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Vietnam: Jungle to City.

Crocodile Lake in Cát Tiên National Park.

Square peg, round hole. That’s what we say to each other a lot when we’re in a hot and humid place where walking is tough and sweaty and the constant heat makes us cranky. We always need to get some physical activity. Long walks, a hotel gym, or hours of bicycle touring keeps us calm and sane. Without that we quickly become out of sorts. And in some countries it’s really hard for us to get enough exercise, and when one of us gets extra cranky about it, the other says “square peg, round hole”. But, in Vietnam our occasional query of why, why do we do this to ourselves is silenced when we get to experience a place like Cát Tiên National Park.

Monkey marks the spot. That’s Cát Tiên Park.

Our lodge host showing us where to catch our predawn ferry for the next days gibbon walk.

Cashew nuts. Vietnam is a big cashew grower and exporter.

Cát Tiên is not super popular with western tourists yet, but on weekends it explodes with Vietnamese up from Saigon to experience the countryside and jungle, and catch glimpses of gibbons, silver langurs, macaques, and crocodiles, and lounge by the river enjoying the wide open spaces while drinking beer and singing along to Karaoke. “It has an area of about 720 km² and protects one of the largest areas of lowland tropical forests left in Vietnam.”

Huge Tung tree in the park. During the American war this area was sprayed with agent orange exfoliant, but the large trees survived and the jungle has grown back.

Our lodge host explained that the park had gained some fame on Tik Tok recently, prompting loads more weekend visitors. It was great to see so many visitors, but we did find that our slightly expensive tours with park guides were mostly if not all western tourists since the prices were quite high for most local tourists. We are always game to spend money trying to spot wildlife since it supports conservation and provides jobs for locals, and, we are fine taking our chances seeing or not seeing wildlife. Our gibbon trek seemed to be going badly after a dark morning walk into the jungle and no sound from the gibbons who usually sing a pre-dawn chorus to each other.

The forest canopy as the sky grew lighter. Come on gibbons, where are you?

A German couple on our tour, we were all thrilled to actually spot gibbons. They came swinging through the trees.

A male gibbon. Males are black and the females are light brown.

Our guide making sure the giant hollow in the tung tree was snake free before letting us in.

There were bats inside, and a big spider.

On our walk back, a group of Taiwanese birders.

Back to the Green Hope Lodge to relax by the river.

A walk out for lunch and a cafe stop.
The small concrete street was lined with cashew and pomelo trees. Hot enough for Rich to use the shade puddle umbrella.

The dominance of local tourists meant there wasn’t much in the way of food variety in town. Our lodge served food, much the same fairly simple menu served by other lodges and hostels in the area, so even when we walked out to eat somewhere other than our lodge, the food was very similar. There was very little flavor in most of this local tourist variant of Vietnamese Food. We decided that the first place to expand to even a slightly western menu would be super successful. We were there for five nights and by day three we were craving some variety from the fried rice and noodles. A pizza or burger would have been a welcome change.

Out for a sunset river boat ride to look for birds and more monkeys. We seriously thought our boat driver was going to charge up these rapids! He faked us out and then did a photo shoot.

A Bee-eater keeping watch over their nest, which is a perfectly round hole in the riverbank.

Our boatman pivoted from fishing to taking visitors in boat tours. He also spends time picking trash out of the river and taking up abandoned fishing nets.

He was a pro. Helping us take photos, binoculars to borrow for bird watching, and feeding us pomelos as we looked for macaques – which we saw.

And he let Rich drive the boat for a little while.

The travelers to Vietnam who are motorbike or scooter competent or capable have a very different experience than those of us who aren’t comfortable driving a scooter, or who might feel uncomfortable as a scooter passenger. Scooters are the main form of transportation in Vietnam, with locals scootering literally everywhere. Why walk when you can scoot? Families of four, five, sometimes six or seven, all ride on one scooter. Dogs, shopping, all manner of goods are piled on. I do regret that we’re not scooter drivers, but I think that ship has sailed.

Our host insisted on giving us rides to the ferry dock one morning. It was a nice short distance for us to experience being passengers.

The ferry coming across the river to take us to the National Park.

And then another small boat took us to the island where the Primate Rescue Center was located. What a worthy organization. Most of the monkeys are rescued from the illegal pet trade and most can eventually be released back into the wild.

Rich was very happy to perch on a tiny chair and eat some more flavorful Pho for lunch at a small local restaurant.

It was a typical small local restaurant, with very good Pho.

We were charmed by the small streets and the local custom of evening strolls in the slightly cooler temperatures.

Friday and Saturday nights brought not only more visitors but weddings as well.

Canopies were set up to make more party space.

We were a bit worried about the noise as this party was quite close to our hotel, but the loud sound system was pointed away from us, and quieted down about 11pm.

In our constant quest for physical activity we borrowed bikes from the lodge to ride out and visit some local sites – including a cacao farm.

In the rural areas there are still locals on bikes, not everyone scooters. Yes, we’ve made that a verb now. Scootering.

I gave up and turned back to save my wrists from my ill fitting bike, but Rich pressed on and brought me back cocoa powder from the farm.

And another Pho lunch. These photos don’t capture the heat and humidity. The owners took pity on us and aimed a fan directly at our table.

We weren’t done trying to see wildlife so the next day we headed off for a hike to Crocodile Lake, to hopefully see crocodiles. Back to the ferry dock, a 20 minute ride in a truck to the trail head, and a 5 kilometer hike to the lake. We got going early since you have a better chance seeing crocodiles early in the day.

I must have said “No more jungle hikes!” at least twenty times in Vietnam- and here I am on another jungle hike!

We thought we’d seen big trees already, but this 400 year old Tung was stunning. It’s nicknamed the Thunder Lizard.

Our hike out to the lake felt fast as we had met up with a young Canadian cycle tourist and we chatted the whole way. She had flown into Saigon from New Zealand, bought a bike, and started pedaling. Much cycle touring chat ensued. When we got to the ranger lodge at the lake I waved at the three workers on the boardwalk to the dock and they gestured to come down and yelled “crocodile!”. We hustled down.

It was a bit unclear how the crocodile ended up with an oar on him, but the ranger needed it back before he could head out on the boat to drop the other two off across the lake.

Why are you wearing an oar, Mr. Crocodile?

I guess he finally got tired of us exclaiming over him and headed back into the lake.

With Alison, the intrepid cycle tourist. We were all very happy to have seen a crocodile. There was one more small crocodile sunning by the lake but the big one was the hit of the day.

Alison headed out to where her bike was parked and we relaxed and bird watched for a little while.

Siamese Crocodiles had disappeared from the lake and were successfully reintroduced in 2002.

Ferry back to the other side of the Dong Nai River.

And a very welcome iced coffee at a cafe just up from where the ferry docks.

And Allison showed up! She had a problem with loose handlebars and had no Allen wrench. The cafe owner told her to wait, he hopped on his scooter and was back in five minutes with an Allen wrench to fix her handlebars. The Vietnamese are so nice. Maybe not super friendly right off the bat but helpful.

And she’s off again! I loved her intrepid spirit. Not sure I could handle the heat cycle touring in Vietnam. She was looking forward to getting to cooler northern areas. That’s the bike she bought for $200 in Saigon when she landed.

Our time at Cát Tiên was ending, a car and driver took us on the 3 hour drive to our hotel in Saigon, the Park Hyatt Saigon, where we were really looking forward to the gym and swimming pool. We like to mix it up when we travel. A basic but comfortable room at a lodge and then a fancy city hotel. Simple food in the countryside and then anything you could want in Saigon.

Including a pretty strong craft beer scene.

Hồ Chí Minh City People’s Committee building. With a statue of Hồ Chí Minh in front.

Fantastic dinner at The Old Compass Cafe and Bar. Tucked down an alley and up a narrow staircase.

Handling the heat and crowded streets is still tough in Saigon. No one calls it a walkers paradise, that’s for sure. Our schedule was pretty set with a morning swim, breakfast, excursion and lunch out, then retreat to the hotel to relax, cool down, gym and swim, and then out again for dinner.

