Jen had spotted an interesting Japan cruise earlier in the summer, but it was fully booked. By chance, just two weeks before the cruise was set to depart, one cabin became available at a really good price. Without overthinking it, we booked it and were suddenly on our way to Japan!

Our first stop was Muroran, a port city where cruise ships typically dock for passengers planning to visit Sapporo. Unfortunately, due to storms, the ship was delayed by two hours. We paid for a shuttle to the train station, but when we finally arrived, there was an hour+ long lineup to buy train tickets, so, we decided to abandon that plan and stay in Muroran.

Muroran is mainly a port town with very few attractions. There are several small local restaurants, but they only take cash. Determined to try out one of these restaurants, we embarked on what turned out to be a full-day journey, struggling to find an ATM that would work with our foreign bank cards.  We even called our bank, only to be told our card was not locked and should be working fine. After an evening of research, it wasn’t until the next day (and some help from Google Translate) that we realized that we had been inserting our card incorrectly 🤦.

We still had a good time in Muroran, walking around and shopping. The highlight of the day was a credit-card accepting, budget-friendly sushi restaurant (Uobei) where sushi was delivered by train! You order on an iPad, and the sushi arrives on a little train to your table. While it was considered a "cheap" sushi place by Japanese standards, it was a delight for us Canadians. We only paid ¥2090 (~20cad) to have a fun experience and have a full and happy belly.

Hakodate

In Hakodate, we took a free shuttle bus downtown to begin our exploration. Our first stop was a market along the waterfront, where Jen bought some famous Hakodate Cheese Tarts, and Dom tried a whipped cream fruit sandwich. The surprising part of the sandwich was how crisp and flavourful the fruits were. I guess it’s to be expected in Japan, where a single cantaloupe can easily cost $30!

After the market, we made our way up a hill at the edge of town, which offered a fantastic view of Hakodate. We then returned to the centre to try out a local ramen shop, then wandered through town a bit more before returning to the boat.

Akita

In Akita, we took a special tourist train from the port to the center of town. Here, we visited a local market and then spent most of our time at Senshu Park. The park has several walking paths and the remnants of an old Japanese fortress where went up a tower to see a view of the surrounding area.

We also had the strangest lunch experience here: on social media, you can find many people raving about the 7-Eleven egg sandwich, so we had to try it. We stopped by a 7-Eleven, picked up an egg sandwich, a curry croquette, and paired them with some expensive sake from the local market. The sandwich was nice, the eggs were well-blended and very creamy, but we didn’t quite understand the hype. The curry croquette, on the other hand, greatly exceeded our expectations (so fluffy and delicious), as did the sake!

Sometimes the highlights of a trip are not the planned activities but the surprises we stumbled upon along the way. To return to the ship, we decided to walk 45 minutes to an alternate train station (visiting Daiso and Seria along the way) and came across a group of locals gathered around a massive wooden float. Soon after, we saw young kids start pulling a rope to drag the float down the street, while playing drums at the back of the float. It was such a charming and unexpected moment that made our day even more special.

Shimizu (Mount Fuji)

Shimizu is the typical cruise stop for being able to visit Mount Fuji, but you don’t have to wait until reaching Shimizu to catch a glimpse of the mountain. If you wake up early and head to the front of the boat, you might get lucky!  We’d heard that Mount Fuji is shy and is usually hidden by clouds, but fortunately, we had a beautiful and clear day as we approached the port.

Dom went Flowriding and paused between rides to admiring Mount Fuji looming larger into view.

When we arrived in Shimizu, it was a local holiday, so most shops were closed. Luckily, the local fish market was open. Shimizu is famous for its tuna, so we treated ourselves to some super fresh tuna sashimi. After a quick stroll around town, we returned to the ship.  By then, Mount Fuji had vanished behind a curtain of clouds.

Our final port was Tokyo. Normally, we would have stayed much longer to explore Japan, but since we’re planning to return this summer with Dom’s nephew, we only spent a few days in Tokyo. 

The Tokyo cruise port is far from the train station, so we took a free shuttle to the nearest Yokohama train station and then hopped on a train into Tokyo. Since it was still too early to check-in, we stopped at Shibuya Scramble Crossing, famous for being one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the world, where people cross in all directions at once.

Next, we visited Akihabara Electric Town to scope out Anime figurines for Dom’s nephew.  While there, we spent at least 15 minutes watching locals playing all sorts of skill-based arcade games. Our favourite was a dancing game, similar to Dance Dance Revolution, but instead of just four arrows, the entire mat was interactive, allowing players to move all around it and really dance.

We stayed at a cute hostel in Asakusa, where we visited the temple, wandered the cute streets, shopped, and tasted some local treats.

As always, we had some amazing food experiences. We enjoyed sushi, a Wagyu hamburger, and fresh fruit mochi, just to name a few of the highlights.

We never thought we’d be cruising so frequently, but with the advent of low-orbit internet satellites, we can now work on a cruise almost as efficiently as we do at home. It’s not always perfect, and we’ve had some close calls, but overall the internet works fairly well. This cruise was with Jen's parents and their friends Lloyd and Colleen.

We began our journey in Miami, where we boarded the Oasis of the Seas. It's a huge ship and until recently, it was the largest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet. It’s hard to put into words just how massive and impressive it is, so take a look at the photo and try to imagine it for yourself.

Our final stop was Barcelona, where we didn't linger long. We headed straight to the airport for our next adventure: biking in Mallorca.

During one of our previous cruises, we received some onboard credits that had to be used by the end of 2023. After searching for options within our price range and coming up empty, we were ready to let the credit go. Then, just two weeks before this trip, we stumbled upon a transatlantic crossing with cheap flights to and from the cruise. So, on October 13, we set off on a $290 CAD red-eye direct flight to London, ready for our next adventure aboard Anthem of the Seas.

