Author: Linda

This is my second blog......all my travel journals from 2001 and to current. My original blog was about dealing with grief....my husband, and travel companion, passed away 5 years ago. We had some fantastic vacations and I miss traveling with him but life does go on and I know he would want me to carry on with my passion. I am hoping that my grandchildren will read this blog and the other one some day. They no longer learn cursive writing in school so no chance that they'll be able to read through my handwritten journals.....and I doubt that they'd be able to read my handwriting! I'm not a writer by any means.....so hopefully you can ignore all my grammatical faux pas. Grief blog: I am a widow......a new widow. That's me! I feel that writing, regardless of how grammatically wrong, spelling included, is incredibly therapeutic. My husband died at the age of 63, with so much life left to live, from kidney cancer. He was diagnosed back in July of 2010. We knew it was not curable but hopefully treatable for a good number of years with all the new medications that had come out....but we knew a day would come that those meds may no longer work. Over the years I became a Caregiver, which really means a supportive spouse. I become obsessed with researching his disease, finding ways to deal with the side effects of the cancer, side effects from the treatments, anything and everything that would make life better for him. Almost 4 years of my life were devoted to making life better for my husband. I wanted him so badly to feel good, at least better and did everything in my power to make it so. I tried hard to keep our life as normal as possible but soon discovered that we had a new normal, or as time went on, newer normals...... We took one day at a time, one step at a time....what more could we do. I had, I thought, prepared myself for THAT day. I really thought I was prepared but nothing, absolutely nothing can prepare you for THAT day. I hope this blog of my feelings and emotions can help someone along the way dealing with this. Grief is such an individual thing....everyone deals with it differently, in the best way they can. There is no right way and no wrong way.

Istanbul 2022

This is part 3 of my trip to Uzbekistan. Using Turkish Airlines we had to go through Istanbul so thought we might as well spend a few days there. Back in 2009 my husband and I spent a week in this fantastic city and we both just loved it. My daughter is on this trip with me and had not been to Istanbul so that gave me an excuse to go back and for her to see it, hoping that she’d love it just as much as I do.

From Istanbul we carried on to Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Munich, which will be my next post, or posts, but I thought Istanbul deserved it’s own post because of it’s uniqueness. It is such a mix of east and west…..not quite like Uzbekistan and not like Europe either…..

June 5 Sun

R, A, R, C, Linds and I shared 2 taxis to the airport.

Rustam got up to make sure check out went smooth and to see us off. Because it was so early the hotel had prepared little boxed lunch/breakfast goodies for us, which was really nice! A sandwich, cookies and a banana.

We all got checked in for our flight to Istanbul, no issues with that or going thru immigration.

Turkish Airlines again. Great airline. Just over 4 hours back to Istanbul. Arrived around 12 noon and gained back two hours!

Said bye to the Haymans and Batstones as we all headed off …..they on to Italy and Linds and I into the city for 3 nights.

Grabbed a taxi into the city. Flat fee of 350 Turkish Lira or 20 E. Pretty reasonable considering the new airport is pretty well an hour out of the city.

Our hotel, Blue House Hotel, is in a good location in Sultanahmet, right across the street from the Arasta Bazaar. Nice little room, great view of the Blue Mosque. Rooftop terrace/restaurant with views in all directions, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. (I booked thru Booking.com as their website is not in English)

We are going on a city walking tour tomorrow so just spent the afternoon wandering around Sultanahmet. Up to the square between the BM and HS, thru the bazaar. Great area to wander thru. Showed Linds the Ferman Hotel where we stayed the last time and a couple of restaurants that we ate at. So many great shops……spent forever looking at mosaic lamps trying to figure out how we’d bring a couple home. So many lovely craft shops…really nice kilim bags. A lot of touristy type shops too…many selling luggage! Some great restaurants. Heard the call to prayer a couple times….just love it.

*The unlit Blue Mosque…..spot light is just not working!*

Had gotten quite windy and was actually a bit chilly so we headed back to the hotel to get sweaters and decided we’d done enough for the day so just went up to the rooftop terrace to have dinner, hear the last call to prayer of the day and wait in anticipation of all the lights coming on. Sadly for us the Blue Mosque is NOT lit up, other than a couple of spot lights shining on it. It’s undergoing extensive renovations. How disappointing because I really wanted Linds to see it. Hagia Sofia was lit nicely though. Too bad because that is one of the main reasons we picked this hotel because of how lovely it was at night with both those buildings lit up…..loved the BM with the birds flying around the minarets at all hours of the night! Oh well, was not to be!! But still a great view. Decided to buy a bottle of wine…..they will keep whatever you don’t drink for the next day. Was cheaper than buying it by the glass. Dinner was pasta in a ragu sauce, was just OK. Bread was good!

Went for another little walk around and then back to do a bit of laundry and to bed. Another long day. Looking forward to our walking tour tomorrow and meeting up with James and Alli.

June 6 Mon

Slept OK-ish. Not the most comfy bed. Up with the first call to prayer. Got dressed and went down to the breakfast room hoping to find some coffee at least. Was only 6:30 and breakfast isn’t until 8. The hotel night guy was still on so asked if there was coffee anywhere. He said to go have a seat outside on the patio and he’d check. A few minutes later out he comes with a very hot and very strong cup of coffee for me. How nice was that!

The hotel patio faces the back of the Arasta Bazaar….it’s quite a narrow short street. What comes along but a HOHO bus!! I’m pretty sure we didn’t see them driving around these little old narrow streets the last time….maybe he was just relocating?? It barely made it around the corner….actually had to back up and make a second attempt.

Breakfast was the usual…..tomatoes, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs, cereal, yogurt and some OK pastries and very good coffee.

Off to our meeting point for the tour at 9. It’s across from Sultan Ahmet Park (not to be confused with Sultanahmet Square!!), which is now surrounded by gates and a check point if coming from the other direction. We just walked thru with no problem but they were checking bags of people coming into the park. Seemed sort of odd because if you walked around the block and came into the park from the same direction we came from there is no security checks….seemed sort of pointless but whatever.

Met up with Alli and James…..they arrived around 10 last night and are staying at the Pera Palace Hotel. James found this tour thru the Airbnb site. Good deal for a full day $46US. Our guide is Ozur.

First stop was the Hippodrome. Explained the history and the obelisk (Egyptian). There is a big museum right across from it but we didn’t go in. Normally we would have gone to the Blue Mosque but he said it is not worth it now while the renos are happening….too much scaffolding, areas blocked off etc. Was a little disappointed the Linds wouldn’t get to see it because it is pretty beautiful.

Hagia Sofia was next. I think this is the best building ever!! The sheer size of it is just overwhelming, inside and out. It’s now converted back to a mosque so head and knees have to be covered. We no longer had access to the second floor mezzanine which was disappointing too as that is where some of the great frescos were uncovered and the view looking down into the main area was great. Apparently they have left them because of the historical/archeological significance ….thank goodness!! During prayer they lower curtains over the mosaics. Ozur told us the history, built over 1600yrs ago in Byzantine times by Justinian as a Christian church (Greek Orthodox?). Over the centuries it’s been a church, a mosque, a museum and now back to a mosque (2020). There are no words to describe the inside of the building. Beautiful, huge marble columns with exquisitely carved capitals, looking up to the massive dome with light streaming in thru the windows, the lights, the artwork……it’s all amazing. There are just no words to describe this building!

Walked to the Grand Bazaar! Had a quick tour thru part of it and it’s history. Today it is basically the biggest “mall” in the world with over 4,000 shops. There are different areas….the spice market, the gold and jewelry shops, the carpet shops and basically everything else under the sun.

Leaving there we wandered thru the streets on the way to a bakery. The street scenes in Istanbul are fantastic. Each street seems to sell a specific product or service…..there is the electrical supplies and lights/lamps, the plumbing street, the hardware, housewares and so on….can easily spend hours just wandering up and down them. And the proverbial simit man walking up the street with them on a big tray or stacked on a stick. You can’t help but love it!

Bought goodies and snacks at the bakery to take with us to have on our tea break at a 300yr old tea house.. Cool little spot tucked away from the street. They offered us Turkish coffee or tea and a drink called the “Churchill”, which was a salty but very refreshing lemonade that was named after Winston Churchill as that is what he asked for when he visited. Lots of narghili pipes….everyone had a try. There were 8 of us on the tour so finally had a chance to chat with everyone.

After our break we walked to the Suleymaniye Mosque. Built on one of the seven hills of Istanbul. Very beautiful and almost as big as the Blue Mosque. Not quite as decorative inside but just as lovely. I had been in before and would have had to wear a cover up this time so I just waited outside and chatted with another tour guide…..who told me I need to go to Iran!! He said it’s very safe and very beautiful. Maybe one day! The view of the rest of the city across the Horn and to the Asian side.

The spice market was next….just a quick stop with history information.

We then bought tickets and took the tram up the horn to the “Old Jewish Quarter” an area now called Balat. Was up here in 2009 to explore a botanical garden run by the university/college or a mosque and there was little or nothing in the way of shops or restaurants….one little café with great views…most buildings were derelict with very few restored or livable …..how it has changed!!! For the better! It’s the new up and coming “hipster” area or as Ozur said it’s where all the cool people and the “tik tokers” come for pics. Many of the old ottoman buildings have been restored or rebuilt and painted in bright, lively colours, lots of shops and cafes, overflowing flower pots and vines, cobbled streets. Very hilly!! A great area that is now UNESCO protected.

Visited St Georges Greek Orthodox church. Very pretty from the outside. Inside the altar wall is embellished in gold! The whole thing is very ornate. There’s a piece of post on the wall that Jesus was supposedly tied too. If you touch it it will bring you good luck….we did, so we’ll see! Quite a few coffins (sealed) that hold the bodies of saints.

*Jesus was tied to this post….touching it brings you good luck (??)*

Wandered up and down all the pretty streets and alleys with Ozur pointing out various cafes, restored homes etc. Such a fun place.

Worked our way down to the waterfront park to catch the ferry back to Sultanahmet. Great views of the city skyline on both sides of the horn. Only a couple stops before we were back but enough time for a guy selling tea on the ferry ride!!

Could see one big cruise ship docked and another at anchor our in the straight.

Lots of walking but was a great tour. We went from 9AM until just after 4! James and Alli came back to the hotel for drinks on the roof top terrace and to enjoy the view….and the call to prayer! Then we all went to dinner at a café that Ozur had told us about Deraliye Ottoman Cuisine. Was really good.

J and A headed for the tram and Linds and I back to the terrace for night caps before bed.

What a great day…..long but very interesting especially Balat!!

June 7 Tues

Up early again….coffee on the terrace.

The original plan today was to take the tram up Istiklal Caddesi to Taksim Sq and have lunch at one of the cafeteria type places on the way back down. Ozur told us yesterday that area has changed! There aren’t that many left anymore and those that are are now mostly Syrian food….whatever that means?? That made me sad because that was one of the best days when we were here last time…..the main street was great with all the cafes and shops but it was down some of the side streets that we saw the best shops, produce stores and little family cafes. We moved it to the end of our to do list for today but now sorry we didn’t get there….ah well.

Decided that we’d go back and check out the spice market to get all the goodies we said we’d bring home for people (spices, coffee etc.).

First we went to the cisterns…..the Basilica Cistern are closed so tried the other one. Had to buy tickets for a specific time (11) so had time to wander a bit and grab coffee. The Cistern of Theodosius was NOT anything like the Basilica one. No information about it there at all. It’s 1600 yrs old and they put on a light show!! Which didn’t appear to have anything at all to do with the cistern. And much of the equipment for the light show is covering bases and columns so you can’t appreciate all the details on them. So that was a waste of time and money.

On to the spice market where we spent way too much time…..but so much too see!! Bought some Turkish delight and other little goodies to sample. Inside and outside….is wonderful. Inside the smells, the colours, the displays, the guys wanting to trade for camels LOL….outside there is the guy selling corn on the cob, umpteen different cheese stalls. Unless you are into gold and carpets this is the market to go to instead of the Grand Bazaar!

Thought we’d take a walk up to Topkapi Palace but long line ups to get in so passed on that and just found a nice little café for lunch. Spent a couple more hours just wending our way up and down streets and alleys. Many still use hand pulled carts for moving stuff from supply trucks on the main/wide roads to wherever up the narrow and windy streets. Found the textile district…..beautiful fabrics in a kaleidoscope of colours.

Thought we’d go to the Galata Tower and up to Taksim anyway. Walked across the top of the Galata bridge watching all the fisherman. Started heading up to the tower and decided that we’d had enough walking for a couple of days and we had bags to carry too so just headed back across the bridge on the bottom past the seafood restaurants.

Found a couple more nice little shops selling tapestry wallets and kilim bags. Finally made it back to the hotel around 7 and Linds was just done for the day. Went up to the terrace, had some appies and then just had dinner there too. Great evening….warm and no wind. Lots of ship traffic, freighters and a couple of cruise ships, tons sailboats out…so pretty. Got in our last call to prayer and the unlit Blue Mosque.

So glad we did that walking tour yesterday. Was great for Linds to see how beautiful this place is……I was hoping she’d like it as much as I do. Last time we spent a week here and still did not see all that we’d hoped see so was hopeless to make a dent in all the city has to offer in 2.5 days……you “see it” but you don’t really!!

*I hope they have the renos done by the time I come back!*

To bed pretty early for us after repacking/organizing all our shopping. Have ordered a taxi to 5:30AM for the airport. Back to Frankfurt and on to Berlin!

I hope to get back to Istanbul again one day. We didn’t make a dent in what there is to see here. Last time we did the ferry trip up to the last town (Andaolu Kavagi) before the Black Sea, we visited Kumkapi for the seafood, Taksim Square, went to a dervish cafe….all worth doing again. I still have not been to Dolmabahce Palace, the Princes’ Islands or explored the Asian side of the city.

Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Munich next!

Uzbekistan 2022 – Bukhara, Khiva, Tashkent…..Part 2

May 31 Tues

Up early….before daylight! Slept pretty good…was so dark it was great. Beds were a little hard.

Gathering room not open so no coffee first thing. Sat outside updating my journal until it starting getting bright out and those damn little flies appeared. Just horrid little things….they don’t seem to bite but buzz around and land on your face. Finally opened the big room and got some coffee and sat in there until everyone else appeared.

Breakfast was good. Hard boiled eggs, toast, delicious crepes with honey and fruit preserves.

Not a lot to do around here but spending another night with a full day down at the lake might have been a nice little break to have. These tours keep you very busy!

Packed up and back on the road by 9. Very, very hot today 40C+.

Drove back down the bumpy dirt road to the highway which was reasonably OK…..since, according to Rustam, it’s a “German” road, not a Russian road. So as Rob pointed out since the Russians have been gone since 1991, it is technically a crappy Uzbek road lol…. Passed signs for roaming camels but didn’t see any,

Stopped at the last remaining, or at least somewhat remaining, caravanseri that is in the area (Rabat- I-Malik XIc). Not too much of it restored at this point other than the entryway, which is beautiful. But you get the idea from the bases and outlines of buildings.

They were double walled with the animals around the outside and the people inside. Different sized rooms for larger groups. You would have been able to get food and water and people/traders could do their bargaining. I thought it was pretty amazing to be able to touch bricks that had been handmade over 1000 years ago! Many were still pretty much intact.

Across the street was the ancient cistern also from the 11^th c. Restoration work was done but surprisingly it was still reasonably intact. The roof was built very high so the water wouldn’t condensate (on the hot summer days especially so it wouldn’t drip down ) and stay fresh from the spring……the spring is still there but sadly now very dirty just from nothing being done to it for centuries.

Back on the road to Bukhara. The Silk Road was called the “Great Trade Route” however as the story goes, Kyrgyzstan had the best and most beautiful horses that they would trade with other countries. The only place at the time that you could get silk was from China, who would not trade it, only sell it. They wanted the Kyrgs to sell them some of their beautiful horses…they said no, that they would only trade their horses for silk and stuck to their guns!! Hence from that point on the Great Trade Route became known as the “Silk Road”. True or not, it’s a fun story.

Not nearly as dry and desert-y as we got closer to Bukhara. Still very hot though (38C). It’s quite a modern big city.

*One of the nice big courtyards at the hotel*

We are staying just around the corner from the old walled part of the city at the As-salam Hotel. Built very much in the local style of buildings with a couple of really nice inside courtyards. Our room is HUGE! Two king size beds. Appears to be a family room.

Had an hour or so to relax before heading out on our walking tour.

Around the corner from the hotel is a big parklike area with cafes and restaurants surrounding a little manmade lake/pond. Tons of people out and about, lots of big shade trees. A quick tour of the area around the park….did not go into the Nadir Divanbegi Madrasah but what a beautiful building.

There are storks, or I think they were called firebirds, mosaics that are stunningly gorgeous….the storks appear to be carrying off sheep (??) but don’t recall the story behind it. Also a statue of a Khoja Nasreddin on a donkey….. a folklore character throughout the Muslim world…stories about him are usually comical but also have subtle messages for all!

Into the old walled city thru a gate. Just amazing! Lots of great restoration work (started in the 1920’s) has been done and is ongoing. Lots of beautiful brick buildings. Not many have a lot of coloured tile work on them. Due to the weather in the area it wasn’t practical to use it because it would be eroded away by the hot, dry and windy summers.

The first stop on our tour was to a puppet maker. Hand puppets, stick puppets. Had a little demo of how they make them and the history of puppet shows in Uzbekistan. No heavy handed sales pitch, which was good. As lovely as some of them were, just not my thing.

Great markets…..3 different ones that are identified by the larger main dome at the entrance to each one. Beautiful clothes and scarves. Right in the middle is an excavation site that was found when taking down old Soviet statues. When they started digging to plant trees they discovered the buried ruins.

Next stop was the embroidery shop….beautiful stuff. Then an art shop….might go back and check it out tomorrow for one of their smaller silk road paintings. Last shopping stop was at a knife store….lovely brass stuff. Linds bought me a tiny pair of stork scissors for knitting and sewing….the guy engraved Bukhara on them for me.

More walking and touring. There is an old entryway to a trading dome that had been buried as well. A number of madrasahs and the “Friday” mosque (will see tomorrow)…..just when you think you’ve seen enough for one day you walk around the corner and there in all its glory is the stunning Kalyan minaret! You can’t help but go WOW when you see it in the square. It is beautiful! All plain bricks in various intricate patterns right up to the top. R told us the story about the guy that built it and why it took so long….years actually. Bricks drying, weather etc. The foundation was dug very deep, 20 or 30 ft underground, to ensure its stability along with how the bricks were placed. The bricks are held together with a mixture of camel milk and egg whites (?). There is a story told by the carving on the minaret….the detail is incredible. Regardless of how the bricks were held together it has withstood a lot during the 1000 years since it was built, earthquakes, invasions and rocket blasts from the Soviets who wanted to get rid of it…..after numerous attempts they thankfully just gave up leaving a few holes in it, which were easily repaired.

The minaret is also referred to as the “lighthouse of the desert”. At night a fire would be lit on the top so caravans traveling at night would be able to see it.

Some free time to wander and then back to the hotel to rest our feet and have a bit of a happy hour in the courtyard.

Bukhara is just spectacular!!

Dinner at the “Old Buhkara Restaurant”. Great views of everything lit up at night….just simple plain coloured flood lights which make it just beautiful (unlike Registon in Samarkand at night!). I had the BBQ chicken wings and French fries that were more like potato wedges (v.g.) Russ had the lamb shank which looked fantastic….he said it was delicious! Andrea and Linds managed to attract a stray cat, or two of course. Super spot.

Still really warm on the way back to the hotel. We walked thru the park/lake area which at 10PM was crazy busy. They have little motorized cars for kids to drive, so we were dodging them and strollers. Lots of stands selling all kinds of treats…drinks, ice cream etc.

We all had a few drinks (our own liquor….none sold at the hotel but OK to have it) and recapped the day then to bed.

What a busy day…..so much to absorb! Makes me want to see more of the “Silk Road”.

June 1 Wed.

A bit of a later start today. Strange set up at breakfast. It’s down stairs in a long narrow room, right next to where some ladies were doing the guests laundry (cheap here at $5 a bag)! OK breakfast. Good pastries and good coffee.

On the bus by 9 for a bit of tour around the city first. Drove by the GUM store/mall again, the big new stadium just being built. Quite a big city with some nice treelined streets and a mix of new and ancient buildings. There are still a few pieces of the original wall here and there….most has been restored and looks rather new.

Our first stop was to visit a tomb which is in a lovely big park where all sorts of fun things were being set up for “National Childrens Day”….it’s a holiday in Uzbek! Lots of rides and games, food booths, people in animal costumes, more of those little cars they can drive, lots of tables set up to sit around. Fun…busy and noisy place.

The lovely park has the tomb of Ismoil Samaniy from the 9-10^th century, purported to be the oldest of this type of mausoleum in Central Asia. It survived almost intact because it was buried under mud for centuries….discovered in the 1930’s. It’s small and simple by Islamic standards but very beautiful and I guess simple in the sense that there is no colour tile or ceramic work on it. You can clearly see the intricate patterns made by the different sized and shaped plain bricks. He was a kind, caring, simple man….and wanted a tomb that reflected that.

Out and thru where all the restaurants and fruit vendors were. Some “pop up” food stands…..where they use real china to serve the food on!!! Wagons of fresh melons and cherries along the walkway to the lake/reservoir where the longest and biggest part of the original wall is.

On the bus and to the Bukhara“Friday” mosque. A “Friday” mosque is the main mosque in an area where most people go on Fridays as opposed to their small local mosque or praying at home (or wherever…). Didn’t go in as it was close to call to prayer time. The capitals and columns are made of tree trunks as opposed to stone because forests were once in abundance in this area. The park where the mosque is has a metal tower, the skeleton of what was a Russian built water tower in the 1920’s. It burnt down in the 60’s and it’s now a restaurant. Lots of big shade trees which was lovely because it was HOT!!

Our next site was the Citadel of Bukhara built in the 4^th c BC!!! A very important oasis at times thru the history of the silk road. Very impressive! To enter it you walk up a long ramp….no stairs so horses/camels and their riders could access the stable area inside. There is a big open area courtyard which is the greeting and throne room…..vendors selling souvenirs and carpets. Nice little museum with interesting artifacts….unfortunately not all descriptions were in English so at a loss for what some of the stuff was. Some supposedly original doors, not sure about that but definitely old. Many tree trunk columns with no colour embelishments.

Outside for a walk around the citadel to see the walls of it. Massive structure!! Can clearly see the wooden posts between the bricks which were used like rebar to strengthen the walls. A poor old camel tied up in the shade waiting around for someone that might want a ride.

Back into the old town for a look at the Kalyan mosque and the madrasahs by the minaret. So much history here….R showed us pictures of the damage done by the Red Army when they tried to destroy the minaret. Luckily they didn’t succeed! Also a great story about Stoddart and Conolly. Inside, the madrasah and mosque are beautiful.

The size of the mosque is deceiving….once inside it’s a huge L shaped building….can hold up to 10,000 people.

Chashmai-Morab restaurant for lunch. Terrific views in all directions from the top floor. We also got to enjoy the call to prayer. Just such a beautiful place!

Free time!!! So many beautiful things here. Gorgeous white cotton blouses….so many to choose from, lovely embroidered jackets and scarves galore. Browsed around and ended then back to the embroidery shop to pick up pot holders for gifts…..great displays of all the different types and colours of silk thread.

So, so hot today….38C. Back to the hotel for a rest and to get cleaned up for our “family” dinner this evening. Updated my journal, met up with some of our group for drinks in the courtyard.

Dinner tonight was at Laziz House in the Jewish Quarter. R gave us a tour of the area on the way. Very interesting area, it’s a maze of narrow alley like streets, there is still a Jewish school, a synagogue and a cemetery. Only a few hundred people remaining where once there were 20,000+. The caretakers of the synagogue and cemetery are, or were a Muslim family…..and they all get along just wonderfully!!

Laziz House is sort of a strange set up. Basement/ground floor was originally for animals but now it’s a rather large courtyard with the kitchen. While doing their renos they found some large urns buried and reported them to the artifact people…..they were hundreds of years old. Luckily they didn’t have to stop their digging. Up to the second floor terrace where there are a bunch of other tables all set up for guests. Only 8 of us so we had a private room (we were the only guests). Very pretty with a nice table set for us. A wall with notches/shelves for all the good dishes! Appies were deep fried cauliflower, a veg salad with eggplant, roasted zucchini and peppers and a popover type thing with meat (sort of a samso)….all were very good! Next was a delicious veggie soup. Main course was a chicken stirfry with rice which was just OK. Was a great evening chatting with Laziz, who is the son of the owner.

There are many places like Laziz House…..they’re not really restaurants as you can’t just walk in off the street. The dinners are set up thru tour guides for their groups, big and small, which is why there are different sized areas. I think R said they have to get a license or permit of some kind.

Enjoyed the rest of the evening sitting in the courtyard back at the hotel. There is a large non-secular Muslim group from the UK now staying here. Men wearing the head thingie and robes, women in abayas and or chadors (none have face coverings) All very pleasant, nod and say hello as they go by….not sure what they think of us sitting there drinking and smoking though!

Thought it would be hard to beat Samarkand but Bukhara is pretty spectacular…..not as big and just as much wonderful history.

Long bus ride to Khiva tomorrow.

June 2 Thurs

Up really early…….breakfast at 7 and on the road by 8.

One last stop in Buhkara at Chor-Minor (1866-1907). Another beautiful building. It was originally a gate house for a mosque and madrasah both long gone now. It was built by a rich Turkman merchant. Courtyard with big trees, potted plants. Nice little shop just inside….found the picture I was looking for!

Long drive today, probably close to 9 hours. Just outside of Bukhara there are lots of cotton fields that must be kept wet now during the growing season. They have pretty much drained the Amu Darya River to irrigate the fields. This goes back to when the Soviets thought they’d like to grow cotton in an area that they shouldn’t grow cotton!! Got rid of the veg and grain farms and made people grow cotton….not sure what they’ll do when the river is completely dried up, it’s pretty close now. Under the Soviets it was compulsory that EVERYONE took time off from work to go and harvest the cotton……

First thru the red desert, which isn’t very red and then the black desert, which isn’t black!

Was incredibly hot at 9AM. The first hour or two we traveled on the very crappy, teeth rattling “Soviet” roads, which in some places weren’t even driveable with our bus, local buses, semi-trucks and cars having to drive off and around the road!!! In a few places, it was one way traffic, and not because of flaggers….there was only enough road for one vehicle at a time. Not sure how the people have put up with this…..can’t imagine any North American putting up with incredibly crappy roads like this. Finally on to the “German” road. Better for sure but still pretty rough. We saw that they are building new “Uzbek” roads but nothing usable yet. Sort of an odd way to build a road….new paved part for a kilometer or so, then gravel with graters and machines, then another bit of paved road….just strange to us.

Many donkey carts and people walking along the road but no sign of houses anywhere.

The only green-ish-ness is tumbleweeds!

Stopped for a break at a pretty good little rest stop. Little bar/restaurant, clean bathrooms. R cut up the melon he’d bought this morning…..still nice and cold from being up next to the AC on the bus! Bought drinks and snacks. It was beyond HOT…..40+C. Apparently in summer it can easily hit 50!

Dozed on an off, took lots of pics out the window. Just a lot of the same thing to see….desert, tumbleweeds, the odd cart.

Arriving in Khiva was such a thrill…..as with all the other cities you go thru the new modern parts with big buildings, nice big boulevards, shopping malls etc…….then you see the ancient walls of the old city (which you can walk around). It is truly like arriving in the land of Aladdin and fairytales!! Very pretty and magical.

Our hotel is the Hotel Grand Vizar. Cute little lobby but no area really for us to congregrate and chat or have drinks. Has a great rooftop terrace with spectacular views in every direction but no covered area so unbearable to spend time up there during the day. Our room is down a few stairs, small and basic but clean. No view….except for someones little courtyard/carpark area.

Off on our walking tour mid afternoon….brutally HOT here. This place is just glorious….so much to look at as you wander along.

Khiva has the tallest minaret in Central Asia and it is beautiful. Very plain brickwork but with a bit more coloured tile work than in Bukhara. The best minaret though was the one that never got finished. It was to be the tallest one in the world at that time…..would have been 80m tall (approx 250ft) but only got to be 20 some meters. The tile work on it is exquisite….very detailed and beautiful.

*Tallest minaret in Central Asia on the left*

To the main square and into the old fort. UP a very steep, narrow old stairway to the roof/lookout spot to get a good overview of the city. Fantastic place. You can see the width and depth of the old walls (can walk around the entire thing), all the minarets and domes.

Much restoration work done here as well. A bit of controversy about it though….it is such a beautiful storybook place but did they overdo the restoration??? Would like to believe that this is just how it looked back in its glory days!

Tonight was another “home” type dinner but the place was set up like a real restaurant. As with the others, it’s for tour groups and not just anyone off the street. It’s on the rooftop with terrific views all around. Delicious appies to start….beet and apple salad (v.g.), a rice salad (v.g.), eggplant with tomato and a fantastic squash and zucchini salad (v.v.g.). Whatever the dressings were is what made them taste so good and each one very unique!

*Lagman is a traditional dish….much like a spinach pasta*. Served like pasta or as a soup

Two different kinds of flatbreads…a regular one and one that was made with pumpkin (v.g.). For the main course both Cheri and I had the stuffed peppers, mine was very good with stuffed eggplant and a green pepper, hers not so much…it was more like cabbage rolls. Russ had the variety plate of dumplings….various cheese and meat stuffing, said they were meh, some good, some not so. Linds and the others had the “lagman”, which is like spinach pasta in a sauce…..was only OK, again lacking in flavour (some places serve it more like a soup). So not the best main courses but everything else…the view, very attentive service, the company and even the wine made up for any shortcomings in food. Only one other group there.

Not sure if it’s just too soon after covid or what but we have not seen too many foreign tourists, in groups or on their own. Quite a few from Russia and some of the other Stans staying at the same hotels.

Walking back to the hotel was almost magical!! More people out and about, probably because it was still hot but not anything like during the day. Lots of vendors selling hats, tiles, scarves, souvenirs etc., guys out prepping grills for kebabs…I think we are early eaters compared to the locals. The buildings are lit up and just glow. Clear sky with a crescent moon…..just cannot get better than that! Truly a fairytale place.

Up to the hotel rooftop to enjoy our beverages and the fantastic view. Still quite warm at 10PM.

Such a good day, even with the long, bumpy bus ride. Khiva is magic!

June 3 Fri

A nice later start today. Definitely an interesting day!

Good continental type breakfast and good coffee!

Great walking tour today…..more info on the minarets and towers, lots of pretty gardens with nice areas to sit etc. R told us that some areas may not be accessible because the president was coming here for a visit with the president of Tajikistan. But that was not the case at all as we seemed to be able to go anywhere we wanted! We saw all the prep that was being done in the main square, gazebo getting set up, dancers practicing, lots of guys about in traditional garb/uniforms, groups of security detail.

We visited the old madrasah in the fort, walking right thru the centre of all the prep. People that were part of the celebration for the presidents were using the madrasah area to get dressed and organized. Next on to the Juma (is means Friday mosque) mosque, which was incredible. Very old and dark….all wooden pillars, a couple of which were (supposedly) original dating back to the 10thc. All the pillars have camel felt wrapped around the bottom to deter the bugs from eating the wood. A great little museum. Was nice and cool in there compared to outside…..40C+ again!

*Camel felt around the base to deter bugs*

On to the harem. On the way the guys stopped to try on those big furry/wooly hats…great photos! The harem was really interesting….had different areas for each of the wives (there were usually 4 of them!), each one just a little different and with their own entrances so the wives didn’t have to see each other. The other women (concubines) would be up on the second floor watching, thru mesh/woven windows, whatever activity was happening in the courtyard. Interestingly when the concubines got too old (?) they “retired” to outside the harem to live sort of normally…they would never marry so not sure how they survived…maybe they got a pension lol.

Another madrasah/museum with a chariot/cart presented to the khan from Tsar Alexander in 1876. Also a stone with an inscription at the mausoleum of Pakhlavon Mahmud, who was a wrestler and philosopher guy, kind of the St Francis of Central Asia.

Lunch was at a teahouse…..Teahouse Farrukh. Had those fun low tables and charpoys to sit around. Tried the low tables but just a bit difficult getting around and rough on the knees. Luckily they had normal tables and chairs AND beer, which was really refreshing in the heat. Just had some snackie stuff (dolmas, samso) for lunch.

Back in the main plaza everything and everybody seemed to be ready and waiting for the presidents. Unbeknownst to us, the main gates to the old city had been closed all day and people were not allowed to enter, so lucky we were staying where we were. R quickly told us to walk around the corner on to the walkway that they’d be coming in on as they were on their way. Found a spot to stand against the wall, in the shade.

*Uzbek Pres Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the right and Tajik Pres Emomali Rahmon on the left*

Within a few minutes in they came, surrounded by security (guys in blue suits with white baseball caps….didn’t see any weapons but pretty sure there were lurking somewhere) nothing like the security we’d have at home if the Prime Minister or President was visiting….we could have literally reached out and touched them as they walked by! Dancers were dancing, the big puppets where being waved around.

We were directed to follow the procession into the square. The presidents were seated in the gazebo set up in the centre, more dancers, music blaring, more of the guys in the traditional outfits and people walking around with big baskets full of bread and other treats! Lots of press people too. Russ and Andrea got interviewed for a local TV station!

After all the photo ops the presidents got up and went into the fort to have their meeting. They had also put out high tables (with lovely tablecothes) for people to stand around. There were grills being warmed up and tables full of other goodies (halva, sesame and nut balls, pastries, taffy…that was being pulled right there) that we were told to help ourselves to the food and drinks (water and juice).

Looking around for a bit we realized that besides with local dignitaries pretty well everyone else that was in there (maybe 100 or so people…) appeared to be tourists like us. We did wonder if the whole thing hadn’t been planned that way, for whatever their reason might have been, as we were told later that other than people that lived in the old city no one else was allowed in. Hmmmm….regardless it was fun and quite the experience for sure.

Just some miscellaneous pictures

Spent a bit more time there sampling all the goodies and back to the hotel for a rest and to get ready for dinner.

Absolutely perfect spot for dinner at Café Zarafshon….in the square at the big minaret! Heard what will probably be our last call to prayer in Uzbekistan (don’t have it in Tashkent) and as the evening wore on and all the lights came on it, was just awesome. Most people at the restaurant were locals this time. Many people wanting to take our pictures….one Grandma brought her granddaughter over to Russ so she could take a picture of her on his knee! We spent a lot of time on this trip taking pictures of people taking pictures of us!! The square soon filled up with vendors selling their good and lots of people just wandering around. Still quite warm but at least comfortable at this time. Dinner was just OK. Good salads. I had chicken which was pretty dry. Sampled a variety of dumplings that were ok.

A great ending to our visit to magical Khiva!

What can one say about Khiva….whether they embellished the restorations or not there is still lots of history and I just loved it!

Wandered a bit on the way back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening on the rooftop terrace finishing off our booze and chatting away. Back to Tashkent tomorrow….by plane thank goodness!!

June 4 Sat

Up early to catch our 9AM flight back to Tashkent. About a ½ hour drive to the airport in Urgench, which is the big-ish, new-ish city near Khiva.

Quick easy check-in thanks to R. Uzbekistan Airlines was excellent. Good service (snack and drink) during the flight and they have to have the best ever safety info video!! Flight was about 1.5 hrs.

Back in Tashkent and checked into Hotel Uzbekistan again by 11:30. We have another rather dowdy room at the front of the building this time. Carpets need restretching, AC barely works, cracked and rather moldy looking tile around the bathtub/shower. No pull on the toilet flusher….ah sigh. And this is supposedly one of the renoed rooms! Only one night this time.

R gave us a ½ hour to get sorted before starting our grand tour of Tashkent. Very hot today…..not as bad as the desert for sure. Tashkent is in what is classed as a “sub-tropical zone”. It almost has its own climate compared to the rest of the country.

LOL….we were worried we weren’t going to see enough of Tashkent so that is why we spent a couple extra days here at the beginning of this tour!! R kept us going all day!

Started the tour at the Timur statue and how it replaced a Soviet one. Then headed down Broadway. Got stopped in a park by a teacher and a group of students that asked if they could interview us. Lots of fun….asked where we were from, did we like Uzbek, what did we like about it etc.

Was lunch time so we stopped at a great little café just off of Broadway. Had “pub” type food. Chicken fingers and sliders were really good.

En route to the Independence Square we passed the house/palace that Duke Romanov had lived in. Beautiful building built in 1889, now a historical site. Came to the really lovely Mustakillik Fountain, art gallery on one side and the palace (Arch Duke someone) on the other. Was quite large, lots of people sitting around and just enjoying it. A few kids splashing away and the odd adult walking thru in their bare feet…..just trying to cool down I’m sure.

Independence Square is very nice. Another water feature and the monument to the independence of Uzbekistan. Originally had been a statue of Lenin but was taken down after 1991 and the new monument put up with a globe on top…the world surrounded by Uzbekistan (?). A sculpture of a woman and baby were added in 2006 to reflect “humanism” (?) . Very nice walk thru the park with big shade trees to Memorial Square and the statue of the grieving mother. The square is a memorial to all who lost their lives during WWII. All the names are displayed on the “Book Wall”. Almost half a million Uzbek soldiers lost their lives. Quite a tranquil, moving place.

