Visiting our relatives in Northern Ireland

After we touched down we had to run about 50m outside across the tarmac to the terminal in the pouring rain. Dad said "welcome to Ireland" and we were all were laughing as we ran in the rain. All of us were soaking wet and really excited about seeing our cousin, Colin, on the other side. Jeffrey spotted Colin first and Sammy quickly gave him the first of many hugs. Colin was waiting with four warm jackets and a Manchester United toque for Jeffrey. It was a great way to be welcomed.

After about a half hour drive we arrived at Colin's house. Waiting for us was Ray (Mom's cousin and Colin's Mom), Elaine and Adrian (Colin's sister and her husband), Hanah and Mark (their children). We had our first sausage supper, even though it was 10pm, and spent the evening getting to one another. Rae was just like Grandma. She had brought two hot water bottles for Jeff and Sammy's bed so they would be cozy at night. It was the first time Jeff and Sam used hot water bottles and they loved them!

Saturday morning we woke up to the delicious smell of bacon wafting from the kitchen. Colin was hard at work preparing an Ulster Fry. It included: sausages, bacon, potato bread, soda break, black pudding, white pudding, veggie roll, and eggs. It was the first time Jeff tasted black and white pudding and he was in heaven! Mom thought that Aunt Carol, Amanda, and Grandma would love that breakfast. After gobbling it up we set out for Raes , where the girls and guys split up. Both Elaines, Rae, and Samantha headed into town to go shopping, while the boys toured the town of Ballymena ending up at the bowling club. After shopping the girls met up with the boys at the club and joined Jim, Colin's dad for a drink. We ended the evening at Colins having take out and Jeff was able to try a batter sausage.

Colin really wanted us to see Northern Ireland so he took the next few days off work to show us around. Some of the great places he took us included: Torre Head, Port Stuart, Port Rush, Loch Neigh, Bushmills, The Giant's Causeway, and Belfast to name a few. Some of the highlights from these trips were climbing Torres Head and seeing the spectacular view, being surrounded by sheep on a country road, icecream and "yellow man" at Port Rush, a billy goat wearing a man's vest, the Ulster Museum, and the Belfast open bus tour. At the Ulster transportation museum there was a special section dedicated to the Titanic. There we learned that the Titanic was built in Belfast and later on in our bus tour we saw the dry dock made especially for the historic ship. Jeff and Kevin were confused about why the Northern Irish were so proud of the Titanic; however, later on during our bus tour our guide kindly reminded us that it was not Irish engineering at fault but rather an Englishman at the helm and a Canadian iceberg that sunk the ship. On the day we went to the Giant's Causeway we woke up to a snow storm. Rae and Jim did not think we should go because the driving would be treacherous with the snow. A couple of cm's of snow might scare off the Irish but not Colin and the four Canadians. Upon reaching the Causeway we found most shops and the government tour office closed for the day due to the weather. Even though it was slippery and wet is was still worth the effort because it was awesome. The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking hexagonal columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption although there are many legends about the area. Poor Colin was ambushed with snowballs many times during the day by Jeff and Sam because he was such a fun target.


The trip to Ireland was an opportunity for the Misner/Kenny family to get to know many our our Irish relatives. We had a great breakfast and spent a few nights with Aunt Jane, Margaret, Elenor, Bobby, and Wilbur. And Jane is my Grandmother's only surviving siter and she really reminded us of Grandma. Margaret and Bobby are her two children and Wilbur and Eleanor are their spouses. Margaret loves to laugh and likes a good hot toddy. We spent an enjoyable evening at Bryan Haggarty's (Elaine's cousin) beautiful house getting to know additional family members. We spent an afternoon at Uncle Jimmy's (Papa Kenny's brother) house where he told us about growing up in Ireland. There we met his friend Tommy Lormer who had spend 2 ½ years as a POW during the Korean War. He had many interesting stories to tell us.

Mom's cousin, Anne Campbell, picked us up for a morning at her house where we had a great conversation in front of a roaring fire. Her husband had gone to boarding school with Prince Charles. Colin took us to see Tommy Haggarty, one of Grandma's brothers. It was really nice to meet him because we had heard so much about him from Grandma.

There are so many other stories to tell about our stay in Ireland. We are sorry we can't give you all the detail right now. The hospitality we were show was incredible and leaving was very hard to do.