Each ship has its own unique offerings, and Anthem was no exception. During our time on board, we tackled an escape room and even tested our archery skills. One of our favorite experiences, was when the cruise staff acquired local delicacies and served them at the Windjammer. For example, after our visit to Lisbon, we got to enjoy some pastel de nata. At the Canary ports, we sampled local cheeses and cured meats. Following our stop in Halifax, we were treated to Timbits, poutine, and Montreal smoked meat. On these port days, the staff also set up small stands along the promenade offering local drinks. This is not usual, but was a welcome addition on the Athem

When working on the ship, we’d love to work from everywhere. However, the lack of power outlets and the noise level in most common areas mean we usually end up working in our room: Jen on the bed, and Dom taking over the couch (or the bathroom for some meetings). We do try to get a bit of work done outside of our room, but once our batteries run low, we have to head back.

The primary goal of this trip was to work on the ship, rather than explore new cities or have new experiences. That being said, we still went ashore at each port and took some time to walk around and take in the sights.

We arrived in Southampton a day early, and during our time there, we mostly walked around the old city.

Next, we stopped in Vigo, Spain. Here, we wandered around town and went up to Monte O Castro, the highest point in the city, to visit the remnants of the old castle and take in the view of the city.

We then arrived in Lisbon and set out on a quest to rediscover our favorite Pastel de Nata spots. Surprisingly, they didn’t impress us as much as they had on our first trip. They were still good, but we remembered indulging in so many of them back then. This time, after just a couple, we had already hit our sugar limit. However, Dom did rediscovered Pão de Deus at A Padaria Portuguesa, a delicious Portuguese coconut bun.

We did two stops were on the Canary Islands. Our first stop was at Arrecife on Lanzarote, a charming small town with an old and relatively small castle. As usual, we explored the town on foot and made our way to Islota de Fermina, where we discovered a beautiful white resort and an interpretation center. The center provided us with valuable insights into the local history, enhancing our visit to this picturesque part of Lanzarote.

We made two stops in the Canary Islands. Our first was in Arrecife, on Lanzarote, a charming smlatown with an old and relatively small castle. As usual, we explored on foot and made our way to Islote de Fermina, where we discovered a beautiful white resort and an interpretation center. The center offered valuable insights into the local history, enhancing our visit.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife was our second stop in the Canaries. Surprise, we walked around town. 😄

Our last stop before reaching New Jersey was supposed to be Bermuda for two days. However, with Hurricane Tammy also heading that way, the captain made a small change to our itinerary, and we ended up in Halifax, Canada instead. We were a bit disappointed since we had just been in Halifax four weeks earlier, but we definitely preferred calm seas and a return to Canada over rough waters and a windy, rainy Bermuda.

We are already looking forward to the prospect of working remotely from a cruise ship again in the future.

When our Arctic cruise arrived in New Jersey, we quickly caught a flight to Orlando where Jen's parents had rented a timeshare for two weeks, and they had an extra room for us.  Our only plan was to relax, shop, and enjoy the sun.

We decided to drive to Cape Canaveral for a day, to explore the Kennedy Space Center.  We had read some positive reviews about it, but we had no real idea what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised with the place and the fact that they so many real spaceships for us to contemplate.

We started our visit with a quick history tour of U.S. space missions in the Rocket Garden. We were impressed by how small the astronaut capsules were, and couldn't believe that these tiny modules had actually been strapped onto real missiles.

Next we took a bus to see the Saturn V rocket, the 3-stage rocket that was designed to send astronauts to the moon. OMG, it is huge! In this section of the park, we learned about all of the early Apollo missions and the moon landings.

From there, we visited the Shuttle Pavilion, where we saw the actual Atlantis Shuttle. Once again, it was a lot bigger than we were expecting. We took a tour and learned interesting facts about the shuttle programs. The most notable was that the thermal protection blankets covering the shuttle’s belly, were actually hand-sewn by a team of highly skilled women.

Lastly, we explored a few more exhibits and tried some of the rides, but they paled in comparison to the first pavilions we visited. 

It was a long day since we arrived right at opening (9 AM) and stayed all the way until closing (5 PM), but we had a fantastic time and learned a lot.

Before our sabbatical ended, Jen’s mom found a last-minute deal on an affordable Artic cruise. So, before going back to work full-time, we decided to squeeze in one last adventure. We boarded the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas in Amsterdam and set off on a 17-night journey that ended in New Jersey.

Along the way, we visited the following ports:

• Akureyri, Iceland
• Isafjordur, Iceland
• Prins Christian Sund Cruise, Greenland
• Qaqortoq, Greenland
• St. John's, Halifax, and Sidney, Canada

The Jewel of the Seas is smaller than what we’re accustomed to. It belongs to the Radiance class and is approximately 55% of the size of the Quantum class ships we’ve sailed on before. Because of its size, it lacks some of the facilities we’ve enjoyed on past cruises: no indoor sports court, FlowRider, or iFly, to name a few.

But that didn’t stop us from making the most of it. We played basketball, tried our hand at mini golf, and kept active in the gym. To be fair, most of our time was spent relaxing between ports, participating in trivia, and eating. Jen even managed to squeeze in some part-time work.

One of the things we realized on this cruise is that the ships are so high that you always have a great view of any port you arrive at.  It's like the ship is a floating observation deck. Here are a few views we enjoyed along the way, including a sunset as we exited Amsterdam, some of the villages we visited, and the port of Newark.

After leaving Greenland, we made our way to the last three ports in Eastern Canada. Surprisingly, we had never visited this part of our country before, so it was a pleasant addition to our trip.

St-Johns, Newfoundland

Our first stop was St. John’s, Newfoundland, where we were greeted by a beautiful view of the city. We took a quick stroll and visited the colourful houses on Gower Street. While there are colourful houses throughout the city, we found that Gower Street offered the best continuous view of them.

