Catching up...we just added a Singapore blog entry, backdated to June 17.  Please scroll down if you'd like to read this one (sorted by date).

Very sad to hear the terrible news coming from Nice, France.  So many innocent people, attacked senselessly.  Touches us deeply because we were just there July 4-9...

We're in France now!

Will update the blog soon.  Still have some Vietnam blog thoughts to share...

Paris June 17-22
Southern France (Dordogne, Provence & Cote D'Azur) June 22-July 9

Puy L'Eveque (we stayed here for 6 nights)



To see more pictures from our trip so far, click here

Wow, THAT was stupid!

Vern.  Have you ever done anything really stupid?  I mean REALLY stupid.  The kind of OMG moment that makes your stomach bottom out, leaves you short of breath and then dredges up your entire vocabulary of four-letter words?  Oh, c’mon.  You know what I’m talking about. 

Over our journey, we as a family have subconsciously kept track of a few of those spectacular lapses of reason and/or common sense.   The good news is that only three of these stand out.  The bad news is that it was unanimously agreed that I own all of them.   In the hope of redemption, I have decided to share these incidents.  That, and the fact that if I don’t write about them, Carolyn or Cooper will, and they’ll seem much worse.

Idiotic Act #1 – Fight or Flight

Taken in isolation, this particular brain fart wouldn’t be a big deal.  I mean, everyone forgets to take restricted items out of their carry-on baggage occasionally.  But usually not when there has been a precedent.   Or two.

The first precedent came on day one, back in June 2015.  Cooper really wanted to bring his Swiss Army knife on the trip.   He hunted for weeks, and, after we’d sold almost everything we own and packed up the rest, it hadn’t turned up.  Imagine our surprise when it was expertly located by security at the Calgary Airport … in Cooper’s own backpack.  Luckily, all was not lost:  good friends bidding us farewell at the security checkpoint took the knife and mailed it to other friends in Toronto where we retrieved it a month later. 

So I had my warning.  Not enough of one, apparently, to prevent me from forgetting my own Swiss Army knife in my pack at the airport in the Galapagos Islands.  Again, luck was on our side:  I realized the mistake immediately after sending our suitcases through check-in.  It’s a tiny airport, and airline staff kindly walked me through security where I was able to place the knife in our checked luggage.

I don’t count that minor misdemeanour.  My true idiocy emerged at Rio International, where, accompanied by a feeling of déjà vu, the uncompromising security staff at the huge airport dug my knife out of my backpack thirty minutes before departure time.  Carolyn was not impressed.

Happily, I pulled off the save.  I sprinted back down the escalator where I found a bookstore and a café that could each spare me a small box.  I put the knife in the bookstore box, shredded the café box to use for padding, wrapped the whole thing up in packing tape donated by a friendly woman at check-in, and checked the knife.  It arrived safe and sound in Sao Paulo.   I will NEVER do that again.  I hope.

Idiotic Act #2 – Passport Control

We’d decided to spend our last few days in Brazil in the small resort town of Paraty, a six-hour bus ride from Rio.  The twenty-five minute cab ride from our hotel put us at the bus station a good half hour before departure.  It was during our leisurely check-in that I abruptly realized I had left my passport in the scanner at the hotel, where I’d copied it an hour before.  Carolyn was not impressed.

I did not want to leave my passport at the mercy of hotel staff, asking for it to be mailed on to Paraty.  Leaving my bags with Carolyn and Coop, I dashed out to the taxi queue where I found only one cab.  But man, did I find the RIGHT cab.  1)  The driver knew the hotel and the exact address.  No looking things up or asking for directions.  2) He appreciated the need to make the 50-minute return trip in less than half an hour.  3)  We mutually agreed that bothersome obstacles such as stop signs, no-passing lanes, and red traffic lights were more of a suggestion than legally binding rules of the road. 

The round-trip, including a mad dash through the hotel lobby to the computer with the scanner – to the surprise and alarm of some hotel staff and patrons – took 25 minutes.   It also included a big tip for my life-saving cabbie.

