Family World Adventure

Some time has passed but I’m intent on finishing our travel blog. The last posts were from Thailand when Brett had kidney stones and had to fly back to the US for treatment before we could resume our travels. Brett missed Christmas with us that year and flew back from the US to Chiang Mai, Thailand on January 3rd. He was still feeling rough and recovering from surgery so we had to plan a couple of weeks where there wouldn’t be a lot of ambitious walking or activity. I read a number of travel blogs that had rave reviews for a slow boat trip along the Mekong from Thailand into Laos. It sounded just perfect for the next leg of our journey.

We hired a van and driver to take us from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. After a pretty and uneventful ride, we checked into our hotel in Chiang Rai and headed out for dinner. It was so nice to have Brett back and be out for a family dinner again. A good evening of catching him up on Christmas in Chiang Mai. The next day we went to explore Wat Rong Khun, the ‘White Temple’. This is one of the most unique places we visited on our trip, unique but I’m not exactly sure I liked it. The temple was designed and built by a Thai artist Ajarn Chalermchai Kositpitpat. He started in 1997 and is still adding to and modifying the temple. It is really like one big art exhibit both on the outside and the inside. No photos are allowed inside the temple.

After a good sleep, we got up early for our van ride to the border town of Huay Xai to meet up with our slow boat operator. First, we had to navigate the immigration/customs office where the line up was long and there was a lot of confusion about which forms needed to be filled out and how much cash was needed. No one seemed to speak english. After what seemed like hours, we finally made it through to find out that the kids travel permit in Thailand had expired the previous day. We had to line up in another area to explain to an official why the kids were in the country illegally – it was more than a little stressful. After lots of back and forth and beckoning of other officials to discuss our situation, we were finally allowed through after paying a fine for overstaying the visa.

We boarded the slow boat ready to head down the Mekong River towards Luang Prabang, Laos. While we enjoyed every leg of our journey, this trip into Laos, and what turned into an unplanned month long stay in Luang Prabang, was one of the highlights of our travel adventure. It all started on this amazing two day boat ride.

Now by this stage of our travels, 8 months in, we had seen some pretty amazing scenery. This was different. Part of it probably had to do with the slow boat and that it forced us to relax and take it all in without any distractions from the internet or stress that we should be getting out and seeing things. On the slow boat, we sat and talked. We stared out at the amazing scenery and just enjoyed the quiet peaceful time. What I remember most is watching the kids soaking it all in more so than I remember them doing anywhere else. It was breathtakingly beautiful and a great time for our family to relax and re-connect.

At the end of the first day, we stopped for the night in Pakbeng, a town full of people just like us taking the trip to Luang Prabang. We stayed in one of the most luxurious hotels that we stayed in during our travels – we had our own guesthouse with a patio and a breathtaking view.

On Day 2, we stopped at a village to learn more about the local communities that live along the banks of the Mekong. We toured the village and had a very curious group of children (and pigs!) that followed us around.

We stopped by the classroom of a local school to meet the kids. The Laotian children got up in the front of the class and sang a beautiful song for us. Then the teacher invited the kids on our boat to sing them a song. Our kids were very nervous but with some encouragement from their new friends they made on the boat, they got up and sang a stirring rendition of head and shoulders, knees and toes. What an amazing experience and a chance for our kids to really connect with other children that live such a different way of life. The school was in disrepair and they didn’t seem to have much, but they were such happy children.

The village that we visited was famous locally for the woven scarves that were made there. There were a number of weaving looms in the village and we could purchase scarves directly from the women that wove them. This one very sweet woman (and her family) gave Riley a lesson on how to operate the loom. It was not simple or easy and yet the young girl in the picture below, younger than Riley, could weave with such dexterity and skill.

Later that day, we stopped at the Pak Ou Caves. It is a large cave set in a dramatic limestone cliff at the point where the Mekong joins the Nam Ou River. It has been converted into a Buddhist temple and is filled it with thousands of small Buddhist figures that are said to have been placed by local people for hundreds of years. So beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. As the boat pulled into Luang Prabang, we were excited to explore this new place but sad that the boat trip was over. The kids made some good friends on the boat that we continued to spend time with over the following days – they were a UK diplomat family living in Fiji. That is one thing that we all love so much about traveling – we cross paths and make quick friendships along the way – brief moments where we touch each others lives and then go our separate ways. These type of interactions were so important for the kids – not only because of the fun they had with new friends but also how much they learned (without realizing it) about different perspectives and cultures.

During all the planning and anticipation of this trip, we naturally imagined all of the amazing, beautiful, wonderful places we would see and how much we would enjoy all the quality time together as a family.    This trip was so much more than that vision.  It was a journey for our family.  It was gritty, it was hard, it was beautiful, and it was sometimes overwhelming.   I had a few moments along the way when I wanted to pack it all in but those moments were always short-lived.  For the most part, we dreaded returning to our regular lives when the trip was all over.  I felt more alive than I can remember and against all of my natural tendencies, I got to experience what it is like to live in the moment.  Not all the incessant planning and worrying always clogging my mind.  We experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows, sometimes all in the same day.  Emotions often ran high.  We had moments when we wanted nothing more than to get away from the kids.  Not just get away but run away.    We also had many moments where we thought our hearts would burst looking at the amazing creatures our children were becoming. 

About 6 months into our trip we had one of these overwhelming moments where the fun of the adventure seemed to come crashing down around us.  It was undoubtedly the most memorable low, and looking back now, one of the most important high points of our journey.  We learned a lesson about the goodness of people and the importance of helping people when they are in need. 

I had just returned to Brett and the kids in Bangkok from a business meeting in Hawaii.  It was a Wednesday in early December and I was so excited to get back to everyone.  I had been away for a week after we had spent every minute together for the last six months.  It was shockingly hard to leave them and so amazing to re-unite.  We had a full day of fun on that first day back.  An old colleague of mine that had left Vancouver five years earlier to sail around the world with his family was in Bangkok for one night, and it just happened to be the exact same night that I got back to Bangkok before we left for Chiang Mai.  As if that wasn’t lucky enough, in the huge city of Bangkok that can take hours to navigate from one side to the other, their hotel was within walking distance from our apartment. 

We met up for lunch with Shaun and Sherrie in the lobby of their hotel and peppered them with questions about what it was like living on a sailboat and about all the amazing places they had seen in five years of traveling.  Their two daughters, now 16 and 10, had been sailing for a big portion of their young lives.  It was really interesting getting their perspectives on the lifestyle as well.   They were remarkably well adjusted and mature, no doubt that this experience would shape their young lives in many wonderful and positive ways.

It was very inspiring to hear the interesting stories of the places they visited and the people they met along the way.   The idea of sailing as a means of long-term travel had already come up several times on our trip.  Usually after a couple of glasses of wine while sitting in a beautiful marina in places like Croatia or Greece.  We always looked longingly at families sitting around relaxing on their sailboats.  In our often-exhausting world of unpacking, re-packing, booking apartments, and navigating transit and taxis to find our apartments at each stop, sailing seemed like a dream to us.  In our eyes it was like traveling around in your apartment.  Never having to pack up and move, just move along when the time feels right with all of your things already put away in their rightful places.  Now there was the little detail that neither of us had actually sailed or spent any meaningful time on a sailboat, but that didn’t seem like an overly important detail when we were daydreaming about our future sailing life.

That same day after meeting up with Shaun and Sherrie, we had dinner with another set of friends that we had met in Bangkok, a family that we had connected with through a mutual friend in Portland.   Much like our sailing friends, Chantal and Patrick and their family are living an adventurous life.  Patrick’s job has taken them from Canada to Switzerland, and now to Thailand.   It amazed me how they do it all with 4 children under 5 and two large dogs!  How do they seem so relaxed?  They seemed superhuman to me. 

It was our last night in Bangkok and a great opportunity to meet up with Chantal and Patrick and their family to enjoy a meal and say our good-byes.  We had so few opportunities to connect with friends on this trip.  This rare social day with such inspiring families was so nice.  We went home tired but happy. 

