Home Again

Well we have made it home - it really has been an amazing trip.  We have some time to visit with family and friends before returning to work and school.  A week ago at dinner we all spoke about what we had learnt on his trip - here are some of our answers.

 

We have learnt....

 

how to use chopsticks...how to shuffle cards and play rummy... how to say thank-you in many languages...how to convert 9 currencies...who Ho Chi Minh is...what the Vietnam war is...what poverty looks like..how to do nothing for hours at a time..how to stand on my head...how to drive on the left...how each country is unique...how to talk to people from around the world...how to look past the dirt and chaos to see the beauty in the scenery...how to ride an elephant and a camel, parasail, rockclimb, kayak, snorkel...how to barter...so many things that aren't taught in school...how to live together (rather) harmoniously for 6 months!

 

A few facts....

• We travelled for 176 days
• We slept in 51 different hotels/guest houses
• We visited 9 different countries
• We took thousands of photos
• We created millions of memories

 

Thanks for coming along on our journey with us...I hope this blog inspires you to try something new!  Colleen

Christmas-time in Hong Kong

 After a couple of days in Singapore we headed to Hong Kong for 5 days.  We stayed at the YMCA hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, the main tourist area of Hong Kong which is full of malls, restaurants, designer stores and museums.  The city was decorated for Christmas - everywhere we looked there were Christmas trees and lights and every night there was a light show in the harbour.  The town was very busy - every day thousands of tourist from Mainland China come into Hong Kong to shop - there are always line ups outside of Gucci, Apple and Louis Vuitton stores.  Everywhere we went there were Chinese tourists snapping pictures so we decided to do some posing as well.

Myself, Kenna, Cole and Chuck with the Christmas Bear outside 1881 Hotel that is a Victorian style hotel and outside mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.



Kenna in front of a huge Christmas tree - one of many throughout the city.

The Peninsula Hotel decorated for Christmas.




We walked down the avenue of stars along the harbour - here is Cole comparing his hand size to Jackie Chan.  Most of the stars we didn't recognize as they were from Chinese movies.

We also visited the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Art Museum.  It was amazing to see all of his iconic work in person.  Interestingly when the exhibit goes to Beijing in the spring the paintings of Mao will not be included due to Government censure.

At night the harbour is full of Christmas lights and at 8:00 there is a 15 minute laser show set to music.  The large building on the right is 188 storeys!!

 

We spent the day at Ocean Park - a zoo, aquarium and amusement park.  The panda bears were amazing - they were huge and Kenna thought they looked like humans in Panda suits as they used their paws to eat with the same dexterity as we do with our hands.   

The Red Pandas were adorable and loved to pose for the camera!

This is a winter fox in the "Arctic Display" - it looks like a statue but it is real.   

There was a Christmas Display with 3 Santas - one from Holland, one from Finland and one from the United States.  Here we are with Sinterclaus from Holland. The Chinese Tourists love to pose for photos so we are all doing our "Asian Pose". 

There were also lots of Elves running about the park so we got a photo with one as well.  By the time we left Ocean Park we were all in the Christmas spirit!

 

Cole's Question of the day LEADERBOARD

Anna------------------------------55 pts
Erin--------------------------------56 pts  
Lin---------------------------------5 pts  
Christa.----------------------------13 pts
Michelle D-------------------------9 pt
Sherry-----------------------------8 pts
Linda------------------------------44pts

Michelle M.------------------------33 pts

Liam-------------------------------2 pts
Kyla-------------------------------17pt
Peter-------------------------------20pts
Sandra-----------------------------3pts
Bob--------------------------------2pts

Winner::   

Erin

The Actual Final Question (unless they both get it wrong)

So here we have it. The end of the competition.
As I write the final question, I look back at the fun I had doing this. Thank you for participating, and have a Merry Christmas!

The question is.....    What delicious snack is this vendor holding?(1pt)

The correct answer is... Shredded Squid \ Cuttlefish

Both of our finalists had the correct answer, however Erin responded 17 minutes earlier.

Congradulations to Erin, from now on she is the Cole's Question of the day champion! Also, put your hands together for our 2nd and 3rd place contestants: Anna and Linda!

