With Ian in the Land of Stroopwafels, Herring, Tulips and Zoutedrop

We have just ended a fantastic weekend with Ian by going on a little excursion here in Holland. We began on Saturday by getting an early start and heading by train to Leiden, the closest town to the famous Keukenhof Gardens. The gardens are the equivalent to Butchart Gardens in Victoria or Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town, and it draws huge crowds from all over the world to see the amazing flowery landscapes. The gardens most definitely lived up to their reputation, and our timing was impeccable.

Of course Holland is most famous for its lovely bulbs in the spring time and we must have hit it at its absolute peak. The daffodils were just about over, but the tulips and hyacinths were at their best. The colours, the varieties and the scents were nothing short of miraculous. Even Kai and Pippin stayed engaged for the many hours we took to revel in the splendor. The gardens have been around since after the Second World War and thus, they are very established. There are enormous trees and a large variety of lovely shrubs. Many of the trees are just beginning to put out their new foliage and it is the greenest of greens in colour. The farmland all around the actual gardens are all planted with fields upon fields of flowers as well, so when one approaches the gardens, one is already in a state of awe from the riotous colour. We were also very lucky because we caught a lovely weekend in terms of weather with gorgeous crisp spring weather filled with blue skies and warm sunshine. It was simply stunning!

Here is Kai and Pippin having an absolute Dutch moment: eating delicious stroopwafels made with real butter, whilst taking in all the lovely flowers. It is quite reaffirming for me (Ronato) to be in Holland (and bringing Skye and the kids here). Holland is definitely a part of me having grown up with Dutch grandparents -- there are many things that are Dutch that I really appreciate. The stroopwafels, the salt liquorice, the cheese, the hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles that you put on toast), the amazing yogurt . . . etc. I even like the fresh herring eaten in a roll with onions. I have surprised myself, in terms of how much nostalgia is attached to all these Dutch treats. It is fun sharing it all with the kids and Skye.

The gardens were a photographic dream because of all the colour and variety. We all remarked that none of us had ever seen such a spectrum of tulip varieties.
These are the landscapes surrounding the Keukenhof Gardens with vast stretches of land filled with blooming flowers. Tucked between the flowers are lots of dikes and small cycling lanes. It would be lovely to do a cycling trip at this time of year through Holland.
Need we say more . . . just look at it and admire the beauty!
Of course our lovely friend Ian has added his own stupendous colour to the whole affair as well. After months and months with only their parents, Kai and Pippin are lapping up his company and having a whale of a time visiting and playing with him. Ian is a lot of fun and is willing to push the envelope a little here and there. We head off to Turkey this coming week with Ian, and we're sure it will be filled with lots of fun and games. The following picture Skye did not want me to put into the blog because of our younger and more innocent viewers -- so she says, "Viewer discretion for some is advised (PG-13)." I (Ronato) think she is being too uptight about it . . . you can take this all with a grain of salt and decide for yourself:
Another fun Dutch moment with Pippin at the gardens...
After the gardens we went off on a surprise overnight to Den Haag (thanks to Ian). The Hague is a stunning old city with many lovely things to take in. There are tons of big square centers from which to take in the Dutch rhythm of life. Like all Dutch cities the core is filled with walking lanes (with no cars) to look at the shops, bars and local scenes. It was the first real taste of Europe for the kids and they enjoyed it a lot. Below are the Dutch parliament buildings which are beautiful to look at and best of all they are very understated compared to many other countries. It is amazing how little police presence there was given our recent experience at Westminster in London. Quite the contrast!
After exploring Den Haag's streets and having a lovely meal in the city last night with Ian, we all had a great sleep at a hotel (organized by Ian). It was quite the treat. Then today we got up, and after a yummy Dutch pastry and a coffee in the morning sunshine we all got on a tram to the local beach town of Scheveningen. The tram ride in itself was a quintessentially Dutch experience and the kids really seemed to like it a lot. The picture below is a picture looking out from the back of the tram.
At the beach we walked along the promenade and look at all the Dutch market stalls set up along the boardwalk. Once a again there were many very Dutch things to absorb, including: the salt liquorice sellers, the herring/fish mongers, the cheese stalls etc, etc. The North Sea was also fun to look at with surfers in serious looking dry suits and lots of kids playing in the sand on such a stunning day. Not to many swimmers in the frigid water, though!