The following day we packed up our apartment and headed to the airport to fly to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.  It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go.  We had been told by so many people that we should skip Bangkok and go straight to Chiang Mai.  We enjoyed Bangkok so much that we were so excited to visit somewhere even better!  We were all in high spirits getting off the plane, excited to explore a new place after being based in Bangkok for the last 6 weeks. 

We found our way to the apartment that we rented for a week.  It was a beautiful apartment with more than enough space for us all.   We had stayed at so many Airbnb’s by this point that we knew that despite the online description and reviews, the actual apartment condition can be a surprise.  In this case, it was a pleasant surprise.  It was a large, clean apartment with a Japanese theme, sliding paned doors entering into a clean and spacious living room.  As had become the ritual, the kids ran into the apartment ahead of us to stake out their claims to their beds.  Thankfully this apartment had enough beds for all of us and two bathrooms, a rare luxury that we had really come to appreciate.

Despite our high spirits, things started to go south about an hour after we got to our apartment.   We were all hungry and we walked up to a nearby street with lots of street food to get something for dinner.  Brett quickly picked something but I wanted to wander for a bit and see what all the options were.  There were so many different vendors, different smells, and many foods some of which we didn’t even recognize.  I was mesmerized.  Brett just wanted to get the food and get back to the apartment.  He became increasingly impatient and we had a rare argument on the side of the street while the kids looked on with looks somewhere between fear and embarrassment.  Brett had mentioned a few times that he had a stomachache, but I didn’t think much of it.   Between his Colitis and my Crohn’s, stomachaches are just a part of normal life for us. 

I still remember that first dinner.  We got pad thai, the best that we had on our trip so far.  The kids got some fried chicken and a few small pancakes, some filled with chocolate, some with strawberry jelly.  When we got back to the apartment Brett complained that his side was hurting but still continued to eat his dinner.  We all enjoyed that meal so much and felt thankful to be settled in such a nice place in Chiang Mai.  I was happy as well calculating that we had spent a grand sum of $8 for our dinner, complete with fruits and vegetables.

After dinner, things changed quickly.  Just after eating at about 7pm, Brett suddenly started screaming out in pain.  At this point it was only about 3 hours after our plane had touched down in Chiang Mai.  The kids were scared and I knew that the pain must be really severe and real because Brett knew the kids were scared but he couldn’t mask the pain.  After a few minutes, it was clear that the pain wasn’t subsiding and that he needed a doctor.  He was completely immobilized with pain and didn’t think he could make it downstairs to a taxi.  I had not prepared myself for something like this and had no plan.

By this point, the kids were wailing.  They were so scared to see their dad in this much pain.  “Mom, mom, what’s wrong with Daddy?”, “Is he ok?”, “Mama I’m so scared”.  They had never seen him hurt like this before.  I can still clearly see and hear the room at that moment in time.  Brett screaming, and the kids intermittently screaming, sobbing, and begging me to tell them that Daddy was ok.  I was trying to re-assure them while at the same time trying to figure out what to do.  I had no idea how to get Brett to a doctor.  How do I call an ambulance?  In a panic, I told the kids to stay with Dad and I ran downstairs on my own looking for someone to help me get an ambulance.  I approached a couple of people outside our building but they didn’t speak any English and could not help.  I probably scared them, this crazy white lady yelling things they didn’t understand.  I kept running.  I ran out to the street and tried to flag down cars.  There was no traffic on our street.  I ran back to the reception at the apartment building.  There was no one there.  I ran back out to the street to look for people to approach for help.  I was in panic mode and not thinking clearly enough.   All the while I was so worried about how Brett and the kids were doing.

Finally, I found the presence of mind to stop and send a message to our Airbnb host who quickly jumped into action and called an ambulance on our behalf.  I ran back upstairs and got a bag packed with some snacks, water bottles, and ipads for the kids and we somehow managed to get Brett down the stairs to the front of the building. 

While we were waiting, the kids were crying in fear.  Brett was nauseous and clearly overcome with pain.   At some point he started vomiting.  I had to take a garbage bag out of a nearby garbage can and held it up for Brett to vomit in.  I was on the border of having a panic attack and I saw some signs that Ronan was verging on a panic attack as well.  I kept thinking where is the ambulance?  Is there really one on the way?

A man who lived in the building who had just come home, saw the scene and immediately came over to help.  He was so kind and tried to get all of us to calm down.  After what I’m guessing was about 20 minutes, the ambulance finally arrived.   The scene was pretty dramatic.  Flashing ambulance lights.  Siren.  Scared and crying kids.  Me holding a bag up as Brett vomited while they wheeled him onto the ambulance.  The paramedics were not interested in helping with that task.

The ambulance ride will be etched into my memory.  The boys rode up front with the driver.  Riley and I rode in the back with Brett and the paramedics who spoke little to no English.  I didn’t know what hospital we were going to nor did I know anything about the quality of care we would receive.  I had all manner of crazy thoughts running through my head.  I was consumed with fear that Brett was in serious danger, and behind all those worries I was also thinking about how our health insurance that we had for the last 6 months of our trip had just expired a few days prior.   I knew it was expiring and it had been on my mental list to renew but I had forgotten with all the other things going on.  I had become complacent since we hadn’t needed to use the insurance for the first six months. I remember thinking that maybe I need to figure out how to get him back to Bangkok to get better care if this was serious.   I was mentally tallying up how much money I could liquidate if needed to get him the appropriate help.  I was also trying to keep a brave face so the kids stayed calm.   

I suffer from anxiety in certain situations.  The only way I can get it under control is to take a pause and consciously take deep breaths and consider my next move.  I did not do this.  From the moment this episode started, I was in panic mode.  I ran around randomly and ineffectively.  I wasted time running around outside looking for someone without stopping to think of my best course of action.   I was running from person to person, place to place all while thinking I should stop and clear my head to think.  Thankfully I managed to do that long enough to reach out to the only person that we had any connection to in Chiang Mai, our Airbnb host who ultimately got us the help we needed.

We got to the hospital ER and they quickly got an IV started and gave Brett some pain meds.  He was wheeled in and out of the room to get different tests – x-rays, ultrasound, CT scan, etc.   We did not have any better luck communicating with the doctors and nurses at the hospital than we did with the paramedics.   The fear was crippling and for a lot of the time, I was on my own with the kids trying to hold it together.   The situation seemed even more scary since we did not know a single person in Chiang Mai who we could call for help or support. Thankfully Brett was well medicated by that point and was able to drift in and out of sleep.

At the hospital, as the night wore on and we were alone in the waiting room while Brett was off for a test, Ronan came over, sat next to me, put his arm around my shoulder and said ‘Mom, don’t worry everything is going to be fine.’  Who was this amazing boy?  How had our little Ronan become so mature?  He was trying to look after his mama.

While we continued to wait in the ER, I reached out to my new friend Chantal in Bangkok (that we had dinner with only 24 hours before!) to tell her what was going on.   She mobilized the expat community and found a friend-of-a-friend who lives in Chiang Mai that ended up calling me to check in on how I was doing.  She re-assured me that we were at the best private hospital in Chiang Mai and the care would be world class.   She offered us any support she could provide.  I can’t even explain how much this meant to me.  I had been thinking that I should have a contingency plan in place if I needed someone to take the kids.  It was so re-assuring to have a local resource and so amazing that a complete stranger would voluntarily get involved to try to help our family in this way.

Sometime after midnight we discovered that it was kidney stones.  Now I wouldn’t wish kidney stones on my worst enemy but there was a wave of relief knowing what the issue was and that it was not a life-and-death situation.   He had several large kidney stones in various stages of working their way through his system, but all were too large to pass on their own without some intervention.  So, Brett was admitted to the hospital and at about 2am, I went looking for a taxi to get back to our apartment with the kids.  After waiting for about 30 minutes with no luck finding a taxi, one of the hospital workers who noticed our situation offered to drive us home.  Amazing.  I was wary of accepting a ride from a stranger but we were all exhausted and there didn’t seem to be an option.  Our communication was limited (he didn’t speak any English) but I went with my intuition that told me that he was a thoughtful and kind man who genuinely wanted to help… and he really was. He drove us home and even waited in the driveway to make sure we got into the building safely.

