But before I get to that, I will briefly catch you up on the past year or so. The last trip we took was a three week trip back to Guatemala to teach a few girls how to travel independently. That was the last trip that we took in a year. We also moved into a new house on Wolfe Island where we hope to build a permanent home. We rented a cottage and moved into it and the first winter we were here we went on the biggest ski hill on this side of Canada. We also had our Australian friends over for the whole winter. Out of all the places you could have gone to why Canada? In the winter?

When I found out that dad wanted to sail down to the Bahamas from Ontario, I thought it was a bit nuts. I mean, we had barely any experience on a big sailboat. But then he started to tell us about all the cool things along the way. After that I did some reading on the Bahamas and the sail down, and it looked really cool. So, I agreed to go with and we bought a beautiful boat named TearAway. We get to go through amazing locks, sail down the historic Erie Canal, and on the Atlantic ocean. I, for one, am very excited. The odds of swimming and snorkeling are high and I have heard that the Bahamas has some great diving areas, so that’s another reason I want to go. We leave in 11 days on a full moon if all goes well, the boat passes inspection, and the engine exhaust actually works.

TearAway in our bay

So fingers crossed that all goes well. In the mean time, my job is to gather boat recipes that involve two pans at most. I also have to figure out where all the food is to be stored for passages.

Anchored at Amherst Island

The last passage Gabe, Dad, and I went on was from Toronto to the Thousand Islands in the Saint Lawrence River. The pass is 150 miles and was supposed to take two days but it took three because all hell broke loose. We got caught in a storm, our navigation lights went out, and we hit a few rocks. All else said, it was a nice sail, good cruising during the day and the one night with the storm was troublesome. But what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger! I am very excited about the trip!

            “Grenade!!!” The call sounded from the other side of the beach. I heard a stick whistle when it flipped through the air, catching the wind in a little hole in its side and creating a small noise. Then, with a puff of fine, multi-colored sand, a stick dropped to the ground within seven feet of me. I leapt to my feet, forsaking my safe haven of sticks and sand, and took a flying leap through the air towards the object of death. In the back of my head a voice whispered , “Five, four, three,” but I had already landed on the object and had it in my hand and it was swinging through the air again. A sound smashed against my ears and my mind processed it into Elisha’s voice, “BANG!!! DEAD!!!” I dropped to the ground with the stick still in my hands.  I lay on the ground counting to twenty, ten because of the bullet Elisha shot at me and ten for the grenade. Then, all of the sudden I leapt to my feet and pushed off the ground. I landed on the ground, in the little safe haven of sticks and sand, in a spray of damp dirt. I heard a bang from the mouth of Ezra and leaped to my feet, lifting the stick gun in my hand I shot and yelled, “BANG!!! You’re dead!” He pretended to fall over backward dead. I ducked down again as Elisha jumped to his feet with gun in hand. I picked up a stick from a pile to my left and held it ready, as soon as Elisha was down behind his base again I brought my arm back and stood up and threw it with as much strength as I could. It landed right in their base and I yelled, “Flash bomb!!” They both ducked beneath their arms but they were to late. They both closed their eyes and started to count to five. I lunged forward and to the side, and ran with all my speed. Five seconds passed and they opened their eyes and looked for me at my base. By then I was already at their sides only twenty feet away. I heard Ezra say, “I think he is behind his base and getting ready to throw a grenade. Get ready.” Then I said, “Hands up you two hooligans!” they jumped and brought their guns up to train on my head, but they were already dead. I rushed back to my safe haven and leapt in again. Just then Hannah’s voice rang down from up on the hill. We all looked and she said, “Time to go. Come on.” We got up and, while Elisha and Ezra decided weather or not to bring guns with them, I ran up the hill and after Hannah.

Half an hour later I had my earphones in and we were speeding down the road while Josh Garrels calmed my racing pulse. I looked out the window and watched as tree after tree wiped bye. When we were near the coast I saw lots of trees that had bent inland from all the wind that had blown on them. Sparrow’s swooped and dove in their endless dance. Blue flowers framed by green were brought into my vision and were swept away again. The water sparkled and gleamed as we drove along its side. So far New Zealand has been the best place on this trip even better than Asia.

Today we drove to a proboscis monkey sanctuary. When we arrived we saw pig tailed macaque monkeys crossing the street. At the feeding platform we saw a swamp snake. The lady said it was not poisonous.

