Although the intention was a round the world family trip, Carmen and Toby didn’t quite make it all the way round.  They stopped short in New Zealand, flying back to Hong Kong before the admissions boards and schools closed for summer holidays. Ethan and I continued on to the Cook Islands and went back to California to tie up some loose ends before going back to HK via London and Dubai.

Managing the kids

Traveling together as a family has been much more difficult than I could possibly have imagined. When working day to day, you send the kids to school and spend a nice day at the office with peace and quiet, focusing on your tasks at hand. When traveling, the kids may wake up early and need to be entertained, fed and watered. After breakfast -- which they may not have eaten and then later say they are hungry (esp. when approaching the 7-11 junk food store) -- the entertainment must continue: playgrounds need to be visited and energy worked off.

After lunch, entertainment must continue until bedtime, at which point serious threats must be issued about falling asleep. Perhaps we are bad parents, I don’t know, but tend to think that maybe all families are like this? Carmen and I then have two remaining hours together, which we usually spend focusing on the tasks we meant to accomplish during the day: preparing for an interview (latter part of journey), plan travel logistics, write up the blog or more likely being so tired from the struggles of the day, zone out in front of the computer/TV. Managing two kids age 4 and 6 is demanding work, as it should be.

Closer as a family

Despite my complaining about the difficulty with managing the kids, the trip has made us much closer as a family. After all, we’ve been living in close proximity, 24 x 7, for the last year, so we know each other much better than before. It’s going to be strange to settle down and go our separate ways once again (at least during the day). The family dynamic we’ve established on our trip will probably fade over time, to be replaced by another more independent dynamic. Ethan and Toby played so well together during the last months of our trip and hardly ever fought; it was amazing to see how close they grew despite their differences in personality. On the other hand, Carmen and I probably spent less time talking together as we were either constantly interrupted, or one or both of us were attending to the needs and requests of one of them.

So it wasn’t always easy, but of course looking back, it was worth it. We’ve become closer, seen lots of different people, places and cultures and visited friends and family along the way. We have a better idea where to travel and what to do on holiday, and perhaps a better sense of what is really valuable in life (friends, family and sharing experiences together). We are able to live in tight quarters with each other over long periods, make do with less (a couple of large pieces of luggage), and are more flexible/adaptable in various situations. We have more of a current global view and understanding of the world, as well as a better sense of our place in it. Toby in particular is old enough to realize where he’s been, and locate these places on a world map.

Less urge to travel

I no longer have quite the same urge to travel as before. It’s not because my curiosity about the world is any less; there are still many new places I want to see. I suppose the part of me that used to say ‘the grass might be greener’ has been somewhat satiated. People the world over deal with similar issues that we used to deal with on a daily basis; some worse, some not. It's going to be interesting to be able to contrast and compare life in Hong Kong with San Francisco after a few months or years.

Returning to normal life

Towards the end of the trip, I felt envious of people we saw in cities: going to work or coming back to work. They had a routine pattern in their lives whereas ours seemed so fragmented and uncertain. Although we had the UK as our ultimate destination, we didn’t know how it was going to turn out and regarded the end of our trip with a lot of uncertainty and negative anticipation. This contributed to higher stress levels toward the end of our trip. It would have been nice to begin our trip with the certainty of a job and place to live to return to, but it was a gamble we felt compelled to make.

Shorter Trip

We probably could have made a shorter trip. Six months might have been perfect. That way we would spend more, save less and do more things in different destinations. Because we were constantly on a budget, we always looked for cheaper forms of entertainment. Paradoxically these are the things we prefer: go to parks rather than theme parks, go on a hike or visit museums. There are some things we probably should have done like climb the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, etc., but being in a particular place surely is the experience. As a local living in a touristy city, do you visit the touristy destinations? We have never been to Alcatraz (although we will probably make a point of going next time).

Expenses

The trip was slightly more expensive than anticipated. This was even despite finding bargain guest houses and having places to stay in Spain and Thailand. I plan to do an analysis of the worksheet and find out where our spending went in percentage terms. Knowing this would make it easier to plan our next trip, so we know how to cut expenses more. Most likely it’s food and accommodation.

Why we chose to live in Hong Kong rather than UK

It’s clear that the opportunities in Hong Kong right now are tremendous, and compared to last year the HK economy has really picked up. By contrast, the UK and Europe have been having a fair amount of trouble recently, and there is a question mark hanging over the Euro and current debt levels. State schools in the UK are over-subscribed in the outer London districts and private schools are unaffordable for us.

In Hong Kong, the boys will learn Mandarin and should have opportunities to practice it in mainland China, judging by the numerous trips Carmen is thinking about. The kids will be close to their cousins and Chinese grandparents. Hong Kong primary schools are also supposed to be some of the best *academically* in the world. Hopefully they will also retain the creativity and confidence that American schools seem to instill.

