Holiday Card

Here is our holiday card

Likuliku Lagoon, Fiji

The first stop on our sabbatical was LikuLiku Lagoon Resort in Fiji. We flew on November 30th overnight to Nadi, Fiji and went out to the island via a ferry. Likuliku was a classic beach resort, the perfect way to start our sabbatical and unwind from day to day life. We stayed in an over-water "bura" that was built over the lagoon on stilts. A reef started right next to our bura and we coudl snorkel right from our private deck.

Saffire Freycinet, Australia

After Fiji, we flew to Tasmania, in Australia, for an encore visit to Saffire Freycinet. We visited in 2016 and liked it so much that we returned. This time we took a boat tour of the bay and out into the open ocean. The resort has a Tasmanian Devil sanctuary so we saw some pretty devilish creatures.

Three Capes, Australia

Our next adventure in Tasmania was the Three Capes Lodge Walk. We took a boat over to the Three Capes National Park and began a 4 day hike with two luxury lodges in between.

Hanoi, Vietnam

We then began our Southeast Asia leg in Hanoi, where we stayed at the Sofitel Metropole. Our Quantas flight to Hanoi was cancelled so we only had part of a day and one night in Hanoi - which was not enough! We made the best of it by going to a cooking school (including a tour of the market), touring the hotel bomb shelter, and taking a vespa after dark food tour of Hanoi. We were in Hanoi on our 2003 sabbatical and I've always wanted to go back. We really liked Hanoi but did not have enough time there, we will have to go back.

Sapa, Vietnam

From Hanoi, we drove up to Sapa in the mountains of North Vietnam where we stayed at the Topas Ecolodge. We have been to Sapa before -- in 2003, so this was an encore visit - it had really changed. On the way up we had lunch at a homestay, which gave us a chance to see how the locals live.Our first day in the Sapa area, we went to the top of the valley that Sapa is in, to the O Quy Ho pass. Our first stop is a scenic overlook called Heaven's Gate. From their we go to the Cloud Dragon Skywalk, a newly constructed glass observation tower. We then headed into the town of Sapa with a stop at the Silver Waterfall. Sapa was a disappointment. It has grown from a quaint mountain town to a major backpacker center and is overrun with Chinese tourists and hotels. After lunch in Sapa we tour a Black Hmong village. At the start of the village we encountered some Hmong ladies imbibing in the local liquor - they were quite toasty. We toured the village - it was a beautiful setting with mountains and rice patties but the people were very poor. When we got back to the Topas lodge, a very enterprising group of local women waited to show Care their wares.

The next morning, we set out to hike in the Sapa valley, the same valley we hiked in 2003. Of course, Care once again attracted a gaggle of local women seeing a retail opportunity. We also saw the high tech Vietnamese way of road construction. We hiked down this valley for several days in 2003 and stayed in "home stays", local homes with rooms for tourists. There were just a few back then, but now a proliferation. Our hike ran along the hillside and a locl Hmong woman appointed herself our guide. We saw a family harvesting bamboo and beautiful pastoral scenes of rice paddies and water bufallo.

Luang Prabang, Laos

We left Vietnam for neighboring Laos - to Luang Prabang, also an encore visit, since we visited Luang Prabang in 2008. We stayed at a new Rosewood Hotel on the outskirts of Luang Prabang. Our "room" was a luxury tent on the ridge overlooking a small river. The resort grew some of its own vegetables and we had a gin and tonic each night at the hotel bar that spanned the river. One night, before dinner, the resort featured local musicians and dancers.

We went to a local buffalo farm, where they were teaching the local farmers how to use their buffalo for dairy products - a more sustainable agriculture. Of course, they had pigs, too. We had some delicious buffalo ice cream and talked with one of the founders. We also stopped at the local buddhist temple on the way back to town. Back in town, we went to a local Baci ceremony where we were blessed by local Lao. It was right before Christmas and, although Laos is mostly Buddhist, it was once a French colony so there was a bit of Christmas cheer about town.

The next day, Sunday, we went into town and encoutered the local farmer's market where we saw all kinds of chilis, greens, fish, crabs, and even bats.

That afternoon, we explored the city and met with Francis Engelmann, a retired French urban planner who worked with UNESCO in the preservation and restoration of Luang Prabang. At the end of the day, we had a drink with Francis near the confluence of Nam Kahn and Mekong rivers

The next morning we drove through the rice paddies of the Lao countryside on our 6-hour drive to Muang La.

Muang La, Laos

We headed north from Luang Prabang to the Northern Laos town of Muang La. Muang La is an all day drive from Luang Prabang and up in the Laos mountains. The road was good because it is a newly-improved highway to China. On the way to Muang La, we stopped in a town called Muang Xai for lunch and visited a Buddhist temple on a hill overlooking the town. The Muang La Lodge is an ecolodge on the banks of the Nam Pak River. Our room overlooked the river and a suspension bridge over to the lodge's private island which had an observation tower and small pool. One evening, we saw local monks bathing in the river in front of the resort.

Our first morning, we drove then hiked among the very scenic rice paddies and up a creekbed to a Khmu village. The Khmu people live in the village but farm the rice paddies along our route. I flew my drone much to the astonishment of the kids and locals. We had lunch at a waterfall near the village and returned to the lodge.

Our second morning, Christmas day, we drove way up into the mountains to visit Hmong, Khmu, and Akha villages. The Lao government built roads and powerlines and also schools and healthcare facilities. Although these places were remote and primitive, they did have basic social services.

We left Muang La and made our way back to Luang Prabang via a boat on the Nam Ou River. We drove to Muang Khua, and boarded the river boat for the trip downstream to Nong Khiow, about a 5-hour boat ride, then drove back to Luang Prabang. Midway through the boat ride, we had to transfer around a large dam built by China Power to another boat to take us the rest of the way down river. After the dam, the surrounding terrain got more mountainous and the river calmer. As we got close to Nong Khiow, we began to see river resorts and tourists.

Yangon, Myanmar

From Laos, we flew via Bangkok to Yangon, Myanmar. Yangon is the former capital of Myanmar and was the British Colonial capital of Burma. We only spent a day there but got to see lots of colonial architecture and Buddhist temples. Our first stop was the Indian Market - where all kinds of food are sold. We then toured the downtown area with a mix of Buddhist pagodas and old British colonial buildings.

We then toured the Secretariat - the old Parliment building where An Sang Su Chi’s father was assassinated. We got a tour of the Secretariat and retraced the path of the assassins.

We then went to a park on a lake with an abandoned boat-shaped restaurant and some interesing rules.

We visited a large reclining Buddha. For some reason these are popular throughout Southeast Asia.

We ended our visit at the Shwendagon pagoda, the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar. It towers above the Yangon skyline. The pagoda was like a Disneyland for Buddhists - lots of little temples and lots of people walking around, chanting and praying or just looking. At the end of the evening, we did participated in a sacredlamp lighting ceremony with 1000 oil laps. Just before we left, we saw a group of about 25 young orphan girls, who were being cared for by Buddhist nuns, chanting. It was enchanting.

Wa Ali, Myanmar

Our last stop in 2019 was the Wa Ali resort on an island in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Myanmar. We flew to Kawthang, the southernmost city in Myanmar and took a 2-hour speedboat ride to Wa Ali. The resort is on an island in the Andaman Sea. We stayed in a luxury tent on the beach and enjoyed hiking, snorkling, kayaking, and gourmet food. It was a very relaxing place to ring in the new year.