We have arrived in Munich, Germany, to visit our friends Dana, Norman and their dog, Maya. Since we arrived on a weekend we took the opportunity to visit the mountain village of Garmisch. It’s less than an hours drive from Munich, especially when you take the German Autobahn!! Heading up to 240…

There just happened to be the Men’s Downhill World Championships happening there that day as well. The real bonus was that a Canadian, Erik Guay, WON!! Unfortunately we did not have Canadian flags but we were all yelling GO CANADA with great pride!

Here he is arriving at the post-race medal ceremonies:

We also went up a cog railway and gondola to reach the highest point in Germany, the Zugspitze!

Click on this photo for a larger image:

At the top you can take a short walk and end up in Austria.

I fittingly enjoyed an apple strudel and a Gluwein:

And one of my favourite photo subjects with the Austrian alps behind:

It was a spectacular day for Canadians, including us!

After Berlin we took the train to Prague. It was a lovely scenic ride along a river valley. Once in Prague our jaws dropped open at the sights. It was difficult not to take photos of absolutely everything. The intricate detail on the buildings was magnificent. I can now see why people rave about Old World architecture. Here are a few street scenes:




This is the famous Wencelas Square, where thousands have gathered over the centuries, beginning with horse trading in the 13th century and continuing up to 1989 when Communism came to and end.


We went to the Prague Opera House to see the ballet Cinderella. The girls were captivated from start to finish. It was a lovely show and we felt very cultured in our box seats in such a grand theatre.

Here we are on one of the most famous bridges in the world, the Karluv Most, with the Prague Castle in the background.

The girls were very interested in this artist sketching a dog from a photo.

The clock on the Old Town Hall and the Tyn church beyond.


St. Vitus Cathedral within the Palace grounds.


A few night shots:


As you can see, this city is steeped in history and art. We are very thankful to have had a chance to visit this place.

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!