Reasons for the trip

The reasons for this trip have morphed over its course and it’s probably good to reflect now on why we thought the trip was a good idea, now that it’s over. I was initially opposed (despite my having brought it up the most over the years). Nevertheless, the kids were the perfect age for travel. Toby was one year ahead in school and Ethan not due to start for another year at least. A good friend of Carmen had recently died; one of her sons had been at our place on the evening she died. Life suddenly seemed potentially very short.

In short, we had many reasons to travel, and few reasons to stay.

We’d been to Auckland ten years previous, so knew the best parts of New Zealand were to be had outside the city, rather than within. Nevertheless we only had three days, so spent time at parks, wharfs and visiting the national museum. Toby and Carmen did go up the sky tower; he didn’t jump off it this time, though there doesn’t seem to be much limit to what he is willing to attempt. On day one, Carmen arranged a flight back to Hong Kong to take care of Toby’s school issue, and on Friday Ethan and I left the hotel early to catch a flight to the Cook Islands, leaving Toby and Carmen to make their own way at a later time.

We landed at 4:30 on a cloudy day in Rarotonga and were surprised to find the clothes we had been wearing for New Zealand perfect for the cool climate. I had been expecting to have to change out of our pants, sweaters and jackets, into shorts and t-shirts. Someone was thoughtfully playing island music on a ukulele above the baggage belt, so as the beagle came around to sniff our bags and Ethan had a couple of meltdowns, we at least had some form of entertainment. My New Zealand apple was confiscated I’m sorry to say, but at least I had declared food on my form and didn’t have to face an on the spot fine (which almost occurred to us in New Zealand).

We were given Lei’s (garlands of flowers) and told to get on a special bus to take us to Rau’s Guesthouse. At $35 per person, and about 20 people on the bus for a one hour journey round the island dropping people off, it seemed odd not to see any Roll’s Royces as we skirted the island road.

Rau’s guesthouse turned out to be more of a homestay as our quarters were inside the house of the family owners. This turned out to be a major plus as they had three great kids (1, 6, and 10 years old. All boys) who were highly interactive and interesting to talk to. The owners themselves were very friendly and since they worked at a bakery, brought home fresh bread every morning. Contrast this with our original intention of renting a cottage where we would have likely met few people except in the shops. Since we were there for eight days, we also met lots of interesting people passing through as well. There was Vani, a British girl working as a teacher in New Zealand, who came with us hiking one afternoon up to the Needle lookout. Mark, a pilot, and Sarah from somewhere north of Nova Scotia on the Canadian side, who we bumped into returning from another trek; they came to the Cooks with the intention of going to see the caves on one of the more obscure islands. Finally, there was the couple from Bend, Oregon who arrived late at night in a downpour and had traveled on much the same itinerary as us, also originating in London.

We've had a good time here in Raro, but it hasn't all been swimming/snorkeling as I originally expected. The weather has made it too cold to swim every day and instead we've made quite a few trips around the island on our rented moped looking at the plantations. We also did a couple of hikes inland to see the thick vegetation and amazing views from the top of some hills.

Tonight we'll be leaving paradise and heading back to California. Tomorrow Ethan and I will be in LA visiting Disneyland for a couple of days! It's a shame Carmen and Toby are not going to be with us.

Seems like I’m always talking about accommodation, and the reason it’s such a big issue is that: i) It’s difficult to book ahead because many hotels don’t accommodate families with two children and have a three person limit per room. We have skirted this issue sometimes by booking ahead anyway, listing Toby as the only child, and then hoping the staff will ignore the limitation and/or provide an upgrade, and, ii) Paying for accommodation every night for months on end is very costly, so we try to avoid splashing out on hotels above $100 per night. Even the Y’s in Singapore exceeded this price, whereas the best, most affordable hotels so far are in Bali and Bangkok. I think what we’ve learned from this trip is that sometimes Homestays or Guesthouses are better because you get to socialize with and see how the locals live. Also if the Homestays are run by families, they may have kids for ours to interact with, as well as toys.

In Bali, we watched a couple of people jump off the bungee tower nr. Legian Beach, and Toby said he was willing to go. Since he and I were alone, I asked him to wait for his Mum to watch as well, but she was having none of it, saying it was too dangerous. Instead we spent the next day at WaterBom in Kuta, a water park, where Toby had to persuade me to go down a ride called SmashDown, a solo slide with a long steep descent. It wasn’t so bad after all, but I wouldn’t have attempted it if my six year old son hadn’t gone first. We only spent three days in Bali, thanks to extending our stay in Hong Kong an extra week and then having to deal with the passport issue, and spent the time riding around on a rented moped as well as swimming and body-boarding in the excellent waves at Seminyak beach. This part of the trip was definitely too short but at least there are direct flights from Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. Having said that, the entry visas and airport tax are heavy prices to pay; the total for four of us came to about $250, which for three days is a bit steep.

The most pressing issue now is to find a school for Toby. We have applied to several but they, and most others, are over-subscribed. Carmen is sacrificing the rest of the trip to take Toby to Hong Kong immediately and find a school for him to begin in August.

