Montreal Steph

I must say that I have gotten quite used to the Island living - long walks on the beach, beautiful sunsets, banana/nutella pancakes (you really have to have one to truly understand), delicious food, and lounging on the beach! I left Krabi and spent 3 nights on Ko Lanta and 2 on Ko Phi Phi - both of which were beautiful and fun. Shelley has been living in Indonesia for the last year and had no fear of renting a motorcycle and driving me around a bit - I still don’t think I’m brave enough to do it myself ! We had one really longboat trip off Phi Phi to Mai Bay. Our boat driver told us to expect a little more water in the boat on the way back b/c of the waves… we were ... read more

I just realized I hadn't 'officially' published my last blog - shoot! I’ve had a great few weeks hanging out with the girls! We had a bit of a long couple of days getting out of Hue and then catching up on sleep, but it has been mostly relaxing! We ended up sitting in the Hue airport for almost 11 hours before our plane could leave… due to the rain. So we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) around 3am. The girls were (I think I can using the word ‘desperately’) needing sun and beach time and they got up at 6:30 to head to Mue Ne on a 5 hour bus ride. I decided to enjoy the hard bed and sleep until 10! I spent the afternoon hanging out in a park where I ... read more

Chiang Mai was a great city - very relaxing! Starting with the train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I decided to trust the rumours that all overnight trains are not as bad as China and I ended up with a 1st class ticket. Holy Cow - i'd say its not the same as China. I got there early and was just able to walk onto the car and find my room - no pushing or waiting for an hour to get a 2 min window for boarding. There was one bed down and the upper bed was put up against the wall - allowing one to sit up and read - novel concept! There was a single German lady that joined me and we enjoyed a delicious curry dinner brought by a waiter. When we ... read more

…the Trek - where to start? I think this hike was one of the hardest physical things I have ever done, but as with most challenges, it was also the most rewarding. The scenery was beautiful, the people were lovely and friendly and the strain on the old body felt goods - or feels good now - 3 days later :). We ended up finishing the trek in 15 days without taking a break. Its hard to say if it would have been better to have a break and stay at the high altitude or finish how we did - I guess we’ll never know. The only bad part of not having a break was that I think I mentally ended the trek on day 10 after the Pass, so then it was not only 7-8 ... read more

So we took an afternoon train from Datong to Beijing on Wednesday the 26th. It was a beautiful trip - we saw small parts of the Great Wall along with beautiful country side, mountains and lakes. For some reason we were actually in a soft sleeper car rather than in coach seating, so it was an afternoon/evening of sleeping, reading and looking at the scenery. Beijing is one big city!!! 13 or 14 Million now and I can't imagine what it will be like with the Olympics - visitors plus people that move there in the next year. There was construction everywhere! they're also building two new metro lines which should help with the traffic. I wasn't too put off by the traffic, b/c I found the 120 bus line a little quicker than everyone else ... read more