Where do we go from here?

2012: Bring on the speedo.

2012-01-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

So my yearly look back and look ahead has been understandably
pushed back. Not ideal way to bring in the new year with industrial fans
and a bare concrete floor. Hopefully all will get sorted out in the
next could weeks.

2011 felt like a pretty quiet year but looking back it was packed
with travel, new experiences and good times. Chaperoning a group of high
school kids in Europe is something I will never forget. Nor will I
forget almost losing Erin's father to the north pacific ocean. Then
there was a relaxing trip in Mexico and the numerous weekend trips
taken, some to be happily repeated in 2012. Of course there was weddings
and more to come in 2012...but then that's it. Im making that a 2013
resolution. I was also lucky to spend time with my family. Two trips
with my grandfather, visits from my mother, father, brother, and fishing with
my uncle. All great times.

Looking ahead I am hoping 2012 will bring a few changes,
health being one of them. A goal for 2011 was to get my long time ailing
knee under control. I made progress but am far from 100%. Lets call
that a carry over resolution. In an effort to escalate the strengthening
of my knee and to whip us in shape Erin and I hired friend and personal
ass kicker/trainer @jesslynnsmith. Only 2 sessions in and I already
feel better. Another goal/resolution, cut back on coffee. This would not
normally be an issue but when your dental hygienist asks if you are a
smoker it warrants a cut back. Electric toothbrushes followed
that visit. I am truly an adult now. Sticking with that theme, more
sleep in 2012. Even a half hour a night would be nice. Yup, getting old.

Getting back to music would be good too. In an effort to push
myself to play less video games and more guitar (guess I'm not that
old...) I'm gonna set a learn 2 songs a month goal...starting February of
course.

As for travel, there is already a few things planed. A Birthday
in New Orleans (PUMPED) and for the first time I am going south of the
equator...

Here's to a happy 2012!

Dreaming of a wet Christmas

2012-01-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

While Erin was away visiting her family and new niece I thought it would be nice to replace the wire mesh pantry shelves with sturdy wooden ones. Erin had been bugging me to do it since moving in and being alone for a few days just seemed like a good way to kill a day. Plus, last time I was alone over the holidays I tiled a tub surround...and smoked a whole turkey on the BBQ.

http://the-after-path.blogspot.com/2008/01/merry-christmas.html

Living in a brand new place doesn't give much opportunity to renovate. It is something I miss from living in a 60 year old house so I was excited to follow through on this little task. I took extra care removing the old shelves and patched, muded, sanded, and painted the large holes left behind. I painted all the shelf ledges with love. All for none. When I drilled through the last ledge I was going to put up for the night (10:30) water started trickling out.

At first it was an "oh that sucks" but I knew once the water was off I could open the wall and fix it. Unfortunate but No Biggie. When I shut off the main water into the house and the leak didn't stop it was a "huh...." By this point the water was starting to pool and was coming out the smoke detector on the floor below shorting it out and setting it off. The panic started to sink in as I frantically shut off every valve I could find. When that failed I went two doors down to a neighbor who is on the strata. He was at the tail of of a Christmas diner party with family and ended up helping me plug a leak for the next 2 and a half hours. We started by removing the screw which was a big mistake as it opened a fire hydrant in my kitchen. There was a lot of pressure in that pipe. Turns out it was the main line that feeds all the sprinklers in my place and getting it shut off was quite the process. A contracted company had to be called in as well as the building maintenance guy to get access to the shut off room. All of this at 11:30 at night during Christmas break. To add insult to injury once the sprinkler lines lost pressure it set off the very loud, very piercing, fire alarm...in all the units. I was that guy.

When all was said and done the damage really wasn't (isn't) that bad. Some laminate flooring and a few drywall patching. It could have been much worse. Silver lining, when pulling off the baseboard in the pantry closet we found that a nail was punctured through the same pipe so there was a very small leak already. Also, when pulling up the floor we found mold underneath by the door which led to finding a significant leak under the door. Your welcome.

Christmas wasn't all soggy. We had a nice day of Skyping with Erin's family then hosting a Christmas feast for friends. Yet another good bird was had and the subsequent left overs fed me for the whole duration that Erin was away. I may have eaten an entire pecan pie to myself. Don't judge. That pie fed me for a couple days as I sorted out the mess I created.

Staying classy San Diego

2012-01-15T23:08:00.001-07:00

A couple months back I took a weekend trip to catch a football game in San Diego. Details are still foggy. It was a messy weekend. Something about Smirnoff Ice, beer pong and driving on a sidewalk in a university campus. Still not sure what that was about. Turns out the booze I could handle. The American food I could not. The onslaught of fried and re-fried goodness was worse than being "iced" or drinking mason jar moon shine. My insides were not impressed. Could have been worse though, I could have thrown up at a Hooters while having breakfast.

The game itself was awesome. Americans really get it when it comes to football. Tail gating for 4 hours and then watching a game? Crazy. We sat next to the stereo typical super fan who was loud and drunk which was great. While he was away from his seat a Bills fan sitting in front of us, perhaps feeling the sting of a blow out in the making, started chirping at us thinking we cared that the Chargers were winning. We egged him on a little and his response was that his beloved Bills had at least made it to the Super Bowl. Yup, they sure did. 4 years in a row in fact...and didn't win once making them THE most disappointing sports franchises ever. We finally told the guy that we weren't Chargers fans but his argument was pretty weak. We advised him to let it go before super fan got back to his seat. He did not. Super fan UNLOADED on the poor guy. Served him right though. Pure entertainment for us at least.

As per Travis Barr, Worlds greatest job - Water boy to this:

After the game it was like a do over from the night before. Greasy food, $1 draft, beer pong, and 2 for one margaritas. God bless America.