The doctors ultimately landed on an ultrasonic shock wave treatment to try to break up the stones.  The urologist told us that it may take several treatments over the course of a month.  Our plans to move on to Hanoi as planned for New Years disappeared.  We took it in stride.  We were so happy that Brett was going to be ok and there were worse places in the world to be stuck.

I can’t remember how many treatments Brett had before we all realized that it wasn’t working.  We had spent a big portion of the remainder of our travel budget on the treatment since we had no insurance and it was all out of pocket.  Now they were talking possible surgical intervention. We were definitely not in a position to afford surgery and the idea of having surgery somewhere that we don’t speak the language and couldn’t communicate effectively with the doctors was scary.  I’m not sure which one of us came up with the plan but we eventually decided that if Brett felt stable enough, he should fly back to the US to get treatment.  We had maintained our medical insurance in the US and thanks to my battle with pneumonia earlier in the year before we left on the trip, we had already met our annual family deductible.  We contacted a friend of ours that works in the ER in the hospital near our house in Portland and they offered to help usher Brett through the system at that end.

It was a difficult decision to let Brett go on his own.  We made the decision together.  We knew that if we decided to go back as a family, it was likely that would be the end of our adventure.  It would cost about $10,000 for return tickets for all of us.   So, on December 23^rd, we kissed Brett goodbye as he left on a long journey from Chiang Mai to Portland having stops in Seoul and Seattle. 

He was in a great deal of pain and there was a non-trivial risk that the stones would dislodge mid-flight.  He was very brave and took the risk.  I’m sure that trip was agonizingly long for Brett because it seemed like an eternity for me.  At one point he called me from the airport in Seoul to tell me that the pain had started ramping up again and he wasn’t sure whether he should continue.  This was my biggest nightmare.  If Brett would get stuck at one of his stopovers with no friends or family.  We got off the phone and I wasn’t sure what he would do.  About half an hour later I got a text from Brett telling me that he decided to get on the plane.

I couldn’t sleep that night I was so worried about Brett.  Thankfully the kids were settled and happy with the knowledge that Daddy was going to get better and would return to us as soon as he could.  While he was traveling, I tried to create a bit of a Christmas celebration in our apartment in Chiang Mai. We were already prepared with Christmas presents before all this happened.  When we were in Bangkok, Brett and I had left the kids with Chantal and Patrick and spent an afternoon shopping.  We left a big parcel with all the presents at their place for a few days.  On that last night in Bangkok when we said bye to them, Chantal asked us a ‘favour’ (in front of the kids).  “Hey guys” she said, “Could you do me a huge favour?  We have some friends in Chiang Mai that we need to get this package to.  Would you guys be able to take it to them since you’re headed to Chiang Mai?”. “Absolutely” we said in unison ‘”We would be happy to help!”, with sly winks and nudges between all the grown-ups.  So there I was in Chiang Mai wrapping presents late on Christmas eve, the kids asleep in their beds, and Brett in transit somewhere over the Pacific, trying to will his kidney stones to stay put for a few more hours. It will be Christmas none of us will soon forget.

Brett landed in Portland on Christmas eve.  Thanks to our amazing friend in the ER and a great medical team, Brett had surgery that same night that he arrived. They successfully blasted and removed 5 large kidney stones (>1 cm) and several smaller ones. He would need to stay in Portland for at least a week to recover and get his stents removed so we had at least another week in Chiang Mai without Brett. Thankfully we could relax knowing that he was safe and recovering. The kids and I did some exploring around Chiang Mai. We got the opportunity to meet Fletcher, the wonderful friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend that had talked to me that first night in the emergency.  She and her small daughters took us on a beautiful hike up to a temple on a hill overlooking Chiang Mai.  Another day we headed out to a farm and restaurant where we had a wonderful lunch while the kids could played out the fields and barns.  Fletcher was another inspiring influence on our journey.  She is an American who moved around the world to build a life with her Thai husband. They were living in Chiang Mai, close to the  small village where her husband had grown up. 

Another day I booked a trip to the ‘sticky waterfalls’. The Bua Thong waterfalls, as they are officially known, is a beautiful multi-tiered waterfall where the water cascades over limestone coated with mineral deposits. The limestone creates enough friction to stop slipping but is not so rough to hurt to walk on. It was a lot of fun, and a bit terrifying at times trying to keep hold of all 3 kids climbing down the fast-moving waterfalls.

A few other highlights of our time in Chiang Mai included going to the night market (the kids will remember the over-the-top chocolate waffles they got there), going to the cinema (which we rarely got a chance to do on our trip), and our nightly visit to the nearby main street lined with street food vendors to choose our dinner.

So despite the shitty situation we found ourselves in while in Chiang Mai, we were so touched by the kindness of strangers.  There was our fantastic and thoughtful Airbnb host without whose help I’m not sure how we would have made our way to the hospital.  He didn’t hesitate to get involved, call us the ambulance and continue to check in with me on how things were going.  Without his help, I’m not sure how this would have all ended up.  Not only did he help us that evening, but he and a friend (to help translate) came by the hospital to visit Brett and to offer up any help they could, day or night.  I’m not even sure how they found us since we book everything on Airbnb under my name but somehow they did.  Such kind and thoughtful people.  Days later they left thoughtful Christmas presents at our door for the children.

There was the kind man in the lobby of our apartment building who could have walked past but instead chose to get involved in an obviously difficult situation with screaming kids, Brett vomiting and me clearly in a state of panic.  He spoke some English and he was so perfectly calm and calming.   I don’t even know his name.  I wish I could have somehow acknowledged what a difference he made to us in that time.   

There was Fletcher, the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend, who spent time talking to me on that crazy night in the emergency ward when I didn’t know what was happening or whether we were in a reputable hospital facility.  She also chose to get involved for no other reason than to help.  She also called to check in on me in the following days and ended up taking our family out to explore Chiang Mai while we waited for Brett to return. 

There was the hospital worker who saw our exhausted little family in the waiting room falling asleep waiting for a taxi that never arrived.  He stepped in and got us home safety.  Despite how scary that whole experience was, the people that we met on that evening humbled me and reminded me how most people really are genuinely good people. 

Of course there was also the kindness and support of our friends and family. There was Chantal, texting with me through all the drama and finding a local Chiang Mai contact for support. There was our friend in Portland that was an ER doctor who made it possible for Brett to get quality and quick care as soon as he arrived at the ER. There was our amazing family that picked him up at the airport, got him quickly to the E.R., and looked after him while he was recovering. There were our many friends in Portland who reached out to check in on all of us and the many generous offers to open up their homes to Brett while he recovered.

We had a very happy reunion with Brett on January 2nd, just over a week after he left for Portland. Our adventure continued and we were even more thankful for our health, our family, and this amazing opportunity to travel. Through our misadventures in Chiang Mai, we were able to experience the kindness of strangers and understand just how important and impactful it is to show kindness and support, even in seemingly small ways, to help others when they are in need. This kindness, for no other reason than to help others, is what we will try to pay forward as we continue our adventures in life.

Our short trip into Cambodia to visit the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex was one of the highlights of our travel adventure. It comes a very close second to our visit to Petra. We enjoyed the whole experience – not just the temples but the time we spent in Siem Reap and exploring the surrounding countryside. The scenery was breathtaking and reminded me of scenes of the countryside in southeast asia that I’ve seen in movies and documentaries over the years. The people were so friendly and genuinely welcoming. What surprised me most, despite the tourism around Angkor Wat. was how untouched the local villages and countryside seemed to be. Siem Reap, the launching point for trips to Angkor Wat, was obviously a tourist’s playground complete with souvenir markets and ‘Pub Street’, a street of neon signs advertising every type of tourist restaurant. But you don’t have to wander far to éxperience authentic Cambodian towns and markets.

We booked an Airbnb in Siem Reap. It was just outside of the center of town. We had an entire house to ourselves, in the same compound as the owner and his family. Our children had the opportunity to meet and interact with his children that were about the same age. They were very curious about our kids. They picked vegetables and fruit from around the garden and bring it to us to try. The owner, who had personally picked us up from airport upon arrival, spent quite a bit of time with us explaining how to get around and how best to visit the temples. He was very sincerely proud of his home, his country, and Angkor Wat. He organized a Tuk Tuk for us to take us out to the temples each day. The Tuk Tuk and driver cost USD20 per day. He would pick us up in the morning and take us around to the temples and wait for us at each stop.

