Bon voyage Gramps and Nana!

George and Lorraine passed through Toronto over the weekend as they started their incredible vacation. They have gone "down under" for two whole months! And given that they will be on a boat for much of that time, they will only be able to chart the course of this blog sporadically.

We gave them a jolly send-off with an allergen-careful brunch at a burgeoning local restaurant and a present of paper flags to festoon their cabin.

Last art group session - for now!

Carrie - being Carrie - has plans to make a rainbow cake: each layer a different colour of sponge cake, plus different colours of icing in between, all topped with crayon candles! If we get around to doing it - and being Carrie she probably will - we will invite everyone over again to enjoy the colourful yumminess.

Thinking of Our Auntie Roberta

Happy birthday sis and thanks for making so much time for us.

A Learning Journey - the last leg

I was in Myanmar/Burma for 4 days. Three to work (and I almost literally did not leave the hotel, which doubles as UNICEF's office) and one to be a tourist in Rangoon/Yangon, the capital (and thus NOT a fair representation of the country).

I did not see the suffering of the people and there is much. I did not discuss politics and there is much to be said (I did get one comment that the government will not accept external help and thus no repairing of old colonial buildings, little development, no international adoptions, etc. and another comment that the country is run by 10 families - no more). I did not try and sneak into the prison home of Aung San Suu Kyi. However, as I flew in, I did notice how dark the capital of 4 million people is. Electricity is scarce. And I did note how kind people were to me, ensuring that I felt welcomed and taking me out for food, as a tourist, shopping, giving my children gifts, and buying me coffee (as in a kilo to take home).

There are two 'musts' for a tourist to do in the capital. One is visit the main pagoda - Shwedagon - (2500 years old) and the other is to visit the main non-food covered market.

Friday was a holiday for many people and thus the pagoda was busy at dusk. A lovely buzz filled the space, bouncing of the gold statues and marble floors. People come there to pray and meditate but also to socialise and picnic. The children run around and bang the ancient bells. It had the most wonderful ambiance of happiness and serenity, even though people must have been praying for relief from personal sorrows.


You take an escalator up. No Catholic on your knee stuff.


tiny gold plaques all over it and then at the top a huge (I mean huge) diamond and large rubies


Incredibly intricate carvings




One of a pair that guards the pagoda which is open from 5 a.m. to midnight.

Sadly, Scott's market did not wow me. The wonders of Bangkok's shopping (truly a modern wonder of the world) have spoiled me, I guess. I searched in vain for a certain multi-gemmed ring to replace one that I had lost. But the style was too avant-garde/hippy for the conservative tastes of the national market. I bought some large amethyst earrings (dubiously mined, no doubt), only to be told by a kind staff who had accompanied me, that they weren't really very big by local standards. I did get some funky fabric with hand-painted drums and a tablecloth woven in the traditional northern Chin way.

And upon departure, I was paid the greatest compliment by two staff members: "There is a job posted. Why don't you apply and come and work with us?" How lovely that would be. But somehow, I don't think that all members of my family would be given a visa to join me.

Best of...

Given how many airports I saw in the last month, I was going to rate them. But turns out that someone else does that for a living:
http://http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/toronto-vancouver-slip-in-airport-list/article1472399/

My take?
Toronto - it's fine. Does the necessary.

Vancouver - it looks pretty and has free wi-fi but closes down too early (by 10.45 p.m. so much has shut), so comes across as provincial, even though it was hosting the Olympics 2 weeks later.

Sydney - I can't believe it hosted the Olympics recently. It seemed run-down and under-developed. Admittedly I saw only international arrivals and national departures. It did have free internet booths. Maybe there are some hidden gems elsewhere.

Cairns - a lovely small airport; easy to get to and nice (not over the top) shops and services; it's being renovated too.

Port Moresby - least said the better. I had to buy a $200 visa in local currency; no ATM worked and the bank dings you really bad rates... Big plastic bucket seats in departures, so no lying down. But someone was very helpful to me.

Tokyo - boy oh boy do they like to shop. They have this amazing shopping mall before you go through check-in. Un/fortunately, it doesn't open early enough (7.30 a.m. and a number of shops were still shuttered).

Bangkok - love everything about the city, so why not the aiport too! I would imagine most departing passengers are trying to get over the stress of the drive there (so much traffic, will I get there on time?). My only complaint? That the only post box is stuck waaaaayyy over in a corner of the check-in forecourt. Amazing shops though - after security, they force you to walk and walk and walk through a high-end but lovely shopping mall before you come to departure gates which almost seem like after-thoughts! Nicely decorated with traditional carvings, etc and very light and bright - except when you come to the Asian departure shops/gates - for some reason there are less windows there.

