TravelStream™ news feed for member cummingandgoing on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/cummingandgoing en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:12:33 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1163952060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1163952060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1163952060/tpod.html Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:12:33 -0400 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Arusha, Tanzania

As soon as we entered Tanzania we noticed something very different: our heads were no longer hitting the roof of the bus (complete with chickens) as we hit pot holes and it seemed on the whole much cleaner than Kenya. I would also add that it felt safer, but we arrived at the Arusha bus terminal just as the sun was setting which it does with a thud at the equator. While we were arranging for a taxi about 20 men had circled around us, just curious and trying to be helpful. We noticed Quinn started twitching his backpack and we asked him if he was nervous later. He said he came up with this strategy to thwart potential thieves from gaining accesss into his pack.We came here to do another, more economical camping safari. Saba with SOK Safari's was recommended to us through the Perfects. He turned out to be a very jolly guide and we had a great experience with him and had amazing food thanks to Amanie our cook. The culture is such here that Amanie told his girlfriend he was a camp co-ordinator because it isn't cool for men to be cooks here - that's women's work.On our first morning just outside the park in a villageDeb and I went for a morning run (once weareina game park that wouldn't be an option for fear of being eaten. Within minutes Deb had about 20 girls running with her and I had 20 boys who matched our pace stride for stride for 2kms.Oneof the most enjoyable runs in my life as their energy and enthusiasm was infectious. Each kid carried a stick to school which would be offerred up to help cook their lunch. We had some early excitement, within the first hour of our day one game park, Deb's throat became constricted and she couldn't breathe. All I could do was encourage her to relax as she understandably started to panic. The whole episode lasted only a couple minutes but it was enough time to get scared. I did manage to work out a few lines of her eulogy - "only consolation, died doing what she loved".The Ngorongoro crater was like an Eden, a huge breakfast bowl 18 kms across packed full of animals. In the Serengeti because of late rains, the over 1 million wildebeast were still in the far north, but we still saw a ton of animals and some great cat sightings.Deb had another exciting encounter on this safari when a Kite (think Golden Eagle) dive bombed her while she was eating a sandwich. The bird snatched it from her mouth scratching her lip with it's talons and cutting her finger.We had been a little nervous about camping in this environment, but we were told before we came that either park rangers stood guard at night with rifles or Maasai with spears would guard your tent. That didn't happen. We had zebra munching grass by our tent and hyena wander through, but nothing too scary that we knew about. We talked with a couple who didn't sleep at all one night as elephants knocked trees down around their tent.The downside of safaris is that it is very sedentary as you are in a vehicle for hours every day. After 18 days we had also been spectators enough and wanted to get into the action. It's more fun playing football in the park than watching the Lions play.Our last day on safari was a visit with the Hadzab 'bushmen'. We walked up to their 'huts' and it was like we had just opened up a National Geographic. The 30 people were huddled around a fire trying to get warm in the early morning. Men were sharpening their arrows and putting poison on the tips. We went out with the men to go hunting with bows and arrows. They shot 2 birds and within 5 minutes had started a fire with sticks, plucked, cooked the birds and then ate them. They also shot a baboon their preferred meat, but it had run off. The striking thing for me was how this scene was unchanged(except for us watching) for thousands of years.We booked with SOK Adventures, check out www.sokadventures.com
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1162983480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1162983480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1162983480/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:37:25 -0500 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Maasai Mara, Kenya

