OK… This evening was a highlight for me!! We headed off to the San Telmo area of Buenos Aires, this is the where the Argentina Tango originated. So, you guessed it! We all slipped on our dancing shoes for some Tango lessons! Whoo hoo, I could not wait! I know a few men and possibly ladies, in my group were not really looking forward, but we can now say “I danced the Tango in Argentina!” It was so much fun… maybe a few aches or stiff muscles tomorrow… but fun!

After all that hard work, we deserved a much needed beverage, and of course more food! We watched the dancers put on an amazing Tango show. You know after attempting a few steps yourself, it really makes you appreciate how difficult the dance is, and how well they perform the Tango with such grace and ease. Just amazing!

Another great day on this adventure, tomorrow a Fiesta Gaucho!

Last night was our first night in Buenos Aires and what an amazing city! Defiantly a completely different city than Mendoza. Mendoza is more laid back and not as cosmopolitan as Buenos Aires. We dined at a small family run restaurant in one of the neighborhoods. Off the beat and path, not something one would do on their own, but 100% worth it. All Argentinean dishes, served family style with local wines. I enjoyed everything! What a great night.

Oy, another late night dinner… I can feel my body expanding as I type! Gotta hit the gym when I get home!

Today was spent touring through the vineyards and country side of Mendoza. Our first stop was at a lovely little boutique winery – Clos De Charcas. This winery operates in the original building dated way back to 1921! A family-run winery, which uses many of the traditional mixed with more modern wine making techniques. It only produces 70,000 bottle a year, but boy are they good! It really was hard to pick favorite… Wine tasting at 10:30 am, this is the life!

Our next stop was the much larger Norton winery. Here we had a chance to sample a 2010 Malbec in the process of becoming wine right from the big steel containers, a 2009 Malbec straight from the oak barrel before its ready to be bottled, and finally the end product, 2005 Malbec. A great way to taste the evolution of the grape.

Ok… after all this tasting we are ready for some food! Our lunch spot was, of course, another winery… Ruca Malen. What a treat! We had a 5 course lunch, each course was paired with wine, yes, that was 5 glasses of vino! Amazing food, wonderful wine, lots of laughs…all with panoramic view of the vineyard and Andes.

Just when we think our day is ending, we make a trip to an olive factory. Yes! Another tasting! But this time no alcohol is involved, however we did learn about the olive making process.

Really, what a great day. I feel so lucky to be experiencing this with such great people. It’s sad to think today is our last visit to a winery, but I need not worry, as I know with this group there is still much more wine to come!

Watch out Buenos Aires! The Canadian group is on its way!!

We crossed the board and said hola to Argentina…

The drive was long but would not have wanted to miss the landscape.

So now we are checked in to our hotel for the next 3 days. After a champagne welcome and more food and wine, looking forward to seeing what Mendoza has to offer tomorrow.

Today we headed to the Clochagua Valley for our first wine tasting of the day at the Santa Helena winery at 10:30 am… life is good!

After this… we boarded the Tren Vino, the wine train to the Cachapoal valley. What an amazing trip…we ate and tasted wine while we rode the rails. Oh, and interesting enough, the BBC was on board filming…we were all interviewed… Yes Lesley I made sure I plugged Paull Travel…haha. They were doing a piece on people traveling in spite of the earthquake. Which I might add, we have not seen much damage for it at all. If I had not know there was an earthquake, I would not notice a thing. Anyway, watch for us on the BBC over the next week.

After the train we went to Rancho Villa Alegre for lunch… then to another vineyard for a tasting. Wow… we are being treated fabulously!

Having such a wonderful time… it’s sad to think tonight is our last night in Chile..As tomorrow we are off to Mendoza.

I must have a glass of vino to wish Santiago adios!

Off to have a night cap …as we have another big day tomorrow

If I can leave you with anything it has to be “don’t be afraid of China” there is so much to love and enjoy. Please step out of your comfort zone and take a chance. You won’t be sorry!

Willie Kelly

Left the Viking Century Sun behind today, saying goodbye to the five star service we all received over the last six days. It was a delightful experience and one I would repeat in a instance. We drove to the when museum for a great bells performance and quick visit before leaving the area for shanghai. What a major difference between beijing and shanghai. Shanghai is preparing for the world expo in two weeks time and the city is buzzing. It is ultra modern compared to the rest of china I have seen. It of course still has its areas but escalators instead of stairs leading to pedways all over the city. We are at the ritz again and is nothing short of the five stars we were promised. Flying into Shanghai reminded me of amsterdam with its many canals. There is an amazing high speed train which I will take to the airport from the city so instead of a 50 minute drive we will have a 7 minute train ride. Tomorrow the city tour.