This area was the center of the Khmer Kingdom from the 9th to the 14th centuries. There are so many temples and they are all just so spectacular. This is the largest religious monument in the world. The temples were originally constructed as Hindu temples, they were gradually transformed into Buddhist temples towards the end of the 12th century. They are all in various states of disrepair and in some cases, are quite unstable.

I’ll start with Angkor . This is one of the most important archaeological sites of Southeast Asia. It was built with sandstone blocks that were quarried from the holy mountain of Phnom Kulen, more than 50km away and floated down the Siem Reap river on rafts. According to the inscriptions, the construction of Angkor Wat involved 300,000 workers and 6000 elephants.

The upper level is accessed by incredibly steep stairs. Children are not allowed due to the danger of climbing the steep stairs. To be honest, I had trouble climbing (and descending) the stairs; they triggered my fear of heights the same way hiking around the edges of cliffs does. Ronan was so upset that we had to leave them unattended in the courtyard. Brett and I felt so bad about leaving them, and worried about leaving them basically unattended that we rushed around the interior of the temple.

We spent a lot of time wandering around all the temples. We had a guidebook and we read about the important features and history of each temple as we visited them. Writing this now, I have to admit I don’t exactly remember which temple was which. They were all so spectactular. I took more pictures than I can count since everywhere we looked was just such an amazing scene that we couldn’t believe we were lucky enough to experience. I’ve included a selection of photos here.

It was really amazing to see how the trees have encroached on the temples and in some cases, grown over and within the temples. This was most striking at Ta Prohm where the temple has been engulfed by the jungle. Ta Prohm was used as a location for the film Tomb Raider. There really isn’t much that can be done to stop the damage and further encroachment of the jungle into the temples. In some cases, the roots of the trees are destroying the structures. In other cases, the roots are so intertwined with the structure that they are supporting the structure. It really is an amazing sight to see these beautiful, historic man-made structures being reclaimed by mother nature. We are very grateful that we were able to see these temples in their current state.

After the very hot days wandering around the temples, we welcomed our evening tuk tuk ride into Pub Street. We know it was as far removed from real Cambodia as possible but it was a bit of a guilty pleasure at the end of the day. The food was always great and it was so relaxing to pick restaurants where we would all find something we would like. Each night we’d end our night with ice cream rolls – one of our favorite desserts on the trip. Fresh cream is poured over a frozen flat-top and any number of ingredients from fruit to chocolate are added to the cream and chopped up and mixed. As the mixture starts to thicken and freeze, it is spread out over the flat surface and then something resembling a scraper is used to scrape the frozen mixture of the surface and form rolls. We saw (and ate!) these all over southeast asia.

After a lot of sunshine and a couple of good cocktails one night, Brett bought a deep fried scorpion and a spider from a vendor and ate them down on a dare. The kids will always remember that night I’m sure. They were so excited and impressed that he did it.

We broke up the temple visits with a cycling tour in the countryside around Siem Reap. You don’t have to go far to get to the real authentic Cambodia. Small villages with local markets and no tourists except for our little group. We booked a tour with a small outfit where the tour guide took us on a tour of his native village. He started the tour with a visit to his mother’s food stall.

We rode our bikes first to a local market where our guide walked us through and explained the various foods that were for sale. Some we got a chance to sample as well. This is where I first discovered my love of longan, a fruit similar to the lychee.

After the market, we continued on our bike ride through the countryside. I was proud of the kids with how well they did on ill-fitting bikes on rough roads.

We stopped at a local school, the same primary school that our tour guide had attended. The kids were so excited to see us. The experience was a bit overwhelming. Iain got a bit scared with all the commotion and the attention. Brett and I will never forget the experience. The kids were so excited and so happy to see us. They were also so expressive and they all wanted to hug us.

After the school visit, we headed off to a boat ride to a village for lunch. The village was located on a flood plain and all structures were built up on stilts. The restaurant had a beautiful view over the river and the village.

The last stop on the way back to Siem Reap was at a roadside stall for a snack. I had seen these stalls with neat rows of bamboo but didn’t know what they were. Turns out they are a very tasty treat called Kralan. Steamed sticky rice is mixed with soy beans and fresh coconut milk and stuffed into a hollow bamboo which is put on the fire for one two two hours for the beans to become soft and the coconut cream to vaporize and be absorbed by the rice. We learned that this was a very popular meal/snack for local Khmer since it is highly nourishing and does not need to be refrigerated for several days before going bad. Delicious.

Cambodia captured our hearts. We really only scratched the surface and will return one day when we have the time to do it justice. There is so much natural beauty, a rich history, and a wonderful and warm people that are so proud and happy to act as hosts to showcase all these amazing aspects of their country. There’s no mistaking that it is a poor nation and we can’t help but worry and wonder what has happened to all the people we came in contact with since COVID19. What little they do have is because of the tourism industry. We will be happy to return when we can to experience more of the country and help support the local economies.

We were so excited when my 20-yr old stepdaughter arrived in Bangkok to visit us for a couple of weeks. We had fun exploring Bangkok with her and she was a good sport dealing with all the drama that surrounded us as we tried to navigate the city with three young kids in very hot and humid weather. One of her wishes for her visit was to spend some time at a beach. After asking around and looking online, we decided to book a last minute deal to Phuket and got a great deal. We spent approximately $1000 for a 4 night trip – flights for all 6 of us plus 4 nights at a really nice apartment. We were so happy when we got to our place. Three spacious bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a pool, gym, and a view of the beach from our balcony. After staying in a 2 bedroom apartment in Bangkok with all our cockroach friends, this was luxury.

Not surprisingly, we spent a lot of our time on the beach. The beaches were so beautiful, the water was warm, and there was endless sand to play in. All along the beach are food vendors selling all types of wonderful food and drinks as well.

One of our only excursions while in Phuket was to an elephant sanctuary. Ashley and the kids really wanted to see elephants. We did some research to find a reputable sanctuary to make sure that they treat the elephants ethically and responsibly (unfortunately some do not). No elephant rides, just feeding and bathing the elephants while learning about the role and importance of elephants in Thailand. The family that ran the sanctuary also explained a bit about the life of Karen hill tribes where they were from.

We all have our up and down days. This was not a great day for Riley, as you can tell from the picture below. Much like her mom, she can’t hide her mood. She eventually started to have fun but it was an uphill battle with her for the early part of the day. This photo below perfectly captures my memory of her mood that day.

Iain was the bravest one of the kids. He really enjoyed feeding the elephants bananas. Riley (below)…not so much.

The photo below is my favorite of the day. Ashley and Brett are both in their own worlds, so excited to be near the elephants. Riley is in such a bad mood that she refuses to get her photo taken. Ronan is trying really hard to be a part of this picture but he is completely terrified of the elephants. And then there’s me and Iain. We’re smiling for the camera like nothing else is going on.

At some point during the elephant mud bath, the wind picked up and the skies opened up. The temperature dropped fast and we were all immediately and overwhelmingly cold.

All in all the elephant sanctuary was a hit and probably one of those experiences that the kids will always remember.

The other memory I have from Phuket was all the wonderful meals that we shared. Not only was the food amazing but we got the rare opportunity to spend time with Ashley and find out what is going on in her life. We miss her and Meghan so much and it was just nice to talk over dinner and catch up on her life.

Such a beautiful place and such fun memories. It was a bit too touristy for our taste so I’m not positive we’ll go back but it was perfect at the time. We found some other beautiful beach areas in Thailand later in our travels that we will be sure to return to one day.

I am almost a full year behind getting photos together and finishing this travel blog. It feels strange writing about these travels now that the world is such a different place. Even though so much time has passed, I want to finish. The kids were young on this trip and I want to make sure that they remember the important parts of the trip. Hopefully we’ll have this blog to look back on when memories have faded.

