Baders on tour are officially BADERS BACK HOME!

So our journey is over and a new adventure begins.

We've met so many lovely people around the world: local people and people on journeys both around their own countries and abroad, many of whom we'll be keeping in touch with.  

We've been fortunate enough to experience how incredible nature is - at times harsh, fragile, adorable, deadly, vast, inspiring, awesome, frightening and beautiful.

Louis and Frankie, in particular, have been learning, not so much from a formal curriculum, but more from the experience of exploring and adapting to different places and situations along the way. They've learned things about people, about geography, about history, about language. They've been adventurous with food, both eating it, sometimes cooking it and - when it came to a fish-market in Borneo where people choose their own 'live' dinner - avoiding it. They've learned a lot about making choices and the implications of sticking to a budget (not that they've always liked the outcomes!) both our family budget, and spending their own hard-earned money. 

They've met some wonderful children in village schools in Brazil, Ecuador and Fiji and learned about what it's like for those children and their families to grow up in these places.  They've realised that children can be happy, friendly, welcoming and prepared to share, regardless of their background.  

They've picked up a whole bunch of mementos along the way, from Louis' not-so-portable sand board, a nevertheless very thoughtful gift from his instructor in Uruguay, to a boomerang from Oz, wood carvings and pottery that the boys made in Nepal and blowpipes in Borneo.

As a family, we have an abundance of memories of shared experiences that hopefully our photos, videos, journals and our blog will help us remember more vividly.

Our trip has been everything we wanted it to be, and more.  And finally, after approximately:

• 67,000 kilometres by air
• 25,000 kilometres over land and sea, (by bus, car, train, pick-up, lorry, motorbike, horse, bicycle, rickshaw, zip-line, motor-bike, sand-board and on foot, and by big boat, rowing boat, long-boat, jet-boat, surfboard, canoe, raft, rubber ring and swimming)
• 350 days away
• 119 blog entries
• 110 different locations slept in, including hostels, hotels, B and Bs, estancias, log cabins, inns, mountain lodges, buses, jungle camps, friends' houses, planes, a farm, an RV, a car and an airport lounge
• 70 km by train (A Brazilian mountain train with free alcohol, arriving nearly 3 hours late, best train journey ever!
• 35 take-offs
• 34 landings! 
• 12 countries
• 5 foreign languages
• 5 overnight bus journeys (longest was 33 hours in Argentina!)
• 3 village schools attended (excluding the Bader Travel school, the boys' least favoured option!) 
• 2 huge spiders on pillows
• 1 orang-utan adopted

Baders on tour are officially BADERS BACK HOME!

Thank you for your many comments and messages over the last 12 months, it's been really good to keep in touch and we look forward to catching up over the coming weeks. 

Leaving Heathrow Airport

Back at Heathrow 1 year later!

Too many smiley photos.....

No-one has actually said this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some people were thinking it by now.  I probably would.  Not all our photos are happy smiley ones, its just generally we don’t have the camera to hand when, for example, Louis emphatically declares that he is NOT doing comprehension this morning. 

However here are a few.......

This one was Frankie having an argument with his hairbrush, i think he said something like "Why do I have to brush my hair ANYWAY, Daddy?"

And another taken at 5am in Sao Paolo bus terminal just after leaving the warm cocoon of our overnight bus, in search of a) breakfast, b) warmth and c) tickets for the 7am bus that would get us to Ubatuba by lunchtime. 

........and this one when the orange juice in the Galapagos was somewhat more citrus than expected

And in Bonito, Brazil, I had banking problems and it seemed to take an age before the cashpoint actually worked and gave me some money, so when I got back to the cab that had taken us there.......







Of all the places we visited, and left, the Estancia La Margarita was probably the one that the boys were saddest to leave, as depicted in the photo below while we were trundling down the drive just after saying goodbye.....

And finally, an anxious Louis and Charlie on the swoop, (although this turned to smiles moments later!) 

Strange signs from our trip......

We've observed a few strange signs along the way on our trip over the past year.


This was a common one on buses in Rio, where people in certain seats are encouraged to give up their seats e.g. elderly people or people with babies.  Some of the categories may be a little harder to discern than others though, so be careful when offering your seat for the first category in case you upset somebody......

We saw this on the mountain train from Curitiba. Given the number of tunnels, its probably not bad advice, even if it appears slightly obvious.





Here's one that Louis saw in the bus terminal at Sao Paolo, probably a good place to go if you need a packet of Rennies.

For those of you who wondered what happened to Smashie and Nicey, they are alive and well in Ihla do Mel, in Brazil.......

This sign, in Ubatuba, North of Sao Paolo, was a great idea to help you cross the road.  It basically had a countdown from 45 seconds every time it was the pedestrian's turn to cross the road.  Never did find out what the Fat Lab building was though, even though we walked past it a few times.......