Singapore

We spent a few days in Singapore - checking out the sights.   Chuck's friend Jackson met us at the airport and showed us around the town.  The weather was a bit cool and rainy - it felt like Vancouver!  There were Christmas trees and Christmas lights everywhere. We spent some time shopping, seeing the movie "The Hobbit" and walking along the boardwalk where we saw the famous Merlion and the harbour where Chuck and Jackson had raced Dragonboats against each other many times in the 1980's and 1990's.

At dusk we went on the Singapore Flyer - a HUGE ferris wheel.  It is the largest in the world at 165m tall.  It took about 35 minutes to do a full trip around and the views were amazing. 

This is the harbor where Chuck and Jackson used to Dragonboat race. 

This is the new Gardens that we visited in Singapore when we first went there in July. 



Lin, Linda and Jackson, our hosts in Singapore.

Chuck, Kenna, Cole and myself in the Singapore Flyer.  We really are that tanned!

Cole's Question of The Day #21 - Final Question

Today's question is.... Who is this a sculpture of? (13pts for 1st, 3pts for 2nd and 1 pt for 3rd)

The correct answer is Bruce Lee.

Amazingly, we have a tie! Anna and Erin both have 55pts EVEN THOUGH Michelle was the winner of the final question. It is written in stone that Linda will place third, Congratulations to our 3rd place "Most Valuable Guesser".

Make sure to check out our final final question!

THE FINAL QUESTION

21 questions, 13 contestants, 249 points and 6 months. Thank you for participating, it has been wonderful to  run this contest. I am pleased to tell you that first, second and third place will be receiving a special trophy!   With that out of the way... I give you The Final Question! 

Chilling at the beach in Thailand

 After spending a few weeks in Laos we are now in lovely Thailand for 2 weeks of beach time before starting the final leg of our journey.  We are at Koh Phangan, an island in the south of Thailand, near Koh Samui.  When we arrived it poured rain for 2 days...but thankfully the rain has stopped, the sun is shining and the rainy season has ended!  We are staying at a great hotel (only $36/night) - this is the view from our balcony.  We have been really lazy - just sunning, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, eating, reading and sleeping  - a great beach holiday!





Koh Phangan also has a wonderful place to do yoga - Agama Yoga School. I have joined the beginner class for 3 days and will do 2 more days next week.  I have been busy collecting cosmic energy through my upturned hands, listening to music through my arms, breath holding to increase my personal energy and standing on my head!  Here I am doing sun salutations during sunset on our balcony.  

Chuck is obsessed with taking sunset pictures from our room.  We drink beer on the balcony and wait for the 'perfect' shot - this one is great!

 

Cole's Question of the Day #20

Today's question is...   what is this wooden mechanisam? (7pts 1st, 5pts 2nd, 3pts 3rd and 1pt 4th 5th etc)

The correct answer is a sugar cane juicer. I am turning the helicopter handle. This would be very hard with twelve sticks of sugarcane shoved in the wet bottom part!

Luang Prabang

We spent a week in Luang Prabang, a lovely city in the north of Laos.  There are many temples in the city and hundreds of monks can be seen walking through the streets.  Many of the buddhist monks are novices, young boys who spend several months to a year living with the monks and learning about Buddhism.  Unique to Laos the monks carry umbrellas to shade them from the hot sun.  I snapped this photo as 3 novices (ages about 13 and 10) walked down the street.  They are not allowed to get within 3 meters of a woman so it is hard to get a photo!  They live a simple life but we did see two of them playing a game on their i-phone. 



The streets of the town are lined with boutique hotels, restaurants, cafes and handicraft shops.  The night market is gigantic, we did lots of shopping - buying wood carvings, silver earrings and necklaces, fabric bags, aprons, t-shirts and toys that shoot up into the sky.  We also spent a few afternoons relaxing in the cafes enjoying cafe lattes, frappes and pastries. 

Kenna is trying on a traditional hill tribe necklace (no we did not buy it!).

This is the view of the city from the top of Phusi Hill where a small temple is located.  In Luang Prabang the Mekong and Namkhan rivers joined together, creating lots of areas for riverfront cafes and restaurants.  I even got to enjoy a yoga class on the riverfront during sunset.