Bangkok was one of those places where we went in with low expectations and ended up LOVING it. Almost everyone we talked to told us to spend as little time as possible in Bangkok – the city is crowded, dirty, and loud. Despite the advice, we decided we would stay for 6 weeks. Neither of us had been to Asia before and the kids had very little exposure to Asian food. We thought that Bangkok would be a transition time for us where we would be exploring a new city and culture but we would still have most of the western food and conveniences that we are used to. I also had a trip to Hawaii planned in early December for business and renting a place in Bangkok for 6 weeks meant that Brett would have his bearings by the time I had to leave for Hawaii so it would be less daunting for him to be on his own with the kids.

Our first night was pretty amazing. We got a taxi to our apartment, got lost for a while, but eventually got there. Then we went out for a walk to find some food. I knew Bangkok was famous for street food but I didn’t realize before then that it is everywhere. We only had to walk to the end of our street. We were nervous about what the kids would think of all the different sounds, smells, foods. We needn’t have worried. Kids are so much more adaptable and accepting than we give them credit for. These photos are from our very first dinner in Bangkok.

We were really happy with the neighborhood we were staying in. It was off the tourist map and very much a working class neighborhood. Very few people spoke any english and we often didn’t understand what we were ordering to eat. We just pointed at what we thought looked good and had to guess at what it was. It was nice to feel immersed in the real city.

Our apartment was very nice. Only two bedrooms and one bathroom which is a struggle for five of us (six when my stepdaughter Ashley visited) but we made do. Bangkok is where I first had to make peace with sharing my living space with cockroaches. They were in our kitchen and we couldn’t get rid of them. At their worst, they scurried across the kitchen floor and over my feet. Once one fell out of the kitchen cupboard when I opened it, then it rickocheted off my arm and hit my face. In the evenings we would sometimes see one run across the floor. The first couple of weeks were miserable until I had to just accept that this was how it was going to be and try to deal with it.

Ashley, my 20-yr old stepdaughter came to visit us just after we had first arrived in Bangkok. We spent the following days exploring the temples, palaces, rivers, and markets of Bangkok.

We mostly got around the city on foot and on the subway. The subway was inexpensive, convenient, and surprisingly easy to navigate. It makes an enormous city seem smaller because it is so easy to get across it on the subway. And its air-conditioned!! There were also lots of tuktuk rides, usually when we were too lazy to take transit or walk. We especially loved taking tuktuks at night all lit up with the lights of the city whizzing past. No seatbelts, no protection at all. Our safety standards were much lower than at home with our minivan.

After a while, we started craving some green space. The city was always moving and busy. We wanted to find a park where we could play and the kids could run around free. We looked up ‘best playgrounds in Bangkok’ and found Lumpini park. It looked perfect. A large park with one of the largest playgrounds in the city. It didn’t look too far away so we set off on foot. Maps can be deceiving in Bangkok. What looked like modest stroll ended up being a gruelling 2 hour walk in the heat. We were all looking forward to finally getting there.

As we got closer, we realized something didn’t quite seem right. The closer we got, the more crowded the streets became until we realized that there was a big festival going on the park.

This photo reminded me that this was the night Brett got some sort of food poisoning. While we were at the festival, he bought an order of shrimp dumplings. He didn’t finish them, saying that they did not taste good. The reaction took a few hours but when it started, it was ugly. It was so awful watching him go through that. It was probably a good day and a half before Brett started feeling like himself again and up for heading out to explore.

After we ate and eventually found the playground for the kids to play for a bit we tried to make our way out of the park. We didn’t realized just how busy the main thoroughfares in the park had become and even more people were spilling in from the transit stops into the park. It actually started getting scary at one point. We were so squished in between crowds, the kids were getting crushed and being pulled away from us by the moving crowd. We both had tight hold on the kids and they kept tight hold on us. It probably took us at least an hour to work out way a couple of hundred metres to make it out of the park.

One of our absolutely favorite places to go on the weekend was Chatuchak market, the biggest market in Thailand. We would go to just wander around, buy souvenirs, and generally have fun for a couple of hours. There is so much there, it is so crowded, and so full of energy.

One week we decided that the boys would all get haircuts at Chatuchak.

Not long after Brett and Iain started getting their haircuts, people started congregating and a crowd built up around the barbers so that I could barely get in to see them. It was a bit unsettling that so many people were taking photos of Iain. They all seemed to be smiling and laughing. It seemed the sight of Iain getting his haircut brought joy to a lot of people.

Ronan and I had a tradition of getting one of these spectactular mango smoothies at Chatuchak. Poor Ronan always got a stomach ache but he couldn’t stop himself.

Typical photo of the kids at the market. The begged and begged for those hand fans until we finally relented.

We visited the Grand Palace and a nearby temple on one particularly hot day in November. So many people, so much heat.

The next two photos were at our apartment in Bangkok. The first is a pretty typical dinner of street food. We almost never cooked in Bangkok. It was so much easier and cheaper to get street food. The second photo is of the swimming pool in our building. It was a nice amenity – of all the times we went to that pool, I don’t think there was ever anyone else in the pool.

We were lucky enough to meet up with old friends and make some new friends while in Bangkok. An old colleague of mine, Shaun, had been sailing around the world with his family for the last 5 years and just happened to be spending a night in Bangkok while we were there. We met up with Shaun, Sherrie, Paige, and Jordan for lunch at their hotel and had fun catching up and peppering them with questions about all the interesting places they had visited and interesting people they had met along the way.

Then there was Chantal and Pat. My friend Karyn in Portland had put me in touch with her cousin Chantal in Bangkok. Chantal and Pat were amazing and so welcoming. It’s not often we meet families with more kids than us – they had four children, all under 5!! And two large dogs. We were pretty awestruck at how relaxed and together they seemed. Our kids loved spending time with other kids.

It really was fun connecting with these families in Bangkok. We didn’t often have the opportunity to socialize and we really missed that. We were also left feeling inspired by these two amazing and adventurous families.

We loved our time in Bangkok. We were sad to leave. It’s not the cleanest city, and sometimes it can be downright depressing but it is so alive, energetic, and there is so much beauty to be found even in places you wouldn’t expect. I’m proud of the kids for embracing the experience. They tried the food and each found things that they liked. They walked for endless hours with us through markets and temples in very humid heat. They all slept in the same small bedroom (Ronan on a mattress on the floor despite the cockroach situation!), did their schoolwork most days, and on balance didn’t complain too much. I think they were also sad to leave.

We were so busy traveling and then figuring out life in COVID-19 times that I never seemed to find the time to get back to this blog. We are finally somewhat stable again now and I have the chance to get back to where we left off. We had so many great adventures from the time I last wrote in Wadi Rum, Jordan. There were only a few days left in Jordan but we had a lot of ground to cover.

After our amazing desert camp experience in Wadi Rum, we drove to Aqaba, a resort town on the Red Sea in Southern Jordan. About 10 km from Saudi Arabia to the south, Israel to the north, and directly across the Red Sea from Egypt. After the night of camping in Wadi Rum and some long days in Petra, this was a welcome respite with lots of relaxation time in the pool and at the beach.

We ended up spending Halloween at the resort in Aqaba and assumed that Halloween would be a bit of a non-event for the kids this year. We were really surprised when we found out that the resort had all kids of celebrations set up for Halloween for the kids. There was pumpkin carving, crafts, face-painting, fire-dancers, and a great live performance in the evening. The kids had a blast.

The resort was great but really didn’t feel like we were experiencing anything remotely like Jordanian culture. It was similar to large resorts anywhere else in the world and our two nights at that resort probably cost more than our accommodation for all the rest of our Jordan travels. We had fun but considering our budget, we could have done without this stop. The one interesting part of this resort, and unique to being in this part of the world, was the range of religious conservatism of the guests. The resort served alcohol for example, something that is not common in Jordan. Some women wore regular western swimwear, including bikinis. Some women wore full head to toe swimwear including a hood that covered their heads. Other women wore full, black burqas including face coverings and would sit at the side of the pool while their husbands and children splashed around and had fun. I try to be very respectful of others beliefs but I have to admit, that was hard to watch.

