My crazy Spanish friends

Too old for Bilbao

Well here I am in Bilbao, Spain. Been here visiting friends and going to the Guggenheim, etc.
I love Bilbao...but fear that I am getting too old for coming here. Because my friends here are a little bit crazy and I end up going out far too late. Friday night it was until 7am and last night I ended the night early at 330 and they kept going for another 3 hours. Today I feel like I have been hit by a truck.

But the sun is shining and I really want to be outside...la vida no es facil.

Full circle

Well the trip has finally come full circle. It started off with visiting the family 12 months ago...and it has ended the same way.

On my sister Yvonne's farm right now hanging out with my sis, brother in law and my nephew Harley. Playing hockey, riding quads, card games, etc. All good fun. But for some reason my sister Yvonne is determined to torture Debbie and I. I put it down to jealousy. She is envious of the fact that we just spent 12 months in the sunshine...so she is making us pay by freezing our asses off.
She heats her house with a wood burning stove...and refuses to turn the furnace on. While Deb and I walk around in longjohns with pants over top, 2 or 3 sweaters and a blanket wrapped around us, she sits there with a slightly evil grin on her face. I even have to bring a pillow to the dinner table as the chair is too cold for my butt. I thought she loved me, but now I am beginning to wonder.

Sat in BC at my nona's watching the deer eat the trees in her yard, drove through some treacherous conditions on the Rogers pass, bottle fed a baby calf, visited some old friends from high school, etc. It has been good.

On Monday or Tuesday I am going to Harley's school and doing a presentation to the grade 3 glasses on India. Should be fun...like I said full circle. I was his show and share before I went on the trip and will end it doing the same.

Deb got a job...everyone give her a round of applause. She starts on Tuesday. Not sure she is happy about that...but it sounds like a good job, so I am happy for her.

Alberta photos

Oh my tender tootsies

There are just some things that you don't consider when you come home after a year in the sun.
I know my tan would fade. I knew my skin would turn all flaky and dry. I knew I would be cold. I knew I would get my appetite back.

What I didn't know was that after a year of being in sandals, that when I finally put my feet back into shoes, they would bark as loud as they are now. Yep...I have at least 5 blisters on each foot...some of them between my toes. Every step I take is accentuated by a blinding pain. Who knew!

So as of this moment, my feet are officially in boot camp. I have to toughen them up to be back in the real world...after all I don't think my chacos would look good with a pair of dress pants, a summer dress...or much of anything actually.

Oh Canada

Ok...so I am frozen. That much is official. I can't seem to get warm and I can't seem to sleep through the night.
Arrived in Calgary and mom was supposed to pick us up at the airport. She says she was there, but I don't believe her. We waited at the international arrivals area for 2 hours. After the first hour I started calling the hospitals to make sure she hadn't been in an accident. After that I just started to get angry. I paged her, walked up and down the airport...no mom. Finally, called her and she answered her phone at home. Yah sure, she was at the airport.

All this time she is complaining about how we have been gone for too long...then we get here and she sits on her duff probably watching reruns of "House" instead of getting us at the airport. We ended up taking a taxi home. Good thing she had home made spaghetti, red wine and cookies waiting for us or I would have turned around and high-tailed it back to Bangkok!

Now we are in Sparwood at my nona's house. Like I said, I am frozen. But really, it is very beautiful here. We sit at her kitchen table drinking tea and cappuccino and watch the deer walk through her yard. Gorgeous views of the snow covered mountains in every direction. A very different kind of beauty to what we have experienced this past year.

Just finished sanding and varnishing her hard wood floors...I guess we are her cheap labour. She says the cheque is in the mail, but seeing as she doesn't have a chequing account I have a hard time believing her.

bye bye Bangkok

Deb and I got here 2 days ago and it has been a flurry of activity from the moment we arrived.
Let's see...how have we filled our time? Got some paintings we bought in Myanmar framed. Deb's painting is quite big...she got it matted and framed with glass for $60. It would have cost at least $400 back in Canada. I went to the doctor for some strange mark that looks like a burn on my hand. We both went to the dentist. Teeth cleaning cost $17 for Deb and I had to get a filling redone and get my teeth cleaned. Total cost was $62. Figured I might as well do it now as it could be a while before I am on benefits.

What else? Oh yah...had a 2 hour thai massage for $9. Ha...wonderful. Had to squeeze one more of those in before we leave. Ate some awesome thai food...having phad thai and a Singha beer for dinner tonight. Have already mentally ordered it. Did a little shopping. Yep...more shopping. I swear I will be flat broke and clinically depressed when I get back to Canada but I will be dressed to kill.

