Creative sparks in Bangkok

In one way, it feels like a lifetime ago that I was on my mini artistic tour of Bangkok, but I’ve still found myself reflecting on my experience with the schools there. It’s also taken me this long to review all the photos! So, here’s a photo dump!

The first school involved a complete writer/artist-in-residence package, working with the same groups of kids over multiple sessions. This allowed me to introduce a “meaty” project that involved visual brainstorming, writing, and prop-building, something that could be sustained over several sessions. It also offered teachers enough material so that they could continue working on the project after my time at the school ended.

Even though I’ve delivered many residences in the past, this is the first one since before the pandemic where I spent several consecutive days in a row at a school. So, it was an intensive creative output—not only for the students, but also for me! I found myself so energized at the end of each day that I would often head back to my hotel and write in a frenzy for an hour or so.

Each grade was given a different “theme” to work on, which not only helped with some cross-creativity in the school, but kept me energized, so that I wasn’t simply doing the same thing over and over again.

Monster Magic (for the Year 3s)

For this grade, the theme was based around the idea of a character who visits a monster pet store, buys a bet monster-in-a-bottle, then takes it home to hatch it (incorrectly!). The project involved mapping out the pet store, writing hatching instructions, building the actual pet monster-in-a-bottle, and crafting the individual scenes of the story.

Spell-binding Shopping Trip (for the Year 4s)

I invited the students to imagine a character who has been sent to a magical market to locate one specific enchanted item—and then write about it. A big part of this project was imagining the market in detail. We mapped it, imagined food shops and services and brainstormed problems a character might encounter while exploring the market, such as having to barter or survive pick-pockets. We also built miniature brooms, which could either be the items the characters were searching for, or be something that helped them along the way.

Escape from the Wizard’s Library (for the Year 5s)

For this project, we sent characters to retrieve a book from a dangerous library! We mapped out the libraries and worked on specific scenes to bring the situation to life. A fun part of this project was building the actual spell books!

How to Steal from a Dragon (for the Year 6s)

This project involved an examination of character perspective and point of view. We imagined two main characters, the first being a dragon and the second being a thief who wanted to steal a scale from that dragon. This led to many conversations about how we wanted to steer the readers’ sympathies. We wrote legends about the dragons that could be discovered to be false once the more conventional parts of the stories took shape. And, of course, we built the dragon scales!

Once I finished at the first school, I headed to a second one where I spent one session with each grade, from Kindergarten all the way to Grade 8. These were more like a conventional school visits for me. There was no time for prop-building or to review the students’ writing, but we did get to complete some fun visual brainstorming!

As part of my time at the schools, I was also able to do some parent talks, individual mentoring, and a professional development session with teachers. It seemed there was never a dull moment and I’m particularly thankful to all the arrangements made by my hosts. Each residency comes with a unique set of challenges, but dealing with jet lag and a new locale are ones I don’t always have to deal with!

I’m now embarking on another residency at a school closer to home, here in Vancouver. The fun continues (though the food won’t be as good, since I won’t have access to all of that fresh fruit like I did in Bangkok)!

Alleys of inspiration

I took this photo when I was in downtown Vancouver recently. I remember feeling compelled to do so (I actually backtracked a few steps to take it after passing by). I didn’t really question what intrigued me about it at the time—I tend to just record things that catch my attention without analyzing the reason.

But when I came across the photo on my phone yesterday, I wondered what intrigued me about the scene. Perhaps the juxtaposition of the alley with the ornate building in the distance? Or the fact that it’s completely devoid of people?

Then I realized I have been taking photos like this for a long time, but more increasingly this past year. I have photos of empty alleys from Seoul, Bangkok, Shanghai, UK, Europe . . . I’m still not sure why I’ve been taking them! But story threads—not to mention inspiration for writing prompts for my creative writing classes—work in odd ways.

Feeling alive in Bangkok

Leaving Bangkok today after a whirlwind trip, visiting schools, delivering workshops, and creating with kids and feeling both sad for leaving, but energized by a sense of purpose.

It’s been almost ten years since I’ve been to this city and as I trod back to my hotel last night, I made sure to cherish my surroundings, this experience. Bangkok has a throbbing pulse, an unceasing rhythm. It’s a place that’s alive, in every sense of the word.

Narrow sidewalks (or none at all!) means it is impossible to not become part of this rhythm, to not live the heartbeat of the city. One minute, a scooter is zipping past you, the next you pass a trio of teens taking selfies on the corner, then an old woman grilling street meat, followed by an even older woman selling bottles of water, maybe a monk swathed in orange robes in humble sandals or bare feet. In one breath you will see abject poverty and undeniable beauty. The partitions here are translucent.

