Chicken Pizza and Cenotes

We went on a day trip to the impressive Chichén Itzá which has been one of the new wonders of the world since 2007. There was a lot of stuff about human sacrifices which the Mayans regarded as an honour. The prize for the winners of the traditional ball game was to be beheaded and families aspired for their babies to be born on the equinoxes so that their child could be bought up and prepared to be sacrificed by having their heart ripped out and offered up to the gods. 

We also went swimming in a couple of Cenotes which are big pools of fresh water formed deep in rock caves, awesome! Olive swam in both Cenotes which was super brave. It was Charl’s birthday and she went on a zip-line course as well which looked too scary for me.

Valladolid

We then enjoyed a typical Mexican town in Valladolid with its square in the middle with a church and ornate buildings around. We stayed right on the square and savoured some tasty Mexican delights like Tacos, Huevos Rancheros and my favourite Salbutes, a puffed taco with battered pork.

Tulum ruinas

We carried on to Tulum which was better than the guidebooks said! The ruins were fun and there were some good bars and food in town.

Olive enjoyed having her hair cut stood up for 70 pesos (£2.50). 

Playa del Carmen

Selina’s sister Charl and partner Nev are travelling around on their sabbatical and joined us for our first week. We relaxed in an all inclusive in Playa del Carmen for a few days. The hotel and food were lovely. I loved the sunrise on the first morning and Olive was the envy of the other kids with her swim setup! We also had Japanese tempanyaki which was new to me - lots of knife throwing and rice being thrown into our mouths as the chef cooked up a treat in front of us.

Mexicanas adventuras

Having welcomed Baby Boo (aka Phoenix) into the Gibb clan back in June and Selina having agreed extended leave, But  we have been waiting for our moment to pounce and go on some more adventures, Covid restrictions dependent. 

First stop - Mexico. We went to Mexico 12 years ago and to be honest didn’t love it. However they were one of the countries who would take us and not on the red list when we booked flights, though the red list did go just before we left! We are still hoping to make it to New Zealand if they open their borders...

So the plan is to spend a week or so around Quintana Roo and Yucatan and then head for an extended spell in Oaxaca where we have lined up a Montessori school for Olive to attend for a couple of months.

Seoul baby

Our final stop on our Asian Adventure was Seoul, South Korea. We went from a high of 35C to Seoul’s -5C, 40 degree drop, ouch, worse than a few years ago going Oz to Beijing!

After wrapping up, we did a fun walking tour round Bukchon Hanok Village, with the old style buildings.

Duck egg bread!

Seoul is all about the Palaces so we took in a couple, first off Gyeongbokgung.

 We squeezed in a spot of Christmas shopping, Korean style!

We had all sorts of treats at Gwangjang market: sushi, dumplings, mung bean pancakes washed down with rice wine, sat on heated seats outside!

We took a cable car up to the North Tower for great views across the city as it got dark. 

So many padlocks!

We had super tasty bibimbap after in the park.

Copying Daddy's expression!

On our last day we went to Changdeokgung Palace, with its lovely hidden garden.

The last piece in the jigsaw was a 24 hour journey home, via Istanbul with Turkish Airways. Their admin was a bit ropy and it felt a bit like we wouldn’t get out of Seoul even though we were sooo early. We ended up having to jump check in and get a fast track through security, but just made it!!

Home sweet home for Christmas. Phew!

George Town, Penang

We had a quick weekend back with Uncle Mejar, taking in the Batu Caves, while trying to avoid the over zealous monkeys, and celebrating Karam’s birthday with tasty Korean, including mixing the vodka-esque Soju with beer using a chopstick, more of that in South Korea please!

Then on to Penang in the north for more great food: Keuy Teoy, pork bek teh, dumplings, lobak...

Blue Mansion was impressive.

As was a walking tour round the UNESCO protected centre, including art on Armenian Street and looking round Kongsis.

Biryiani and butter chicken with mango lassi in another Little India was fun.

The Hop on Hop off tourist bus meant we could go further afield.

Gurney drive had great street food and the worlds smallest National Park was a nice deviation.

with some lovely beaches!

Snoozing on Batu Ferringhi beach

Then back to Klang for a couple of our favourites, banana leaf and a meal at Mejars club with super keuy teoy meehun and black pepper lamb. Then on to our final stop, Seoul...