Liz and Richard's 2007 Adventures

We're Home! Was that a snowflake I just saw??

April 18th - Toronto

Had a lovely trip home via the Big Island of Hawaii and a stop in Vancouver - still a little chilly in Toronto but at least we weren't hit by that big nor'easter!

Lots more blogging to come (diving the Great Barrier Reef, ascending to 14,000 feet on Hawaii to see the giant telescopes) so check back over the next week!

Regards

Liz and Richard

A note regarding blog navigation

• in the upper left hand margin are the 10 most recent posts - as we are adding quickly new posts will tend to "sink" quickly
• there are other ways to navigate the site to find new posts - click on the "Categories" by destination below the "Recent Posts" on the left hand margin - Hong Kong is pretty much all up to date and Siem Reap should be later this week......we'll be updating in chronological order now so it should be pretty straightforward
• or......click on the Archives by week - at the bottom of the left hand margin

best regards......Liz and Richard

Our favourite picture (below) from our trip to South America earlier this year - Liz and Richard at Cape Horn!

This year you'll see some changes/improvements versus the South America blog - the home page will remain constant and our new posts will be listed on the left side - in three ways:

• Recent Posts
• By Destination (CATEGORIES)
• By Week (ARCHIVES)

We leave January 9th - here's our itinerary so far - the SE Asia portion is well known at this point but we're still developing New Zealand and Australia.

January 11^th – 17^th - Hong   Kong, China
    o As always, we’re Napoleon’s Army and traveling on our bellies
January 17^th – 22^nd - Angkor Wat (Siem Reap), Cambodia
    o The Capital City of the Khmer Empire
January 22^nd – 27^th - Bangkok, Thailand
    o More dining and a wonderful hotel overlooking the river and a highly recommended guide
January 27^th – 31^st - Luang Prabang, Laos
    o All the global travelers we met in South America said we had to go to Indo China
January 31^st – February 1^st – Singapore
    o We fly through Singapore on our way to New Zealand – just a short stop here
February 3^rd – March 3^rd – New Zealand
    o We start in the North Island where we’ve rented a beach front house in Napier for two weeks…..we need to relax after a month in Asia.  Napier is famous for its Art Deco architecture and is the centre of the wine area
Norfolk Island – North of New Zealand
    o We like remote islands. Norfolk is where the Bounty Mutineers went after Pitcairn and home to the eponymous Norfolk Pine Tree.
Other New Zealand North and South Island adventures to be determined
    o But Swimming with the Dolphins at Kaikoura is high on Liz’s list!
March 3^rd – March 31^st  – Australia
    o We fly to Melbourne from New Zealand and then drive the magnificent

Great Ocean Road to

Adelaide for a few days
Tasmania –

Australia
    o We have a strong “Warner Brothers” inspired need to see the Tasmanian Devil!
Cairns/Great Barrier Reef –

Australia
    o Time to dive! We’re taking a 4 night “liveaboard” dive cruise to the Great Barrier Reef
Sydney–

Australia
    o Great food and beaches – we tend to prefer the former!

Hawaii –

U.S.A.
    o On the way back from Australia we’ll stop in

Hawaii – we’re both big fans of volcanoes so we plan a trip to the

Big Island and

Mauna Loa and hopefully the telescopes on Mauna Kea

Please feel free to post comments with suggestions for any of the above destinations (or others we might have missed!)

Thanks for all the comments!

It's so much fun to log onto the blog and see someone has left a comment - we love to receive them.......can't respond directly to them via email but just wanted to say how much we enjoy them!

We love Luang Prabang, Lao (the French apparently added the "s" and now it's been more or less dropped by the government - which makes Richard unnaturally happy, because:

• he has a new 3 letter word for Scrabble
• he thinks it might be the only 3 letter country (which, he informs me, means there are now only 9 4-letter countries - for those of you who know Richard, this all makes sense)

We hadn't done much shopping this trip (nor do we usually do much) but the silk is irrestible here - I have to stop buying scarves!  But they're beautiful and $4. (and they pack well!)

The food is also wonderful - of the 4 SE Asian locations we've visited we like Laotian cuisine the best - although to be honest before 48 hours ago we didn't know there was Laotian cuisine!

More to follow from NZ - just wanted to say hi and thanks for all the messages

Best regards

Liz and Richard

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

One of the things we love about traveling is signs; some well intentioned but semantically mangled, others just symptoms of cultural differences.  Here are a few to date.

