Europe, The Return: Museums, Open top Buses and Western Civilization

**Better late than never... we were in Europe in May, and road-tripping around the western US in June.  We’re home trying to settle back in now, but trying to catch up on the last few blogs from the trip!**

Europe the Return Highlight album 

After an epic day of travel back to Colombo, a stopover in the Maldives and an 8-hour layover in Istanbul, we finally arrived in Rome and completed our 39,000 mile Rome to Rome around the world plane ticket.  We immediately drove through the mountains to the Italian hillside town of Petriolli where we had the pleasure of spending a few days with CO Rotary friends Carolyn and Paul in the “hole in the wall” (as Liam described it) hilltop castle villa.  We chilled out, ate great food and played lots of cards—except for poor Xander, who was sick and ended up falling down the stone stairs in the middle of the night, getting a slight concussion, and sleeping through most of the visit.  Always an adventure. 

Enjoying the English countryside

Jolly good

After a restful few days reveling in our ability to brush our teeth with water from the tap, we flew from Rome to London, where we were picked up by Ken and Liz- a couple we met briefly during our Li River Cruise in China who kindly offered to host us if we ever came to London.  We have a lot of travel karma to repay after all the hospitality people have shown us across the world.  We had a lovely time with them checking out the local pub, watching lawn bowling, hiking in their beautiful neighborhood forest, and touring a manor estate of a former London socialite.  We spent the next few days in London at a flat near waterloo station. We loved exploring the British Museum and marveling at all the treasures that British explorers “obtained” from many of the places we travelled over the past year.  We’ve discovered that audio guides are the key to a good museum experience, as it’s much more interesting to learn the context and story behind artifacts then to just look at them.  I guess that’s true with most things.

GMT- where east meets west

British museum

The next few days we explored around town and went to all of the typical (and impressive) tourist spots including the Natural History museum and the Science Museum where we got to see things like the original DNA model (very exciting to Liam, who wants to be a geneticist), Westminster Abbey (wedding site of Royals and burial place of Darwin and many others), and Tower of London (prison of many a famous person destined for execution).   We went to a cheesy “live action” exhibition under the tower bridge where we learned more about London’s sordid history of war, murder, plague and fires.  Other highlights included meeting an expat friend and her family in the city, where we learned some of the finer points of having dual citizenship (our friend has to pay US capital gains taxes on her London real estate) and some of the intricacies of the Brexit arguments (before the vote).  One of the coolest excursions was taking a boat down the Thames (pronounced tems) to Greenwich (pronounced Grenich) to the Royal Observatory.  And here we thought we were finally back where people spoke English.  We stood with feet on either side of the prime meridian— one foot slightly to the west and one slightly to the east of 0 degrees longitude (and GMT).  It was fascinating to learn about the difficulties in calculating longitude (how far east or west you are)—especially on ships in the middle of the ocean—which they couldn’t really do well until 1700s.  Three cheers for GPS and google maps.

Tower of London

We took the Chunnel under the English Channel to Paris.  When we arrived at our apartment, we had to wait several hours in the hallway for the property manager to come let us in.  Although it was annoying and frustrating, it was a testament to our hard-learned travel “go with the flow” mentality that it wasn’t awful.  If only we can maintain this attitude once we return.

Art appreciation

Like London, in Paris we went to many of the top tourist attractions, including St. Chappell- a chapel that tells bible stories (most of which involve heretics being punished or martyred saints) through incredible stained glass pictures, and Notre Dame, where we caught the end of Sunday mass including the dramatic organs echoing throughout the cathedral.  We took a trip out to Versailles, the definition-of-ostentatious home of the Sun King Louis XIV who ruled France from the mid 1600s until 1715.  We also learned that Marie Antoinette probably didn’t say “let them eat cake”—although that didn’t save her from getting guillotined during the French revolution in the late 18^th century.  Our highlight in Paris was the Louvre museum, where we took an audio guide tour of the masterpieces, including the Mona Lisa (smaller than you guess), Venus de milo (bigger than you would guess) and the winged victory of Samothrace (wow).  On the way home on the metro we were serenaded by a crazy character with baby dolls on his fingers as rings, dressed as a cross between a pirate and a circus performer.  Ahh, Paris.

It was a great capstone to the trip to spend the last few weeks overseas in two of the most iconic Western Civilization cities.   And we flew back to the states on points from our around the world ticket. Hooray.

Senses:

Xander: The purple flowers branching off the vines ensnaring the large old manor in the countryside of the south east of London; the Rosetta stone's carved hieroglyphs and other two languages conspicuous on its dark surface at the British Museum; the white marble wings spanned to their full extent as more tourists walk up the steps to see the winged and headless Greek god on top a white stone boat at the Louvre; the dark green hedges obscuring the gilded gold royal apartments of Versailles and the hundreds of tourist discovering the ostentatious palace.

Liam: The taste of the wonderfully cooked and made panini going down my throat as I throw down my cards to win a round of shanghai once again; The beautiful Italian countryside rolling along before my eyes as we leave the "hole in the wall" residence of Paulo and Carolina; the beef eater's intimidating and loud voice echoing across the  courtyard as he passionately explains the history  of the london tower; the helpless eyes of the injured baby bird staring into mine as I scoop it up off the sidewalk into my hand and put it over the fence to give it higher chance of survival.

Carolyn: The huge dome of the massive british museum arching above endless priceless artifacts acquired from across the world reminding us of our adventures across the globe; The many ornate tomb markers lining the intricate walls Westminster Abby hinting at history and encasing kings and queens of centuries past; The fragmented Greek marble statues of the Parthenon lining the walls of the cavernous British museum, oblivious to the fights over their rightful ownership and location in the world; The wide avenue of Champs de Ellysis leading up to the towering Arc de Triumph carved with French victories of old; The sound of the rain pounding on the glass roof of our funky bright paris apartment as we relax during our last day overseas

Jim: The intricate mechanisms of the clocks and other machines at the Royal Observatory designed to solve for longitude and the answer leading to control of the seas for England; the ostentatious decoration of the hall of mirrors and other rooms throughout the palace of Versailles showing the opulence and power of the Sun King; the stunning green, red, blues and oranges of the stained glasses of St Chappelle depicting the stories of the Bible in the towering stain glasses scenes; the finely crafted taxidermy animals covering every nook and cranny of Paris's Deyrolle shop inspiring awe and wonder on how these animals came to this place. 