I will continue with Ethan and tie up some necessary loose ends in California, including shipping stuff over, before heading back via London and Dubai. Of course this also means that I have 8 nights in the Cook Islands with him, but this is part of the sacrifices that must be made to ensure all goes according to plan. Besides, the necessary work visa takes 5 weeks to process.

We were also poised for a move to Sydney since we were both interviewing there and demand /interest seemed high. I had already managed to squeak by in a couple of interviews, as well as some verbal, numerical and analytic exams with a local investment bank.

Now we will have to split up our luggage and both sign authorizations indicating that it's okay for each of us to travel with the kids, because of concern about cross-border child abductions.

Around 8 a.m., we were waiting around for the bus to arrive. Eventually a very tatty minibus appeared and hauled us one block to the coach, where many passengers were already waiting. We got on and waited and waited. Meanwhile the bus driver was chatting amiably to passers by. Finally, he boarded and we took off at a slow speed toward the Thai border.

After an hour we stopped at a refreshment stall where the bathrooms were disgusting and smelled heavily of petrol. We were asked to pay for their use, but I refused. We did buy some more pineapple and mango which was freshly cut and handed to us inside a plastic bag; very skillful.

One more hour and we arrived at the same bus terminal we had seen on the way over to Siem Reap. It was only 11 a.m., but we were hungry and got some steamed chicken and noodles from the stands there. It wasn't clear why we were waiting here, but later it was apparent that we were only there to generate business for the stalls, because we got on and arrived at the border half an hour later. After the usual form checking and joining of four separate queues (two to get out of Cambodia and two to get in to Thailand), we arrived at the other side to find the tour operator waiting for us. He then proceeded to try and up-sell us onto a faster, smaller air-conditioned minibus. We were tempted, especially with the midday heat, but thought that the original bus would be fine and only get us in an hour later.

After trying to upsell the other 40 passengers who also declined, we trekked the few hundred yards outside the border post under the hot sun, to...an awaiting truck. We were herded on like cattle and many had to stand in the aisle with some hanging out the back. Luckily Carmen and the boys got to go up front in the cab. It was a half hour journey and we finally arrived at a tourist office. It was about 1:30 p.m. now and they were kind enough to provide lunch, for a fee of course. The food was quite good, but we all wondered how long we would be there and sat around waiting. About an hour and a half later, our new bus finally arrived and we boarded it to discover it had been sitting in the hot sun and was like an oven inside. Also, the AC didn't work too well; each vent blew a gentle warm breeze. Luckily I had about three liters of water with us, so as we sweated for the next three hours until the sun went down, we were able to stay sufficiently hydrated.

Around 8 p.m. we arrived at Khao San Road and took a taxi to our hotel. Moral of the story: take the train or private minibus to and from the Cambodian border!

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On the second day we decided to take a tuk-tuk since the distances we needed to travel were much shorter. Initially we were in downtown Siem Reap breathing in fumes and this didn't seem to be such a good idea, but twenty minutes later we were enjoying the breeze away from traffic. Our first stop was Angkor Wat, which is the largest of the temples. It involves a long walk across a bridge and then an even longer unshaded courtyard path in the exposed sun. Luckily we all had hats but the boys still had a couple of tantrums on the way from the heat. Toby also managed to balance along the edge of an upturned slab, fall and lose his drink, without breaking his neck. Ethan also dropped his drink somewhere along the way as well.

The carvings were very impressive and detailed, more extensive and numerous than at any of the other temples. We followed the main tour path through the temple and arrived at an elevated area where there was a long queue of people waiting to climb to the highest point. Since it was so hot we decided to avoid standing in the queue for an hour and keep touring. We went north away from the crowds, outside the area of the main temple to the outer wall.

The boys had a great time running up and down the slopes of the river banks, yelling and screaming as they did so. I took some video shots of them since it was a spectacular backdrop. While we were there, two young waifs appeared and proceeded to play with a plastic bottle, setting the opening on fire and blowing on it before throwing it away. We returned to the tuk tuk along the edge of the inner wall, running the usual gauntlet of touts on the way.

We then went to Banteay Kdei ("Citadel of the Cells", built in 1181), which although a bit run down, had a very raw feel and some interesting edifices. We entered on the east side and left from the north. Few other tourists were there and there were numerous touts, many children, and one who claimed to be six but didn't look a day over four, repeatedly plying us with bracelets, all the while saying: "ten for one dolla-eaeauuuaaa". We bought mango, which was conveniently cut up in a very hygenic manner, pineapple, bracelets and some wooden flutes. They followed us all the way to the tuk tuk, but we never felt the high pressure sales tactics that we did in India or Sri Lanka.

The tuk tuk took us for lunch, but we took one look at the menu and walked out as it was more expensive than the States, let alone downtown Siem Reap. Although we sympathize with the plight of poor Cambodia, Siem Reap is well off and it's easy to see why when tourists like us willingly pay whatever prices are shoved in front of them. Not to mention the driver who takes you there and gets a cut. Although the price of the grilled chicken was lowered immediately from $10 per plate to $3 by the time we reached the tuk tuk, we had already made up our minds to move on. The next place place wasn't much cheaper but we were not quite ready for the 30 minute journey back to downtown Siem Reap.

