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 weekend we went Luna Park to celebrate Sammi's birthday.



The kids (especially Aiden and Sammi) had loads of fun on the different rides.

Last weekend we made another excursion to Centennial. This time to a different and more open area (Kim wanted to have picnic on the manicured lawn, but I convinced her to move into the trees so the kids could play).
















They also wanted to go and play/climb on the rocks.

Here are a lot of individual photos of the kids that I haven't had a chance to post because they didn't really justify a post or not of the best quality.

First one is one of Lucas with face paint from daycare.


And he throws the biggest tantrums once in a while. Here is one on the street.


Here Aiden and Lucas are being silly and trying to balance on one leg.




And here is Aiden think he is stuck under the sofa (he is not).



Here he is very proud of his colouring in from daycare.


They both have the same bathrobes.


As a reward we took Aiden to the movies to watch 'How to train your dragon 2'.


We are still trying to teach Aiden how to ride a bicycle.



A scary hand.


They love their chocolate and ice cream.





Chilling out.


Selfies.







Breakfast.






A beautiful sunset.

Last weekend kim was away for a girls weekend.

While she was away I decided to go to the little forested area of Centennial park and let the boys play amongst the trees.

They had a lot of fun just making up their own games.

Here is a couple of photos from Lucas' 2 year birthday with the family.

Aiden and Lucas are doing a lot of painting and drawing at daycare.

Here is some of their better work.

This one I call 'The water dragon' by Lucas


This is 'The night owl' by Aiden (Aiden calls it 'Wave')

This is without a doubt my favourite photo of the day (and it was also one of the first I took).

There is something very serene and dream like about this photo that I really like, and the dreamy look or the model fits well.




Set & Lights: Studio 1A Sydney
Model: Jacqueline S (IKON)
HMUA: Donna Kalasho
Photo: Rene Pallesen

This was the last of the models I photographed at the goods elevator.



Set & Lights: Studio 1A Sydney
Model: Christina Tran
Hair: Roxanne Cahill
Makeup: Rachael Bastiaansen
Photo: Rene Pallesen

There was another model at on the day with this really nicely done black body paint.
She looked great against the black backdrop.





These were taken with a gridded beauty dish high camera left. I had someone hold a silver reflector on the right to create some separation but I don't think it is really noticeable.

Set & Lights: Studio 1A Sydney
Model: Anna Gambril
HMUA: Jade Little
Photo: Rene Pallesen

Here is another one of Michaela from the open day.



Set & Lights: Studio 1A Sydney
Model: Michaela Baranov
Hair: Roxanne Cahill
Makeup: Rachel Bastiaansen
Photo: Rene Pallesen

When I setup for my photos I normally have to take a range of setup shots to check if the light is the way that I want it. Sometime I managed to volunteer Kim to help me set up and on the rate occasion she pulls a funny face.

This is a series of photos I've taken of Lucas being 1 month old.





It is a lot harder taking baby photos this time around for a number of reasons such as it being harder to find the time with both Lucas and the newborn around as well as Lucas not being a very good sleeper. This means that whenever he does sleep it is time for especially mummy to have a rest rather than run around taking photos.

Aiden is extremely fond of his little baby brother and every morning he wants to see the baby and give him a little kiss.



Whenever Lucas cries, Aiden will say 'Dont cry Lucas'.


I am sure that as he grows older they will be best mates.



Hopefully as he grows older Lucas will be a bit easier we will be able to take more photos than we have been.

Lucas is now one month old and we had a little celebration for family and friends with bbq, food and cake.

It was a fine day with lots of kids around (so AIden was busy playing all day).

Some weeks ago there was a work photo competition where the theme was 'World Connected'. I didn't have much time due to the kids, but I did manage to put together this photo below for the competition with the title 'bringing closer those who matter!'.




It wasn't picked as a finalist, but still fun nevertheless.

Ok, Kim has finally decided on a name for the newborn out of the 2-3 names left on the shortlist.

It is:

'Lucas Lee Pallesen'

This weekend it was Samantha's (Sacha and Mavis' daughter) birthday and to celebrate we did another day with the Thomas Trains.





The kids love the trains and it is really good value for an afternoon out.



Even Kim had a few rides on the trains as she wasn't able to ride last time because she was pregnant.





It was a cool and drizly day...hence the warm clothes.

On one of the last rides Thomas de-railed so it took the staff a fair while to get him back on the track (the engines are pretty heavy).

The other night I took this photo of the baby's hand grabbing my finger.

We are now approaching week 3...still no closer to having a name for him.

After our escursion to the park last week the family decided to go there for a picnic on this Labour Day (public holiday).

I was soooo tired after having food poisoning the night before...and wasn't able to eat anything...but the others were having fun.




Here is Kims dad with the four daughters.



What I didn't realise was that this was the park that KC and Chong got married in. The ceremony was in this spot where I took this photo of Kims dad with most of his grand children (the two youngest missing).





I also did some more peacock photos while we were there.



Afterwards there was cake and KC and Chongs place (it was his b'day a couple of days earlier)...but we were too tired to join them.

For the last couple of years work has has an annual photo competition. This year the theme was 'connected world' and I decided to participate.

Not an easy task coming up with an idea and doing a project like this with a new kid. With bit of brainstorming I came up with a couple of ideas and with Kims permission to doing a night shoot in the city I decided to put one of the ideas to life.



I am not sure if it is a strong enough photo to be a real contender, but it was fun trying to put it together. The photo was taking at the Domain in Sydney with the highrises in the background.

Yesterday we made the trip to Auburn Botanical gardens which is located about 25km from where we live.


I am paternity leave at the moment at this was a nice opportunity to get out of the house with Aiden and the newborn and also take some photos.



The garden contains a Japanese section full of Cherry blossoms in spring...unfortunately it is no longer cherry blossom season, but I did find some apple trees with flowers on them as well as other flowers.





There was also a bunch of peacocks around the place...one of them kind enough to show us its pride.

This Christmas Kim and I decided to take Aiden on his first overseas holiday. Our offices are closed over Christmas and New Years so it is a good time for us to travel.