There are many temples in the city.  This one is located on the grounds of the royal palace and the inside is full of intricate carvings that are completely covered with gold leaf. 

Every morning at dawn the monks wander quietly through the town to collect alms (food) and bless the people.  Locals and tourist alike line up to provide alms to the monks.  In this photo there are even monks from Thailand (on the left) providing alms to the Luang Prabang monks. 

Weaving Class

While we were in Luang Prabang Kenna and I took a dyeing class at the handicraft store - Ock Pok Tok.  It was a really fun morning as we picked leaves, dug roots, chopped bark and boiled it all together to make the dyes.  

Here I am smashing Tamarind root with a mortar and pestle to make the base for a yellow dye.  After the dye was created we soaked the silk skeins in the liquid for 10 to 20 minutes.




These are the silk skeins colored with all natural dyes.  I was amazed at the richness of the colors. 

In the afternooon we learnt how to weave.  Before we could begin our weaving we had to spin the silk onto the bobbins that would be used for the weaving. Here I am...slowly...spinning the silk. 



Ock Pok Tok employs 20 master weavers to create wall hangings, table cloths and scarves.  The quality of the work is impressive. Master weavers take about 20 years to learn their craft - starting with lessons from their mothers when they are about 8 years old.

We each made a 30 x 40 cm silk placemat.  It took about 2 hours to make one.
Here is Cole getting help from an expert weaver and the translator. 

 

 Kenna quickly got the rhythm of the weaving - slide the shuttle, press the foot pedal, bang the comb, repeat.  Over and over and over!  When we began the pattern the weavers helped us as each row had to lift the threads in a particular pattern. 

 

Vang Vieng

 After Luang Prabang we took a 5 hour bus ride through the mountains to Vang Vieng.  Unfortunately our bus broke down, and the ride took almost 12 hours.  Vang Vieng is known for it's natural beauty - karst mountains towering over the Nam Song River. 

For the past 5 years Vang Vieng has been known as a backpacker's party town, so we originally planned to give it a miss, but 6 weeks ago the government came in and closed down all the bars along the river.  The town is now quiet and the landscape, kayaking, rock climbing and tubing down the river are the attractions again.  We had a great 3 days.

This is the view from our hotel room window.  While we were there we had some clouds and rain - the mountains looked amazing shrouded in the mist. 





We spent a day walking around the town and the next day Cole, Kenna, and Chuck spent a few hours climbing the local cliffs.

 

It was a bit rainy but they still had lots of fun.

The next day the sun shone so we spent 2 hours floating down the river on the inner tubes.  The landscape was amazing and the river run was easy and fun. 

After the tubing we visited the "Blue Lagoon" - about 15 minute tuk-tuk ride outside of town.  The water was cold, clear and green.  We all took a turn on the rope swing.  Here is a picture of Chuck having a turn.



Along the river we saw lots of local kids making "mud balls" and racing them down the river bank.  These two boys proudly showed Chuck their handiwork.

Cole's Question of the day #19

Today's question is... What is it and what is it used for (6pts for 1st, 4pts for 2nd, 2pts for 3rd and 1pt for 4th 5th etc.)

The correct answer is a  heddle/comb. It is used in a loom.



 

Cooking in Luang Prabang

While we were in Luang Prabang Cole, Kenna and I decided to take a cooking course with the Tamarind Cooking School.  It was a great experience.  We went to the market first to learn about all the ingredients we would be using.  Laos uses lots of fresh herbs and vegetables, many which are not available in Canada - but there are some familiar ones - green onions, cilantro, basil, mint, lemon grass, coriander.  The red vegetable is banana flower - used in salads.  It is quite delicious and crunchy.





Chili is a main ingredient in Laos food - in the market there are 5 different kinds of chili powder from not too hot to "Laos" hot.  The chilli powder is in the middle of the photo.  The back of the photo is homemade fish sauce - bought one small plastic bag at a time.  It looks like brown sludge with chunks of fish floating in it - this fish sauce is 2 years old! The front of the photo is garlic - used in many dishes here.