Thanksgiving Taco's and Missed Approaches

2012-01-08T14:34:00.001-07:00

You know life is good when you can fly to Tofino for fish tacos. This past Thanksgiving my brother flew in on his way to winter his plane in Campbell River. After a great feast with friends Scott and I made our now traditional Thanksgiving trip, this time to Tofino...for lunch.

Being in a small two seater plane sandwiched between Boeing 777's at the Vancouver International airport is a pretty amazing thing. Scott was definitely flying with the big boys.

The conditions could not have been better for the very scenic trip across the Georgia Strait. Clear and warm. The Tofino airport has one of the prettiest approaches I have ever seen. It was as if when built they were trying to show off. The downside of this amazing approach is that it leaves you a good distance out of town. After strolling long beach we attempted hitch hiking for the very first time. If anywhere, Tofino was the place to try this. After a few failed attempts and asking Scott to look less creepy we were picked up by the most stereotypical surfer dude out there. It was awesome and definitely an experience. We swapped stories in the short ride in and found that he was returning the favor as he had hitch hiked numerous times. Good karma people.

With a "later dudes" he dropped us off at Tacofino, a food truck Scott had heard about and what inevitably brought us to Tofino. It did not disappoint and would highly recommend.

Bellies full we made our way into town for a quick tour before turning around and making our way back to the beach front airport and onto Campbell River. We stayed with our very close family friend, Anna Marie. It was great to catch up over a great meal and wine. I was very thankful that Scott flew us there as I had not seen Anna Marie in years despite moving to the same province.

Poor weather moved in the next morning which made my trip home interesting. Scott was flying me to Nanimo to catch a float plane home (who does that? Fly to catch another plane?) however not being able to see the runway made lading interesting. With the limited visibility Scott had to file his first ever missed approach. As intense as it was I was glad to be there for it. It was surprisingly fun. Luckily for me we re-routed to YVR and made the short hop in the fog to a more visible runway.

Never a dull Thanksgiving.

Sochi 2014...We got this.

2011-11-04T19:15:00.001-06:00

When my mother said to bring my passport I wasn't sure what to expect. When I was 8 years old she tried to surprise me with a trip to Mexico only to be scrambling at the airport to prove that she was not smuggling me out of the country without my fathers consent. Oh the scars. I was in Ontario to visit with her before heading to a friends wedding and we decided to take my grandfather for a road trip. My mothers intention was to take us hot air ballooning in upper New York however the weather did not cooperate. To be fair the weather was more than fine for fall but if the hot air ballon pilot(?) says its not good who am I to argue? Non the less we spent a couple days touring the Anarodac mountain area which is beautiful, especially with the fall colors.

On the way south we noticed a few land marks that made us wonder if New York state boasted the worlds "mediumist" road side attractions. We stopped at this cow which is big but Im sure there is a bigger one out there. You know like the Mundar sassuage or the cowboy boot in Edmonton. You see those and you are convinced there is nothing bigger of its kind...and why would there be. This Chicken is kinda big...I guess.

We were treated like the Kennedys as we spent our first night at the Sagamore resort on Lake George. This amazing hotel is unlike any I have every stayed at. Very oldy worldy, and classy. Two things I am not. We kept calling my grandfather "Senetor" in an effort to fit in. Im not sure anyone got that... including him. The place really is something else. The view of the lake and surrounding mountains from one of the many decks or docks is amazing.

Being as far east as I have been in years we dined on lobster sandwiches for lunch and lobster benidict for breakfast. Being the off sesson we had this amazing place virtually to ourselves. Grandpa clearly took advantage of this situation by sunbathing topless.

We made our way east to Lake Placid, host city of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. It is pretty amazing to see that a town of this size could host such an event...twice. Granted things have changed security wise since 1980 but still impressive when you see the size of the town. This visit added to the host cities that I have been to which has now become somewhat of a hobby. Lake Placid is #20. We toured the very original (1977) and very dated ski jump facility and got amazing views from the top. The rickety and rusted chair lift was good indication of the age of the tower however it is still used as a training facility today.

We lucked out as team USA was practicing arials into a pool next to the ski jump area. We sat and watched as future Olympians launched themselves into the air, twisted, flipped, and turned before splashing down. Very cool. We were also treated to one jumper who missed the launch and flew off the side with a comical yelp. With that I say to Team Canada, Sochi 2014...we got this.

A tour of the Olympic Museum followed which was for the most part a recap of the Mirical on Ice American mens hockey team of the 1980 games. There were some great articals from past games including ice skates from the 20's, Olympic tourches from all the past games and ticket stubs. Being able to see and hold the 2010 games tourch made it neat to see how it has evoled over the years. Paying high prices for the 2010 and 2006 games tickets made it interesting to see the inflation over the years...

We retired to our hotel for a rest after a busy day...and by rest I mean the early bird dinner and in bed by 7:00 pm. Retired life is grand. Well rested and fed we made our way north of the boarder in time for Ma's homemade soup. No visit would be complete without it.

I said my goodbyes, took a relaxing train ride and not so relaxing car drive to the Muskoka area to meet up with Erin for yet another fall wedding. Erin was one of the brides maids so that may have played a part in the kickass cabin we stayed in. The location was great and the weather cooperated for a beautiful dockside ceremony. Big congrats to Jason and Mandy Robert. Thanks for letting us be apart of a great weekend.

Best. DJ. EVER.

Portlandia

2011-10-23T16:02:00.001-06:00

The 90's are alive in Portland. As said in the TV show Portlandia "it's where young people go to retire". For years I have wanted to visit this magical place to see for myself just how cool it is. Why so magical you say? How about Bacon donuts? Portland. Striperokee? Portland. Bars with swings? Portland. More bikes than cars? Portland. Gluten free options? Portland. Microbrew? Portland. Seattle minus the tourist stuff. Portland. No sales tax? Portland. Hipster chic? Portland. Food trucks? Portland.

If these options appeal to you. Go to Portland.

