Geo: 12.4881, 106.019Not much to report on our time in Kratie. It is a small, dirty town with a market, a key attraction that every tourist goes to and very confusing information about transportation (this would describe every town we have been to in Cambodia).Most of our time here was spent sweating as it is very hot. We wandered around the market and got some good photos as we played with some of the children. One little girl followed us so we kept chatting with her and wondering if her parents knew where she was or even cared. In many ways, we are all the same...of course her parents were very worried. Her dad came searching for her and was visibly relieved when he found her hanging with us a few booths down the market. Later ... read more

Geo: 11.5588, 104.917This is a special time of year regardless of your religion, culture or placement in the hemispheres. The light changes, seasonal holidays occur, the international calendar enters a new year and people everywhere are inclined to take a break from work or at least celebrate something, often centered around family and food, during the late days of December.Facebook has kept us (thankfully) in touch with family and friends from home who are in the full throes of the preparations and celebrations of Christmas and New Year. Having been in 4 countries in the past couple of weeks we are witnessing the customs and cultural ways of expressing what is important at this time of year. With the primarily Buddhist population and the heat in Cambodia, our holiday season will be different from normal and ... read more

Geo: 1.3, 103.85I had a meltdown...it was bound to happen at some point. But I am good now.We have been on the road for 4 months and it's our first Christmas in the 22 years of our son's life that we have not spent it together and we landed in Singapore. What is significant about Singapore? Well, 28 years ago about this time of year we had finished 4 months of teaching school in Fiji, we were feeling a wee bit homesick so contrary to our plans, we made our way to Jakarta to spend Christmas with friends who were there on sabbatical. I recall a 'moment' in the Singapore airport, watching ‘What a Wonderful World' on a monitor and feeling overwhelmed with sentiment, teary-eyed and lonely. To add to this nostalgic connection with Christmas and ... read more

Geo: -36.8474, 174.766I sit here with my NZ glass of white wine in an ensuite room (I much prefer this to sharing a bathroom with a gang of people) chilling out after 2 nights in Wellington, 1 night in Napier, 1 night in Taupo and now in Rotorua. I have been a little anxious lately. This driving and these one-night stops wear thin on me in short order. In the North Island, we are finding it more difficult to locate the small and remote hostels that we love while covering the territory in the one week we have allotted. The larger hostels have crowded kitchens, lots of people hanging out and chatting, more noise and less privacy. To add to that, we are struggling with what to do during our upcoming week in Australia (in and ... read more

Geo: -44.85, 168.388Everywhere we go we see places that one of the Lord of the Rings movies was filmed in...we exclaim, appreciate and dream of seeing little hobbits or riding horses or something magical. Last night (tonight back home in Canada), the premiere red carpet event of the opening of the Hobbit happened in Wellington - just across the strait from where we are. We could feel the buzz. We will be in Wellington on Saturday and hopefully get to see some of the leftover effect.I read an October 7, 2012 article in the New York Times by Brookes Barnes and Michael Cieply after they visited New Zealand and some of the Hobbit film locations. They describe about NZ:"the hill is perfect - steep, shaggy and as green as a radioactive shamrock, like the matching hills ... read more