In contrast to our visit in Israel, our trip to London was like a write up from Tripadvisor on “Top 10 Things to do in London with Kids.” We visited all the tourist attractions that we could squeeze into five days - riding the tube, Buckingham palace, double decker bus, Tower of London, Madame Tussauds, lunch at Harrods, red phone booth, the London Eye, V&A Museum, London bridge and the local pub. And of-course it was as "charming and absolutely fabulous" as any proper London holiday would be. One of the highlights was going to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre. It was a whole day affair because the play is in two parts. So you see the first couple of hours in the morning, break for lunch & then the second half in the afternoon. It was really excellent, the plot and the cast were fantastic and the special effects were literally unbelievable. Another fun afternoon was having High Tea at Sketch It’s a gorgeous place with different restaurants and tea rooms, each styled with a quirky and unique theme where the décor, service and food create a fantasy like experience that is a complete indulgence of the senses. Even just going to the washroom made for an Instagram worthy moment, where egg shaped pods are surrounded by flowers and butterflies. After a few days in the city we drove to the Cotswolds, to spend a couple of days in a pretty farm house in the English countryside. Our cousins Nick and Charlotte and their kids - Penny, Lucy and Danny - joined us for the weekend and we had a great time spending time with them, walking around the lovely farmsteads and visiting the town of Oxford and the hallowed university. The farm house in the Cotswolds was where we spent the last night of our trip. We had a celebratory dinner and raised a toast to the most fantastic five months a family could wish for. It was bitter sweet. We were all feeling excited to get back home to our family and friends, but also sad that our amazing adventure had come to an end. And then Gabriella put it all in perspective for us, as only the lucid brilliance of a child could do. She decided that “we shouldn't think of Toronto as the end, it's just another stop on our trip.”
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Israel was different from all the other destinations on our trip. Firstly because we have been there many times before and secondly because we weren’t going site seeing, we were there to see our family and friends. Even though I left Israel when I was seven years old it still feels like home to me. And this visit was particularly exciting because we would be meeting our beautiful, one week old cousin - baby Gaya (also known by her nicknames, Tewtsky and Nugget). We stayed at my uncle and aunt’s house, which also feels like home. Yoram and Sandra are just the best, period. They're those rare type of people that somehow manage to balance being down to earth and incredibly well organized with being warm and welcoming and fun. And, they are also gracious hosts and amazing cooks. So we decided that, from all the Airbnb’s we’ve stayed at on this trip, “Yoram and Sandra’s Holy Land Retreat” gets the highest star rating by far. We also met their two adorable dogs – Goldy and Bubit – who were very welcoming too and made sure we were never neglected. Especially Goldy, who is a close-talker and would jump on your lap the second you sat down and stare deeply into our eyes like she was ready for a long, intimate conversation. We spent most of our time just hanging out with them and our cousins Roee, Keren and Avishai and and being totally infatuated with baby Gaya and her adorable cuteness. I loved seeing Keren and Avishai becoming parents, which seemed to come so naturally to them, and Roee being a sweet doting, uncle. And it was pretty obvious that Yoram and Sandra will be the coolest grandparents. It was just love and happiness all around. The love fest continued when we met with Morris’ family. We had a wonderful dinner at our cousins Galit and Yaron’s house and Zack had a sleep-over with his cousin Tomer. We were also lucky to be in Israel on the week the family was celebrating unlce Naim’s 90th birthday. It was a really warm and touching celebration with Naim and his brother, Uncle Nissim (who is two years older!), surrounded by fifty of their kids, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. I also had a reunion with two of my childhood friends - Michal and Dana. We met for dinner in Tel Aviv and yakked and laughed just like we did 35 years ago in high school in Johannesburg. The best (and slightly disturbing) laugh of the night was when Dana and I realized that the pasta we ordered wasn’t exactly what we expected. It was one of those hip and trendy restaurants where the menu descriptions are just a listing of the ingredients included in the dish, with no punctuation or explanations. We ordered the “gnochi veal nuts kale”, but the chef had obviously forgotten to include the nuts and after one bite of the veal we both thought it tasted a bit strange. When Michal (who is Vegan) noticed we weren’t eating the veal, she said, “You do know which part of the veal it is...? We did have one "touristy" day when we went to visit the ancient city of Acre and see the Templar Tunnel and Knights' Kingdom that tells the stories of the crusaders that passed through there 4,000 years ago. The tunnel is carved out of natural stone and extends from the Templars fortress in the west to the city's port in the east and served as a strategic underground passageway that connected the palace to the port. Another highlight was our "Girl's Day Out" in Tel Aviv for Keren, Gabriella, baby Tewtsky and I. The plan was to take Gabriella to one of the trendy hair salon to have her hair dyed unicorn pink and then to go out for a sushi lunch. We executed the plan perfectly, except that somehow Gabriella convinced Keren and I to also dye our hair too. So the result was three girls cruising happily around Tel Aviv with different shades of pink hair. Luckily we had the sense to leave Tewtsky's hair alone. After travelling for four months and being surrounded only by strangers, it was wonderful spending a whole week with people we love and feeling at home. The only thing that makes visiting Israel difficult every time is that it’s never long enough and at the end of the week we have to say goodbye. But in Hebrew there is no word for goodbye, instead you say “Le’hitraot”, which means “till we meet again.” Alajar From Madrid we took a train to Huelva province where we rented a car and drove to Alajar – a village up in the hills of the Andalucia region. This part of the Spanish countryside is quite spectacular. It looks like a picture from a kids’ storybook, like where I imagined the seven dwarfs would be marching every morning when "...it’s off to work they go," with blue skies above green hills, wooded paths bordered by low stone walls, wild flowers everywhere and horses grazing in the meadows. And every time the gentle breeze blows it carries the scent of Orange Blossoms and Peppermint. Really, that’s what this place is actually like. The small cottage we stayed in was just as idyllic. An old, stone cottage with a big fireplace and a front porch overlooking the hills and a couple of friendly dogs that show up the minute you start cooking. There was one slightly disturbing feature though – a painted plate with a picture of a demonic looking rabbit, which we think must have some powerful psychic powers, because at one point Gabriella seems to be possessed by the spirit of the Rabbit. There were also these curious looking trees everywhere. The bottom half of their trunks had no bark and was a bright reddish