https://oneyearaway.com/One Year Awayhttps://oneyearaway.com/2009/06/11/hiking-in-the-highlands/https://oneyearaway.com/2009/06/11/hiking-in-the-highlands/Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:42:33 -0400We have added more photos to the Ecuador album…enjoy! When we woke up at the high altitude of Quilotoa it was cold. I shuffled over to the bathroom and turned the left tap on the shower…ice cold. Most of the guesthouses here that have hot water use tankless heaters. Well aware of how tankless heaters work I waited a few more seconds…still cold. Damn, it would be a no-shower day. Over a breakfast ohttps://oneyearaway.com/2009/06/04/quilotoa-crater/https://oneyearaway.com/2009/06/04/quilotoa-crater/Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:36:30 -0400We have added a new photo Album – Ecuador – enjoy! After a short stay in the town of Latacunga, we headed back to the bus station for another bus ride deeper into the central highlands of Ecuador. Our destination was Quilotoa Crater which is an extinct volcano whose crater now holds a lake. The crater is at an elevation of over 3,800 meters. Getting there required that we take a bus to the small thttps://oneyearaway.com/2009/06/04/latacunga/https://oneyearaway.com/2009/06/04/latacunga/Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:15:38 -0400From the Galapagos, we returned for one more night in Quito. From there we hopped onto a bus the very next day and headed into the central highlands. After a couple of hours we were in the town of Latacunga. The GAP Tour we did of the Galapagos was nice – but we were looking forward to what we consider real travel. Where you have total freedom to set your own itinerary, do what you want when you whttps://oneyearaway.com/2009/06/02/the-galapagos/https://oneyearaway.com/2009/06/02/the-galapagos/Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:46:43 -0400Please see the Galapagos album… Enjoy! This time around Joseph and I did a little more trip pre-planning. With only three weeks we wanted to ensure that we were being efficient and limited the amount of time we spent planning while in Ecuador. Therefore, for the first time, we booked a GAP Adventures tour from Toronto. The tour consisted of a 3 night 4 day stay onboard a boat that sailed to differhttps://oneyearaway.com/2009/05/30/on-the-road-again/https://oneyearaway.com/2009/05/30/on-the-road-again/Sat, 30 May 2009 19:50:10 -0400Although our One Year Away ended more than a year and a half ago, we are back on the road… Only for three weeks this time around. As a result, we are getting back into our old habits and will be blogging about our adventures in Ecuador, the Galapagos and the Florida Keys. A lot has happened since our last post. Here are some highlights: After living with my brother and sister-in-law for 2 months (https://oneyearaway.com/2007/09/12/home-again/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/09/12/home-again/Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:04:18 -0400After 11 and half months, 20 countries, 20 flights and countless train, bus, taxi, ferry, tuk tuk and motorcycle rides we are back home. It’s a great feeling to be in Canada surrounded by family and friends – not to mention wonderful things like soft beds, fluffy towels, supermarkets that stock cheese and high speed internet access. We left Greece for the return home like two people with personalihttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/08/20/new-photos/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/08/20/new-photos/Mon, 20 Aug 2007 10:23:32 -0400We’ve added a Greece photo album. Enjoy!https://oneyearaway.com/2007/08/20/city-slickers/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/08/20/city-slickers/Mon, 20 Aug 2007 10:11:16 -0400Most of my family in Greece are from the Peloponnese’s area. Although many have moved to Athens, in August almost everyone returns to their home towns where they spent their childhood. This is a great way to escape the chaos and noise of Athens and thanks to the great beaches in the area it is also a great way to escape the heat. After northern Greece our stop was Agia Sotira, the village of arounhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/08/16/northern-greece/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/08/16/northern-greece/Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:30:24 -0400Leaving behind the nightmare of dealing with AlItalia to get Penny’s lost bag returned, we caught a bus to Kilkis; me with my full backpack and Penny with the clothes on her back and one extra T-shirt she bought. Whenever Penny thought about her bag of clothes lost somewhere in Italy she sent me a resentful glower, then went back to watching the hilly, dry landscape that characterizes this part ofhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/08/06/patience-is-a-v/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/08/06/patience-is-a-v/Mon, 06 Aug 2007 04:18:51 -0400Penny After saying goodbye to Tara and Lora, Joe and I were on our own again. Our next and final destination before returning home is Greece. Being true budget travelers, we chose the cheapest flight we could find from Rome to Athens. We flew with AlItalia with an overnight layover in Milan. We took a look at the website http://www.sleepinginairports.com to see what other travelers had to say abouhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/31/top-10-best-and/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/31/top-10-best-and/Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:24:25 -0400Italy’s TOP 10 list includes: 1. Gelato all the time / anytime 2. Ancient ruins 3. Good cheap wine (cheaper than Coca-cola!) 4. Fresh pasta 5. Shopping! ( 8 dresses and 3 tops for 250 Euros!) 6. Dune restaurant: Best Greek salad 7. Finding our gelato contains less calories and fat than ice cream 8. Hospitals that don’t charge. 9. Varenna, Capri and Rome 10. Did we mention gelato, pasta and wine? Ihttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/30/the-queue-aroun/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/30/the-queue-aroun/Mon, 30 Jul 2007 08:42:07 -0400We have added a few new pics to the Italy album. Enjoy! We stopped in Rome for one day on our way to Sorrento and then for two days on our way back. It was an unusual city for me because although it was overrun with tourists, hot and expensive it still created a good impression. The city that was the capital of the western world for so long has an impressive collection of ruins and other sites thahttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/27/sorrento-and-ca/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/27/sorrento-and-ca/Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:31:33 -0400Lora We have added more photos to the Italy album! After a week of hectic travel from Varenna to Florence to Orvieto and a day in Rome, we were looking forward to experiencing the slower pace Italian lifestyle of Sorrento and Capri. We first visited Sorrento, a small Italian fishing village nestled cliffside overlooking the Mediterranean. After arriving at Hotel Del Corso, where we made our home fhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/26/ruins-of-pomp-1/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/26/ruins-of-pomp-1/Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:39:08 -0400We have added more pictured to the Italy album. Enjoy! No matter where you are, Mount Vesuvius dominates the skyline from Naples to Sorrento. Even today the mountain looks like the volcano it actually is; Vesuvius is considered active and last erupted in 1944. The Cicumvesuviana train we took skirts the base of the volcano and stops at the most famous archaeological site in all of Europe; the ruinhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/25/florence-orviet/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/25/florence-orviet/Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:18:49 -0400We have added over 25 new photos to the Italy album. Enjoy! After spending our 2 first days settling into Italian life – a.k.a La Dolce Vita – we headed for Florence. Florence, as expected, is a bustling and touristy city in comparison to the tranquility of Varenna. The crowds and the spike in temperature made it slightly uncomfortable at times. Our first day in Florence we decided to brave the lihttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/21/post/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/21/post/Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:13:00 -0400Mission: Find the best gelato in Italy Panel: Joe, Penny, Lora and Tara Gelato is the Italian version of ice cream. The history of gelato dates back from the 16th century. There is confusion about its origin or inventor, but as the story goes it is credited to Bernardo Buntalenti, a native of Florence who delighted the court of Catherina de Medici with his creations. Gelato in Italian literally mehttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/19/varenna-italy/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/19/varenna-italy/Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:20:28 -0400We’ve added an Italy album with some pictures of us and our new travel bud dies, Tara and Lora. After arriving in Milan, we headed straight for the train station where we took an early train to Varenna. That was to be our first stop in Italy and where we were going to meet up with Tara and Lora. The train took us through tiny towns scattered along the coast of Lake Como. The scenery was beautiful https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/18/lets-welcome-ta/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/18/lets-welcome-ta/Wed, 18 Jul 2007 07:44:00 -0400Dear readers, For the Italian leg of our trip we are being joined by my friend Tara and her friend Lora. We met the girls in Varenna by the edge of Lake Como in northern Italy where we spent our first night in Italy. Tara is the mastermind behind our Italy two week trip and has us going to Florence, Rome, Sorrento and Capri. Over the next couple of weeks, we hope to keep you updated on our travelshttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/17/barcelona/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/17/barcelona/Tue, 17 Jul 2007 07:25:44 -0400We have added some pictures to the Spain album. Enjoy! For the last leg of our Spain trip, we left our new found del Moral family members behind and were once again off on our own to Barcelona. Spain’s high speed trains make the journey