Here's a list highlighting some of the things we enjoyed:

• Food (Soda Bread, battered sausages, potato bread, black pudding, white pudding, sausages, many types of potatoes, chocolate bars, ice-cream, sweets)

Rocking the Kasbah – Our trip to Morocco by Samantha

I didn't know what to expect in Morocco because I hadn't heard of it before going there. We flew into Casablanca and took two trains to reach Marrakech. When we got outside the train station many drivers grabbed our bags and took them in different directions because they all wanted our business. We finally settled on a large cab so we could all travel together to the place we were staying. It was inside the Medina, that is a walled medieval city and we stayed in a riad which is a really old house within the medina. We stayed with a great couple from England named Jackie and Luke. Jackie had arranged a Moroccan dinner for us when we arrived which was great because we were all starved. The riad had a large courtyard and all the rooms around it. It was really beautiful.

In Marrakech there is a main square, Djemaa el Fna, that has snake charmers and monkey trainers. A man put a monkey on my head and two other men put baby cobras around my neck and on my arm. It was really scary!! Beside the square were souks. That is what the local markets are called in Morocco. Marrakech has the largest area of souks in the world. There were colourful spices, shoes, meal works, lamps, and other trinkets. We rode a horse drawn carriage around the Medina to see all the sights. Dad and Jeffrey got haircuts on our first day by a very nice man who didn't speak any English. We passed him every day and he always waived and smiled. From Marrakech, Jackie arranged a driver to take us to the Atlas Mountains about 2 ½ hours from our riad. It was absolutely beautiful! When we arrived at the Atlas Mountains it was covered with snow and we climbed to a village about 2 hours away. It was so much fun except our feet got soaking wet and cold. When we reached the village I bought a cobalt rock found there and we discovered a bunch of kids skiing with really old equipment. They were all boys who were taking a break from studying the Koran. Only the boys seemed to be skiing.

After Marrakech we took a train to Fes. Train travel was difficult because they never announce anything in English so we had to guess where we were. In Fes we went to a medina built in the 8^th century. It felt like we were in medieval times. We went to the tannery where men dyed hides in large vats to create leather goods. It was an experience I'll never forget. Men were literally in the huge vats of dye, all sorts of different colours. In the medina the people live like they did many years ago. There are no cars and large stuff was moved by donkeys pulling carts. The people living there baked their bread in a community bakery. The children brought the dough to the large oven and picked it up later for a small fee. I went to a primary school where the children were taught the Koran.

We enjoyed our stay in Morocco. It felt like we were living in a time from the past.

South Africa and the Animals

We flew from Hong Kong to Johannesburg, South Africa, on December 30^th. Normally we would have arranged for someone to meet us at the airport; however, we intended to turn our South African adventure into a driving adventure. Needless to say that just renting a car, driving on the wrong side of the road again, and driving a standard (stick shift in the left hand) was an adventure in itself. The map that we printed out in the airport lounge in Hong Kong indicated that our drive should take approximately 50 minutes to our hotel......3 hours later we arrived. Luckily we arrived early in the morning at JNB and our extended drive was perfect timing for our check in at the hotel we booked just outside Johannesburg for four nights.

The resort turned out to be incredible and the staff very attentive as the resort wasn't very busy --- another casualty of the world economic crisis. While we were in Johannesburg (northwest of Joburg actually), we took a tour of the South Western Township (aka. Soweto). The Soweto township first developed during the gold rush around the late 1800's, as a suburb outside of Johannesburg where Africans were forced to live. The number of people living in the township is unconfirmed–reports are anywhere from 2-5 million people. Turns out Nobel Peace Prize recipients Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu both lived on the same block in the "nicer" part of Soweto.

Today Soweto is more than just shanty houses, there is a growing entrepreneurial middle class and the neighbourhood is full of new cars, and brick houses complete with alarm systems. In addition, the government is slowly relocating residents into government housing projects.

Apparently the crime rate in Soweto is far below that of the rest of Johannesburg. I read that residents have their own form of justice…they find the culprit and set him on fire which seems to keep the crime rate low.

Our original plan was to head to Kruger Park to see some animals and then drive down the coast via the garden route to Capetown. I have always wanted to go to Capetown. In an adventure like ours, flexibility is very important. Although our trip will be 8 months long when we finish, we have had to skip many places of interest or sometimes stay longer than intended in some spots for various logistical reasons. South Africa was no exception to this continued flexibility. We found an incredible spot in a private game reserve called Marloth Park. The ingredients that make it ideal include: Big dangerous animals close by on the wild side of the fence; Smaller and safer wild animals within reach on what is, officially, the wrong side of the fence for them (we are told that zebra have multiplied prodigiously without their natural predators). Within three hours of being in our little cottage/lodge (Maujli River Lodge) we saw zebras, hippos, rhino, impalas, baboons and numerous exotic birds. We were pretty excited!

