Colin & Patti - World Tour

Back to Canada

2010-04-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

After our extra week in Europe, we finally made it!!! Canada is looking lovely and green and we couldn't be happier to be home.
Thanks to Mike P for picking us up at the airport and thanks to him and Janny for a wonderful first Canadian BBQ dinner and yummy cheesecake!
After TO, we drove down to St. Catharines and met our new nephew, Rowan. He is adorable. We also got to play with our little neice, Audrey. She is also a complete doll.

We are so happy to be home and can't wait to see everyone!!!

Thanks for following along, it has been quite a ride!

P & C

Round Two

2010-04-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well the skies look good for tomorrows flight and as long as they stay that way we should be landing in Toronto at 12:15 local time.

We've had a good couple of days between Berlin and Frankfurt and we can see countless airplanes flying overhead so hopes are high.

Looking forward to seeing every one!!!

Colin and Patti

Arrived in Riga

2010-04-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Caught the train to Riga last night and now have a bus to Berlin tomorrow night for 24hrs. We are happy to be making progress across Europe considering the buses and trains are jammed to the wall.

That being said Riga is definitely a city we will be coming back to in the near future. Friendly people and an incredibly beautiful pedestrian friendly old city where ever thing is within walking distance. The Museum of Latvian Occupation was moving and it was nice to be in a museum that was easy to follow the flow of information, it has been awhile.

In short visit Latvia and Riga.

Bring on Germany

Stuck in Europe

2010-04-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we were ready to catch the first of three flights from St Petersburg to Toronto via Frankfurt when the plume of volcanic ash started reeking havoc. Our flight from St Petersburg was cancelled the day before it was scheduled and now all flights in the continent are down and rail or bus are the only way.

We've been able to re-book our flight back to Canada to April 26 now we will start moving overland to Frankfurt. The word is that trains and buses are filling fast so this is likely not going to be as easy as train/bus travel typically is in Europe. We have an overnight train to Latvia tonight and then we will work the rest out day to day.

Just a little more adventure to come.

See you in a week, we hope.

Colin and Patti

Leningrad

2010-04-14T22:28:00.001-07:00

We splashed out and took a first class compartment on the train from Moscow to St Petersburg and enjoyed every minute. We've been here two days now and have been blown away by the inner city's beauty. The architecture is incredible and literally every building in the city is eye-catching.
The old Singer sewing machine company's headquarters is one of the most impressive non-religious or government buildings in the city.
A look at the "Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood" from the canal. The most lavish example of Russian Orthodox churches in the country. The interior mosaics are on level with anything in Italy.

The Hermitage Museum which is likely Russia's most important art museum is beautiful on the outside but the interior is palatial. It did once house the Tsar families and was decorated to a standard that is fit for any king or queen.

We've spent a lot of time walking the streets, alleys and along the canals just looking and enjoying. This city is a walkers paradise which is easy on the wallet.

Only two nights to go in Russia then we fly home!

See you all soon.

Made it to Moscow

2010-04-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Despite only being able to take a shower with deodorant for 4 days and being cooped up in a small area with 40 to 50 other people who also can't clean themselves, the trans-siberian was a great experience.We have since settled into our hostel in Moscow and have begun exploring what the city has to offer. It is weird being back in western culture and paying western prices.

Count down is on to our return, 9 days.

Trans-Siberian Leg 3: Irkutsk to Moscow

2010-04-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Russian and ready!

Trans Mongolian leg two: Ulaan Baatar to Irkutsk

2010-04-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

We boarded Mongolian train 263 (rule of thumb: the lower the number, the better the train) at 9 pm on March 31 bound for Irkutsk, Russia. Unlike the train from Beijing, this one was packed with no beds to spare. We shared our compartment with a Mongolian kid who studies in Irkutsk and a retired surgical professor who was on his way to visit a former pupil in Ulan Ude. We really lucked out with our cabin mates because they were quiet and tried to share whatever they had with us. We tried to share our instant noodles but they were much happier with their cucumber, mutton and steamed bread. They finally approved of some train station pastries Patti picked up at the border.

Our neighbours to the right were much different than our cabin mates. These lovely drunkards were Mongolia's only death metal band, "Fair Wind", on their way to a death metal festival in Ulan Ude. Apparently Russia has a huge death metal culture unlike Mongolia. It is fair to say they began the festivities the minute they got on the train and the Vodka was flowing at a incredible pace. I was fortunate enough to be invited in for some vodka rounds, so much that I have black spots in my memory from that evening. Despite the memory loss, I did get a copy of their debut CD, "Coffin Town Under the Moon". Can't wait to give it a listen at home. For any curious potential fans, they are definitely Death Metal and NOT heavy metal. I was corrected several times.

The ride was pleasant except for the border which involved sitting in both the Mongolia and Russian stations for 6 and 5 hours, respectively. None of the immigrations or customs officials paid much attention to us but worked over any Mongol or Russian person with several bags. I'm not surprised, given a couple of hours before the border the Mongolian traders were paying other passengers to bring their goods across the border for them. Very amusing situation given most the goods were fake polo shirts. Our cabin was given 2 large blankets, a bag of shirts and a pair of boots. All of them were reclaimed approximately 5 kilometers past the customs.

Great time all together.

Looking forward to the third leg: Irkutsk to Moscow.

Colin and Patti

Mutton, meat, more meats and starch

2010-03-30T01:25:00.000-07:00

After two days of exploring UB, we boarded a public bus out of the city to spend 5 days with nomadic Mongolian families.

We were greeted my Mr. Bold (pronounced Bolt) at the bus stop who then "ox-carted" us 15 km to his ger (that means yurt) for the night. It was a cold start to the trip, since it was dark 5 km into the trip and it lasted nearly 2.5 hrs. Patti had 2 blankets on and Colin rode up front and tried to communicate with Mr. Bold. We were greeted upon arrival by his family and a nice bowl of hot milk tea (hot salty milk with maybe a hint of tea, if you really look for it), followed by a mutton vegetable soup (they can call it veg because it had at least one piece of onion in it). This was the first of way too many meat meals consisting mostly of mutton or pure meat fat. The diet amongst nomadic families is really only meat and dairy products because the soil and climate doesn't allow any ting to be cultivated. Potatoes are considered a rare delicacy and spices are never used. So to say the least, by the end of the trip we were muttoned and milked out and ready to return to the relatively western flare of Ulaan Baatar for some much needed vegetables.

One of many meals of meat (really chewy meat with lots of fat)

Mr. Bold was a HUGE man. He has competed in the legendary Nadaam festival as a wrestler and won the Lion Title. We are not sure if that means he was the Champion but arguing the fact with him would not be a good idea. Colin had a go at wrestling with him and was thrown around like a rag doll. Mr. Bold gave us lessons in ice bowling, archery, and cheating at one of their favourite pastimes: sheep ankle bone. We are bringing some ankle bones home so you can all experience the fun!

All of the families that we met were wonderful and had something different to offer. We collected baby goats and saw a newborn goat. We saw a one year old ride a horse. We stayed with a family that uses a dog sled to get around. It was an amazing experience that we would do again...but in the summer, to avoid the cold. Given the rapid urbanization in Mongolia, true nomadism may be gone shortly leaving only tourist ger camps.

Now we are back in UB (had subs, veg & fruit for lunch!) and we are preparing for a two night trip into the motherland...Russia!

See you all soon,

P & C

Colin and Patti

Tran-Mongolian Part 1: Beijing to Mongolia

2010-03-30T00:41:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately we spent too long in central and southeast Asia, so we left little time to spend in China before we boarded the train and started the first leg of the long journey west.

That being said, we thoroughly enjoyed the capital of China, in all it's glory. We had 7 great days in Beijing. We were fortunate to find a jewel of a hostel only a 10min walk from the the Forbidden City and numerous other famous sites. We packed in the sights at a lightening pace and managed to taste all that the restaurants and street vendors had to offer. The food was so good, I think we packed on about 10lbs.

On March 23, we boarded an early morning train at the central Beijing train station and bid China fair well.

The train ride went quite smoothly. We paid for 3rd class, called 'hard sleeper' in China, expecting to be crammed into our car. Luckily, since it is the low season and also not a big travelling time of year for the Chinese, we had a compartment to ourselves and our carriage was only half full. This means twice the blankets and pillows but a less stinky bathroom. Each carriage has a coal-heated hot water tank so you can make tea, coffee, noodles, etc. It is VERY convenient. If I couldn't have tea constantly to keep warm, I would have froze to death. We had instant noodles, bread and fruit with us but we wanted to give the dining car a chance for at least one meal. We were greeted by 3 smoking chefs and a hostess woman who was not happy to see us. We ordered some food and some 50cent beers and the smoking chefs went into the kitchen (they weren't too happy with us ordering). We received very greasy fried pork and a plate full of uncooked fried chicken (were they punishing us for making them work?). We polished off the pork and then proceeded to warn every tourist on the train about the chicken. Perhaps the Mongolian restaurant car will be better.

The Journey to Ulaan Baatar took 36 hours, which included about 6 hrs at the border for the authorities to check faces and the rail crew to change the wheels. Mongolia and Russia use a different gauge of rail than the rest of the world so at the border each car is picked up and the "bogeys" are changed to match the Russian system, or vice versa if heading out of Russia. This all happened from about 9pm to 3am so it made for a rather sleepless night. Locked out of the train at a freezing station while the Chinese authorities look the train over.

After sleeping till roughly 8:30am, we were greeted by scenery like nothing we've ever seen: the Gobi Desert. It's bizarre to see snow and dirt as far as the eye can see with a sprinkling of horses and the occasional camel (with 2 humps). Southern Mongolia is where NASA should be testing lunar equipment.

All in all, a great first ride. We have already discovered the perfect recipe for success on board the Trans-Mongolian train: vodka, scotch, raman noodles and PB & J sandwiches.

Wish us luck on leg 2: UB to Irkutsk!!

P & C

Tokyo

2010-03-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Tokyo was an electrifying place that is non-stop with cars, people and light.

Thanks to the Russian Embassy, we weren't able to leave Tokyo at all which was a blessing is disguise since we got to explore vitually every inch of the city. Each district was more interesting than the next with so much to see, do and taste. Some of our highlights from the city include:

Shibuya crossing. As mentioned before, it feels like 5000 people cross the street every 5 min.

Dinner at the Saito household. Tsubasa's family kindly took us in for the night, where we treated to hand made sushi and fresh crab.

Harajuku girls: human barbie dolls that conveine weekly to stand around.