colour. Gabriella decided they must have forgotten to put on their pants, but it turns out that the bark of these trees is made out of cork and the locals harvest the cork which is then processed in the cork factories. The Andalucia region produces the world’s most sought after cork and it’s a two billion dollar industry here. Cork collecting is a highly specialized skill and the collectors have to study in college for 2 years before they’re even allowed near a tree. The cork is used in car manufacturing, aeroplane insulation and, of-course, bottle stoppers. The cork, which is actually a parasite growing on the bark, takes around 10 years to grow back at which point it can be harvested again. We spent most of our days walking along the gravel country roads and exploring the little villages and towns they lead to. On one walk we came across an abandoned village where the only sign of its previous life were a couple of old rusting cars and a torn hairdressing poster still stuck on one of the dusty windows. And then, just a few kilometres further along we landed up in another small village called Linares which has only 300 inhabitants but also an incredible restaurant - Meson Arriero - which is on the Michelin Spain Guide. We had one of our best meals of the trip there, including their signature dish which is a fig and tomato soup and was amazing. Ronda From Alajar we continued our journey through the country roads of Andalucia to the ancient city of Ronda. We stayed at Finca Naranja, another small farmstead that has a couple of beautiful stone cottages. Ronda is one of the oldest cities in Andalucia and is the birthplace of Spanish bullfighting. We walked around the town and the ancient Puente Nuevo bridge (which was built in the 1700's) and down to the deep gorge that runs beneath it. Another peaceful and beautiful few days. Granada Our next stop was Granada, another beautiful historic town. This area has a rich history of both Arab and Spanish development and is the home of the Alhambra palace. It was built in the 14th century and is considered to be a testament to the collaboration of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish builders, artisans and craftsman who built it. The theme for the design and architecture of the Alhambra was "paradise on earth" and it absolutely achieves that look and feel. It’s definitely one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been. I have never seen such stunning sculptured gardens and so many roses in one place. We also went to see a Flamenco performance one night. It wasn't at all what we had expected - a young, Penelope Cruz look-alike, with hair in a low bun and fitted red dress with a mass of ruffles at its tail, twirling around in an impassioned dance. This was a very different performance, accompanied by traditional Flamenco guitar, vocals & clapping, but every bit as passionate. Seville We happened to arrive in Seville during the April Fair, This annual event celebrates Flamenco culture and is marked by the Sevillanos dressing up in their finest Flamenco outfits and participating in horse and carriage parades around the city. It was all very elegant and and festive. We spent one day walking around the Plaza de Espana which is a really stunning round plaza built in the 1920"s and was the locations for some of the scenes of Lawrence of Arabia and the Star Wars movies. And like in most of the old plazas in European towns, there were different buskers around performing their various talents and the kids joined in with one guy who was blowing giant bubble, so the whole place had a really quaint, whimsical feel to it with horse-drawn carts, kids running around, music and bubbles floating in the air. We also went to see the peculiar structure nicknamed "The Mushrooms" in the old quarter of Seville. It's the largest wooden structure in the world and is very controversial in Seville because some people think it's a wonderful piece of contemporary architecture while others think it's ugly and bizarre and should never have been constructed. It started being built in 1990 as an open air market and parking lot underground but never got completed because of delays and budget over-runs. So now it's mainly a tourist curiosity with a long winding walkway at the top that has fantastic views of the city. But by far the best memory I will have of Seville is when I got a text message from my uncle Yoram in Israel letting me know my cousin Keren had just given birth to their first child, a gorgeous baby girl. Our whole time is Spain we talked about Baby Nugget (our nickname for her) and kept waiting to get the message that she had arrived. When we finally got that text message it was the best news and we were in celebration mode, and we couldn't wait to get to Israel so we could meet our newest, cutest family member. Barcelona Of course we couldn't leave Spain without seeing Barcelona and Gaudi's incredible architecture. So we spent 3 days visiting the various Gaudi buildings including the Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia. After soaking up all the religious symbolism at Sagrada Familia, Zack asked us one of his philosophically sarcastic questions - "I don't understand why Jesus gets all this attention, aren't we all supposed to be God's children?" Barcelona was a great city to wander the streets and soak up the historic buildings and all the modern tourist attractions. We went to the Barcelona Aquarium and saw some really strange creatures and the kids got to float around in giant bubbles, also like strange creatures. Gabriella liked some of the old buildings with the giant entrance gates that have smaller pedestrian gates within them, she thought they looked like "doggy doors, but for people". Gabriella also made friends with the various "statue people" who were busking around the streets. Madrid Arriving in Madrid after being in East Asia and Japan for almost three months felt like landing on a different planet. Madrid is situated right in the centre of Spain and has a perfect mix of modern infrastructure and culture with a beautifully preserved look and feel of it's historic neighbourhoods and streets. architecture We were staying in an Airbnb in the centre of town and both the neighbourhood and the apartment were gorgeous and stylish in a way that only Europe can be. So we spent four days soaking up the beautiful architecture, amazing food and wines and getting into the Spanish vibe which is somehow both vibrant and laid-back at the same time. We visited the Prado Museum, the Plaza Mayor and strolled around the elegant streets and manicured parks. It's a great city and I'd like to go back there again. We went to see the baroque Palacio Real de Madrid which is the official residence of the Spanish royal family in Madrid and is apparently the largest royal place in Europe and one of the most opulent palaces in the world for its collection of art and construction materials. it was a great way to spend an afternoon, wandering around this indulgent and fantastical setting. We also visited the Museo Nacional de Arte to see Picasso’s Guernica and an exhibit of his work leading up to the Guernica. It was of-course incredible. I loved this description on how he felt about the state of the world in the 1930's, the period before he painted the Guernica - "The essential thing in our period of weak morale is to create enthusiasm. How many people have actually read Homer? All the same the whole world talks of him. In this way the Homeric legend is created. A legend in this sense provokes a valuable stimulus. Enthusiasm is what we need most, we and the younger generation." It made me think that this is even more true today