinner in a stand-up restaurant. The sushi chef was a really nice guy and took care of Jeff and I. He spoke very good English and reminded us of our friendly neighbour at the cottage, Bob, who is also Japanese.
After we came home Elaine and I spent another couple of hours planning for the next week (if you call booking a room and winging it planning). We wanted to store 3 of our 4 knapsacks in Tokyo while we travelled around other parts of Japan. All the rail stations have lockers, but they are only good for a maximum of 3 days and we were planning on being gone for 6. There is luggage delivery companies that are quite popular but we decided to take them back to the airport and store them there. The charge for doing this is about 500Yen/day/bag. I instead booked a room at a Hostel for the 26th, the night before we fly to Beijing. We just need a place to sleep for a couple of hours and the owner arranged to meet me at the airport this afternoon to pick up our bags and store them for the week for less than the cost of the baggage storage (plus we get a place to crash and a drive to the airport). I am actually on the train travelling back from the airport to Shinjuku station as I type this. I have just arrived and have to run......

Jeff and Sam will post an insight into Japan from their perspective shortly. I think you will like their take on our week in Tokyo!!

Videos to watch - Misner RTW trip

Here are a couple of videos you can watch. We have taken only a couple on our trip to date. The internet connection in Japan is much faster so we can now upload these for everyone. We hope to have a few really interesting ones of Tokyo over the next few days as well.

We're still in Oz - Had a great time on the Reef!

We have now been in Australia for 2 ½ weeks. We have done lots of driving (over 2400km), seen many animals and enjoyed tons of water activities. In Hervey Bay we went on a whale watching cruise. We boarded a 15m boat and set out for the Pacific. It is whale migration time in Eastern Australia, so before long we spotted our first whale. The whales put on an amazing show, even swimming under the boat. Some of the whales were longer than the boat! We enjoyed a buffet lunch and an afternoon tea aboard the ship, arriving home around 6 p.m. After Hervey Bay we drove for 2 days up the coast to Airlie Bay to get closer to the Great Barrier Reef. We decided to splurge on a 3 day/3 night sailing adventure on a boat called The Pacific Sunrise. It was 30 m long and was really lovely inside. Only 19 passengers were on the cruise and Jeff and Sam were the only children. It was 3 totally awesome days! We sailed at 2 p.m. on Wed. which was a beautiful day. That night we dined like kings, something we had not done yet in Australia. The next morning we woke up to a light rain/drizzle. After a great breakfast we all put on our full length wet suits and went snorkelling. The Reef is amazing, just like you see on T.V., bright colours, tons of fish, and glorious coral. We continued snorkelling in the afternoon after a huge lunch (spare ribs, sausages, steak, pasta salad, tossed salad...) That night it cleared up and Kevin spotted a dolphin dining on a squid beside the boat. The next day we woke up to brilliant sunshine. Everyone had such a great time snorkelling the day before that we decided to go one more time in another location. The sun really made a difference and the location was spectacular, and Jeffrey taught me how to dive deep and then clear my mask. As usual we were the last of the crew to get back to the ship. After a great curry, which we all devoured, we spent the afternoon on the Whitsunday Beach. We spent the next few hours kayaking, swimming and learning to play beach cricket. While kayaking we saw sea turtles so close to our kayak we could touch them. That night we dined on 8 different dishes, while chatting with the other passengers. The night ended with a great jam session under the stars, a ship’s version of a campfire. Jeffrey and Sammy were perfect sailors!

We have been staying in Townsville, about 4 hours north of Airlie beach. We have rented a small cabin across the street from the ocean. The road is a little busy in front of us; however, the view is quite nice and we have tennis courts that we have used extensively. Townsville is a pretty town but it seems like a strange place. You can’t swim in the Ocean because there are small jelly fish that can kill you. No matter how minimal the sting is from some varieties you will still likely end up in the hospital. We have learned that the phrase “Everything is bigger and deadlier in Australia” is almost true.....except that there are quite a few small creatures that can kill you as well. We returned our rental car to the airport yesterday morning and Kevin and I walked back to the cabin (about 3.5km). Today the kids wrote a recount for school and did some reading. After a long tennis match we went for a nice walk along the boardwalk. We were going to head home and have dinner but it was half price pizza on Tuesday so we had a Hawaiian pizza. When we turned the corner to go home there was a McD’s and we had promised Jeff and Sam a McFlurry after some great improvement on the tennis courts. We ended up having a small dinner at McD’s----not quite the intention prior to setting out on our walk! Tomorrow we will do some laundry, get everything settled for our upcoming stay in Japan, arrange accommodation in Sydney for 3 nights, a tennis game, and dispose of some of our clothing to lighten our loads (we will actually need to carry our knapsacks shortly). We don’t instead to extend our stay in Australia but we are going to stay in Japan for two weeks rather than the one week originally planned.