Lots of ducking in to cafes to cool down and relax.

Always pick a cafe on a quiet side street.

It looks like it takes nerves of steel to ride in Saigon.

We don’t have nerves of steel so we opted for a tour through XO Tours.

First stop, a 24 hour street market where we could finally learn the names of some of the fruits we’d been eating.

Such amazing selection of fruits and vegetables. Just watch out for folks shopping by scooter.

Dinner stop with delicious food and fun company.

It was only us and two sweet young Australian guys, and the all female tour drivers were so much fun.

The restaurant was in the ground floor apartment of the building where Hong, the woman at the head of the table and one of the company’s founders, grew up.

The French and American built apartment blocks in district 10 are a fascinating bit of real live history. Still full of families and shops on the ground floor.

A living space carved out of an unused bit, and Hong’s auntie who had stopped by for a visit.

Hello Auntie! The building behind us is the new high rise version of public built housing. Newly built but not as well built according to the locals.

Definitely higher density, but lacking the community feel of the old blocks.

The ground floor apartments are more expensive since you can run a restaurant out front. The old apartment blocks are called vertical villages.

Riding around Saigon at night on the back of a scooter is amazing. A bit nerve wracking, but the ladies are so skilled at handling traffic and nervous visitors, all while pointing out sites and explaining Vietnamese life. After the dinner stop Hong took us up to the third floor apartment where she grew up with 15 or so other family members, and where her Uncle still lives.

The water towers which used to be the water supply. The leaking water was a draw for the neighborhood children.

Every bit of spare space housed someone. This open air dwelling was at the foot of the staircase.

One of the hallways. Every apartment we went by folks inside called out hello and waved.

Hong’s Uncle in the apartment which so many family members shared. The ladder behind Rich led to an attic space where a family slept.

Looking across at another vertical village.

Hong explained that the people living here always shared the space available. Families moved in to whatever space was livable, and some we western visitors wouldn’t believe was livable. The former trash room? Now an apartment. The final landing on the stairs? Someone’s living space. But we were greeted with smiles and waves. Hong explained that residents were glad that visitors took the time to come to District 10 and see how they lived instead of just staying in wealthy District 1, where our hotel was.

Our drivers waving back to us as we peered over the hallway railings

Dessert drinks on our final stop after a scooter ride through the flower market. Tamarind peanut on the left, and coconut and lemon grass jelly.

And almost at the end of a unique and moving experience.

One last photo of us all pretending to ride one scooter, true Vietnamese style.

It was jarring to return to our fancy hotel, and sobering to think about the road Vietnam has traveled.

Of course we had to celebrate Saigon’s newest step forward- Metro Line 1, opened in December 2024.

Already popular, and with five more lines planned and under construction sure to be a success.

Already an Instagram Tik Tok photo shoot location.

This line quickly goes above ground as it heads out of downtown, a fun sightseeing ride.

Thảo Điền station. A popular ex-pat and foreign worker area.

On our last full day, a walk around the river.

Our last visit to Saigon was nearly 20 years ago. It is unrecognizable.

But still the traditional fishing goes on.

It was a good reminder that a country can be torn apart, face horrific destruction, pit citizen against citizen, and come out the other side and rebuild.

The Happy Travelers looking forward to an extensive Saigon Metro System.

Sabolon Besar – Pirate Island Resort.

On our second night in Maumere a Portuguese/German couple who had just finished a weeks long motorbike trip on the islands of Indonesia told us that they were headed to Pirate Island for 7 nights, as a final destination and ultimate relaxation to finish their trip. Pirate what what, now? We decided we’d go too, and we would get to meet up with them, Merrick and Isabelle, again. It’s nice to be able to share tips and gather advice from other travelers.

Fabian, from Germany, also headed out to the Island. He was at our hotel in Labuan Bajo, Cool Breezes, so we all walked over to the Pirate office together to board the boat.

Leaving Labuan Bajo harbor, and ready to settle into the island vibe. Aaarrggh!

Pirate Island is like summer camp for adults. You buy a package for all meals, there is no air conditioning or hot water, and you have snorkel gear waiting at your glamping tent for you. They also arrange scuba dives. Your tent has a fan, and when we stayed you could turn it on all day and night, but since the island is only powered by solar, in the busy season we read that the fans and the electricity may not be available all day. We brought headlamps which meant we didn’t need to turn on the overhead lights in our tent if we didn’t want to.

Leaving LB and admiring the mountains of Flores Island.

After a boat ride of a little less than an hour we arrive. Welcome to Pirate Island.

Rich and I are just the age to keep making allusions to and jokes about Fantasy Island, Survivor, and White Lotus.

The boat which arrives once a day bringing new guests.

It’s a shallow water disembark. The lovely staff bring your luggage and shoes off the boat for you.

You start your stay with a welcome drink and an orientation by staff. There is a map to show the snorkeling area, and a red or white flag for when you can snorkel from the beach (white flag high tide), or when you should walk out the jetty (red flag low tide.) Then the lunch buffet (you preorder your choice of main), and check in to your tent.

Our tent. Rich chose sunrise beach, so we got morning sun and then nice deep shade in the afternoon. Our own private bathroom.

Our first night of two had the most dramatic sunset.

Even the staff were out taking golden sunset light photos.

A few people watched the sun set from the jetty.

The open air dining and hang out spaces were comfortable and had fans blowing a breeze. We had dinner at tables with other folks, but there were plenty of tables at which couples could be by themselves. Did I mention that Pirate Island is adults only? No guests under the age of 16.

Sunrise from our bed. There is a mosquito net. If you prefer not to be woken by the sunrise you would lower the tent flaps, but then you wouldn’t get the nice ocean breezes at night.

We let the sun wake us for a six am swim.

Coffee and tea are available from about 6:30 am to 9 pm.

Super clear water, this is taken from the jetty.

The resort is working to protect and restore the coral reefs. Indonesia suffers from dynamite fishing. Apparently still a challenge to stop. When you snorkel you can see the newly started coral on wire frames. We always like to support tourism that celebrates natural beauty and wildlife as a way of preserving it.

Baby black tipped reef sharks cruising the shallows.

At low tide you start your snorkel by jumping from the jetty. I would have preferred a ladder but it got the job done.

Rich went first, I tossed his gear, waited, and then tossed my gear and jumped. Ok, it wasn’t that fast. I had to psyche myself up a bit to jump.

The snorkeling was fantastic, especially at higher tides when you could pass over the entire protected coral area. Massive schools of fish all around and a huge variety of colorful species. Not to mention turtles and sharks.

One of the smaller tents, more budget friendly and using shared bathrooms.

All the staff wore cute blue striped shirts and were super helpful and friendly.

From 7-9pm each evening was either a movie or a bonfire sing-along with a talented staff guitar player. Seriously like summer camp for adults. It’s always interesting what songs a diverse age and nationality crowd all know. Bob Marley. Yes. Fiona Hill. Yes. Local Indonesia songs, no but so fun to hear.

The resident cat, named Grande. Waking from his afternoon nap.

Not to be confused with his morning nap.

Our final morning Rich climbed the hill.

The climb up a rocky trail got him a good view.

The sun came out. Ready for another swim. It was hot and humid.

Goodbye Pirate Island, two nights was perfect for us.

Crossing Flores Island at 30 mph.

Coffee break at a Café overlooking rice fields.

Being driven around is not our ideal way to travel. But Flores Island, with its one National Road and many smaller off shoot roads to attractions and villages, has only a few motor driven options. Scooters are obviously the first choice among locals, but we’re not scooter or motorcycle competent and these roads would be a bad place to learn or practice many folks told us. So, drivers and cars it was. Yes, there are buses, but with the bus trips you can’t stop and enjoy the view or take photos, and apparently they go as fast as they can which makes for a bumpy ride. Not good for anyone prone to motion sickness. We did spot a solo bike tourist but didn’t get to chat.

Indonesia is the world’s third largest rice producer.

Rainy season means plenty of water and so much green!

