2018 - Year of the Dog

Gong Xi Fa Cai - Happy New Year

We kicked off 2018 and celebration of the Lunar New Year with a trip to Hoi An Vietnam.

We left at the crack of dawn little did, and we were on the 1st plane to land in Da Nang, VN in the new year.  So we had a bit of a celebration waiting for us.  We were greeted by TV crews and paparazzi on the tarmac and a few dragons.

We headed south to Hoi An for a relaxing vacation.  Gwen was still recovering from a stomach bug - so we just chilled out for a bit.  Here is a view from our room.

Saturday morning we took a shuttle into the town of Hoi An and checked it out on our own.  As it was the Lunar New Year which is also celebrated in Vietnam (Tet) things were quiet - about 50% of the shops were closed, but all the temples had free entry.  Of course, there were foot massages available.

Here are a few of the sights

Sunday was slow and relaxing.  Patrick went to play an amazing round of golf (no photos, because he's a doofus), and Gwen read a book on the beach.

On Monday things started to come back to life from the holiday, and we planned a food tour.  Highly recommend: http://hoianadventure.com/

They picked us up from our hotel at 4pm, and Gwen had her first Vietnam scooter experience - no problem.

We started eating (and taking pictures and notes).  First stop was a hole in the wall where we had delicious quail egg with Cheese and a Hoi An Pizza.  Never would have had this without a guide.  The quail egg was Patrick's favorite.

Then, we walked a few blocks to a busy street corner where we sat on plastic stools to have some BBQ pork (in more of a lettuce wrap/spring roll configuration) - Watch out for the hot sauce... woooooooo

Next stop was a little closer into town.  We had about a 15 minute walk for chicken porridge and chicken salad from a cart on the side of the road - We would not have stopped on our own.  We inspired others to stop though.  A Western couple sat down at the table next to us.  When they struggled with ordering, our guide was sweet and jumped in to help.

We strolled another 15 minutes into the 'old town' section of Hoi An we had checked out previously, and it was a lot busier.  We pooped into a cool little shop for a traditional banh mi and some fancy-schmancy tea.  Really good!

...then across the bridge...   

We had Cai Lau (top right - a local dish of noodles, pork and greens), Chicken Rice (left) and White Rose (bottom right - local dumpling that looks like a white rose).  Little did we realize we had had Cai Lau earlier, and did not know it.

Last stop was the night market for Banana Pancakes and Ice Cream

(You can stop humming Jack Johnson now)...

By now Hoi An was HOPPIN'! - we had a challenge getting a taxi home, but it was worth every calorie of the trip.

On our last day, we went back into the old city.  We had a short time before our flight, so we wandered a few more streets and picked up a piece of art to remember our trip (not the banana shirt).  We saw those shirts everywhere, so we needed a photo.

Before getting on the shuttle back to the airport, I realized I had not taken a picture of the beautiful view from reception.  A view to remember at Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort. 

Back to work.  The next weekend we checked out an exhibit at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum - "Pixar 30 Years of Animation".  Awesome exhibit showing the "story behind the story" of Pixar films.

Next week continued the celebrations of the new year with the team (who were all back from the holiday).  Traditional dim sum lunch

And of course, the traditional dragon dance through the office for good luck.

We are off to a good start for 2018.

January 2018 - Sri Lanka

And the trip continues.  New Year's Day took us north from Kandy to the Cultural Triangle area - specifically Dambulla.

We made a few stops along the way - the first was a Hindu temple in Matale.  It was a beautiful temple, and there were a lot of people celebrating the New Year with offerings.

Next was a Spice Farm.  We got to see where a lot of the flavours we were enjoying come from - and of course take some home with us.

Last stop in this area was the local farmers market.  This is where farmers bring their crops and restaurants and distributors buy directly.  Even during the holiday, business was happening - people need to eat.

Our home for the next 3 nights was Amaya Lake.

Next day was a climbing day - Sigiriya Lion Rock.  This rock houses the ruins from a capital established around 500 BC - that lasted around 20 years.  It was discovered again around the 1830's by the British.  In the 1980's archaeological work began to uncover the city.  It is called Lion Rock because of the Lion carved into the rock.

Here are photos from the hike up the rock (upper left is the lion's paw).

And some photos from the top - we had a pretty clear day.

Our animal for today was monkeys.

After the climb we had some local lunch then off to 2+ hour Ayurvedic massages.  This is what I had done.  I don't remember what it all was - I fell asleep.

Dinner on the way home was at a restaurant - Mango Mango - more Kotu Roti

And we had swans waiting for us.

Next day started with Dambulla Cave Temples.  Beautiful Buddha's and cave paintings.  We hiked up one side of the mountain to the caves and down to other side to the Sath Paththini Devalaya.

Here are some of the Buddhas

Here are some photos outside showing the temple built into the mountain.  The white temple was added as a facade in front of the caves much later to help preserve the caves.

We then hiked down the other side of the mountain to a large golden Buddha

This afternoon was a huge highlight of the trip - another safari - this time specifically for Elephants.  And boy did we see them.  They are all just too precious  to collage together.

And we saw a few birds

Next day we moved on to our final stop of Colombo.  Food was a highlight at this location.  Anthony Bordaine has traveled here a few times and we hit a few of his recommendations.  1st stop was lunch at Ministry of Crab.  The crabs and prawns were delicious (and huge).

And our final stop was Galle Face Hotel - beautiful view of the Laccadive Sea.

For dinner we hit the streets for more traditional Sri Lankan cuisine.

I added the photo of the local beer since it was the most expensive part of the meal.  They sent a guy (literally) running to a convenience store for us tourists.

On the next day, we continue the Food theme.  We took a cooking class at Cooking by Colour with Mohara Dole.  She created a factory in her home to made and sell pizza dough and branched out into cooking classes in another part of her house - at 75 years old - impressive.  We made some amazing curries.

Here is the table we were greeted with - we knew we would be working.

  

Here is some of our work in progress

And the finished products

We then spent the afternoon exploring more of Columbo.  Starting at Gangaramaya (Vihara) Buddhist Temple - which was one of the most unique temples we have ever seen.  It was a huge collection of knick-knacks and tchotchkes.  We asked out guide, and even he could not explain exactly what was happening.  (We picked this location, not the guide - he had never been there)

We then walked to Seema Malaka Temple - a beautiful temple on a lake.

Here are a few more views from our hotel before our last dinner in Sri Lanka

Our last dinner was again an Anthony Bordaine highlight - Pilawoos.  Again some amazing curries, and of course, kotu roti.

Those are just a few pictures from our amazing trip to Sri Lanka.  We took approximately 1,600 photos, and we might have gained a kilo or 2 from the food.