Yikes!…Crazy trip to Negara…Soooooooo many cars, trucks, motorbikes and people…

In Hanoi, a few months ago, we witnessed the craziness of over 5 million motorcycles. In Bali, we expect that there will be so many, although we have found no statistics.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”

What?  A duck flew into the pool!
Where do we begin? It’s not easy to describe our first incursion into our own with Tom driving, as we made our way to Negara, the nearest largest city to Sumbersari. We discover that the traffic and crazy roadways during the 30 to 40 minute drive was comparable in its complexity as the four to five hour harrowing drive to and from Denpasar.


Holding on for dear life, good driver that Tom is, I remained on constant alert, watching the road for possible hazards while Tom kept a watchful eye on the endless stream of fast weaving motorbikes. The local drivers are used to all of this, not us.

She seemed perfectly content until realizing  it could be tough getting out so she swam to the steps as shown and walked out. Animals are amazing!

It was not unlike Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, a favorite of mine as a kid when we’d go to Disneyland once or twice a year. While driving in Bali one must anticipate a log or other large obstacle that may have fallen off a vehicle, a motorbike or car darting out from a side road or an entire grouping of motorbikes coming at you when trying to pass a slow moving vehicle.

I supposed a considerable aspect of the stress of driving in Bali is the constant need to pass on the narrow two lane roads with little or no shoulder. If I was driving I’d stay behind the slow moving vehicle all the way to my destination. But Tom, like most aggressive and determined drivers, simply won’t tolerate moving at a snail’s pace.

It was nearly impossible to maneuver the trolley in the produce department.

Only a few times, I spewed, “Honey, we have all the time in the world.” He agreed but its not the time of day he’s focusing on. Its his innate desire to keep moving at a reasonable pace. Of course, I’d have really been anxious if he wasn’t such a good driver. 

But, Tom is capable enough that I was able to rely upon his good judgment and skills while I watched for other road hazards. We only encountered one log on the road during the round trip drive.

Our intent had been doing some sightseeing in Niagara before heading to the market. Although, last time we were there, a few months ago, we saw the major highlights. Repeats weren’t necessary. Instead, we’d planned to drive around the busy town to explore Willy nilly. That proved to be a pointless objective.

Customer service lines were jammed with shoppers.

With the heavy traffic, horns honking, blocked roads, people walking while texting and motorbikes everywhere it only took a while for us to change our minds about sightseeing.   

After ending up at a few crowded dead end roads with barely a means of turning around, waiting in long lines of cars that were barely moving, knowing Tom’s ‘traffic distress” I blurted out, “Let’s just find the market and ATM, do what we need to do and head back to the villa.” We didn’t need the stress. It’s not our thing.

Motorbikes are everywhere!

Tom’s sense of direction always serves us well. Within 30 minutes after we’d arrived in Negara he pulled into a surprisingly open parking spot near Hardy’s Market and the ATM. Little did we know what we’d encounter inside the store.

Never in our lives, even on the day before a holiday weekend, did we ever see so many people grocery shopping, anywhere in the world. Once we were entangled in the crowd attempting to push our small, lightweight trolley, we wished we’d grabbed a smaller handcart when it was nearly impossible to get around the people.

Incense is used frequently by the Balinese people not only during the religious celebration, s but often in daily life. The market carried numerous options at low prices.

Since the two Ketuts (I’ve been spelling their names wrong in past posts) don’t have access to purchasing regular lettuce at the open markets early in the morning, we were happy to find it in the packed produce department where each item must be weighed at a specific weighing station. 

Luckily, that line moved quickly. Without any other produce on our list we were thrilled to wrangle our way out of the busy produce section. Then we were off to find other items on the list; cheese, mayo, olives, coffee, paper towels and a few other items that can’t be purchased in the local markets here in Malaya Beach.

None of the store employees spoke English, nor did we find any other English speaking shoppers, we could ask to help us find the items on our list. Instead, we accepted the fact we’d have to scour every single row in every single narrow aisle to find the items on the list. Checking off the items on the grocery app on my phone, we were finally done and searched for the shortest cashier line. All registers were open with huge queues.

Beer, soda, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes at less than US $2, IDR 426,230 a pack are sold in the market.

With only 8 to 10 shoppers in front of us in our chosen row, none with a cart full like ours, we waited for no less than 30 minutes. There are no moving belts, no scanning machines, no swipe-your-credit-card-machines since they only accept cash. There’s only a tiny space to load the groceries, contributing to the slow pace of the process.

Finally, we made it through the line, paying for our groceries and quickly headed out the door to escape from the dense crowds. While I shopped, Tom left to go the nearby ATM. Once he loaded the cool box we’d brought along in the back of the van, we were on our way back to the villa. 

Whew!  We were both sweating from the lack of air con in the market and anxious to blast the cold air in the van for the return ride. But, getting cool was the least of it with yet another harrowing 30 to 40 minutes on the road.

 We graciously apologized when bumping into other shoppers as we waited in line to pay.

Happy to be back at the villa, we quickly put our groceries away, threw on our swimsuits and jumped into the pool as we do every sunny afternoon. In no time at all, the hectic scenario wafted from our minds as we languished in our peaceful villa overlooking the sea, thrilled to be back in paradise.

How do we travel the world, avoiding traffic and crowds? We don’t. We continue to be stuck in traffic or at a venue bumping elbows with strangers wherever we may go. It’s the nature of the beast. When traffic and crowds are avoidable without sacrificing too much, we’re all over it.

We’ll encounter lots more traffic and people elbow rubbing in 10 days when we head to Lovina for four nights in a hotel while we work on acquiring our visa extensions for our last 30 days in Indonesia. In the interim, we have no motivation to repeat yesterday’s experience any sooner than we have to.

We hope you have a stress free day! We plan on it!

Photo from one year ago today, September 16, 2015:

We couldn’t believe the beauty of the Savusavu bay as we overlooked Nawi Island. For more photos of Savusavu, Fiji, please click here.

Yikes!…Crazy trip to Negara…Soooooooo many cars, trucks, motorbikes and people…

In Hanoi a few months ago, we saw the folly of more than five million motorcycles. In Bali, there are expected to be as many, but no statistics were found.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”

What?  A duck flew into the pool!
Where do we begin? It’s not easy to describe our first foray on our own with Tom driving as we made our way to Negara, the biggest city closest to Sumbersari. We discover that the traffic and crazy roadways during the 30 to 40 minute drive was comparable in its complexity as the four to five hour harrowing drive to and from Denpasar.


Holding on for dear life, good driver that Tom is, I remained on constant alert, watching the road for possible hazards while Tom kept a watchful eye on the endless stream of fast weaving motorbikes. The local drivers are used to all of this, not us.

She seemed perfectly content until realizing  it could be tough getting out so she swam to the steps as shown and walked out.  Animals are amazing!

