Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Not exactly sure even where to start with our time in Vietnam! We flew from Chiang Mai to Ho Chi Minh City and were met by Trevor Edwards at the airport. (For those of you who don't know Trevor, he is a high school friend of Kyle's brother, Tyler. The first time I met Trevor was on my first trip to Stonemark about 7 years ago.) Trevor and his wife, Heather, have been living in HCMC for 3 years with their son Brenden who is 10 months. The Edwards family were kind enough to host Kyle and I for over a week. They live in a great development with plenty of amenities right beside the Saigon river. Kyle and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay with Heather, Trevor and Brenden and made good use of the outdoor pool and fitness centre!

Vietnam, being a communist country, was unlike anywhere I have ever been. I'm having trouble putting it into words...

We had some absolutely FANTASTIC meals - Vietnam knows good food! We learned quite a lot about the Vietnam war which, as with any conflict, was quite eye-opening. (It certainly makes me feel grateful that I live in a country that has not been torn apart by conflict.) In one of the photos below, you can see the high-rises of District 1 ("downtown") which were basically non-existent 3 years ago when Heather and Trevor arrived. HCMC is developing at a ridiculous rate!! It's sort of unfathomable. The traffic is unlike ANYTHING I have ever seen...so many motorbikes. It's total chaos! Crossing the street in itself is an experience. I'm very pleased that Heather and Trevor accompanied us on our first venture to show us the ropes! Basically, you just have to start walking...keep walking at a constant speed and watch using your peripheral vision only. It's quite the adventure!

The markets are another adventure! Completely overwhelming at first but fantastic once you are over the initial chaos!

After HCMC we took a 3-day bus/boat trip into the Mekong Delta region and into Cambodia. Before roadways were established, travel in the Mekong Delta region was conducted by boat on the Mekong river. There are still a floating markets in operation - fruits, veggies and fond drinks for sale in a multitude of boats! It's pretty neat.

Overall, our short stay in Vietnam was great. Looking forward to exploring other areas of the country in the future.

Here are just a few of the (mediocre) iphone photos of our time in Vietnam.

There are photos of the Reunification Palace in HCMC, the Saigon river near Heather and Trevor's, and a coconut on a coconut sheathing tool.

Enjoy!

Wat Doi Suthep

Kyle and I rented a scooter on one of our last days in Chiang Mai to visit a temple (Wat) that overlooks the city. Here are a few photos of us at Wat Doi Suthep.

Until next time...

Cathy & Kyle

Elephants, Tigers and Oxen, Oh My!

We had an action-packed day on Sunday!!

First, we visited an elephant camp where we were able to pet, feed and ride elephants! Both Kyle and I even received "kisses" from an elephant! The end of the trunk pretty much encompassed my entire cheek (and then some) like a suction cup! We also watched the elephants perform, showing off their dancing moves (you really have to see it to believe it), painting artwork (a bird, a tree, and an elephant), play soccer, play basketball and generally entertain a crowd. These may be animals in captivity but they seemed like very happy and playful elephants!

Next, we rode in a wooden cart pulled by two white oxen. I think it's a good thing we weren't going far in the cart and a very good thing we weren't taking steep downhills with the braking system!

The grand finale for the day was the Tiger Kingdom where we were inside a cage with full grown tigers and were able to pet them!! Insane! It was pretty amazing.

Here are a few photos of the day. Again, the photos are limited to the ones taken on our iPhones so they aren't perfect!

Sorry for the poor formatting on blogger...the iPhone app isn't quite as good as editing on the laptop!

Thailand!!

Kyle and I flew from Brisbane to Thailand last Sunday. We flew to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand for a week long camp of Muay Thai boxing. There are two 3-hour sessions per day and it is one heck of a workout!! It is very hot (30-35 deg C) and ridiculously humid here so water intake is very important! We have been attending only 1 of the 2 sessions per day and this feels like plenty!! A typical session looks something like this:
30-40 mins running
10-20 mins skipping
Then you put on your wraps (cloth wraps for your hands and wrists) for about 15-20 mins of floorwork. Floorwork is basically air punching, air kicking because you simply practice the motion(s) you go through for each move or combination of moves.
Next you put on boxing gloves over your wraps and practice punching, kicking and kneeing against punching bags. By this time you are absolutely soaked with sweat, shirt and shorts, and ready to move into the ring for padwork. Padwork is where the trainers hold the pads for you to punch, kick, knee and elbow. You go for 3 rounds of 3-5 minutes which is completely exhausting, not to mention painful on your shins and feet from contacting the pads!
After the padwork and s bit of recovery time, there is usually more rounds with the punching bag, before finishing off with core exercises and push-ups etc.

