Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Traveling with the two boys can sometimes be a bit of a challenge, but this time it actually went very will. They behaved well on the flights watching movies, playing, drawing and looking out the windows.

They were even lucky enough to be invited into the cockpit while at the terminal and were allowed to press the big red button on the flight stick (transfers the flight control).

During the trip the boys were sleeping in the same bed (and sometimes in the same room as us), and they were usually so tired after a days of activities that they would sleep rather than muck around.

The accommodation was a combination hotels, lodges, cottages and apartment. (useful to have two toilets sometimes).

They also loved seeing large beetles and grasshoppers - but refused to touch them.

Some of their highlights were the unusual playgrounds they got to play in and the large lollipops at the airport.

And some of my highlights were the local toys such as the cars/tractors made from wires and the homemade slingshots.

The West Coast National Park north of Cape Town is something special. During the spring all the South Africans go there to see the spring flowers, but it is equally beautiful other times of the year with its remote beaches and azure blue water inside the lagoon.

It was a beautiful spot to have Kim do a bit of modelling.

The boys absolutely loved playing in the water.

Even though it is a long drive (on easy roads) there were some interesting creatures along the way.

Such as Eland

And lots of Ostrich.

And lots of scenit spots in the small villages along the Atlantic coast.

Hout Bay is just south of Cape Town - Besides from being a nice little fishing village it is also famous for its boat tours out to Seal Island. This is an island with a large colony of predominantly male seals.

From the harbour it is a short 45 minute round trip out to see the seals.

Back at the harbour there was one of the locals who had managed to train one of the wild seals to come and get food from him. It would jump out of the water and grab the food from his hand or from his mouth.

It was also tame enough for the boys to touch.

Cape town is a nice place and fairly small by Sydney standards. Although very modern it still has an African feel to it.

It is possible to walk through the city and get a pretty good overview of most things in a single day.

In the centre of the city is the Company Gardens which is where the Dutch East India Company used to grow supplies for their ships. This is now a big park full surrounded by old buildings, souvenir stalls and full of squirrels.

On the squares there are people entertaining with dance, music and entertainers everywhere.

At the waterfront it is full a bustling environment of museums and restaurants.

We spent a day driving out through the wine lands around Cape Town, namely Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.

As everywhere else it is a beautiful area surrounded by mountain ranges.

Kim had been recommended a nice restaurant in Franschhoek, but when we got there it was fully booked (or invitation only - not sure), so we ended up at an equally nice french restaurant down the road.

The vineyards there are massive compared to Australia - they are proper estates on massive lands.

One of the estates had this nice McLaran parked outside.

We didn't do much tasting though - the way they do it (you order a sit down wine tasting or a wine package for a fee) didn't really fit with me driving and traveling with kids.

The Boys were as usual more interested in playing.

One morning we went to the Cheetah Outreach centre outside Cape Town.

Here they train dogs to keep wild cats away from cattle and sheep so that these don't get eaten. The idea is that if the farmers keep dogs to keep their animals safe then they don't have to set traps to kill the wild cats. Interesting idea, but I would think that it would take a lot of dogs, and the farmers would probably still shoot or trap the wild cats anyhow.

The centre also keeps some cheetahs that visitors are allowed to pat (for a fee).

The Cape Peninsula is a beautiful area with nice views and little isolated beaches where ever you look. We spent a whole day exploring along the coast...breathtaking.

Going to Boulders Beach with all the penguins was a fun experience for the boys.

There were lots of nesting penguins and they are more agile than you think, jumping between the rocks on the beach (notice how the penguin below is airborne).

They sit on their nests until the eggs hatch.

and they stay with the young ones after they hatch too.

And once in a while a seagull gets lucky and steals one of the eggs.

There are hundreds of them on the beach.

And they are right next to the path.

The whole area was covered in smoke from a massive bush fire up in the hills, so our eyes were watering and hurting by the end of it.