Remember The Mutual of Omaha Wildlife Kingdom TV show with Marlin Perkins and I believe his name was Jim (the guy who wrestled crocodiles)... now it was our turn. Our most extravagant treat on this trip was to do a 12 day safari in Kenya. It was very exciting to spot all of the exotic animals and watch their behaviour. Incredibly as soon as we got into the safari van I noticed a piece of paper on the seat which was an itinerary for an around the world trip by another Calgary family who just happened to have the same guide. Some of the highlights were being surrounded by 40 giraffes, close encounters with cheetah and watching 26 elephants wander across the valley. Quinn and I headed out for an early morning drive while the girls took a morning off. We were just about to start inventing some great sighting stories, because we hadn't seen much when we pulled up on a pride of 11 lions who were finishing off a wildebeast. The sound of crunching bone was amazing while one lion was eating. Another decided it was her turn to have some, but apparently there is quite an ettiquette to these things so all hell broke loose. There was a tremendous amount of roaring, gnashing of teeth and biting as the entire pride (except for the one who continued eating without interuption) turned on the offender. After that they took us to a buffet in the bush overlooking 34 hippo's where they had set up tables for us to eat breakfast. Another vehicle brought Deb and Chevy to eat. While we were tucking into our eggs the buffet table caught on fire when a cook was adding fuel to the stove. The cooks tried to put it out and then I noticed one cook running and his back was on fire. I got up and tried to put it out with my hands, but that didn't work so I grabbed him by the shoulders and wrestled him down onto his back. He started convulsing from the pain, but the flames were soon out. He was a little shocky, but fine. We joked after that we had better learn how to say STOP, DROP and ROLL in Swahili.Things got really weird after that because the cook turned out to be the chief's son. They insisted I ride their elephant back to the lodge while the villagers laid palm fronds down on our path. The chief insisted I choose one of his 2 daughters. Actually, the last part isn't true... he had 3 daughters. (Actually in retrospect, I'm now thinking that everything after "things got really weird" may not be at all accurate, my recall was somewhat clouded by the surge of adrenaline at the time).The other aspect of the safari that was fantastic was getting some insight into other cultures. We visited a Samburu and Maasai village. Their small, dark huts are built with cow dung which apparently helps to keep the mosquitoes away. 14 year old boys reach manhood with a circumsion ceremony in which they are not allowed to flinch or even curl their toes to show their courage. I'm thinking that may not be so easy.We also visited some schools, in some classes the kids sat on the floor because they had no desks. Everywhere we went we saw donated books and schools built by Albertans. It's not unusual for kids here to ask for a pen, a sweet or some money, but at one school a kid asked me for water. The school had been without drinking water for 3 months. Our $50 donation was enough to pump water for a month. I was embarrased to go from there to our lodge where Quinn and I had a swimming pool to ourselves. What would that child have thought if he was to see us swimming in that sparkling water?We booked our safari with Civilized Adventure, check out www.civilizedadv.com
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1183471620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1183471620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1183471620/tpod.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:20:25 -0400 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The following is a few things you may want to think about before you travel, some topics are more pertinent to families. If you have any questions that aren't covered below please do not hesitate to ask me at scottlazenby@gmail.comTrip Order:We spent a lot of time thinking about what countries we wanted to visit and very importantly in what order. Country considerations included: safety, cost of living and unique experience. While we wanted to shake up our kids, we didn't want them to explode. There's no question in my mind had we gone to India first we would have faced a mutiny. We slowly increased the level of 'cultural hardship'. Turkey is a great warm up to the '3rd world' as it is a '2nd world' country. We went to Thailand after Africa, because Deb felt that after being 'on edge' in Africa we would need a break before going India. Also being on a beach in Thailand for Christmas had great appeal. The only country we would have spent less time in was Borneo, but we had great experiences on the mountain and our best snorkeling experience. By spending the last leg of the trip in Australia it negated culture shock upon returning home... we seemed to miss that experience.When to Go and for how long:There was something romantic about going for a year, but if you have less time or insufficient funds do what you can. The kids were 10 and 14 when we returned - great ages as they were old enough to help out, carry their own gear and they will always have these memories. Any older and Chevy would have had a more difficult time missing school and her 'independence and anti-dad' gene would have started kicking in (I actually saw glimmers the last month).Schooling:The teachers were very supportive - "sounds like a great education". For Quinn we did a proposal to the Alternate Learning guy with the Board of Education. They even gave us up to $600 to buy books and educational experiences. We focused on Math as it is a subject that progresses. I strongly recommend the Saxon math books. We just took the lesson with practice