We pull ourselves away from the beach and make our plans to head to Portugal, since the train is a very long night ride we decide to book a flight instead.  Being last minute folks who usually make decisions on where to go a day before we travel  can be tough at times.  This time we’ve still got to get from Torremolinos to Madrid for our flight and as we knew it would be, traveling over Easter is a bit tricky.  We manage, thanks to a very helpful ticket agent to find our way in time for our flight. Lucky we left early as Madrid has 4 terminals and although it has a great system you still have to catch a shuttle from one to the other. I just love how there is a metro from the train station to terminal 4 even if we’re going to terminal 2.

So here we are in Lisbon and although not the immediate wow we’ve experienced so far it does grow on us as we make our way around. The weather is a little cloudy and rainy, probably adding to the slower warm up process. By late afternoon though we’re in full swing having discovered some of the many wonders this city holds. I must admit that I didn’t know much about Portugal prior to this visit but have come away with a new appreciation for a beautiful city.

Sintra

One of our favourite discoveries is a town about 20 minutes west of Lisbon, a UNESCO heritage site called Sintra. This is romantic, historical and well worth the trip. We walked to the top a of Castelo dos Mouros, 420 metres up but with all the twists and turns, it felt a lot further. Beautiful village, amazing views from the top and a fantastic work out.  This place is a definitely high on the things to see in Portugal list.

After several days of being wowed by Barcelona we pull ourselves away and hop a train for Malaga or at least close to there, Torremolinos. The train system here is amazing….trains that link to the metro that also link to the airport….again wow.  We also took a taxi and have to say after all the taxi rides we’ve taken over this trip, this was one fair taxi….no ‘fast’ meters, no driving in circles, no high starting price.  

So here we are at the beach once again……the weather is pleasant, not super hot like we left Thailand but comfortable, sunny and hot enough to laze on the beach.  The water is definitely not that warm yet but there are a few swimmers.

A person could get very used to this lifestyle, beach, tapas, sangria and sunshine.  I read they get over 300 days a year of sunny D, mild temperatures of 19 degrees and also a nickname of Costa del Golf as there are over 54 golf courses in the immediate area!

After soaking up some rays and enjoying lots of inexpensive wine, beer and sangria we have to decide whether to rent a little place here for the remainder of our trip or press on. Tough call but with a click of the mouse we’re booked on a flight to Lisbon.

We arrive by train to Barcelona, locate the metro and easily navigate to our hotel….thanks Nick!

We have a great hotel in a super location, close to everything.  We spend the next few days walking around and marvelling at wonderful old buildings.

We walk a block or two, turn a corner and its like, ‘Oh wow’.  Yes we have fallen for yet another city.

 

Yes we are in love with this place and hate to leave, did I mention the amazing subway system, friendly people, fair price taxis and great food!

After a long but comfortable flight to Munich followed by a short flight to Paris we arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport at roughly 11:00 PM or 4 AM Bangkok time.  Just a little tired as we navigate to our hotel but luckily just in time for bed here, so we’re refreshed by morning and ready for our new adventures.

Being that we left temperatures in the mid 30’s and Paris was about 15 degrees we made our plans to get a hotel near the airport and catch the train south right away. So as much as I love Paris, I had to resist the urge to stay, head for heat and leave Paris till the end of our trip.

We board our train, settle in and within a few minutes are greeted by the beautiful country side with fields laden with bright golden Colza flowers that I believe are used to make oil. What a sight to see! Every so often a small village springs up in the distance like a painting.

Sur le Pont d’Avignon

Our first stop brings us to the lovely city of Avignon. I remember a song from childhood about the bridge here in Avignon and I hum along as we wander through the 800 year old stone wall into the very centre of town.  What an amazing place, so much history.

Love this place but time to move on.   A little slow getting the blogs out recently as we haven’t had good wifi but will keep trying!

Throughout this part of our journey we’ve taken all forms of  transportation but most importantly we walked…..boy did we walk.  We’ve tallied up our steps and the numbers are in:

115 days, 1,762,463 steps and 1686 km (Vancouver to Saskatoon is 1687km)!

 

Back in Thailand

Another plane trip back to what now is feeling like home, we spend a couple of days in the bustling city before slipping back to Phuket and a little more beach time.  We changed our flight to Europe by a week just to enjoy some more warm rays after we heard the temperature of our next destination.

Good decision, besides getting in more snorkelling, massages, and general pool time laziness we also took in a wonderful dinner and show called Fantasea!

We flew back to Bangkok late Friday night but managed to be up and out to Chatuchuk Market early Saturday morning before the major crowds and heat.  Thailand in April really heats up with temperatures in the high 30’s.  With so much to look at the shopper in me finds it difficult to tear myself away but its heating up and starting to get crowded. Dropping Nick off at the air conditioned foot massage place has bought me some extra shopping time so with some new treasures in tow we head off to MBK, one of the many shopping malls. Ah air conditioning!

The next couple of days go really fast as we get organized for the next leg of or amazing journey. I had planned to catch up on my emails and this blog before we left Asia but alas as usual I’m behind but least I can keep busy on the 11 hour flight we’re on as we head to our stopover in Munich on route to Paris.

