I only eat chocolate chips!

The start of my Malaysia tour was spent in the south of Thailand in a town called Ao Nang.  Basically this includes relaxing on beaches during the day and going out for drinks at night.  One of the beaches I went to was the beach from the movie "the beach."  A lady from my group mentioned the only thing missing was the young Leonardo Dicaprio and said she wouldn't mind if he had happened to walk by lol.  I was also able to go snorkeling between Islands and it was quite beautiful.  Apparently Thailand is high on the list of places to go for scuba diving and snorkeling =).  The last day of 2009 my group and I drove to Penang.

Welcome to 2010!

Penang is a very cute city in Malaysia full of history.  I spent hours at the museum there reading words which exited my mind as fast as they were entered. =P  I did learn quite a bit as well, prepairing me for my trip ahead!

The longest and windiest drive was the one to the Cameron Highlands.  The Cameron Highlands is 1,500 m above sea level and is where a majority of the farming is done in Malaysia.  It is a place known for it's tea and strawberries.. the tea I get, however I prefer the strawberry souvenirs to the strawberries themselves.

This was the first group I was a part of to have somebody leave early.  A couple from Calgary left for Singapore three days in to our tour.  It was their first time in a foreign place and I guess it wasn't what they were expecting.

Our next destination was Kuala Lumpur.  KL would be a great city to live in so I understood why my family stayed there for three years.  My roommate, Simone, and I spent the day we had there walking from the hotel, to the twin towers and back again. (we repeated the trip a few times)  By the end of the day we were exhausted... a sign of a day well spent. =)  I had one of my  best meals there.  Good old Nasi Lemak.

If I had to pick one thing to prove Malaysia is all about the shopping and malls it would have to be the mall in Melaka.  It is about as big as the town itself =P.  It is a pleasant place and when Simone and I walked up a little hill to a church you had a view of everything "worth seeing."

In Singapore I had the opportunity to meet up with Cindy and Mark Golden, family friends, and talk over some supper.  The next day Cindy graciously took time out of her day to show me a few sights in Singapore.  It was wonderful to have the day to talk to her.  A funny thing she told me was once when our families were hanging out she was handing out raisin granola bars and when she arrived at Shanta (who was quite young then), Shanta said quite matter of factly, "I only eat chocolate chips."  Cindy also told me they still use the saying to this day when passed a food item they do not want to eat.

=D

Zoom zoom

Vroom vroom

Eat a big bowl of cereal for me and drink a big glass of milk!

Thank you!   

FNG

Oh man all mighty... where to begin!

On the overnight flight from Dubai to Bangkok I meet a local named Bird and he offers to share a cab from the airport to the city. Now, I know your thinking I am crazy to agree to this offer, but he is not the freak type and we agree to share the price of the cab... so I am in.

That all goes smoothly and once I get to Siam square I am already on to my next mission... finding my way to Krabi so I can meet up with Thorin and Erik. If you want to travel spontaniously Asia is the place to be! In no time I have everything set up and I was even able to get to know the area around the place I was originally going to stay. I am still very greatful I had the hostel booked, it gave me the opportunity to shower and rest before my night bus.
On the night bus I met three people (one form austria, one from switzerland and one from London), learned a few new card games and was entertained by a few movies.

I get off the bus and set out to find a hostel called "the corner." I spend around an hour and a half searching for it before I check the internet and find out the boys will be at the "Dream" hostel for lunch. In the end it turns out there is no hostel called "the corner," go figure. =P Haha
After hello's and hugs we decide to head to Railay straight away.
Railay is a place full of stairs, bars, resteraunts, beaches, rocks, and hotels... it is a great place to get into the mood of Asia.

Note: In this part of the world come prepared with capable hiking shoes.

I have a ton of fun with the guys and before I know it I am headed back to Bangkok to get ready for my tour.

A funny note: A rule for all Thai people living in Bangkok.. you must never be out of sight of a 7-11.

Now... get ready for the next part... I will try to summerize it as much as possible, I promise.

Day 1-2
I meet the group and am surprised to find out I am the only canadian there.
We tour the Khlong river by boat and visit the Wat Pho.
Day 3-4
I see Chang Mai first by bike and get to know the group a little more. Visit Doi Suthep and climb to heaven. The next day I ride an elephant for 1 1/2 hours (aparently I rode an elephant in Chang Mai when I was a toddler)!!! How amazing is that! =P
Day 5-6
Looking back I realise how fast this group began to get to know eachother... even if it has something to do with the fact on day 5 and 6 we are all stuck on a boat making our way slowly down the Meh Khong river through the first bit of Laos to Luang Prabang.

Note: This is where books, journals and playing cards come in handy.