Sri Lanka: Tea, Elephants, and Curry

Click here for Sri Lanka Photo Highlights

sunset at little Adam's peak

Sri Lanka was my choice for “must visit” country.  Honestly, I didn’t know much about it, but several trusted friends with vastly varying perspectives all had gone and loved it.  As my grandfather used to say great minds do think alike- and so do ours- so thanks to Mary, Katie, David and Franziska for the inspiration.  Sri Lanka has many of the highlights of our previous adventures—beaches, wildlife, hiking, culture, temples—all packed into one fantastic country.

At the turtle rescue

Sri Lanka is the island to the SE of India although there were several similarities to the other places we had just been in Asia, it definitely had a different feel in the look and dress of the people (more influence from India than China) and the taste of the food (full of different spices; the main dish is rice served with a half dozen different curries).  We arrived in Colombo at 1am.  Some lessons we have learned about arriving into a new country so late/early are that it’s worth it to hire a hotel transfer ahead of time and that you need to triple check (because double checking apparently doesn’t cut it) your plane and hotel reservations to make sure the dates line up. We almost arrived on the wrong day and thus we have endless accolades for the super-fast responding customer service team at Star Alliance who were able to change our around the world plane ticket yet again based on a mistake in our planning.

Galle fort

We started our 15-day journey with a drive down the west coast, where we stopped at a sea turtle rescue site where they pay fishermen to turn in eggs and keep the babies for a few days to (hypothetically) give them a better chance of surviving. Although there is some debate on if these projects are helpful, it seems like any chance is better than the eggs ending up in soup.  And wow are baby sea turtles surprisingly cute and endearing (see video).  On the coast we could also still witness the devastating aftermath of the 2004 Boxer Day Tsunami, which killed over 30,000 people (almost twice the population of Golden) and displaced over 1.2 million.   They say the animals at low lying Yala national park went to higher ground before the Tsunami hit because they somehow knew it was coming.  Now Sri Lankan has lots of new construction and better Tsunami warning alarms.      

We enjoyed our time “relaxing” on the beach getting creamed by the gorgeous turquoise waves at Unawatuna (most of the Sri Lankan city names are really fun to say.)  We also walked around stunning Galle fort, a relic from the Portuguese and later Dutch colonization in the 16^th - 18^th centuries.  And we stayed at a guest house where the food was awesome.  Sri Lanka had some of the best food and service of everywhere we’ve been. Next it was inland past rice fields with farmers who looked like they were training for the X-games (see video) to Udawalawe (told you on the names) national park where we saw lots of amazing animals—including water buffalo, peacocks (they’re as abundant as squirrels in our neighborhood in CO, but a lot cooler see video), beautiful parrots, bee catcher birds and tons of Asian elephants.  Asian elephants are quite a bit smaller than African elephants (fun fact, Asian elephant’s ears are shaped like India, and African elephant ears are shaped like Africa) but that didn’t stop them from completely freaking us out when one trumpeted and charged the jeep.  After a few more charges, we figured out that the male elephants were likely intimidated by Xander, in all his hormone-laden teen glory.

New friends on the train

Next we traveled up to Ella, a green and relatively cool (heat waves shattered all-time records in SE Asia while we were there) oasis where we enjoyed some gorgeous hikes up to Little Adams Peak and Ella Rock--  although I busted up my knee falling after tripping over a stray dog (yes, I’m a very talented hiker), the views were (almost) worth it.  We took a slow scenic train ride from Ella to Nuwara Eliya through the terraced tea fields-- at first we were a little frustrated because we didn’t end up with seats (we lost the mad tourist scramble) but we ended up sitting several carriages back with a friendly and rowdy group of Sri Lankans who insisted on sharing their unrecognized fruits and snacks with us, and played drums, sang and danced for the entire 2.5 hour trip (see video).   It was awesome, and the kids weren’t even (that) uncomfortable.  Hooray for random travel experiences!

Word's End

From Nuwara Eliya we took a white knuckle drive up through Horton Plains National Park and hiked to World’s End-  a sheer ~2800ft precipice that drops off into the lush Sri Lankan countryside.  We saw cool rocks, some monkeys and lots of selfie-stick wielding Chinese people.  Selfie sticks and selfie stick sellers are the most common thing we have seen across the world.

The following day a highlight was touring a tea plantation (Sri Lanka was named “Ceylon” until the 1970s and the founder of Lipton tea bought tea plantations and sourced all of his tea from Sri Lanka) and learning about the different processing steps and tea qualities.  Ladies pick all the tea leaves by hand and turn in their daily work of 15-20kg bags of leaves to the factory to be processed by drying and crushing machinery from the 1940s.  Another fun fact- green tea is made from the same leaves as black tea, but doesn’t go through the fermentation step.   We also wound our way down to Kandy where we arrived at a great airbandb villa where the hosts surprised Liam with a beautiful birthday cake for his 11^th birthday.  That night we also had a lovely birthday party at our driver’s sister’s family’s house-- complete with hats, cake and homemade rice and curry.  In Sri Lanka the tradition is that the mother gets the first piece of birthday cake because she brought the child into the world.  I was digging that a lot more than Liam.  Sadly, the patriarch of the family had had a stroke the week before, so couldn’t walk or talk when we visited. It was very heartwarming and heartbreaking to see how much his daughter respected and loved him.  She literally bowed down to him before she left. Made me miss my dad a whole lot.  We felt very honored to be there.

Temple of the Tooth

In Kandy we visited the Temple of the Tooth relic- a Buddist temple that, as the name indicates, houses the tooth of the Buddah, which was smuggled into Sri Lanka in a Princess’ hair around 300AD.  We were there for the ceremony with the monks playing instruments and chanting (see video) and stood in line with the worshipers holding fragrant flowers as offerings to catch a quick glimpse of the gold container holding the tooth that is only on visible for a short time each day.  The tooth is Sri Lanka’s most valuable treasure and one of the worlds most sacred Buddhist artifacts.  Babies are brought into the temple to be blessed when they are three months old.  It was neat to see a bunch of families with tiny babies on their special day.   Later that day, at the recommendation of our airbandb hosts, we went to a local monastery for some reason we didn’t quite comprehend at the time, but we’re always up for doing what locals say.  We arrived to find our hosts feeding about 100 10-15 year old monks (all in bright orange with shaved heads)-- Turns out families volunteer to feed the monks once or twice a year and our timing was serendipitous.  We got to join for lunch and get blessed by a monk to boot (hence the white string all of us are wearing around our wrists).  During our time we learned a lot about Buddhism and the strengths of the local communities; our driver, for example, started every day by thinking “who can I help today?”.