After the first five days we were thrilled to have been lucky to see several of the of the 'Big Five' (elephant, African buffalo, rhino, lion and leopard) considering it was summer time and the grass makes it more difficult to spot the animals.

A couple of days before we were scheduled to leave and drive down the coast to Capetown (about 20+ hours over a week) we had a family meeting to discuss the idea of staying at Maujli River Lodge for the remainder of our stay in South Africa and skipping the trip to Capetown. We were all in agreement in our decision to stay and subsequently contacted the owner in Ireland to work out the details.

Seven days at Kruger, and we still hadn't seen the big 5. We'd taken many self-drives (where you can drive yourself around the park) around Lionspruit, the private game reserve in Marloth.

Three of the big 5 are fairly easy to spot– elephant, buffalo, rhino. Number 4, the lion eluded us and we went on several drives just to find them alone. The wildlife was amazing. We saw many different things; giraffes "neck" fighting, impalas fighting, rhinos yawning, dung beetles making balls from zebra scat, wildebeest marking their territory, baboons grooming each other, a baby zebra nursing, a baby buffalo, the remains of a kill (bones were picked clean, only the skeleton of baby giraffe remained), elephants playing in the water, buffalo rolling in the grass, a herd of buffalo on a mini stampede, a younger elephant charging our car and then rolling over like he was in the circus, a fish eagle catching dinner, hippos playing with each other in the water, baby zebra jumping on its mother, and a large baboon in our lodge/cottage. And we learned random facts; the white rhino has poor eyesight, elephants are overpopulated in the park, giraffe sex between males is common, the impala is "fast food" for the lions, female buffalo prefer the young bulls and kick out the old male buffalo, when a baby giraffe is born it falls about two metres to the ground, a giraffe can break the jaw of a lion with its kicks, a leopard has the ability/strength to kill and pull up a tree an animal two times their own weight, the wildebeest is not a smart animal-very curious, giraffes only sleep 20 minutes per day and are also curious-leading them to be dinner for the lions, a firaffes tongue is one metre long. Kruger Park is an incredible place. Kruger National Park is 450 km long and 60 km wide - 2 million hectares.

When I first began to write this entry, while still in Africa, we thought we would eventually see a Lion. The Lions eluded us; however, the second last night we were in the Kruger, we were heading out for our sunset/night drive and we saw a Leopard! Our pictures didn't turn out very well but we did manage to get a video clip that we will never forget. Just before the night Safari was over we also spotted a group of wild dogs. We all agreed that the Leopard and Wild dogs were far better than a pride of Lions. We were told by three guides that only 0.10 % of tourists see a leopard. You will not believe the photos we will try and get them all up shortly as many people have been emailing us in anticipation of seeing them.

I really think I love Africa because of how raw it is. We saw the real South Africa because there's no other way to see it…the real Africa doesn't have money to cover up its flaws; you see it for what it is....real people, real life, and a real struggle. Nothing is easy, and things are bound to go wrong while traveling in Africa (ie. missing hubcaps and dented tail lights-we had insurance). If nothing goes wrong than I doubt you're experiencing the real Africa. We'd been told by countless people and read many warnings of the dangers of traveling through various parts of South Africa. All of which made us paranoid thinking we would be robbed, threatened at gun point or worse. Our imaginations were worse than anything we experienced (of course, you have to be smart when traveling, too). The worst problem we faced was the roads– the potholes are enough to drive me mad. But the Africans we met were warm and friendly, armed and ready with a smile.

Our safari experience was LEKKER! (Translated from Afrikan - great!).

I truly believe that part of each one of us didn't want to see a Lion before we left. Anyone who knows us well would see this as a challenge that the Misner/Kenny family would not want to lose; however, I think we had an ulterior motive.

Allow me to introduce our very good friend Mike. Mike looks after the cottage for the owner as he lives in Ireland. Mike has lived in Marloth for about 7 years. He has an incredible amount of knowledge about the bush, animals, Africa, politics and the world. Mike took us on evening drives in his Landrover, lent us his tennis raquets, gave Jeff several hours of private tennis lessons, came over with animal guide books, taught us to feed the zebras, lent us two pairs of his binoculars, happily ate every last drop of Elaine's sausage pasta put on his plate, introduced us to neighbours, and most importantly.....treated Samantha and Jeffrey like his own grandchildren. Everyone was just about in tears when we said goodbye.

Yes, we didn't see the Lions, but the real reason we will be going back to Kruger Park is to see our friend Mike again! Thanks Mike for making our time in South Africa and Kruger very special......we'll never forget it!!

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.

