Limerick to Kenmare

Dom’s Mom and Aunt Celine decided to come to London to visit us for about 3 weeks.  Since we had a 4-day weekend over Easter break, we took a couple of extra days off and flew to Ireland.  We arrived in Dublin and drove straight to Limerick for the night. 

In the morning, we did a quick visit in Limerick to see St. Mary's Cathedral and King John's Castle.


We stopped briefly in Burrany for a glimpse of the castle.


When we arrived at the cliffs Moher, it was super windy and raining, so we took shelter at visitor’s centre and visited the small museum.  By the time we mentally prepared ourselves to go out into the cold, the rain had thankfully stopped!!  It was still cold, but we managed to climb up the hill without freezing to death and spent a couple of hours taking in the dramatic views of the cliffs. 


We then had a 3 hours drive to get to our B&B near Kenmare. We stopped in Adare to stretch our legs and buy a bottle wine for the evening, but it turns out that it’s actually not possible to buy alcohol in Ireland on Good Friday!  


As the sun sank, we reached our last stretch through Killarney Park where the speed limit is 100km/h, but the road is super narrow with sharp turns, so our average speed was more like 40km/hour.  Dom had fun playing rally-car driver and zigzagging his way through the park, while his mom and aunt got bounced around the back of the car :)

Biking Brighton

We lucked out with the weather and spent a beautiful sunny Saturday biking the coast of Britain.  

We took a train to Brighton and rode East, past Saltdean, along a coastal trail that runs below some beautiful white cliffs.  


On our way back, we stopped at the Art Cafe in Rottingdean for cream tea.  We learned that Rudyard Kipling lived in Rottingdean for many years and took a stroll through the Kipling Gardens.  


Since it was still early, we started cycling West along the colourful beach huts that line the Brighton & Cove boardwalks and stopped to check out Hove Lagoon and waterpark where we discovered a pretty cool wake park!  


It was such a beautiful day and a really lovely area to explore.. we'll definitely have to come back to Brighton again!

Weekend with the Kisses

We spent a long weekend in Balassagyarmat, Hungary, visiting our friends Peter, Krisztina, Bogi and Balasz.  Peter and Bogi picked us up from the Budapest airport in our favourite Kiss-mobile.


We helped Peter finalize the website for his new kitesurfing school in Sri Lanka (http://www.surfpoint-srilanka.com) and when the kids returned home from school, we went on a really cool semi-private tour at the local zoo.


The next day, we drove to Slovakia for a day of skiing.  It’s been well over 6 years since we’d been out to the mountains for skiing/boarding, but we took it easy and had lots of fun (despite a little rain and fog). 


On our way home, we stopped at a cozy restaurant near the Hungarian border for a really delicious meal, for less than 5 Euros.


On our last day, Peter’s dad invited us over to try some traditional Hungarian cuisine for lunch - bean soup and goulash made from stomach lining.  We really enjoyed it, especially the bean soup!


Krisztina and Bogi drove us back to Budapest where we visited a few sites in Buda and Pest before saying good bye.  We were sad, but hopefully we will see them in Sri Lanka this summer.  


Before heading to our hotel for a short nap (before our early morning flight), we stopped to check out an eclectic and funky bar called Simple Kert, for a pint of cider.


During our visit, Dom went on a sausage shopping spree after discovering all kinds of delicious Hungarian sausage.  We must have brought around 10 huge sausages back to London with us :)

Cycling the York Solar System

In February, we returned to London for another 6 months of work.  On one weekend, we decided to try something a little different - we took our folding bikes for a ride through the solar system! 

A few kilometres from York, they've repurposed an old rail line into a cycle path with a scale model of the solar system (https://www.york.ac.uk/solar/index.html).  What a neat idea! 

Every 100m of the trail corresponds to 57 million kilometres in space, so we started at the Sun and arrived at Mercury 101m later.  Doesn't sound like much of a bike ride, but at this scale, the distance between the Sun and Pluto is nearly 10.3km :).  Apparently if you were to walk the trail, your scaled speed would be equivalent to around 3 times the speed of light.. since we biked, we flew through the solar system at around 10 times the speed to light!