when our perceptions and attitudes are largely based on reality shows, Youtube, apps and wiki-everything. In our "always-on" era of fake news, ubiquitous anxiety and constant political chaos, if we could somehow harness the continuous barrage of bite-sized information and content streaming into our minds every second of every day to create enthusiasm and empathy, then maybe we could turn our collective sense of dread and doom into something more constructive, something that ignites a sense of hope and progress and helps us to extinguish the turmoil rather than perpetually yet passively promoting it. Japan is one of the places I’ve always wanted to visit. I love the Japanese belief that beauty is an integral pert of day-to-day life and the dedication to harmony, simplicity and discipline, And Japan didn't disappoint, it's as interesting and unique as I was expecting. It was fascinating being in a place that is so dense with people and yet so organized, efficient and clean. It's also a totally homogenous society with 99% of the population being Japanese and very few people speaking any other language. So foreigners really stand out, but the Japanese people are welcoming and friendly and always ready to help, so it's a wonderful country to travel in. The city streets are so full with pedestrians that there are lanes on the sidewalks and everyone walks in the right direction. People strictly obey the traffic signals, no one honks and the streets are spotless (even though there are very few garbage bins around), Even the taxi's are immaculate with the drivers all in chauffeur uniforms and white gloves and there are spotless white, crocheted covers on the seats. Everyone is extremely polite and formal with each other and it seems that every little aspect of daily life - the traditional architecture, the Japanese gardens, the food and even the packaging of household products, - is artistically designed with that zen aesthetic that is so uniquely Japanese. Hiroshima Hiroshima was the first city we visited. It's a modern place that was almost entirely built after 1945 because everything was destroyed by the atomic bomb. Our hotel was about 500 metres away from the epicentre of the atomic explosion and a short walk from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, which is also called the A-bomb Dome. It's the only structure that was left standing after the atomic attack. Next to this dome is the Peace Museum which includes detailed displays of the horror that took place during and after the bomb exploded. It was an eye-opening experience for the kids, and a sad and sobering reminder for all of us of the senselessness and destruction of war. It made me think how fortunate my generation is (at least in Canada) that we have not lived through a war and I hope that we and future generations never will. Kyoto From Hiroshima we took our first ride in a high-speed bullet train to get to Kyoto. Kyoto is a really beautiful city and we were lucky to be there during Cherry Blossom season, so we spent hours walking around the city taking hundreds of photos of the gorgeous trees, together with thousands of other people. In Japan there's a tradition, called "hanami", to embrace the blooming of the Cherry Blossoms. The flowers last only for one week each year and so the tradition is about celebrating the beauty in the transient nature of life and the Cherry Blossom are a perfect symbol for this. There are people everywhere having hanami picnics under the trees and many women come out dressed in traditional Kimonos to take photos with the blossoms. Our Airbnb in Kyoto was a modern version of a traditional Japanese house where the interior walls were made out of paper screens and the kids got to sleep on tatami mattresses on the floor. To get a full taste of everyday Japanese life, we decided to have dinner at home one night. This turned out to be more complicated than we thought. We headed to the neighbourhood 7-11 where the locals buy dinner in pre-prepared meals. It was difficult to decipher what the various packages included - none of the food looked familiar and everything was labeled only in Japanese - so we landed up with a strange combination of food for dinner, but it all tasted pretty good. Another typical Japanese experience we really liked was getting our morning coffee from a vending machine at the bottom of our street. There are several different varieties of coffee to choose from and it comes out of the machine, in a can, either piping hot or cold depending on your selection, On one of our walks through the city we came across a Hedgehog Cafe and our curiosity got the better of us, so we spent the next half hour playing with cute, tiny hedgehogs. We all got along quite well with our hedgehogs except for Mo. His hands were too big for the Japanese-sized leather gloves we had to wear to protect us from hedgehog spikes, so he kept getting pricked by his little friend. Tokyo From Kyoto we continued to Tokyo. Tokyo is the most populous city in the world with a population of around 38 million - that is bigger than the entire population of Cananda. We stayed in Shijuku which is one of the busiest neighbourhoods in the city. Navigating the subway stations felt like we were on a episode of "The Amazing Race" - Shinjuku station holds the Guinness Record for the busiest transport hub in the world, with over 3.6 million people passing through there every day and 200 exists in the station. And once we found the correct exit, crossing the road at one of the pedestrian crossings was also an interesting experience. On our first night in Tokyo we went to one of the popular Ramen restaurants in the neighbourhood. It was a tiny place with one bar counter that seats 15 people and to get a seat we had to line up outside on the street for 45 minutes, There are only 4 dishes on the menu and you place your order by pushing a button on a machine that looks like an old ATM. When someone at the bar leaves the next person in line gets their seat, so this meant we each had to sit separately. It was a great introduction to Japanese culture for us, slurping delicious noodles with the locals. Another typical Tokyo cultural experience we had was Gabriella's hunt for three cute, blob-like stuffies that she’s been searching for ever since she saw them featured on one of her favourite YouTuber's channel. Cuteness or "Kawaii" is part of the culture in Japan, so there are hundreds of stuffy stores, and the kids were excited to be in the country that invented Hello Kitty and Pokemon. Harajuku is a neighbourhood in Tokyo that is dedicated to all things cute and that's where we ventured to look for the three stuffies. There was much joy when we found Bear-Bear, Boo-Boo & Kiwi (their "official" names) in one of the Harajuku stores. The Kawaii culture is not only for toys and stuffies, it's prevalent everywhere - even government safety and security posters and road construction barriers are cute in Japan. Kawaii also extends to Japanese anime and manga and the mild obsession with gaming and arcades. In many neighbourhoods in the city centre there are arcades literally on every corner. Some are 6 floors high with a different theme or genre on each floor. And of course Zack & Gabriella wanted to visit every arcade and every floor. We relented a few times and Mo got into the groove and actually won a cutesy plastic figurine from of one of those annoying claw games. Another moment of cuteness was the robot that was greeting the guests in our hotel lobby, especially when it started following Gabriella and seemed quite disappointed when she had to leave. On our last night Mo and I went up to the bar on the 52nd floor of the