Here are a few videos from our most recent trip in Asia. The first one is a few clips in Japan and the Maldives - the 2nd one is of our adorable niece in the village in Eastern Thailand. … [Read more...]
GranMonte Vineyards, All in the Family
After returning from Brunei and a quick day of rest we set out for the jungles of Khao Yai National Park and part of Thailand's "wine trail". GranMonte Vineyards located in the heart of the small Asoke Valley was the highlight of our day. This winery was founded by Thai couple Visooth and Sakuna Lohitnavy. Their daughter Visootha (or Nikki) is Thailand's first female winemaker (only in her 20's, she has many harvests ahead of her). The entire … [Read more...]
Dream Communication
Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways. This is an interesting story from several weeks ago in rural Thailand. I never think of my high school history teacher (last I thought of him was about 5 years ago) and furthermore I never have vivid dreams (or if I do, I never remember them) and I don't believe in stuff that is not tangible. A day after the dream one of my former teacher's colleagues wrote me to tell me my high school teacher … [Read more...]
Visiting Male City, Maldives
It was hard leaving the resort today to start heading back to the "real world". Our sea plane took off in the early afternoon and dropped quickly from the sky to several also stunning resorts, picking up additional passengers who also looked somewhat depressed to be going home to cold weather countries this time of year. We spent the afternoon in Male (most of Male can be walked in merely several hours). This city is intruiging as is built on … [Read more...]
Enjoying the Cuisine
Mosaic restaurant is the "signature" restaurant at Zitahli resort. Each day we pop in for lunch and every lunch we order a Brazilian Capirinha. I fell in love with this drink after visiting Brazil in 09' and purposely seek it out when there is a bar at hand. Needless to say, seafood is a big part of the menu and its not often you can catch your own fish, fresh from the ocean the day before and have a fancy restaurant prepare it as your lunch. we … [Read more...]
Another day in Paradise, Maldives
Another day in Paradise. Roxy Maldives (formerly Zitahli Resort) is one of only two resorts in this entire atoll of islands. There's no one around once you get on a boat and head away from the island. Even on the island you don't see very many people except at meal times a few will wander in. Empty white sand beaches, coral reefs, a natural lagoon and azure water that beckons one for a swim are all part of the attraction of a stay here. Oh, and … [Read more...]
Roxy Maldives Resort (formerly Zitahli)
This morning we jumped in a 19 seater Maldivian Air Taxi seaplane for our 50 minute ride north to the private island where Roxy Resort and Spa is located (only 700 meters long by 250 meters wide island!). There are two commercial seaplane companies in the Maldives and we were on Maldivian Air Taxi. The companies are Canadian and Swedish owned - many of the pilots are from these countries. What a lifestyle! The pilot either barefoot or in … [Read more...]
Heading to the Maldives
We arrived in Male late last night after a several hour stop over in Colombo Sri Lanka. We were in Sri Lanka early last year for several weeks and would have liked to have explored more this time but we satisfied ourselves with using the free Internet consoles. It was wierd to land at country's capital city airport (Male). There were no lights here only the darkened ocean. Reminded me of a totally different reason for no lights - when I dropped … [Read more...]
Winter to Summer overnight
The winter we had has quickly become summer; its become bloody hot - tonight were hunched over hot coals cooking "moo grad tot" (translated to pork and a pan) in this heat coupled with drinking red wine from Bordeax and- the boiling point is quickly reached. Its still 32 C past 9pm and supposed to be warming up more in the next few days. While quietly working in the hammock under the house with my seemingly inexhaustible supply of Spy Wine … [Read more...]
Thailand Village Rice Rats
I always tell people we eat rats here to varying responses including one of disbelief and disgust. However these are not Bangkok Rats, er, city rats, rather they live in the unpolluted rice fields. My wife's brother makes bamboo traps by hand for catching these rats. The traps are simple in design but very effective. They are spring loaded by a string which bends the long part of the trap into the shape of a bow when the trap is loaded. A … [Read more...]