Caught the subway and stopped at many of the stations we’d already stopped at except for one but R gave us a bit of the history behind each one which was helpful.

Chorsu market again….just as fantastic as it was the first time!! Went upstairs this time. Mostly candies, nuts, dried things, sweets, spices and packaged spice mixes for marinades….picked up a couple of the chicken ones, assuming that is what they are for based on the picture on the package!

Our bus picked us up and took us to the main Mosque complex where the original Quran is…..written on dearskin (no pics allowed). The mosque itself is pretty basic but nice. Some craft vendors set up in the courtyard outside.

Across from the complex the mega new Centre for Islamic Arts and Culture is being built. It’s being built as a memorial/legacy to the current president. R mentioned the cost but I don’t recall the amount other than thinking they might want to fix their roads first! The building is massive and will have a museum and be used as a conference centre.

Back to the hotel around 5. Cheri and Linds went in search of the one subway station we didn’t see, which is dedicated to Russian astronauts. Just enough time to have a couple of drinks in the hotel bar before heading out our last group dinner.

Sim Sim is the name of the restaurant. Sort of a huge bizarre place with many different areas. A couple big banquet type rooms and an indoor dining room. We sat outside at a big table but all around us were booths with velvet chairs and couches, all different colours. Lots of brightly coloured neon lights. Great people watching as it is “the place” to go in the city. Food was all quite good, wine too! Thought it might be expensive but was all really quite reasonable.

Crazy busy but fun day. Well over 20,000 steps and we only started at noon!

Night caps at the bar and said bye to Alli and James (who Linds and I will meet up with again in Istanbul on Mon). The rest of us are all on the same flight to Istanbul tomorrow morning….bright and early!

So glad this tour worked out the way it did and so happy that we came to Uzbekistan. What an amazing place it is. The history of the Silk Road, the history of the country thru the centuries is fascinating….and how it has recovered from Soviet rule.

After today we are all going our own ways. Rob and Cheri and Russ and Andrea are off to Puglia, Italy. After Istanbul Alli and James are heading to France.

Next blog post will be Linds and me in Istanbul and then from there we go back to Germany to start our visits to Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Munich!

Tours can be touch and go because of the group size and you are busy from dawn til dusk…but this one worked great. I am so glad we got to go on this trip! What a fantastic country to visit. It was all that I expected and more. Amazing history, beautiful and exotic architecture, wonderful people. Would love to explore the other “stans” one of these days.

I try to read as much as I can about where I travel to……”Sovietistan” by Erika Fatland and perhaps a bit academic, geopolitical etc. but “The Silk Roads: A New History of the World” by Peter Frankopan was an excellent read.

Uzbekistan 2022…..Part 1

Many, many…. and I mean many……. years ago I read an article in a National Geographic about Ibn Battuta and his incredible journeys on the Silk Road….I was fascinated! Over the course of my travels I’ve touched on bits and pieces of it (Venice, Istanbul, Xian, Beijing etc.) but none of those places had all the great architecture and the rich history of Central Asia.

My friend Cheri starting putting this trip together back in the spring of 2020, never thinking that covid would have such an impact on the world for so long! For us a tour was the best way to go for this trip…because of Turkmenistan and all the logistics of getting around.

She organized a private tour through G Adventures. We had to have at least 10 people to do it. Initially we had 14 people on board but as covid carried on over the course of the next year we ended up having a number of people cancel just because of all the uncertainty…..only 8 were confirmed.

The original tour was for both Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. We really did not know if the trip would be a go until February 2022 when some travel requirements had been lifted or changed. G Adventures was arranging our visas for Turkmenistan (they are usually only issued thru travel/tour groups). At the end of March we were advised that we would not be able to go to Turkmenistan so the tour would be scaled back to only Uzbekistan.

Once we finally had confirmation that the Uzbek trip was a go we were all scrambling to make our other travel arrangements on short notice (air, hotels, trains, etc) around this part.

Our travelers were Rob and Cheri, Russ and Andrea, Alli and James and my daughter Lindsay and myself.

For all of us Uzbekistan was the middle part of bigger trips…..we were all travel starved!!! We all connected up in Tashkent on May 27 coming from different directions.

May 23 Mon

Steve and Di dropped Linds and me at the airport around 12:30. Big line up to drop bags. Had to take my hairspray out of my bag……gave it to the ladies at the Hertz car rental booth, lol.

Flight delayed by 1/2hr. Took 40 minutes to get thru security. Air Canada/Lufthansa code share to Frankfurt.

Lufthansa 747. We’d booked and aisle and a window hoping for an empty seat between us but no luck. At least he was a small guy!

747’s have to be one of the worst planes…..at least Lufthansa’s. Absolutely no leg room and the guy in front of me put his seat right back pretty much immediately after we took off! Couldn’t even cross my legs….argh.

OK flight, other than the legroom issue. Pasta and wine for dinner….was good. Set up my foot hammock and took a gravol and managed to sleep for about 4 hours then dozed on and off until they served breakfast and hour or so before landing.

May 24 Tues

Arrived in Frankfurt just after 11AM. Always crazy busy at this airport but got thru customs/immigration quickly with no issues.

Out to wait for the shuttle to the Holiday Inn Express (Morfelden-Walldorf)….and wait and wait and wait! Finally had to phone them…..they don’t have a shuttle at the moment???? Took a taxi 28E.

Got checked in and arranged for a pick up in the morning to get back to the airport (6E each). Would not recommend this hotel due to location and lack of amenities…..unless it has changed in the last year.

Was quite a nice day. Warmish and sunny. Napped for a couple hours and went down to check out the restaurant……also not open at the moment. Only for breakfast and pizza later. Nothing much around this Holiday Inn other than a holiday park across the street with a couple of restaurant/bar options, so that’s where we went. About a 5 – 10 minute walk to the “Radhaus Biergarten” for dinner. Fun place! All the campers come for dinner and drinks. Hung around there for a couple hours. Very good schnitzel and beer!

Back to the hotel and to bed. Long day(s)!

May 25 Wed.

Another long travel day but glad we broke it up so at least got a reasonably good sleep in last night.

Up at 6:30. Enough time to get organized, have breakfast and be ready when the driver came at 8.

Flight to Istanbul was at 11:40. Turkish Airways….excellent airline! Got checked in and wandered around until boarding.

*Tasted much better than it looks! And the wine was OK too!*

Was a great flight. Had booked at the back of the plane so only 2 seats. Flight was approx 3.5 hours. My lunch was meatballs (kefte), rice, veg and a bottle of wine (v.g.). Linds had the pasta which was good too.

Arrived in Istanbul just before 4PM (one hour time change) so had about 3 hours to kill before our connecting flight to Tashkent.

The new Istanbul airport is massive!!! Because we were in transit we were directed to the area where we’d catch our next flight (B gate?). No security/immigration etc. Seems like we walked forever. Tons of restaurants, cafes and shops…..lots to keep you busy for 3 hours.

Headed to the gate and waited for the R and C and R and A to arrive. Their flight from Vienna was late so just made it before boarding started for the Tashkent flight!

Another great flight on Turkish Airways!! Linds and I ended up in the emergency row so extra legroom, which was OK but can’t keep anything under the seat, trays flip up from the armrest, screens are on the wall in front of you etc. Positive I guess if you need all that legroom but not something I’d pay extra for.

Approx 4.5hr flight to Tashkent. Fed us yet again! Great food and wine of course. Dozed on an off.

Arrived in Tashkent at just before 1AM! (2 hour time difference from Istanbul) No issues going thru customs/immigration, quick!. Because of the arrival time we’d booked the hotel for the night thank goodness!

Poor Andrea, a bunch of her credit cards and ID had fallen out of her wallet on the plane and didn’t notice until we were at the luggage carousel. They managed to get some of it back thank goodness, the rest we’ll have to check with Turkish Airways office in Tashkent later during the day.

Luggage came along, outside and found our driver. Even at that time of night the city looks amazing!! Big wide boulevards, lots of pretty treelined streets, huge buildings.

We’re staying at the Uzbekistan Hotel….a historic classic building built during the Soviet years. Massive hotel. Nothing open of course at 2AM for a drink or snack so got checked in and off to our room. Which is at the back of the hotel. We have a balcony that overlooks the city to the south I think. Hard to tell what’s all out there at this time of night though.

The room is rather shabby. Scratched up furniture, carpets need restretching, bathroom could use a redo….taps on crooked, toilet flush pull thing missing the knob, cracked linoleum and in some places pieces missing. But it seems to be clean enough and the beds are comfy so we’re good.

Can’t wait to get out exploring in the morning!

May 26 Thurs

Up around 7. Awake on and off. Slept OK but just not enough! Bright out around 4AM!

Our room overlooks the parking lot and out over the city but not too much to see. Lots of greenery and a few buildings.

The hotel doesn’t look much better in the daylight. Quite impressive just because of the sheer size of it from outside. Pretty gardens around it. Inside is another story. A bit rough around the edges. Could use new carpets and some updating. One or two elevators weren’t working. Ended up walking down. Seems to be a mishmash of businesses in the building with offices set up on the landings on some floors. Kind of strange.

Met everyone for breakfast just after 9. A big buffet with the usual variety of hot and cold food….Uzbek style so lots of middle eastern/asian options….and an egg guy for omelets, scrambled or fried! Good coffee.

Off to explore! Beautiful day. Warm and sunny. And find an ATM!

Walked thru the park across the street to Amir Timur Square. Very nice, clean and well maintained park with a huge statue of him in the centre.

Headed to “Broadway” (Saylgokh St), which is a pedestrian only street, a few shops selling snacks/junk food and ice cream, stands with games. Quite a few booths that were closed up. Not really any market type places with crafts or souvenirs. Apparently it’s not too busy during the day because it’s hot and there aren’t many tourists these days so they don’t bother setting up…..busier at night.

Found an ATM. 1 Million Som was just over $100CDN.

Traffic is crazy here. Very good roads though, wide boulevards and thankfully tunnels to get from one side of the street to the other!

Our plan was to head to the metro and check out all the stations but walked and walked in what we thought was the right direction but didn’t find one. Was good to just explore. Many BIG buildings, some very beautiful and some just a bit garish and over the top….almost like something you’d find on the Vegas strip! No names on most of them so no idea what they were. Lots of parks and green spaces. Streets are unbelievably clean! Everything very well taken care of.

*Many huge buildings….no signs or names on them so have no idea what they are*

We have two maps of Tashkent as well as google maps….which have pretty good details such as street names BUT have not seen many street signs! So we’re using landmarks, parks and hotels to figure out where we are.

*Palace of International Forums…venue for conferences, theatre.*

Found the Turkish Airlines office and luckily they did have her DL and everything else except for one credit card….so all good with that.

Discovered a market (Alay Bazaar) across the street from where we were and while going thru the tunnel found a map of the new “green” metro line. Great market with fruit, veg, spices and household items. All the food items are beautifully displayed. The place is impeccably clean too. All very friendly vendors….got a few samples of things too! Fun.

Was lunch time so off we went just down the street to the Wyndham Hotel for drinks and snacks. Beautiful hotel!

Took a different route back towards the hotel and came across the metro line that we had been looking for earlier on the road right beside the hotel! Talk about getting twisted around by the map!

Cheri found a restaurant a block or two away and made a reservation for dinner for us. Was getting hot and we’d already walked for what seemed like miles (12,000 per my fitbit!) so everyone decided it was nap time.

We do have AC in the room but just barely and cannot find any control type things on the walls or on the unit…..ah well!

Met in the hotel bar just before 6 for drinks. Had a glass of Uzbek wine (white)……very sweet and really quite terrible. Will stick with beer from now on.

Dinner was at Toku. Sort of an Asian/Uzbek fusion I guess. Really nice modern décor and very helpful staff that thankfully spoke some English….we are so lucky! It seems to be a bit of a high end restaurant. Food was delicious! I had the filet which was done perfectly and very tender.

Had a good glass of rose wine to go with it. Linds had goulash and a beer. Not cheap though, came to close to $80 for both of us with tip. Fun place….lots of big groups. Got busier as the night wore on.

R, C, A and R went back to the hotel, Linds and I took a walk thru the park (yes at night….well lit and lots of people) and down “Broadway”. Tons more people, families with little kids etc., at 9PM. More food and arts and craft vendors open, lots of game places set up….a whole big area with ping pong tables, blow up castles and slides for kids, other arcade type things for adults (punching bags seem to be a big thing!). Buskers in the tunnels. Fun, lively place!

Got back to the hotel just after 10. Very tired (jet-lagged).

The metro and big Chorsu bazaar tomorrow.

May 27 Fri.

Slept terrible. Went right to bed and slept for a few hours then up and read a bit, dozed on and off and finally just got up around 6. Bed was quite comfy.

Met everyone for breakfast around 9. Egg guy wouldn’t do scrambled today??? Same as yesterday…..good variety of hot and cold, lots of pastries. Good coffee.

Headed out for our subway adventure! No signs in English so we stood around the ticket booth for a bit just sort of watching how it all worked. A guy in line must have seen our bewildered looks and asked if we needed help. 1400 som (about 15 cents CDN) for one way. Luckily once thru the gate the signs were pretty straight forward so no problem getting on the right train going in the right direction. Lots of signs everywhere here that use both the regular (Roman?) alphabet and Cyrillic alphabet letters. Uzbek language is “Turik” and written using roman letters. Was Russian until the Soviets left in 1991.

We got on and off at the stations suggested in our books along the way! They are pretty spectacular. Chandeliers, tons of beautiful tile work, mosaics, artwork on the walls, decorative pillars. Each one had a different theme. Sadly many needed some work. Lots of burnt out bulbs in the chandeliers, broken and cracked tiles and a good power washing would have brought out all the bright colours. That said, it’s still pretty amazing to see all the work that went into these when they were built. And the system is very efficient!

People, young and old, immediately got up to offer us their seats!!! And wanted to speak English with us. Said thank you but we weren’t going too far. They’d ask where we were from and how we liked Tashkent and Uzbekistan…..and they wanted to take pictures with us! We look like them, or most of them, so not sure why??? Lovely people and very proud of their county. Uzbekistan is a secular country. Separation of religion and church is in their constitution. They seem to really like their president… “he is a good dictator” ??? Main religion is Muslim but a number of others as well, Christian, Buddhist. The mosques CANNOT do the call to prayer in the city. Interesting!! Most women wear western clothing, some hijabs and the odd one fully covered.

The Chorsu market is huge! Both outdoor and indoor buildings that look like big circus tents. Pretty much all food but also the usual market stuff….housewares, clothes, shoes etc.. Beautiful displays of fruit, spices, pastries, candies etc.. The veg displays are picture perfect. Bunches of grape leaves tied up for dolmas, pyramids of oranges and tomatoes. Also a section for cheese (many different kinds…soft, hard, creamy) and pasta/noodles. Long counters of eggs all stacked up (no refrigeration of course). The meat section includes beef, lamb, chicken and horse!!

Outside are the trucks with piles of potatoes and yams. The Cherry Festival is going on so tons of cherries on display. It’s all quite neat and tidy and very well organized. Didn’t go up stairs where there is much more. A big area half covered/outside for “take out”. Many different options…lots of plov and dolmas, grilled meats and of course the bread….tons of it and you can walk right into to where they’re making and baking it in the big ovens. Great market…..smells, sounds and sights all amazing. And clean!!

Across the street there are a few blocks of shops and stands selling household items, kitchenware and furniture. Bought a fun Tashkent bread stamp for around $1 CDN.

Huge mosque off in the distance. Too hot and too far to walk so just made our way back thru the bazaar to the subway station. Got off at Independence Square. Wandered around a bit then found a nice little place to have lunch and some fries/snacks for lunch.

Back thru the park to the hotel and saw a bunch of kids in uniform (cadets maybe?) having their picture taken on the Timur statue.

Found James and Alli in the bar at the hotel. Had a beer and caught up with them and waited for our tour guide to arrive at 6. I bought some tomato juice to put in my beer!! I don’t like the wine so far and can’t drink a lot of beer unless I put tomato juice in it to kind of smooth it out (we call it a “Calgary Red Eye”). Rustam who had been sitting in there too quickly figured out who we were and came over and introduced himself. Nice guy. He went over everything about the tour etc. Had a ½ hour or so to clean up, change and head to dinner.

“Sultan Saray” was a 2 minute walk from the hotel. Nice place which luckily had picture menus lol. So between those and Rustam we managed to order dinner. Family restaurant so no alcohol served. I had the variety plate which had dolmas, samso, dumplings, beef ribs and a little piece of “innard” sausage. It was all really good. Supposed to be traditional food…..I guess we’ll find out over the next week or two.

Was pleasantly still warm even at 10.

Back to the hotel for a nightcap and off to bed.

Must be up and ready to go by 9 tomorrow morning. Samarkand!

May 28 Sat

Slept better. Usual breakfast. No issues checking out.

Nice medium size bus. Can spread out and have our own window seat.

Left just after 9 heading to Samarkand!

First stop was a liquor store to pick up some beer/wine for later and then a grocery store to grab some goodies for our lunch. Long drive today so will save time not stopping for a long lunch.

We mostly traveled thru farmland growing wheat, cotton, vegetables and grapes. Many little farming villages or compounds as opposed to individual houses. Sort of a main courtyard entrance with all the bungalows attached. These people own their own homes and the land the house is on. The government owns the farmland which they rent back to the farmers. Many pruned down mulberry trees planted along the highway. Once the trees develop new growth and leaves in summer they’ll put the silkworms in them….too cold in winter to leave them in the trees. Quite a big silk business here, one of their main exports.

Many stork nests…they use every light post or high spot of any kind. They’re huge!

We asked Rustam about all the Chevrolet cars here….and that most of them are white! Chevrolet has a big factory in Uzbekistan that employees around 10,000 people. White because of the heat….keeps the car cooler apparently.

*Kazakstan to the left……why they just don’t re-route their highway I don’t know!*

The highway to Samarkand used to take a “shortcut” thru Kazakstan but for whatever reason that part of the highway can no longer be used, not exactly sure why. There are now barricades blocking the road so the bus, and any other vehicle, has to make a very strange u-turn and then backtrack on a road parallel to the one we were on. Why the Uzbeks haven’t just built a new road we’ll never know!

As we drove further it started to get hillier and quite dry. Kind of pretty, much like at home driving thru our Okanagan but not that dry. Stopped at a couple of places for breaks with absolutely disgusting bathrooms (squatty potty). Filthy and terribly smelly. Supposedly they’d been cleaned for us!! So surprising after seeing how clean and tidy everything was in Tashkent.

Arrived in Samarkand around 2. It’s quite spread out and the new part is a fairly large city with ½ a million people. Registon is the historic centre. Drove by on the way to the hotel…..massive, beautiful, impressive…just no words!!

Our hotel is the Registon Saroy. Cute little boutique hotel just around the corner from Registon. Very small rooms but a nice centre court yard. Got checked in and we were off on a walking tour and to the Timur tomb/mausoleum.

The street outside our hotel reminds me of Siem Reap except with a paved road. Many houses/properties in various stages of repair or renovation and/or just in disrepair. Ladies selling their Uzbek bread on the side of the road next to the hotel…..got samples as we went by. But no garbage, or very little…so impressed with the cleanliness of U, other than the bathrooms today!

A quick stop at Registon (5min walk from the hotel) just to have a look. We’ll spend the day there tomorrow. Pretty spectacular….just the sheer size of the buildings, the tile work etc. A couple of wedding parties getting pictures taken. Everyone wants their picture taken with us…..was invited to join the wedding party pics!! Pictures and to practice English. They, young and old, come right up to us even when Rustam is in the middle of talking…..he graciously just stops and lets them snap away.

Stopped at a craft/artisan/antique shop down an alley. Very pretty stuff…not cheap though. Linds found a collection of Japanese postcards from the turn of the century….why there I have no idea but they were pretty cool so she bought them (about $20CDN).

The tomb is about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. Under restoration so lots of scaffolding but very nice.

Beautiful well kept courtyard. Rustam explained the history etc. but was taking too long so Rob and I wandered off and into the mausoleum which was pretty spectacular. The inside is, or was, all gold.

Today it’s pretty well all gold paint. The detail and intricacies of the tile work and carving is unbelievable. You pretty much forget about the tombs that are in there and just sit and look at the walls and ceiling. Luckily only a couple people in there but by the time the rest of our group arrived other tour groups had come along and it was packed so you couldn’t appreciate all that was in there.

Wandered around the grounds looking at the ongoing restorations. Lion statues outside represent strength.

Carried on from there thru a park to see a Timur statue in the middle of the road/roundabout. R said it is very important to them to ensure that everyone knows he was truly their founding father. All Lenin and Stalin statues that were put up during the Russian occupation were replaced with Timur statues. The whole historic centre is a designated Unesco World Heritage sight.

Back on our bus to go to our “local family hosted” dinner. Drove by what used to be the Russian department store, GUM….now redone as a modern shopping mall.

Family has a big house with a large interior courtyard that’s set up to have these types of dinners. Cost is 110,000 som which is about $11CDN. Beer and wine for sale as well as vodka.

There was our table of 8, another table of 8 Brits and another table set up for a group of Italians that weren’t arriving until 9:30!

Dinner was the traditional Uzbek dish, plov, which is a beef, veg and rice one pot dish. Had a great little demo of how it is put together. A family member played some traditional Uzbek songs for us on a guitar.

Nice fresh raw veggies put out to put together a little salad. The most delicious little cucumbers ever!! Appies were two different kinds of somsa (meat and spinach), both really good.

They served the plov in two separate dishes, one for each end of the table. It’s topped off with quail eggs. First time having plov and it was good but not as flavourful as I was expecting. Dessert was a piece of cheesecake made with cottage cheese…very good and not overly sweet. Rustam did the tea pouring ceremony for us.

Good food, lovely family and just a great evening.

Drove by Registon on the way home to take pictures of it lit up at night…..oh yuck!!! Brightly coloured neon lights….a la Vegas!! I think it was really tacky to do this to such a magnificent historic site.

Back at the hotel around 10. Sat out in the courtyard having beverages and chatting for an hour or two.

Great day! Excited to explore more tomorrow.

May 29 Sun

Up early…..nice to have a little coffee maker in our room!!

Great little breakfast, continental style.

Right next door to our hotel is an old ruin of a small mosque. Some of the old tile is still beautiful.

Off to Registon. First Rustam gave us an explanation of all the buildings, the madrasahs and mosque, and the history of Samarkand. What an impressive site it is. So much great history here.

Over the centuries due to many factors, earthquake, war, weather and neglect, the site was pretty much a total ruin. Some restorations were started back in the 1920’s but only a few minarets were worked on. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that a complete restoration project was started and finally completed in the 1980’s.

The size of the buildings is incredible but all the intricate tilework and carving is amazing. The ridged domes mean they’re in the Persian design (as opposed to Central Asian??). Outside and inside the buildings are just beautiful….some original ceramic carving and tiles still exist but most is all restoration. I am just blown away by the detail that went into the decoration and the time that it took someone (historically and during the restoration) to do it all. Each pattern of tile and ceramic represents something spiritual or to do with nature. Some are outlined in black but I can’t recall why.

Spent all morning there and could easily have spent another hour or two. Some really nice little shops set up in the madrasahs. Bought a really pretty Christmas ornament! Beautiful woven jackets and scarves, leather purses etc. In one of the madrasah there are pictures showing the ruin and how the restoration was done.

Once back out in the square people wanted pictures. Lots of fun! A teacher came up and asked if her class could have a picture with us.

Walked thru a fun park where you can rent bikes for multiple people or go on a little rickshaw type ride. Booths selling candy and snacks. Passed the “Tomb of the Unknown People” and on to the Bibi Khanym Mosque. I think it was ruined centuries ago in an earthquake. The Russians started some restoration during their occupation but it was never completed….someone else is now working on it. More beautiful tile and ceramics.

To the Siyob Bazaar for a quick look around and an ATM.

Then lunch at a terrific little outdoor restaurant.

Had the best chicken kebab (anything grilled or done in a tandoor type oven seems to be called a kebab whether it is on, or ever was on, a stick??) Their grilled wings are so, so good. Really good French fries too. The ladies were making the samso in the oven right there….they get made and slapped up on the sides of the oven just like the bread.

After lunch it was to the Ulugbek Observatory. Sadly all except a little bit of the underground portion was destroyed because, even though he was Muslim, the higher ups decided what he was doing was blasphemous. He was an early day DaVinci…..born 5 or 6 centuries too soon. Nice park and museum dedicated to him. A great ruler but that was not what he wanted to be.

Shakhi-Zinda mausoleum and mosque complex next. Beautiful buildings in various stages of restoration. R. explained the difference between the original ceramic carving and the restored ones (more clearly defined openings and spaces) and about the black outline on some of the tile but don’t recall what it was. I am just blown away by the details that went into the decoration on these buildings and the time is must have taken people to do it all!!!

Inside the small mosque a mullah was carrying on a prayer session…..felt rather awkward being there so I moved on. The difference between a mullah and imam is that the imam is trained by a religious person/teacher and the mullah is self taught…both read prayer passages from the Quran. The mosque has doors from 1404-05….sign above translates to “the doors of paradise are open to the faithful”.

Beside the complex is a Muslim and Jewish cemetery!

Back to the hotel for an hour or so to have a bit of a break…..very busy today!

Before dinner we did a wine tasting! “House of D.L. Filatov Museum”. Wine from the Khovrenko Winery. Small but very nice and interesting wine museum about the Russians that started the wine business! Who knew!! Our tasting was lots of fun. The lady spoke only spoke Russian so Rustam translated everything she said.

Six different kinds wine, a brandy and a cognac with little snackie cheese and crackers to cleanse the palate. Some of the wines were pretty good. Rose was lovely but you can’t buy the wine there which was odd. Young girl from Russia was with us for the tasting. Her English was great. She was there teaching. Had been to school in the US and Norway, where her boyfriend was from. Fun chatting with her.

Dinner was at a local chain restaurant called Karimbek. I had the meatballs (good) and Linds and I shared a veg and rice side dish that was good. Fun busy place. They have a big room/hall at the back for parties. A big birthday party was happening so we got invited in to dance for a bit…..only James and I did. Mostly all women on the dance floor lol…..just like at home!!!

Back to the hotel around 10. We hung out in the courtyard (Rustam too for a bit) until almost midnight.

An amazing couple days in Samarkand! Can’t imagine it getting better than this!

What a long busy fantastic day!!

May 30 Mon.

Up early again…..had coffee in the courtyard. Same breakfast as yesterday. Was good.

On the road to our overnight in a yurt! First stop was at the Chashma Complex in Nurata. A sacred spring, a mosque and ruins from Alexander the Great when he came thru. Supposedly you can drink the water….but we didn’t. We did use it to wash our face and hands to become “youthful”! It’s kind of a family hangout. There’s a coffee and juice café, a mosque and the ruin site that is being excavated. You can take a short hike up the trail to see the ruins…..very early in the excavation so not a lot to see. The trail is lined with vendors selling souvenirs etc. At the spring R. grabbed a handful of grass to show how the fish keep the water clean. Didn’t see many fish at all until he thru in the handful then a zillion of them came from every direction to nibble on it. The fish are sacred too because of how they filter and clean the water (???). Fun place and interesting people watching. Lots of multi-generation family groups. Most of the old ladies were sitting on chairs in the shade! Had a call to prayer while there…..which is mesmerizing to me no matter where or how many times you hear it!

*Lots of Go’sht grills around!!* *It is slow cooked meat….translation is everything!*

Stopped at a supermarket to pick up goodies for our lunch break at Lake Aydarkul. Much hotter here than Samarkand.

After leaving the spring the landscape changed from fields of cotton and vegetables and mulberry trees* to being much dryer, it’s called the “Red Desert”. Just little tufts of grasses and scrappy bushes. Passed a few towns along the way, each with at least one “Go’sht” stand….it means meat! Not a terribly interesting drive….not much to see in any direction once you hit the desert.

*There are two different kinds of mulberry trees, the ones with the little white sticky fruit that people knock off and eat and the other with red berries/fruit that are used in the silk making trade.

On the drive Rustam told us bits of info about how the president has created more housing for young couples just starting out. They can get either an apartment or a house with a 20yr interest free mortgage. These new housing projects are usually quite a ways outside of the city or town though. Each and every town has a caged in soccer court! Very little if any garbage along the roadside. Saw big herds of sheep and goats in the middle of nowhere! Had to stop on the highway at one point to let a bunch cross….not a house or building in site!

The roads, even the highways, are in pretty rough shape….R called them “Red Army Roads”. In the desert, once off the highway or main roads, they’re all just dirt roads. Lots of turtles!!??

Finally after what seemed like hours of bumping along (was in reality only one hour!) we arrived at Lake Aydarkul. Lots of shade structures…..because it is HOT! Very big and very pretty beach. There’s a covered area with tables and chairs and charpoy lounges. A little bar where you can get non-alcoholic drinks (we had our own beer). Some families having outings, A few kids in the water. Linds and James walked down and stuck their feet in…said it was warm. Quite a pretty spot.

Spent an hour or so there then back down the same bumpy road we came in on. Turned at a village in the middle of nowhere. R said it is a Kazak village. There is a mine (copper?) nearby somewhere that most of the men in the village work at. Small grocery store and a school and not much else. Other than being dry and dusty, it’s very neat and tidy.

Finally after another ½ hour of bumping along we arrives at Aydar Yurt camp.

A neat place! Probably a dozen or two yurts a main eating/gathering hall and a separate shower, wash up and toilet area….all incredibly clean! Central fire pit with benches and chairs.

We are in yurt #3. There are 5 beds, 2 of which were prepped for us with sheets and quilts. The yurts are traditional and quite nice inside. They smell nice…..camping kind of nice! You can clearly see the bones of the yurt and how they’re put together. The door doesn’t quite close and there are gaps here and there where you can see outside but comfortable enough and fun!

Walked up to see the camels, the two hump (bactrian) kind. They offer rides but we all declined. Sat outside around the firepit for a bit but the little green flies were driving everyone crazy. They land everywhere….on your arms, legs, face, in your hair, your ears and eyes…..yuck!! Moved inside to the “gathering” area to get away from them and had a great time having drinks and chatting with the people in there and the only other guests, a couple from Holland (?).

*Inside to get away from those damn little flies….*

Took a little walk up the hill beside the camp to watch the sunset. Beautiful!

As soon as the sunset the little green flies disappeared!! They use camel wool or felt to line the main buildings and yurts because the acid works as a natural bug repellant!

Dinner was good-ish….soup and salads delicious. For appies there was breaded cauliflour, eggplant, a tomato and cucumber salad (those delicious little cukes!), a beet salad (v.g.) and kidney beans. Main was sort of a plov…..had cabbage in it, more rice and very chewy beef and only OK….again lacking in flavour, just so surprising when you consider all the wonderful spices here.

After dinner they had a big roaring campfire going……which is pretty incredible when you think about how little wood there is around here!!! Mostly just scrubby bits of bush and some skinny branches off what look like small dead trees. Entertained by a man and his son playing mandolyn type instruments and singing traditional songs. Rustam also did a song for us. Then some dancing, which we joined in on and made a mess of that!! Lots of fun!

Later once the fire had gone out the night sky was amazing. So many stars, in some places was like a sheet of white! Just something we don’t see very often.

Some the slats on Linds’ bed were broken so we just picked up all the bedding from that one and moved it to another….including the mattress! Beds seem pretty hard but we’ll see come morning!

What a great day!! Looking forward to Bukhara tomorrow!

Greece 2010

Finally getting back to this blog! This was a number of years ago but was a great trip……

Also instead of posting multiple parts I’m posting one BIG trip journal. Hope it’s not too long!!

Once we could finally travel again I managed to get in two great trips in 2022….was so good to be able to travel again! Will get working on those soon.

NOTE: Where hotels and restaurants are still in business, I’ve included a link to their website.

May 29 Sat

Arrived in London (Gatwick) @ 9AM. Flight was an hour and a half late leaving Vancouver.

OK flight (Air Transat)….food was awful. Dinner was chicken in a sauce with pineapple, beans and potatoes…weird. Breakfast was a “Bacon and Tomato Ketchup Bloomer”…..which was basically a wibbly, cold bacon sandwich with ketchup, just yuck.

Holiday Inn. Same as last time. Great for the price.

It’s raining and I did not pack an umbrella. Just after 12 (noon) we headed into London. Caught the Gatwick Express (23L each return vs 11L each for the regular train). Approx a ½ to Victoria Station.

British Museum was our goal…..to see all the Greek stuff that we wouldn’t see in Greece!! Elgin Marbles etc. Pouring rain when we arrived so splurged on a taxi (16L) to the museum. Had lunch at the Museum Tavern right across the street. Linds and I had lunch there a couple years ago. Ken had an English breakfast, I had the sausage special, which was bangers and mash. With a pint each the bill was 20L. Good deal and an excellent lunch.

Just love the British Museum. The building itself is great. Went to see all the stuff from the Acropolis….Elgin Marbles, Neriads, Caryitids etc. and all the Cyclidic history and the Rosetta stone. Great afternoon!

Stopped raining so we decided to head to Trafalgar Square. Stopped at a little café out of the wind in Shaftsbury…..cappa and latte 5L.

Super fundraiser happening with painted elephants all over different areas in the city. Each one sponsored by a local TV personality. Had wandered down Neal St (near Covent Garden) and a few other great little alleys around there. Found the Neal St. elephant by Patricia Hughes (?). Really very cute, all rainbow stripes.

Ended up totally twisted around and going the opposite direction we wanted. Walked along Drury Lane and around more very pretty alleys. Found another elephant in St. Martin Lane….pretty green and purple, don’t know what it was for.

Very windy and looked like it was going to rain again but we decided to walk down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. Managed to catch the changing of the guard….fun. And a little show of some sort at the Royal Stables.

Ended up walking all the way back to Victoria Station!! Quite chilly though. Picked up a little purse for Cadence that says I “heart” London. Got some snacks for later and caught the train at 7 and back to Gatwick.

It’s been a looooonng day! Ken was frozen so had a nice warm bath, made some tea, ate our snacks/dinner and to bed. Alarm set for 5:30am

May 30 Sun

Did not sleep much at all, not more than an hour or so a couple of times. Finally gave up and got up at 4AM. Made coffee and read until the alarms went off.

Caught the shuttle at 6:30, checked in for our Easyjet flight and off to have a big breakfast.

Flight was about a ½ hour late leaving. Took just over 3 hours so arrived at 3PM Athens time. Very different weather here!!! HOT and nice and sunny.

Took a taxi (33E) to the Plaka Hotel. No view of the Acropolis from our room but we do have one of the mountain/Lykavitta Hill??. OK room, pretty basic but clean and a nice little deck overlooking the busy main street.

Changed and headed right up to our rooftop bar….spectacular 360 degree view of the city and all the sites. Had a drink and off to explore the Plaka and have a late, late lunch. Ken had fried potato something, I had the spinach pie, more like spinach rolls but really good. Very delicious oily tzatziki.

Wandered all over the Plaka and part of Monastiraki. Definitely the touristy area with many, many shops, most selling all the same stuff. I did get an evil eye Pandora charm (35E) and bought a cheap little eye bracelet for Cadence. We did buy 2 I “heart” Athens mugs for our morning coffee in the room…..will get to check our my spiffy water boiler thing in the morning for the Starbucks VIA coffees I bought.

Went to Roman Forum and Hadrians Library……so hot but a great places to wander around and thru the ruins.

Had a very late, for us, dinner around 9 at a place called Yspia something or other in Mitropoleo Square. I little out of the way but excellent food and not crazy busy. I had a really good moussaka, Ken had pizza, a glass of white wine and beer (18E), also came with a shot of Metaxa for Ken and a cherry liqueur for me.

Back to the hotel around 10 and up to the roof for night caps….the view at night is unreal……the Acropolis and Parthenon all lit up and other various sites around the city! Just WOW!

Athens seems to be a real mishmash mess of a city…..not in a bad way though! Amazing ancient ruins, old buildings, lots of 50’s style ones and brand new one. Some neat and tidy and some not so.

Some of the streets are pretty mess too…..paper, garbage etc. Many great little shopping streets and alleys and tons of restaurants near the hotel. More to explore tomorrow!

Very tired tonight….I hope I can sleep!

May 31 Mon

Up early as usual but had a much better sleep…..at least 4 hours in a row I think. I did take a benadryl, which helped.

The little water boiler thing worked great!! So managed to get a couple of cups in even before breakfast, which didn’t start until 8.

Good breakfast at the hotel, mini-ish buffet. Scrambled eggs, weiner or sausage type things, fruit (canned), various yogurts, cereals, toast (make your own) and some delicious cherry preserves/jam.

Headed up to the Acropolis around 8:30. Very hot even that early! The walk up was not nearly as bad as some people had said….quite pleasant really. Thought we were early enough to beat but the crowds but apparently not.

The site is pretty fantastic. We followed Rick Steves book which was really good. The ruins are incredible….not sure what else one can say about them. The history associated to this site is all you need to know. Just amazing that it has survived, or so much of it, for so long. Lots of major restoration work being done and it was fun watching them work away.