I will remember the sounds of honking, of early-morning devotion to the monks, the calls of hello on the street (“Sawasdee ka!”). I will remember the candy-pink bottles of soda sitting on the Buddhist street shrines, the trees defying the cement of the city with their roots and branches and determination, and the pink blush of the sky at sunset. I will remember the feel of the swelter on my skin, the stickiness around my collar, the relief of a cool shower. I will remember the taste of sweet chili spice and succulent mangos, the crunch of Thai rose apples (my favourite!).

But I hope I will not have to remember them for too long! In the meantime, thank you, Bangkok, for a bit of rejuvenation. And a thank you to the schools, too, for hosting me . . . though I feel there will be another post coming, eventually, when I have further time to reflect.

Wisdom of the week (March 21/2024)

The quote of the week for the teens in my creative writing classes comes from Emily Dickinson:

“Forever is composed of nows.”

There are many ways to interpret this quote; I’m sure some will take it as commentary on procrastination! We can also think of it as simple advice as living in the moment, being present.

I chose it this week to remind my teen writers to enjoy the process of writing. A lot of times, artistic-minded people like to dwell on legacy, or how a future reader will think of a work, or if it will be simply good enough to “pass.”

I think those types of musings are natural, but they aren’t very helpful if they prevent us from accomplishing anything during a specific writing session (for example, in one of my classes!).

It’s why I like to give my students prompts writing prompts during workshop time. They all have ambitious passion projects and, in the grand tradition of writers, labour (fuss) over them tirelessly. But for a writing prompt that they have zero emotional attachment to? They seem to birth those with ease, creating almost as if by magic these wonderful pieces.

Are those pieces raw? Yes! Would they need work if they were to do something more with them? Yes! But the output that they often achieve during these activities is often amazing. It’s certainly an example of them not worrying about “next”, and only worrying about “now.”

I’m still in Bangkok, doing author visits, and enjoying working with all the different grades. Yesterday, I started with a Grade 1 class and ended with Grade 8s. Really fascinating to experience that juxtaposition and see how they embrace the “here and now” of creativity!

Here’s a gallery of what my past week has looked like in the classroom:

By the way, speaking of living in the now, I headed up to Khao San Road in Bangkok to sample the street meat. And street meat there was a plenty!

Yep. I ate the scorpion. It was pretty cooked, so it actually tasted more like fried chicken than anything else, which, is what I expect all the creepy-crawlies taste like. Still, I think I’ll try the spider next time!

Wisdom of the week (March 14/2024)

The quote of the week for the teens in my creative writing classes comes from Franz Kafka. I edited the quote for the visual, so here is a longer version:

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”

I think us older authors can be guilty of this impulse, but I see it in my teen writers, too. Sometimes they worry about whether it’s “cool” or “right” or “important.” My only answer is IT IS—if your idea is cool, right, and important to you.

And chances are, if you find it important, then there’s someone else out there who will agree.

I’m in Bangkok this week, working as a writer/artist-in-residence at a school that really gets my philosophy: process before product / exploration before result / input before output. As part of my time here, I’ve presented to both teachers as part of a professional development workshop and to parents on strategies for boosting literacy. And for the kids? Well, we’ve been building worlds with mapping, props . . . and, of course, words.

Wisdom of the week (Feb 29/2024)

Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable." Octavia E. Butler

The quote of the week for the teens in my creative writing classes comes from Octavia E. Butler, American science fiction writer. I abbreviated the quote on the visual, so here’s a longer version:

“Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.”

I love this quote because it helps to demystify creativity. It’s fun (and a gift!) to get those lightning-bolt ideas, but if we want to rely on those super-charged moments of inspiration, or on simply being in the “write mood” then we probably won’t get very far. We end up thinking about writing, instead of just actually writing. (I’m guilty of this, but far less than when I was younger).

Establishing habits, patterns, and what I would call “coping mechanisms for creativity dearth” can ultimately take us a lot farther. So many of my teens are working on long-term passion projects, but I still make them write shorter pieces with me, to keep those creative muscles in use!

Speaking of creative sparks . . .

This week I was presenting at a school and was warned that there would be a fire drill after my first session. But that morning, just after I had finished setting up, there was a REAL fire in one of the portables.

We had to evacuate, the fire trucks charged in, and we waited outside on the field until the situation was clear. (And, yes, I brought dragon eggs to the school, but the fire was NOT my fault, I swear.)