After the beach and more good food from the local supermarket we came back to Den Haag and Skye took the kids to go see the Mauritshuis Museum where many Vermeer paintings, including The Girl with a Pearl Earring, are housed. The kids both got the free children's audio tour which told them about a number of the paintings in the collection. This kept them engaged and taught them a little bit about the artists, their message in the various paintings, and a little something about the time in which the paintings were created. This was a good little discovery and we'll be searching this kind of thing out for other art museums we hope to visit. I (Skye) got a real rush out of seeing and hearing about so many beautiful and history-laden paintings -- ones I had seen in books for years, but had never seen up close and personal. It was a real treat!
All in all it was a fabulous and fun weekend with our good friend Ian. Ian has been living away from Canada for so many years, and we have yet to be able to visit him in any of his faraway destinations -- up to now we have had to wait for his visits to us. So, it has been great to finally see him out and about in his world and to get to spend this time with him.

Before heading off to Turkey, we are going to hit Amsterdam and a little more of Utrecht. We are again trying to get in as much as we can while we are here for such a relatively short time.
Until next post . . .

Skye, Ronato, Kai & Pippin

Cultural London, the Chunnel and Holland

Our last days in London were very full. We took advantage of our time there by doing daily excursions from where we were staying into the center of the city on the amazing rail and underground network. After the ramshackle Asian experience, it feels ultra-modern over here with immaculate trains running on time, and the best part is how easy it is to get anywhere one wants to go on public transit. It is quite a contrast. So far the kids have been free on much of the transport (or very cheap) which has helped our pockets tremendously.

As planned, we spent Easter weekend in London with Jonathon and his family. We were happy to see that the Easter bunny even comes to Europe and delivered a bounty of good quality chocolates for all. Kai and Pippin had a great time doing the garden Easter egg hunt with Madeline and Olivia. Note the yummy chocolate cow that both of them found hidden in the garden. The kids are still happily gnawing at it days later.

Our daily routine has been to pack lunches in the morning (saving big bucks in expensive London) and then to train to a certain area of the city to take in the various offerings that are available. Even with the concerted effort we made to see what we could, we barely scratched the surface of this incredible city. The best part of all is how much one can do that is free!
This blog entry is quite dense in photos so that we can cover some of the territory - because we took in so much! The London Eye is great to look at from a landmark point of view but it is apparently a bit of a sleeper with regards to the ride experience. It is slow and costs mucho bucks . . . so we enjoyed it from below.
The street acts provide hours of viewing pleasure in London. They are everywhere and there is an astounding amount of creativity and variety to take in. Sometimes it can be problematic because one will be en-route somewhere and then can get very delayed and distracted by the various offerings.
Westminster has many things to take in: the stunning parliament buildings and Big Ben are quite the sight especially with their setting along the Thames, Westminster Abbey proper (though it is very expensive to actually go inside, something in the range of 28 pounds for a family -- and the exchange is very close to double), St. Mary's Cathedral, multitudes of old and new statues, protesters (when we were there a large group of Sri Lankans were protesting the killing of Tamils in their homeland and were wanting the British government to get involved), and lots of very lovely, old, stately buildings.
A recent addition of Madiba to the statues at Westminster - from his recent 90th birthday celebration.

Kai and Pippin had many questions about the protests. After taking in all the recent  Thailand turmoil on the "telly" (as the Brits call it) both kids had lots of curiosity about why people get so passionate in their protests. Seeing that we had just left Thailand, the protests seemed that much more real to them. Interestingly, the few days before we left Bangkok, we all kept remarking that there seemed to be a lot more security everywhere and clearly something seemed to be brewing. The Tamil protests have an individual who has been on hunger strike for over 9 days and it is getting a lot of media attention in the UK.
Then a shortish walk away is Buckingham Palace! What a sight. The day we went, the sun was shining and the flowers were out in full force. Very lovely. We had fun watching the guards have an apparent inspection of their post by another group of guards, we think one was a superior of some sort. Quite the pomp and splendour. Kai and Pippin thought it was fun to watch, but weren't so keen on the intense looking guns that they hold. Gone are the days where Britain is devoid of guns. It seems like every time one turns in any direction, one sees men with huge semi-automatic weapons with bayonets on the end.  Added to the visible security, are the constant overhead announcements asking the public to be weary of any suspicious unattended parcels and then there are camera's on every street corner filming you wherever you go. Furthermore, many of the places one goes where large groups will be means that there will also be guards at the entrance searching one's bags and making sure you don't have any weapons or explosives. It feels a little like one is in the film "Brazil". It has become a distinctly "big Brother" type of society with lots of rife paranoia and fear to keep the masses in line. I hope Canada never becomes this . . .
Kai and Pippin got a real kick out of taking one of the old-style double decker buses to the Natural History Museum. It lunged and lurched like crazy on the top, and we all agreed that it was a little like taking the Night Bus in Harry Potter.
We took in the Natural History Museum for a whole afternoon.  The museum itself is an absolutely amazing and beautiful building. The exhibits were amazing and one could spend hours in one of these places (if one did not get stimulus overload after the first 2 hours).
The main hall where one of their large dinosaur skeletons is housed is breath taking. Each tile and molding appears to have been hand made specifically for this building. In each room there is a different motif related to the type of exhibit. Our only limitation, was that it was Easter weekend and so it was very crowded with tourists like us and the local Londoners.