Was told a story about the two young boys that took down the Nazi flag at night and their freedom fighting efforts during the occupation…..cannot even begin to imagine what people went thru.

Just an amazing place…..hated to leave because you could easily spend hours up there, so much to see! And the views were fantastic but it was getting really crowded and really hot! Wasn’t even really sunny. Sadly we passed on the Acropolis Museum just because walking down would have meant walking back up!!

Stopped on the way down for a drink at a little bar and chatted with a big Vietnamese family. The grandpa was 83 and traveling with 2 of his 5 childrens and their families. Told us he had something to do with inventing the transistor radio back in the 1950’s. He moved to Paris and still lives there now. Very entertaining, chatted with them for almost an hour. Very well traveled….thanks to Grandpa they said.

Was 12:30 by then and decided to head over to the ancient agora (incl in the 12E Parthenon ticket). Super site with the very well “rebuilt” in the 1950’s Stoa of Attalos and the Temple of Hephaistos. Great site with much in excellent condition. Thought we’d check out the Agora Museum (also included in ticket and to get out of the heat a bit). Very interesting great little museum that takes you back to 3200BC

Jetlag and the heat was kicking in so time for lunch. Really good, just at one of the sort of touristy joints in the Plaka. Ken had a bacon cheeseburger…..huge and with a cheese-y sauce something like melted cheese whiz, but really good. I had the roasted halumi with oyster mushrooms and grilled tomatoes…..really good. 2 pints of beer 28E.

Wandered a bit more, in an out of shops, trying to avoid the souvenir ones. Bought our ferry tickets for Naxos (33.50E each) for the 2^nd. I think it’s the slow boat one….must be at the port by 7AM, ferry leaves at 7:30 and we don’t arrive in Naxos until 12:30. Back to the hotel around 3 for a bit of a nap.

Up and out around 6 trying to find a restaurant recommended by Rick, but no luck. Ended up at a place called Extapini, which was a nice surprise!! Excellent food and atmosphere. Delicious saganaki to start. Ken had the pork gyro…..just huge, way too much. I had the stuffed chicken breast (v.g). Dessert was honey cake and ouzo. Had a bottle of Sigala Santorini White (22E), which was very good. Total bill 46E.

Wandered the streets a bit……great people watching here. Gets busier here as the night wears on!! Back to the hotel rooftop for a drink and to chat with whoever was up there. The Acropolis all lit up at night is just spectacular. Still quite warm even at 11PM.

Athens is a city that has so much potential. Many wonderful ruins, churches, old and ancient buildings and many other buildings that are derelict, which is just a shame. The city is not “dirty”, just run down and seems uncared for. Some of the buildings that are falling apart could be just beautiful with some restoration. A fellow from the hotel said the sad state of some buildings is a long story…..mostly ones of estates and taxes.

No plans now for tomorrow….have decided not to do the all day boat trip to Hydra. 7AM to 7PM is just too long of a day. Lots of museums to see, the gardens and churches too.

June 1 Tues

Did not sleep well last night…..what the heck!! I am sooooo tired! Finally at 3AM I got up and took a benadryl. Was still up at 6:30 but didn’t feel too bad even after only 3 hours sleep.

Very hot this AM, nice and sunny.

Made coffee and rushed up to the roof to try and get sunrise over the Acropolis pics but was just a bit too late!

Took lots of pics of the area around the hotel. Many, many buildings in various stages of disrepair, dereliction and renovation. Just because there is scaffolding and netting around a building doesn’t mean things are getting done…..one building has both, covered in ivy so it’s been in the works for while.

I really love Athens but looking around at all of this and it’s beautiful treasures makes me think of it as a “sad” city…….just begging for some love. So many of these buildings would be, or could be, lovely with some TLC. I guess though that is what makes the city!

Had breakfast and had more coffee on the roof and just enjoyed the view.

Up to Syntagma and Kolonaki. Walked around the gardens, very pretty in some places but pretty scruffy in others…..another example of something that could be absolutely stunning with a little more care. Why don’t they do it? Just cutting the grass would have made such a difference. Beautiful flowers and some spectacular trees, lovely covered walkways, ponds and lots of benches to sit and enjoy.

Kolonaki is the “ritzy” area of Athens. Cartier, Hermes and all the other designers have set up shop. Very pretty treelined streets with lots of cafes. Would be a great area to stay if we come back.

Still a bit too early for lunch so walked back to the parliament buildings. We caught the changing of the guard! Was fun to watch the high stepping, pompomed show. They are really quite the uniforms…..should look it up after to see why.

Very crowded everywhere we went today. Traffic seemed 10x worse and much noisier….definitely away from the pretty much pedestrian Plaka.

Had lunch at the Antalia Café…..really good! Ken had a club sandwich, I had the dolmathes and tzatziki and a lavash type bread. A beer and a glass of wine 26E.

Decided to just head back to the hotel. Was really hot and Ken not feeling so good so he had a nap, I made a cup of coffee and went up on the roof and read until around 3…..too hot even in the covered area so I went and had a nap too!!

Ken felt better after his nap and so did I….just don’t understand why sleeping is such a problem!

Dinner a bit later (8:30). Found Hermoine Taverna not to far down the street…..really pretty place with a huge outdoor patio covered in lights and tons of plants and flowers. I had lamb done in clay pot with potatoes, Ken had veal in a clay pot, a ½ litre bottle of Moschifitori (sp?) wine 36E. Excellent! Packed up and got all organized for tomorrow morning. 5AM wake up call…yuck! They’re going to have a continental breakfast for us at 5:45, how nice since it normally doesn’t start until 8. Cab will pick us up at 6:30

June 2 Wed

Slept better-ish…..but up well before the 5AM wake up call.

Had our breakfast, taxi was on time (6AM! And 29E to the port). Just over a ½ hour drive.

Very busy place. Many ferries and a couple of huge cruise ships.

On the ferry around 7 and found what we thought was a good spot. Was great for leaving the port and watching all the activity but once we hit open water it got way to windy to stay there. Had a nice walk around….saw the “club seats” and business class….nice. Coffees and donuts/spinach pies for a snack.

It was a very long ferry ride 5+ hours. Not terribly scenic until we got about 3 hours out of Athens then we saw lots of islands but not sure which ones. Didn’t get terribly close to any of them. They looked very dry and brown with a few white buildings here and there, can’t say it looked like any beach-ie type places.

Passed a couple of big cruise ships but not many others, not even ferries.

Arrived at Paros at 12. Looks like a great place. The port is Parikia (sp?) but we did see Naoussa as we sailed off to Naxos.

Arrived in Naxos just before 1. Millions of hotel people meet the ferries waving their hotel signs and yelling….probably a better deal than what we got but oh well.

Quite the hike to the National Car Rental office…..it is NOT right at the pier but that said we got a good look around the Chora, or Naxos town. Such a pretty place. Tons of shops, cafes and restaurants. Very busy place. It’s hot here but not stifling like Athens.

Got our little itty bitty car, a Daewoo in bright green. Left the rental place and immediately got lost! Did find our way back onto the highway the long way around. Saw a couple of places we’d looked at to stay, Liani’s was one. Not as close to town as advertised so glad we didn’t pick it. Not far but certainly not within walking distance so would have needed the car anyway.

Finikas is quite aways from town but what a little gem this place is. People are really nice, the place is pretty new. Very clean, big rooms, nice bathroom. Free internet! Beautiful pool and a great view of the beach. Sort of a town or village I guess….Pyrgaki.

The beach in its natural form is pretty rocky but trucks and tractors are getting it ready for “the season”. They grade it and remove all the big rocks that wash up during winter…..in some places it was pretty nice and sandy.

Nice little bar and restaurant, there’s also a little bar next door, other than that not too much around, certainly not within walking distance. But I think it will be nice here away the from crowds etc.

Headed to the bar for a snack. Ken had fried cheese balls (v.g.) I had tzitziki and bread. Sat down by the pool and read for a bit but really windy and when the sun ducked behind a cloud not terribly warm! Back to the room for a bit of nap and to update my journal.

Just had dinner here tonight. Ken had the special which was “pastistios”, kind of like lasagna, I had souvlaki, glass of wine for me, Ken had coffee and pie (apricate tarti pasta flora!). 28.70E All was excellent. I think tomorrow we’ll have breakfast then head out to find a mini mart to stock up on goodies and maybe lunch stuff to have around the pool…..would be nice to do that. We’ve got 5 days to explore.

June 3 Thurs

Up around 6:30. Took a Nyquil sleeping thing, which helped get a much needed good nights sleep.

Beautiful outside. We don’t get the AM sun on our deck so a bit cool but nice for coffee. Breakfast not until 8:30. As soon as the sun came over the building it warmed up quite nicely. Still breezy though. Had our VIA coffees…..really quite good. So glad I got that water boiler! And our mugs in Athens. Just sat and read and enjoyed the view.

We have a little owl in the tree in front of us!! So cute.

The Med looks beautiful and we have a nice view across the way of Paros.

A little tour around the building and grounds, which are really nice. Instead of the typical Cyclidic white and blue they have used all local stone (sort of yellow-ish), marble (also local….who knew!) and bricks to create the same colour scheme of the surrounding landscape. All the wood railings, patio covers and shutters are painted green. It all blends in really well and is lovely. Many flowers and some palms. The pool is really beautiful.

After breakfast we went for a walk down on the beach. Very rocky and also lots of sand. The trucks and tractors are grating through it to get it in better shape for the summer. In winter and spring the sea gets very rough and brings in all the rocks. Some are pretty good size but most are biggish pebbles….really quite pretty. The sea settles down around this time of year so the beaches stay pretty nice until the “Meltemi” starts to blow in late August…..must be like the Mistral in France.

Definitely not much around here…..the beach looks like it goes on for miles. The odd house here and there but nothing else.

Sat around the pool for a bit then off to find some lunch. Ate at Faro’s just down the road 5 minutes by car. I had Greek salad and dolmas, Ken had cheese pies and fried potatoes, split a mythos and each had Greek coffees 23E. The coffee is very strong and “earthy” tasting. You just sip it or it puckers your mouth. They ask if you want it sweet…..you say yes, no or a little.

Back to relax until dinner. Ken snoozed, I read and loaded some pictures. Great afternoon.

Headed out for dinner around 8. Found a place along the road on the way to Kastraki. It doesn’t have an English name on the sign or cards so something like “Tabepna AEiwtiooa”. Very good and very busy! I had the beef in tomato with spicy yogurt, basmati rice. Ken had the roast pork with a honey mustard glaze and roast potatoes. Glass of wine each and “nescafes” 26.40E Excellent!! And lots of cats for entertainment! Great place….might have to come back.

Home and to bed. What a great day of doing not much!

June 4 Fri

Terrible night for me…..ate way too much I think and suffered for it. Still felt kind of crappy this morning…..didn’t stop me from eating breakfast though did it???

Can’t see Paros this AM. Many clouds over the mountains so no sunrise either. But it’s not as windy this morning, so that’s good.

By the time we’d finished breakfast the sun had came out and warmed up nicely but it didn’t stay that way for long. Mostly clouded over and quite chilly….definitely needed a sweater.

Left for Naxos town around 10:30. Took about ½ hour. Totally different weather…..really nice and sunny and warm. Did not need the sweaters.

What a beautiful place it is. Lots of “blue” doors and shutters. Many shops, some selling really unique things. Lots of galleries and of course a ton of restaurants and cafes. Love the narrow little streets and alleys…..some barely passable because of restaurant seating, crates of vegetables etc…..just fantastic! And the colours!! White, blue, bright pink and red geraniums, lots of greenery.

Got a cute “evil eye” xmas ornament for Bev….the guy wrote Naxos in Greek on it for me. Then I found a shop that had handmade, hand painted “whirligigs” he called them but they’re really spinning tops…..so pretty to be my ornament from here. He too wrote Naxos in Greek on it. Ken bought some nice cotton pants.

After wandering the little streets we headed down toward the marina and the zillion cafes along the waterfront for coffee and break. Such a great place to people watch!! Ken had the chocolate soufflé, which was very good. Walked around the marina and looked at some of the big yachts and sailboats……would be another trip to think about!! Bought our ferry tickets for Paros on the 7^th. 6.90E each for the 3:35 ferry…..should only take a ½ hour.

Walked to the Temple of Apollo. Many, many steps!! Took some pics. Walked out way up to the Castle but lots of work in progress and couldn’t really find a way to get in….everything seemed to be gated so not sure if it was open.

Back to the main street by the marina for lunch. Fun place but very busy. Lots of seafood shops…..oh to have had a kitchen here!! Loved the octopus hanging to dry in the sun!

Ate at a place called Zorba’s. Ken had shrimp salad which had 4 huge prawns and a green salad in a creamy dressing with walnuts! The guy talked me into the “mullet” then I was worried it was going to cost 50E or something, so I asked him again and he kept saying, “no, no, not much”. Finally after a third time he said 9.50E but I was still a little worried after kind of getting ripped off on Rhodes last year. He brought a little plate of mezes….a couple olives, peppers and some cheese (all good!). The mullet was fried in a batter and of course all the bones too! He showed me how to eat it without getting bones….worked OK but still got a few. Came with a greek salad and fries. Ken had a beer, I had a ½ litre of white wine. We asked for the bill and he brought us a little dish of some kind of candied fruit which were really sweet but tasty. Then he brought the bill……worried for nothing!! Total was 19.60E and it was all excellent! He said “no charge for wine and beer”…..why I’m not sure but I was very happy.

The man beside us, who had lunch with the owner, started chatting with us. First asked where we were from and then about our economy. He thinks by next year Greece will be back to the drachma (wishful thinking I think!) To him the only ones benefiting from the EU bailout are the banks, who according to him got them into this mess in the first place…..hmmmm. Generally don’t talk politics because I don’t think we have a real understanding of other countries economic woes….so just kind of nodded as he talked. He never did let us tell him about ours!

Back to Finikas around 5:30. Emails, sat out side, sort of dozed , read etc. Much warmer today, sunny.

Off to Faro’s for dinner tonight just after 8. Three or four other couples this time. Chatted with the people at the next table. Expats from England who live here full time now….a couple of years….and absolutely love it. Told of their trials and tribulations of buying and building here. Lots of fun by the sound of things. They are Stewart and Roz Badger!

Told him that I’d just read a book by John Humphries who’d had a fun time buying and building on the Peloponese. Stewart knows him…..said he still owes him a pack of smokes lol…. Worked with him at the BBC. He told us about him selling his farm and moving/building here but he didn’t know where, nor did he know that he’d written a book about it.

They told us many things about the island and places to go and what to see. Bought us glasses of “citron” which is only made here on Naxos. It’s a lemon brandy and is good for digestion! Very good. We had the white, which he said was the best. It comes in white, yellow and green. It’s made up near Halki, where we’ll hopefully get to tomorrow. Very nice people and we really enjoyed chatting with them.

Stewart said they’d never to back to the drachma. They pay all their taxes and whatever else they’re supposed to pay but so many people (Greeks) don’t and those that are in charge of collecting them are just as corrupt as everyone not paying them. Tax collectors crack down every second year or so and then follow up with people telling them that for a couple of thousand euro they could “settle” to 50% or so that they really owe……they’ve had this “black” or “underground” economy for hundreds of years and it’s not likely to change very quickly.

Had a great dinner. Moussaka for me, spaghetti for Ken, ½ litre of rose wine 24E. Really good.

Not out of there until after 11. Fun evening!

June 5 Sat

Slept really good (must have been the citron!).

Weather is very different this AM. Nice sunrise, little or no cloud around us and NO wind! The sky to the east though is very overcast looking…..you can sort of smell the rain……mixed in with curry??? Wonder who’s cooking that! Could sit out on the deck in my jammies, no pashmina.

Mornings here are neat. We have a rooster that starts crowing long before sunrise, tons of wonderful little song birds flitting and twittering about….and our little owl. The hill behind us has tons of sheep and lambs that you can hear baaing. There are goats too, with their bells. And of course the sea crashing on the shore. I think we have doves too…..cooing, or maybe it’s the owl!

Started out heading toward Apollonas. First stop was the Temple of Demeter. Down a very narrow, windy road and thru the scruffy town of Ano Sagri.

Just as we parked it started to pour…..really, really pour!! Sat in the car for about 10 minutes until it finally stopped, or pretty much stopped. Just as I opened my door the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my life came running along from the scrub and under the car! I swear it was almost a foot round. Gingerly got out hoping it had continued running along as opposed to climbing up and into the car somewhere under there….ack!!

Wandered around the site for a while. The temple dates from the 6thc BC. It’s not a big site but some really nice ruins and some restoration done with more to be done. Apparently the bits and pieces, over the centuries, has been scattered all around the area and all the marble taken eons ago. Wonderful old church, Agion Ioannis Giroulas. Lovely paths that are lined with oleander and trees with pretty fan shaped fluffy flowers and bay “trees”….it all smelled wonderful especially after the rain. Not much documentation on it unfortunately. Supposedly a museum either somewhere (?) or one to be built. Hope they can continue on…..

Left there and headed to Halki, the old capital. Completely missed a turn somewhere and ended up in Filoti so thought we’d head to Apirathos…..what an incredible little town!! Lots of stairs so just as it started to rain again found a cute little place for coffees and donuts (huge and delicious!).

Apirathos is like a Corsican hill town except it’s white. On the side of Mt Fanari. Stone houses and marble streets. It’s also called the Marble City. Some of the narrowest streets and alleys we’ve seen, many covered walkways and lots of steps. Went to the Folk Museum, which is supposed to be what a typical Greek village home looked like…..was interesting and the Archaeological Museum with some great artifacts. We walked up and up and up through the winding walkways looking for the place we’d been told about that had the best “picatta” but didn’t find it. We passed a guy in one of the very narrow alleys leading his 3 donkeys clipclopping along to somewhere.

Didn’t come across anything that remotely looked like a shop or restaurant except on the main street or the walkway we came in. Most shops and restaurants were closed anyway….not sure it if was the time of day or lack of tourists as sadly I think we were the only ones there!

The views are pretty spectacular down into the valley. At one point the clouds rolled in and it got “foggy” walking around….you saw the entire valley slowly disappearing. Anyway, what a find this place was…..on a bright sunny day it would be even better!

Decided to head down and across the island to Apollonas from there. A very narrow, twisty road but little or no traffic. Came around a corner to find a flock of sheep walking down the road! Just as we very slowly passed them the shepherd came by on a motorcycle rounding them up…..fun!

Many, many little villages hanging on to the hillsides. Lots of the dry stone walls separating gardens and goat and sheep patches. Beautiful old houses along with many ruins that people still seemed to live in. Did not pass any place that had anything other than a gas station….and a church (every town, big or small has at least two or more churches…). No shops or markets…..where do they go to shop?

Finally caught a glimpse of Apollonas down in the distance. Could see other islands way off……don’t know which ones they were. Very dull day for the most part so the view, while still spectacular, would be even better on a clear day.

Apollonas is a very small town right on the water. Nothing there except for a bit of a marina, really just a place to launch small boats and a few bigger fishing boats tied up. There was an old guy fishing from a bench along the walkway dressed in suit!! About 8 or so restaurants on the water, two local artisan shops and a convenience type store and of course a 100 churches!! I swear there are more churches than there are houses on this island…..if not churches little shrines everywhere.

Had a little snack at the restaurant called “Delphinaki”, which is translated to the Little Dolphin, that P. Storace wrote about in “Dinner with Persephone” when she was here 15 years ago. Still 2 very old ladies sitting waiting for customers…..we were the only ones. No English other than who I think was a grandson (maybe great!) around 12 years old, but very limited, who came to take our orders. Had the best meatballs (kefti) ever, some very good tzatziki, rice and possibly the worst wine I’ve ever tasted. Showed the boy the book and tried to tell him that we’d read about how good the ketfi were and we had to have some…..told him they were as good if not better than what the author said and to let the ladies know how much we liked them. Somehow he thought that I’d written the book and brought the old ladies over to meet me….so I had to explain that I didn’t etc. etc…..did not go well because they brought us more wine!!! We weren’t quite sure what to do….if we drank it we were afraid they’d bring us yet more!! Ended up dumping some of it over the side into the shrubs and said we couldn’t have any more because we were driving. Our total bill came to 10E…..not sure if we got a deal or what. What a fun time though.

Back on the road to see the Temple of Dionysus and then the kouros. One little sign with an arrow pointing down a path but no place to stop and park along the very narrow road….so didn’t get there.

The road back to the chora was really windy…up, up and up with spectacular coastline views and of other islands off in the distance.

The sun poked out every now and again but mostly shone down through the clouds creating beautiful sunrays down onto the water.

Stopped in town to get some cash and get my watch battery changed. Was going to stay for dinner but was a long day with lots of driving already so just back to the hotel around 5.

Maybe we’ll get back there for dinner in one of the many, many great looking restaurants.

Ken not feeling the best so just had a snackie type dinner at the hotel.

June 6 Sun

Slept well last night….hooray!

Must have rained thru the night….all our deck furniture was wet.

Had breakfast and headed out to tour around some more. Nice out, sunny but surprisingly quite chilly!!

Took the road to Agiassos to check out the beach. Beautiful but not too much there. Looks like townhouses or maybe resorts. The road gets pretty rough going further along and we’d have to come back the same way so just decided to head back towards Halki and explore from there.

Came around a corner to a flock of sheep who weren’t in a big hurry to get off the road……fun to watch them just wandering along.

Found Halki but parking was a problem. Drove around for a bit then decided to just carry on. Too bad because it looked lovely.

Just past Halki and just before Moni we came to the Panagia Drossiane. Found a parking spot on the side of the road, just barely off the road! Signs for these churches and monuments are pretty much right at them with no advance warning so you don’t have a lot of time to find a place to park.

The church is really ancient but still being used today. Very dark inside (no pics allowed). Smelled very musty and of incense…..a couple of very old ladies that I think were there to help visitors but unfortunately for us they didn’t speak any English. A number of frescos/mosaics in dire need of some restoration….what you could make out looked quite incredible. There were bits of marble transepts (?) laying around inside but nothing to tell you were they came from. Some very old reliquaries and oil lamps and of course the frescos of the Agois (Saint) Georgios and the panagia.

Entry fee was 1.50E. On the way out we dropped in an extra 5E to contribute to the upkeep and restoration. Just as we were walking back to the car a tour bus arrived, dropping people off on the road!! Good timing!

Sun was out and had warmed up nicely!

On to Moni. Parking near the entrance to the village. Was hoping to do a bit of shopping, or at least looking for the famous textiles but not too much open. Lots of beautiful wood carvings as well…..maybe olive wood? Lots of olive trees. Very pretty village, mostly ancient looking stone houses and cobbled streets. Tons of flowers. Too hazy to see the sea.

Leaving the village a lady with a little girl flagged us down and asked in very broken English and sign language if we could drive them up the hill…..was very, very hot. We saw her in the village chatting with another lady so figured it was OK. Got to the top of the hill and she motioned to turn left and head down a very bumpy, pot holed and very narrow sort of road. We only went a few minutes and then had to tell her we couldn’t go any further because we were worried we’d wreck the car…..more elementary English and sign language from us trying to say sorry and explain. The little girl spoke a bit more English and we think she wanted to give us eggs??? She said thank you many times. No place to turn around so we started backing up the hill….the clutch was not happy. Found a spot with an extra foot to spare so managed to turn around…..a foot this way, then a foot back etc. By the time we got back up the hill we could smell the clutch or the motor or something burning. Ken said it just needed a rest and to cool down so stopped at the top not far from the road. Tried to see where down the hill the woman and little girl could have lived. Nothing that resembled a house anywhere. Some nice big sectioned off gardens and a couple of stone lean-tos.

From there we drove on thru Kinidaros. Very cute little town built on a hill. Many pretty blue doors and lots of flowers…..thought about lunch but again nothing looked open! Just decided to carry on to see the kouros.

En route we discovered the marble quarries…..OMG!! tons and tons (literally!!). Some nicely packed up and ready to be shipped to all corners of the world, some still in big hunks, lots of small bits and pieces and of course the mountain that they were slowly chipping away at. Like a smaller version of Carrera Italy. Stopped to take pics then drove on a little further and around the next curve WOW!!! An even more impressive marble mountain. Just amazing.!!! The valley below was incredibly beautiful with views out to the sea.

The kouros are at Melanes/Flerio. Only about 100 metres or so on the trail and there he was…..partially carved, laying on its back. This one is supposedly from the 6thC BC!! Pretty incredible that it has survived! That seemed to be the only one!! I guess the other site had the the better carved one and a few others. Very nice garden called the “Paradise Garden” that surrounds it. Many “citron” trees, which look like large-ish green grapefruits, grapes, plums etc. The people that own the garden or at least tend to it have a little “café”…..loosely using that term…but cute set in the garden.’’

Back down the path to find the visitors centre but took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up at a deadend. Eventually found the right path but was lunch time so just headed back to the car. Milli, Kourounohori (sp?) and Melanes are nice little hill towns just past there.

Drove into town for lunch at one of the touristy seaside joints…..fun place on the marina called the Citron Cafe. Ken had a club sandwich (v.g.) 4.50E I had the spinach pie, which ended up being 2 huge ones and some chips 4.50E. Could only eat one and that was more than enough. I had an Alfa beer 3.50E. Total was 15E.

Wandered around for a bit just enjoying the beautiful buildings and narrow little streets with quaint cafes and shops. Every corner you turn down is just fantastic, I wish we had come back in for dinner one night but oh well……

Filled up the car and headed back to Finika’s around 4. Ken snoozed, I checked emails, read for a bit and did a some repacking.

Around 8 we went down the road to the “OOA” (was in Greek!!) restaurant to dinner and ran into Stewart and Roz again. I had the garlic pork (v.g), Ken had the steak and French fries. 2 and ¼ bottles of wine, which we shared with S & R. Total bill was 26E!! Chatted for quite a while. It was Roz’s birthday so they shared her birthday cake with us….lots of complimentary raki and some wicked honey drink. Stewart reads a lot so told him about the book I’d just finished, Dinner with Persephone…..he wanted to read it. They invited us back to their house for coffee……wasn’t too sure at first but decided they were a lovely couple and why not.

Went back to the hotel to pick up the book and followed them to their place. Very nice typical style of house you see here. Main living area on the main floor and bedrooms in the basement….much cooler. Nice pool and deck…..not large but really quaint and comfortable. Told us about all their trials and tribulations of building on Naxos….I’m sure not fun while it was happening but pretty funny telling us about it….easy to laugh after!!

They had vacationed on Naxos a number of times and decided to retire here. She just turned 55 and was a civil servant in London. He did many different things, working for the BBC and on his own etc. Chatted about books and sports cars (right up Ken’s alley!!!) Great evening with an invite to come back and stay with them. Exchanged emails, addresses etc. Didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 1AM!!

June 7 Mon

Packed up this morning, did emails. Had breakfast and left around 10:30.

Found the car rental return place with no problem. Finished there by 11:30 so had a few hours to kill until our ferry at 3:30.

Wandered up the “paralia”. Very windy today! Stopped at a place (Coppa’s?) that was out of the wind but still in the sun. People watched for a while then off again……pain in the ass rolling the suitcases….didn’t head off too far. I wish we’d spent more time in town….dinner here one night would have been great at one of the little restaurants down the very beautiful little alleys…..oh well!

Found a couple of pizza places right at the pier to have lunch. “Il Girosole” and “Relax” cafes. Decided on Relax because there were more people in there! Yiannis, the guy that owns it, was a riot! Chats constantly, was really entertaining and the food was good and cheap. Ken had mushroom and bacon pizza 8E, I had the “sausage pita” 2E. Yiannis comes buy and chats, tells jokes and says “just sit and “Relax”……hahaha….then walks away….and of course wanders back! When we told him we were from Vancouver, he got all excited. He’d been there when he lived in Canada (Toronto) for 12 years. A real character. Had all his old cronies/buddies sitting at a table along the back wall. Would visit with them, then go around and visit with each table for a bit….then repeat. A couple glasses of wine and coffees, total was 21E. Fun guy……left a tip and gave him a $5 CDN bill to add to his collection on the wall.

Saw the big NEL ferry coming in so walked out onto the pier. It had just barely docked with cars and trucks started coming off…2 minutes later more were being loaded on. The inside of the ferry is huge…..like a gigantic plane. Nice comfy seats and really dirty windows. Only about 20 cars/trucks and bikes on it and maybe 50 people if that. The total turnaround time from arriving in Naxos to leaving was less than 10 minutes!!

Trip was only a ½ hour. Ferry arrived in Parikia. You have to get off quick…..turnaround time even less here!! By the time we’d walked down the pier and turned around the ferry had already pulled out! No messing with those guys!

Cab was 15E incl. tip to Mani’s Inn in Naoussa, which is in a big protected bay. Still kind of windy here too but feels warmer than Naxos. The road is in way better condition than the ones on Naxos.

Decided not to rent a car seen we’re only here for 3 days…..will be nice to relax after being busy on Naxos.

What a nice little place this is! All white, blue doors and shutters, tons of red geraniums, great little beach, nice pool and Mary (owner) is just lovely. The rooms are a little old and tired looking but impeccably clean and they have a mini kitchen with a little hot plate for coffee and the basic two of everything dishes and cutlery if you decide to eat in. Our deck faces the bay, beach, pool and town. (Sadly it appears that Mani’s is now permanently closed)

Went down to the bar, had a beer. Changed and went for a nice dip in the pool and another beer, or two! Much warmer here than Naxos….strange considering they aren’t that far away from each other!! Ken went back up to the room for a nap I sat and read in the covered area at the beach for a bit. A very loud, but fun bunch from Denmark on the beach.

Around 8 we headed into town…..walked across the beach and up a bunch of stairs and along the road and we were there….not even a 10 minute walk.

So pretty!! Wandered around the warren of narrow streets/alleys. There’s a big main square that they are redoing with ponds, waterfalls, fountains etc. Many seaside restaurants at the marina and many more down the main pedestrian walk way. It seems to be a little more “polished” than Naxos….a little more prosperous and tidier I guess. Not as many uncared for buildings. Most were nicely painted with pretty gardens. Some very nice shops….some rather high-end ones.

Found a busy restaurant to have dinner at 9. Ken wasn’t hungry so just had a huge piece of apple pie. I had chicken, bacon and mushrooms in a cream sauce (ok). Bill incl a glass of wine, water and a coke was just over 20E.

Nice evening so a nice walk back to the hotel. The stairs back down to the beach could be a little scary if it was darker but was still bright enough to manage them.

To bed rather early (just after 10:30) but very tired tonight.

June 8 Tues.

Slept OK…..not the most comfy bed but was tired enough that it didn’t matter. Was a bit tough getting up and out of it though.

Beautiful morning…..sun shining on our little deck and NO WIND!!! But of course that meant it was really hot. Made our instant coffee to tie us over. Sat around and read until 9.

Breakfast is included and served to you……hard boiled egg (cold), 3 slices of bread, a couple of different jams, cream cheese, juice and coffee. Certainly enough and also good enough!

The plan here is to relax after all the exploring we did on Naxos. And that’s pretty much just what we did. Found chairs in a good spot by the pool and pretty much hung out there all day.

Had lunch at the snack bar/restaurant by the beach……sandwiches and fries. Really nice little beach in front of the hotel and not very many people at all. I think it was just the Danish people that are staying here. Had a little walk around and then just headed back to the pool.

Walked into town around 7. Found a great little bar right at the marina. Had wine and drinks waiting for the sunset…..just beautiful!!

Found a travel agency and bought out tickets for Santorini. 15E each. Leaves at 11:55. 3hrs.

Wandered around and in and out of shops for a bit. Such a pretty place….great shopping but a lot pricier than Naxos for sure.

Had dinner at a little place on the water on the other side of town. View was fantastic even in the dark! The food was only OK. Decided to try an appie type sampler plate. Crab cakes were very good, the meatballs were excellent, kalamari was very disappointing, no taste at all….really boring soggy batter and a crab salad that was ok other than a bit too much dill and FAKE crab!! Shared a bottle of wine, total bill 32E. Most expensive meal we’ve had yet. Location, location, location I guess.

Found a set of stairs to go down on to the beach but there was a man sitting in a chair at the top so wasn’t sure if they were private or what. Asked him is we could go down the stairs to the beach……”Are you German?”, we said no Canadian, he said “OK then go….” !!! Found a different set of stairs to go back up!

Wandered around and shopped a bit more….found a few more interesting restaurants tucked away at the back of town….they had ribs!! So that’s the plan for tomorrow.

Nice walk back to the hotel. Tons of yachts, some in the marina and some out in the bay. Lots of lights, can hear music coming from some. Definitely seems to be a favorite spot.

No plans for tomorrow either!! Did think about arranging a bit of tour around but will just catch up on sleep and reading. Ken is just not feeling the greatest, so a couple of slow days are good.

Read for about 5 min and was out cold!

June 9 Wed.

Woke up around 2AM sneezing my head off. Happened yesterday morning too…..feather pillows maybe??

Up at 6AM and got to enjoy the best sunrise yet! Just spectacular.

Nothing at all exciting today…..another day pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Pool, lunch, walk on the beach, more pool. Hardly any wind here so much, much hotter and seems to be getting hotter still!

More big yachts….one is so big it has to be a cruise ship but couldn’t find a name on it…..Ken figured it was at least 200ft. Didn’t notice too much activity on it or any tender type boats heading into the marina.

Cleaned up and back into town for some last minute shopping and dinner. So many shops with the white cotton clothes that look so nice. Found a pair of really cute pants that I tried on but looked like a fat blob…..nothing like the dummy wearing them in the window….ah sigh.

A drink at a bar along the main street and watched another super sunset.

Dinner was at “OINOH” (all in Greek so the closest I can get to spelling it). Started with the zucchini balls (v.g.)…..basically grated zuch and carrot fritters…really good dipped in the tzatziki. Both of us had the ribs, which were excellent…..they had been cut more like we get Maui Ribs. Not much on them other than a type of maple sea salt but really delicious and tender. Came with fries, coleslaw and mashed fava beans. All really good. A glass of wine each. Total was 30E incl tip!

Slowly worked out way back to Mani’s. Kind of sorry we didn’t get a better look around the island but that wasn’t really the plan and it was kind of nice to not be on the go continually….so all is good. Sat at the bar for a bit, had a drink and a cappa then off to bed around midnight. Lots of fun watching the big group of people that are staying here (Danish)…..couldn’t understand a word they were saying but certainly having a great time.

June 10 Thurs.

Up just after 6:30 so missed sunrise. Pretty stuffed up but no sneezing this AM….will not miss the feather pillows here!

Had breakfast, packed up an off we went back to Parikia to catch the ferry to Santorini. Cab ride back was 15E incl. tip.

While waiting for our ferry to come in we notice a ton of people hanging around waving signs for various hotels. Probably get much better rates doing it this way and now that we’ve been here and saw the same thing on Naxos, if we ever come back I think this is what I’d do. If the place is really crappy you just pack up and head back down to the pier and try again.

Once the ferry that had arrived left, they all sort of spread out and lounged around waiting for the next one to come in. A gal came over to us and asked if we were from Vancouver!! Not just Canada, but Vancouver!! She said it was the “accent” lol. She’s from White Rock! Came here on a girls holiday about 10 years ago, fell in love with the place, came back the next year and bought a hotel!! Her husband is a lawyer and doesn’t like to travel so she does this for half the year Apr – Oct. Closes up for the rest of year. Chatted for a bit and low and behold if she doesn’t know a couple of people I work with. One from when they both worked in a Dental office and the other guy is her neighbour!! How bizarre.

Ferry arrived and on we got. It’s a huge one, lots of outdoor areas, a restaurant, bar etc. A quick ride and stop (all of 10 minutes) on Naxos and off we went to Santorini.

Not too much to see along the way. About 3 hours all together. Passed a number of cruise ships and few little rocky islands off in the distance but nothing else.

As you get closer to Santorini it looks just like any of the other islands UNTIL you round the tip of the island and enter what is I guess the caldera……WOW, WOW and WOW. I think I cried! It really is pretty spectacular. Cliffs that go almost straight up with the white towns perched right on the edge…..it truly does look like snow! Truly breathtaking if it’s something you’ve wanted to see forever!

Arrived at Athinios and quickly got off….not quite as quick a stop a Naxos and Paros but still couldn’t have been more than maybe 20 min. More cars and people getting on and off here.

Looked for our guy from Marizan Caves and Villas…..nada! Made a quick call to Marizan who said they’d call the owner and get someone to get us. Not sure what the deal was but a few minutes later the guy from the car rental place came along with our name on a sign……lol we were the only ones left at the pier…..and said to wait there. He took our luggage inside and said it would be 20 minutes of so. A few minutes later the same guy backs up a little car, loads our luggage and off we went. The road out of town is a series of hairpins to get you up to the top. Up and up and around and around you go……way too fast too!!! The views are unbelieveable. He drove us to Fira where the Marizan guy picked us up so it all worked out. Tried to give him some money but he wouldn’t take it. Another incredible drive….like being in a race car!! More gorgeous breathtaking views.

