Toronto, Canada (July 28th, 2017)

We flew from Edmonton to Toronto on June 21st. Air Canada provided us with a comfortable flight and we were very impressed with the Pearson Airport to Union Station express train. Before we knew it, we had collected our bags and were in downtown Toronto.

From Union Station we walked a few blocks north to the Dundas Apartments and Suites, which is located on the corner of Dundas and Bathurst, just west of the Kensington Market area.

This Toronto trip was originally put into motion in order to see the rock band, U2. Ten years ago, we had tickets to see U2 in Australia. Although we made it to the land down under, the band unfortunately didn't and the concert was cancelled. 

It was now the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree album and U2 was staging another tour to honour the album which has aged so elegantly. Friday June 23, had been circled in my calendar for some time and we arrived at the Rogers Centre early to soak up the preconcert atmosphere. 

The dome was closed and the air was stuffy for the opening act; however, much to our relief, the roof was opened just before we heard the opening drum beats of “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” After so many years, I was finally seeing U2 live.

The band opened with a four-song set of classics on a small stage before moving back to the mainstage with their massive video screen. As the band made their way through the entire Joshua Tree tracklist, the screen displayed images of American desert landscapes and mountain peaks. 

Bono praised Canada numerous times throughout the show and referred to the country as a magnificent, beautiful mosaic.

They played to over 52,000 people that night and gave the fans exactly what they were looking for.

The next morning, Jueun and I met my cousin Jeff for breakfast at Fran's, on College Street. The landmark restaurant has been serving it up since the1940's and as usual they more than satisfied our breakfast needs. After this, we left downtown Toronto and made our way north to Wasaga Beach. 

Once we arrived at Wasaga Beach, we met our other cousins. Along with Mike, Tamy, Carly, Amanda, Elana, Kenzie, Oliver, Myles and Laura, we had a great day at the popular beach. We had fun swimming and playing volleyball along with other games. 

It was great to hang out and we were so glad everyone could get together like that. Tamy prepared a great lunch for us all. The barbeque was delicious and we had built up quite an appetite after all the fun and games. After all the good competition on this day, we are now left looking forward to the Volleyball rematch next summer.

The next day, on Sunday June 25th, we made our way to BMO Field to see the Toronto Argonauts football game. We walked down Bathurst Street and towards the Exhibition grounds where we walked through the Prince's Gate and towards the stadium. After a brief shower in the afternoon, the sun came out, just in time for us to take in a little of the Argo tail gate party. 

Besides driving us all around, which we really appreciated, Jeff managed to get us some awesome seats and along with Mike and Tamy we got to watch the Argos sail on to a commanding 32-15 win over the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

On Monday, Jeff, Jueun and I contunued our Toronto fun time schedule by going to Canada's Wonderland. It was Jueun's first time ever and likely my first visit in about 25 years.  The weather was cool and the the crowds were small so it made for short lines and lots of rides. At times we felt like teenagers, basically running from ride to ride. If there had been a "Back to the Future" ride we might have had the date set on 1992.

The next day, we took a walk around Maple Leaf Gardens, the Air Canada Centre and then around the St. Lawrence Market, before making our way back to the Rogers Centre. This time we were headed to see baseball.

We enjoyed the game; however, the Blue Jays were no match for the Baltimore Orioles. It's been a rough year for the Jays and this day was no exception. 

On Wednesday, we headed out for a major walk around the downtown area.  When we travel we always enjoy walking, whether it is exploring a city for the first time, or in this case, checking out the changes in a city we have known for years. 

After breakfast, we headed north on Ossington Avenue until we hit Bloor Street. There we took a rest for awhile in Christie Pits Park before having Nangmyung for lunch at a nice little Korean restaurant in Koreatown. 

We then headed East along Bloor, until we reached Sherbourne Street, where we turned South and made our way down to Queen Street. Here we stopped in at Kim's Convenience for some gatorade and a little chat with the real Mrs. Kim, in the store from the Korean flavoured CBC comedy. For obvious reasons this show has struck a humorous chord with us. 

From there we moved on to the Indigenous festival at Dundas Square. We hung out there for awhile before we made our way back to Kensington Market to meet up with Carly, Faith and Zian for a a nice meal at the Pho Hung Restaurant.  

By the end of the day our feet were a little sore; however, we were satisfied with the ground we had covered and what we had seen of "The Big Smoke." I wonder if the King of Kensington ever walked around the city that much. 