We decided to go to New Calidonia in the Pacific Ocean as it was easy and reasonably priced. It is a small group of islands about 2000km from Sydney (2.5 hours flight) and is part of Frances overseas territories (this may change in the next couple of years when they vote for independence).

On the first night we went to a seafood place and had a good night out the three of us.




Especially Aiden enjoyed his new surroundings.



We stayed at Anse Vata beach in Noumea which was conveniently located in the tourist area (Although it was far from overrun with tourists).





It was really hot there, 34-38 degrees every day so it was nice to stay near the coast. The locals living inland would spend the nights on the beach in the water cooling down.







In the evening we would try out the local restaurants. Food was generally quite expensive and of very inconsistent quality. The far best we had was a place called 'Le Roof' which is a restaurant placed in the water. I had the best rib eye I've had this year and as a desert we had the best chocolate fondant we've ever had...very nice.



While there we rented a car so that we could explore the island better while bringing Aiden with us (the island is 400km long).It was beautiful with all the flame trees...brough back a lot of memories from when I lived in Kenya.






Aiden coped surprisingly well with the heat, the sun and the water. It has actually helped a lot on his ezema which is almost gone on his legs now. He didn't complain at all and in the car he would just fall asleep once the aircon was turned on and we started driving.



One day we went out to one of the islands on a day trip and spend the day there in the shade at one of the restaurants and on the beach with Aiden (Only day where I wasn't feeling 100% as I'd picked up a 24h bug from the family before we left and had a bit of fever).




It was nice going on a trip as a family with a little one. It was a bit harder to get about to take photos and especially to be really creative, but I did get a couple of chances and we did do a photoshoot on the beach one evening with some of the flash gear I'd brought.




This will be followed by some more post about some of our experiences accompanied by more photos.

Every year one of Kims friends gets someone to take some family photos. Kim told her that this year I could do some for her instead of paying for it...I needed the practice (which is true).

When they arrived at around 4pm Aiden was still asleep so we decided to do some photos in the studio first. I was soooo.. relieved because the sun was out and it would have been really difficult to do outdoor shots in the harsh sunlight.





Karens daughters are quite photogenic so it was easy to get some great photos. I rekon the oldest could get modelling jobs if she wanted.


By the time Aiden woke up and we had finished the inside shoot it was 6pm and we drove down to La Perouse. It was really windy and the sun was still strong. After moving around a bit we eventually settled for the beach where it was slightly less windy and had better light.







I took more than 400 photos on this day and most of them are pretty good. It was pretty exhausting...especially the youngest daughter was really tired by the end of the day.


The photos above are just a couple of the ones I took. I haven't had time to process the others yet so I may make a second blog post later. I took some photos of Karen as well as some where the family is together, but I think Karen would like me to do a bit of work on them first.


I also found that it would have been really hard if I hadn't had Kim there to keep a look out for how the hair was looking, positioning and constant feedback on the photos. She is actually a pretty good assistant even though she doesn't know much about the photography side.


I also realised that I need more practice with taking photos outide in constantly changing conditions, so if anyone if willing to be a 'Model-for-the-day' then let myself or Kim know...it is a win-win, you get some (hopefully great) photos and I get some practice!

Merry Christmas everyone!

2010 will be out little boys first Christmas and he is already getting into the Christmas Spirit. He is still trying to figure out what it means to be Santas Little helper.



We can't wait to see him open his presents....it may be a challenge for him to rip the wrapping paper.

This is our official 2010 Christmas family photo....new tradition for the next couple of years.

There are so many different insects and critters in our garden and they are not all spiders. Every time I do a bit or gardening I get surprised by some of the diversity out there.

I really don't mind as long as they stay out of the house, which they do...most of the time. Most of the insects are too fast to photograph, but yesterday I did spot a couple of caterpillars that were slow enough for me to pull out my macro lens and a flash.







They are actually really hard taking photos of. At that close distance there is a really shallow depth of field and the caterpillars actually move quite fast so it is impossible to use a tripod.


This means that the photos are taken handheld and that I am just holding the flash next to the camera triggered wirelessly.

Today was Aidens first visit to the hospitals Emergency Room.

When I got home from work this afternoon Kim said that Aiden had been unsettled all afternoon. He would be crying/screaming when we were holding him and initially I thought he was hot (it was a warm day). I took him to the shower to see if that would calm him down...it did a little bit.

Afterwards we had him on the bed and we noticed that he wasn't moving his left arm and leaving it limb down his side and when we touched it he started screaming...so off we went to the hospital.

We were lucky that they could take us almost right away to have a doctor examine him. He made the same observation that there was something wrong with his arm and ordered some X-Rays. The X-rays didn't show any fractures or anything (pheeeww...) so they gave him some pain killers. Aiden was so brave having his Xrays taken and being at the doctors. Once the pain killers kicked in he started moving his arm a little.



We were waiting for quite a while for the doctor to come back and when he did Aiden had started moving his arm more. The doctor re-examined the arm and twisted the elbox and bit and said "oh...I felt it pop". Aiden started screaming again, but the doctor said that the arm now should be ok and that he would come back in 10-15 minuted to check.

Surely enough Aiden was a very happy boy when he came back and we think his arm now if back to normal...he had just pulled his elbow.

Apparently it is quite normal for kids. The doctor said that he gets about two cases like that every day.

Thank you Doctor!

It is now the 1st December and the Month of Christmas has officially started. The christmas decorations in the shops here in Sydney went up a little later this year (November) compared to last year (October).

Kim and I have already bought all the christmas presents and this weekend we will put up the Christmas tree. It will be Aiden's first Christmas...he is still a bit too small to understand what christmas is...but at least he will have the photos to remember it by.




Merry Chrismas everyone!

It is now exactly one month to Christmas...the silly season has started.

Kim and I are kicking off the season with some photos of Aiden...it is afterall his first Christmas. He may not remember it later, but at least he will have some photos to look at.

Next week on the 1st of December we will set up the Christmas tree...and I will take some more photos. Already got some ideas...

Today it is Aidens Birthday....he is now 5 Months old (when you are less than 6 months old you get to have birthday every month).



He is a good/easy little boy. He is now able to keep his head up, but still unable to sit or roll around onto his tummy. He sleeps through the night and wakes up around 7.30 to get a feed. On weekends he is happy to go back to sleep so his Mummy and Daddy can sleep in.