On our drive to our next stop in Dambulla, we stopped at a Hindu temple covered with colorful statues of hundreds of different gods.  Our driver told us that during the 30 year (!) civil war, Tamil Tigers used to hide among the gods on the temple and shoot people and aircraft.  We also visited several amazing rock cave Buddhist temples. In Dambulla we stayed at a funky chalet out in the rainforest complete with frogs in the bathrooms, a super friendly steward who made/served us breakfast and dinner (!) and an incredible thunder and lightning storm that knocked out the power for the night.  

Highlights from our last few days in the country included climbing the 1000+ steps (ok, maybe the arriving more than the climbing) up Sigiriya rock past frescos and huge stone lion paws to arrive at the flat top summit with ruins from a palace from 500AD, touring Polonnaruwa (an enormous temple/royal complex from when the area was the capital around 1000AD), going on a safari where we got to stand up in the back of a safari jeep and hold on tight while we four-wheeled throughout the forest and spied elephants and their babies in the high grass, and eating a rice and curry meal with our driver and his family in their home.

Almost at the top of Sigiriya rock

After a 35+ hour marathon trip to Rome (completing our around the world plane trip from Rome to Rome), we’ve been back in Europe finishing up the trip abroad with London and Paris.  We’ve only been back in the “first world” less than two weeks, and we miss the exotic sights, sounds, and tastes of Asia—although it’s quite a luxury to be able to drink the water from the tap.

Hanging out the elephants

Senses:

Carolyn: Gasping as the sri lankan teen dives off the high rock into the shallow reefs in the colorful coral dotted aquamarine waters beyond the Galle fort; the surprising sound of the elephant trumpeting as it rushed out of the jungle toward our jeep, stopping about 10 feet away but leaving all of our hearts racing; stepping back from the heat of the fire as the flamboyant Kandy dancer spins by in front of me with his flaming torches; the black granite striping the stone carving of the gigantic reclining Buddha as the rain patters down on us at the mystical 1500 year old Gal Vihara site

Jim: The hundreds of baby turtles swimming frantically in the turtle sanctuary as they grow a little before being released to the wild; increasing their survival rate from 2% to 20%; the happy people traveling to Colombo singing, dancing and playing drums, adding to the dramatic scenery and a wonderful Sri Lankan memory; the clouds slowly creeping up the mountain valley at the worlds end adding to our perfect view of the jungle and river below; enjoying a relaxing morning with a cup of milk tea watching the flocks of birds fly from Kandy lake to the countryside for their daily feedings; the explosive taste of wild Sri Lankan ginger root filling my mouth only to be subdued by the sweet taste of cinnamon tree bark.

Xander: The slanted Galle fort walls sloping down into the colorful reef on the southern coast of Sri Lanka; the blue  and peacock green peacock feathers hanging down from the droopy leafed tree as the sun sets into the Sri Lankan horizon; the distant thunder clouds suddenly having a bright golden glow as lightning flickers in the dark sky above Ella; the  golden case of Buddha’s tooth glowing with a powerful aura as the local crowds shove us out of the line for closer look at the scared tooth case

Liam: The newborn turtle's hard shelled belly squirming about in my hand at the turtle hatchery on the drive down the coast to Unawatuna; the splay of undulating green and blue peacock feathers framing the peacock's slender body as all of the peahens come over to admire him; the surprising sight of dad's pale white butt cheek shaking as the dramatic masseuse vigorously massages it; the miniscule water drops pounding at my legs as we twist turn and accelerate through the Nuwara Eliya lake on my first jet ski ride; my fart's smell overwhelming  me as I squat in the old palace column  hiding from xander as we play hide and seek in the Polonnaruwa citadel ruins

Cambodia: Temples, Gods and Terrors

Cambodia Photo Highlight Album

We were in Cambodia less than a week but it was incredible and educational for its amazing history and monuments—both ancient and more recent.  And it was really, really hot.

Royal palace in Phenom Penh

Tracey went home (boo) and we took a bus across the border from Vietnam to Cambodia—pretty straightforward, especially since Jim figured out how to get the visa in advance.  Sort of like when we went from Germany into France, we could immediately tell we were in another country.  A Cambodian guide we had told us that his country is about 50 years behind Vietnam, and that made sense.  We arrived in the capital of Phenom Penh during the last few days of Khmer New Year when everyone goes back to their villages, so we had the unique experience of seeing the place surprisingly deserted and shut down.  After the frantic streets of Ho Chi Minh, it was a nice change to be able to walk across the street without fearing (too much) for our lives.   

Gas for sale

We took several tuk tuks around town, and liked that the ones in Cambodia are different than those that we saw in Thailand and Ethiopia—in Cambodia they’re a motorbike pulling a cart with four seats.   When I asked someone if we could fit us and all of our backpacks into a tuk tuk at the bus station, I was told that 10+ Cambodians ride in these.  Of course, most Cambodians are the size of Liam, but we did fine. 

In Phnom Penh we toured the gorgeous royal palace where the king lives, including the silver pagoda whose entire floor is made of silver.  The floor made a very loud ringing noise when Xander accidentally knocked over a pole onto it.  It houses several treasures including a 90kg gold Buddha covered in almost 10,000 diamonds! It also has an elephant hitching post and a door up really high where the king used to board his elephant. 

When we were in Phnom Penh, Xander, Jim and I went to tour the Tuol Sleg Genocide museum, formerly the notorious S-21 prison and interrogation center from the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979.  We had watched “The Killing Fields” the night before, and Liam decided he didn’t want to go.  Xander didn’t want to either but decided that he “should witness it.” Heartbreaking does not begin to describe the horror that that people of Cambodia went through.  It’s estimated that around 20,000 prisoners were processed through that prison alone; there were 7 known survivors.  Interrogations would continue until prisoners “confessed” – but if the guard didn’t get a confession, they would end up in prison themselves. 