Like any other trip south of the boarder it began and ended in excess. Buffet diner at an Indian casino on the way down? America. Giant truck stop breakfast where the waitress calls you "hun"? Awesome. The theme pretty much continued through the weekend. Erin, myself, and another couple (Jen and Brady) arrived early Saturday afternoon to beautiful weather. We headed out to the weekend market where we took in the wierd and wonderful. Sadly there was no art with birds on it. We began to realize how great of a place Portland is while having drinks and watching this guy "preform."

That awesomness continued into the coolest bar I have ever been to. After meeting up with Brady's Texan friend Clint, we headed to a Glen Whytt approved place called East Burn. Not only does East Burn have great food, gluten free beer, and awesome service but an amazing patio with fireplaces and swing seats. What?!? Lobster Mac n' cheese? Amazing. Lobster Mac n' cheese on a swing? Portland Amazing. On top of that (below that really) they have a second pub with buck hunter, 4 player Pac-Man and skee ball. We had arrived. On the patio table next to us we chattted up a group that was celebrating a "birthday power hour" This wonderful birthday gift is a free hour of booze for the birthday boy or girl and 9 of their closest. Eastburn, we will be back and we will be festive.

How can you not smile while drinking on a swing?

After a great meal and then breaking the skee ball machine with a Canadian quarter, (nod to Jen) we headed for more excess and had after bar eats at Voodoo doughnuts. This incredibly popular and kitchy Portland staple serves up uniquely topped pastries with interesting names like the Gay bar - "Raised yeast doughnut chocked full of luscious cream and all the colors of the rainbow!" and the Voodoo doll - "Raised yeast doughnut filled with raspberry jelly topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake!" Possibly being drawn in by my Canadianness and simple love for all that is bacon I gravitated to the Bacon mapple bar. It is exactly what it sounds like...only better. Gluten be damned, this was happening.

Our new to Portland host Clint warned us prior to ordering that the place was run like the soup nazi kitchen from Seinfeld. Brady took this as a que to take charge and quickly shouted out our order once we were at the front of the line. Once the large order was out he side stepped out of the way for the next customer. This effort to not get yelled at failed as the obviously annoyed doughnut artist stared back and reminded him that he only had two hands.

How do you follow up 2:00 AM deep fried glazed treats? With "Mancakes" for breakfast. We made our way to a cool little diner that serves up ginourmous pancakes which were recently featured on an episode of "Man vs Food". The Stepping Stone cafe did not disappoint as we could hardly put a dent into our meals. Gluttony continues.

Before

After

We spent a very chill afternoon digesting while strolling the many shops and bars of Hawthorne street. We enjoyed tax free shopping at stores like Noun: A persons place for things where vintage table fans were bought and Powell books (not the original but still neat). Most notable of our stops was the Bagdad. This 84 year old theater also houses a pub, a pool hall (with what I am sure has the highest ceiling of any pool hall in North America), and a tiny street side cigar shop. We relaxed sitting curb side and turned green while trying to enjoy some fine scotch and cigars.

That evening more great food followed as we went to a tiny Mexican restaurant called Santaria. Although we had heard the food is amazing there the real appeal was that it shares a bathroom with the strip club next door. There was just something irasistable about ordering a chimichonga then excusing yourself to go to the bathroom to wash up and see a boob or two.

Turns out that Portland is known for its strip clubs and it has the most per capita in North America. In fact Mary's, the fine establishment that shares a bathroom with Santaria, is the oldest in Portland...or so I was told by a kind homeless man (or hipster...I still can't distiguish between them) while I snapped this picture.

BUT I digress. More on strippers later. Back to the food...good God the food. Santaria did not disappoint. Best Mexican food I have had outside of Mexico. On top of that the owner came by at the end of our meal and told us that our drinks for the evening had been taken care of. I literally sat there dumbfound with my jaw hanging for a good 30 seconds. Our drinks were taken care of??? We had 1-2 each and there was 6 of us. Never EVER has that happened. Not even if the service was shit and the food was shitier. I was in complete shock. Where does this happen? Portland.

Feeling as full as possible we opted to walk to our next location across the Willamette river. Another ridicuously cool bar and venue with a great patio. We began to wonder if a crappy bar existed in the city. Perhaps because our conversation kept going back to strip clubs our new to Portland hosts took us for last call to a strip club that had stiperokee. This tiny bar was cool enough with out having naked women walking around. The fact that naked women danced to your teribble singing was a whole new form of entertainment. Portland.

One final amazing breakfast (Doug Fir) and a stroll through a holiday Monday outdoor market and we were heading north. Sad to go but happy to come back. Portland.

Dark Cloud.

2011-10-08T17:21:00.000-06:00

Normally I would jump at the opportunity to go fishing in the east armof Great Slave Lake. When the opportunity came up this past summer I had to think twice about it. Two years ago I had went andhad a blast. The weather was amazing, the fishing unbelievable. +30 and sunnyevery day. Erin’s father caught a 47 lbs (depending who you ask)lake trout. It was also my last work trip north and it felt like a goodsend off before moving west. Everything was perfect. Almost as if it shouldn't be attempted to top. This hesitation left when my grandfather and uncle said they were going. I wasn't going to pass on a trip with them.

Although we were in YK for a couple days prior to leaving forcamp we had little down time. We were running around gathering last minuteodds and ends like beer and missing tent pegs. With the free time we did have we visited Buffalo airwayshanger, home of the TV’s series Ice Pilots. To my surprise we were welcomed in,shown around and allowed to tour and take photos.We almost went for a flight but didn't really want to spend the night in Hay River.