On our last full day in London we took in the Tower of London, the spectacular fortress and castle where kings and queens have reigned from since the 1100's. It displayed a very interesting, and rather brutal history. There were torture chambers, prison towers filled with ancient graffiti from the various well-heeled prisoners, as well as residences housed within the walls of this enormous place. Even Anne Boleyn was one of the prisoners housed in one of the towers before her execution. During our time at the Tower, two highlights in particular caught our attention. One was seeing the Crown Jewels -- yup, Queen Elizabeth II's crown, sceptre and orb, as well as previous monarch's finery. It was all pretty spectacular -- especially seeing the largest diamond in the world -- The Cullinan -- which is part of the Queen's sceptre. The true highlight, though, was the exhibition called "Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill." This was a fantastically put together exhibition of King Henry VIII's armour and weaponry -- the real stuff. We were absolutely awestruck -- the level of craftsmanship and detail was absolutely amazing. The exhibition was put together to follow Henry through the years, from young man right up until his end -- with his armour expanding in girth along with him. Apparently it was thanks to his only male heir, Edward, who at the age of nine had the foresight to have his father's weaponry, armour, and spoils of war carefully catalogued and then stored for posterity. Had this not happened, it is unlikely that much of it would have survived. We could have spent many more hours in this exhibit, but at some point Kai and Pippin hit information overload and I (Skye) was reminded of my youth when my own parents would 'drag' me to amazing museums for whole days, with me starting to complain and whine after about 2 hours -- my Karma for this is definitely coming back to me!
All in all, London was a great start to our European adventure. Our hosts Carol and Jonathon were absolutely stellar and helped to make our stay comfortable and fun, with nightly dinners and visits.
So yesterday, it was time to head on to Continental Europe. We started the journey with a train ride from Addlestone into London Waterloo station, from which we had to navigate ourselves, with the help of Jonathon, into the London Underground for two different tube rides to get ourselves to St. Pancras Station. The reason this was hard, was because it was rush hour and we had to lug all our gear into the crowded platforms and trains. Live and learn - next time book those tickets at times that are not so busy with city commuters.   The Chunnel experience turned out to be very easy and incredibly fast. Downtown London to downtown Brussels in 2 hours. Hard to imagine that it is even possible. The train was traveling at what felt like 200 kms an hour. It was all very space age - like when one includes that fact that one is traveling deep under the earth's surface under the English Channel.

The Belgian and Dutch countryside was lovely as ever with their rich green colours and all the spring flowers in evidence all over the place. It was all very lovely to take in from the speedy window of a fast train. Here we are after arriving at Ian's in Eindhoven in his very swanky high-rise apartment.
We had only a half an hour to drop off our baggage at Ian's and then we hopped on another train to Utrecht to see our good friend Nada and her husband Hedzer (we rushed off to see her since she was leaving the next morning for Croatia). We had a lovely evening with them and as you can see the kids were in top form.
Well there is our very newsy blog entry. Not quite as exotic as Asia ... but we are having lots of fun over here. 