After lunch, we went to the famous temple of Ta Phrom, which has the large roots strewn around. There s one particularly famous set of roots which had a platform built in front of it, but actually there are also several locations with large roots spread around the temple walls. We had to queue for the platform shot and there were a surprising number of people waiting. Nevertheless, it was a worthwhile stop as there were many other interesting areas to see.

Our guide then informed us that we had seen as much as could be seen for the day, so we headed back, stopping briefly at the Terrace of the Elephants.

That evening, we went into Siem Reap on the shuttle and ate at the Khmer Kitchen again, before purchasing a few items in the night market. On the way there, we passed a travel agent advertising bus tickets back to Bangkok. The agent assured us that we would leave around 8 a,m, and be back in Bangkok by 4 p.m. the next day. This turned out to be wildly optimistic.

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The first thing we learned on day one is that the term “Angkor Wat “ as we and most people call it, refers to one of many temples. The main Angkor Wat temple itself differs from other temples in that it became a mausoleum to SuryaVarman II, who completed it around 1150. Angkor Wat means “royal city that is a monastery [Wat]”, which it became in the thirteenth century.

Although Angkor Wat is large and quite grand, my favourite temples were: Banteay Samre, Ta Som and Ta Prohm.

On the first day, the front desk recommended we do the long tour consisting of temples furthest away: Banteay Srey, Banteay Samre, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Some and Preah Khan. We started after breakfast around 8 a.m. and it took about an hour to get there in an air-conditioned van ($35 for the day). The road was quite bumpy, otherwise a tuk tuk would have probably been a better choice; in a van, it’s hot as soon as you get inside and the A/C never quite kicks in enough before you get to the next temple. In a tuk tuk, the breeze while moving along is very cooling even on a hot day.

As one of the most popular temples, Banteay Srea had excellent facilities and was flooded with other tourists. With Angkor Wat receiving upwards of 2 million tourists a year, most of these in the dry season (November to March), perhaps this wasn’t so surprising.

We found the temple small and the feeling was exacerbated by the large number of other tourists swarming the place. The carved stone inlay work was impressive though and clearly effort had gone into refurbishing this temple (although we only found out later by comparing to others). On leaving, we were surrounded by touts asking us to buy guide books and cold drinks.

After Banteay Samre which we both liked very much, the boys were already tiring, so Carmen and I alternated on the next three temples before and after lunch. The lunch place the driver took us was more expensive than downtown Siem Reap half an hour away, but the boys were hungry and we weren't in a position to protest and go elsewhere. The saving grace was the food, which was very good.

We really enjoyed our first day sight-seeing the temples and I would say the experience met or exceeded our expectations. Some of the temples had traditional bands playing as you walked to or away from the temple and there were always touts from which we would interact and buy drinks, food and trinkets to keep the boys happy. Luckily, we all brought hats as the sun was very strong and the driver carried copious amounts of water which we consumed between sites. Most other tourists seemed to do their sight-seeing during the morning hours and then return to their respective hotels for the afternoon, so the temples were largely free of people after lunch.

After a swim in the hotel pool, we took the hotel shuttle to the night market, bought some t-shirts and a watch, before going to Khmer Kitchen for the curry.

(Click above photo to see album).

Hua Hin to Bangkok

We left Hua Hin at midday and arrived at the Pinnacle Hotel in Bangkok around 4 p.m. After checking in, Toby and I set off for Lumpini Stadium across the road, one of the two top Muay Thai (kickboxing) stadiums in Thailand - the other one being Ratchadamnoen. Lumpini stadium has lots of shops selling kickboxing gear and I toyed with the idea of getting a small pair of gloves for Toby and a boxing/kick pad to teach him some Muay Thai in preparation for the British schools. Toby seems interested in learning at least. At the stadium there are lots of touts trying to sell tickets to foreigners, with ring-side seats for $60 and standing at the back $30 (ten times less for locals).

Lumpini Park nearby has an impressive array of public exercise machines. Perhaps even more impressive was that most of them were in use, with lots of people running around the outer path despite the traffic, pollution and noise just outside. Just before six, Toby was playing on the swings and the blaring radio speaker suddenly became louder. A police man standing about 10 meters away looked directly at me. Realizing that everybody was standing and the national anthem was being played, I hurried to my feet quickly and Toby, oblivious, shouted at me from the swing to come give him an extra push.

Thailand to Cambodia

The Pinnacle hotel allows free storage of our luggage, so after we got back from eating at the local night market, we packed and took down five bags for storage, making sure to keep passport photos of each of us for the Cambodian visas.

After waking at 4:30 a.m., frantically getting ready, we took a taxi to Hualam Phong train station, getting there at 5:15 a.m. Buying the tickets was a breeze as there was no queue and we bought some bakery items for breakfast before boarding the train. It was already at the platform though it wasn’t due to leave for another 45 minutes. This all third class train has seats that are first come first served, which was the reason for our early arrival. We sat in the same row as a young British couple traveling around the world. My preference would have been to sit in the same row as some Thais and hopefully engage in conversation or perhaps some hand waving, but experience had shown Thais quite reticent.

