Scott and Anna´s Great Escape

Thailand - Vacation from Traveling

2006-10-30T23:52:00.000-08:00

Phuket, Thailand, the FINAL STOP on the Great Escape.

On my way to Phuket I had a stopover in Bangkok the vibrant capital of Thailand. Bangkok is a hive of activity and a feast for all the senses. I do love this city.

Phuket, on the other hand, is a tourist magnet for partying Europeans and certainly not one of the nicer parts of Thailand, however the diving is excellent! I dove for three days aboard Scuba Cat's great dive boat. The corals were bright and the fish abundant. Sweet! I ended the trip by attending a beach volleyball tourney (China beat May and Walsh in a great match) and then experienced Loi Kratong, a Thai festival where candles/flowers are floated in banana leaf baskets down any and all waterways. Magical!

A sweet end to an awesome trip.

Laos - Smiles and Relaxation

2006-10-30T23:48:00.000-08:00

Laos is a pleasant country full of smiles and classic SE Asian rural scenery. Laos is still a very poor nation of rice fields and oxen, but the people are warm with laughter around each corner.

The Mekong and its flood waters are the heart of the country. As I flew in the entire country seemed to be under water with villages on tall posts connected by causeways. Children played in the flooded patties and oxen cool themselves in the mud while the people await planting as the revitalized soil is drained.

Luang Brabang, the focus of my visit is the wonderful ancient capital of Laos. The town in protected as a World Heritage City and despite many tourists has a lovely and relaxed atmosphere and great Laotian food. I will return to this lovely area in the future to ride bikes and travel down the Mekong...

Cambodia - History and Healing

2006-10-30T23:28:00.000-08:00

In the tourist capital of Cambodia, Siem Reap, the brilliant ancient history of Cambodia shines. The Temples of Angkor are truly spectacular. There crumbling remnants represent a brilliant ancient culture. Angkor culture was greatly influenced by Indian religion and the fusion with Siam (Thai) art and design wonderful. Wandering the re-built and overgrown temples was a wonderful experience.

After all the temple climbing, I had legitimate (not "traditional") Khmer massage where elbows and incredibly strong fingers are used to crush your muscles into submission. In the end, the old saying "pain cures pain" seemed to hold true.

The Killing Fields memorial near Phnom Phen was a sobering reflection on the recent past. Cambodia is still facing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge and impacts of decades of political meddling of western powers. As a traveler, the resulting begging, touting and hassling is tough but it is worth it to support the Cambodian people.

Northern China - Warriors, Walls and Duck

2006-10-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

Continuing north, we flew north to Xian's new airport (all Chinese airports seem to be new) . Here we spent four days, viewing the old city walls, temples and of course the Terra Cotta warriors. China has an incredible 5000+ years of imperial history, longer than Egypt, Greece and Rome we all learn in the west. The Chinese themselves are rediscovering their own heritage and expressing it through increased internal tourism, arts and cinema.

We finished China with a week in and around Beijing. We feasted on hot pot, visited Mao, shopped, saw a Kung-Fu show and experienced Chinese Opera. The hassles traveling in China are surprizingly few with friendly people and more English than I expected. Great trip! Check out the amazing photos with the link to the right.

Comment: China's 1.3 BILLION people are all striving to be part of the incredible economic growth here. Everything is new or under construction: roads, airports, buildings...amazing! On the down-side, there is smog and brown skies EVERYWHERE and stars are a rare site in most of eastern China. I hope that we can help China learns from our mistakes and or it may be to late for all of us!

Southern China - Balloons, Pandas and Spice

2006-10-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

Our next leg took us whirlwind across southern China from Shenzen to Guilin/Yangshou and on to Chengdu. Shenzen is a frantic shopping and industrial area just across the border from Hong Kong (yes there is still a border as HK is a "special administrative region") where Hong Kongites go for fake hand bags, manicures and dentistry.

We took a sleeper train overnight (ok except for ubiquitous cigarette smoke) to Guilin, the area famed for the rugged limestone hills and green environment. We walked around Guilin's cliffside temples for a day and headed to the tourist mecca of Yangshou.