Got our hair cut and coloured. Basically we are doing all the things that are cheap to do here and that we won't be able to afford to do for a while once we get back.

Tomorrow morning at 8:15am we will hop in the taxi and head out to the airport. First we fly to L.A. and the following day onto Calgary.

Good bye Asia. Madness. Heat. Shopping. Cheap massages. Long bus trips. Adventure. Sunshine. Sand. Swimming pools. Scuba diving. Great food.

Time keeps on ticking

Yesterday was a bright, sunny and very hot day. I of course, loaded down with sun screen somehow still managed to burn my nose. Deb...whose nose is significantly larger than mine never burns her nose. Don't understand it.

We started the day off with a nice long walk on the beach, watched the Kuta surfers ride the waves and then we headed back to our little hotel for a swim in the pool. Read poolside for a bit, then hopped on our motorcycle and went to a restaurant on the beach for some lunch. Deb had some seared tuna and I partook in the Mahi Mahi (delish!) and of course we took advantage of the happy hour beers! After that, the draw of the stores was too much for my elder sister. A shoe store screamed her name and in we went. She came out with a cute pair of black sandals and I came out empty handed...mostly because I sat there with my eyes closed the entire time refusing to acknowledge the plethora of earthly delights that surround me.

Last night we planned on going out to some clubs...after all it was Saturday night. But we cruised around to all the apparent 'hot spots' and they were all dead. Not too many tourists here on the island at the moment. So our effort was for nothing. We were back in the room just after midnight.

Today we will wander the beach again. Trying to burn the sounds of the waves crashing into our minds, as tomorrow we fly off to Bangkok....where hopefully we will do no shopping. Ha. Actually the plan is quite exciting for Bangkok...we plan on getting our teeth cleaned. It only costs about $20 compared to the $200 that it would cost me in Canada without benefits.

Both of us are currently living in denial that the year is almost up....

The shopping drove me to drink

So let me start by saying that Debbie and I just drank the biggest glass of red wine I have seen in a while...and it was delicious. We had a crap dinner last night. Absolutely awful. I think they scooped it up off a sandy floor as every bite was gritty with a sand-like substance. So tonight we were determined to find a good meal. There is a lovely couple staying at the hotel we are at...they spend part of the year here in Bali (in fact this is where they met, they both lost their husband and wife and met here...romantic story but I won't get into that here). I asked them for some restaurant recommendations and I didn't really hear past the 2nd recommendation when Hanna told me that this restaurant serves up very big glasses of wine. SOLD! I am there!

Now I will get to what drove me to drink. Some of you will think it is Debbie...could be, but not in this case. Some of you will think it is because we have less than 1 week left here in Asia (you are close...that is making me want to drink but it didn't push me to the bottle). What drove me to the sweet seduction of red wine is the shopping here in Bali. The only way I know how to stop myself from shopping any more is to be drunk. So for the next 3 days I have vowed to be staggering drunk. So drunk that I am slurring my words and perhaps lose control of my bowels. Anything to keep me away from the amazing stores and the SHOPPING! It is a terrible thing and this is the only way I know how to stop.

Sigh....

The clock ticks a little louder

Well thankfully, Deb is on the mend. No longer a subtle shade of grey and once again looking human. Too skinny, but human.

So as we approach our final days here in Bali we are both starting to hear a rather large clock ticking (not the biological clock) in our ears. We are doing our best to drown in out by swimming in the pool, walking on the beach and listening to the surf pound against the shore, drinking our sorrows away with cold beer...stuff like that. At times it is working quite effectively but as we both begin to apply for jobs (sob) it is less effective.

The past few days while Deb has been holed up in her room listening to the subtle sounds of her gurgling stomach, I have been out exploring with Amit. We went to a great bar on the sea for some rather expensive martini's...but the good music and the sunset made them worth the high ticket price. We have gone for massages, went to a waterpark where we slid down the waterslides (going down backwards is a BAD idea...that is all that I will say [puke puke]), fed a monkey, rented a motorcycle and cruised around the area, etc. It has been good. I had passing moments of guilt as I was floating down the lazy river at the waterpark, thinking about my poor sister...but then we would grab an inner tube and whip down a slide and all thoughts of Deb would be ripped from my mind as I was too busy clutching my bikini shorts to ensure they weren't ripped from my body by the rushing water.