Hong Kong is very clean - not much litter, no cigarette butts on the streets, etc.  Below are two reasons why ...... and they aren't kidding.  Perhaps we should consider such draconian measures in an increasingly littered Toronto:

The following sign on a beach in the Hong Kong harbour may be our all time favourite sign.....depending on how you define "Inconvenience":

One of those charming verbal juxtapositions:

This sign brings new meaning to the threat of PMS:

Just in case you didn't know, carrying a gun when you come to visit the Thai King is discouraged.  The NRA must be appalled.

The following is self explanatory ......... sort of:

One is expected to remove one's shoes on entering a Thai temple.  They provide racks at the larger sites.  The Thais are incredibly polite, so we were perplexed to find separate Thai and Foreigner shoe racks.   Our guide explained that the intent was to make clear that any thefts of Foreigner shoes was due to other foreigners, and not the Thais:

We're always on the look out for more - will add them as we collect them!

Internet Challenged - New posts in a few days!

Hi from Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand!

Well............just back from our latest adolescent adventure - swimming with dolphins.......we went at 5:30 this morning and crawled into wet suits then a half hour rockin' and a'rolling  boat ride in the rain and dark  (first rain of the trip, actually) - at that point I was thinking we were bigger fools than I thought!  But then!!!!!!!!!!  Hundreds of dolphins in the water and off the boat we tumbled - snorkeling in and around them.  They moved the boat 3 times to follow the pod - so we were in and out of the water - what a great experience!  Only 13 swimmers allowed (by eco law) and there were a few "watchers" - when we got back into the boat the last time the "swimmer wrangler" (well, I don't know his proper title) - said (in his Hugh Grant voice) "right - please remove your wet suits and get changed into your warm clothing"........uh.........and where would we be changing?  Oh hell - we all looked around and decided we'd seen all the bits before and just went for it (although cold wet skin does not go into jeans very well!)

We're off tomorrow for the west coast of the SI and to Milford Sound - the SI mecca.  Hope the weather holds for us as it's looking very good (rain of this morning now gone - might whale watch this afternoon except it's still pretty rough out there and they might have to cancel)

Richard (the primary blog author as you have no doubt figured out) has many blog postings already written (they're stacking up like bloody cordwood) but we haven't had internet access to upload.  Hopefully in the next few days we'll post Singapore and post Norfolk Island (wonderful) and our delightful time on the North Island with our new best friends in Napier.

Best to all

Liz and Richard

We're Back!

• 89 days
• 25 scheduled air flights
• 20 airports
• 1 chartered fixed wing plane
• 2 helicopter rides
• 8 car rentals
• 25 hotels, motels, rented houses, etc
• 4 long tail river boats
• 1 liveaboard dive ship
• 8 guides
• 2 bus tours
• 1 elephant ride
  and
• 1 Centurion Tank!

We had much fun.  Only problem was with 2 flights; and coincidentally we only had two flights with Air Canada!

We're commited to finish the blog - it's our personal journal.  Yet to come:

• Tasmania - Part II
• Sydney - beyond just restaurants!
• Diving - underwater photos with the dive camera
• Hilo, the Big Island and our visit to the peak of Mauna Kea
• and New Zealand overall..... the big omission

If you have the opportunity, do what we did

• do experience SE Asia.....they're going to win with their focus on hard work, education, entrepreneurship and solid families.....and wonderful food as a bonus
• do swim with sharks - as a species we need to be periodically reminded that in some environments we are not the alpha predators
• do see Angkor Wat (and other Cambodian temples) and the palaces and temples in Thailand.  These are wonders comparable to the pyramids and the Parthenon
• Do drink with Australians .... they are like us, but not of us....learn....but do not participate if they decide it is time for a "punch up"
• Hug a baby tiger....it is good for your soul and getting pissed on by a Koala can be less refreshing than a menthol cough drop
• Go to Norfolk Island....it's wonderful to be nowhere where everything is good
• Do consider retiring to New Zealand.  Why they have not built a wall around their islands and retired from the madness of the world mystifies us
• Visit Sydney and eat - Tetsuya, Flying Fish, Quay and Fish Face....we're planning to go back soon
• Ride an elephant
• Drive a tank
• Go to the peak of Mauna Kea (14,000 feet) and get as close to the stars as most of us ever will
• Travel, learn, travel, learn, travel, learn

Thanks for traveling along with us!

Best regards

Liz and Richard

PS - Check for updates this week!