We arrived in Bangkok on the 23rd and have settled into a very large resort style apartment hotel where we plan on celebrating a quiet Christmas together. Some decorative signs of the season do exist here in Thailand but after experiencing those fantastic Christmas markets in Frankfurt, it actually feels like Christmas for us was a week ago in Germany and this is the vacation part. We must admit however that right now we’re feeling a bit homesick and would gladly trade this tropical experience for a seat at the traditional Christmas dinner table with our family close by. I guess next Christmas will be twice as special for us.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE were very fascinating places to visit. When we got to Dubai we were completely amazed at this ultra modern city/area that looked like a Las Vegas on steroids without the glitter and sin-city side of things. We stayed at a fantastic beachside resort where our balcony overlooked a beautiful marina and the famous man-made “Palm Island”. Having all this luxurious living space around made for a great change but I must say that we were already missing the relaxed comfort of our little motorhome.
Our first impressions were that this entire area appears to be more western than North America itself. But as we settled in we began to see and experience some of the less obvious and “non-concrete” differences. Very strict personal conduct rules apply here such as no kissing, holding hands or showing any kind of affection in public between genders. It’s common however to see two males, or two females, walking hand in hand or with arms around each other. No swearing or drinking of alcohol in public places and by the way, these rules are enforced with potentially severe penalties. Women shopping in very exclusive shops buying beautiful expensive clothes and jewelry then covering it all up in public with a black burka. Somehow all these strict rules and customs seem to fit the interesting older parts of the city but to our eyes seemed a bit out-of-place and contradictory in the ultra modern western style environment of the new Dubai.
We took a ride to the “Top of the World” the other day. The 125th floor observation deck of the Burj Khalifa building is really something to experience. This is by far the tallest man-made structure in the world today and it’s not only structurally amazing, it’s also the tallest piece of artwork we’ve ever seen. New construction stretches for miles along the sandy coastline where it’s squeezed between the desert on one side and the Persian Gulf on the other. Clusters of mega towers pop up like giant redwoods next to marinas, malls, business centres and such. We thought Berlin had a lot of construction going on, in Dubai it was impossible to count the number of construction projects and cranes at work on new and spectacularly designed buildings. Interestingly, we couldn’t help but notice the large number of foreign workers that seem to be doing what appears to be all the labour building and maintaining the new UAE.
If shopping is your thing, no problem… immaculate mega malls, with mega shops and mega prices. Parking outside the Dubai Mall reminded us of the Monaco Casino with millions of dollars worth of cars lined up along the curb. Inside the mall I got my first chance ever to try out the driver’s seat of a couple of very nice Rolls Royce’s, the two combined worth about a million and a half. Nice, but I couldn’t stand the first scratch so I think we’ll stick with our good old Hyundai Santa Fe. We were very surprised to see so much of the Christmas theme throughout the entire area, especially in the shops and restaurants… I wonder what that says?
In the first part of January we’ll be leaving Thailand and heading to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam for the next step towards home. We’re still having lots of fun as we move east but the closer to home we get the more excited we are. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone soon and we’re especially now looking forward to an extra big Christmas with you next year. But, for this year, we again want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Arriving in Dubai

Well, the quick trip to London didn’t quite work out for us. Margot’s ankle was still a little to tender for such an excursion and the wet cooler weather was also becoming a bit of an issue. So, we decided to leave the London venture for a different British Isles trip sometime in the not-to-distant future. Instead we spent an extra few days wandering about Paris and enjoying what could be our favourite international city so far.
From Paris we made good time heading through Belgium to another amazingly beautiful city, Amsterdam. We stayed at a great campground about 20 minutes from Dam Square and we felt right at home wandering about these beautiful and familiar canals again, but I’ll have to admit, we were missing the company of Bert and Camilla this time around. Luckily for us, we have our new Dutch family to count on for a warm and welcome feeling. The red carpet was rolled out again and we had such a wonderful day eating and visiting. We can hardly wait to see them in Canada so that we can reciprocate this hospitality.
The weather’s been getting much colder lately with icicles forming and the space heater working overtime so it’s got us moving things along a little bit faster than planned. We had almost forgot about the cold. So, here we are after 28,000km, back at Dumo-Reismobile, the dealership outside of Dulmen, Germany that has been so fantastic to deal with. Michael Thyssen has been true to his word in every possible way and his excellent staff has been extremely helpful to us as we wrap up our European adventure, just like they were at getting it started. We’re now in the process of packing up the bulk of our things for freight shipping back home and have discovered that this is not an easy or inexpensive venture. The guys here at the dealership are graciously helping us with arranging the carriers to transport it. All we have to do is “pack-it-up” which sounds so easy when you say it quickly… Why did we bring so much stuff?
From here we will start the next phase of our return trip home via Asia-Pacific. Our sights are now set on flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Dubai, United Arab Emirates where thankfully the temperature is averaging in the 30’s. This could be our Christmas “vacation” destination. From there, eastward toward Bangkok,Thailand or possibly Singapore, Malaysia. We don’t plan on spending too much time working our way back home but we do plan on sampling a little bit of Asian culture as we skip our way along and getting back to the Pacific Northwest within three to six weeks. And yes! we are getting excited. As for the Blog during this phase, I will do my best to sneak in a short post whenever I get the chance but depending on our time and wifi availability they will probably be much more limited… lucky for you.

Road Ramble: Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas will be very different and I suspect somewhat difficult this year as we’ll be celebrating it without family and friends nearby for the first time ever. We’re already starting to think about having a family turkey dinner in March just to give us the strength to make it through the season. I can’t tell you how much we are going to miss the kids and all the fun times we have with everyone over the holidays. I’m sure that no one is feeling too sorry for us… but keep in mind that you’ll all be front and centre in our minds, and we’re wishing everyone a very…
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!