only a few hours long and by mid day we were in Catalan country. The language and even the vibe of this part of Spain is very different. It sometimes felt we were https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/16/seville-and-cor/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/16/seville-and-cor/Mon, 16 Jul 2007 06:42:00 -0400Penny, my father and I went for a quick tour of the south of Spain to visit cousins and friends in the cities of Seville and Cordoba. We caught the AVE, the high speed train which reaches speeds of 300 KM/h, and a couple of hours later we were in Seville. My cousin Almudena met us at the train station and drove us to her wonderful home in an old neighborhood. My cousin’s husband, Carlos, has takenhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/14/visting-family/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/14/visting-family/Sat, 14 Jul 2007 05:28:17 -0400I have a lot of family in Madrid, many of whom I’d never met, so this was our first stop in Spain. My father flew in from Montreal and met us there. He grew up in Madrid and most of his family is still here. We spent the next few days exploring the city with my father as tour guide during the day and having family dinners at night. The city center is a large area surrounding the Plaza Mayor – the https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/12/its-cold-in-lon/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/12/its-cold-in-lon/Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:44:46 -0400Our first stop once we were back on the road was London. We had little trouble to get through the heightened security following the Glasgow incidents. Unfortunately, other travelers were not as lucky. When we got to our hostel, we watched the news while waiting for our beds to be ready and heard of a threat at the Heathrow airport that forced authorities to close Terminal 4 causing canceled flighthttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/08/great-to-be-bac/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/07/08/great-to-be-bac/Sun, 08 Jul 2007 07:13:54 -0400As Joe mentioned in the earlier post, we returned to Canada for a total of 12 days to attend two of our friends weddings. We also took the opportunity to see our families (including Vincent, the newest edition to the del Moral clan) and our friends who we missed so much. The break from our regular travel schedule was great. Although we did travel over 2,500 KM within Canada to get to the differenthttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/26/surprise-were-b/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/26/surprise-were-b/Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:23:13 -0400You may be wondering why we stopped posting for a while. Well, on June 19th we left the spice island of Zanzibar and started the long journey home. We decided to take a 12 day interlude in our trip to attend weddings for two of our friends in Canada. Our friends Dan and Jo got married in Toronto last weekend and next weekend Alex and Marie-Claude will be married in Chicoutimi, a town in north Quebhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/16/a_safari_story/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/16/a_safari_story/Sat, 16 Jun 2007 09:53:00 -0400The highlight of the safari for me was at the Grumeti river in the Serengeti. That is the famous river that the migrating wildebeest herd has to cross. We were in the park right at the time of the migration but it seemed that some late rains were keeping the herd in the park. However, on the way back from the shores of Lake Victoria we heard the hoof beats of thousands of animals running. Moses puhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/14/new_photos/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/14/new_photos/Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:14:32 -0400We’ve posted photos of our safari in the Tanzania album. Enjoy!https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/14/african_safari/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/14/african_safari/Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:46:15 -0400After leaving the foster home in Uganda we figured we should get back to being tourists so we got ourselves to Arusha, Tanzania – the base for safaris to the Serengeti. The touts, or flycatchers as they are known locally, surrounded us as soon as we stepped off the bus. They all want you to get into their taxi, go to their hotel or sign up for their safari. They are the most persistent touts we’vehttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/12/women_entrepren/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/12/women_entrepren/Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:26:29 -0400I never thought that I would be analyzing the business merits of a vegetable stall or road-side tailor; but that’s exactly what I found myself doing in Uganda. I spent a lot of time talking to women about their businesses, all with less than $5 a day in revenue. The foster home where we volunteered in Uganda is part of Rejoice Outreach International, a community based organization that also has othttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/06/out_of_touch_fo/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/06/out_of_touch_fo/Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:25:47 -0400We will be on a 5 day safari in Tanzania for the next few days! We will make sure to take lots of pictures of all the wildlife and post them as soon as we can…https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/03/little_caesar/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/03/little_caesar/Sun, 03 Jun 2007 06:55:00 -0400All the children at El-Shadai are unique and the stories of their person al histories have really touched us. But there is one child who from the moment we arrived has kept us on our toes and has made us laugh. That kid is Caesar or “Little Caesar” as Joe calls him. Caesar is five years old and he is a riot. He is younger brother to Rebecca and older brother to Gloria who is the youngest in the hohttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/01/a_ugandan_weddi/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/06/01/a_ugandan_weddi/Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:35:00 -0400While volunteering at the El-Shadai home, we have had the opportunity to attend a Ugandan wedding. On Saturday, we made our way to Kampala for one of Stephen’s (the director of the home) friend’s wedding. As usual, we arrived on African time which means that we were over 2 hours late. Thankfully, the couple was also on African time and the ceremony started over 1 hour later than planned. We were ahttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/31/new_photo_album/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/31/new_photo_album/Thu, 31 May 2007 07:09:00 -0400We have created a new Uganda photo album… There are lot of pictures of the kids at El-Shadai. Enjoy!https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/30/back_to_school/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/30/back_to_school/Wed, 30 May 2007 05:07:48 -0400When we arrived at the El-Shadai Family Foster Home, most of the children were home from school. They all had a one month holiday between the end of Term 1 and the start of Term 2. But this week, the house feels empty. This was the first week back to school! During the day, we only have little Gloria staying with us and Agnes who has finished high school and is waiting for the start of university https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/16/volunteering_in/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/16/volunteering_in/Wed, 16 May 2007 11:30:06 -0400It’s been a while since our last post. We’ve been kept busy here at the El-Shadai Foster home in Eastern Uganda. We arrived in the capital Kampala on May 10th and made our way to the Foster home which is about 2 hours drive to the east. We were picked up at our hostel by a couple of the older boys from the home and a driver. They told us all about the home and how it works by the time we pulled uphttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/12/indian_bureaucr/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/12/indian_bureaucr/Sat, 12 May 2007 13:24:00 -0400It all started before we even got to India. The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu was where we had to get our entry visas. It has convenient opening hours of 9.30 AM to 12 PM (that’s 2 ½ hours for the non-math inclined). Through a series of painful and long processes over 3 days and 15 hours total time (including showing up hours before opening to queue) we finally got our visas. This was a primer on whhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/09/more_photos/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/09/more_photos/Wed, 09 May 2007 13:31:12 -0400We’ve added 20 new photos to the India album including some from the cooking classes we took. Enjoy!https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/09/indias_culinary/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/09/indias_culinary/Wed, 09 May 2007 13:21:52 -0400While visiting India, make sure to take advantage of all the dining options that it offers. We’ve had some of our best meals of our trip in India. From exquisite street eats in Mumbai and Delhi to high end dining in a maharajah’s fort. Eating from Indian street vendors requires you to throw caution to the wind. Joseph and I have paid for some of these meals with a day or two of intestinal fireworkhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/08/news_flash_upda/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/08/news_flash_upda/Tue, 08 May 2007 02:21:28 -0400Here is the latest on the Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty scandal that has been consuming the news in India. According to recent reports, there is an arrest warrant out for Richard Gere in India for the lewd act that he committed weeks ago at an AIDS awareness rally. Unfortunately, the police are do not know of Gere’s whereabouts and believe that he has left the country. Due to the political implichttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/03/land_of_forts_a/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/05/03/land_of_forts_a/Thu, 03 May 2007 07:17:59 -0400We’ve added more photos to the India album…including one of Penny in a turban. Enjoy! At the western edge of India lies the Great Thar desert. Jaisalmer is the main