From Moni to our next overnight stay, Ende, the journey shows up on Google maps as 1 hour and 22 minutes driving time. With a few stops along the way to snap photos and have a coffee it was about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Our second driver, hired just for the day, was named Nopi, and he was a lovely calm driver. He got us to Ende in time for a late lunch.

A few of the twists and turns of the National Road. This keeps speed down for sure.

On the outskirts of Ende. The steep volcanic mountains are so dramatic.

Would we be able to handle days of being driven? We are so used to traveling on our own and at our own pace. Add in the heat at the stays near the coast and you have a recipe for cranky travelers who aren’t getting enough exercise.

Ende is a long volcanic slope of a town. 86f/30c isn’t too hot, but the 80% humidity gets you.

A cold drink in the shaded PariKoro Resto. This great lunch stop was only a 12 minute walk from our hotel.

Ende is not a good walking town. The sun and heat, the long slopes, and the noise from traffic and scooters combine for an unpleasant experience. Until Rich got us off the main roads with a little help from MapsMe.

These young women were practicing a dance and chased us down for photos.

And then I got a photo of the photographers.

The shady small streets were scooters and pedestrian only. The kids came out to wave hello.

After just one night in Ende we were picked up by our third and final driver, Nyoman, who would take us all the way back to Labuan Bajo over four more days of driving and stops for lunch and to see sights, and one two night stay in Bajawa.

A view from town of your friendly neighborhood volcano. Flores has numerous volcanoes, 14 of which are considered active.

First stop, the optical shop so Rich could get his reading glasses fixed.

A few things made the driving not just tolerable but fun. First was of course nice, safe, calm drivers. Second was saying no to air conditioning and just leaving the windows down. Our first driver started this practice, he asked if we would be ok with no AC. Well, we’ll try we said. What a difference it made to be able to see and be seen by the locals. With the tinted windows up they couldn’t see us, and we couldn’t make eye contact, wave and say hello. And we said hello or selamat pagi (good morning) a lot! The kids call out Bulay! when they see a foreigner, or yell Hello Mister! Traveling at 30mph or less because of the twisting roads we got to see a lot. And the experience of driving along seeing the locals and the amazing jungle was unlike any other trip we’ve made.

Lunch stop at Blue Stone Beach. I love my puddle of shade.

When dry the stones are not so blue, more gray.

Shade break and time for viewing dramatic clouds.

A view back towards Ende and some volcanoes.

The blue is most likely due to volcanic minerals such as sulphides and rock-forming feldspar. So thank you for that, volcanoes.

Still not blasé about volcanic mountains.

Nyoman asked if we wanted to stop by the Mangeruda Hot Springs, and although hot water didn’t sound too appealing we said yes. But first a stop at a huge regional market.

The weekly market was in full swing so Nyoman dropped us off and we walked through.

We only stayed on the primary street, but the market stretched back quite a way.

So many greens for sale. Without our driver as a guide we didn’t feel as welcomed at this market. We made one pass through and headed on.

Mangeruda Hot Springs and Rich heating up. Thank you again volcanoes.

Rich says the water was about 95-100f/35-37c.

There was also a big, deeper and cooler pool, with rather sharp stones in the bottom.

After Rich had a good soak and I took photos we headed to Bajawa, where we had a two night stay booked at the Bajawa Roo Hotel. Bajawa was our favorite stop on the drive across Flores. Part of that was the town, it was cool at 3,900 feet/1,200 m above sea level – we got to wear our down jackets and long trousers – which made them not ridiculous to bring along. The Bajawa Roo Hotel was a fantastic travelers hotel run by a super friendly and helpful couple, Sri and Moses.

Rich and Martin, who was from Poland and a surfer.

We were happy to walk to dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby. Nyoman offered to drive us to and from dinner but we always prefer a walk.

Bena Traditional Village was our first stop of our non travel day.

Kitty greeter. They look less than delighted to see us.

It can feel awkward to wander around the village, but the scarfs we are wearing show that we have registered and made a donation.

And I always buy something- this time it was traditional textile.

Nyoman showed us the trail to the next traditional village, Tololela. It was an hour walk through stunning jungle. We would meet up with Nyoman again after walking down the very steep road from Tololela.

The roads are in a constant state of repair, especially in rainy season. Hati hati translates as be careful!

A woman and a child carrying firewood back to the village.

It’s not easy to navigate the jungle with an umbrella. But I did.

So much intact jungle. Such steep slopes.

Rich added for scale. The bamboo plants were massive.

Tololela Village. Again, you stop by the first building on the right and make a donation. It helps the villages stay viable in these modern times.

Deep overhangs for shade and rain protection.

Wood carvings. I’m not sure why a horse, we didn’t see any.

I was glad that we visited both villages, they had different feelings to them, and I noticed more details at the second village.

A chicken strutting past drying candlenuts. The sun was so hot we could hear the nuts sizzling. The nut is used in cooking, and the oil for hair products or illumination.

We headed down the very very steep road, marveling at the scooters taking the sharp turns loaded with several people, met up with Nyoman, and headed back up the mountains for a view restaurant for lunch.

Volcano view at Heaven’s Door Bar & Restaurant.

Rich finally got to try the smoked barbecued pork.

Dinner with a fellow traveler, Ramon from Catalonia.

But first a walk into town. Must navigate puppy lane without scooping one up.

Bajawa was setting up for a festival and folks were using the walking track in the park.

A Catholic Church and a Muslim Mosque across the street from each other. Ramadan was starting in a few days.

Nyoman and I stayed in the car while Rich snapped photos.

When you look at the route, the twists and turns, it’s really amazing this road exists. And it does suffer from land slides and fallen trees, but it’s the one cross island connection, so when it’s blocked there is a fast effort to reopen it.

Our first stop on this almost four hour drive was a Moke home distillery. An alcoholic beverage made from palm tree fruits.

A rather simple distillery after the harvesting of the sap from the fruits.

The tasting room. Left is the clear very high proof Moke, middle is the same but flavored with spices and sugar, and right is the thick sap condensed down to sugars.

The owner and distiller. We are on the coast again and it was hot.

Her retail stand on the side of the road.

The drivers always know the good lunch stops. Tuna steak, veggies, fries and plenty of sambal.

Passed by a local bus. There were usually a few guys riding on the top, and some poultry hanging from the back rack.

One night Ruteng at the Ara Garden Inn, 1,100 m, 3,800 ft elevation meant the jackets came out again.

An early breakfast so we could get on the road – one final day of driving!

A stop at the lingko (circle) rice fields and Rich with our two little guides, 12 and 14 years old. Similar to the traditional villages you make a donation and then are guided up to the viewpoint.

Sheno and Clifford explained that the villages which share the field originally each had a pie shaped plot, divided further by families – which makes a spiderweb formation.

The National Road has good asphalt, and is shared with a lot of scooters, some cars, and big trucks hauling manufactured goods from other islands and mostly agricultural goods from Flores.

From Ruteng to Labuan Bajo the road climbs over passes and down to the coast twice. The difference in heat is very noticeable. When we finally reached Labuan Bajo Nyoman even shook his head and said “So hot.” He is from Moni which is at 700m/2,200 feet so a bit cooler than the coast. I was pleased to hear that even a local found the weather hot.

The happy travelers in Labuan Bajo again, after 8 days exploring the island.

Crossing the island at 30 mph (or so) was amazing. That is a slow enough speed to leave the windows down and not be wind blown. It’s the right speed to spot things and ask to stop. The jungle goes by slowly enough that you can marvel at the mix of trees and plants. See the cows grazing at the sides of the roads. Laugh at the dogs asleep in the middle of the road (drivers always carefully avoid the dogs). It may not be our favorite mode of travel, but for this trip our more car decision was the right one. Next up: Pirate Island!

And a map! Hearts are where we spent the night.

And a larger map. The hearts across Java are from a trip in 2017/2018. The blue dot is us in Dalat, Vietnam right now.

Labuan Bajo. Come for the dragons, stay for the sidewalks.