questions and ripped out pages to lighten the load as we went. Chevy took her school's french math book, but it proved useless because there weren't any lessons, just questions. She completed the Kenyan textbook. The kids wrote hundreds of pages in their journals and read everyday. Combine that with the geography, religion, history, biology and language lessons of traveling and I'm confident they got a great education. Chevy and Quinn both sent in some amazing power point projects to their teachers. We assumed we would meet lots of other families traveling, but we met only a few. As a result the kids spent lots of time talking with people from all over which was great for their confidence.We did enroll the kids in 3 weeks of summer school upon returning to help smooth over some of the gaps in their education.Voluntourism: These experiences were some of our highlights. For a family it was great to stop moving and set down roots for awhile. A great way to meet real people as opposed to just waiters and front desk staff. There is no shortage of organizations out there that want a great deal of money for you to volunteer. Some use your funds to support the project while others seem to be making a huge profit off your altruism. Be realistic with your expectations, you aren't going to change much except yourselves. Make sure you have the skills required to help out. Surviving so much togetherness:Being together 24/7 (as they say) presents some challenges especially if you are an introvert and need some space. Most mornings I got up early and went for a walk or run. Quinn and I would spend time together especially when the females went shopping. We had six different groups of friends and family join us throughout the trip which was a great injection of conversation and energy.Money: There are ATM (bank machines) virtually everywhere. Take several bank cards, we had at least 2 eaten. Check with your bank on fees, we were charged $4 per withdrawal a considerable percentage when in some countries the maximum you can take out is $100. Make sure your daily maximum withdrawal is sufficient and realize when you need a whack, the day has to flip over in Canada, not where you're standing to get more money.VISA cards are not always accepted in lesser establishments and they often want to charge a 3 percent premium. Notify your bank where you will be traveling otherwise they may shut down your card because of the unusual activity. Travellers cheques are pretty much old school, but we had some for an emergency. Carry lots of US cash for emergencies, to get out of trouble and for entry visas. In Cambodia the bank machines spit out US cash. Give some to kids for just in case stuff. Visas: We spent some time fretting about visas before we left. You can't get them all before you leave because usually they are only valid for 3 months after obtaining. We got all of ours at the border except for Viet Nam and India - you must get those before arrival. Get them at their embassy in a previous country. Australia you can get on-line if your air-line hasn't obtained it. For many countries they take only US cash for visas and at up to $240 (Turkey, Americans pay $60 - go figure) for our family per country they add up.Cost of Travelling:There is a huge variance between countries. We spent as little as $50 a day to over two hundred in Europe and Australia.Immunizations:You need at least 6 months before you head out to get your shots. The kids required a dozen. These now cost hundreds of dollars, shop around. We decided not to get rabies shots as this was going to be about $2,600.Re-Entry: Give yourself some time at home before restarting work. Quite a shock to your system after the freedom and daily adventures of being away for a year.TechnologyComputer:We traveled with a laptop. Quite heavy, but great for downloading photos. I also bought an external hard drive to copy photos in case one was stolen and kept them separated. The kids did powerpoints on it and we also watched the occasional cheap DVD on it. Deb wrote her magazine stories on it and also wrote her epic emails on it which cut down on internet cafe bills.Cell Phones:Roaming charges kill and there is cell phone coverage in most places.Buy an un-locked, GPRS phone (also called quad)- we got ours in England (keep the receipt in Turkey you had to prove it wasn't stolen). When you go to a new country simply get a new SIM card, a pre-paid card and you're making local calls. We actually had two phones for when we split up, but a maid in Darjeeling decided she needed mine more than I did. She was probably right.IPODS:This sure beats packing a tape recorder and tapes like 20 years ago. We left with 2 bought a third and a splitter so two could listen from one. We also bought IPOD speakers which was very luxurious for our rooms.Cameras: I had a digital SLR Rebel XT and the kids traveled with a cheaper digital camera that also shot video. I took some 15,000 pictures, I can't imagine trying to do that with film unless you're a purist or ludite. Go with a telephoto lens for tighter shots of wildlife and people shots. Take a padded case to protect it. Take a travel photo course - a few tips like the 'law of thirds' will make a huge difference to your photography.Internet:Internet Cafes are everywhere. An