Yannis met us and apologized for the transfer problem. Showed us to our little cave and was just blown away by the view!! You can lay on the bed and look at the beautiful blue Aegean Sea!! Nice little patio with a potted olive tree with little olives on it, a cushioned stone lounge, small table, a couple of chairs and a little palapa for shade. Will get the sun all day so hot, hot, hot!

The cave is small but nice. Good size bathroom, queen size bed, TV, a couple chairs and a little kitchen corner. Pretty basic but clean and the views make up for any shortcomings. Breakfast is in our fridge….a container with meat and cheese, milk, juice, yogurt. Also cereal, honey, coffee and tea, salt, pepper, sugar. Fresh bread/buns are brought each day when they replenish the other goodies. Wifi is free.

The pool is at the bar next door. Can use it for free but he suggested that if we wanted to use the chairs, we should order a drink or two. Our “studio” cave is on level 4. Kind of have to work your way down through other peoples patios but we’re lucky cuz ours is at the end so nobody needs to walk thru. Marizan is right at the end of any development….the hillside next to us looks like there may have been something there at some point but just mountain and bits of ruin now. Great view of the old fort looking east and down to Amoudi below. The view off in the distance is just breathtaking! A few cruise ships (big and small).

Got organized and headed out around 7 to find a place with good sunset views for dinner. Already crowds starting to line up and find good spots. Everyone comes to Oia for the sunsets!

Sunset Café for dinner. Spectacular sunset!! Food was good but a bit more expensive than Paros or Naxos. I had the kefte, Ken had spaghetti, 2 beers, 2 coffees 42.40E

Picked up some eggs and other bits of stuff to make dinner another night and just sit and enjoy the sunset from our patio. We’re here for a week so would be nice to eat in.

Ran into Yannis on the way back and he invited us up to his deck for a drink. Definitely the best spot in Oia to see sunset!! Chatted for an hour or so, had a couple glasses of wine. Just a perfect temp at that time. He built Marizan 5 years ago and he’s been open now for 4 seasons. Originally from Athens, where he spends “off season” or else travelling. His wife works in the family insurance business. 2 daughters in university. A bit quirky, but a really nice guy. He can organize a car rental for us and trips into Fira or wherever we might want to go.

June 11 Fri.

Slept good…..nice comfy bed.

I’ve managed to bang my shins, stub my toes, trip up the step to the bathroom and hit my head on the door frame…..need to be careful wandering around here!

What a treat to have a drip coffee maker!! Really enjoyed my coffee this AM. Sat outside on the cushioned bench updating my journal and just taking in the view. The Celebrity Equinox came in this morning along with a couple other smaller ships…..not sure if cruises or private yachts. Just the perfect temp and so quiet….really peaceful. All you hear are the birds.

Took our time this AM. Had breakfast and sat around until the cleaning people came around asking when we’d be going out.

Breakfast was a bowl of corn or frosted type flakes with the greek yogurt drizzled with honey…..I could eat this every day!!

Off to explore!! Up, up, down, around and up some more! There is not one bit of level walkway here! Lots of stairs with some pretty big steps, most are narrow little cobbled alleys….just beautiful! All white. Many blue roofs and doors. And around every corner there is a view. Spectacular picture perfect views!!!

Looking up to the main walkway from our room

Looking down to Ammoudi marina from our deck

I wonder how that lady from the ferry with the motorized scooter is going to get around…..maybe they were going somewhere on the other side of the island???

Finally get to the main street and things level off and widen but also a ton of people. A couple more cruise ships have sailed in….one call “Happy Cruises” lol. Lots of Italians…..very noisy and a bit pushy/aggressive getting thru the crowds.

Found the centre of Oia and did a bit of shopping. Tea towels for everybody, a shirt for Ken, a bag with cats on it for Linds. Pretty expensive here…some high end shops (the white linen places…love!!). Most of the touristy stuff isn’t too bad…lots and lots of souvenir places that all sell the same stuff for the same price!! Got Donna an “eye” pendant that she can put on her bracelet. Picked up some wine for happy hour/sunset.

Had lunch at a pastry type place….one of the only places that wasn’t crazy busy….all was OK. I had the cheese and veggie pie, which was like a quiche (g.). Ken had a ham, cheese and mushroom crepe (tons of cheese v.g.) and a couple of glasses of wine 25E.

Found the “grocery store” and got olives, cheese and snackie things for later.

Back to our cave and away from the crowds! Changed and headed up to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. The pool is right next door at the Lioyerma Bar and Café. 5E each for a Mythos (big ones) but so worth it to enjoy the pool and the spectacular view…….it’s at the very western most point of the island so all you see is sea and more sea…pretty nice.

Swam, read, snoozed and people watched until around 5 then home to do much of the same thing. Not much shade though out front so pretty hot.

People sitting on the walls of the castle waiting for sunset!!

Got cleaned up and got the snacks and wine out for happy hour…..by 6:30 people were already jostling for spots on the castle walls and all up and down the alleys. Sunset isn’t until about 8:15!!! It is awesome but not sure I’d just sit around waiting for it.

Around 7:30 Yannis yelled down to come up to meet some other guest and enjoy the view. He does have the best view…..right at the west end and totally unobstructed……pretty fantastic. Had a great time chatting and drinking wine. I took some olives up to snack on. Met a couple from Colorado. Watched a couple of cruise ships sail off into the sunset! But noticed that there was still one big one in port…..hopefully they’re all in Fira and not Oia!

Thought about ordering pizza but ended up out again. Found a lively little bar with OK food (pasta) and a fun bunch of people. No view which was probably why it was cheap. Home around 11. Still lots of people out and about….not nearly as crazy as earlier in the day though. And it’s the perfect temp too.

I think tomorrow we’ll pick up pizza or paninis or something to have at home. Did find a bank machine, which was a good thing.

To Fira by bus tomorrow! Hoping there aren’t too many cruise ships in…..wishful thinking I guess!

June 12 Sat.

Slept great! Up just after 6 and just getting bright out. Made coffee and took my book and journal out to the lounge to enjoy the view. I really don’t think I would ever get sick of looking at this. Thirasia (island that is part of the caldera) across the way and the ferries going back and forth, birds and more birds singing and flitting around all the flowers….tons of red geraniums and other pretty ones in pots and planters everywhere you look. Clear blue sky….and just pleasantly warm. Only one cruise ship so far, the “Thomson Celebrity” (British tour company).

Walked to the bus station to find the bus for Fira. Also found a bit of a bigger supermarket and some more little shops to check out. Bus to Fira was 1.40E each and took about 15-20 min.

Fira is much bigger than Oia but pretty much the same idea. More shops and more restaurants. It’s up higher too and perched pretty much about the centre of the island. I think it’s even hillier than Oia. More cruise ships had came in so it was really busy….walking shoulder to shoulder just about everywhere.

Found a little bar with a nice view for pizza and beer. 32E. Wandered for a bit then decided we’d walk down the 600+ steps to the marina. Not the brightest thing we’ve done…..besides being really hot, the steps are big and wide and very old and shiny in some places which makes them very slippery too. Lots of poor donkeys going up and down…..they make me so sad. That also means there is lots of donkey poop to side step along with bits of hay and the donkey riders, some who just race up and down. They also “park” the donkeys at various places on the steps, so you have to get around them. And not one speck of shade either. Probably took us a good ½ hour to get to the bottom.

Me after coming down those stairs…..where’s the bar???

A few little bars, restaurants, shops and a duty free store (this is where the cruise ships come in). Sat at one of the bars for a good hour drinking water and beer/wine just to cool down. Went for a bit of a walk around the marina…..some mega yachts….and watched all the “day trip” boats coming and going.

Took the cable car back up. 2.30E each but well worth it. I thought it was little scary…..lots of bumping and crunching happening and our car wasn’t even full.

Shopped a bit more….tee shirt for Cadence, bathing suit cover up for me and that was it. Crowds had definitely thinned by 5. Fira seems to be a bit more lively than Oia…..more bars and pub type places. Found the bus station and checked the posted schedules. Tell the times, which buses go where, the times and how much each one is. No such thing as “transfers” here. You go from point A to point B and pay whatever the fare is then purchase your next fare to point C when you get to point B and so on. You just get on the bus and the conductor or whatever he’s called comes around and collects the fare. Buses here are great. Big, like tour buses and air conditioned!

Picked up goodies at the market, near the bus station, to make sandwiches for dinner, chips, nuts, olives, cheese etc. and more wine….a rose this time. Just totally exhausted from the heat today and those damn steps. Would not recommend walking them. In hindsight it would have been fun to catch the ferry back to Ammoudi marina just below us (and take a taxi up!).

No shade yet on our deck so still pretty warm out there at 6:30. Ken snoozed, I had some wine and nuts and olives for a happy hour, read and watched the cruise ships leaving.

Tried a different local wine each night for happy hour(s)!

Up to Yannis around 7:30 for sunset happy hour. Met some newbies….an Aussie couple around our age. Nice chatting with everyone. Beautiful sunset again……right into the sea tonight so pretty awesome.

Back to the cave, made our sandwiches. Sat around updating emails, catching up on news, looking at pics etc. To bed around midnight.

What a great day! Exhausting and crazy busy and crowded but what a great place this is.

June 13 Sun

Up at 6 again! Two huge cruise ships, Aida Diva (has big red lips painted on the front!) and another even bigger one that I didn’t recognize nor could I read the name on it. A couple more fairly large sail boats (yachts!) and an old galleon looking one called “Gallileo”. Saw those when we were checking out sailing trips for Turkey….they looked really nice, a little bigger and bit more upscale than the gulets. The big NEL ferry came in and a smaller one going over to Thirasia…..might be a fun thing to check out.

New people next door from Melbourne Aus. They’ve been on the road for 3 months….Italy, Croatia, Naxos and here. They have a cute little guy that’s 2 and half named Xavier.

Organized a car rental for tomorrow at 9.

Another slow start….had breakfast and sat around until 11……the cleaning people start to get a bit antsy at that point! Have told them to not bring more bread and buns tomorrow morning……way too much for just the two of us. We usually get 3 or 4 buns, a baguette and sometimes croissants too!!

Found a different route into the centre this morning. Fun wandering around where people actually live…..much quieter and more flowers, pots, planters and beautiful climbing/trailing bushes….only us so hopefully not intruding on their peace and quiet!

Spied the old bookstore the other day and made a point of visiting today. Went down the steps and in to have a look. OMG!!! I loved it……what a mess!! Lots of old and new books, books on shelves, books piled up on the floor and every counter and table top and it smelled good!!! Must say I was a little overwhelmed by the whole place. I didn’t really need another book so just browsed and browsed until Ken had had enough.

Went to a place called Thalami for lunch. I finally had my stuffed peppers and they were excellent. Ken had the fried shrimp, which came battered, heads and all. Very good but a bit of pain to pick all the heads and shells off. Had the saganaki cheese which was excellent…nice and crispy in a puffy batter. Wine and a beer 35E.

Spent the afternoon by the pool….Ken had a couple of beers I had a couple different fun drinks, which were pretty potent!! Swam, read, snoozed……not a bad afternoon at all!

Early dinner in….chicken breast tornados (sort of….but really good) fried up some of the huge shallot (.15 at the market) scrambled a couple eggs with melted cheese, olives and more rose wine! All pretty good considering we have a frying pan and that is about it let alone a mini stove and a foot of counter if that! Sat outside and enjoyed the view and the cruise ships heading out.

Up to Yannis for sunset. Lots of newbies today. Americans from Minnesota and Michigan. Fun chatting with everyone…..most are only here for a 3 days, which really is probably enough if you go, go, go. A week is probably a little too long….I think 5 days would have been enough but that said I’m kind of glad we’ve got lots of time to just sit and relax too…..not often we do that on vacation!!!

Yannis patio….best sunset views on Santorini!

Back down around 11. Emails, Facebook and that was about it. For the first time since we’ve been in Greece I had to get the mosquito stuff out!! Nasty tonight….feels a bit more humid so maybe that’s why.

A couple of cruise ships left late tonight. One left around 7:30 and the other just after 10….all lit up….looked very nice.

June 14 Mon.

Up at 6 as usual. Just beautiful this morning….water is like glass, not even a ripple. Just barely a breeze. It is so calm and quiet this AM you can actually hear the people in the boats and at the marina talking.

First cruise ship of the day is Azamara Quest. Next a small ship called Arethusa (??)…looks nice. Another sort of galleon type boat about the size of the one yesterday, another Thomson cruise ship then the Wind Spirit (tall ship) and a smaller one called “Callisto”. Wow…..I hope they’re not all renting cars today!

Our car rental guy arrived right at 9 on the dot. 40E for the day incl extra insurance. He left it in the bar parking lot. The car is pretty much a piece of crap…a peugeot of some sort. The doors don’t lock…they just barely close!! Gas tank is empty as in ding, ding, ding empty! But the AC works so we’ll survive….I hope!

Very, very hot this AM and feeling pretty humid, not much of a breeze at all.

Off we go to explore. Yannis wrote all over our map showing all the things to see, beaches, wineries etc.

Headed off toward the far end of the island and worked our way back. A very nice drive with incredible views in every direction. Many houses perched on the sides of the hills. Great view off and down to the east and the lowlands (?) and beaches on that side of the island.

First stop was just near Pyrgos to the Santo Winery. 1.20E per tasting. Tried a couple. The views from here are stunning!! You can see the entire caldera, Fira, Oia off in the distance just everything. It’s on the cliff above Athinios. Nice big patios and lots of tables to enjoy your wine and the view. Big elaborate bar set up for tasting. Tried two wines…..they were OK. One a nice light white and the other their version of Vin Santo. Chatted with the winemaker for a bit….asked about how they grow the grapes and the methods…..very different here than Italy, France or at home. No trellising or wiring stalks…..they’re just on the ground sort of sprawled out. He basically called it “clump and tuck”. It’s done that way to protect the grapes from the harsh sun and brutal heat in the summer and also the winds that can come up.

He showed us the roof tops that they cover completely with grapes in September. The grapes pretty much turn into raisins so they have a high sugar content…..told us it was sort of the same idea as our icewine but since no ice or frost here, they dry the grapes to get the sugar…….all very interesting.

Just a beautiful spot…..would have been great to have lunch there but too early..

Boutari was the next stop……pretty basic and very modern tasting room with a little shop and a wall display of all their wines and awards. Tasting is 5E for 5 different wines or 6E for 8. 8E for a cheese plate. Tried a white and a rose….both were really good. I buy this wine for “Greek nights” at home and it’s only OK…..but tastes just right here!

On to Akrotiri…..supposedly a super ancient ruin site but it wasn’t open. Not sure why as the signage wasn’t terribly clear. Oh well, pretty hot to be exploring ruins today anyway I guess.

Checked out the Red and White Sand beaches……the Red is pretty neat. Big red cliffs and a rocky pumice-ish beach just covered in brightly coloured beach umbrellas!! Picture perfect!

Right where you park for Red Beach is a little snack stand and a local produce stand where they had “real” sundried tomatoes happening! Big, gorgeous looking figs, bottles of capers, other fresh veg and home made wine!

Stopped at the Akrotiri Hotel hoping for lunch but nothing like that really so we just had a drink and a chocolate croissant (v.g.).

Around and down the east side to Perissa. A very touristy town on the flats. Lots of “villas” and rental places, touristy/beach-ie type shops and tons of restaurants. Not a terribly nice beach…..too pebbly and rocky. We’re certainly spoiled by our beautiful soft sandy beaches at home! Many bars along the beach where you rent umbrellas and chairs, or you sit/lay on the rocks. Not really a place I’d like to stay. No pictures??

A little further along on the road we saw what looks like a little church built into the side of the mountain…..it had to have been blasted out and how it was built I have no clue as there didn’t seem to be any access route up to it.

Back on the main road you can see the vineyards in just about every directions….very nice.

Karami is the same idea as Perissa but bigger and nicer I think….more organized with a pedestrian only waterfront street, which we inadvertently drove down lol….. Lots of restaurants of course, more shops some that seemed a little more upscale than just the usual tourist shops. Busy but still really nice to walk around. No pics here either……obviously not too impressed I guess.

Had a late lunch. Stuffed peppers and tomatoes and a glass of wine for me. A huge big burger and coffee for Ken. 23E, which I don’t think was too bad considering where we were…..and the food was good too!

The beach here is the same a Perissa except the rocks/pebbles are black! The beach starts out sort of sandy but as you get closer to the water it gets pretty rocky/pebbly. Stuck our feet in…..was warmish. But again to get a good spot to sit and enjoy it you’d have to rent an umbrella and chairs. Good people watching though!

Drove the scenic low road back past the airport. Took a wrong turn and ended up back on the main road but found another that we thought might take us back down….very steep and twisty and very scenic but wasn’t sure if we’d make it back up if we went all the way so we found a spot to turn and in that stupid car just barely make it back up. Honestly thought if we’d stopped anywhere we’d just start rolling backwards.

Back on the main road near Imerovigli (sp??) we found a good road to go down and drove along the coast under where Oia is to Ammoudi Bay. Very pretty……very dry and desert-ie but lovely with the sea right there. We can see the bay and a bit of the marina from our cave but there is a more to see once down there. Some really cute little restaurants right ON the water, lots of boats bobbing around and many fisherman cleaning nets etc. This would be a great place for dinner one night! Too bad we were still so full from lunch and it was still a bit early. Maybe Yannis would drive us down???

Dropped the car off and left the keys with Yannis…..hoping all was OK and no issues. Should have asked for a discount for leaving a ¼ tank of gas in it!!

For sunset tonight we took a bottle of the Boutari rose up along with some olives and nuts. Yannis brought out bread, salami and some cheese that was made on Thirassia. The Aussie couple and the Minnesota people came up too. Enough goodies for dinner for us. Enjoyed the sunset and company until around 11 then the mosquitos just got to be too much.

Quite a busy day, hot and tiring especially for Ken having to drive that crappy little car. But a good day and was great to see more of the island.

June 15 Tues.

Oh ho hum…..just another beautiful morning.

A big Costa cruise ship this AM. Got up a little later so may have missed more.

Walked into the centre for breakfast this AM…..a little place we’d notice the other day that had omlettes. I ended up with a really good and huge waffle with cinnamon and brown sugar 5E, Ken had one with the works on it…..strawberries, kiwi, nectarines and apple and two scoops of ice cream 12E Two coffees and two bottles of water total was 27E. Great view and a bunch of fans going to get the air moving….so hot we were stuck to the plastic chairs!

Finished shopping….golf shirt for Craig, a little dress for Cadence, a donkey fridge magnet (never buy them but just because……..), a cookbook for Steve and Di and some very pretty Christmas ornaments. Forgot to check out how many other ships were in today…..seemed exceptional busy in the centre.

Back around 1:30. Got changed and spent the rest of the day by the pool. Drinks and snacks, read and dozed and enjoyed the views…..the sea and the people at the bar lol.

Went for dinner earlier, just before 7 so we could get back for sunset but didn’t make it. Tried the place the Aussies liked “Kyprida”. It was pretty good. I had the lamb in an onion sauce, potatoes and zucchini (13.50E), Ken had the ravioli with halumi and meat sauce (9E) which was very good….he finished off every last bit of it! ½ litre of wine and 2 coffees total was 33.50E.

Back and up to Yannis for a glass or two. Chatted until around 10:30.

Seems to be way more people in Oia today and tonight….wonder if one or two of the ships in port are staying overnight. Didn’t notice any of them leaving earlier. Definitely more people sitting on the castle tonight….right on the wall!! I think they’re crazy!

June 16 Wed.

Our last day here. Want to say “already…where had the time gone etc. etc.” but truthfully a week is too long on Santorini. Should have tried to squeek in another island….maybe 3 days here and 4 on Crete or one of the other less touristy islands. That said, it’s been great here…..definitely moved at a much slower pace than we usually do but not a bad thing to just have some down time and what better place to relax than by the pool or on our little patio with views to die for!

First big cruise ship today was an MSC something, then RCL’s Splendor of the Seas and the Seabourn Odessey (which looks pretty amazing), a couple of humungous yachts….one called Il Miro. Last but the biggest of all to come in was the Equinox….the biggest cruise ship I’ve seen so far (lots of people!!!!). No need to head into the centre today, which is probably a good thing.

Had the last of our eggs and other goodies for breakfast….along with the yogurt and croissants. I’m going to miss yogurt and honey on my cereal!!

Spent the day at the pool. Lunch was baguettes with cheese and meat and a couple of beer. Read, napped, swam and that was about it. A good way to spend the last day here.

Off to dinner around 7:30. Neptune. Ken had the steak (v.v.g.) I had the seafood pasta that was excellent. With wine our total bill was 53.50E but worth if to watch the cruise ships sailing out of port and our last magnificient sunset on Santorini.

Came back to chat with Yannis and organize our ride to the airport. Nobody but us tonight. He showed us his new “Cave Villa”. It’s really nice. The plan is to build more below and a bigger one that he’ll live in thru the winter and rent out during the summer.

Visited a bit with our neighbours from Birmingham….just arrived and spending a couple days then doing some island hopping.

Repacked, did emails and caught up on facebook. To bed around 12.

I think today was by far the hottest day yet…..tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter so our timing was pretty good. Not sure I could handle it if it got much hotter. The cave stays sort of cool but pretty sure after a number of days it would be unbearable. Very muggy too, which Yannis said happens more during the summer….and the mosquitos too! Pick up for 10:30AM.

June 17 Thurs.

Our last morning and a very beautiful one it is!

Five cruise ships…the Silversea “Silver Wind”, something “Happy Cruises”, the Costa “Fortuna”, Windstar and a smaller cruise ship and a huge yacht called “Oasis”.

Yannis came down, checked us out and thanked us for staying with him. A bit of quirky guy but very nice and helpful.

Drive to the airport was about 30 minutes so a couple hours to kill. Our flight was supposed to be at 1 but the plane didn’t even arrive until just after that. Had time to grab a bite to eat and a drink and just sit around.

Finally, everyone had to go through passport control and were then loaded onto a bus. We were in “group 1” for boarding but with easyjet that really means absolutely nothing….pretty much a free for all to get on the plane.

Surprisingly the flight was only a ½ hour behind schedule. 3 hours and 30 min flying time to London (Gatwick). Had a window seat which was great but just took off right to the north so didn’t really get to see much of the island. Good flight was interesting flying over eastern Europe and just clear enough to see the Alps then cloud the rest of the way into London.

Was going to check out the pub “Ye Old Six Bells” a 10 minute walk from the hotel but was raining and bloody cold so didn’t bother. Dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was OK. Crabcake appie, fish and chips for Ken, fried chicken for me, coffees 46 GBP’s…..so more than our most expensive and delicious dinner in Greece!!

Internet if 15GBP’s for 24 hours, so didn’t bother. Called Linds to give her the flight info etc.

Watched TV, which is something we’ve not done for 2 weeks….nothing exciting so didn’t miss it at all.

June 18 Fri

Air Transat/Thomas Cook flt 871 (codeshare)

Checked out and grabbed the shuttle to the airport by 7:30. Got thru the huge line up for check in. Time for breakfast…..full English!

Uneventful flight other than it being a very full plane. Dozed on and off.

Arrived in Vanc around noon. Linds picked us up and home!

Great trip and one day we’ll go back to Greece. So much to explore and islands to see….each one just a little different but all so beautiful.

Vietnam and Cambodia 2020 – Siem Reap

Dividing this into 3 blog posts – 1. Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) 2. Hanoi, Vietnam and 3. Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Fri Mar 13 (!!!!)

Flight was a little early so arrived just before 6:30. Good flight, good service…..more snacks!

Not a very big airport……stairs rolled up to the plane out on the tarmac. As soon as we got to the door of the plane the heat hit you! Wow…..what a difference in temp. Was 28+C (almost 90F).

Found the China Star visa guy. He took all our stuff while we filled out the medical questionaires……took about 1/2 an hour for processing and then out to meet our guide here, Kim. He found us!! Not too many people arriving so no problems.

Just waiting outside for our van we worked up a sweat. I can’t even describe how hot it is. The van is not very big…..basically a mini van with an extra row of seats at the very back that are virtually impossible to get in and out of. Not terribly comfortable. Connie wasn’t happy….we are not little people, or at least some of us certainly aren’t.

About a 5 minute drive to the hotel. Not much to see. Pretty impressive place. Angkor Empress Hotel https://www.empressangkor.com/index.html Beautiful entry and lobby where we were met by a guy with hand sanitizer and a nice refreshing drink of some kind of juice. Kim asked us to wear our masks…..I think he was worried for himself with a bunch of older ladies….fair enough. But they are really quite awful to have to wear, especially in this heat. Beautiful pool and bar area surrounded by the rooms. Very big place. Nice room on the 2nd floor but no view, just a wall. Good air conditioning, thank goodness!!

Brenda knocked on our door looking for her bag, it was no where to be found. We all took off back to the lobby to find Kim. Him and her immediately headed back to the airport to check. They were back in about 15 minutes luckily with her bag…..found sitting on the curb. Obviously got left when they were loading up the van……it was touch and go if all the bags would fit. Backpacks didn’t so we just held on to them. Not sure exactly what happened but that, along with the small van had really annoyed Connie. They definitely should have been more careful about loading the stuff……they told us to just go ahead and get in but I usually always check to make sure my bag is loaded and honestly we were the only people being picked up at that spot. She contacted the tour company who arranged for a bigger vehicle and since we now had an extra day they would give us a complimentary tour to Tonle Sap lake and the fishing village. It all turned out OK.

Met in the lobby for dinner right after Brenda and Kim got back and piled into our much bigger van!! Another excellent dinner at a place called “Queen Cuisine”. The food is just a touch different here but all really good. Had our first Cambodian beers, which were ice cold and really refreshing (Cambodia Lager and Angkor Ale). All our meals have been from set menus but you get a ton of food and good variety of dishes. Tonight the “fried morning glory” was delicious…..the stocks and buds are done kind of like zucchini sticks. Best tho was the minced pork and beef lok lok……we got the recipe for it. Only us and 4 others, also tourists, in the restaurant.

The rice is hiding under the banana leaf cone!

Dinner was quite late so just time for a drink at the bar by the pool and to bed. Unbelievable how warm it is still at that time…..11PM! Angkor Wat tomorrow!!

Sat Mar 14

Up early. Nice little buffet with an egg guy. Only our group for breakfast. There is at least one other group of people at the hotel…..a family of 6 from Germany. So that said, not sure why they put us way at the back of the hotel??? Oh well!

No need to find ATMs or bank machines here. Only US dollars needed.

On the road just after 8. Was dark last night when we arrived so great to see the city sites and activity in the daylight. Lots of big empty hotels here. Tourism is what keeps this place going so very sad situation for them right now. There is a big ferris wheel, the “Angkor Eye” just about across the street from us as well as a night market that is closed right now. Lots of small strip mall type shops along with the road side food and produce stands and wagons.

Would describe it as “scruffy”. Not dirty but not terribly neat and tidy…..sort of a mix of helterskelter buildings, paved and gravel, or dirt, driveways. There are separate side roads on either side for scooters, which is a good idea. Seen that someplace in Vietnam as well.

Drove for about 10 minutes to the Angkor Wat visitor centre where got our 2 days passes. They take your picture and give you the pass on a lanyard. How exciting to see this!!

https://www.tourismcambodia.com/attractions/angkor/angkor-wat.htm My pictures just don’t do justice……and there is a smudge on my lens!!!

The whole site, which includes Angkor Thom too, is huge, over 400 sq km. Built somewhere between 9-13th centuries. There are a ton of temples scattered all thru the park. It’s all very nice, lots of forest as well as various kinds of food and sourvenir stands along the road and at the entrance gates. Hardly anyone there!! Maybe a couple hundred people as opposed to the usual 1000’s. Angkor Wat is pretty impressive as you approach it. You cross over a moat on a floating bridge. The moat is pretty yucky…..quite a bit of garbage unfortunately but some pretty pink and purple water lilies. Also guys fishing in it!!

Kim gave us the history of it. Loved the serpent statues…..the body makes up the railing with the head and tail at either end, lots of carved pillars….incredible detail. Just spectacular. Once thru the main entry there is another long stone walkway up to the temple. Us and a handful of people!!!! In some ways we are incredibly lucky to be here at this time. Just fantastic with so few people. There are lakes and ponds on both side of the walkway closer to the temple…..this is where everyone comes to see the sunrise.

Very, very hot and it was just after 9! The temple is just spectacular as you approach it. Once up to it you can spend hours taking in all the detailed carving everywhere and on everything, post, pillar, wall……just amazing.

They have a set route to follow for exploring, which is probably necessary when there is a zillion people here…was even good today as it keeps everyone going in the same direction. I would guess-timate that there were maybe 100 people, if that. Even with the directions there are open areas where you are free to wander and just admire the detail on pillars and walls. Many Buddha altars that are decorated…….never turn your back on Buddha, always back away! There were a couple of monks doing blessings so we all got blessed…..happiness, peace and health (lets hope so!!) The blessings are by donation….$1US. The monk was quite the character…..tried to make some jokes and laughed a lot. When Brenda went by later he splashed water on her and laughed. Many of the Buddha statues, of which there are 100’s I think, have lost their heads!! Lopped off by people over the years to sell, which is too bad.

With every blessing you get a pretty little woven bracelet.

Finished following the marked route…..the intricacy of the carvings is incredible. Still lots of restoration happening so hopefully they’ll uncover, and recover, much more. We were able to climb the very steep and narrow stairs to the highest temple. The view from the top is great, more and more carvings. Coming down the stairs was a bit scary, luckily there is a good railing.

It is soooooo hot….said it was 38C (105F) and humid. Just brutal. Glad I brought my hat!

We exited thru a different gate so didn’t have to walk all the way back. There’s a stupa that was built for the caretakers of Angkor Wat and some beautiful carved murals on the wall that tell a story. All the floor stones have two holes in them…they were used with sticks (strong sticks!!) to move the stones there and put them in place. The walkway out, after going thru the gate, is very pretty, treelined with various other buildings, more roadside stands selling food, fruit, veg and souvenirs.

Lunch was a short drive away at a place that overlooked the lake. Very pretty. Small communities scattered about. Not sure if they are actually in the park but apparently are still part of Siem Reap the city. Lunch was great….we ordered from the menu today. The Angkor beer was especially tasty! This place served “authentic” Khmer food. Had my first taste of “amok”, which is delicious. It’s a mild curry sauce usually served with fish……”amok frog” was also on the menu!!!! I had the ribs (v.g.). We were admiring the very pretty carved carrot garnish on the plates so the chef came out and did a demo for us. Very sweet, cute lady.

Drove back a different route, past more little communities and lots of roadside food stands. Most of the stands have hammocks strung up in the trees behind them…..they call them “hammock cafes”. Locals come on the weekend to enjoy the food and the shade. Tons of monkeys. Scavenging for anything they can find or snatch. A couple of them were on a hammock having a great time swinging and flipping around.

Our next stop was the Killing Fields Museum. https://www.justgola.com/a/wat-thmey-killing-field-2533637 I only made it thru the first room displays….just beyond ones imagination how horrific it was. Just unbelievable really. You can’t “un-see” things, so could not handle this at all. I don’t think you have to see it to believe it! While everyone else was going thru, I went back out to the covered outdoor lobby area and chatted with a lady from England, who also couldn’t deal with the museum. Watched the monks at the temple next door. They were trying to get a chainsaw started….about 5 young guys working on it. Followed the others but stayed on the walkway and caught up with them in the plaza or ?? at the end, where there is a glass stupa filled with bones that was built to commemorate the horrors of the war and all who lost their lives. The bones are from mass graves that were found around the area.

Beautiful temple in the plaza. Brenda and Cathy got blessed again.

Cambodia also has a very young popultation so few people left who experienced that horrible period in their history. According to Kim the young people are fully aware of the atrocities that took place and have vowed that it would never happen again. I can only hope for their sake that it does not. We cannot, in our comfy homes and war-free countries, even begin to imagine what they lived, or didn’t live, thru. There was an elderly man selling a book that he’d written…..he was a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. I kind of wish now that I had bought it.

Back to the hotel with a few hours to spend by the pool…..which was like bathwater but refreshing enough when you got out, at least for a few minutes. Just us! A couple others had been there when we were walking to our rooms but gone by the time we got back down. Had time to update journals, visit with Connie and Lori and have a couple of drinks, which were not cheap and unfortunately not very good either. I had a Long Island Ice Tea, which was one of their specials. I’ll stick with wine or G&T’s. Have no idea how hot it was today but you cannot honestly move a foot without working up a sweat.

Tonight was our special dinner show at a place called Por Cuisine. https://www.porcuisine.com/ According to their menu/program some of the money received is donated to a charity, which is good. Very nice place, semi-outside, dinner was excellent. Definitely a place geared towards tourists though. Not too many empty tables. Show was good, all done quite nicely. Nice evening!

No drinks at the bar back at the hotel tonight. Quite late getting back and still has to be in the high 20’s….not cooling off at all.

What a great day. Long and hot but so lucky to have been able to visit with no crowds!

Sun Mar 15

Something was in our ceiling last night…..between our ceiling and the floor above. Sounded like critters of some sort. Could hear it squealing and racing around, like claws scratching. After listening for about 10 minutes we called the front desk to try and explain what we were hearing…….they sent up two guys to fix our air conditioning!! That was definitely not the problem…..we tried to tell them the noise was in the ceiling but just gave up. The scratching had stopped so we couldn’t explain it any better than we already had. Oh well! I hope we don’t hear it again tonight.

Breakfast today was not buffet, guess not enough people here to put out all that food. Had our choice of 3 different things……continental to full English breakfast. All very good.

To Angkor Thom this AM. https://www.siemreap.net/visit/angkor/temples/angkor-thom/

Excellent map of the entire site! It’s hard to put into perspective where you are when being driven around.

Click to access Map-of-Angkor-Side-A.pdf

Thru a different entrance into the park this morning. Way more trees around here, very nice. The roadside is dotted with fruit/veg/food vendors and a few souvenir kiosks. The bridge up to the entrance is lined on both sides with Buddhas….happy ones on the left and mad ones on the right!

Bayon temple was our first stop. The ruins are just phenomenal….the carvings unbelievable. I’m a roman ruin junkie but these are so different and so interesting. Some restoration has been done, and continues to be done, but still enough of the ruin left for you to use your imagination to see what it was like once upon a time. I think I like this better than Angkor Wat because of the state that it’s in. Part of it was closed due to the restoration work but luckily the main towers with the smiling Buddhas could still be seen. Was great just wandering around, every turn or arch that you walked thru offered something just a little different. Amazing!!

Baphuon temple (Baboon temple) next…..this place was just as impressive. Much more forest/jungle. There were monkeys having lots of fun in the pool at the entrance. Running up and down the steps, pushing each other and jumping into the water….just having a great time and very entertaining to watch.

You could climb up the stairs to the top of the temple but we didn’t…..too hot! I found the grounds of this temple very interesting. All the stone and bits ready for restoration. Lots of trees trying to take over the ruins. Lots of shade so nice to explore.

The Elephant Terrace was probably pretty spectacular in it’s day. It was the viewing platform for the king. It’s almost 1000ft long and built with huge stones that were then carved into elephants with Buddhas on them. Some have trunks that stand out…..at one time there were tusks too but those are long gone. Just all pretty impressive.

Our last stop was Ta Prohm, where the movie Tomb Raiders was made. This was the absolute best place yet!! The ruins, the trees, just everything about it……trees growing out of buildings, roots taking over, rubble scattered all over, amazing bits of stone with carvings half hidden by more rubble or roots…..truly nature taking back what was taken from it!! Just fantastic.

The cicadas!! Almost deafening the noise that they made…..you could not hear yourself talk! Nor could you hear the guys, survivors of the war….a couple of them were blind, who were entertaining with traditional music and songs.

Magnificent trees, possibly a type of banyon, whose roots not only grow under ground but above the ground, up and over anything and everything that gets in their way…..just amazing.

In one of the doorways was a guy doing ink drawings of Angkor What. Bought one that he’d just finished…..he wanted $25, offered him $20 and he took it. I almost felt bad because you could see all the work that went into it! He rolled it up and put it in a woven reed tube for me. I just love it.

This place is just magical!!! Not only tree roots, but entire trees growing out of, or on top of, rubble. They’ve put in some reinforcing so arches and walls don’t fall down. 20200315_120245 Some of the carving are still in fantastic shape with sharp details. Not sure if the stone has copper in it that has iodized or whether it’s just the lichen but it’s all so beautiful…..truly one of the most amazing places I’ve been. This is better than Angkor Wat!! I’m glad we did this after because I really think I’d have been disappointed. We all got to stand by the entrance covered in tree roots that was in the movie. Inside one of the more stable looking ruins you can see how these were built using huge stones shaped into rectangles that were stacked. The outside was carved into whatever the ruler at the time wanted. I can’t even describe this place. Except for it being unbelievably hot, I think I could have spent hours and hours just wandering around Ta Prohm.

This root has so far spared the carving behind it.

Restoration is continuing but very slowly…..and I think that makes me happy! I’m sure there are wonderful treasures buried under the rubble and roots but it is just beautiful and magical the way it is. My fav place so far!

Lunch was at a restaurant called “Nearly”, from a set menu…..all excellent again! Love the very, very spicy peanuts that they put out for nibblies. Tried a “Brunty’s Pear Cider which was really refreshing…..was a British company but now local.