Edmonton, Canada (July 15th 2017)

We arrived in Edmonton on May 25th. It felt nice to be at Mum and Dad's place and take some time to unwind after so much travelling. We were told spring was slow coming to Edmonton this year; however, once we arrived we certainly had nothing to complain about. It felt very comfortable to us especially compared to some of the extreme weather conditions we had experienced recently.

Being in Edmonton gave us time with my parents, my sister, Sherri-Lee and her family. It was great to be around everyone and long enough to celebrate important family events.

We were able to be altogether for Mum's birthday in May, Fathers Day and my birthday in June and then Sher's birthday in July.

We had a chance to help Mum and Dad paint their back deck and work on some yard work around the house. It was nice to watch the last round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Dad. Watching those final games between the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins ended up being the only real hockey I was able to see all year. 

Shorty after we arrived we had the privilege of meeting Mum's good friend Kaethe. Kaethe is an interesting lady who shares our interest in travel and the great outdoors. We had some nice conversations with her and we were glad to hear that she has been following our blog throughout the year.

During the summer we fell into a comfortable routine of daily dog walks in the park and iced coffee frappés.  We had mid week barbeques and Sundays were always built around quarter chicken dinners at Swiss Chalet.  

Some highlights included taking part in the 5k foam fest in Leduc. Along with Sher and our nephews  Matt and Nate, we had a blast going through, over and under a number of interesting obstacles. As we made our way through the course we crawled through the mud, slid down slides and of course played in the foam.  

We got to see Queen and Adam Lambert at the new Rogers Place Arena and somehow managed to meet Alan Doyle before his show at K Days. Hey...hey... how's that for an "Ordinary day"? 

We took in a couple of football games. We saw the Stampeders beat the Roughriders in Calgary and we watched the Eskimos take down the Lions in Edmonton.  Watching the home teams win added to the football fun.

Last year we were at Trafalgar Square in London on Canada Day. This year we watched Peter Mansbridge and his final day on the air before we took in an impressive display of fire works in a nearby park.

        

In his speech, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated how, in Canada "We experience life through different cultures, and yet we are one country. Today, as has been the case for centuries, we are strong not in spite of our differences, but because of them."  I thought this was a good point and even though as a nation we are not perfect, for the most part we seem to be on the right track. Happy 150th Canada! Glad we could be part of it this year. 

  

  

  

Vancouver, Canada (June 7th 2017)

Sunday May 21st was a beautiful morning in Vancouver, British Columbia. We had a blue sunny sky, a temperature of 22C and we were with Mum and Dad. We were back in Canada and it felt great.  Unlike getting off a long flight, we were well rested and had lots to talk about as we drove from downtown to Whistler that morning. We had a nice lunch there and spent most of the afternoon walking around the picture perfect mountain village.

The next day we took a ferry to Gibsons. Both Whistler and Gibsons had been on my B.C. hit list for awhile now and it was great to finally make it to both places.

We had another day of perfect weather for our day at Gibsons. The quaint town is perched on a hillside overlooking the harbour filled with fishing boats. The town is also well known for being the location for the longtime hit TV show "The Beachcombers".  

We enjoyed  wandering around town and checking out some of the shops, half expecting to see Nick or Relic walk down the road at any moment.

Posing for pictures in front of the Persephone and eating at Molly's Reach were highlights for me and brought back lots of childhood memories of watching the show on CBC.

The next day we drove to Kelowna and the day after on to Banff.  After a night in Banff we made our way on to Edmonton the next day.

We really appreciated Mum and Dad meeting us in Vancouver.  It was a great way to kick off The Canadian leg of our journey. It was a nice couple of days on the road. The scenery was beautiful and the drive gave us a great chance to catch up. 

The Trans Pacific Cruise (May 24th 2017)

Back in the fall, while in Korea, I was surfing the net one day and read something about repositioning cruises. We were at a point in our year where it was time to make onward plans.

I knew cruise lines regularly relocate ships when demand is greater in other regions. Cruise lines sell these one-way routes, usually at a discount, rather than sail the ships without passengers. These voyages are known as repositioning cruises.

As it turned out Celebrity Cruise Lines had one of these cruises operating in May.  It was a 15 day cruise that went from Yokohama, Japan to Vancouver, Canada. The timing worked out well for us.  It was just about the time we wanted to be back in Canada and the cost was similar to what we would have had to pay in air fare.  Two weeks of relaxing at sea sounded more appealing then hours and hours cramped up in an airplane.  After giving it some thought we decided we would go for it.