In the taxi from the airport to our hotel in Labuan Bajo Rich looked out the window and said “Sidewalks. There are sidewalks.” If you’ve traveled in a developing country you will understand his surprise. Walking in a lot of places – India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mexico – can be challenging for a multitude of reasons, lack of sidewalks being a big one. Or, big holes or incomplete sidewalks. And, places that do have sidewalks, like a lot of Thailand, will come with a lot of scooters and street stalls to block your way.

Sidewalk! Complete with tactile guidelines for visually impaired folks.

Labuan Bajo on Flores Island is one of the “Five New Balis” the Indonesian government has identified and put money into. Technically it’s called the Five Super Priority Destinations Program. The goal is to get travelers to visit other parts of Indonesia, not just Bali. And some of the money has gone into infrastructure. I can’t find when the sidewalks were built, but they have definitely been a good investment for locals and tourists. We picked our hotel because it’s close to the commercial area. We always prefer to walk to dinner and around town instead of taking taxis.

Sidewalks are so important for children. Walking and playing.

Children playing on the waterfront promenade. Recreational paving stones.

Some lovely views from the road leading up from town and to the airport.

So many boats and construction projects.

This is what we expected of the streets. All this walking is before 8 am.

We spent a day just exploring town and debating a trip out to Komodo Island to see the dragons. Our intent in coming to Flores Island was to explore the island, not specifically to see the dragons. Komodo Island is firmly on the tourist track and offers of trips to see the dragons, visit the pink sand beach and walk to the view spot on Padar Island are ubiquitous. Also, so many dive shops and folks offering live aboard boat trips.

The Indonesian government has a plan for periodic shutdowns of Komodo Island beginning in mid 2025 to not only to help the island regenerate, and hopefully to rewild the dragons, but also to encourage tourists to visit other sites and spread the tourist visits to more attractions. We read enough about dragons being fed (and possibly drugged?!?!) to keep them on the beach and easily visible to tourists to give us pause about visiting. At busy times of the year the scrums of folks getting dragon photos looks pretty awful. This isn’t the busy time of year since it’s the rainy season, but we still just couldn’t find the motivation to visit Komodo Island. Maybe on our way back through Labuan Bajo. Maybe.

An alley suitable only for scooters and pedestrians.

Kitty tenderizing a scooter seat. Handy scratching post!

Lots of cats out in the coolish morning air.

Street side stall. Colorful snacks whose wrappers sadly end up everywhere!

Farmers come down from the hills to sell good in town. There is a market street further up town but this farmer has a mobile market.

No egg shortage here. (The USA has an egg shortage due to avian flu.)

I arrived in Indonesia without an umbrella! Mistake corrected.

Lunch at a locals spot, Kantin Primkopal. Rich happy with the Ayam Goreng Sambal specialty.

And dinner out on the end of that pier, the fanciest spot in town.

Heading to the restaurant we saw turtles and had a good chat with some young Indonesian tourists.

Quite a lovely spot, Le Bajo Restaurant. One of three new higher end restaurants on the pier.

Best Waterside table, low season perk. What a place to watch the sun set.

And some local food – octopus! This restaurant is ready for the folks who will be coming to the new resorts being built.

So what did we do instead of a Komodo Island visit? Well, a big downside to Labuan Bajo is that there are almost zero beaches at which to swim. One public beach close to town is a bit of a mess with trash, and the only other close by beach has been privatized by a fancy new luxury collection Marriott resort. We want to spend our tourist dollars visiting attractions so we hired a driver for the day and headed out to visit two caves.

First up: Mirror Stone Cave, Gua Batu Cermin.

Our guide from the park. You need a guide to go in the caves. They are unlit and have no walkway once you are inside.

Not many photos from inside the caves. It was a muddy scramble complete with hardhats and headlamps (provided by the guide.).

Cave portrait thanks to our guide. Not pictured- many many bats!

Another locals spot thanks to our driver, we could watch the school kids pour out for lunch.

The food was good and I was surprised and delighted to find a bat in the toilet cubicle! They flew about a bit before settling down to keep me company.

After lunch we went to Rangko, the small village is the launching place to visit Rangko Cave. A cave with swimming.

The path to the beach complete with cute goats.

It’s pretty hot and the water looks so tempting.

Group photo! I like how effortlessly our boatman sat cross legged to drive.

A five minute walk to the entrance of Rangko Cave.

And into the seawater! Amazingly clear. You could hear the gurgle as fresh seawater entered the cave.

And a swim at the beach before we left. The water at the beach was warmer, not as refreshing.

The highs of Labuan Bajo were the sidewalks, the views, the two good restaurants we ate dinner at, Happy Banana and Le Bajo, in addition to the local lunch place. The lows were the lack of a swimming beach and the missing mid range small locally owned resorts which you find on Bali. Labuan Bajo had a few fancy expensive resorts (one of which had privatized a local beach), but Rich couldn’t find a good small resort. A swimming pool would have been nice since there was no beach access, but there is a water issue in town. All water is delivered by truck filling large tanks, and drinking water in 5 gal/18 liter bottles.

The water tank at our small 3 room hotel, The Blue Parrot. Once we learned about the water situation and saw this I immediately started taking shorter showers!

The happy travelers. Under our umbrella.

How we spent our days in Taipei.

Barely a toe over the line in a Taipei Metro station. Metro riders are very orderly.

Right before we left San Francisco for Taipei someone asked me “How do you spend your days when you’re traveling? What do you do with your time?” It’s a good question, and not an easy one to answer since our days are so different depending on where we are. When we’re bike touring the answer is easy- we spend the days cycling and eating. If we’re house and pet sitting the day is structured around what the animals need from us and what we can explore in our free time. When we’ve pitched up in a new place though, or even a place we’ve been before, it’s harder to answer that question. So I decided to keep track of what we did on our second and third days in Taipei.

In a downtown metro station at about 10:20.

Day Two (after our first nights sleep, day one was 6:30 am arrival day). We slept until 6:30 or so, had coffee and tea in our room and went down for breakfast at 7am. After breakfast we hung about our room doing a little travel planning and catching up on emails and texts until 10.

Walking to our museum destination and admiring the neatly parked rows of scooters.

In the basement of an office tower is one of those quirky specialist museums.

Amazingly detailed miniature houses. I won’t call them dollhouses.

Each diorama or vignette had a creator credited, and often a small backstory.

This pre-war typical Japanese street was just infused with nostalgia and sadness for what was destroyed and will never be again.

Astonishing miniature Hall Of Mirrors, Versailles. You can see my reflection at the end of the hall.

Definitely worth a visit if you’re in Taipei for a few days, we spent about 90 minutes there and headed off for a restorative caffeinated beverage at a coffee shop we spotted on our way to the museum.

Mr. Brown Coffee Nanjing Store, billed as Your Urban Living Room. That’s hot chocolate for me.

And coffee for Rich. We ordered on the ground floor and then went to the 3rd floor hang out space. The second floor was the work zone.

We read the home news (yikes!) and chatted and messed around on our phones for about an hour. Then headed out to find an adapter at a big electronics mall.

Goodbye Mr. Brown. Very chic you are. Rich said his Americano was excellent.

Wandered into an event space beer hall at the Taiwan Brewery on our way to the electronics mall. Stopped to take a picture.

There was a pop up shoe and clothing event on the ground floor. Very popular.

And eleven floors of all kinds of electronics and electrical lifestyle products. Rich thought it was pretty awesome.

Surrounded by small streets of electronic and gaming stores.

I checked my google map and found that a shushi place I had marked on my map at some point was nearby. It’s now almost 2pm and definitely time for lunch.

Conveyor belt sushi! One of my favorites. The Taiwanese aren’t too rigid about eating times, but many small restaurants do close between 2:30p and 5ish.

While Rich is figuring everything out, trying the app based order system and identifying dishes, I’m scooping plates off the conveyor and chowing down! With unlimited pickled ginger.

The little train delivers your app based orders. Good sushi and very reasonably priced. We had a good feast for about $20.

