Here I am, about to blog about Europe, while I'm already in Japan. How many times has this happened on this trip? Too many to count. Before I begin, let me just brag that by the time I get back to Canada I'll have been around the world two whole times in the last two years - once clockwise and once counter-clockwise. Though by the time we get to October I may well have been around it two and a half times as I've been offered a job as an au paire (nanny) for a beautiful family (with a beautiful house) [View Full Entry]

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The day after my last entry, I traded in the sunny, warm Greek weather and flew into the cool, damp Irish night. As if there is an inverse relationship between temperament and temperature, even in the rain I found the Irish people to be warm, good-humoured and helpful. I'm sure the smooth Irish accent helped cement this impression in me - my heart does a gleeful dance every time I hear it; but there was also something that made me feel at home - maybe the way everyone says "sorry" when they brush past you or the cheerfulness with which they [View Full Entry]

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Dad and Caitie left me on Naxos Island three days ago to make their journey back to Montreal. As the Naxians sympathetically noted, "the holiday, it is over, ne." Sadly for them, it is, though I'm sure they had many happy reunions once back on Canadian soil. For my part, I took my last two solo days to do things Caitie didn't like - hiking Mt. Zeus, the highest peak in the Cyclades (at 1001m this is only impressive if you leave out the height) and vainly trying to rid myself of tan lines on a nude beach. And of course [View Full Entry]

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Here I am, mxing up my geography again...posting photos of Egypt while writing from Greece. Considering the hours it would have taken to do this in Egypt versus the minutes it's going to take here, I think I have a good excuse this time. We've been in Greece for almost a week now. This was supposed to be the "relax and recuperate" part of our vacation, but despite the nice weather and great scenery (ink-blue sea water surrounding picturesque islands) Greece is a little fast-paced and impersonal for our liking. Admittedly, the island life is better than Athens so we're warming [View Full Entry]

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This is going to be a hasty entry as I'm rewriting what I wrote previously. My original entry talked about how hot and commercialized Upper Egypt (ironically in the south) is, how lousy the hotels and food are here and how annoying the touts who troll the streets chasing the tourists that are delivered here by the bus and cruise ship load. It seemed like the most important thing here was the temples - spectacular but hardly blog-worthy and, aside from a few complaints about the scanty clothing worn by tourists here (halter tops and short shorts with bums, bellies and [View Full Entry]

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Salaam a'aleykoum from quiet Marsa Matrouh where we've been lounging by the beach for the last four days. After surviving our first week in Cairo, Dad, Caitie and I decided to treat ourselves to a vacation from our vacation, stopping first in the desert oasis, Siwa, and again here to break up the trip to Alexandria. At this very moment it is 9:40pm. A cool breeze is blowing and the imam has just started another call to prayer. We're just stopping in at this net cafe for me to finish my blog entry then we'll be off to find a nice [View Full Entry]

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Namaste from...Montreal! India may be becoming a world leader in a lot of areas but their internet connections move at the pace of Montreal snow removal. And with only three weeks to see that fascinating country there was no way I was going to spend a day blogging in one of their cubbyhole net cafes. Here’s my last blog entry, another long one as I can’t seem to curb my urge to write everything…feel free to skim! The Hindu gods smiled upon my arrival in India; as soon as I cleared customs in Kolkata I found myself side by side with [View Full Entry]

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(Brace yourselves, this is a long one!) It seems to be South East Asia's motto: same-same, but different - and you hear it everywhere, from street vendors, restaurants, travel agencies, tuk-tuk drivers. After a couple of months of traveling through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand it's begun to feel true. In spite of some differences in style, wealth, food and history the backpacker scene in each country is really similar as are the food, activities and souvenirs that are peddled to my type. It's not necessarily a bad thing - these places are SO backpacker-oriented that they are a br [View Full Entry]

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This is my Vietnam entry but I'm actually writing on my first full day in Cambodia. I realize that one blog entry per country is not nearly enough but when you're on vacation sitting down at a computer to write a good entry with photos is like being grounded on a Saturday. The internet here has been so slow it really has taken me all day to get this post done. I can't say I'm too upset at this point as my first day alone in a place is always an awkward one in which I'm forced to face all my [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Vietnam on Wednesday, having crossed over from the (really cute!) Chinese border town of Hekou. From Lao Cai on the Vietnamese side I caught a van headed to Sapa where I found myself a simple room for 6 USD overlooking the nearby mountains and valley and booked myself onto a three-day trek to see some minority villages and occupy my time. My main reason for being here was to see the Sunday market in Bac Ha village, which is apparently not to be missed. So I had a few days to kill and couldn't think of a better [View Full Entry]

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