After our little jaunt through space, we returned to York to check into a really lovely B&B called the Dovecote House.  The rooms were super cozy and we were served really delicious, freshly baked (still warm!), croissants for breakfast!  

We spent the rest of the day wandering the walls and many pedestrian streets of York's fortified old town.  


And, of course, when in Yorkshire.. eat Yorkshire Pudding!  They were plentiful and super-sized!


When it started to rain, we found ourselves at Stonegate Yard Bar & Brasserie, a local pub with a really charming atmosphere.  We discovered our new favorite pub drink (for those of us who don't drink beer) - Rekorderlig Wild Berries Cider (and on tap to boot)!  Yum!  

Speaking of yummy things, we discovered that Rowntree, the company that brought us Kit Kat, Aero, Jelly Tots, and Smarties, originated in York.  They were bought out by Nestle in the 80's, but Kit-Kat factories continue to operate in York... evidenced by the rich, mouth-watering aroma of warm chocolate that blankets the entire town when the factories are running.


On Sunday afternoon we met up with Mark and Trish, our coworker and his girlfriend, for a couple of hours since they also happened to plan a trip in the area on the same weekend!  We explored the Rambles, walked along the river to Millennium bridge, and checked out the museum gardens. 


By Sunday evening it was pouring rain, so we checked out the Railway Museum and then watched Logan at the local theatre.  


Despite so much rain, it was a perfect weekend getaway.  We both really enjoyed and recommend York!

Biking the Mekong Delta

Thanks to a recommendation from our friends, Eddie and Jen, we finally decided to visit another part of Vietnam that we hadn't yet been to!  We always wanted to see the Can Tho floating market, so when they told us how much they loved the 3-day bike tour with Sinh Balo Tours, we decided to give it a try. 

Our 3 day journey in the Mekong area had us riding about 130km along quiet village roads and bike/motorbike trails that run amid various farms and fields.

Day 1 (Saigon–LongAn–MyTho–VinhLong ~43 km)

Our first day was pretty busy. Our guide, Loc, picked us up at our Ho Chi Minh hostel at 8am and we drove about an hour out of the city to begin our biking adventure with another couple from Denmark. 

The first 25 km were though rice fields. 


Along the way, we stopped at a factory to see how rice noodles are made.


Then the van then drove us 30 minutes to a local vegetarian restaurant where we ate an assortment of delicious local dishes. 


After lunch, we did another 18 km before taking a couple of boat rides to enjoy the beautiful sunset.  We crossed over to a smaller fruit-farm island where we tasted several types of local fruits and home-made "happy water".


At our homestay we ate some fresh seafood that our guide purchased from local fishermen during our boat ride along the river. 


Day 2 (VinhLong to CanTho ~50 km)

Another busy day packed with interesting sights and fun/unique experiences, starting with breakfast at 8am and then back onto the bikes!  


We stopped at:
a market where you can buy skinned frogs... that are still alive :(


several fruit plantations: Banana, Rambutan, LongAn, Pomelo, Papaya, Durian, etc.


a Khmer temple


another delicious lunch at a local restaurant in the middle of nowhere :)


Since it was nearing the end of the Chinese New Year (Tet) holiday, we saw (and heard) several small house parties blasting loud, distorted Karaoke through the normally serene farm fields.  

Our guide took an unexpected turn into one of the local homes along the way.  Apparently he decided to stop in to "say hi" to some locals he had met here while scouting routes for the bike tour.  The locals welcomed us all in as though we were good old friends, and offered us typical Tet celebration foods such as candy, biscuits, fruits with chili-salt, "happy water", and some dog-stew. 

One of the locals grabbed his guitar and they all started singing for us. The best part was that it felt so local, authentic, and unscripted - a very rare experience when you're on a tour! 


After our last ride, our butts hurting.  When we finally arrived at our guest house, we thought the days was over, but no… we had a 1 hour shower break and then it was time for a little cooking lesson!  The owner of the guest house taught us to make yummy Spring Rolls and Vietnamese pancakes. After dinner, we all crashed… exhausted, but happy.