town here, it was founded almost 1000 years ago on an ancient trade route from Central Asia. Its location made its inhabitants wealthy and gave it strategic importance. To rule the area the maharajah built a fort on top of a hill and thttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/30/delhi_and_all_t/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/30/delhi_and_all_t/Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:22:29 -0400We have posted 4 new pictures in the India album, enjoy! Another train ride, this time from Agra, took us to Delhi, a city where you should expect to see everything and anything. We stayed in the backpackers’ ghetto of Paharganj. The area is very dirty and filled with touts. It is not a great first impression of Delhi but it is central and convenient. Thankfully, the rest of Delhi is much more plehttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/23/the_taj_mahal/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/23/the_taj_mahal/Mon, 23 Apr 2007 03:50:21 -0400Take a look at the India album. We have added 4 new Taj Mahal photos! Enjoy. The second city that we visited in India was Agra. We took a 15 hour overnight train ride on a non-air conditioned train to get there (we have pre-booked all of our future rides to make sure that we get air conditioning). As most tourists, we went to Agra simply to see the Taj Mahal. The Taj is a Mughal mausoleum that washttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/20/new_photos-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/20/new_photos-2/Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:20:00 -0400We’ve added new photos from our time in India so far. Not surprisingly it’s in the India album on the left.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/19/mother_ganga_va/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/19/mother_ganga_va/Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:02:40 -0400Hindus believe that if you die in the city of Varanasi you are freed from the cycle of rebirth and enter Nirvana. We came to Varanasi for two reasons; to see the Ganges river at the holiest city along its shore, and far more practically, because it’s close to Kathmandu and there were inexpensive flights. Our first glimpse of India came from the back of an auto rickshaw as we puttered along to the https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/16/news_flash/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/16/news_flash/Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:21:39 -0400The top news story in India at the moment is headlining all the TV channels. People are protesting across the country. The media is having a field day. Effigies of Richard Gere are being burned in the street. Effigies of Richard Gere are being burned in the street??? Yes, believe it or not. Actor Richard Gere has caused a huge controversy here by playfully kissing Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty ahttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/16/a_day_in_the_li/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/16/a_day_in_the_li/Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:08:48 -04006.30 AM – Wake up. Peek out of sleeping bag…it’s cold in the room. Get out and quickly change out of night clothes into walking clothes. 7.00 AM – Meet Clare and Darroch (our trekking companions) and Kaji and Laddu (our guide and porter). Order a breakfast of milk tea, boiled eggs and Tibetan bread (a delicious fried bread). Over breakfast we look at our maps and trekking books to see what’s in sthttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/16/the_yak_express/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/16/the_yak_express/Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:59:37 -0400Before leaving Canada, a couple of my co-workers (you know who you are) made me promise to get a picture of me and a yak. So, here you go guys! Enjoy…https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/13/photos_added/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/13/photos_added/Fri, 13 Apr 2007 06:52:08 -0400We’ve added a Nepal album with tons of photos of our trek. Some of the photos (including many of the best ones) were taken by Darroch or Clare, our trekking companions. To save on memory card space we tried to use only one camera at a time. Enjoy the pics!https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/12/the_annapurna_c/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/12/the_annapurna_c/Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:12:22 -0400For a map of the Annapurna Circuit please go to http://www.annapurnatrek.com/annapurna_map.html The primary reason for coming to Nepal was to do one of the multi-day mountain treks that the country is famous for. Once here, we decided that the way to go was the Annapurna Circuit. We and our newly found English friends, Clare and Darroch, decided to hire both a porter and guide for the 21 day trek.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/08/photo_of_the_da_7/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/08/photo_of_the_da_7/Sun, 08 Apr 2007 13:14:00 -0400These villagers were arranging rice stalks to dry in the sun. They are used as animal feed in the winter.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/07/photo_of_the_da_6/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/07/photo_of_the_da_6/Sat, 07 Apr 2007 13:12:00 -0400There were several Bhuddist monks visiting the Palace grounds in Phnom Penh while we were there. These two pulled digital cameras out of the folds of their robes and snapped away along with the rest of us.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/06/photo_of_the_da_5/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/06/photo_of_the_da_5/Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:08:00 -0400Bamboo rafts on a still river near Yangshuo, China. Notice the cormorants (large birds) sitting on the raft. They are used in cormorant fishing demonstrations put on for tourists every night.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/05/photo_of_the_da_4/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/05/photo_of_the_da_4/Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:05:00 -0400We found Phnom Penh to be a dirty city with little to recommend it. The Royal Palace grounds, seen here, and the riverfront were two notable exceptions though.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/04/photo_of_the_da_3/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/04/photo_of_the_da_3/Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:03:00 -0400The Gobi desert is a huge, flat, barren place. The quiet and emptiness tends to inspire some deep thinking.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/03/photo_of_the_da_2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/03/photo_of_the_da_2/Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:58:00 -0400During our travel to Nepal we made maximum use of the airline lounges in Bali and Bangkok. Penny’s frequent business travel really paid off. This is a "slumber room" at the huge Thai Airways lounge in the new Bangkok airport.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/02/photo_of_the_da_1/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/02/photo_of_the_da_1/Mon, 02 Apr 2007 12:54:00 -0400These novice monks in Kathmandu, Nepal were hanging out in front of their monastery. They agreed to having their photo taken but made no effort to appear interested… 🙂https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/01/photo_of_the_da/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/04/01/photo_of_the_da/Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:48:00 -0400My cousin Elias with a pole in his hand…probably up to some clever scheme. We visited my family in Sacramento, California at the start of this trip.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/31/photo_of_the_da_11/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/31/photo_of_the_da_11/Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:43:00 -0400The Flaming Cliffs in Mongolia are one of the richest areas in the world for dinosaur bones. They were named for the red coloured stone.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/30/photo_of_the_da_9/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/30/photo_of_the_da_9/Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:34:00 -0400The average Mongolian household has goats, sheep, camels or horses, solar panel, satellite dish and battery powered TV.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/29/photo_of_the_da_10/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/29/photo_of_the_da_10/Thu, 29 Mar 2007 12:39:00 -0400This is a modern Chinese toilet. It can function both in the regular Western sit down way or as a squat toilet. Notice the traction on the bowl…it’s for putting your feet on while you squat.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/28/photo_of_the_da-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/28/photo_of_the_da-2/Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:46:00 -0400This was one of the thousands of street sweepers we saw in China. This was taken inside the Forbidden City.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/27/photo_of_the_da_7-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/27/photo_of_the_da_7-2/Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:17:00 -0400Asia has provided us with many laughs with its signage and translations! We loved this store’s play on the United Colors of Benetton.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/26/photo_of_the_da_6-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/26/photo_of_the_da_6-2/Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:08:00 -0400Blue-tiled roofs of the temples at the Temple of Heaven park, Beijing, China.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/25/photo_of_the_da_8/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/25/photo_of_the_da_8/Sun, 25 Mar 2007 12:30:00 -0400This is a small Buddhist temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. The sounds of the pigeons flying and the prayer flags fluttering compete with horns honking on the nearby street.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/24/photo_of_the_da_5-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/24/photo_of_the_da_5-2/Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400We pack our bags every day or two…we’re very fast at it now.