A pretty good weekend

Thursday night I walked home from work, it was about 8.5km.  I found a really cute neighbourhood along the way.  If I remember I will post a picture.  It was a nice walk, I plan to do it again.

Friday- busy day!  Got up early to see my old massage therapist.  Since moving, I haven't been able to find a good one out here.  Then I drove all the way to Burnaby to pick-up my jacket that I had forgotten a work the night before.  Then I finally had an x-ray (of a toe that no longer wants to work properly).  Then to Vancouver for a movie, dinner and drinks.  The movie isn't worth reviewing- Monument Men.

Saturday- accidentally slept in until 12:00! I don't even know how that happened.  Despite the late start, I managed to make it to the farmers market before it ended.  Pathetic.  I know it's winter and not much grows right now, but there wasn't any produce for sale.  All I wanted was some kale and that grows in the winter!  Then it was tour de pet store; I went to 4 pet stores trying to find something.  Annoying, but I did find a cool pet store that I will go back to with the nieces when they are in town.  Did a quick spin around Hanan (it's a Korean grocery store that apparently doesn't see many white girls).  I was hoping for cheap fruit, but was disappointed.  Left with some tea and bok choy.   Unfortunately I don't think I'll drink the tea, once I got it home I found the English list of ingredients: green tea and brown rice.  What the hell is rice doing in tea?  Then I came home and set up the new fish tank and did yoga.

Did I share about my fish tank?  I wanted a bigger tank, but didn't want to shell out a ton of money.  I bought a tank on craigslist in a shady part of Surrey, but I dropped it on the ground a couple feet from my car.  It shattered into a million pieces.  Then a lady responded to my ad and offered me a tank for free.  The lady turned out to be my old next door neighbour!  Then another lady in Maple Ridge gave me a box of gravel, décor and a heater.  All in the tank cost me $60. $30 for the tank I dropped, and $30 for a new filter.  The theme for the new tank is kinda zen.  Think Buddha, lucky bamboo and fish from south east Asia. 

Sunday- Had lunch at Gorilla Food- it's a raw food café.  It was pretty good, but not amazing, for raw food it felt like a heavy meal.  I ordered Thai collard green wraps, a salad and a juice.  I'll go back again, and try out a few more items on their menu.  Then it was off to the Wellness Show at the Vancouver Convention Centre.  It was ok. Some products I didn't feel belonged there- like the guys selling life insurance and the plastic surgeon.  There were some yummy treats, and lots of freebies.  I tried kamboucha- not super impressed (fermented tea); and bought some honey lozenges that saved me the last time I had a cold.  I started to not feel well towards the end, and so didn't go back to some of the booths that caught my eye at the start.  And now I have to clean and do laundry.

Drunken Blogging

It was recently brought to my attention that I have neglected my blog.  Truth be told its because I have lost interest in it.  I am contemplating starting a new blog with a different topic, or maybe just a instagram feed.  We will see. 

So taking advantage of a drunken moment where I am too liquored to go to bed, but also too drunk to do anything else.  Lets sum up the last few months.  I transferred back to the city, bought a condo, love my new co-workers, been busy pretty much every night and weekend.  In short I have a social life.  Its been great, best thing I did was move back.  Best thing I did before that was move away so I found out how much I miss the city.  Does that make sense?  Drunky brain. 

I thought I should explain the drunken blogging, I went to a retirement party for some old co-workers.  What a treat to see some people I hadn't seen in 10 years!  Plus the venue was 2 blocks from home (hello did I mention how I bought a condo in the best location?), so I took advantage of the proximity and drank to excess with people that have known me for ... 16 years.  Fun!  A quick stumble home.

This month is yoga month.  Lovely.  Swear to god, in some classes I have been the star pupil.  I'm kicking yoga's ass.  I'm such a keener, I love to hear that I have lovely form or that I can move into a more advanced position.  Tomorrow I have a 9:30 class, will see how I feel about yoga tomorrow..... 

Hong Kong part 3

We had a picnic in the park...Victoria Park? 

Lots of turtles and koi fish

There are always lots of signs telling you what you can and cannot do.  Do not wash your clothes in the toilet?  Was that really such a problem that they needed to make a sign?

We had a drink on the rooftop lounge at the IFC mall

Waiting for the ferry to take us back to Discovery Bay.  Just outside the ferry terminal is place to buy a glass of wine.  Ice cold white wine was sure nice on a hot day.

Terrible picture of me.  Sarah made me wear the poppy.  They sell the paper UK-style poppies.  I always kinda felt that wearing a poppy was a sign of supporting past wars as well as remembering those that died.  I'm not sure I'm down with the current war, but Sarah was having none of that.

This is one of my stupider moments.  I missed my flight even though I was at the airport with time to spare. 

I wandered the airport, watched the Canadian military plane for a while.  Then I walked back to my gate, except I ended up sitting at the gate next to my gate.  I didn't realize my mistake until I went to board and noticed the display said "Taipei" instead of "Vancouver".  I ran next door just in time to see my plane pushing off from the gate.

There was a moment when I was absolutely sick to my stomach.  I ran down to the customer service desk and waited in line dreading to learn my fate.  So many scenarios ran through my head.  In the end, I was placed on the next flight 8 hours later and had to pay a $50 fee, go back through customs and wait 8 long hours. 