It was not unlike Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, a favorite of mine as a kid when we’d go to Disneyland once or twice a year. While driving in Bali one must anticipate a log or other large obstacle that may have fallen off a vehicle, a motorbike or car darting out from a side road or an entire grouping of motorbikes coming at you when trying to pass a slow moving vehicle.

I supposed a considerable aspect of the stress of driving in Bali is the constant need to pass on the narrow two lane roads with little or no shoulder. If I was driving I’d stay behind the slow moving vehicle all the way to my destination. But Tom, like most aggressive and determined drivers, simply won’t tolerate moving at a snail’s pace.

It was nearly impossible to maneuver the trolley in the produce department.

Only a few times, I spewed, “Honey, we have all the time in the world.” He agreed, but its not the time of day he’s focusing on. It’s his innate desire to keep moving at a reasonable pace.  Of course, I’d have really been anxious if he wasn’t such a good driver. 

But, Tom is capable enough that I was able to rely upon his good judgment and skills while I watched for other road hazards.  We only encountered one log on the road during the round trip drive.

Our intent had been doing some sightseeing in Niagara before heading to the market. Although, last time we were there, a few months ago, we saw the major highlights.  Repeats weren’t necessary. Instead, we’d planned to drive around the busy town to explore Willy nilly. That proved to be a pointless objective.

Customer service lines were jammed with shoppers.

With the heavy traffic, horns honking, blocked roads, people walking while texting and motorbikes everywhere it only took a while for us to change our minds about sightseeing.   

After ending up at a few crowded dead end roads with barely a means of turning around, waiting in long lines of cars that were barely moving, knowing Tom’s ‘traffic distress” I blurted out, “Let’s just find the market and ATM, do what we need to do and head back to the villa.” We didn’t need the stress. It’s not our thing.

Motorbikes are everywhere!

Luckily,, Tom’s sense of direction always serves us well. Within 30 minutes after we’d arrived in Negara, he pulled into a surprisingly open parking spot near Hardy’s Market and the ATM.  Little did we know what we’d encounter inside the store.

Never in our lives, even on the day before a holiday weekend, did we ever see so many people grocery shopping, anywhere in the world. Once we were entangled in the crowd attempting to push our small, lightweight trolley, we wished we’d grabbed a smaller handcart when it was nearly impossible to get around the people.

Incense is used frequently by the Balinese people not only during religious celebrations, but often in daily life.  The market carried numerous options at low prices.

Since the two Ketuts (I’ve been spelling their names wrong in past posts) don’t have access to purchasing regular lettuce at the open markets early in the morning, we were happy to find it in the packed produce department where each item must be weighed at a specific weighing station. 

Luckily, that line moved quickly. Without any other produce on our list we were thrilled to wrangle our way out of the busy produce section. Then we were off to find other items on the list; cheese, mayo, olives, coffee, paper towels and a few other items that can’t be purchased in the local markets here in Malaya Beach.

None of the store employees spoke English, nor did we find any other English speaking shoppers, we could ask to help us find the items on our list. Instead, we accepted the fact we’d have to scour every single row in every single narrow aisle to find the items on the list. Checking off the items on the grocery app on my phone, we were finally done and searched for the shortest cashier line.  All registers were open with huge queues.

Beer, soda, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes at less than US $2, IDR 426,230 a pack are sold in the market.

With only 8 to 10 shoppers in front of us in our chosen row, none with a cart full like ours, we waited for no less than 30 minutes. There are no moving belts, no scanning machines, no swipe-your-credit-card-machines since they only accept cash. There’s only a tiny space to load the groceries, contributing to the slow pace of the process.

Finally, we made it through the line, paying for our groceries and quickly headed out the door to escape from the dense crowds. While I shopped, Tom left to go the nearby ATM.  Once he loaded the cool box we’d brought along in the back of the van, we were on our way back to the villa. 

Whew! We were both sweating from the lack of air con in the market and anxious to blast the cold air in the van for the return ride. But, getting cool was the least of it with yet another harrowing 30 to 40 minutes on the road.

 We graciously apologized when bumping into other shoppers as we waited in line to pay.

Happy to be back at the villa, we quickly put our groceries away, threw on our swimsuits and jumped into the pool as we do every sunny afternoon. In no time at all, the hectic scenario wafted from our minds as we languished in our peaceful villa overlooking the sea, thrilled to be back in paradise.

How do we travel the world, avoiding traffic and crowds? We don’t.  We continue to be stuck in traffic or at a venue bumping elbows with strangers wherever we may go. It’s the nature of the beast. When traffic and crowds are avoidable without sacrificing too much, we’re all over it.

We’ll encounter lots more traffic and people rubbing elbows in 10 days when we head to Lovina for four nights in a hotel while we work on acquiring our visa extensions for our last 30 days in Indonesia. In the interim, we have no motivation to repeat yesterday’s experience any sooner than we have to.

We hope you have a stress free day! We plan on it!

Photo from one year ago today, September 16, 2015:

We couldn’t believe the beauty of the Savusavu bay as we overlooked Nawi Island. For more photos of Savusavu, Fiji, please click here.

Yikes!…Crazy trip to Negara…So many cars, trucks, motorbikes and people…

In Hanoi, a few months ago, we witnessed the craziness of over 5 million motorcycles. In Bali, we expect there are as many although we can’t find any stats.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”

In Bali, we expect there to be so many, although we did not find any statistics.What?    A duck entered the pool!
Where do we begin? It’s not easy to describe our first foray on our own with Tom driving as we made our way to Negara, the biggest city closest to Sumbersari. We discover that the traffic and crazy roadways during the 30 to 40 minute drive was comparable in its complexity as the four to five hour harrowing drive to and from Denpasar.

Holding on for dear life, good driver that Tom is, I remained on constant alert, watching the road for possible hazards while Tom kept a watchful eye on the endless stream of fast weaving motorbikes. The local drivers are used to all of this, not us.

She seemed perfectly content until realizing  it could be tough getting out so she swam to the steps as shown and walked out. Animals are amazing!

It was not unlike Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, a favorite of mine as a kid when we’d go to Disneyland once or twice a year.While driving in Bali one must anticipate a log or other large obstacle that may have fallen off a vehicle, a motorbike or car darting out from a side road or an entire grouping of motorbikes coming at you when trying to pass a slow moving vehicle.

I supposed a considerable aspect of the stress of driving in Bali is the constant need to pass on the narrow two lane roads with little or no shoulder. If I was driving I’d stay behind the slow moving vehicle all the way to my destination. But Tom, like most aggressive and determined drivers, simply won’t tolerate moving at a snail’s pace.

It was nearly impossible to maneuver the trolley in the produce department.