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/23/video_of_the_da/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/23/video_of_the_da/Fri, 23 Mar 2007 01:36:00 -0400The video says it all.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/22/photo_of_the_da_4-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/22/photo_of_the_da_4-2/Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:55:00 -0400One of the houses of the Katang minority people in the highlands of Laos.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/21/photo_of_the_da_3-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/21/photo_of_the_da_3-2/Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:53:00 -0400View from the beach on Koh Phi Phi Leh, Thailand.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/20/photo_of_the_da_2-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/20/photo_of_the_da_2-2/Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:51:00 -0400Local fishermen in Halong Bay Vietnam.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/19/photo_of_the_da_1-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/19/photo_of_the_da_1-2/Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:49:00 -0400The elephants at the Elephant Nature Park know how to have a good time in the nearby river.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/18/video_and_photo/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/18/video_and_photo/Sun, 18 Mar 2007 08:43:00 -0400In Nepal, we will be doing the Annapurna Circuit trek. The 22 day trek takes us into the Nepalese Himalayas to see some of the tallest peaks in the world. We met another British couple and together we have hired a guide and a porter to accompany us. This means 22 days without any Internet access. As a kind of blog ‘hold music’, we have preloaded some of our unpublished pictures and videos. They wihttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/16/welcome_to_kath/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/16/welcome_to_kath/Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:01:27 -0400After 3 days of travel, 3 flights and 2 overnight layovers, we finally arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal. The city is a shock to the senses and it greets you immediately after getting off the plane. Traffic, dust and people are everywhere! Kathmandu is the exotic-sounding capital of this mountain kingdom. The city is overcrowded, roads are usually simple alleyways that only fit one car (and no sidewalkshttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/14/the_great_ocean/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/14/the_great_ocean/Wed, 14 Mar 2007 04:31:43 -0400We spent most of our time in Melbourne enjoying the city, site seeing and being with friends and newly discovered family members. But after a few days of that we figured we should head out and see the gorgeous ocean scenery around the city. We borrowed Evan’s car and headed out for a drive along the Great Ocean Road. The road makes its way to the coast about an hour and a half outside of Melbournehttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/12/hey_mate/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/12/hey_mate/Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:00:23 -0400Fer dinkum mate! According to Australians, this is English… We took a flight from Cairns and headed to Melbourne a few days ago. We took a break from our hostel living and were invited to stay with our friend Evan while in the city. Evan, who studied with us in McGill and lived in Toronto for a few years, recently moved to Melbourne and was nice enough to host us. Since our arrival, we have been ehttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/07/diving_the_grea/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/07/diving_the_grea/Wed, 07 Mar 2007 04:00:22 -0500We arrived in Cairns, Australia with only one thing on our to-do list; see the Great Barrier Reef. In that way we were like the majority of tourists in this town. It is basically a jumping off point for people who want to scuba dive or snorkel on what is often rated the best spot in the world. There’s a wide variety of operators offering everything from half-day glass-bottom boat tours to multi-dahttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/03/climbing_mount_/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/03/03/climbing_mount_/Sat, 03 Mar 2007 01:02:00 -0500We’ve added photos to the New Zealand album. Enjoy! When we reached the north island we had one main thing that we wanted to do; the Tongariro Crossing. Tbe Crossing is a 1-day, 17 km walk that takes you through dramatic volcanic landscape. It has a stark beauty that was the reason it was chosen as the filming site for the Mordor and Mount Doom scenes from the Lord of the Rings movie. It so happenhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/22/from_glaciers_t/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/22/from_glaciers_t/Thu, 22 Feb 2007 21:52:00 -0500For the past few days, we have been making our way north on the West coast of the South Island of New Zealand. According to many, the west coast drive is among the most beautiful in the world. The road passes by small towns and villages (some only have about 100 residents, if that), beautiful beaches, national parks and many scenic areas. The landscape is very diverse and changes constantly. One mhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/20/photos_added-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/20/photos_added-2/Tue, 20 Feb 2007 00:33:07 -0500We have posted photos from our Milford Track walk in the New Zealand album. Enjoy!https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/20/the_milford_tra/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/20/the_milford_tra/Tue, 20 Feb 2007 00:12:43 -0500In 1888, Quintin Mackinnon, a surveyor and explorer was commissioned to cut a track up the Clinton river valley from lake Te Anau in southern South island of New Zealand. He did this and discovered a pass through the mountains which is now named after him. The track itself is named after its end point, scenic Milford Sound. Within only a couple of years tourists started to arrive to walk what was https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/15/update/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/15/update/Thu, 15 Feb 2007 04:56:00 -0500We are currently on a 4 day walk in the south of New Zealand. We’ll have lots to write about the famous Milford Track when we get back!https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/14/first_impressio/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/14/first_impressio/Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:54:00 -0500We’ve only been here for less than a week, but in that time we’ve driven almost the whole length of the country. My impressions of the country so far? Well, at least much as can be made from the front seat of a speeding vehicle… * New Zealand is a large and absolutely gorgeous sheep farm. It seems that every flat part of the country is used to make hay for the sheep, and all the hills are used to https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/13/home_sweet_home/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/13/home_sweet_home/Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:21:00 -0500After 5 months of depending on others to get us from place to place, we decided to get our own set of wheels to tour both the North and South islands in New Zealand. Unfortunately, this convenience also has a cost. Being on a tight budget, we went for the cheapest option. We rented a micro-campervan. I think that it sounds much fancier than it really is. The micro-campervan is really a four cylindhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/10/getting_to_new_/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/10/getting_to_new_/Sat, 10 Feb 2007 04:07:22 -0500As I sit here driving through the rolling hills of New Zealand, dictating this post to Penny it is easy to look back and smile about the difficulties we had getting here. But at the time, it didn’t seem so funny. We arrived at the Bali Airport with plenty of time to spare. We had a flight booked to Melbourne, where we had a 12 hour layover before catching a flight to Auckland. At the check-in counhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/05/bali_where_is_e/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/05/bali_where_is_e/Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:53:06 -0500We try to get away from very touristy places because they are often overcrowded, overpriced and not all that interesting. When we arrived in Bali, we were bracing for the worst! We expected to see thousands of westerners in Speedos baking their already red sunburnt bodies in the sun while locals tried to sell anything and everything. But after the Bali bombings and it being late January/early Febrhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/02/those_odd_kei_i/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/02/02/those_odd_kei_i/Fri, 02 Feb 2007 07:36:49 -0500To a casual observer it appears that the Kei islanders are religiously devout people. In the main town of Langgur there are several large churches and mosques; including a massive new church under construction that would be among the largest buildings on the island. There are churches and mosques in even the smallest fishing villages. Kei islanders traditionally worshiped their ancestors and beliehttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/30/new_photos-3/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/30/new_photos-3/Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:29:00 -0500We’ve uploaded a dozen new photos to the Indonesia album. Enjoy!https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/30/the_spice_islan/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/30/the_spice_islan/Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:58:04 -0500Where to go next was the question on our minds. With so many different islands offering completely different experiences, it is tough to choose. We again relied on our Lonely Planet guide book to help pick our next destination. The Moluccas or Spice Islands are described as some of the most beautiful islands in the world with interesting history and culture to boot. We booked a flight and were offhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/24/the_friendlines_1/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/24/the_friendlines_1/Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:04:11 -0500I guess traveling overland in slow buses gave me a bit too much time to think. But recently I’ve been wondering why people in one region seem friendlier than those of another. We’ve met friendly people in every country we’ve visited on this trip but there are definitely some places where people are more open, inviting, hospitable and willing to help strangers. More than that these “friendly” peoplhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/20/into_the_heart__2/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/20/into_the_heart__2/Sat, 20 Jan 2007 01:48:51 -0500Penny and Joe Have a look at our new photo album – Indonesia (with extra photos of animals for my goddaughter Christina and friends!). No photos in the post today – Borneo Internet is slooowwwww. For most, the name Borneo conjures images of remote jungles, wild beasts and indigenous people with bones through their noses. We set off to the southern part of the island, the Indonesian state of Kalimahttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/19/we_are_married/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/19/we_are_married/Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:03:00 -0500Mom, don’t have a heart attack. We did not get married and forget to invite you to the wedding! But in the eyes of some conservative Muslim people in Indonesia, it has been simpler for us to claim to be married. Often, the first and sometimes only question that I am asked (mainly by men) is whether I am married. I usually stick out my hand to show them my gold "wedding band" and say "Yes. He is myhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/17/welcome_to_indo/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/17/welcome_to_indo/Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:12:00 -0500Indonesia is an interesting place. We arrived in Jakarta planning to spend two days in the city to organize our Indonesian itinerary and book our flights to New Zealand. After being in Jakarta for a few hours, we changed our plans and made sure to leave the city the following morning. What we saw of the city is unimpressive and somewhat depressing. There seems to be a lack of a true city center, ihttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/16/the_best_bacon_/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/16/the_best_bacon_/Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:26:25 -0500Kuala Lumpur, or KL as those on the travelers circuit call it, was not a place we intended to visit. But it is a hub for discount airline AirAsia so we made our way there to catch a cheap flight to Indonesia. We were in Hat Yai in south Thailand so it was easy to catch an overnight bus to KL. We coughed up the extra few dollars to go on a “Super VIP Bus”, which for once was actually as advertised.https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/09/koh_tarutao/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/09/koh_tarutao/Tue, 09 Jan 2007 22:38:02 -0500After having spent almost 2 weeks in Kho Phangan, Phuket and Koh Phi Phi, we wanted to once again get away frohm the tourist traps and spend some time in a more secluded island. From our research, Koh Tarutao was what we were looking for. As part of the Tarutao National Marine Park, which consists of 51 islands of which Koh Tarutao is the largest, the island is a true sanctuary for marine and landhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/08/andaman_island_/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/08/andaman_island_/Mon, 08 Jan 2007 05:22:22 -0500After staying in Koh Phangan island for almost a week we got a ferry/bus combo ticket to take us to Phuket (pronounced poo-ket) on the west coast. Phuket is a major tourist destination in south Thailand on the Andaman coast. It attracts mainly an older crowd on package holidays. It being the busy holiday season we did something we almost never do; try to make room reservations. From the bus we calhttps://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/01/koh_phangan_and/https://oneyearaway.com/2007/01/01/koh_phangan_and/Mon, 01 Jan 2007 08:47:56 -0500We have posted a new Southern Thailand album with pictures from Christmas in Bangkok and New Year’s in Koh Phangan. Enjoy! After spending 2 luxurious nights at the Davis Hotel, we were once again on an overnight bus. This time our 21 hour journey that included a bus ride, a ferry and lots of waiting took us to Thailand’s east coast and to the island of Koh Phangan. The island is very popular for ihttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/30/new_itinerary/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/30/new_itinerary/Sat, 30 Dec 2006 23:31:11 -0500As promised, here is the updated itinerary for our trip. After 3 months of travel, we realized we were 1 month behind schedule and needed to make some changes to the original plan. We have moved things around as well as eliminated some destinations. Hopefully, we will be better able to stick to this one! Today to January 8 – Thailand January 9 to February 5 – Indonesia February 6 to February 26 – https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/25/happy_holidays/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/25/happy_holidays/Mon, 25 Dec 2006 09:21:54 -0500Happy Holidays from Bangkok!! This is a strange place to celebrate Christmas. Many Thais use Christmas as an excuse to shop more (as if they needed a reason!). Here Christmas is purely a commercial event without even the veneer of religion and tradition that we see in Canada. The major shopping malls even have midnight sales on the December 24th and 25th! Oh, I forgot to mention that as our Christhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/25/dirty_dirty_ban/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/25/dirty_dirty_ban/Mon, 25 Dec 2006 09:13:13 -0500After another overnight bus trip, this time from Chiang Mai, we arrived in Bangkok at 4.30 AM. It was still dark out when the bus dropped us off on perhaps the most famous backpacker street in the world, Khao San Road. The street and surrounding area are packed with budget accommodations, cheap eats, bars, Internet shops and street vendors. Basically it’s a budget traveler ghetto. But it’s one so https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/19/thai_cooking/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/19/thai_cooking/Tue, 19 Dec 2006 02:40:52 -0500I have added some pictures to the North Thailand album. Enjoy! Joe and I love Thai cuisine and decided that a Thai cooking class would be great way to spend a day. We registered for a cooking class that promised to teach us how to make green curry paste, green curry chicken, springrolls and other Thai specialties. Before going to the cooking class, we made a stop at a local market and an organic fhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/17/elephant_nature/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/17/elephant_nature/Sun, 17 Dec 2006 09:03:49 -0500We have posted a new photo album called Northern Thailand. Enjoy! In a Toronto magazine we had read about an elephant sanctuary in Thailand that takes in orphaned or abused elephants. The Elephant Nature Camp is run by a woman called Lek, which means small in Thai. It is home to 28 elephants, many of which have horrible stories of abuse before they were rescued. When the Thai government banned allhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/17/laos_to_thailan/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/17/laos_to_thailan/Sun, 17 Dec 2006 07:55:11 -0500When you cross the border from Laos to Thailand it’s like traveling forward in time 50 years. Suddenly there are real highways with lights, multi storey buildings, recognizable store names, franchise restaurants and lit up billboards. Some would say it’s not for the best. For me, I’ve just been surprised at the level of development in this country. It is more similar in the appearance of it’s townhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/13/vientiane_come_/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/13/vientiane_come_/Wed, 13 Dec 2006 23:03:44 -0500For most travelers, Vientiane – the capital of Laos, is a one night stop on the way between north and south Laos. We’ve happily spent the last four nights here doing two things; eating and re-planning our trip. Laos is a former French colony so we decided to splurge and go out to a nice French restaurant on our first night here. While traveling through Cambodia and southern Laos we’d eaten rice bahttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/10/katang_ethnic_m/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/10/katang_ethnic_m/Sun, 10 Dec 2006 02:28:41 -0500We have posted a new album called "Southern Laos". Enjoy! Laos is home to many ethnic minorities whose beliefs and language are very different from that of the Lao population. The country’s 3 major minorities are the Highland, the Midland and the Lowland minorities. Our 3 day trek in the Dong Phu Vieng National Protected Area (NPA) brought us in close contact with a Lao Midland minority called Kathttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/06/crazy_chicken_l/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/06/crazy_chicken_l/Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:21:16 -0500Travel in Asia is always eventful. There is always something new and bizarre for Joe and I to see and to make us appreciate the transportation system (including all its rules) that we have in Canada. Today, we made a 230 km journey from Pakse to Savanakhet in Laos. The relatively short journey took a total of 5 hours and 50 minutes to complete. The bus stopped at every opportunity to add on more phttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/04/ratanawhat/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/04/ratanawhat/Mon, 04 Dec 2006 06:49:44 -0500Photos have been added to the Cambodia Album… Take a look! After our very long motorbike ride through the jungle, we arrived in Stung Treng. The town of little over 20,000 people is considered the gateway to excursions to eastern Cambodia. There we were able to arrange a trip to the Ratanakiri province through a local guesthouse. The 3 day trip would allow us to see some of the province’s highlighhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/03/update-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/03/update-2/Sun, 03 Dec 2006 06:39:20 -0500Sorry for the long delay between