Yangshou is an old Chinese village that has grown from rustic backpacker hang-out to full fledged tourist town for both Chinese and foreigners. The main strip is full of music pumping bars, cafes, restaurants, and trinket shops. The experience was intensified as it was China's biggest tourist week: National Day. Despite the crowds, we stayed here five days and loved every minute. We took a river cruise, hiked, biked and took a sunrise balloon ride over the limestone cliffs. Truly beautiful place.

Out next stop was Chengdu where we visited a Panda sanctuary (more like a zoo) and saw six month old Panda cubs and their mothers amongst the 30 odd Pandas at the site. Chengdu is also in Sichuan where we feasted on famed spicy Sichuan dishes from restaurants and street markets.

Hong Kong in Style!

2006-09-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

High on Shouson Hill, I am looking over the green hills, across the beach and the exclusive Ocean Park neighbourhood of Hong Kong, watching a ship drift slowly into the horizon. Soon I will go for a swim before heading into central Hong Kong for my umpteenth Dim Sum lunch. Life is tough on the road.

All this is thanks to Anna's friend Lien Khanh, who lives in the American diplomatic estate, where we are staying.

Hong Kong is a vibrant city with busy active streets surrounded by relaxing green hills and filled with tall condo and office buildings. The food is Cantonese, cheap and fantastic! Anna is enjoying shopping and we are both enjoying exploring the sites and planning for our mainland China adventure.

Highlight: cheap, fantastic food and meeting Anna's uncle's family.

Japan - Food and Karaoke, What Else?

2006-09-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

After a brief stop-over in T.O., we flew off to Tokyo, Japan to visit with my buddy Will for 8 days. We had a great time eating our way through the large list of Japanese cuisines: Okinomiaki, Sukiyaki, Izikaya, Shabu-Shabu, Sushi, Tempura etc etc.

Our best times were spent in the Karaoke booth in the seedier parts of Shinjuku with champagne and plenty of sours. Luckily there is no sound-track available!

On our last night in town, Will took us to a floor show in Shibuya. The show was a high energy combination of dancing, singing on a transforming stage to an audience of about 50. Amazing production for such a small audience. The star of the show (and several other dancers) were tranvestites in various stages of transformation to females thanks to adept Thai surgeons... Typical in Japan, each table was expected to host the performers for overpriced drinks after the show. Great fun to trade jokes in broken English with a garish Japanese transvestite!

Definitely a unique culture!

Arctic Circle and Lapland

2006-09-06T01:21:00.000-07:00

The final leg of our African leg was to drive across Swedish Lapland and hike north of the arctic circle.

We started by picking up some gear in Stockholm (thank you to Andy for delivering in person from London) and enjoying a few days of museums (there are literally hundreds in Sweden) and exploring Swedish culture. The culinary side can be explored very quickly (meat, potatoes, flat bread, hotdogs and pickled fish) but we did manage to get in a few good meals of reindeer and herring.

Striking out from Stockholm we drove 15 hours north to the artic circle and the town of Jokkmokk. We spent five days in the area canoeing, hiking and enjoying the non-stop rain and cloudy skies. Yes, we didn't pick the best time of year to come to Sweden, but still managed to enjoy ourselves with good 3-ply Gortex.

The nature looked very much like northern Ontario but with reindeer, good Swedish organization (orderly cities, public transport etc) and Sami (Lapp) people. The Sami are an ethnic group of reindeer herders who live across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Siberia. Interesting history with much the same historical prejudice and Native NAs or Inuit people...

Off to Japan to conquer Mt Fuji!

Cape Town Finale - Beauty and Poverty

2006-08-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Our African adventure ended in Cape Town with fine dining, live music and great people. Cape Town was lovely, with table mountain, good restaurants and lots of wandering potential.

On the darker side, 2\3 of the population (black and colored) still live in "townships". We took a tour of one of these commmunities to see for ourselves. The trip was eye opening! The scars from aparteid still show full force here. Sixteen people in a shack, buckets for toilets, no running water, immense poverty! Things are changing and the old shanties are being replaced but the standards are still very low... Current trends are positive but the reality of the past is appalling! Sanctions actually worked in this case to force political change...