A heavy day of sailing today as we have to get to Wuhun for early flight to shanghai in the morning. Ok I’m off to Elvis hour so this is it for today!

The 1st day we had a great excursion to shibaozhai pagoda. A beautiful architectural wonder. But was more fun was wandering through the market and seeing real country life happening all around you. So much fun! The children smiling the faces of the older men and women too cute!! Today we had a leisurely day boarding another smaller ship to sail through the lesser three gorges. I’m hoping pictures will depict the beauty I saw. This dam project has displaced so many people and changed so many lives. Not necessarily for the worse. When sailing along we see nothing other than landscape for miles and then suddenly a city of maybe 17,000 people springs up out of nowhere. Just amazing. Right now as I’m typing this we are going through the locks. Like huge steps placed in the water. The whole process will take about 3 hours. In the morning we will be docked in sandouping (yes I spelt it right)

The great wall was one of those moments that are going to be frozen in time. Everyone has seen pictures but only some get to climb onto the uneven steps and feel it. I don’t know how far I made it, all I know is I did do it and with my great wall song blasting from my iPod. That song will always bring a tear to my eye now, just as every muscle will later I’m sure! The trip ended today I will have accomplished a bucket list item. We then left the area still seeing the wall go on for miles and headed to a Jade Factory. No I didn’t buy any but I now know the stuff they tried to sell me on the street for $5.00 was not real!

The Ming Tombs were next. What a great peaceful stroll down a corridor of huge statues of animals, mythical creatures and soldiers. After rubbing the turtle for a long life , we headed back for a well deserved cold beer! Okay – enough seriousness.. and on to the Peking duck dinner and Opera. The traditional dinner is of course just small dishes set around on a “lazy susan,” and the more you drink apparently the faster it spins! The duck is cooked to a crispy red color-bill and all. Cute! Made it through dinner basically unscathed and moved intothe theatre. Well when she opened her mouth I lost it trying to stifle laughter. What screeching – but thank goodness things changed quickly and a series of quick stories were played out. Really elaborate costumes and movements that would be hard to mimic were appearling before our very eyes. What great fun! Finally to bed at 9pm. Muscle relaxants later and sleep. Tomorrow the rickshaws and a short flight to Xian are in order

A great day – and goodnite. WK

Our tour officially started today with Tiananmen square. 1100 acres of cement, tourists and soldiers. Very official. The guide was not allowed to speak to us as he may have expresses views that were not the same as the governments- it almost felt like a shrine for the present powers . Even thought it is early spring in Beijing, we are experiencing 21 degree weather and the magnolias are just beginning to blossom. This made the 3 hours spent wandering through the forbidden city very beautiful. I have learnt so much about the Chinese history that I’m hoping there is a test! I will be renting the Last Emperor just to review the facts. After a great lunch we headed to the Summer Palace. It’s a beautiful garden and more marble than I have ever seen with breath taking views of what I thought China would really look like! As I said before – the city is just so clean- at least the areas tourists see. I’m just impressed. I am just thrilled to have the opportunity to see all this – Its incredible.

Willie.

We have arrived in Beijing – after a fabulous flight with Air Canada. Checked into the Ritz Carlton and its definitely first class! Rooms are incredible. We have taken the Subway and experienced the throngs of people. Tomorrow the tour begins and the entire group has arrived with all luggage in hand. Some have already gone to the Silk Market which is not for the faint of heart!

Today we are off to the temple of heaven (not on the itinerary ) but was in order. We saw Chinese line dancing and had the pleasure of seeing impromptu artisans doing what makes them happiest. A truly beautiful experience. We have also had the honor of seeing the Olympic grounds complete with the birds next and the cube. Part of the beauty of the area was enhance by the kites given wings by young and old alike. Color wasn’t lacking in the sky today! What I have found most surprising is the cleanliness of the city. The sidewalks, highways, the airport. I don’t know how they do it – but its done really really well!

Signing off … WK

Thursday… Here we are in Moorea. We have travel media travelling with us, so my job to do interview today on the soft adventure options here in the islands. It’s a bit sunny here and – well I just can’t say it enough – unbelievably beautiful. We are just getting ready for lunch with Dick the owner of this ship – and 4 Intercontinental hotels. He just purchased this ship in January 2010, so will be interesting to meet him. After lunch I hope to kayak into town or go to the MOTU which is my new word for this trip. It’s a little tiny island no hotels. Beach and snorkeling. Only here for another 36 hours in this beautiful area… Signing off – as have to look my best for lunch!

