North Shore Mountains - BC - Canada

No where in the world more spectacular than our own backyard - the back of the snow covered North Shore mountains .....

..... hanging out with freinds on a sunny afternoon.

Then heading down Goat Mountain to go for a beer !

Vancouver - Canada

Ahhh yes.....Vancouver.....cherry blossoms in the Spring. Indeed a truly beautiful, clean, young, healthy city in which we are blessed to live. We have come full circle: 282 days - 33 countries - 24 time zones - and 2 tooth brushes.

Hawai'i

Iconic Diamond Head crater from Waikiki Beach.

Classic Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Cool surfer guy.

Surfs up !

"Duke" - the original.

Just go for it.

World famous Waikiki Beach.

Classic Hanauma Bay snorkelling.

Tourists in paradise.

Our final sunset !

Fiji

Trade winds blow warm air across the waters and islands of the South Pacific.

Our small beachfront bure with an outdoor shower - home for the week.

Local girl chilling away the afternoon on a hammock.

"Bula" means greetings in Fijian.

A family of pigs joined us from a small village on the other side of the island.

Heading off to school in an open boat across turquoise waters - has to beat an old yellow school bus any day.

Dinner on the beach was first wrapped in woven baskets, then covered in a layer of banana leaves and a layer of sand, and left to slow cook. Delicious !

PADI Scuba Diver Certification completed while in Fiji.

Local art at a cafe in Nadi.

Exquisite sunsets were absorbed every evening.

Bali

A peaceful life - enjoyed on a local beach.

Daily offerings of flowers, rice, insense and perhaps a few coins .....

..... are placed outside homes and businesses such as this local restaurant.

A memorial to those taken in a terrorist bombing in Kuta.

An elder still carries her daily load - gentle yet hard working people.

Multi tiered temples in traditional Balinese architecture. Temples are everywhere including small temples in people's gardens and homes.

Pura Tanah Lot - sea temple situated on the shore of the Indian Ocean.

Pura Ulu Watu - cliff top temple barely visible perched high on Bukit Penninsula.

Growth envelopes everything in the high humidity.

Fresh flowers are delicately placed on carved stone figures everyday.

Rice terraces provide the agricultural staple. We rented bicycles and rode through them for kms.

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A cool stream in the hills of central Bali where we hiked and swam.

Traditional Balinese entrances are constructed of a few steps, carved stone surrounds and carved wooden doors.

A walkway in the grounds of our retreat outside Ubud .....

..... leads to our private abode.

Borneo

A stop over in Kuala Lumpur. The Petronas Towers were at one time the tallest buildings in the world.

The government abolished head hunting circa 1963. Thats great - but are they sure ALL of the locals received and understood the message.

Orang utans have 96% the same DNA as [some?] humans. I better check the mirror.

I think they like bananas - so do I.

Pitcher plants are carnivorous. Ants or spiders fall or crawl into the bowl, the lid closes and the plant consumes it's prey. Very ingenious - very cool plants.

The waterfall where we swam in long pants and hiking boots to avoid falling prey to leeches and other undesirables - known and unknown.

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Crossing the footbridge over a tributary that feeds into the Delok River.

The remote village of Pala Taong in the rain forest where we stayed.

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Fellow traveller Michel - a journalist from Paris, and Borneo Adventure guide at our lodge.

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The main corridor of a traditional longhouse built on stilts above the ground where 30 or so families live communally.

Heading up the Melinau River in the backwaters of central Borneo.

Negotiating a few small rapids. Anything more and the camera was safely inside the dry bag.

This pretty much sums it up ......

Walk along this boardwalk to enter a totally different world.

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A poisonous relative of the millipede clan - don't remember its name.

A spiny species of bamboo generates its own defense mechanism against predators.

Dense foilage in the equatorial rain forest.

Elegant buttress roots support enormous centuries old trees.

Bananas and other delicious foods and medicinal plants are there for the picking. However - so are a multitude of poisonous plants.

Looking back up to daylight at the top of Wind Cave.

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Stalactites and stalagamites deep within Lang Cave. We were advised that it takes 100 years to form just 1 cubic centimeter of limestone deposits!

Longboats rafted up at the base of the cliff below Clearwater Cave which extends for 128 kms underground.

Back in civilization - we enjoy a performance by traditional dancers.

Leaving Borneo and on to Bali !