The train finally left and we were lucky in that we had four of the six available seats to ourselves. The British couple put their bags and feet on their two spare seats but as the train stopped at different stations, the carriage filled up. Inevitably, a large lady squished into the row where the kids were sitting and then quickly proceeded to take up half of it. Ethan was watching DVDs at this point but noticed the sudden lack of available room and proceeded to have a small breakdown. Somehow I managed to convey to the lady that she not fold her leg up on to the seat. For the rest of her journey she glared at us (see photos), although perhaps that was just her regular expression, I’m not sure. Other than this little episode, the train journey was quite pleasant. There was an absence of air conditioning, but the rush of air from the open windows, even in the strong morning heat, was enough to keep us all cool through the journey. People kept coming past with food and water, and we bought some green mango to eat (very good for settling stomach discomfort by the way). A deranged Thai man offered the boys some fried things from a plastic bag he was holding and despite Carmen’s pleas not to take it, the boys were content to eat whatever it was (see photo). He then sat in an adjacent seat and stared at them while they ate, and then left us about five minutes later.

Surprisingly, the train toilets were not too smelly or dirty, although of the squat variety. The country side was fairly green, flat and unchanging all the way to Aranyaprathet.

Although we had read information on the internet about traveling from BKK to Siem Reap, we had some trepidation with regard to crossing the Thai-Cambodian border. We had some reason to be wary. After we were dropped off by tuk tuk, as close to the border crossing as we were allowed to go, a mangave us some forms to fill out, ostensibly for the Cambodian visa. The forms looked appropriate and we were able to use them later for Cambodian immigration, but as we were filling them out, the helpful person told us this was the official place to get the Cambodian Visas. This didn’t seem right, so we continued on in the heat, walking a few hundred yards on until another man indicated we needed to go back to an official looking building to get our Cambodian visas. This time the setup was more convincing: gates separating men from women and then rows of seats to sit and wait for the visas to be processed (“about 20 minutes”). Several people were waiting for visas and touts urged us to fill out the forms. I almost gave in but then saw a small sign indicating they were a travel agency. We marched on, carrying our bags and walking under the hot sun, while the touts kept waving us back. At this point there was still uncertainty as the other tourists we encountered in the Thai immigration departure lines already had theirs. Not until we crossed over from no-man’s land did we know for sure that we were in the right place. Even then we were almost taken for a ride as the Cambodian visa officials requested an additional amount for express processing. We pointed to the sign which clearly said $20 for a Cambodian visa, but paid a little extra anyway. A smart Englishman arrived with ostensibly nothing but a twenty dollar bill and five ones, claiming it was all he had and would wait in the non-express queue for his Cambodian visa.

On the way to the Cambodian visa processing office, we were approached by somebody who claimed to have a taxi to take us directly to Siem Reap. After about six hours journeying, this sounded tempting and his price of 1,200 Baht reasonable. We agreed to it and he told us he would wait for us on the outside in the car. When we finally emerged from our third half hour queue and form-filling session known as Cambodian immigration, we ran a new gauntlet of people telling us to put our bags down and wait to take a bus to the transport terminal. Taking the bus was part of our intended plan, as it had spelled out in the internet instructions for crossing the border, so we were unsure whether we were doing the right thing taking a taxi directly. On getting to the taxi, the middle man who had guided us turned us over to the driver, whom I asked to open the trunk. Luckily we were travelling light -- having left most of our luggage in the hotel in Bangkok -- as the trunk was completely full. That meant four of us had to sit in the back or I pile in with bags in the front. We weren’t happy about this and successfully got him to lower the price a little to compensate. It was a squashy two and a half hours to Siem Reap but we were glad to have taken this means of transport, especially when we sped by the waiting taxis at the transport terminal ten kilometers further on.

Our driver didn’t know where the Kool Hotel was, any more than we did, so we got a free tour of downtown while he searched and called his friend to find out where it was. We were greeted by the hotel staff with plates of fruit, lemongrass tea and a very refreshing “lemongrass drop” towel. After checking into our room, I took the boys swimming in the small pool in the back, as much to cool ourselves as to clean off the dirt and grime we’d accumulated from the train ride; we did shower before hand, but there’s nothing like cleaning yourself in an over-chlorinated pool to feel really clean. We arrived at 3:30 p.m., so the trip had taken nine and a half hours. The plane plus immigration and transfers would have taken about six, so not too bad.

That evening we took the free shuttle to the night market and ate at some of the street food stands popular with the backpacker tourist crowd. The boys had their usual grilled chicken and bowl of noodles, while Carmen and I tried to order the authentic Khmer food but I think it was really more Thai in flavor. Subsequent nights we found an excellent place called the Khmer kitchen which served excellent fried rolls and Khmer curry, which contains lots of sweet potato and coconut milk.