The Intercontinental

Saw one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever seen – the Intercontinental – If you want to get away from it all in luxury – this is the place. I really just couldn’t take enough pictures and I know they likely won’t capture it … but WOW! If you have someone you want to spend some time with – its truly breath taking. We did tour a couple of other very nice properties as well – so did work hard for about 5 hours… I know sounds tough. Another great meal and I was taught the difference between Johnny Walker black – or blue. And yes.. there is a difference as I found out. So – bit of a late night!

Wednesday – still in Bora Bora and 6 of us got off early as generally weather is better in the am… so got our bikes. 3 of us rented electric bikes which are like a regular bike with a power pack – really fun! Off we went to go around the island which is about 3 hours and of course 15 minutes out of town the monsoon came again… but its warm rain. It absolutely poured for the full time but we really had a lot of laughs. Problem with the electric bikes is when the brakes get wet they done work… sooooo – and interesting ride – then back to the ship for a fabulous well deserved massage. This really is a tough trip. So leaving you now as must get ready for another meal! BTW – I am going to the gym every day so I can eat all this great food!

Paul Gauguin Ship

Well we managed as mentioned to avoid the tsunami and boarded the beautiful Paul Gauguin and off we sailed to Raitea.

Sunday – we actually docked which is pretty amazing, and about 8 of us decided to do the Kayaking on the Farahaa River so we all piled into “le truck” (open air) and off we went to find the river. About 30 minutes later we arrived… overcast weather but hot! About 33 and very very humid. All the Kayaks were boarded and just as I was to board with the cute French Viviannn (male)… very young, but… well what can I say – I’m not blind… Anyway – the rains came down – more like a monsoon in fact – but on we went rain or shine! Couldn’t even see the Kayak in front of us – but it was a warm hard rain, so I understand very good for skin (good thing brought a little liquid refreshment!) We toured the botanical gardens – in the rain – but it really was so much fun. Came back to the ship absolutely soaking wet but with a fabulous memory! On to dinner with the ship manager Oscar – and then on to the night club which is fantastic… Live band and dancing under the stars… Everything is included on the Paul Gauguin which is really quite a treat. Eventually to bed.

Monday – Arrive in TAHA A – which is a tiny tiny tiny island, and we are anchored. Off we get to a private island with water skiing, kayaking, open bar, food and it is spectacular. Words really cannot explain the beauty here. Today its partially sunny – hurray and did I mention humid? We swam, snorkeled, ate and drank before the 130pm downpour… But, again, it’s really a nice warm rain – and great way to meet people. Tonight we are having dinner with the “hotel management” so you can see I really am working hard – well… working somewhat. Its truly breathtaking here , the ship is casual – know pretty much everyone now – and they definitely know we are Canadian as all have flags after the hockey win (I think we may have been a bit obnoxious.) Anyway… another great day in paradise …I know my pictures will never do it justice. If you are reading this – you really do have to come to this part of the world as soon as you can. Quite incredible! Signing off for another meal… xoxo

Tuesday – we have arrived in Bora Bora and truly it just keeps getting more and more beautiful. It is overcast this morning – but it’s still stunning! We are working today – taking the jet boat to visit 3 different hotel properties and one of the worlds famous spas. Too bad we don’t get a chance to spend a little more time. Last night played a little blackjack with little success unfortunately – but had another great meal and some great wines. We will see what today brings – tomorrow we are still in Bora Bora and a few of us plan to bike around the island. I understand the bikes have only one gear so I should be able to master that! Ill be back – really I have to say this truly is paradise.

After a really fabulous flight on Air Tahiti we arrived at the beautiful Intercontinental Hotel in Papeete… Its overcast and humid but absolutely beautiful. You know you are in paradise! Arrival was late so hit the bed, to be awoken by a call with a Tsunami warning… it seemed ridiculous – however off everyone went to the lobby – all evacuated from our rooms. As only the French would do – we drank French champagne and gathered waiting to see what would happen. Thankfully – not too much happened other than we got to know everyone for 3 hours – then all safe and sound. Back to the beautiful pool; weather again not great – but very pleasant.

Late afternoon we all boarded the Paul Gauguin ship, a small 300 person ship – unpacked and am ready for the week. Had a beautiful meal with friends and a great send off at 10pm. Its going to be a fun and fabulous trip I can see. Lots and lots of champagne on this ship – darn – and of course – everything is included – all meals, drinks, gratuities … so it’s a bit of a floating party!

Sunday: Up early and attempting to work out before my excursion in Raitea and kayaking for 3 hours down the Faare River. Hopefully I come back in one piece and have had some good core exercise!
STAY TUNED!