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June 10, 2007

On the road to Asia

Hello family and friends

 

As many of you know Bernie and I went to China and south-east Asia this spring for 31 days.  Bernie has begun writing the journal of our adventure, which you will soon receive.  I’m going to try to provide some background about our ‘trip of a lifetime’.

 

We visited China for 14 days, Hong Kong for 2, Thailand for 5, Cambodia for 3, and finally Viet Nam for a week.  Right off the bat you probably think I’ve spelled Viet Nam wrong but in their language all words have only one syllable, so the name of the country is 2 words.  More about that later.

 

In a word our trip was amazing!!!!  We have been back a couple of weeks and Bernie still said to friends on Sunday that it’s hard to believe we actually went – it feels almost like a dream. 

 

We took nearly 2000 digital photos so just editing them is quite a project.  How do you condense your impression of China and its 1.4 billion people or its 25,000,000 scooters.  The ruins of ancient Angkor in Cambodia, a city of 1,000,000 in the 8th century, were spectacular.  The 2 cities in Thailand we visited, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, were highlighted because of the wonderful gentle people we met.  In Viet Nam 70% of the people were born after the war with America, so the country is young and vibrant.  The war and its history have become part of their tourism itinerary.

 

To begin with, getting there wasn’t half the fun.  We left at 11:30 PM and arrived in Hong Kong at 8:00 AM two mornings later.  It is 12 hours ahead of Toronto.  The flight, in 3 segments, was a bit of an endurance contest.  We flew on a Cathay Pacific Airbus A340 and were superbly taken care of.  The flight was Toronto to Anchorage, Alaska (6 hours) then re-fuelling and a crew change (1 1/2 hours) then on to Hong Kong (12 hours, a plane change (2 hours) then to Shanghai (2 1/2 hours).   There’s time enough for 5 movies, 5 meals and some sleep as well.

 

As most of you probably know Toronto has a new terminal at the airport, but after you see Hong Kong’s (the hub airport for all of Asia) and Shanghai’s and Beijing’s, Toronto’s seems quite modest by comparison.

 

That’s all for now.  More soon.  Stay tuned.

 

Ross

Posted by Bernice at June 10, 2007 11:21 PM

Comments

Bernice and Ross
Welcome back .We almost crossed paths . I am glad you a great time . So did I .
Regards,
Jonathan

Posted by: Jonathan at June 26, 2007 11:56 PM

Your adventures are always worth the wait when I open to read what you two have been up to. Your trip sounds quite amazing and only wish I had done that too. Waiting for your pictures. Where are you now? In Canada or the States?

Posted by: Louise Fell at June 27, 2007 05:56 AM

HI Bernice-

Can't wait to read about Asia! The email address you have for me will soon no longer be valid- my new one is [email protected].

Where are you off to next??

Take care!
Raff

Posted by: Raff at June 27, 2007 07:55 AM

Hello Ross, and Bernie. Your trips look and sound marvellous. I enjoy taking your trips along with you very much.
Ross I have some sad news for you. Bob Carr passed away on May 13th. It was a great suprise to all. Well, sorry to bring sad tidings, but if you feel some odd presence along with you, Bob is probably hitching a ride. Take care and Stay Well. Your friend
Sharon Smith

Posted by: Sharon Smith at June 27, 2007 12:12 PM

Lookong forward to more.

Posted by: Bobbi at June 30, 2007 09:23 PM

My goodness! You will spend hours just going thru photos to determine the ones you truly want to keep. My son would love to go to Viet Nam--has a friend who lived there and raved about the country. Really looking forward to the rest of your journals. I will write soon about our trip--it was fantastic only we just didn't have time to see everything we wanted to see. However, did put 3900 miles on the rental car. Sincerely, Bette

Posted by: Bette Andrew at July 22, 2007 05:32 PM