Tsukiji Fish Market. This is where 4500 tonnes of fish are sold each morning. Then you can dine on the freshest sushi in the world in the small restaurants around the market for BREAKFAST.

The transit system, although expensive, moves so many people on a schedule that is never broken. 3.5 million people go through Shinjuku station every day!

Vending Machines, tucked into every nook and crany. So a beer, coffee (hot or cold) or any type of drink is never far away.

Sake museum in Niigata, with 300 sakes in a huge vending machine to sample.

The old temples of Nikko north of Tokyo.

And of course ACDC!

Thanks Steph and Tsubasa! Best hosts ever!

Patti thinks my beard is gross?

2010-03-24T03:14:00.001-07:00

I don't know why?

We made it to Mongolia....it's cold. 4 nights in a yurt coming up....will be even colder.

Chinese censorship

2010-03-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

Everyone, we apologize for the delay in info over the last couple days but didn't anticipate that our blog would be censored while we were in China. We will be leaving for Mongolia on March 23 and should be back on the blog by the 24th.

Thanks for the patience and thanks Mike for posting this for us.

Colin and Patti.

P.S Colin smells.

Tokyo

2010-03-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

Some stats on Tokyo:

- 12 million people living in the city and 34 million in the greater area,
over 100,000 restaurants,
- more than 500,00 vending machines selling everything and anything,
- The fish market moves: 2246 tonnes of fish a day worth 1.8 billion yen
- The average height of a person is just over 5' tall,
and every single Tokyo'ite uses an umbrella.

So if your taller than the average Japanese person you had better watch your eyes.
It rained and snowed yesterday and crossing this intersection was the most dangerous experience since leaving home.

Colin and Patti

Japan: great hosts, skiing and consular let downs

2010-03-08T01:39:00.000-08:00

Our trip from Saigon to Tokyo began at 3pm with a cab ride from Thomas' apartment to the airport, followed by an uneventful flight to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok at about 7 pm and got our luggage, eager to pass the next 7 hrs waiting to check into our next flight. We filled in the time nicely at first: dinner, a movie on the laptop and then we tried to sleep. When 3 am rolled around and we were still awake, we were dying to check in and hopefully find some softer seats, at least some softer than the floor. There weren't any soft seats but a lot of Delta hassle due to fear of terrorism. It would seem Delta is worried about it's planes that aren't flying to American destinations also, so we got several stages of security checks and were not allowed to buy anything at the duty free. It would seem that the hard alcohol could be used to make Molotov cocktails while waiting at the gate. We did take off, eventually, and made it to Tokyo ready for another day of travel.

Tokyo airport is the efficient behemoth that you would expect from the Japanese. We got our luggage, excited to tackle the train system into the city, which is another marvel of efficiency and organization. The size of the public transit system is mind boggling and amazingly always on time! Just incredible!! (Yes that is a double exclamation mark). We found our way and met up with our new hosts in the city, Stephanie and Tsubasa. Steph is one of Patti's long-time best friends and she just got married to Tsubasa.

After rendezvous-ing, and having a vending machine beer (or two, in Colin's case), we were whisked away on a bus headed to the mountain village of Niigata for a weekend of hot springs and skiing. We arrived in Niigata at 10pm and started drinking into the night, despite over 48hrs of travel without sleep. That night, we finally did get some sleep but we missed our first opportunity to ski since we overslept.

We did have a great day in Niigata though. We started the day off with some bathing in the hot springs and then headed into town to the train station and the famous sake wall. In the train station, there is a sake tasting area with over 100 sake's on offer. Each one is dispensed from an efficient Japanese automated system. Pay 500 Yen for five tokens then head to the wall to make your choices. Since there is no English, you have no idea what you are going to get. Tsubasa translate some of the words for us but other than that, we were on our own and getting tipsier by the second.
On day two in the hills, we got fresh snow and hit the hill. We couldn't believe that there was rental gear that fit. I think I got the only pair of ski boots that was over size 10. Also, somehow Colin miraculously fit into Tsubasa's brothers ski/boarding pants. I didn't know there was a Japanese person as big as us Canadians! It would have been great to stay longer but Steph and Tsubasa had work and go to school, respectively, that night we got back to Tokyo.

We arrived back in Tokyo late on Sunday and had to start figuring out how to navigate to the Russian Embassy and apply for visas. In order to get from Beijing to Moscow we need three visas which we have two of already (China and Mongolia), however Russia is still outstanding. Every attempt to contact the Ruskies has failed and they have been generally rude and hostile on the phone. We have read or been told any number of problems could deny us a visa, so we are nervous about getting this one. To add to the problem, we have little time so we can't miss a day or we have to pay large sums for quick processing. It turns out that today was actually a Russian holiday, so the embassy was closed when we arrived after a 1hr trip on the Tokyo transit system. They had no notice on the door and no info about this on the website (thanks). It cost about 20$ in transit to get there so back again tomorrow and an extra 100$ in speedy processing fees.

DAMN THOSE RUSSIANS!

Patti & Colin

Vietnam

2010-03-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

We almost overstayed our visit to Thailand, nearly didn't leave Laos and enjoyed Cambodia so much we only had one week left to spend in Vietnam before we have to fly to Japan. So we decided to enjoy Saigon and small trip to Mui Ne. Saigon is an amazing city that is moving and motoring at all times with a million small motorbikes.

We arrived 7 days ago to a warm welcome from our German friend from Koh Toa, Thomas Puschmann. Thomas was my dive partner during my advanced course and then another 9 dives in the Gulf of Thailand. The hospitality has been better than great: air-con, good bed, TV, Internet, whisky, washing machine, refrigerator, tour guide and best of all good company. He has shown us the best drinking spots, best food, how to get around and taught us basic words like beer which handily is bia so luckily for me, it wasn't hard to remember. Despite the short stay, we made the most of it (hangovers included) and will be back to enjoy more one day and visit the remainder of the country.We leave for Japan tomorrow and another chapter in this adventure.

A huge thanks to Thomas.

Colin and Patti

Bird's Nest White Fungus Drink?

2010-02-27T01:05:00.001-08:00

After seeing Bird's Nest White Fungus drink in Cambodia and not buying it I was really worried I might have lost my chance to try it but Vietnam came through for me.

We are staying with Thomas in Saigon who we met in Thailand right now and his apartment building convenience store conveniently has "Bird's Nest White Fungus Drink", booya.
The ingredients read: Water, Sugar, White Fungus, Agar, Sodium Bicarbonat, Bird's Nest and Flavour.
Wow you can really taste the flavour and it's economical.

Road trip to the coast

2010-02-25T17:41:00.001-08:00

Since leaving home we have rented a car or truck three times and motorcycles 10 times, so it seemed fitting for us to explore Cambodias beach destinations on two wheels. After securing a 250cc Honda Baja for 5 days, we headed south from Phnom Pehn to Sihanoukville. The journey was about 230 kms but took over 5 hrs, thanks to awful drivers and some num bums. We arrived in the coastal town safe and sound!
Sihanoukville is blessed with great sand and a steady breeze that makes the 35dec plus temperatures bareable and it has great seafood to boot. With our time dwindling in Cambodia, we only left ourselves two days to see this town and it's embarrasing to say we spent most mornings watching Olympic coverage then sitting on the beach and drinking the remainder of the day away. The really sad part is that we fit in with just about every other 20 something tourist. Still a great place.After , we headed straight east towards Kampot with one small hiccup. As we were heading out of town we got flagged down by the local police becase apparently it is illegal to drive with your headlights on. After some small talk, the only way not to have our motorcycle impounded was US $10. After that little hiccup, we headed off. The coastal drive was nice and the 130 km's to Kampot were easy thanks to the limited traffic on the road. A quick stop for lunch in Kampot and we drove on to our real destination of Kep. This small town was previously a weekend spot for Cambodians in the 60's and early 70's and was mostly levelled by the Khmer Rouge regime and the Vietnamese. The damage is still visible by the burnt frames of vacation homes and old hotels that dot the landscape. Despite it's appearence at times, the town is quaint and friendly and the seadood is even better than Sihanoukville. The local specialty is crab with kampot pepper and it is to die for. In fact any of the seafood dishes with the locally grown pepper is exquisite. This is likely a spot which, given a couple of years, will be overrun with tourists, so hurry up.With our time in SEA coming to an end, it was a relitively quick drive back north to Phnom Pehn despite 150 km of gravel roads thanks to construction. We did arrive safely and are preparing to head to Vietnam.

Less than 2 months left!

Colin and Patti.

Phnom Pehn

2010-02-25T17:37:00.000-08:00

Back again and eager to give this capital city another chance we arrived high from a great time in Siem Reap. This time we were able to get into the guesthouse we had reservations at and have discovered a great new corner of town. Making the "Top Banana" guesthouse home for 5 days, we got to explore the city and enjoy some luxuries that we haven't had since leaving home: real baguettes, stinky cheese, cheap wine and salads that can be trusted.Unfortunately for Phnom Pehn the major attractions bring to life the tragic history of this beautiful country. Visiting the S-21 museum and the killing fields are a must see while in Cambodia if not only to see the horrorfic history but more importantly realise how far this country has come from those days. There has been very few places that we have travelled since leaving last year where every single person you smile at returns an even bigger smile.
A great city and a great country.

Siem Reap and Angkor Temples

2010-02-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

After a rather interesting start in Phnom Pehn, we headed north to Siem Reap to see the temples at Angkor. Expecting nothing less than to be blown away, this UNESCO site did not disappoint. We expected to spend three days visiting the temples but stayed for 6 days to allow for some reflection and break time between visits. Some of this break time was caused by alcohol consumption...oops. At least it was an Angkor themed bar: Angkor What?Although Siem Reap is a a big tourist draw and the city is at times over-run with barang (tourists) we found a quaint little guest house away from the masses to relax from temple viewing and the heat. It had a tv and this started our morning obsession with LIVE olympic broadcasts.Angkor Wat is the big draw and the largest temple in the area and is also the busiest, although Bayon and some of the smaller complexes are exquisite. We've included three photo galleries of the temples as every angle was photogenic.

Cambodia: Ups, Downs and now way up!

2010-02-13T06:06:00.000-08:00

After a great couple of days in Sinphandon (southern most part of Laos) we hopped over the border into Cambodia. We spent our first night in Kratie about 2 hrs south of Laos and had a great introduction into the warm Cambodian culture. We only had one night in the north with the desire to head south to Phnom Penh and eventually Siem Reap.