Back to the hotel by metro and we showered and chilled until evening when we headed out with two things to accomplish: find Rich’s favorite shirt at the Wufenpu Shopping District, and eat pork buns at Renhoe Night Market. If successful it will be the third time he has bought this shirt in Taipei. The market is a ten by ten grid of small streets all filled with shops selling clothing, shoes, and handbags. Rich is looking for one specific shop that for two years in a row had a shirt that he loves for Asia travel. The first one, purchased in 2023, was destroyed by sweat and sunblock and retired in Sri Lanka. The second was purchased in 2024 and is in France. It failed to make the trip back to the US for this onward hot trip to Indonesia. Rich had a good idea of where the shop is (and yes, this time we dropped a pin on Google maps), but it takes some searching, and the shops do change a lot.

On the way from the metro to Wufenpu Shopping District we stopped at some Lunar New Year lights.

Ok, which way? And mind the scooters! 5:45 pm.

Found the shop! They had the shirt in his size, but not in white. So he got it in blue.

And by 6:30 we were at the Rahoe night market to get some black pepper buns. That $65 Taiwanese dollars is just under 2.00 American dollars right now.

Find a place to stand and try not to burn your mouth on the piping hot pork.

Just before 7:00 it was on to dessert, vanilla ice cream in a pineapple bun, with a fresh watermelon juice in between.

No pineapple in the pineapple bun. The crosshatch top and crumble topping give it the name. It’s a sweet delicious bun.

One last stop at our favorite Taipei bar, the Tipsy Dragon. The first time we came here they had a bar cat. Didn’t see them this time.

We got wrapped up in China versus Chinese Taipei badminton match! Really fun to watch – super fast speeds. One drink each then home on the metro.

Day three was another fairly early wake up, about 6:45 am. Pretty good after dealing with a frustrating and hilarious early morning hotel experience. Our room had a tv in the bathroom , so you could watch TV from the tub, and it inexplicably went on with full volume at about 1:30am. It took us a while to figure out how to turn it off, but we did and went back to sleep. But 45 minutes later went off again! We called the front desk and a staff member came up to our room with a remote control and did something. The tv thankfully stayed off the rest of our time at the hotel. But, it wasn’t the most restful night.

There’s the shirt. Over a yummy savory breakfast at the hotel.

We decided to hike the mountain trail across from our hotel. We felt in need of some good step climbing. We headed out about 8:30 am.

You will notice that photos of me are taken as I’m trying to keep up. Usually of my front. And his are of his quickly retreating back as I hurry to catch up.

We think this branded signage is new. Taipei Grand Trail. 92 kilometers along Taipei’s scenic peaks.

This section was quite popular on this Friday morning with other retired folks. We were glad it wasn’t a weekend.

And little signs to hold up as you took photos. It says The Usual Place.

Near a graveyard, a place to sit. It’s being consumed by the tropical foliage.

And a lovely woman feeding the feral cats.

I had to get involved. Caused a bit of a cat fight though.

Noodle lunch at Captain Wang’s Sauce Sauce Noodles again. So good!

We got back to our hotel after walking about 7 miles. After afternoon coffee and tea in our room we hit the hotel gym. The rest of the day encapsulated why we know it’s time to start looking for a place to be able to return to. A place with our stuff. With a kitchen where we can cook good healthy food. And where we can get enough exercise and do the kind of work outs we want to do. After the gym we showered and hung out, and then started the search for dinner. In my previous working life if you had told me “you will eat out every night. You won’t have to grocery shop or cook.” I would have been thrilled! But it does get to be a chore. And it is a struggle to eat healthy when you’re eating out so much. That evening after a bit of a struggle, we ended up at a lovely little family run Hong Kong style restaurant close to our hotel. No photos since we were both a bit burned out and wanted to just eat and go back to the hotel. It was good to have a check in with each other and confirm we are on the same page about finding a home base.

Early next morning at the metro station to get to the airport.

Very thrilled to see that our Eva air flight is Hello Kitty branded.

Taipei – staying awake on day one.

Happy to be off the 13 hour flight from SF and in Taipei.

Wednesday February 12, 5:30 am. We left San Francisco on Monday February 10th near midnight. Look at those happy but tired faces. We love Taiwan, and this is our third trip here. Transitions are tough and stressful and leaving San Francisco, sneaking in one more catch up visit with friends, putting stuff back in storage and making notes about where things are, is tiring. We were both looking forward to, and dreading, the long plane ride.

How lucky are we to have so many friends to catch up. A walk and dinner with Anne and Vic, and the Golden Gate Bridge view from Tunnel Tops park.

I have to be quick to snap a screenshot of the city mascot in CityMapper, still the best transit app we use. I love this little dude holding his Boba Tea and a lantern to send into the sky.

Less than 3 hours left of the 13+ hour flight, flying over Japan in the early hours of the morning.

On the express train from the airport to Taipei Main station – Rich using the magnetic wireless cell phone charger on the train. Such a fun convenience.

Heading to our hotel on the rush hour metro escalators. Metro is trying to get folks to stand on both sides of the steps, instead of standing right and walking left, to increase capacity at rush hour. Yes, the escalators carry more people when everyone stands.

Dropped our bags at the hotel (check in is at 2pm) and walked out for breakfast at a nearby cafe. Rich looking slightly dazed.

Mine is a peanut butter, ham, and cheese on a croissant. A tasty combo. My expression doesn’t make it look so tasty, but it was.

Rain was threatening so we borrowed umbrellas from the hotel and walked around a bit waiting for rush hour on the metro to ease off before heading to the Taipei Zoo. This is in the Shilin District of Taipei.

The lanes have numbers and names, and are too small for cars, but scooters and bikes abound.

Day one was all about staying awake! And what’s a great way to stay awake? Head to Asia’s largest (or one of the largest, depending on who you ask) zoo. Taipei Zoo.

The Shiba Inu is the safety and politeness poster mascot dog.

Public transport for the win again, Metro right to the zoo.

This Lunar year is the year of the snake, so snakes on the zoo tickets. Save them for the mythical scrape book.

The map. Do not be fooled into trying to walk the grey line, that’s the train route.

Zoos can be problematic. They promote conservation and awareness, but a sad depressing zoo is just awful. Thankfully the Taipei Zoo is quite good. It moved to its current site in 1986 and has 90 hectares (222 acres) open to the public with more land available for expansion. We walked our poor jet lagged feet off – almost 9 miles total on day one, probably 5 of those at the zoo. The tropical vegetation is really lovely, the animal habitats are good sized, and boy do you get your walking in as the zoo is huge.

You can climb into the big yellow poo to experience life as a maggot. We passed.

A capybara in front of the Pangolin Dome.

The dome has multiple species all out in the open to experience and was quite well done. My favorite were the Cotton-top tamarins wandering the enclosure.

A common marmoset saying “hey.”. If you do go to a zoo, go early in the day when the animals are most active and about to be fed.

One of the two pandas at the Taipei Zoo, snoozing with an appreciative audience.

And the second one (I think) wandering their outdoor environment.

After the zoo and a quick snack of Onigiri from the 7-11 we headed to our neighborhood and had a noodle lunch before checking in to our hotel and having a much welcomed shower. There are showers at the airport, near baggage claim carousel number six (in T2) but we decided against using them since there is one for men and one for women and the men’s was occupied. We changed into a few new clothes when we dropped our bags at the hotel that morning.

Rich’s beef noodle soup. Not visible to the naked eye – all the garlic!

My cold braised noodles at 王艇長酢醬麵, which Google translates as Captain Wang’s Sauce Sauce Noodles. Address: No. 18, Qiangang St, Shilin District, Taipei City, Taiwan 111

Post shower and coffee and tea, still awake and out to the Shilin Night Market.

The Lunar New Year fire crackers helped wake us up! They are meant to scare away evil spirits and monsters. So much smoke.

The small streets of the night market have some charming small restaurants in addition to street food stands.

Noobtent – a camping themed bar. Yes, there are camp chairs and tents inside for you to enjoy. So cute. I love these themed places. No, we didn’t go in, a cocktail was not going to keep us awake.

Dinner was a cold noodle and spicy miso sauce dish. Delicious.

