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January 19th 2010
We spent 3 days in Salento, a beautiful little town in the middle of the coffee region. It looked like the sterotypical Colombian town, complete with Juan Valdez look-a-likes wearing ponchos and cowboy hats riding horses down the streets. Unfortunately with Colombian stereotypes comes violence, and we saw our first example in this tiny, quiet town (not directed toward us). Our first night in town we went to the town square for a few drinks at the only place that was open with a group of people from the hostel. There was a drunk man sitting on the steps in front of the bar, and a man inside the bar starting whipping him in the face with a horse whip! The military police came and hauled off the guy who had been whipped. It was really ... read more
Pirates and Pablo, Moustaches and Mullets
Published: January 16th 2010South America » Colombia » CartagenaJanuary 16th 2010
We spent four days in Cartagena, an old Spanish colonial city that was a favourite target for pirates. We spent hours wandering around getting lost in the old city, exploring little shops and restaurants, and walking along the city walls. We stayed at a lovely hostel called Casa Viena, which I highly recommend to anyone. We did a day trip to a mud volcano. It was just a little pimple of a volcano but you could climb into and float in the mud. It was very bizarre but tons of fun! We tried to arrange a boat trip to a bunch of nearby coral reef islands and a beach, but the boats were cancelled due to rough seas and a tsunami warning. We finally left the coast and caught a night bus to Medellin, Pablo Escobar's ... read more
Donating Blood to Local Wildlife in Parque Tayrona
Published: January 10th 2010South America » Colombia » Santa Marta » Parque Nacional TayronaJanuary 10th 2010
We spent three nights in the beautiful Tayrona National Park. The beaches were amazing, and the waters beautifully clear, but the facilities could use an upgrade. We stayed in hammocks the first night, at Finca el Paraiso at Arrecifes beach. The hammocks were so tightly packed that you would bump the person next to you any time you moved. The campground was packed with tents, no square inch bare. Contrary to what we were led to believe, they do not provide mosquito nets - I woke up in the morining with my face covered in bites, I look like I have chicken pox! What really upset me though is that they closed the bathrooms in the evening until 7 am, leaving hundreds of people without toilets for far too long. While waiting for them to open ... read more
Jungle Donkeys and Lost Cities
Published: January 5th 2010South America » Colombia » Santa Marta » Ciudad PerdidaJanuary 5th 2010
Hola from Colombia! Our journey here was a little rough - 6 hours in Calgary airport for US customs and security, what a gong show! We missed our connection in Houston, but somehow both us and our bags arrived in Santa Marta as scheduled. The heat hit us as soon as we got off the plane, love it! We got a cab to our hostel, La Brisa Loca, which was quite the introduction to the country. The cabbie would have been great on The Amazing Race - honking at everyone and everything, yelling at other drivers out the window, swerving between cars in front of him and oncoming traffic, as we held on for dear life because they don't believe in seatbelts. We passed many donkeys hauling carts on the side of the road, which I ... read more
September 10th 2009
Day 1 - I arrived in Zurich and met Ian at the airport. We got the train to Lucerne together. Michelle's apartment is beautiful, and we got a tour of the school she teaches at. Michelle's friends had arranged a stagette for her - we went out for a beautiful supper then to a local pub they frequent for some YouTube karaoke. Day 2 - We had the wedding rehersal in Hergisvil. The church is beautiful. We went to a British pub for dinner where we met Ian's extended family and I learnt all about cricket. We called it a night fairly early - we had a big day the next morning! Day 3 ***Wedding Day*** We got ready in Lisa's apartment, right in the medieval section of town. It was fun walking down the streets ... read more
July 28th 2005
I stopped using this blog near the end of my trip and began sending mass emails. I'm copying those emails into here now for my own memories. Sent: July 14, 2005 6:18:35 AM Hey everyone! Well I stayed on Ko Phi Phi a little longer than expected, it was awesome. It was demolished by the tsunami but its slowly getting things back together as backpackers swarm in to volunteer - I did a little rubble clearing and gardening myself. I had a real scare the first day I was there - there was another earthquake off of Sumatra and hours later the tsunami sirens started going off in Phi Phi resulting in Mayhem - people running down the streets in a panic trying to find high ground. Naturally I followed the mob unsure of where they ... read more
The Little Bus that Defied Gravity
Published: June 27th 2005Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok
June 27th 2005
The road between Siam Reap and the Thai border is notorious for being a test of stamina, as it is "a little bumpy". As previous reports of awful road conditions turned out to be exaggerated, I was somewhat optimistic as we began the journey. Turns out "a little bumpy" is quite the understatement, really meaning that parts of the road are missing, and the remaining bit is pock-ridden with crater sized potholes - and thats just the paved bit. I was literally air-born inside the bus just as often as I was not. Need a visual? Have you ever watched popcorn being popped? At first there was nothing to do but laugh, but six hours and several bruises later it was significantly less funny. Once we crossed the border the remaining four hours were much smoother, ... read more
Getting Amongst it in Vietnam!
Published: June 16th 2005Asia » Vietnam » South Central Coast » Khanh Hoa » Nha Trang
June 16th 2005
Well Vietnam has been pretty low-key so far, but I'll fill you all in what I can. The tourist bus we were holding out for in Savanakhet turned out to be just a van. Of course it was overbooked it so we were jammed in there like sardines. But it got us across the border into Vietnam just the same. We were taken to a city called Dong-Ha, which is about 4 hours north of where we wanted to be, so we arranged a mini-bus to Hoi An. We were told that it would be direct, and that it would just be the five of us and three others. Well, direct actually meant stopping every couple kilometres to let more people on, and three other people quickly turned into 12 Vietamese people, 8 Vietamese ducks, and ... read more
June 9th 2005
Well it's been a while since I've written, and we've been up to a lot. In Vang Vieng we went tubing (we being team Beerlao, eight people from the trek and two aussies we picked up at the border). Tubing consists of floating down the river in an innertube. What makes it so great is that all along the river banks there are "bars" set up, where you can go off some crazy jumps and rope swings if you buy a beer (this is where team Beerlao earned its name). The last jump of the day was a swing that you stand on, and a bunch of guys pulled you back super high and then let go, launching you into the water. Of course the more scared you are, the farther you are pulled back, so ... read more
May 31st 2005
Laos is now my favorite place in the world - I know I don't have much to compare with, but it will be hard to beat. We started off with a two day boat ride on the Mekong from the Thailand border to Luang Prabang, which included a night in a small town called Pak Beng (we're pretty sure it means "rat town" in Lao - yeah, we had some night visitors). There are some waterfalls outside of Luang Prabang that are just too beautiful to even be real, and we spent the day there. You can climb to the highest level and jump off rock into the pool for swimming, while looking at the waterfalls above and below. The lowest pool had a rope swing to launch yourself into the water - great day. As ... read more
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