Chapter 1: Escape from Taiwan; Australia

After getting married in the summer of '98, applying for Vivian's immigration to Canada, organizing our free and discounted plane tickets (courtesy of China Airlines), quitting our jobs, and shipping all our stuff to my dad's in Victoria, we finally began our belated honeymoon. We timed it so that we would avoid the travel nightmare surrounding Chinese New Year and also the obligatory "red envelopes" that are traditionally given out during the holidays.

Our first stop was Sydney, Australia (via Hong Kong's new Lap Chek Airport) where we spent a week with a TLI alumnus and his soulmate. It was Vivian's first time in a western country and a bit of a shock to her system, particularly the numerous transvestites in Newtown where Ed and Jenny were living. Sydney has to rank with Vancouver as one of the most beautifully situated cities in the world. The NW pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge allows a spectacular view of the entire city and is worth the walk up from The Rocks, the site of the first British settlement in Australia.

We also took in the Opera House, a wildlife park complete with koalas, the Powerhouse Museum, the Blue Mountains, and the IMAX film Everest which gave us a preview of what was to come in Nepal.

February 8

We then flew west to Perth and took the bus up to Geraldton to see my mom. Vivian's first meeting with her mother-in-law wasn't as stressful as she imagined. We helped Mom find a nice '95 Ford Falcon GLI wagon (RH drive, of course) and toured the southern half of WA with her for the better part of three weeks.

Most of it I'd seen when I was here before, but it was a different time of year and it was nice to be able to share the sights with Vivian this time (the dolphins of Monkey Mia, Shark Bay, Cape Range National Park, Ningaloo Reef (great snorkeling), Yalingup Cave and Cape Leeuwin at the SW corner of Australia, less than 4000 miles from the S Pole).

Mom left us at Perth International Airport and we were off to Singapore for a couple of days of R&R (got a deal at a posh 5-star hotel. The rooms were regularly priced at over S$300/night but after a bit of finagling on my part, we were offered a price almost as low as the crew rate (nearly 2/3 off). We were all set for a luxurious couple of days but the AC couldn't be budged from "supercool mode" and the poolside spa was set to "poach". The night manager was snarky when I complained and I wrote a memo to the day manager to complain further. This netted us 2 free breakfasts, a change in rooms, and a S$50 discount on our second night. Let's hear it for squeaky wheels.

While in Singapore we saw You've Got Mail and Thin Red Line and then flew to Bangkok before continuing on to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.