posts! We’ve been traveling in remote parts of Cambodia where there is no Internet access. We are now in southern Laos and will post again soon. Stay tuned!https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/03/across_cambodia/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/12/03/across_cambodia/Sun, 03 Dec 2006 06:35:23 -0500Driver: “You want to go there from here?” Me: “Yes, is it possible?” Driver: “No, road is very bad. You should go to the town, from there catch the bus.” Me: “If I wanted to go directly how could I do it?” Driver: “Road is very very bad.” Me: “Ok, but there is a road?” Driver: Shaking head vigorously. “I think it’s too difficult.” Me: “But it’s possible then…?” Driver: Shakes head again. “Very farhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/25/the_temples_of_/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/25/the_temples_of_/Sat, 25 Nov 2006 08:58:50 -0500There are photos of our visit to the Angkor temples and Siem Reap in the Cambodia album. The main reason tourists come to Cambodia is to visit the temples of Angkor. The Khmer empire peaked in the 12th century and left behind huge temple complexes with dozens of temples scattered around the jungles of northern Cambodia. The rapidly growing town of Siem Reap is the base for visiting the the Angkorihttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/25/riding_the_meko/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/25/riding_the_meko/Sat, 25 Nov 2006 08:38:17 -0500There are 2 options for overland travel from southern Vietnam to Cambodia. You can take the bus or you can choose the more scenic boat option. Joe and I decided that for the same amount of time, the boat was the way to go. In Chau Doc, Vietnam, we organized our entry into Cambodia. We decided to go with the slower and much cheaper option of the slow boat versus the speed boat. The trip would take https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/21/phu_quoc_vietna/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/21/phu_quoc_vietna/Tue, 21 Nov 2006 09:33:18 -0500We’ve uploaded a new album with photos from Southern Vietnam, including Phu Quoc. It’s on the left hand side of the page. The tear shaped island off the south end of Vietnam is home to about 50,000 people, mostly fishermen and their families. Of more interest to us though were the beautiful beaches that ring most of the island. The main town on the island is sleepy Duong Dong. Just south of it is https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/19/mekong_delta/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/19/mekong_delta/Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:45:30 -0500After only a few days in big cities, Joe and I were once again craving the slower pace of towns and villages. We decided that the Mekong Delta would be a perfect place to get away. We would make our way across the delta until we reached Rach Gia where we would take a ferry to the island of Phu Quoc for some time on the beach. So we caught the bus to Vinh Long. Vinh Long is a town of 124,600 peoplehttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/17/the_city_former/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/17/the_city_former/Fri, 17 Nov 2006 09:40:27 -0500Ho Chi Minh city was better known as Saigon before the communists won the “American War” and renamed it after their hero. It was where we landed after a 2 hour flight south from Hanoi. The city is larger and more commercial than Hanoi, similar to the difference between Beijing and Shanghai. Its attractions for tourists are mainly related to the Vietnam War, or as it is known here, the American Warhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/12/good_morning_vi/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/12/good_morning_vi/Sun, 12 Nov 2006 07:41:11 -0500Halong Bay is one of the top tourist draws of Northern Vietnam. It is a beautiful bay filled with karst formation islands (pointy hills). Having just visited the karst mountains in Southern China we were going to give it a miss but we are happy we didn’t. We took a little break from independent travel and signed up for a 3 day/2 night tour of Halong Bay. Our tour included one night accommodation ihttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/11/random_observat/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/11/random_observat/Sat, 11 Nov 2006 09:27:15 -0500As we traveled through China I was often struck by things that to me seemed strange, interesting, amazing, disgusting or wonderful. For me, more interesting than just site seeing, is observing how people are different and how they are the same in different parts of the world. I’ve compiled a list of personal observations from my time in China. These are based only on what I saw in the small part ohttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/07/ahoy_from_hanoi/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/07/ahoy_from_hanoi/Tue, 07 Nov 2006 23:11:05 -0500After an exhausting 13 hour overnight train journey from Nanning, we finally arrived in Hanoi yesterday morning. We had expected to get some sleep on the overnight train but due to the border crossing, there would be no sleep for us! Exhausted, we made our way to a small alley/street in the Old Quarter of the capital that had numerous guest-houses. We quickly were able to get a room with a balconyhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/06/a_note_about_ph/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/06/a_note_about_ph/Mon, 06 Nov 2006 05:30:16 -0500We’re no professional photographers, but of the thousands of photos we will take on this trip I’m sure some will turn out pretty well. If you want the full sized digital copy of a particular photo just email us and we’ll gladly email it to you next time we’re at a high speed Internet connection.https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/06/eating_local_sp/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/06/eating_local_sp/Mon, 06 Nov 2006 05:23:02 -0500Every region of China has its local food specialties and Guilin/Yangshuo is no exception. We try to eat the local specialties as much as possible, although so far we have avoided rodents, insects and dog. The subtropical climate here makes ideal conditions for growing citrus fruits and we made sure to always have some refreshing oranges in our pack when we went biking or hiking. This region is parhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/04/our_favorite_pl/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/11/04/our_favorite_pl/Sat, 04 Nov 2006 07:50:14 -0500See the new China/Yangshuo photo album. Yangshuo is described in guidebooks as "travelers mecca" and as the "legendary backpacker hangout". The town of approximately 300,000 people has become a really popular tourist destination in southern China, in part because of its famous pointy green mountains, know as karst . Thankfully, you can easily escape the tourist crowds and get into the backcountry https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/31/a_chinese_foot_/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/31/a_chinese_foot_/Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:28:06 -0500How would you feel about having a foot massage for a full 50 minutes? It seems that it is now the rage (or even the norm) in Hong Kong for the yuppie crowd to do! So, based on our friend Samuel’s very (very) strong recommendation, we agreed to all go have our feet rubbed on Sunday night. Not being a big fan of massages in general, I was somewhat uncomfortable with the idea. But, I say “when in Romhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/31/how_to_blow_you/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/31/how_to_blow_you/Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:16:05 -0500On the train ride to Hong Kong Penny updated our expense tracking spreadsheet and we were pleased to find that to date we were significantly below budget. Since arriving in HK we’ve been living the high life and have eaten up a large part of that surplus. Here’s one of the many ways to blow your budget in Hong Kong: First, arrive on a long weekend when most of the guesthouses are booked solid. Havhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/29/hangzhou_to_hon/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/29/hangzhou_to_hon/Sun, 29 Oct 2006 04:01:14 -0500As our time in Hangzhou was over we bought train tickets to Hong Kong. We tried to buy “hard sleeper” class because they’re cheaper but there were only soft sleeper tickets available. As we boarded the L139 train for our 23 hour journey, we were thankful to have the soft sleeper tickets. The soft sleepers are four person cabins with comfortable pillows and blankets. The cheaper hard sleepers consihttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/24/tea_in_china/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/24/tea_in_china/Tue, 24 Oct 2006 05:22:44 -0400See the new China 3 photo album! There is a Chinese saying that states "Rather go 3 days without salt than 1 day without tea". Most Chinese carry with them a thermos or glass container with brewed loose leaf tea – I think that it is comparable to the plastic water bottles that everyone carries in North America. To better understand the Chinese tea culture, we visited Hangzhou and the surrounding ahttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/24/biking_in_beiji/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/24/biking_in_beiji/Tue, 24 Oct 2006 04:44:40 -0400Here’s a video from our last day in Beijing when rented two bikes and rode around for the morning. Biking is great in Beijing; the bike lanes are wide and the city is completely flat. No helmets are provided of course.https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/20/sick_in_shangha/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/20/sick_in_shangha/Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:42:52 -0400Well, what we have seen of the city is very impressive. It has a true New York feel and people are bustling all over the place… Unfortunately, this is all we could say after being in Shanghai for 3 days. After our first night here, Joe and I became ill. It seems that we ate something that did not sit well with our Western stomachs. For the past couple of days, we have ventured very little out of ohttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/19/the_great_wall_/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/19/the_great_wall_/Thu, 19 Oct 2006 05:20:24 -0400See