We did love this city anyway and will return when we can to support the South African people. World Cup construction is underway and the government will have made some big changes to put on a good face for the worldwide attention. Sport can improve the world!

Great White Shark Diving

2006-08-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

In Cape Town I went Great White cage diving. Gaansbai, RSA is the white shark capital of the world with National Geographic "shark alley" just off shore.

Swam next to three good size (3m), hungry great whites for about half an hour watching them demolish giant fish head and thrash the water. I was protected in a metal cage tied to the size of the dive boat. Way cool except that there were 15 foot swells and the boat was bobbing like a cork in a kids bathtub! Ending up puking my guts out for the first time ever on a boat for a full two hours. Gotta pay to play I guess!

South Africa - Wine and Ocean

2006-08-21T10:00:00.001-07:00

South Africa, with a devalued Rand, is by far the best valued country on our entire trip! We toured around "the Cape" wine and whale districts and spent some great days in Cape Town itself. We ate at a five star restaurant, went to several spas where Anna spoiled herself rotten, and stayed in four and five star accommodation all for relatively cheap!

Highlights were shark diving (see separate blog), hiking table mountain, eating game (warthog, springbok and kudu) and an sweet apartment with a real front loader washing machine (first in 2 months).

Our favorite town is Franshoek. We stayed in a converted barn (now five star apartment) that was bigger than our condo in Toronto, and nicer appointments. We also ate at a five star French restaurant and shopped for Zimbabwean springstone art. Wonderful and recommended to anyone off-season, as it was SO cheap.

Southern Namibia - Dunes and Desert

2006-08-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

South from Swakopmund we drove through the Namibian desert-dunes. Amazaing micro-wildlife with lizards, chameleons and beetles living in the most harsh environment. Hiked through many beautiful landscapes including Soussessvlei (largest sand dunes in the world).

Namibian people (mostly Germanic or indiginous) were very friendly. In the middle of the desert we got a flat and found the patch from our previous flat had also failed! It was near dusk and there are NO cars on these roads. We were facing a night in the desert! Luckily had a weak rented cell phone signal and Johan Frank Schultz (I love this guys name) from a nearby guest farm came out to rescue us. We stayed at his place and had wonderful stay.

Wildlife is "farmed" in Namibia so after viewing there was eating... Springbok, Oryx, Ostrich, Kudu, Warthog and Gemsbok were all consumed in steaks or amazing Billtong (African beef jerky). See and eat, just like the lobster tank!

Northern Namibia

2006-08-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

Anna and I simply loved Namibia. In the north we spent a day self-safariing in the world famous Etosha game reserve. We saw amazing things driving from waterhole to watering hole. That night we went to Outjo and enjoyed the best meal of the trip, dining on Oryz steak and Springbok carpaccio. Hmmm.

Windhoek, the capital was vibrant, safe and we saw Pirates of the Caribbean for a taste of home. We then moved on to the German town of Swakopmund on the coast where we stayed at a great guest house. With a German colonial past, the area is well organized with great food and infrstructure. During our stay we took a Living Desert tour to see the small animals of the mighty Namibian sand dunes. Chameleons, spiders, lizards and beetles all form a robust, but fragile, ecosystem in what seems to many as an empty land.

7000km African Driving Tour

2006-08-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

In a rented VW we drive from J'Burg to Gaborone and Maub, Botswana and on to Etosha, Windhoek, Swakopmund and southern Namibia. We finished the driving tour in style in South Africa. Infrastructure was great in the whole region. Despite great roads in Namibia, many were dirt/gravel and our car had old tires (my fault for not checking). Well we got two flats and were saved by a great german farmer Johan Frank Schultz on the second or would have slept in the bush.

Additionally, we got stuck in the sand in Okavango and got a speeding ticket in Botswana. Any way it was a great trip and recommend the drive to anyone with wander lust about Africa.