We arrived in Phnom Penh with an email confirmation at a guest house and word that they would pick us up at the bus station. Well no pick-up and no way of communicating where to go? Our first tuk-tuk driver says "Yeah I know the place" and of course after ten minutes of driving, we haven't found our guesthouse. So we ask for to stop at an Internet cafe and we can get an address. We get the address and call the guesthouse he gives instructions and says he will pay the second tuk-tuk when we arrive. We arrive and the man at the door pays the tuk-tuk after we exchange some words about the current level of service. That settled we go in and a young man at the bar says that he doesn't have a room as per in the email. He shows another room not at all what we asked for but at same price (hideous). Then two more rooms (also not what we asked for and at different prices). At this point we are frustrated (to say the least) and demand to talk to the person we communicated with on the email. They say 5 minutes we will get him and during this time Patti starts looking around the area at other places (and finds lots of other places). Then a new man enters and says that he doesn't have the room he stated in the email. At this point we have had enough and decide to leave. As we are heading out man at the front demands that we pay the tuk-tuk to get us here since we aren't staying. We say no (since we were out the money for the first tuk-tuk and the money for the internet and phone call)! He grabs my backpack and re-demands. I push him backwards after saying we aren't paying and you lied. He get really offended and starts the rich tourist thing while raising a fist. Patti says you lied and we aren't paying. Man raise fist and heads her way. I get very angry and push backwards again (while two of his friends are closing in) and say we aren't paying you lied!! He yells a lot of profanities and tells us " you pay now! people get hit by cars all the time in Cambodia@$%ing tourists" and lets got of my backpack. We walk off a little shaken and find a nice place down the street.

We decide that night that we need to start fresh with Cambodia and catch a bus the next day to Siem Reap and to explore the beautiful temples of Angkor Wat!

We have loved every minute of Siem Reap and Angkor, I've taken 600 photos in two visits and will go again tomorrow. This has been a true highlight of the trip. We will be posting photos soon.

Don't get worried about us, this is our first real tussle while abroad and we are pretty sure we are still decent people. To make up for the potential bad karma, we've been extra generous with any nice Cambodian who serves us or helps us out.

Colin and Patti

Engineers on vacation!

2010-02-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

We left Canada to see the world and explore culture and what do we end up doing, visiting a mine. As we were travelling through Laos an aquaintance that Patti met in University noticed that her status on Facebook indicated that we were travelling through Laos. Turns out the aquaintance; Douglas Caffel, works at a recently opened copper mine north of Vientiane. So off we went to visit PanAust's mine in Laos thanks to Doug. It was a great sidetrip in a great country. The mine arranged a ride from town to the mine's camp (5hr drive), meals and accomodations for one night and a tour of the operations. For those geeks interested in earth moving there is a photo album on our Picasa photo page.

Thanks Doug for the great tour.

You can get the geeks out of work but can you get the work out of the geeks?

Typhus!

2010-02-02T03:38:00.000-08:00

I've had a splitting headache for nearly a week now and finally decided to visit a clinic. Thankfully in Vientiane the Australian embassy has a western quality clinic and doctor that will see any person from a commonwealth country. So we rented some bikes and headed to the embassy to hopefully have my head checked. The doctor quickly determined that it could be Dengue Fever or Typhus based on my descriptions so he took blood and ran some tests. The Dengue came up negative so likely Typhus. So now we get to spend some extra time in Vientiane while I take antibiotics to get rid of the Typhus.

On a pleasant note the city has the best western food we've had since leaving Canada. We had some excellent french cuisine last night at prices that would make McDonald's nervous a home.

Colin and Patti

Tubing in Vang Vieng!!!

2010-01-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

We just had one of the craziest days on our trip: tubing in Vang Vieng!!

For anyone who has been there before, yes it is still craziness and for those who haven't and who like to party, it is AWESOME!! To the young backpacker crowd, this place is a rite of passage and the party tone is set early on in the day. Colin and I were definately above the average age (most kids were Brit gap year-ers or Aussies on holiday) but we still had fun. The day consists of riding a tube down the river, while stopping off at bars along the way. These aren't normal bars though, these are makeshift shanty bars which also provide homemade swings, zip lines, slides and a whole amusement park worth of homemade contraptions to entice the drunken tubers.

The day went like this...
After a lazy breakfast, all the backpackers descend on one of two inner-tube rental shops who quickly take your money, make you sign a waiver and then whisk you off to the inner-tube launch site. When you arrive at the launch, a nice lao-lao (homemade whisky) shooter is waiting for you. Before you even launch your tube, you can stay and have some drinks at Bar 1. At Bar 1, they have a homemade trapeze set up and anyone can attempt to be an acrobat for FREE. Colin and I chose to do our acrobatics before we drank too many 1$ 650ml beer laos. It was a riot!! No injuries for us...You could also get a bucket of anything you might fancy for about $4 (Vodka Redbull, Lao-Lao and coke, etc.). After a few more beer laos and even a bucket of Vodka Redbull, we decided the swings were so much fun that we had to try again. This time I had a bit of a side flop and some mild bruising...oops. Our final 'ride' was further down the river...it was a giant homemade slide. It looked amazing!! When I got to the top, I noticed it was all tiled and I thought perhaps it would scratch me all over the place. Luckily it didn't. However it did shoot me off the bottom like a canon! Take a look at the videos...looking at them now makes us feel a bit stupid but hey, EVERYONE WAS DOING IT!! Oh, and there were little Laos children flying all over the place. There were 5 year olds in their undies doing backflips off all the trapezes!!

Miss you all,
P & C

Thailand -> Laos

2010-01-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

We spent an amazing month in Thailand! In fact we enjoyed it so much we almost forgot to leave. We were issued a 30 day visa upon landing in Thailand which allowed us to stay until Jan 18th and we left 30min before the border closed on that exact day. Severe financial penalties (17$) would have ensued had we left late.

We've now been in Laos for nearly a week and it has also surpased our expectations. It is so amazing to be immersed within a country where the average person has so little compared to western standards and yet is so giving and welcoming.

Since arriving we've spent most of our time in the north, somewhat off the heavy tourist route, and visited some small villages that are really only accesible by walking or being pulled by animal. It has been somewhat reminescent of Africa in terms of the ruralness and lousy roads.

After that short time in the north we headed to Luang Prabang which is the start of the major tourist corridor and looks like we will be with the masses until Vientianne were we hope to head into the less touristy south. We miss the slow pace and no hassle of the small town, but we are loving all the comforts and luxuries available in Laung Prabang. We've had great coffee, baguettes, and cheese already and we just found a shop with cheap French wine. We deserve this...since we've been eating noodle soup at least twice a day for the last month.

One of the great parts of any country is the national beer and Beerlao has been the best brew yet, since arriving in Asia. No more Chang-overs!!!
Cheers to beers. (Colin's sign-off)
Check out some actual pictures of Thailand and Laos, not just beer pics, using the links on the right. Miss you all, we'll be home in less than 3 months, (Patti's sign-off) Boring!! (Colin's response)

P & C

Losers win big

2010-01-16T00:49:00.000-08:00

Since leaving home we've participated in a couple of trivia nights at pubs around the world but we've never won so much for doing so lousy as we did in Chang Mai. Teamed up with Julien a British retiree living in Chang Mai we succesfully answered less than 50% of the questions. Prizes were for the top three scores and then the worst score who gets a pitcher of beer, however we didn't actually have the worst score. So we wouldn't have won the pitcher if it wasn't for Julien who attends regularly to lose the contest but win the pitcher.

Team "Canucks" total points 49!
Rewarding pitcher of Heinenken with teamate Julien.

Hockey tonight on T.V. and the Habs to boot

2010-01-13T02:25:00.000-08:00

We've arrived in Chang Mai in northern Thailand and are ready for a couple of days of non-movement and relaxing before we head east to Laos. This town has been hyped pretty hard by fellow backpackers along the Thai route and so far it hasn't disappointed. We found a great little guesthouse for next to nothing and have had some great meals of both Thai and western style food (needed every once and awhile).
The greatest discovery so far is that a bar called the U.N. Irish Bar is showing NHL on a big screen and tonight New Jersey and Montreal, booya. It might feel like home if it wasn't for the 34deg heat and the amount of animal organs for sale in the street.

The Status of our Stuff

2010-01-06T23:11:00.000-08:00

We've been gone for approx 8 months now, with 3.5 months to go. The first 8 months have taken quite a toll on stuff. Here is a little status list:

Our sleeping bags are dirty (Colin's stinks).
Colin is on his second SLR camera, has had repair work on one of his camera lenses and I'm on my second camera. Thank goodness for second hand stores. I got my camera used for less than half the price of a new one and it is in better shape than my original one.
Colin is on his 3rd pair of flip flops and so am I.
I have new hiking shoes (first ones got a bit roughed up while camping in Africa) and have lost my atheltic sandals (chose not to replace these).
Lost one of my little green amber earrings during a scuba lesson (yes Jan, my little amber studs from Poland). Lost several earrings in other places, leaving me with a bag of mostly one earring per set.
Both of us are on passport number 2.
We have our original bank cards, except I no longer have a Royal Bank debit card.
I have about 50% of the originals clothes I brought, still in ok shape. Colin has almost all of his original clothes, lots with holes and faded armpits.
Oh, and for those of you who knew we were each bringing only 3 pairs of undies...I have 2 of my original set and one replacement pair purchased on a discount shelf in Nairobi, Kenya. Colin has all 3 original pairs of undies....check this pair out, crotchless boxers!!! (he got two new pairs for Christmas but is yet to throw out the old ones). Yes, that is a HOLE!

Hehe, all in all, we are doing fine. You've got to expect these things, I guess. Wish us luck on our last 3.5 months. Hopefully no more big ticket items will be replaced!!

Miss you all, love,

P & C

Happy New Year to All

2010-01-03T05:30:00.000-08:00

We celebrated a rather drunken New Years in Koh Tao on the beach under the full moon. Now it wasn't a true full moon party of the Koh Phangan legend but it did have almost all the same ingredients; buckets of booze, sand, full moon and dancing. The only thing it was missing was about 25,000 people.The entire evening was great, we started with a wonderful seafood meal at the King Crab on the beach then met up with Thomas (Colin's dive buddy) at Vibe Bar before hitting up the real party at Club Fiz. Didn't hit the sack until about 4:00am and woke up with a serious hangover. Although Thomas was much worse off and didn't make it out of bed until around 5pm.

We have another couple of nights in the islands before we really explore Bangkok and then head north, can't wait.

Love you all.

