Bruce's Blog

After two years away I'm visiting Canada for 3 weeks: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and now Vancouver. It's been a great trip visting with family and friends all over this wonderful country. Coming back reminds me of how different a place I now live.

 

It was really good to see everyone. In Toronto Jet and Jules put up with me for more than a week and were even nice enough to share their 1st year anniversary dinner with me! On our first night Jethro and I enjoyed a hot tub with Rob and I was able to hangout with the family on a couple more occasions. Alexandra and Jaeger - my apologies for blabbing about financial stuff through the whole dinner! I guess Rob's and my excuse is we see each other so seldom these days that when we do connect we jump right into our own stuff... I got to visit Mari-Claire and her growing family in Guelph. We had a couple of great meals with Sarah and her new husband  and I was able to see Rob Gomes and Susi too. Unfortunately I couldn't see as much of Liam as I wanted with his work and the fact that I was spemding all my time in (now his) basement wrapping boxes to be eventually shipped to BKK. I also missed Vena but maybe will get lucky and he'll show up in Thailand one of these years. Great to see you too Caroline...always a meangingful connection!

 

In Montreal I stayed at Casa Nantel's - truly a home away from home! We had lots of bicycle rides with Tedd and Nantel and enjoyed some great Canadian winter conditions in July!!!! Dad and Jeannie put on a wonderful dinner party and everyone had plenty to drink! I even got a few sets of tennis in; Chris... we'll practice in Bangkok for the inevitable Saunders Generational Doubles Rematch where, with luck and the right drugs, we may just prevail! I had lunch with Nicolas and even got to connect with Bruno and Elyse during their brief return to Montreal from their sailing adventures.... Thank you Susan and Volker for the great dinner Sunday night - Volker I hope we can see each other more - I miss all our arguments!!!

 

Thanks to Dad I drove to Ottawa in style and had a wonderful family night at the Wickhams: I truly don't think I know of a more functional, friendly and loving family - you guys are amazing!!!! The following day was a whirlwind of seeing John Cowan, Matt Stepchuk, Heather Garrod (after 27 years if our math is correct?), and then a super Pizza dinner with about a dozen of us! So nice to see Rose and Donna again! And Daniel - what a long way we've each travelled from when we met at Glebe in that Spring of grade 9 about 33 years ago!

 

Bernard - you are a life saver! SO great to see you again and thanks for the painting - Da will thank you too when she sees it!

 

Now in Vancouver I've had two short but super days with Steve and Diane... Tonight I leave for home....

 

It's been an amazing trip. Thank you everyone for the hospitality and love... My closing comment is just how comfortable it has been seeing everyone again, as Nantel said - it's like we just saw each other last week. I can truly say it felt like that with everyone. As my wonderful friend Diane told me when I first went to Asia nearly 4 years ago:

 

"When you travel you don't lose old friends, you make new ones."

Just back from my first trip to South America. I met up with two great friends, Chris Brown and Robert Brunet.

 

Chris is working as Administrative Consul at the Canadian Embassy in Caracas. Rob was able to sneak away from a busy family life for two wonderful weeks in Venezuela and Peru.

 

Our trip began with getting to know a bit about Caracas, as our host Chris showed us around the city and we visited several beaches. Caracas is apparently one of the most dangerous cities in the world. This is driven by lots of violent crime occurring is specific barrio areas; about 200 people get killed each weekend. We then visited the eastern part of Venezuela - the Orinoco River Delta area. We explored many tributaries over a 3 day period, saw thousands of birds, chased dolphins, gawked at monkeys and fished for piranha.

 

After a pit stop back in Caracas, we flew through Lima and on to Cusco, the ancient centre of the Incan Empire. At 10,000 feet Cusco is a fascinating and demanding city. We acclimatised to the elevation and explored it's beautiful central plaza. We then spent the next few days traveling through the Sacred Incan Valley visiting sites and culminating in a day at Machu Picchu. This valley was the most extraordinary natural setting and stunningly beautiful ruins I have ever seen. The whole experience was spectacular. Peruvians are fascinating people, very service oriented and have great artistic sensibility as reflected in their craftsmanship and musical ability.

