Travel Doctor

Time to get our shots!  We had visited a travel clinic doctor recommended by our family doctor several months ago, but were not impressed with his knowledge, advice or bedside manner.  Luckily, we found Dr. Mark Wise through a friend of Beth's, and he proved to be the exact opposite of our first experience.

Dr. Wise (http://www.drwisetravel.com/) has written a couple of books on travel health and was truly enthusiastic about our trip.  He gave great advice and went in-depth on the possible issues we could run into, and what to do in advance and during the trip in each situation.

While Beth and I listened intently, we later realized that the kids were listening too... and they were listening from a different perspective...

We all got some shots and booked a follow up in January for some more.  When we got outside and into the car, both girls burst out crying saying "you're trying to kill us!".  I guess the speech from the doctor opened their eyes to the "potential risks" when travelling abroad.  From a kids perspective, it may have been a bit much!  It was cute and we chuckled in the front on the way home...  Yes, we're trying to kill you!  Too funny.

Thai girls

Happy hiker

First flight booked!

Turkey night!

Speaking Japanese!

A couple months ago I learned how to count to ten in Japaneses: 

ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyuu, ju!

its useful in Japan when your going sopping

 

I cant  wait to use this language in Japan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so bye now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bollywood entertainers

Inspired by Taj

The chef

My Top Ten: Asia

 Here are my top ten things I'm looking forward to in Asia:

1. The Taj Mahal in Agar, India

2. Turtle Island in Borneo, Malaysia 

3. The Gibbon Experience in Laos 

4. The big cities in Tokyo

5. The food experiences in Hong Kong 

6. My 13th birthday in Borneo, Malaysia!!!  

7. Robin's 11th birthday in Vietnam!

8. Beaches and waterparks around Asia

9. Seeing elephants in Thailand

10. Meeting my friends and family around Asia

I am looking forward to this trip, and I think that I'm going to have A LOT of funny and interesting stories to tell and that I'm going to have a lot of memories. 

             

Indian night!

Our 450 day celebration is India!

How it all began...

Beth and I lived in Japan for 3 years from 1994 to 1997.  We decided to take "the long way home" from Japan by travelling west through Southeast Asia for 6 months.  I remember the moment we left Tokyo as if it happened yesterday - June 29th, 1997.

It was a very strange day.  The country had been reeling from a case of 2 children being murdered in Kobe in late May - very gruesome details - and in a country that had very few incidents of murder (or violent crime for that matter), it was a shocking story.

The day we left, they had discovered that the brutal crimes were actually perpetrated by a 14 year-old boy.  I remember seeing the newspaper on the train platform and being in a complete state of shock.  You can read about it here.

The other thing of note that was kind of a big deal was the handover of Hong Kong back to China.  We weren't able to travel there and we were kind of disappointed as we'd always wanted to visit Hong Kong.  You can read about that trip here.

By mid October, we'd made it to Nepal and were preparing for our next and final destination:  India.  Before we took on trekking and rafting in Nepal, we wanted to take care of visa requirements for India.  Knowing that wading through the bureaucracy of Indian government processes often took way longer than it should, we set out to the local embassy in the morning.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had the same idea that day - we found ourselves in a lineup thirty people deep that was just NOT moving.  By that point in the trip, we'd learned to "enjoy" the delays and I immediately struck up a conversation with the family that was behind us in line.

The couple had two daughters, 11 and 13, and they were in the middle of a year-long backpacking adventure around the world.  Those girls were unbelievable - they could more than hold a conversation, were mature beyond their years and were extremely engaging - Beth and I couldn't believe it.

We talked in line for what seemed like hours and when the process finally ended, said our goodbyes.  That night, Beth and I agreed that if we had kids we would make every effort to take them on an adventure of their own.  And there you go!