Colin and Patti

Scuba Thailand (Koh Tao)

2009-12-29T02:59:00.000-08:00

We've been here nearly a week now and I've completed my Advanced Open Water Diver's license and Patti has completed her Open Water Diver (with deep certificate) and we can now dive together. We have a big full day trip planned to "Sail Rock" on the 31st, this is considered the best dive spot in the gulf of Thailand. We had a great dive today near the island and saw bull sharks, schools of barracuda, grouper, stingrays and so much more. If Sail rock lives up to the diving hype it has been getting then this island paradise should only get better. I will have racked up 11 dives here and Patti 7 when we finally leave if we ever do.

Love you all

Colin and Patti

Merry Christmas to All!

2009-12-27T05:36:00.000-08:00

We know it's two days late but Merry Christmas to everyone. It is especially hard right now to be away from home and we miss friends and family terribly. We've made the best of Christmas by buying a small (about 10cm) Christmas tree, wreath and fake presents (similar scale to the tree) to "season" up our present home in Thailand. Photos will be posted shortly on the photo site.
In front of our beach bungalow, Christmas eve.
Pint sized tree and similar sized presents.

Spoiled in Bangkok

2009-12-21T21:44:00.001-08:00

After 1 month of 200 rupee a night rooms in India (on average), we were spoiled by a 5 star hotel in Bangkok. We have Micheal to thank for this little gift and it did not disappoint; king sized bed, swimming pool, incredible buffet breakfast, shower the size of our rooms in India, great views and air conditioning. I 'm not sure how we can return to our budget accommodations.
Thanks Mike

Goodbye to good friends

2009-12-21T21:37:00.000-08:00

We've left India and arrived in Thailand and what a relief to arrive in a relaxed clean country. I'm not sure many people would call Bangkok relaxed but compared to Indian it feels asleep. There is so much to reflect on from a great country, but more importantly we want to say thanks the great travel partners we had.

We met Celia and Dave on the night train from Gorakphur to Varanasi and spent three nights in Varanasi with them and then met up again in Udaipur, camel trekked in Jaisalmer and drank in Delhi. We are so glad to have met these Vancouverites and had the pleasure of also enjoying the greatest birds of paradise display ever seen in India.
Dave and Celia in the desert and yes that is Dave's plumbers crack.

Jenny Gardner....Ladies and Gentlemen (applause). We met Jenny in Tanzania and travelled with her (whining and snorting) all the to Cape Town and then on to India. It was our great pleasure to have her along as she provided endless entertainment. Jenny also provided a break from ourselves and prevented a potential slip into marital insanity.
Jenny after her rabies vaccine in the Pushkar Government Hospital

Last night out in Connaught place.

Thanks and we can't wait to see you all again.

Air India: Whisky, Bollywood and non-stop Celine Dion. Good thing there were barf bags.

2009-12-21T21:31:00.000-08:00

We had the distinct pleasure of flying Indian Airways, well actually Air India. We still aren't sure which airline we were supposed to be on since our tickets said Indian Airways but we ended up on an Air India flight. Whatever airline we were or weren't supposed to fly with, it sure didn't disappoint. The food (Indian curries) was some of the best airline food I've ever had and also pretty good compared to the dishes we've had while travelling in India. It didn't stop there. The unlimited single malt on the drink cart which showed up regularly, not like Air Canada's one drink service, probably made the in flight entertainment even better. Entertainment, which was provided by very high tech seat back T.V featured lots of Bollywood including a great hindy comedy with cameos from Denise Richards and Sylvester Stallone. This included some great footage of him kicking some Indian ass and it was all set in The United States. However great the Stallone and Richards movie was, it had nothing on the all Celine Dion music video channel. Considering it appears that Celine only had about 10-12 music videos they all played at least 7-8 times. The worst part was that a large amount of people on the plane were definitely watching non-stop repeat Celine....Barf.I hope everyone gets the chance to ride the Indian airways.

WE HAVE PASSPORTS!!

2009-12-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

Good news everyone!! We have Canadian Passports again! After a stressful 3 weeks or so, we obtained our new Canadian passports. For those who don't know, we filled up our old passports and didn't have room for any new visas. So we applied for new ones.
It has been quite a trial going through this in India. When we first went into the Canadian Embassy here in Delhi, we were told 'no worries about getting your new passport before you leave...sure it says on this sign here that it takes 15 days to process but we are 99.9% sure you'll have them back in 10 working days'. Well, 10 working days later we arrived at the embassy to hear 'oh, your passports are in the air flying from Paris to Delhi...we are 99.9% sure they will PROBABLY be here on Friday...but maybe you should look into changing your flight on Sunday'. I didn't want to remind the lady that she was 99.9% sure we'd get them on Wednesday. Pissing this lady off didn't seem like a good idea since she controlled whether or not we could leave the country this weekend. This morning, Friday the 18th (12 working days later), we got our new passports!! Thank goodness!
While we didn't have a passport we almost got kicked out of several guesthouses. The Indians are very firm about seeing your passports on arrival to the hotel. Even with all of our photocopies it was hard to convince them we weren't some sort of con-artist or terrorist. For the last hotel, we had to have the Canadian Embassy call the guesthouse man.

Anyway, long story short....we have our passports and we can leave peacefully to Thailand!!

Attari Border Crossing

2009-12-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Just like the blog below says, Amritsar was amazing! Nothing dissapointed there. One highlight, on top of the Golden Temple, was the Attari Border Closing Ceremony.

Every day at the border crossing between Pakistan and India closes at around 5ish. Each day THOUSANDS of people go to the border at this time to watch the hilarious closing of the border. Upon arrival at the border crossing, I felt like I was entering a sporting event. People were singing, cheering, waving flags and acting very patriotically. After a quick frisk and a dodgy metal detector, we entered the grandstand seating to watch the spectacle. Before it began, women were dancing in the streets to the Indian techno playing over the loud speakers. When the music stopped, a man at a microphone began to crank up the crowd. He started some wild chanting of HINDUSTAN!! And some more Hindi cheers. I waved my 5rupee plastic Indian flag with all my energy. On the Pakistani side, they also had grandstands (women seated separately from the men) and a head cheerleading male to get them all excited.
Finally it was time for the border guards to do their thing. There was a quick screaming match between the Indian and the Pakistan side. This involved an Indian guard yelling into a microphone while a Pakistani guard yelled into his microphone and they competed to see who could scream for the longest time. No matter who won both sides cheered. Then guards marched towards the gate in a way I can only describe by saying they looked like they belonged to the Ministry of Silly Walks. We were in stitches. It was one of the funniest/strangest things I have ever seen. About 5 guards took their turns walking in their 'silly walk' fashion towards the gate, directly at a silly walking Pakistani. Then they posed at the gate and started at their opposition. This part of the ceremony reminded me of when 2 male animals or birds are competing for a mating partner....who has the puffiest feathers or the most extreme dance moves.

All in all, this was one of the strangest experiences of my life. My description does this event no justice for how odd it really is. The combination of the patriotic crowd acting like they are at the Superbowl and the Silly Walking guards (the most silly walks get the biggest cheers from the crowd) made this afternoon quite amazing. I apologize for the video quality...I was trying to scream along with the crowd and also trying to watch.

Honoured Guests at the Goldern Temple

2009-12-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

After a 6 hr bus ride, then a 10hr night train and another 2 hr train (all lower class) we arrived in the Punjabi town of Amritsar. Amritsar is famous for the Golden Temple, which is the holiest shrine of the Sikh religion. The is by far the greatest religious sight I've ever visited. It's estimated that there are tens of thousands of pilgrims that visit daily. The most amazing part is that every visitor (Sikh or not) is welcome to stay for free in the guest house and eat for free. We were fortunate to dine several times with at least a couple of thousand pilgrims. It is truly amazing feeling to be so warmly welcomed and then handed fresh curry and chapati while sitting on the floor with thousands of other people. Of the three days we spent in Amritsar we visited the Golden Temple 3 times each day.

The Golden Temple is located inside the Temple complex in the middle of the holy tank. The temple is covered in 750kg of gold and holy men are reading prayers all day from inside, which is broadcast to the entire complex. There are more photos on our picasa page follow the link in the upper right.
This picture was taken during one of our meals with Hindu, Sikh and anyone else wishing to have a meal. The meal room emptied and filled every 10min with a new group 24/7. Outside the temple volunteers cut vegetables and cleaned plates endlessly.

Turning up the heat in Udaipur

2009-12-07T23:58:00.000-08:00

After leaving Delhi we've since been to Pushkar and now just spent 4 great days in Udaipur in central Rajasthan. We signed up last night for a cooking class with Shashi at her home below the Sunrise restaurant. It ran from 6 to 11pm and we cooked curries, pakora, naan, chapati and parantha plus got info on all kinds of other aspects of Indian cooking and life. This has been by far another highlight in India. Hopefully we can reproduce these dishes at home, as long as we can find the ingredients in Sudbury.

Potato, onion and veg pakora (with chillies) and fresh dips.

After we couldn't eat another bite we tried our hardest to get the family to eat the left overs but they only laughted and said it wasn't spicy enough so wasn't worth eating.

Colin, Shashi, Patti and Jenny post eating about 11 pm.

Agra and The Taj Mahal

2009-12-04T22:52:00.000-08:00

We visited Agra to see the Taj Mahal before going to Delhi to get new passports so this is out of order however Agra deserves some comment.

We met lots of travellers who downplayed Agra and the Taj Mahal citing too many people and over priced entry. It did cost 700 rupees ($16) per person, which is outrageous compared to virtually any other sight in India and there were lots of tourists. That being said there is something almost fairy tale about this building, it is much larger and more beautifull than any photo I've ever seen and the crowds were swallowed up by the imense size of theTaj grounds.

Truly beautiful

Passport-less in India

2009-12-02T03:33:00.000-08:00

Under-estimating the amount of space the greedy African border officials needed for visas and stamps we no longer have enough space for Visas in the up-coming countries we hope to visit. The result was a quick jaunt aboard the lowest class rail available to the Canadian Embassy in New Delhi (due to the short notice) .

Why sit in the seats when the luggae rack will do (really getting to know India now)

As hard as I try I can't quite blend in with the locals, next step is an orange hat.

If all goes well we should have new passports in 2.5 weeks when we pass back through Delhi on the way to Thailand. A great thanks to the extra freindly staff at the Canadian Embassy.