He is very quiet when in crowded places and likes to just sit and observe (Kims dad is saying that he has got that after me).

It has taken me a long time to get this photo done. I had to wait for him to keep his head up and even then it was pretty hard to get hime to look in the right direction.

I have now finished the second portrait in the series of the four elements...just Fire and Air left. This one is "Water". The yellow blob is a Weedy Sea Dragon.




...Really helping my Photoshop skills. Not sure if anyone else thinks these photos are cool...but they are cool to make and are different from what I'd otherwise be doing.

This weekend Kim and I went to see the musical Fame at Capitol theatre with a couple of friends Audrey and John.

Most of the cast was made up of dancers from “So you think you can dance” so there was a potential for a really good performance with some excellent dancing.


Our friends had organised a babysitter for the night and Aiden was being looked after by Kim’s dad and sister.

The performance was good (but not great). I think we were expecting more singing and dancing (It was a musical) and less dialogue. The second half of the play was a lot better than the first half with more dancing.

Unfortunately our friends missed this part as she was worried about their kid left alone with the babysitter (that is kinda the point of getting a babysitter) and left during the intermission.


At the end they got everyone in the audience up from their chairs for the famous "Fame" song.


Kim and I however had a good night out…and she looked smashing!

During the last couple of days I have been doing my first series of newboarn photos with the little one (still no name).

So far he is behaving like a typical newborn...wants a feed every couple of hours and sleeps a lot. He is doing his best to keep Kim awake at night...I try to get a good nights sleep and then look after Aiden during the daytime and get him out of the house (swimming, shopping etc.) so that Kim can get some additional sleep without too make additional interruptions.

Anyway...back to the newborn photos. I wanted to take these cute high-key photos with the newborn wearing a hat. It turned out to be a lot harder than I had expected...both due to the little one not behaving as desired, but also because there were a few adjustments that had to be made underway. In the end we ended up doing three sitting where the last sitting was the most successful one.



I knew that I needed to raise the head from the body to get the right pose but I found out that it was a mistake using pillows as they were too soft. After this I tried towels and linen but they were still too soft. In the end I used a hard camera suitcase with a towel on top which turned out to be perfect.





Over the next weeks I will get to take some more photos, so stay tuned...

During the last 9 months since Kim became pregnant I've been doing this project with a monthly belly photo.

On the morning of the 12th September 2012 at 6.10am our little boy arrived to this world. He was keen to get out and as expected (pretty much) he arrived two weeks early.







Labour actually started more than 24 hours earlier and was just dragging on with Kim getting contractions every 30 minutes or so...not close enough to quite panic about, but still with the knowledge that it is close to going to the hospital. At the time the little one arrived Kim had been in labour for more that 24 hours so she eventually ended up with another c-section.







Fortunately there were no complications with the procedure, the only downside was that everyone else in the whole area decided to have babies on the same day, so the hospital natal section was completely full. This meant that for the first three nights Kim and the little one were put in the acute section of the hospital. Very noisy and hard to sleep, but the good thing was that there was a 1:1 carer ratio and they don't normally see little newborns there, so both Kim and the newborn got a lot of attention and assistance.


After 5 nights in the hospital Kim and the newborn (still without a name) came back from the hospital.

The little one actually looks a lot like his older brother...same mold I guess.

Last night I went with Kim and Aiden to Darling Harbour for dinner. We wanted to go somewhere where it was also nice to go for a walk.

We ended up just buying a kebab and sitting on the steps outside eating it while Aiden had fun imitating the sounds of the seagulls trying to get to our foor (in the beginning he was a bit scared of the birds).




I had brought my camera along and took a couple of panorama shots of the harbour...love it, love it, love it. I was able to crank up the ISO and take this handheld with no problems and because of the high resolution it is amazing what I can do with it back home in terms of stitching photos together etc. The end result is a 100 Megapixel image so very big.

Afterwards we had coffee and tiramisu at Guylians...coffee was nice but had better cake before.

We are now 8 months into expecting our new little baby boy and we expect him to arrive any time within the next two weeks.

We did some pregnancy photos the last couple of days to make sure we have some nice ones as a family.

This Sunday it was Fathers Day here in Australia. Aiden had painted me a very nice picture at Daycare as a fathers day present.




In the morning he took me out of for a buffet breakfast at the Crowne Plaza in Coogee...and afterwards we enjoyed a the very nice warm and sunny day at the beach where he got to play in the sand.

This morning Sacha asked me if I'd like to do a sunrise shoot with him at the Opera House. I'd wanted to try out the new camera for landscape so said yes.

This was the very first photo I took and after that the light went pretty bad.




A very nice morning, but I am not sure if I'm cut out for the early starts (had to get up at 4.30am), especially not now that we are going towards summer.

Kim and Aiden stayed at home sleeping and they were still sleeping when I returned at around 7am.

During the day at the Entrance we made a quick trip up to Norah Head light house to scope it out.

Later that evening I headed up there in the dark to take some star photos.

The conditions were perfect with the Milky way clearly visible and I good some great shots. Here is one pretty much straight out of the camera that requires just a little more processing.





As I walked from the gate to the lighthouse (about 700 metres in pitch darkness) with my torch all hell broke loose suddenly when I rounded a corner.

I heard people scrambling in all directions through the bushes falling over branches. I used my torch to have a look and saw these 6-7 kids running away...obviously they were sitting there smoking weed and got a freight.

Later in the evening they walked past me as I was taking photos and one of them said 'Man, you gave us a freight...we thought you were a cop'!

The Cherry Blossom season is about to start here in Sydney (does that mean spring is here) and the first flowers are out. Yesterday I brought my camera along when picking up Aiden from daycare and managed to take a couple of photo along the way.



I may try and take some more photos over the next week or so. Kim mentioned that she would like to hang one of the photos on the wall.

We are in the process of doing some large prints...I have already ordered the first one which is a glass print which should arrive next month.

Today was REALLY hot in Sydney.

We have had a couple of really hot (40C++) days in Sydney this summer but yesterday beat the current longstanding heat record from 1936.

In Sydney itself they measured 45.8C and at the Airport which is closer to us the measured 46.4C. At our place we measured more than 43C degrees at midday.