We are told we will be spending the night in a remote jungle village and I get really excited expecting a bit of trecking and some real local experiances!
It turns out the only real unique part about our night is the village only has generated power from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.... otherwise we sleep in a resort basically situated on the river bank.
Go figure =P
Day 6-8 - Luang Prabang
We visit a palace and I take some illegal photos.
With three days we get to spend some real nice time getting to know the place.
Luang Prabang has one of the best night markets!
Day 8
Our group goes to the best waterfalls you will ever see in your life. Of course my camera battery runs out halfway through... so now it will stay a paradise in my mind forever.
Day 9-10
Eveline and I go for a real treck in Vang Vieng and see the beautiful land of Laos.
Day 11-13
Hanoi is a crazy city!
Saw a water puppet show, ran countless of times straight into traffic and saw Ho Chi Minhs body. Not one of my favorite places I would have to say.
Day 14
Stayed on a boat hotel... loved it.
Day 15-19 - Hoi An
-got a pair of pants made =)
- ran around like a chicken with my head cut off
-biked to the beach and relaxed
-loved it!
Day 20-22 - Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon)
-Cu Chi war tunnels = war is cruel
-cool day market
-good night scene
Day 23-24
-Rode in a Cyclo and saw a good part of the city.
-Saw Tuol Sleng (S21 prison) and the kelling fields = war is cruel =P
Something I did notice about the war tunnels and killing fields was the amount of butterflies around... I thought that was kind of cool.
Day 25-27 Siem Reap
For two of the days we were there we toured Angkow Wat.. an experiance I will never forget.
It was amazing!
In Siem Reap I went into a bar called Angkor What and saw a note somebody from high school had left! I love the little things that connect the world! =)

Finally we are back to the present and I am glad to say I am enjoying Bangkok to the max!
Christmas went really well and I am excited to spend the new year in malaysia!

It is time to say toodle doo and be on my merry way!
Cheerios and Frootloops!

Fondues and Forgotten Desserts

Switzerland seems so far away now, but it was a wonderful trip and I will do my best to remember it all =)
So... I arrived in Switzerland and got on the train to go to Oerlikon, the place I would meet Sabine at. I was very surprised when five minutes later I was allready at the correct stop! It usually takes forty-five minutes from an airport to get anywhere. When I arrived at Oerlikon I asked around to find out where I could find the PriceWaterHouseCoopers Company building and the first two people couldn't speak very much english, but the third person did and their directions led me right to the door. After being in two countries (Greece and Turkey) where there was no pretending I was not a tourist I liked blending in with the people around me. The language barrier was the only thing that revealed my true identity... while I guess my camera did as well =P
One of the first things I did with Sabine was go to a pilates class haha. It was interesting because a. the instructor was speaking swiss german and b. I had never done pilates before. I found it to be a great ab work out and a good preperation for the cycling class we went to the following night.
I am very very thankful Sabine let me share her apartment while I was there. It was nice to have a fridge I could keep groceries in and a pleasure to always have someone to talk to. Food and company... there is not much else one needs for a happy life lol.
During the first weekend Sabine and I took a trip to Lutzern and I was able to see the gorgeous country side and a few cute villages along the way.
I find Zurich to be more angular and geometric then any other place I have visited. I would have said it was less colorful as well... but then I realized it was more the amounts of buildings they have.
I ate a lot of wonderful food while I was there! A real cheese fondue =) and a wonderful dessert made out of fruits that only grow in the winter season (I forget the name though =P).
Just before I left I was able to take the train to Zug and see Joanna and Louisa! Two girls I met up in the Yukon a few summers back and haven't seen since.
I have decided I will need to go back to see them for a longer period of time in the near future (meaning in the next 10 years =P). I will also have to go back sometime when it has snowed and I can go sledding... I have heard wonderful things about it!

Zoom zoom!

Oh, to be a fairy in Capadoccia =)

One of the first things I noticed about turkey was how colorful it was =). Turks also have a thing about the moon... so maybe there is some connection between a person and where they were born =P.

One of my favorite places in Turkey is Capadoccia ... basically it is an amazing amount of land covered in a soft rock that people have carved in to and constructed whole villages. There is even an underground city made of it called Derinkuyu!
When first arriving in Capadoccia everyone in my group felt like we had left the planet and had entered another universe all together! Another great aspect of capadoccia were the fairy houses =). They are smaller formations of the soft rock with a bigger and darker glob of rock on top making it look like a house with a roof. They were called fairy houses because that is exactly what they look like! It was a very exciting place for me. =P One of the girls in our group pretended to be a fairy with me, it was a lot of fun!

It was nice getting to see Ankara, I definitely felt very grounded while there. I mean it is where my life began! It had one of the coolest museums about the start of life all together. I was kind of sad due to the fact we had no real time to explore the streets of Ankara, but I guess it just adds to the many reasons of why I have to go back again some day.

On our way to Ucagiz our group stopped and took a little hike up to Chimaera where we saw the eternal flames. These were flames are o-natural and continue to burn even in the worst weather. It was quite amazing. Plus it is where the first olympic flame was lit and where the whole idea of the flame comes from!

In Ucagiz we boarded a boat and had a wonderful meal before setting our beds up under the stars :). The weather was absolutely perfect that night! The next day we sailed around Kekova Island getting to see glimpses of a sunken city. At one point we stopped at a little cove and while some of our group ate lunch on the boat I went for a hike and explored some ruins. The boulders at the place we stopped were absolutely amazing. You could almost bound from one to the next, the rocks had so much grip!