Cheers

Kama Sutra in Khajuraho

2009-11-29T21:17:00.001-08:00

Kharjuraho is a welcome break from busy Varanasi. This small town has an incredible number of hindu temples that are covered in the most ornate and intricate stone carvings. These carvings depict largely gods and various religious scenes, but there is also a large amount of Kama Sutra positions. Some are very simple others are acrobatic feats involving multiple people and sometimes horses or mythical creatures. One of the most famous as shown in the picture below involves a head stand and four people.
Us imitating the same positions and almost getting caught by the guards.

Amazing place, off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal today.

Colin and Patti

Arriving in India!!!!

2009-11-26T02:20:00.000-08:00

We'll we've only been in India for 4 days now and lots has happened: I've had delhi belly; Colin has it in reverse; we've seen several street animals including, rats (1 ran right under our table while eating dinner), goats (a few are in human clothes), cows, chickens, buffaloes, and dogs; we've had cockroaches in our bedrooms and the list goes on and on.

Right now we are in Varansi. This is a very important pilgrimage city for the Hindu people and they all wish to be cremated on the ghats running alongside the holy river, Ganges. In two spots along the river, they cremate bodies 24 hours a day. It is a powerful sight. All around the holy sites there are touts trying to sell us all kinds of things. Some are just children. Tomorrow we head off to Khajuraho. This city is renowned for its kama sutra temple carvings. Can't wait! Some are life size!

The food has been great so far. We've tried lots of Indian dishes, our favourites include lots of paneer (unfermented cheese). When we are tired of the Indian, there are no shortage of Western options for all the tourists. We've also tried some Indian sweets. They are all sticky with lots of sugar but they are soooo good! Perhaps we will gain weight with all this food but we might not. Since Varansi is so holy, no menus have beers on them. A restaurant owner bought us some from a shop the other night and delivered them in a paper bag!! We've heard it may not be such a hassle in other towns. We hope not because Kingkisher is pretty tasty!!

Miss you all!!!

Patti & Colin

Big Mountains!

2009-11-17T03:36:00.000-08:00

We just finished an 18 day trek around the Anipurna Range in the central Nepali Himalayas and it was incredible. The mountains are bigger than we could imagine. It's something when you are standing at 5400m and the mountains are still towering over you! Here are a couple of photos, we will create some albums on the Picasa page soon.

The view from our teahouse in Manang Village at night.

After a 5:00am departure from high camp we headed for Thorung La pass through the snow.

After 3 hrs hiking we reached the world's "Largest Mountain Pass" still not sure what that means but it was beautiful. In the photo is Colin, Patti, Nim (guide) and Rham (porter) we couldn't have made without either of those two.
Day 16 or so, another early morning walk to the top of Poon Hill to see the sunrise over the mountain range.

Indian Visa Granted

2009-10-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

It took three different trips over 5 days to the embassy but the Indians will allow us to enter their country! I hope this isn't foreshadowing any problems getting Chinese, Mongolian or Russian visas. Fingers crossed.

Talk to you all in 18 days or so.

C and P

ANNAPURNA CIRCUIT! Talk to you all in 18 days...or more.

2009-10-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

Colin and I are off on an 18 day trek around the stunning Annapurna Mountain Range.
I doubt there will be any internet in the mountain villages so this will be it for a while.
Kathmandu has been great. The air has been dirty and the streets are chaotic but the city has a charm. The people here are very friendly and the Nepalese living in the mountains are supposed to be some of the nicest people in the world. We can't wait.
We've added a few photos to our photo website. Check them out.
Keep in touch, even though we can't.
Wish us luck and no altitude sickness!

Kathmandu

2009-10-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

We've arrived unscathed into Kathmandu, Nepal. This city is so much different than everywhere we have been so far. There are people EVERYWHERE. It is so densely populated and it seems everyone is out in the streets non-stop. The taxis, motorcycles and minibuses honk their horns 24/7. I guess it is a good glimpse of what is to come for the next several months. India will probably blow this place away, in terms of chaos.

We went on an Everest Fly-by flight and it was stunning. Saturday we leave for our big 18 day trek through the Annapurna Circuit. Wish us luck!! I'll be stocking up on tiger balm from the street vendors before we head out!!

Miss you all, keep in touch,

P & C

Leaving SA and into Swaziland and Mozambique

2009-10-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hey all, Colin and I finally got some good internet time in. Surprisingly, we found the good internet in Swaziland. Right now we are staying in the lovely Ezulwini Valley for a few days. We've seen some traditional dancing and plan to purchase some of the lovely crafts but really we are using a lot of time now to get ready for the big move to Nepal/India. We only have 1.5 weeks in Africa left and it is getting sad. We've had a great time.
BUT, we still have those 1.5 weeks left to have a great time. A few more nights in Swaziland and then on to the Mozambique beaches, then 4x4ing into Kruger National Park and the Blyde River Canyon...then fly to Kathmandu!! LOOK OUT!

Keep in touch all and we've posted a ton of new pictures. Basically, we haven't put any albums up from Africa and now there are a whole bunch. ENJOY!!! We've enjoyed going back through them all.

Bunny Chow = Best South African Invention EVER!!!

2009-10-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

What is Bunny Chow? It is a delightful dish made by taking half a loaf of white bread and scooping out the insides to make a deep bowl/cup. Then you fill in the hole with your favourite curry filling, then you put the bread insides back on top and if you like, you can have more curry poured on top of the bready/curry-y concoction. Then you eat it with your hands.

This was available in Cape Town but we waited until Durban to get some at the place they originated: Patel's Vegetarian Refreshment Stand. Around town they are commonly referred to as 'bunnies' and seem to be available at EVERY fast food/kebap stand.

Check it out!!

They were available in S, M, L and half loaf. Since we assumed it was usually served as a half loaf, based on descriptions of what it was, Colin ordered 'half loaf'. All of the locals in the place stop and looked up at us at the same time. A friendly Indian couple behind us then told us they each ordered smalls. At this point, Colin and I decided to share the half loaf. We were sooooo full!!!

Wonderful Lesotho

2009-10-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

We ventured into the lovely Lesotho last week. For a country completely surrounded by South Africa, it couldn't be more unique. We expected it to be quick similar to SA but the customs, appearance and personalities of the people were so different. Also, the landscape was amazing. We drove into the Drakensburg Mountains from the Lesotho side on some pretty hairy roads. We chose to take the '4x4 only' roads across the country and weren't quite sure if we were going to make it.

We spent some time pony trekking in the west and then drove through the mountains in the east. Our pony trekking guide was supposed to tell us about life in the hills and the Lesotho culture but he spent most of his time asking us how to become a Canadian citizen and if we could get him work there.

Our last night in Lesotho was spent at the top of the legendary Sani Pass. The guesthouse at the top has the self-proclaimed highest pub in Africa. It was sure nice having a pint or two after the crazy roads in this country. For example, it took us 7 hours to get to this pub and we only drove 200kms!!!

Check out our traditional Lesotho Hats!

SURFING SUPERSTARS!!!

2009-10-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

Hi all, check it out! Colin and I are professional surfers now. No more mining for us. I know the photo only shows us posing with the boards but you'll have to take our word for it that we were AWESOME!!

We were in the lovely Chintsa West on the wild coast for our surfing lessons. It was beautiful there. In reality, Colin and I were happy if we even got slightly standing up on the board. By the end I was so tired, I just used my surf board as a boogie board and enjoyed riding the waves in on my belly.

Cape Town & The Wine Route!!!

2009-10-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

Colin & I have been off the overland truck for a week now and we've continued having a blast.

After spending 5 days in Cape Town, we are freshly re-energized. Cape Town is an amazing place. The downtown is trendy and fun with all the usually big city stuff and the waterfront is picturesque and perfect. When walking around the city, you would never know there are crime problems. However, upon closer inspection, you notice the private security firms on every block, the security in every store, the gates which must be opened just to go into a clothing shop and the police on every other corner. To have this much security, they must have some problems. Rumour has it that they are trying to clean up their act before the world cup next year. The new stadium looks fantastic.
Colin and I made it out to a rugby game on Saturday also. We saw Western Province kick the Quingras butts. It was pouring rain and a lot of fun. I still don't understand all the rules but I was cheering loudly in the crowd.
Next we were off to wine country. In 1.5 days, Colin and I acquired 25 bottles of wine and we sampled 4x that many. It was soooo beautiful. We loved it and recommend Stellenbosch and the surrounding towns to everyone.

Now we are spending a night in Wilderness in the Wilderness. We've rented a 4x4 truck with a rooftop tent. Photos to come!
Alright, keep in touch all!! Miss you,
P

Cheetah Colin

2009-09-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

We still love seeing all the wildlife in Africa but we are tired of photographing them. Now we act like the animals when we see them. It has brought a whole new level to our safari drives.

More Namibia

2009-09-16T03:59:00.000-07:00

Only 8 days to go until the overland trip is done. Here are a couple of photos from Namibia:

Colin & Patti at Cape Cross, also known as the stinkiest place in all of Namibia. We saw thousands of cape fur seals. You can make them out in the background.

SPITZKOPPE! This was the beginning of the amazing Namibian scenery.

Colin's award winning photo of the starry sky in Spitzkoppe. GORGEOUS!Our anniversary! We spent it watching Cheetahs tear apart donkey meat. We also got to pet the cheetahs and their little cubby.

The Gods Must be Crazy!!

2009-09-16T03:56:00.000-07:00

For those that haven't seen the movie we just lived it! A guided full cheek tour with the San bushmen in northern Namibia.

CHECK OUT THIS ASS!!

Okavango Delta

2009-09-16T03:08:00.000-07:00

2 days poling in the Okavango Delta by traditional dugout canoe. Actually being poled around in a traditional dugout canoe.

I like this photo but please don't encourage Colin to keep this facial hair!

Photo Appologies

2009-09-09T01:17:00.000-07:00

Internet has been, how do we say....dodgy in Africa. This has limited our abilities to upload photos. We also filled up the Picasa web page, we do plan on starting a new one once we have better internet. When we arrive in Cape Town (two weeks from now) we will spend a whole day working on photos.

Sorry again.

Livinstone Adrenaline

2009-09-04T02:45:00.000-07:00

We made it to Bostwana yesterday after an adrenaline packed 3 days in Livingstone, Zambia. Day 1: swimming at the edge of of Victoria Falls, Day 2: Body Boarding the Zambezi instead of Rafting! and Day 3: 330ft Bungee off
Victoria Falls Bridge.

Here are some Rafting pics:

Us and our Guide enterring the first Class V rapid of the day known as the "Muncher"on the body boards. It was followed closely by "Gnashings Jaws of Death" another class V rapid.