While searching the city for these missing tent pegs I couldn’thelp but notice how run down the place seemed. A pride of ownership that Iremembered was missing. I had to pickup something from the “mall that’sgot it all” and was sadden to see half the stores vacant. The entrance on mainst. was dank and dark. The entrance on Range street was boarded up. I can onlyimagine that the box stores that opened up in an industrial part of town are toblame. A scene all to familiar across small town north America. City planningat its finest. In a place with more lakes than people every property could havelake front views. Instead trailer parks have popped up in odd spots and tucked away in the bush. A failed example of trying to get said views sits high above back bay. Perhaps due to the cost of building in the north or shady deals, this unfinished derelict looking eyesore of a condo sits for allto see. This was however the first time home without my motherliving there. To say I was spoiled whenever I went home is an understatement. PerhapsYK has always been YK and my mother just put a shine on it.

Summer in Vancouver was slow to arrive. As odd as it sounds I was looking forward to heading north for some sun. Theweather in YK was consistently hot and sunny all summer...untilwe arrived. 3 days of cold and rain met us at camp. Naturally I blame my unclePaul whom earned the name “dark cloud” as his luck seems to grant thesethings. We would later find out that after we left it became unbearablyhot for the rest of the week. Dark cloud indeed. Of course we made the most of our visit and had a great time. We Hiked, swam in painfully cold water, ate great food and drank expensive rum. Thefishing was awesome as usual and it was great to be able to spend time with my uncle, brother, father and most of all my Grandfather who celebrated his 85^th birthday while at camp. 85 years young. He was hopping in and out of boats with nothing but a smile onhis face. There is nothing but positivity from him. If I get a splinter I complain. Grandpa you are my hero.

NWT Flower

My catch of the week

Chowwwdah

Birthday bannock

Al actually flying us home

The modest camp run by my brother and managed by myfather was considered the best by a group from France that arrived after we left. They were avid fishermen and had been to Alaska17 times to various types of camps. That was great to hear. Take that Sarah Palin.

I can see Alaska from here!

On an incredibly sad and tragic note the twin otter that we flew to camp on was lost along with its 2 pilots September 22nd, 2011. Oneof these pilots, Nicole Stacey, flew us down the lake. She seemed like abeautiful person inside and out. She smiled the whole time and chatted with mygrandfather who when is hearing aid is charged, can be very chatty. Her love of flying andthe north was apparent as she spent time taking pictures of the area around ourcamp as she had never flown in there before. My heart and thoughts go out to thefamily and friends of both pilots that died in that horrible crash.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/09/22/north-plane-house.html

Summer Staycations 2011

2011-09-18T20:41:00.000-06:00

Apart from a fishing trip to Yellowknife and a weekend layover/hangover in Edmonton, summer 2011 was kept relatively local. It started with what will now be an anual summer trip to Whistler with a stay at our favorite hotel (Nita Lake Lodge), and dinner at our favorite restaurant (Rim Rock Cafe). Both amazing. Another annual trip will be to the Inn at Laurel point in Victoria. On top of it having great harbor view rooms it is also a client of Erin's so we were well taken care of during out stay.

View from Inn at Laurel Point

It was a slow start to summer weather wise in Vancouver but we seemed to luck out on our weekend trips. We took advantage of the sunshine and brought our bikes to Whistler and Victoria and had a great time dodging bears and tourists. After passing tons of bear shit and eventually a couple bears Erin spent the rest of the day with music playing and bike horn honking.

Another repeat will have to be the the Scandinavian spa in Whistler. It was a relaxing way to spend a morning...not that we biked enough to earn a day at the spa,

Victoria was relaxing in a way only a little capital city can be...quiet and uncrowded. This was especially surprising as it was Canada day weekend. We were treated to fireworks without the crowd as we could see them from our patio which was great.

The roughest weekend of the summer was a trip to Live at Squamish. This 2 day music festival started off with turkey baster Red bull/vodka shots and beer pong. It ended with me throwing up out of my jeep during Monday morning rush hour. No, I wasn't driving. I KO'd early the first night as I lost everyone we were with during Girl Talks closing set. In my mind I figured everyone else was heading back to the hotel as who really wants to watch a DJ mix other peoples songs at a rock concert? Apparently everyone but me.

Yup. Pure class.

To be fair my day started at 4:00 AM as I decided to try fly fishing for the first time. I was hooked...figuratively and literally. Learning to fly fish is one thing. Learning in the wind is another. Once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed it. It was hard not to as we were surrounded by mountains, seals were feeding 10 feet away and whales were spouting in the distance.

The second day at the festival was really why I was there (apart from Robyn's birthday) as Weezer was closing out the show. Despite being a fan since the Blue album I had never seen them live. I was giddy to say the least. Perhaps I was to giddy to notice the alcohol I was consuming. I had preemptively taken the following day off work so that was probably playing on my mind as well. Details became spotty after getting kicked out of the beer gardens. Glen, a Kiwi friend, and I headed stage right. After that I remember parts of Undone, Say it ain't so, a cover of Pumped up kicks, and rubbing Rivers Cuomo's shoulders as he made his way through the crowd. Apparently there was a girl on my shoulders for a good part of the set. I'm not sure how she got there. I speculate that during one of the several times I was bent over looking for my now twisted glassed I was mounted. Perhaps she thought I was presenting?

More booze filled fun this summer included the now annual Bike Patio Tour. What is BPT? A slightly stoopid bike tour of friends patios around the city...with booze. Good times ensue. This year was a little more tame than last time as last year someone innocently fell off her bike (while parked) and ended up with stitches and months of physio therapy for her thumb. Still rum punches, chilli infused vodka caesars, mojitos, and birthday cake shots were had. No casualties to report. A wiener dog that thought she could fly leaped from a bike basket but was fine. That happened.

It begins.

Stop #1

Stop #3

Super Dog

Stop #4

Finish line.

Happy Canada/free agent day!

2011-07-01T14:40:00.001-06:00

Its like Christmas for Canadian men. I'm enjoying a sunny Victoria afternoon enjoying a coffee and streaming TSN on my phone. Erin is shopping. Good trade.

A month or so worth of catching up to follow.

