Category: 2007 A Year Down Under

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AYDU 2007/04/03 – The Way We Were

As Michael diligently, painstakingly, nostalgically revisits all the images from our year down under, he is discovering many photos which were not originally posted. As he updates the photo galleries, I have been updating the posts with the new content.

And this is a new post with a couple of people shots which don’t belong in the other posts – so I am adding this new post in the correct timeline. For anyone interested, you can go back and check out the updated photo galleries… Use the ‘Past Posts’ section – down on the right hand navigation, under 2007. I am working chronologically and at this point I have made it to April 3 with my updates, and I will keep ticking along…. anything renamed as ‘AYDU…’ (A Year Down Under) has been updated.

Cheers – and here we are…. or here we were!

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Museum Visit

There was a computer based interactive map centre where you could access a timeline with select active years. You could call up the year you were interested in, see the map of the time (which were highly variable from pre 1616 through to current day). In another window, you had access to a series of clips on a variety of topics – aboriginal history, natural history, history of industries in the area, interviews with knowledge experts, wildlife topics and more. We monopolized these two centres for quite some time – lucky the place wasn’t too busy!!

Two other media centres were set at opposite ends of the museum where videos were constantly running – each one 1 ½ hours in length about consisting of short interviews on a very wide variety of topics. There was an interview with the aboriginal woman who had donated her shell collection to the museum – it was a very impressive collection which she had collected as a young girl and her grandmother had saved it for her to pass on to her children. She spoke of life as a young girl living near Shell Beach – her daily chores, trips into the outback with the grandparents, how she acquired the knowledge of her ancestors.

There were many such clips; all very interesting. They included:
· a couple who run Dirk Hartog Island. His family has run a sheep farm for several generations and he and his family continue to raise sheep, but also run a tourist centre for 14 people. They have occasional long term visitors – including 2 Canadian girls who (with permission) camped at one end of the island for 4 months studying a species of bird
· experts on dolphins – the history of how the Monkey Mia dolphins came to being such regular visitors.
· archaeologists studying the camps of the Zuytdorp survivors and how they first found the settled area, and the excavation of the site. This link also contains lots of interesting info on the shipwreck.
· studies of shipwrecks and the history of their finds – especially the Zuytdorp which was carrying a very rich silver cargo (much of which has been pillaged).
· marine biologists who spoke of the diversity of the area. This area is the southern most point for warm water fish, and the northern most waters for cold water fishes. As a result the biodiversity is extensive.
· how water is collected – aboriginals used to expand on the kangaroo scratches. The kangaroos would scratch an area where fresh water existed – the salt water would seep in also, but the fresh water floats on top. So they just siphoned off the top water. This same method was expanded on by the ranchers for their sheep and cattle. A windmill was connected (lots of wind here!) with a float and the fresh water was siphoned off for the animals. As wild goats became more plentiful, they would destroy the kangaroo scratches with their hooves (kangaroo have soft paws). In addition, the water stations for the sheep were then used by the wild roos and they stopped making scratches. Eden project has eliminated the ranches in the park, and kangaroo scratches are reappearing.
· Eden project (several clips) – the introduction of the fence across the peninsula has allowed the elimination of many of the foreign species. Foxes are mostly gone, rabbits also. Feral cats have been harder to eliminate since they only eat fresh meat (baits won’t work). Goats are also being eliminated. This has allowed several native endangered species to be reintroduced – with varying success (Cats still eliminated a couple of species)
· The waters of the area – hypersaline in the deepest areas, supersaline in the mid section which results in the cyanobacteria ability to survive to create the stromatolites and Shell beach existing.

There were also many other displays of shells, artifacts and more. We had a grand old time.

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Hong Kong (1 year later) and Wrap Up

And then before we knew it, we were back in Hong Kong. One year less a couple of days later, it didn’t seem much different (you may recognize the market photo similar to last years shot!). But this time we had a much more refreshed view of the city and spent 2 nights there also.

We had arrived mid day and spent the first day getting settled, doing a bit of shopping and met up with Simon. We had booked in at the Eaton Hotel in an executive package which gave us free access to the executive lounge – with cocktails, free internet (wireless or their computers), snacks, gourmet breakfast buffet and more. And to top it off, our room was upgraded too!