On arrival in Bangkok, we got a taxi and went directly to the Legacy Suites on Soi 29 (Sukhumvit), nr. Phong Phrom Skytrain station. This turned out to be the most comfortable accommodation yet on the trip (until we reached Hua Hin), and included a kitchen in which we could make mac and cheese for the boys. An essential criterion for choosing accommodation in Bangkok is proximity to the Sky Train. I had forgotten just how bad the traffic is and mistakenly took for a taxi rather than walk the five minutes to Phong Phrom station; we ended up seeing pedestrians walk slowly into the distance. There doesn’t seem to be as much of a pollution problem in Bangkok this time, and quite a few cars and tuk tuks seem to be using Compressed Natural Gas.

While Carmen caught up on some clothes shopping at the MBK mall, I took the boys to Sathon Pier and caught the tourist boat up the Chao Phraya river to Phra Athit Pier and back. Ethan enjoyed the boat more while Toby enjoyed the Sky train ride back. We’ll wait until they’re a bit older to see the other sites up close (Grand Palace, reclining Buddha, Arun Wat); we took Toby a couple of years ago on the way to Phuket.

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Bangkok to Hua Hin

Our CNG taxi ride to Hua Hin took three hours and we were very happy to see an enormous swimming pool surrounding the entire Blue Lagoon complex. There are separate rooms for the boys as well -- what a strange concept after all these months of travel.

We’ve been here over two weeks now and it’s been good to take some time out from our travels, recuperate and plan logistics for the journey ahead. The nearby Sheraton hotel has a kid’s club which we have made full use off, allowing me and Carmen to take time to visit the gym or nearby shopping mall. Carmen also took a day long cooking class at a place nearby called Buchabun that has proven informative for our market shopping knowledge and taste buds: we now have a deeper understanding of Thai food, particularly Tom-Yham-Kung soup and green curry. Our tolerance for spice, especially coming from India and Sri Lanka, has increased significantly. We are not quite ready to eat a raw chili with our breakfast though, like some we know.

Catching up with Home-Schooling

Apart from swimming almost every day over the next couple of weeks, we tried to catch up with home-schooling. If we move to the UK and enter the boys in school September, they may need to be one year ahead of the US system for their age group. Both would also go from being the youngest in class to the oldest. With the help of an application for the iPhone, Toby is learning his three and four times tables and working on reading comprehension and other books by a company called Home Workbooks. Carmen bought these before we left and we have been carrying around ever since. Our hope is that he finishes these by the time we leave, which should take ten or twenty pounds off our luggage load. Since he is left-handed, we are focusing on correct positioning for writing. Luckily there is a lot of information about this on the internet, but it is difficult to break old habits, especially since he does a lot of drawing using the same ‘incorrect’ hand position.

Ethan requires less schooling as he would be entering reception year, or Kindergarten, at about the same age as Toby. He is practicing “join the dots” to learn his numbers better and practice holding a pencil. We are also trying to color inside the lines (conformists we are). We started him on a phonics book for preschoolers (from India) as the UK seems to place more emphasis on reading in reception than the US. He sort of understands the need to sound out letters to make words now, but sometimes confuses ‘b’ with ‘d’ and ‘y’ with ‘g’. Starfall (.com) was useful for Toby in learning to read, but Ethan sat alongside him, enjoying it, but didn’t absorb any of the lessons. Unfortunately, now that Ethan is ready to learn from the website, he is tired of it.

Since we started this trip, we haven’t been reading to them every night as before, partly because we didn’t have the diversity of reading material from the bookshelf or library, but mostly because we’re tired from spending all day with them and need a break. We’ll have to get back on track with this soon, maybe in Hong Kong where there may be help with looking after them during the day.

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Our flight from the very modern Sri Lanka airport was 1:30 a.m., so the boys were tired when we got on the plane and went to sleep right away. The flight was almost four hours, with Singapore time two hours ahead. Local time on arrival was a reasonable 7:30 a.m., except that it was really 5:30 a.m. for us. They were not at all happy about getting off the plane.

Again we hadn’t booked a hotel; we’d stayed in Singapore before and this time found rates on the internet 200 to 300 percent more than previous, probably due to the air show. We wanted to avoid having to pay an extra night for checking in at 9 a.m. which we would have by booking over the internet. The hope was to locate a hotel driving around in the taxi, stopping at each of our short-listed hotels. After stopping at a couple of sold out places full of mainland Chinese, we saw the YWCA on the map, and this proved our salvation. Not only did they allow us to check in immediately, we found later they have an excellent pool on the roof, and for Carmen in the fitness center, a “bhangra aerobicz” class.

