Golf at the equator

Yes we went golfing at the equator and at 7000 feet. The course is a challenging 9 hole par three which requires you to hire a caddy. While having breakfast we talked to Tim (one of the guys in our van) and he thought it was a great idea and wanted his wife Ellen to go to. She didn't want to but Richard the other guy in our van did so the four of us went. It costs $20 to rent clubs and $4 for the caddie. Green fees are free. At the hotel they told us to rent one set of clubs between 2 and one caddie between 2. The ground is hard, and air thin so the ball would really fly when it was hit well, which we often didn't do. Linda had several great drives where she out drove all the men. The greens were very small and very rough, and climbing up the short hills to the tee box was a challenge, but we all said that it was a neat experience and we had a lot of fun. I will add more later, but I have to go to a meeting on tomorrows itinery.

Africa Day 3

Roy's notes Today we are leaving the Samburu. We are up early to get some breakfast before we leave at 07:30. For some reason, the duffle bags seem to take up more room this morning and they have trouble fitting them all in. Before we leave the park, we go on another game drive. We have seen so many animals in the 3 game drives we have had so far that you would think we would become jaded, but each time someone spots an elephant or garaffe everyone looks, the driver Edward stops and the cameras pop. As we stop to photograph some baboons, word comes over the radio that a leapord has been spotted. Off we go with petal to the metal over roads or trails which make logging roads seem like super highways. Its' easy to spot where the leapord has been spotted, you just look for the dust. When we get there, there already 4 vans there and soon after another 4 or 5 arrive. The leapord is just sitting up in a tree resting after eating part of an impala ignoring all what is going on around it. The leapord has dragged the impala, the size of a small horse up the tree to feast and keep it away from the lions. Apparently leapords are rarely spotted because the hunt at night and sleep hidden during the day. Edward, our driver says that the chances of seeing one is only about 2 out of 5. What a magnificent animal. While leaving the park, we stop at the gates for a bathroom break and are hounded by men trying to sell copper jewerly which we were told not to buy because the copper is stolen from telephone and cable lines. Sound familiar. We leave the park behind and start the climb to Mount Kenya Lodge . The country side changes from dry, farely flat savanna where even grass is tough to grow to hillside country with wheat and canola fields. Here they have tractors and combines where in the Samburu area everything is done by hand or animals. It is about a two hour drive to the lodgfe, and the Toyota vans struggle with the hills. We arrived for lunch. The Lodge is fantastic. It makes you feel like those rich snobs who use to sit in Africa in the movies. Everything is first class from the decor to service. I don't know what it costs per night but I would love to spend a few more days just taking the grounds in. The lodge is located right on the equator so now we have crossed the equator several times. The lunch was out of this world, variety and taste. Linda and I went to the pool, and its in the Southern hemisphere and we are staying in the northern hemisphere, a short 2 minute walk. We are travelling with 2 other couples , 12 other Canadians and 2 women from Connecticut. Everyone is really easy to get along with. Our room is a suite and is 5 star by our books. Dinner was also first class. I can't seem to get the pictures to go where I want them so you have to bare with me. In the afternoon, I crashed trying to get over my cold, and Linda toured the grounds. They have a maze and a 9 hole golf course. We think we may try the golf tomorrow.

Africa first days

March 5

We arrived at our hotel in Nabrobi an hour late because our plane was delayed for mechanical problems. Glad they were able to fix it quickly.

The Norfolk hotel is the oldest in Narobi, very colonial and very nice. Everyone was quite thrilled with it. We get to stay there again so that is nice. Hopefully we have a little more time to appreciate it. We got to our room about 12:30 am and had to be up and ready for breakfast by 7:00

Our driver is Edward. He is very patient and has been doing this for years he says. Thank god he knows his stuff. Driving on the roads here is worse than in China. At least in China they have decent roads. Here you are on pavement then dirt back to pavement with potholes big enough for our grandkids to swim in. There is a lot of road improvement going on - if we couldn’t get through Edward would just go out on the shoulder
And onto the dirt, up and over huge mounds of soil. The soil here is red, sometimes light and other times very dark red. Like PEI! There are also many diversions (detours) and they are invariably dreadful.
They all drive like they have a death wish. If it is 2 lane traffic they use the centre as a third passing lane and once they get out there they stay as long as they can . It seemed like they were playing chicken to me.