Idiotic Act #3 – Jumping to the Pump

I still don’t know how I managed this one.  We were making our way through northwest Argentina in our rental car, excitedly heading towards Aconcagua National Park, hoping for a short hike to the base of Aconcagua itself, the highest peak in South America.   As a rule of thumb while traveling, I like to keep the gas tank above half full.  You’re in unfamiliar territory, you never know when you’ll hit your next gas station, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll have gas.   We weren’t in a big rush, but when we pulled into the station and nobody emerged to fill our tank, I took it upon myself.   It was only after fueling up that one of the staff rushed over and explained in rapid Spanish that I had filled my gasoline-only tank with diesel.  Well, shit, that’s not good.   Carolyn was not impressed.  (Neither was I.)

I knew immediately that I couldn’t start the car, or diesel would get into the fuel line and possibly into the engine.   With the help of a couple of service station staff, we pushed the car into a parking spot and I considered my options, amongst much (well-deserved) verbal abuse from my wife.   The only possibility was to drain the tank and re-fill it with gasoline.  The critical drawback to this plan was that it was siesta time, and the town mechanic wouldn’t show for two to three hours.  And of course I’d have to pay the asking price.   To add insult to injury, the garage was less than 200 metres from the gas station – I could have pushed the car there myself were it not along the highway.  

But there was no real option.  Carolyn and Coop shacked up in a nearby restaurant beneath a ceiling fan, and I waited it out at the station.   It was almost five hours from the fatal fill-up to the time when we were back on the road, $120 poorer.   We arrived at Aconcagua too late to hike and had to content ourselves with a few pictures of the distant summit.  I will NEVER do that again.

Today is June 25, 2016, and we are down to the final six weeks of our trip.  This should mean that there is insufficient time for me to do anything quite as stupid as any of the above.  Wish me luck.

To see pictures from our trip so far, click here

Singapore

Cooper. I hadn’t realized that Singapore was so small until we arrived. Confusingly, the country of Singapore is just one large city on an island, but it’s a city with a lot of cool stuff. Singapore was the most similar country we have visited to Canada on the whole trip so far, as it had small houses to huge skyscrapers, but it was still very different, very hot. We enjoyed the Jurong Bird Gardens with its assortment of colourful birds and shows, and we also loved the Future World exhibit at the Art & Science Museum...but we loved the Marina Bay Sands hotel even more!

We spent 2 nights at a friend’s place and 1 night at the amazing Marina Bay Sands hotel that has an infinity pool on the 57^th floor rooftop! Looking over the city above or level with the surrounding skyscrapers while swimming in a pool is awesome; the infinity part was a really nice touch (until it broke). Our room was the fanciest one we’d had yet on the trip and one of my favourite trip quotes was made here: “Your hotel room is on the forty-first floor”. The curtains covering the spectacular view out of our window even opened automatically when we entered the room and could be closed and re-opened with the simple touch of a button. It was a little bit disconcerting actually when we entered the room to have something moving inside that’s not controlled by us, until we remember that it’s just the curtains opening themselves.

Across from the Marina Bay Sands hotel, there sits the symbol of the city/country of Singapore: the Merlion. It may be a strange word, but it’s exactly what it sounds like, a half mermaid, half lion creature. It has a constant stream of water spewing from its mouth into the ocean. Near here were lots of outdoor food markets, and I was surprised to see the local food was actually somewhat like Vietnam’s (I like the Vietnamese food better though).

In Singapore they have a fruit called a durian, but it is no ordinary fruit because it stinks so much. People love it though, because it’s tasty. However, because it smells a lot, there is a law that it is illegal to have possession of one of them on the public transit lines. Another thing that I found strange is that it’s illegal to chew any gum in public. Also, people don’t drink anything at all in public other than at restaurants. We weren’t told that there was a law against this, so we had our water bottles with us while we went along our day.

Thank you Singapore for your wonderfully smelly durians (and one of the best swimming pools ever!!!)


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Carolyn.  In addition to the excitement of being in a new country for the first time, I had been looking forward to Singapore for another reason:  I would be able to line dance here!

By now, I have been missing this part of my "normal" life.  I did have a chance to attend one line dance class in Cape Town, South Africa in March, and now the chance to attend a class in June - wow, only 2 classes in over a year - that's a far cry from the 6-7 per week that I used to attend or teach in Calgary!  Yes, some of my friends understand that I am going through withdrawal pains.