S-21 prison rules

The Khmer Rouge (or the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia) came to power aided by the Northern Vietnamese, the Chinese, and debatably by the chaos caused by the carpet bombing of Cambodia by the US during the Vietnam war.  The Khmer Rouge isolated the country from all things foreign, closed all schools, hospitals, and factories and abolished banking and finance, outlawed religion, confiscated all private property and relocated people from urban areas to collective farms.  Teachers, merchants, and almost the entire intellectual elite (and anyone who wore glasses, because it was a sign of intellectualism) were murdered.  The Yale University Genocide program estimates that 1.7 million (a conservative number)  Cambodians (over 20 percent of the population) died. After Pol Pot and his regime were ousted by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1979, he and the Khmer Rouge continued to fight until his death in 1998.  Surprisingly, a coalition government including the Khmer Rouge was the government recognized by the UN during the 80s and 90s.  

It blows the mind to consider the far reaching implications – imagine all the baby boomer teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers and business men and women you know in US gone? And their children?  For example, while we were in Phenom Phen we met up with a lovely family that are both pediatricians working for NGOs in Phenom Penh.  They said there is severe lack of Cambodian doctors trained in west in Phenom Penh (the biggest city in the country).  Crazy.

Bayon temple

From Phenom Penh we took a short flight to Siem Reap and switched places with all of the tens of thousands of locals who were heading back from the new year.  Serendipitous (and inadvertent) timing.  We had an incredible 3 day tour in Angkor UNESCO archaeological heritage site, which contains the magnificent remains of the Khmer empire (9^th to 14^th century).  Temples and other ruins are everywhere—including the famous temples of Angkor Thom (of tomb raider fame), and Angor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.  Walking through the ancient temples with the intricate carvings, tree roots climbing down the crumbling walls, and huge Buddha faces serenely smiling down on us was enchanting.  Our guide taught us all sorts of fascinating facts about the history and mythology of both Buddhism and Hinduism—much of which was displayed in incredible bas-relief murals that stretched hundreds of feet around the walls.  We also one of our best question and answer exchanges from our trip with him:

Market goodies

Jim asks our guide at the moat of Angkor Wat as we look down at fish and turtles swimming in the water: “Have you ever eaten turtle?”

Guide: “Yes, it is delicious, especially the organs.  But now it is banned because they are going extinct.”

Jim shares a picture of the market in Phnom Penh with baskets of turtles and snakes for sale as food from a few days prior…

Despite the 100+ degree heat, we all loved touring the different sites—enough that we went back to Angkor Thom for a second visit the last day.  The heat was tempered by staying in a beautiful place with a great pool.

Now we’re in Sri Lanka (the tear shaped island off the SE coast of India) on our last (!) round the world ticket stop before we end up back in Rome.  The current plan is a week in both London and Paris then back to the states for a month long western national park tour in June.  Anyone want to join us at the Grand Canyon?  It’s easier to get to that SE Asia…

Senses:

Liam: The hot hair drier like wind rushing past me as we putter through the deserted street of Phnom Penh in search of our hidden Airbandb; the glittery diamond eyes of the Buddha staring back at me as I gaze at its 90kg diamond-encrusted gold body in the 6 ton silver pagoda in the Royal Palace in Phenom Penh; the multitude of peaceful Buddha faces surrounding me as I walk through the Bayon temple in the ancient city of Angkor Thom; the incredibly intricately carved domed towers coming together to make the famous scene of the amazing Angor Wat as I walk past its front gate

Xander: The fear and sadness of the S-21 prison from Khmer Rouge regime still reverberating out from the stone cells and walls; the roots of trees snaking around the abandoned Buddhist temple squeezing and crumbling its stone Khmer empire architecture at Ta Prohm; The five curved towers of Angkor Wat framed by the burning sky looming over the crowds of tourists and myths intricately carved into its stone walls; The golden sun's rays illuminating the many faces of the Buddha in a golden panoramic as the sun starts to set outside Siem Reap

Carolyn: The painful red bumps and blisters on my stomach and back itching madly as I wonder if I've caught a horrible disease to ultimately realize it’s just a nasty case of heat rash; the haunting stares of the ghosts of men women and children boring into me from the rows and rows of black and white photos adorning the walls at the gut-wrenching Toul Sleng prison genocide museum; the multitude of serene  giant Buddha heads at Bayon Temple mysteriously smiling down on the intricate bas-relief wall carvings that tell stories of ancient times in the Khmer empire; the afternoon light illuminating the many faces of the Bayon temple Buddhas as we have the site to ourselves in the afternoon sun

Jim: The curving letters of the ancient language carved into the stone monoliths in the National Museum reflecting the deep history of Cambodia; the sadness of the S21 prison and the tremendous loss of life during the Pol Pot years and the shocking knowledge that he lived until 1998 in Cambodia without being held accountable for his terror; the silvery shine of the bark of the banyon tree growing on top of the temple in Angkor Thom providing inspiration to treasure hunters and archeologists about the wealth of this sight; the red sandstone carved into detailed stories of the creation of the universe from Hindu/Buddhism religions. 

Vietnam: Motorbikes, Adrenaline and the American War

Click here for Vietnam Photo Highlight Album

It has been almost exactly 41 years since the Fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war and Liberation Day at the end of the American War, which correspond to the same event and place, depending on who you ask.  It’s incredible to think about the transformation Vietnam has undergone in our lifetimes…  from an impoverished and politically isolated (the US trade embargo lasted until 1994) to one of the fastest growing economies in the world.  We feel fortunate to be at a time in history where could have the opportunity to experience this amazing country—from the vibrant controlled chaos of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, to the stunning beauty of Halong Bay and plunging canyon waterfalls in the central highlands—traveling through Vietnam was fantastic, and even better because Tracey (Carolyn’s sister) was with us.

We started our trip in Hanoi (the capital) in the north part of the country.  Our first night we braved the chaos of the old quarter streets to sit on tiny plastic chairs at a roadside shop and eat some Pho (pronounced “fuh”—who knew?) and get some of the cheapest beer in the world (~$0.50 at a restaurant). Lesson learned in crossing the bustling streets teeming with honking motorbikes—just keep walking, and whatever you do- don’t stop or run.  The controlled chaos flow is almost magical.  