To sum it up, it is a sweat-fest and an insane workout, but a lot of fun!

The Thai people in general are wonderful - really laid back and friendly. We are trying to learn Thai phrases to get by but our mouths don't necessarily make the sounds they need to so sometimes it becomes a game of charades.

The food here is unreal! My mouth waters at the thought of the next meal...so delicious. Pad Thai is one of my new favourite meals!! I'd had it before in Calgary and wasn't a big fan but it is delicious here!

Ok, here are some photos of the Muay Thai training. Sorry for the lower quality photos...these are iPhone pics only!

Update from Oz!

Well hello there!

This post is brought to you from the Royal Lounge in Sydney, Australia. We went on a nice little dinner cruise with Captain Cook Cruises this evening and caught the sunset over the city (including the Opera House) which was quite spectacular. It was an open bar so I took serious advantage of that for as long as possible! Unfortunately it was only 1.5 hours but I did my fair share of consumption. To top it off Cath and I are doing our own pub crawl back from the harbor to our hostel. Second stop is the Royal Lounge (our current location).

So as I'm sure all our faithful readers have been waiting for, I will provide you with an update of our cycle tour so far:

Basically it went like this:

8 days total, 1 rest day, and a $&@" load of climbing. We only did a total of about 440km in the 8 days of cycling which works out to an average of around 63km/day. As any of you avid cyclists will know, that is not a large amount... But, when you do it carrying around 50lbs on your bike it's a bit ridiculous, especially when you go over the Great Alpine Road which takes you from sea level to 1800m with more than it's fair share of ups and downs... It was definitely a challenge and I was concerned we were going to have to turn around at a couple points along the ride... Alas, with a positive attitude we made it over the top (Mt Hotham) in one piece and eventually to Albury where we caught the night train to Sydney. For those interested in our route, here it is:

Day 1: Sale, Vic to Bairnsdale,Vic
Day 2: Bairnsdale, Vic to Ensay, Vic
Day 3: Ensay, Vic to Omeo, Vic
Day 4: Rest day in Omeo
Day 5: Omeo,Vic to Dinner Plain, Vic
Day 6: Dinner Plain, Vic to Bright, Vic
Day 7: Bright, Vic to Yakandandah, Vic
Day 8: Yakandandah, Vic to Albury, NSW

Total km's was around 440km and we went from around sea level to 1800m and then down (not sure what Albury is but definitely above sea level - go figure... :) ).

Anyways, it was hard, but awesome. We had a little rain on day 2 and 3 but after that it was quite nice. Day 6 included the longest downhill either of us had ever done, coming in at around 20km straight - it was awesome!!!!

Fall was in full force and with the elevation we were hitting it was extra cold. We stayed at some great places including sole pub/hotels as well a an awesome lodge in Dinner Plain which we had entirely to ourselves!

If anyone is interested in more details just let us know and we will fill you in - I highly recommend it! Definitely a challenging adventure!!

I will also throw in that in general the traffic was light and everyone was very respectful and gave us appropriate space. Keep in mind that it was late in the season...

Ta Ta for now..

Kyle (I can't wait to find a kebab shop on our pub crawl... I know it's out there... Somewhere... Maybe I'll set a new record??)

Australia on Two Wheels - Let the Adventures Begin!

Well after almost 2 weeks in the Melbourne area, we are finally ready to start our tour of Oz on two wheels!

Huge thanks to Kim and Ryan for being such gracious hosts. We had a blast with you in Melbourne!

Here goes nothing...Wish us luck!

Paihia and the far north

The last trip we made in New Zealand before heading back to Auckland to tidy up before moving on to Australia was north of Auckland up to Paihia.  We piled into Tyler and Natalie's little car and headed north for the Easter weekend.

I seem to have run out of words. Pictures are worth a thousand words right??

Hururu Falls near Paihia

Kauri trees in the Waipoua Kauri Forest - these things a MASSIVE!

There is a big Kauri tree in the background...

Sea kayaking from Paihia to Russell (across the bay)

Captain Natalie

A crazy tree over in Russell

The view of looking back towards Paihia from Russell

Awwwww....

Not sure what to caption this one with...