Okavango Delta Safari

2006-08-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Having flown to J'Burg and driven 1500 km across the endless Kalahari to Maun, Botswana we embarked on a flying and makoro safari in the famed Okavango delta.

The Okavango a "pan" or depression that floods annually and supports abundant wildife in the middle of the Kalahari desert. The delta is fed by monsoon rains in Angola and was in full flood. During this time dust turns to marsh and life springs from the dusty, parched plains. The plains obsorb the entire river and it eventually dries up and never reaches the sea.

Enough geography. We took a bush plane into Gunns Camp in the central delta. From here we spent three amazing (and expensive!) days doing walking and makoro safaris into the game reserve. A makoro is a wooden dugout canoe that is poled through the shallows ny local gudes. The boats travel in 3 to 20 inches of water to avoid the large number of resident hippos!!

After poling to an island in the delta, we went on several walking safaris. It was one thing to see elephants from a Land Rover but another all together to be in the line of stampede of these incredible beasts. Other highlights included warthogs nesting under our tent platform and a hippo grazing ten feet from our tent for several nail biting hours. Hippos are the most feared and hated animals in the area for their aggressiveness...

After three days we flew out again over this magnificent wilderness. Wild!

Zanzibar the Spice Island

2006-08-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

For five days after all our safari-ing we went to the warm coastal island of Zanzibar. As a former Sultanate, it is muslim and very beautiful.

Despite the crowds there to attend the Dhow Country Film Festival (a dhow is a wooden sailing vessel that used to dominate Indian Ocean trading) we had a wonderful time wandering the streets of Stone Town. We saw an inspiring and somewhat disturbing film on female circumcision in West Africa. Superstition and poverty are driving mutiliation of millions of girls for no reason... Had many good African beers afterward to lighten the mood.

We then spent four days "Thai" style at a thatched roof bungalow on the beach reading, eating fresh fish sushi and swimming with dolphins. Life is good!

Tanzania Safari

2006-07-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

After Kili, we took a five day safari trip around the Serengeti (Swahili for endless plain) visiting many great national parks. We travelling in a huge Land Cruiser this time through the great infrastructure of Tanzania.

Again we saw incredible wildlife with the highlights being lion cubs playing and feeding and the elaborate ostrich mating ritual. We stayed in great lodges built right in the parks where lions literally wander THROUGH the hotel at night while hunting.

It is truly incredible how the wildlife (prey and predators) ignore the presence of humans as they go about their business. For the most part I thought my presence was not harming their behaviour, and hopefully helping to preserve it!

Good times!

Mt Kilimanjaro

2006-07-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

We met met my friend Erik in Arusha on July 7 and headed for the mountain the next day. For four days we trekked up the Machame route towards the summit trail. Hardly roughing it, we had 14 porters, 2 cooks and 2 guides to assist our fragile western bodies up the mountain. Being served on the mountain was a bit hard to take after canoeing in the great white north recently, but in the end the crew helped us up an incredible amount of elevation (19800 ft)!

Our total group was five people and we all summited on July 12 at 7AM after 7 hours of final night ascent. Great feeling to go down afterwards!

The trip was amazing despite the incredible number of other hikers on the mountain... Try Mt Kenya for more remote challenge!

Kenyan Safari

2006-07-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

With help from Anna's friends in Nairobi (from Western, but I can forgive them), we spent 7 days on a safari in Kenya's National Parks. First off, Kenyan roads are terrible! The tarmac is so bad that dirt roads have formed beside the roads to avoid the plentiful cavernous potholes.

Anyway, despite banging around in the equivalent of a VW Westvalia on endless dirt roads we had a great time in the parks! The animals where too numerous to list but highlights include a lion eating a zebra from the inside out and two leopards. Totally amazing that the animals and parklands are resisting the crush of humanity that surrounds and often encoaches on them!

Ended the dusty safari with five days on Kenyan coast in Mombassa and Malindi. Decent beaches but endless touting made more comfortable staying in hotel by the pool!

California National Parks

2006-06-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

I made a week trip to Nevada and California while Anna rested in Toronto and attended several weddings.