Until next time

Skye, Ronato, Kai and Pippin

A Local Day

Careful now, just stand real still and they hopefully won't shoot you! Luckily Skye managed to remain calm and didn't ruffle the feathers, or rather bearskin hats of these royal guards standing at attention near the royal residence section of Windsor Castle. This was actually a rather funny sight, the guards had just marched up along with two others and then these two did this fancy dance to get into position before standing absolutely still. There was quite a crowd watching this pomp and splendour and then when the guards got still - suddenly one of the people in the crowd ran up and stood between them with a kind of impish, yet slightly nervous, expression wanting his friends to take a picture of him. None of us were sure what the guards would do, but when they didn't even bat an eye, practically everyone in the crowd had to have a turn. This provided some really great people watching, and it was funny to see the different poses people chose to take in between the two guards. One can only imagine how tiresome this must really be for the guards.

Yesterday, Good Friday, we made the short and extremely lovely journey from Addlestone (where we are staying) to Windsor Castle -- we were all excited to explore one of the Queen's residences. To get to the castle we drove through a number of very quaint little villages and through the most stunning English countryside -- we all felt like we were watching a period piece. Cherry and pear trees were blooming profusely, there were beautiful dense oak forests just on the verge of bursting into green buds, and then the forests made way to emerald green rolling fields dotted with the most amazing enormous gnarled ancient oaks scattered here and there. We could just imagine knights on horses galloping across the misty fields or young Jane Austen heroines languishing under the giant oaks. It was truly a sight.
Upon our arrival to Windsor, though, we discovered that it was one of the few days that the castle interior was closed to the public. This might have had something to do with it being Easter Friday. The grounds, however, and St. George's Cathedral (one of the royals' very old churches) were still open for exploration. No matter, it meant that entry was free and there was really so much to see that we still had a great time exploring this amazing place. It was so manicured and beautifully organized - a strong contrast to the types of sights we had visited anywhere in Asia. It was also the first real old castle that the children had ever seen. Sometimes it easy to forget that they have never been to Europe and seen such old and magical places.
St. George's Cathedral was truly a historical experience. There are more than 10 sovereigns buried in the actual church floor with very elaborate tomb structures. Furthermore, over 1000 people of note are buried in the catacombs of the building including: the Queen Mum, Princess Margaret, and Jane Seymour (King Henry VIII's 3rd or 4th wife who died in childbirth while producing his only male heir) to name a few. The church was build in around 1470 and is very Gothic. Both Kai and Pippin were mesmerized while inside looking at all of the ancient inscriptions and tomb-like structures, though both came out saying how eerie and creepy the building felt. To quote Pippin, "You know, churches kind of freak me out!" The inside of the church had walls that looked they were carved out of sandstone and the effect was almost like the walls were made from bones, so it is easy to see why the kids felt like it was a little creepy. All said and done, it was a great first church for us to begin our European experience. There are sure to be many churches ahead! Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed to be taken inside the church and the picture below doesn't come near to doing it justice.
The town of Windsor was very quaint and we strolled around it despite the inclement English weather. The shopping areas had large covered glass domes enabling visitors to stroll about no matter what the weather is. They even put out heaters so we could enjoy a nice hot cup of tea at a cafe.
Kai was in his element on this knoll because the ground was littered with flint. Many of the buildings in the area have flint embedded in the mortar. The rainy weather made the countryside that much more green and lush looking.
Our hosts Jonathan and Carol with their children Madeline and Olivia. The picture is pretty telling in terms of the weather. They have been very accommodating and kind showing us all around the place. Our kids in particular have really enjoyed staying in a home with another family after such a long time of staying in hotels.
Olivia, who is two, has taken a real shine to Kai and follows him around like a little puppy saying, "Hi Kai!" over and over. Kai has been enjoying the interactions, especially because he loves little ones so much.
Moving on -- we are settling into this time zone nicely, catching up on our sleep and feeling less jet-lagged as the days pass by. We feel ready to really get out there and see as much as we can in the days ahead. First though, comes the Easter Bunny bright and early tomorrow morning.

Until next time . . .

Skye, Ronato, Kai & Pippin

From Vancouver to the Queen

Hello again! It has been quite awhile since our last blogging session. We had a wonderful week back in Canada but of course the time flew like the wind. We can hardly believe it, but in what seems like the blink of an eye, we are already here in London!