the China 2 album for pictures from the Great Wall. China sent up their first astronaut almost exactly one year ago. When Yang Liwei came down he said that contrary to popular belief he was not able to see the Great Wall from orbit. China announced that in the future all its textbooks would be changed to reflect that. There goes another random fact I learned in childhood! Despite not being vishttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/19/forbidden_city/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/19/forbidden_city/Thu, 19 Oct 2006 05:18:59 -0400We spent the greater part of a day strolling around Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Located in the center of Beijing, it is an impressive site and a great place to get away from the chaotic driving and incessant honking of the city streets. Unfortunately, the Forbidden city does not provide you any escape from the hordes of people! The Forbidden city, whose buildings and temples were mainhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/17/back_in_beijing/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/17/back_in_beijing/Tue, 17 Oct 2006 03:39:25 -0400We have returned from our trip to Mongolia and are spending a few days in Beijing before heading south. Just wanted to let you know that we decided to fly from Ulan Bator (UB), Mongolia to Beijing, China this time. Instead of 3 days, the total journey took 1 and 1/2 hours on a Mongolian Airlines (MIAT) jet. Much to our surprise, the Mongolian airlines jet looked relatively new and the service was https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/17/where_the_wild_/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/17/where_the_wild_/Tue, 17 Oct 2006 03:37:40 -0400The nomadic family we stayed with on our last night in the Gobi desert usually arranges for their visitors to ride horses. However, the man of the family had died two weeks prior and there was no one to take us out. On our last full day in Mongolia we managed to combine two of the things that we wanted to do; ride Mongolian horses and see the famous wild horse of Mongolia; the Tahki. The Hustai Nahttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/12/gobi_desert_day/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/12/gobi_desert_day/Thu, 12 Oct 2006 11:27:39 -0400Although we don’t usually make posts like this we wanted to keep a record of what we did on a daily basis during our trip to the Gobi Desert. Check out the new Mongolia photo album, there are a ton of photos there. Day 1: Our 7 day trip started early on Thursday, October 5th. In the morning we met our three fellow travelers. Kai and Erik are two Dutch university students who are traveling for 3 mohttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/10/where_are_we/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/10/where_are_we/Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:06:00 -0400By the time you read this we will be some days into a week-long tour of the Gobi desert. We will be posting about that and put up another batch of photos when we get back. Our next update of the blog will be on October 11th or 12th. Bonus photo: We see lots of confusing signs around here. Here’s one of my favorites from a street near the embassy section of Beijing.https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/09/getting_to_ub_p/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/09/getting_to_ub_p/Mon, 09 Oct 2006 05:55:00 -0400We woke up but did not particularly look forward to a full day in the Chinese/Mongolian border town of Erenhot (also know as Erlian, depending on what sign you read). As we went through the town it became obvious that two Westerners walking about were a bit of a novelty in Erlian. For the first time since arriving in China, we had a lot of people staring and pointing at us. One mother even lifted https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/06/the_adventure_o/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/06/the_adventure_o/Fri, 06 Oct 2006 05:46:00 -0400Penny At our hostel in Beijing, we organized our trip to Ulan Bator (UB). We first tried to get onto the international direct train from Beijing to UB but that train was full. Instead of waiting 4 days for the next train, we decided to take the substantially longer more tedious overnight bus and then train option. The organizer did try to persuade us to take the Tuesday train (24 hours) but we didhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/04/peking_duck_din/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/10/04/peking_duck_din/Wed, 04 Oct 2006 05:40:37 -0400On our last night in Beijing before heading to Mongolia we decided to treat ourselves to a Peking Duck dinner. Beijing cuisine is one of the four main styles of Chinese cooking and roast duck is the signature dish. It was considered so highly that it used to be served only to the emperor and his family. There are now many restaurants in the city that serve this dish but there is one place with twohttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/29/the_next_48_hou/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/29/the_next_48_hou/Fri, 29 Sep 2006 23:49:05 -0400Hi everyone! In order to be outside of China during the national holiday week that begins tomorrow, we are going to Mongolia. Chinese tourist sites become extremely crowded during this week and the prices all increase. Also, we really want to go to Mongolia, so we’ve booked our passage. We’ll be spending the next 48 hours in an overnight bus to the border then an overnight train ("hard sleeper") thttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/29/more_photos-2/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/29/more_photos-2/Fri, 29 Sep 2006 03:08:04 -0400As per my friend Tara’s request, we have added a new feature to our website… On the bottom left you will see that we have added a photo album to the blog. By clicking on the picture that you see, you will be directed to a photo album containing multiple pictures! Enjoy!https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/29/first_day_in_ch/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/29/first_day_in_ch/Fri, 29 Sep 2006 02:46:54 -0400First thing we had to do in the morning of our first day in China was go to the Mongolian embassy to apply for a visa. The Mongolian embassy is in embassy row, an area just off the center of downtown Beijing. Since our bodies are still on West Coast time it was easy for us to get up early and walk over. We arrived just before 10 AM and saw the sign by the door that advertised their hours; 9 AM – 1https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/28/getting_to_asia/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/28/getting_to_asia/Thu, 28 Sep 2006 21:35:06 -0400Early Monday morning, we said goodbye to our friend and amazing San Jose host Alan and we hopped onto a train that would take us to Los Angeles. The train ride lasted 11 hours and we finally arrived in LA at 9pm. We had first considered going to a late movie and dinner to kill some time before our 7:40am flight out of LAX. But after listening to the advice of our fellow train travelers and taking https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/26/day_21_if_you_a/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/26/day_21_if_you_a/Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:03:09 -0400On our 2 day trips to San Francisco, we tried to see as much as possible and experience the West Coast lifestyle. San Fransisco is exactly like in the movies. It is really hilly and it has that distinctive west coast architecture. Driving in the city is treacherous as our friend (and driver) Alan experienced. You could hear screeching tires everywhere as people try to keep their cars from rolling https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/26/from_backpacker/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/26/from_backpacker/Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:05:01 -0400As Penny mentioned we broke down and bought a laptop computer. For all who care about such things, we went for the Gateway 370. It has a 14” screen, 1.5 Ghz, 60 GB hard drive, weighs about 5 lbs and has a cool SD card reader that makes loading our pictures a lot easier. Happily, it was also the least expensive laptop in the store at $500. There were smaller and lighter laptops, including a really https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/23/penny_we_had_so/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/23/penny_we_had_so/Sat, 23 Sep 2006 00:26:36 -0400We had some big plans for the 5 or so days in San Jose which included making numerous day trips to San Francisco… Unfortunately, upon our arrival to San Jose, I got very sick. For the past 3 days I have had a fever and have spent a lot of my time sleeping! Fortunately, we are staying with Joe’s friend Alan and he has been an amazing host. This has made being sick and miserable a little easier. I dhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/22/sacramento_and_/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/22/sacramento_and_/Fri, 22 Sep 2006 17:31:10 -0400Sacramento is an old town that was in the center of the gold rush. It is now the capital of California and where the Governator; Arnold Schwarzenegger, works. However, the main reason for stopping in Sacramento was to visit some relatives of mine. Despite growing up together in Peru my mother hadn’t seen her cousin Erik in 32 years! So when she found out we were planning on traveling through Califhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/22/sacramento/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/22/sacramento/Fri, 22 Sep 2006 16:52:36 -0400We are once again a little behind our posts! We will catch up today! Once we we left Vancouver, we took a bus ride to Seattle. The ride was long and uneventful… It was a great opportunity to catch up on sleep. Once in Seattle, we had to figure out where we were going to stay. The hostels in Seattle were booked solid and so we started calling hotels to find a reasonable price for a room. Unfortunathttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/18/vancouvervictor/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/18/vancouvervictor/Mon, 18 Sep 2006 13:38:50 -0400We’re a couple of days behind on our postings now. We’ve been on trains getting from Vancouver to Sacramento where we are now. I’ll put a short post here about the rest of our time in Vancouver and our visit to Victoria. In the evening after