amazing resource for connecting with friends, booking flights (airasia.com is your friend), hotels, paying your credit card (and checking for fraudulent use) etc.Blog:Some ten thousand people have apparently checked out this blog, although I suspect most of those visits were my parents, Val, Foster and Don. A great way for friends and family to stay connected and hopefully inspire some to get out there also. This is also great reminder of the trip that will be on-line forever (so they say). Travelpod has been great and the price is right at FREE. Learn how to compress your photos to speed up downloading.What to Bring:Go as light as possible. We didn't take sleeping bags or a tent. We shipped half our travel books to the mid point. You can buy Lonely Planet all over, some are cheaper knock-offs. You only need a few clothes, buy T-shirts along the way. I'm a huge fan of the wicking shirts especially in hot, humid countries. They also dry overnight. Most of the countries we visited were hot so we lived in shorts (for ladies not always appropriate).We brought plates, pot and stove but never used them. If you're spending alot of time in more expensive countries, probably a good idea. We all had a back pack and day pack for books and valuables. Deb had a mountain back pack while much more comfortable to carry was top loaded and impossible to lock and more difficult to get into. Buy a cheap striped 'bum bag' to put these types of packs into for plane travel as it saves the straps and looks less interesting. I had a travel back pack which zipped wide open for easy access, could be locked (use a combo lock, get the kind where customs can open without breaking)and the straps could be zipped away at the airport. We also had a monster pack on roller boards filled with books and anything we weren't using for that country. We would check it at a guest house and pick it up after exploring a country. Take receipts of your camera and computer purchase in case you are ever accused of stealing it... again never happened to us, but apparently it does.Legal Stuff:Prepare for the worst. Set up a Power of Attorney to take care of any financial matters that may arise. We also had people set up in case we both became incapacitated 'Enduring Power of Attorney'. Make sure your wills are up to date. We also did up a legal letter 'Letter of Consent' to all Customs Offices giving both Deb and I authority to travel out of country with our kids without the other parent. We were never asked for this document, but apparently it does happen.Insurance:You have to continue to pay your provincial health care while out of the country. You'll also want additional coverage should you need help overseas or need to fly to somewhere like Bangkok in an emergency. Some are very expensive, we went with TD Meloche Monnex Wide Horizons Solution Travel Insurance which was very reasonable.Odds and Ends:Put all important information, contacts, passport numbers, visa numbers (change the digits slightly with some formula, in case found) and give copies to everyone. Email this document to your self with scanned passports so that if you're stripped clean you can always go to the web. I'm not a big believer in around the neck or below the belt money belts. I had a leather belt where I kept some money and used a zippered front pocket for my valuables.Take some business cards with all of your emails and home addresses, you'll meet people that you'll want to keep in touch with. It beats scratching out contact info on napkins.Don't stress out about how under prepared you are. You can't possibly work out all the details for a year away. Have a loose plan, but be flexible enough to go with a travelers recommendation or a hot tip from a local. That's when the magic happens.We rented out our house to a great family from The Netherlands. We left it fully furnished which made it easy to get set up again. Make sure you have great tenants even if it means taking less than the market price. We paid for all utilities so we knew the heating wouldn't be turned off should they move out or not pay.If you're taking electrical devices (camera battery charger etc.)you'll need a plug-in adaptor beause there are an endless number of electrical plug configurations. The best are one piece and have multiple sliding bits for all kinds)Lessons Learned:I have an amazing wife and children.How little you need.How much we have.How little others have.And yes we can make a difference.It's a huge, diverse world, but also small and similar.As Karen McDiarmid says - "No one ever said on their death bed that they wished they'd spent more time at the office."Get out there.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1180694520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1180694520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1180694520/tpod.html Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:39:39 -0400 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Cairns, Australia

