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Dan & Kelsey Stiefvater
Seasonal Employment does have it's benefits...like taking half the year off to do what we love: seeing something for the first time.danandkels
It's time to hit the road again and see what new experiences await.
Hand in hand we go, never in front, never behind.
Love, Adventure, Joy & Gratitude.
Dan & Kels
Travel Blog Posts
January 12th 2012
The second “half” of our trip in Thailand revolved around a kayaking trip off the island of Koh Chang that Kelsey discovered back in September. After flying back to Bangkok, we boarded a 5-hour bus ride heading east towards Cambodia and then after a 30-minute ferry we landed on Koh Chang (direct translation is “Elephant Island“). The relatively close proximity to Bangkok and the fact that it’s enroute to Cambodia favoured Koh Chang’s development as it first brought many backpackers, closely followed by “real” tourists with money to spend. As a result, every Tom, Dick and Harry (or in Thailand - Nam, Lek and Phram) wanted a piece of the action banging up resorts, cafes, restaurants, bars and shops along the entire west coast (beachy side) of the island. Unfortunately not all dreams come true… although ... read more
January 3rd 2012
… “babe, can you pass me the light”… I oblige, still sleeping…“Ahhh! I knew it! That thing crawled down my side and my whole leg! I knew it!”… Now I’m awake. Staring, with one sleepy-eye, at a cockroach that Kels is shining the headlamp on that is trapped INSIDE our mosquito net that is supposed to keep the bugs OUT of our bed! Kels is freaked, and rightfully so - cockroaches are disgusting - so I jump into action… I bolt through the overlapping gap in our apparently malfunctioning bug net and turn on the one low-watt light in our bamboo bungalow. I first look at my paperback sitting on the night table, but squishing that bastard would leave a big mess in the bed, and I also remember something about squishing cockroaches releases something like ... read more
Thailand Part One: Bangkok & Trang Islands
Published: January 5th 2012Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lipe
January 2nd 2012
Packing for Thailand is great! Shoes? - don’t bother. Jacket? - nah. Pants? - one pair max. Socks? - only if you plan on wearing them with your sandals… bad idea! Which leaves room for extra bottles of sun-screen, after-sun lotion (because your gonna burn, no matter how much sunscreen you pack), bug spray, beach towels and a bottle of Sparkling for New Year’s Eve. 30-day visa stamp upon entry and just like that we have said good-bye to the winter of China and hello to the heat of Thailand. Thailand is the first place Kelsey and I travelled to together back in 2005 before we started University in Melbourne, and has always held a special place in our hearts. We came back in 2008, after the Philippines, and had a great 2-week trip with Kelsey’s ... read more
December 20th 2011
As part of my 31st birthday present Dan researched and planned a trip for us to Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the home of spicy Chinese cuisine and the epicentre for breeding, research and sustaining the giant panda species. What most of you probably don’t know is that ever since I was young and received a stuffed panda named Zen-Zen for Christmas when I was about 10 years old I have been oddly infatuated with the panda. In China you can not go 5 feet without seeing the image of the panda (which is China’s national animal and they are fiercely proud of). In China the image of the panda is found on everything from cigarettes, menus (although not to eat thank goodness), to bottled water, souvenirs galore, cookie boxes, mittens, toques, t-shirts, bottles of wine and everything ... read more
December 11th 2011
Xi’an is a city of 4.5 million people, 8000 unearthed terra cottawarriors and 2 Canadians (namely Daniel & I). We had the opportunity to visit this massive army that is frozen in time; poised and ready for battle to defend their Emperor in the afterlife. Below are a few fast facts that we learned while visiting the warriors. Ensure to take these “facts” with a grain of salt… at times numbers and dates are commonly lost in translation from Mandarin to English; however the size of this intimating terra cotta army is undeniable. D & K’s Fast Facts on the Terrcotta Warriors The army of warriors was discovered in 1974 by a farmer digging a well 1.5 meters below the surface. The first warrior he discovered was a ‘Kneeling Archer’ and to date it is the ... read more
December 10th 2011
“He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man” - Mao Zedong No trip to China is complete with out visiting the iconic Great Wall so with that in mind we bid farewell to our friends in Macau & Shanghai and packed our bags (filled with warm sweaters, gloves, scarves and toques) for Beijing. With our pre booked tickets in hand (for those who don’t know after all these years of travelling abroad my husband has become a train ticket booking Ninja and always secures the best possible seats at the best possible price... in advance!!! He cut his teeth in India so China's train system is child’s play for him!) we boarded the Bullet Train from Shanghai to Beijing which at 310km per hour only took 5.5 hours. We arrived at ... read more
December 5th 2011
Macau is actually not that big, only 29sqkm to be exact. It consists of a small peninsula jutting out from Southern China (60 km from Hong Kong Island) and two bridged islands that have been merged together through modern engineering and a lot of backfill, and it continues to grow more and more with land being reclaimed for new buildings every year. It was colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th Century and acted as their trading headquarters for China, Japan and South East Asia. The Portuguese brought with them culture, religion, food, wine and architecture that is still present today in a unique mix of European and Chinese sights, sounds and smells. In more recent history Macau became a gangsters paradise with endless opportunities on the black market. Gangs, Chinese Triads, could operate their business ... read more
November 30th 2011
It’s not everyday you get to go to China. And the odds are even less likely that you get to visit friends who live and work in China. With the supposed next super-power on our radar we decided to explore a few of the sights China had to offer and started our trip in Shanghai where we stayed with our Scottish friends we met while overlanding in the Middle East - Scott and Nicola. The 12-hour flight from Vancouver on China Eastern Airlines was smooth… although no little TV’s in the seat in front of you (boo) and they chose to feed us right after take off and right before landing, leaving an 11-hour gap in between meals which left us scratching our heads and rubbing our grumbling tummies. The welcome to the airport, however, made ... read more
February 21st 2010
Varanasi is considered one of the holiest places on earth by Hindus. It’s situated on the Ganga (Ganges) River, between the tributaries Varuna River and Assi River and this is how it’s name came to be. Hindus believe in reincarnation and the endless life-death cycle back to earth; however once enlightenment is achieved, the cycle is broken and heaven is where the enlightened are headed after death. After death Hindus are cremated and if you are one of those who has attained enlightenment, ideally you will be cremated at the Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganga and your ashes are sent down river with your spirit released from it’s painful cycle. One might conjure up almost romantic images of an enlightened being, taken down to the river, his body washed in the holy river and then peacefully ... read more
February 21st 2010
After our safaris in Africa, it was always a dream to see a tiger in the wild. (Lions, and tigers and bears…oh my! This was the last box to tick!) After a bit of research we decided we would visit Kahna National Park to try our luck at a wild tiger. This trip would take us pretty much to the very centre of the country, with Jabalpur being the closest city and our destination by train from Agra. After a ridiculous train ride (6 hours late, 4 hours slow, and the original trip scheduled to be 11 hours; equating to a 21-hour trip arriving into Jabalpur at 9pm rather then 7am) we took a 3-hour taxi to Kahna National Park and the government run Baghira Log Huts and Hostel. We chose this place because it’s the ... read more
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