New and unfamiliar experiences can often be scary or startling to say the least. When we arrived In Hanoi, Vietnam I immediately knew it was different from Canada.
The smells of the city were different, the noise was different, and even the architecture was different, and by the time we arrived at our hotel I was already very familiarized with the city. One of the first things that became clear was that this largely populated city has such a huge contrast of smells, some delightful some revolting, some of which include exhaust, rotting jackfruit and delicious noodle soup known as Pho. When we were in Russia I thought that the crazy roller coaster like taxi rides were exciting. But crossing the street in Hanoi was much more exciting, and scary. The comparison feels like comparing a chihuahua dog to a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. Part of the reason that it was so hard to cross the street is because there is like a bazillion motorcycles honking and zooming around everywhere. -Kalle
Street Life in Eastern Siberia
Great Lakes
Lake Baikal, deepest in the world, vessel for 1/5th of the world’s fresh water, home to a 100 species of fresh water sponges, habitat to the tasty omul.
This stop also marked the first holiday away from family and friends. Calls were made, emails and pictures sent. We celebrated the day with a hike in the woods that “smelled like Grandpa’s forest”, threw rocks in the vastness of the blue and ate a feast of fish and soup in thanksgiving for the day.
Ulan-Ude
The Trans Siberian Express
Our kitchen
Did we already mention our kids eat a lot. The words, “I’m hungry” is an oft repeated phrase. So it’s not surprising, a big part of our day is spent forging for food, identifying food, purchasing food and preparing food. So far, the eating out options have been relatively easy to locate, affordable and identifiable but eating out every meal is not an economical, practical or even enjoyable option for every meal. There is a certain comfort in eating a home cooked meal, even if it is something as simple as bits of cheese melted on boiled pasta with a side of 7-11 bagged salad. Sometimes we are lucky and have an apartment or hostel with a partially supplied kitchen, other times we have a kettle and/ or a fridge. On the train there is always hot water.
Our portable kitchen and pantry consists of an IKEA shopping bag that fits into the main compartment of my pack when we are the go. It holds: a small bamboo cutting board, 4 metal spoons, 5 sets of chopsticks, a folding knife, a metal, stove top mug each, 3x 500 ml nalgen water bottles (the 4th was lost day 2 of our travels) and most importantly 1 Aeropress coffee maker. Sometimes we could use a second cutting board or plate but so far we have not invested/ committed to the additional weight or space.
Our current staples include: green, black,barley and matcha tea, ground coffee, sugar sticks, granola/dry cereal, miso soup packets, nuts, rice flavouring, soup stock, rice, a tetra pack of raspberry jam and until a few days ago peanut butter (the only item I actively look for). Bread, cheese, instant noodles/rice/kasha, fruits and veg, milk/yogurt/kefir and anything else that looks good, isn’t too heavy and/or messy at the market/ corner store/hyper mart rotates in and out. 
Everyday is a picnic on the road!
Just another day
When anticipating challenges, we thought this day might be one.
It was a great day and just another day.
The grand ferry
2 days of ocean excitement, Korean customs and playgrounds, late night stargazing, colourful characters, calm seas, questionable dinner buffets. All excited to be on land and get through customs.
Practicing our map reading and use
Google maps are amazing,
if you can use it.
It’s always good to have a plan B