The next day Tracey arrived-   Hooray!  We introduced her to the excitement that is a walk around town and went to a water puppet theatre- a cultural program that included singing, indigenous instruments and the most bizarre and charming puppet show we’ve ever seen.  Who wouldn’t like puppets without pants dancing in water along with fire breathing dragons?  (video clip here)

The next day we left early for a cruise on Ha Long Bay to Bai Tu Long bay where we spent a relaxing two days cruising and kayaking around one of the  new natural wonders of the world and eating some of the best food of the entire trip so far. Liam and Xander have come a long way from our Thailand trip 3 years ago when they only ate rice.  Now they eat pretty much everything and are chopstick experts to boot. The kids went squid fishing at night and we had the wondrous surprise of the water being bioluminescent and leaving a fluorescent trail wherever we splashed (!). We woke up early to learn Tai Chi on the boat deck while we slipped by the limestone karsts in the still water.  Unreal.  (video clip here) 

Tomb Mosiac

After returning from Halong Bay it was back to Hanoi for a motorbike tour of the city before catching an overnight train to the “Imperial City” of Hue about 13 hours south.  On the motorbikes, we didn’t even flinch (that much) going through the round-abouts.  After resting in the hotel for a bit, we headed out to explore the Citadel ruins—the North Vietnamese army seized most of the city during the Tet offensive (1968).  The US initially didn’t bomb the area because of its religious and cultural significance but eventually the restrictions were lifted and many of the structures were destroyed further.  You can still see the bomb craters and bullet holes in the remaining walls.  Because the city is now a UNESCO site, the area is being restored and preserved.  The next day we went hiking in Bach Ma national park—“hiking” is a bit of a euphemism for the rock scaling and cliff crossings we navigated to make our way down to the gorgeous rhododendron waterfall.   The last day we braved the oppressive heat and toured the emperors’ tombs and pagoda before sweating it out at the steamy train station waiting for a delayed late night train to Nha Trang.   For both trains we were in the “hard sleeper” bunks with 3 bunks on each side.  The trips were surprisingly not bad, although poor Tracey powered through somehow getting over 40 blistering bug bites on her legs (we think at dinner).  Hooray for anti itch cream. 

Nha Trang is a party beach town full of (of all things) over weight and sunburnt Russians in small swim suits.  We enjoyed bobbing around in the South China Sea until the tide (and the trash) came in.  We walked to the Po Nagar Cham towers (built in 700s) and enjoyed a mud bath and pools at a local hot springs.  We also watched “Good Morning Vietnam” where we empathized with Robin William’s description of the weather: 

"Fool, it's hot! I told you again! Were you born on the sun? It's damn hot! It's so damn hot, I saw little guys, their orange robes burst into flames. It's that hot!”

Next it was up the windy hillside to the Da Lat in the central highlands.  Oh, heavenly cooler altitude.  We took a countryside tour where we checked out flower farms, scaled slippery rocks to a waterfall, ate crickets, saw a huge happy Buddha and Jim drank some weasel poo coffee.  Seriously, they make coffee from beans eaten and pooped by weasels (some of the most expensive in the world.) I’ll stick with crickets. 

family bonding

Xander jumps after a waterfall rappel

The following day was one of the most exciting of the trip—we went canyoning. The trip involved rappelling down cliff faces and waterfalls, rock sliding backwards over rapids, cliff jumping and going through the “washing machine” where you abseil down a waterfall until the cliff face disappears then you have to drop down on the rope vertically until the rope runs out, at which point you’re dropped into a narrow canyon where you’re whipped around underwater for several seconds until you pop out downstream. Wow.  The guides got some great pictures of the trip—one memorable one of Xander ½ way down the waterfall.  I told him he should put the picture up in his locker so he can remember how brave he is.  “Middle school is a different kind of hard,” he responded.     

Filling out our planes, trains and automobile checklist, for our final stop we flew to Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon) that was even more insane than Hanoi (and broiling to boot.) We were psyched to meet up with some friends that we met on the Great Barrier reef and we all went on a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels.  The Cu Chi tunnels are a vast network of (extremely small and narrow) connected underground tunnels cover over 200 km used by the Viet Cong (video clip here). Part of the tour included a documentary/propaganda film from the early 70s that talks about the “evil Americans” that leveled the area with bombs and the brave guerillas (including a “little girl whose father was killed in an American attack”) who earned championship titles for killing American soldiers.  We also saw the many innovative and horrifying traps that the guerillas created to hurt and kill soldiers.  I won’t even get into what we learned about Agent Orange.  It was very sad to be where so many villagers and young soldiers killed each other.  I’m pretty sure the kids are going to struggle in  American history when they get to the Vietnam war because of the different facts they’ll read in US textbooks.  We found the Vietnamese people to be some of the most friendly and hospitable we’ve met on the trip so far.  What a difference a few decades makes.  I wonder if Xander and Liam will make a similar trip to North Korea, Iraq or Iran when they have kids?

Ho Chi Minh cross walk

It was wonderful to travel with intrepid Tracey, who could not have been more easy going/ fantastic travel planner.  Not only did she not complain about the gazillions of awful bug bites and an impressive bruise on the butt from falling on the rocks at the elephant waterfall, but she forgave me for slipping and falling and knocking her back into the river when we were canyoning (hey, I stayed up).  That’s what sisters are for, right?  The coolest part of the trip was seeing her “break through the fourth wall” with the kids because she got (had?) to spend so much time with them.  Best memory from the trip was watching Tracey and Liam laughing so hard that tears were streaming down their faces because of a faceswap snapchat picture they took of themselves.  Great minds, and all that J

Now we’re back on our own and in Cambodia exploring temples at Angor Wat.  They’re so cool it makes up for the fact that it’s 105 degrees!  Hard to believe we’re over ¾ done.

Senses:

Carolyn: Slowly moving my arms through Tai Chi poses as we glide through the serene still waters of Bai Long Bay, cruising by tree covered limestone karsts; grasping tightly to the frayed cord as I scale my way down a slippery cliff to make it to the gorgeous waterfalls and lakes in Bach Ma national park; the pitch black of the top of the Po Nagar Cham tower seemingly going up forever within the ancient temple filled with reverent bowing worshippers and fragrant incense; the quick crunch of the cricket in my mouth followed by the many minutes of trying to dislodge its spiny legs from between my teeth

Jim: The peaceful hum of the gong reverberating high over the many shades of green of the dense rain forest as we walk in the Bach Ma national park to the helicopter lookout built by the Americans in the "American" war; the brilliant colors of the ornate decoration of the emperors tomb completed by his successor using mosaics made from ceramics, glass, and bottles; climbing up the dragon stairs to the bonzi lined Buddhist temple with the three peaceful buddahs inside and then meandering to the back to find the electric blue giant happy buddah towering above us wishing us happiness and good fortune; the awfulness of war shown at the cu chi tunnels through human traps, tunnels, repurposed bombs, and other “innovations” that the Vietnam communists developed to fight against the French and then the Americans to maximize killing and minimize direct fighting.  