This is actually the second time I had a fire situation! Many years ago, during one of my trips to Seoul, I was hunkering down early for the night because I had a school visit the next morning. Well, the building behind my hotel BLEW UP due to a gas leak. Here’s the photo I took of the flames through the hotel window:

I had to evacuate and wait several hours until I could go get some sleep. I was already jet-lagged from coming in that day.

Let’s just say my school presentation the following morning was extra difficult. In times like those, I rely on my habits, patterns, and experiences to help me get through!

Exploring creative pathways in Korea—dragon style!

I’m wrapping up an author tour in Korea, where I co-led a creative writing camp for ages 9-18 and delivered workshops to libraries and academies with fellow writers Stacey Matson and Greg Brown.

Even though I’ve been presenting and leading workshops for a long time, this was the first time since pre-covid that I’ve done this kind of intensive tour that involved multiple ages, language levels, and skillsets. I did a lot of planning in advance and I’m happy (relieved?) it all turned out. Because delivering an author presentation is one thing, but leading a workshop and sustaining interest over several hours (or days!) is a whole other kettle of spells . . .

Summer of the dragon

One of my strategies for this tour was to keep most of my content focused on a theme: Dragons. This allowed me to prepare (and pack!) a focused supply kit and presentation suite, which I adjusted for each group based on:

The amount of time I had for the workshop
The language level of the students
The creative skillset of the students (typically not anything to worry about!)

Of course, I didn’t know about the students’ levels or interests until I was “on the ground”, but this theme was broad enough that it could allow me to pivot on the spot and expand or contract my planned activities.

Creative writing camp

Our week began with a seven-day intensive writing camp hosted by the Creative Writing Children Society in Yangpyeong, Korea. We had two groups of kids, 31 in all. For the older group I actually did not do anything connected to dragons. These were kids I knew well, having taught them via Zoom or in person over the years. That meant I could deliver quite a few experimental creativity projects, such as writing via lucid dreaming and creating sound art (I might write more about that experience in a future blog post).

For the younger group, it was dragon time. Over the week, I had them write a number of scenes in which a thief character is tasked to climb through the wilderness to seek a dragon’s lair and pluck a scale from the creature. This project involved an exploration of dragons throughout world mythology, an examination of character perspective (who does the reader sympathize with?), and even symbology (some students decided that the dragon is not a literal dragon, but a human character who has been mythologize as a dragon).

As part of this week, we crafted dragon scales and built kits for the thieves to take on their quests. Because we had so many days at our disposal, we had the time to do this sort of intensive craft.

We began by using pieces of plastic cut from a soda bottle and decorating them with stick-on acrylic jewels and/or glue from a low-temperature glue gun:

Next, we gave them a coat of mod podge, then painted them black:

The final step was painting with metallic colours. The results were amazing! Here are some of the kids’ projects:

Food, food, and more food!

We had a day off after camp and explored Gwangjang Market, one of Seoul’s oldest traditional markets. You can buy clothing, souvenirs, and all sorts of things here—but, really, it’s about the food. You can sit at a bench in front of one of the many stalls and sample gamjajeon hot off the grill—or many types of other fare. Basically, I adored this place!

Librarians are the best

Everyone who works in the writing biz could tell you how fabulous librarians are, and this is worldwide phenomenon in my experience! I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Juhee Song at her libraries in the past and this year I was invited back to do presentations with two groups, one for grades 1-3 and another for grades 4-6. The presentations were 60-80 minutes, which isn’t a lot of time, but I was still able to roll out an introduction and deliver some activities.

For the younger kids, I modified my activity to have them create an invitation to a dragon’s birthday party. This involved only a bit of writing, but a lot of visual literacy. They even created maps on the back of the invitations, showing the invitees how to get to the dragon’s house!

For kids who still needed something to do, I had them design the costumes for a mouse character that has been invited to the party—and needs something to wear.

Sidenote: Juhee showed me this book sanitation machine in the library! I’ve never seen anything like it.

Yeosu youth programming

Next, we took the KTX rail line to Yeosu, a beautiful town on the southern coast of the Korean peninsula. Yeosu is famous for food, but it’s also an important city in Korean history since it was here that Admiral Yi Sun-sin repelled the Japanese during the Joseon period. He was responsible for the so-called “Turtle boat”, an important factor in the success of the defense. (And look, there’s a dragon on the boat—right on theme.)