A Koala yesterday and a Whale today

We saw our first Koala Bear yesterday....another animal ticked off of Samantha's list. We set out on a whale watch this afternoon. We are staying in Hervey Bay for two nights in a very comfortable self contained apartment across the street from the Ocean (wish we could stay longer as it is very comfortable and large). Elaine cooked the kids some eggs this morning, and we headed to the beautiful sandy beach after breakfast.

A couple of days ago we began playing "Rock Boche Ball." Jeff was getting a little bored of the beach and I thought we could come up with a competitive game to keep him occupied. The rules are fairly straightforward----everyone finds 3 rocks of their choice, we pick a rock to be "shot rock," someone tosses the shot rock and we try to get closest to it. Today Elaine was the "Boche Rock" King!! The beaches are deserted, so we haven't killed anyone with the game yet. Sometimes the game gets a little competitive....but we are all speaking to one another again.

After a nice buffet lunch and fairly calm boat ride into the open ocean this afternoon......we finally saw them.

We took about 400 pictures and after some editing we have some pretty spectacular photos. These humpback whales have finished mating in the warm waters of the Great Barrier Reef. They are now on their way back to Antartica to feed on Krill. We had a great day out on the water with perfect weather (Sunny and 21C). Tomorrow morning we will head up North on our way to the Great Barrier Reef. If you like the pictures, be sure to check out our online photo albulm. If you don't have the link.....send us a quick email and we will send it to you.

Trip Summary July 21st-Aug 26th

Travel Summary - Toronto to Sydney (July 21st - Aug 26th)

We have been on 10 flights, flown for over 47 hours, and have travelled over 20,000 miles by airplane.

We have flown:
1) Toronto to Lima, Peru (9 hours)
2) Lima to Cuzco, Peru (1.5 hours)
3) Cuzco to Lima (1.5 hours)
4) Lima to Sao Paulo, Brazil (5 hours)
5) Sao Paulo to Santiago, Chile (4.5 hours)
6) Santiago to Easter Island, Chile (5.5 hours)
7) Easter Island to Santiago (4.5 hours)
8) Santiago to Auckland, New Zealand (13 hours)
9) Auckland to Sydney, Australia (3 hours)

Other Highlights and funny tidbits:

1) Crazy cab ride from Cuzco to Ollyaytantambo. We had 6 people in the cab (the four of us, our guide and driver). We drove at high speeds on winding mountain roads. Jeff and Sam slept through the entire drive on Elaine’s lap due to the fact that Elaine gave each of them an Adult dose of Gravol.

2) The only time we actually have carried our knapsacks on our back was from the town centre to our lodgings in Ollyantaytambo (which was about a tenth of a mile.....and we were all exhausted). We’re not backpackers.

3) Stayed in a wonderful place with a native family. In Ollantaytambo we went; river rafting in a Technical Level 3 rapids, went on a terrifying horseback ride through the Andes, foot trek up a mountain through ancient ruins, ate street meet, took a cab into the high mountains to experience village life, discovered and drank copious amounts of Cocoa Tea, fed the Lamas at our lodgings, ate traditional Peruvian breakfasts and dinners, and overall had an amazing time.

4) We took a dome train from Ollyantaytambo to Aqua Calientes (the closest town to Machu Pichu). The train was fun and comfortable. We took a luxury bus to Machu Pichu which was quite scary as it traversed the cutbacks up the mountain to Machu Pichu. We hired an English speaking guide to take us through Machu Pichu where we learned all about the ancient Inca civilization. Elaine and Sammy took a 3 hour hike along the Inca trail to the Sunshine Pass while Jeff and Kevin relaxed in the shade and talked with two women from California who provided ideas for Australia. We had our nicest and most expensive dinner to date in a French restaurant that was recommended in one of our travel books. If you ever go, look for the Misner Trip business card on the wall!! Jeff became obsessed with buying soccer shirts everywhere we went while Samantha was persuaded (with 100 Sols) to learn to play Euchre. We flew back to Cuzco in business class (had wished it was a longer flight) and spent 4 nights in a really interesting room overlooking a beautiful plaza. The prices were cheap, the food was good, and the markets were fun to shop at. After a quick stop in Lima we were off to Sao Paulo, Brazil. We stayed at the Maksoud Plaza, a lovely hotel in central Sao Paulo. The service was great, the pool was very warm, and the view of the city was magnificent. We went to the Japanese Sunday market in Liberdade via the Metro, Jeff and Kevin went off to see a Brazilian soccer match. The goalie scored the majority of the goals on free kicks. We went to central park (very similar to New York’s central park except Sao Paulo has 22 million inhabitants). Jeff, Sam and Kevin went to a late night electronics mall to buy some cheap movies and video games.