Spent four great days in Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks in California! Amazing scenery and hiking. Saw several black bears and spent much effort to avoid them in my campsite! turned out the only food thiefs were chipmunks.

Anyway, drove back across death valley where it reached 120F! Holy heat batman. When I arrived back in Vegas to fly home, to my horror, I found a dead chipmunk in my trunk. Guess the little fellow got locked in while searching for crumbs and could not survive the 9 hour drive on super curvy California roads in 120F heat and a trunk full of loose gear. I imagine he had a heart attack before the heat got him. I can only hope!

Highly recommend the parks to anyone of natural inclination in calirfornia. Include some overnight hiking on John Muir trail of Pacific Coast trail...

Spanish River Whitewater Canoeing

2006-06-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

Back in Canuckida, we went on a 6-day whitewater canoe trip of the Spanish River just north of Sudbury Ontario. Most said we were crazy for going in bug season but high water beckoned!

We started by getting in some wake-boarding at Jeff's house in Sudbury. Great fun exspecially with a sauna in the boat house! Day 1 we took the "Budd Car", a self propelled rail car, up the CPR line to Lake Biscotasing and paddled 23 km to the river start.

Day 2 and 3 we had amazing whitewater days with several dunkings in the icey river and great food to warm us up by Dave (Pad Thai, Japanese Curry and fresh cinammon rolls to name a few dishes!). The bugs were bad, as you can see in the phote, but bug suits kept us sane.

Day 4 was a turning point... Jeff and Dave ran the "dangerous" C3 rapid, a long run in an "s" shape. Well, after the run, Jeff was trapped on a mid-river boulder, Dave swam 250m of rapids and one canoe was wrapped around a rock like a wet noodle. Three engineers could only get the canoe more pinned on the river after snapping a 1200lb rope trying to haul the boat out.

Day 5 and 6 Anna and Scott finished the river on a long series of swifts and Dave and Jeff walked nealry 50km out of the bush on the CPR line and a highway.

The river was amazing and showed its power to us. We all had a great time and Jeff and Dave bought a used canoe FOB C3 rapids.

Southern Brazil

2006-06-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

With the World Cup approaching, the already intense Brazilian nationalism was at full speed. Everything green and yellow was on available!

We spent a week on two nice southern islands. One around Florianopolis and the other south of Rio. The beaches were near deserted and very clean. We ate local fishes after hiking to remote beaches to read and relax. Nice.

We ended our South American tour in Rio. Very vibrant city. We enjoyed a Sunday afternoon with the locals on Ipanema. Anna particularly enjoyed the six pack bearing men in boy-shorts, the latest bathing suit style. Scott also did not mind the few "dental floss" bathers who were out.

Iquazu Falls

2006-06-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Our last adventure in Argentina was a trip to Iquazu Falls, one of the worlds natural wonders. We were a bit sceptical going in as we thought it may be a Niagara Falls, but it truly is a mgaical place despite the massive tourist crush. We enjoyed hiking around the falls and evenings with a nice Quebecoise couple in the evenings.

As usual, we got got lucky, and arrived on the full moon and were able to tour the "Devils Mouth" falls in the moonlight. Truly a beautiful experience.

Next stop Brazil!

Mendoza and Western Argentina

2006-06-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Our next big jump brought us, by overnight bus, to Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. Melbec, Tempernillo and many European varieties. Yum! We, not being wine officianadoes, only toured one winery and the surrounding area. Not nearly the infrastructure as, say Napa or Hunter, but many "bodegas" to visit for dinner and wine.

In a rental car we spent five days, including two at the historical Cachueta thermal spa, exploring the area. We drove up to the Chilean border and hiked the basecamp of Aconcongua, the tallest peak in the Americas. The high-light had to be the spa. Great food, a daily massage and many varieties of thermal pleasure (steam, baths, etc).

Anna also enjoyed a full Argentine Parilla (BBQ meats, served at the table on a smoking BBQ). Twelve meats in one meal! See the pictures of the various feasts in the link to the right TRIP PICTURES.