So after a bit of luxury and shopping, we met Simon for dinner and had a much more congnizant visit this time around. It was great to catch up on how his life had changed in the past year and to recap our experiences.

The next day was reserved for Hong Kong site seeing. We took the MTR (the rail system in Hong Kong is flawless) to catch the gondola cable car to Lantau Island to see the Po Lin Monastery and Tian Tan Buddha. While we knew the cable ride was going to be interesting, it was much more impressive than we had anticipated. It was a half hour ride over water and secluded mountainside for over 5 1/2 km.

At the top is the Po Lin Monastery and the giant Buddha. We had a wonderful vegetarian lunch at the monestary (thanks again to Simon for his suggestions!), and spent lots of time exploring the Buddha.

The bus ride back down was quite time consuming and a little hairy given the single lane journey over twisting mountainside for much of it (they are widening the road) – we would recommend taking the gondola back down also!!

And still wanting to collect a few more items, we headed back and I did a bit of last minute shopping while Mike & Kyle hit the computers. We had one last dinner out (again one of Simon’s recommendations) – at a restaurant where one of the Iron Chef’s resided! As expected, it was another great meal.

In the morning we had a relaxing breakfast at the Eaton Hotel enjoying the smoked salmon, French pastries, fresh fruit and more on the buffet. And after a final leisurely shower and final packing, we were off home.

And that’s what a year on teaching exchange to Australia was like for us. We hope you’ve enjoyed sharing our journey – we’ve certainly enjoyed sharing it with you. Thanks to everyone who signed our journal and sent us emails – it was great to hear from you. And it’s great to be back seeing so many of you now. Although we do miss all the friends we have left behind. Stay in touch!

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Thailand – Bangkok

Arriving early morning in Bangkok, our arranged transport to the hotel failed to show up (we heard from him later – he called to apologize that he had been given the wrong time). Again strangers were very helpful in assisting us with our troubles – and we managed to catch a taxi to the hotel no problem.

After checking in and showering, we headed to pick up our custom made clothing. We were re-fitted and they kindly had everything sent to our hotel later in the day so that we didn’t have to carry them around. We can certainly recommend Briani of Bangkok if anyone is looking for custom suits in Thailand.

So free of baggage, we took the skytrain and a river boat to the Grand Palace. Even after all the temples and pagodas we had visited, the palace was still very impressive.

There were endless buildings, each one overwhelming on its own. But en masse they are all the more magnificent. The buildings were well maintained with some tile work and painting still being done. We were not sure if it was restoration work – if they were fixing older artwork, the old was completely removed first.

As in many other cultures, gold is much desired and there is no shortage of it at the palace. Anywhere you see ‘gold’ in these photos, it truly is gold.

We visited the museum where many more gold artifacts were stored – no photos allowed of course!! There were personal kits of kings and queens. Each person gets a whole new set – no reusing of the past kings effects. There were belts and rings full of gold and diamonds and rubies and emeralds. There were also many examples of coins over the centuries. The form of their conis was very different prior to the 1800’s. At that point, the current king westernized the style of their coins and the old styles went out of use.

From the palace, we returned to do our final packing before heading out for dinner. We found a Korean neighbourhood where we had a very yummy Galbae. However, we (or should I say ‘I’) also ordered another dish of ground beef with spices and vegetables which is apparently eaten raw. So unfortunately that part of our meal went uneaten. Ah well, not an overly expensive lesson at $10!

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Thailand Tour Day 5

We had a busy day on our last day of the tour – we started with a visit to Wat Doi Suthep – a temple in the mountains at 1,056 metres. We took an elevator rail to the top since were in a hurry (we had wanted to walk up). The monastery was built in 1383 by King Gue-Na. At left is the spiral pagoda – big chedi – which contains relics of Lord Buddha. We did walk back down the 300 steps though – which wasn’t all that many after all!

Next we travelled back down the winding mountain roads to an elephant camp. We started with a one hour trek through the jungles – a journey taken by Stallone for one of the Rambo movies.

Elephants are much revered in Thailand – the Hindu elephant God Ganesh is the son of Shewa and is an integral part of the Hindu faith. He is the God of Intelligence and Success.