- Posted from my iPhone

the-after-path.blogspot.com

Location:Linden Ave,Victoria,Canada

Cassa de Wood

2011-06-26T12:17:00.005-06:00

For a few years now my friend Jon has been inviting me to his parents place in Mazatlan Mexico and for a few years now I have had excuses to not go. For the most part it had been other trips and conflicting dates or the lack of vacation time available to me. Afraid that he would stop inviting me, last summer I said lets book something now for next spring that way I am committed. To that Jon said yes and that we would book flights closer to the date. Fast forward to last fall and the awkward email I had to send to Jon saying that the dates he is going conflicts with my free trip to Europe. Understandable? Yes. Douchey? Absolutely. I felt bad but a free trip to Europe doesn't come up that often. With that he said he was done asking me. After getting back from our European baby sitting adventure I asked Jon about Easter weekend which ended up working out for all. Friendship saved.

To pass up a trip to cassa de Wood really is a shame as their place is amazing and the price is right. Free accommodations, cheap air fare ($89 direct from Van on the way down!) cheaper food and cervaza and hot weather are all good things. I had been to Mazatlan twice before and apart from sharing a bed with Jon's brother Maury while he threw up from tequila and hot dogs wrapped in bacon, my memories were fond. This trip was no different.

Our first day was an eventful one. It began with drinks on the beach as we watched a bloated beached sea lion be carried away by a tractor and ended with me almost going to a Mexican jail. A girl drink drunk day that included watching the Canucks defeat the Blackhawks in game 7 OT was concluded with a late night stop at a taco stand where Jon and I just weren't satisfied yet. We parted with the rest of the group and made our way towards a taco stand that Jon had been going to for years. We didn't get very far as I needed to relive myself from the evenings beverages. Even though the area we were in smelt like a urinal, it is never a good idea or acceptable to urinate in public...especially when the policia are near by. "McDonalds? Mcdonalds??" both Jon and I said in an effort to get out of trouble. Looking back Im not sure how that was going to do us any good. Now it sounds like this was a serious situation but it was hard to be concerned when the police officer was eating an apple while threatening to put me in hand cuffs. Jon finally gave him a wad of pesos to make him go away which is all the guy wanted...that and enjoy his fruit in peace.

My birthday happened to fall on this trip so Jon's gift was a timely one. That day was spent lounging poolside at Jon's parents other property which we had to ourselves as it wasn't 100% done yet...but really nothing in Mexico is 100% done yet.

A great dinner and pina coladas was followed with a drinking game that I had no place playing let alone winning. The "box" game is really only a drinking game as you need to be drunk to physically play it. The idea is to take a beer box and pick it up with you mouth with out touching the ground with your hands...or face. Each round an inch or so is removed from the box making it harder and harder to reach. It is basically limbo for your face. I surprised everyone (and especially myself) by making it to the last round and eventually picking up the flat piece of cardboard with my mouth. To be fair Jon and Mellisa both picked up the last piece as well but I'm not sure that both of them combined weigh as much as me and I'm pretty sure Jon is missing a a rib or two. None the less this was right up there with climbing a mountain or coloring between the lines for me.

The other highlights of the trip were Spanish bingo and eating "hooker" shrimp. Jon's girlfriend Sussie took us on an excursion that saw us buying fresh shrimp off the street and bringing them to a cantina to be cooked for us. What made them "hooker" shrimp is this cantina is a bar by day and brothel by night so the staff working there multitask. It is apparently a very Mexican thing to do. This was clear as we were the only tourists in there. The food was as delicious as the story.

Booze, booze, booze. Food, food, food. Home.

Yar.

2011-04-23T13:09:00.003-06:00

"Where's John?!?" Those words will forever be engraved in my head. A panicked Dani shouted this when she lost site of her husband while on a whale watching boat in rough water. We were in 2-3 meter swells of the coast of Tofino and clearly not having any fun. I was at a loss for words as we rode huge wave after huge wave. I felt like a jerk. I had treated Erin's folks to a nice resort and private whale watching tour (because no one else was dumb enough to go that day) and Erin's mom thought she was going to die and that her husband was swept out to sea. Good Job Shaun. Although he was not dry, John was fine. He was on the top deck with the captain getting drenched by crashing waves. Obviously no whales could be seen so, to the delight of everyone, we headed up an inlet for calmer waters. There we saw tons of bald eagles and fatty fat fat sea lions.

Dani and John had been enjoying island living for about a week before we got there. They had been on the west coast for about a month as they were house/cat sitting for us while we were in Europe. While on the island they enjoyed a couple nights in Victoria in a hotel with a "bathroom bigger than their bedroom" as a Christmas gift from Erin and I. They were then upgraded at the resort they booked outside Parksville after finding "DNA" on their blanket. So by the time we got to our fancy beach front resort in Tofino it was understandably "OK."

We were picked up earlier that day in Nanaimo after Erin and I took the short float plane hop to "Surrey by the sea." That flight was awesome. Taking off alongside Stanley Park and slowly climbing over the Lions gate bridge is a great experience. 8 minutes into that flight we passed the ferry we would have been on that left 1 hour earlier.

On our way to Tofino we stopped in Coombs famous (at the time goat-less) "Goats on the Roof" market. This brought back memories of when I was there when I was 6 years old. 25 years later and I still find this fascinating. We also stopped for an incredible sunset:

Although our whale watching trip was a bust, it was sunny outside. Seeing sun in Tofino is apparently harder than seeing whales so we took it. We enjoyed a bright and very windy day on Long Beach.

That night we enjoyed fresh local crab at our hotel. These guys were almost as tasty as they were mean:

Full we enjoyed sunset on the beach before calling it a long day.

Madrid - More than just goats on a stick.

2011-04-09T12:29:00.007-06:00

We arrived at our downtown hotel in Madrid during rush hour on a Friday. This made unloading 50 people and their luggage from a bus interesting. I had no memory of Madrid being such a busy city. Jon and I spent very little time in the capital. Bitter from a cold spring we were eager to make our way south for some warmth. We had little interest in the many museums and what ever else the city had to offer. Instead we walked through a giant park and more notably, a flea market that had a goat standing on a pedestal and a large lady singing while her husband played accordion. This disinterest 5 years ago made for an interesting stay this time around as Madrid has a lot to offer.