5) We arrived in Santiago in the evening; fortunately we had made arrangements to be picked up from the airport (found on Craigslist). The next day, Elaine became the navigator and took us on the Metro to the central Fish Market (similar to St. Lawrence market) where we had a great Chilean seafood lunch with wine. The next day we went by Metro again to Cristal Hill where we had a terrific view of the city from the Gondola. If it wasn’t for the smog then Santiago might be considered one of the prettiest capitals of the world. We all thought it was neat to be standing beside a palm tree while looking at snow covered mountains. We went to the Santiago zoo on the same hill which was better than expected.

6) We left for Portillio the next morning where we had a terrific time skiing. Everyone was friendly and spoke English. We met other people from Toronto and the US as well as the members of the Men‘s Canadian ski team. We stayed in a backpacker dorm (two sets of bunk beds) to save $$ but were allowed to use all the facilities of the hotel which was about 20 feet away from where we slept. The kids loved the bunks and Elaine hated the communal bathrooms. We ate like pigs (4 meals a day....breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner)....no weight loss here! We left two days early because of a storm that was expected to leave everyone stranded for several days. Portillio eventually saw 200cm of fresh powder fall.....too bad we had to leave early!!

7) Kevin negotiated transportation to Portillio and a tour of the coast north of Santiago with a Chilean named Hector (same guy we found on Craigslist). Hector soon became like a member of our family. He spent 10 to 12 hours a day taking us on custom made tours. We stopped at Erruzziz winery on the way from Portillio to Valpariso which was the highlight of the day. Sam and Jeff enjoyed the winery as much as the adults. We drank an award winning Shraz, ate lovely cheese, and had a delightful conversation with a gentleman from the winery while we sat out on the terrace overlooking the vineyard. Hector arranged accommodation with a lovely couple who had just started a B&B in Valpariso. Our room had a double bed and two singles with television. There was a common bathroom; however, we were the only ones staying here so we had the place to ourselves. Valparaiso (world heritage site) was a beautiful town on a hill overlooking a busy port. We went up and down to the main part of town on a funicular (an inclined railway system that was installed in the 1800’s providing transportation up the hill for the wealthy merchants.) This is the port that the majority of cruise ships who visit South America stop at. We toured Vina del Mar on our own the next day. We got on a local bus by the ocean and just stayed on it until the end (no one spoke English) figuring we could make our way back somehow. We had a lovely walk along the boardwalk and craft market, ate McDonald’s ice-cream and candy apples, but had to get back as Samantha had a fever. A cab driver offered to take us back for 20,000 Chilean Pesos (about $40) but we decided to take the bus ($3 for all of us) instead. The bus driver dropped us back where we needed to be after Kevin showed him a picture of a Statue that was on the digital camera where we started our day. We arrived safely and the bus ride was clean and fast. Samantha went straight to bed after a warm bath. Our hosts, Fernando and Jenny were very worried about Samantha and offered to take her to the hospital. They were very kind (we bought them some Merlot and left them a Canadian baseball hat before we left). Samantha’s fever was gone the next morning and we were all better again. Hector took us for a city tour the next day. We had never seen so much rain in our lives. Literally, the roads were like rivers coming down the streets. We had a great traditional Chilean lunch. Hector took us to a local restaurant where we had “The menu of the day” – a starter, an entrée, wine, and dessert for 3000 Chilean pesos (about $6 per person). The next day Hector took us to 3 wineries which was fun, and the day after he took us on an incredible drive up the coast where we all had an incredible day. We saw penguins along the coast, Sammy went crazy! Hector had picked us up at 9 in the morning and we returned at 10pm. We had to pack and be up at 4:30am for our drive to the Santiago airport for our 8am flight. We were sad to say goodbye to our new found friend, Hector.