The first thing you appreciate about Australia is how just about everything here is intent on killing you. After landing in Cairns we headed up to Cape Tribulation where the cassowaries hang out (imagine a punk emu with a mohawk made of bone and a bad attitude). These guys can disembowel you with the claws on their legs. We also saw huge crocodiles and heard tales of box jelly fish (their sting is so painful those unconscious from the pain and under morphine still scream while in a coma). Touching one particular tree will give you pain for up to 6 months. Not to mention their poisonous spiders and that they have 8 of the 10 most poisonous snakes in the world. Even something as innocent as picking up shells on the beach can have you face down sucking in the sand if you pick up the infamous Cone Shell. You might ask why has Australia developed so many things able to deal out pain. About 45 million years ago the country decided it had had enough of spooning with the other continents and drifted off on its own. Evolution was off and running on its own unique track. The question is why did it veer off on such a poisonous route? I suspect the animals had an inkling that one day they would have to contend with large, cauliflowered eared men wearing cleats with criminal backgrounds stumping about the place.We are traveling in a rather good sized caravan, so my personal apologies to all of those people living on low lying coastal areas who will inevitably get wet as we single handedly melt the ice caps. But as Al Gore is my witness, we thought we were getting a pop up van; however we got upgraded.We were in Australia for more than a week and still had yet to see our first live kangaroo. We had seen perhaps a hundred dead ones as they litter the road sides. The locals tell us to avoid hitting them "on the bounce" (as if you have a choice) because then they come through the windshield and are often stunned, but not killed - so they start kicking out on your lap, an experience we hoped to avoid. I was starting to wonder if there were any live ones left. Up on the Atherton Tablelands the ground started bouncing... They move so differently than most animals we're used to that it made us laugh. These guys can clear a 2 metre fence on the hop.My other great hope was to see the shy an oddly unique duck billed platypus. My earliest school project at age 10 featured this creature that was thought to be a hoax when it was first shipped back to England. This is only one of two animals in the world designed by a committee (the other is the wildebeest). And yes, it is poisonous, but only the male, which packs a wallop with its back legs that can have you cringing for 6 months.Also near Eungella National Park... we had some good fun where we got a 'bat's eye view' of thousands of huge bats as we flew through the canopy on a 'zip-line' 25 metres in the air. Worth a visit for sure, run by a lovely family that is living off the grid. www.forestflying.comWe spent a few days on Fraser Island which is (apparently) the largest sand island in the world. You need a 4 wheel drive here because the few roads are as you can imagine quite sandy. Most of the time is spent zipping down the gorgeous beach which extends almost without interruption for some 70 miles. Here we experienced my barometer for how expensive this country is... A piece of chocolate cake at the resort was $13.50. Needless to say on our budget we ordered one with four forks. This is your best bet for seeing a dingo. We also saw Meryl Streep here, she was very upset and kept complaining that "the dingo ate her cake".Our highlight of Australia was a farm stay at a working ranch between Fraser Island and the Whitsundays. The owner Bill was the quintessential Aussie with a big laugh and great story. We were fortunate to meet some other great Australians who were staying here also. They had amazing horses and he taught us all how to trot and canter. He showed us (and we participated where we chose) horse shoeing, branding, the crowd favourite pregnancy testing and (not the crowd favourite) castration. This was great value, a fantastic experience and I thoroughly recommend going... Please say hello to Bill from us.www.glassfordcreekfarmstay.com.au We took a tall ship out to the Great Barrier Reef for a couple nights. It was a good experience as they encouraged us to help raise the sails, but once that is done there isn't too much to do. We stopped in at Butterfly Bay where the air was thick and the trees were furry with butterflies. We had some great snorkeling here also, but we had been spoiled by Sipadan in Borneo.One of my favourite spots on the coast was Byron Bay. It was a nice mix between real town and tourist spot with an amazing beach with a walk out to the most easterly point in Australia. On one morning run I looked out from the trail up to the lighthouse to see over a hundred dolphins playing in the surf. You don't see that everyday in Calgary.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1183323900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1183323900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1183323900/tpod.html Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:33:19 -0400 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Sydney, Australia