While there, we stayed in beautiful accommodation overlooking the city. Not only did I see a spectacular sunset, but the city puts on a nightly fireworks show and I was treated to a spectacular view of it.

I also got to sleep in a traditional way—on the floor. It wasn’t my first time to do this, but I was glad for the opportunity to do it again. We watch many K-dramas in our house, and we’re always watching the characters sleep in this fashion!

As for the workshops, it was more dragon-themed programming! The youngest group was quite challenging, since they were as young as five years old. Thankfully, my son is five, so I have a wealth of experience with that age group and I was able to lean heavily on the visual literacy aspect for those kids that struggled with English.

So, more birthday party invitations and, for the older kids, more quests up the mountain to steal an egg from a dragon.

Creativity at CORI

Our next event came at CORI learning center in Yongin, where we had two days of activities. Marilyn, the steward of CORI, developed a fantastic plan for us. Day 1 involved the mentors learning alongside the students, making some traditional crafts, such as ceramic designs for mirrors and keychains, and painting oil lamps. In between, while waiting things to dry, we led an activity in which the kids wrote a legend about a mirror. (This was a spur-of-the-moment thing that turned out really well!).

Day two at CORI was a solo event for me and I had several hours of programming to fill. There was no time to build anything, but I did give the kids some prebuilt thief kits and had them imagine what each item could do. We also created proclamations from an Emperess/Emperor who wanted an egg stolen from a dragon in the mountains. The students’ favourite part of the proclamation was giving them official steals using wax and embossing stamps.

We also wrote “mirror expressions”, in which the students pondered the emotions of two opposing characters, the thief and the dragon. By the afternoon, we had completed many writing projects that had served as clandestine brainstorming, setting them up perfectly to write a conventional story about a thief scaling the mountain to find the dragon.

Whew! What an incredible couple of weeks of creativity, company, and amazing food. I’m now looking forward to a few weeks off before diving into more creative writing programs in the fall.

Traveling with kids—going downhill!

Have you ever gone on a sled ride where there was NO snow involved?

I’ve been posting about my family trip to Europe and the experiences of two veteran travellers adjusting to adventuring with a five-year-old. There were a lot of ups and downs. The experience we had on the island of Madeira was definitely a “down” experience!

We spent a week on the island with our extended family, and my in-laws kept talking about the Madeira toboggan run. I couldn’t quite understand what they were talking about, so I did some research and, yep, people go down asphalt roads on sleds. The strange way of traveling originated in the 1800s as a way for locals to quickly get from the village of Monte at the top of the hill down to Funchal by the water.

Here’s my photo of the classic Portuguese tile art that depicts this in years gone by:

Doesn’t it look like a gentle, courtly activity?

It’s not quite like that these days! The journey is now primarily for tourists. The sleds are made out of wicker and are powered by two “carreiros”, dressed in white and wearing straw hats. They also wear rubber soled boots, which they use as brakes.

Things go downhill . . .

Well, we had to try it. After all, we had taken a lot of public transport on our trip (subways, trains, tuk-tuks, donkeys), so why not this? During my previous travels, I’ve ridden horses, camels, and elephants—not to mention that, being a good Canadian kid, I’ve done my fair share of tobogganing down icy slopes.

On the day we went, we had a particularly long wait because a cruise trip had pulled into Madeira and the island was swelling with extra tourists. Still the wait—and the cost—was worth it. Sledding into Funchal was one of those tourist trap activities that you just have to do. I’m all about the unique experiences . . . and this was it!

Well, down we wait, shrieking in delight all the way down (all three of us!).

The route is about two kilometers and takes many twists and turns. It even crosses traffic intersections patrolled by attendants with stop signs to halt the cars. I’m not sure how fast we ever went, though official literature says you can go up to 38 km/hour!

The route ends at a souvenir stand (no surprise) where you can purchase a photo that they’ve taken of you along the way. Once again, that was another one of those tourist trap things that we fell for—because, well, you kind have to.

Afterward, the carreiros are bussed back to the top of the mountain, and the sleds are carted up on flatbed trucks. As for us, it was a one-kilometer walk down the steep slope to where we were staying. As it happened, we were on the same road. I imagine, back in the day, the sleds would have gone right past that house!

Well, what’s the strangest ride YOU’ve ever taken?

The magic of Livraria Lello

I’ve been blogging about the inspirational trip my family and I took to Europe in March—and the challenges of travelling with a five-year-old!

I love galleries, museums, castles—you know, all things historical! But for our son, unless it’s a place where he can run around with impunity, he’s not a fan.