8) We arrived in Easter Island just before lunch. The sun was out but there was a light drizzle of rain. The hosts from our B & B picked us up at the airport and presented us with flower lays for our arrival. We checked into our room where we had one double bed and 3 singles. The weather was cool and very damp. It then began to rain. Kevin went out to about 10 different places that rented cars and found a place that agreed to rent us a 4 door 4x4 Suzuki for two days for 54,000 CLP (about $110). The roads around the island are really rough.....we really mean rough!! Pot holes everywhere and since it rained so much, it looked as if there were small lakes everywhere. The 4x4 worked out fine, although the windows only went up and down about a mm/sec, and you had to open the driver’s door from the outside, and the passenger’s window (Elaine’s) didn’t move up or down and the defrost didn’t work very well. It was fun to drive and we think everyone would have loved to see Elaine’s face while we drove in it. The Moai were really interesting to see. We saw lots of wild horses, some with babies. Once again, Sammy went wild! The Island and ocean views were really beautiful when it wasn’t rainy but two days was definitely enough. If you ever go don’t spend more than 3 would be our recommendation.

9) The travel to Australia was really long..... We had to fly back to Santiago even though we were almost half way to Australia already. We had a 5 hour wait in the Santiago airport before our flight to Sydney. Fortunately we were able to use the Business/First class lounges because of Samantha and Kevin’s elite flying status. We went to the Admiral’s Club (American Airlines) first and the kids loved all the first class treatment. Complimentary drinks, sandwiches, cheese etc. While Kevin and Elaine sampled all the expensive Chilean Reserve wines. We made a few calls home to Canada and booked our car rental for Australia. We went to the LAN airlines lounge after (another perk of Elite flying status). Jeff and Samantha loved the Sushi and other foods while they used the web on the computers in the lounge. Our 5 hour stopover flew by in no time. We flew from Santiago, Chile (11pm) to Sydney, Australia with a 1 hour stopover in Auckland, New Zealand. The flight from Santiago to Auckland was about 13 hours long. Fortunately, the plane was not full and we could spread out a little (as we had four middle seats). Jeff sat ahead and had two seats to himself, Kevin ran to 4 empty seats in the front only to find they were reserved for the flight staff to sleep in, so he came back to sit with Elaine and Samantha. Samantha and Kevin became very cranky in the middle of the night because Sam kept kicking Kevin while Elaine took up 3 of the 4 seats herself. Kevin attempted to physically remove Elaine, however she countered his attack! It was not the nicest flight we have ever had.....but it did manage to get us back on budget after our trip to Easter Island.

10) We arrived in Sydney at 7 in the morning after flying past the International Date Line (we left on Thursday evening and arrived Sat morning). We rented car from Hertz in the Sydney airport and decided to upgrade to a midsize for more room and automatic transmission. This was a very good decision because all of our luggage fits into the trunk and because driving a standard on the wrong side of the road would be a little difficult. A manual transmission while sitting on the wrong side of the car would have been a little challenging --- plus we promised the Grandma’s we would be careful with the kids. Elaine has become more comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road (she’s currently driving while I’m typing this). Sam and Jeff are now sleeping in the back seat. Coincidentally they fall asleep as soon as they ask if I could charge their PSP or IPod and I instead suggest that doing some Math homework might be a good idea. Well at least it’s quiet right now, outside of the speed alarm going off that we set at 120km/hr. Like I said, Elaine is getting more comfortable with driving on the wrong side of the road!!

5th Day in Australia
We decided to do a top 10 list of Australia for our friends this morning. We know that this will be a work in progress so expect updates over the next couple of weeks.

Top 10 things in OZ so far:

10) The abundant colourful birds
9) Delicious Fruit
8) Milk tastes the same
7) Ocean Tides
6) Tennis – Jeff loves to play and is quite good
5) Fully equipped Cabins on the ocean are less than half the price of an Easter Island hotel room
4) Tourist Information Centres
3) People speak English (although with a funny accent Mates)
2) Kevin is awake each morning before the Sun rises
1) Great Scenery

The pits in OZ so far:

10) Wine isn’t cheap like Chile
9) Everything is backwards i.e. Light switches down for on
8) Cell coverage is worse than Peru
7) Groceries are more expensive than Toronto
6) Kevin is asleep by 7pm (it gets dark by 5:30pm)
5) Driving on the Wrong side of the road!!
4) Driving on the Wrong side of the road!!
3) Driving on the Wrong side of the road!!
2) Driving on the Wrong side of the road!!
1) Driving on the Wrong side of the road!!