Xander: The mist shrouding the limestone karsts as we peacefully motor along the rubbish filled water Halong bay; My hands grasping the back seat handles as my motor guide weaves through traffic like a spider weaving its web in Hanoi; the fiery heat of the sun absorbed by the blackened dragons lining the stairs as we climb up to the tomb in Hue; My ears popping as we drive along the windy mountain road leaving the white sand and red Russians behind in Na Trang; The water pounding down on my shaking body as I repel/slide down the 20 meter waterfall to a 10 ft drop into the river's abyss

Liam: The giant waves of red and yellow fabric creating a gargantuous vietnam flag perched atop its noble black cement stand at the Citadel in Hue; My knuckle whitening grip on the frayed plastic rope loosening as I look at the golden shafts of sunshine piercing the body of the emerald green lake on our venturesome hike in Bach Ma national park; The small brown grass top umbrellas scattered across the white sand beach as turquoise blue waves crash onto the shore at nha trang beach; The small gritty mud granules pushing up against my teeth as I dunk my head once again into liquid silk mud; The great glowing red aura of the burnt orange orb slowly falling behind the pollution/clouds to create an amazing scene at the Ho chi Minh airport

Tracey: The feeling of warmth and joy overtaking my exhaustion as I see my family come down the stairs after traveling for 24 hours to arrive at the hotel in Hanoi; the surge of fear quickly replaced by amusement as we zip through the roundabout with countless other motorbikes from various directions; My skepticism melting into relaxation as the chocolate milky mud filled up the tub and soothed my fiery bug bite ridden leg; the exhilarating drop off the first waterfall abseil rewarding the hard work put in to get down to the final pitch

China: Industrialization, Wonders and Weirdness

ChinaPhoto Highlights

After over 2 ½ months in easy and familiar Australia and New Zealand, we took a deep breath (possibly the last one we’ll be able to take for the next 2 ½ months) and headed for China.  China was Jim’s country choice for “must see” on the trip, and like Iceland (Xander’s choice) and Madagascar (Liam’s choice) it didn’t disappoint.
We started our trip in Hong Kong for a short visit during which we went to Hong Kong Disneyland—possibly the only place in China that is less crowded than the equivalent in US.   We had fun on the “it’s a small world” ride trying to pick out places we’ve been.  Next we flew to Beijing to anxiously await Carol’s (Jim’s mom) arrival.  We ended up booking a guided tour back in November (!) to facilitate getting our visa (one of the many onerous requirements (including getting the visa in person in Chicago) was that we had to know exactly when and where we were staying throughout our trip).  It turned out to be a welcome respite from travel planning and a smooth and efficient trip.  If we had been in charge of all of the logistics on our own, it would’ve taken us at least 3 times as long to fit in all we did—of course our per day cost for China will likely be the highest of anywhere on the whole trip, but it was worth it.

Good eats at the Beijing snack market

Jim and I remember Beijing from our trip to China 14 years ago as full of bikes and a little 3^rd-worldy.  Not anymore.  It’s a buzzing metropolis filled with endless high-rise apartment buildings, huge shopping malls, countless cars and almost more people than all of Australia (20+ million).  We were thrilled when Carol arrived and we could show her the “snack market” we discovered—complete with wriggling scorpions on a stick and fried cockroaches. Yum.

Posing for some of the many fans

Our first day on tour in Beijing included Tienanmen square, the Forbidden City, a bike tour through the Hunan district and a visit to the Llama temple (told you we couldn’t have done all that on our own.)  The Forbidden city was the imperial palace from the early 1400s until the early 1900s (and the setting for the movie “The Last Emperor”). 500 years in China is kind of like the age of humans in geologic time-  China has had dynasties since before 2000 BC (and we thought remembering 250 years of US history was hard.) We marveled in the colorful nail-free buildings, lion statues (turns out that the boy lion is on the left and has its paw on a ball, the girl lion has its paw on a baby lion, and is on the right- because, of course, women are always right) and hordes of Chinese tourists.  It also turns out that Liam is rock star with Chinese tourists—everyone wanted to take a picture with him.

The next day we went to the Temple of Heaven, a lovely park that is filled with tons of Chinese elders playing cards and “elder-cizing” (Carol’s term)—doing everything from tai chi, to line dancing, to hula hooping, to hacky sack.  We also walked through a crowded square where parents had “resumes” of their (~25-35 year old) children who they wanted to find a match for.  Who needs Eharmony when you’ve got parents in the park?  Later that day we drove out of town to the Great Wall of China.  Although it’s not really true that you can see the Great Wall from space, it’s definitely amazing from a ground view—watch towers dotting the peaks across the horizon as far as you can see.  Hats off to Carol who faced two of her greatest fears (riding a chairlift and tobogganing) and crossing an item off her bucket list in the same afternoon!

Our last day in Beijing we went to the Beijing zoo to see a bunch of extremely cute pandas (one of which was apparently responsible for charming the Olympic committee and getting Beijing selected as a host city.)  Then it was on to the summer palace, seasonal home of the “dragon lady” empress dowager Cixi who ruled china for about 50 years (!) in the late 1800s.  She used the money for China’s navy to build the summer palace, so she built a marble boat in the lake there.  She also had her nephew locked in a temple for decades and had his pregnant concubine thrown down a well.  Ah, the things you get to explain when homeschooling.  That afternoon we took a high speed train (over 300 km/hr) to Xian for 1200km.  When Jim and I took the same trip last time, it took over 12 hours.  Yay for technological advances.

Xian is the home of the famous terracotta warriors—a clay army built by over 700,000 workers as part of the tomb of the first emperor of China (~200BC). A farmer (who we met!) discovered the site in the 70s while digging a well (cool national geographic video here).  The excavation is about twice as big as when we were there before and they are literally uncovering more things every year.  Each of the 8000+ warriors have unique faces, clothes, and even shoes.  Archeologists haven’t even begun to excavate the actual tomb of emperor (that is another 1.5 km away!) because they don’t yet possess the technology to protect the unearthed artifacts from being destroyed nor deal with the contamination present from the rivers of mercury that were present in the tomb.  We also learned that concubines had to be buried (alive) with emperors when they died.  Yikes. Other highlights in Xian included walking through the chaotic muslim quarter that included all sorts of street bbq complete with half flayed dead animals, riding bikes atop the Xian city wall, and learning to make dumplings at a local Xian woman’s apartment.