What a beautiful city this is. Imagine an upside down Vancouver, but with some incredible buildings. We took a fabulous architectural tour of The Sydney Opera building which is one of the most striking man-made creations on earth. The result of a competition, the project was massively over budget and behind schedule when the engineers finally admitted they didn't know how to build it. The man who started the Opera house process returned afer years abroad to see the completed building; however, tipped off customs agents refused him entry as he had a briefcase filled with porn. To borrow a line from Bill Bryson "he never got to see his finest erection". The time has come to end our trip... I'm actually writing this 2 months after coming home and I'll blame the tardiness of completion on more than procrastination. When I finish this blog it means the trip is really over. On July 2 at 10 am we leave Sydney airport and even after a stopover in Honolulu we arrive in Vancouver on July 2 at 10 am. It hurts my brain to think about how that is possible. Maybe just a fast plane.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1173971220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1173971220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1173971220/tpod.html Sun, 09 Sep 2007 00:13:22 -0400 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Dharamsala, India

This morning I woke up early and went for a walk around town. After many days here you get to recognize many of the beggars... from the men on their home made skate boards who push themselves up the steep streets with flip flops on their hands for protection, the man who lives in the metal box in the market, the families that sit by the roads. As I rounded one corner I was surprised to see an old women who had lost all of her fingers and nose through leprosy. She was holding with the palms of both hands a tooth brush and brushed her teeth while sitting on the sidewalk where she had spent the night. It has taken me a long time to put a word to the emotion I felt then. I was ashamed that I had never considered she would be someone who would brush her teeth. Her humanity was evident in that gesture and it also made me ashamed when I considered my lavish lifestyle compared to her daily act of survival.This is of course the home to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and we came to attend his teachings. We are not alone in this venture as hundreds of maroon clad monks and even more western tourists attend his lectures. Two days ago we were fortunate enough to see him. He certainly has a very serene presence, dare I say divine. The kids were very moved by the experience, Quinn said the 'sighting' ranked even higher than seeing the 11 lions eating the wildebeast in Kenya.We have been staying in a remarkable spot here with a friend of Karen McD's. Felicitas and Jacob (originally from Germany and Austria) have lived on a mountain top that overlooks the town an hour's walk away. For the last 25 years they have raised four amazing children here who flip effortlessly back and forth among their langauages - english, german, hindi and Tibetan.While this is a tranquil spot walking the streets can be chaotic. The roads are narrow and clogged with monks and Bhuddist hopefuls. The cars and motorcyles come ripping down the streets with their horns blaring and the bodies part at the last moment... occasionally the the odd elbow is smashed during the process of initiating those new to the area.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1164440880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1164440880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1164440880/tpod.html Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:07:30 -0400 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Bangkok, Thailand

Deb and Quinn left Nairobi by way of Jo'burg, South Africa en route to Bangkok on points while Chevy and I left later in the day to go by way of Dubai. When we got to the airport we were told that we had a 'reservation', but our ticket had not been paid for so we couldn't board the plane, so we had a problem. I showed him our eticket which showed we had indeed paid, but they said that may be, but your travel agent didn't pay us. There were a few anxious moments as I thought we might be stuck indefinitely at the airport just like Tom Hanks in Terminal. In the end I had to pay for the flight again ($1,200 US) but supposedly our agent says that we will be reimbursed... and 2 months later we were.We arrived in the evening in Bangkok and it was great to be able to walk the streets at night. Chevy was tired from our 11 hours of flying and slept for 16 hours straight. I had to wake her at 11:30 am so we could check out. I had a leg massage that was so fantastic I walked into the place next door and had a full Thai massage. One hour massages were less than $10, so I started thinking about staying. It is incredible here how many western men are 'dating' Thai women. The city was very hot and humid with temperatures around 34 degrees celcius. According to emails from home we were 70 degrees warmer than Calgarians going through a cold snap. We took the overnight train to Chiang Mai in search of cooler temperatures and to start our volunteer stint.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1178000100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1178000100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1178000100/tpod.html Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:42:30 -0400 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Bali, Indonesia