Colonia, Uruguay

2006-05-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

To get a small glimpse of Argentina´s smaller neighbour we spent a day in Colonia, Uruguay. Thea ferry ride from BA across the sediment rich river separating the two countries was gorgeous in the morning sun. We wandered the 18th century streets of the small town and then bombed around the area on a motor scooter. Uruguay is very popular for Argenitian tourists, exspecially in the summer for the beaches and the infrastructure is very built up.

Against our usual practice, we picked a restaurant with a tout. This was no ordinary tout! He attracted our attention when we first arrived with his incredibly loud call for "paste est el mama" or "paste like your mama" and his very strange large foam hat, like that of a drunk american at a football game. When we returned his button covered waiters vest was wandering around with his store sign balanced on his head before he disappeared and returned with a yet another outrageous hat. Turns out he has a collection sent to him from around the world of hundreds of bizarre hats including a hard-hat with beers cans and tubes! All class. Anyway, how could one resist. Turns our the food was great and he was an incredible host. See mis-labelled picture in link to right (Strange Argentine)! His mannerisms were strangly similar to my boss at PRTM, Todd B... Until next time!

Buenos Aires and Tango

2006-05-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Hola chicos! We liked being addressed as "chicos" in Argentina . It is a slang greeting used by Argentinos like "buddies" but seems more endearing when you have no contect! We used hotel points to spend six luxury nights at the Sheratons of BA. During that time we explored the city and Tango night life while eating our way through several large herd animals and enjoying our first ethnic meals (Japanese and Maroccan) in a month.

To find the real Tango in BA we asked our waitress one night who promptly called her father to find out where the happening Tuesday night "milongo" or open tango dance party was happening. We went and experienced real Argentinos tango ritual which is much like a high school dance with better dancing and music! Girls and boys separate, picking partners by eye contact. Then we took some lessons ourselves and went to a touristy tango show to get the full tango tour. I, the non-dancer, actually enjoyed the lesson learning three simple steps. heroic effort for me.

We loved BA overall except the endless Argentinian smoking!

Hiking in Patagonia

2006-05-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

Patagonia April 2006 - We travelled down to Torres del Paine national park in Chile for 6 days and 5 nights of back-country camping. Our first night we camped OVER the Grey Glacier. The eerie sounds of ice falls reverberated all night. The ice flow was spectacular deep blue and a rainbow followed us for almost a day. The remaining days were equally amazing with mountains, ice and interested flora. Wind and rain were very persistent, thank god for GoreTex.

After this we moved on the Argentina side for hiking in Fitz Roy national park and spending some city time int he small, but touristy Patagonian towns of El Calafate and Chalten. Anna was excited to touch her fourth, and final, Andean species of llama (llama, alpaca, vicuna and quanico).

Planning Complete and We Are Mobile

2006-05-06T13:25:00.004-07:00

We have completed planning the Great Escape and our rough itinerary follows:

Chile, Argentine and Brazil - Apr to May
Canoing Spanish River - May to June
United Kingdom - June to Jun
Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya - Jun to Jul
South Africa, Namibia - Jul to Aug
Sweden and Norway - Aug to Sep
Japan -Sep to Sep
Hong Kong and China - Sep to Oct
Vietnam and Cambodia - Oct to Nov
Scott Returns to Work - Nov

Adventure logs to come...

Chile - May 2006

2006-05-06T13:25:00.003-07:00

We started in Santiago on April 4 with a fancy Sheraton hotel with great pool and girly drinks. We enjoyed a few days of museums and decompression before heading south to our primary objective, Patagonia.

We stopped for a week in Pucon, in the beatiful Lakes District of Chile. Climbed a volcano and tobagganed down, zip-lined across a river and hiked in a great remote wilderness in very nasty weather. Thank gopd for 3-ply Gortex. I now truly believe the hype of this fabric!

After the severe weather test we were all ready for a 6day, 5 night hike in Torres del Paine in southern Patagonia. Great back-country trip through mountains and over glaciers.

Checkc out some of our pictures at: www.flickr.com/photos/84102990@N00/

Ciao!