Only a few times, I spewed, “Honey, we have all the time in the world.” He agreed but its not the time of day he’s focusing on.  Its his innate desire to keep moving at a reasonable pace. Of course, I’d have really been anxious if he wasn’t such a good driver. 

But, Tom is capable enough that I was able to rely upon his good judgment and skills while I watched for other road hazards. We only encountered one log on the road during the round trip drive.

Our intent had been doing some sightseeing in Niagara before heading to the market. Although, last time we were there, a few months ago, we saw the major highlights. Repeats weren’t necessary. Instead, we’d planned to drive around the busy town to explore. That proved to be a pointless objective.

Customer service lines were jammed with shoppers.

With the heavy traffic, horns honking, blocked roads, people walking while texting and motorbikes everywhere it only took a while for us to change our minds about sightseeing.   

After ending up at a few crowded dead end roads with barely a means of turning around, waiting in long lines of cars that were barely moving, knowing Tom’s ‘traffic distress” I blurted out, “Let’s just find the market and ATM, do what we need to do and head back to the villa.” We didn’t need the stress. It’s not our thing.

Motorbikes are everywhere!

Luckily, Tom’s sense of direction always serves us well. Within 30 minutes after we’d arrived in Negara, he pulled into a surprisingly open parking spot near Hardy’s Market and the ATM. Little did we know what we’d encounter inside the store.

Never in our lives, even on the day before a holiday weekend, did we ever see so many people grocery shopping, anywhere in the world. Once we were entangled in the crowd attempting to push our small, lightweight trolley, we wished we’d grabbed a smaller handcart when it was nearly impossible to get around the people.

Incense is used frequently by the Balinese people not only during religious celebrations, but often in daily life.  The market carried numerous options at low prices.

Since the two Ketuts (I’ve been spelling their names wrong in past posts) don’t have access to purchasing regular lettuce at the open markets early in the morning, we were happy to find it in the packed produce department where each item must be weighed at a specific weighing station. 

Luckily, that line moved quickly. Without any other produce on our list we were thrilled to wrangle our way out of the busy produce section. Then we were off to find other items on the list; cheese, mayo, olives, coffee, paper towels and a few other items that can’t be purchased in the local markets here in Malaya Beach.

None of the store employees spoke English, nor did we find any other English speaking shoppers, we could ask to help us find the items on our list. Instead, we accepted the fact we’d have to scour every single row in every single narrow aisle to find the items on the list. Checking off the items on the grocery app on my phone, we were finally done and searched for the shortest cashier line. All registers were open with huge queues.

Beer, soda, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes at less than US $2, IDR 26,230 a pack are sold in the market.

With only 8 to 10 shoppers in front of us in our chosen row, none with a cart full like ours, we waited for no less than 30 minutes.  There are no moving belts, no scanning machines, no swipe-your-credit-card-machines since they only accept cash. There’s only a tiny space to load the groceries, contributing to the slow pace of the process.

Finally, we made it through the line, paying for our groceries and quickly headed out the door to escape from the dense crowds.  While I shopped, Tom left to go the nearby ATM. Once he loaded the cool box we’d brought along in the back of the van, we were on our way back to the villa. 

Whew!  We were both sweating from the lack of air con in the market and anxious to blast the cold air in the van for the return ride. But, getting cool was the least of it with yet another harrowing 30 to 40 minutes on the road.

 We graciously apologized when bumping into other shoppers as we waited in line to pay.

Happy to be back at the villa, we quickly put our groceries away, threw on our swimsuits and jumped into the pool as we do every sunny afternoon. In no time at all, the hectic scenario wafted from our minds as we languished in our peaceful villa overlooking the sea, thrilled to be back in paradise.

How do we travel the world, avoiding traffic and crowds? We don’t. We continue to be stuck in traffic or at a venue bumping elbows with strangers wherever we may go. It’s the nature of the beast. When traffic and crowds are avoidable without sacrificing too much, we’re all over it.

We’ll encounter lots more traffic and people elbow rubbing in 10 days when we head to Lovina for four nights in a hotel while we work on acquiring our visa extensions for our last 30 days in Indonesia. In the interim, we have no motivation to repeat yesterday’s experience any sooner than we have to.

We hope you have a stress free day! We plan on it!

Photo from one year ago today, September 16, 2015:

We couldn’t believe the beauty of Savusavu Bay as we overlooked Nawi Island. For more photos of Savusavu, Fiji, please click here.

Finally, we got out with photos coming tomorrow..Tour of the Kampong Cham Temple in Cambodia…Great pics!

Us at the Kampong Cham Temple in Cambodia.

We hope our readers are still interested in the few remaining stories and photos we’ve continued to share from the Viking Mekong River cruise which ended over a week ago.

In front of the steps leading to the temple.

Each day has included a blurb on our current location in Phuket, Thailand and a second portion on tours and stories we hadn’t been able to share during the cruise/tour due to a poor Wi-Fi signal.

It was one hot day.

This morning we signed up for new more sophisticated Wi-Fi service, VOOM, which is supposedly high speed being offered by Royal Caribbean on most of their ships. 

The ornate designs of temples is fascinating.

With a 33 night (back-to-back) cruise upcoming on October 31st (a mere three months from now) on RC Radiance of the Seas, we didn’t want to experience more horrible WiFi impeding our ability to post in real time, hoping to prevent the necessity of posting stories for events that occurred in the past as we’ve done over this past week.

Scary faces to ward off evil spirits.

Bear with us, we only have a few more of these “past” stories and photos and soon will be all about our current location in Rawai, Phuket, Thailand which in itself encompasses endless opportunities for both stories and photos. Tomorrow, we’ll begin posting Phuket photos.

We entered the temple for more detailed views.

Yesterday, we had a chance to begin the photo taking process when, for the first time since our arrival a week ago, we got out of the house. The rain never stopped all day. 

The details illustrate the joy of the Cambodian people.

By 1 pm, after the rental car had been dropped off, I suggested we go out anyway. Who knew when it would be a sunny day? Besides, we needed photos and groceries. 

Alternate views of shrines.

The older car, a stick shift with somewhat foggy windows wasn’t the ideal vehicle for taking photos on a rainy day but we did our best. However, the day didn’t start out as idealic as we’d have liked.

(Photo out of context with today’s other photos. But, yesterday, we mentioned, we’d post the rental car photo). The rental car’s a little rough, but will serve our purposes over the next 34 days until we leave Thailand.

The address we have for this property or any variation therein, doesn’t show on any map. We had no SIM card in our phones and maps wouldn’t work anyway.  The owner suggested we just get ourselves to the highway and we’d figure it out.  Had it not been raining so hard, we may have been able to do so more easily.

Pagodas and shrines within the temple.

First, we had to find a gas station, next an ATM.  Based on the weather, we decided we’d find a nearby market to get us through a few days since driving across the island to the superstore, Makro didn’t make sense in the downpour.