All around us here in Kuta we are assaulted by great shops that continually scream our names as we pass by. My GOD, this country is amazing for cheap shopping. Friends beware...I am going to buy a whack of stuff and invite you over so you can all do some shopping. My version of a candle party...it will be an earring, t-shirt, bracelet version. So get your money ready!

The Barracuda got us

Went to Amed, Bali to do some scuba diving and we stayed in these amazing bungalows with a sunken tub and a deck that overlooked the ocean. It is low season (we were the only one's staying there) so we got a great price. The swimming pool was one of those where when you are in it, you feel like the pool becomes the ocean. It was amazing. Just chilling in the pool staring out at big blue. Sigh...

We ate at the hotel restaurant the first night...all of us ordered the barracuda. Big mistake. It may have been dead, but it bit us back HARD. I fell first. Started with some severe back pains while I was scuba diving and then the nauseau, loosies, etc. Then the others fell. But poor Deb fell hardest. I have been recovered now for a couple of days with a few lingering side effects, but I had to get the hotel to call a doctor yesterday because Deb just wasn't getting any better. Not eating, dehydrating, etc. So while I am off exploring Kuta and all its surroundings, she is stuck back at the hotel recovering. Hopefully now that she has some medication she will recover quickly...as our days are numbered. Sheesh...we leave Bali on the 26th and then fly back to Canada on March 1st. Please let it be warm.

Mom and her adventure with monkeys

We rented motorcycles yesterday and decided to go on a little roadtrip south to Ulu Watu temple. The temple itself isn't much, but the location is superb...perched on the cliff practically hanging over the ocean. So we get there after 2 hours of pretty hard riding. My knuckles were white from the dodging, weaving and braking on the way there. Once again we are in a country where traffic is mad.

We pay our entrance fee and are told to take off all our jewellery, glasses and hats because there are monkeys by the temple. Deb, Amit and I take off our sunglasses but think it is ok for mom to keep her glasses on. We are walking along past some bushes and there are all these monkeys about. They make me a little nervous to be honest. I like them from afar, but up close when they are baring their teeth and hissing at you...not so much.

I am in the lead and all of a sudden I hear a little scream from mom. A monkey has swung down off a tree and stolen the hat right off her head....the cheeky little bugger. So off I go in search of a stick to see if I can somehow get it back, because I can see the culprit and he is just sitting there chewing on it in the bushes. Then I hear Debbie yell that another monkey has stolen moms glasses. Sheesh...they were serious when they told us to take them off. I look over the railing and there he is...mom's glasses bent in half, one lens missing...chomping away on the plastic from one of the nose pieces. Kiss those glasses good bye. He is big and he is baring his teeth. Suddenly 2 Balinese men come, jump the fence and throw some cucumbers at the bugger and he drops mims glasses. He found the lens, patched them together and mom is wearing them today...without the nose pad or the plastic on the arm...but at least she can see. They even got the hat back...minus the Canada flag pin and the $2US she had tucked in the hat. I guess now the monkey can go buy his own sunglasses!

I'm turning 35, I think I'm turning 35, I really think so.

Well if you have to turn 35, having it happen on an island in Indonesia is not a bad thing at all. Our driver Dino made a pretty big deal out of it which was nice. We were in Riung (small town) and we went to the local market in the town before Riung and bought a bunch of fruits and vegetables and dropped them off at his friends house just outside of Riung....then while we were relaxing in our very sweet bungalows, he went out and bought duck and chicken and his friend who is a chef mixed us up a great dinner.

We had dinner outdoors at his house. There was a group of us, including a german couple we met along the way. There was tonnes of food, lots of arrack (local rice wine) and even a birthday cake and singing in 2 languages. It was a pretty great day.

Lombok and Flores photos

After the scuba diving...which I guess is the next post you will read...little else mattered to me. Ha. We got a driver and started exploring Flores...which is gorgeous. Mom, who has been called a rock star by a friend of mine, actually got on the back of a dirt bike and we went up a volcano to see some stunning lakes. There she sat with her Tilly hat on and a big smile on her face as William her driver bounced her over some pretty rocky terrain on the way up the mountain. It was gorgeous at the top. The crater was grey while the lakes inside were a deep blood red.

We went to a small town called Riung on the north coast and we took a boat out for the day. Went snorkelling, and then to a small island with beautiful sandy beach and swam, ate lunch, etc.