Still, we tried to incorporate as much of these things as possible during our trip and one of the places I was really looking forward to visiting was the Livraria Lello & Irmão in Porto.

I first heard about Livraria Lello from my in-laws, who brought back a picture book for Hiro a couple years ago. It mentions how the store served as inspiration for J.K. Rowling’s world-building. Once we knew we were heading to Portugal, we did more research on the store and realized it was a must-see destination. During my author visits to schools, one of my favourite story starters with students is something called “Lost in the Library,” in which I lead the students in a brainstorming activity to map out a massive magical library, filled with wonder and danger. I show images from many of the libraries and stores I have visited around the world—so I simply needed to experience Livraria Lello.

The store is so popular that you have to buy tickets for entry. I believe they were five euros each, but you can use these toward book purchases once you’re inside. So we purchased our tickets the day before and headed to the store for our entry time.

I was definitely surprised by the length of the line-up to get in.

My expectations were now heightened! I was super excited, and then . . .

Well, if you’re a parent of a toddler, you know you can ask your child 7,648 times before leaving anywhere if they have to go to the bathroom and they will say no 7,647 out of those 7,648 occasions. Then, the moment when it’s most convenient, there’s the most urgent need to answer Mother Nature’s beckoning.

The moment we crossed the threshold of Livraria Lello, Hiro announced for all to hear that he needed to go (and he was very, uh . . . specific in his proclamation). So, instead of having that romantic moment of gaping in wander, breathing in the aroma of books—you know, all the things—we had to deal with a panicked plea. I was having flashbacks to earlier on in the trip when I tried to take Hiro to the Picasso Museum.

Marcie said she’d take care of the situation, and whipped into action. (Byt the way, it’s no surprise, but there’s no bathroom in Livraria Lello, which meant Marcie and Hiro had to negotiate an exit with the guard at the gates, then go on a bit of an odyssey to find facilities.)

It all worked out, and Hiro was in a much better mood by the time they met back up with me.

In a way, they timed it perfectly. I entered the shop with a swarm of people, and it wasn’t until twenty minutes later that I realized the crowd had thinned. So my recommendation is if you visit and find yourself in the same situation, wait it out at bit. The visitors come in waves, as is suggested by the staged ticketing—I assumed most people would be like me and spend at least an hour in the store, but many cleared out within fifteen minutes.

There are many things to marvel at in Livraria Lello. It’s famous for its gorgeous red staircase—and it’s definitely wonderful. I even liked the underbelly of the steps, where you can find carved lion heads and—in the case of Hiro—a place to hunker down in relative solitude.

There were many different details that Marcie and I noticed and photographed; the cabinets and (Narnia-like?) lamppost on the top floor, the ceiling . . . well, it’s just one of those magical realms you have to experience for yourself.

Hiro’s favourite part was definitely the book bin. This is a bin that travels along built in rails along the bottom floor—kind of like a mine cart. My favourite part was the architecture—and, of course, the books! They came in many shapes, sizes, ages, languages, and genres.

Yep, we cashed in all the vouchers that came with our tickets! Afterward, we headed to a nearby park, sat underneath a tree at an outdoor cafe and mooned over our wares. Here’s what we ended up with (Hiro got two books, and I’ll let you guess which ones).

Oh, by the way, there’s a vending machine outside—a vending machine for books . . . just in case you get caught late at night and needing your fix.

When you find a big hole . . . go down it

It’s kind of a rule when you’re an author seeking inspiration. And not only did I recently descend into the cavernous, spiralling pit that I found . . . I took the five-year-old.

But first things first! This is Part 2 of a recap of the big family trip we took in March to Europe. My wife and I are accustomed to going on long, exploratory trips to build inspiration for our writing (me), acting (Marcie), and teaching careers (both of us), but this is the first sort of epic journey we’ve taken with our son.

Ups and downs—literally and metaphorically

After spending time in Spain, we made our way to Portugal. It was a long travel day that involved a car ride to the airport, then the flight itself, followed by subway hopping to arrive at our hotel, which was just on the outskirts of Lisbon’s main quarter.

Hiro was exhausted by the time we arrived—not just from the travel day, but from all the unceasing days of adventure we had spent so far. Did that make us pause and take a day off for rest?

Nope.

Our first full day out, we were charging around the city, checking out Elevador de Santa Justa, which is a 19^th century elevator that transports you up from the Baixa district in Lisbon to the Largo do Carmo, where you can visit the Museu Arqueológico do Carmo. Hiro was already showing signs of fatigue here, so I went into the archaeological site by myself while Marcie and Hiro rested in the square outside.