We walked back to our hotel, awake enough to enjoy the New Year’s decorations.

Mission accomplished, we stayed awake until 9 pm and slept quite well. More Taipei to come!

The Happy Travelers on the Taipei Metro.

UK to USA.

Definitely one of our favorite views in the UK. The harbor at Tenby, Wales.

When we were both working our vacations were at most three weeks long, and were in search of new places and new experiences. Now that we’re in our fourth year of constant travel we still love new places and experiences but also love to revisit familiar places.

Arriving from Norwich to London, Liverpool Street Station.

And back with our good friends Erik and Hannah in Tenby Wales. One of our happy familiar places.

Headed to lunch in Laugharne which is famous for being Dylan Thomas’s home for the last four years of his life.

The garage of the boat house, where Thomas wrote a lot of his most famous works.

It’s set up as if he walked away for a cup of tea. He died while on tour in New York City, so in a way, he did just walk away.

I requested that the guys look “moody and poetic”. Rich is used to my requests, Erik laughed!

I first visited Laugharne in 1984 or so, it’s nice to see that Dylan Thomas’s popularity is still strong.

Laugharne Castle. Such an imposing site. Such a tough place to find on the map when you’re looking for “Larn”.

Rich packed up and ready to leave Tenby.

After a delightful stay in Tenby we headed off to Bristol, another of our favorite UK cities. This was our third stay in Bristol. It’s always fun to chat to a local and see their sometimes puzzled delight over our love of Bristol. It’s an easy train ride from Tenby, and easy to get back to London from Bristol, thanks to the Great Western Railway which linked London and Bristol in 1841. Engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Yes, we are fans of his work and highly recommend the SS Great Britain museum ship, which he also designed.

Bristol Temple Mead station. Plenty of bikes in Bristol.

A swan and a view over the Floating Harbor, a lock controlled off shoot of the tidal River Avon created in 1809.

The hydraulic equipment at Underfall Yard Visitor Centre, which explores and explains the elegant engineering behind the Floating Harbor, and its importance in the development of Bristol.

Artsy shot out of the historic building.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Bristol without a visit to a Banksy artwork.

The Bag O’Nails pub. My favorite pub. Another must visit place for us.

Pub patrons trying to seem uninterested in the cats.

The cats truly uninterested in the pub patrons.

Just minding my own business by the record player.

Gotcha! Lured in by my wool sweater and scarf and spot near the heater. I failed to look nonchalant when this cat graced me with their presence.

The Left Handed Giant pub, another favorite of ours.

Sometimes it was also a bit cold inside the pubs.

The ceiling of The Cornubia pub. Horse brasses and beer mats. Yes, a lot of pub visits.

It was not cold inside the Cornubia. My favorite pub fire so far. Clean burning coal. Wood fires not allowed in that area, the bartender said, but clean burning coal is ok.

We took the train to Bath to go for a walk in the hills.

Snow hanging on thanks to the cold weather.

We take as many opportunities as we can to meet up with friends, so we shoved off from Bristol towards Hastings, where friends from London had recently moved.

Charing Cross Station, London. On our way to Hastings. Nice digital departure board.

British seaside towns. Love them. They share similarities but are all so different.

The covered promenade with the Hastings pier in the background.

What does this British seaside town have that no other one does? Our friends Joe and Justina!

We had a great walking tour of Hastings. A lovely town well worth visiting.

Where fisherfolk store their equipment and hang their nets to dry. From above the tall narrow black buildings look like toys or monopoly houses.

And no day is complete without a pub stop, this time at The Clown.

And after an easy train ride, back in London for a few days.

The modern skyline in the glorious winter sunshine.

I love the juxtaposition of the Tower of London and the Shard.

It was a super cold and still morning, the reflection of the bridge in the river caught our attention.

Frost on the river walk, and slightly hazy air made the view soft focus and golden.

We were staying right near Spitalfields and the view of City of London with the old buildings in the foreground was captivating.

Modern buildings looming over old buildings.

Museum of the Home, located in a row of old almshouses. Loved the Rooms Through Time exhibit, the evolution of London dwellings from 1630 to present.

Dinner date with young friends who recently moved to London.

When we were in Lyon on our way to Paris we caught an arts update on TV which mentioned the Tim Burton exhibit in London. We quickly booked tickets for our last day in the UK. So glad we did. Our two London museum visits, Museum of the Home and the Tim Burton exhibit couldn’t have been more different. Where one dealt with the practicalities of home, changing styles of furniture and social interaction, the other was the products of one man’s talent and creativity.

Recreated office, the desk blotter doodles were fantastic.

I wasn’t aware what a talented artist he is.

Many of the movie sets and costumes had signs not to photograph them. This Nightmare before Christmas-esque mobil and wallpaper had no such sign.

I’ve been having a hard time with this blog post. We flew from London to Chicago, saw our good friends Michelle and Alan – I have no pictures! – and Rich’s birth mom. From Chicago it was off to Grand Junction Colorado to see my Mom and Sister and Niece, very few pictures. Then Seattle, then San Francisco.

Lori looking out the window on January 20th, 2025.

A lot of Americans will understand the trepidation we were feeling, trepidation that has proved correct. It feels frivolous to do anything but focus on the state of the nation. Watch the news? Keep the news at bay? Focus on family and friends? Yes, that.

Seattle with our favorite Pacific Northwesters. Northwesterns? Cecily and Christine.

41 months. That’s how long we’ve been traveling since selling our place in San Francisco. So many amazing places and wonderful people. Many hotel rooms, wonderful house and pet sits, pensions, apartments. We both realized this winter that we are ready to have a place to call our own. Spring our stuff from storage and move it into our own space. We still intend to travel a lot, but we’ll be able to go home. Cook in our own kitchen. Sleep in our own bed. Host guests! Have parties!

Sutro Tower in San Francisco and the Happy Travelers.

But first we head off to Taipei and then Indonesia. The house hunting can wait until we return to the US in the summer. Stay tuned!

Our month in Paris, Take 3: Museums

Palace of Versailles. 8:30 am on a Wednesday in November.

Museum planning can be quite a challenge in Paris. First – which museums? Choosing between the 136 options looks daunting. Even when you narrow it down to the 111 listed in the great book our friend Nancy brought with her, that’s too many for a one month visit. Second – which days are they closed? Monday is a popular closure day, so going to a museum that isn’t closed on Monday means it might be a bit more crowded than usual.

Two horses and humans walking through the forecourt of the Palace of Versailles. I think they were just locals who use the park as a cut through. The noise of hooves on cobblestones sounded like time travel.

The palace opened at 9, so we used our 30 minutes to check out the view.

Getting going early had the pay off of no crowds. And cold November weather helped too.

Versailles probably wouldn’t be fun for us crowd adverse people in Spring or Summer, so this might be our one and only visit to this A List site.

The Hall of Mirrors with our fellow early arrivals.

As we walked around we kept joking “now why was there a revolution?” in response to the luxury on display.

Pensive gazing out the window while listening to the quite good app based audio guide.

Make sure to budget enough time to explore Petit Trianón.

Sophora Japonica, or Japanese pagoda tree, planted in 1764 for Marie-Antoinette near the Petit Trianón.

Temple de l’Amour. The folly in the English Garden of the Petit Trianon.

The Petit Trianon, a laughing American tourist, and the classical angel statue. The app based audio guide covered a lot.

The Hamlet had a rough time surviving but several renovations later, you have a good idea of what it was like originally.

It is a peaceful respite from the grandeur of the Palace.

While we waited to get into the Palace there was a little guy, probably about seven years old, having a meltdown about having to visit the palace. He screamed and cried and his adult spent some time talking him down. He uttered a memorable phrase which we filed away for future use: “This is the stupidest thing in the entire stupid world!”

I sure hope that little guy made it to the hamlet and got to see the farm animals.

I’m sure the pigs, goats, and bunnies would have cheered him up. Not stupid.

