Oct 27, 2011 - Train Ride To Lhasa

I am in Lhasa now. The train ride was long ( 46hrs ). Happy to be able to get a bed now and to take a shower. First day on the train was not the best ride, we kept stopping in big cities as we moved away from Beijing. Today the views were magnificent, just what I expected you can see it on the pictures. Went out for dinner for real Tibetan food, eat Yak and had also Yak butter tea. The food was tasty and the tea was almost like a cream soup taste like. Internet is controlled in China and there are many topics I can not talk about so I will...

Oct 23, 2011 - Beijing

Today I spent most of the morning walking around. It was raining but decided to walk anyway.Visited Lama Temple. Yonghe Lama Temple was originally used as the official residence for court eunuchs of the Ming dynasty. It was converted to the royal court of Prince Yongzheng during the Qing dynasty, in the 33rd year (1693) of Emperor Kangxi's reign. In the 3rd year of Yongzheng's reign (1725), it was elevated to imperial palace for short stays away from the capital, and its name was changed to Palace of Eternal Peace (Yonghegong). During the...

Oct 22, 2011 - Arrival in Beijing

Finally, here I am in Beijing. Its Saturday, October 22 7pm local time. Just arrive to my hotel, its nice and clean. I always forget how small the beds are in Asia, still trying to make up my mind which part of my body will get the bed....my upper or lower body??? There is not much for me tonight, I will go out and find a store to buy some water and snacks and probably watch TV for an hour to catch up on my language skills. All I have so far is hello and thank you. Tomorrow I will go out and explore and take some pictures and post them for...

Oct 21, 2011 - Departure Day October 21, 2011

Well here I go. Departure day, sitting at the Cranbrook airport, 10:30am I am excited for this trip and also because I would like to share this journey with all of you. As Giovanni said when he took me to the airport..." I am very happy and excited for you and I will be able to see Tibet and the Himalayas..." Anyway not much to say at the moment, I should arrive in Beijing tomorrow afternoon.

Jul 13, 2010 - Over hill and not much dale

We got up about 6am today and decided we should get our bag of 'bathroom stuff' from the trailer. I mentioned that I locked the door last night. Well, since we don't have a key, the only way we have of unlocking it is to raise the roof high enough to get a hand in and flip the latch. But the crank isn't in its compartment! We find the crank still in place at the back of the trailer, still attached to the shaft. But what is missing is the pin that goes in the shaft to allow the crank to actually make it turn. It appears to have dropped out...

Oct 23, 2009 - Kootenay River and Trains Deluxe

We wanted a fairly quiet day after our journey the day before so in the morning we drove the back road close to the mountains. We found a short walk at Newberry Lake and then found ourselves on a ridge above the Kootenay River. At an overlook the sandy cliff face was a variable block of flats. After lunch we then headed into Cranbrook to visit the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel. The museum houses a number of rail cars from the era of the golden age of railway travel at the turn of the 20th century. Our tour took us through a number of cars,...

Oct 22, 2009 - Heading west

The route we took west was very much dependent on the campgrounds which were still open. We left Cochrane in sunshine, the first sun we had seen since we got back from England. Our destination was Forte Steele near Cranbrook, British Columbia. Our journey took us through Banff and then through the Kootenay National Park. The first snow was very visible on the mountains as we drove towards them. The mountains looked spectacular glistening in the sunshine. However as we drove through the Kootenay National Park the mountains became clouded in...

Aug 11, 2009 - To Cranbrook, British Columbia

This morning we left a little earlier than we normally do because we wanted to get to Cranbrook early enough to do something. It was a beautiful drive. We stopped at the Coy Hill Rest Area on Columbia Lake to take a few photos. This lake is the source of the Columbia River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon. (I visited Astoria in 2006.) We had reservations for only one night but, after we had arrived, we decided that we wanted to stay another night. I will have to move to a different site tomorrow because this one has...

Jul 27, 2009 - Keremeos BC to Cranbrook BC

DAY TWENTY-ONE - July 27/09 This morning we left Keremmeos BC heading towards Cranbrook, BC. Going through Osoyoos area was one vineyard after another. We went through the Kettle Valley and stopped at the Copper Eagle in Greenwood for "brunch". We phoned Gramma and Grampa from here and let them know that we were coming down and we would phone them once we got to Creston.We arrived in Cranbrook about 4:00. Then we went to the Moyie Pub for supper and back to the house. About 9:30 a wicked thunderstorm hit and it is pouring rain right now as...

Jul 7, 2009 - Marysville - Kimberley July 7 - 8

July 7 We are parked in Clarence's driveway for a couple of days. After dinner we went to the accordion festive dance. The tickets were $20 each so it was pretty pricey. I found the dancing quite entertaining as the dancers had many different steps for the polka. One dance called the 7 step is very much like a shottishe. Clarence and I had a few waltzes and a polka. He is a good dancer and knows how to twirl! On the way home 2 mule deer crossed the road right in front of the truck and they were not in much of a hurry either. July 8 Ed...

Jul 6, 2009 - Cranbrook

July 6 We pulled out in the pouring rain. Then we pulled into our new campground in a rain storm. Luckily it let up a bit because we had a hard time setting up because we were so crooked. Plus there was a truck parked right on the edge of our campsite so we had to take a few tries to get in without hitting him. On our travels today we found two deer and a wild turkey on the side of the road. We walked around downtown but there really wasn't much to see. Highway 3 seems to have most of the action. Just when Ed was going out to BBQ dinner...

Oct 19, 2008 - House Taking Shape

Lauren paid us an unexpected, but greatly appreciated, visit. She also visited Lindsay, and got to know her niece and nephew. She was on stress leave from her job as a community social worker in Denmark. She was working well in Danish, but, unfortunately, the work environment was simply unbearable. While she was visiting us, she was called for an interview for another social work job, and a day after she returned to Denmark, she had a successful interview, and is now enjoying a great new job. Bill has been busy planning a wilderness camping...