After forty winks, we jumped on the bus to take us to Newton’s Hawker Center La, which we’d never been to before but somehow imagined we had. They had a variety of Singaporean hawker food and it wasn’t bad, but the place we were really looking for was Wismira Atria on the corner of Scott and Orchard. It’s much fancier, slightly more expensive but more variety. There we found an array of delicacies from different parts of the world. Singapore likes to think of itself as the food capital in Asia, and with food courts like these it’s not hard to see why. Carmen and I think more favourably of Hong Kong in this regard, although HK seems to lack good Indian food. Still, we were very happy to arrive in Singapore after the relative food desert of Sri Lanka, and see the boys stuffing themselves again. Afterwards, we wandered along Orchard road with its wide sidewalks fenced off from the road, allowing the boys to run around in all directions. We got a little lost on the way back and had to cross the road in some non-pedestrian sections of the road. Luckily no-one saw us and we didn’t have to receive fifty lashes of the cat o’ nine tails. When we finally made it back to the Y, we went for a late night swim on the roof pool with a nice view of the neon-lit buildings.

Next morning we went to a nearby mall that specializes in school books, to try and locate some home schooling math’s books for Toby. Singapore is supposed to have the best math’s learning system in the world, and we were a bit shocked when we looked through the books. They expect a high degree of literacy and understanding problems and place a large emphasis on repetition of similar types of problems. They were also very heavy so we ended up not purchasing any. The Singapore and Kumon math books you can buy in the States seem better suited for the boys needs.

We took the bus to the airport. Fortunately we had a lot of time on our hands as it took a bit longer than expected, and we checked in for our departure to Bangkok with only two and half hours to spare. Thanks to Singaporean efficiency, we checked in and got through customs so quickly that we still had two hours and fifteen minutes to eat and shop.

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After climbing Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka, our plan had been to sleep a few hours in the morning, then take off for Negombo Beach near the airport. Despite getting up at 2 a.m. and walking through the night, neither of us felt tired, so we packed up our bags instead and got into our taxi van. Somay (the driver) said it was a three hour drive but it turned out to be about six and we hadn’t booked a hotel. Luckily Carmen’s netbook was stuffed full of movies, so the boys were content watching Polar Express and the Bee Movie for the hundredth time.

Our driver wanted to drop us at a hotel closer the airport since he said there was nothing to see in Negombo. Since we were staying three nights, we insisted on the more competitive hotel market of Negombo where there would also be shops. On arrival in Negombo we located an internet café and created a short-list of favourite hotels. The first one was Paradise Beach Resort but they were booked solid the following night. Luckily they had a cancellation the following day and we didn’t have to move.

We rented a moped for three days and soon found our driver was right: there’s not much to see in Negombo. Ethan and I did come across upon about 30 fishermen hauling an enormous fishing net onto the beach. They had obviously been at it for several hours. By the time the net was on the beach, with several shouts of “Hoy – aa”, they had a massive haul of tiny fish (and garbage) to distribute and sell the rest at the nearby roadside stall.

We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner that night and there were a surprising number of mosquitoes, so I popped across the road to buy some citronella. When I came back, there was a large tea pot on the table and a couple of tea cups. Since I hadn’t ordered tea, I was a bit confused but the waiter was nowhere around. I poured the ‘tea’ and found it to be a thick dark liquid that tasted like beer, and in fact was beer. I know now that on Poya days in Sri Lanka it’s not legal to serve beer at the table, so they serve it in tea pots instead to disguise it. The beer in the teapot, “Sinha stout”, turned out to be one of the strongest I’d had for a while, and it was several hours before my head stopped reeling; I also woke up with a hangover. Beer seems to have an enhanced effect in the tropics.

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We were unsure about attempting to climb Adam’s Peak. I had asked a few people who had done it, and some that hadn’t. All said it was unlikely that Toby or Ethan would be able to get to the summit (2,243 meters, 7,359 ft). Part of the uncertainty was what elevation we would start at and how cold it would be at the top – people said it would be very cold and the guide book said that there could be leeches (preventable by rubbing tiger balm on your legs). Added to this, Ethan’s shoes (Keens) had a strap broken, and Carmen had no walking shoes; although she had seven other different types. Still, there are plenty of shoe fixers who could fix the strap, and we heard it might be possible to have someone carry Ethan to the top. Carmen could buy some walking shoes in Kandy. In the end however, we decided that only Toby and I should go, based on the difficulty that certain members of the family have in getting up early.

We had mentioned to Toby the possibility of climbing Adam’s Peak some days previous and he had at once seemed very keen. From then on, we used it as bait to keep him well behaved, saying “Ok, no Adam’s Peak for you”, and he always responded well. We ended up pushing the trip to Adam’s Peak back by two or three days so by the time we got to base camp in Dalhousie, he was chomping at the bit.

It took longer than expected to get from Kandy to Dalhousie – a very windy road, but beautiful tea plantations along the way. We stopped at a place called Zesta on the way there and the way back, just before Hatton, which served excellent lunch and tea.

Our driver “Somay” stopped at one hotel in Dalhousie, but we declined it in favour of being closer to down town which is also the starting point for Adam’s Peak. We regretted it soon after, when a few minutes after check in, the town speakers began blaring prayers and music continuously until around 10 p.m. Nevertheless, we all managed to get to sleep well before that, setting the alarm for a 2 a.m. start.