visiting Stanley Park (see post below), we had dinner with two friends who have recently moved out to Vancouver, Hilary and Adrian "Ace" Pelosi. Continuing ouhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/13/vancouver/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/13/vancouver/Wed, 13 Sep 2006 20:19:22 -0400Being back in a big city after spending a few days in the Rockies is a very weird feeling. One thing is for sure, meals are muuuccchhhh cheaper in Vancouver when compared to the town of Banff or Lake Louise. Particularly, Asian food! We have been very pleasantly surprised once again with the Canadian West coast. Vancouver is a very nice city with a very bohemian and laid back feel. It seems that thttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/13/horse_tricks/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/13/horse_tricks/Wed, 13 Sep 2006 20:14:15 -0400When our horses weren’t busy kicking Penny they got up to a few tricks. One horse in particular seemed very bright. Watch the video I got of him actually untying a knot to free himself. Should I send this to one of those funny video shows?https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/13/whiskey_jacks/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/13/whiskey_jacks/Wed, 13 Sep 2006 20:07:58 -0400Whiskey Jacks are the very unshy birds that are all over the place here. It is also the name of the hostel that we stayed at right after our adventures on horseback. We made a silly decision to reserve the hostel knowing full well it is a wilderness hostel with few amenities. By the time we emerged from the woods after 3 days we were ready for some luxuries and did not look forward to spending thehttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/11/city_slickers/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/11/city_slickers/Mon, 11 Sep 2006 18:10:03 -0400As we had previously mentioned, we have been away for the past 3 days enjoying some horseback riding and some rustic accommodations. We joined a guided trail ride that took us into the mountains around Banff and led us to Mystic Lake. It all started Friday morning, when we went to the stables and met up with the other 13 people on the tour. After a few introductions, we were off to meet the other https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/11/adventures_on_h/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/11/adventures_on_h/Mon, 11 Sep 2006 17:31:26 -0400Sightseeing in the area around Banff had gone like this for us so far: Pull up to lake/river/mountain, park car, get out to walk around and enjoy the views, be surrounded by other tourists. Since the national park here receives millions of annual visitors I don’t know why I was expecting it to be any different. For me though the experience of looking at a majestic mountain with a beautiful alpine https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/08/banff_and_lake_/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/08/banff_and_lake_/Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:06:13 -0400Banff National Park is one of 5 parks in this part of Western Canada. It alone is bigger than Prince Edward Island. So, needless to say we are only going to be seeing a small bit of it. Today we did the obligatory drive up to Lake Louise, about 50 km from the town of Banff. The drive takes you through some incredible mountain scenery that is so foreign to eyes accustomed to Toronto’s flat-as-a-panhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/05/first_day_on_th/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/05/first_day_on_th/Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:13:13 -0400We were up at 4am! You would expect us to be excited about the start of our trip but I think that we were both still exhausted and unable to stir up much enthusiasm. But as we said ‘bye’ to my brother Frank (who we stayed with last night) it finally started to hit us. The big day had finally arrived! The fist stop on our journey is Calgary. As both Joe and I have traveled very little in Canada, wehttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/05/going_away_part/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/05/going_away_part/Tue, 05 Sep 2006 15:47:50 -0400Thanks to everyone who came out to our going away party at Penny’s parents home despite the dreary weather. It was great to see so many of our friends and family one last time before we took off. Penny’s mom is an amazing cook and she prepared a feast for us. There will probably be enough leftovers to keep them well fed through the Fall. Thanks again, and we’ll see you all in about a year!https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/04/packing/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/09/04/packing/Mon, 04 Sep 2006 18:11:55 -0400Several of you have asked what we’re packing for 1 year around the world. We fear that we have packed too much, but that’s to be expected. Here’s a list of what we’re each taking: Penny: hiking boots/flat dress shoes/sport sandals/flip flops 2 pairs convertible pants/jeans/dressier pants shorts/2 blouses thermal underwear long sleeve t-shirt 4 t-shirts/2 tank tops 2 long sleeved turtle necks 4 brahttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/30/she_said_yes/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/30/she_said_yes/Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:29:18 -0400She said Yes and I couldn’t be happier! I feel incredibly lucky and look forward to the next year traveling with my "fiancee" 🙂https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/30/were_engaged/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/30/were_engaged/Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:24:05 -0400Joe proposed to me on Monday night. After a stressful week of packing and preparation, Joe decided that it was the perfect time to pop the question… On our way to Montreal, Joe pulled off the highway and headed toward downtown Kingston. This was odd as we usually only get off at service stations for a quick bite. He had secretly reserved a beautiful room in an Inn in Kingston (yes, Kingston!). He https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/29/so_much_stuff/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/29/so_much_stuff/Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:49:13 -0400Packing… The story of my life! Since in Toronto (I have been here for over 4 years) I have packed and moved 7 times (this includes family and friends of course). I have been qualified as an expert mover! Anyways, so now I am on my 8th move! This one is a little different… Everything is going into storage for 1 full year and we will not have a permanent address until we return. I guess that my mom https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/23/13_days_and_cou/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/23/13_days_and_cou/Wed, 23 Aug 2006 15:49:18 -0400We’ve got less than 2 weeks to go now before we get on a plane and travel west for a year. Last week Penny and I were both out of town, she was on business, I was in Las Vegas with friends. That makes this our last week in Toronto. Next Monday we pack up our things into a storage locker and head to Montreal to spend a week with our families before leaving. Half of our belongings are already in boxhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/03/florida/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/03/florida/Thu, 03 Aug 2006 18:21:25 -0400No, Florida isn’t part of our Trip, but Penny’s on assignment in Miami for a few weeks so I found a cheap flight down and joined her. I had a fun time relaxing by the beach or pool and wandering around Miami while she worked. On the weekend we went to visit my brother in Tampa and had a really great time there. Our hotel in Miami was new and luxurious. Unfortunately, it was right in the financial https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/03/night_in_little/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/08/03/night_in_little/Thu, 03 Aug 2006 17:46:07 -0400People have been asking what I’ve been doing with all my free time. I found it surprisingly easy to get used to not working! My normal routine now is to wake up at around 7 or 7.30, go to the gym, then do some planning/research for the trip for the rest of the morning. In the afternoon I run errands and do things like go to the passport office or various consulates. I usually find time for an aftehttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/07/13/flights_to_book/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/07/13/flights_to_book/Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:29:38 -0400Over the last couple of months we’ve been looking at our options for flights. It seems to breakdown into three main choices: 1) Buy an Around the World pass from one of the major airline alliances. Star Alliance and OneWorld offer two of the better known ones. The pass allows you to make a certain number of flights (20 for Star Alliance) on any alliance carrier for a fixed price. The biggest catchhttps://oneyearaway.com/2006/07/11/my_first_ever_p/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/07/11/my_first_ever_p/Tue, 11 Jul 2006 17:45:19 -0400So, not being very technologically inclined, this is my first ever posting on a blog! Feels a little weird… I remember telling Joe over 3 years ago that I did not want to go backpacking around the world but here I am leaving my comfortable condo, a job that I like and all my family and friends for a full 11 months to do exactly that! To tell you the truth this trip is somewhat part of my 2005 New https://oneyearaway.com/2006/07/11/itinerary/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/07/11/itinerary/Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:59:48 -0400Here’s what we think our itinerary will look like. Bear in mind that we don’t have any tickets booked yet (except LA to Beijing) so this is likely to change a lot.https://oneyearaway.com/2006/07/11/so_this_is_what/https://oneyearaway.com/2006/07/11/so_this_is_what/Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:32:40 -0400Friday was my last day of work for over 1 year. I’ll be spending the next couple of months preparing for our trip; planning, figuring out this website, booking tickets, getting visas and putting our stuff in storage. I’ll also be traveling a bit to see family and friends. Penny’s working till right before we leave. She’s been assigned to a consulting project that’ll keep her busy right to the end.