We then decided to walk ~2.5 kilometers to Signal Hill, a viewpoint overlooking the city. On Signal Hill, we visited the historical site and learned that it was here, in1901, that the first successful transatlantic wireless communication was conducted.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Our second maritime port was Halifax, Nova Scotia's capital. We arrived on a sunny Sunday and set out to explore the boardwalk, which was filled with shops, activities, and people. We visited the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, where we learned about the Titanic tragedy and the Halifax Explosion. We didn't know that in 1917, a French cargo ship loaded with wartime explosives collided with a Norwegian vessel in Halifax Harbour, triggering a massive explosion.  It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and levelled a significant part of Halifax. We finished our day walking around the Citadel and watching a live band perform at Halifax's Public Gardens.

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Finally, we visited Sydney, Nova Scotia's second-largest town (but much smaller than Halifax). The primary attraction in this area is the Cabot Trail. Unfortunately, during our visit, the weather was overcast and drizzly, so, we just took a brief stroll around the town before returning to the ship.

On our second day in Greenland, we arrived in Qaqortoq (pronounced "Kakotok"), a city of 3,000 people in south Greenland. We woke up to a beautiful view of all the colorful houses on the cliffs and some icebergs. 

Since it’s a small port, we had a few minutes tender from the boat to the town. After a quick walk around the port, we decided to exit the town and walk around the lake. It was an easy and enjoyable hike surrounded by tundra scenery. We did not do the entire lake, we just walked around 3.5 km before turning back. 

After our hike, we decided to split up: Dom climbed to a viewpoint overlooking the city, while Jen ventured closer to one of the icebergs to get a great photo. A few hours later, we reunited back on the boat to enjoy some drinks and share our adventures.

We only had one stop in Greenland. However, to get there, the ship passed through the "Prins Christian Sund." This is a narrow strait that separates the mainland from the Cape Farewell Archipelago. It does not have any historical significance, but it is known for its landscapes, cliffs, and glaciers. It was nice, indeed.

We entered the strait around 2 PM in a lot of fog, but soon the fog lifted, and we could see the beautiful scenery. We encountered some drizzle later along the coast, but it was short-lived, and we continued to enjoy the views. We exited the main sound around 7 PM, but it took a few more hours before we made it back to the open sea.

From Akureyri, our ship made its way to Isafjordur on the northwest coast of Iceland. There, we woke up to a magnificent scene: a little town surrounded by mountains.

From the boat, we enjoyed the picturesque view of the mountains and 'Thor's Seat,' a depression in the mountain where you could imagine Thor sitting.

Though the day was overcast and drizzly, we spent our time walking around town and exploring a scenic trail to the north, which offered a nice view of the town and its stunning surroundings.

Our first port of call on our artic cruise was Akureyri, Iceland. Originally, we were supposed to spend 2 half-days in Akureyri. However, due to a big storm hitting Reykjavik, the captain decided to stay an extra night in Akureyri and skip Reykjavik. This turned out to be a great decision as it allowed us to rent a car and explore the countryside. 

Before embarking on our driving adventure, we spent our first half-day walking around Akureyri. There isn't much to see here, but there are a few cute buildings and a small botanical garden.

Additionally, they like to put knitted monsters on their trash cans and giant trolls in the streets.

On our second day, we took our expensive car rental (approximately $300 CAD) and set out on an adventure. 

Our first stop was Godafoss. The name means "Waterfall of the Gods" and it originates from the legend that in 1000 AD, Iceland's transition from paganism to Christianity was marked by casting Norse idols into Godafoss.

We then made our way to Lake Mytval, where we stopped at two spots to admire the lake and the rock formations. 

We had been warned that there were many bugs, but did not realize there were that many. Luckily, we were equipped with the super bug-protecting head nets that we had purchased for $1 - the best buy ever.

Next, we did a quick stop at a hot spring. We didn't jump in due to time constraints and the high price tags (the adult price was around ~$70 CAD).

Not far away, we then stopped at Hverir. This is a geothermal area in Iceland, known for its bubbling mud pools, hissing steam vents, and vibrant sulfuric landscapes.

30 minutes later, we made our last big stop at Dettifoss and Selfoss waterfalls. Dettifoss is a colossal waterfall renowned as Europe's most powerful waterfall. A small 1 km walk from the parking lot and you are at the fall. You can get really close to it and appreciate the power of the water. Another kilometer walk upriver takes you to see the sister fall, Selfoss.

On the way back, we took the coastal road and we made some small stops to stretch our legs and enjoy the scenery.

One of the things we appreciated about our ride, is that the journey is as impressive as the attractions themselves. We got to experience so many different landscapes in just one day of driving. 

Before embarking on our Arctic Cruise, we made a quick 3-day stopover in Antwerp. While our original plan was to spend one night in Amsterdam, the Grand Prix event happening that weekend made staying for 4 nights in Antwerp cost about the same as 1 night in Amsterdam.

With no particular expectations in mind, we were pleasantly surprised to discover the city's inherent charms. We strolled through the historical center and had the chance to visit some of its attractions: The central station, the cathedral, the botanical garden, and the medieval fortress (Het Steen), to name a few.

During our stay, we were fortunate to witness the "De Reuzen" parade, translating to "The Giants" in English. This captivating event featured two enormous articulated canine puppets that paraded down Antwerp's main street.

Belgium's reputation for an extensive network of bike paths convinced us to partake in a cycling trip. One sunny day, we embarked on a 45 km ride westward along the river Scheldt to the city of Steendorp. As we savored our lunch, we noticed foreboding dark clouds gathering to the north. Deciding not to take any chances, we quickly finished our sandwiches and commenced our return journey. As luck would have it, we encountered a brief but intense thunder shower that lasted no more than 20 minutes. We got drenched but dried up on our last 20 km home. 

An interesting aspect of our ride was that, to cross the river Scheldt, we had to take a 32-meter elevator down to a tunnel that went under the river.

All in all, our unexpected detour to Antwerp turned into a captivating prelude to our upcoming Arctic expedition. The city's architectural marvels, engaging events, and cycling escapades left us with fond memories of our time spent in this hidden gem of a destination.

Bangkok is a huge city full of multiple markets and shopping malls. During our stay, we we decided to check out 3 tourist-oriented markets.. and 1 mall 😂. 