Everyone in Flores is really lovely. Everyone screams out hello, children wave and say 'hello mister'. Ha. It is gorgeous and I am amazed that more tourists don't leave the madness of Bali behind and land in Flores more often.

That said I think mom, Deb and I are happy to be back in Bali. The roads in Flores are windy, bumpy and it takes hours to travel 30 km. It means the views are stunning, but it got hard on the body after a while. WE have found ourselves a nice little bungalow with a swimming pool, hot water (which we never had on Flores) a flush toilet (which we never had on Flores) and today I had a burger for lunch...which as you guessed it was never an option in Flores.

Lombok and Flores photos

Well so much has happened over the past 3 weeks that I don't know really where to start.

We flew to Labuanbajo, Flores. Probably one of the hottest places on the planet. Thank god we could find a room with AC or we would never have survived. We took a 2 day, 1 night boat trip to Komodo and Rinca Islands to see the infamous Komodo Dragons. Wow...are they ever big and some of them are pretty fierce looking. We slept overnight on the deck of the boat and it was amazing. Great sunset, the water was so calm you never would have known we were on a boat and we did some great snrokelling. I saw so many different fish. It was almost as good as my scuba diving in Thailand. Then we went to a little island called Kanawa where we were literally the only guests at the resort. The accommodation left a little to be desired but the little lady in the kitchen caught us some fish at the end of the dock and whipped us up some great meals. It was a great place to be for a few days. No people, no distractions. Just the sand and the crystal blue waters.

While Deb and mom spent the day on the island I went and did some scuba diving. Two dives in 2 different locations and let me tell you...I am still buzzing from it. I don't even know how to explain it. We first went to a place called Manta point. My dive master said we would only dive here if we could see mantas from the boat, otherwise she said it would be a boring dive. Well we are approaching the dive spot and she is explaining to me and my dive buddy that the current is very strong so as soon as we get in the water we have to grab the rope or the current will take us away. My heart is starting to beat a little faster at this...after all it is only my 7th dive. At this precise moment one of the men on the boat screams...Manta. We all run to the edge of the boat and in the water below all you can see is the ginormous black shadow of a manta as it glides past. Wow. My heart was beating fast before.

We get in the water and descend...all is going good. We are under for about 10 mintes and we have seen some sting rays, lion fish, etc. When all of a sudden I look straight ahead and there is a giant manta swimming right towards me. It's wings going whoosh, whoosh, whoosh as it hurls towards me. I am screaming (with joy) into my regulator and it swims right over top of me...all 4m of wing span. I look up at its white belly as it flies overtop. Wow. I thought that was great. Then about 5 minutes later there are 2 more mantas. One stops at the cleaning station...at the edge of this drop off and all this silver fish descend on it and start cleaning it. We are in a strong current here so you have to kick pretty hard to stay at the drop off. So here I am right beside the manta on the cleaning station. I am on one side the dive master is on the other...and the manta is checking us both out...kind of wondering what we are. I have my arms extended out to the side like I am flying and I am fluttering at full speed and just hovering next to this big gorgeous beast. I don't know if I have really ever been happier.

Then when I thought it couldn't get any better it got to a point where there was a manta in every direction I looked. I lost count at 13. I think it must be mating season because they were gliding in from every direction, swirling upwards together, wings wrapped around one another. It was like a manta family reuntion...or a ballet. Unbelievable. When we finally surfaced, my dive master and I took the regulators out of our mouths and just screamed. It was awesome.

Lombok and Flores photos

The weigh in

Well I think I can safely say that I have travelled a fair amount. I have been on big planes, little planes, puddle jumpers, etc. But this is the first time that after I checked in my luggage and it got weighted, that I had to actually get on the scale as well holding my carry on so that they could weigh me. On our flight from Denpasar to Lombok all of us had to jump on the scale so that they could weigh us. Ha....but once we got onto the plane it all became perfectly clear why they needed to do this. It was straight out of the Jetsons with goldfish bowl windows and graphics to die for.

Tetebatu

Time seems to be on fastforward right now. Not sure why that it, but already it is time for my cousins Nadine and Rosana to leave us and really it just feels like they arrived. We left Gili Island and headed to a very small town called Tetebatu. It is on the southern side of the main volcano on the island. Cute little town..but pretty basic. 4-5 guesthouses and that is about it. I think perhaps it was a little more rugged than Nadine and Rosana were hoping for, but I think they enjoyed it all the same. We stayed at a cute little guesthouse called Green Orry and the people working there were so amazing that they really made our time there. We spent a day exploring some of the traditional weaving and pottery villages. I managed to escape them without spending some money, but both Rosana and Nadine were drawn in with the gorgeous textiles.