Cambodia wins for the best spring rolls ever!

After lunch we visited a couple of local artisan shops. The first one was ridiculously expensive and I’m not sure that is truly was local. Ran by people from India. Lots of the same type of stuff we saw in artisan stores there! Beautiful scarves…..upwards of $50US, lots of knickknack type things, jade and bronze Buddhas, as well as some huge statues and furniture…..and carpets!! All lovely but not anything that any of us were interested in. Next stop was good though, a place called Artisan Angkor. Said it’s all local and hopefully it was. Beautiful silk clothing and scarves, lots of little bits of things like keychains. They had candles as well and some larger items too. Still a little expensive but a bit more reasonable. I did buy a very pretty bright pink silk scarf and a few other little bits for gifts.

A bit of a drive thru the city enroute to the new night market…….lots to look at along the way.

What could they be fishing for in there?

Our last stop for the day was the market. Fun place with a maze of stalls, mostly all selling the same stuff. Lots of fun browsing and bargaining. The old market is across the river, where we’ll go tomorrow night. The streets and bridges are all lit up at night.

Back to the hotel around 7:30 for dinner. Set menu but all good and beautifully presented. I’m pretty sure I had never had Cambodian food before and have to say it has been my favorite! Love Vietnamese but I think these guys have a bit of an edge…..similar but more flavor and spice.

Very tired after a long, busy and very hot day…..and still hot night!! Definitely near the top of the list for highlights of the trip.

Mon Mar 16

No critters last night! Up very early today……our last day. So much crammed into this vacation it’s hard to believe we’ve only been gone two weeks! That’s a good thing in a way…..I guess. Very hot again…..

After breakfast we went off on our “extra” excursion. Tonle Sap is a fairly big lake just outside of Siem Reap, about a 1/2 hr drive, and the floating villages. On the way there we passed thru many little villages, farms with lots of water buffalos and cattle, the usual fruit stands, a few restaurants and the lotus farms, which are gorgeous. We stopped on the way back.

The lotus farms on the way to the lake are just beautiful!!

We arrived at the marina and boarded our rather lopsided boat, which luckily had a cover…..very, very hot. Many boats tied up…..not the usual number of tourists unfortunately. These poor, literally, people are going to feel the pinch.

This whole area is part of the Mekong flood plain, even though we’re a few hundred miles away from the river. Many of the houses along the river are built on stilts to stay above the high water during the rainy/flood season. The lake is really low right, probably only a few feet deep in many places. Quite a steep ramp to get down to the boat. The river looks very dirty but apparently it isn’t, just now because it’s so low there is a lot of sediment. Lots of people fishing in the water along the shore……supposedly crocs in the lake!!

Quite a few boats heading in and out of the lake getting supplies, gas etc. A few temples along the channel, or this narrow part of the lake, built up very high with really steep stairs. A cemetery built on one of the higher banks. One side on the way is a very pretty forest, the other is roughly put together storage buildings and some of the houses built on stilts. As we got closer to the open lake the channel widened and we started seeing the fishing traps…..looks like a bunch of sticks stuck in the water in big circles. Passed a croc farm.

Once out on the lake there’s a main floating village area with a church and a school. The rest is sort of scattered around . Many are little communities or “neighbourhoods” with some houses attached by ramps. Some are definitely floating while others are built on stilts. A few of the homes are just boats that the fisherman and their families live on. Quite a few boats out of the water on stilts too…..sort of drydocking to maintenance. Most are painted in very bright colours…..really very pretty. Apparently there are approx 180 of these floating villages on the lake. Many houses have big potted plants and boxes or pots of pretty flowers. We weren’t sure how deep the water was until we saw a little boy following his boat…..it was waist deep on him. A few other people in the water doing whatever. Lots of little kids….really cute and most of them naked or just about.

Spent about an hour just motoring around the lake…..really enjoyable. Some of the houses looked like they might be restaurants…..big pots steaming away and a few tables on a dock. All incredibly interesting. Must be a very difficult life with so few amenities close at hand. Kim pointed out the “bathrooms” on a couple of the houses and boats….what was shaped like a port-a-potty attached at the back….no real sewage systems for sure.

We stopped at the croc farm on the way back, which was really not necessary. Too many of the poor things just stacked one on top of the other. The only good thing was the view from the roof-top platform.

Our boat stalled a couple times on the way back. Our captain had to make his way to the back to pull up the motor and untangle weeds, nets and who knows what else that we’d collected along the way. We all gave him a nice big tip….not sure when he’ll get more business.

We stopped at the lotus farm on the way back. It is so beautiful!! They have walkways over the water and little thatched huts where you can go to have lunch. You can bring your own or they’ll prepare one for you. A very beautiful little girl was showing us around. She picked one of the unopened blooms and showed us “magic”. She twirled it quickly between the palms of her hands and it opened. She gave each of us one to try ourselves. What a cutie she was. They have a few geese, chickens and ducks wandering around.

I think it cost $2US to get in and wander around. The lotus flowers are very pretty and grow quite tall compared to waterlilies. They bloom during the day then the petals fall at night….interesting! The lotus blossom is sacred to Buddhists. They eat the new leaves and the roots. The seeds are used to make a tea for sleeping. The stand across the street had the green pods that are left after the petals fall off…..had only ever seen the brown dried pods at home. The whole place was just lovely……like a Monet painting!

Lunch was at the same place as yesterday…..a first! We’ve never had a repeat but I guess since this was a bit of an unplanned day we just went back. All was excellent as usual…..another pre-set menu but different. We ordered a side of fries, which was a real treat. Had another Brunty’s Cider.

Kim arranged massages for us!! So back to the hotel for a couple hours first to have a swim, a drink or two and to just relax by the pool.

Massages were interesting!! We had our choice of full body with oil, full body without oil or just legs. Lori and I opted for just the legs and Connie went with the full with oil, the others did the full without oil. Only Connie got to go into her own separate room. First though, we had to take our shoes off and have a bit of a foot wash……while they served us some hibiscus tea. We got these huge floppy sandal things to put on then were ushered into a big long room with 5 mats on the floor. Those having full body had to put on these big loose pajama types things, Lori and I just had to put the bottoms on. I guess seen they aren’t using oil, it would be kind of rough on the skin or ???? Anyway, we had lots of laughs and fun getting ready. Then our ladies came in and started the massages. They were not gentle!!! But it actually felt pretty good. I was sure I was going to have bruises on my shins. They’re big on toe pulling!! And leg pulling, pushing and twisting. Ended with a neck and back rub and chop or two. Surprising how good it felt after!

Tonight, being our last night and on our own for dinner we decided to spend the evening on Pub Street. Kim first took us on a bit of a tour, pointed out some of the better places to eat and where the entertainment would be later. And explained how the tuk tuks worked. $4US per tuk tuk, not per person, to get us back to the hotel.

We thanked Kim for being such a great guide and tipped him, on top of what we’d already paid the tour company for tips. He was really good, a great host to his country. I think he was a bit afraid of us at first, but we had lots of fun with him.

20200316_174704 — Pub Street before the crowds….

We all sort of went our own ways for an hour or two and decided to meet up for dinner around 7. Lori and Connie are still here for one more night, but we’ll meet up with them again at the airport in Hong Kong. Not sure why we couldn’t have just stayed as well but oh well. And so far, so good…..no messages from Eddie telling us anything to do with our flights home has changed.

The markets was fun to wander around……mostly all souvenir type stuff. Lots of clothes, some a bit different but pretty much all the same stuff we’d seen at all the other markets and stands. Unfortunately most of it comes from China. A few places did have locally made stuff and the odd artisan type shop here and there. 20200316_175110 Found a lady who made cards!! Absolutely beautiful ones with the designs made from folded paper. She is deaf and some of the money she makes goes to an association for people with disabilities……how nice. She was just lovely too. There were also a few of the fish pedicure places…….eeewwwwww. Just could not imagine having that done. Depending on how bad your feet and toes are I guess, they have different sized fish!!

As it started to get dark, all the streets around the market filled up……tons of people. Have no idea where they all came from since we’ve seen so few tourists anywhere we’ve been……and these were definitely tourists.

We all met up and found the $2 mojito guy!! Watched him make them…..quite a show! And they were really good. Lots of places with beer on tap for $.50!!! If you want a bottle it’s $2. 20200316_192126 Went to a pub right on Pub Street for dinner. I ordered a hamburger, which is something I don’t usually do but they sounded and looked pretty darn good. And it was!! A few drinks and a bit of chatting made for a fun last evening with Lori and Connie. They went off one way and we walked about 10ft to where the band was set up and grabbed one of the many tables set up in the middle of the street. Also grabbed a few of the cheap draft beer. The music started and so did the dancing……was really good, lots of fun. Great music!!

Along came a local man with down syndrome, who somehow honed in on Cathy…..maybe he knew that she was one of those wonderful people that has a big heart……and that she works with people with disabilities. He had a wonderful time dancing with her. At one point he dug out his wallet, went up to the jar that the band had and put some money in it. Other people then started doing the same thing. After a few minutes some security guy came along and tried to move the man along…..Cathy basically told him to bugger off!! The guy was having fun and bothering no one. Good on her……a number of people came along and gave her a pat on the back for that.

Earlier in the evening one of the tuk tuk guys had asked if we needed one……we said that we would but later. He hung around us all evening!! I guess if you’ve got a potential customer you hang on to them, especially right now. Tons of people though on the street just having a grand old time. Chatted with some fellows from India, a couple ladies from England became dancing partners thru the evening. Everyone just having a wonderful time.

Really not looking forward to going home!! Messages coming fast and furiously now about long line ups at the airport, cancelled flights, no toilet paper (??), empty shelves at stores, everything closing down etc. etc. and having to self-isolate for 2 weeks once we get home…..ah sigh. Sounds like it might be safer to just stay here!!

Was 11 by the time we told our tuk tuk driver that we were ready to go. Nice little drive back to the hotel…..took about 10 minutes. Nice young guy so we each gave him $5US!! Hopefully he went back and managed to get another customer or two because once everyone here is gone I don’t think they’ll be seeing too many tourists for a while.

What a great day and a super evening for our last day! Pretty much just fell into bed. Will pack or re-pack in the morning!

Tues Mar 17

Nice bit of a sleep in this morning……our flight to Bangkok isn’t until 1:30 so lots of time to repack and get ready.

Breakfast was back to buffet this morning…..seems to be a few more people. Chatted with a gal from Toronto yesterday by the pool that is heading to Thailand to teach a month long yoga retreat…..I hope it all works out for her. She had some concerns but decided to do it anyway.

Went to the hotel dress shop and bought the cute dress I’d been eyeing the last few days. Packed up, said bye to Connie and Lori and off to the airport we went. Only the driver, no Kim. Tipped him too for putting up with us the last few days……he hadn’t said too much be was very accommodating at stopping/starting etc. when ever we wanted…..only that luggage thing at the beginning but…..

Airport was pretty much empty…..very few flights. All flights to China…..cancelled!! What an interesting time to be travelling!

Flight to Bangkok was only 1 hour. On Bangkok Airlines…..apparently has won awards for the best “boutique” airline in Asia. Small plane (prop), only held 50ish people. Served snacks of course! Not much to see because of cloud, or haze. Neat airport in Bangkok…..kind of like Papeete. Walked from the plane to the terminal and right to our gate. Only one hour to wait.

Cathay Pacific for the flight to Hong Kong. Plane only half full and seemed to be the only there at the time we left. Uneventful flight…..a couple hours to Hong Kong (yet, more snacks!!), plus a 1 hour time change so well after 8 by the time we arrived.

Thru customs in Hong Kong, no issues. Chatted with a guy on our flight that also had to overnight in Hong Kong but he was put up at an airport hotel……so why we had to go all the way into the city to the “Panda Hotel”, who knows. Could not find our driver or shuttle, so up to the Cathay Pacific desk to ask for some help. The guy had a look at our voucher and called the hotel……no problem. Just grab a cab and the hotel will pay when we get there.

We found the taxi stand, hopped in and off we went. Had started to rain a bit and a lot cooler in HK for sure. Many big taxis in line but the next taxi was just a Toyota or something like that….not a big one either! Our luggage didn’t fit all the way in the trunk so he used a bungie cord attached to a trailer hitch or ? to hold the trunk down….. a couple of worried laughs from us…..he said “no problem”!! OK then! The poor driver was afraid of us I think…..it looked like he was trying to lean over against his door as much as he possibly could…..Donna was in the front, the rest of us squished in the back. He wore a mask and we all wore ours too. Not sure if he didn’t speak English or was just too stressed to talk to us. We’d ask a question and he’d nod or just say “yes”, “OK” or not answer at all!

Took well over 1/2 an hour to get to the hotel. Couldn’t really see too much…..too dark. We’re at the Panda Hotel. http://www.pandahotel.com.hk/en/accommation/rooms The lobby is lovely, the rooms not so much…..definitely not anything like the pics! Thought maybe we’d been stuck in some cheap crappy rooms at the end of the hall but could see in the other rooms on our floor and they looked exactly the same…..so the website pics are definitely deceiving. Our room was clean and all but very basic, almost army barrack-ish and rather old/outdated. Looks like we might have a not bad view though….we’ll see tomorrow.

Checked in, filled out health forms, temperature taking etc. They told us to just leave our luggage with the concierge and run in to have dinner before the restaurant closed. Which we did…..lady was not happy but we explained that it was not our fault and to not be angry with us…..she did come around even laughing a bit. Too late for a big meal and gawd knows we’d had enough snacks enroute. I had soup and garlic bread, which was very good.

Up to our rooms, they take your temperature every time you go up the elevator…..hope those things don’t cause a brain whatever!!! That was pretty much it for the day. Not enough plugs in the room….or ones in the right places. Needed one for Donna’s CPAP or she’d have to sleep with her head at the foot of the bed. Called downstairs for an extention cord and they did send one up but it didn’t work…..plugged it into all the plugs (2!!) and would not work in either. She survived without it.

Long day of just travelling. Was just happy that all went as planned, or at least just about except for the missing driver at the airport.

Wed Mar 18

Slept OK. Nice breakfast buffet including an egg guy and really good bacon! No rush this morning but no time either to have a bit of a walk around. Just wandered down onto the street in front of the hotel to have a bit of a look but was drizzling so didn’t go too far. Just about everyone in HK wears masks……maybe a handful of people that don’t and that’s it.

Not sure what area of Hong Kong we’re in but a lot of both commerical buildings and apartments. Busy street. Our hotel seems to share a lobby with a business tower, with a separate set of elevators just past the reception, so tons of people just wandering thru. I think there is a mall below. The hotel lobby is on the second or third floor. At the back, coming off the street there’s a covered walkway up. Tons of traffic but not a lot of honking! Can’t say one way or the other what I think of HK since we really didn’t get a chance to see any of it. So maybe another time……

Check out is at 11, so we did that and stored our luggage while we went and had lunch….that was included thanks to Cathay Pacific. Basically finished it and our driver arrived to take us to the airport. Our flight is at 4.

Saw a bit more on the drive to the airport…..the cable car, tons of fairly tall apartment buildings…….or just tons of buildings period. Crossed the bridge again and got a look at the port area and marinas. Lots of green spaces too. Looks like it could be quite nice.

Arrived at the airport, check-in etc. all went smoothly. Had to go back thru immigration, which was a bit of a pain but didn’t take long. So now I have an HK stamp in my passport! Not much to show for it though.

Airport is just as empty as it was the first time we came through. You can see the planes parked for what looks like miles around in every available space they have…..just wow! Met up with Connie and Lori! They’d just arrived, their flight was direct from Siem Reap. Lori will head to Vancouver with us and Connie will catch her direct flight to Toronto, which leaves an hour or so after ours. Chatted with them for a bit before we boarded. Yet again, said goodbye to Connie.

Plane was maybe 3/4 full. I had the window, Brenda had the aisle with no one in between. Was on the good side of the plane for pics except too much cloud so not much to see unfortunately. Very bumpy flight…..the first couple hours especially.

Dinner was served about an hour or so after take off…..pork something or other. Looked good but kind of tasteless…..had a little bottle of wine, which was good, and took my gravol. Slept for about 5 hours straight…….using my foot hammock again. That thing is really great. I don’t think it bothers the person in the seat in front of you…..at least I hope it doesn’t. They didn’t say anything so will assume not.

Flight home was only 11.5hrs, which was nice. Dozed on and off pretty much the rest of the way until breakfast was served about an hour before landing. Our flight arrived around 11AM, so we not only gained back our day but an extra 3 hours! Can always use extra hours!!

Was a little anxious about arriving back in Vancouver after all the messages we’d gotten and some of the news we’d read……horror stories about people in line ups for hours etc. Had none of that!! I think we may have been the only international flight arriving so took no time at all to clear customs. Donna and Brenda have Nexus so they went off into a different line, Cathy and I were together in the other line. We both got up to counters next to each other at the same time. My guy was a bit snarky……asked where I was coming from so I said HK and before I could add Cambodia and Vietnam, he sort of barked “before that!!” He didn’t ask if I was sick, or had been sick. Didn’t question anything about what I’d bought etc. What he did ask was……taking his thumb and pointing over at Cathy…..”Are you travelling with HER?”, I said “yes”. He sort of stares over at her and says “How do you know HER”…. My neck hairs are starting to bristle…..but I very calmly said “We met 6 years ago when OUR husbands died”……at which point he turns to look at me and pauses for a minute and says very quietly….”Oh, I’m sorry”….hands back my passport and sheet about self-isolating and away I go. What a jerk! Other than where she’d been, Cathy nor the others weren’t asked anything. Oh well. Waited for our luggage, said goodbye to Lori and off we went to grab the shuttle to the Park n Fly.

Was just about 3 by the time I walked in my door after dropping everyone else off. Linds had moved to my brothers for my 2 weeks of isolation so she could still go to work. She’d stocked up on goodies for me, including wine, so will be good for at least the next week then will have to phone her or a friend to restock.

Overall just an excellent trip, wonderful sights, beautiful and friendly people……..so very lucky to have been able to go as who knows when the next one will be. I’m also very lucky that I was able to squeak in those couple weeks in Cabo in February. Darn lucky I’d say……managed two trips in 2020 and many won’t even get one!

Vietnam and Cambodia 2020 – Hanoi

Dividing this into 3 blog posts – 1. Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) 2. Hanoi, Vietnam and 3. Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Mon Mar 9

Said our goodbyes and thank you to Jackie….excellent guide!

Check-in etc. all smooth. Vietnam Airlines. Good flight, just over 2 hours and included snacks….more food!!

Arrived just after 6PM. Definitely not as warm as HCMC. Our guide here is Vinhy (sp?) Just getting dark on our drive to the hotel…..very different here. More of a big city feel to it than Saigon. Not the street vendors, roadside cafes etc. very quiet compared to HCMC, but then maybe just the route from the airport. Crossed a huge bridge with lights that changed colours. More cars than scooters and bikes. Will be interesting to see more in the daylight tomorrow.

We’re at the Crowne Plaza here https://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/us/en/hanoi/hanch/hoteldetail/photos-tours#scmisc=nav_photos-tours_cp Massive hotel. Nice rooms. On our own for dinner tonight. Not very adventurous and doesn’t look like it’s easy to cross the road to get to where there might be restaurants so we just ate at the hotel. Joined Lori and Connie. Pizzas and soup and that was about it.

Busy day! Our room looks out over a very bus road with a major roundabout. They’ve closed one side of the street getting it ready for some big car race in April….so traffic is even more crazy. Looking forward to not having any light issues!!

Tues Mar 10

Oh happy day…..a 9AM start!! A bit of time to relax before our jam packed day. Good buffet with an egg guy. A mix of western and asian goodies. Lots of hot coffee. Quite pleasant this morning. A bit of cloud but lots of sun and just nice and warm, definitely not as hot as Saigon.

The currency here is the “Dong”. Had no problems finding ATM’s/bank machines in Saigon, so stocked up there. I think I have enough to last here. Don’t want to dip into my US if I don’t have to as that is what we’ll need in Cambodia.

Eddie has been taking great care of us. A bit disturbing that they’ve had about 10 cases of corona here so they’re trying to stay on top of it with temp checking, hand santizing and masks, which also means unfortunately closing some of the tourist stuff, one of which is the Temple of Literature which was to be our first stop today. http://vanmieu.gov.vn/en/ Too bad, I think it would have been very interesting. Instead we are heading directly to the Ho Chi Minh complex. Drive there was great…..happy to see the city is much the same as Saigon…..lots of people, street stands etc. Was so quiet last night.

Driving thru the city was interesting. The river, a lake and the old quarter is wonderful….crowded and full of people, tourists and locals, lots of restaurants, shops, street markets, barbers on the sidewalks etc.

The Red River also runs thru the city so lots of pedestrian walkways and parks around it. Saigon is the bigger of the two and where most business/commerce is but Hanoi is the capital and the oldest…..dating back to 1000AD. French influence on many buildings here too. Still most homes/shops are tall and narrow……something about the max width can be 15ft or something close to that but they can build to quite a few stories, so that is what they do! Not sure if it was because of taxes or some city bylaw type thing. We did see some pretty huge houses definitely much more that 15ft so probably taxes or ??

Arrived at the HCM complex early because there is usually quite a line up to get in…..Vinhy said we’d probably have to wait at least 1/2 hour or more…..but not today! Apparently because of the outbreak they have stopped all international flights into Vietnam….so we’re lucky we got here when we did! I think!! But regardless we’re here now! The hotel is almost empty…..not sure how many rooms but maybe 25 or 30 people at most in the dining room and milling about.

https://vietnamdiscovery.com/hanoi/attractions/ho-chi-minh-mausoleum-complex/

Took 5 minutes for Vinhy to get our tickets and into the grounds. No photos allowed enroute to HCM’s mausoleum. You must follow the route and walk single file all the way from the gate…..about a 6 or 7 minute walk. Luckily it wasn’t hot because there was no shade. The temp is pretty much perfect…tee shirt weather. The grounds are huge as is the mausoleum. You walk up the stairs, past the guards and into the building, then around where he is laid out, with lights shining on him……NO talking either!! They have guards stationed inside and outside the building…..which they change every couple of hours. Asked Vinhy if it’s really an embalmed him or ?? He said to just “know it’s him” ???, so have to presume so but it does look like wax or ? Interesting but also a little strange. The mausoleum was built in 1975 so 7 years after his death.

Not sure if he was loved or hated. Vinhy seemed quite taken with him, or at least his “vision”. Basically all he wanted was peace and to not be occupied or at war. HCM asked for help from the US to unify Vietnam and they turned him down (communism/dictator etc). HCM was then approached by Russia and well, the rest is history!! Vinhy said he is not at peace being put on display…..not what he would have wanted. He lived very frugally on the palace grounds in the 3 room stilt house.

The palace is beautiful, bright yellow, as were all the buildings on the grounds (yellow represents peace and happiness). It was only used for official and dignitary visits. There’s a very pretty lake and beautiful gardens with huge trees and shaded pathways thru the complex. HCM spent most of his time in the stilt house.

Wandered around a bit…..there’s a pagoda, a snack stand and a bit of a market and some good washrooms!! Have not seen one “squatty potty” anywhere so far!! This is good! The HCM Museum was closed, which was too bad. There is snippets of information on boards on the grounds but would have been interesting to see and read more about him.

Loved all the street activity……people cooking, people eating, barbers set up along one of the streets, buys playing checkers wherever…..

You can grab a hat if the haircut doesn’t work!

On to lunch!! First we had a cooking class. Our first lesson was fruit carving/decorating. We all had a demo of making tomato roses, then had to do one ourselves. They make it look so easy!! My tomato turned out pretty darn good I think…..and so did they! I was one of the top 3…..the winners got a free Heineken. I’d already had a Hanoi Beer, so feeling a bit loopy after that one. Lots of fun. We were divided into 3 separate groups and had to pick our “chef”. All the Burnaby boys got chosen to do the cooking. They first had to spice up and marinate the fish, then it all got tossed into a pan and stir fried with veg. Was very good. They served it to us in bowls with rice, which we thought was our lunch! NOT! A whole table was set up next door for our real lunch. When we are not moving, we are eating!!! All was very good…..soup, crab balls on a stick, veg, prawns, beef and more! I truly think this has been some of the best food on a tour type holiday. Still waiting for what I think is normal pho!!

After lunch we rolled ourselves back on the bus for a short drive to the Tran Quoc Pagoda, the oldest pagoda in Vietnam. https://vietnamdiscovery.com/hanoi/attractions/tran-quoc-pagoda/ Very pretty around there, it’s right on the river, nice treelined street. People are set up outside the gate selling birds and turtles….mostly little guys but a couple of big ones, probably close to a foot round, to buy and release for good health/luck etc. Felt bad for the big turtles that we tied up….they just kept moving like they were trying to walk away….poor things!! Connie asked how much to buy all of them, the lady said “millions”, which may have amounted to a couple hundred CDN….wish we’d all chipped in to do that! But I guess they would have just gone out and got more….probably the same ones over and over again. At least they let them go!

Beautiful pagoda and grounds. Also a Buddhist temple for many people preparing offerings, some putting together trays of goodies. Food, alcohol, flowers, cigarettes and a new fruit that I haven’t seen called Buddha’s Hand, which they use to make a tea. Nice spot right on the lake. A guy fishing on the rocks with a long skinny bamboo pole…..sort of fly fishing. Very pretty place with well maintained gardens and grounds.

Leaving there we passed a memorial to John McCain. It’s on the main road that runs along the lake. It’s where he was captured after he’d parachuted. He’d broken his arm and could barely swim. The memorial is now a friendly gesture to the US……and how, enemy or not, he was respected by them.

Hanoi is quite a pretty city with all the water, gardens and treelined streets. Our next stop was the Vietnam History Museum, which was excellent. http://baotanglichsu.vn/en Well laid out with some very interesting artifacts. Spent over and hour in there but started getting museum overload.

Because of the Literacy Museum being closed and an early lunch we had over an hour to kill before our rickshaw ride at 4, which was starting just outside the museum. Some of us thought we’d take a little walk looking for a place to get a coffee. Lots of Starbucks but not near there. We did manage to cross a couple of streets with no incidents, which was exciting!! They said to walk like you are the boss…..the scooters, cars and buses will go around you…..DO NOT STOP once you start going…..scary but it seems to work. Never did find coffee!

We each got our own rickshaw, which then had to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get on our route….rather exciting but we made it. 20200310_155929 Lots of honking. Cars, scooters, buses etc. just whizzing by….made sure to keep my arms and hands in at all times! A one point traffic came to a stop, so we waited and just as things started moving again, including us, a scooter came zooming by and cut right in front of us to turn right but had to stop quickly…..my driver was doing a lot of yelling and could NOT stop so we crashed into the side of the scooter. Not too hard luckily but hard enough to hear metal on metal…my driver yelled even more and flailling his arms ……the scooter driver had a quick over the shoulder look at us and just drove off with a dent in his tailpipe!! The rest of the ride was lovely and uneventful! Almost an hour. We drove thru the Old Quarter. Very busy, just a great area. Lots of restaurants and cafes, hostels all over the place. One area that was all produce, another selling flowers, a couple other streets for household items, electronics etc. Streets were packed with locals and tourists. I love the little plastic tables and chairs or stools that many stands have set up. Really an enjoyable tour. Suggested tip was $2US but I gave my driver 5…..that’s a lot of work pedaling those things thru traffic and throngs of people on the streets. Unfortunately I took a lot of video thru the food part and not a lot of pics…..too bad because that was the best part!

Finished our ride at a coffee house, Pho Co Cafe. Nice rooftop sitting area with a great view over the Old Quarter and the lake. Vinhy treated us to traditional Vietnamese coffees. Had tried one at home …..very strong, kind of espresso with sweet milk. Here you tell them whether you want sugar and/or milk, which is condensed milk so very sweet. Kind of a combination of lip puckering bitter and cloying sweetness. Was fun to have it there but won’t be ordering another anytime too soon.

We had about 45 minutes before our “Watery Puppet Show”, which was just down the street, so a couple of us took off to do a bit of shopping en route. Not much in the line of clothing shops right there so just browsed in a few stores mostly selling touristy stuff. I did pick up a really nice picture of a woman in the rice paddies…..it’s embroidered!

The puppet show was actually pretty good. No pictures allowed! A bit hokey but fun. Along with the show was traditional music and singing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_puppetry Kind of a neat history about how it started back in the 11th century. Luckily they gave us a program to follow so we understood each of the stories the puppets were telling us. All in all kind of fun, but not sure I would go out of my way to see it if it hadn’t been included.

Was dark when we came out and the area all around the lake was lit up as well as the bridge……very pretty. And the streets where just packed with people…..lots of fun! The whole city overall is really quite lovely…..a mix of typical narrow buildings along with French and colonial architecture, lots of greenery, wide streets, chaotic traffic, noise etc. Great place!

Dinner tonight was great. A place called “Khai’s Brothers”. A big buffet set up in the centre courtyard, which is an old temple garden. Buffet was excellent with every kind of dish possible….meat, fish, great veg, salads and a soup station where a couple of gals put together whatever you wanted. All delicious!

Back to the hotel, a quick drink in the bar and up to pack an overnight bag for our trip to Halong Bay tomorrow. We have to check out in the morning and they’ll keep our bags for when we come back the next day and then have to check in again!! A little bizarre considering the hotel is pretty much empty….you would think we could have just left everything in our rooms….oh well!

Another great day……a really busy day! The weather is not looking too good for Halong Bay tomorrow…..which is too bad. Was hoping for sun….ah sigh.

Wed Mar 11

Up early! Breakfast, check out, store bags and on the bus by 7!! A 4 hour drive to Halong Bay. It was warm-ish but pretty overcast so not much chance of seeing any sun today.

The city is busy…..everyone already has the food stands set up, roadside produce stalls etc. People using their scooters and motorcycles as “cargo” vans. As we left the city we started going thru smaller towns/villages but with the same scenes.

Once in the countryside, many beautiful farms, rice paddies being tended. A few industrial areas. Geese farms…..or farms with lots of geese! Yet interestingly not something we’ve seen on any of our menus so far.

Loved the rice paddies….only one or two crops a year up here.

Many people along the roadside selling goodies….mostly fruit but you see a lot of those packets of cured meat. Tons of flower stands. Not a very nice day which is really too bad….very overcast, not cold but not hot either. I just love the rice paddies….from a distance they look like a solid sea of green but up closer you can see the individual stalks of rice…..these also could just be recently planted fields that will thicken up later. Just about every field has someone working in it. Such hard manual work….so sign of any type of machinery regardless of what is being grown.

Stopped for a break at a very touristy shop that sold everything from huge Buddhas and dragons statues for your garden (or wherever you might want to put them!!) to beautiful delicate pearls and other gems. Some very nice clothes but all really quite expensive, definitely geared towards tourists enroute to Halong Bay. At least 3 other big buses where there. Our bus is medium size I guess…..since there are only 14 of us….with just enough seats that we can each have our own row/window, which is kind of nice.

As we got closer and closer to the coast you started to see “mountains”, which truly looked like huge rocks…..limestone I guess, like Halong Bay. Arrived in Halong Bay just before noon. Halong is a very busy tourist destination for locals as well as foreigners. Many highrise apartments and timeshares. There’s a cable car that crosses the harbour/port and marina as well as a huge “Sun Wheel”, like the London Eye. Had to fill in “medical forms” and have our temperature taken. Lots of boats, big and small, some are “self-drive”, like the houseboats we can rent on lakes at home, some are bigger specifically for short cruises like ours. Lots of barges, container ships and tankers. Very well kept and pretty place, nicely landscaped boulevards and medians. Many very attractive lowrise French looking apartment complexes. I’m sure it’s usually booming but not now because of corona. Such a shame because 50%, or more, of the population here relies on tourism. The marina is full of boats…..many anchored right now unfortunately…..just not busy.

Also to protect the bay, or at least to try and protect it, you are forbidden to take any plastic bottles on any of the boats……if you are caught, the captain gets a fine, not you, so they were quite diligent in checking everyone. Better than nothing and certainly good on them for making the effort.

Took a tender out to our boat, The Victory. https://baithojunks.com/ 20200312_082551 It has the capacity for 60ish people but there are only 20 of us. It’s really lovely. Our cabins are small but very pretty, a good size bathroom, and nice little balcony big enough for a small table and two chairs. The main deck has the dining area, bar and seating area inside, outside there is a nice big deck with lots of chairs and seating areas, the upper outside deck has lots of tables and seating and is partially covered…..I guess for hot sunny days, ah sigh! Just not the best of days to sit out there and enjoy the scenery unfortunately. The main deck patio is at the front of the boat, so even though we’re not moving at any great speed, it’s a bit too breezy and chilly to sit out there.

Got our bags dropped off in our cabins and just enough time to have a quick drink before we started our cruise and lunch was served. Lots of smaller boats out and about and the odd “houseboat”. We ordered a bottle of bubbly to celebrate getting here! One of the things on everyone’s bucket list….Halong Bay!! It looks absolutely glorious in all the brochures, which I’m sure it is on bright sunny days, but oh well, I’m just so glad to be here and the mist and low cloud make it almost magical or mystical. The karst formations and islands are just beautiful and even in this cloudy weather the water is an incredible blue/green. Lunch was excellent!! Very gourmet really with each course beautifully presented. Quite enjoyable just sitting and chatting.

After lunch was a tour to one of the islands with a pretty beach and a cave that you had to climb up to. Donna and I decided we would pass on it and spent a couple of hours out on the deck having drinks and chatting with Gord and Alan. It was quite pleasant outside when the boat wasn’t moving…..still no sun though. Everyone that went said it was really interesting and lovely but it was also great to have a couple of hours of just sitting and relaxing. We just seem to be on the go continually.

Once everyone was back on board we did some scenic sailing. Even though cloudy and overcast, with a few spits of rain, it is a pretty spectacular place. Some of the pillars are huge, islands really, but straight out of the sea up and up….others are smaller and truly look like pillars. Other than the one we stopped at I didn’t notice any others with beaches but apparently there are a few of them. We were supposed to have the chance to go kayaking but that’s just not going to happen unfortunately. I would have done that!

Brenda and Cathy went for massages…..just OK they said. A couple of others had just the foot and leg massages….one of the guys had a pedicure! The rest of us just sat around in the bar chatting and enjoying the scenery. Around 4:30 we had tea time/snacks…..a very good creamy drink of some sort. Lots of snacks….deep fried shrimp chips, very salty but tasty pretzel sticks, nuts and other snacky goodies (eating again!!) Then we had a cooking lesson/demo!! Donna and Cathy and then a few others had a go at putting together salad rolls. The demo ladies finished putting the rest together and we ate those too!!

Was just too chilly to sit outside unfortunately so just popped out every now and again to snap a few pics. Very disappointed though looking at them later because they aren’t very good….poor lighting at this time of day and the cloud cover made for really crappy pics unfortunately, which is too bad.

Dinner was just as good as lunch if not better!! And again all presented so nicely. Talked to a few of the other people on board, people from Germany, Switzerland and France. Each table had a flag of the country that they were from….fun. A enjoyable evening relaxing and having a very good glass, or two, of wine (Aussie).

During dinner, Eddie had a number of phone conversations….hmmmm, we thought. Sure enough he told the 4 of us that our flight out of Siem Reap to Hong Kong on the 16th had been cancelled and we’d spend an extra day there and then leave on the 17th to Hong Kong via Bangkok….but we’d have to overnight in Hong Kong. All at the expense of Cathay Pacific. This should all be interesting as we don’t have Eddie with us for the Cambodia part of the trip. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly…..he has assured us that it will!! Things are just getting crazier each day. Heard a rumour tonight that Halong Bay will be shut down tomorrow….so cloud and all it sounds like we were lucky that we made it here period.

To bed pretty early, just after 10, but another great and busy day. Up early tomorrow for our tour of the water village. I hope we at least get a peek of sun tomorrow.

Thurs Mar 12

Slept great…..nice comfy beds and great pillows. Up very early, before 6, for coffee and a small continental type breakfast around 7. No sun…..ah sigh.

Out right after breakfast to visit Vung Vieng Village….a floating village. Very overcast this morning, even a few sprinkles of rain…too bad. But even in this weather it looks lovely. The tender took us by a number of other boats similar to the Victory, a couple had their traditional sails up. Also a lot of the smaller boats out….the house boat type. Not sure if I’d do that….the water is pretty calm but it’s pretty open water, not like a lake and there are quite a few tankers and barges that you’d have to contend with. They may have a specific area that they have to go to and only use this route to get to/from the marina. Even though you can’t bring plastic bottles on board, there were still a lot of them bobbing around in the water. They are trying I guess.

The village marina is kind of tucked away in a smaller bay, We got into 4 person rowboats with one lady rowing……hard work!! Really quite enjoyable just watching the scenery go by. Many different types of houses…..some looked like family compounds with a few different buildings on the floats, others were stand alone, some were like little individual neighbourhoods with a few individuals houses connected by little bridges or planks. Quite a few dogs, which I am telling myself are family pets!!! A lot of boats as well, biggish and small fishing type boats that people live on. All, or most a brightly painted. Very peaceful and serene there.