Day 3 (Can Tho to Saigon ~35 km)

We woke up early and hopped onto a boat to visit the Can Tho floating market. We originally thought the market was where locals go to buy food, but it turns out that it's actually a wholesale market where farmers sell their fruits and vegetables to middle-men who then transport the food to other areas of Vietnam.  Our guide told us the minimum orders are somewhere between 50 and 100 KG. 

There were a handful of smaller boats selling food for the hard-working traders.

We returned to shore and biked 16km through the suburb of Can Tho.  This section was well paved, so our butts were happy :). 

Our last ride 20km ride was to a Pomelo farm where we stopped to pick our own Pomelo. 


After a quick drive back to Ho Chi Minh, our trip concluded.  

Overall we had an amazing time and we were extremely impressed with the organization of our tour.  Tthe bikes were in great condition, the group was small and felt very personalized and most of the activities didn't feel overly-touristy.  In particular, we felt especially lucky to get Loc as our guide, as it really felt like he put a lot of effort into showing us as many local and authentic experiences as possible.  

Thanks Eddie and Jen, for recommended the trip to us!  We also highly recommend it to anyone else thinking of visiting the area!!

Hoi An Side Trip

Jen jumped at the opportunity to return to her favourite Vietnamese city to play tour guide with her parents and the girls for a culture, foodie, markets, shopping, and tailor-made clothing extravaganza!  Dom and Guy had already been to Hoi An before, so they decided to remain in Mui Ne to continue teaching/learning kitesurfing.  


Of course they couldn't pass up the chance to try out all of the best Vietnamese dishes in the region, with Neville's Great Taste of Hoi An Foodie tour (for Jen's 3rd time)! :)



Friends and Family in Mui Ne

This season we were really fortunate to be joined by several friends and family from Calgary, at our favourite kitesurfing retreat in Mui Ne, Vietnam.  


Despite this year's very unusual season of windless days and down pouring rain, we still had a blast introducing them to all of our favourite restaurants, activities, massage/spa treatments, and, of course, all of our Mui Ne friends.

Kiting Lessons

Paddle Boarding

Motorbiking

Cooking School

Eating

Chilling

Jenga for buckets ;)

Checking out a movie to escape the rain...


Bath At Last

A few people had recommended visiting Bath when we were previously here, but we never seemed to find the time.. until now!!  


We finally booked our train tickets and did a day trip out to city of the Roman Baths.  Since it was quite chilly, we were a bit disappointed that you can’t actually swim in the Roman Hot Spring Baths.  Fortunately, they did a really good job with the audio tour so that made it a very interesting place to visit!.  Near the end of the tour you have the opportunity to taste the bath water, which many people apparently describe as a repulsive taste.. to us, it just had a slight sulphur smell and the taste was quite similar to the well water you get in some places in Canada! :) 

All in all, it was worth the trip :)

Kiev

After Chernobyl, we returned to Kiev for a big feast of Ukrainian specialties at Taras Bulba (http://www.en.tarasbulba.kiev.ua/) including borsch, pirozhok pastries, and a variety of vareniki dumplings (filled with anything from vegetables, to cheeses, to fruits!).  We even tried some “expensive” vodka (the most expensive bottle at the restaurant, but not expensive by N. American standards).. and it actually tasted really good (far better than the nail-polish-remover stuff that we’d been accustomed to)!


Our friends left the next morning but we we opted to stay an extra day to visit Kiev. Despite it being quite cold outside (it was snowing!!), we spent several hours walking the city to see various shops, parks, monuments, squares, and churches. 


Street Art in Chernobyl

The main reason we went to Chernobyl was to meet up with our friends Fabian (Bane) and Yannis (Pest) who had organized the filming of a documentary about their Street Art project in Chernobyl.  

Here is the link to their documentary:   

When they arrived in Chernobyl, they were touched by the aura of the place,  They had to rethink what they wanted to paint and decided to compliment the surroundings instead of clashing with it. This is why they painted animals in their habitats. 

We were only there for the last 2 days of their week-long adventures, but we are very grateful to them for inviting us to be a part of it!