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Sydney Awaits

Enjoy your trip!
Hi Bob, i am really looking forward to reading how you find the pacific islands as i havent been there. You sure packed in heaps in hawaii - very impressive! Is the upgrade thing a normal thing? So you just try on arrival and get whatever is available? NIce to know if it is :) Enjoy the rest of your trip! tam

Congratulations Bob and Linda :)
Here's wishing you both many more years of married bliss and happy travels!!!

Bob the jet pilot!
As a young boy, that must have been a highlight of your youth, sitting in that jet. How wonderful to have seen as much as you have and to have lived in so many different places. Such interesting reading - I am reading in installments!

A lifetime of memories!
I am working my way slowly through all your blogs and loving it! So interesting and a lot of time and effort invested in putting it into blogs. Well done!

hope things have gotten under control
Just saw your blog as we now have wi-fi on the boat - sorry to hear about the fires - hope they have gotten under control - I'll have to now go to get the news as we have been out of contact. By the way - luckily we saw very little trash on our whole Atlantic crossing - only a couple of plastic bottles in 19 1/2 days and 2,550 miles which we were really happy about.

Penang and the Cameron Highlands
Dear Linda and Bob, I stumbled into your blog, whilst doing a search on the Eastern Hotel at Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. We ( me and my wife Chwee) live in Sunny Singapore , but we have a condo apartment in Penang overlooking the sea (near Batu ferringgi). We use this as a holiday home to get away from the mad rush of city living. Last month whilst in Penang we decided to drive to the Cameron Highlands with our parents. I have not been there for about 20 years and was told that the new highway up from Ipoh to Brinchang in the highlands was alot better with less twistings and bends. About 3.5 hours drive we arrived at Brinchang by about 8 pm. It was nice and cool and after dinner I continued downhill on to Tanah Rata, and checked into the Hill View Hotel by nightfall. As a boy in the sixties I remember vividly the Eastern Hotel in Tanah Rata. It had a fireplace and in the December months when it was colder the fireplace was always lit. ( I did not know then that it was your old Dalat School.) We used to walk to Parit Falls- about 15 minutes away behind the hotel . We were young then and really enjoyed the highlands. Meals were usually at Wah Nam Restaurant which is along the shops in the main street. It was run by a wonderful hainanese cook at the time and his meals were super--Pork Chop, Beef with green Peppers. The Hainanese were great cooks. The morning came and I drove out to look for the old Eastern Hotel. The old town of Tanah Rata has not changed much except for a new building and Bus depot opposite the street where the shops on the main street are situated. It is also alot more busy now. The old Wah Nam Restaurant is still there but the name has changed to Shin Nam. Apparently the owner has passed on and he sold the shop. As I drove past looking for the Eastern Hotel I found it had been demolished and replaced with the Century Pines Resort. It in no way ressembled the old place. Gone was the Scottish house of the old Eastern Hotel--and a touch of sadness crept over me. I went back to the Shin Nam Restaurant looking for a meal but it looked crummy . The new owners -obviously from China ( Chinese nationals now seem to be everywere) did not up keep the place and the menu was vastly different. In the end I settled for a curry meal next door at an Indian Restaurant. Later in the day we drove to check out the Robinson Falls and the Hydroelectric Dam. It appeared that this too had deteriorated as there was alot of debri---plastic bags and cans brought down by the water from higher up (probably from Brinchang which is now even more densely populated than Tanah Rata.) Thank you for your very detailed pictures of the old Eastern Hotel. It brings back fond memories. Maurice Chew

COLORADO IN FLAMES
Front page in OZ...Colorado Springs at the mercy of a firestorm...coming from Sydney & our home backing onto National Park...we understand the danger of bushfires...hope you remain safe.

Great blog Bob
On my drive home yesterday I was planning to send you an email to check and see how close the fires are to your home. The blog certainly answers that question. I hope they are able to control them soon. Love the train photos.

Nice
Hi it was great article & really a nice Wedding.

Congratulations!
I love this blog. What a great story. I'm so glad all went well. Terrific....lookin' good.