We left Aqaba early in the morning for our long drive up to Madaba at the north end of the Dead Sea. The drive was beautiful but a bit too long for the kids. We checked into our hotel and then headed out for a walk to find some food. Madaba looked like an interesting town to explore but we didn’t have time. We really only picked Madaba as a stopping point because it was a convenient base for the other sites we wanted to see in the area.

The following day we got up early and headed to the site where it is believed that Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. We aren’t religious people but it was still very powerful to visit a place that is so important to the beliefs of billions of people. The day was extremely hot and we were there in the mid-day heat so the kids were understandably underwhelmed by the experience. After seeing the baptismal site, we walked down to the River Jordan. I was surprised how the river was really not much more than a creek, and on the other side of the water was Israel. So while we unfortunately never got to go to Israel on our travels, we were within a few metres.

On the Israeli side of the river, there were a large number of religious groups, mostly older Americans it seemed. They were joyfully singing hymns and having what appeared to be group baptisms. It was hard not to feel a little emotional being at this historic site and listening/watching these groups of people clearly living out a very important moment in their lives. It was interesting that there were so many people on the Israeli side but hardly anyone on the Jordanian side, despite the fact that Jesus’ baptism site was on the Jordanian side.

After we left the baptismal site, we drove a short drive to one of the big hotels on the Dead Sea. The drive was pretty and thankfully pretty short.

Before going in for a dip, there was an area where you could go and slather on some mud from the Dead Sea which were told was very good for your skin. Ronan and Iain wouldn’t even entertain the idea. Riley was a good sport. I think she was just so excited that we were allowing her to smear mud all over herself instead of getting in trouble for it.

Both Iain and Riley got into the water but had to quickly get out. The water is so very salty that you really need to make sure before you get in that you don’t have any cuts anywhere on your body. They both ran out in pain as the salt got to all their various scratches and cuts. Brett and I enjoyed a bit of time floating around.

After rinsing off we went and enjoyed some time swimming around in the pool at the resort. We were so excited to see a massive swimming pool that was completely empty. It wasn’t long before we realized that the area around the resort was thick with flies. They were swarming. You could not sit outside the pool, the only reprieve was to stay under the water. We didn’t stay long before heading back to our hotel in Madaba. It was a full day and we were exhausted.

Sadly that was the end of our Jordan adventure. The next day we got up extremely early to drive back to the airport in Amman. Jordan was undoubtedly the most interesting, different, beautiful, exciting, and educational part of our journey so far. We are so fortunate that we opted to continue on with this plan when we realized we couldn’t afford a tour. It’s difficult to know for sure but I suspect the fact that we did this all on our own made this time in Jordan even more adventurous and memorable for us. We highly recommend Jordan to anyone considering visiting the Middle East. We felt relatively safe and got a good taste of the history and culture of the region. There are so many places in the world to explore that it is hard to justify re-visiting places but I would definitely consider a second trip to Jordan.

As amazing as Petra was, it is hard to say which part of our Jordan trip we enjoyed more – Petra or Wadi Rum. Before we started planning our trip to Jordan, I hadn’t even heard of Wadi Rum. It is also known as the Valley of the Moon, a name that is a really good description of what to expect. It was spectactular.

Wadi Rum is in the south of Jordan on a high plateau at the western edge of the Arabian desert. The sand and sandstone is colored red by iron oxide and creates a very striking and dramatic landscape. It is extremely interesting geologically, with topographical features that are older than the Dead Sea Rift. Wadi Rum was also once along a migratory route that humans took out of Africa. Over 20,000 petroglyphs and rock inscriptions have been documented inside Wadi Rum, tracing human existence back 12,000 years.

We drove from Wadi Musa (Petra) down to Wadi Rum to meet our tour guide at 9am. We booked a private jeep tour with a small local Bedouin-owned company that had good reviews online. They did not disappoint. We met at the owner’s house where we got to meet his whole family.

After a cup of tea and a short introduction, he sent us off with his son as our driver/guide for a full day adventure before staying at their camp overnight in the desert.

There were several stops over the course of the day, all of them were interesting and the scenery was spectacular. The first stop was a Nabataean temple that was very close to Wadi Rum village. This area was once on the Nabataean trading route between Saudi Arabia and Petra in the last century B.C. We didn’t learn too much about the temple except that it was constructed at about that time and also likely functioned as a civic and administrative center for the area. The complex was very large and an impressive amount is still standing. We had the place to ourselves for our whole visit.

The second stop was a hike up a rock formation to a underground spring that was used as a water source for the Nabataeans over 2000 years ago. We spotted petroglyphs near the spring symbolizing Dushara, the supreme god worshipped by the Nabateans.

After we descended from the spring, our camels were waiting. We were to take a 2 hour camel ride to our next stop. We were all excited….except Ronan. He was nervous. As we got closer to the camels, the nervousness became anxiety. We tried talking to him but it became pretty clear he was not going to get on a camel.

The camels took us to our next stop – a large sand dune and rock formation. The kids all tried sand-boarding and then Ronan and I climbed to the top to get an amazing 360 degree view over the valley.

The next stop was a Siq that was known for the many petroglyphs on the rock walls. It was incredible to stand on a rock ledge and see so many carved symbols and drawings of the Nebataeans. We had very little explanation about the significance of the petroglyphs but still we had the feeling of being so close to so much important history. One day when I have some more time on my hands, I’ll do some research with Brett and the kids to understand better all the drawings and symbols we saw that day in the Siq.

We were then taken to an interesting rock formation with a cantilevered rock out over the valley below. I had a bit of vertigo walking out on the rock with the kids but it was worth it.

The last stop before heading to the camp was a beautiful vantage point on a sand dune and watch the sunset. Idyllic, right? Not exactly. As soon as we got there, Riley declared that she had to go to the bathroom but she absolutely wouldn’t go without privacy. You can only imagine how far I had to go with her to find somewhere to hide. I got back just before the sun went down and had a beautiful 10 minutes watching the sunset before the next emergency. The kids were wrestling and Iain got sand in his eyes. He was screaming. I dropped my amazing, trusty (and expensive!) travel camera in the sand when I heard Iain screaming. We rinsed his eyes a few times but it was a few days before he was back to normal. My camera…not so lucky. Cameras and sand are not a good combination. Unfortunately most of the photos from the rest of the trip have been with my iPhone. I still bring my camera everywhere but sometimes it refuses to zoom, sometimes it won’t focus, and sometimes it just won’t even turn on.

Since we arrived at our camp at night, we didn’t really get to explore our surroundings until the sun came up the next day. Turns out our tent was right below a vertical rock face that had some serious (and seemingly recent) large rockfalls. A nightmare for a geotechnical engineer like me. Thank goodness that I went to sleep the previous night blissfully unaware.

On the way from our camp back to Wadi Rum, our guides were short a driver and asked Brett if he would drive the truck back with me and the kids in the back. He had a blast.

Wadi Rum is a spectacular destination. It’s a destination in its own right but when you can combine it with Petra (which is only a short drive away), this is a dream vacation if you are willing to be a bit adventurous. The history, the people, the landscape….all of it is just so unbelievable and unforgettable. We did not feel unsafe at all and looking back now (3 months and 5 countries later) and we can’t believe how lucky we were to get that experience.

Not too far from Petra is Little Petra, also known as Siq al-Barid.    Petra gets all the glory and the tourists, but Little Petra is impressive in its own right.  It’s also free to visit and not crowded like the main site.  We learned quite a bit about the history while we were there but now I’m struggling to piece it together while writing this 3 months later. We were told by our guide at Petra that the large caravans of traders arriving to Petra on camel could not pass through the narrow Siq at Petra and therefore Little Petra was thought to have thrived as a commercial hub.

There were a lot less restrictions on access at Little Petra.  The kids were free to run and climb and explore the ruins.  

There were a number of Bedouins selling handicrafts and souvenirs but not nearly the amount there were at the main site. We found them very helpful and engaging and while they generally spoke little to no english, they were so friendly and were eager to show us around.