Patti and our Guide in the "Muncher"

Colin enterring the muncher.

In the afternoon we got in the rafts which didn't provide any more protection. That's Colin hitting the water while Patti is somewhere below after we dumped in a rapid called "Mother".

Fun Fun Fun

ZANZIBAR!! And MALAWIAN PIG ROAST!!

2009-09-02T10:19:00.001-07:00

We are a little behind with the blog due to some bad satellite internet in southern Tanzania and Malawi but here is a little update.
We ended the last portion of our overland trip with 3 days in Zanzibar. The water was the most beautiful turquoise colour and the beaches were endless. We rented the fancy motorcycle shown in the picture below and toured all around the island. We only got lost once!! To get back on track some local villagers showed us the way.

Our trusty Honda 250 dirt bike!!

Patti trying on some lipstick at the spice plantation. We can't remember the name of the spice but the local ladies wear it as lipstick.

The inside of a nutmeg nut!! Wild eh!?

MALAWI!!! Since we were devastated by missing the annual Clearwater Lake Pig Roast, we convinced our tour leader to roast us a pig on the shores of Lake Malawi. It was an amazing place and a tasty pig!!! Miss you guys and hope the pigger went off without a hitch.

THE PIG!!! NO WHERE NEAR AS BIG AS A CLEARWATER LAKE PIG!!!

Lions, and cheetahs and maybe a leopard...OH MY!

2009-08-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

THE SERENGETI !!!!!!!!!!

We had a riot in the Serengeti. Definately a trip highlight for sure! Everything is seemingly like a highlight these days. We saw the big five and a lot of other animals. I'm on slow internet only for a minute more so, here are some pictures!! More blogging to come about Zanzibar and our trip through Malawi!!

Colin and I enjoying our Safari Jeep. The scenery was amazing!!

A running giraffe!

George and I pretending to be lions. See them lounging in the background?

Colin and Dom looking filthy after two days of dust and no showers. That isn't a sunglass tan-line, it is a sunglass dirt-line.

MISS YOU ALL!

Rafting on the White Nile

2009-08-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

We had a wild ride a few days ago on the White Nile in Uganda. According to the guide books, this is the best white water rafting in the world. During the one day rafting session, you hit 4 class 5 rapids. The highest possible rating for a rapid is a 6 and those are un-runable, so these rapids were HUGE!!!
Our group decided we were going to attempt everything so that put us into the 'wild' category. Our guide dumped us in 2 class 3s and managed to keep us afloat in the class 5s but I'm not sure how he did it. There was a LOT of screaming going on.
One of the best parts of the entire day was relaxing afterwards with a Nile Special while taking in the scenery of the White Nile, which is the starting point of the Nile.

Well, we are back in Nairobi for the 3rd time and getting set to go down into Tanzania.

We'll keep in touch,

P & C

Gorillas in the Mist and some overlanding troubles

2009-08-04T02:04:00.001-07:00

Yesterday our group went trekking to observe the endangered mountain gorillas. It was, by far, one of the highlights of our trip. We were only feet away from these huge, humanlike creatures. Our silverback leaders name was Charles.

The internet here is shotty so we will only upload a few pictures.

Right now, we are hanging out in Rwanda and going back to Uganda to do some white water rafting tomorrow.

In trip news, our trip leader quit or got fired, no one knows. He did not get along with the rest of the staff and one night just told us that was it. So we are short one staff member and our truck fridge does not work. It certainly is an adventure.

Miss everyone, especially our newly crawling neice and our newborn nephew, love,

Patti and Colin

Overlanding In Africa

2009-08-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

Africa has been the most exciting place to travel: friendly people, incredible terrrain and never ending wildlife.

Internet has been not that accessible since we've been en route through Kenya and Uganda and from what we understand Rwanda will be worse.

Currently we are in Kabale in Uganda and will be heading to Rwanda tomorrow.

Here are a couple photos from the Overland Trip.

Our truck\home for the next two months.White Rhinos in Kenya.

Chimp tracking in Uganda.

Crossing the Equator in Uganda with our chef Douglas (We are adding the pounds)

Hippos\Elephants at Queen E's National Park in Uganda.

The wildlife is non-stop on this continent.

Gorillas in two days!!

Overland Adventure Begins

2009-07-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

We are officially off on our Overland Adventure through Africa. We will be living off a truck/bus for the next 8.5 weeks. We have no idea how often we will get to use the internet but we will try to keep in touch and update the photos.
The kili pictures are coming!!
Oh, we met the group last night. There are around 16 of us, 4 other Canadians, lots of British and Aussies, an American or two and a solo German lady. They seem quite friendly. Let's hope we all get along in quite well in our close quarters.

Well, off to meet the team,

P & C

Kilimanjaro - Poli Poli!!!

2009-07-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

We did it!!! Yesterday morning at 7:30am, we reached Uhuru Peak, the highest point in all of Africa. It is actually the highest free-standing mountain in the world. It was the hardest hike of our lives. We both thought the only major challenge would be the altitude sickness, but the summit hike was excruciating. We started the hike at midnight and Colin's theory is they make you start at night so you can't see how far you have to go to reach the summit, or else you will quit. Several times through the summit hike, Patti thought she couldn't take another step, but we made it!!!!

We signed up for the Machame Route with Zara Tours. The guides, John and Wallace, were great and we teamed up with two other hikers from the UK named Adam and Stefan. Everyone on our team, including the two Brits, were characters and made the past 6 days a lot of fun.

Back to Kenya now for some well deserved R&R,

P & C

Off to Kilimanjaro

2009-07-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

We've arrived safely in Kenya and then Tanzania and enjoyed a relaxing day in Moshi by the pool. We are off today to climb Kilimanjaro today so it will be 7 days with no contact.....hope we make it.

Colin and Patti

Long Live the Cookie Duster

2009-07-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

Whıle with Masum and Dave in Poland havıng a great tıme I decıded to follow Daves lead on the beard and let it grow. Unfortunately I didnt get a pıcture of it but I did however prepare a nice treat for Patti when we finally met up again. It has sınce been shaved but dont worry this wonderful masterpiece will be brought back for the Trans-siberan.

TURKİSH BATHS

2009-07-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

We thought the Turkish baths deserved a blog entry all to themselves!

We tried to go last night, around 8pm but it was absolutely packed, so we decided to go as soon as we go up the next day. We fly out this afternoon, so we had to go early so we could come home and finish packing.

When we arrived at 8am this morning, the place was dead and we were sure that we were about to get a more intimite experience. And we did.

Colin and İ had to seperate immediately and İ wished he was nearby for the rest of the time. I had no idea what was going on most of the time. As soon as İ left the reception, İ entered a ladies change room/waiting room. İ had no idea what to do at this point or where to put my stuff. Finally a lady wearing nothing but leopard print undies pointed out the lockers to me. She was not very attractive and it was hard for me to even tell she was wearing the undies at first since her belly/boobs seems to cover her underwear area.

I took my clothes off, and had to enquire with leopard lady about getting a towel. She tossed me a little sheet and indicated where the baths were.

Once in the bath area, İ copied the only other lady in there and laid down on my sheet on a large marble slab in the middle of the room. The room was as hot as a sauna! I noticed a new naked lady who worked at the baths came in at that point and started washing the other customer. I relaxed and enjoyed the heat, completely naked on my sheet. After the other customer was cleaned, I got nervous...my turn. But then the naked worker lady left and İ wasn'sure what was going on... Then seconds later the leopard undies lady came in and indicated for me to roll over. She scrubbed me down and then washed me all over. I was ok with everything but the most awkward part was when she washed my arms and made me sit up and then her huge boobs were about 2 ınches from my face as she scrubbed me. İ wanted out of there QUICK! She finished up by washing my hair and tossing lots of hot water all over me. İ was a sweaty mess by the end. A VERY CLEAN, but sweaty mess.

After İ was done in the bathing area, İ walked back into the dressing area and saw all the naked worker ladies sitting in their undies drinking tea.

It was a strange morning. After talking with Colin, I learned he had a similar experıence but with more men in the room.

İ wouldn't say İ loved the Turkish bath but it is something you have to do when you are here.

P & C

Turkey Delights!!

2009-07-12T03:48:00.000-07:00

Turkey has been fabulous!! We love the food, the energy, the people, the history and of course, the Nargile!
We arrived early on a Friday morning, after our 31 hour train ride, found our hostel and found that we had some energy. So, we washed up and hit the Grand Bazaar! Within minutes of arriving we had 10 new 'friends' who wanted to help us spend our money!! Without even wanting a waterpipe, we had somehow talked a guy down from 120 Lira to 25 Lira and still did not buy it. We did somehow end up with a lovely carpet and 2 pillow covers.
After leaving the bazaar, we had our first Nargıle (waterpipe) in a lovely little courtyard. Colin fell in love with the water pipe right there and then.
İn the following days, we visited the Hagia Sophia, toured the Bosphorus and haggled some more wıth the local vendors. We loved every minute.
Oh, and I can't forget about the food. İt tastes sooooo good. Everything from the Turkish Delight and Backlava to the Mezes to the Doner Kepabs. We had an amazing sit-down meal at a lovely Turkish joint recommended by Jamie, the Turkish friend of our second WWOOFing hosts. Thanks Jamie! We've also started to love the 2 Lira doner sandwichs!

After this first weekend in İstanbul, we rented a car and travelled to Selçuk to check out Ephesus. Luckily the roads went right through Gallipole and Troy on the way there. Then, we left Selçuk and travelled through Pummakale en route to Cappadocia. The roadtrip was amazing! You have to see the pictures to understand how beautıful and varied the Turkish countryside ıs. We met some great people on this trıp as well. A wonderful Kiwi who is cycling around the world and some Aussies who also just got married and took a year off to travel the world. The Aussie couple joined us in the car for a portion of the roadtrip. Great fun!

After the roadtrip, we had a few days left to enjoy İstanbul. We managed to take in the Blue Mosque, the Grand Baazar one more time and the Turkish baths. At the Baazar, we bought a lovely lamp and a Nargıle. We plan to set up a lıttle Turkish room when we get home!!

Now we are all set to move on to the next stage of our journey: AFRICA!!! Next stop: the top of Mt. Kili!!!!!

P & C

31 hours on a train...Or how to go CRAZY!