Next we flew south to Guilin, home of the terraced rice fields and karst mountains of scroll painting fame.  It was great to see some trees after a week in the big cities—the scenery was gorgeous.  Liam and Xander bargained for treasures in the market and we went on a bike ride out to the “countryside” that involved a thrilling ride through the busy city street (“that was an experience,” deadpanned Liam). We celebrated Xander’s 13^th birthday overlooking a lake with beautiful lit pagodas and watched the nightly waterfall cascade from the top of our hotel (ah, weird and wonderful china).  The waterfall is in the Guinness book of world records (but we couldn’t quite figure out for what: biggest hotel with a waterfall running down it’s sides, the biggest man made waterfall for tourist value, the biggest waterfall inspired by a poem about a beautiful waterfall…).  The waterfall was wider than any waterfall we know of in Colorado and falls at least 12 stories.

We spent the last few days of the tour in Hong Kong, where we checked out Victoria peak, the incredible skyline and harbor, and the Hong Kong History museum. Hong Kong has the distinction of being number one tourist destination in the world, the most densely populated city, and one of the most important financial centers in the world.  Hong Kong was a British colony until June 1997, when the “99 year lease” was up and it became a part of China—but not really—Hong Kong is a “Special Administrative Region” of the People’s republic of China, and we actually had to go through Chinese and Hong Kong immigration to travel between the two.  What most characterized the difference between Hong Kong and China for us is that we didn’t have website restrictions in Hong Kong, like we did in China, where we couldn’t use sites like Google, Facebook and You Tube.   (The horror!  Wow did we figure out quick how much we rely on Google products once we couldn’t access email, search or Google Maps – which is perhaps one of our best travel companions.)

Waterfall hotel

We were awed by the massive industrialization and urbanization (a small town is one with less than 5 million people; a few places we visited 14 years ago now have millions more people)and impressed by the industriousness of the people we met—Young people (including students as young as 5) work incredibly hard with high expectations and limited time off.  Even elders were extremely active.  The huge malls and tons of fancy cars belied any misconceptions about a country of peasant farmers but we still got glimpses of some of the differences between the countries.  For example, Chinese people need to apply to move between regions, and won’t necessarily get approved.  There’s no way parents could take their kids out of school for a year of travel (but that’s been true almost everywhere we’ve gone.)  Many families wouldn’t have “kids” because of the one child policy (which was just changed earlier this year.) Some cultural differences were a bit shocking-  mostly the fact that spitting is a big thing—any time we were walking down a (crowded) sidewalk you’d hear multiple people (including little old ladies) hocking up huge loogies and we’d flinch and watch our step.  Plus a ton of people smoke.  Everywhere.  Carol said it’s like the US in the 70s.   And you wouldn’t believe how many people will squish into an elevator—with 5 times the people than the US, personal space has different boundaries.

Even with the haze and crowds, China is beautiful and the people are vibrant and friendly.  The best thing about our trip was being with Carol—She inspired with her enthusiasm, impressed us with her intrepid sense of adventure, and charmed us with her wonder.

Now we’re in Vietnam with Tracey (Carolyn’s sister).  Yay for family who’s willing to travel J
Senses:
Jim: The crisscross of red and yellow cranes and trucks building an island outside our hotel window in the Hong Kong harbor; The stare of Chairman Mao over Tienanmen square capturing the reverence of the Chinese people and the iconic image I have of China; the warehouse sized buildings of terracotta warriors lined for battle representing the power of the emperors of old and pulling at my imagination of future; the kaleidoscope of colors lighting the path through the crystal reed flute cave and highlighting many wonderful creatures trapped in the stone

Xander: The rows of the different terracotta warriors surrounded by an aura of wonder and old musty air; the flooded terraces of the rice fields reflecting a perfect image of the cloudy sky in the Long Sheng village; the lush green peaks bordering the Li River framing the steep white limestone cliffs towering over our boat; the wind furiously blowing on our jackets on the top of Victoria Peek as I look over the towering skyscrapers in the Hong Kong Harbor

Xian city wall

Carolyn: The shocking sight of the wriggling skewered scorpions prepped for their roasting alongside cockroaches and centipedes at the Beijing night market; watching the burnished orange sun set in the haze as we speed past city after city of high-rises under construction on the high speed train from Beijing to Xian; the towering stalagmites and stalagmites reflecting the timed colored lights in the wacky and wonderful reed flute cave near Guilin; singing "just keep swimming" in my head as I bike my way through the seemingly frantic but surprisingly smooth flow of traffic, believing in my heart that I won't get run over by the bus honking 2 inches behind me.

Liam: Gazing at the small rectangular watchtowers spread across the peaks of the mountains in the horizon as I walk up the crooked but amazing great wall of china; the multitude of faces, arms, torsos and legs pieced together to make a magnificent scene of a terracotta army fit with horses, chariots, and generals; the long haired local girls suddenly jumping out from behind their costumes into what looked like bare skin as I gasp in surprise and confusion at the Guilin cultural show; the loud exhilarating blaring horns coming out of the multiple ramshackle trucks and motorbikes as I try desperately to navigate successfully across the round about

Carol: The crushing undulating crowd of humanity as each person vies to glimpse the unseen inner sanctum in the Forbidden City; tears streaming down my face as the first drops of "not that spicy" sauce scald my lips at dinner in Xian; the arresting grand canyon-like beauty of the Li river followed by the nerve racking energy of bargaining with the intense, hardworking, toothless vendors in the west street market in Yangshou; the heart stopping thrill of proving the axiom that there is more to balance than not falling down (on a bike) fact check… in China, carts, vendors, trucks, motorcycles, buses and cars all use the mostly one way bike lane.

