The Caliph's House - A Book Comes To Life

The Caliph's House - A Book Comes To Life

It all started with a book! The Caliph’s House is written by Tahir Shah and immediately appealed to me. When the short content told me that it was in the tradition of A Year in Province and Under The Tuscan Sun, I took it home. I learned about Morocco, a country I had never visited before. And then the author invited me to tour his house. I went from turning pages to walking into a book in Casablanca…

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Walking The Fisherman’s Trail

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Walking The Fisherman’s Trail

When I walked the Camino de Santiago for the second time, several years ago, the last part seemed more like a parade than a nice quiet hike. I decided to look for other long distance trails to walk for a few days or weeks. Italy offered that opportunity with a 400k section of the Via Francigena through Tuscany. Then I learned about the Rota Vicentina, a trail network in south western Portugal that was fairly new (2012) and not so crowded yet. 

Lisbon for Beginners Like Us

Lisbon for Beginners Like Us

We were searching for a comfy but affordable place to stay during our four days of exploring Lisbon. ‘Perfect For Two’ - the VRBO site said. 

We knew we wanted a small apartment with a kitchen and not a hotel room. We also knew we wanted to be in the heart of the old city.

So when we found this listing, we studied the photos, the reviews and the approximate location on a map. It seemed a good fit so we booked it.

Koh Rong - an Island Paradise

Koh Rong - an Island Paradise

Having booked a 15 day trek across Cambodia, we knew that we would be doing a lot of hiking in the heat. We wanted to end our visit to Cambodia with a relaxing time on a beach. We did a lot of online research to find a good spot. We’re not really into just sitting on the beach but we did want something beautiful, a place to rest and swim after our hiking adventure.

Tapati Festival, Rapa Nui

Tapati Festival, Rapa Nui

In this second part of Tales of the South Pacific, we’ll visit Easter Island’s Tapati Festival - one of the highlights of our life! The gods smiled on us when we booked our trip to remote Easter Island. Totally by fluke it turns out that we are here for the grand finale of Rapa Nui's annual Tapati Festival. This huge festival celebrates the local culture, and honors the ancestors who created the famous Moai statues. 

Journeys on Java

Journeys on Java

In previous blogs about Indonesia, I shared stories about our time on Borneo and Sumatra. This time, I’d like to take you along to the island of Java. It is a long skinny island with the capital city, Jakarta, on it. Java is one of the most densely populated islands in the world with more than 140 million people. I spent most of my time in the city of Surabaya.

Geocaching - At Home or Around the World

Geocaching - At Home or Around the World

Geocaching can be called a worldwide treasure hunt where you use a GPS to search for hidden objects. It’s a fun and exciting way to enjoy the great outdoors. Geocaching combines the sport of walking with the excitement of discovering treasure. ‘Geo’ means ‘earth’ and ‘cache’ means ‘hidden’ in French. I have friends who have traveled the world, geocaching in any country they like….

Balikpapan: A Happiness Journey

Balikpapan: A Happiness Journey

I flew directly from Jakarta, Indonesia to Balikpapan on the island of Borneo, to do school visits at an international school. The island of Borneo consists of Kalimantan, the Indonesia portion as well as Brunei and east Malaysia. I’m struck by how clean everything is: streets are continuously being swept by city workers with tiny bundles of branches. I don’t understand how people, especially the children, stay so immaculately clean while living in shacks and walking dirt roads. The children wear bright white socks, school uniforms starched and pressed, hair all combed and perfect. Yet all around is dirt and dust…En route to the airport, the taxi driver comments that there is a lot of unemployment since logging of the rain forest became illegal. Has that really stopped?

The Science of Windmills in A Low Country

The Science of Windmills in A Low Country

The Netherlands is a little over 41 thousand square kilometres (or 16 thousands miles), roughly the size of Vancouver Island.

A few hundred years ago the country was even smaller. It lies at the western edge of Europe, where large rivers flow into the North Sea. Much of the country is very low land and often flooded. In fact, most of the country is below sea level. At its lowest point, The Netherlands - which means ‘Low Lands’ - is an amazing 7 meters (20’) below sea level.