The detail of the craftsmanshi is astounding.

With the fuel gauge on empty when we started off, Tom was a bit “overly grumpy” when it was impossible to look out the window when the windshield wipers didn’t work well. The only option was for me to open my window, letting in the rain and keep looking along the highway for a fuel station. 

That wasn’t as easy as one may think. Every so often, we’d spot a solitary fuel pump, stop and find it was unattended and/or didn’t work. Tom’s frustration level escalated while my usual “overly bubbly” optimism kept him forging ahead.

We weren’t certain if these flags were temporary or permanent to celebrate a particular holiday.

Finally, after about 20 minutes of “driving on empty” we found a traditional fuel station which accepted credit cards since we’d yet to stop at an ATM.  As we pulled out of the fuel station with a full tank, we spotted a tiny pharmacy around the corner with an ATM machine outside their door. 

These smaller buildings are residences for the monks.

I was desperate to find some type of heating pad and we needed to get the cash to pay for the rental car, TBH 9000, US $258. Mission accomplished!  The pharmacy had a hot-cold pack which easily heats in the microwave and we were able to get the cash we needed from the ATM.

Ornate details.

Feeling hopeful after our success, we continued down the highway with hopes of taking a few photos. Suddenly, through the foggy windows, I spotted a huge sign for a Makro store that supposedly sells beef and more products than the prior market where we shopped. 

Young monks working at the temple.

We wouldn’t have to travel across the island to shop each week and could use this location only minutes from our house for our remaining days on the island. We couldn’t have been more thrilled when we entered the mini-Costco/Sam’s Club type store which had every food product we could possibly use in our way of eating. 

A live monk was sitting inside the temple out of the scorching sun.

I was like a kid-in-a-candy-store. We hadn’t seen such variety since we were in Trinity Beach, Australia a year ago with the abundance at the Woolworth Market (Woolies), farmers market and grass fed meat market.  Even the great markets in New Zealand didn’t have the variety we found at Makro.

We were happy we had a car. Had a driver been waiting for us, it would definitely impeded our ability to scour through the aisles with ease finding everything on our list. 

Mausoleum on the property in varying sizes based on the deceased placement in the family.

Not unlike many superstores in the US, no bags or boxes were provided when checking out. We could only imagine how cumbersome it could have been to load the trunk of a taxi with “loose” foods and produce. Tomorrow, we’ll share the cost of our groceries with photos. We were shocked over the final total.

The less than stellar car will serve its purpose for the upcoming month, although we realize driving far is risky. Then again, the bumpy roads and stick shift driving would deter me from being interested in long drives at this juncture in time.

I avoided walking this stairway when the bus drove us to the garden.

On an upcoming sunny day, we’ll take off for the beach which I could see yesterday at a short distance through the fuzzy windows and pouring rain.  There won’t be any lounging in the sand on a towel (or bouncing boat rides) but surely we’ll be able to take photos of the exquisite scenery in this area.  Please stay tuned for updates.

Continuing on with a cruise/tour story….

On Thursday, July 14th, we embarked on a bus tour while still in Kampong Cham, Cambodia. Kong had assured us it would be a relatively easy tour without hours of walking and trekking up steep and rough terrain.

Mom and baby monkey hoping tourists will offer them food.

As it turned out, the tour of the Kampon Cham Temple was manageable for me when we avoided the long steep stairway from the temple. The bus driver drove a small group of us down to the garden area of the temple reachable by road as an alternative to walking the steps.

Off they went, when we had nothing to offer.

There’s a fascinating story about the Kampong Cham Temple at this site which is too long to share here but may be worth reading if you’re interested. For the sake of space and time, we’re winding down today’s post with photos from this excellent experience and tour.

Someone on a tour which later visited the orphanage must have handed off a lollipop to this monkey.  We giggled when taking these photos.

Thanks to all of our readers for bearing with two-topics posts over this past week. We only have a few more cruise/tour photos to share. 

This monkey figured out it would last longer if he licked it instead of chewing.

Be well.  Be happy!

Photo from one year ago today, July 29, 2105:

Every beach along the way on our road trip to Port Douglas, Australia, had it own personality. They may all look like sand, rock and water but we find each one to have it own unique scenery. For more details, please click here.

Transportation…Another long day without power…VPN tip…Five days until departure…

There are many sailboats in the islands, a choice location for avid sailors.

Three months is a long time in one location without a car. Oh, I’m not complaining. We’re thrilled with the savings. Not paying upwards of USD $1500, FJD $3239 per month (as an example in Fiji), USD $4500, FJD $9719 for three months of a rental car plus fuel as opposed to the under USD $300, FJD $648 total we’ll have spent for a driver for the full three months in Fiji provides a huge savings on an annualized basis.

This amount of savings by not renting a car in Fiji was enough to pay for our upcoming cruise in January for both of us, selecting a balcony cabin (as always). Each time we opt for a driver as opposed to a rental car the savings are generally in this range ultimately paying for most upcoming cruises. 

In 2016, we’ve scheduled five cruises; four ocean going, one river cruise. With our love of cruising and the ability to see so much at one time, choosing a driver over a rental car is a small sacrifice for us.

In other countries such as upcoming New Zealand in January, a rental car is a must with our intentions to tour the two islands. We’ve found the cost in NZ is much more affordable than in Fiji as is the case in more populated countries.

A sandy beach along the quiet road we traveled.

As we move to the next island of Fiji for 28 days again we’ll use a driver. The company that we’ve arranged to pick us up at the Suva Airport will also serve as our drivers once we arrive in Pacific Harbour, an hour’s drive from the airport. 

In the new location, we’ll have the freedom (and luxury) of walking to nearby shops and restaurants according to the owner. I can hardly wait to be able to walk when there. Although lovely overall in Savusavu, it’s been impossible to go for a walk on the steep dirt road up the mountain. 

We can barely maneuver getting into Rasnesh’s vehicle, the incline is so steep. Invariably, the car door is so heavy on the incline, that in itself, it’s a challenge to close once inside, the incline creating a darned weird obstacle, dangerous and unwieldy. Level ground at this point is rather appealing.

Living in Savusavu hasn’t been easy in some ways, certainly not anyone’s fault. Mario has been the perfect host in a relatively perfect little house overlooking the sea. The support staff has been ideal; Junior, Usi and Vika, all of whom we adore. 

We highly recommend this resort if the ability to prepare one’s food and the desire to be away from the hotel environment in a more private location is on one’s radar.  In many ways, it’s been ideal for us.

As for the ants, that’s only been a result of our constant need to cook. Had we only been preparing light meals as most, shorter-term travelers do, we may not have had so many ants. It was certainly a result of the constant preparation of food that attracted them no matter how well we cleaned up after we were done. 