I woke about 1:45 a.m. from some noisy neighbors shouting and packed the items I had set aside for our trip. Although there were stalls along the route, I was unsure how far up the mountain they went, so had packed six packs of Milo (chocolate milk), five marmite sandwiches, chocolate, and windy/wet weather gear. Additionally, I had bought a fleece hat and two pairs of gloves from the local market, which was well stocked with cold weather gear.

It wasn’t difficult to wake Toby and get him going for the climb, although I had anticipated some resistance. He still seemed keen, even at this hour. Soon we were outside the door, heading up the mountain with a carton of chocolate milk each. The market outside still had some shops open, but there didn’t seem to be too many people heading up and I wondered if we had started too early. Eventually a school group formed and we trailed behind them. They stopped at the first Buddhist temple and we kept going slowly up the trail. Stalls on each side lined the trail and some of the shops were just opening, and some shop owners were sleeping in chairs outside. After a quick stop at a Samahan (ayurvedic tea) stall, a Dutch man caught up to us and told us about his application to VSO, a British voluntary organization. Eventually he walked on ahead and we began to meet some more locals going up, many of them in bare feet and some carrying newly born babies. There were many pilgrims coming down the mountain, some of them slowly, or sitting to rest or sleep, and some flying down at full pelt. The trail was very well lit and we didn’t need a head torch or flashlight at any time on our journey. There didn’t seem to be any kids that were Toby’s age (6) on the trail.

We walked quite slowly, and about every half hour I gave Toby something to drink or eat. We tried not to rest for too long at any point, as that makes moving again more difficult. The trail became steeper and eventually I needed to use the rails to help pull me up. The trail was easy to follow and there was never a danger of getting lost. Toby was enthusiastic the entire time, encouraging me to walk faster and telling me that I could do it. Although it was dark, the views got steadily better as we climbed, but surprisingly it didn’t get much colder until just before the top. We passed a lot of people who had earlier sped past us and then taken rests, prompting me to recount the story of the “Tortoise and the Hare”. There were old people in their seventies making their way and I wondered if they would ever make it when the going got steeper. I had planned for us to get there by sunrise, but we arrived an hour early at 5 a.m., so had to find a place among the throngs of people at the summit temple to sit and wait. It looked as if some people had spent the entire night sleeping at the top. Luckily there was plenty of shelter from the wind. Toby and I put on our wind proof gear and sat down, but he still complained about the cold, so I gave him the iTouch to distract him. This proved effective. About 45 minutes later, we moved to a higher spot near the summit and watched the sunrise with two Buddhist monks, and a policeman who told me to keep my camera pointed away from the temple. Toby was elated with having reached the summit.

After sunrise and the obligatory photos of the mountain’s triangular shadow, the temperature began to rise quickly and leaving the summit became difficult as a large throng started to descend, and others just began to arrive. Soon we broke past the bottleneck, took our jackets off and descended more quickly. Surprisingly, it took us two hours to get back down -- it was especially jarring on the knees to go down the very steep stairs. I neglected to give Toby any drink or food toward the end and he started to flag, only to revive once he saw Carmen and Ethan coming up the trail toward us. We were both very happy to see them and Toby eagerly recounted our adventure.

If we were to do it again, I would probably leave at 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. carrying less food and water, buying it on the trail instead; prices were a little higher, but not exorbitant. We carried the right amount of cold weather gear, but only needed it because we got there earlier. There didn’t seem to be any chance of rain and although it was cloudy in the evening, the sky was completely clear of cloud during the night. All in all an excellent experience though, especially for Toby, who is now keen to climb more mountains.

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On arrival in Kandy, we immediately went to the Peradeniya botanical garden to have lunch. While waiting for lunch to arrive we crossed the lawn to view an impressive Java Willow Tree . At various times during our numerous trips across the lawn to see it, the sun came out, it rained, or sometimes both. After lunch we took a long tour around the gardens and saw thousands of fruit bats hanging from the trees. We crossed a small suspension bridge built for pedestrians and sat under the protection of a large banyan tree while it rained and then became sunny again soon after.

We stayed at a place in Kandy recommended by the driver called Serene Garden Hotel. The price quoted initially was too high for our budget, but Ethan inadvertently left his bear “Plucker” at the hotel and when I went back to get him, the receptionist offered a more reasonable rate. We agreed on using this as a tactic for negotiating better hotel rates going forward. The hotel turned out to be one of the better ones we stayed in. It also had a troop of about 40 or 50 black-faced monkeys go over the building on the way to and from the nearby forest every morning, which was very interesting to watch during breakfast time. The waiters and guests were advised to keep windows closed so that they didn’t get into the building. The hotel consisted of two buildings each about seven stories high and the monkeys had had to climb and descend each one to get to and from the forest. While eating our breakfast, monkeys would appear outside the window then climb the drain pipe to the roof. One of the monkeys had a disabled hand but was still able to climb the overhanging drain pipe by balancing and grasping a little bit faster than the others.

We decided not to see the Palace of the Tooth as it was expensive to enter, and probably not something the kids would particularly enjoy or remember. If anything we would have returned to see the botanical gardens to see the parts we missed, but we needed to get to Dalhousie to climb Adam’s Peak that night…