To visit the Railway and Floating markets, we booked a Tripadvisor tour ($30usd/pp), as they are located outside Bangkok. 

Maeklong Railway Market

Located approximately 1 hour's drive from Bangkok, at the end of a 65km train track, Maeklong Railway Market's history dates back to the early 1900s when the railway was originally built.  What makes this market very unique, is its location directly on the train track. 

Whenever a train approaches the market, merchants swiftly dismantle their kiosks to allow the train to pass, and then they set everything back up again as soon as the train has passed.  The vendors have become absolute experts at positioning their merchandise incredibly close to the tracks, just out of the way of the passing train, thus eliminating the need for frequent relocation of their wares. 

Although the market has become overrun by tourists, it still continues to serve prepared foods and produce to locals. 

During our tour, we boarded the train a few stations before the final stop.  This gave us the perspective of the market from inside the train. We then disembarked to visit the market and observe the vendor's take-down and setup routine as another train passed through the market on its way back to Bangkok. 

Prior to taking the train, we also had a quick visit at a local salt farm.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

After visiting the train market, we continued on our journey to the floating market.  It was originally created after King Rama IV built a 32km canal to join 2 nearby rivers.  Although it has lost its primary vocation serving locals, the tourist industry has certainly kept it alive.  Tourists flock here to experience shopping for various touristy goods, from their designated long boat.  

Our tour stopped here to first enjoy green curry and mango sticky rice for lunch, then we hopped on a boat to be navigated through the canal. 

One of the land merchants at the boat dock, had a Loris.  Although the experience was questionable, seeing a live Loris in real life has been on Jen's bucket list forever.  After a little hesitation, we did pay to hold it and take some pictures.  They also had a baby one that they let us hold.  Jen was really 😍😍😍.

MBK Mall

Every time we've been to Bangkok, we've gone here to find cheap t-shirts for Dom and cheap electronics for Jen. This time was no exception, as it just happened to be the drop-off location of our Markets tour 😂.

Chatuchak Weekend Market

On one of the days, we visited the Bangkok Weekend Market (Chatuchak) to buy some souvenirs.  Dating from the mid-20th century, this market first started as a small local market and now boasts around 15,000 stalls and up to 200k visitors every weekend. You can find a lot of things here, but we personally found that the Chiang Mai weekend markets had a better selection of more-original, artistic souvenirs.

We spent the last part of our trip with Dom's mom, in Bangkok. 

Despite the humid 35°C temperatures, we managed to visit 3 main temples in Bangkok: 

• Wat Phra Kaew, known as the Grand Palace and host to the Emerald Buddha, 
• Wat Pho, home to the huge reclining buddha, and 
• Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of Dawn. 

Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Pho

Wat Arun

To get to Wat Arun, we hopped on a 5THB ferry to cross the river.  Wat Arun has more of a Khmer style, so it was more similar to the temples that we had seen in Cambodia.

Our hotel was also very near to some other temples, so we decided to stop by for a quick visit. Jen enjoyed watching and listening to the monks chanting.

Wat Suthat (and the giant swing)

Wat Ratchanatdaram Worawihan and the Golden Temple.  

Although we didn't get a chance to visit the inside of these temples, we were able to take a short walk to see some nice views of them illuminated at night.

Before heading back to reality, we wanted to get some beach and sun time in Southern Thailand. We chose a place where both of us had never went and that seemed a bit less touristy than other parts of Thailand - we chose Ko Lanta.

After a rather confusing wait for the airport pickup in Krabi, we drove about an hour to our cozy little beach resort, just outside of the small fishing village on the North West side of Ko Lanta island.

Since Ko Lanta is a small fishing village, we spent most of our time relaxing at the resort and strolling along the endless pristine beaches.  

You could tell there aren't many tourists in this area because you can still find so many perfect seashells.  The girls went crazy and spent hours harvesting all kinds of cute seashells.

Even though Chiang Rai is about 2.5 hours from Chiang Mai, we decided to take a day tour to see a few of the Chiang Rai highlights. 

Mae Khachan Hot Spring

Our first stop was at a natural hot springs.  Jen was super car-sick when we arrived here, so we didn't do much exploring.  In the parking lot, there are several ladies selling touristy items and eggs that you can cook in the hot-springs for breakfast.  We didn't buy any eggs, but one of those ladies saw Jen laying sick on the ground - she took pity and kindly offered Jen some medicine from her personal stash.  Jen didn't take it, but thought it was a really sweet gesture :)

White Temple (Wat Rong Khun)

The next stop was our main reason for taking this tour.  Wat Rong Khan, also known as the White Temple, is one of Chiang Rai’s most visited attractions.  Previously an older temple that had fallen into disrepair, it has now been transformed into a modern temple that was designed and constructed by a national Buddhist artist.  Although new work on this temple continues to be ongoing, it was opened to the public in 1997.

The temple is really unique and stunning to look at, yet had an unexplained, odd, touristy/Disney vibe that left us with mixed feelings.  The huge walls are covered with images of Buddha and.. a lot of Hollywood icons such as Neo, Bumblebee, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, and Superman.  

We didn't take any photos from inside the main temple since it was not allowed, but we did check google and found a couple of example images from Duke Language School.  Their site also explains that "These unusual murals are placed opposite the Buddhas. They are meant to show that people should free their minds from bad intentions, and that violence, greed, and hedonism is the wrong way of life."    

After visiting the main temple, we also started noticing Hollywood references in other areas of the temple grounds as well (where we were allowed to take photos). 

Blue Temple (Wat Rong Seur Ten)

Our next stop was the Blue Temple.  Apparently the temple was named Wat Rong Seur Ten, meaning "temple of the dancing tiger", because it was built on a site where tigers were said to have jumped over the river.

Black House Museum (Baan Dam Museum)

The Black House is a private art museum with a mixture of unconventional and contemporary art and architecture.  According to the tour websites, it has been called a “dark, mysterious, and almost sadistic representation of hell, complete with preserved animals and a collection of bones".   It sounded ominous, so we were curious to check it out.  It was.. different!  