Th first thing you notice when you arrive in Bali is the abundance of culture. Temples are everywhere and entranceways into homes have lots of special touches. Even the men (most often the gender to rush out and embrace western blue jeans) wear traditional clothing - often in sarongs and a special bandana worn around the head. We also noticed the men often had a flower petal tucked into the top of their ear. The second thing we noticed was how just about everyone had the same name. Men and women all seemed to be named either Wayan, Ketuk, Maday or Nyoman. It turns out you don't need a baby name book in Bali. Your kids get named purely based on the order that they emerge from the womb. If you have more than 5 kids you just cycle back through the order... yeah that could be confusing to have 2 Wayan children in your family, imagine the poor school teachers.Greatly enjoying a month here. Very relaxing in Myrt and Kevin's Tea house overlooking the rice padies near Ubud. This cultural area of Ubud is packed with restaurants and retail stores that sell everything including boomerangs (go figure). The people here may well be the most relaxed and friendly in the world. They are mostly Hindus, picking up the religion from Indian traders in the 7th century. They have made the religion their own adapting some elements like eating beef is OK. Dutch sailors found the area so welcoming that ship captains found it dificult to gather up their crew to leave. Given the choice of fiendly, minimally clothed women OR tulips...While Ubud was our base we rented a car for all of $10 per day and did multi day trips to the north and to the east of the island
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1176418920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1176418920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cummingandgoing/world_2006-07/1176418920/tpod.html Tue, 08 May 2007 03:59:52 -0400 Around the World - the Lazenby Cummings family head out to experience some of the world's culture and sites

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Sabah, Malaysia

As we landed on the island of Borneo (more specifically - Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia)I was thinking we might see just outside the airport some head hunters standing by their mud huts, spears in hand with a few orang utans on the roof... Nothing like that. This is a very modern city and especially because India was the last place we traveled, incredibly clean and quiet. Not a bicycle rickshaw or cow to be seen and not a horn to be heard. Hard to imagine but this island that once conjured up images for me of the wild man of Borneo (no doubt an orang utan) now has more SUV's in the streets than Calgary (and that says quite a bit). We were underwhelmed by Borneo on the whole, but we had two great experiences. We climbed Mt. Kinabalu, at 4,095 metres (the highest mountain in SE Asia with some small print exceptions). We did the 10,000 feet ascent over 2 days, we left for the summit at 3 am in the morning so that we could watch the sun come up from the summit. Just one hundred metres from our cabin Chevy struggled with altitude sickness, but after popping an altitude pill she bounded for the top. Quinn struggled at one of the steep sections as it was spooky climbing in the darkness with just a headlight. We had a very nice Ward Cleaver to Beaver moment (kids ask your parents) where I talked about courage being when you push through fear and we carried on. Chevy heard one woman climber say that this was the hardest thing she had ever done and by the time we approached the bottom we were hard pressed to think otherwise. It was hilarious watching us for a few days as we negotiated stairs wincing with every step. The other hilight (Deb described it as one of the best days of her adventure filled life) was snorkeling around Sipadan Island. Quinn ever on the lookout for animals counted 42 enormous turtles that swam around us by the 600 metre wall.Borneo appears to be racing to wipe out their rain forest so they can plant more and more Palm Oil for cooking oil.We connected again with Myrt and Kevin's family for a few days on the Perhenthian Islands and enjoyed some great seafood and beach time.
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Agra, India

It's some kind of tourist law that you can't come to Inda without going to the Taj Mahal, so off we went... Truly the most remarkable building I have ever seen. Quinn described it as a "teardrop from Allah". It took 10,000 workers, 22 years to build(similar to a home schedule in Calgary these days).I have this theory that everytime anything is seen and/or photographed it takes away something of its beauty. The mountains along the highway are never quite as beautiful as they are when you turn off onto the trail. And so the Taj with its millions of tourists and billions of photos over the years, has lost some of its shine for me. Every possible picture has been taken from the front and still everyone feels the need to offer a suggestion for the perfect photo spot. So the next morning Chevy and I went to the back side for a fresher look, a path less traveled and that made all the difference.
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