We had some amazing Indonesian food there. Probably the best meal I have had in Indonesia. Probably because it was made by the owners wife...so it was like a home cooked meal. Been having our afternoon Bintang (beer) and it seems to lull me nicely into my afternoon nap.

Tomorrow Rosana and Nadine fly to Bali for their flight home and we fly oneards to Flores. Our fingers are crossed that the good weather stays with us as it is supposed to be rainy season here but so far we have maybe had 10 minutes of rain. That said...it is smoking hot here and quite humid. We are all like wilted flowers and there is usually a fight for the shower!

Selamat Jalan (good bye in Indonesian...I had a lesson at the guesthouse we were at and now am loaded up with some good Indo phrases to see us through the next month)

To Married Women Everywhere

I have found a cure for all of your problems here on Gili Island. Read it and start saving your money....

The gang has arrived

Well we are officially a 'gaggle' of girls. Mom, Nadine and Rosana are all here and we have been having a great time. Spent a few days exploring Bali. Doing a little bit of shopping, checking out some temples, laughing lots and sweating lots. It is damn hot here. I got an email from my sister in Alberta this morning and she tells me that it is -30 there. I have to say I would rather be here with the sun burning my head than back in Canada.

The place we are staying has an outdoor shower, a pool, etc. Nadine and I did a dive today. The visibility wasn't that great, but we still saw a few great things, like a big old turtle.

We are on Gili Trawandan right now and all over the island in the restaurants there are signs advertising magic mushrooms. It has been a chore trying to keep mom on the straight and narrow let me tell you....

Ode to the Concorde Inn

Well if there was a poetic bone in my body, I would have been inspired to write a poem about the bed at the Concorde Inn out at the Kuala Lumpur Airport. Strange? Not really once you know the reason why.

For the past 10 months Deb and I have slept on too many beds to count...and the majority of them are so hard that you wake up several times in the night simply because your body aches.

Well.....everything else about the Concorde Inn sucked. I was looking forward to a long soak in the tub...there was only a shower. I wanted to flop on the bed and watch a marathon of TV...there was one english channel and for several hours it just showed wrestling. I looked forward to a cheesy airport hotel meal...the restaurant called The Melting Pot, was horrible.

But the bed...made it all worthwhile. It was only a single (Deb had her own). But it had crisp white sheets on it that smelled fresh and clean. The mattress was soft yet firm and had some super squishy coverlet on it that just melted to the shape of your body. There was a great pillow that wasn't hard (so you felt like your head was on a bag of flour). In short it was perfect and I had the best sleep I have had in 10 months. Sigh...Deb had to drag me from there kicking and screaming so that we wouldn't miss our flight to Bali.

Now our guesthouse here while the bed is not quite to the same standards as The Concorde Inn...is rocking! We have our own bungalow with a great veranda with gorgeous furniture. The bathroom is as big as the first floor of my house with an outdoor shower that is filled with plants and it makes you feel like you are showering in a jungle. Oh...so...happy.

Tonight mamacita and my 2 cousins get here..and then tomorrow, the real fun begins with them.

New Years Eve on Phi Phi Island

Well I have never really been a big fan of New Years Eve. Always seems a little over rated in my experience. Everyone talks about it for weeks before it is here, asks what your plans are and then no one really ends up doing anything memorable. Clubs always want 5 times the price to get in that they usually charge...and for what? A free glass of champagne as the clock strikes midnight?

Well we started off the night right. With dinner at the best restaurant on the island. A place called Papaya's. It is run by a wonderful man named Nod and has the best Panang Shrimp Curry that I have ever had in my entire life.

After that a group of us went to a bar on the beach, drank some bucket drinks, listened to a reggae band, watched a bit of a fireshow and some fireworks later on, danced in the sand and really just laughed all night long. The evening didn't end until around 5am....so it was a pretty good start to 2007.

We left Phi Phi a couple of days ago and came to Phuket. Not really loving it here. The beach is beautiful, but the ratio of pigs (the dirty men that come to Thailand for sex) is a little higher than I like. So I am pretty happy that we fly out to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow and then onwards to Bali to hook up once again with our gypsy mother.

New Years Eve photos

Photos of New Years Eve