Andrew and Ruth in BC

Andrew and Ruth (York Monks) had a great time in BC this May. To my great embarrassment it has taken until December to put an account of the trip on Monk Family News. My apologies for taking so long.

We started in Vancouver. Andrew attended a conference while Ruth explored the city. This picture taken from Stanley Park is of the Lions Great Bridge to North Vancouver. It is a very pleasant city to be in and we found some great places to eat including a brilliant diner on Granville Street that sold beer from a local micro brewery and fantastic breakfasts (not both at the same time I should add).

We hired a car in Vancouver and wanting to be amongst the snowy mountains that you can see from almost everywhere in BC we next took the Highway 99 up to Whistler. The first picture was of some bears right next to the freeway - well everyone else was stopping so we did. I am not sure what was most dangerous the bears or the traffic. The second picture was taken on Blackstone where they were still skiing. We were thwarted in our intention to walk trails in the mountains. Due to the unusually cold spring there was still metre deep snow in many places. Never mind, we had a pleasant time on the metalled paths that encircle the town.

After descending Highway 99 we took the ferry from Horseshoe bay to Nanaimo, stayed the night in a very pleasant back packer hostel and then drove on across Vancouver Island to Beachside Lodge in Tofino (recommended by our tour manager Tony MacLeod). This was not back packing, very luxurious. Ruth is seen here thinking about the breakfast of home baked goodies she has just eaten.

Scenerywise, Tofino was the highlight of the trip. We were blessed with clear sunny (but cold) weather and the views are like nothing on earth. We did whale watching and many trails (finally justifying bringing our boots!) The final picture shows Andrew basking in a thermal waterfall. The Pacific is just 20 metres away.

Next we travelled back to Victoria and left the car with our friends Syd and Barbara while we took a weekend with Dave (son of my brother Tim) and Steph Monk in Seattle. This is them in their new house which is in walking distance of their places of work in the evil empire. Dave and Steph spoiled us rotten while we were there, including brunch with microbrewery beer (it can be done). It was great to see them again.

We had a happy three nights with Syd and Barbara who also looked after us very well (second picture is of the Butchart Gardens just north of Victoria). 

We then took the ferry to Salt Spring Island for three nights of further spoiling, this time from Tony and Susan MacLeod. Tony is seen here demonstrating the correct way to hold a humming bird feeder. The weather here was less kind than we had in Tofino and Victoria but we were still able to marvel at the view over the sound from Tony and Susan's living room and to go on some excellent walks.

Along with many of the Monk family who have visited Salt Spring Island, we have fond memories of visiting Bob and Lisa's house now the abode of Kelly and Jennifer. Here is the view that some of you will recognise and a group picture of the whole crew: standing, Andrew, Kelly, Tony; sitting, Jennifer, Susan and Ruth. Kelly cooked us a superb meal that Susan missed as she had a dress rehearsal for her choir's concert the next day. We have since heard that Kelly and Jennifer have put the house up for sale - the end of an era.

Salt Spring Island was a great climax to a wonderful trip and we flew back from Vancouver Airport after another spectacular ferry ride. Just before we boarded the sun came out to prove that where ever you are in BC you will always find a snowy mountain somewhere on the horizon!

Introduction: The Preston Monks

I'm Simon Monk and I though it was about time I got round to introducing myself and the cluster of Monk's that live up here in North West England. I'm Hugh's youngest and Andrew and Tim are my MUCH OLDER brothers.

I have two sons Stephen and Matthew from my marriage to Sue. They live with their mother most of the time about 10 minutes away.

Stephen is 15, and in the guitar and girls stage. He is very keen on his electric guitar, which he plays in a band of his friends http://www.facebook.com/gunstoafistfight. He's in his final year at high school and has been elected house captain and is especially keen on drama - I have no idea where he gets that from.

Matthew (12) is just finishing his first year at high school. He's keen on maths, science and anything technological and is really shining academically.

I have been living with Linda now for 6 years and we plan to get married next summer. Linda has two children, Jonathan (18) who goes off to Liverpool University this year to study English and Clare who is 15.

Linda is an insurance underwriter in Manchester and my day job is with a mobile software company that I co-founded 9 years ago. Recently I have also got into writing books about my hobby of electronics. More details of both can be found here http://www.simonmonk.org

We often have quite a houseful! and this August all six of us plus Stephen and Jonathan's girlfriends are all going to Italy.