Fortunately yesterday was a lot cooler and because we knew that there was a hot day coming up we managed to cool down the place the during the night to a pleasant 25 degrees...and out house maintained that temperature for most of the day (apart from our study which gets really hot because of the big windows).

In the evening a cool change arrived with very strong winds and a bit of rain...we quickly opened all doors and windows to take advantage of it and cool down the place again...unfortunately this also came with a very fine layer of dust on everything next morning.

2012 was a record blogging years for me...77 posts over the entire year...which means one new entry every 4.5 days, or in other terms something new to look at regularly.

I am hoping that 2013 will have equally many posts. I have now been blogging for more than 15 years and most if not all the posts can be seen here:

Click here

Here is another family photo that I had my Dad assist us with. It was easier to have him on a ladder taking the photo than trying to set it up on a lightstand.



It was lit by firing a group of flashes into the ceiling of the room...hopefully I will get a professional studio flash soon and will have some more power available for these types of photos.


I recon this is one of my favourite family photos from 2012.

For the next couple of weeks my Dad and his partner are renting a campervan to cruise down the coastline from Cairns back to Sydney (hopefully they enjoy the cool weather compared to the 41 degrees we had here in Sydney yesterday).

Before they left I managed to do a photo session with him and the kids to get some portraits.







I may try and do another one once they return on a darker background.

New Years day we organised a more of let spontaneous BBQ (well..it was organised day before) at one of our local parks with family and a couple of friends.


I think my dad was still a bit hung over from the day before, but we still managed to get him to do some of the BBQ'ing. They went to the city night before to see the big midnight fireworks while Aiden and myself went to Coogee to see the 9pm fireworks there with family (Kim stayed at home with Lucas).






...while Kims Dad was looking after Lucas.

One afternoon we made the trip to Centennial park to go duck feedking with Aiden, but also to show our visitors one of the great parks of Sydney.





Aiden was very excited playing with my dad and running up and down the hills and checking out the big trees.





(photos courtesy of my dad)

So far my Dad and Aiden are bonding very well.

The first thing AIden asks for when he wakes up in the morning is 'Play Bedstefar' (play grandad) and wants to go and knock on his door to play with him.

My dad has been very patient with letting him jump while holding his hands, so now he wants to do it all the time.





He especially enjoys the two handed jump...




...so now he also wants it when we are walking him.



The jumping has come in handy as I have used it to trick Aiden to get in the water at Maroubra a few times.


My dad also reads him his story before he goes to bed at night...we will se over the next month whether we also can get him to change nappies, brush his teeth, feed him, dress him etc.

My Dad wanted to see the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race again this year.

Unlike the last time we were there in good time this year and found a great parking spot and a fairly good vantage point of the race without too many crowds.

While waiting for the race to start the James Craig was cruising back and forth outside the harbour.





Once the race started and the boats passed the heads it became very busy both on the water and it in air with all the boats and helicopters (at one point I counted 11 at the same time) and my Dad was busy clicking away.










This year turned out to be a new course record, so great conditions all the way to Hobart.

Christmas Day we celebrated with Kims family at her sisters house.

It was the usual crowd of our familys and everyone bringing dishes to share and as usual there was a lot of different foods to try.



It was great to have the whole family together (Aiden was again eating too much).







And even Santa made an appearance again this year...Thank you so much Santa!!!!!

This year we celebrated Christmas at home with my Dad and his partner with the traditional Christmas Duck and Ris-a-la-mande.





It was Lucas' first and Aiden's third Christmas...Aiden is now getting old enough to enjoy the experience...



...especially the food



After dinner we opened presents according to the Danish tradition and Aiden was very excited about the big box from Bedstefar...



...containing a big truck.



From Mummy and Daddy he received a Lightning Mcqueen car (radio controlled).





...and also a drawing pad.





Merry Christmas...

As you can read further down this blog I popped the big question to Kim when we were in Rio de Janeiro at the end of our holiday. Luckily she said yes because otherwise it would have been a couple of really miserable last couple of days there.



It took us almost a week to find the right moment to break the news to Kims family but as soon as we opened our mouthes and said "We've got some news for..." everyone shouted "YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!". Yeah well, they must have seen it coming miles away. Even my friends Andy, Glen and Luke weren't surprised. Anyway, everyone is very happy (including me) and we are really looking forward to us moving into our own place together.




So now the wedding planning has started. We have set a date (16th November this year) and we have booked the reception venue. Everything else is still up in the air but at least I've got less things to stress about than Kim who is running around looking for dresses thinking up colour schemes, table decorations etc. We still have to find a nice venue for the ceremony itself...there are plenty of really nice places in Sydney to have it but the problem is that we also have to take wind and rain into account and most public places such as parks and beaches you have to book and pay for in advance.
It should be a nice wedding although we want to keep the major expenses down as we need the money to buy something to live in.

According to Vietnamese traditions there is given money in red envelopes instead of wedding presents (so do not start looking for presents) so hopefully this will eventually cover some of the cost.



All my friends and family in Denmark is invited to the wedding (This is your official invitation). If you happen to be in Sydney on this day then let me know well in advance.

I am hoping that my Mum and Dad will make it to the wedding. Otherwise it looks like it may be a wedding without any of my family there which would be a major disappointment :-(



Anyway, it looks like 2008 is turning out to be the year of change. Kim has got a new job, we are getting married and we are looking to buy a place to live in. We have 4 big changes that we want to make this year...3 more changes to go and only 7 months to make them in.



Some of Kims friends are starting a Photography business so they agreed to take some engagement photos of us in Centennial Park one morning and then based on that we could decide whether we want to use them for all or some of the wedding photos.

The photos you see here were taken by them and I have provided a link to their websites below where you can see more photos:

Sonova Photography
Sonova Flikr Photo Album Engagement Photos

My slide show

This Sunday Andy, May and myself went climbing at the Stables up near Pennant Hills in Sydney. The area is close to another nice little area called Otherland, but the stables requires a fair bit a bush bashing to get to.

The climbs are of a higher grade (18-25) but are mostly well bolted, but because of the pretty shitty rock a lot of holds have come of and sometimes this affects the grading of the climb.