A canopy of trees crossed over the road creates a pretty scene.

The refrigerator handle fell prey to the ants if a smidgeon of food was on my hand when I opened the door. The next day we’d have ants on the handle and the door. In time, I learned my lesson, washing my hands every time I opened a cupboard or appliance including the microwave, portable oven, the coffee or tea pots or even the kitchen sponge which I sterilized with a minute in the microwave each day. And still, they came…just less of them for a day or two. 

I have no doubt we’ve eaten some ants regardless of how hard we’ve tried not to. Then again, there are populations throughout the world that eat ants and other insects so I guess we fit in. Not necessarily by design.

As for yesterday’s unannounced power outage, I suppose not knowing saved us a bit of anticipation, although we weren’t prepared with lots of ice on hand as we had the week earlier with advance notice. Two of out the past eight days, we’ve had no power, and a third day the refrigerator didn’t work for 24 hours. 

My biggest concern is always the food in the refrigerator. The freezer seems to stay cold for eight or nine hours without defrosting providing we don’t open the door. Yesterday’s power outage beginning at 9:17 am was a total surprise. 

Waiting 30 minutes after the power went off, I called the power company when this time the Internet still worked enabling me to look up their number online. I was told it was a result of another day’s tree trimming near the power lines as hurricane season approaches. They estimated we’d have power by 4:30 pm.

Aside from many rocky beaches, there are many sandy beaches in Fiji.

We had a decision to make; do we open the freezer, empty all four of our ice cubes trays into a container to place in the refrigerator or do we avoid opening either door?  We opted to quickly open both doors, remove the ice, fill the plastic container and our mugs with ice placing the plastic container on top of the pan of the uncooked Italian meatballs I planned to cook for dinner. 

We were concerned about meatballs made with beef and pork mince going bad in the refrigerator in seven or more hours. But our plan worked. When the power came back on at 5:30 pm, the ice was hardly melted in the fridge, the contents were cold and the meatballs were as cold as they would have been with power. 

We had a lovely dinner with the meatballs slathered in homemade red pasta sauce topped with hand-grated mozzarella cheese, a side of mushroom casserole (which stayed frozen in the freezer during the outage) and fresh steamed veggies.

The next challenge of the day was Tom’s ability to watch the Minnesota Vikings football game on his laptop.  He’s a member of NFL Game Pass, an app only available to viewers outside the US for an annual fee of USD $130, FJD $281 when Tom only watches the Vikings games. The fees are higher for full access to all games, playoff and Super Bowl games which he can add on later, if the Vikings are in the playoffs and Super Bowl. 

The games are available live with commercials or a few hours later without commercials reducing the view time to less than two hours. For some odd reason, last night, when the Internet signal was appeared strong enough to watch, Tom wasn’t able to download the game no matter how hard he tried. He’d been able to watch prior games while in Fiji. We had no idea as to the problem.

We can easily envision a life at sea, definitely not a lifestyle that would appeal to us for years.

Frustrated for him, I made what sounded like a hair-brained suggestion that he use the VPN on my computer, Hotspot Shield, to show our entry to the Internet wasn’t Fiji but another country we could select in the app. We couldn’t use the US as the selection with the Game Pass app unavailable for use while in the US.

I started the app, selected the UK as our entry point and he opened to the program for success. Immediately, the game popped up on the screen of my laptop. 

Not much of a football fan, plus with his preference of keeping the laptop on his lap during the game, I decided to head to bed at 9 pm to continue reading a good mystery novel instead of attempting to watch along with him.

By 10:30, I nodded off, loud game and all, managing eight hours of sleep, a first in many moons, only awakening a few times to the sound of pounding rain on the roof, a nightly occurrence of late.

The sun is shining at the moment. The ants are under control. I’m feeling especially good after a full night’s rest.  Tom’s still grinning from ear to ear over the Vikings win. Life is good.


Photo from one year ago today, December 1, 2014:

On our final day in Maui before heading to the Big Island for the upcoming family visit, we boarded a whale watching boat in Maalaea Bay, the harbor with some of the roughest seas in the world. (Yes, it was! rough)! We never saw a whale and once again, we were disappointed on yet another unfulfilling whale watching outing. Safari luck only seems to prevail on land.  For more details and photos of the scenery, please click here.

More amazing vegetation…What’s a Monkey Pod?.. A village visit in the rain…The magic of Life..

The massive short trunk Monkey Pod tree we found in the village of Wailuku on Saturday. 

Yesterday, we took off at 10:00 am for Costco to return the floor model laptop Tom purchased in Boston on September 15th. Costco offers a 90-day no-questions-asked return on all digital equipment enabling him to purchase a new preferred Acer model online, transfer his files, and finally be done with the problematic floor model. 

With the new laptop data transfer completed and assured he’d taken everything off the old one that he needed, we were ready to return the old one. True to their commitment, Costco handed us the cash for the return in a matter of minute, indeed with no questions asked.

With our RFID wallets (security enabled) there isn’t a lot of room for that much cash. For safekeeping, we purchased a gift card for $500 which we’ll use toward the purchase of food and supplies for our upcoming family gathering next month. The gift card (now in a secure spot) won’t put a dent in it, but we decided it’s better than carrying cash.

A pretty scene from Wailuku in the rain.

After Costco, we headed the few short blocks to the airport to sign a new contract for the rental car. The 30 days was up and renewing can’t be done over the phone for more than a few days, as we’ve learned from past experience. 

Luckily, we were able to get the same excellent online rate, prorated for the remaining 15 days. At $725 for 30 days, we were content with a total of $1100 for the six weeks in Maui. We’d expected it would be considerably higher in Hawaii. Booking cars online makes all the difference in the world on pricing (as opposed to booking from a vendor’s website).

Another tree in Wailuku that had a variety of plants growing in the “Y” of these branches.

We’d hoped to explore Maui on the return drive but, as it seems to be the case each time we attempt to explore, it was raining in buckets. Determined to get a few decent photos, we decided to follow another path and check out Wailuku, the city for the mailing address where we’re now living, although several miles from our condo.

I didn’t hesitate to get out of the car in the rain to take some shots. What’s a little rainwater? As it turned out, the most exciting find of the day was the huge Monkey Pod tree as shown in these photos with Tom getting the car in a perfect position enabling me to get out of the car with unobstructed views of the enormous tree.

Could this Bird of Paradise look more like a bird?

Tom is great when I’m trying to take photos, maneuvering the car to the most advantageous spot, driving around blocks retracing our steps in order to avoid missing a possible subject we’d passed and couldn’t stop to capture. It’s a perfect pairing, to say the least.

As the rain escalated, it only made sense to find our way home. It’s hard to get lost in Maui. It’s merely a matter of finding the sea with major highways that follow the coastline to some degree or another.