As we drove along from Nairobi to the Samburu the agriculture varied, each area had its own crop. There was pineapple farming, mangos, corn, potatoes, charcoal production, wheat and barley ( the landscape looked just like the Canadian prairies) . All along the highway people had goats tethered, usually only one goat and someone would be there tending it. Same with cows. Some animals were quiet thin and others very robust and healthy. A person would be walking along with their cow or cows. Lots of donkey carts, they look so cute. We haven’t got a picture yet. It is not easy to take a picture out the window of a safari vehicle that is barrelling down the highway at 80km. There are lots of stalls with people selling their wares out in the middle of what seemed like nowhere to us. Coke signs everywhere (the bottles are the same as at home). The homes look so poor but the people look so well dressed and healthy. Children walking to school in their brightly coloured uniforms without shoes on their feet.

It was a long day. We didn’t get to the Samburu game reserve until about 4:00 Then they popped up the roof in our van and we went on a safari drive. The first animal we saw was a Gravy’s Zebra. I may not have the spelling correct as our guide’s English is heavily accented. WOW! We were so close to them. We saw many giraffe’s and lots of elephants. We got so close to one group that we felt that we could almost touch them. A baby was nursing - sweet. At about 6:20 our guide announced that we had to get to our lodge as we couldn’t be in the reserve after 6:30 or he’d be fined. Off we went at high speed over the roughest road I’ve ever been on. It was good that he had told us to sit down in our seats. We had been standing looking out the roof and would really have got a tossing around. I am glad we are able to stand and look out but sure wish I was a little taller .

The lodge is very nice, rustic - the power comes courtesy of a generator that only runs for a short time morning and evening. There is a pool but we opted to rest in our room this afternoon. Roy has got the cold I had before we left and is not feeling too good. We go on an evening game drive at 4:00 this afternoon.
We were in the van at 7:30 this morning and oh what a morning it was. Yesterday was exciting - just being on the savannah and seeing the scenery was terrific. First we saw a warthog family, then stopped to take pictures of an ant (termite) hill. Then the battery in our vehicle died. We are in the middle of nowhere!!!
Our driver pulls our a cell phone and one of the other cars comes and gives us a push. Imagine - cell phone coverage. We are miles and miles and miles from what we call civilization. (his radio is broken and he can receive but not transmit). While we are waiting we see many baboons along the river. We saw more giraffes, elephants, lots of little dik diks ( antelope family), they are tiny and so cute. We saw lions -Mating!, we saw orynx, gazelles, cape buffalo, gerenyk, I can’t think of all the names, Roy will help me when he wakes up. It was very exciting to see all the animals in their own home, They don’t seem to even notice the vehicles but we are told not to get out of the car at any time as they do notice individuals. We also have to be escorted to and from our hut at night and when the power is shut off at night we have to flash our flashlight for a quard to come and get us if we need to go out of our hut. Leopards wander through here all the time.

We had a talk by a Samburu tribesman at noon today. Very interesting. I will write more later as my back is getting tired from the position I am in and there isn’t much choice

Notes from Roy:
Made it as far as London . Flew on a British Airways 747-400, with what seemed like a thousand other passengers. It was a long flight, and neither of us were able to catch much sleep. There were a good choice of movies, but again, neither of us could get interested so we read. Linda had no problems with the takeoff or landing this time, but she was a little drugged. After clearing customs we walked to the Sofitel hotel, checked in and freshened up. A bunch of the others had purchased tickets for the Lion King, and were heading into London. We decided to join them on the underground, but decided that getting back to the hotel around midnight and up again at 06:00 was pushing it. We got off the train at Covent Station with the group and then separated. We walked around some of the streets, and the buildings and the shops were way cool. We ended up at the Covent market area and that was cool. So cold a lot of the stands were closed. It was 6 degrees with a light breeze, so felt quite chilly. After walking around for a while we set off to a pub, the Great London, for dinner. Had quite a time getting a table, the Great London was the 5th pub we went into. Linda kept the table while I went up to get the drinks and order or meals. I asked the bartender to recommend a beer, and he asked if I wanted cool and bubbly or traditional British Beer. I said traditional British Beer and the guy standing beside me said you want this one, London Pride. He had me taste his beer (which hadn‘t been drunk out of yet), and I ordered 2. Linda had the steak pie and I had fish and chips. Very good. After dinner we walked around a bit before heading back. It was about an hour train ride back to the airport, and we had trouble staying a wake. Quick shower and hit the sack.