After a group diner we were allowed to wonder on our own. Naturally Erin and I found a nice pub and had a Guinness as it just happened to be St.Patrick's day.

We spent another day sightseeing by bus and by foot. Thankfully our subway adventures were left behind as our hotel in Madrid was located in the heart of downtown. Our bus tour took us through old and new Madrid. Both sides boasted interesting architecture such as the massive post office that looks like a palace. Smack dab in between the new and old parts of town is the massive arena where Real Madrid plays. 80 thousand + fans pack in there and try not to set the place on fire.

The most elaborate place to buy stamps you will ever see.

The afternoon was spent wandering the huge Royal Palace which is really a slightly less flashy and flamboyant Palace of Versailles. Legend has it that King Philip of Spain saw a repeat episode of MTV's Cribs and wanted what King Louis had in France. Giant peacocks walking the grounds give Phil's pad a slight edge.

After the Palace we were left to roam the massive Prado museum which has a bunch of paintings by famous dead people. Clearly by this point I was museumed out as were the kids. We left there to enjoy a flamenco show. There is a sentence I never thought I would say. It was amazing. Most notably the flamenco guitar and the male dancer whom I was convinced was Jason Schwartzman possibly researching a new role.

Dinner that night was an "authentic" tapas night which turned out to be very touristy but the kids had a great time. So much so that camp songs were belted out as we walked the tight corridors of the old downtown quarter and into the chocolatier restaurant where we pumped the kids full of sugar for desert. A group from the states sitting next to us actually thought we were from the U.S.A as they said we were loud enough to be American's. Didn't Erin and I know it. We walked a few strides behind the singing group on the way back to the hotel making disapproving eyes with the locals as if to say "F'ning tourists" But the kids had a blast and that's what it was all about.

A quick 3 hour nap followed before heading to the airport for our long journey home.

That's a lot of Bull.

2011-03-31T19:43:00.005-06:00

Breaking up an 8 hour bus ride through Spain's interior is never a bad thing. It can be scenic at times but for the most part it is like driving through a desert in California. A lot of dry hills, desert plant life, and giant bull silhouettes. Actually the latter is definitely unique to Spain. These enormous billboards that have become landmarks for the countryside were actually originally advertisements for booze. In the mid 50's the Osborne Sherry company littered the Spanish countryside with these signs to promote their Brandy. In the mid 90's Spanish law prohibited advertising booze like this so the now beloved symbols almost came down. Perhaps due to Spain's patriotism or thirst for good brandy, the bulls were allowed to stay.

Our quick break in Zaragoza (pronounced Thar-a-go-tha with a heavy speech impediment) was a pleasant surprise. We were dropped off in the middle of town next to the Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar. Aside from being massive, this church has unique history. It was the first Church dedicated Mary. To celebrate this the Spaniards have Las Fiestas del Pilar which of course is an excuse to party...for nine days. During that celebration of food, fireworks, fine brandy and amateur bull fighting, flowers are offered at the church. Millions of flowers. So many that there is a spot in the church that everyone kisses that smells like flowers...and herpes. Erin confirmed this with a smooch. Another interesting note about the church is to During the Spanish Civil war three bombs fell through the roof and didn't go off. Not one. I can see one or even two of them not going off, but three? That is obviously the work of a higher power...or the work of a factory that endorses 4 hour siestas everyday.

After our quick tour of the church and the square it lies on Erin and I had some great lunch tapas and coffee in a local bar. Back on the bus we asked some of the kids what they thought of the church to which some actually replied "There was a church?" Sigh.

4 hours of "It's always Sunny in Philadelphia" to go. Such a wrong and great show.

Better than Vietnam's seaweed flavor but not as good as Japan's soft shell crab flavor

Soggy Barcelona

2011-03-29T14:42:00.004-06:00

I don''t remember trains in Europe being able to ride like a stunt car on 2 wheels. The night train I took from Paris to San Sebastian Spain 5 years ago was modern, sleek, and about as roomy as a sleeper car can get. This time around we shook and rattled our way south in a train that probably transported troops during the second world war. I awoke several times during the night as the train sped up and slowed down taking corners and straightaways like a rally car racer. The ultra narrow corridor made loading the 50 of us interesting. Our hyper tour guide didn't help things as she talked in circles during the numerous pep talks about boarding the train. I'm sure she had some of the students convinced that they would have to throw their luggage on the train while frantically running after it. Naturally the one fat kid with glasses and asthma would be left out of breath, red faced and fading in the distance. Our last image of him would be his sad chubby face inhaling from his puffer. I joke of course. There was no fat faced child...we left him at the Brussels airport as we raced for our connection to Paris.

We already had some interesting experiences with Sonya and boarding trains in Paris. As we were running to catch a subway car one of Erin's girls, who failed to tell anyone she was lactose intolerantt and just ate her weight in cheese pizza, became ill. 48 people were running down the platform to get on the car and Erin and this poor pale faced girl are running in the opposite direction. I yelled for my group and others to hold up and they did. Sonya shouts, "No No! Go Go!" and they did. Mass confusion followed and almost resulted in me losing my group to the Gypsies of the Paris subway system. Thankfully Amanda overpowered Sonya and was able to stop everyone before the train left. The day before we lost one of the Texan's to the subway. One of the slow moving chaperons. Naturally tensions were a bit high when Sonya explained the boarding procedure. The hyper paranoia didn't help some of the chapornes as it understandably rubbed off on them. In reality we had a good 25 minutes to board the train but of course that didn't stop us from acting like we only had 2.5 minutes.