Once we were back home to find the sun shining we put on our swimsuits to head to the pool. Sun in one area and not another is not unusual in the Hawaiian Islands – raining in one area of an island and not the other; raining when the sun is shining, both frequent occurrences in Hawaii.

As we welcomed the warmth of the sun, we came to a mutual observation. We are not only drawn to wildlife but, we are almost equally mesmerized by vegetation in any form; a tree, a flower, a plant. 

Ah, we still get our “animal fix”  in Hawaii including this free-range chicken in Wailuku.

Vegetation in any form has a life cycle that is often mysterious and profound. In our travels, we’ve strived to gain knowledge and admiration of vegetation with the same passion we glean from all forms of life. 

Sure, a tree may not have a brain with an endearing personality and behavior patterns that humans find appealing. Instead, they have a unique life cycle that we are free to enjoy at varying stages, as they cross our path.

We discussed the Milo tree we’d shared in yesterday’s post and now the equally interesting Monkey Pod tree that we happened to encounter in the rain, a tree that also has its own unique story to tell as illustrated in today’s photos and links.

Link to documentation of the University of Hawaii’s report on the Monkey Pod tree.

Monkey Pod tree flower which only blooms for one day, later becoming the shown pods with a green bean-like structure. (Not our photo).

Based on this article, the Monkey Pod tree is now banned from new plantings in Honolulu due to its massive structure which can reach over 60 feet tall and 100 feet wide, obstructing and destroying everything in its path.  Luckily, many of these gorgeous trees still stand on the various islands of Hawaii. 

We expect, with the people of Hawaii’s reverence and regard for their surroundings, the Monkey Pod tree will remain as a legacy for its citizens.

We drove down a dirt road to get this rainy photo of the hills near Wailuku.

Ten minutes later, the sky clouded over and heavy rain began to fall. We hurriedly headed back inside, by no means disappointed, especially when we consider that the rain provides much-needed moisture for the exquisite vegetation surrounding us.

Hawaii is no Masai Mara or Marloth Park with wildlife all around us, although hopefully soon, the whales will arrive in the islands, a treasure for our viewing. Having seen the sea turtles now on several occasions, we’re hoping to soon see the whales. 

In the interim, we continue to find joy and fulfillment in our love and appreciation of the “Life” surrounding us, in whatever form it may be, wherever we may be.

                                           Photo from one year ago today, November 16, 2013:

A year ago we wrote about the size of Africa as compared to other continents and countries. As shown, it’s huge comparatively. For details of that story, please click here.

Preparations for the Big Island begins…Flight, car and lots more…

This looks like a Golden Orb spider we’d also seen in South Africa. Note the gold head and silver body.  We took this photo on the grounds.

This morning we booked our one-way flight from Maui to the Big Island on December 1st, a short 37-minute flight. Departing at 1:11 pm flight, it’s relatively low stress when we don’t need to be at the airport until 11:30 am. We love it when we don’t have to get up at 5:00 am or earlier for a flight.

The cost for both of us on Hawaiian Air, the most popular inter-island airline, is $368, plus another $120 for two checked bags each, making the total cost $488, which seems high for such a short flight. Then again, after all of our flights, it seems the shorter flights are higher proportionately.

Hot pink Bougainvillea.

With a rental car awaiting us at the Hilo Airport, we should be on the road by 2:45 heading to the first of the two houses in Pahoa, the home of the current lava flow. I doubt we’ll see any lava flow on our way to the house.  The lava hasn’t reached the highway or that particular neighborhood yet. Most likely, we’ll be able to see the smoke. 

By the end of our arrival day, after getting situated in the house, we’ll take off to a local grocery store for food and supplies for the first six days until family begins to arrive. Within a few days, a trip to Costco will be on the immediate to-do list with son TJ’s family of four arriving on December 6th.

A pleasing sunset view on the island of Maui.

There will only be six of us until December 21st when the remainder of the family arrives at varying times of the day Two of the remaining families will each be renting cars with only two requiring to pick up at the airport. It will be a busy day, the beginning of many busy days to come which we anticipate with pure delight.

With our flight and car booked and out of the way, we need to consider yet one more car, the one we currently have here in Maui which has to be returned to the airport tomorrow to extend the rental period until we leave in December 1st. Having booked this and all other rental cars online for better rates, Enterprise, in this case, has agreed to re-rent the same car to us for the same great price we received online. That is a first.

A calm sea on a sunny day.  There’s always white billowy clouds on sunny days.

As a result, tomorrow we have a few tasks to tackle; one, the rental car and two, the return of Tom’s laptop to Costco which is next door to the airport, the a-no-questions-asked return of the first replacement laptop we purchased in Boston as a floor model. 

Having received the new Acer by UPS last Wednesday, which we have working well with all of his data transferred, he’s ready to return the first one. Most likely we’ll receive a store credit for $588 for the cost of the floor model which we’ll happily use for food when we get to the Big Island. That store credit won’t put a small dent in the groceries we’ll need for the family gathering.

These Calla Lillies are always so beautiful with the yellow and red coloration.

There’s also a Costco store on the Big Island, an hour drive from the house, a drive we’ll be making several times in December. Luckily, there are a few grocery stores closer to the houses for the short trips we’ll surely need to make every few days.

With these few tasks behind us and the fact that I’ll be totally done with the post revisions in the next few days, we’ll finally have some free time for the remaining days in Maui. Whew! That has been a time-consuming challenge.

Yellow Allamanda.

My next task is moving all the email messages that need to be saved in folders that have been lingering in my inbox for months. The folders are ready and waiting so it shouldn’t be too long of a project which I should be able to complete in a few hours.

With our Excel spreadsheet up to date, we’ll be in good shape to put this ‘housekeeping” behind us. The next big project will be doing the 2014 taxes when we’re in Kauai but who wants to think about that now? Yuck.

The property manager, Mike, explained that the sea turtles eat this green moss on the rocks, although they never actually rest on the rocks, instead of bobbing around in the sea close to the shore at high tide.

To all of our friends and family in Minnesota and other parts of the US and other countries where cold weather, ice, and snow has hit: stay warm, stay safe, don’t shovel snow unless approved by your doctor, don’t skid on the ice when driving, don’t trip and fall on the ice and on and on…

No wonder we left Minnesota!

                                             Photo from one year ago today, November 14, 2013:

Due to WiFi issues, there was no post, one year ago on this date.

First time driving a car in almost two years…Here goes!…

It was a joy to finally see the sun on the sea early in the morning. 

I was never the best driver in town. I can admit that now that I haven’t been driving in almost two years. Most cars we’ve rented only allow Tom, an excellent driver, to drive the vehicle. We haven’t seen any reason to pay an extra $10 a day for me to drive.

At long last, blue skies.