Notes from Linda:
It was a limo that picked us up in Mission. It was a little early but we had been ready for ages. We loaded in and then we pulled round the corner to collect Myra. Sandra was next and we were off to the airport. As we were picked up first Roy and I rode facing backward. Very disorienting! Once at the airport we were able to get aisle seats across from one another. That made us very happy. I was on the window side and had a bit more leg room than Roy, however it wasn’t a lot. BA seems to have the least leg room of any airline we have travelled with. The fellow in front of Roy kept his seat in the reclined position all the way and the fellow next to him had his feet in the spot he needed to put his backpack so all round it wasn’t great for him. As for me I had it great and no pain!

Roy has described our time in London. What a treat. Wandering round Covent Garden. I could almost see Eliza selling her flowers. I felt like pinching myself to see if it was real. Sitting in the pub having dinner with all the Londoners - men in their business suits standing, gabbing about heaven knows what, young girls on a hen night. It was so far from Mission. It made me want to stay longer but of course we are off on our adventure and London will be there for another time I hope.

We are sitting at Heathrow now. It is a busy place but the noise seems so muted, people walk by and I can see they are talking but it is quiet. My ears are a bit plugged but I hope that is not the reason for the quiet..

The Sofitel didn’t quite live up to expectations but perhaps we were spoiled in China.

Off we go to Nairobi!

Linda's post

January 23/11

Roy and I are sitting by the pool. We will have a glass of wine and some banana bread we bought on the road to Hana yesterday.

It has been a busy few days. Friday I took a quilting lesson and learned about traditional Hawaiian quilting. I am doing a taro plant pattern. The class was fun and it I turned out to be class star. Now that has never happened before. It helped that I picked the easiest pattern. It was recommended that I sign up for two classes on Friday but it turned out that I only needed the morning class. We went for a swim and did some body surfing in the afternoon.

Saturday we drove to Hana. What an experience! I will let Roy tell about that. We were exhausted at the end ( a 10 hour day and most of it spent driving on narrow, sometimes one lane bridges with 600 twisty turns). The views were wonderful, the vegetation amazing! We stopped for waterfalls (a bit of a disappointment), views (most were tremendous but one we hiked up a mountain path over exposed roots that were set to trip you, with slippery wet clay between the roots only to find the view has been obscured by vegetation and then we got to go back down over what we had come up. I had my walking stick, in the car, so Roy found me a stick to use. MY HERO. Got some fabulous banana bread and some mango bread but the baked breadfruit was sold out much to our disappointment. It was quite a trip.
Today,I reluctantly went boogie boarding and hated to get out of the water when I got tired. It was a blast, even though I got most of the sand inside my bathing suit.

Notes from Roy
We were told that we had to get to the airport at least 2 hours before for inter island flights. We had tried to get a shuttle to get us there at that time, but the best we were able to do is 3 hours early, which didn't make us happy but thought we could have lunch before we left. We get to the terminal and check in, and the lady at the counter asked if we would like an earlier flight, as there was room on the flight which left 50 minutes earlier than our booked flight. So we took it. Turns out that the inter island terminal has less food available than the Bellingham terminal, which doesn't have much. Got to fly in a Canadair 200 commuter jet, seemed old but held up fine for the 35 minute fligh. They offered to sell beverages on the flight, but by the time you would have your beverage, they would be collecting the plastic glasses before landing.
Linda didn't say anything about our car. We had booked a compact because it is cheaper and also easier to get around in. The girl at the counter said we would look good in a convertible, we said no, but she said she would look it up and see what she could do to upgrade us. All were spoke for, so she tried to get us to take a jeep. When she offered us one for $400 which is half the cost we said no. So she told us to go out to the lot and pick a compact car, keys were in it. Out we went looking for compact cars. Turns out there were 2 left, and one was just backing out of its stall. As we walked over to the last one, a young man got in and drove it away. The lot attendant told us to pick any car in the full size lot because she was out of compacts. We have a Buick Lucerene with leather interior, and all the bells and whistles. Still not sure what they all are.