May is new to lead climbing but the area had got a really easy grade 14 so we decided that she should have the honour or leading the first climb of the day...she was pretty nervous and back clipped a few draws but otherwise didn't do anything too disastrous.


On the 2rd climb of the day I lead this grade 19 (I think it is 16 or 17) and I did pretty well until I got to the last anchor right at the top. There wasn't a lot of hand holds and I grabbed a small ledge with a rock lip on in. While I was getting my feet into position and getting my balance right to be able to clip the anchor I felt the handhold crumble between my fingers. Everything started happening in slow motion..."oh shit, the hold is breaking away, I'm loosing balance, I'm falling how long am I going to fall". After falling about 5 metres Andy caught me on the belay (Andy, you're my hero) and I was ok...nice to see that the theory also works in practice.
Andy lost a bit of skin on his finger and ankles but was otherwise ok. After resting a few minutes I went back up and completed the climb and Andy and May wisely decided to top rope the climb.

Afterwards we did another couple of really nice climbs all in the grade 19 range and I led all of them and Andy and May top roped.

There is not that many climbs in the area. There are two more climbs that I would go back there for but otherwise I think we've had enough of the Stables...the rock is too crumbly which makes the climbing less enjoyable as you think more about what might break off next instead of focusing on the climb itself.

Sunday I went to Barrenjoey climbing with Andy and May. It was one of those rare days where the temperature was perfect and where we had most of the area to ourselves.

Although the climbing is fairly easy at Barrenjoey I enjoy going back here time after time as it is located within the national park at one of the most beautiful spots in Sydney.




I led most of the climbs on the day (trying to veen myself of TR) and Andy and May was happy following. The most memorable is a climb called Mescalito (19) with some interesting section as well as Enterprise (18) which is very enjoyable.



There is generally a lot of ticks (small insects that suck your blood) there and today was no different. I got 4 tick bites.


Also took a couple of videos:

Video of Andy climbing Enterprise
Video of May climbing Enterprise

We are now back in Sydney and I thought I'd write a summary of the various places and experiences.

It has been a big rollercoaster ride through South America...the differences between the countries are huge. During the last six weeks I have taken off in aircrafts 20 times:

Sydney to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Mexico City, Mexico City to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Sydney, Sydney to Auckland, Auchland to Santiago, Santiago to Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires to Santiago, Santiago to Lima, Lima to Cusco, Sucre to La Paz, La Paz to Iguazu, Iguazu to Santiago, Santiago to Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo to Rio, Rio to Sau Paulo, Rio to Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo to Santiago, Santiago to Auckland, Auckland to Sydney.

In other words...I have an enormous carbon footprint this year which cannot be apologised enough for.

The people in South America were extremely friendly and helpful (Except the girl at the hostel in Potosi). Most people didn't speak anything other than Spanish...but Spanish is almost my second language now (I know at least 70 words)

Argentina was an interesting place. I loved the culture and the dancing. The food was bland with too much meat and Buenos Aires itself didn't have much else to offer and was a bit run down.

Chile is amazing. It is really organised in Santiago and you could be in Northern Europe in terms of cleanliness. They have a really effective public transport system which is a magnitude better than sydneys (close to being as good as Tokyo). People are very friendly...but unfortynately this is also the only location in all of south america where they managed to scam Chris and I on the price of a taxi fare as we didn't know the local exchange rate...in the rest of South America they did try, but generally we paid same price as the locals (and a few times less). Again I can understand why my cousin chose to live in Santiago rather than somewhere else...it is by far the safest and most developed city in this part of the world. The food here is amazing, and you can get everything...this is the only place in South america that we saw a Thai restaurant.


Macchu Picchu in Peru is incredible...it is a fantastic ride into the site and the area around Cusco has got a lot of potential.


Bolivia is a country with so much potential and with people with so little ability and knowledge to tap into it. People in the North are fantastic, but the further south you get the less culture. It has been a privilege to go there and I think they will get there one day.


Brasil...Beautiful by day and dangerous by night. It was fantastic to go here and I'd like to one day come back to Brasil to see other parts of the country. The economy has really taken off here...but in the process left a lot of people behind and that can be seen by all the crime and social problems.


I have now set foot in 52 countries on 6 continents. As I have travelled I've noticed that the world is becoming a smaller place where no major differences in culture and language.




in 10-20 years from now everyone will wear the same clothes, listens to the same music and eat the same food (Pizza). The fun and the purpose of travelling will disappear. I can see from the new generation of travelers that they are more interested in thrill seeking and dead buildings rather than people, cultures and observing and learning from differences. Pity as there is so much to learn and it will build appreciation of how lucky we are to have what we have.

Where to next? I don't know...there is one continent down south that I still haven't been to and former Russian republics have got potential....otherwise closer areas like Tonga, Fiji, Indonesia etc.

We are now in Brasil after an overnight stopover in Santiago (The flights here in South America are fairly irregular so it can be difficult to get connecting flights without having stopovers).

We hadn't booked a place to stay but at the airport the tourist information suggested renting an apartment at Ipanema. When we got there it turned out to be really basic, fairly prices and probably a friend of the guy at the tourist information. Instead we went to Copacabana beach to one of the other options we had which also was very basic and a bit far from the beach...but at least non commiting for more than one night. Later in the evening we walked around and eventually found a hotel close to the beach and cheap. It also had big mirrors on the wall and in the ceiling over the bed...and Kim and I was wondering if it was one of those hotels that could be hired by the hour.
It did however turn out to be really nice apart from one evening when some of the other guests tried to get into our room because they got the number on the door wrong.

The day after we went to Ipanema beach to go for a walk. It is very beautiful in Rio and especially this beach is really cool.



After lunch we took the local bus to the Sugarloaf mountain. Traffic is really bad in Rio and Taxis are outrageously expensive and just as slow as the busses so it took us about two hours to get there. It turned out to be perfect. We ended up taking the lift of there just before sunset and had a fantastic view from the top.










In the evening we had a fantastic meal called a Ridozio (or something like that). It was a 15 course meal (A lot more than we could eat) and only cost around 10 australian.

Next day we decided to go to see the Jesus statue first thing in the morning. Again we took the local bus there to save some money (Rio is really expensive). We then took the train up to the Statue which has got a fantastic view of Rio and all the beaches.