Despite the smoke I still managed to get a good photo of this beautiful flightless bird.

In the evening we went to Cafe Africa. This is a nice little cafe serving authentic African cuisine in the middle of Capetown. The menu was a 16 course degustation type menu with all you can eat of food from all over Africa.

They came around to do a bit of face painting and later there was drumming and dancing from the staff.

On the way down from Table Mountain we visited Bo Kaap.

This is a predominantly muslim neighbourhood with some very colourful houses.

Great as a backdrop for photographing the most beautiful girl I know.

And also the most handsome boys.

This year our holiday was going to a country in South East Asia called to the Laos with the boys and some close friends. I went there almost 20 years ago. I had just migrated to Australia and was going on my first holiday. Laos which had only just been opened up by the communist regime, was very much undeveloped after two decades of isolation and happened to be one of the first places I visited in Asia and it was a country that I immediately fell in love with.

It wasn’t the things to see and do in the country that I fell in love with - but the people. I loved the smiles, how welcoming everyone was, and I especially loved the joy of the dirty kids playing in the streets. Everyone was living at very simple lifestyle and yet everyone had what they needed and were happy.

Back then I had no firm plans, but made them up as I went along. I traveled light, caught local transport, I met locals and other travelers along the way on a budget of less than $10/day, and still remember the sticky rice sold to passengers when passing through towns.

I had some incredible experiences in an amazing country. I managed to have a full busload full of locals break down laughing from me trying to read up sentences from my little pocket Lao phrase book. Through this I was invited to visit families and join their local celebrations through festive events. The only local I met up in Northern Laos who could English was a girl working for an NGO. She invited me to join her visits to remote local villages where we had to cross the rivers on bamboo rafts to get to them and experienced the local dragon boat racing.

Since this distant time I had heard and lots about the country from other travelers including my Mum and Dad who visited the country ten years ago. I heard how the country had changed and how mass tourism had ruined the experience. I had heard about the young backpacker rave parties, the drugs and adrenaline junkies in Vang Vieng. I heard about the modernization, cars and traffic in Vientiane.

Going back with family and friends I was worried that they wouldn’t see the country that I saw so many years ago. There isn’t a lot of historical sites to see in Laos other than in Luang Prabang where there are lots of Temples due to many wars destroying major parts of the country. More worried was I that I would be disappointed by the country and the people I saw back then being no more.

When we got there it turned out that, yes, the country has changed a lot. Lots of roads have been paved, there are lots of cars everywhere, the old colonial buildings have been renovated and all the houses are now built in brick and mortar instead of being wooden bamboo shacks. People are on mobile phones, the kids are watching youtube videos, every hotel has wifi, you can buy everything, and major investments are flowing in from neighboring Thailand, China and Vietnam.

There are a lot more tourists in the country, especially in Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang, but they are a different type of tourists than the ones I was dreading.The backpackers have been replaced with mainly adrenalin loving Korean tourists or wealthier middle-aged Europeans and the era of party fueled backpacker tourism is largely gone.

And most importantly getting outside the towns, the Laos I loved back then still very much exists if you go look for it. The modern tourists are surprisingly easy to avoid. They all stay in the same places and visit the same top ten sites or visit the same restaurants that Tripadvisor recommended they go to. They go back home and tell everyone that they have experienced Laos, not knowing that their comfort has eluded them of the real magic of Laos.

The Lao people everywhere are still very loving, smiling and friendly, there are dirty kids, chickens, cows, dogs and cats roaming the streets everywhere and the remnants of the old tribes that I saw back then still exists through their ancient traditions although the traditional costumes and houses are largely gone now due to government policies.

Had we gone even further afield that we did on this trip, I’m convinced that little has changed in those villages I once visited two decades ago. Prior to going I was scared what I would find there, but now I feel blessed that my family and friends have experienced some of the glimpses of ‘my’ Laos together with me…Laos still has a big place in my heart.