Si.

INDIA WAS AMAZING

Of course the Rajasthan is not India but it’s a start.
We arrived in Delhi and visited the usual places, the tomb of Humayun, Qutab Minar (a beautiful sculpted tower), the president’s palace where they were changing the guard (looking just like English guards). Then off to Mandawa where we arrived after a nightmarish drive of 9 hours. Our chauffeur didn’t speak English or French but we gathered he was lost and we went for miles in the dark, on unbelievable roads(the potholes were so deep that it took us 30min to go 5km) All this honking all the while with the beams on highest blinding the people coming the other way! But then we arrived in a palace..all lit up..a fantastic room and were somewhat pacified! I must admit that the other days were fine road wise and that we had a good chauffeur.
Here we visited havelis, wonderful painted houses in several villages and got a feel for rural areas, peaceful little towns, no crowds, lovely weather (around 25°C and sunny) lots of cows, elegant women in colorful saris, garbage on the street but no obvious poverty. Even the women working on the street wear saris.
Our next hotel was even better in Khimsar.
The palaces of maharajas are really incredibly beautiful and refined. What a good thing that a lot of them are hotels and being restored.
Next we left for Jaisalmer, a desert town with another impressive fort, not very far from Pakistan. We heard a lot of planes and saw a lot of army convoys. The specialty in Jaisalmer is havelis covered in the finest sculptured stone, chiseled like lace, breathtaking! We went out to dunes, at Sam, where it’s a daily excursion on camel back for all the tourists to see the sunset.(just call me “Laurence”)It was fun to see all the people out there, mostly Indian.
Then on to Jodhpur (no I didn’t wear any!)Another fabulous fort, at last a “bazaar” Our “local guides” didn’t like to take us to bazaars much, only the big shops where we were always tempted! How many times did we say, ”no buys this time” and of course we did. The craftsmanship is wonderful. The patchworks, the embroidery, the pachminas, the silk, the jewelry etc. The best I’ve seen since Mexico, but finer. Every region has its specialty.
A very pleasant stop in a small town called Rohet, a charming family run hotel. On to visit Jain temples with again amazing fine chiseled sculptures. What refinement! On to Udaipur home of the “Lake Palace», a luxury hotel on an island on the lake only visible by boat. Udaipur would be a nice place to stay for a while. The hotel had a rooftop restaurant, very romantic with view on the lake all lit up. Visit of maharajas palaces in the town, always extraordinary!(I’m running out of superlatives)
On the way to Jaipur we went by Pushkar, known for it’s temples to Brahma (unusual apparently) and it’s “ghat” (cremation area on a lake) overrun by monkeys and pigeons and fake priests. Very touristy and hippyisty.The main temple was closed for a wedding.
Dad was stationed in Jaipur before the war (circa 1937) and knew the maharaja at that time (he called him Jai). The officers were invited by him for meals. I don’t know where the British army was stationed but there is another fabulous fort! But most interesting is “Jantar Mantar” an astronomical observatory built by a maharaja scientist in the 18th century, quite surreal! There is a lot to see in Jaipur!
Finally on to Agra, the Red Fort, the palace and of course the TAJ MAHAL. We were very impressed by the beauty of this monument. You see so many photos etc. that it seems a cliché, maybe it is, but it’s one of the most beautiful things we’ve seen! Back to Delhi where it had rained and the streets were all mucky and a flight at 1h45A.M.
We loved the whole trip which I have only given a partial account of, even the amazing traffic. For instance on the way to Delhi you have a real autoroute, two lanes each way and a partition in the middle. BUT you may meet a camel and cart, or a donkey, or a horse, or cows, or a herd of buffaloes, or people crossing over, or coming the other way towards you, not to mention thousands of overloaded trucks belching black smoke, tuctucs carrying 20 people (no exaggeration), bicycles with huge loads and no one uses the slow lane and everyone honks all the time. It’s fascinating! Imagine what it’s like on a road with just a strip of concrete wide enough for one car and huge potholes on each side…we did it and survived (as I said we had a seasoned chauffeur).
What impressed me too is the elegance of the Indian women in their saris or tunics and pants, mostly all slim (unlike the European tourists) and the wonderful colors! Also the refinement of the architecture, decoration and arts of the forts and palaces. I hope we will go back!