The village is sort of tucked into a little bay protected by a couple of bigger islands. The limestone formations are pretty impressive up close, some sheer faces with bamboo adding a bit of colour and softness, which made it very pretty……bamboo is such a calming plant….gently moving in the breeze. You could see holes, or maybe caves, in some of the rocks. Our lady didn’t speak English so couldn’t ask her about them and forgot to ask once we were back on the boat.

The main part of the village was the dock, it has a school and a bit of a supply store. Other than that everyone must be pretty self-sustaining. We did see oyster farms and was supposed to visit a pearl farm but it was closed due to the virus. It didn’t clear up at all the couple hours we were out…..oh well, still just beautiful.

Back on board the Victory just after 9:30. Our buffet brunch was all set up. We were also told that Halong Bay and all boats were being closed down for one month because of the virus. Not sure how many cases they’ve had but definitely not taking any chancess. This is just devastating to them since these boats and all the tourism is one of the main sources of income in this area. Very nice buffet set up with a mix of our kind of breakfast stuff and local traditional dishes along with yogurt, fruit and some really nice pastries. Really….it seems like we eat all the time!

Sailed back to the marina and managed to get a few more dull and gloomy pics but it kind of made it more mysterious looking in the fog/mist.

Just before we got off the boat the manager (American guy) and all the staff thanked us for our visit and wished us well on the rest of our trip. He advised that that they too would also be disembarking with us. And they did……two tenders to take everyone back to the marina.

Very dull, dreary day. Stopped for a break at a place similar to the one on the way. Again, nice stuff but I think a little over priced. Some of it, especially the clothes did look better quality but hard to tell really.

Vinhy stopped at a street fruit vender and got a jackfruit. He cut it up for every one to try. Tasted really good….sort of a mango/peachy taste but smoother texture. Each section has a bit pit in it, looks like a pecan still in it’s shell.

Our bus got side swiped!! By a truck. Drivers exchanged some money and off we went…..nasty big black scrape on the side of the bus.

Back to check in and a bit of rest before our Farewell Dinner…..a real farewell as we go off in different directions tomorrow. Six of us will head to Cambodia (the 4 of us and Connie and Lori), the others are all off to Thailand for 4 days then on to Cambodia. We will be sort of on our own….no Eddie!! He’s off to Thailand with the rest of them……apparently you have to have at least 8 people to get the tour company guide all the way……info that they didn’t tell us! I’m sure we’ll survive but just that things are a little different right now. Eddie has assured us that we’ll have no issues. There will be a guy waiting in Cambodia with a sign who will collect our passports and get our visas. And our guide, who’s name is Kim, will be waiting with a sign. He’s printed off all our flight changes as well as emailing the info. He’s got all our phone numbers and we have his just in case. Donna will be our main contact person if any more changes come up. He’s pretty sure there won’t be any other changes but things seem to be getting a little crazy from messages that we’re getting from home, so who knows!

The bus came to pick us at at 6:30 looking as good as new!!! Everyone wanted to how he got the body work done so quickly…..he just smiled! Dinner tonight was excellent. A great restaurant call “Ly Club”. https://lyclub.vn/ (new website in the works….) Beautiful place, colonial style building in the French district. Very pretty outside, lots of plants, palms etc. could easily be somewhere in the south of France…..especially with the Bentley parked out front. Inside was just a lovely, bright and white wood paneling, dark floors, nicely set tables etc. Definitely the splashiest place we’ve had dinner. Food was all excellent as well as the service and the wine. Vinhy and Eddie gave a little speech and then gave each of us a little women figurine as a gift….a very nice little touch. Great evening.

A nighcap at the bar and to bed. I’m pretty sure there are maybe, including all 14 of us, 20 people at this massive hotel!!!

Fri Mar 13 (!!!!)

Slow start this morning. Our flight to Siem Reap isn’t until 5. Later breakfast and just repacking and organizing my bags. Checked out at 12 and, of course…..off to lunch!! Very different part of the city but much the same street scenes. All the little cafes and street food places were busy. Another excellent lunch, one of the best we’ve had….that said all has been excellent. Quite the variety today including duck!!! It was the first time we’d had it and it was delicious, along with the french fries…..what a treat they were. Chicken with lemon grass, absolutely delicious spring rolls, beef, rice and a pho to start. Dessert was a little gummy type square that came in a little box….not sure exactly what they were, maybe a bean cake?? Kind of good but 1/2 of one was enough. Flavour was OK but the texture was a bit of thing for me. More than enough food…..for every 4 people they’d bring out a plate of each. More often than not there would be stuff left and not because it wasn’t good, even the guys couldn’t put anymore away.

Right after lunch we headed to the airport. Our flight was at 5 and the Thailand flight at 4:30. Said our goodbyes to Vinhy and Eddie and the others. What a great bunch we had to travel with for the last week. Great people. Hope we can keep connected at home. Have done an email list and have already found Maurine on facebook!!

I’m really going to miss Hanoi! Wasn’t too sure about it the first day but it really kind of grew on me. Would love to come back some day……not on a tour! Spend some time in the Old Quarter and would love to visit Halong Bay in the sun. Friendly people, so much more of this country to see…….one day!

A few more random street shots……out the bus window!

Our gate wasn’t posted yet so took our time going thru security etc. The airport was just about empty!! A few people here and there…..again could have played football just about anywhere. Our gate finally came up and was right next to the others heading to Thailand. Grabbed a coffee and some snacks.

Flight was about and hour and half. Vietnam Airlines again…..very good!

Next on to Siem Reap…….

Vietnam and Cambodia 2020 – Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

We’d talked about doing this trip for months…..finally a reasonably good deal came up and we booked it in early January. BEFORE the corona virus was a major issue. As the time got closer and closer we did worry a bit but it still had not been declared a pandemic. Travel advisories for both countries suggested it wasn’t necessary to cancel plans but to take necessary precautions such as hand washing and masks…..petty theft seemed to be a bigger issue! Four of us went…..myself, Donna, Brenda and Cathy. Decided to book a tour as opposed to doing it ourselves because it was just easier and a “small group” tour (max 25 people). Opted not to include the 5 days in Thailand as that is some place that we’d be able to organize ourselves one day. Booked it through a local travel agent. The tour operator was China Star Holidays……who I must say were excellent! http://www.chinastarholiday.com/ As with this kind of tour we were busy from the moment our feet hit the ground until our last day.

As the trip got closer and closer COVID 19 was becoming more of an issue. Our flights thru Shanghai were changed, as well as the airline from China Eastern to Cathay Pacific, going thru Hong Kong, which we were happy about. All was still a go, we were assured by the travel agent that if any problems came up things would be changed as necessary. We could not cancel at this point (2 weeks out) without losing all our money as the travel advisory still had not changed. So, for better or worse, off we went!

Dividing this into 3 blog posts – 1. Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) 2. Hanoi, Vietnam and 3. Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Wed/Thurs/Fri Mar 4/5/6

Last minute flight change had us leaving the night/morning before, at just after 1AM of the 5th (Vanc time), so we gained a full day in Ho Chi Minh (orig supposed to arrive at midnight on the 6th). Picked everyone up, dropped the car at the park and fly and met our guide, Eddie, at the Cathay Pacific check-in at 10:15 on the 4th. Met the rest of our group…..8 people, all locals. Will be two more that we meet up with once we arrive in HCM, so 14 of us, which is just enough. Luggage checked thru to Ho Chi Minh so don’t have to worry about collecting it in Hong Kong….only have an hour there so that’s a good thing.

Donna, Brenda and the others had already gone thru security by the time Cathy and I did. We met the pilot, Doug, going thru security……record time for that since we were the only 3 people! Not sure if just because of the time of day, or morning, or just so few flights.

Plane was maybe just half full…….huge plane too! 777-300. Had a window and Brenda had the aisle originally but ended up getting a row in the centre to herself.

20200305_010356 — Blurry, but you get the idea!

Not much to see since it was dark all the way until just before arriving in Hong Kong. Long, long flight…..13.5hrs! Served dinner around 2AM. Gave us a menu that listed the salad, our choice of 3 main courses (chicken, shrimp or veg) dessert and the wines they were serving!! Ran out of our choice for dinner so told us we’d get first pick for breakfast. Had the and prawns and rice (just OK), wine was Australian (good).

Got settled in with my pillow, blanket, eye mask and my new foot hammock! That thing is fantastic! Managed to actually sleep close to 6 hours. Brenda had moved when I woke up so tried to stretch out over the 3 seats but the middle armrest would not go up! Still managed to get comfy enough to doze on and off for another couple hours. Great service, very friendly and helpful staff.

Breakfast was OK…scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, an odd little sausage and a really good little sweet bun with cranberries……good, very hot coffee!

All and all for such a long flight it was pretty good and no complaints about Cathay Pacific.

Arrived in Hong Kong just after 7AM, wrong side of the plane of course to get any view of the city. 20200305_151759 Unreal seeing so many planes parked, there had to be a few hundred all in neat rows, wing tip to wing tip. Eddie collected us all and off we went to the gate for our connection to Saigon. Had only one hour but no problems and NO PEOPLE!! I’ve never been to Hong Kong before but I’m pretty sure the airport is normally packed. 20200305_154206 Honestly you could have had a football game in there. Only our gate and one other a ways down that had people. Wow!

Flight to HCM was just 2hrs……no window. Another half empty flight. Eddie collected us and all our passports, extra pics, visa letters etc. for the visa processing. Took about 1/2 hours, then thru customs/immigration, which took about 5 minutes……not many people at all. Out to meet our local guide and on the bus. Busy outside with lots of people coming and going…..apparently only international flights have been limited so still lots of domestic arrivals and departures. Nice airport, looks fairly new.

Once on the bus and enroute to the hotel Eddie and Jackie, our local guide, explained the itinerary etc. Great drive to the hotel thru the city. Millions, literally, of scooters, Crazy busy traffic and constant horn honking and beeping. Architecture is very interesting. A mix of residental and commercial, very narrow buildings, many look almost colonial or French, some very modern. Shops on the street level, homes above. Lots of fruit and veg vendors along the road as well as a few food stands….pho! Tons of restaurants and cafes with little plastic chairs and tables on the sidewalk. Streets are relatively clean, bits of paper here and there, bags of trash piled up for pick up.

We have a “free” day here…..because we arrived earlier, so we’re on our own for lunch and dinner today.

Arrived at our hotel, the Equatorial, around 10:30. https://hochiminhcity.equatorial.com/tours/ Eddie and Jackie looked after all the check-ins for us while we sat and enjoyed a very refreshing glass of hibiscus tea. Too early to get our rooms but luckily had packed bathing suits in the carry-ons.

Beautiful pool surrounded by plumeria trees and other greenery, nice bar with lots of shaded seating. Had a swim and our first Saigon beers to celebrate arriving and surviving the incredibly long travel day(s)! Very hot!! Got our rooms just after noon, so went up and got a bit organized then back down to the pool for lunch or a bit of a snack. Just too tired and too hot to head out exploring. French fries, satay and spring rolls. We were doing everything we possibly could to NOT go up to our rooms and just go to bed.

20200306_135842

Met up with others in our group. Maureen and Ken, Alan, Grant and Gord are all old friends (some since elementary school…..and they’re our age!) Another lady, Jody is not with them, she’s from Kamloops I think. Mark and Mercy from Abbotsford. Met the other two ladies, Connie and Lori, who had just arrived from Thailand where they’d been for a week.

Up to change around 5:30 and figure out what to do about dinner. Donna decided on a short nap, Brenda, Cathy and I ventured out for a little tour of the streets around the hotel….even managed to cross the street a couple of times! Lots of places to eat but Eddie and Jackie suggested not trying anything for the first day or two, so just found a Circle K for some big bottles of water and headed back to the hotel. Donna was up by the time we got back. Brenda and Cathy were done and just went to bed. Donna and I went to check out dinner in the restaurant but it was buffet and just way too much food. Back to the pool bar and ordered a couple glasses of wine and pizza. Was OK and good enough.

Was totally done for the day by 8:30……so tired I could hardly see straight. Read for a bit until the lights went out…..by themselves!!

Sat Mar 7

Ack…..the lights in our room have a mind of their own!! They come on and go off without any help from us…..just bizarre! Slept pretty good for a couple of hours until the light show started. The light beside my bed came on, I turned it off…..10 minutes later the light near the door came on, turned it off, then the bathroom light came on and on it went until 2 when I finally got up and put my eye mask on.

Slept until 5:30. Felt OK, made the hotel room instant coffee and took it down by the pool to update my journal and wait for everyone for breakfast. Really hot and muggy. Just the best time of day!! Fun watching and listening to our street wake up. It’s busy with scooters loaded with bundles of stuff, various types of carts being pulled by people or people on bikes, lots of honking, stores/cafes starting to open with people sweeping up out front, setting up their big pots and a few people sitting on those little chairs having their breakfast.

Excellent breakfast buffet. Lots of variety, eggs, bacon (v.g.) etc. Asian assortments of soups, noodles and dumplings, great pastries and really good, hot coffee.

20200307_065557 — Wonderful little pumpkin dumplings…..tasted as good as they looked!

Chatted with some of our groups…..a couple of other rooms also had light shows!! Just weird. Alan knows my nephew thru the BC Lacrosse Assoc. and Gord, is the brother-in-law of a friend of Cathy’s! Ken and Maureen live about a 5 minute drive from my house!! It really is a small world!

On the bus by 8 for our visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%E1%BB%A7_Chi_tunnels Nice drive, about 45 min. Small scattered villages/communities enroute, all still within the city limits but much more countryside rather than urban. Rubber tree plantations line the roadside. They mark and slash the trees then put in a sort of spigot for the latex to drain, apparently it can only be done at night. The trees are good for producing for 25 years.

We entered thru the museum which has various artillery and guns on display……they are still finding bombshells as well as un-detonated ones! 20200307_095259 Mines are also still a problem all these years later. We stopped in to see a video, which Jackie explained was a Viet cong propaganda video, made in the late 60’s meant, to encourage villagers to join the fight against the Americans…..it showed happy smiley people, including little boys and girls maybe 5 years old if that, holding and shooting guns. Told them all how smart they were and that fighting and killing Americans was their priority. They dug the tunnels, set booby traps……really quite horrific ones…..the things nightmares are made of! If you didn’t join them, they simply killed you, or your family…..these poor people had no choice….they were stuck between a rock and hard place. I remember thinking how horrid it was that innocent women and children were also being killed during the war but this kind of makes us understand now why the Americans shot everyone and everything in their way……you just wouldn’t know if it was an innocent villager, or small child, with an AK 47 or Kalishnikov (sp?) tucked under their shirt. Just incredible!

The tour was very good and informative. Cathy went in one of the tunnels……pretty claustrophobic and she’s really tiny!

One of the very well camoflaged tunnel entrances

The route is laid out very well, easy to follow and nicely shaded so relatively comfortable to wander thru. There are re-creations of what some of the areas in the tunnels would have looked like; the kitchen or cooking area with the special venting so the smoke went along the ground instead of up in the air so as not to be detected from above, meeting rooms, sleeping rooms and sewing rooms where they made uniforms and sandals, made from old tires, that you put on backwards to make it look like you were walking the other way if someone was tracking you. The hospital building was really interesting…..the area was completely covered in bamboo, which was planted on purpose…..if the Americans used some defoliant to kill the trees and grass, the bamboo would grow back very quickly. They also had the various booby traps displayed, just horrific…..seeing one or two was enough for me! Many termite mounds around, some real, others manmade, which would have little holes hidden in them for airways into the tunnels.

What made this place all the more creepy was the shooting range!! So the whole time you are wandering around all you hear is gun fire…….just a little disturbing. You can shoot any number of different weapons for $3US a bullet! Also a number of bomb craters….one from a B52. Finished the tour at the little souvenir and rice paper shop.

Lunch was a short drive away at a great spot between two canals…..Ben Nay (lots of trip advisor reviews), very pretty and picturesque! One big building and lots of smaller pagoda type buildings for dining. Set menu but the food was quite good and there was lots of it! Nice cold beers to go along with it all. Very hot even with the ceiling fans going inside our pagoda.

Coming to the end of the dry season so all water levels are really low.

About an hour bus ride back to the city centre. Big trucks filled with watermelons, lots of roadside produce places. Stopped for an hour or so visit to a local market. Crazy busy, selling everything……standard tourist souvenir stuff, some really nice clothes and tee shirts, flowers, beautiful colourful produce, fish (fresh and dried), many food stalls…..it all smelled really good! Too hot and just too busy so Donna and I headed across the street to a little bar for beers…..the boys from our tour group joined us so chatted until time to meet the bus to go back to the hotel.

Packages of “fermented meat”, which is supposedly quite delicious!

Back to the hotel and time for a nice dip in the pool and drinks at the swim up bar! So, so hot. Not as muggy as it was this morning. Chatted with more of our group. Lori and Connie are cousins! Fun ladies.

Dinner tonight was on a big riverboat. Cruised around the harbour for an hour or so, good views of the city at night. Big boat, two levels, meant to serve hundreds of people but not even half full….the bottom level was not in use at all. Dinner was a set menu and would have been really quite good had any of it been hot, or even warm. Some entertainment…..singing and playing a xylophone type thing made of slabs of slate.

We boarded the boat at 7:30 and were off a few minutes after 9. Not terribly a great evening unfortunately. The whole thing overall was pretty tacky…..apparently meant for the Asian tourist market. Was nice driving thru the city at night though. They still have all the New Years decorations up…..lots of lights. It’s a “special” new year. Busy on the streets at night…..people milling about, tons of scooters, all honking!!

Back to the hotel, drinks in the bar with most of our group…..fun chatting and getting to know everyone a bit more.

Up in our room the lights were just as wonky as ever. We’d reported it to the desk and they told us they’d been fixed….NOT. Remembered to take the little flashlight into the bathroom, in case the lights went out….and it did! Donna and I just laughed…trying to guess which lights would go on and off and when. We tried taking the card out but it made no difference.

Great day….all very interesting. It’s quite a nice city…..colourful, busy, loud, crowded, definitely full of life! To bed around 11…..with my eye mask!

Sun Mar 8

Up early for coffee. Psycho lights!! Thank goodness for my eye mask, I slept great. Really like the pillows!!

Great breakfast, lots of chatting about the lights….everybody has told the desk and they just say it’s fixed….ah well!

On the bus by 8 again….Mekong Delta today. First we had a visit to the Thien Hau Pagoda, Tau not Buddhist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thien_Hau_Temple_(Ho_Chi_Minh_City) Had to walk a block from the bus and came across ladies selling birds, song birds. Lots of them in cages. Before or after you visit the temple you are supposed to release a bird….it’s for good luck, health and compassion (?), now that said why catch them in the first place, but oh well. The pagoda is really quite impressive….appears to be very similar to a Buddhist temple. According to Jackie, it’s not important who you worship but just the fact that you do….many people go to more than one temple.

Jackie suggested we wear our masks….they’d stopped yesterday and bought us all one. With the outbreak here, it’s necessary to wear them some of the places we’ll be going. Here though was for the incense…..very strong, lots of it and lots of smoke! What an incredible place. You must step over the threshold when you go in, light an incense stick and pray. Inside is beautiful but it’s the roof and eaves that are amazing…..the detail of the porcelain figures is incredible, dioramas. The pagoda was originally built in the 1700’s and has undergone a number of renovations/restorations. It’s pretty much open air. Some beautiful treasures encased in glass….a ship, and figures. Beside the incense sticks, you can buy a big coil/cone shaped incense that is hung from the ceiling, when lit it burns all day.

It’s in the centre, in front of the main altar. Many, many people, some doing the incense, others bringing offerings, ladies putting together beautiful flowers. The smell was pretty strong I must say….not a bad smell but a bit overpowering, especially if you have any breathing issues. There is a wall with pink pieces of paper showing who has donated and how much….besides recognition, it’s to entice others to do the same. In a separate enclosed room, which is sort of a meeting room, there are pictures on the wall that are quite beautiful…..one that depicts each animal of the new years. But I must say it was the porcelain roof figures that were amazing to me. They could use a good power wash though…..

The drive thru the city and out to the countryside was wonderful. The city with the scooters, sidewalk food sellers, fruit/veg stands, motorcycle parts and repair shops….sometimes regardless of the type of business a bike would be parked inside!! Various modes of transport…..mostly scooters but a few other carts often pulled by a bicycle, or the person! Busy, busy…..just constant action. On the main highway and in a few other places there are separate lanes just for scooters. Just outside the city it gets green…..lots of palm groves, gardens, rice fields. Some of the rice paddies were just recently harvested….they get 3 crops a year down here. Lots of stores and roadside stands selling those little green packets of “fermented” meat. They looked like little presents wrapped in green paper with gold ribbon….is actually banana leaf and dried grasses or shredded corn husks.

The countryside is really quite lovely….much more green and lush. The gardens are very neat, tidy and orderly. They’re growing bitter melon, corn, coconut palms, lettuces, cabbage etc. as well as the green rice paddies. Many of the plots of land have above ground tombs…..families bury their dead on their land. If the land is ever sold they cannot be moved and the family will always be allowed access to visit whenever.

Stopped about half way (2+hr drive to My Tho…on the river) for a break at a neat Farm Stay place called Bac Kim Thang, I think. Very clean, nice and bright and big. Cool lights made out of baskets, bamboo water features and produce grown on the farm, including fresh peeled whole coconuts. Local wine too…..normal wine and a specialty wine, which I bought a bottle to try for $5US…..it’s not like the normal wine apparently….we’ll see when we get a chance to try it. Beautiful place……would be kind of fun to experience this away from all the hustle and bustle of the city for a few days.

Arrived in My Tho and Jackie explained where we’d be heading on our tour. Very warm and muggy, sort of overcast, or maybe pollution….not sure. Four islands, Turtle (longevity) Phoenix (??), Dragon (strength) and Unicorn (happiness) but the order that we visit will depend on the tides because of our small boat ride. This is just a very small section of the Mekong Delta, which is huge. The floating markets are another 2 or 3 hours away so we were all a little disappointed that we wouldn’t get to visit them. You can take a boat up the Mekong to Phnom Penh…..fast boat takes approx 5 hours….also can do cruises that take a couple of days with a lot of stops along the way, which I think would be interesting and something to try one day.

Boarded our boat for a nice little tour and ride out to Turtle island. About a 1/2 hour ride along the river. Lots of brightly painted boats or junks that people live on. Many are for transporting supplies to the islands and/or floating villages. Very interesting watching the people onboard going about their daily business….cooking, washing, fishing. Lots of kids!! Quite a few barges with gravel or sand loaded so full they’re just barely above the water line. They actually “mine” the sand, which is slowly destroying the delta and and river banks. Closer to the islands is what looks like a floating village with houses. Getting near the end of the dry season so the river is very low and quite silty right now…..unfortunately also a lot of garbage, mostly plastic bottles and bags. Not sure why but many of the boats were at quite a tilt…..a bit scary, but they just motored along.

Docked at a rather sketchy pier (a board from the front of the boat to a concrete block) but we all made it off the boat with the help of our guides. Bees!! Lots of bees. Got to hold one of the slats full of them….apparently they’re quite docile when they’re busy making honey….this is good! The island is beautiful and lush…..very hot and humid too. Local fruit trees; banana, mango, rambutan, longan etc. We got to sample some honey tea that was very good and not as sweet as I’d expected. Various other treats made with honey…..dried banana, ginger and a kind of peanut brittle….all very good. Bought some of the dried banana. We also got to sample some of the creams and balms they make and sell made with royal jelly.

After our sampling out came the snake!! I think it was a boa….about 5 or 6ft long. It’s the family pet!! They let the snake out into the rice paddies/gardens in the morning to get the rats! Not sure exactly how they get it back, but they do. 20200308_115529 I’ve held smaller ones and a very docile cobra in Morocco, but this guy was huge and very strong. When he moved his head, you could feel the muscles, or whatever snakes have, move 4 ft away down towards his tail. Only a few people decided to hold him……the lady stood close by of course but not sure if it was for our safety or the snakes!! Not creepy at all.

Back onto our boat and to Phoenix island…I think. Another nice ride along the river. The sun had came out by this time and really brightened everything up….much better for pics….it had also warmed up a lot. Very hot and even more humid. Got off the boat on much the same type of pier. More houses, or dwellings….hard to call some of them houses. People had settled on these islands, most from central Vietnam, “a long time ago” according to Jackie, but not really clear on how long, but many generations. Because they were quite isolated on the delta, they’ve kept many of their traditional farming habits and songs and dances etc. Kids take water taxis to school, some in My Tho or to the bigger islands that have schools. Had a nice walk thru paths lined with trees, mostly fruit and palms, and peoples houses and yards……some cooking, doing laundry or just laying in a hammock….can’t say I blamed them!! The sweat was just running down our necks….and that was in the shade of the trees! The houses were a mix of concrete, bricks, wood, corrugated metal, grass etc., some so tucked away you could hardly see them.

Arrived at a big covered market area. We got to sample some local fruits; mango (v.v.v.g), papaya, dragon fruit (pretty but rather tasteless), pineapple (quite dry??), and longan or dragon eye…sort of lychee flavor and texture except for the big seed in the middle so you kind of have to suck the fruit off of it. They put on a nice little performance of traditional song and dance while we enjoyed more honey tea. Had few minutes to browse the market before our canoe ride on the canal. Four per boat plus the rowers in front and back. Getting in was a bit tricky…..stepping into the canoe dead centre was very important…..not the easiest thing to do from the wibbly stairs but we managed. Very, very hot, so we all got conical hats to wear. Was really very pleasant going along the canal….lots of shade. It’s not very wide, just enough room for two canoes to pass most of the way.

Very interesting plants….the mangrove palms have look like big round pinecones on them, that when broken apart have a very tasty fruit. Many houses and what look like little pop-up cafes that people set up, boats tied up along the shore. Went just over a kilometre, took about 1/2 hour. Wouldn’t have minded a bit longer of ride. Nice, but short, walk in the shade back to our big boat for the next stop.

Not sure exactly which island we went to next but it all pretty much had to do with coconuts! They make anything and everything from the coconuts….nothing goes to waste. They still use ancient presses to get the milk out of the coconut meat.

Had a demo of candy making….almost like toffee, very tasty and not really sweet. Scorpion wine or a liquor of some sort made with coconut water. Each bottle has a scorpion in it. Beautiful purses and bags made with the fibres. Had a very pleasant walk along a canal and thru the village to our buggy ride…..the poor donkey! I really could have done without it. Didn’t notice the driver whipping him luckily but he was yelling a lot, so not terribly enjoyable. Hate seeing animals used for stuff like this. Lots of people riding bikes….apparently we could have done that, which I think I would have preferred. Nice shady, paved pathways, mostly bikes, scooters and buggies. Whatever the place was, it was really very clean and tidy. A few restaurants and food sellers, so definitely bigger than the other islands we’d been too.

The shoreline where our boat was is full of lotus plants……like huge waterlilies. Very thick but no blooms. Jackie pulled one out to show us the root that is used in cooking. Once on board we all got a coconut to drink the milk. Not very much taste but just cool enough for it to be refreshing. Smoking hot by then…..well after 1PM.

Back to My Tho and on to a beautiful place for lunch. The Mekong Rest Stop…..beautiful gardens with many different restaurant areas. We had a set menu lunch as usual but all was really good. A couple of highlights were the sticky rice ball…..have no idea how they make it but once cut up it was delicious and the “elephant ear” fish, which is deep fried, the scales all curl up making is quite interesting. Was quite tasty with sort of the same texture as halibut. It all went really well with a couple of nice cold beers. So, so hot!!

Cut up it was delicious….a bit sweet and kind of chewy.

Great drive back to the hotel…..the street scenes are just fascinating. No matter where you look there is something interesting to see. Just enough time for a bit of break with a nice cooling swim before getting ready for our Farewell Saigon dinner.

Dinner at Au Parc Mediterranean Restaurant. In a neat part of town full of cafes, restaurants and bars. Buzzing with people on the street and sitting at the outside tables. Dinner was excellent. Kabobs, really good french fries, salad etc. with a yummy, and decadently sweet chocolate torte for dessert. Today is International Women’s Day so Jackie bought us all roses…..how sweet!

Fun evening…..a bit of tour by bus and walking thru the area around the opera and the beautiful Hotel Continental. The Opera was something else before the opera…..they added a number of embelishments to the outside during renos…..quite like anything you’d see in Europe. Very pretty with the streets all lit up. Still incredibly warm even at that time of night. Will change soon tho when we get to Hanoi.

Another great and very full day……sometimes by the end of the day it’s hard to remember something we did in the morning……was that just this morning or was it yesterday???? They definitely cram in as much as is humanly possible to see. Drinks in the bar back at the hotel but to bed pretty early by just after 10…..with the eye mask of course!! Won’t miss the lights…..the most annoying thing is when you’re in the shower and damn things go out…..thank goodness for my trusty little flashlight!

Mon Mar 9

Slept great. I almost feel like I’ve been gone for weeks but it’s only been 4 days!!! Packed up this morning …..off to Hanoi this afternoon. Checked out after breakfast and had a bit of a bus tour thru the city and then a walking tour. Great city……really fun, busy and some beautiful architecture. Started near the Opera House, I think, and worked our way thru a bit of a ritzy shopping area (passed yet another Hermes…..there is a scarf in my future one of these trips!!) to a very lovely plaza and pedestrian only boulevard. At the top of the plaza is City Hall, which is a very pretty colonial style building. The Rex Hotel, originally built in the 1920’s but not as a hotel, is on the corner. It was renovated and turned into an upscale hotel during the 1960 and is where many of the press and correspondents spent their time during the war. Interesting tidbit…..we refer to it as the Vietnam War, they refer to it as the American War!! Many of the buildings were built or renovated during the French occupation……they really are pretty lovely and they’ve been well maintained over the years. Then on to Notre Dame cathedral and the old train station, which is now the post office. We could not go in the cathedral, too bad. Not sure if it was a covid thing or?? The post office building is beautiful inside and out! We could see the old US embassy and supposedly the ladder that is still there from when the last people were being evacuated……now I want to see that movie, Miss Saigon again!!

Very pretty plaza on the pedestrial boulevard, City Hall in the background

The US Embassy on the right….ladder on top

On the bus for a short ride to the Independence or Reunification Palace. https://independencepalace.gov.vn/# Used by the president of SVN during the war. At the end of the war the NVN tank that crashed the gate is on display. Lovely well kept grounds. 20200309_095517 Building is rather art deco-ish. The slats or whatever you would call them on the face are meant to represent bamboo….calming and airy. No AC only the open slats create enough cool air flow to not need it! Not clear if it’s used for anything today…..meetings, art exhibitions and a tourist attraction. A rather austere building inside and out. Toured it from top to bottom…..the rooms are huge, lots of local Vietnamese woodwork, inlay and lacquer. Some artwork on the walls but basically not a very warm and welcoming place.

Besides a movie theatre, there’s a “rec room” (upstairs, not in the basement as we would have), interesting with various games tables etc. but really uncomfortable looking furniture….not a fun looking place. But it was the basement that was the highlight of the tour!! This is where the president and his generals kept tabs on what what going on…..also was a bunker of sorts and where they’d flee too if invaded. All the old equipment is still there. An entire separate kitchen to feed all the people that worked down there.

Our next stop was a tour and visit to a lacquer craft shop. Who knew all that went into making this stuff….it’s never been one of my favourites but definitely appreciate it much more. The process is very interesting. Quite a few steps to prep the material and even more interesting was besides just paint and shells, they also use crushed duck eggs to make some of the designs. Bins and bins of duck egg shells…..who knew!! Very time consuming and apparently there are a lot of “fakes” so we were told. Not sure I’d be able to tell real lacquer from fake so it’s a good thing that I’d be unlikely to buy any but some very nice stuff.

All this and it wasn’t even noon yet!! Our last stop before lunch was The War Remnants Museum. http://www.baotangchungtichchientranh.vn/Main.aspx?L=EN I only got as far as the first room and that was enough for me, I could not deal with it……..just horrific. I lived thru the 60’s and 70’s….I’m just glad I did not have to live thru what so many people here did!! Vietnamese are just amazing resilient people. To have lived thru what they have for centuries, being invaded and occupied by not just other countries but their own too!! Millions of people died during the war. Supposedly Vietnam has one of the youngest populations in the world, the average age is 34 or something like that. Jackie had family, many that perished, and enough that lived to tell about it. I hope they, nor anyone ever has to live thru anything like it ever again. They have made quite an incredible comeback over the last 40 years. Tourism is now one of their main industries. Anyway, I hit the gift shop and then coffee shop. Chatted with a couple of others who’d also seen enough. Some people came out with tears in their eyes!

Lunch before heading to the airport. It was great as usual, everything absolutely delicious….ribs today which was a real treat. We always get one of all the plates for 4 people….so way more than enough. It seems like we eat a lot!!

Off to the airport for our 4PM flight to Hanoi. Check-in etc. all went smooth.

Hanoi next……..

Africa 2019 Part 5 – A Few Days In Amsterdam to End a Fantastic Trip!

Sat Sept 21

Arrived in Amsterdam around 3PM. Long flight via Nairobi (2hr stop). Did manage to sleep a bit but…..

Customs line ups at Schiphol were crazy! Took almost 2 hours to get thru. Got our luggage and decided to just bite the bullet and grab a cab to our airbnb (85E!!!). Andrea got in touch with Madelaine, our host, but a bit of a mix up with the address….we waited and waited at what we thought was the apartment. The bakery next door brought us coffee and pastries….how nice was that! M finally found us and led us to the right place….just around the corner luckily.

Was well after 7 by the time we got settled. Out for some groceries….big market just around the corner. Everybody was just bagged so we just stayed in, put together some dinner, played cards and to bed!

Can’t wait to explore Amsterdam tomorrow.

Sun Sept 22

Slept great! I took the futon in the living room….only a 2bdrm apartment. I’m usually the first one up anyway, so no problem for me.

Was up around 5:30. Updated my journal, had coffee etc. waiting for everyone to get up around 8. Had a big breakfast…….thanks Russ!

Out the door around 10. The house is in the “Noord” area. Good location. About a 5-10 minute walk to the free ferry to cross the river to Central Station. Definitely worth staying in this area as opposed to Amsterdam centrum….cost quite a bit less to rent here.

Beautiful day! The ferry takes about 5 minutes to cross and runs every 15 minutes until midnight. Lots of river traffic……barges, tour boats, river cruise ships etc. Pretty waterfront.

Central Station is huge…..lots of restaurants and shops. Walked and walked today. Just mostly wandered in the direction of the Van Gogh Museum. Started our trek thru the red light district…..not much to see during the day.

What a beautiful city!! The canals are so pretty…..lots of boats, treelined and very pretty buildings some leaning quite precariously! Besides leaning sideways, some also lean out trying to maximize all the square footage possible. Tons of cafes, including the “coffee shops”…..got lots of whiffs of pot! There are so many bicycles. Crossing the street can be quite the challenge. You have to watch for cars, but also have to watch for the bikes in the bike lanes and the motorbikes that also use the bike lanes.

Cheese shops galore! Fantastic pastry shops. Nice plazas full of cafes and restaurants. Walked thru the flower market. Tulip bulbs by the thousands. Many other kinds of bulbs and seeds along with knickknack type stuff. Bought some xmas ornaments for Linds, Donna, myself and the kids. It’s so bright and colourful….very crowded but very nice to walk thru.

Odd neighbours!! McD’s and a Natural Health Co.

The streets, the canals, boats, bikes, trees, great architecture……just a great place!

Love the carts that many people have attached to their bikes….saw them used for groceries, pets, kids and big packages. No one wears helmets…..not unusual to see a Mom/Dad with a kid carrier on both the front and the back of the bike and the odd one with the cart thing too.

Lots of street musicians…. one group was almost an orchestra. Really good acoustics in the alcoves under buildings.

Got our tickets for the Van Gogh…..must by them from the kiosks outside, which assigns a time to your ticket. We got 2:30 so only had an hour to kill…grabbed a coffee. Excellent museum. The entry is fairly modern with lots of glass and the usual gift shop. No photos allowed! Assigning times limits the number of people in the museum at any given time, which I think is a very good idea (the Vatican Museum could take a hint from them!!). Along with all the art, it also tells the story of Van Goghs life……start on the top floor! Lots of art by his contemporaries too. Took just over an hour to go thru the whole thing. It’s laid out very nicely so easy to follow thru the rooms. We started at the top and worked out way down the 4 floors.

Left the museum, working our way to a place for lunch that Cheri had read about, “The Pancake Bakery”. https://pancake.nl/ Was good, have tried both sweet and savory, but just not one of my favorite foods…..everyone else raved about it and the place was packed so will just have to take their word for it. The “strop” is sooooo cloyingly sweet….it almost hurts!!

Spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering the streets and canals, in and out of some shops, and a stop or two for beverages.

The number of bikes parked at Central Stations is incredible! How on earth do people ever find theirs??

Took the other ferry back across….this one runs 24/7 and is just at the other end of the station. Took us a bit further down but still only a few more minutes walk home. Crossed one of the locks on the canal…no boats going thru tho. Home for dinner….buns, meat, cheese tomatoes etc. Did think about going to a restaurant down the street but decided to just stay in. Long day, lots of walking. Cards and reading. Managed to stay up until almost midnight!