2009-07-12T03:37:00.001-07:00

The original plan was to go from Krakow to Budapest by train, spend a day there, then go to Sofia, Bulgaria by train and spend a day there, then go to Istanbul by train. This plan would have seperated the train rides by just enough down time in the cities. HOWEVER, we had so much fun in Budapest, that we decided to stay an extra day. This meant no stop in Sofia and we,d have to push straight on to İstanbul in one go. This meant 31 hours by train!! Approx. 19 hours to Sofia and then 12 hours to Istanbul, with a train change in Sofia.

Everything actually went great, for most of the ride. We travelled through Serbia and Bulgaria, which had fantastic countrysides but some sad signs of poverty near the rail stations and around small towns. We almost missed the train in Sofia but thankfully found the train and gave a train operator 30 Euros to give us our own compartment. We still have no idea what it was supposed to cost, but it seemed fair.

The craziness of the trip really started at the Bulgarian-Turkish border at 2am. After a few border guard types came on the train, they then demanded everyone get off the train and announced PASSPORT CONTROL. We were not lead anywhere but left to fıgure out what to do on our own. Everyone in the train got off and waited in long lines at the station. Luckily someone asked us if we were Canadian and pointed out where to buy a VISA stamp or we'd get to the front of the line and get kicked out, only to wait in the long line again. We saw this happen to a lot of people. There were NO signs about what to do and the trains were just sitting there un-attended. Anyone could have gone on the trains at this point and taken everything. Luckily, we got out of there without incident, except getting ripped off by the VISA salesman on an exchange rate, since we had no Euros. The whole Passport Control ordeal took approx. 3 hours. Once we fell asleep again on the train, more men came on and demanded to see the stamps ın the passports now. After all the drama, it was hard to get back to sleep.

Next came Istanbul!
P & C

Budapest

2009-07-12T03:28:00.000-07:00

Budapest was amazing! Thanks to Dave Beitel for all the tips before we arrived. They were very useful.
We stayed in a very tiny hostel with the most RELAXED host in the world. He came and went as he pleased and led a very stressfree livestyle. He would come ın, wash some sheets, head over to the bar across the road, pop in to put the sheets in the dryer, say hello to everyone and pop back over for another beer. He was a wealth of info on Budapest though and we really liked him.
The city was the first that we have visited that had a more Eastern feel. Not just an Eastern European feel but almost middle-eastern feel.
The food was good and the langos were interesting and tasty. Langos are a Hungarian version of Beaver Tails but with non-desserty toppings. Sour cream and cheese are the usual toppings. When we saw our first Langos stand, we just had finished our lunch...so we split a sour cream and cheese langos...then we went to a Hungarian bath. Going to a bath on a stomach full of Goulash soup and langos is NOT recommended.
Speaking of the bath, what an amazing place! İt was like being in a swimming pool inside of a palace! We chose the Gellert Baths to go to but there are about 10 baths around the city. The Hungarian baths usually have a whole bunch of indoor pools of different temperatures and a bunch of outdoor pools of different temperatures. They also have a bunch of spa treatments, but we are on a budget so we only got to lounge around the pools...poor us, eh!
After Hungary, we were off to Istanbul!!

P & C

SORRY...Bad Bloggers!

2009-07-12T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone...sorry, we have been really bad bloggers! Since the last post, we have travelled to Budapest by train from Krakow, stayed there for a few wonderful days and then travelled by train (31 hours of train) to İstanbul. After about 3 days in the city, we rented a car and drove around the countryside of Turkey. Now we are back in İstanul and getting ready to fly to Kenya...THİS AFTERNOON!!!
So, without further ado, the next posts will try to update you on our adventure!

P & C

Poland with Jan!

2009-06-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

Jan and I had a FANTASTIC time in Poland. I think it surpassed all of our expectations. Jan had to fly back home a couple days ago and I'm back with Colin, typing this message from Budapest, Hungary.

I'll try to summarize Jan and I's trip through Poland below:

Polish people are extremely nice. For example, while waiting for a bus outside of Bialowieza National Park, a nice young man came up and kissed Jan's hand and rubbed my leg.
Polish people are very trusting. In the National Park, things are very spaced out and we needed a way to get to the animal reserve. The only option was a horse buggy driver. This is not some fancy ride, this was an old-fashioned horse buggy. A few minutes into the 45 minute commute, he told me to come up and drive. Since I had these 5 minutes of experience, on the way home, he stopped the buggy, got out and told me to hold the horses still. We had NO IDEA where he was going. About 10 mins later he came out with a pack of smokes. (This guy also couldn't speak English and we negotiated the horse buggy price with a stick and a muddy puddle)
Polish people like to give advice. On the train ride to Gdansk, a really large Polish lady started giving Janneke some birthing advice. This lady did not speak English either and made a lot of quite graffic motions with her hands around her uterus area. We have no idea what the advice was.
Both Jan and I fell in love with amber and made more purchases than expected.
While in Gdansk, we went to Hel. On the boat ride to Hel, we saw 2 nuns also going to Hel. We thought this was hilarious.
I went swimming in the Baltic Sea from Hel. Let me tell you that Hel is not warm but really, really cold.
Polish people love really bad cover songs.

Lots of those comments are obviously stereotypes, but we did think the people were wonderful. The scenery was surprisingly Canadian. We met several Scandanavians while in Poland who were also very nice. One Swede man reminded us of a vampire but everyone else was ok.

Alright, so check out the pictures, they tell some great stories as well. Colin and I are off to Istanbul tomorrow!!

Eastern Europe with the Boys

2009-06-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

As Patti mentioned we've been apart almost two weeks and will be re-uniting this thursday and heading south, can't wait.

As for the last 1.5 weeks with Masum and Dave have been alcoholic. Our days usually end up to be sampling as much local food while washing it down with as much beer as possible. We started in Prague for several days and enjoyed some of sights and became regulars at "tygra" a real beer hall. The guidebooks says that if you get a seat it's because a local has died. We loved it and took advantage of it every time we got a seat. After that to Wroclaw in the Polish west for more beer and replace the goulash with perogies. Several days of starch and beer, and more starch and beer etc. We are currently in Zakopane in the extreme south of Poland to we hoped to have done some hiking in the Carpathians, but the weather has not co-operated. It has literally rained every minute and will only stop several days after we leave. Wonderful town also containing lots of fine drinking establishments and great cheap restaurants. Last night, pigs knuckle and 3 ltrs of beer each for 50 zloty (17can). Eastern Europe has become my new favorite place.

Off to Krakow tomorrow and Aushwitz.

Cheers Colin

Tyskie & Sprite

2009-06-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

It has been about a week since the big break up. Colin and I are enjoying the time with our friends.
Jan and I are having a great time in Poland. So far, we've been to Krakow and now we are in Gdansk. Krakow is like a fairy tale. There is a huge castle with legends involving fire-breathing dragons and all the rest of it. The old town also had a huge wall around it with a moat, which is now a lovely garden circling the old town. The Old Town Square is the largest in all of Eastern Europe and best of all, the beers are cheap. Jan and I have nicknamed our trip several things: "The Tyskie and Sprite trip", since I drink the beer Tyskie and she drinks sprite; or the "Find the free WC trip", since Jan has to go all the time and all the public ones cost a buck; and lastly "The nuns and pregnant ladies trip", since everywhere we look there seems to be a nun or a preggo lady.
Gdansk is lovely so far. Today we took a day trip to the Malbork Castle which is the largest of all Medival Castles. It was rebuilt after WWII and they did a great job.

Colin and the boys seem to be having a riot in Czech, though I'm not sure where they are at this moment...hopefully I don't get an email soon to bail them out somewhere!!

Keep in touch all, next stop: The Bialowieska National Park!

P

The Break-Up!

2009-06-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Colin and I officially split up yesterday! Not in a bad way though.

After 2 days together in Prague, Colin headed to the picturesque medival town in Southern Czech called Czesky Krumlov while I headed up north to Krakow to meet the lovely Janneke. In a couple days, some of Colin's buddys will be meeting him in Prague to being their 10 year Euro-trip reunion party. I have my doubts if they will even leave the Czech Republic, where the beer is so cheap. After spending one day in Krakow though, I can say the beer is as cheap and the town is equally wonderful...so Colin, if you are reading this, make sure you get up here!

Keep in touch all and we will be updating the pictures shortly!

P
Also, I'm on a Polish computer and can't use the spell check...so please don't crititize.

Edinburgh: burning chairs & empty glasses

2009-06-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

We just left the amazing city of Edinburgh. A big thanks goes out to AJ and his lovely ladies: Erin and Anna. AJ was a great tour guide, taking us to all the big attractions, including the bookies. And the girls were great hosts back at their flat.
Upon arrival, AJ took us out for some grub at The Basement and then a night out at Pivo. After a few litre pints and shooters from the Jager girls, we were ready to head home. AJ had promised a trip to the castle the next morning. It was a rough morning for everyone, but we made it there. The next days were filled with some more tourist attractions: Camera Obscura, The Whisky Experience and Dynamic Earth.
On Sunday evening, AJ and the gang threw quite a bbq. AJ's boy scouting skills were put to the test as everyone watched him burn old chairs and whatever wood he could get his hands on. I'm glad no one was hurt.
Now we are in London, waiting to fly out to Prague at 6am tomorrow. A big thanks to Krista and Masum again for having us for our last 2 nights in the UK.
It's been great!! Next stop Eastern Europe!!!!!!

SHEEP SHEARING!!!

2009-06-10T03:32:00.000-07:00

We got a chance to shear some sheep at our final WWOOF destination. Check it out! Colin completed his sheep, even though he had a crazy one. Patti only managed shearing half a sheep before she got worn out.
It was absolutely hilarious!!! Colin also got to hold a little boy lamb as it got it's balls 'marked'...meaning a small elastic band was put around them and eventually they shrivel up and fall off.

Photos and Following

2009-06-06T15:57:00.002-07:00

We have had several requests about how to see our photos. We have a photo website by picasa and there is link on the page in the upper right hand corner "Colin and Patti's Photo Album".

Also if you wish you can add yourself as a follower and the website will email you when we ass a new post.

We can also be emailed at: peguesrtw@gmail.com

Things I miss...ALREADY

2009-06-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

We've been away for nearly 4 weeks now. Already I have a list of things I miss...and here it is:

- the ability to take a bath. There are only showers in most places we stay. Or you don't know when the last time the bath tub was cleaned.
- Lohi Lake and our deck
- talking to friends/family on the telephone, instead of messenger and through email
- clean clothes
- not having to wash my underwear every night, just so I have a pair in the morning
- more than 2 (dirty) t-shirts to pick from when going somewhere
- diet coke...they have it hear, I'm just too cheap to buy it
- dijon mustard...again, they have it hear but we are too cheap to buy it. I attempted to steal some mustard packets on a ferry boat but got caught red (yellow?) handed
- friends and family, of course
- work....hahahaha, never!