  

On Sunday May 7th, we made our way from Narita to Yokohama. Taking the subway was very straight forward and we were able to walk from the last station to the port where we could easily see our ship. A couple of hours later, we boarded the Celebrity Millennium. The ship set sail at 5pm on the next day.

After roughing it a bit in Nepal and Tibet, we were ready to be pampered a little now and we savoured the comforts as they came along.

The cruise took us along the Northern part of Japan with stops in Hakodate and Muroran, Sapporo before moving on to Petropavlovsk, Russia. After a day on the Kamchacka Peninsula we made our way across the Bering Sea and through the Alaskan Islands before going through the Inside Passage and on to Vancouver.

The cruise gave us an opportunity to visit some remote areas in Japan, as well as take part in a very unique excursion in Petropavlovsk. Here we signed up to take part in a wilderness picnic hosted by a very eccentric Russian man who barbecued salmon, sang songs, and kept our glasses full of vodka.  He was a one man show who kept us entertained in his unusual Kamchacka wilderness home.

Each morning, Captain Nickolaos Christodoulakis made his announcements. We'd chuckle at his Count Dracula style accent as he informed us of the details of our current location and how many nautical miles we had travelled.

Jueun joined the cruise choir, we put our knowledge to the test during trivia time and we tried to go to the gym most days, which was a good thing considering the amount of food we ate. The food was absolutely delicious and I felt my appetite, along with my waist line, increase with each passing day.

We were entertained by some great performers. The quality of the musicians, magicians and comedians kept us going to all the shows. Some of our favourites included the pianist John Bressler with his raspy Rod Stewart voice. We enjoyed some good old Rock n Roll with the Chilean singer, Salvatore Hasard, and Domenick Allen who had worked with everyone from Liberace to the group Foreigner. The comedians Steve Carte and George Kanter kept us laughing and the Russian Olympic team of Yulia & Alan Reva left us in complete awe as we watched their acrobatic wonders.

Crossing the international date line was a reason to celebrate with a party including a countdown and balloon drop. It gave us a chance to live Monday the 15th two days in a row. It was one Monday we certainly didn't mind living twice.

On the 20th of May,  we stood on deck and took in the warm fresh air as we stared at the snow capped mountains, huge British Columbia trees and clear blue water. Over the last year we had seen some incredible places; however, none could have been more beautiful than this.

We were both filled with pride as we went through the inside passage and watched people from all over the world snap pictures and marvel at the beauty of Canada.

The next morning, the sun was bright and the water was as smooth as glass. We glided through the first narrows under the Lions Gate bridge, past Stanley Park and docked at Canada Place Terminal in Vancouver. Mum and Dad were there to meet us and after almost 11 months away from Canada, we were back.

A nice thing about being Canadian is that we are free to travel and are welcomed abroad. The best thing is coming home!

  

  

  

 

 

  

 

 

  

Tokyo, Japan (May 10th 2017)

We were in Korea from April 28th until the 4th of May. It gave us another chance to see friends and family and have one more meal of naengmyun and samgyeopsal. After a week in and around Seoul it was time to move on again.

We flew to Narita, Japan, on Thursday May 4th. The next day we got up bright and early and took a train to Tokyo. Japan’s busy capital somehow manages to mix the super modern with traditional historic temples.

Our first stop was Nakamise Shopping Street in Asakusa. It is said that this is one of the oldest shopping areas in Japan. These days various products are sold here, including Japanese-style goods that are popular with tourists from abroad.

After we walked along this famous street we made our way to Sensoji Temple. This temple is one of Tokyo's most colourful and popular temples and is considered to be one of the most significant in Japan.

We wandered around here until we stopped for a rest and ate tacoyaki, which is bite sized Japanese waffles with pieces of octopus. 

After this we made our way to Shinjuku which is often compared to Piccadilly Circus in London or Times Square in New York.

Shinjuku is a massive entertainment and shopping area and a dazzling spectacle of neon-lit skyscrapers. Shinjuku Station is the world's busiest railway station and the area is home to many of Tokyo's tallest buildings.

After taking in these big city sights, we squeezed our way through the crowded streets and stopped to have lunch. We placed our order through some kind of fancy automated ordering machine. It was a challenge that we actually tried to avoid but we soon discovered that these ordering machines were in all the restaurants. Anyway, it was a new experience for us and having had to work for our ramen noodles somehow made them taste even better.

We then moved on to Harajuku and the famous Takeshita Street which is known for its crowds and fashion. The street was certainly full of people and energy and after a quick look we were ready to move on.

By then we were more than ready to escape the crowds as we headed to Meiji Jingu. This shrine is surrounded by a huge forest. 