The tour ended with a long 3-hour ride home with our driver who thought he was driving an F1 😬.

We really enjoyed our cooking class in Hoi An so we decided to do one in Thailand. 

Our class with Basil Cookery started with a local market tour.

For the cooking portion of the class, we each prepped and cooked 7 dishes that we had chosen from a list.

The Lunch Menu 😂

Charlotte

• Pad Thai
• Fried chicken with cashew nut
• Hot and sour prawn soup
• Papaya salad
• Green curry
• Deep fried banana

Jennifer

• Fried thick noodle with soy sauce
• Stir fried prawn in tamarind sauce
• Chicken in coconut milk soup
• Savoury minced chicken salad
• Penang curry
• Black sticky rice pudding

Dominic

• Pad Thai
• Stir fried minced pork with holy basil
• Chicken in coconut milk soup
• Fried spring roll
• Penang curry
• Mango sticky rice

Temples

Chiang Mai boasts over 300 temples and you can easily believe it when walking the streets of the old town. Some are more impressive than others, but they are all well-maintained and very peaceful to wander through.

Markets

Since we were in Chiang Mai on Saturday and Sunday, we were able to visit the 2 big weekend night markets. As night falls, over a kilometre of streets and side streets are blocked from traffic and are filled with hundreds of vendors selling, food, art, electronics, souvenirs, etc.  The Sunday night market crosses the old town all the way from the east to the west gate.  It was huge and had a nice selection of wares to admire, so we liked it the best. 

During the week, we also visited one of the art markets that happens every night outside of the old town - there were a handful of amazing artists that we could watch in action but the majority of the stalls were sadly closed down, likely due to the impacts of covid 😢.

Food

You cannot experience Chiang Mai and its night markets fully unless you try the food! 

Some of our favourites were the Chiang Mai sausages (super flavourful with curry with lemon grass), Roti with bananas and sweet milk, and the delicious fresh fruit smoothies.

During this trip, we also discovered an excellent Thai dish that was new to us, called Khao Soi.  It’s sort of similar to a curry Laksa, but less spicy, super flavourful, and has crunchy noodles on top.  Our favourite place was at a place called Mr. Kai Restaurant.

While looking for things to do in Hanoi, Dom discovered a super cool activity: Knife Making!  (Incase you didn't know - Dom LOVES knives 😂)

This was a 3 hour workshop where you get to design and make your own knife with the help of a Vietnamese blacksmith. 

The steps (as we understood them) were as follows:

• Roughly carve the handle
• Cut the blade to a rough shape/size 
• Strengthen the blade by heating and hammering
• Bash the blade with the bashing machine 
• Straighten the blade
• Shape the blade with the grinder
• Temper the blade
• To make sure the blade keeps its edge, the blacksmith put salt on the blade, heated it up, and then she dipped it in oil and sand. 
• Sharpen the blade using 3 different grinding wheels and manual honing
• Put the handle on and sand it 

We didn't get to do all the steps solo (since some steps require proper training and can be quite dangerous if you don't know what your are doing!), but we were impressed at how many of the actual knife-making steps we got to participate in.  We had so much fun!!

We previously visited Halong Bay 10 years ago and thought it would be a wonderful experience to repeat again with Dom’s mom. 

During our first trip here, we booked with Indochina Junk and sailed on a 10-cabin boat called the Dragon Pearl Junk.  Even though we really enjoyed the small and personal feel of the Dragon Pearl boat, we decided to try out the 3-day/2-night trip on their newest 24-cabin boat, called the Dragon Legend.   It has bigger cabins and a bigger sun deck, as well as a spa, a tiny pool, and a tiny gym 🤷‍♂️.

We only had a couple of days to spend in Hanoi, so we quickly saw a couple of sites and ate some of our favourite dishes that we had discovered before. 

Sites

When we came here back in 2013, it was the first time that we were ever scammed by a taxi driver who had rigged the taximeter to run significantly faster than it was supposed to.  Hanoi was also cold, cloudy, rainy, and uninviting during our last trip, so we didn't leave with the best impression. 

This time, we were able to use Grab for transportation (similar to Uber).  Having transportation at a fixed cost without worrying about scams made getting around a lot easier and stress-free.  We also discovered that Hanoi now has a metro!  Our days here were sunny and warm, so the streets were inviting and bustling with people.  Hanoi was starting to grow on us.  

We mainly wandered around the lake and old quarter areas.  On weekends, they block off the roads surrounding the lake, so it made our strolls very pleasant.  

West of the lake, we stumbled upon this quaint spot along a train track called Ms Huong Ly Vietnamese Restaurant.  Apparently, trains pass through here several times a day and you can enjoy a meal and/or coffee at one of the many cafes along the track.  If you are lucky, you will see the train pass, just a couple of meters from your table. We were not lucky enough to see a train, but still enjoyed a meal along the tracks.

When you travel in Asia, you are bound to see some motorbikes transporting interesting things.  Usually they are either unbelievably over-filled or carrying large items in precarious ways.  We thought that we had seen it all, but this time around we saw something new and quite unique: a motorbike parked on the side of the road selling live fish for aquariums/ponds 🐟🐠🐡!  We saw a few other interesting things, but that was our favourite 😂. 

Food

Jen had great memories of a small restaurant here called Bun Bo Nam Bo.  They serve a dish, called Bun Bo, which she and Guy (Dom's cousin) absolutely loved, and we couldn't find that dish anywhere else in Vietnam.  When we went to the restaurant, we barely recognised it because it has grown to 3 floors and become a proper-looking restaurant (instead of a small local kiosk with seats)!  As with everywhere, the price of the dish has risen quite a lot (70k VND, ~$4cad), but fortunately, the food did not disappoint and tasted as good as she remembered.  For Dom, it was also the same as last time.. "I don't understand the hype.. the dish is just ok" 😝. 