Tokyo Park Hyatt - the place that played an integral role in the "Lost in Translation" movie, which we both loved. Of course we weren't the only tourists who thought it's a good spot to visit and there was a 45 minute wait to get in, so instead we went to the bar one floor below. The view from up there was incredible, it really gave you the sense of just how densely populated that city is. The city goes on for ever, there are no empty spaces like in most other cities, it's just city lights for as far as your eyes can see. (Disclaimer: I apologize in advance to my cousins – Avi-Schinitzel and Roee (and any vegans or vegetarians) for the graphic nature of this blog post and the insensitive chicken references. ) Hanoi was our last stop in Vietnam and in South East Asia. Out of all the places we had visited, this city was my least favourite. Like some of the other cities in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, Hanoi was noisy, dirty and polluted, but in those other places there were spots of natural beauty or spiritual inspiration or cultural interest, but Hanoi didn’t seem to have any of that. Still, it was and interesting city to see and to be in the middle of all that chaos and messiness - even if it’s just to remind us just how wonderful and privileged our own lives are. This was the view from our hotel room balcony. And when I managed to look beyond the electrical wires I noticed the restaurant across the street where they were preparing the chickens for that day’s customers. Yes, that is a bucket full of blood that he’s washing the chickens in. Needless to say we found somewhere else to have lunch that day. From Hanoi we flew to Hong Kong. Another noisy, polluted city but on a much bigger scale and lit up by thousands of electric billboards and shopping malls. We went for a ride on the giant Ferris wheel at Victoria harbour, which was fun for the kids and I, but Mo doesn’t love heights, so he wasn’t as enthused about the experience. We also walked around the harbour at night and the kids were literally climbing up the walls – Zack had been reading about Parkour & they both decided it looked like fun. I think they’re getting really bored with walking around cities & going to museums, we’d better find some activities for them to do or else… We always play some silly prank on the kids for April Fool's Day and we didn't have that much to work with in our tiny Airbnb, but we did have a roll of bubble wrap and some tape left over from a package we'd sent back home a few days earlier. So we decided to wrap their laptops with multiple layers of bubble wrap and tape and, for an added annoyance factor, we hid away the only pair of scissors we had. It was good entertainment watching them wrestle with the bubble wrap for 20 minutes to free their beloved computers. Maybe we’re going stir crazy too. Next on our Vietnam itinerary was Cat Ba Island. It’s the largest of 367 islands in Halong Bay, off the North East coast of Vietnam. To get to Cat Ba we needed to take a two hour ferry ride, and this was no cutesy, touristy ferry, it was one of those interesting, eye-opening experiences where we got to travel like a local. The main city on the Island is Cat Ba town. It's in a spectacular setting - wild rocky cliffs rising straight out of the ocean that is a crazy shade of greenish blue with small, pretty beaches everywhere – but the town itself is filled with ugly concrete buildings, polluted streets and polluting floating villages all along the coastline. But the hotel we stayed in was on one of those small beaches in a cosy spot between the rocky cliffs, and it was a beautiful spot to spend a couple of days. The highlight though was going rock-climbing on one of the tiny, rugged islands. The climbing was difficult but really fun and we managed to reach the top of most of the climbs, around 70ft. high. It was incredible dangling on a rope from up there and looking at the amazing views below. And I was amazed to see the determination Zack & Gabriella had to make it up those vertical rock faces. Kids are naturally good climbers because they're light and energetic but, because they don't have the height advantage, it's harder for them to find rock grips they can reach. From Cat Ba island we took a ferry to Halong city where we boarded the “Dragon Legend 1” for a boat cruise around Bai Tu Long Bay – the sister bay to Halong Bay but apparently with less tourist cruises running through it. It was three days on a classic wooden ship with breath taking views of the hundreds of rocky islands popping out of the aquamarine waters and the floating villages scattered around them. To add to the entertainment value on the cruise, the chef was a talented vegetable carver and each dinner was served with elaborate pieces of veggie-art. Of course we all loved the cruise. The only problem was the constant stream of exquisite photo opportunities and the million photos I then needed to edit. The Dragon Legend 1, our cabin and vegetable carvings. Bai Tu Long Bay On the second day of the cruise, the crew arranged for a BBQ lunch on this small beach. Vietnam was one of the places we were most looking forward to and we definitely weren’t disappointed when we arrived in Hoi An. It’s a vibrant, friendly town and has a quaint, historic town-centre along the river. Thousands of paper lanterns light up the streets at night, giving the old town a charming fairy-tale feel. We were there in the middle of the month during the “full moon lantern festival”. This is an ancient tradition that takes place around the 14th of every month to honour the ancestors. The local folk set up small alters outside their homes and businesses and make offerings of fruit, flowers, incense and burn fake money. It’s believed this brings good luck and prosperity. There were also hundreds of young Vietnamese couples, in colourful traditional dress, riding small boats on the river and releasing candle-lit floating lanterns. In my typical Western cynicism, I thought maybe it was a disney-like display put on for the selfie-obsessed tourists. But, in fact, it’s a real local custom during the full moon – no ulterior motives, just a sweet, romantic, age-old tradition. Being in Hoi An at the middle of March also meant we were celebrating Zack’s 13th birthday there. We spent the day Zack-style – chocolate cake for breakfast. A mellow boat ride down the river, chocolate cake for dinner – i.e. a perfect day. For the rest of our time in Hoi An we wandered around the town, hung out in the trendy little coffee shops, went on a bicycle ride around the farms and rice fields, and just chilled on the beach. Hoi An has some of those idyllic beaches – a warm and calm ocean, soft sand, and lounge chairs under large umbrellas with a row of restaurants that served drinks and lunches right on the beach. We were quite happy spending the whole day lazing around and playing in the sand. As Gabriella said, “sometimes you just have to be a potato.” I think the kids are relieved when we have days without any activities. Our next stop was Cambodia to see the famous historic temples of Angkor Wat. We stayed in Siem Reap which unexpectedly turned out to be another great little town with cute cafes, trendy restaurants, a big night market and a happening party scene on Pub Street. We also found an Escape Room (they’re one of our favourite family activities) and it was really good, even by Toronto standards. One night we went to see an amazing circus. The Phare Circus performers were all street children who studied at a school that was started 25 years ago by nine refugee men after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. The school offers street kids education