Our time in Canada was filled with tons of "to do's" -- what a whirlwind! Luckily we were able to get some great visits in as well as doing all those business items. Our time at home was a real refresher for all of us in terms of seeing and reconnecting with all our dear friends. Thanks to all those generous beautiful people (you know who you are) for being so accommodating and helpful to us for this next leg. Kai and Pippin really enjoyed knowing that their home/country is still there and it will be there for them in the months to come. They LOVED seeing all their friends again because they have really missed them dearly.

On Tuesday we managed to fly off to London with an excellent direct flight from Vancouver. The nine hour journey felt very reasonable after the epic flight between Asia and Canada. Here we are just before our departure, leaving a stunning spring day behind in Vancouver.
We arrived to an equally beautiful spring day here in London and we were picked up by our lovely friends here in London. They live just South of London in Surrey, in a very picturesque area that feels very distinctly English. Of course arriving in Europe is a starkly different experience to arriving in Asia and the kids really did not know what to expect - neither of them have been to Europe before. Kai just had Harry Potter visions in his head and I don't think he has been disappointed. In a weird way it feels a lot like Victoria at times and then in other ways it is not like it at all. Below is Jonathan and Carol's house -- a beautiful home surrounded by amazing landscapes. They have two daughters aged 2 and 4 which has been great for Kai and Pippin -- it has helped them overcome their slight feelings of being homesick.
After a recovery day yesterday in and around the house, we ventured into London today on the train and the Tube system. Our biggest immediate challenge is coming to terms with a very different currency and a prohibitive exchange rate. That said, with careful budgeting, we will manage to keep our expenses in check and take advantage of all the cheaper free offerings of which there are many. The walking in itself allows us to take in the dynamic feeling of London and all it's bustle. The other great thing about London is that many of the big ticket museums are free thanks to the "public value" that everyone should have access to the nation's treasures. What a fantastic investment in the public, who in all fairness do collectively own the nation's treasures held in the museums and galleries. I wish that Canada and other countries would see the value in making state run museums and galleries free and accessible to all people. The best thing about it is that one can do repeat visits because one does not feel the pressure to take it all in at once. I always find that after a few hours in a museum I experience stimulus overload and need to take a break -- but there is often still so much to see!
So, our guiding philosophy today was that we would take in some of the exhibits and then maybe return later once we burnt out. We started at the British Museum which is a truly astounding collection of mostly stolen treasures from all their years of British colonial plunder around the planet. Even Kai looked around at it and made the connections asking how it was possible that such treasures from all around the globe sat here in London. Our visit to sights in Vietnam really helped his understanding because many of the amazing ancient sights there were plundered in the early part of the previous century and the "archaeologists" of the time did really bizarre things like remove all the heads off statues and then shipped them off to Museums in France. Looking at the collections today one could see similar guiding principals with enormous pieces of stunning carved rock cut in half clearly having been removed from its original position in some or other temple. Once again this has been a great education for Kai and Pippin about the ethics that guide museums and about the raging debates going on in the world, where many countries would like to see their national treasures returned. I hope the kids will make many more connections like that about the interesting relationships between the countries we have visited on this trip.

Today we focused on the Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek and Roman treasures for a few hours. We just scratched the surface! Wow...wow...wow!!! A truly stunning collection (even if they are stolen). I took a few pictures of things that caught my eye:
It was amazing to see the hieroglyphics in such detail. Having never been to Egypt, it was great to see the workmanship. We even saw the Rosetta stone. Kai found that very exciting!
There a gizillions of cabinets at the museum with tiny ancient trinkets from times gone by. Many of them were absolutely fascinating to look at especially when one read the inscriptions. This one above, really caught my eye because it was wonderfully contorted and very expressive.
This is an infamous 'Aztec' crystal skull which has a huge cult following in the world today. Kai was very keen to go find it after being urged to see it by his Omi Marie. The reason it is so famous is because it was considered impossible that the Aztecs could have carved this hard material with their primitive tools available to them at the time. This skull is supposed to be one of very few and many current day New Agers have ascribed it with mystical healing powers. According to the inscription at the museum, curators now believe it to be a fake. It was bought in the 1800's from an English collector who claimed it was authentically Aztec. Recent investigations have led curators to believe it actually originated in Europe because there is evidence on the surface of the skull of more modern tools having been involved in carving it. Despite this controversial information, Kai and Pippin really enjoyed having a good gander at the stunning crystal skull.
The rest of the afternoon involved walking around London to some very famous city sights. We made it to Covent Gardens and took in lots of interesting street acts. We all enjoyed the street vitality tremendously. Big cities can have such a buzz! Of course London is so cutting edge (and always has been) when it comes to clothes and how people look that Skye spent much too much time (in my opinion -- Skye, on the otherhand, thinks this is a bit of a stretch) worrying about her traveling getup being very uncity-like -- I can't wait to see her in Paris!
Here is Kai and Pippin at Trafalgar Square... Need I say more? How much more English can we get? Well that about covers our first day. Get ready for much more ramblings from us over here. Hope this finds you all well.