New Years in South Africa by Sammy

    We arrived in Africa on the 31^st of December and it happened to be New Years. We stayed at this very nice place just outside of Johannesburg. We went out to a restaurant called Carnivore where we ate lots of meat such as: giraffe, crocodile, chicken, beef, kudu and lots more!!

    The next day we went and had breakfast. The breakfast was amazing! We had steak, sausages, lamb chops, fish, eggs, waffles, and over a hundred more items. Then we went to the pool for a while. While we were at the pool we met a very nice family!! There was a cool girl named Deandra and her mom and dad named Phildencia and Desmond. Pildencia's brother was there as well and his name was Jonathan. We talked with them for a while and enjoyed getting to know one another. They graciously asked us if we would like to go on a tour of Joberg and the Apartheid museum together and then to their place for a home cooked traditional meal. So of course we said yes!! It was about 8:00pm so we headed to bed after we grabbed a snack. We tried to get to bed early because we knew we had a big day ahead!!

    In the morning after an amazing breakfast again we started off in two cars. In our car we had Deandra, Phildencia, Jonathan, Elaine, and I. In their car they had Desmond, Kevin and Jeffrey. First we went to Hillbrow and saw lots of poverty. Daddy went outside their vehicle with his big camera and he was the only white guy there. Then we went to the apartheid museum for about 3 hours. After the museum, we drove to Soweto, a suburb where "blacks and coloured people" were force to live during the years of apartheid. I do not think there was as much poverty there than Hillbrow!

    Later in the day we went to the professional soccer fields. We went there because we were talking about soccer and South Africa is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2010. We went to two of the fields and then we headed to the place where Nelson Mandela signed the freedom act. Phildencia also bought some vegetables at the local market for dinner.

    After a long day we headed over to their grandma's house to eat .Phildencia cooked rice, curry, lamb, steak, and maise. It was so delicious!!!!!!!! Their grandma was really funny! Deandra's friend also came over and I learned a new game. We had a wonderful day and we headed back to our hotel to go to bed.

     The next day they drove with us to get us on the right highway to head to Kruger Park. At the gas station we said our goodbyes. We heard horrible things about Johannesburg before going there; however, meeting such a nice family proved all our worries were for nothing. We hope to meet again sometime soon!

 

BY: SAMMYJ

My time in Siem Riep/Angkor Wat.

My time in Siem Riep/Angkor Wat was absolutely magnificent because of the things we did and the people we met.

    The things we did in Siem Riep/Angkor Wat included going to a temple that's 2kmx2km in perimeter. Everything about the temple was so detailed, carvings on the walls such as bhudas, Indian dancers, faces, etc... The temple itself had a wall/gate 2 km wide and I would say 10-14metres tall. That was also where the king lived for200-400 years (different king's of course). Another temple we went to was the temple with 4 heads. I don't really know if that's the proper name but that's what our guide told us. He was awesome but I'll tell you about him later. The temple with the 4 heads was my favourite because it was ever more detailed and the heads were awesome; huge even bigger than my dad's head and that's big. Another awesome temple was the temple with the tree because the movie Tomb Raider was filmed there. We watched Tomb Raider the night after and we were standing exactly where the movie was filmed. It was really cool!     

    Next I'm going to talk about our guide Kimson. Kimson gives some of the money that he gets for being a tour guide to orphanages and schools so right off the bat you can tell he's a great guy. He is just recently getting married and is having a baby in February. Kimson was living when the Kymer Rouge took over Cambodia for 4 years. He said he didn't remember much about it but during that time his father, father –in- law and 2 brothers- in- laws were killed. As a result he grew up most of his life without a father. Also a day before the Vietnamese ended the war his village was told by Pol Pot (the man in charge of the operation) that they would all be killed. Talk about the hand of God. Also when he about 12 years old he got shot in the knee and lived. Paul our driver was kind to us as well because he was very polite and friendly.

    Another reason why I enjoyed Siem Riep was related to a boy we met while eating dinner our first night. All throughout Cambodia young children sell things in order to make money for either school or to help their families. We began talking to a boy about my age and he seemed very bright. He went to Cambodian school every morning and then walked over 2 km over his lunch break to get to English class. He told us he was frequently in trouble for being late. We decided to give him $25 to buy a bike. We were never sure if he would use the money as it was intended, however, we hoped he would. On the last day in Cambodia before flying to Bangkok we saw him riding his bike to school about two minutes before we entered the airport. Our whole family was very happy that we made a difference in someone's life that was less fortunate than us.     

    Siem Riep/Angkor Wat was one of my favourite parts of the world that we have visited so far. The whole family loved the temples and we were really lucky to have Kimson as our guide!

 

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.