Mon Sept 23

Lazy morning. Russ and I made breakfast. Bit of rain last night and spits this morning….but also blue sky peeking thru.

Our Anne Frank tickets aren’t until 6PM so decided to do a later start this morning. Out the door around 11. Our first destination is the CUYP street market.

Walked thru Chinatown and up and down and across the canals. Russ and I bought some pickled herring….not quite what I was expecting….2 herring, whole, sliced up and served with diced onion and pickles…..was OK but gave most of mine to Russ. The market was big, it went on for blocks and blocks…..quite typical. Food, cheese, flowers, clothes, bikes and bike supplies, lots of kitsch….wallets, purses, shoes, places to eat, pastry shops. Lots of fun to wander thru….and it smelled really good!

Had a great pub lunch a busy pedestrian only street. Good food and people watching. Some very well put together and some not so much! Many have rather eclectic styles, some dress in layers of different types of clothes, some look like they got dressed in the dark….looks like 2 different shoes (including type and size of heel!) might be a new fashion trend! Started to sprinkle a bit so good thing we were under cover. Still pleasantly warm though.

Did a bit of last minute shopping and started our walk to Anne Frank house on the other side of town. It’s really quite lovely here. After a bit of a downpour it started to clear up quite nicely.

Track for taking your bike down the stairs.

Didn’t take as long as we thought so had plenty of time to stop at a cafe on the canal for a drink. Many right on the canal don’t have railings!! The one we stopped at did so we couldn’t tumble into the canal if you moved your chair the wrong way or a little too much. Chatted with a couple and their 2 kids from Illinois. They’re just starting their 3 week trip through Europe. First time for them and they had some concerns about being Americans…..how sad really. Told them not too worry at all, everyone is really friendly and helpful…..it’s not really the people (with the odd exception….) they aren’t keen on.

We had bought our AF tickets online a month ago and 6 was the best time we could get. Tickets can only be bought at the museum between 9-10AM for the same day. Again, only so many people go thru at a time. No photos! You get audio guides, which you just tap on the markers as you go along. You follow a well laid out route. Excellent museum and a very moving experience. Definitely brought a tear or two to my eye a number of times. Just cannot even phathom what she and so many others went thru. Just horrid!! Took just over an hour. So glad we went…..definitely a must when visiting here.

Dinner was at “t’Zwaantje” http://zwaantje-restaurant.nl/?lang=en #1 rated restaurant on some top 10 list. Cheri had found it so thought we’d give it a try. Only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table. The owner seemed pretty miserable when we first sat down…..just kind of slapped down menus and walked away. A gal came and took our drink orders and he came back to take our dinner orders…..after chatting with him for a bit, miserable though he was, he was also quite a character. The meals were huge!! Could easily have shared 2 between the 4 of us. All was good….not sure about the “#1” thing though.

Andrea and I had the pork cutlet that came with a huge bowl of french fries

After dinner we did the red light district…..a must do a night. Definitely where all the fun and excitement is at nighttime. Tried to discreetly snap a few pics but they came out too blurry. Lots of groups of men….very noisy men!! But also just lots of tourists including families. Laughed at one Mom trying to cover her teenagers eyes as they went along. Many “services” on offer…..singles or groups, couples “cabins” and goodness knows what else. Shows too of course. Some of the girls in the glassed in cubicles were just beautiful!! How on earth and why did they end up here?? You just have to wonder. Very busy and crowded on both sides of the canal for blocks. Certainly a fun and interesting walk! Apparently there is also a “blue” light district….didn’t see it so not sure where it would be.

Back home to pack up. I cannot believe it’s time to go home. Where has the time gone?? Hard to believe 4 weeks passed so quickly! Just an amazing trip from beginning to end……so lucky to have been able to do gorilla trekking in Uganda and 4 fantastic safaris in Zambia…..definitely the trip of a lifetime!

Tues Sept 24

Finished packing and finished off just about all the rest of the food we’d bought. Madelaine arranged an UBER for us to get to the airport. 40E so half the price of a taxi.

Picked up at 9AM on the dot. Half hour to 45 min to the airport…..lots of road construction and tons of traffic.

Flight was on time. No problem with our connection in Toronto. Landed in Vanc at 8PM.

Where to next?

Africa 2019 Part 4 – South Luangwa National Park in Zambia

Sat Sept 14

Woke up early…..before our wake up call. Opened my eyes, just laid there for a bit watching the monkeys in the trees…..jumping and swinging and chattering…..I could do this every morning! Full moon last night so we’d left all the flaps open in the tent just to get the breeze and see whatever, so incredible to wake up to this.

Cheri and I joked about the sticky zipper out to the bathroom…..hoped we didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night!! Something woke me up around 3AM….maybe that hippo that was 2ft away from our tent?? I don’t know, but of course I then had to go to the bathroom. The floor is very uneven and squeaky, so just about fell flat on my face on the way to the back of the tent. With only my phone for light I found the zipper pull and then it got stuck….grumbling and stumbling around trying to get a better look at it, I started to laugh…..not sure why. Then I heard Cheri laugh….so much for trying to be quiet!!

Full moon so could see outside pretty good….watched the hippo for a bit then back to bed and listened to him until I fell asleep. I swear I could hear him breathing!!

My toe hurts….a lot. A little worried it might be infected. Gave it another good clean this morning but just not sure if there is still a bit of bark mulch stuck in it. Quite red and tender. Took one of my antibiotics (from the travel clinic in case of major tummy issues) What would I do if it is infected?? Will assume that Flatdogs Camp will have some sort of first aide person if need be. Oh well…..can’t let a banged up, potentially septic toe stop me!!

Coffee arrived arrived at 7. Beautiful sunrise over the river. Just fantastic sitting out on the deck, coffee and cookies (and bug spray!) to start the day. Updated my journal, watched the monkeys in the trees, the hippos in the river……..just really enjoyed the peace and not so quiet!

After another great breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon etc) we got loaded back up, including the boxed lunches they’d packed for us. Matthews drove us back to Lusaka to catch our flight to Mfuwe. Left just after 9AM. A 4-5 hr drive. Same highway back into Lusaka, thru Mumbwe.

Lusaka must be spread out for miles and miles. Lots of new buildings going up, lots of traffic too. People walking along pushing and pulling various types of wheeled things and makeshift carts loaded up, lots carrying stuff on their heads, gals wandering in and out of traffic selling oranges from baskets on their heads. Everything and everywhere just buzzes with activity. Stopped at a different mall to find an ATM. Fun place…..a big Spar market was having a party of sorts and draws for the winners of some new cars. A band, a bunch of local celebrities talking to people.

Just a few random pics

Got to the airport around 2:30 for our 4:30 Proflight to Mfuwe. Sat in the bar and ordered Savannahs and ate our boxed lunches. Very interesting place to sit since it’s right in the centre of the main terminal and not very big. Lots of people from everywhere. We speculated on who was on safaris……hahaha probably 90%. Some had guides with them, some had huge backpacks with sleeping bags. A lot of local families with kids in tow….you just have to wonder where they are all off too. For a small airport it’s really busy…..tons of planes coming and going…..big and small. There is a big brand new airport being built next door (Chinese are building it). Looks lovely…..lots of metal and glass….very modern.

Flight was on a Dash 8 prop plane that held about 50 people. Was just over an hour and they even served drinks! Landed at Mfuwe just after 5:30. Very small airport.

Malama, from Flatdogs, met us and a couple from Sweden. Drive took around a half hour. Was getting pretty dark by the time we hit the road so didn’t get to see too much of the area.

Arrived at Flatdogs Camp and dropped the Swedish couple off at reception and we carried on past the other chalets or accomos thru the camp to ours, “The Crocs Nest”. JUST WOW!! Now this is what I would call “glamping” at it’s best!

https://www.flatdogscamp.com/

First class service all the way! No check-in or anything???

The Crocs Nest is a huge two bedroom with ensuite TENT! Nice big comfy living room and dining room, bar cabinet with fridge, coffee making stuff etc. Bathrooms are huge and semi open. But the outside is just gorgeous……nice big pool, a couple of different seating areas and a fire going in the fire pit just in front on the pool. I am speechless!!

Malama and Kennedy explained the radio to us…..we put Russ in charge of that! Since we cannot wander around off the decks on our own at night…..or, they suggest thru day either….everything, including lunch and dinner is delivered to us. We get picked up and dropped off at our front door. The table was all set for dinner…..very nicely too! Told them we’d probably order around 7:30 for 8. They left us the daily dinner menu and off they went. Even though we’d booked this and knew it was pretty darn nice, the pictures really can’t convey what it is like to actually be here!! I think we were all pretty impressed!

Very warm here compared to Kafue…..actually hot, even in the evening! Definitely no sweaters required. The fridge had been nicely stocked, so into our bathing suits for a swim and a beverage before we ordered dinner.

Had our choice of 3 appies, main courses and dessert. Got them all sorted out and Russ on the radio ordering it all. Fun! All he had to say is Crocs Nest calling……

Our first course arrived right on time. I ordered the spring roll appetizer (v.g.), the chicken curry for my main and mango pavlova for dessert (v.v.g). What we didn’t know was that they deliver each course separately!!! Amazing again…….3 separate trips! Everything comes with a cover on it to make sure it’s hot when it arrives…..and it was.

When they deliver the next course they take all the stuff from the previous one with them. When we had finished dessert, rather than them coming out yet again all plates, even with bits of food on them, get put in a cupboard next to the bar and latched up tight. Don’t want unwanted guests of the animal kind visiting in the middle of the night!

Sat out by the pool and played cards. They have these cool little solar lanterns that give off an incredible amount of light….perfect for outside. Good lighting inside! Could hear all sorts of things out in the grass! The hippos we figured out but not sure what some of the other things were out there. Too dark to see anything. We shone the spotlight out on the grass towards the river and were surprised at just how close those hippos were. Decided we wouldn’t use the firepit…..especially when you can’t really see much more than a few feet in front of you.

What a great day! And this place is just fantastic. Up tomorrow at 5AM for our first game drive here……hopefully a few giraffes around! And a leopard or two!

Sun Sept 15

Woke up at 4AM with a start! Sat right up…..thought the tent was collapsing or a tree had fallen on it. Staring right at me, thru the tent window was a massive elephant!! He was right there chowing down on something. What a way to wake up! Watched him/her reach up into the tree right outside and pull down a big branch….which is what I heard. Ate that and then decided to munch away at the bush beside the deck. Watched him until he had had enough, turn around and mozey off. Wow!! We’d left the tent flap open just to get some breeze in because it was still pretty warm when we went to bed. I get now why they say not to go wandering off. If I’d gotten up and opened the door I could have touched this guy, he was that close.

Somehow managed to fall back to sleep until our wake up call, or knock and “hello” at 5AM. Had a coffee on the deck, not far from the door in case the elephant came back.

Malama, who is our guide, picked us up at 5:30 for our first breakfast. Drove to the main lounge/restaurant area for that. Simple fare for this time of the morning set up in a buffet….yogurt, cereal, fruit, toast and coffee. We have our own table. Probably 10 or so others in there having their breakfast before their drives.

Off on our first drive at 6AM. Much warmer here in the morning. Still needed a light sweater just cuz of the breeze from driving. It’s a 1km drive from the camp to highway and park entrance. We hadn’t even left the camp and saw a large herd of elephants just by the parking lot. Lots of pukus. About a 5 min drive from the camp gate to the park entrance…..tons of monkeys and/or baboons. The monkeys are vervet monkeys and have bright blue balls!! Really!!

Spectacular sunrise over the Luangwa River.

After signing in at the gate it was another 5 min drive to the dirt road that we took. The sunrise over the river was beautiful!

Two minutes in and we had to wait for a herd of elephants to cross…..lots of cute little babies! A bit further and found cape buffalo. Lots and lots of guinea fowl……or bush chickens as they’re also called……really fun to watch them scurry along. Very bright blue heads and necks! There’s usually quite a few of them together…..they’ll squawk and run like crazy then fly a few feet. More termite mounds than anthills here….some are huge and have taken over the entire base and halfway up the trees. Interestingly though….they will not ever kill a live tree! They only burrow into dead trees or wood. Some of the mounds are hundreds of years old. You can tell which came first by whether there are roots on top of the mound, if so, the tree started growing out of the termite mound.

Lots of hippos wallowing in the swamps. Much more swampy here than Busanga. And finally a giraffe!

Off in the distance and just barely able to pick him out from the tree trunks. And then more and more….so happy to finally see one! Lots of zebras, big and small, and the usual antelope. Crocs in the river and pretty much in every waterhole or swamp that still has water in it.

Our first leopard!! Crossed right in front of us…..watched as he headed off down into a gully. Just beautiful!

The trees here, and everywhere else for that matter, are so picturesque……some big, green and beautiful, I think of them as raintrees but I think they’re a type of fig. Sausage trees, ebony trees, tamarind etc. Some trees that look pretty much dead, some that are just knarly. Many broken or knocked down by the elephants or ones that have had the life strangled out of them by the “strangler” vines or from the bark being stripped off. Ansell Adams would have gone crazy!

Lions, lots of lions. A pride of 10 or so with 3 males with full manes and what looked like very full tummies just relaxing on the river bank….just incredible to see.

Found an elephant carcass from a few months ago. It had died of natural causes. The hyenas and vultures had picked the bones clean and scattered them…..the sun had bleached them white. Interesting bit of info about their teeth, which you could easily see on the skeleton. Malama explained that they grow new teeth constantly. The new ones come in at the back, slowly pushing the old ones forward to replace ones that had worn down from chewing bark, grasses, plants etc. Also elephants grow all their life, until they get too old and, like humans, their bodies just stop or shrink away. So the bigger the elephant the older he likely is…..interesting!

The colour of everything in the morning light is so beautiful…..so hard to explain and so hard to capture in pictures with my crappy camera.

Stopped for our tea break around 9. Nice to get out and stretch a bit. Tea, coffee, cookies and cake today. The stop was overlooking the river filled with hippos and crocs and the most gorgeous birds called Carmine Bee eaters, they make their nests in the clayey river banks. Fun to see and hear the hippos bellowing…..it looks like they’re yawning.

Hippos look like big smooth rocks in the river

One bellows and then the bellowing slowly works its way through the other herds all the way down the river. A couple of the hippos had a fight!! Both into the shallow water, one chasing the other…..it’s true they move pretty fast! Quite the noise coming from them. One finally decided to move on….all the others had raised their heads out of the water to watch all the excitement. Pretty exciting for us too!

After coffee we watched a bunch of warthogs digging around…..they get down on their knees….to eat bugs and roots. No babies here! Not until October, which is interesting because there were tons of little guys in Busanga Plain. Lots of zebras this morning.

Around 11 on the road back into camp we came across a giraffe and a couple of elephants. We were welcomed back by Ade and Jess, how nice. Breakfast was served! In the dining room…..your choice of eggs, bacon, sausage and pretty much anything else. All very good!

Eggs done any way you like, with whatever sides you want….the bacon here is very good!

Very hot by the time we were driven back to the Crocs Nest just before noon. Kennedy, our maid/food deliverer (hate to call him that….. “maid”….but not sure what else to call him) is just great. Everything cleaned up, beds made, nets tied back up, the place tidied, solar lamps recharging out by the pool. We never see him but know he’s been there. Took a bunch of pictures…..was dark when we arrived last night and still dark this morning when we left. What beautiful place it is. Nice pool and outside deck area with lots of umbrellas for shade, a great view of the river. Really hot by noon. Went for a swim, sat around reading, napping, journals etc. Also operated on my toe….was still very sore and red this morning. After being in the pool, it got a bit weepy, so squeezed it and noticed that there was still a little sliver of the mulch stuff stuck in it. Dug out the tweezers, poked around and with Andrea’s help managed to pull it out! Almost immediately my toe felt better! Gave it another cleaning with a wipe, more polysporin, new band-aide and all was good. Still took one more antibiotic just in case!

Poured a savannah and had got comfy reading my book when I notice something out of the corner of my eye…….elephants!! Three of them had came for a bit of a visit. One huge one, a medium size one and a baby. Russ was sitting at the table reading and didn’t hear a thing either. I said we’ve got company…..and as we were told to do…..stood up and slowly worked our way backwards toward the door. They came right up to the stairs to the deck, the big one putting her foot on the bottom step! Then both bigger ones moved to the side outside our bedroom and proceeded to chomp away at that poor little bush, and pulled on the branches of the tamarind trees to get the pods down……like they did in the wee hours of this morning. The little one decided it would like a drink from the pool…..filled it’s trunk and promptly spluttered it all back out. Did it again but this time giving itself a bit of a bath. She moved along and the others came to join her, with the big one putting it’s foot on the stair again……we moved right inside just in case she actually managed to come up the other two steps and on to the deck. Eventually she joined the other two walking right through our fire pit….another reason not to use it!! Then the medium sized one tried to go between the end of the deck and tree….didn’t look like she was going to fit thru and did get a bit stuck, but wiggled around and carried on. OMG…..what fun!

Ordered our lunch around 1:30….many things to choose from on the menu. We ordered a bunch of appie type things to share…..nachos, chicken satay and french fries, which was more than enough seen we’d just eaten a couple hours ago. Also had them restock our Savannahs…..so much more refreshing than a beer or glass of wine in this heat. Rest of the afternoon spent relaxing and keeping an eye out for more elephants.

Got ready for our first evening game drive here. Malama picked us up at 3:30 for tea time in the main lounge area before the drive. Quite nice….ice tea/coffee, hot tea/coffee, cake and cute little cucumber sandwiches. We got to choose our beverage of choice for our sundowners.

Got about 50ft down the road and there was a huge giraffe having his tea! They love the fruit from the sausage trees. Some cape buffalo a bit further along, lots of antelope…..and we hadn’t even hit the main road yet!

There are a few baobob trees around…..really are quite odd looking. They call them “upside down trees” because it looks like the roots are coming out of the top. Some of the big ones are probably close to 1000 years old. They’re hollow on the inside.

Sky is very pretty tonight…..a bit of cloud with sun rays.

Driving along the river I noticed a bunch of sticks sticking up a bit further down….asked Malama what they were, possibly a fishing weir or contraption of some sort….he said he’d tell us about when we came to it??

Came to a “pontoon boat” river crossing. Malama got out and went in the little hut thing to pay or whatever. We were looking around and not seeing any sign of a boat….a boat ramp, very steep…..but no boat. When he came back we drove a few yards further where he turned and started heading towards the river…..where the sticks were!! OMG….it was a sandbag road with the sticks lining either side so you’d know where to drive!! Off we went down the bank and over this road….you can’t even see the sandbags because their under water a good 6 – 12 inches. Unbelievable!! It was a bit scary in that I’m pretty sure a few of the sandbags were missing…..bump, thump, bump we went….all the time holding on for dear life and keeping an eye on the crocs and hippos in the river. We made it safe and sound of course…..was quite the thrill!

Ton and tons of the carmine bee eaters. Beautiful red birds with blue on their tails…..they don’t actually eat bees though. Another gorgeous sunset was happening….some clouds and lots of pink tonight.

Another leopard crossed right in front of the jeep…..just sauntering along then disappeared down a gully. Our spotter found a very well camouflaged pack of painted wild dogs just hanging out under some brush….they blended in perfectly with the black, brown and white markings. Sort of like hyenas but not as much of a sloped back…..big almost round ears. Much prettier. Crappy blurry pictures!!

Had our sundowners on a high bluff overlooking a valley. A few more hills in Luangwa, even some mountains off in the distance.

After the sun went down we started our night drive…..the spotter gets the search light out and scanned the bush as we were driving along, looking for eyes glowing in the dark. He somehow spotted a chameleon on a branch next to the road. Even as he was pointing to it we couldn’t figure out what heck we were supposed to be looking at. He reached over and picked it up….about 6 – 8 inches and looked just like the leaves on the tree….once he put it back it was easy to see how we missed it.

Only one lion tonight. A couple of hyenas and lot of little critters…..shrews, mongoose and a civet.

I think the highlight of the drive tonight, besides the animals, had to be crossing the river on the sandbag road!!

Back to the Crocs Nest just before 8. Ordered our dinner for 8:30. My dinner was a delicious and ridiculously huge chicken stir fry……apparently we can order 1/2 size meals!! Did think about a swim….still really warm at this time of night but decided to just play our crib games and to bed. Fairly early nights here……getting up at 5AM!

A few more elephants lurking around, including one that was after the pods on the tamarind tree again…..it really does sound like the whole thing is going to come down on the tent….can hear the hippos but can’t see them.

Just fantastic here…..animals galore!

Mon Sept 16

Picked up at 5:30 for our “first” breakfast….toast, yogurt, cereal, which you have to fight off the monkeys to get to LOL. They use a slingshot to scare them off…..which isn’t really very effective because they’re back in 2 minutes. They especially seem to like the big Wheetabix things!

Entered the park, crossed the river and another very pretty sunrise. And baboons….not monkeys….the bridge is always full of them. Apparently that is their “home”.

Warthogs, pukus, impala etc. Came across, literally had to stop on the road for them, battling baboons……incredibly fierce! Sounded like they were killing each other, which they may have been doing! Interesting to watch…..like 2 gangs going to war. Two or three would start across the road, then a couple from the other side would charge at them, then they’d all scurry back to their corners and start the whole process all over again…..screeching, some blood curdling screams etc. the entire time.

Birds….so many different kinds. Will have to remember to look them up later. So many pretty pictures of the sun coming up thru the trees. Love the little guinea fowl with their bright blue heads. A few crocs just lazing in the swamps. Lots of hippos, in an out of the water at this time of day before it gets too hot when they can get sunburned! Big herd of elephants including one very little guy….pretty cute.

Lions…..a large pride. They had a kill tucked away in the bush that they’d finished with and the vultures were cleaning the bones. Very interesting to see 3 males in one pride. One big guy stretched out and rolling around just like a house cat! They all had big round bellies, so full and so sleepy.

Lots of elephants today….big herds of them. More lions lounging by the river. Zebras. Storks or cranes in the trees.

Stopped for coffee in a field full of old elephant tracks that were in the dried up mud. A good foot deep and at least that round too…..

Rest of the morning was giraffes, herds of kudus, carmine bee eaters along the river, and a lone hyena that we followed for a bit hoping he’d lead us to another cat kill, but nothing.

Back to camp around 10:30 for our big breakfast…..eggs anyway you like, bacon etc. full English if you wish and today there was also avocado toast on the menu so Russ and I shared an order……very good. We were treated with a visit from the elephants in the main area. They had closed the main camp pool until they moved on……was fun to watch them. They really could care less if people were around. Watched a monkey having fun with the place settings on one of the outside tables…..knocking the cutlery off and flipping the place mat over it’s head.

Back home for a few hours of relaxing by the pool, reading etc. Have no idea what the temp is but has to be up in the 30’sC/90’sF. Thought the elephants might be back but no sign of them this afternoon. Ordered our lunch around 1…..just how much and how often we are eating is ridiculous!! But it’s all really good so you just can’t help it! Today we ordered appies again to share…..pizza, one clubhouse sandwich cut into 4, a mixed salad (which came with buns!!). And more beer and Savannahs. Just so hot….a bit of high cloud, maybe smoke?? Although not nearly as much burning around here as in Busanga Plains.

Picked up at 3:30 for tea!! More food!!! Chocolate cake (v.g.) and delicious little bruschettas with tomatoes.

A few minutes into our drive we found some leopards tucked away in some bushes….could barely see them. Had eaten their fill of a kill which they had somehow managed to get way up in the crook of a tree.

Lots and lots of elephants and antelope, a few cape buffalo…..no wildebeests here. More giraffes, which are Thornicroft giraffes….he didn’t explain why or how they are different from other ones.

Another leopard in a gully keeping an eye on some pukus. She climbed up to the rim but they were still a little too far away for her to make an attack ……5 – 10 yards it about the max away from their prey they can be for the element of surprise to make a successful kill…..anything beyond that the antelope will take off and scatter too quickly. Sat for quite a while watching her go up and down the gully, then creep up to have a peek at the antelope. The gully is a good hiding place for them…..the antelope can’t see them or pick up their scent in the wind/breeze. She finally gave up and wandered off down the gully and out of sight.

Lions, possibly the pride from earlier, lazing along the river. Sundowners a little ways away in a field with some pukus…..could hear the lions roaring!! Just after sunset we found the lions again….one of the big males came up an laid right behind our jeep.

We’d moved up almost into some bushes so another jeep could get a look. Once that lion laid down we had no where to go!! With the help of the other jeep letting us know just how close we were to the lion, Malama somehow managed to finagle the jeep around so we could move on. The lion did not move an inch the entire time….he was having a bath!

Went back to where the leopard kill was in tree…..still there but no sign of them. Back to the Nest around 7:30. Ordered dinner for 8:30. Told them to just bring all of it instead of making multiple trips. Crayfish cocktail and a 1/2 order of the special today, fish pie! All was excellent and still way too much food!

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A swim, cards, journals, more elephant visitors……just another great day!

Tues Sept 17

Up early for our last game drive at Flatdogs…..going to miss this place!!

Lots of elephants, including a couple of young males having a fight! Some having a drink, one on it’s knees!! Elephants also lay down…..who knew! Saw a couple having a rest under some trees. We saw quite a few walking along with their trunks resting on their tusks!! A huge herd of cape buffalo…..had to have been hundreds of them. No more cats though.

Quite the racket….young males battling it out for something

LOL….guess that trunk can get pretty heavy

Back to breakfast around 10:30 then to the Nest to pack up and move on to our next camp. So sorry to be leaving this place…..Cheri said they’d tried to book it for 2 more nights but it had already been booked so 3 nights would have to do. A bit of a tease though as it’s going to be hard for any other place to live up to Flatdogs. Accomos, food, animals, lovely staff….pretty hard to beat this.

Picked up and stopped at reception to check out. Chatted with Ade and Jessica….not sure if they are the owners or managers, but lovely people. Said our goodbyes and that we hoped to get back some day.

Our next and last camp is only an hour away so we had a chance to stop in town and visit a couple of the local artisan shops, one that specializes in textiles. Bought a silkscreen print with lions on it and some little elephant Christmas ornaments for the kids. Across the street to another shop called Baobob Ladies Craft Shop, bought Linds a bracelet. Nice stuff.

Off the highway an onto another sometimes paved/sometimes bumpy, sandy, dusty road, 19km to Zikomo Camp but took almost an hour! Not too much to see other than a few little homesteads along the way. No electricity or water around here for these people. Saw some carrying the buckets of water on their heads or some had two big containers strapped to their bikes. Most of the way it was very, very dry and very scrubby bush with a few trees around the houses. As we got a bit closer to camp it got a bit more foresty….a few antelope scattered about.

Arrived at Zikomo just around 1. Met Victoria and David, the owners from California. https://www.zikomosafari.com/ Cute place with a number of chalets and a campsite. Only us today and an Aussie couple camping. Got organized in our chalets, Cheri and I have number 6! There is chicken wire of sorts on the outside of the tent netting…..Cheri immediately noticed this huge spider (a good 3″+ in diameter!) between the two….I tried poking at it with my finger, then thought better of that idea (poisonous???) and found a stick…..gave it a couple of pokes and it scuttled off…..somewhere!! If the river was up, we’d be right on the bank, for now though it’s not much more than a little stream. Lots of antelope out on the dry river bed and hippos and crocs wallowing in the water and along the shore. Beautiful views…..hope I get a chance to sit on our little deck to admire it!

Had a nice little buffet lunch and sat around the bar/lounge until tea time and our evening game drive with our guide, Manny. It is really hot here!! Not much of a breeze either…..says it’s 36C and I don’t doubt that for a second! Unfortunately the pool was not available….they had had a problem with some new chemical they used and had to drain it…..it had been rectified and they were now in the process of refilling it……a very, very slow process. Pretty sure it’s not going to be ready for us to use at all. Too bad because it would have been great to have a swim.

We’re on the other side of the Luangwa River now…..only a few miles really from Flatdogs, but different yet again! Still in the park in an area called the Nsefu sector. Huge herds of elephants here!! Like 20+…all females….big, small and everything in between. Found some crossing one of the little inlets. Was just amazing watching them go down the steep embankment on one side and then up the other. For such huge animals they’re pretty agile.

Beautiful sunset with the giraffes…..lots of them here, also in herds of at least half a dozen or more. Sundowners along the river with the birds (lots of carmine bee eaters), crocs, hippos and elephants across the way. Great night drive…..the usual nocturnal animals (shrews, mongoose) along with some hyenas, wild dogs and civets.

Back to camp for dinner. Steak, which was more like a piece of roast beef, but good, and roasted potatoes. All good and normal size portions!! Chatted with the Aussies and Victoria for a bit, played cards and back to our chalets (with an escort…..bloody hippos right in camp!!) and to bed just after 10. Still incredibly warm at this time of night. We did put the fan on but it drove both of us crazy after 1/2 hour and it wasn’t really doing too much anyway. Pulled back our curtains hoping for a bit of a breeze.

Chalets are a bit more rustic here…..outdoor bathroom with the roof only over the sink and with poor lighting at night (no light by the the sink). Kind of fun though….leaves and gawd knows what else falls on your head when you’re on the toilet!

Fun day!

Wed Sept 18

Up at 5 for breakfast for our drive at 6. It is served in the “boma” (seating area around a firepit along the river bank). All nicely set up. Lots of hippos and pukus here…..fun watching them in the morning. Beautiful sunrise again.

Off we went….no canopy on our jeep this morning!! Just outside the camp gate, right in the middle of the road, was a mom puku nursing her teeny little baby….probably only a few hours old….so cute!! Animals have the right of way so we just sat and watched for a bit then slowly worked our way around her. Took lots of tree pics today….incredibly knarly but way more green now after another week or so…..spring is arriving! Very hot now by 8:30. Many weaver bird nests in all the trees…..they make kind of nest condos….they make one first then add more “rooms” to the original one….they will reuse nests.

A “bacon” tree because the orange flowers look like pieces of bacon

Found some vultures picking away at some bones…..had no idea just how big they were! Hyenas not far from their den with the cubs/pups (?). Back along the river to the the carmine bee eaters. A small herd, or as Manny called them “a gang” of young male elephants. A couple got into a bit of a scrap…..lots of noise and trunk butting! Tons of cape buffalo….huge herd of probably a few hundred. More painted dogs…..3 of them lazing in the shade (didn’t blame them….was HOT!) Giraffes across the river….4 of them.

Had our tea along the river with the giraffes…..some crossed the river, which apparently can be pretty scary for them (crocs and hippos etc.). More giraffes on our side of the river. Lots of large elephant herds…..20 – 30 in a group across the river, some crossing too, and at least 20 – 30 on our side of the river, also crossing! Busy morning. Lots of pukus and impalas. A couple of male pukus were having a serious fight and one of the elephants charged them and trumpeted…..he did it a couple of times…..they stopped for a second, had a look and were right back at it, so he just gave up and moved on. Was just amazing to see all these animals in one place!

Back to Zikomo for lunch. Wraps and flatbread (v.g), pasta, salad and a loaf of bread shaped like a croc…cute and all very good. Very, very hot today….38C. Brutal in the uncovered jeep. No pool…..still filling it. They have boreholes here (and everywhere else we’ve been for that matter) for their water sources. Supposedly it’s safe to drink….like spring water I guess….but we haven’t chanced it just in case. Played cards, journals, snoozed and chatted with some new guests from the Netherlands…..they have been to this camp many times and at one time in their young lives (looked to be in their late 20’s/early 30’s) they managed camps in other places in Africa.

Tea time and then off on our very last game drive of the trip. Seems incredible that we’ve been here 3 weeks. We’ve seen so much……gorillas in Uganda, been at 4 different game camps in Zambia, just amazing.

Drove out along the river…..I love the “hippo highways”, very clean trail made by mostly the hippos when they come up from the water to graze at night. About 5 minutes into the drive and only a short distance from Zikomo we found a lone male lion lazing on the beach right at the waters edge. Had a look around in the bushes on the bank for the rest of the pride but no luck.

Another beautiful sunset over the river. Still very warm. The trees at this time of evening are so beautiful…..more leaves on them now but still so knarly looking….some look pretty much dead but then you notice clusters of green here and there on what look like dried, bleached out branches. Some of roots that run along the surface of the ground because it’s so hard and dry they can’t tap down. Our last sundowner near the river…..wine and homemade chips (v.v.v.g.). Just a beautiful evening.

Found a bunch on hyenas near their den….including a bunch of babies. The usual nocturnal animals…..civets etc. some bushbabies, so Manny said, but all I could see were eyes in the spotlight. The highlight though was the aardvark!! Had hoped to see one but they’re very reclusive, so very happy to end on a high note. No pics of him but watched him for quite a few minutes just wandering along the edge of some bushes. Manny was pretty excited too……he said that was the first one he’d seen in 8 years!! Said he was going to have a beer when we got back to celebrate!

Back to camp at 8 for our “braai”, which is an African BBQ, with the owners. Tons of meat! Chicken, beef, pork, a couple different kinds of sausage, all done on open wood fires. Very tasty. Lots of salads and veg too. Collard greens braised with onions and mild red peppers…..so, so good! It was us and the couple from the Netherlands. Nice chatting with them and Victoria telling us how they ended up here and what a lot of work it is to set up a camp. The table was set on a deck overhanging the river bank. Could hear the hippos snorting close by. They had a lion the night before last do a walk by while they were eating.

Had a couple of drinks in the bar before heading to our chalets. Sleep in tomorrow!! Still incredibly warm at 10, so sat outside for a bit. Could hear a hippo breathing!! But I couldn’t see him. I turned the little light off on the deck and there he was 5ft away…..he made his way up the bank and could very easily have made a left turn right onto our deck…..luckily he didn’t and kept going. He walked right thru the lounge/covered seating area and down the road towards the “gym”!

Tried the fan again but just gave up……curtains open just praying for a breeze!

Thurs Sept 19

Nice to have a sleep in this morning…..a real sleep in until 7! Went and grabbed a cup of coffee at the boma and just sat and enjoyed the view from our deck. Took our time heading to breakfast. Not off to the airport until 2:30 so lots of time to rest, catch up on our journals, read etc.

Took a walk around the camp. This place has such great potential! Nice big garden…..beautiful vegetables, big fat tomatoes. Also a big fence, with electrical something or others all around it to keep the animals out. They are trying to become self-sustaining, except for meat of course. It’s all operated by solar power. Quite a few chalets…..some with a couple of bedrooms, family chalets and one room ones, like ours.

Quite a big camp site as well. All along the river with animals roaming all over. Victoria said it’s still all a work in progress to make improvements. Great location except for the road in to the place but they’re happy with it and said it is what makes it appealing to many of their guests because it limits who travels on it. There are a few other camps a bit further along but we didn’t see other jeeps out on our drives here.

Manny picked us up at 2:30 for the drive to the Mfuwe airport. Had to stop on the road in for a herd of domestic cattle that had wandered off from their homestead….Manny let the owners know where they were…..apparently they can be fined and loose their cattle if the police catch them.

Stopped at Tribal Textiles. https://www.tribaltextiles.co.zm/ Beautiful stuff…..bought some pillow covers for the kids, one for myself and a couple of Christmas ornaments (pleated angels made from leftover bits of material!). What a great place. Outside in the parking lot were also some local artisans…..wood carvings, metal work, various type of jewelry…..all really nice stuff. Picked up a little carved hippo and pretty wood bead bracelet.

Arrived at the airport early so off to the bar across the parking lot…..the gal at the check-in told us to come back when we saw the plane come in!! Not a big airport at all….Manny had to stay with us until we were safely on the plane. Asked him to join us but he had some buddies there so just hung around and chatted with them. There is a soccer field, also across the parking lot….all the players pop in to the airport to use the bathrooms lol…..just not a big place.

Cheri was trying to reorganize her bags….was going to move something from her backpack into her suitcase. She opened her backpack and out pops a spider!! A huge one, maybe our friend from the first day! Lots of screaming, people coming over to see what was going on (there were only 10 people, including employees). Screams, and lots of laughing. The spider flew under the vending machine, hopefully never to be seen by us again!! Can’t even imagine what would of happened had she not found him until we were on the flight home or something!!

Flight was good. Small 20 seater plane…..2/1 seat configuration. Couldn’t stand up and had to leave our carry on in the basket thing at the back where we got on. There was a only a half wall separating the cockpit from the rest of the cabin…..and a steward who served drinks and chips! One hour and we were back on the ground in Lusaka. Just as we were about to get off the plane, all the oxygen masks popped out!! Everyone had a bit of a laugh over that….even the pilot!

Matthews was waiting for us. Dinner was at Leslie’s tonight. Lovely home on her “plot”. Sat outside around the firepit for drinks and appies. Definitely chilly here compared to Luangwa! Poor Leslie is still recovering from her bought of shingles. Chatted about the trip…..she wanted any feedback, good or bad. All good from my perspective. Only issue would have been the no flightlights thing trying to navigate lumpy, bumpy terrain in the dark at Kafue River Lodge….otherwise everything was pretty spectacular to me….no complaints. Dinner was pizza and salad…..very good (made by Matthews’ wife).

Stayed quite late….was 11 by the time Matthews dropped us off at Sarek b&b. John, the owner, met us and let us know that we’d be his guests for dinner tomorrow night. Had a bit of wine……only after we all slathered on the bug spray. This is the only place that I’ve found the mosquitos really bad!