One of the most interesting buildings/caves was located up a staircase carved into the rock.  The climb up was a bit nervewracking with the kids (narrow high stairs with no railing) but a very nice Bedouin man showed us the way and helped us up and down.  Inside was a room with painted ceiling frescoes.  There was no information on site to read about the ruins.  I later researched to find out that this was believed to be a dining room with a very rare large-scale example of Hellenistic painting.  The inner chamber had beautiful paintings of intertwining vines and flowers.  My photos do not do it justice.

I had read in a travel blog about a nearby Neolithic settlement called Beidha near to Little Petra. Settlements of people at this site date back 13000 years to the Natufian period when it was thought to be a seasonal encampment that was used for thousands of years. We couldn’t find any detailed maps or information online but assumed it would be signposted at Little Petra. It was not. We tried to follow Google maps but it took us out of Little Petra and to a nearby valley which was also beautiful but we couldn’t find the ruins.

Eventually we walked far enough that we started to get nervous about getting lost…the landscape was breathtaking but very similar in each direction. We retraced out steps back to Little Petra and then asked one of the guards at the entrance. He pointed us along a different hiking path just outside the entrance to Little Petra. There were no signposts and we walked for probably 30 minutes without even seeing any other people, second-guessing that we had gone the right way.

We eventually spotted the ruins. There was a Bedouin man in a shelter outside the fenced-off settlement ruins. We gave him some money but it wasn’t clear if he had anything to do with the site or was just using the opportunity to hopefully get some money from confused tourists like us. He definitely wasn’t going to get rich from his efforts – we were the only people exploring the site for the whole time we were there.

The ruins of the buildings still present at Beidha are generally from the Neolithic stage. It is believed that this is one of the earliest villages with habitation in the world, dated about 9000 years ago. At that time, this was a fertile valley; very difficult to picture given the current climate. It was abandoned about 8000 years ago but it is not clear whether the inhabitants were invaded and killed or if the valley ceased to be fertile at that time. It was a really interesting place to visit with the kids and surprisingly had a number of placards to explain the history of the site. I don’t remember all the details but I still vividly remember the feeling of touching the walls of the buildings knowing that people had stacked the stones and mortar to build these structures 9000 years ago. Incredible. Hopefully that history lesson also left an indelible memory with the kids.

Petra was an amazing experience for us but as far as a family experience with small kids, Little Petra may have actually been better. It was a more manageable size (so they didn’t complain about too much walking) and they had a lot more freedom to climb and explore at Little Petra. The buildings may not have been quite as ornate and impressive as the Treasury or the Monastery at Petra but they were still very beautiful and awe-inspiring with a similar shared history.

One of the most memorable aspects of our visit was that despite the amazing history and the intact ruins of both Petra and (more notably) Beidha, there were surprisingly few people visiting. There were not many people exploring Little Petra while we were there, and there was absolutely no one at Beidha. There seemed to us an enormous amount of interesting historical sites in Jordan that haven’t yet been discovered by the rest of the world. They are off the beaten track but so beautiful and awe-inspiring that it puzzled us how they could be so untraveled. We feel so lucky to be able to have had such a wonderful visit and highly recommend it to others.

My one piece of advice about Petra and Little Petra is not to rush your visit. There is so much to explore off the main tourist track that you should add a couple of days onto any suggested itinerary. I wish we had stayed for longer than we did. I am really glad that we did not do this as part of a package tour and if you are comfortable traveling this way, we highly recommend it. We saw many large tour groups along the way but that would just not work for us. Everyone has their own interests, and especially with kids it was nice to have the option to spend longer at one place or another, take interesting looking trails that caught our eye, and basically follow our own path.

Jordan was our favorite place on this trip so far and so I’m disappointed that I may not do this part of our trip justice since I’m writing this post over 3 months (and 5 countries) later.   After 3 months of crappy internet in Thailand and Laos, we finally have good enough wifi to post some photos. 

We had originally planned on traveling through Jordan with a driver and guide but since our funds were low, we opted to do it on our own.   After a bit of a saga trying to pick up our rental car, we headed out of Amman on our great Jordan adventure. 

There are two main route options to go from Amman to Wadi Musa (the town near Petra); the Desert Highway is the more modern and quicker route and the King’s Highway is the more scenic route.  We weren’t sure which route we would take until we picked up our car.  There was a French couple at the rental agency who seemed quite shaken up by their driving experience through Jordan.  They said they were pulled over multiple times by police on the Desert HIghway demanding they pay fines (for what, they were not sure) in cash on the spot.  We decided we would stick to the quieter more scenic King’s HIghway.

Our first stop along our drive was to Kerak castle, one of the largest and most important Crusader castles in the region. We enjoyed exploring the maze of arched hallways. I didn’t realize until later that this was the site of a terrorist attack 3 years ago. 14 people were killed; mostly Jordanian security and locals but also a Canadian tourist.

We had been warned that we should avoid driving after dark so we only had a couple of short stops along the way after Kerak before reaching Wadi Musa at about 5pm, just in time for sunset.

We dropped off our bags and went out scouting a restaurant. There were lots of interesting sites along our walk.

After a very difficult day with the kids, we were less than happy to find out that none of the restaurants in town serve alcohol (except for one or two right by the Petra visitor center, but much too far for us to get to). After our reconnaissance mission, we opted to eat at our hotel’s restaurant. It was fabulous. Mostly traditional Jordanian cuisine, it was a buffet with three types of meat/fish, rice, vegetables,salad and some traditional deserts. They only charged 10JD (14USD) each for Brett and I and the kids ate free. Thankfully everyone liked it.

We went to bed early and got up at 6am. At least I got up at 6am. Everyone else was still sleeping but I was too excited. Finally by 6:45 I couldn’t wait any longer and woke Brett up. Despite the early rise, we didn’t manage to get to Petra until 10am. For the first time on this trip, we decided to hire a guide. We both wanted to come here for so long and we didn’t have long here so we wanted to make sure we got the most out of it. We also thought it would be more interesting for the kids to have a guide explaining the history to us. We hired the guide at the visitor center. His name was Ahmad. He spoke English very well and was very proud of his culture and all that he would show us in Petra.

Shortly before we parted with Ahmad, he sang us a song in Arabic. He then described the story behind the song. It was about an old woman who refused to leave her cave when the Bedouin in Petra were relocated in the 1980s. Eventually the crown prince of Jordan came to visit and entered her home. He rudely explained to her that she absolutely had to leave and that the government had paid lots of money for her and her people to be relocated. As a dutiful host, she went away and brought him back a coffee. After he finished his coffee, she came out with a knife and told him to stab her through her heart or slit her neck. She would rather die with dignity in her ancestral home rather than living with no hope of dignity anymore. The crown prince was so moved by her that he told her she could stay and live there in her home for as long as she wants. He even arranged for a government pension to be paid to her.

Ahmad also spoke to us about his perspective on the divisiveness in the world. His message was basically this: he hoped that having more tourists come to experience his culture would help them realize that people are people. The negativity focused on the Arab world in the western media relates only to a small portion of the billions of muslims in the world. People everywhere are basically the same – they love their families, want to work to support their families, and are busy with the day-to-day of life. There is too much division between muslims and non-muslims, black and white, etc. We are all the same. It was such a lovely way to end the tour. He articulated exactly how we feel and one of our main motivations for exploring the world with our children.

After Ahmad’s tour was over, we continued on the trail to visit the Monastery. If I remember correctly it was about a trail of about 800 stairs up to the Monastery. The views along the way were stunning.

After the monastery, there were signs to take other trails. Each one billed itself as the path to the ‘greatest view in the world’. We couldn’t resist and followed one of the trails up higher in the hills. It did not disappoint.

On the way back down we stopped at a Bedouin stall to buy a small carpet. We were offered tea by the Bedouin man we purchased the carpet from. We had been told earlier by our guide that if we are offered tea in Jordan, we should accept or it will be seen as a sign of disrespect. I still could not bring myself to drink the tea. Brett very dutifully accepted. This was a strategic mistake and Brett’s stomach issues that ensued changed the course of the next few days of travel. He later told me that the man prepared the tea using water that he swished around in a dirty dog bowl (you can see it in the photo below).

Since we ended up following more trails than we planned, we were in a race against the clock to make it back to the entrance before the sun went down. One of the benefits of staying so late was that we were able to enjoy an almost deserted Petra on our way out.