Australia Part 2: Rainforests, Reefs and Opera

Click here for Australia Part 2 Photo Highlights

Big as your face spider

After arriving in “Tropical North Queensland” we beat the heat and humidity by lounging in the Cairns (pronounced “cans”) Esplanade lagoon pool (I have been swimming more on this trip than in the last 10 years combined) before checking into our apartment in Trinity Beach for six nights.  We rarely stay in one place for that long so staying put in a nice apartment is a real luxury. The next day we went to “Hartley's Crocodile Adventure” where we fed colorful cassowaries (which are called dinosaur birds because they’ve been around forever) learned about crocodile farming, went on a lagoon boat tour where 5m+ crocodiles jumped out of the water to grab chicken parts, and braved a torrential rain storm so Xander and Liam could feed freshwater crocodiles (“freshies”) chicken heads.  We also saw a reptile show where Xander, Liam and I got up close with a python (Jim would have nothing to do with that particular opportunity) and saw a crocodile attack show where an insane guy was in the pond with the huge “saltie” salt water crocodile demonstrating its death role capabilities. Of course we watched Crocodile Dundee after that.  That movie holds up surprisingly well—except for the fashion.  What was everyone thinking in the 80s?

Painting boomerangs at the Aboriginal Center

In Cairns we also went on a Skyrail Gondola/Kuranda Railway trip above and through the tropical rainforest where we got to see big-as-yo-face spiders as well as go to the Mossman Gorge in the Daintree rainforest, where we went on a “dreamtime walk” with an aboriginal guide who regaled us in stories of the healing powers of bush medicine.  We learned more at the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, where we painted boomerangs and learned to throw spears (something Xander and I were much better at than using a boomerang).  Aboriginal people have been in Australia for over 40,000 years (!) and are the world’s oldest continuous living culture.  We got to see traditional dances and music, including a didgeridoo demonstration where the musician showed us “recycle breathing” where you can continuously blow out by taking a breath through your nose while blowing out from previously puffed up cheeks.  Try continuously blowing bubbles through a straw to practice (just make sure someone is there to laugh at you trying).

Parrot fish

We attended a “Reef Teach” seminar led by an extremely entertaining and enthusiastic marine biologist who greatly increased our knowledge and anticipation with information on fascinating topics including deadly jellyfish, fish that live in sea cucumbers butts, Christmas tree worms, nudi-branchs (check out pictures of these amazing looking worms) and flatworm penis fencing.  Needless to say, we were very excited to spend our last few days in Queensland on a “live aboard” boat on the Great Barrier Reef where we had the opportunity to snorkel five times a day for three days.    The “GBR” (Australians shorten everything) was amazing and one of the highlights of the entire trip.  We saw all kinds of incredible creatures-- graceful sea turtles munching on jelly fish, white tipped sharks, gorgeously colored parrot fish chomping on coral, bossy striped sergeant fish getting right in your face, huge Maori wrasse bigger than Liam, enchanting Christmas tree worms that quickly shrink back into their holes in boulder coral when you pass your hand over them,  sea cucumbers pooping out sand, almost the entire cast of Nemo, and so much more.

When we weren’t in the water got to meet other travelers from around the world, including several who had also “quit their life” to travel for an extended period of time.  Three cheers for instant travel friends.  At night the divers jumped out into the dark water and we watched the eerie glow of their flashlights reflecting up from underneath the water to illuminate the silhouettes of 3m grey reef sharks swimming around them.   Wow.  Our world was still rocked both literally and figuratively for days after leaving the boat.

We had quite a drama (or “dre-ma” if you want to say it Australian) when we realized that Liam had left Jim’s tablet computer on the boat on the reef.  The reef encounter people were able to rescue it, but due to our travel schedule, they had to ship it back to the states—where it will hopefully reach Tracey in time for her to bring it back to us when she meets us in Vietnam in April.  As Xander optimistically noted, we’re getting a lot more efficient in the time we share on our remaining tablet—and it’s not like both kids are in the hospital or something (shudder).

Sydney Harbor Bridge

After our GBR adventure we flew back down to Sydney, where we spent a few days exploring this green and vibrant city.  We walked over the Harbor Bridge and took a tour of the Sydney Opera House— which we learned contains more steel than the Sydney Harbor Bridge, is covered in ceramic tiles, and is self-cleaning in the rain.  Sydney was a wonderful city to spend time and we wish we had more time to spend (as we wish for almost every place).

Today we arrived in Hong Kong after one of our biggest travel days that included a layover in Singapore.  The Singapore airport wins the prize for nicest airport we’ve been in to date.  It included a butterfly garden, free movie theatre and gaming center.  After a few days in Hong Kong we’re heading to Beijing to meet Jim’s Mom Carol for a few weeks in China.  It’s both exciting and intimidating to travel farther afield from our comfort zone!

Senses

Xander-The fluorescent blue of the Ulysses butterfly flashing across the canopy of the cairns rainforest; The white water of the Crystal Cascades, cascading down a short bluff as the sun makes the river glimmer picturesquely; the sharks ferociously jumping out of the water for the small bait fish as the night diver jump in a few feet away; the rays of sun shinning picturesquely on a brown epaulette shark hiding beneath a coral plate  

Jim- Listening to the knowledge of the local guide explain potential uses of plants through the lush rain forest and realizing we always have more to learn and explain in the world; the beautiful florescent orange, blue and white of the 2 cm long nudi branch; swimming against the rushing flow of the waterfall providing a welcome refreshing stop along the rain forest path; the impressive flowing design of the smooth soft wood lining the walls, ceiling and surrounding the 10,000 pipe organ in the main concert hall of the Sydney opera house.  

Liam- My skin seemingly melting off my body and my toes slowly burning away as I walk across the scalding hot pavement to jump back into the refreshing lagoon pool in Cairns; The small droplets of water sprinkled around the gigantic spider web as I shirk away from its ginormous black and yellow banded creator; the surprisingly strong current of the Crystal cascades pushing me backwards and forcing me to stay in the same place as I try to swim closer to the waterfall; the empty open turquoise ocean abruptly turning into a fish, coral and vibrant color filled reef that made me stop in a dumbstruck awe 

Carolyn- The colorful  "emu in drag" cassowary poking its head aggressively towards my fingers as I hand feed it rotting mango and shy away from its huge clawed feet; The strange smell causing me to look up and see thousands of huge fruit bats hanging from the trees lining the street in Cairns-- all of which were gone into the night when we came back later in the evening; Bobbing up and down as I watch the green sea turtle lackadaisically munching on a huge jellyfish then gliding serenely away on our sunrise snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef; the curved expanse of multicolored white-ish ceramic tiles reflecting the sunlight off the majestic Sydney Opera House.