So how else do we decide on museums to visit? Well, when you go to a lot of museums in France, and in the world, you see connections. At a museum in – Lyon? Dijon? I honestly can’t remember – a little card said about a missing painting: currently on display at Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris. What what what? That sounds fascinating. So it was marked on a Google map and Rich remembered and off we went.

The museum is in an old
Hôtel particulier. A grand urban mansion.

Yes, that’s a stuffed fox curled up on the chair.

The rooms were themed, and simply beautiful.

Don’t let the name of the museum put you off. It’s not really a celebration of blood sports, but more humans relationship with nature and animals.

Adorable little hoods for the falcons to wear. Putting feathers on a bird.

Even with only a month in Paris it was so fun to circle around topics or artists and come across them in different exhibits or even in cemeteries.

The grave of
Théodore Géricault, in
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

One of our early morning Louvre visits was specifically to visit The Raft of the Medusa, by
Géricault.

Which is replicated in bronze on his tomb.

A cold and grim subject. Again, the smiling American tourist.

A college friend (thank you Jen) reminded me of the chapter in Julian Barnes’ book History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, chapter five, Shipwreck, which relays the story of the creation of this painting and the history behind it.

The artist visited morgues to achieve the correct shade of skin tone.

Not far from The Raft in the Louvre is another famous
Géricault painting:
The Charging Chasseur, or An Officer of the Imperial Horse Guards Charging.

Which is also recreated on the artist’s tomb.

At our final Louvre Visit to see this exhibition, Figures of the Fool.

Here was another work by
Théodore Géricault,
The Woman with Gambling Mania (French: La Folle Monomane du jeu) from 1822.

I can’t be the only one who goes through museum exhibits hoping for fun reproductions in the gift shop? These marginalia of little monsters or grotesque characters would have made fantastic pieces for the museum shop.

Chimeras of Notre-Dame de Paris:
Monster Leaning on the Parapet
Paris, 1847-1862

Although we missed the re-opening of Notre Dame by a few days, we did get to see four chimeras removed during a restoration in the 1800s. Gargoyles spout water away from a building, chimeras are ornamental, adding to the overall atmosphere of the Cathedral.

Such a moody and beautiful presentation.

Chimeras of Notre-Dame de Paris:
The Pelican The Lioness
Monster Leaning on the Parapet
The Wandering Jew.

We also visited the Musée d’Orsay for the Gustave Caillebotte exhibit, amazing, and Nancy and I went to the Azzedine Alaïa museum. He was a talented and famous Tunisian couturier and shoe designer.

We loved the window which let you see his atelier. Left exactly as it was when he died.

There were other museums we visited – my head is still spinning from what we saw – and of course, the best museum of all: the city itself. Thanks to our new friend Roy, whom Nancy met on her flight over to Paris, we even got to see a Chambre de bonne. These small top floor maids rooms on Baron Haussmann’s 19th century mansions. Ever since listening to this 99% Invisible podcast about Chambre de bonnes I’ve wanted to see one. But how? Well, have a friend who makes friends.

Hi Roy! Thank you again for showing us a side of Paris we wouldn’t have seen without you.

The corridor of doors to small, very small, apartments. Some have been joined together to make more useable spaces.

The view! Eiffel Tower one direction, Basilique du Sacré-Cœur the other.

Those very top windows will be the Chambre de bonnes in this building.

Everyone who travels will tell you that the most amazing experiences are not found in guide books. They happen. You walk by them, if you’re lucky and open to saying yes, you get to have unexpected and delightful times, and even better with friends.

The happy travelers in flattering Paris light.

Spending our time in Paris. Take 2.

We have a running joke while we travel where we put things in a Bay Area context for each other. Guanajuato is the Mendocino of Mexico City. Parc Vincennes is the Golden Gate Park of Paris. When we discovered that Paris is actually smaller in size than San Francisco, but with over twice the population, we felt a bit more at home. We lived in SF for decades, most of those years without a car, so Paris felt like a super lively, more busy SF.

What? In my mind Paris was much bigger than SF.

Almost every Metro trip we mapped out on CityMapper was about 30 minutes or less from our Paris apartment. The Metro does move along and wastes very little time dwelling at stations – on the older lines you can actually open the doors while the train is still moving. And people do. But to walk across the city, or to your destination, really doesn’t take long. We started taking one Metro ride, and instead of transferring to a second line, just walked the rest of the way. Or, walked the whole way. We took buses as well, which is a great way to see the city and rest your feet.

Paris is so walkable. Nancy demonstrates that even the weather can’t stop her.

Rich and Dan on the Coulée verte René-Dumont.

The retail scene is so vibrant. Restaurants and shops abound. And bakeries- so many bakeries. Pharmacies everywhere. Laundromats – check. Chocolate shops – check. As you walk you never suffer from a lack of interesting things to see.

So many 6-8 story buildings. So much housing.

Although the population of Paris has shrunk since its high of 2.9 million in 1921, it now hovers around 2.1 to 2.2 million. As with many cities smaller family size and gentrification have had an impact. But the population certainly keeps the city humming! A street near our apartment simply teemed with parents and children at school drop off time. We quickly learned to try to avoid that street at morning drop off.

Paris is doing a lot of street re-imagining, making more space for people not using cars to get around. This is a street in the Montparnasse neighborhood getting an update. Wider sidewalks and planting areas.

And in the 12th, a massive redesign of Place Félix Éboué, adding bike and pedestrian space, more trees and amenities, and removing car lanes.

These changes seem to have brought out a lot of folks on bikes.

On my Paris bingo card this lady transporting her dog and baguettes would be quite a get.

Of course we got out on bikes! Despite the chilly weather.

We used Lime bikes while in Paris. Cycling in Paris is quite good, although with so many cyclists I would recommend skipping rush hour at first, until you get the hang of Parisian cycling it can be intimidating. It helps to be a calm and confident urban cyclist since you will be passed by faster Parisian cyclists with only inches to spare. And be careful stopping at red lights since not all cyclists do and you risk a rear end collision!

After all that cycling around France we did this year – finally! The
Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.

Now we can fully appreciate the cobblestones the Tour de France cyclists face in the Paris circuits that typically feature in the last stage of the race.

Not our own comfortable bikes, but a great way to explore Paris.

The Tunnel des Tuileries. Once full of auto traffic, now graffiti, bikes, and pedestrians. Delightful.

And along the Seine River on a road where cars used to be.

Notre Dame, just a few weeks from re-opening after the devastating fire. That’s Rich on the bike on the right.

After parking the bikes we snapped the apparently obligatory Eiffel Tower photos.

It’s fun to see, or bike by, the big attractions, but our joy really comes from simply wandering. Having an errand – find a good coffee roaster to buy beans – and then seeing what we see. Be a Flâneur. Wander the city. Stroll. Observe. Be delighted. It’s what we did for so long in San Francisco, and it was such a luxury to have the time to do the same thing in Paris. As we kept reminding each other, stop and look up, look around.

Coffee shop dog. The family who ran the shop had their two kids and dog keeping them company since it was a holiday and schools were closed.

Nancy joined us in Paris and shared our cafe stops and delightful times.

I particularly love Kermit and the painted poles echoing his color scheme.

Neighborhood markets and murals, Montparnasse.

A wall of old advertising, uncovered and refreshed on Rue des Martyrs.

In the 9th. The society of mineral water building.

The people in dark wool coats strolling the passages.

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre glimpsed from Bd Haussmann on our way somewhere one morning. And the real life of a city going on.

Enjoying a chocolat viennois at the Cafe at d’Orsay.

One of the famous and stunning clocks at the old train station turned museum.

Watching Paris put on her Christmas and holiday decor was wonderful. Although we didn’t see too many lights on private balconies, the commercial corridors and chocolate shops put on a show.

Chocolate Christmas tree. Buy a forest of them!

Baby Jesus meringues. Apparently a retro treat, it’s a soft candy, not a hard crunchy one. I think it’s more like a marshmallow or melt away candy.

A forest of Christmas trees for sale in the 17th arrondissement.

The netting on the trees looks like spider webs.

Trees for sale on R. des Martyrs which is closed to car traffic on Sundays.