 

We then spent a day in Lima prior to returning to Caracas.

 

The contrast between these two countries was a real surprise. Venezuela is a mess. A deep sense of entitlement pervades the population and Chavez's policies are making things terrible for its people. Peru, in contrast, seems to function quite well and is a real pleasure from a tourist's perspective. Unfortunately petty violent crime is an ongoing concern seemingly everywhere.

 

I hope you enjoy the photos!

Well, the second part of my trip to Canada was wonderful and scary. I had just returned to Toronto from a great few weeks in Montreal and Ottawa when we found out my father had to have an emergency operation. All went well and we ended up having a rare family time with Chris and Tara coming from Melbourne and Kelowna. Dad was very patient with us as we got in the way, provided unneeded advice and otherwise distracted him from his more important concerns! My apologies to people in Toronto that I was hoping to visit and/or reconnect with; next time we'll get better caught up and everyone will have more stories to tell!

 

I finished up my Canadian travels with 2 weeks in Vancouver visiting with Diane and Steve. Many thanks Stell, for your patience as I messed up your apartment and ate all your food! We were able to do a working road trip around the southern Gulf islands and onto Vancouver Island. We spent several wonderful days on Salt Spring Island where my mad friend Stevie joined us. Steve, thank you SO much for rekindling my interest in photography and some excellent coaching!

 

I returned to Bangkok briefly August 6th and then flew to Beijing with some great Australians.

It's been a long time since my last update; several people have asked why: the short answer is laziness; the slightly less short answer - and hopefully more accurate -  is I've been living in Bangkok for a year and have been mostly sedentary; and I view this as a travel blog, with the emphasis on "travel".

 

So I've been travelling in beautiful Canada for the last month, with one more to go before heading back to Bangkok. Reverse Culture Shock? Definitely: mostly around the wide open spaces (and very quiet..) different interactions between people (lots of good bickering) and the most wonderful, sweet and fresh air.... Oh yes, 9pm and still light in the sky is wonderful too.

 

So it's been a whirlwind so far and amazing to get to catch up with so many friendly faces. It is deeply touching to be remembered, especially by the kids who, were wonderfully patient with their Uncle Bruce. My embarrassed apologies to Nelson, Roger and John for my humiliating golf game; but it was all designed to lull Nelson into a false sense of security for the Fall when Chris and I beat his ass in Melbourne!

 

There are many photos in the "Canada" album and more to come!

 

Love to everyone!

 

Bangkok Bruce Abroad

Thailand has more than its fair share of holidays. The last two weekends were the King's Birthday and Constitution Day. Nattiya and I did two great road trips: the first to Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai and the second to her family home in Ratchaburi - about an hour west of Bangkok.

 

Lots of photos for anyone who has the patience...

It is a year to the day since I arrived in this fair city and helped celebrate my brother's birthday.

 

The last couple of months in Bangkok have been wonderful. My teaching schedule has eased a bit as I'm now working for only one school and I've been able to do a little local traveling.

 

I've met many great people and as a wise friend once told me, "When you travel, you don't lose old friends, you make new ones." How true Stell.

 

I continue to be amazed by this country and people. I don't think there's any place quite like Bangkok.

 

This weekend a few of us head to Chiang Mai to see the Royal Flora Expo and explore the area. We'll be driving the 9 hours and I'm looking forward to spending time in the countryside.

 

Friends are coming at Xmas and planning to visit the Andamman coast.

October 23rd was the anniversary of Rama V's death - one of the major monarch's of the current dynasty. It was a big long weekend so many people left Bangkok.

 

I spent a few days on Ko Chang with friends. Lovely island, will definitely go back. More photos to come.