That is it for now...I'm sure when we get to Africa, the list will increase to include things like hot water, soap, not having to fall asleep with lions growling nearby.

Just so everyone knows, I am having a blast! We leave the UK soon and I will miss the little lambs, the landscapes, the music, the people and so much more.

P

Dalmarkeran

2009-06-04T01:42:00.000-07:00

We've been in the thriving metropolis of Tyron, Scotland for almost a week at our second WWOOF location hosted by Terry and Mary on the Dalmakeran farm. This has been a total blast, we don't get to bed any night much before 12 after having drank a lot of beer and wine. Work during the day has been in the garden weeding, moving plants and planting seedlings from the greenhouse. Today we are bringing it up a notch, it's sheep shearing day and we both plan on taking a stab at it. On top of that the spring lamps need to be castrated and have their tails removed. I'm not sure either of us could have handled knives to nuts, so thankfully you need only an elastic band to tackle the job. We intend to take lots of photos and will have a full recount of the shearing, balls and tail removal.

On top of our hosts being very friendly everyone we meet here has been great, the first that gets offered upon meeting someone is usually a beer. Last night after the BBQ we were treated to traditional scotish music in the kitchen from several friends who always travel with guitar and fiddles in tow. See the new photo album on the picasa website the link is on the left.

Glencoe and Hilly Walking

2009-06-02T06:12:00.000-07:00

After another day of many bus connections we arrived in Glencoe at the bunkhouse. It's located about 2 miles from the town, an all uphill walk. This trully is an incredible place, in every direction you look there are treeless mountains, waterfalls and sheep. The word around here is that scotland has the highest density of sheep shaggers in the world. Althought we haven't met one or seen any there certainly are enough targets around.

Upon arriving we didn't have any food so decided to head to the nearby pub (Claihaig Inn) for diner. I had my first Haggis and it was delicious plus several pints, Patti had chili (boring).

The main reason to be in Glencoe is the abundance of hilly walking (hiking), we had decided to spend 3 days here. The first day was a rest day and we enjoyed some time in nearby Fort William to get groceries and kick back. The second day we climbed The Pap of Glen Coe, as seen in the photo below taken from the town of Glencoe. This was the only point where you could actually see the top, we hiked and descended in fog. The second photo is from the top looking down towards Glencoe, we think.Our last day we walked the last section of The West Highland Way from Kinglochleven to Fort William. This trail runs form outside Glasgow to Fort William for 97 miles. It was busy for the 5 hrs we were on the trail walking 22km's as we must have seen 100 people or more. The summer months attract lots of walkers and it seems that walking The West Highland Way is a right of passage is some towns.

Colin and Patti

Islay to Glencoe

2009-06-02T06:04:00.001-07:00

Depart campsite at 7:00am

1) Pack up camp and drive to ferry
2) Ferry from Port Ellen to Kennacraig
3) Bus from Kennacraig to Lochgilphead
4) Bus from Lochgilphead to Oban
5) Bus form Oban to Tyndrum
6) Bus from Tyndrum to Glencoe
7) Walk two miles to Hostel

Total time travelling 12 hrs, total distance travelled 127 miles

WHISKEY, chasing sheep and driving on the wrong side of the road!

2009-06-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

We are trying to keep our posts up to date, but it is hard work! I'm going to try and explain how wonderful our visit to Islay was, but it was over a week ago now and I'm afraid I may forget some things.

So, without further ado...Islay.

Though the ferry port to Islay, which is in Kennacraig, is only about 150km from where Strontian (wwoof location#1), it took a ferry, 3 buses and another ferry to arrive on the island. From there, we rented a little car from a lady who would not recommend anywhere to go have a drink. She insinuated that by suggesting a place to drink whiskey could somehow incriminate her. After renting the car, we ended up pitching our tent at Kintra Farm. This is the most wonderful beach on the island and it had spectacular sunsets!

If you EVER have the chance to go to Islay during "Feis Isle", DO IT! We were there for the first two days of the week long malt and music festival and it was one of the funnest weekends of my life. For you non-scotch whiskey drinkers, you will learn to love whiskey at this festival. I did! Colin had to pull me away from the table with the free Lagavulin 16 year. Each day a different distillery has an open day with music, tours, festivities and free single malt scotch! It was wonderful.

Colin and I camped on Islay and were surrounded by sheep and cows. It is lambing season here in Scotland and there are cute little lambs every where you look. We recently went in an Indian restaurant and I really wanted the lamb but now that I've spent so much time near these cute little creatures, it will be a while before I eat lamb again.

Check out the pictures from this weekend on our picassa page. The weekend involved lots of whiskey and a very eventful evening drive along the coast. We chased sheep, saw a peacock, and about 100 deer.

Keep in touch!

P

Strontian to Islay

2009-05-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

Depart Strontian at 10am

1) Ferry from Ardnamurkan to Corran

2) Bus from Corran to Oban

3) Bus from Oban to Lochgilphead

4) Bus from Lochgilphead to Kennycraig

5) Ferry from Kennycraig to Port Askaig (Islay)

6) Pick up rental car and drive to Port Ellen to campsite

Total Travel time (10hrs), Distance travelled (97 miles)

Thank You Dunn Family

2009-05-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing time with the Dunn family helping out on Ardnamushroom Farm. Our work was varied between fencing, manufacturing fruiting blocks, harvesting mushrooms and enjoying the company of the entire Dunn family including pets. We also got to see some of the less visited locations that are off the beaten path and away from tourists: Strontian, Tioram Castle(pronouced churin), Kingairloch and Ariundle Forest to name a few. Always followed by some pints at the farm or at the Strontian Hotel. I don't think we could have had a better introduciton to WWOOF'ing, thanks again Robert, Justin, Hazel, Sam, James and Angus.

Masum and Krista's Apartment and Watson.

2009-05-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

Just found this video:

Getting ready to leave the house and Watson didn't want us to leave.

WWOOF'ing in Scotland

2009-05-17T13:29:00.001-07:00

Well after the long night train and some time to kill in Glasgow we made it to just outside the town of Strontian, Scotland (2hrs north and west of Glasgow). This is the location of our first WWOOF'ing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) experience. Our current hosts are organic mushroom farmers and the first couple of days have been a total blast. Robert, Justine, Hazel, Sam, James and Angus have made us feel at home and comfortable. We will be posting some pictures tomorrow of the place and everyone here. In the first two days we've scratched the surface of mushroom farming and have done some fence work. Patti particularly enjoys dancing to Paul Simon while hurling "fruiting blocks" into the water tank outside, pictures to follow.

We also found the local pub today and enjoyed some pints, I (Colin) was having beer withdrawals after two days with no beer. The pub also has a very extensive scotch collection, possibly to be sampled later this week...as PREP FOR ISLAY!

Full up on real Scottish food

2009-05-15T05:20:00.000-07:00

Still waiting for the bus in Glasgow, but as Colin said, we found a lovely little pub to kill time in. This pub also serves a 3 course lunch for 3.95 pounds. Colin had a steak pie and chips and I had sausage hotpot (real big mini sizzlers in gravy with potatoes, mushrooms and carrots...kind of tasted like Christmas breakfast mixed with Christmas dinner) and chips.

Catching the bus, CHEERS

P & C

London to Glasgow

2009-05-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

On May 12th we booked a rental car online from London to Glasgow for £46. On May 14th we arrived at the rental shop to pick up the car. The price quoted by the rental company was correct except for the fact that we had a one way drop-off charge of another £53 (£1 - $2Can approx) not included in the quote. Even after demanding for senior management the one-way drop-off fee would not be waived. With the price doubled we opted not to rent the car and waited 13hrs to catch a 9hr night bus to Glasgow. Currently rather sleepy and looking forward to getting to our first volunteer location which is still another 4hrs of transit to a small Scottish island. We have located a very nice pub in Glasgow to waist time, shouldn't be too taxing.

On another note posted a link on the right side of the page to our Picasa web album to view photos.

Adios Amigos...WE LEAVE TOMORROW!!!

2009-05-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hi all, things are getting crazy!!! Check out our passport pictures...we look like we are going to have a riot! (don't make fun, you can't smile and I was wearing a toque all day)

Colin and I are all set to take off tomorrow! First stop is London, England, followed by some WWOOFing in Scotland.
We worked our last day of work a week ago and have been enjoying life, work-free, for the past week. Everything in our house is all packed up. It is a little freaky right now, being in an empty house with two fully loaded backpacks. Someone should come up here and knock some sense into us soon. I WANT MORE THAN 3 PAIRS OF UNDERWEAR!!!

After work on Friday, we enjoyed several beers at Cranky Joes with everyone from work. Thanks for coming to say goodbye and good luck!!

The drink our house dry party on Saturday was a riot! Check out the pictures below. Thanks to everyone who came to the party...except you Christine who thought she could get rid of all of her crap booze too!! Special thanks to the out-of-towners who came all this way!

Our folks were up on Monday and Tuesday night. A few nights of heavy red wine drinking made the packing difficult but with the help of our wonderful parents, we got everything squared away.

We will miss you all!! STAY IN TOUCH AND SEND US A COMMENT OR TWO, OR JUST SAY HELLO!!!

2009-04-06T15:48:00.001-07:00

We are nearing departure here are some major dates:

The next post will have some more precise dates

May 9, 09: Fly to the U.K.
June 11, 09: Fly to Prague.
July 12, 09: Fly from Turkey to Kenya.
Oct 24, 09: Fly from South Africa to Nepal
Dec 20, 09: Fly from India to Thailand
?? Lots of options?? Then,
Sometime in April 2010: Fly home

Colin and Patti

2009-03-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

Well well well the impossible happened...the company granted our leave!! It's settled we are officially off May 9th, 09. We will post our somewhat firm somewhat loose itinerary soon for those interested in joining us along the way.

Booked the tickets!!

2009-01-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh!! We just did it! After an entire day of fiddling around with aeroplan.com, it finally worked and gave us flights for less than a lifetime's supply.

It is official now! We leave May 9th. Massum, expect us at your door on Sunday, May 10th in London.

We still haven't heard if work is letting us go, but buying these tickets sure makes it official to me!!

I can't wait!!

Getting Started

2009-01-06T13:57:00.001-08:00

This is us...about 1 month after we got together. Aren't we cute?