As a result, he’s driven every time we’ve gone out. When we rented the car in Maui, a benefit of the rental agreement stated the “spouse drives for free!” Yikes, I thought. That’s no benefit according to me!

The interesting sky as we walked along the row of condos on the beach.

It’s not my driving that worries me. It’s getting lost. (Gosh, I don’t like sounding like the “helpless little woman.” Otherwise, there’s nothing helpless about me). 

Yesterday, we spent 40 minutes by the pool on the chaise lounges. The sun in Hawaii is very hot.  We welcomed the occasional cloud cover.

Over these past few years, I’ve become so determined to look for photo ops, I haven’t paid a moment’s notice as to how to get to and from any location. Over the years, I’ve analyzed this as to the reason why I have a bad sense of direction. 

Gecko.

My apparent lack of interest in paying attention to the route while I busily become enthralled checking out the surroundings prevents me from recalling the route. I may remember that we passed a certain unusual tree but I won’t remember how we got to the tree.

We continue to watch for colorful birds but have yet to spot any in Maui.

Actually, the combination of Tom and me in the car together greatly aids in our finding our way around which usually is not a problem. He has a sense of finding our way and I recall the landmarks. 

Since we have no cell service on our phones, only SIM cards when available, we have no GPS. We’ve tried to find a world GPS device but the technology for our worldwide locations is just not available unless we’re willing to pay $1000’s.

We’ve watched the tide go in and out each day, noting the number of rocks and boulders that are evident at low tide. I wouldn’t want to drive a boat toward this shoreline.

So far, this hasn’t been an issue for us. We map directions on the smartphone while going online in our vacation home, saving the instructions offline for later use. This has served us well.

The golf course quality lawn at our building is lush green after the rains.

Today, I’m going to the grocery store in Kihei, a 20-minute drive with only three turns. Why am I concerned? I think it’s a combination of finding my way and also driving for the first time in so long. One doesn’t forget how to drive. Why would I? I know I won’t.

As soon as I post this, I’m off to the Safeway which I must admit I’m otherwise looking forward to, especially since this will be the first time in two years that I’ll be in a grocery shop on my own with no impatient Tom pushing the cart or sitting in the car with a specific time designated for him to come inside to help me check out. I can easily check out on my own. After all, I did this for almost 50 years by myself.

We’re both always perusing the shoreline looking for sea turtles or other signs of life.

It must be a guy thing. He’d never sit in the car and not get out to help me put the grocery items on the conveyor belt and then into the bags. It never bothered me doing this alone. However, I’ve greatly appreciated his enthusiasm for being helpful since he retired, more than he knows.

So off I go with no time constraints. I can spend 20 minutes checking out the Italian sausage if I’d like with nary a thought of checking the time. 

Then again, it isn’t often we have to be concerned as to the time of day. That’s nice.

                                           Photo from one year ago today, October 21, 2013:

This was my delicious grilled squid at the Sands at Nomad in Diani Beach, Kenya one year ago today. For details, please click here.

The cost of booking rental cars in Hawaii for almost 7 months…Two days until we “sail away”…

This is a Pangolin, one of the most elusive animals on the planet, seen by very few.  Perhaps, someday when we return to Africa, we’ll have a chance to see one. These animals are poached for their scales believed by certain cultures in Asia to have medicinal properties which, after intense scientific research, do not provide any benefit to health. And yet poachers kill these interesting animals in the anteater family for-profits compared to the senseless slaughter of rhinos and elephants for their tusks. It’s heartbreaking. Soon, they, too, will become extinct.

When we first began planning our worldwide travels, we flinched over the cost of rental cars with all of the pumped-up fees, charges, and taxes. At the time, we anticipated it would feel weird not owning a car.  Now, it’s second nature. 

The Dodo bird, extinct for over 350 years.  Sadly, what’s next?

The points we consider for each specific location, each time we book a rental car are simple:
1. Is taxi fare reasonably priced and is it readily available making renting a car unneccesary?
2.  Will we feel trapped in a remote location without a car?
3.  Are there many places we’d like to visit in a specific area making a rental car worthwhile?
4.  Is the car large enough to fit our four suitcases, one duffel bag, one rolling cart, one laptop bag, and handbag?
5.  How safe is driving (in regard to crime, not road conditions) in a specific country?

This is the largest seed in the world from Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

For example, in Kenya, was safer to travel in affordable taxis than it was to drive on our own with the high rate of carjacking and theft, than in many other parts of the world. 

We saw live insects of this size while in Africa. 

In Belize, we used taxis. On an occasion, we rented a golf cart for a week, taking taxis the remainder of the time. The cost of a rental car for 30 days was more than US $3000,1809 pounds per month. The cost of a taxi to a grocery store or restaurant was US $5, 3 pounds each way. It was a no brainer for the two and a half months we spent in Placencia.

Over 100 scientists work full time at London’s Natural History Museum. 

In Morocco, we could walk to most locations. The grocery shopping and cooking were done by Madame Zahra (I think of her often) and the few times we dined outside of the Medina and the souks, the cab fare was fairly reasonable. Also, there was no available parking where we lived in the souk.

A scientist at work in the research area of the museum.  What a fascinating field.

In the remote Tuscan location of Boveglio, Italy we had no choice but to rent a car for the two and a half months we spent in the mountains.

In the Charles Darwin wing of the Natural History Museum, there were many interesting displays of insects, butterflies, and small creatures.

In South Africa, we had a rental car for a month, with Okee Dokee driving us everywhere for the remaining two months. No rental car could possibly replace the pleasure and laughter of riding with her day after day.

Photos through the glass are less vivid.

In that particular case, we chose to forgo the rental car simply since we loved being with Okee Dokee, constantly laughing as we bounced around on the bumpy roads in Marloth Park. It was an emotional decision when none of the above points fell into play.

After many car rental experiences, we’d yet to book rental cars for three of the four islands on which we’ll be living in Hawaii over a total period of seven months. 

This is an actual bee and its size as shown.

Excluding the necessity of a car in Waikiki (Honolulu) for the first 11 days when everything is within walking distance, we knew we’d need cars in Maui for six weeks, the Big Island for six-plus weeks, and Kauai for four months.

Insect displays in the Charles Darwin research area of the museum.

Having budgeted for each of the three islands where we’ll need a rental car, both of us were worried that the actual cost would far exceed the amounts we budgeted. Yesterday, we finalized the bookings for each of the three islands, expecting the cost to average at approximately US $2000, 1206 pounds a month. 

Hawaii is often considered one of the most expensive places to visit in the world when everything other than the fruits and nuts grown in the islands, must be imported as is the case on other islands throughout the world.

Flying insects.