The meat section of the market can be a bit overwhelming to us Westerners who are used to getting our meat in small plastic wrapped packages!  At the market you can get pigs' feet, pig head, liver, kidneys, intestines, ribs, backs, bags of blood (for blood pudding and blood sausage), as well as the regular cuts of meat we find at home.  Our kids have been through a number of markets now and Kenna is no longer eating pork or beef!


After the trip to the market we headed out to the cooking school.  It was a lot of fun.  We used all the ingredients on the table to make 5 dishes.   After the first dish we made with 2 chilis (mild according to our teacher) we decided to 1/4 all the chili ingredients - Laos food can be really hot!

In Laos they use charcoal braziers to cook the food - it works for barbequeing/roasting as well as steaming rice.  All rice in Laos is "sticky rice" that is steamed over a pot of boiling water.



Lots of fresh herbs in the food - so for each recipe we had to pound the leaves and roots with a large mortar and pestle - this makes for incredibly fresh food.   Here is Cole working away.



Here I am with one of our dishes...buffalo meat salad.

For dessert we made coconut sticky rice. Kenna is making coconut milk from dried coconut soaked in water.   She is squeezing out the milk here.

 

Here is our feast - on the left is chicken stuffed in lemon grass, at the bottom is fish steamed in banana leaf with herbs, the small bowl at the top is peanut sauce, the small bowl at the bottom is tomato dipping sauce (really, really hot), the dish in the middle is buffalo meat salad and the sticky rice is in the baskets.  The dessert was still soaking - but it was delicious!



 

Rice Farming in Luang Prabang

 After spending so much time seeing rice fields all over Asia we decided to spend a day at the Living Land Rice Farm to learn about the 13 steps to grow and harvest rice.  The amount of labour to grow rice is incredible - I'll never look at rice the same way again.  We all got a chance to try each step of the rice production - here are a few photos of some of the steps.

We all took our shoes off and climbed into the field to do some basic ploughing with Susan, the water buffalo.  The field was incredibly sticky and it was slow going to plough the field.  Most farmers use tractors now to speed up the process.

Kenna is trying her hand at ploughing...

Cole did a great job...

 

Chuck and I also tried it...here is Chuck doing the farmer thing.  I love his hat!

 

We then spent some time learning about how to select good quality rice to plant.  The heavier the seed the better so the farmer immerses the seeds in a pot of water, and all the seeds that sink to the bottom of the pot are used for planting.  After planting each seed in a small paddy they are watered twice a day for about 3 weeks when they are then big enough to re-plant in the rest of the fields.  Each seed creates 35 rice stalks (each stalk has about 200 - 300 grains of rice).  We each got a chance to plant the seeds in the muddy field and then do some weeding.  The rice takes about 3 months to grow and each rice field needs weeding about 1x month.

  

 

When the rice turns a golden color it is ready to be harvested by hand. Cole is holding the small scythe that is used to cut each rice stalk. 

Farmers make their own tools - here is Chuck working on making a piece of r-bar into a scythe. Simple homemade bellows (on the right of the photo) are used to stoke the fire and the metal stump is used for an anvil and a shaper to create the scythe. Very simple design but it works well.

After the rice has dried for a week it is beaten to remove the rice from the stalks.  The stalks are used to feed the farm animals. 

 

Rice is carried from the fields in these baskets.  The strap rests on your forehead and the basket rests on your back.  Fully loaded these baskets are 30 - 40 kg!

Rice is stored in the small huts with the husks still attached.  This rice can be stored for up to 2 years.  When the family is ready to eat the rice the women separate the rice from the husks by tossing the rice into the air and letting the wind carry away the lighter husks. This is difficult to do - you need the right touch - I'm concentrating hard!!!!

 

At the end of the day we had a rice feast! Rice crepes, rice cakes, rice waffles, crispy rice bites covered with caramel (called cat pooh for their odd shape), and spicy tamarind sauce to dip them in.  You can also drink rice wine (very strong) and Beer Lao, which has rice as one of its ingredients.  Beer Lao is the tastiest  beer in Asia and only costs $1.10 for a large bottle. 

We had a great day - it was interesting and fun!