Now to say I was paranoid of missing my flight was an understatement.  In the final 3 hours before I boarded my flight, they changed the gate 3 times and the flight was delayed 30 minutes.  I kept checking the board like I had OCD- each time my gate changed, I would pack up and move to that gate.  In the end, I was grateful to be on the flight, even though my gluten free meal was not on my flight, the flight attendants were great at scrounging up fruits and veggies for me to eat.  I sat next to an elderly couple from New York.  They farted frequently.

Thailand

Then it was off for a week in Phuket.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn.  It was lovely.  The hotel staff were great.  It seemed every night just before bed, we would have some sort of disaster, and they were great at cleaning it up.  However, since I was not officially a guest of the hotel, I would have to hide (sometimes in a closet) until the coast was clear.



 

We has a great room right at the private pool.  The hotel was across the street from the beach and was right in the heart of the action.

There was a swim-up bar, several restaurants and a kids club.  Down the street was a juice bar which I fell in love with.  There was also a juice bar in Discovery Bay, but it was pretty expensive, about $5 a juice

The beach on our first night.  On our last night we lit paper lanterns and released them into the night sky.

The grounds of the hotel were so beautiful. 

This was THE BEST.  I bought so much fruit!  The pineapple was to die for, the mangos were not.  I had plans of getting a massage on the beach.  Unfortunately I ended up having to laydown on the sidewalk half naked to get my massage.  Not ideal surroundings, but it was cheap.

I tried rambutan, mangosteen, guava and jack fruit.  In Discovery Bay, I ate my weight in papaya.  Delish! A fruity girl's paradise 

Most of the hotel was open air, with our private pool tucked away from most of the hotel guests.  I was very lucky that the restaurant's chef understood gluten-free and made me some wonderful meals.  He warned me that most people would not understand gluten-free.  I was happy to stick to fruit, steamed rice and booze outside of the hotel.

At the Phuket mall

love the statues at the hotel

It was eerie to think that the entire area had been destroyed just 9 years before.  There were no signs of the tsunami now, everything has sine been rebuilt.  The hotel had a memorial plaque to commemorate the tsunami.  I couldn't help but wonder how many of the staff and guests had died that day.

The shrine at the hotel.  The staff lit incense and left fresh fruit, drinks and flowers every day

Amazing gardens

Ron and Linda joined us in Phuket.  Ron is writing on the roof of the bar "The Sutherlands 2013".  At each little bar we went to we got to select the music which was a nice treat.  Gangnam style will forever bring-up memories of this trip

There are these little street-side bars all over the place.  They were the perfect place to cool off.  Each had an assortment of bar games

The goal of this game was to drive a nail in with one big whack.  I was a total failure.  I couldn't drive a nail in with 10 whacks.  I blame the pointy hammer.  Around this time, I decided my deathly cold was going to kill me, so I went to the drug store and bought myself a lovely stockpile of antibiotics. 

Sarah's weakness.  Crepe with nutella for $1.60 Canadian

An afternoon at the girly-bars.  This was really before things got hopping.  I did run into a transgendered performer in the washroom.  She looked much better in that sequined thong than I would!  The girls found their own entertainment with beer cozies

The bar staff were more than willing to play bar games like connect-4, Janga or to play with the girls.  I think the Thai people are the friendliest of people, part of the reason I really love Thailand 

At the end of the night, we hopped on a party... tuktuk?  I'm not sure what it was.  It was like a minivan and a scooter mushed together.  It had lights and loud music, so it was fun!

I can't believe I didn't get video of the Muay Thai promoters.  Ella absolutely loved them  They came down the street in a van with music blaring.  On the loud speaker was a guy yelling "Saturday! Saturday! Muay Thai Boxing!  You See Muay Thai, You See Thailand!!"  They handed out posters promoting the upcoming fight.  Ella was transfixed by them, and always got a poster.  In the picture above, Ella is clutching one of their posters.  We would later lose this poster and it was a major disaster.  And then it was back to Hong Kong for a couple of days.

Hong Kong Part 2- Ocean Park

Part two of my trip to Hong Kong.  We all spent the day at Ocean Park.  This was the day when my cold was really bad.  My throat was so sore, I think I only said 10 words the whole day.  Despite my plague-like cold, this was one of my favorite days in Hong Kong.

 

 

 



 

What a cheery looking sting ray

This was a tube shaped aquarium that was at least 2 stories tall.  The fish swam in schools, it was really very cool looking.

The shark tank

I'd never seen a panda before.  Luckily they were feeling very photogenic that day

I really liked the penguin exhibit, it was like walking into a freezer.  We all had to bundle up, even still, it was probably 5 degrees.  Not even that cold, but it in comparison to the temperature outside, it was very refreshing.

I had never seen a walrus either.  He was huge!  In the water he was so graceful.

Ocean Park is built on 2 mountain tops.  Kind of a strange place to put an amusement park. 

The jellyfish were so beautiful!

On the gondola going from one side of the park to the other

Ella loved this ride.  She spent at least an hour going on it over and over and over.

Red Panda- looks more like a racoon with a bad dye job

 

 

 

I really liked Ocean Park, however the food was shit.  The food was very Asian.  All over there were these flattened deep-fried squid stands.  They smelled so strongly of squid, I was gagging.  Normally, it wouldn't have bothered me so much, but I was so sick that day.  The locals were loving it up.