Fri Sept 20

Another sleep in morning. Had a great sleep last night…..much cooler here. Lloyd, John’s cook, brought us breakfast and John’s big dogs came to greet us…… a couple of Russian wolfhounds and 2 labs. Very big and very friendly.

Matthews picked us up at 10 for our visit to the elephant orphanage. Great drive thru a different part of Lusaka. Lilayi Elephant Nursery was interesting. Only 4 small ones there or at least that we saw. They’re led by a handler to a central viewing area, where they are bottle fed. A guy gave a chat about the place and how the babies are reintroduced to the wild eventually. Interesting but all a little hokey. No interaction with the elephants.

Lunch was at the Lilayi Resort……beautiful place! https://www.lilayi.com/ Big pool, nice bar, bungalows and they are also a safari camp. Have all animals except big cats. Lunch was fantastic. Had the ribs and fries….Andrea had the prawns! Tons of them and very good. Beautiful grounds, was like sitting on the patio of golf course club house! As with the entire trip all our food was included, so other than our wine it cost us nothing.

Great drive back to Sarek, with a quick stop to pick up some wine for dinner tonight. Matthews found a great wine store. Picked up a bottle or two of Zambian wine to take to Johns. Was just around 3 so had lots of time to repack and relax before heading to Johns at 7:30. The zebras came by…..both are pregnant. He has an “ornamental” license for animals.

Our flight is at 2:30AM!! So Matthews will pick us up around 11. Glad we decided to keep this place for the night even though we’re not actually sleeping here. Good to have somewhere to go especially when your flight leaves at such an ungawdly hour!

We saw John and Lloyd both take the trail thru the woods…..could we find it in the dark? No….had to come back out and just about right up to our rooms to try to remember where we saw them coming from. We could see lights thru the trees but the trail was not very distinguishable in the dark even with flashlights! Had we been smarter, we would have done a trial run in the daylight!! Ah well…. We did finally get there….keep to the right of the stables he said…..we couldn’t even see the stables until we had just about walked into them!! We were greeted by the dogs…..lots of barking! What a beautiful and fantastically eclectic home he has!! Like “Out of Africa”! Outside is a huge covered area…like a great big living room complete with couches, wing back chairs, big coffee table, lamps etc. and a huge dining area that can seat 20, chandeliers and all! Inside is just as beautiful.

Sat around chatting for a while before dinner. His wife was away on business unfortunately. He is British and she is Swedish. He came to Africa about 15 years ago to visit friends, that he’d met while working here, after his first marriage broke up, ended up staying, meeting his new wife and the rest is history. He had an incredible career in engineering (?), working in at least 50 different countries and living in 8. Makes my life seem so dull and boring!!

Dinner was inside at the dining room table that could seat 24! Lloyd did the cooking. Some sort of a beef stew, matoke, pumpkin, rice etc. all very good and very Indian-ish in taste. Dessert was an excellent cake with whipped topping. Sat around chatting until it was time for us to head back to be ready when Matthews arrived. John made sure we were on the right path back and off we went.

Finished off our wine and waited for Matthews to take us to the airport. Hard to believe we’ve spent 3 weeks here. Time has really just flown by. Very busy vacation but visiting Africa, the gorillas, the safaris and the camps, all were fantastic. Truly the trip of a lifetime. I really hope to get back here someday.

Can’t thank Leslie at Mama Tembo enough for the excellent job organizing this trip…..top notch and we were incredibly well looked after everywhere we went. https://www.mttsafaris.com/

Next stop Amsterdam!

Africa 2019 Part 3 – Kafue National Park in Zambia

Sat Sept 7

Up at 5! Breakfast and off to the airport by 6:30.

Lots of extra security today….not sure why. Had to get out of the van at the airport entrance gate, before we arrived at the road for the departures,walk thru the gate then get back in the van. Security again to get in the airport.

On the board at the airport entrance it said our flight was cancelled!! A moment or two of panic. Had to go thru yet another security check to get to the check in desk….where I noticed that it said our flight was on time??? Once thru security we just went and checked in, no problems, thank goodness.

First part of the flight was Entebbe to Nairobi, where we had a 2 hour layover. Connecting flight to Lusaka had a quick 1/2 hour stop in Harare, Zimbabwe. Left Entebbe at 10:40 finally arrived in Lusaka at 5:30PM. Had two young brothers, 8 and 14yrs old, sitting next to me on the flight from Nairobi to Harare. Really cute kids and fun to chat with. They were off to boarding school until Christmas, then home for a month and back again to finish out the school year. Very quiet at first, then more chatty as the flight went on. Final flight of our trip from Harare to Lusaka was 45 minutes.

No issues on arrival, thru immigration/customs and out to find Matthews waiting for us with a sign. About a 45 minute drive to Sarek B & B for our one night here. We were supposed to go to Leslie’s for dinner but she had shingles and is still trying to recover, so her cook made dinner for us and sent it to the B & B…..nothing else around so this was a good thing.

Our safari jeep! AC, phone and camera battery charging stations….pretty deluxe!

We seem to be a bit out in the wilderness. In this area is what they call “plots”. Not sure how big they are but I’d say at least a few acres each. Hard to tell what is on them because it was dark and everyone seems to have gates.

Sarek B&B is lovely. https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g293843-d6398171-Reviews-Sarek_Creek_B_and_B-Lusaka_Lusaka_Province.html Two separate bedrooms, each with a small “kitchen counter” (small fridge, microwave, kettle, dishes etc) and a big seating area. A big deck with a sitting and eating area separating the two. A bit chilly at night, definitely a sweater or light jacket needed. Lots of mosquitos here at night!! First time I’ve gone into my stash of repellent (too high at Nkuringo for mosquitos). John, the owner, came by to introduce himself and explain how things worked. Number one was that they’d stocked up the fridge with wine for us!! And the second was about the “power shedding” that happens each evening. Basically all the power is shut off, usually between 7 – 10, to conserve electricity, so until then they are running on solar or auxilliary power…..just enough to keep the fridge cool and provide some very dull lighting. Charging camera batteries, phones etc. had to be done after 10PM.

Dinner was excellent…olive chicken, lentils, a delicious salad of veg, beans, corn etc.
Extremely dark at night…and extremely quiet except for John’s dogs barking off in the distance (his home is just thru the bush across from us….). Played cards, sat around and chatted for a while. Will be interesting to see exactly what it looks like around here in the daylight….I know John has a zebra or two.

Great day, even for a travel day. Not sure if it really counts but I was in 4 countries today!! Started in Uganda, a stop in Kenya, another quick stop in Zimbabwe and finally in Zambia.

Off to Kafue River Camp tomorrow to start our safaris!

Sun Sept 8

Slept great. Up at 5:30! Tea and instant coffee supplied, how nice! Enjoyed it on the big deck. Got to see the billy goats roaming around….I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before….beards and all. And then, there was a zebra!! How exciting. One of John’s domesticated ones, but still…a zebra in Africa!!

Around 7:30, Lloyd, John’s cook, brought us a nice breakfast of toast, various jams, cheese, meat and hard boiled eggs.

Matthews arrived around 9 for our long drive to Kafue River Camp. First we had a bit of tour thru Lusaka and a stop at a mall to find a bank machine to pick up some Kwacha. Lusaka is spread out for miles. A bit of a mishmash of old and new, nice and run down. Lots of big new shopping malls popping up (Chinese money??). Some very nice areas with good paved roads, nice homes and various embassies. Also lots of haphazard stuff as well….pop-up shops on corners, vendors walking thru traffic, big modern roads, some beautiful treelined streets, and then roads that barely passed as paved with open gutters. Quite a big industrial area for many different kinds of businesses, not unlike our industrial parks at home.

If you are an important person or government minister your street will be paved and well kept, if not it’s pretty much a dirt road. People walking everywhere, often with stuff on their head. Here too, many walk for miles to and from work or school everyday.

Our trip started out for the first few hours on a paved highway. Small villages scattered along the way with many people having fruit and vegetable stands along the road, some selling big sacks of charcoal. You see a lot of big plastic sacks/packages stacked in various places….these are the corn husks that women collect and bag up and get paid for them…..can’t recall exactly what they are used for though. You see the odd herd of goats or sheep and some cattle. A few baobob trees….really amazing things!! Lots of places that make bricks. Many people work in the copper mining industry which the Chinese are operating.

Passed a couple of check points…..questionable according to Matthews. They didn’t harass us but they did have a few cars pulled over. Apparently the police or ?? will find some law or rule that you are breaking then tell you it’s a $XX fine. If you only have $5 or something less, they’ll take it and likely just put it in their pocket!

Finally after a couple hours we arrived in the town/city of Mumbwe…..kind of a messy place, again a mishmash of buildings, but not messy in the garbage kind of messy. Stopped for gas, a pee break and to stretch a bit. A couple of schools, lots of churches (of every faith….), shops etc. on the main highway. All in the dirt sort of off to the side of the road but in the centre of town is a beautiful big roundabout with flowers, trees and a statue of someone/thing!

Car suspension business is probably pretty good here!

Just after Mumbwe we left the paved highway and on to a very bumpy, rocky, rough dirt road. Not a lot to see along the way other than forest. After another hour or so of bumping along we turned on to another very lumpy, even bumpier, dirt road that was the entrance to the Kafue National Park.

Hoped to start seeing some animals but nothing too exotic…..my first African antelopes (bushbucks, pukus, impalas) and lots of monkeys and baboons….still exciting though. Came to the Kafue river, which we crossed on the ferry….there is a cable strung across the river that the ferry is attached too so it doesn’t float off down stream.

Another 20 minutes or so of bumping along we arrived at Kafue River Lodge around 2:30. https://northernkafuesafaris.com/kafue-river-lodge/ Greeted with nice warm face clothes and drinks.

This place is really nice!! I have nothing to compare it too but it is all I expected and more for a safari camp. Our chalet is quite big. It has 2 queen size beds, a very nice bathroom, claw foot tub and all, an outdoor shower and a nice deck. The common area is all open with a dining area, bar, seating area all undercover and another seating area not undercover that is cantilevered out over the river……absolutely beautiful!

Met our guide, Evaristo (sp?). He filled us in on the comings and goings of the animals…..had just missed some lions in camp this morning and elephants on the little island across from us. Could hear the hippos….they make a lot of racket!! And they sound very close by….apparently they come up out of the river to graze during the night.

Decided to pass on the evening game drive…..our backs needed a bit of rest after our long bumpy drive today. And we were starving!! No lunch….I think someone slipped up on that because they’ve been incredibly attentive so far. Afternoon tea was served at 3:30….delicious orange cake. The gals that run the bar and kitchen are just lovely. The cake and a glass of wine in these surroundings hit the spot. I cannot even describe how beautiful it is here!

Just as it got dark around 6:30 they put a fire in the pit next to the lounge area where they served more wine and some delicious little cheese and bacon roll appies. Dinner at 7:30 was very good.

The table was set beautifully with white tableclothes, wine glasses napkins etc. First course was tomato soup (v.g.), main was BBQ chicken, potatoes and veg. Dessert was a carrot pudding with what tasted like a cream cheese icing (v.v.v.g) .

We are the only guest here until tomorrow.

Sat around chatting with our guide for a bit before it got a bit chilly and were then escorted to our chalets…..you cannot wander around here on your own at night. They suggest you don’t even sit out on your deck…..you just never know what can wander thru.

Excited! First game drive bright and early tomorrow…..5:30 wake up call, with coffee!

Mon Sept 9

Slept great….very comfy bed! Was up before the wake up call and coffee arrived! Noticed a fire going across the walkway in the grassy area near the river so figured it was safe enough to sit outside in the dark…..with a blanket on…..quite nippy in the morning. They were coming and going setting up our al fresco breakfast. Could hear the hippos snorting…..presumably all safely (for us!) back in the river by now.

Great continental type breakfast…..toast, buns, cheese, muffins, fruit, cereal etc. An amazing amount of stuff put out for just the 4 of us but all set up lovely.

Off on my first ever safari! How exciting! Different truck than Matthews, using the KRL jeep. This one is all open with a canopy. Blankets and hotwater bottles were waiting for us on the seats….a very nice touch and definitely needed once we got moving.

Bumpity bump down the “road” we went. Saw lots of antelope…..pukus, bushbucks, kudus and impalas, all of which I can now identify! Impalas are the easiest with the “M” on their bums. Tons of warthogs with babies “Pumbaas”. They are the cutest little things…..usually 3 or 4 babies with the adult. Their little tails are straight up in the air, like little antenas, when they run….and they run fast! Apparently the tails are really like antenas because they have poor eye sight so rely on the little hairy bit on the tail in front of them to know where to go. Interesting. A lot of anthills and termite mounds….some huge ones.

The morning light here is incredible…..everything takes on this golden orange glow. Fantastic for real photographers!

As it started to warm up we stopped so our tracker could fill the little bucket on the back of the jeep with elephant dung, which he then lit. The smoke, which actually smelt quite nice, keeps the nasty biting flies away.

Quite a mix of vegetation….foresty and savannah here. Sausage trees, palms, lots of figs and strangler vines, even a few tall cactus type trees. Many trees look dead but then you notice a bit of green sticking out at the top. Big beautiful leafy raintrees (which I think are also a ficus of some sort), lots of scrubby bush and lion/elephant grass. It’s spring so all comes back to life when the rainy season starts in October.

Halfway thru our drive we stopped at a bit of a hot spring for our morning coffee/tea break. Found my first hippo wallowing in one of the mud holes about 25ft from where I was standing!

our morning coffee break with a hippo in the mud behind us!

Drove along the river after coffee and found a bunch of hippos! The river is really shallow in some places so got a chance to see half a hippo out of the water instead of just their noses and eyes. They are massive animals! Saw a little baby one too. More antelopes and warthogs but no elephants or lions. Lots of birds! Many storks, fish eagles and various bee eaters.

Had warmed up quite nicely by the time we got back to camp for lunch. Chicken pizza (v.g.) coleslaw and a really good beet salad with apple and pineapple.

view from our chalet looking at the al fresco breakfast area on the river bank

Went back to our chalet to clean up and found monkeys trying to get in!!! Our door hadn’t latched so it was open. Worried at bit that they might have gotten in and ran off with something!! Luckily as we very slowly got a bit closer they scattered. Didn’t look like they had got in thank goodness! Also had to manuever around a family of warthogs.

Two ladies from California arrived, so chatted with them a bit. They had just come from the camp in the Busanga plains, our next stop, and said it was fantastic! Animals galore, including a charging elephant or two! Can’t wait!

Sat around the lounge/common/dining area and played cards, updated journals and just enjoyed the views. This location is just so beautiful. Caught glimpses of the hippos in the river and could hear them snorting from under the deck that hangs out over the river. Was hoping for an elephant or lion to wander thru but no such luck.

Tea at 3 then out for our evening drive at 4. Went the opposite way, back towards the way we came in, crossing the river on the “ferry” again. Quite the line up tonite. Two cars going each way and one very overloaded truck. The plan was that we would have our drive on the other side of the river and then take a boat back across the river to camp. Drove around in search of some elephants but saw none….a little disappointing to say the least but we’ve got a number of days left, so not discouraged yet. They are out there!! Somewhere!!

Stopped for our sundowners in a wide open field. Just beautiful. Gorgeous sunsets here. Again the colours are amazing…..they truly look photoshopped. I just wish I had a better camera. Sundowners were beer, wine and the most delicious beef (?) jerky ever!

Beautiful sunset for our sundowners next to a “hippo highway”!

Off we went heading back towards the river and our boat ride home. Got pretty exciting when we got there and there was no boat!!! Apparently the river was too low at that spot so they had taken the boat further down but Evaristo didn’t know that!! On the walkie talkie things trying to pin point where the boat was. Off we went in the now pitch black. Russ was operating the spotlight hoping to find Moses, the boat guy. We had to go off road so the jeep was thrashing thru long grass, downed tree branches, one of which flew up an whacked me in the side of the head….no blood thank goodness but certainly could have taken out an eye if it had hit a bit differently. All was good though. It seemed like we drove forever, but was really only another 1/2 hour or so. Was a little tense for a while, or at least based on the communication back and forth on the walkie talkie….couldn’t understand what they were saying but sounded like a lot of yelling.

Finally, with the spotlight, we caught a glimpse of Moses in the tall grass waving frantically to catch our eye. I really never doubted that we’d find him, Evaristo knows this place like the back of his hand, on or off the roads, so was kind of exciting. Parked the jeep and out we got…..so dark you could hardly see anything. We still had to get to the river, down the bank and onto the boat…..they didn’t have any flashlights!! We used our phone flashlights to see. This was a bit tense because the ground was so rough….full of dried up elephant footprints, tufts of dried grasses and lumpy bits of bush. Getting down the river bank was also a challenge because it was so steep and uneven. Did not want to fall and break an ankle or arm!! We made it on to the boat, which was not much bigger than a rowboat. Once we were all in and got away from shore you could feel and hear the bottom dragging on rocks or whatever. The outboard motor on the back clonked on stuff too. Only took 5 minutes or so to cross but it did seem like forever knowing that crocs and hippos were in the river and we couldn’t see where they were.

Back on the other side, up the same type of rough river bank, to a jeep waiting for us. A few minute drive and we were back at camp looking for wine!! Quite the adventure….rather fun and exciting for my first evening game drive…..even though we didn’t see any game! Did suggest that they might want to keep a couple flashlights in the jeep for those just in case times like tonight.

Got back to camp after 7:30 so asked to wait until 8:15ish for dinner while we recovered from all the excitement. Dinner was great. Appie was one big spinach and cheese ravioli, main was rice, stir fried veg and pork (v.g.) dessert was sort of a cheesecake brulee (v.v.g.).

Met our guide for Kasonso Camp in the Busanga Plains, Newton. He’ll be driving us tomorrow. A bit of a long drive, 5 – 6 hours, but hopefully a good one.

Sadly no exciting animals today or tonight (except the hippos), but certainly an exciting end to our evening drive. A great day and can’t wait until we head to Busanga plains tomorrow.

While you’re out on the drive/having dinner they do a “turn down” of your bed and get the nets all set up. Quite nice!

Tues Sept 10

Slept great again. Coffee and wake up call at 6:30…..a bit of sleep in. Beautiful morning and a spectacular sunrise over the river. They had a nice fire going next to the lounge….a bit chilly in the morning….one of the gals was making our toast over the fire!! Was nice to sit there having more coffee until breakfast was served. Another great breakfast but in the lounge this morning. Eggs, bacon (absolutely delicious bacon here!!), sausage, beans etc. basically just about a full English breakfast.

Started our drive in the open jeep with Newton. Matthews, the MTTZ guy, followed in the closed jeep??? Our drive was to be 5 – 6 hours….and it was! Not sure why we had to use the open Kafue Camp jeep…..was very, very cold to start bopping along at anywhere from 40 – 65k on a terrible bumpy dirt road, was not that great. The wind numbed your lips, face and ears and just about turned our eyelids inside out when he was booting it.

Drove thru a couple of typical villages. Most houses now are made of bricks but many still have the grass roofs. Always a few outbuildings made of sticks…..one is usually just for cooking. Was interesting in that we were miles and miles away from any substantial town and saw nothing close to anything resembling a store where you would get supplies or regular household items. A few market stands selling fruit and beg. Some houses, or family compounds, seemed quite prosperous……bigger houses, with metal roofs instead of elephant or lion grass thatch…..and neat and tidy gardens. There was some electricity but no plumbing or water so everyone uses the wells…..luckily there were quite a few so not too far for people to carry the water home. Many carry the buckets on their heads!

Newton was from one of the villages so we stopped and met one of his brothers and his father…..who is also a guide and runs Kasonso Camp with him. Lots of people came by to say hi to him……seems a pretty popular guy!

Crossed the river again on another ferry. Stopped at the park gate to eat our boxed lunches (ham and cheese sandwiches, an apple, cookies and a juice box!! v.g.) and a pee behind a shed! Have learned to keep extra pieces of tissue to wrap the used tissues in until you get to the garbage bag in the jeep…..and hand sanitizer handy!

From the gate we took a “shortcut” thru a forest. Very sparse at this time of year but will thicken and green up when the rainy season starts. Lots of burnt out areas……have heard many reasons for burning…..”controlled” burns, villagers burn to get rid of snakes (apparently many people get bit), poachers burn to clear bush and brush to hunt the animals, and lastly because it puts nutrients back into the soil……but really who knows??!! Drove for another 45 minutes. Luckily it had warmed up quite a bit but was still face numbing with the wind blowing at you.

one of the many stick/log bridges we crossed

Once we cleared the forest and got on to the Busanga Plain we did start to see animals off in the distance….zebras, wildebeests, more antelope (a new one called lechwe). The plain is very flat with lion/elephant grasses blowing in the breeze, trees and palm thickets scattered around. Very, very pretty really.

Arrived at Kasonso Camp just after 2:30. https://northernkafuesafaris.com/kasonso-busanga/ Greeted by Sara, the manager, with wet face clothes (much needed and appreciated!) and drinks. Lovely open reception/lounge/dining area. There are only 4 “tents”, small but very nice. Two twin beds with mosquito netting, a good sized bathroom (semi open to the elements….don’t leave your toiletry bags out there with toothpaste….the monkeys love it apparently!). The buildings are a combo of tent material and wood frames. Ours looks out over the plain, which is really quite spectacular……golden grasses, trees off in the distance, sort of hazy because of the heat of the day….just beautiful!

We decided on no game drive tonight…..just cuz we’d driven quite enough already. Close to 6 hours to get here. Our faces and backs needed a bit of a rest. They served us lunch! Which we weren’t expecting since we’d had our boxed lunches from KRL. It’s set up as a little buffet. We had delicious fish and chips and a really good coleslaw. The fish is the local talapia…..so good and such a treat because we’re not supposed to buy it at home (comes from Vietnam or ??? where they dynamite the fish!).

Our daily crib games, updated journals, used the wifi (only available in the lounge). A nice quiet afternoon. Chatted with the only other guests, a couple from the Netherlands. They were just heading out on their evening drive and said this place has been fantastic.

As soon as the sun started to go down it cooled off pretty good. Back to our tent to change into jeans and grab a sweater. Beautiful sunset!! Just amazing, the colours are indescribable…..could see a herd of elephants way off in the distance making their way across the plain. A wildebeest, not too far away, having his dinner in the tall grass…..pretty incredible!

Sat in the lounge and yakked until dinner. The table was set just lovely…..white tablecloth, red napkins in the wine glasses. Blankets and hot water bottles on the chairs!! It really does cool down quite a bit so those were really appreciated. Dinner was great. Starter was a delicious pumpkin soup, main was one of the most delicious and tender filets (yes, filet!! Possibly “kudu” but delicious whatever!) that I’ve ever had. Dessert was a spice cake with a dollop of a cream. All was excellent! Whoever told us to not expect gourmet food was so wrong…..everything we’ve had so far has been really good and presented so nicely.

Newton joined us for dinner. Chatted about the plans for the drive tomorrow. Told us a bit about himself and how he got started in the business etc. All very interesting.

We were all ready for bed not too long after 9. Got escorted to our tent/chalet/cabin (not quite sure what to call them).

A long, and somewhat windy, bumpy day, but amazing. Looking so forward to tomorrow…..elephants and lions, I hope. There are no giraffes in this part of Zambia, so won’t be seeing those until the next camp.

Wed Sept 11

5AM wake up call with coffee for our first game drive here. Barely dawn….enjoyed the coffee on the deck (wrapped in a blanket!)….birds starting to chatter, other sounds/screeches that I have no idea who they belonged too (monkeys maybe??). Could just barely see some type of antelope not too far off in the grass. Almost surreal sitting there…..really quite beautiful.

Breakfast was continental (really good muffins!) around the fire pit just outside the lounge. Nice big fire going which was great because it was really chilly. Big difference here between day and night temps. Daytime it hits 32C+ (90+F), at night it goes down to 7-10c (45-50F)…..we could see our breath!

Bundled up in blankets and off we went in search of elephants and lions! The plain is quite beautiful in the morning…..sort of a low laying mist with the odd tree and “island” here and there. They’re called islands because in the rainy season the plain floods and these groves of trees really do become islands. They do safaris in pontoon boats in June!! How cool would that be?? I would love to come back and do that one day.

Warthogs…..lots and lots of them. Love the babies!! Many different kinds of antelope….pukus, kudus, bushbucks, lechwe, roan etc. Found lots of hippos wallowing in the bits of mud and watering holes that are left. They look like big smooth shiny rocks….until you notice the nostrils or ears sticking up. If they catch site of you they’ll lift their heads and maybe half of their body just to shift around. They are HUGE!

The “roads” are incredibly rough….brain rattling sometimes. In some places they’ve put up little log “bridges” for the jeeps to cross the streams which are pretty much all that is left of the river here. How the guides ever find the roads is mind boggling…because sometimes you really can’t even see that there is a track or ???

We searched around the islands hoping to find the lions but to no avail. Finally my first elephants!!! How exciting. Just a couple to start. What beautiful creatures they are. They just saunter along, if near tree they’ll nibble for a bit and then move on. My first zebras! Lots of them in big herds…..a couple of really tiny babies. More elephants, some huge ones. One had two smaller ones, not quite babies, but pretty small….asked Newton if they were twins….he said, no that she was probably just “babysitting” one of them. Saw quite a few wildebeests….they seem to hang out in pairs, quite a few cape buffalo.

Back to camp just before noon. Had warmed up considerably by that time and I’d peeled down to my tank top!!

Lunch today was very good. Quiche with bacon, onion and cheese, beans and another excellent beet salad.

Spent the rest of the afternoon playing cards, updating journals and drinking Savannahs, which is a very refreshing cider. Tea was a delicious amarula cake…..v. moist.

Out for our evening drive. Wildebeests, cape buffalo, tons of hippos in the mud….had hoped to see one right out of the water. Warthogs, antelope, more elephants but no lions or other cats…..a little disappointing but Newton has assured us that we will see lots!

Sundowners on the plain……a glass of wine, delicious, crunchy home made potato chips….watching the sun go down surrounded by animals…..they were off in the distance but still!! On the ride back, in the dark, we finally came across a bunch of hippos out of the water just grazing on the grass that was pretty much right on the road. We very cautiously drove by them. Not interested in us at all…..luckily. Like you know they are huge but to see their entire body out of water, that close, you can really appreciate just how massive they are!!. Definitely the highlight of this drive.

For the night drives, the spotter uses a big spotlight to scan back and forth looking for whatever might be lurking. How they find things amazed me…..I guess they know what to look for. The eyes shining in the light? The least little bit of movement? Found a porcupine rummaging around in bushes at the base of a big tree. Civits….which apparently are not part of the cat family….badgers, mongoose looking things.

Arrived back at camp around 8 to find that they’d set up dinner out in the plain across from our chalets!! Bar and all! Beautifully set table again…..red tablecloth tonight, napkins in wine glasses and lots of candles to see!! Blankets and hot water bottles on the chairs for us. The BBQ was being tended by one of the guys. Stood around chatting with Newton and Sara and some of the others…..great people.

Appie was veg spring rolls (v.g.) main was the bbq chicken, veg and rice and dessert was homemade ice cream….some sort of berry and vanilla (v.v.g). What an absolutely fantastic experience!!!

Even though we didn’t see lions, I will give it an A+ for a very good day!

Thurs Sept 12

Up again at 5AM. Coffee on the deck looking out over the plain…..I think I could sit there for hours! Continental breakfast again around the fire pit. Chilly again…..last night I slept with my socks on!! Newton promised us lions today……

The morning light here is a photographers dream. Pinks and oranges, the mist/haze….just spectacular!

First thing we saw, besides all the usual antelope, were elephants….a lone one to start. Headed directly to the latest lion spotting location….one of the islands with long grass….and we were not disappointed! Found two young ones, a male, with his mane just starting to come out, and a female, both about 6 years old. A bit further around the island more of the pride including a very little and cute 3 month old cub.

One large female was out in the plain in between two herds of antelope, who all just merrily continued to graze away….but facing the direction of the lion. She eventually, very slowly, wandered back towards the rest of the pride and then into the tall grass to find her cubs that she’d left hidden in there. We watched another female that had her eye on a lone antelope nibbling away…..she just sat and watched for a bit then went back to join the rest of them.

We had stopped not too far from where a majority of them were…..some came over to investigate the jeep. They were so close you could have actually reached down and touched them! They wandered around us a bit to check us out and mozied on, keeping an eye on the antelope out on the plain. Just amazing to be able to experience this.

Loved this gal…..just sitting there watching her buffet lunch of antelope off in the distance!

Not far from where we’d stopped was one big old hippo wallowing in a mud hole….I guess he had finally had enough of us and stood up, gave a gaping yawn and growl/snort, had his little tail spinning like crazy flipping mud and water all over, and then started coming towards us!! I think even Newton was a bit taken aback by how aggressive he was and started the jeep, just in case. Apparently hippos and elephants will often “mock” charge and when they do he says you should never, ever start to take off running, if on foot, or driving away fast, if in a jeep…..they see that as a challenge and will chase you. If you stand your ground…..with your heart in your throat I must say….they will usually back off. So far, so good with that!

Saw lots of zebras, antelople, elephants and warthogs on our way back to camp. Lots of birds again…..storks, herons, ox peckers on the backs of antelope etc. A bird watchers paradise!

Lunch today was “brunch”….a full English breakfast (v.g.). Cards etc for the afternoon. So, so hot during the day and not much of a breeze. Can smell smoke from the fires today. Tea this afternoon were the most delicious little beignet type donuts with a caramel sauce…..to die for!! I’m glad there was only the 4 of us because we ate them all!!

Off on our evening drive at 4. Headed back in the direction of the lions in search of the big male. Found some elephants who weren’t terribly happy to see us and proceeded with charging and trumpeting (fantastic!!). A little intimidating when you have a few tons of animal running towards you with his ears flapping and all…..he stopped short about 10-15 ft from us. He turned around and started walking back to where he’d came from but then turned around again and made like he was going to charge again. At that point Newton said we’d annoyed them enough and should move on……no problem!

Drove around the lion island and noticed another jeep parked in the grass…..their driver pointed, indicating to Newton that the big guy was there. Couldn’t drive thru the grass because there were too many lions in it…..napping and just lazing about, including one little cub that wanted to play…..jumping on the dozing cats, playing with their tails. Finally one big paw came out and held him down, which stopped him for a few minutes but he then wiggled out and tried to wrestle with some of the young adults…..pretty darn cute!

Worked our way around the island for a better lookout spot to see the male…..and there he was!! Sleeping!! All of them had big full tummies so must have had a good hunt earlier. He lifted his head to have a look at us and then just sort of rolled over and back to napping. We stayed for about a 1/2 hour just watching them…..just beautiful animals.

Drove a little ways away from the lions and charging elephants to have our last sundowners here in a field full of pukus! Heard the lions roaring!! They let other prides know where they are…..one roars, then the other. Really quite incredible to be standing there having a glass of wine and nibbling on our snacks. Beautiful sunset tonight….lots of pink in the sky, probably from the fires.

On the way back Newton spotted a lion, in the dark (!) out in the field on the hunt. The antelope all took off except for one that she was slowly stalking. He was careful to not shine the spotlight right on either the cat or the antelope, sort of moving it back and forth. We all agree that it might be exciting to see but we really and truly did not want to see it happen…..I think he thought we were crazy!

Back to camp for dinner, which was set up out on the deck tonight. Blankets and hot water bottles waiting on our chairs. Table set just lovely as usual. Excellent dinner again! Broccoli soup to start, pork chops with mashed potatoes (v.v.g.) and the dessert……a birthday cake for Russ! So much fun. All the staff (12) came over and sang happy birthday to him. Fun evening and a great way to end a terrific day.

Very sorry to be leaving here…..I think I could have managed another day or two. But our next stop will have giraffes and leopards….the only things missing so far. Moving on to Mayukuyuku (sp??) for one night tomorrow en route back to Lusaka for our flight to Mfuwe and South Luangwa National Park.

Fri Sept 13

Nice to have a bit of a sleep in this morning. Wake up call at 6 with coffee. Sitting on the deck I saw lots of animals crossing the plain. Most were antelope of some sort, a couple of cape buffalo and a huge herd of elephants off in the distance…..how I wish I had a good camera, or at least one with a great zoom…..ah sigh.

A great sit down breakfast this morning before we headed out. Said our goodbyes to everyone and thanked them for an amazing experience.

Matthews was there waiting for us in the MTTZ jeep for our drive (4-5hrs) to the next camp. On the road by 8. The drive this morning took us thru the park for a while…..cape buffalo on the road and a big herd of elephants crossing just ahead of them…..had to stop and wait, animals have the right of way on the roads here.

I think we might have “pissed” this guy off!!

We left the park at some point and drove along a peripheral road with park on one side and land plots on the other. A few animals here and there. We stopped to take some pictures…..opened the windows and in came the tsetse flies….tons of them!! Quickly closed the windows and began swatting at them. Matthews keeps a fly swatter in the jeep just for that purpose!! Cheri using the flyswatter and Andrea and I using her flipflops!! They are the nastiest little things when they bite. Even while driving along they were buzzing around the outside the windows…..have no idea how fast or how far they can fly but they were keeping up with us and we were bopping along at 50k (good quality dirt road here).

Not much too see on the drive….mostly just forest. A few kilometers before we came to the paved road we stopped (where there were NO tsetses!!) for a stretch and a pee break. On the non-park side of the road we’d seen a few huts on the plots but nothing substantial considering the size of them. Matthews said that the plots were mostly owned by government ministers as an investment. Some had big long driveways with big gates but no fences??? Some had signs that said they were gardens but whatever they were we couldn’t see anything from the road. A few minutes later we were on the main highway, which is a reasonably good paved road. The road cuts thru the park so we had to stop at the gate….and met all the local baboons!

Once in the park there are many, many speed bumps, big and small, along the way. Can just about count the number of cars/trucks we passed the entire drive on one hand. A few big trucks and collectivos mostly.

Back onto a dirt road a few minutes after entering the park…..approx 8k into camp. Arrived at Mayukuyuku Camp around 2. http://kafuecamps.com/ What a pretty place! They are a permanent tented camp right on the Kafue River. That means our accomos are tents with a thatched roof covering over it. Total outdoor attached bathroom….kind of fun! Our tent has an excellent view of the river. A hammock strung up just off the deck. Lots of animals around here….can hear the hippos just a few feet down the river bank and tons of monkeys in the trees….they flew thru the branches then just sat and had a good look at us. We have an air horn in our tent???? I hope we don’t have to use it!

Very nice open air dining room/lounge. Big thatched roof building overlooking the river. Big dining table, lots of comfy seating areas all overlooking the river. They have some chairs set up along the shore with a path going down to it….but those hippos are snorting pretty close by so not sure I’d venture down there myself.

Had time for a quick drink before lunch was served. Watched the hippos wallowing a bit further down shore, some elephants across the river and just tons of monkeys flying around and thru the trees. Apparently the lions and cheetahs wander thru camp all the time….could just sit here and see all you want by the sound of things.

Lunch was pasta with mushrooms (v.g.). Just after lunch Clement took us for a bit of a hike/walk down a path to the river to show us where the hippos hang out and the crocs spend their day. Lots of huge boulders here…..must be leftovers from glaciers/ice age because there are no mountains or even hills that they could have come from. Very pretty and very different from Busanga or the KRL.

Everyone was tired from the drive today…..fighting off those damn tsetse flies…..poor Cheri and Andrea have all the bites to prove it. Very, very hot here…..32C they said. Sat around, did journals, read, napped, played our crib games and watched the animals along the river. Chatted with some people from the family from South Africa that were staying here…..grandpa was off on a fishing trip for the day.

about as close to the river that we got….

Moved out from lounge to get a bit of the breeze that had come up….a little closer to the river. They serve a terrific Zambian white wine….the best we’ve had so far. I wonder why the other camps don’t serve it. We’ve been getting South African wine….not that it hasn’t been OK but this stuff was really good.

As soon as the sun set and it started to get dark the temps dropped. Not quite as chilly as on Busanga Plains but definitely needed a sweater. Had an escort back to our tent, which of course was the last one down the path. The path is chunks of bark….like big hunks of bark mulch that isn’t that easy to walk on. Also grabbed the flashlights that they provided in our tent to find our way back…..very dark here. There is electricity but I think it’s solar or from a generator, so lighting is quite minimal.

Spectacular sunset….watching a hippo graze on the river bank

Moved to around the fire pit for drinks before dinner. It is just lovely here……would love to come back and spend a few days here. Can’t see them in the dark but can certainly hear the hippos…..

Dinner was at 8. Filet again! Starter was squash soup (v.g.), main was the filet and excellent homemade french fries that were really good and really hot. Dessert was creme carmel (not my thing….so yuk). Chatted a bit and got our escort back to our tent. Somehow managed to get a very nasty puncture wound on my big toe from one of the chunks of mulch. Big chunk sticking out of my toe!! Got that out and then tried to clean it as best I could with antiseptic wipes, put some polysporin on it and a band-aid. It bled a lot so hopefully nothing left in it.

Great day, tsetse flies, hurt toe and all! Beautiful place to spend a quiet afternoon.

Looking forward to our next adventure tomorrow!