Rangoon - cheap internet and minimal food. Only 2 shops and a few "stalls". Think a smaller scale Nairobi airport for those of you who passed through there.

Hong Kong - the most confusing airport I have ever visited. Services on all sorts of different levels; you can see places on a different floor but not be able to figure out how to get to them. Tons of luxury shops, many food options and so on, but didn't see any facilities for children. There was a train that seemed to go in one direction only...

While security was good throughout Asian airports, it never felt overbearing and the absence of the security paranoia in US/UK/Canada was welcome.

Who knew?

Seems like children finally won a round in Berlin
http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8520941.stm
In the States, they would have sued for mental harm by now. And rightly so.

A Learning Journey - more cultural gems from Bangkok

There is no other city like it and I only saw 2 of the major heritage sites up close. Here are detailed shots of the Grand Palace (where the Emerald - really Jade - Buddha is) and the Reclining Buddha (the most exquisitely decorated room I may have ever entered).






Even the rooftops render me speechless


One must decorate every pillar


And every inch of the ceiling


And here is the man/statue himself - solid gold, my friends.


Something (the base?) decorated with the finest in-lay

The roof of the actual pagoda where the Buddha reclines

Some of the bejewelled characters outside the Reclining Buddha





Some scary fellows who guard him





Some delicate porcelain



The 1/2 glazed (so practical) tiles/ The maintenance is on-going so there are always artisans at work and small areas roped off. Very impressive.

A ceiling in the compound of the Reclining Buddha - because, in case you haven't figured it out by now, one must decorate every surface

What do you do...

if you have no place....

to put all your Buddhas?

A small fort on the riverbank

Wat Arun during the daytime. There are tiny VERY steep stairs you can climb on the outside if you want to risk it with no handrail

A Learning Journey - The High Life in Bangkok

I saw amazing cultural sights in Bangkok, I had two spas (one traditional - i.e. painful - Thai, the other consisted of tiny fish nibbling dead skin off my legs - honest), I shopped, I stayed in a lovely house in a exquisite compound, I ate well in Bangkok (though not as well as I had hoped). I led a charmed life.

The compound - right on the river


The view from the veranda - the orchids (one must, it seems, have orchids), the fountain, the foliage, the fish-filled waterway


The staircase in the house...


Its swimming pool. Yes, I got a flutter about "the expat life"


The fish nibbling away


The bar/resto to be in to watch the sun set on old Bangkok (there is another "it" place for sunsets on modern Bangkok - next visit!)

A Learning Journey - Bangkok, the working city

Despite being a joy to visit as a tourist, Bangkok is very much a working city - home to 11 million people And the modern part really works. The river, the skytrain, the train, the metro, they all function relatively efficiently. The roads on the other hand....



A commuter ferry


A ferry station for tourists and locals


The working river plied by ferries, tugs, pleasure boats, etc.



One of the 6 bridges that cross near the heart of the city



The sky train



The gleaming sky train station





A different pace of life exists on the many canals


One of the striking skyscrapers that dot the river banks and concentrate in the modern city's centre


However, all that glitters is not gold - shell of highrise that will rise no further because of the economic turmoil


Half the other 80% live

I hope the river doesn't rise

A Learning Journey - Japan's majesty by air

Sadly, I was in Tokyo only during the night hours and thus saw nothing of its culture, modern workings and/or beauty. But if the shopping complex at the airport was anything to go by....

I did however see by air the stunning, snow-capped mountains ouside the city, including the majestic Mt Fuji.


I also have "nothing to show" for my 6 days in Paua New Guinea - except for my "big hair" snaps that I posted last week. But I can't wait to drink their coffee.

A Learning Journey - the first leg

After learning the hard way that Air Canada flies to Sydney in February so Aussies can ski at Whistler, etc. I finally arived in the northern town of Cairns. Its main raison d'etre currently is the Great Barrier Reef. Unfortunately, I had no time for that and besides, the only lingering trace of the pulimonary mishaps of my 21st year is that I cannot scuba-dive.



There had been a cyclone nearby three days prior to my arrival, but locals said that the wind on the day of my arrival was worse!


Cairns has a lovely boardwalk and yummy restaurants. It must have the world's best municipal pool (in the not-for-doing-laps category); it's right on the board walk and seems to go into the beach. It is gentle entry, surrounded by palm trees, and has metal fish sculptures in it. If you leave the town, you can take an interesting old railway ride, visit opal mines and swing through the tropical rain forest.

It is Australia.

Fog in the palms? No. Steam on the lens

A quaint brick path wends its way along

The pool reaching out to the ocean

And the pool as art gallery

And to make it even better, George and Loraine will visit it next month!