After reviewing many online sites for the best rates in Hawaii (which we’d browsed many times over the past few years), we were able to confirm rates for each of the islands as follows:

6 weeks  Maui          US $1,124, 678 pounds (economy car)
6 weeks  Big Island  US $1,526, 920 pounds (full-sized car)
17 weeks Kauai        US $2,886, 1741 pounds (economy car)
Grand total –          US $5,536, 3339 pounds
(over a period of 120 days at the US $46, 28 pounds, per day). 

There were numerous paintings of animals from artists throughout the world.

We’re thrilled with these prices, expecting to spend thousands more, and relieved to have this piece out of the way at long last. Our flights between the four islands are the only items we’ve yet to book for Hawaii. With frequent flights between islands each day, we can easily wait to book the flights a month before departure in each case.

Had it been 10 months from now, when we’ll be in Australia, we’d already have seen kangaroos!  We can hardly wait!

As soon as we upload today’s post, we’ll be heading out for our final trip to Bobo’s Bubbles to do the laundry. It will be a full two weeks until we can do our laundry again in Boston. In Madeira, I purchased what appears to be a bar of soap which in fact is a bar of laundry soap, used for handwashing. Surely, that will come in handy on the two cruises in September.

In 10 months when we’ll be in Australia, we hope to see koala bears.

Last night, we returned to Byron, a burger restaurant we’ve found to be good with reasonable portions. Although it was over US $50, 30 pounds for a burger and fries for Tom and a salad for me, the salad portion is ample leaving me feeling as if I’ve actually had a meal. 

This is a Genet which we saw in South Africa in the bush.

When we see the price for a burger and fries is US $25, 15 pound, and a Cobb salad is also at US $25, 15 pounds, one can easily understand why we’re “chomping at the bit” to get on board the cruise and dine at our leisure without the added expense of having eaten out every meal for a month.

The fossils from prehistoric times were interesting.  But, we expected these as shown above were also manmade.

It’s hard to believe we’re only two days from sail day. In many ways, it seems as if those past eight cruises were so long ago when the last cruise ended on June 16, 2013. Here we go, another transatlantic crossing. How exciting!

In a way, it left us cold, seeing the manmade animals when we’d seen so many in the wild.

Have a lovely weekend as summer winds down in the northern hemisphere and winter winds crank up in the southern hemisphere. 

The museum itself was worthy of note in its exquisite design.

                                             Photo from one year ago today, August 29, 2013:

As we busied ourselves getting ready to depart for Kenya and with ongoing WiFi issues in Boveglio Italy, we didn’t post on this date. However, we did a post on the following date. Please check back tomorrow.

Cost of fuel at US $8.68 a gallon, EU $2.29 a liter! An exquisite vegetation find…A year ago, arrival at our booked 300 year old stone house in Tuscany…

Yesterday, we climbed high into the mountain on this drive.

When we rented the medium blue car over a month ago at the airport in Funchal, the gas/petrol tank was full.  We were told to return the car with an empty tank at the end of the rental period.

Overlooking rooftops to the ocean is always a special view.

Once we arrived in Campanario, we hadn’t gone out much with my illness. Once I returned to health, we’ve been going out every few days to explore, shop, and occasionally dine out. We didn’t need to refill the tank until yesterday. 

The view is always a complex mix of homes, gardens, and farms of varying shapes and sizes.

Luckily, the medium blue car is a fuel miser, using very little petrol on these hills. Although we were stunned by the cost of filling the tank, the relief of using so little to get around softened the blow. At most, we’ll refill, once or twice until we eventually return the car at the end of our time here

What a wonderful time of year to be in Madeira as we see the terraced hills planted for the season.

When we recall our transportation costs when living in the US with insurance, fuel, maintenance, and repairs, the cost of a rental car and fuel in other countries is less than half the former monthly expenses. It is this reality that keeps us from fussing over these prices. Everything is relative

Once we arrived at the top of a mountain, we spotted these cattails like plants.

Yesterday around noon, when the produce guy never showed, we decided to go out to fill the tank, visit the little market and go for a drive higher up the mountain to a park where we took these photos. 

Of course, I had to get out of the car to inspect these as Tom managed to find a safe spot to park on the steep narrow road.

It’s amazing how our perspective of the island changes from each vantage point as we take off on one maze-like road after another, never knowing where we’ll come out or if we’ll come out, requiring we find a place to turn around. 

This was the highlight of our outing. It’s a close up of the cattail like plants as shown above in the two photos. Who knew these would be so beautiful up close?

As I’ve mentioned, the winding mountain roads on this island don’t make it easy to find one’s way around unless the destination is an easy exit off the freeway.

The locals, familiar with their complex road system, take the difficulty of finding one’s way around in their stride when they’re off the main highway. They tend to point in the direction we should go rather than suggest step by step directions. 

The vegetation changed dramatically the higher we climbed.

Most tourists visiting Madeira stay in hotels where English is spoken, tour guides are available and taxis are a chosen mode of transportation. If we’d had easy access to taxis and the language barrier wasn’t as profound, it may have been wise to use taxis for all of our transportation.

But, this isn’t Kenya or South Africa (we miss Okee Dokee!) where we can easily build a relationship with a driver to take us everywhere we’d like to go with no concern as to how to find our destination. 

Another beautiful view of a village below.

Oh. don’t get me wrong! We’re not complaining. The complexity of the roads in these hills is enchanting, let alone the majestic views! And, most assuredly, we’ll continue to explore each time we go out finding wonders we’ve never seen in the past, as shown in today’s photos.

No, there’s not much wildlife in Madeira other than the goats next door and a few birds we’ve seen on occasion.  But, we recall our original and continuing interests as we travel the world in addition to wildlife; that of exquisite scenery and vegetation of which Madeira has in abundance.

As always, a breathtaking view awaits us as we drive higher into the mountains.

If we find only one new-to-us plant, flower, or special scene on an outing, we’re fulfilled. Mother Nature continues to offer her brilliant treasures almost every time we’re out as we continue on a search of our surroundings of her beauty and riches.

In essence, one doesn’t need to travel to do this. A simple walk in one’s neighborhood or a local park can provide wonders we may never have noticed in the past.

Partway down the mountain after our drive, spotted the back view of our house which we hadn’t seen from this perspective.

For us, our acuity for finding these special sightings has become more intense now than ever in the past, a fact we never anticipated as we planned to travel the world.  When we began the planning process, we thought the renowned locations, historical buildings, and familiar tourist points of interest would highlight our travels. Little did we know how wrong our expectations would be.

When in fact, its been the simple things that have truly brought us the most joy; the kindness of a stranger, the song of a bird, an exquisite flower, or even the blaring music of the produce guy when he makes his way up the hills toward us. Where the heck is he?
____________________________________

Photo from one year ago today, June 18, 2013:

Up the steep winding road with numerous hairpin turns we made it to our new home in Boveglio, Tuscany, Italy, a 300-year-old stone house. For details of our arrival in Boveglio, please click here.