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shelaghandheather

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Travel Blog Posts


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shelaghandheather
June 27th 2010

After our stressful journey through immigration getting back into Tanzania we stepped onto an 8 seater plane and flew to Zanzibar. The water was so blue and the reefs were visible almost immediately as we flew for 20 minutes over the Indian Ocean. We got picked up by our resort and headed to Matemwe Beach resort. We had chosen this resort for its diving (and food). We were impressed by this resort. The room itself was acceptable, not luxurious, but clean with pleasant staff. However the food was the best food on our entire trip. The white sand on the beach was so beautiful and the pool is very pleasant. They have a South African chef and no kidding this food was amazing. Every evening there was a choice of 2 starters and 2 main courses ... read more



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shelaghandheather
June 24th 2010

Kudos to Rwanda Air for their inflight food and beverage service. A happy Heather got full meals on both our flights with them. Shame shame Air Canada. En route from Kili to Kigali we flew over the massive Lake Victoria. For the majority of a two hour flight we seemed to be above the lake. As we came in to land in Kigali we noticed a lot of shiny squares. A little more descending and we realized it was all of the aluminium roofs on the houses. We landed and got through customs with no issues and met our guide Hamadi. He gave us a city tour of Kigali, highlighting all of the new building that’s happening - buildings and roads. A huge portion of the city is either new or still being built, a lot ... read more



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shelaghandheather
June 20th 2010

Day 5 - Serengeti The first animals we came upon were several groups of hyenas, including cubs. The cubs are almost cute…almost. We then saw our cheetah and her two cubs again. This time they were hungry. Mom hid the cubs in the long grass and set out to catch a Thompson. There was a large group of Thompsons moving in front of her. They would look at her and stop and sometimes one would run away but then they’d look down and just start eating again. Inconceivably dumb these animals seem to be. Unfortunately the Thompsons all moved past before mom found one she liked. We then came across our favorite pair of mating lions. As our guide Godwin kept telling the other drivers who pulled up “you’re not old enough to see this” so ... read more



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shelaghandheather
June 18th 2010

Day 3 - Serengeti We began the day with a walk with a ranger with an AK47. Apparently that’s in case any of the buffalo that have come up from the crater in the night are still hanging around. The fog was very thick so we couldn’t see into the crater. The ground was damp and we got quite dirty with a combination of mud and various kinds of dung. It was nice to be out for a walk though. Godwin picked us up and we began the long drive to Serengeti national park. Godwin always asked us in the mornings what we wanted to see and we always replied with a long and impossible list to tease him - which changed and got more specific and complicated every day - we used to be satisfied ... read more



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shelaghandheather
June 17th 2010

In the morning after breakfast we headed out for a hike with two Maasai guides. We learned a lot about how the Maasai use the local plants as medicine and food. We were also shown which plants are used as soap and which ones can be made into rope. The Maasai also build beehives and collect honey. We saw where termites were building a fresh mound (there are giant termite mounds everywhere!) We learned that cheetah is a friend to people but lion and leopard are very dangerous. Day 2 - Ngorongoro Crater Back in the truck we headed to Ngorongoro crater (ask Shelagh to say that sometime, it’s quite amusing). It’s very foggy at the top of the crater so we saw nothing as we hurtled along dodgy gravel roads in thick fog. But then ... read more



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shelaghandheather
June 16th 2010

We are on another amazing adventure and will do our best to capture some of it. We haven’t been very “bloggy” on our last couple trips but think there are some stunning photos that we should share. We decided ages ago to head to africa this summer. We jokingly invited Shiona (shelagh's sister) and her new husband Andy to join us for their honeymoon. We never expected they'd say yes. So this is the "Shiona and Andy's honeymoon crashed our holiday" trip. We spent our first day in Tanazania sitting beside the pool in our hotel. Mount Kilimanjaro appeared briefly from behind the clouds and the photographers got a couple shots. It turns out that would be the only time that we would see Kili as it is a very “shy” mountain. Shelagh, Shiona and Andy ... read more



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shelaghandheather
January 3rd 2008

So we headed from Chiang Mai to Khao Lak. This is on the Anadman coast - about 90 minutes drive north of Phuket. We flew to Phuket from Chiang Mai and all went remarkably smoothly. We flew "Nok" airlines - one of the Thai budget airlines, complete with a talking fortune cookie on the tail of the plane -(well this was Heathers initial impression, but she eventually decided it was a bird's beak). In amongst the Thai employees was a very fair, rather camp Glaswegian air steward - very bizzare! We reached out to our jungle cabin with ocean view. It was cute - set on stilts in front of the ocean. A view of the gorgeous sand and then the Indian Ocean. It was a little weird looking out to the calm ocean. Just over ... read more



Thai cooking class

Published: January 9th 2008Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai
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shelaghandheather
December 30th 2007

The last thing we decided to do in Chiang Mai was to do a Thai cooking class. It was excellent and we had wished we had done it on the first day of our trip. It gave us so much more insight into Thai culture and food. The food is amazing here and is one of the reasons to go to Thailand. The other thing is that they don't use much dairy - they use coconut milk instead of cream or milk and thus it was great for Heather's lactose intolerance. The cooking course started with a trip to the local market. This was an environmentally friendly trip with baskets for our produce rather than the plastic bags. Thailand has a hug plastic bag and straw probelm. They give you a plastic bag with everything and ... read more



Christmas in Thailand

Published: January 7th 2008Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai
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shelaghandheather
December 28th 2007

So we made a bold decision this year and decided to forgo to the usual family Christmas and headed to Thailand instead of Scotland. We weren't quite sure what to expect except that the weather would be drier and warmer! Thailand has the noteriety of being the only country in South East Asia that wasn't colonised by a European nation. Its a nation of opposites and contrasts. We had quite a long haul to get to Thailand. Calgary to Vancouver, Vancouver to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Bangkok. Arrived in Bangkok at 10.30pm on Christmas eve. All the luggage arrived and we headed to the airport hotel to crash. This was Heather's idea - and did get us at least 90 minutes more sleep. At $170 per night I was dubious,but by the next ... read more



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shelaghandheather
October 17th 2006

Greetings. I know that you've missed us so we decided to fill you in on our trip to England last weekend. I realise that many of you with Scottish heritage are probably saying "why would you go to England....never mind for the weekend?" But it was in fact an important reason. My baby brother, Jamie was getting married. We flew into Heathrow at approximately Thursday lunchtime and after a quick shower in the Air Canada arrivals lounge we headed off down the M3. I did pretty well at remembering how to drive on the left hand side of the road. In the next 3 days only once did i drive on the wrong side of the road. Unfortunately I did it in front of my sister Shiona who honked her horn rather dramatically at me. Off ... read more






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