Petra was an amazing experience for us. It was the place I most wanted to visit in the world and somehow despite the high expectations, it still managed to overwhelm me. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to not only learn about the history of the Nabataean people that built this amazing place but also about the current Jordanian culture through Ahmad and his stories. So much more happened here than I can write in this blog. There were highs and lows, beauty and sadness, and an incredible amount of individual moments that I will never forgot. We would go back in a heartbeat and highly recommend it to everyone.

Visiting Petra has always been on my list of must-see places but until we started planning the trip, I knew very little about Amman or other parts of Jordan. As I learned more and more, I became more and more excited about visiting Amman. I love experiencing cultures that are different from what I know. The more different a culture is from what I’m used to, the more appealing it is.   Thankfully this is one of the many things Brett and I have in common and we were both really excited to start our Jordan trip in Amman.

Jordan is the only place on our travel list where we decided we should organize a private tour. We decided splurging was a good idea since we’ve never been to the Middle East before and we will be traveling very close to the Syria, Israel, and Iraqi borders (among others). There was just one problem – we went way overbudget in our first ~5 months in Europe. After working through our budget numbers, we were left with two options – either do Jordan on our own, or skip Jordan. We weren’t prepared to cancel Jordan altogether so we did it on our own. From that decision onwards, it was quite an adventure.

One thing I didn’t put much thought into before the day of our flight was our attire in Jordan. Up until this point, we had basically been wearing only shorts and t-shirts or tank tops for the last 4 months. I had read that women should cover their shoulders so I made sure to have a couple of t-shirts. As we were driving to the airport, I did some more thorough google research and learned that women should really cover their legs and their arms – t-shirts and walking shorts would not do! I also learned that men do not wear shorts either. I couldn’t find anything on what was appropriate for kids to wear. I was in panic mode and asked Brett to stop at a store on the way to the airport in Crete so I could at least buy one long-sleeved shirt. I couldn’t find anything in the quick visit to a couple of stores on the way to the airport. I would have to rely on wearing my one pair of pants along with a hoodie when arriving in Amman, then do some shopping there.

We arrived at Queen Alia airport in Amman at 2am with three very tired children. We were tired ourselves and were hoping that it would be simple to get a taxi to our Airbnb.

It was not simple. We walked out to a wall of taxi drivers. There was one man with a notepad asking us where we were going and then it seemed like the taxi drivers were all bidding on the fare. The man with the notepad handed us a piece of paper and told us to follow one of the men. As we got to his taxi, a second man was there to take our luggage and put it in the trunk. Then he asked us something in Arabic that we eventually understood to mean that he wanted a tip. We had just been to the ATM and only had 50 JD notes (~$70USD). It was awkward and uncomfortable. Eventually the taxi driver gave him some money to leave.

The taxi driver did not speak to us for the whole drive and seemed like he didn’t really understand us. We had trouble finding the apartment building we were looking for and when we did, there was no doorman. The check-in instructions we had said that there was a 24 hour doorman to give us the keys. Thankfully our quiet taxi driver stayed and tried to help us figure out what to do. I tried calling the Airbnb host and messaging him repeatedly. No answer. The whole situation was awful. It was 4am. At one point the twins and I were on the street, Brett was at the door of the building, and the taxi started moving away…with Ronan sleeping in the backseat (and our luggage in the trunk). He was just moving up the street to park but for about 2 seconds, my heart stopped.

We decided a hotel was our only option and our taxi driver took us around the corner to a pretty basic hotel that was more than perfect for us considering the situation we were in. The kids had a second wind once we checked in. I should have taken a picture of them eating Doritos in bed at 4:30am. All rules were out the window.

Driving in Amman is not for the faint of heart so we decided we would not rent a car for the 3 days we had planned on staying in Amman. I got a recommendation for a driver from a Facebook Group I joined for families traveling in the Middle East. His name was Ahmad and he was fantastic. Not only was he a great driver and fluent in English, he was a genuinely nice man who really wanted to teach us about his country. The first day we just had him drive us to a shopping mall to find some more modest clothing. The mall was a cultural experience in itself. In the heart of this very Muslim city, the mall was almost exactly like the malls we have in the US – it seemed to us like the mall sold every manner of clothing that you don’t see people wearing on the street. We picked up a few things and got out of there quickly. We didn’t come to Amman to visit the mall.

The following day, Ahmad drove us to Jerash, the well-preserved ruins of an ancient roman city about an hour north of Amman. There were so many roadside stalls on the way selling olives, peppers and eggplants (I think they were eggplants but they were very small). Ahmad pulled over to show us the olives and explain to us how they eat them. From what we gathered, they mix lemon with the peppers and olives, put it in water and leave it for a month. ‘Delicious’ Ahmed declared. They stuff the eggplant with nuts and then put it in oil for a month for another ‘delicious’ treat. The vendors gave each of the kids an eggplant (that they had no idea what to do with) and Ahmed had them all crush and rub an olive on their hands to moisturize.

Jerash was absolutely breathtaking. No explanation I give and no photos I show will do it justice. Keep in mind too that we had just spent a month in Greece visiting Greek and roman ruins….and yet we were completely overwhelmed at Jerash. It was an entire Roman city, once with a population of 20,000. A lot of it was very well preserved and there were no crowds at all. That was such a special day.

We were warned to be vigilant against pick-pockets and I also couldn’t help to be aware that we were within 25km of the Syrian border. There are also issues with poverty and refugees – the small nation of of approximately 9 million people is home to a staggering 2 million Palestinian refugees that live in refugee camps. There are a number of these camps close to Jerash. Despite the poverty and the proximity to some dangerous borders, we felt safe at Jerash. We only started to realize the danger about a week later when we saw on the news that a Palestinian refugee attacked tourists at Jerash, stabbing 8 people. That incident happened exactly where we had been a week before.

After we left Jerash, Ahmad took us into downtown Amman. First we stopped at a viewpoint to see the city, then he dropped us in the heart of downtown.

We loved downtown Amman!! It was so alive – people were yelling, cars honking, vendors and stores selling every kind of ware. The King Hussein mosque was in the heart of it all and prayers seemed to be happening continuously. Many of the stores had loudspeakers that were broadcasting from the mosque. We came to really love the sound of the chanting prayers from the Mosque. It was such a wonderful background sound to our travels around Jordan, especially Amman .

On our third day, we walked about an hour from our apartment to the Amman Citadel. It was a slow walk as we worked out way back through downtown. Iain had lost his tooth the night before and the tooth fairy had left him 5 Jordanian Dinar’s. He and Riley were intent on using the money to buy an LOL doll (a really silly little plastic doll that the kids love). Apparently they’d seen one at one of the toy stalls downtown the day before. We spent an entire hour wandering around trying to find LOL dolls. Everytime we saw some, Riley would pick it up, look at it, sometimes shake it, then inevitably declare that it was a fake. Riley is really smart when it comes to things she’s interested in – she hates schoolwork but she alone had come up with the idea to find videos on YouTube that explain how to spot fake LOL dolls. I tried to explain that they were all probably fake but they were intent on finding the only authentic LOL dolls in Amman. Eventually they found some that they weren’t sure if they were fake or not. They were only 1JD so I wasn’t surprised that they declared them fake once they got them open.

From there we finally started working our way up the hill to the Citadel. We didn’t know very much about the citadel, almost nothing. We only had an hour to explore before the sun went down and the site closed for the day. It was beautiful. And the views of the city were spectacular. We wandered around and tried to see as much as we could before the sunset. We watched the sunset while listening to the evening prayers. It was so beautiful and a moment I think we’ll all remember. After sunset, we had to wind our way back downtown through narrow neighborhood streets in the dark; a bit intimidating when we weren’t sure exactly where we were going or whether these were safe neighborhoods. We were thankful again for the kindness of strangers when one of the men that worked at the Citadel saw us walking and helped us navigate our way back down.

Overall Amman was amazing. Our stay started off rocky but except for that first tiring night, the rest of our stay was spectacular. We are left with a wonderful first impression of Amman and hope we get the opportunity to go back again someday.