After watching the elephants head to the river for a bath, we were entertained with a display of ‘skills’ / tricks learned by the elephants – from lumber hauling and bell ringing to playing soccer and basketball. Some of the elephants walked on their back legs, others on their front – and many different balancing acts also. Very impressive. At the end, they called for volunteers for an elephant massage – and so here I am getting my ‘gludial massage’!

There are 6,000 elephants in Thailand, and 4,000 of those are in camps. Each one eats 250KG per DAY – so imagine how much land they require in the wild!

We visited an orchid and butterfly farm for lunch. Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! The orchids came in many different varieties and colours and aromas. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure! (It did make me quite sad that they grow so readily in this climate and not in Canada….)


And finally it was time to head to the Chain Mai station to catch our overnight sleeper train back to Bangkok. We had a cozy compartment, and Kyle had one which he shared with another person (not so bad as he only slept there). Although the boxed dinner left a little to be desired – we survived on our snack reserves that night!

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Thailand Tour Day 4

We left Chaing Rai and headed for Ban Lorcha – a hillside village community. It is a tourist based community developed to promote a sustainable lifestyle for the villagers.

Two seperate tribes were relocated here and live in nearby communities, although not integrated. Their costumes were quite different and their languages also – they are so different that the two villages are unable to communicate verbally with each other.
The people in the villages tended to be either very young or very old. We suspected that despite the governments hope to sustain village life, the youth and middle aged people still left the village to find work in the cities.
As you can see in the photo at right, their household kitchen is very basic, and the whole home consisted only of one additional room. The entire village shares a toilet – so there is not much holding the youth to the village.
Although there were farming communities leading to the village (photo at right), the landscape in the hillside villages makes farming difficult. There is not really any farming in the village to speak of.
There were many crafts for sale – but most were not made by the locals, rather were brought in for sale. One exception seems to be the woven baskets – you can see the crop drying at right. But there aren’t many on sale, so I suspect they make items for their own use. And since there is much more selection and better prices in the city markets, there seems to be little reason to buy from the villages. I suspect the ‘sustainable tourism’ they were hoping for is not likely to succeed.

We proceeded to Chaing Mai and visited craft making sites – lacquerware, silk making, paper umbrellas, jewellery making and wood carving. Some places did not allow photos, and they were generally quite crowded, so few photo op’s -sorry!

In the evening, we attended a Kantoke Dinner with typical Thai food served in the traditional manner, and followed by dances and songs by various hillside tribes. Unfortunately, Mike had been downloading photos prior to leaving, and had forgotten to put the memory card back in the camera! So again no photos!!!

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Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Well as should have been expected, I have had no opportunity to update prior posts with text, and the missing days are just that at this point. Mike has not yet worked on his Hong Kong photos, but we had a wonderful reunion dinner with Simon (one year later!). And we spent yesterday touring the city – the tram ride up to the Giant Buddha was incredibly long and quite an experience. And the Buddha and other sites atop were equally impressive. And of course a bit more last minute shopping.

But, we are on our way up to our room for our final pack here at the Eaton Hotel in Hong Kong. My current intentions are to fill in the gaps upon our return home (although our ‘to do’ list once we get back continues to grow).

Our flight leaves this afternoon – and that is our year away from Canada on it’s last leg. We’ll be back in our own beds tonight (taking into account that we cross the international date line and repeat today – so it’s one VERY long day!). And at some point during our trip, our plane will cross paths with Theresa who returns home to Australia from Canada simultaneously. Unfortunately we won’t get to meet again at the end of the year, but we are glad that we met at the start at least.

To everyone on the Canadian end of this blog – it will be great to see you all soon! And to everyone on our travels, thanks once again for your more overwhelming hospitality.

If we have learnt anything over this year, it is that despite all our differences, people everywhere are all ‘good souls’ and we have much more in common than could ever be imagined.

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Thailand Tour Day 3

We made it all the way to the Golden Triangle on our 3rd day of the tour. Again we visited many beautiful temples of varying ages – stories will have to follow as we need to go for our traditional Thai dinner soon.












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Thailand Tour Day 2

And here is the visual images from Day 2 – we travelled further north (cities and temple details will follow at a future time when time permits). We continued to be awed by the ancient and modern temples and the craftmenship that goes into them.