I had the time to trek beneath the roofless arches and explore the different corners of the site. The medieval convent was ruined in the earthquake of 1755, and some of it has been restored for visitors to explore. It was a fantastic experience, and the cost to enter was only five euros!

By the time I got out, we could tell that Hiro was fading fast. We headed back to the hotel, and for the next two days his fever bounced around, going up and down and causing us a lot of anxiety. Thankfully, we had a really good farmacia nearby and their English was excellent. I was able to get the right combination of fever medication for Hiro.

A maze, a castle, and some vainglorious chickens

Well, we were forced to hunker down while he recovered. Marcie and I spent shifts looking after him, while the other one of us went out and did our own exploring. I took the opportunity in the morning to visit the nearby Parque Eduardo VII, which featured a long set of decorative mazes. They only went to my knees—so not really that tricky, but I had my notebook with me and it was a good place to sit in the sun and do a bit of writing.

Afterward, I decided to train into the heart of Lisbon and trek up the hill to visit Castelo de São Jorge. It was quite the hike up there, but I enjoyed the switchback streets and all the old sights along the way—including the main weathered and storied doors.

The castle itself was a marvellous experience, offering many breathtaking views. I enjoyed climbing up to the various turrets and rampart walkways. I’m not the best with heights, and the stones of this castle are worn and weathered to smoothness, but there are plenty of railings. Still, I was amazed to see people perching between the crenellations, taking selfies. All I could think of was how simple it would be to plummet off the edges.

I was also thankful Hiro wasn’t with me. He bounces around so much, and has NO fear of heights. My imagination would have been going wild if he had been with me, charging along those narrow walkways and trying to lean out for a view.

After exploring the walls, I made my way back to safety and weaved my way past the peacocks (or as I like to think of them, gradiose chickens) who populate the castle grounds.

Next it was time to relieve Marcie and take some time with Hiro.

A place of palaces

Eventually, after two days of rest and sleep, our little explorer had recovered and we set off for some day trips. The first trip was to Porto, but I’m going to leave that for another post! The second trip was to Sintra, where you can visit palaces and castles.

We had grand ambitions of visiting all the sites there, but we quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen, especially with Hiro (we started to realize that we needed to slow down!). So we decided to focus on two sites: Palácio da Pena and Quinta da Regaleira.

Sintra, like so much of Portugal, is situated in the hills, which means it’s not entirely easy to navigate to the different sites. We opted on getting a bus pass, but found this to be a bit inefficient and quickly realized why so people opted for the motorized tuk-tuks. I will say that Hiro loved the bus rides though—the dramatic winding roads made for a lot of fun, kind of like a rollercoaster ride. His “oohs” and “ahs” definitely entertained our fellow passengers.

Still, busses can only take you so far to the sites. Climbing is inevitable!

Still no photos, please!

Palácio da Pena is branded as a fairytale palace—and we saw why, firsthand.

The brightly coloured spires and turrets and the lavish interiors offer many photo opportunities—though Hiro still fought us on the poses. Marcie managed to capture one great photo with Hiro and I, but when we tried to get a family photo . . . well!

Speaking of “well” . . .

Our next stop at Sintra was Quinta da Regaleira, which features the famous Initiation Well, which was built for ceremonial purposes, to conduct rituals based upon arcane or esoteric beliefs. Really, it’s like a subterranean tower, with a set of stone steps spiralling every downward into the dark and damp. In other words, it looks like a set straight out of Star Wars or Game of Thrones, and I desperately wanted to go down it.

Marcie was straggling, so Hiro and I headed into the well without her. I immediately wondered if I was making the wisest of decisions because it wasn’t immediately apparent how to exit the pit, since it was a one-way flow. This worry was underscored by the woman right behind us who had her baby on her front carrier. She asked me, “Should I take my baby down here?” I pointed out that maybe I wasn’t the best one to follow.

But follow us, she did! Downward we spiralled and the way grew darker and damper. I kept expecting Hiro to panic, but he didn’t—in fact, he was having the time of his life. When the woman behind us bumped into us at one point, Hiro laughed and said, “I just got kicked in the head by a baby’s foot!”

Eventually, we ended up in the labyrinth of tunnels at the bottom of the well and had additional fun exploring them. Eventually, we found Marcie down there and we all exited at the same time, through a cozy grotto patrolled by a guard. I asked the guard if they ever had to go into the cave to find lost stragglers and she admitted “sometimes.”