In Argentina, on the way to the Perito Moreno Glacier, we wondered whether our little hire car would cope with the road ahead.......

In Kuala Lumpur, we were on the hunt for dinner with the Guanos, here's one of the places we avoided. 

Here's an example of one of the meals there that we DIDN'T try.

Apologies for the schoolboy humour.......but we are travelling with two schoolboys!!

Louis and Frankie - jungle rangers for the day!

There is a Nature Reserve attached to the Rasa Ria Resort near Kota Belud, in Sabah, Borneo where there are four orangutans living in the semi-wild.  This means effectively that they live in the wild forest, but can come to the feeding stations if they like, where they can then be observed.  And why wouldn't they, it's a hearty meal. 

We read  that a couple of lucky kids can get up close to the orangutans by being rangers for the day.  The drawback is that you have to be resident at the hotel, which is no great hardship really, as it’s highly luxurious, providing you can afford the cost.  Well it was way beyond the budget but we figured for one night, if it helped the boys have a special and memorable experience, then we’d make the sacrifice.......

We weren’t disappointed - but that’s enough about the incredible dinner and breakfast buffet. The boys had to take a medical in order to ensure that they wouldn’t be passing any dodgy diseases onto the animals, and were delighted to be given a clean bill of health. 

Frankie getting a clean bill of health

We headed to the Nature Reserve and saw a video all about an Orangutan called Cinta who had been rescued when she was very small and nurtured there for four years before being returned to the semi-wild at Sepilok.  We realised that we had met Cinta when we'd been up at Sepilok a few weeks ago, so it made the film all the more real for us. 

We saw the boys go past with the Head Ranger, they were wearing their new green ranger t-shirts and matching caps, looking very professional indeed!  Their first task was to prepare the food for the Head Ranger to give to the orangutans.  

Jules and I walked for about 10 minutes to get to the orangutan feeding platform and noticed a little orangutan already on a distant tree making his way there, he was small and very cute and we got a much closer view than we did at Sepilok. At one point he was no more than 3 metres from us. He did lots of tricks on the ropes which included falling off a couple of times and rolling a little way down the hill!

Oops.  Now I've got to climb back up again!

We had hoped the boys would get closer than we did, but, in fact, as they arrived later than us with the food, this wasn’t the case.  They did join us on the platform though and got a very good view too.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Louis explained:  “We gave them lots of chopped up fruit and vegetables such as, carrot, lychees, aubergines, beans and lots lots more!!!!!!!!!!

Frankie added: “Greedy orangutans! I chopped up at least 75 carrots! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I thought that we would get to sit on the platform with them, but we didn’t, which was very frustrating.   But at least we saw them and it was closer than the ones we saw at Sepilok, even though there were nowhere near as many.  Afterwards I was very excited to be feeding the goats, ducks and fish too.“

We like our new outfits!

Boys with their Ranger Certificates

Our jungle camp at the tip of Borneo

We spent three nights up near the tip of Borneo, where the South China Sea meets the Sulu Sea, a windy, deserted and beautiful part of the world.  

As if to emphasise the jungle nature of the camp, we arrived in darkness, seemingly passing through dense forest to find our way to our little huts - we had two huts, one for Louis and I, one for Jules and Frankie.  There was an inner tent, with just enough room for two people to lie down, surrounded by a mozzie net, and then a small area - still under the “outer” thatched roof - to leave your bags and sandals. It was very cosy. 

There was a communal area where you could chat, get water and play with the 2 week old kittens, which the boys did at every opportunity. 

Very comfy as long as you don't stand up. 

Jules and Frankie off with the fairies

The compost loos

The camp is owned by Howard Stanton and his wife, a lovely local lady called Lorina. They also own the Tip Top restaurant by the sea some 20 minutes walk away, serving delicious food and being a relaxed and comfortable hang-out for backpackers.  He has ambitious plans to extend the camp with larger tents, as well as open a cafe there to serve Rungus (local) food. This will complement the restaurant he already own a couple of kms a way on the coast where we ate most days.   He is building a nature reserve, a museum and an education centre, all part of a wider plan to make the jungle more accessible to schoolchildren and visitors alike. 

The beach by his restaurant is wonderful.  It is so warm, you walk straight in without having to commit to “going under” to get wet.  The waves were pretty big so we didn’t need to mess around with snorkels, the wave jumping was fantastic fun and the boys loved it. At one point Louis and I went a little too far out and were nearly caught out by a sequence of half a dozen much bigger waves that towered over us as they approached - we dived under a few of these together as we hastily made our way closer to shore, but you could feel the force as they ripped across your shoulders and the back of your necks while you were under water letting them pass!  Louis to his credit didn’t panic at all, although did say quite urgently that he wanted to go back now!