in classical and performing arts and then helps them build careers in their chosen art form. The visit to Angkor Wat wasn’t quite as interesting as we were anticipating but maybe it’s just too hyped-up to live up to expectations. It was also stupidly hot and humid that day, with the temperature around 40 degrees, so it was hard to maintain our enthusiasm for the five hour walk in the stifling, sticky heat “just to look at more temples,” as Zack put it. Still, it was definitely worth seeing the ancient architecture and hearing about the stories of Cambodian mythology that are carved into the timeworn stones of those temples. Phare Circus Angkor Wat Our next stop in Laos was Luang Prabang and to get there we took a two day trip in a long-boat up the Mekong River. The trip would take us from HuayXai to a small dusty town called Pakbeng, where we would spend the night and then continue on to Luang Prabang. the next day. I loved the slow, mellow boat ride. Floating down that historic, murky river was perfect forced downtime to just relax, read and watch the green hills and small villages passing by. Mo was soaking up the chilled vibes too and seemed to be channeling Kae - our exhuberant and stylish tour guide. Kae was like a Laotian Psy and I bet he has some great Gangnam Style moves. That night, when we were in Pakbeng, happened to be the town's annual Buddha celebration. Mo and I came across the big party in the town centre and decided to join the locals in their festivities. It was a family affair with people of all ages celebrating and dancing together and copious amounts of local beer helping to create the good vibes. It felt a lot like a big Bar-Mitzvah, but instead of all the women being in little black dresses they were wearing brightly coloured shirts and skirts made from beautiful, embroidered fabrics. And in place of the Magen Boys, the entertainment was provided by the party guests singing karaoke with accompaniment by the town’s keyboard player. Either way, regardless of the type of music or the style of fashion, the combination of family, friends and shared celebration is a universal recipe for happiness and fun, and it feels the same whichever culture you're in. During the boat journey we stopped a couple of times to visit two small tribal villages that live along the river. The villagers seemed to be just as curious about us as we were about them and a group of kids walked around with us chatting and giggling, posing for photos. The girls from the Hmong tribe were selling bracelets, which everyone in our tour group was happy to buy. I loved the look on the girls' faces, there was a tough and proud strength about them. I hope that maybe this generation of girls will have the education and resilience to force a change to their tribal tradition of forced marriage between the head of the tribe and one of the teenage girls. The Khmu tribe, didn't sell anything because they don't use any paper currency or money. They barter for all their goods by trading livestock, rice, corn or bamboo with traders from China who come by boats down the river once a week. Apparently the price of a motorbike is one Water Buffalo. I was so glad that we could bring Zack and Gabriella to see a way of life that is so different from ours. Luang Prabang was a cute and quirky place. Our Airbnb was an old, traditional Laotian house built in the 1800's. This meant that there was no glass on the windows, just wooden bars, making it very convenient for hundreds of mosquitos to come visit us every evening. Across the street was the main town temple that woke us up at 6 a.m. one morning with Buddhist chanting and Laos pop music. Our next door neighbour was either a retired Samsung TV salesman or an artist creating his house fence from found-objects. And the house was across the river from the town centre, so each day we crossed a rickety bamboo bridge to get breakfast or lunch and walk around the town. The highlight here was a trip to the Kuang Si waterfalls which were so beautiful they looked like a Disneyland ride. We spent a couple of hours walking around and swimming in the falls, and I had another one of those moments where I felt so fortunate and grateful that we were able to see such remarkable places and to experience all this with our kids. Gabriella still thinks Disneyland is the best place on earth, but I think in ten years' time this is the playground she'll remember more. Kuang Si Waterfalls On their website, the Gibbon Experience describes its excursions as eco-tourism where you will learn about the wonders of the jungle, see some of the fascinating wildlife that live high up in the tree tops (especially the Gibbon monkeys that are impossible to spot any other way) and the main attraction – you will spend the days ziplining between big tree houses which will also be your accommodations at night. The reality of the experience is a little different. We didn’t see any monkeys, the only wildlife we saw were the overgrown spiders and bees that spent the night with us in the treehouse; we didn’t learn any eco-facts about the jungle because our guide only knew enough English to explain how we clip ourselves onto the ziplines; and we did a lot more hiking up steep hills than ziplining. But still, it was an incredible experience and so much fun! The ziplining was amazing. It’s one of those exhilarating, slightly nerve-wrecking, activities that takes you out of your comfort zone in the most invigorating way. We were hurtling through the air at 60km’s per hour, suspended 600 feet above the ground, with the only thing keeping us up there being a single wire strung between two trees. We have been ziplining before so we all knew what to expect, but these lines were way higher and longer than any we’ve done before and it took a couple of lines for me to feel totally relaxed and really enjoy the ride. It's a crazy feeling each time you have to leap off the flimsy wooden platform and literally throw yourself across the jungle canyon below. It was even freakier watching Mo and the kids doing it. The longest line was 440 feet across and the view of the dense jungle below was spectacular, it was so high up you couldn’t see the ground. The tree house we stayed in was really cool. These tree houses are pretty elaborate structures with three levels, beds, a kitchen and a bathroom (including a shower) all built into the tree canopies and accessible only by zipline. It also included full catering - each evening and morning, two of the local women would zipline into the tree house delivering dinner and breakfast. We shared the trip with another four great people – three Canadians from New Brunswick and one guy from San Francisco. In the evenings our guide would leave the eight of us in the tree house to face the jungle noises and blackness on our own. So we all had dinner together and spent the evening chatting, playing cards and reassuring each other that the giant spiders hanging on the ceiling beams won’t crawl into any of our sleeping bags at night. There’s an interesting dynamic that happens when you meet other travellers in remote places, especially when you have to share accommodations with them. They change very quickly from being total strangers to friends, and almost immediately you find shared interests and common ground. Firstly because you’re all foreigners in an unfamiliar place and also because you’re sharing a unique experience where, for that event, your memories will forever be intertwined. At the end of the trip we stopped in at the local village for cold beers and smoothies. Once again we were engrossed with the adorable village kids and Gabriella entertained a group of girls with her ipad.