We wanted Dom’s mom to try Pizza 4Ps, a restaurant that Jen's coworker introduced her to when she was working in Saigon. Pizza 4Ps (pizza-for-peace) is a restaurant chain that was launched in Vietnam, by a Japanese couple in 2011.  It's normally difficult to find good pizza in Asia, but Pizza 4Ps has excellent pizzas that leave us craving for more!  

Our favourite is the Burrata Parma Ham pizza - a sauce-free pizza topped with arugla, parma ham, cherry tomatoes, and home-made burrata cheese which they slice open at your table.  Compared to eating local food, this 10-inch pizza is relatively pricey at 298k vnd (~$17.50cad) plus VAT), but we couldn't resist and ate it 4 times this trip (twice in Saigon and twice in Hanoi😆).

For dessert, Jen wanted to try a fruit dessert from Hoa Quả Dầm Hoa Béo that is also famous here.  We were super full from dinner, but since it was our last night, we walked the extra mile to try it out and she really liked it. 

From all of our travels, one of the most memorable tours that we did was the Original Taste of Hoi An Food Tour.  Having enjoyed and done that tour several times already, we decided to try a different one this time.  Since Hoi An is known for having great food, there are a lot of new foodie tours that have sprung up here over the years.  We found a free walking food tour (tip-based) with good ratings and decided to give it a try.

We met Vinh near the post office and had a great feeling from the start.  He was friendly, energetic, passionate, and his English was really good.  He did a particularly great job of giving an upfront explanation about what a "free tour" entails and what to expect on our journey. 

Che (10,000vnd, ~$0.55cad)
Our first stop was at a small stall by the main market, where we tasted a common desert in Vietnam, called Che.  It’s a mix of beans and jellies made from agar (seaweed gelatin), topped with coconut milk and condensed milk.

Banh Mi (30,000vnd, ~$1.70cad)
Next, we stopped at the Banh Mi stall that was made famous by Anthony Bourdain because it appeared on his TV series, No Reservations.  Hoi An has so many Banh Mi stalls, and each offers different variations of great tastes. At this stall, we tasted the traditional Banh Mi sandwich, filled with pate, savoury meats, vegetables, herbs and sauces.

Banh Dap (5,000vnd, ~$0.30cad)
Banh Dap is a layer of a wide fresh rice noodle sandwiched between layers of a crispy baked rice pancake. The fun thing about this dish is that you have to karate-chop it before you eat it. This action creates bite sized pieces that you dip into some fish sauce and enjoy. At this particular stall, the owner makes a very potent homemade fish sauce that is well known amongst the locals.  The fish sauce was really tasty, but too strong/fishy for most of the people in the group, so most of them switched to soy sauce instead.

Banh Kep (15,000vnd, ~$0.85cad) and Chen Trung (10,000vnd, ~$0.55cad)
For the next location, we walked a ways before turning down a small random alley.  Vinh stopped at a local lady's house where she cooks and serves Banh Kep (Vietnamese Pizza) and Chen Trung (cooked quail eggs) in the front veranda of her home.  This particular "stall" closes early, so we were their last customers of the day!

Che Xi Ma  (15,000vnd, ~$0.85cad)
Nothing like a bit of desert to cut your meal!  Our next dish was Xi Ma, a sweet black sesame soup.  We stopped at the oldest shop in Hoi An where the family has been serving a generation-old recipe for decades.  Their recipe includes medicinal Chinese herbs to maintain health, so in addition to enjoying the delicious taste and warm texture of the dish, locals come to eat the soup for good health.  Vinh told us that the owner doesn't allow customers to have more than 2 servings a day!

Bale Well
Before going to the next spot, we stopped at a well that was hidden behind a building.  We were told that this is the special well that everyone in the city uses to make the yellow "Cau Lau" noodles.  We're not sure what exactly is so special about the water here, but apparently every morning, people gather around this 1000 year old well to gather the precious water to make the noodles. 

Cau Lau (30,000vnd, ~$1.70cad) and Ban Xeo (20,000vnd, ~$1.10cad)
We proceeded to a restaurant near the Bale Well to try the typical and famous dish from Hoi An called Cau Lau.  This restaurant is owned by one of the original Cau-Lau-making families.  They used to only make and serve Cau Lau, but because they have become popular and customers request other food options, they now they serve other dishes as well.  Since this was our last main food-stop of the evening, we also decided to try their Ban Xeo (Vietnamese pancakes) and it was great as well!  

Sinh Tố Thập Cẩm (25,000vnd, ~$1.45cad)
To finish the evening, Vinh took us to a small stall at the side of a main road to try Sin To Thap Cam, a fruit salad served in a cop with ice and sweet milk.  If you want, they will blend it to make a smoothie for you, but Vinh recommended that we try the traditional version where the fruits are left in slices and you get to use your spoon to smash all of the ingredients together until you have the consistency that you want.  It was delicious and a great way to finish our meal! 

We've done quite a few food tours during our travels and always end up overly full by the end.  The thing that we really liked about this tour is that the food was not "included" so we just paid for each of the dishes as we went along.  This gave us more control over the quantities of food that we got, so that we didn't have to over-eat or "waste" food.   This, and the fact that Vinh was such a passionate and awesome tour guide, made this experience super fun and memorable.  We all really enjoyed the tour, so it was a perfect way to end our last evening in Hoi An!

10 years ago, we did a cooking class with Van at Green Bamboo Hoi An and really enjoyed our experience.  Although there are many cooking-class other options available in Hoi An, we wanted Dom’s mom to have the same experience that we had before, so we booked with Green Bamboo again. To our delight, we had even more fun this time because we lucked out and had a very small group of only 5 people.  

Van picked us up at our hotel and gave us a tour of the market while purchasing all of the fresh ingredients for the dishes that we would be cooking.  She introduced us to various foods that you can buy at the vendors, explained how to identify which meats are fresh, and described the different ingredients that she was purchasing for our dishes.  We stopped for a quick snack and coffee break before driving to her house to start cooking.