We were woken up with breakfast in bed an hour outside of Barcelona. The meal consisted of a doughnut and a chocolate muffin. Nutrition is important children. I ate my breakfast cake and side cake while watching the Spanish country side whisk by. The always sunny Mediterranean coast was being pounded by unusual amounts of rain. This did not play well for us as we went straight from the train to Gaudi Park for a walking tour. This meant 45 minutes of sloshing around in washed out dirt pathways. Soggy and soaked we then boarded a bus for a tour of the city. Most kids slept through this. Understandably as little sleep was had strapped to their bunks on the train.

We drove by venues of the 92 summer Olympics which I enjoyed seeing. Memories of the USA dream team and the cauldron being lit by a flaming arrow played in my head. These games were very successful for Barcelona and completely transformed the city It was also was special for me as it sparked my interest in basketball, the Olympics, and sports in general. In a way those games transformed me from a chubby video game playing 12 year old to a very active 13 year old. This happy memory faded as I overheard one of the kids say she was born in 93. These games and sights meant nothing to these kids.

Goosebumps.

Our wet tour of the city concluded at the famous and always under construction Sagrada Familia. This 100 year + construction was Gaudi's last project before getting splattered by a tram. We were ushered off the bus and told it would return in 45 minutes. Awesome. The weather was horrible which was a shame as we all did a brisk walk around the perimeter then took shelter in a gift shop for 40 minutes. By the time I got to Barcelona 5 years ago I had seen enough churches to last a time. This church however blew my mind. A real shame the kids couldn't see more of it.

2011. Wet.

2006. Dry.

After sometime to dry off at our super modern hotel in the outskirts of the city we headed back into town for a night tour of a couple of Gaudi's buildings. They are impressive enough by daylight and extremely eerie by night.

The next day the rain let up so we were able to enjoy roaming through the Gothic quarter and La Rambla street. La Rambla was not really as busy as I remembered, most likely from the weather and time of year. I felt like a jerk as I told the kids to hold off buying souvenirs as La Rambla would be lined with street vendors selling one of a kind crafts. Even the street mimes were more or less missing. Still the kids seemed to enjoy it. Strolling through the market brought back memories of Jon and I buying fresh meats and cheese which we ate in a nearby square. Most of the kids didn't last long in the market. The sight of pigs heads and the smell of fish sent them back to the shops of La Rambla.

After a lunch of "Authentic" payaya in the harbor we were on our own for 5 hours. 5 whole hours! Naturally the kids (and Erin) shopped. I found a cozy side street bar, had a coffee and relaxed.When finished I still had plenty of time to kill so I had a pint...and then another to wash down the off-the-bone prosciutto and tapas I had. Amazing.When that was done we strolled the Gothic quarter some more before finding a cafe in a square. I had another amazing coffee while Erin had a cigarette. It was tres European.

We rejoined the rest of the group feeling like students and not chaperons. Our Texan counterparts were amazed that we let our kids roam free all afternoon. They stuck with their kids the whole time which surprised us as they didn't seem all that strict or caring of their group. We would later find out that it was more a trust issue as they actually taped their students hotel room doors shut at night! Erin and I were thankful that Amanda didn't tape our doors shut.

Sunny Madrid next.

Paris, the Sarnia of France.

2011-03-27T09:29:00.012-06:00

Our remaining time in Paris consisted of little sleep and a lot of touring. Erin and I are used to packing in a lot in our travels but not with 30 teenagers. It was go-go-go with no downtime. So much so that one girl almost peed her pants because there wasn't enough time to stop for a bathroom break. Everyday we were up, fed, and out the door by 9:00 am. Sites and tours all day then arranged diners before seeing some more at night. When we arrived back at the hotel the chaperons would rotate supervising the kids as they used payphones to call home. Room checks followed usually around 11:00 pm and then coma like sleep. It was exhausting. We found ourselves catching up on rest by sleeping through a boat tour and opting to relax on the second floor of the Eiffel tower while the rest of the group queued and crammed their way up to the top. Turns out that one was for the best as the much smaller top floor was packed and made for an uncomfortable experience for the rest of the group. At one point Amanda had enforce mob control as she used her closed umbrella as a baton to beat back the crowd from shoving her (and other peoples) kids. Not sorry I missed that. The fact that we already done and seen these things helped make rest trump touring. That and I am am older and either wiser or lazier.

The kids in front of the Eiffel tower and being flanked by crap peddlers

As rushed as our time in Paris was I still got to see a lot. Again most of it was a second time around but neat to see again. The Eiffel tower is still standing. The Louvre is still massive. The Mona Lisa is still smiling (sort of) and the subway still smells like pee. New to me was visiting Fragonard, a famous french perfume maker. The kids got a kick out of eau du toilette and bought up samples for gifts. Next was a stroll by the opera house followed by touring inside Notre Dame which was great. Buildings that old and that impressive always blow my mind.

A trip out to Versailles was also an added bonus. While touring the palace and its grounds I kept asking myself "who needs to live like this?" A 17th century episode of MTV's "Cribs" played in my head. A gold chain wearing Louis the XIV was showing off 1 of his 2000+ fountains. His pink aviators did little to hide the party he threw the night before. " Yo check it out, this used to be a hunting lodge. We'd shoot birds and shit here." We then toured through a few of the 700 + rooms in the palace, all of which Lou introduced with "and this is where the magic happens!" followed by a somewhat feminine giggle.

The entrance to Lou's pad

The old hunting grounds

The little downtime we had was spent relaxing in cafes while the rest of the group shopped. I was a little disappointed that they didn't want to use their free time to experience more. To be fair, I had little interest and energy left to tour things like the Louvre on my own at the age of 30. I can't imagine how the kids felt with their teenage attention spans. So instead of buying some stinky cheese and fresh bread or stroll a narrow street on their own they ate at McDonald's and shopped at H&M. I was amazed at their desire to buy things. Things that they could buy in Canada. I was once again reminded that these were kids from a very small town when I overheard a conversation about the convenience of living in the city. "It would be so great to be able to walk next door and get your groceries and stuff. It's like living in Sarnia. They have a mall." Dream big children. Dream big.