Our last stop in Thailand was Thaton, a small town right on the Myanmar border. It's in the area called the Golden Triangle which stretches across the mountains bordering Thailand, Myanmar and Laos and used to be, in the mid 1900's, the most extensive Opium plantations region in the world. In the early 21st century the Thai government/Royal family clamped down on the Opium production by incentivizing the farmers to grow corn, tea and rice instead. Today most of the Heroin production comes out of Myanmar, but much of the refinement is still done in Thailand, so Thaton has many military check points along its roads. None of the military guards took any interest in us though and just waved us through with a friendly smile as we drove across in our rented Camry. Besides the vast stretches of farmlands, Thaton's landscape is filled with many Buddhist temples, monasteries and giant Buddha statues (the biggest is three stories high) and all over town you see groups of Monks walking around the dusty streets in their orange robes. I noticed there were various types of Buddha statues; apparently each one portrays a different posture or attitude. There are in fact over one hundred postures, each one conveying a specific meaning or significance. I also learned that the "laughing Buddha" that is commonly found in souvenir shops (you know the one - chubby belly, bald head, big smile) is actually not a Buddha at all, but rather an old, revered Chinese Monk who was famous for his Buddhist sermons and has come to symbolize prosperity. In terms of tourist attractions or activities, there wasn't much for us to do here, so we were happy to continue our chilled vibe from Pai. We went for a walk up the mountain to see some of the giant Buddhas and came across a few Buddhist meditation sites. One of them was particularly cool, hidden in a small cave in the rocks. It had a giant laughing Buddha statue outside and a few traditional Buddhas inside the dark cave. We also came across another curious object that Zack and Gabriella had never seen before. They were fascinated by this strange, small, glass booth with what seemed like some sort of technology device stuck in the corner. Zack decided it must be a time travel pod and stepped inside enthusiastically. He hit 1-9-6-1 on the keypad and waited patiently. The next day we decided to rent small motorbikes and go riding around the farmlands and small villages. I have never driven a motorbike before, but it was so much fun. I'm hooked. I might just need to get one of those cute Vespas when I'm back. It'll be so much easier to park when I'm popping out for a round of grande, no-foam, half-sweet lattes. (I guess I must be a little homesick.)
We spent the last four days in Pai. A small bohemian, hippie town close to the Thailand/Myanmar border. Someone we met described it as "Chiang Mai twenty years ago" and that's a pretty accurate description. It's a quiet town where nothing much happens. There really wasn't anything exciting to do there, which was fine with us because the Airbnb we were renting was the perfect place to do some serious chillaxing after our trekking adventures. It was a traditional Myanmar style wooden house with big, open terraces furnished with nothing but large cushions and beanbags. Also, the only furniture inside the house were mattresses on the bedroom floors (Gabriella was the only one who had an actual bed) but every room had a small display of random paraphernalia and found objects that added to the hippie, 60's throwback vibe. The other element that added to the Zen-like ambience of this place were the five cute cats that lived there. The website for this Airbnb advertises them as "therapy kittens". I'm not sure exactly what type of therapy they're trained to provide, but they definitely had a strong effect on us. We basically took our cues from the cats and spent four days lounging around in a long, continuous state of sheer mellowness. These therapy kittens are incredible! There was one thing however, that detracted from the tranquil, atmospheric energy of the place. It was, by my standards, a bit dirty. Now, granted, I admit to being a slightly obsessive clean-freak (I can't help it, I'm A-type, Virgo, Jewish, Mom) but still, humour me for a minute - the towels and bedding smelled a little dank and the kitchen utensils and cutlery were downright gross. There wasn't even any hot water in the kitchen, so how are those dishes getting cleaned?!
Mo and the kids thought that I was exaggerating and being overly sensitive. Maybe they're right and I should just learn to embrace the dirt. So, I'd like to conduct a small survey; I present below exhibit A, showing the state in which I found the cutlery and I ask, dear friends, for your honest and objective assessment - irrational clean freak or responsibly hygienic? (If it's determined that I do, in fact, have an unhealthy need for cleanliness, maybe those cats can provide some therapy?) The next two days of our trekking adventure were spent doing some more hiking with stops at some of the waterfalls and small lakes that seem to suddenly emerge through the web of thick jungle. La, our intrepid guide, continued to surprise us with his jungle survival skills and prepared excellent picnic lunches for us using only plants from the surroundings as cooking and serving utensils. He even carved a perfect set of spoons and forks/knives for us out of bamboo. How to cook sticky rice in a bamboo tube: fill a meter long piece of bamboo with rice, add some coconut water, cook bamboo over open fire, when ready cut away the hard outer bark of the bamboo, peel the soft bamboo fibre like a banana, enjoy your warm sticky rice. We ended the day with a quiet ride, meandering down the river on a bamboo raft and then drove to our next destination - Spicy Villas - where we'd be spending the next two nights. The only traffic we encountered was a heard of elephants plodding along the road munching on bamboo leaves. Spicy Villas was a curious spot - a cluster of seven bamboo huts literally in the middle of nowhere. It definitely isn't as exotic as the name implies, but it was an interesting enough place to spend a couple of nights. The staff is made up of local Karen tribe folk as well as some European and American twenty-something volunteers who are helping to build the place in exchange for cheap accommodation. The Bar at Spicy Villas. Cocktails anyone? We helped to make dinner and Gabriella was handed a machete and told to chop the chicken breasts into small pieces, which she did very enthusiastically. So much for me teaching her not to play with knives. Mo was given the task of grilling peppers on the fire and he also struck up a conversation with two of the little girls who thought it was very funny that he has hair growing on his face. The next day we headed back to Chiang Mai to rent a car so we can continue our journey to Pai, a five hour drive north, near the Thailand/Myanmar border.