Morning Sunrise

Kevin is awake to see the morning sunrise from our deck!!

As we get used to using all the different software we hope to make things a little more interesting for everyone. Here is a link to a map that shows where we are this morning and where we are heading to next....

http://www.whereis.com/?id=286F1EB3C5BD0A

Moonee Beach NSW, Australia

We took this picture last night. We are staying in a campground on the ocean. It's common to find family campgrounds along the ocean. They have facilities for tents, Campervans, and cabins. The cabins are great.....they have a small kitchenette, two bedrooms ( queen, two singles or two sets of bunks), lots of windows, AC and Heat, Sat TV/CD/DVD player, Hairdryer, deck, shower (hot water).

The ocean is nothing less than spectacular! We haven't gone fishing or whale watching yet; however, we plan to do these things before we leave. We are heading up the coast to Brisbane later this morning where we hope to see and touch some Koala bears.

We are ultimatley heading to the Great Barrier Reef over the next few days. If we can continue to stay in places like Moonee Beach than our travels to the Great Barrier Reef will be very memorable for years to come. Don't forget to take a look at our photo's online for more detailed pictures. Please forward the link to our Blog to anyone you think might like to see it. We only have a certain amount of addresses that get notified upon a new update. No worries mates.......from Oz

Jeffrey's Easter Isand head

Hello everybody this is my version of dumb dumb give me gum gum. I'm about 1.5 metres tall so think of how big that puppy is? Im glad I went to Easter Island , but boy I am not going back. It was raining the whole time. But I'm not going back there again. I'm having a great time!

Sincerely,
Jeffrey
Misner

"Another animal find by Sammy"

"A cute babby horse in a pack of horses"

We were going to see some heads in Easter Island but right beside the heads I saw a big pack of wild hources and in that pack I spotted 2 babby hourses. That wasn't the only thing that was wild there, there was tons of wild chickens and they had tons of babby chickens too. Now we are in Australia and there are tons of wild turkeys. Love your friend Sammy!!

"15 Heads are better then 1"

This is a picture of 15 Moai, quite close to the quarry. It's hard to see from this picture but they are very large and on the ocean. These were restored with the generosity of the Japanese government in the 60's after a Sunami destroyed them. They all face inwards (back to the ocean). We were really impressed with these Moai.

Our 2nd Day on Easter Island

It's still sunny and hasn't started raining yet (that's why we are smiling). This is the quarry where all the heads were carved before being taken to their respective places along the coast. We rented our 4x4 to ensure we could see everything in two days and to conserve our $$ as Easter Island is quite expensive. We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast that had hot water most of the time with a lovely hot breakfast each morning to start our day. Quite honestly, two days is enough on Easter Island. The running joke was there wasn't any concern of Dad wanting to move to Easter Island to live. Jeff was quite happy about this revelation. We were all glad we went but we know we are never coming back either. We visited a museum, travelled around about 80% of the island, and drove through about 25 small lakes.....one we didn't as I was even too leary about going through. I think I was just too afraid of Elaine's wrath if we got stuck in the mud/water/rainstorm since we were only about half an hour away from a hot shower and comfy beds. These pics were taken on Aug 20th.

Our 1st Easter Island Stone Heads

We rented a 1980's 4x4 Suzuki sidekick (weren't these outlawed at one time?) on Easter Island for two days. On the first afternoon we drove (Samantha drove too....sorry Grandmas) to an extinct volcano and to these restored Stone heads, also known as Moai. Even in the rain they were still pretty impressive. The kids enjoyed the offroading experience just as much as seeing the Heads. We drove through a number of puddles or small lakes that had us all laughing our heads off, well not Elaine, but certainly the rest of us.

Easter Island

Well we arrive at Easter Island. Approximately 3000 miles off the coast of Santiago, Chile. Easter Island belongs to Chile.....so are Chilean Pesos are still welcome. It was quite wet, somewhat like the weather we understand Toronto has had for most of the summer.

Penguins in Chile

We think these are Humboldt penguins. We took this picture about 3 hours north of Santiago Chile. We had a guide, Hector, who drove us up the coast from Vina Del Mar. It was an incredible Ocean drive. We went through six or more seaside towns and got out numerous times to hike/walk along the ocean trails. At one point we came across a spot where these penguins were. Most people in Chile would never believe there were Penguins outside of Patagonia but there are!!