The dishes we chose to learn this time were: 

• Vegetarian Curry with Coconut Milk - Charlotte
• Vietnamese Pancakes (Bàn Xéo) - Dom 
• Grilled Pork with Noodles (Bún chả) - Jen 

The 2 other students chose to make: 

• Fish in Clay Pot (cá kho tộ), and 
• Egg plant in clay pot with Stir fry tofu, pineapple and tomato.  

We started by prepping the ingredients for all of our dishes, together.

One thing that differed from our first experience was that we cooked and ate one dish at a time, instead of everyone cooking their dishes and eating everything at the end.  We really liked this because it allowed us to enjoy each dish while it was hot and also gave us time to digest a bit before stuffing ourselves even more!

Since we only had 5 students, Van added some extra dishes to the list including: Vietnamese Sweet Potato Leaf Soup, Green Papaya Salad with Tofu Skin, and Egg Coffee for dessert.

We were super full and a little tired by the end, but we all really enjoyed the wonderful day spending time with Van and eating so much delicious food.  

For the last part of our trip, we went to Hoi An to meet up with Dom’s mom so that we could share some of our favourite foods, places, and experiences with her, in Vietnam and Thailand.

Charlotte's flight from Montreal was originally supposed to take 26 hours with layovers in Toronto and Taipei.  Unfortunately, when she arrived to check-in at the Montreal airport, she found out that her first flight (to Toronto) had been cancelled due to bad weather.  They rerouted her through Vancouver->Seoul leaving 12 hours later, so she had to overnight in a Montreal hotel and return to the airport early the next morning. She managed to board the Vancouver flight, but the plane got stuck on the tarmac and arrived in Vancouver 5 hours late, so they had to reroute her again.  She was stuck waiting 12 hours in the Vancouver Airport, then took a 16 hour flight to Bangkok, and had a 13 hour layover in Bangkok until her final flight to Da Nang (near Hoi An).   

She finally arrived ~36 hours later than her original itinerary, buuut... her checked luggage didn't make it 🙃.  Fortunately, they located her luggage in Seoul 2 days later, so she finally received her luggage 3 days after she had arrived.  Despite her crazy long 60 hour voyage to get here, Charlotte arrived with a positive attitude and a smile on her face.  She was tired, but surprisingly not as exhausted as we thought she would be! 

Since Jen's parents spoke highly of their trip to Penang, we decided to add it to our itinerary and spent 7 days in the state's capital city, Georgetown.   Unfortunately, we mostly only saw the inside of our hotel room.  After our cooking class, we both caught really bad colds/flus, and later during the week we both got food poisoning!  It hindered our spirit and motivation a little, so we unfortunately didn't manage to get out and see/do all of the things that we hoped to. 

Since Penang is known for being a top street food destination in Asia, we decided to learn more about Malaysian cuisine by booking a local cooking class called Cooking with Chef Samuel.

At 760MYR (~$250cad) for the 2 of us, it was a lot more expensive than any cooking class that we'd done in the past, but Jen saw that we could learn how to make Roti Canai (a Malaysian bread that she's always wanted to learn) and it was a private class (due to covid restrictions), so we decided to go for it.

• Pasembur - a Malaysian salad with a sweet, spicy, nutty sauce
• Otak Otak - spicy Asian fish cake steamed in banana leaves
• Chai Kuih - steamed vegetable rice dumplings
• Freshly squeezed sugar cane juice with lime

Our last stop in the Philippines was Boracay Island, which is known for its amazing white sandy beaches, blue water, and kite surfing.  

Overall, getting around the Philippines was a little trickier and a lot more time-consuming than we anticipated.  Even though it seems like it should just be a short flight from one island to another, there are actually very few direct flights.  Usually, you have to fly all the way up to Manila to layover, and, since the flights here have a reputation for frequently being late or cancelled, you need to plan plenty of layover buffer time, just incase.   

After an early 7am departure from Bohol and a 3.5h layover in Manila, we flew to Caticlan.  It's the closest airport to Boracay, but it is actually on a neighbouring island.  Upon landing, we thought that we would be walking distance (600m) from the Ferry port and intended to figure out how to get to our hotel on our own, but it turned out that the airport arrivals are in a separate building on the opposite end of the airport (2.6km away).  Feeling tired and not wanting to haggle with the TukTuk drivers, we decided to just pay the local kiosk to take us door-to-door ($1050php/$25cad per person included: airport to Caticlan Jetty, Ferry to Boracay, Boracay Environmental Fees/Tax, and minivan from the Boracay Jetty to our hotel). 
We finally arrived at our hotel at 5:30pm.  Considering Bohol and Boracay are only about 500km apart, it sure felt like a LONG day of travel!

Instead of joining a big "Bohol Countryside" bus tour, we opted to rent a car & driver to see the sites on our own (2800php, ~$70cad).  This allowed us to leave an hour earlier to beat the Lunar New Year crowds, and gave us the flexibility to decide which of the standard-itinerary stops we wanted to visit (and how long to spend at each stop).

Chocolate Hills  (Entrance Fee: 100php, ~$2.50cad)
We started our tour at 8am and drove ~2 hours to the furthest site.  Our first stop was at a view point of the UNESCO Heritage site, Chocolate Hills.

The Chocolate Hills are marine limestone hills that are conical-shaped and stand between 30m and 120m high. They take their name because the limestone mounds are covered in a layer of soil and grass which, during the dry season, turns chocolatey-brown in colour. In Bohol, there are an estimated 1,200-1,800 individual mounds.  Since they are all so similarly and uniquely-shaped, they have a very man-made feel to them, but we learned that scientists theorise that they were formed naturally, from geological shifting and erosion over thousands of years.

Along the way, we also asked the driver to stop at some rice fields so that we could take pictures. Here, our driver informed us that the tree-covered hills in the background are also part of the Chocolate Hills.