On this trip with Kim I had planning to ask her if she'd marry me. I had three possibly locations in mind..29th Feb in Santiago, Machu Picchu or at the statue in Rio. Kim was very happy when I popped the question and showed her the ring I'd gotten for her (but more about that later), so we are officially no longer boyfriend and girlfriend.






In the evening we went to a restaurant called Porcao Rios which had been recommended to be by our partner in Mexico to celebrate and later we had a drink down at the beach.



We didn't get back to the hotel until very late and I promised that I would never again walk back to the hotel that late at night. There were people from the slums everywhere and I didn't feel safe walking back...so next time we definitely take a taxi. In the daytime you see quite a few police cars and police officers around...but at night they are very hard to spot. It is almost like the movie 'I am Legend'...you are safe during the day, but as soon as night falls and most people have gone off the streets then the kids from the slums rule the city. It is truly a dangerous place at night...not that we were carrying any valuable on us whatsoever except for whatever cash we needed on the night, but the question is....would these kids believe that that was all we were carrying?
All houses an properties in the more wealthy areas are all surrounded by big fences and cages to keep the kids out...but really...not a very comforting way to live if you cant leave your house.

Another thing I noticed is that there also still is a class difference between the white/light and the black. The blacks have all the lowest paid jobs and the ones requiring manual labour. It is also the black people you see living on the street and going through the garbage every night (and there are a lot of these). So even through slavery was abolished several hundred years ago doesn't mean that everyone is equal.

In the morning I had caught some sort of a stomach bug...probably from the one drink I had at the beach and was feeling really weak so we spend the day doing a bit of shopping locally and then went to Ipanema.





In the evening I started to feel really weak and felt like vomiting so dinner consisted of some light vegetables followed by coca cola (The ultimate remedy for any stomach problems).


Last day we slept in (ignored the hotel checkout time) and packed out stuff. I still felt a bit weak but otherwise ok (My bug lasted for two days after which I felt really weak but a dose of Imodium eventually took care of it).

Next back to Santiago overnight and then back to Sydney

Click here to see more photos from Brasil

Wow, wow, wow...Sucre is everything that La Paz isn´t...it is fantastic.



We took the bus from Potosi yesterday afternoon and drive through a fantastic landscape of deep canyons and high mountains and through passes of 4800 meters altitude. As soon as we arrived into Sucre we fell in love with it. Right from the start at the bus terminal they had fixed prices on taxis. We drove into town with an old gentleman that had a 1970´s Datsun.
He held the door for us at the hoteland made sure we had accomodation.

Oh..yeah...did I mention accomodation. Kim had booked the Hotel Real Audencia the night before and received confiemation. When we got to the Hotel they didn´t have our booking but fortunately the hotel is empty (I think we are the only ones here). They told us that it was $60 per night...Kim said that the booking we had was $45 and they agreed to this price. It later turned out that she by mistake had booked the Real Audencia in Quito Equador 2000km from here...LOL.
Anyway the hotel is fantastic and Kim loves the luxery...not even Hilton compares and it is 1/20th of the price of a similar hotel.





We then went to this French restaurant La Taverne...fantastic. I spoiled Kim with a 5 star meal that we would have a hard time finding in sydney...price for the two of us...less than $10.

Sucre is a nice and quiet city...it is beautiful with all the old colonial white washed buildings and it is clean and not polluted. There are far less beggers and street kids and far less social problems. Everything is getting very well maintained and it is a really romantic place to walk around at night through the plazas...with people everywhere at night.



We were initially planning to go back to Santiago one day early...but because this is such a nice place we stay here another night and then spend as little time as possible in La Paz. We also treat ourselves to a flight to La Paz which takes 45 minutes rather than a terrible 14 hour bus ride.

Sucre is at 2800 meters altitude but probably 20 degrees warmer than Potosi (4000-4500 meters). It is so nice being able to walk around in a T-Shirt during the day and just a thin Alpaca (I´ve bought two for less than $15 each)jumper during the night.

We went out to the dinosaur park. In some limestone they have found some 5000 tracks from more than 400 different species of dinosaurs. The park has only been open for less than two years and will be a major attraction once they get the place conserved and once the word spreads.



We also had lunch at this fantasic Cafe Mirador overlooking the whole city...very nice.

Next day we hired a guide to take us through one of the local Inca trails as well as to a small village called Potola. It was raining so in the beginning it was pretty cold and miserable but eventually it stopped and we had a really nice day on the Inka trail (by the way there are thousands of Inka Trails around the Andes...most of them still in use by the locals as the main mode of transport still is on foot).



Potola is a small village west of Sucre. It is supposed to have a lot of local still dressed in their local costumes and lost of local handicraft...but really is has none of that. There was far more dressed in local costumes in Copacabana.



As such for Bolivia it has got a huge potential for developing tourism...but the people there don't understand how to do it.

Tomorrow...onto Santiago and then continue to Rio De Janeiro

Click here to see more photos from Bolivia

Today was a really positive day compared to yesterday after I'd written my last post. We found an excellent restaurant (much better than most restaurants in Sydney) called El Meson...and the food was cheap as. For around USD 13 we got a three course dinner that was absolutely fantastic including drinks. It was so good that we decided to go back there tonight.

This morning we had to move hotel. We did try to extend one night at Hotel Eldorado...but everything in this town is fully booked. Late last night we had managed to put through a couple of bookings at other places, but the only one that came through was a local hostel...so this morning we moved there. It is a nice enough place...but the personnel is totally disinterested in providing a service (and no smiling please)...there is no heat in the room so it could be a cold night...but everything else is ok once you chase them for towels, blankets etc.
The told us that we couldn't have the room until 11.30am...so in the mean time we decided to go to the mint museum.

The Mint museum was really good. They had a lot of interesting items there and they provided an english speaking guide for free to explain how the silver was mined in Potosi, the historical significance as well as went through the whole process of producing silver coins which were produced in the same building (All the original equipment is still there). They also have a fantastic art collection there.
We joined the guided tour a bit late, but the guide was kind enough to repeat the first part of the collection so that we didn't miss out.