Nancy and I inside Galleries Lafayette admiring the massive Christmas tree.

Which put on quite a show as it changed colors.

We walked to go to specialty shops only open on Saturdays to buy artistic stamps.

We walked until the sun set (at 4 pm) to watch the lights come on.

All that walking meant we needed to keep up our strength.

The soufflés at Le Récamier were just the thing.

We had a one meal out per day rule. So we made those meals count.

Sometimes we didn’t need to go far. This oyster stand set up one weekend for two evenings on our neighborhood market street.

12 shucked oysters from Brittany and white wine.

Thanks to Dan we visited Buns Land for some amazing Biangbiang noodles. Mostly take away with just three stools at a tiny counter.

We also drank vin chaud when we could. Hot mulled wine. This was the best we tried, from the wine stand at the regional merchants evening market where we also had the oysters.

Had to try it at La Défense Christmas market too! Complete with souvenir cup.

Nice and hot, but a bit sweet. But we kept our souvenir cups to savor sweet memories.

More vin chaud please! At a small Christmas market at Pl. des Abbesses.

A nice version, not too sweet. The quality of the wine was not as good as at the regional merchants evening.

Late November and early December seemed to be a great time to visit Paris. Holiday cheer was getting going, but Christmas crowds hadn’t fully arrived yet. The weather was mostly grey but the sunny days we got felt even more special. The one day of snow was scenic but melted quickly. And having friends visit, first Dan and then Nancy, was just wonderful. And we got more photos of the two us than we usually take. As Nancy joked, it’s proof Rich does have a right arm – that’s his selfie taking arm usually not seen in our photos together. A big thank you to Nancy for the great photos.

Look at that! We have legs and Rich has both arms!

We got to pose in front of a Christmas tree.

And we got to spend time with one of our favorite people in all the world! Nancy.

Apartment lobby mirror group photo of the happy travelers.

Saying yes got us to Paris. For a month. Take 1.

When we came through Paris in May, on our fantastic bike tour through France, we visited our friend Jason who was on sabbatical from his professorship and staying in an apartment he found through sabbatical homes. It turned out that he and his wife could only take two of the three month final increment on the lease and he asked us if we would like to take the third month. Yes – was our pretty fast reply. Since we’d stayed at an apart hotel just up the street from the apartment we knew we’d like the neighborhood, and we’d been to the apartment for dinner so it was an easy decision. And a great decision.

The neighborhood street market, Tuesday and Friday. An early visit to avoid crowds later.

The wide sidewalks of Bd de Reuilly in our 12th arrondissement neighborhood.

Windows that face La Promenade Plantée. A greenway somewhat similar to the high line in NYC. Those windows and iron balcony just scream ‘Paris’ to me.

We hit the ground running with our Amis du Louvre cards and a trip to Disneyland Paris. The high and the low? The culture and the pop? Mona Lisa and Micky Mouse!

The RER A goes right to Disneyland. One transfer from our apartment, metro to RER.

The mouse ears on the train departure signs are pretty darn cute. And helpful.

As huge fans of public transportation we were thrilled to take a train right to the entrance of Disneyland. We’re both very familiar with Disneyland Anaheim so we spent the day making comparisons and ranking the rides between the two parks. Paris for the transportation win, for sure. And our monthly Navigo passes (~€80) covered the entire trip, as well as all metro and trains in the Paris area (Zones 1-5)

It was a grey and chilly day at the happiest place on earth.

I sort of expected Europeans to be a bit blasé about Disneyland, maybe treat it as a brash American import. Nope. Disney fans are Disney fans.

Thunder Mountain Paris for the win! Most of the ride is on this island, so you start and end through a tunnel.

Phantom Manor, The Haunted Mansion in Anaheim. Both are fun, similar layouts, nothing terribly different, except the spooky French in lieu of English. Très amusant!

Before the ride. I should have paid attention to the signs warning about motion sickness. And noticed the shoulder harnesses.

It is right there in the name. Hyperspace. Not just space. I’m used to the one in Anaheim which is pretty much a simple rollercoaster in the dark. I knew right away this one was a mistake. It went upside down twice. We now call it the brain scrambler. I lurched off the ride to find a bench, feeling pretty shaken up and a bit nauseous. I am past rollercoaster age, I decided. I’ve always avoided rides that go in a circle, the worst motion sickness ride for me is the spinning tea cups, but this one really was awful. Even Rich thought it was a bit much in the dark, and he loves rollercoasters.

The only thing I could face was Small World.

The grounds of Small World are more extensive in California, with more topiary animals, but the ride felt fresher and more culturally correct in Paris. One of the biggest differences we noticed was how quickly the lines for the rides go under cover in Paris. In Southern California you can be outdoors quite comfortably year round, and the rain isn’t torrential. It was chilly and a bit drizzly when we visited and we were glad for the shelter.

A big motivation to visit was that we were there during a very quiet time. The Halloween decorations were down and Christmas decorations not yet fully up, so it’s not a popular time to visit.

But, being efficient Disneyland, some holiday decorations were already up.

We could bore you much more with our detailed observations of how Paris is different than Anaheim, but won’t. Ask us the next time we see you in person about Pirates of the Caribbean. We have thoughts.

On to the high culture: we learned about the friends of the Louvre card from our Paris apartment connection, Jason. Not only do you get to go to the Louvre as often as you want, you also get a different entrance, at the Passage Richelieu, so no big line like at the pyramid or in the Carousel Mall.

We had visited the Louvre once before and it was a lesson in frustration. The audio guide is a Nintendo based handheld gizmo which is confusing to operate, even for people younger than us. Signage is not great, the layout is labyrinthine, and you will walk miles and miles finding the art you want to see. But it’s the Louvre! On display: 35,000 works of art. In the collection: 500,000.

In the newly renovated Anne of Austria Summer Apartments, the Torlonia Collection.

The marble sculptures are on display outside of Italy for the first time.

Rich added for scale in front of a massive painting.

We visited the Louvre six times this visit. Once was only to visit the bathrooms and get a coffee, which was a mistake since it was afternoon and very busy, but we will share what we learned. The Friends of the Louvre card – fantastic if you can make it work. We had it mailed to our Paris Apartment, and we applied from within France. Sunday am turned out to be a fantastic time to visit. At peak times the crowds are thick, but for an hour or two Sunday am we wandered the halls and galleries of the less popular wings and rooms with very few other visitors. We even peeked at the Mona Lisa – no, no selfie.

A happy Louvre visitor. This is in a room just past the Mona Lisa,
The salle Mollien Room 700, Denon wing, Level 1. The Red Rooms, Les Salles Rouges.

We visited three special exhibits during our six visits, The Torloni Collection, Figures de Fou, and A New Look at Watteau. We kept reminding ourselves how extensive the Louvre collection is that they can mount amazingly specific exhibits by plumbing the depths of their own collections. And when you view the Louvre outside from the I.M.Pei pyramid and understand how little of the connected buildings is display and how much is storage and other use – it’s overwhelming.

My fearless tour guide. If you aren’t one, find yourself a map friend who won’t get lost in the many rooms and levels of this museum.

Leaving on a Sunday at 11:24. After coffee at the Starbucks in the Louvre (!). Still not super crowded but the line to get in through security is now very long.

There will be more Louvre photos in later posts, but our recommendation is to get yourself a Friends of the Louvre card if you can. We paid 120€ for both of us, good for a year and allows you some discounts at other museums and into the Louvre Abu Dabi. Not sure we’ll use that benefit but who knows! The usual museum card coffee and gift shop 10% discount too. We ended every visit with a caffeine break.

The Happy Travelers in the sun at Luxembourg gardens.

Some of the special exhibits will have their app based audio guides, Figures of the Fool did, so check before you go and bring your earbuds. We searched on line for paintings we knew we wanted to see and read write ups to each other standing in front of the paintings. There are small bathrooms scattered along the galleries, some very well hidden, so if the line is long at the main bathrooms- and it will be ladies – try to find one up in the galleries. More from Paris soon. We just arrived in the UK for a nice long stay, until January 14th, happy holidays to all.