Our first day after swimming at the beach across the road we toured the beaches down south. They are beautiful and didn't seem to crowded. We may go to one tomorrow before heading to Lahanai for the afternoon and our evening Lulau.
As for the drive to Hana, the shoreline and overlooks were wonderful. The water falls were disappointing. None of the falls we saw were very high, nor was there a lot of water flowing over them. The cascade falls outside of Mission are much more spectacular. The road was something else. There are over 600 curves and 54 bridges of which almost 50 are single lane over the 28 miles. As well there are a lot of single lane stretches where the signs say to yield oncoming traffic. Speed limit for a lot of the road is 15 miles per hour, with a maximum top speed of 35 mph for a short spell, but mostly 15 or 20. Once we got to Hana, around 3 PM, we decided that it would be better to head back so we weren't on the road after dark. It took over an hour and a half to get over the 28 miles of curves. We had to stop after we finished the road, we didn't feel so good, and we saw one vehicle had stopped to let the passenger out to barf. We stopped at an overlook (lookout) where the best surfing waves on the island are located. Lots of surfers out there and great waves, at least by our standards, we could have watched them all day. We got home about 5:30 and both of us were bagged. We both laid down and had a nap,and were finished for the night. Having a full size car didn't help, but even a compact would have been a challenge.

One other note, we were in Foodland buying some groceries and who do we see, but everyones favourite politican from Mission. Yes Randy Hawes is in Maui, can't seem to get away from the Liberals.

Hawii, 2011

January 17, 2011

Here we are in Honolulu at the Ohana West hotel. When we got up this morning the sun was shining and we could look out at palm tree. Just like a post card.

The trip here seemed very long. We got to the Bellingham airport early so we could get aisle seats. For some reason we could not reserve our seats to Honolulu until we got to the airport. We tried to do it on line and couldn't do it that way either. When we passed through customs the agent delayed us to give us travel information. How often does that happen??

Bellingham airport was full of BC cars. These cheap flights to Hawaii only began January 4 th or something like that. The airport is small and so hokey that it is kind of cute. We had to walk out in the rain and around a corner, across the tarmac to board our plane. It was a no frills flight and seemed very long. There were lots of children on board and though there were some melt downs they did very well. I would have loved to have a melt down myself. It seemed a long 6 hours!

We had only had a bun for dinner (purchased at the kiosk in the departure area before we boarded the plane so went across the street from our hotel to Denny's for tea and toast at 2:00 am. It was 3:00 am before we got to bed and then we were so tired we didn't sleep very well. 7:00 saw us up and looking at the view. We headed back to Denny's for breakfast and met a couple from Prince Albert (we both thought they were Americans). They had gone to the golf tournament and surprised us when they said it cost $50.00 for the whole 5 days.

After breakfast we walked through the international markey and happened upon a Martin Luther King parade (it is his day). Watched it for a while and then went on to explore the beach. The water isn't hot. After a while we boared the free shuttle and went to a shopping district for a wander. Didn't buy a thing but had lunch at a very nice Chinese restaurant. The food reminded us of the food we had in China. Then back to the hotel for our swim suits. Got on the shuttle again, but being tourists got on going the wrong way so we had the full tour of it's route before arriving at the beach. We took turns going in for a swim as we were a bit leary of leaving our stuff unsupervised. The water was great! Toured the Royal Hawaian Hotel on the way back. It is very fancy ! The ar shop had Anthony Quinn's work(I liked it), Tony Curtis (I could probably do as well) and Anthony Perkins ( I couldn't do as well). Lots of Anthony's. Back to the hotel for a shower and dinner. Shopped for snacks for our tour tomorrow at a very interesting store. Roy got a bottle of scotch and we got some cereal for breakfast as we begin our day at 6:00 a.m. And so good night, sleep tight!

Birth day

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Carson Ray Berg was born today! Our 4th grandchild. They are the 4 most beautiful children on earth.
Now it is time to get ready to go to China. We leave August 25 and will be gone until September 11.