The highlight for Kim was when I made her a copper coin using an original minting stamp using a large hammer...she got to keep the coin as a souvernir.

After a lunch at La Plata (With the thickest hit chocolate we've ever seen...the spoon could stand upright) we went down to join a tour of the mines in Potosi. It turned out that Kim and I were the only ones on the tour and the guide spoke perfect English.

First we were fitted with overalls and helmets and afterwards the tour went to the miners market. I bought a stick of dynamite for around 5 Bolivianos (75 cents) and our guide gave Kim a fright when he threw the stick at her.






After this we went to the processing plant where they do the first extraction of the metals from the rock. We saw how they crush the rock into a fine powder and then using various chemicals extract the metals from the rock as well as using gravity. All the chemicals and side products are then flushed into the Rio Negra where it then is washed into Paraguay and Argentina. Both BHP and Rio Tinto buy minerals from here processed in this way (It it great to see my shares at work). There are 42 such processing plans here in Potosi...because everything is working as coorporatives there is no investing in processing plants and machinery and the various plants refuse to work together although this would benefit everyone...but more about that later.



Afterwards we drove up to the mine itself. We expected to be visiting a part of the mine that was no longer being used but this is not the case...the mine was fully functioning so once in a while we had to run for our lives to a location where the tunnel was wide enough for us to jump to the side when one of the small trains came zooming past.



As we went further and further into the tunnels the gasses became thicker and thicker. I have never seen so many visible minerals in one location before...you could actually see the zinc, lead, copper, iron and bronce in the walls all over the place. The yellow sulphur was sitting in 2cm thick layers on the wall (but they don't mine this) and there was Albestos hanging in long threads off the ceiling all over the place and the air was think of asbestos dust.






We were covering our mouthes with bandannas but running through the tunnels, the cramped places, the dust and the gasses in the air made it really hard to breathe through the bandanna (Remember that this is all happening at 4500 meters altitude where there is only 25% of the oxygen as at sea level...so there is not much air in the first place!). The miners themselves were chewing coca leaves to tolerate the gasses.





Normally I would be fine, but at one point I thought I'd die and decided to not use the bandanna (I'd rather die young than die instantly)...and at this point we were still only on the first level (3 additional levels and appx 80 meters below us).




We got to a 20 meter almost vertical tunnel and halfway down we took a break where we got the chance to ask a lot of questions about the mine. We also asked if the gasses became worse than here and the reply was yes. We were also told that the tunnels were very similar so Kim and I decided that we'd had enough and would like to breathe clean air...also because the mines are still working and a lot of the supporting structures are from the colonial spanish times 350 years ago the mines are really dangerous places.



On the way out we say how the used an old electric motor to pull up the rocks from 80 meters below to our level and then dump it onto the trains. They actually have a champer above the level and then use a big hole in the floor to fill the trains...unsuspecting I walked across the pile 2 minutes prior to them opening up the while whereafter a 1 meter whole appeared in the floor.



The whole mountain has got more than 700 mines most existing several hundred years where more than 400 of them are in use today. There is no backfilling taking place and there are no geologists or engineers working on stabilising the mines so the whole place is like a swiss cheese that can collapse any time.

Each individual mine is working as a small collective of maybe 50 miners. There is no coordination between the different mines and most regard eachother as enemies. Because of this they still use old inefficient and very dangerous mining methods and equipment. If they instead coordinated their efforts they would be able to mine the whole mountain in a very modern way which would benefit the whole town and actually earn the individual miners 50-100 more money than they do today. The same goes for the processing plants as they currently don't extract the minerals efficiently and have too high production costs. They haven't even bothered exploring the area for other mining sites, but instead mine the same mountain they have done for several hundred years.

The average age in the mine is 25 years old. The youngest is 10 years old and the estimated lifespan is about 10 years before dying from lung cancer from inhaling gasses and asbestos. The miners are chewing coca leaves and their eyes are blood red. On the weekend they drink 96% pure alcohol (50 cents a bottle).



For both Kim and I it was real eye openers...we now love our 9-5 jobs. I think everyone should at least once in their life try and enter such a mine...but for me...never again.

Was it a positive experience? Yes absolutely...I have always wanted to see these mines with my own eyes how dangerous they are. Are they dangerous...yes undescribable...I cannot describe with words what a horrible feeling it was just being on the first level of these mines. I have been in other mines and enjoyed it immensely...but this was truly scary and awful. It took several hours before I could breathe normally again from inhaling all the dust and sulpher gasses.


One more night in Potosi and then we continue to Sucre. Click here to see more photos from Bolivia

The drive from La Paz was pretty uneventful. The bus was a double decker as promised and our seat was in the front of the bus...but so was the toilet. Fortunately they kept the toilet locked pretty much the whole trip so no-one could use it (except Kim because we figured out how to fiddle the lock to get her access). Kim had bought herself a cheap headtorch so the toilet wa now lit.

The drive turned out to only be 9.5 hours as opposed to the promised 14 hours so that was a nice surprise. We arrived at Potosi at 6am in the morning it being freezing cold and pouring down with rain. We got a taxi to drive us to our preferred hotel and it turned out to be fully booked. Our second preference has only got room for one night and is then fully booked (and so is every other hotel in town)...we have a booking confirmation from a hostel tomorrow as a backup but we are not sure if it has got hot water and heating.

Potosi is a lot different from what I had expected. I had expected that the deeper we entered into Bolivia the more traditional it would get...but to the contrary. Potosi is another polluted city with little infrastructure...although a great number of travellers pass through the city there is no restaurants or cafes or even proper accomodation to cater for them. Someone with flair forwhat travellers desirecould make a killing here as well as in La Paz.
It wouldn´t take much...proper accomodation with heating and hot water, A heated restaurant serving a good selection of western style and local dishes (NOOO...Pizza and pasta does not count) an some evening or afternoon entertainment in the form of Bolivian music and dancing.



Also Potosi is totally void of any souvernirs (but also beggers etc.)...and again they could make a killing by start selling some of those lovely locally made handicrafts that we could but up near lake Titacaca.

Because of the cold, the rain and the fact that all museeums are closed today because it is Monday makes it pretty depressing to here. We have however booked a tour into the mines tomorrow afternoon which should be exciting and I´d like to see the Mint museum.