I had so much fun joining a class in Singapore!  Thank you to my line dancing friend and instructor, Philip Sobrielo (Singapore native whom I know from our annual Vegas line dancing event) for not only inviting me to his classes in Singapore, but also for hosting our family for two nights in his new apartment...you're awesome!

To see more pictures from our trip so far, click here

Things I Carry Around the World

Cooper.  When we travel and meet new people, many ask, “How do you pack for a year?” and our answer is always the same, which is that we pack as if it’s for a week, and do laundry often. But…some things that I carry around the world are not what you would probably guess.

One of the weird things that I’m carrying in my suitcase are some pool tiles from Rio De Janiero, Brazil. Seven of them, to be more specific. I found them on the pool deck, already loose and I thought that they were pretty. I also have some coloured pop can tabs to be colourful, balloons for a surprise party, nine bendy-straws for some drinks (the number of straws is going up dramatically in Vietnam), and some shiny rocks from Madagascar.

I’m also carrying something that has given us trouble a few times at airports, but we always find a way to keep it with us: an empty glass bottle from Namibia. Don’t laugh. It’s not just a regular glass bottle, who would carry that around? It has curves and stuff designed into the glass, so it’s cool.

Oh, and I also have a rubber duck, which I found somewhere in India that I don’t remember…but there are almost never any bath tubs in places we are staying anyway. I also had a sheet of purple see-through plastic (I think it’s called cellophane) that I got in Brazil, which I sometimes hung up on apartment and hotel windows to cast purple shadows in my room. But just recently, my parents sadly made me throw this in the rubbish bin because it had faded so much it wasn’t purple anymore.

Actually, we have mailed home four packages of souvenirs and extra clothes, despite the fact that we told ourselves at the start of our trip not to buy many souvenirs over this year. Luckily for me (well, sort of), in this fourth souvenir package, I have sent home my pool tiles, my rocks, a marble, the glass bottle, a miniature toy bike, and three small wooden elephant keychains. Sure, it may make my bag a pound lighter, but it’s a little sad to be separated from these little things that make me happy (but I’m definitely keeping my balloons and straws with me, especially the rubber duck, though I don’t know why). 

To see a full list of what I carry around the world (clothes, entertainment, etc.), click or tap here: Things I Carry Around the World (Normal Stuff)

To see pictures from our trip so far, click or tap here: Trip Photo Album

Foodie Corner: Street Food

Vern.  Hanoi, Vietnam

There are many places in the world in which food purchased from street stalls is bound to cause stomach issues, sometimes for both locals and tourists alike.   In Vietnam, however, the safe, simple and delicious dishes prepared and served by roadside vendors is one of the country’s highlights.

Vietnamese “street food” is so popular and so much a part of the culture that tour operators offer excursions focused entirely on sampling these local staples. 

As we’ve journeyed from south to north through the country, we’ve made a point of eating at street stalls almost daily.  It’s not just the food – the ambiance is part of the adventure as well.  You’ll normally sit on tiny little plastic stools at a low plastic table, fitting right in with the local crowd… with the possible exception that taller westerners either need to splay their knees or keep them up around their chin.  (A little pre-meal yoga stretching might not be a bad idea.)  It’s fun, it’s good and it’s cheap. 

“Pho”, the ubiquitous Vietnamese noodle soup, is considered by many to be the country’s national dish.  While it can be found in many upscale restaurants, street side establishments can have equally tasty varieties.  We discovered that pho in Saigon is generally different from pho in Hanoi.  We’ve been informed that the recipe for the broth is a guarded family secret, whether north or south.   Be sure to try both Pho Bo (beef) and Pho Ga (chicken). 

On a motorcycle tour of Saigon, we were introduced to Bhan Cuon, essentially a rice roll filled with ground pork, mushrooms and spices dipped in fish sauce with chilli peppers.  Delicious!

Today we tried the specialty of Hanoi:  Bun Cha.  This is served as a “some assembly required” noodle soup.  You’ll be given a bowl of broth containing vegetables and pork.  Fresh cilantro and mint are served on the side, along with a plate of soft vermicelli noodles.  Chopped garlic and chilli peppers are available to spice up your dish to your personal taste.

Any one of the above meals will cost you in the neighbourhood of 30,000 Vietnamese dong, which is about $1.50 US.   Filling your belly with tasty local cuisine for less than two bucks… it doesn’t get better than that.