Plenty of things to do at the beach

....not forgetting "Danger Jenga" at the restaurant

We rented a little motorbike for the afternoon and, just as the heavens opened, Louis and I tootled off with Jules and Frankie following us in our rented car.  We’d caught the tail end of a typhoon coming across the South China Sea and the wind and rain was fierce.  It reminded me that it was a shame I’d lost my sunglasses as the rain was stinging my eyessomewhat as we followed the coastal mud track. We were looking for a turn off that would take us to a little island, joined by a sandbar at low tide.  After a couple of blind alleys, we ran out of road in this little village. Some young boys of Louis age were there and giggled when we said Hello.  One of them said “Hello” to us, looked at Jules and added “You’re cute” before scampering off in fits of embarrassed giggles.  

Nicer and sunny before we started.......

Some big puddles after the rainstorm

I did't actually drive with him hanging off the side.....

We asked a chap about the island and he explained where we needed to go to find the island and we duly left, following his instructions. When we got there the wind was now blowing sideways.  We donned out ponchos, that had previously only once seen action, on our trek in Nepal. The wind made them look skin tight, which looked good on Jules in a ‘bedraggled chic’ kind of way, even though she didn’t admit it. 

Jules and Louis sporting a new style of rainwear  

Windswept!

The tide was low enough for the sand spit to be visible, so we crossed, but with the waves threatening to cover it, didn’t want to spend too long on the other side.  Louis and I climbed up to the top of the island and then returned lest we get cut off. 

We jumped back on the bike and set off for the actual Tip of Borneo, you can see where the seas meet in a very rough and wavy part of the ocean, and the point is guarded by a lighthouse, which is no doubt a welcome sight for sailors in these dangerous waters. 

Boys with Augustin

Next morning Howard took us for a jungle skills walk, teaching the boys all sorts of useful things like how to get rubber from a rubber tree, which leaves you can eat, how to get water from bamboo and how to make a “water still” in the ground.   Hopefully they’ll never have to survive in the jungle, but you never know.....

There were a bunch of backpackers at the restaurant and we befriended several, including Augustin, a charming French man from Strasbourg travelling with his Simon and some friends, whom we later met again in Kuching.

We slept surprisingly well in the little huts and made sure we used the eco-friendly compost loos last thing before bedtime - apparently there are centipedes out at night with very nasty bites so you don’t want to encounter these, even though Howard does apparently have the antidote.

Baders with Howard at his restaurant

Kangaroo - by Louis

Kangaroos are amazing creatures and also terribly boingy. We saw lots of them when we were travelling around Western Australia in our RV.  One day we had a super big rain storm and suddenly we couldn't take our eyes off one. "Oh look a kangaroo!!"  I shouted. When we got to the visitor centre, we got out of the RV, we saw kangaroo after kangaroo after kangaroo.  One night we were sleeping in the national park and daddy heard a scraping noise so he went outside.  Sure enough there was a tiny joey, a big mum and his dad outside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kangaroos everywhere, coming out for a drink after the rain

Some facts about the kangaroo.

1. When the kangaroo is getting chased by a dingo they throw out their joey into a bush to make themselves lighter.
2. There are 40 different types of kangaroo.  A male is called a boomer, a female is a flyer and a baby is called a joey.
3. When a European explorer came over to Australia and saw the strange hopping animals, he asked one of the natives "What are these animals?" The native replied "Kangaroo" meaning “I do not understand you” and the explorer thought that was their name! 

Kangaroo with joey drinking from the road!

(PS We haven't seen any kangaroos in Borneo.  This is just a piece of work it took a while to finish! Dad)

The Orangutans! - by Louis

We all went to an orangutan place in a minibus. It was called Sepilok. When we got there the first thing we did was put our bags in a locker so that the orangutans don’t take anything, unscrew the lid and drink what is inside. They don’t know the difference between water, mosquito repellant and suncream lotion! 

Lovely orangey-brown coat

We went to the feeding and saw lots and lots of orangutans bustling around everywhere.  The big guy was so greedy and had so much food he had his leg in the food basket before he knew it!!  We watched them for ten minutes longer then we went to see the orangutan movie. It was really good and my favorite part was when the big guy got out into the forest and was really happy.

The baby one had spotted something being thrown by one of the other orangutans!

Now what shall I eat next?

You can even eat lying down.

We went to the discovery centre while waiting for the next feeding session.  We did the canopy walk and we saw a giant leech, it fell on to the ground from 30 metres up, he deserved it!  Then we went to a flower plantation but it wasn’t very good.  Afterwards we went to see the next feeding.  At the start, we didn’t see anything but then an orangutan came and started eating.  Then Mimi came and the other one fled and we saw a little one peek out of the bush and went on the rope on the other side. They chased each other and we got really close.  Daddy got some great photos and we can put them on the blog.

It doesn't look very comfortable but they seem to like it.