We are also considering what to do next before going to Brazil on the 17th...so far looks like we will go to Sucre (3 hours from here) day after tomorrow and then fly to La Paz from there (maybe even re-shedule flight to go to Rio a day or two earlier). Click here to see more photos from Bolivia

The bus ride to La Paz was interesting. It was a local bus so full of locals heading into La Paz 4 hours away. After about one hours drive through the high plains (4300 meters altitude) we suddenly arrived to a strait. I hadn´t studies the map properly and hadn´t realised that Copacabana was on a peninsular with no Bolivian direct access to mainland Bolivia (you would have to pass back into Peru to drive directly)...so at the strait we got offloaded from the bus and then had to get onto a smaller boat for the passengers while the bus was ferried across on a big wooden pram.



Also at this strait is the only division of Bolivias Navy (I think they still hope to eventually get access to the ocean through Chile (They lost 350 kilometers of coastline in a war with Chile back in time).
On the other side Kim missed using the toilet so when we stopped at a petrol station a couple of hours later we took the oppertunity...when the bus took off she wasn´t back yet...and she would have been standing there alone if I hadn´t told the bus driver that we were missing a passenger.
Unfortunately it was cloudy so we could only see the bottom bits of the Huyana Potosi and Illimani (6500 meters).

The drive into La Paz is stunning...they outer suburbs is totally disorganised with mud houses and mud roads...but suddenly you drive over the escarpment and see all of La Paz in a big crater below.

Once we got out of the bus we were however less impressed. La Paz is a town like any other...it is full of traffic, pollution and there has been no city planning whatso ever. Once you get over the escarpment wow factor it is really an ugly city full of social problems, beggers, street kids, pollution, crime etc.
Even the backpacker area is totally uninteresting and has been totally spoiled by young kids going for white water rafting, mountain biking without any interest whatsoever in the local culture.

Our plan was to spend a day here and then continue down to Potosi and we decided we would spend the next day before heading south looking around and see if the city would reveal its more beautiful side. In the morning I went to the bus station to organise bus tickets and I hope I´ve got the promised ticket (sleeper bus, with toilet onboard and sitting in the front of the bus away from the toilets...but Bolivia is full of surprises...but that is part of the adventure).
Afterwards wewent for a walk around the city and found a couple of nice spots but not enough to convince us that this is a city worthwhile spending a lot of time in.





The witches market if full of souvernirs that are no-where near as good quality as what we saw in Copacabana, The museums were all closed on Sundays (except the music instrument museum which was interesting), and we are unable to find any decent local food in La Paz (only pizza, pasta etc.).



We did however have a good laugh sitting observing people at Plaza Avaroa close to our hotel. People were out walking their dogs and they were all dressed in cute little costumes like small humans...and I thought the Honkies were crazy.




I am hoping that the south is nice. I have kept Kim from buying too many things so far promising her that there would be plenty of chances...I hope that this is correct as some of the things we saw up north were really nice.

Bolivia is pretty cheap to travel in (same prices as Thailand) and my dad would love it here (as well as in Peru). I could however travel a lot cheaper if I got to choose the mode of transport and the hotels...Kim gets to choose the hotels we stay in which from a local aspect is the upper range hotels (but still cheap by australian standards) and the criteria is hot water, blankets, heating, cleanetc. We have however been lucky with a couple of hostels we have found (one that we will stay in once we return to La Paz and we stayed in one in Copacabana). I think over time I will get her hardened up enough to check out the hostels first and then afterwards increase the comfort levels if we dont find anything of a decent standard...but so far it is ok that she gets a bit of comfort...it is her first backpacking/roughing trip and she is doing really well so far (getting into the spirit of finding cheap restaurants etc.). Click here to see more photos from Bolivia

The bus ride from Cusco was interesting...but probably more for Kim than I (she called it horrendous). The company that we had bought our ticket from in Cusco came and picked us up at the hotel at 9.30 pm in a taxi and then drove us to the bus terminal a couple of kilometers out of town. The ticket was a direct ticket to Copacabana in Bolivia in a sleeper bus...but when we got to the station it turned out that the bus was going to drop us off 15 kilometers out of Copacabana...the guy from the company gave us a little cach and told us to use it to bribe the bus driver to drive us all the was to Copacabana.
We then had a talk to the company and they agreed to organise with the bus driver to drive us all the way. The bus was ok and full of other gringos also going to Copacabana or La Paz. Kim was greatfull that the bus had a toilet and less gratefull that it was pitch black in the middle of the night and couldn´t flush...so very stinky. About 30 kilometers from the border we got dropped off by the bus (so much for the promise of a direct bus)and loaded into a minibus with far too little seating. The bus wouldn´t start so we had to get out and push. It then started to rain and there was 2-3cm of snow on the road at certain places (4000 meters altitude) once we reached the Peru border we were again off loaded and had to walk across the border...the border crossing itself was smooth although we had to wai a while for the office to open at 7.30am.

On the bolivia side we then took another bus (which we had to pay for) to Copacabana about 8 kilometers away.
Copacabana is a small town next to Lake Titicaca and Kim had researched hotels...but after looking where some of the other people on the bus would stay she agreed to stay the same place (after we got some towels and a heater).
The rest of the day we spent in Copacabana which is a pleasant but very small place and hos got a cheap backpacker feel to it in a positive way (A lot of backpackers out searching for the meaning of life rather than partying an ruining it for others).
In the evening after dinner we found a little cafe playing live music. For dinner they had these set 3-4 course menus for around $2 USD per person at the various restaurants which is a lot cheaper than a-la-carte.

The next day we took a boat to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) on the lake and spent a couple of hours walking the 11 km from one end to the other (I am quite proud of Kim on this trip being happy to walk long distances with me) and then in the afternoon we took the boat back to Copacabana. On the Island I bought a jumper made from Alpaca wool for around USD $7 and Kim bought a local scarf.





Back in Copacabana Kim found some really nice local jewellery so she was busy spending the rest of the evening shopping (I have told her not to buy too much because it is difficult to carry).



In the morning next day we took the bus to La Paz (about USD $2 per person for a 4 hour drive).
Click here to see more photos from Bolivia