Recap on South East Asia and a couple of overdue apologies...

Travelling in South East Asia as a family was amazing. We began our twelfth week adventure in Hong Kong staying with friends who had recently moved there. It was a great way to acclimatize to the area, especially because they have three boys and the kids had a blast! Next stop was Bangkok. We didn't know what to expect when we arrived in Thailand because the Canadian Government had a travel advisory against Bangkok. There were many demonstrations against the government while we were there; in fact a demonstrator was killed less than 10 blocks from where we were staying the day we arrived. We were concerned at first, however, quickly forgot about the protesters as we didn't see or hear them. Kevin and Sammy got right into the swing if things with regards to massages. Our second night there they had a 1 hour foot massages in our room for about $7 each. That pattern of Kevin and Sammy getting pampered while Jeffrey and I found other distractions happened many times during our travels. In Bangkok we visited the Royal Palace, went on a canal tour and experienced our first Night Market. It was amazing, the number of vendors and food stalls that we found. The shopping was an adventure as bargaining is fierce. I was not good at it; however, both Kevin and Jeffrey soon became experts, a skill that they both have used countless times since.

After a few days in Bangkok, we headed North via an overnight train to a place called Chang Mai and then shortly after to Chang Dou. There we stayed at an awesome resort called the Chang Dao Nest. We stayed in a little cabin basically in the jungle. The food was wonderful and we met some great people there. One was a lovely woman from Austria, Karin, who was studying Thai massage at the Nest for 1 month. Karin had done lots of travelling and was really helpful as we planned our trip to the south. We enjoyed our chats and have kept in contact since then. We went on a three day/two night trek from the Nest. We rode elephants, went rafting, did lots of caving and hiked, hiked, hiked! At night we stayed in hilltribe villages, an experience we all were glad we did, however, all agreed that we probably wouldn't do again. The huts were really basic, with GIANT spiders, roosters underneath and hole the size of your fist allowing many creatures in throughout the night. We also did not have mosquito nets so the bugs had a feast! Our guide was really great. Sam was 62 years old and we all had to run to keep up with him. He loved Sammy and was always watching out for her. In fact he held her hand whenever it looked tricky. At the Nest we met a great family from England called the Irving's. They had three boys who both Sammy and Jeffrey got along wonderfully with. We only spent two days together as we had booked a flight south, but have forged a friendship since. They are considering immigrating to Canada which would be great (although last email indicated they may set up camp in Thailand instead)!

Going to the beaches in Thailand was highly recommended by a few people, so off we flew. Luck was on our side because we ended up staying on a spectacular island just off Phuket. Raya Island has 4 resorts on it and that's about it. You can walk all the way around the island in a few hours. We stayed in a good sized cabin perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Most nights we had dramatic storms lighting up the room with each crack of thunder. We only had power from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. so it was really relaxing. We met a Canadian family staying there with an eleven year old boy. It was really neat because he was not in standard school; however, he was studying under a Kung Foo master. Leaving Raya we took an overnight bus to Bangkok and then an overnight train to Laos. On the train to Laos, Jeffrey met a young man named Wery. He turned out to be working at the Indonesian Embassy in Vientienne and kindly assisted us in getting across the border and found us a guesthouse. After working for the rest of the day, Wery came back and took us for a tour of the capitol and shared a great dinner with us. Once again we met a new friend that we have kept in contact with. Laos afforded us another opportunity to meet new friends. While on a bus from Wang Vieng to La Prabang, we met an interesting couple. On and Marco were newlyweds who had been married in Switzerland, he's Swiss and she's Thai. They were returning to have a celebration in Thailand. They were currently living in Shanghai, China where he worked at the Swiss Embassy. We struck up a conversation and next thing you know we were arranging to travel together for the next few days. On arranged a guide and off we went. Our adventures included elephant riding, waterfalls, boating, many temples and of course eating. We experienced Lao noodles together, bought tons of fruit that we washed down with fruit shakes and Jeffrey tried his first curry. He loved it so much that he ate curry for 7 of the next 8 meals. I won't tell you what happened next, however due to stomach issues Sammy laid off fruit for a while and Jeffrey gave curry a break!