This one was right above our heads

Although with Daddy's wide angle lens, it looks like he is miles away!

Finally, we adopted an orangutan and she was called 'Lumiyud'.  ('Flood').  She was called Flood because she was found in a flood and her mum probably drowned.  We walked to the car park and the bus was full so we had to wait and off we went when it came back.

FACTS

1. A wild orangutan can live up to 45 years or more.  There was an orangutan in Philadelphia zoo who was 58!
2. Orangutan means ‘man of the forest.’  ‘Orang’ means people and ‘hutan’ means forest.
3. When orangutans are annoyed they put their lips together and make a kissing noise called a ‘kiss squeak!’
4. There are two species of orangutans.  One is called pongo abelii and the other is called pongo pygmaeus.

Cooking with Pearly in Penang

We spent a delightful six hours in the company of Pearly Kee and her husband Chandra, at their home in Penang, on their “Penang Home-cooking” course, consisting of a market tour, cookery course and “eat what you cook” lunch.

This considerably extends our gap-year cooking repertoire, previously limited to Tibetan Momos and Argentinian Asado, by adding three delicous ‘Nyonya-style’ dishes - fish in spicy tamarind curry, dark sauce pork and curry kapitan. Nyonya basically describes the fusion of cooking styles and ingredients from Malaysia and China.

After being picked up from our hotel by Chandra, we met Pearly across the road from the wet market. For a moment, our class was in jeopardy, when Pearly explained to us about crossing busy main roads in Penang.  “All locals know that you just walk out, wave your hand and the cars will slow down” Pearly explained confidently. Unfortunately the first car hadn’t read the script, and we were almost immediately mown down by a large red Volvo that swerved around us. In mitigation, the driver probably wasn’t from Penang.

However things promptly picked up when Pearly started showing us knowledgeably around the market.  It was refreshing yet rare to see Louis and Frankie exhibiting such interest in vegetables!  Pearly had us smelling and tasting an assortment of fruits, vegetables and spices - mangosteen, lemongrass, garlic chives, numerous different types of ginger - really bringing the market alive for us. Even our sense of hearing was involved; as Pearly explained to us just how fresh the chickens were, we heard the urgent, terrified squawking of a chicken punctuated by an uneasy silence.  

Pearly showing Louis the giant bamboo

Louis comparing two types of ginger

Fighting with an eel in the wet market

Mmmmmm....smells leafy

Delicious snack made from stringed dough with coconut and sugar on a banana leaf

A crumpety peanut delight

Chandra then drove us to their house where we found three cooking workstations, each carefully arranged for up to four people. Unlike our momo cooking adventure in Kathmandu, this was going to be all hands on deck, as we would be preparing two lots of each of the three dishes as a family. To our right, we had Chami and Tracey, two ladies currently living and working in Malaysia and to our left, Lester, an American gentleman and able cook who deservedly received most of the cooking plaudits on the day. 

Pearly guided us on the preparation of our cluster of vegetables, including a clever garlic squashing technique for instantly removing the skin. We also learned the importance of soaking and washing vegetables to remove parasites. The boys were closely and enthusiastically engaged in the process, Louis with me and Frankie with Julia, refining their slicing, chopping and stirring as the morning progressed. 

Frankie carefully chopping....

Louis garlic-squashing

Vegetables all prepared

We had detailed, colourful menus to follow - and keep - although thankfully, we didn’t need to refer to these too often as Pearly gave clear instructions throughout. If we were in any doubt, Lester was paying close attention and could be relied upon for back-up!

Pearly’s advice reached much further than just talking through and acting out the recipe.  We enjoyed anecdotes about life in Penang, her career in cookery and about the fun and games in putting her last two books together.  

Louis keeps the curry sauce moving about

Frankie rolling the limes to get them nice and soft before squeezing

We learned also about how every Nyonya meal has a purpose beyond merely satisfying hunger - it aims to heal and ease your body too. So, for example, after eating something hot, then rather than reaching for a bucket of water or an ice-cream, try a cooling mangosteen instead.  We picked up many other useful tips too - did you know, for example, that you can tell a fish is cooked when his eyes go white and pop out?

After a few hours of cooking  - you’re expected to keep to a reasonable pace - Pearly comes around for the tasting.  We waited with baited breath as she pronounced her verdict, thankfully all positive!  We had produced three meals that were ready for eating in Pearly’s dining room.  

Well done, team mate!

There followed a very enjoyable, homely lunch as we dined on the products of our labours, complemented by some delicious nutmeg juice, a local speciality.  Our boys’ favourite was the dark sauce pork - no coincidence perhaps that this also happened to have the most sugar!

Our reward - we get to eat what we cooked!

Some photos and shared contact details later, we parted - very full, very satisfied and a little wiser.  Thank you Pearly for your wisdom shared. 

Baders with Pearly and Lester