Our next stop was in Berlin to visit our friends that were our neighbours at the hospital in Huaihua. We started with a bus tour of the city, which covered all the pertinent landmarks. We passed by Checkpoint Charlie, the famous border crossing from the American territory to East Berlin. It also was the point where there was a standoff between Russia and the US, tank to tank, during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.

We saw what is left of the Berlin Wall, and the ‘death strip’ which was adjacent, for those unlucky enough to try to flee. Beside that is an aptly named museum about the Gestapo, the Topography of Terror.

Our next big sight was the Brandenburg Gate, built in 1791, and important entry to the city. It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace.

We were lucky to have a visitor, all the way from Finland, who came with us on the tours and relived his childhood in Berlin. Thanks for the visit Ian! Here he is with the girls and their beautiful new dresses from Martina.

Emily lost her second tooth one morning at breakfast. The tooth fairy found her again. She now has some Thai baht and some Euros, we’ll have to hit a currency exchange at the end of this trip for her piggybank.

A big highlight for the girls was going to the forest near Martina and Lutz’s house to see the wild boar. Some are truly wild, but a little harder to find, and some are in an enclosure. They are eager to eat whatever is proferred, so spaghetti was the food du jour. There were also some bighorn-type sheep to feed too.



Another kid-friendly activity was visiting ‘Legoland’, a whole building full of giant things built with lego. The big giraffe out front had over 350,000 pieces, someone must have had a LOT of patience to build these things. I like this shot of Maddie looking fierce.

Our final night we went out for ‘German Tapas’. We had a chance to try 9 or 10 different Berlin-style dishes. It was very delicious.

The girls made fast friends with the people at the neighbouring table, since they had their husky with them. Dogs are allowed almost everywhere it seems. What happens if you are in the shopping mall with your dog and he/she wants to lift their leg? So many questions…

Our first official stop on our European tour was Amsterdam. It is as beautiful as people have described it to us and more. The canals, the buildings, the culture, it all comes together to make this a wonderful place to be, steeped in history.


We took a boat cruise to see the sights.


I absolutely love how many people ride their bikes in Amsterdam, and take the super-efficient public transit. Here is the bike parking lot at the Centraal Station.

We stayed near the Vondel Park, which was great to walk through with the girls and hit the playgrounds enroute to the museums.


We met up with our friends from Fort Smith; Shari, Natalie, and Dallas. It was great to see them again and even better from the girls’ perspective for 3 new people to jump around on. Thanks guys!

Our last stroll along the tarmac in the heat…good bye Asia, good bye summer, good riddance squat toilets. Hello winter…

We spent a few days on the eastern coast of Vietnam, in the resort town of Nha Trang.

We were fortunate enough to meet up with some friends from Canada; Richard, Kim, Dana and Megan. One of our days was spent at the local hot springs, which also offered mud baths. Soooo fun!

Being a seaside resort town, there was no shortage of seafood, which could be bought, cooked, and consumed right on the beach.


We ended the time together with some good ol’ Italian food. It was great to catch up with some old friends in a faraway place!

We took a short flight to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon, HCMC) the next day. The thing you immediately notice about this city is the amazing number of scooters and motorcyles. There could be from 50 to 150 two-wheeled vehicles lined up at each intersection, in both directions! They seem to have a keen sense of flow. A person’s handlebars may be inches away from their neighbouring scooters. The mass of them are not unlike a school of fish; changing direction as a whole around any obstacle.


With that many 2 wheeled vehicles, the inner tubes can pile up!

Not sure if this is to code:

We went to the Vietnamese wedding of our friend Nhu. It had a traditional side, complete with the groom’s family coming to the bride’s family’s house bearing gift boxes of fruits, cake, and roasted duck. The reception was held in a large hotel that had many ballrooms; each holding a wedding reception. There were dancing and singing entertainers just before dinner, complete with exploding balloons of tinsel-confetti.