We spent three days trekking through jungle in the rural areas in the Mae Wang district and visiting the local villages. The first day included a bike ride through the country side, farms and rice terraces. We then started our trek through the jungle, towards the small village we'd be staying at that night. This was one of the most interesting hikes I've done because there was no marked trail through this wild landscape, so we had to scramble through the web of trees, bamboos and rocks, following our guide, La, who cut a path through the dense terrain with his machete as we went. La comes from the Karen tribe who live in this area and we would be spending that night at his mother-in-law's home. He told us that as a young boy he was curious about life in the city and wanted to earn better wages than he could working on the farms here, so that he could buy a motorbike. So at the age of 18 he asked his parents for permission to go to Chiang Mai. He arrived in the big city without knowing anyone and having to fend for himself. He not only made enough money to buy his motorbike, he also taught himself English and started working for the small tour company that organized our three day trek. La plans to start his own tour company showing visitors the jungles and villages he grew up in. He's an impressive guy - he speaks English fluently, is knowledgable about different cultures from interacting with the many tourist groups he's led, and he really knows how to navigate these convoluted jungles . Throughout our trek he taught us about some of the secrets of the versatile plant and animal life here. He's like the Crocodile Dundee of Thailand. La made a lunch box for Gabriella using Banana leaves and stems for chop sticks. Banana plant and other giant leaves are used as plates and also as pots for cooking rice and stews with mushrooms, lemongrass and pork or chicken, over an open fire. A "bleeding" tree, whose sap is used as an antiseptic and topical anaesthetic for cuts or sores on the gums or tongue. Organic Orajel. Who needs Benzocaine? La teaching Zack how to hunt in the jungle using a machete and bamboo branches. And apparently village kids love blowing bubbles, just like city kids do, except they don't need Toys-R-Us. After a long day's trekking, we arrive at La's home village where we'll be staying the night. This small village has a population of about 150 people, a couple of dogs, 3 cats, many chickens and a rooster that starts crowing at 3:30 a.m. We were staying at La's mother-in-law's house and got to meet his wife and three year old son. It was a wonderful experience and we all felt very welcome and comfortable in this unfamiliar and intriguing environment. Dinner time in the village. La's mother-in-law prepared the (organic, free-range, no antibiotics or hormones, very fresh) chicken, that she had just caught 3 minutes before. (Apologies to any Vegetarians or Vegans reading this blog.) The kids prepared a poster with the alphabet and a few words to teach English to the children at the village school the next day. The next morning, after a delicious breakfast (Gabriella swears that La's pancakes are the best she's ever had), we headed to visit the local school. We spent some time with the Grade 5 kids and the kindergarten class and the school kids were so welcoming and cute and Zack and Gabriella had a chance to teach them a bit of English. Too many photos of seriously cute kids to follow. Please skip to the next blog post if you don't share my maternal fascination with children. Lunchtime recess! Besides being an interesting city to hang out in, Chiang Mai also offers many fun activities which we were happy to take advantage of - there's only so many Buddhist Temples and markets the kids can handle. We found a crazy waterpark called Grand Canyon. It's a big water-filled quarry with a bunch of huge inflatable structures that you can play, jump and bounce on until you, inevitably, land face first in the water. I have a new found respect for all those crazy people who competed in "WipeOut". Gabriella and I decided to climb up a 16 ft. "wall" and then, to get down, we had to jump onto a giant pillow floating in the water below. We stood at the top looking down, regretting our initial bravado and then of-course Gabriella said, "Mummy you go first." Having to put on a brave face in front of your daughter is a great motivator. Another day was spent at Bua Tong Sticky Falls. It's a beautiful spot in the jungle with a series of waterfalls where the surface of the stone is rough and grippy, so you can walk up the falls in your bare feet, with the water cascading down towards you. You feel like Spiderman. Another all the outdoorsy, active adventures our feet needed some TLC and a good cleaning and we came across a fish pedicure spot in the middle of one of the night markets. This involves putting your feet into a tank with hundreds of little fish swimming around. These fish, called Garra Rufa, like to nibble on dry skin so they clean your feet while having dinner. It tickles like crazy and I found the whole thing a bit icky, so I only lasted a couple of minutes. I'm not really sure this "treatment" is at all effective, but it was good for a laugh. One of the "must-do" tourist attractions in Thailand is visiting elephant camps. There are many different elephant based activities but some are not humane and treat the elephants very poorly for the tourists amusement, like training them to play soccer, paint with their trunks and perform circus tricks. So we chose an elephant sanctuary that rescues elephants from these abusive camps and then uses the enthusiastic tourists to do the daily chores required to care for the elephants, like feeding them snacks of fresh bamboo and bananas and bathing them in the river. You can also ride the elephants, but only if it's bare back. A grown elephant can carry up to 150kgs, but some elephant camps put huge saddles/trekking chairs on the elephants, these chairs weigh 100kgs without anyone sitting on them and they require the elephants to go through cruel training to submit to this practice. We even got to see a two week old baby calf having fun splashing water around while his mom watches over him. It was amazing to be able to interact so closely with these gorgeous giants rather than seeing them from a distance in small enclosures in a zoo. There were other interesting creatures at the sanctuary and Zack made friends with one of them. We affectionately named him Prince Bugga. And of course, the only thing to do after you've spent time caring for rescued elephants is to go play with their poop. No, really! So we headed off to the Elephant Poopoo Paper Park. This is an eco-friendly, sustainable tourism enterprise where they rinse and dye the elephant poop that they collect from surrounding sanctuaries, and then turn it into sheets of brightly coloured artisanal paper. This paper is then used to produce hand-made stationery like greeting cards, journals, picture frames etc. The kids had fun playing with the poop.
The food in Chiang Mai is incredible. There are food markets everywhere and some of our favourite meals have been at these markets. Some markets sell groceries and some are for prepared foods. It’s not fancy or pretty, but everything is made fresh on the spot using a huge variety of herbs, spices and vegetables, many that I've never seen or heard of before. The flavours & fragrances of the dishes are rich & complex and always either spicy or sweet, nothing is ever bland. It’s all delicious. It's also really inexpensive - a bag of 10 tomatoes costs the equivalent of $1, a dozen eggs is $2 and an average dinner for the 4 of us is around $30 - and it’s better than the best Thai restaurants we’ve been to in Toronto. Even the kids are getting excited about the food and are being way more adventurous than usual. At home it’s hard to get them to eat anything other than pasta and chicken nuggets, but here they’re happy to try the various curries, soups and stirfries. And they actually like it! We figured the best way to learn about all this weird and wonderful food is to take a food tour. Our guide, Tom, walked us around the market stalls and we sampled various dishes that we would never have had the guts to try on our own. These food markets are where the locals usually eat dinner. Apparently very few people here cook at home. The market starts to set up in the early evening, on the sidewalks of the main street, like for example, in front of the local Ford dealership. The whole scene looks like a total mess - it's crowded with hundreds of people and motorbikes, stacks of dishes piled everywhere and smoke blowing all around from the various grills and woks - but these pop-up restaurants offer a huge variety of menu items, the service is fast, every table has bottles of water and all the necessary condiments, and the food is excellent. Zack actually prefers eating at these markets than in normal restaurants. Tom also taught us what the different items are called in Thai and then made us order them ourselves. This led to either sympathetic smiles or sheer confusion from the vendors we were assaulting with our ridiculous attempts at this difficult language. This concoction might not look very appetizing, but it's surprisingly really good. It's called Bua Loi - a sweet, warm dessert pudding made with coconut milk, rice balls and poached eggs. Yes, we actually ate that! But the kids refused. Another good dessert - small pancakes made from rice, coconut milk and chives and fried in a special wok. Another one of our food adventures was spending a day doing a cooking class. We started off by shopping for all the necessary ingredients at the local markets and then prepared a 5 course meal, one of our best meals so far. Our teacher, Oi, taught us that in Thailand you only use a spoon and fork for eating, knives are never set on the table, they're only used for preparing the food, We made chicken curry (preparing the curry paste from scratch), Spring Roles, Tom Kha Gai soup, sticky rice with Mango for dessert (for some reason we coloured the rice blue with food colouring), and my favourite was Khao Soi yellow curry chicken with both soft and crispy egg noodles. Here’s the recipe. I also discovered that I have a knack for the intricate but futile art of vegetable carving. Not quite sure what I'll do with this new found talent. I have a feeling my creation will turn out to be a one-hit-wonder.