Until next time

Skye, Ronato, Kai and Pippin

Goodbye SE Asia, hello Canada

It is hard to believe, but our 10 week stint in SE Asia has come to an end. Time is such a strange thing . . . 10 weeks felt like forever and hardly any time at all -- all at the same time.

As some of you might have noticed, we kind of 'disappeared off the blog scene' for a bit there. During our last week in Thailand we took off to the island destination of Koh Samet. On Koh Samet we had a very relaxed few days. We managed to find a great room with two queen-size beds and teak floors in a resort-type complex that met all our needs in terms of a final beach destination. Our days were spent swimming, hanging, eating, reading and going on leisurely strolls on the beach. The water on Koh Samet was warmer than any of us had ever experienced and we often spent hours just floating about in it. Being at the beach was the perfect way to end our time in Thailand.

Once back in Bangkok, we had a lot of things to do to get ready for our journey home to Canada. We did some last minute shopping, packing and of course we enjoyed some of Thailand's good food, knowing it would be a while before we had it again. The red coconut curries will most definitely be missed the most! The fabulous tropical fruit milkshakes were also a daily pleasure that will be missed.

It is hard to believe - but here we are back in Vancouver. The journey home went very well! Japan Airlines was great, and there was less of a wait in Tokyo this time round, making our total transit time 16 hours (versus the 21 in the other direction). We came home to our lovely friend Jill waiting at the airport. The kids did not know she would be there to meet us and it turned out to be a lovely surprise for them because they are very close to her. Vancouver was stunning to come home to after a few months away. The air was so fresh and crisp and the day was clear offering stunning views of the snow tipped mountains. On the car journey into the city, Kai and Pippin seemed mesmerized -- they were trying to take it all in, able for the first time to really appreciate how good they have it here in Canada.

So we now move onto the next chapter. A few days here in Vanvouver and Victoria and then off we go to the Europa! It is hard to believe that we are still continuing with more travel beyond Asia. This short reprieve will be a lovely opportunity to catch up a little and retool our bags for the European climate.
So stay posted . . . more adventures to come.

Until next time . . .

Ronato, Skye, Kai & Pippin

Our final days in Thailand

Well we finally made it to the beaches on Koh Samet after an unexpected delay in Bangkok. We had arrived in Bangkok on the Friday afternoon, intending to leave by Sunday to the coast. After a fun day out on the town with another family we had met (from California), Pippin, Kai and I (Ronato) came down with a wicked bout of food poisoning. It took until Tues to extract ourselves from our beds and make it down to Koh Samet and we are happy we made the journey. We are all slowly mending but still struggling with food in the general sense. Most of us gave up on eating for the last few days, realizing that it was too hard on our systems. Skye managed to dodge the bullet thanks to her very fastidious ways with soap and water. She landed up being Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy and was pretty fried by the end of it all.

Before going to Vietnam we had met Denise, Paul, Ruby, Ani and Noah (the family I spoke of above) and we were thrilled to run into them again in Bangkok on our return. They are a fabulous family and we are sure to see them again in the future seeing that we live on the same coast line. Pippin really got on well with Ruby who is also eight years of age. See photo below.
So here we are in Koh Samet and it has been a little strange for Skye since she was here 18 and a half years ago with Gord. She has been struggling to recognize any of it from the past. A lot has changed over the years. That said, we came here determined not to have expectations because we knew from stories that it had changed a lot from the past. We just want 4 days of sunshine before we go back to colder climates...
We have found a lovely spot on the island that is perfect for these last days. There will be lots of swimming, reading and kicking back before our long flight next week.
We return to Bangkok on Saturday, giving us two days to do some last minute things and pack for the long journey back to Canada. Then we will be there for 6 days before heading off to Europe. Wow! Talk about jet setting!

Speak soon

Skye, Ronato, Kai and Pippin