It felt good to take a little break from the city streets and the spacious grounds offered beautiful walking paths that were great for a relaxing stroll. 

We then walked along a large road that reminded me of the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as we made our way to Shibuya. At Shibuya we took a walk across the famous intersection outside Shibuya Station.

When the lights turn red at this busy junction, they all turn red at the same time in every direction. Traffic stops completely and pedestrians surge into the intersection from all sides. It was really a sight to see. By the end of the day we had covered a lot of ground and were completely exhausted.

On Saturday, May 6th, we took a train from Narita to Kawaguchiko to see Mt. Fuji.
At 3776 metres, Mt. Fuji is Japan's highest mountain. It is not surprising that the nearly perfectly shaped mountain has been considered sacred and has always been very popular among artists and common people throughout the centuries.

Kawaguchiko is supposed to have some of the best views of Fuji in Japan. After the train arrived at the station we headed towards the lake.  We walked around It, and ate our lunch, as we enjoyed the view of Japan’s most famous mountain from the other side.

On Sunday, May 7th, we made our way to the port of Yokohama where we found the beautiful Celebrity Millennium. It was the ship that would take us to Sapporo, Kamchatka, the Bering Sea and finally on to Vancouver. 

Back to Beijing (May 1st 2017)

We knew that Tibet was not an easy place to visit. We also discovered it isn't always an easy place to leave.

On Monday, April 24th, we were met by a new Tibet Vista representative and taken to the Lhasa train station. Like much of our time in Tibet, we were guided, practically by hand, through many of the steps and formalities. 

While going through security, to enter the station, I was informed I would be losing some of my belongings. Although I had been travelling with my Swiss army knife for over 25 years, I understood that it could be considered a security risk. I was less understanding although very amused, to learn that my deodorant, shaving cream and sun screen were also considered safety risks.

At some point during this peculiar reduction in weight operation, our guide, who seemed content with the proceedings, told us he would move onto the next challenge, which was collecting our tickets at the check-in counter.  He hurried along as we were left to repack our bags. 

By now we were having some fun with the security officers who seemed more interested in practicing their English than confiscating anything else. The mood was light, my backpack was lighter and we were given the green light to proceed.

We then moved into the middle of a huge room where we could see our guy at the counter, at which time things got even more unusual. It became obvious that there was an issue since the man and ticket agent began to argue until he left in a huff and made his way back to us. He informed us that we had only one reservation number which meant only one ticket.

He appeared to be getting increasingly flustered as he riffled through papers and began calling people on his cell phone.  After numerous calls and heated arguments with the same station official, he began to look more and more frustrated.

We just stood there not knowing what to think as we looked back and forth from the heated dispute taking place in front of us to the large clock on the station wall. The large impressive clock was now ticking closer and closer to our departure time.

Finally, for whatever reason, which we will never know, our situation was resolved. It was now only a few minutes before our departure time and therefore we knew we had to move fast. With our two tickets in hand and a little light on toiletries we quickly made our way to the tracks and found our train.  With our one lower and one upper bunk we pulled out of the station at 4:10 pm and were on our way to Beijing.

Although a little out of breath, after trying to catch the train we quickly noticed oxygen was being pumped into our compartment. This pleasant surprise continued for the first 24 hours of our trip. It was a  luxury that literally felt like a breath of freah air as we sat back and settled in to enjoy a very scenic and comfortable train trip.

After two days, we arrived at the Beijing West Station early in the morning on Wednesday, April 26th. We took a taxi to a hotel a couple of blocks from Tian'anmen Square. 

During the ride we took note of how much better the city looked compared to our last visit. In November, Beijing was a cold, damp, grey and polluted city.  Now everything looked so bright and beautiful. The air seemed fresh, the trees were green and the sky was clear and blue.

The next day we took on the Bejing subway system and made our way to The Summer Palace. 

Located in the northwest of Beijing, it is said to be the best preserved imperial garden in the world, and the largest of its kind still in existence in China.

The Summer Palace was initially built in 1750 by Emperor Qianglong. It covers an area of 70 thousand square metres and holds over 3000 houses. In 1924, it was first opened to tourists.

The Summer Palace is one of the loveliest spots in Beijing. The arched bridges, pretty promenades and decorated corridors are nestled into the landscape.  It was a beautiful day and we spent most of the day here walking around the area.

The next day, Friday, April 28th we flew Asiana Airlines back to Korea again. After our adventures in Tibet and the difficulty we had leaving Lhasa we were glad to have a simple, smooth and uneventful travel day from Beijing to Seoul.