One year abroad
In 2003-05 my family and I went to Vietnam where we worked and lived for 2 years. We fell in love with Asia and now 6 years later we're embarking on a one year adventure. We're leaving Canada in September 2011. This blog contains our travel stories, photos and some advice on budget travel with teenagers. KeviJeff
We're going to start our adventure in Borneo, then onto Peninsular Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia. We don't have a fixed itinerary and we are totally open to following adventures and experiences that come our way.
Our family consists of one traveling mom (Kevi), one adventurous dad (Jeff), our 18 year old son who just graduated from high school and is taking a gap year (Lucas), and lastly our 13 year old daughter (Gemma) who loves animals and will be homeschooling.
We're embarking on this journey to get away from the busy life we have created in Canada and have more time together as a family. We also want to volunteer as we know how rewarding this is. Learning new languages, having fun and learning about new cultures is what this journey is about.
Travel Blog Posts
May 16th 2012
After our trip to Flores and Komodo Islands, we spent our last week as a traveling family in Bali before the kids flew home to Canada. We definitely missed our house and our cook, but enjoyed staying at a guest- house and trying the various restaurants around Ubud. We celebrated Gemma’s 14th birthday that week with an afternoon at the spa and out for sushi. On May 1stLucas and Gemma left for Singapore then flew back to Canada. Jeff and I had a few more days in Ubud saying tearful good-byes to good friends and reflecting on our six months in Indonesia. We’ve heard good things about the Philippines (countless isolated beaches, reefs, mountains and islands) from friends and fellow travelers, so we decided to spend our last 5 weeks in Asia visiting this enigmatic country. ... read more
April 18th 2012
Nestled between the islands of Sumbawa and Timor are the islands of Flores, Komodo and Rinca with their jagged hills carpeted in savannah and fringed with mangroves. This pristine paradise is only a 1.5 hour flight from Bali, but a world away. These islands are isolated and unique. The convergence of cold and warm water currents attracts dolphins, sharks, mantas and blue whales. The coral is pristine and there are numerous empty white sand beaches. Tourism is developing in the western part of Flores Island, but we feel fortunate to be able to be here before the “big boom” hits. This blog entry is mainly going to consist of photos as words can’t do justice to the stunning beauty of this part of the world. We started our adventure with a live-aboard boat trip visiting the ... read more
April 18th 2012
Since my last blog entry, our lives have been "full" and we've had many adventures. My sister Kim and her daughter Sharaya visited us from Canada for 3 weeks during their spring break. It was fun to be a “tourist” exploring Bali and visiting the Gili islands again. Gemma was happy to show her cousin around and finally have a "buddy." We went whitewater rafting, hiking up a volcano, visiting waterfalls, snorkeling on the Gili islands, and of course shopping. Our house was full as Lucas’ friend Justin is still with us – so there were 7 of us in total. We spent lots of evenings playing games, telling stories and laughing. We worked well together taking turns doing dishes, etc. It reminded me of how many people in the world live - with their extended ... read more
March 10th 2012
It is said that there is never a day in Bali without a ceremony of some kind. My friend and I recently attended one of the ceremonies at an ashram nearby called Ashram Munivara. The temple was dressed up in colorful golden clothes and all the members were wearing white. The offerings consisting of fruit, cakes and flowers were carried to the temple on women’s heads and placed at strategic points around the temple. Along with the pilgrims we prayed, chanted and were blessed with holy water. Then the music started – the drums and guitars came out and the people engaged in various traditional songs and dances followed by more chanting, praying and circling the shrines. I felt honored to witness such a beautiful ceremony; however, after 3 hours I was feeling restless. I’m just ... read more
February 2nd 2012
Hello friends and family, I recently spent a very relaxing week on my own at the Gandhi Ashram in Candi Dasa (East Bali). I really like their vision statement: To translate Gandhian ideals of living into action and to promote a life of simplicity (which also implies sustainability and care for our environment), self-sufficiency and service to the community. Thus while ahimsa (nonviolence), satya (truth) and karuna(compassion and, by extension, universal brotherhood) are its guiding principles, in practice it isswadeshi (self-sufficiency) that shapes the Ashram's economic and productive activities. The Ashram is located on the sea and doing yoga outside to the sound of the waves is very amazing. The Ashram runs a small kindergarten, so we all enjoyed the sound of children's laughter in the mornings. The guests and members of the Ashram all ate ... read more
January 14th 2012
Hi everyone and happy new year, We arrived in Ubud, Bali on a rainy evening on December 23rd after almost a month on Lombok Island. We moved into a small vacation cottage for a week (I had pre-booked it on the internet). We had a great week exploring Ubud's art scene, temples, great restaurants, the monkey forest, yoga studios, shops, masseurs, and just resting. Christmas morning was spent eating a lovely brunch on our veranda, talking to family back home on the phone, having friends that we met at the IHF Centre (where Gemma and I volunteered in November) visit, going out for a lovely meal and ending the day with a massage. Very different from how we spend Christmas at home. New Year's eve was more exciting. We went to a Michael Franti outdoor benefit ... read more
December 25th 2011
Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. We hope your holidays are safe, peaceful and a time to be with loved ones. We spent the last 3 weeks on Lombok Island in Indonesia. We really loved our time there. We took the slow boat over from Bali (5 hours on a large public ferry), but made it to Gili Air by dinner time (a small island off of Lombok). We rented a house for 12 days in the village near the centre of the island. We were still only a 5 min. bike ride to the beach. There are no vehicles or motorcycles allowed on Gili Air - only horses, carts and bicycles. The internet was slow or non-existant which was a nice break for me. The only noises were the sounds of the roosters ... read more
November 27th 2011
Landing in Bali on November 13th was like "landing" in paradise after 4 weeks in Vietnam. We love Vietnam, but the dust, noise and traffic was getting to us. For our first few nights in Bali, we treated ourselves and stayed in a luxury villa with a peaceful garden, waterfall and swimming pool. It was a 5 min. walk to the beach in Sanur. I think it was the best sleep I've had since leaving home. When you travel on a budget, keep in mind that the beds are often low quality - either rock hard, saging in the middle, or springs poking out of the mattress. We spent our afternoons by the poolside and our evenings walking along the beach, eating seafood, looking in shops and listening to live music. After 3 days of luxury......back ... read more
November 19th 2011
Our last week in Vietnam was very memorable. After Jeff and Lucas returned from their adventures to the central part of the country, we all went to our friend's small village about 2 hours east of Hanoi. Yen was a student studying English at Thai Nguyen University 8 years ago when I was teaching there. We became very close to her and now we call her our "niece". After her degree, she got married and moved back to her home village. Unfortunately, there are few job opportunities for her to teach English in her village and the salaries for teachers are still very low in rural Vietnam. She had to think of another way to make a living. Her and her husband have set up a home business selling seeds and pesticides to local farmers. When ... read more
November 3rd 2011
After a couple of days in rainy Bangkok (we missed the worst of the flooding), we were so happy to land in Hanoi Vietnam. We were greeted at the airport by two very dear friends. One of our friends had a new baby since we were here in 2005, so baby Ha was part of the welcoming team. We spent the first few days in Hanoi checking out our old "hang out" spots, getting our ears tuned into understanding Vietnamese and trying to remember what we learned 6 years ago. It's amazing how much of the language has come back to us -- especially Jeff. The chaos and the traffic congestion in Hanoi has only worsened since we left, but all the same, we still love the richness of life in Vietnam's capital city. We've spent ... read more
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