Tarsiers at Bohol Enchanted (Entrance Fee: 100php, ~$2.50cad)
Our next stop was supposed to be at the Tarsier Conservation Area, but our driver recommended a different place that he said was better because you can get a closer view of the Tarsiers.  We went along with his recommendation and stopped at Bohol Enchanted, which turned out to be a very small park with a pretty local feel.  There were only 3 Tarsiers here, but they were not behind any cages so we were able to get so close that you could touch them! (Note: you can't touch them because they get extremely stressed out).  

Tarsiers are the second-smallest primates in the world, standing around 6 inches tall and weighing around 100g.  They are nocturnal and endemic to the Philippines but most are found on Bohol.  They are currently one of the world's most endangered primates.  

They are SUPER cute!!  When Jen saw them, her eyes grew almost as big as theirs 🤣.  Tarsiers are rumoured to be the inspiration for the Star Wars character Yoda, and when we saw them moving around in real life, it totally reminded us of Grogu (baby-yoda) from the Mandalorian. 

Check out this video by Ze Frank, to learn some fun(ny) facts about Tarsiers: True Facts About The Tarsier

Bilar Man-made Forest
On our way to lunch, we made a quick stop at the Bilar man-made forest. This red and white mahogany forest exists because it was part of a reforestation project over 50 years ago.  We just snapped some quick photos and were back on our way.

Loboc River Cruise (Fee: 850php, ~$20cad)
We stopped for lunch at the Loboc River Cruise. It was a really touristy-but-nice cruise where you enjoy a lunch buffet of traditional Filipino dishes, while appreciating the scenery along the Loboc river.  The activity lasted about 90 mins and at the halfway point, we stopped at a platform where some locals perform traditional Filipino dances. One of the dances was quite entertaining to watch because the dancers have to dance between 2 long, thick bamboo sticks, which are being hit together on the beat by people on either ends of the bamboo.  It's something like double-dutch jump-rope, but with (what we imagine are) more painful consequences of getting your feet crushed between the bamboo if your timing is off.  The dance starts gets increasingly more exciting because the music continually speeds up and the dancers have to dance more and more frantically to keep up with the rhythm and avoid getting hit 😃!

Xzootic Animal Park (Entrance Fee: 100php, ~$2.50cad)
The next standard itinerary stop was at a place called Xzootic.  We didn't really know what was here, but we agreed to stop, paid our 100 pesos, and went in. 
They assigned us a guide and went to the first room where we saw 13 HUGE pythons lying on different areas of the floor. Our guide introduced us to the various snakes and invited us to pet the snakes while posing for pictures.  We loved how silky and smooth the snakes felt and couldn't believe how huge they were.  Most of them were lazing around and not moving much but we lucked out and saw one of the biggest snakes start moving toward the corner - it was really fascinating to watch this huge thing actually moving around!

Dom and Flo also decided to pay an extra 20 pesos (50 cents) to hold one of the smaller snakes around their necks. 

Both Xzootic and Bohol Enchanted had small butterfly enclosures that we spent a bit of time in. If you look closely, you can see that one of the butterflies had semi-transparent wings - pretty cool!

The animal farm also had a few other random birds, monkeys, and a Kopi Luwak weasel that we finally saw up close... but the huge pythons were definitely the highlight here.

Baclayon Church
We were wondering why this particular church was on the standard itinerary, as opposed to one of the many other churches along the way that looked interesting or bigger.  It turns out that it's because this 18th-century church is one of the oldest (structurally original) churches in the Philippines, and it is made from coral stones.

Blood Compact Shrine
This was just another quick (standard) stop where you take a picture of a statue and then head home. 
At the site, there was no explanation about what the statue's significance was or why it had such a weird name, but after checking the internet, we learned that a "blood compact" (aka "sandugo") is a Filipino ritual where both parties cut their arms and pour the blood into a glass of wine, then they both equally drink the blood mixture until it is empty.  The ritual signifies an agreement to peace and friendship between the 2 parties.  This particular shrine depicts the 1965 blood compact made between Spanish Explorer, Miguel López de Legazpi, and the Bohol Chieftan, Datu Sikatuna, which was considered the “First Treaty of Friendship between two different races, religions, cultures and civilizations”.

Compared to Palawan, there aren’t as many islands to visit in the Bohol region, but Panglao Island Hopping still has something to offer!  We started our day quite early, meeting up at the tour operator at 6am.  From there, we took a van to the Western tip of the island and our driver stopped at (what seemed like) a random place on the side of the main road.  A crew member, met us there and we followed him through the local village, to a small inlet where the boat was anchored.

For the next part of our trip, we planned to meet up with our friend, Flo, who was coming to the Philippines for a couple of weeks to meet&visit her extended family, and vacation with us. 

Our flight from El Nido to Bohol was scheduled to depart at 8:30am but when we arrived at the airport just after 6am, the hall and walkways were packed with unhappy people waiting around with their luggage, amidst chaos.  We found our way to an AirSwift agent who explained that all flights since yesterday morning had been cancelled because one of the planes broke a wheel and was stuck on the runway.  Result:  small airport, 1 runway = NO flights going in or out.

All of the Manila flights were being redirected, so those passengers were all waiting around to be sent (5 hours) by minivan to Puerto Princesa. Our flight had been tentatively rescheduled to later in the afternoon, so we all sat anxiously waiting and watching to see if the mechanics would be able to repair and move the broken plane from the runway, in time for our rescheduled departure.  Lucky for us, they managed to move the plane at around 11am, so we were able to fly out later that afternoon  😥

Flo arrived in Bohol a couple of days after us and we stayed on the touristy island called Panglao.

Most of our time was spent around Alona beach, but we did venture out and explore Dumaluan Beach on one of the days.

Dom snorkelled at Alona Beach and manage to find some unique marine life: a colourful sea urchin, a big jellyfish, a sea snake, and a really shy blue fish with white stripes (maybe a Blue Koran Angelfish?).  He also saw clown fish, angel fish, star fish, sea urchin, etc.

Compared to other countries, there weren’t many touristy restaurants serving local food here, but we did find some good international restaurants and loved how awesome they were at presenting their food.  We discovered "smoothie bowls" which was new for all of us, and we absolutely loved them!