 

Leaving Laos where the atmosphere was peaceful and inviting, Hanoi was a complete culture shock. The drive from the airport to our hotel was crazy. The driver opened his door on the highway to spit (a discusting habit throughout many parts of Asia) then soon after Sammy opened her door to vomit! It was our introduction to Vietnam. We were amazed with how busy Hanoi was. There were motorcycles everywhere, many carrying whole families. Jeffrey saw a family of 6 on one! We also saw sheets of plate glass, live chickens, dead pigs, sheets of plywood, a bed, crates of eggs…….the list is never ending, all on motorcycles. It was one of our main forms of entertainment! Next we travelled via overnight train and then a van through the mountains to a place called Sapa, 20 km from the Chinese border. Jeffrey began feeling sick as we got on the train and took a nosedive from there. Our planned 2 night stay in Sapa turned into 7 nights because Jeffrey ended up with Dengue Fever. It was an awful time because there was limited English and no doctors --- so we were all very concerned. In fact we considered splitting up with Jeffrey and Kevin flying to Bangkok and Samantha and I continuing in Vietnam. That did not happen, thank goodness, so we continued with our travels. Halong Bay was the next place we visited and it was magical. The only problem was that Jeffrey seemed to be taking a turn for the worst, so after another overnight bus we landed in Hue and Jeffrey landed in the hospital. By this time I was seriously considering going home. After being examined by a doctor he said that Jeffrey was on the mend, only he had to take it easy for a while to recover. So easy we did. We made our way to Hoi Ann and settled for a week. There we found an amazing restaurant called The Cargo Club. We ate there every day, in fact one day we ate there twice. One night Kevin realized he had forgotten his wallet and the staff told us no worries they would see us the following day! We celebrated Sammy's 10^th birthdays in Nha Trang. She and her Daddy had a 2 hour hot stone massages to mark the day. We ate at a great Italian restaurant and Sammy wore her birthday dress she had made in Hoi Ann. It was a great day.

None of us were looking forward to Saigon because we disliked the bustle of Hanoi and Saigon was supposed to be far worse. We arrived at 7 a.m. and immediately fell in love. The city was full of life with venders all around and motorcycles everywhere! There are more than 4 million motorcycles in the city and each one speeds like a demon. Instead of scaring us it intrigued us. In Saigon we travelled to the Ho Chi Min tunnels and visited the War Remnants Museum. Both places left us feeling emotionally drained to see the horrors war had brought to Vietnam. We decided to go on an overnight tour of the Mekong Delta. We were really glad we did, because we met a wonderful father and his daughter on the tour. Their names were Elliot and Suzi and they live in San Diego. The 5 of us hit it off immediately and ate all our meals together. Elliot was a wealth of knowledge to us and Suzi took Samantha under her wings since they are both animal lovers and Suzi was missing her 2 daughters at home. We continued our friendship back in Saigon, sharing dinner and dessert. It was really sad saying goodbye as we had really enjoyed our time together. We hope to visit them in California; in fact Jeffrey has our trip there already planned out in his mind!

 

The last stop in South East Asia was Cambodia. We travelled once again by bus to Cambodia and stayed for 2 nights in Phnom Penn. There we visited the Killing Fields and toured a museum that highlighted the atrocities of the Khymer Rouge during the Pol Pot regime. We had watched the movie "The Killing Fields" together so had some prior knowledge, however, nothing prepared us for the grim realities. Once again the tragedies of war was evident everywhere we looked. Angkor Wat in Siem Reap was our final destination. There we hired an amazing guide for 3 days to highlight some of the temples. His name was Kimson and he immediately took a keen interest in Jeffrey. Kimson is expecting his first child, a boy, in February so I think he was looking into his future. Jeffrey has written about our time there so I will let you read what he has to say. Angkor Wat was beyond anything I imagined. Every temple we visited was magical, leaving us speechless at times. It is incredible the amount of details in each structure and how they have lasted for hundreds of years. I will never forget the things we saw and did in South East Asia. We met so many wonderful people that enhanced our travels there. In the future we have many people to visit around the world and look forward having many visit us in Toronto from abroad.

 

We were on a pretty good roll with our Blog until Jeffrey's illness. Kevin cracked the whip several times to spur us on; however, it has been a long time coming. We would like to apologize to Karin, the Irving's, Kimson, Suzi and especially Elliot for not posting earlier, as our time spent with you will never be forgotten.