As it was a wedding, some of the fancier dishes were served:

It was a beautiful wedding and we feel so special to have been invited by our friend, Nhu. We wish all the best to her and her husband, Thien.

Aside from Angkor Wat, there are several other interesting temples to visit in the Seam Reap area.

We visited the ancient city of Angkor Thom, which once numbered over one million inhabitants. Inside the city you can find the Bayon Temple, built by King Jayavarman VII, with 216 enormous faces of the diety, Avalokiteshvara, but which closely resemble the vain king.

The next temple on our stop was the temple of Ta Prohm. This place has been beautifully taken over by the surrounding jungle and is all very Indiana Jones. Actually part of the movie, Tomb Raider, was filmed here.



At this site we met up with a young monk, Sayeourn, who was eager to practice his English conversation skills. We had a long chat and he accompanied us on the rest of our wanderings of this temple, giving us informative facts along the way. We happened to buy a watercolour painting made by one of a group of orphans who are utilising their artistic skills instead of begging. The painting depicts 2 monks at this temple so we will always remember our friend fondly.

We came to Cambodia to see what every other traveller comes for…the ancient city and temples of Angkor Wat.

They were built in the early 12th century, most likely as a funerary tribute to King Suryavarman II and as his state temple and capital city. Angkor Wat is the best-preserved temple in the area, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation — first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. It is the world’s largest religious building and is incredibly huge. There are kilometres of bas reliefs (stone carvings) that depict scenes from Indian literature. They are very intricate and cover most surfaces.

This is the central area:

During our 3 day visit to Cambodia we covered a lot of ground. We took a taxi from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and back in a bus. It is about a 5 hour trip each way, passing through 4 provinces. While in Siem Reap we took a drive out to the countryside one day in a tuk-tuk so see some animals. We went to an animal reclamation centre, which rescues ill-treated animals or those slated for illegal trade and either takes care of them, prepares them for re-introduction to the wild, or breeding. Sadly, most animals have been in contact with humans for so long that they will be permanent residents of this facility. Here are a few of the birds, the first one is a type of ibis I believe:

Not sure of what kind these guys are but this is momma with her 2 month old chicks:

After that we went to a butterfly farm, just for the girls. Of course, they LOVED it!



This one was quite large, probably 20-25 cm across.

Taking a tuk-tuk is a great way to really see the countryside and all the lovely people.



This our driver for 2 days, MJ, and the girls pretending to drive the motorcycle. MJ was a great driver if anyone will be in the area!

We’ve spent our last week in Thailand in the capital city of Bangkok. It is yet another busy, loud, kinda dirty Asian city. Oh I sound so jaded, don’t I? Well cities are not really my thing so I guess I am biased. There are, however, a few beautiful sights to see while in Bangkok, and the dining is great!
We went on a sundown dinner cruise on a traditional Thai boat one night.

The food was forgettable but the sights were beautiful.
The Chao Phraya river is definitely the busiest river waterway I’ve laid eyes on. Long express boats zipping up and down, leaving you mere seconds to get on or off; larger long-distance ferry boats; cute little touristy boats to cross the river from one chi-chi hotel to the next; long, long barges barely floating under their loads; and traditional long-tail boats with their deafening motors and funny outrigger-like propellor shafts.
Sundown view of Wat Arun, the ‘Temple of Dawn’. Guess we got it wrong by about 12 hours…

When you live in a busy city with gridlocked traffic, a motorcycle is really the only way to get around. You have to adapt if you want to bring along your favouite furry friend:

Today we spent the afternoon at the Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. Impressive. The Thais sure know how to dress up a building!



This guy was all over the place on the many murals, he is one scary dude:

After we left the palace grounds we walked along the street for a while. We found that even monks need DVDs!

And, as a final image from Thailand, our little Madeline Lily and her sister among the much-revered water lilies…

We went to visit a nearby wat, or Buddhist temple. It also had an impressively huge buddha statue.


Afterwards we went to some gardens and this is the tribute to the king’s palace.