The word proboscis means nose, so we saw the nose monkeys. Some fought over the food and even a squirrel joined in on eating the salty bread, but this bread does not have sugar. If it did and they ate it they would die.

When we went to the second feeding platform we saw silver leaf monkeys. We could feed those by hand! One even jumped on my shoulder and played on my head. Soon he lost interest in my head and took the bean for payment and leapt off of my head. There was a baby that, if you fed it, would hold your hand, as in your finger.

Silver leaf monkeys are rare to see. They don’t show themselves in the grey trees, they blend in to the dark.

One monkey pinched me so hard I almost cried out, “Ouch! Ouch!” But I didn’t.

Today we are driving to an orang utan sanctuary. While we are driving mom tells us some facts and I also researched it for an essay I’m writing for school. There are about twenty thousand orang utan in the world.They only live on two islands, Sumatra and Borneo. We have gone to one other sanctuary on Borneo.

When we arrive we only have five minutes to get to the feeding platform. When we get there we see some big orang utan apes (did you know that orang utans are Asia’s only giant ape?) They are feeding on bananas, young leaves and nuts. It is fun to watch them eat their breakfast. They were obviously interested in us too.

Some of them would fight over the food until the dominate male came. He did not have face pads yet. Those develop when they are twenty or so. The dominate male would fight and always win the food. There were two apes wrestling on the platform. It was fun.

When we hopped back into the car we drove to a national park. There we went on a canopy walk. We got to see pitcher plants and a flying squirrel fly off of a tree.

I hope you enjoyed the story!

After breakfast we loaded up in a bus and we drove to a boat dock where we got on a boat and rode up river. When we docked we had lunch at a restaurant.

After that we took a roll up the mountain. When we got to the top the tour guide lead us to a cave. When we got there Hannah interviewed me for her video she is making.

When we went inside there were lots of incenses burning.

On the way back to the trolly I saw something that I thought might be betel nut. I saw them again at the bottom of the hill. It was not betel nuts, it was pill bugs rolled up!

We took the boat and the bus back and had dinner before we went to the hotel. I was ready for bed!

When we were in Pai Mom surprised me by saying, “Ezra, happy birthday, we are going to ride elephants today for your birthday present!” Then I said, “Wow thanks Mom thats  awesome!”

When we loaded up in the car I was giddy as a school boy, only I wasn’t a school boy.

When we  saw the elephant camp and we got out I thought to myself, “Wow that’s so cool, I’ve never seen a elephant that I can touch!” There was a guy with a large knife, he chopped some banana leaves up for us to feed the elephant.

Then the  guy put a banana leaf behind his back and the elephant hugged him to get the leaf.

A woman came and and asked if we wanted tea. We had tea then we went to the elephants.

First Elisha and Gabe got on theirs then Dad and I get on ours. I thought to myself,  “Man this is at least ten feet!” When I asked dad how tall it was he said it was twelve feet at most.

Then the elephant started to walk. After a while on tarmac we turn onto a dirt road. Then we go deeper into the jungle. We see fields and once and a while a elephant would take a plant out of the field.

Then we saw a river and the guy led the elephants into the river. We got wet because the elephant sprayed us. Our elephants started to play with us buy shaking us off.

When we went  back to the camp  we ate lunch and played with the elephants. On the way to the hot tub we saw a dog killing a cat.  We scared the dog away then we went to the hot tub.

We played with the elephant and said good bye. Just before we left a woman brought a elephant book and gave it to me for my birthday before we drove off.

It was the best day of the trip and I liked it.

Here is the video my sister made about the day:

Actually they aren’t that bad. Once you get past the legs. They tickle your tongue and are a little crunchy.

I did not care for them that much but there must be someone who does, because in Oaxaca, Mexico, they have three foot high buckets full of them, with women in the back of the stalls frying more.

For those of you who have tried grasshoppers, you know you won’t eat another in your life. For those of you who have not, just go out into your back yard, catch some, squish the guts out, fry them, add chile and lime, and eat up! Who knows? You might like them! I only got one down with a straight face. I was going to bring them back to the states with me to show my friends that I had really eaten them, but they got picked up at the border. They still don’t believe me.

TERMITES

Termites are good. They taste like mint and they have the crunch of a carrot. Hannah and I eat them a lot, if we find them.

The first place we had them is in Belize where I got bit by an ant that was huge. But that’s another story for another time.