We were so lucky we had stayed on the boat the night before because as soon as we boarded the bus to Kas it started to rain and while in Kas there was one of the most amazing lightning storms I have ever seen!

Next we went to Pamukkale, a place very well known in the tourist industry. It was a cool place to visit, but because of the amount of people coming to see it a lot of it is closed down. After staying in a hotel with other guests (lol Yael and I thought it was weird to be in a hotel with other people staying in it since we had basically had the other hotels to ourselves) we continued on to Selcuk where we were able to explore one of the most preserved ancient cities of the present, called Ephesus! It had one of the largest ancient theatres... it could seat 15 to 20 thousand people!

Everyone kept on saying Troy would be a disapointment, including the guide books. However, except for the wind and the cold, it was exciting. I mean how many places in the world have nine cities stacked one on top of the other? The only thing sort of dissapointing was the horse they have at the entrance, but the fact you could climb into it partly made up for how fake it looked.
What totally made up for it was the horse in Canakkale. It was the actual horse from the movie Troy, very exciting!

Before heading back to Istanbul we had a few stops to explore Galliploli. One of my favorite parts about all the different sights to see there was the letter Ataturk had written to all the countries who had fought there.
"There is no difference between the Jonnies and the Memets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours."
All in all it was a very stupid fight which should not have happened in the first place... go figure. =P

I absolutely love the spice market and really enjoyed Istanbul altogether!

Oh, and I think there main course every meal is bread... seriously I have never had so much white bread in my entire life!

=P

Turkey was absolutely amazing and is definitely one of my favorite places in the world!!! I would recomend travelling there to anyone and everyone! Do it when you have the time to explore a majority of the country though! At most Istanbul and Capadoccia!!!

I hope I kept this blog interesting and not to blabby because I know how long it is! Congradulations to whoever got through it =P

Go out and enjoy the day today!!

Much love!

Zoom voom boom!

Sailing into the blue!

Alrighty!
I have had two very successful weeks of sailing!!
I am great at mooring, and I could probably get a sail up and down by myself. =P
I would love to learn more and own a boat when I am older, but I have also learned how expensive it is!

My first skipper's name was Mike and he was very laid back and easy going. You need to have a second skipper on the boat to leave Athens so he got the lawyer on our boat to sign some papers saying he has sailed before even though he has not. It was quite funny =P.
No one became horribly sea sick on either of my boats!
There was a close call on the second trip but Sabine made it through! =)
The first few days I was unsure about my choice to have booked two weeks of sailing, but it did not take long to get into the groove!
I am glad the third week was full though.
My second trip was with a skipper named Frank.
He was German and quite a funny one.
He always had to have three cokes throughout the day, wore a lot of white, and had very high expectations.
I think a normal breakfast out on sea is a few cups of coffee and a cigarette.

Two of my favorite places were a town in Syros and the island of Naxos.
The town we visited in Syros had very cool architecture.
On Naxos we had a tour around the island so I basically saw from one side to the other.
During one of the nights on Naxos there was a wind surfing competition going on and so we got to see some of it, pretty cool stuff. Definitely made me want to start surfing. =P

The food in Greece is amazing!!!
The olives, cheese, and yogurt are fantastic.

Donkey riding was an experience! The guy who controlled our donkeys was in a funk and the only thing he said to us was GET ON! and GET OFF! So you basically get on and he starts screaming at the donkeys so they start running like mad! I am proud to say my donkey won the "race" in the end =D!

Ending in Santorini was a very good way to do it! If I were to recommend the trip to anyone I would say do the one from Mykonos to Santorini.

If you are interested in seeing my pictures I have posted them on facebook =)

Ola Kala!

=D

Olives and Cheese

London was fun, but I think I like the smaller parts of England better so far.
Things I noticed:
-London has an amazing transportation system!
-It is one of the easiest places to navigate around.
-The UK have very polite signs (yield signs say "give way")
-Compared to Canada there are bigger groups of different races.
-You do not need a watch due to the amount of clock towers.
-It is a very clean place

Overall I really enjoyed the United Kingdom

Athens is not what I expected =P
I hadn't pictured anything in my head, but I do admit I thought it would be cleaner, a little less confusing, smaller and spacier.
I am enjoying the city more and more though.

I can not wait to see the rest of Greece!

Honk honk!

I met Robin Hood!!!

My visit with the Rowlands has come to an end.

I now know how to play conquers, I have improved my Chess skills (instead of moving the pieces any which way I can now construct a plan!), I have picked enough black berries for a pie and I have tasted Yorkshire pudding! Yum!

All very exciting =)

Yesterday I took the train to Nottingham and met Monica, a friend I haven't seen since 6th grade!  She is going to Nottingham University to become a doctor, how much smarter can you get!! =P  It is really cool seeing her again and figuring out the people we have become.

Today after she was lectured for five hours (:S) we went to Nottingham Palace and I went back in time and took a picture with Robin Hood (ok so it was just a statue)!! 

Tomorrow I head to London for two days before I fly off to Greeeeeece!!!! 

I am not sure when I will be able to connect to the cyber world, so ta ta for now and keep doing those crazy things you do!!

Voom voom!!!