Turnbull Family Pacific Tour 2015

We flew from Vientiane to Hanoi yesterday. After sorting out our visas with some difficulty at the airport, we purchased new SIM cards for our phones and took a taxi to our hotel. My first impressions of this city of seven million were of a new clean airport; impressive highways without much traffic; beautifully landscaped surroundings along the way, tended by workers in straw cone hats; flags flying over billboards celebrating the 70th anniversary of the communist party's declaration of independence; and a fabulous modern bridge on our way into town. Then I saw a different side. I noticed a heavy smoggy haze hanging over the city. As we drove onto the smaller streets, I saw brightly coloured colonial buildings in various states of disrepair. and packed crowds of scooters and people making their way along crowded streets. This city is so different from my experiences. The shops along the streets are often six or eight feet wide with goods spilling out of them. People wo...

I caught the news today that there was a bombing of a temple in Bangkok; 20 dead and 100 injured. We are far from Bangkok now, but it was shocking to hear of this incident in a place so frequented by both locals and tourists. The world has always been a dangerous place at times and it looks like it's not going to get any safer anytime soon. It's our last night in Luang Prabang and we took a different path than normal, looking for a new place for dinner. We went down a street with some more upscale restaurants and saw a small gym in a building with no wall facing the street, with a few Lao men working out. That was a first. And on the way back I saw some teenagers on motorcycles having a good time laughing together and then zooming off, with the guys driving their bikes and the girls on the back - I guess they can have fun here like everyone else. At the hotel restaurant for dinner we talked to Tok, our waiter, who spoke English very well, which a rarity here. He wanted to tell ...

Having Internet access abroad has been great. We brought some devices with us, and doing so has allowed us to stay in touch with family and friends, post our blogs regularly, do Internet banking, and conduct research and online booking of accommodations and transport. It has even provided for entertainment, including Netflix, which is great when watching a movie in Japanese or Lao just won't do. We've had a couple mishaps though. One of the kids dropped Catheleen's phone, which trashed the screen. The screen was replaced for a good price in Luang Prabang at a pseudo-Apple store. John also left his iPad behind on an airport bus in Tokyo. Thankfully for John Catheleen tracked it down and had it shipped to Luang Prabang. Wireless Internet access has been pervasive on our travels abroad so far through Japan, Thailand and Laos. Free WIFI was available at every hotel we've stayed at, and has been available at most cafes, restaurants, airport terminals, train stations, etc. ...

I'm told there are more vending machines here than anywhere else. At one vending machine I meant to purchase water but purchased Pocari Sweat instead. The bottle says this is a "healthy beverage that smoothly supplements the lost water and electrolytes during perspiration." I'm not making this up - somebody in the marketing department needs to be fired or I'm missing something. It tasted pretty good by the way so I bought some more for me and the kids.  This is one orderly country. The trains run like clockwork and everything is very efficient and uniform. Kind of gets on your nerves after a while. Like when you need to shift to the left every time you go up an escalator to let others pass, or when you see the business men all off to work wearing the same white short-sleeved dress shirt. I do appreciate the architecture and infrastructure though as we get around. Makes the journey part of the fun. We took a mono-rail through the city and across the Rainbow Bri...

I do like all the gadgets we brought on our trip - they let us work and play just about anywhere. This morning we hung around a Starbucks in Abbotsford for a while - Catheleen did some on-line booking, the kids went off looking for a geocache, and I read a news site. It does have its downside though as we followed Siri's directions to three different George streets before we found the right place to drop off the car rental in downtown Vancouver. Made for a tight rendezvous with the ferry nearby in Horseshoe Bay with minutes to spare. Here's a picture of Elizabeth feeling the breeze on the crossing on the first sunny day in the area in a while. Reminds me of running for the ferry heading for Victoria a few times in the late 80's after visiting with a friend and his family in North Vancouver on the weekend. Woe to he who missed the last ferry Sunday night and didn't make it back for roll call and Monday morning classes. We always seemed to make it though. So we've ma...