We arrived in Thailand and headed for Chiang Mai. When the taxi from the airport was dropping us off at our Airbnb, he drove through a web of backstreet alleys and stopped in front of what looked like a third-world scrap yard. It definitely wasn't the cute, touristy oasis we were expecting. Mo & I tried to hide our trepidation from the kids and nervously openly opened the wooden gate to what will be our home for the next eight days. And then… (cue the orchestral choir & singing angels) - our best Airbnb yet! Cozy and stylish and in a perfect location, just a few minutes walk from the old city, where all the action is. Our street Our neighbours across the street. Mo was invited over one evening, the family didn't speak any english but we hung out for a while playing with the baby and Mo had a glass of Whisky with the guys. Our Airbnb pad The Laundromat that we used, just down our street. And when we walked by later that day, our clothes were hanging outside to dry. We collected them that evening, clean, fresh and pressed, all for $10. The contrast between the dilapidated alley ways and our stylish Airbnb was mirrored in the rest of the city. Much of Chiang Mai looks crude and messy with chaotic traffic, noisy, crowded markets and litter scattered everywhere. But in the middle of all this havoc there are the Buddhist temples - literally glowing in gold and white, with over-sized arrangements of fresh flowers and colourful statues and the Zen monks wondering around peacefully in their bright orange robes. And the Thai people add to the relaxed vibe, they're friendly and welcoming, always smiling and laughing and ready to help. There seems to have a sense of calm and joy about them, despite the run-down, disorganized surroundings. The whole scene in this city creates a very interesting, incongruous vibe. I really like it here. We spent three fun days in Singapore. Contrary to it's reputation of being rigid, sterile and rules-obsessed, I found it to be a really vibrant and welcoming city/country. The mix of diverse Asian communities, very contemporary architecture and the strong influence of Buddhism gives it an interesting balance of modern, big, bustling city but with a gentle, relaxed and friendly spirit. Our stay here was also wonderful because we met up with Mo's cousin, Andrew and his wife Takako, and they took us to great restaurants, the Art-Science Museum and showed us the markets and Buddhist temples. I really love Buddhist temples, so I was very happy wondering around just soaking up the zen vibes. There were still some celebrations for the Chinese New Year so the whole city was lit up with Rooster images and the colours in the streets and the markets were brilliant. Our next stop on our trip is Thailand. More Buddhist temples and markets - I can't wait!! Today was a grey, windy, cold day in Strahan, so we took advantage of the dreary weather and had a lazy day on the couch, each curled up with our various devices. We even got some schoolwork done.
In the afternoon we decided to venture out and get some fresh air and landed up walking along a wind swept, drizzly beach. It seemed like an appropriate way to say goodbye to Tasmania. Tomorrow we have a five hour drive back to Hobart & from there we catch a flight to Singapore. Our whole visit to the South Pacific has been really wonderful. We've been travelling for six weeks now and it has been an excellent start to our trip. We're ready to move onto the next adventure and are looking forward to a change of culture and scenery in Southeast Asia. We had such a fun day in Strahan today. Strahan is a harbour village on the far West coast of Tasmania. A long-forgotten town that has seen better days. It has a dark and wild history of mining pioneers who built the West Coast Wilderness Railway and of the notorious prisons where Britain sent all its convicts in the early 1800"s. It also has incredible long stretches of untouched ocean beaches and massive sand dunes. So we explored all three aspects of this quirky place in one day. First we took a ride on a heritage steam train on the Wilderness Railway which runs through the forests. It was an educational four hour train ride through beautiful rainforest and rivers with an elegantly served lunch, but it was all too sedate and cutesy for us and we found it thoroughly boooooooring. So then, in order to recover from the unexciting train journey we went for a completely different kind of ride, whirling around the huge sand dunes on ATV's. So much fun! And the views were incredible. And then to end the day we went to a play that tells the story of ten British convicts who tried to escape from the prison here by building and hijacking a ship. The three person cast needed some audience participation to play the roles of their other convict friends, so Zack and Gabriella had their theatre debuts. They delivered Tony Award worthy performances and received a rousing applause from the audience.
When we visited Penguin, we stayed on a farm just outside the town. The farm is run by a friendly couple and their two teenage daughters and they've built three "rustic huts" (the official name of the place) that they rent out to tourists. It felt like we were on the set of an idealized remake of Little House on the Prairie.
We spent one morning helping out on the farm & learning how to make butter: Step 1: Milk the cows while feeding them a weird smelling mixture (it keeps them standing still & happy) Step 2: Separate the cream from the milk using a weird funnel with a crank on it Step 3: Churn the cream in a wooden box, with a crank on it. Step 4: Eat farm baked scones with butter & jam. There's a town in Tasmania called Penguin. So of course we had to go. There's really nothing going on in this place except for a lot of penguin statues, penguin tours & penguin souvenirs. Zack walked around with a huge smile on his face & made sure there was no penguin that was left un-hugged.
We've spent the last 3 days in Bicheno - a seaside holiday town. We played Frizbee in a big, open field, hiked to some beautiful outlook spots, lazed around on spectacular beaches, saw our first wallaby and best of all - went on a night tour to see penguins coming back to the beach to feed their babies from their daily swim & fish hunt. This was a dream come true for Zack who has had a slight penguin obsession since he did a project on them in grade 1. He has 8 penguin stuffies that are pretty cute, but we all agreed that real baby penguins are the most adorable things, in the whole world, ever! The AirBnB we stayed at in Bicheno was one of our favourites. It was a quirky, cozy, ranch type house with a great front porch. And there was a hand-written poster hanging on the inside of the powder room door, so that everyday when you went to the washroom, you got a dose of inspiration.
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