 

Patan

After a hearty breakfast at the Kathmandu Guest House we’re off to Patan.  We’ve heard it isn’t far so as we are bombarded with offers from the rickshaw drivers we decide to give it a try. These are made for one person, two small people may do ok but it was a tight squeeze for us, incredibly bumpy and really uncomfortable… the trip lasts a long 45 minutes… maybe longer, it seemed longer… my rickshaw days are over.

Kathmandu Durbar Square

Freak Street (a term coined in the 60/70’s) and Kathmandu Durbar Square is our next destination. The place is teaming with locals, tourists, vendors and colourful characters.

We are lucky enough to catch a quick glimpse of the Kumari, a young Buddhist girl possessed by a Hindu goddess, as she appears at the window. She is usually found in Patan but as we didn’t see her on our trip there we were in luck today.  Pictures are forbidden but my finger was twitching.

There are so many fascinating sights to see here, centuries of Buddhism and Hinduism each with their own style of temples side by side.

Swayambhunath

Another day and another temple this one is called Swayambhunath but it’s also known as The Monkey Temple.

After climbing too many stairs to even think about counting we arrive to find a Stupa, ancient buildings and a fabulous view of Kathmandu.

Monkeys run between the crowds, so used to people, they play and jump from place to place with ease. Wish I had half of their agility I think as I huff and puff after the climb.

The sun finally poked its head from the clouds, and we heat rather quickly so decide to go for a cooling drink.  We’ve  had some powerful storms the past few days so the sun is a welcome sight.  We head into a cafe and are directed up more tiny, windy stairs to the roof…great leg workout today!

Pashupatinath Temple

Our last Kathmandu outing is to the Hindu temple at the head of the Ganges River.

Here is where the Indian people come to say goodbye to those who have passed on.

The bodies covered in golden cloth, bathed in the river then covered with more golden cloth, flowers and incense is lite. From a nearby temple there is chanting. Later they are taken to a to a prepared woodpile a little further down the river where they are burned, the ashes  later returned to the river.

There are about 60 of these funerals each day, just for adults, children are buried. Further down the river, as it travels through Kathmandu on its way to India we’ve seen people washing cloths and themselves in the same water.

3 million people call Kathmandu home, the hindi outnumbering both the Nepalese and Tibetan, it was built for much less. There is a lot of poverty, so much pollution, and far away from our comfortable lifestyle we are accustomed to. The Nepali people we have talked to have been really nice but I can’t help but feel like a dollar sign to them, most of them anyway. And as I sit in yet another airport I can’t help but feel very fortunate for all the opportunities that we have.

The plan was to do a 6 day hike but due to some unfortunate circumstances we decided that we would only be able to do some small hikes instead.

We take our scheduled flight on Yeti Airline to Pokhara, high up in the Himalayas, the air is a lot thinner up here, something to get used to as we climb the 6 flights of stairs to our hotel room.  But I will back up a minute here because I need to say couple of things about our flight, it wasn’t a long one, 25 minutes but they still managed to serve us candies for take off, and a beverage.  The other noteworthy thing about the flight was how freaking scary the landing was. We started our decent, all fine, then we get lower, and lower and lower, the buildings are getting close, seriously close and I’m convinced we’re about the crash into them but just in time there is the runway.  I didn’t know I could hold my breath that long.  Apparently Kathmandu used to have one of the scariest runways but it has since been updated, not sure about this one, but certainly my most scariest.

We stepped off the airplane to a breathe of fresh air, what a nice change.  Our hotel is across from a beautiful lake, the Himalayas mountain range in the background and a great big deck to ourselves.

 

 

Our first day hike out is across the lake by row boat.  We dock and start the climb up the mountain to the World Peace Pagoda.

It’s a long way up on a rock pathway, the air is thin and the sun is hot.

Eventually we make it to the top and after a walk around the temple we head up a little further to the restaurant. What a view!

 

After a refreshing break and a little lunch we head down a pathway that leads to another mountain top covered in Tibetan prayer flags.  It’s a gorgeous view but tainted by the amount of garbage thrown around. It does seem to be a problem in this country and throughout a lot of Asia.

Going down was a lot quicker but a lot harder on my knees and I was glad to sit in the rowboat and relax, but that’s just cause I didn’t have to row.

 

 

On our next day out we hired a taxi to drive us up to Sarangkot Village, a tiny town high up on a mountain. The only way to get here was to follow a small, single lane, sometimes dirt road that was directly beside a cliff.  We passed houses perched on the sides of cliffs, squeezed by donkeys, and several other vehicles, just a little bit scary….sometimes quite scary.

 

 

Once at the top we climbed up and up, I should have buns of steel after all this.  Such impressive sights!  We looked down on some paragliders…..hummmm that looks interesting.

 

Flying high in Pakhora!

For those who aren’t afraid of heights paragliding looks like a lot of fun.  I don’t do so well with heights where my feet are dangling, I didn’t even like the drive up the the mountain so I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to work for me….but Nick had a great time!