Termites live in wood, mostly. They infest trees and they build huge nests out of mud with mud tubes that spiral down the trunk all the way to the ground and help to protect them. They also build mud cities on the ground. All we had to do, though, was to poke a hole in the mud tube and wait until a termite came out. Then we could pick it up, and toss it back. We had to make sure that we had killed completely because if we didn’t it could bite you on the way down.

When my family and I were in Tobacco Caye, Belize, I was playing volley ball with some men and women that lived there. Hannah was sitting up in a tree eating termites by the dozen when a little girl asked her what she was doing. Hannah told her and the girl climbed up to join her where she was lounging and Hannah showed her how to eat them. Then while Hannah was showing off she did not kill one completely and it bit her tongue and her throat on the way down.

I laughed as she told me later that day. She was not happy; I had not shown enough pity.  She said that she maintained what little “dignity” she had at that point and excused herself to leave the little girl to eat the termites and went to the hotel and made sure she was not to hurt.

CARP

One day while at my grandparents house in Canada my brothers set out on an expedition to catch a carp.

“The size of China!” as Ezra put it.

Nether my dad, my grandpa, or myself put and any real faith in them actually getting one.

My grandpa took his blood bait out of the freezer and put some in a ziplock bag and gave it to Ezra. Elisha asked if it tasted good. They filled a bag of snacks and got fishing poles, cane poles, oars, life jackets and took off.

My grandpa made a rowboat for us and I have taken day trips to go fishing or just to row all around the huge bay. One time I rowed straight across to deliver a dog towel a person had left behind. It was a long row and I got a cup of tea out of it. Not that I had wanted to get something out of it, I just wanted to say I had done it. I was pretty proud of myself because that was the longest full row I had ever completed. It was a couple of miles without a break.

Anyway, they took off and I went to the basement to do school, yes, even I do school, no matter how much I protest.

After about two hours I came up again and went to find grandpa.

“Are they back yet?” I asked.

“No, I highly doubt that they will get anything anyway. Once their snacks run out they will be back here in an instant,” my grandpa said.

At that moment the door flew open wildly and Ezra came storming in, tracking mud.

“Grandpa! Gabe! We got one! We did not get it with the poles but sneaked up on it while it was on the top of the water sleeping and netted it!” he yelled and then kicked off his shoes and ran up the stairs to tell Dad.

For a moment Grandpa and I just stood there.

“Grandmas going to kill him if she finds that mud on the ground when she gets back,” I observed.

“I’ll make him clean the mud up later.”

Then we looked at each other and went outside to see Elisha standing there with net in hand and a big carp in the bottom of it.

“Nice going boys!” grandpa had said, “Now go put it on a stringer and Gabe and I will clean it later, after I am done with work. Gabe? Can you help them?”

“Ok,” I said

We trekked down to the water and I put it on a stringer. It was heavy. When we put I back in it swam down to the length of its line

That evening Ezra and I went to the water and brought it back up the the fish to the shed where there was a trailer that we use to gut the fish on. Grandpa got his knives and we cleaned it.

When Grandma, Mom, and Hannah got back we had them cook it up and we all tried some. I almost spat it back out. By the second bite I was ready to get the boys to eat it all, so I did not have to, and to make them know not to ever get one again. Grandpa was with me on that one.

Instead we ate the bass Hannah and I had caught that week.

We liked the bass.

When we go there we like to get the bass but sometimes we get a garr or a pike. Those aren’t that bad. I don’t like the garr as much as the pike or bass though.

So the moral is: don’t eat grasshoppers, eat termites, don’t eat carp!

We arrived in Bangkok after two long flights and backpacked to the train station. We took a train to near our hotel then we backpacked another mile or so to the hotel because we got a little lost. There was a pool and we refreshed ourselves with a swim but what I really wanted to do was eat!

I love to eat dinner at a street vendor. I’ve eaten lots of interesting things as we’ve traveled like, tacos in Mexico, fruit in Guatemala, Berber bread in Tunisia and chicken right off the grill.

In Bangkok I ate a pork kabob. It was yummy. Then I ate some fried pineapple. The fried pineapple smelled good we drank water with our lunch. Because we had bad jet lag we went back to the hotel to rest.

For dinner we went to another street vendor we ate noodles with pork and soy sauce. Gabe ate a fish kabob, he thought it was yummy but I did not like it. When we returned to the hotel I ate some Roman noodles, since I didn’t like the fish too much, they were good. The next day for lunch we ate at a another street vendor. I ate a pineapple kabob with noodles and a sausage kabob and a pork kabob they all were good these were the best yet.