*pictured - Our sometimes clueless guide giving the kids a "tour" of the mall. ie. led them up the wrong way and were coming back down.

The chaperons eat'n up some culture

The group outside the Louvre

With that we said Au revoir to Paris and headed for our night train to the always sunny Barcelona. This time around I escaped France without getting punched in the face by a knife wielding hobo so its no shocker that I warmed up to the city.

Kids are easy. Angry Birds is hard.

2011-03-25T17:56:00.007-06:00

When Erin's sister asked us 2 years ago if we would be interested in a free trip to Europe we obviously said yes even though it meant being a chaperon for a school trip. We didn't really think much about it until 2 months ago when it was 100% confirmed. We had no idea what to expect. We knew we would be responsible for six kids each but what did responsible mean to someone with so few responsibilities? Questions started to pop up. How often do you have to walk a teenager? Water and feed them? These were just a few. We really didn't have concerns as the other 3 chaperons (Erin's sister Amanda, her husband Tim and his sister in law Karly) are all teachers. We were in good hands.

Kids are easy.

We met up with the everyone at the Toronto airport and were divided into our groups. I kind of blankly stared at the 6 blank stares coming my way. "So...do you guys like stuff?" was pretty much how are introductions went. In reality the kids were all young adults and since I feel like I am 12 sometimes (I still play video games and eat cereal in my underwear) it was easy to relate. What quickly became interesting was that most of these kids had never been out of province, let alone out of the country before. So things like going through airport security and asking them to stop talking about "bombs" and "terrorists" was fun. 20 minutes in and we had already had a girl loose a passport. Thankfully it was found and we were able to leave the country as a full group of 30 high school kids and 5 chaperons.

Upon arriving in Paris we were greeted by our cheery and somewhat spaz-tastic tour guide Sonya. Not only was traveling with kids a new experience but traveling with a tour guide on a trip where no planning was required was just odd. We really just showed up and blindly followed. This became obvious when we took a tour of both the Paris and Barcelona subway stations as Sonya kept leading us to the wrong platforms. The other odd thing was backpacking and staying in hotels. Really nice hotels. This would be a totally different European experience.

At our hotel in Paris we met up with 15 Texan's that we would be traveling with. The kids were excited to meet them so it was unfortunate when some stereotypes came true. We were paired up with a somewhat lazy and unenthusiastic group. Also, everything is bigger in Texas. None the less this now made our group 50 people. Sleep deprived we headed out for a walking tour of Montmarte. Hearding 50 people through the busy Paris subway system was interesting to say the least. Sonya made it more interesting by putting fear into the kids about pick pocketers. Don't get me wrong, its good to be aware of your surroundings but she frightened these kids into thinking EVERYONE wanted their shit. One girl spent a day with her jacket on over her backpack. I swear people thought she was Quasimoto when we toured Notre Dame.

We arrived in the heart of Montmarte all accounted for and un-accosted. We toured the narrow streets and steep hills around the Basilica de Sacre-Coeur and enjoyed panoramic views of the city from its steps. From there the 5ft tall tour guide took us on a walk through an area lined with adult shops, strip clubs, and peep shows. The kids enjoyed this. The chaperons, not so much. Curiosity as to why she was leading children through this area was waved when we arrived at the Moulin Rouge. You know, the famous place where Christina Aguilera shook her naughty bits...or something like that.

We finished the day with diner at our designated tour group restaurant. This was the first of many sub par meals as dinners were included in the tour and based on kids and keeping costs down. A shame as eating in Europe was one of my favorite activities. Some places were better than others with staff that would joke with the kids. Others seemed as though they were forced to take on the business and served greasy bland food. To be fair they were dealing with some pretty picky kids. I was reminded that these were all small town kids where a can of tuna was considered exotic. None the less we were never left hungry.

Our long day of travel concluded back at our hotel. Exhausted we were too tired to drink the bottle of wine we had snuck into our room. Luckily for us we still had 2 more nights in Paris to be irresponsible chaperons.

More to come.

To the Luna Cafe

2011-03-11T13:15:00.005-07:00

Pre-Europe Erin and I were able to spend a night in Toronto catching up with her friends. Included in those friends were Matt and Steph who traveled with Erin to Europe 5 years ago and have moved to and recently back from Halifax. Good times were had. Not wanting to give a bad first impression to our new travel mates we called it a somewhat early night.

The next morning my mother (who now calls Ontario home) showed up at our hotel with a surprise chauffeur. My Aunt Alison drove 5 hours from northern Ontario to surprise us. I'm sure she was swayed to make the long trek by promise of a great meal at a restaurant called the "Luna Cafe" which came highly recommended to my mother. I had checked the location of the "Luna Cafe" online the night before and noted it was 30+ blocks away from our hotel but was sold on my Mothers word. She called and made us a reservation to which was not a problem. She then inquired about parking and again was not an issue. With that we headed out. Upon arriving my mother seemed a bit confused as it did not look like the pictures online. We verified the address and decided that it had to be the correct restaurant and then proceeded inside. We were greeted with a very empty coffee shop. Thankfully we had reservations. After ordering my mother realized that it was the 'Luma cafe" she was told about which happened to be walking distance from our hotel. She blamed it on her friends lisp. I blamed it on her brains lisp.

The food turned out to be really good but that didn't really matter as the company was great. We had a good laugh about it and her inquires about reservations and parking.

One very long flight over the Atlantic later we realized that maybe my mother actually meant the "Cafe de Luna" in Paris...

More to follow...

Eurospank 2011

2011-03-10T09:05:00.002-07:00

If you had told me that the next time I go to Europe I would have children I would have slapped you as the words came out of your crazy talking mouth. If you told me I would have 6 children I would kindly ask to see the registration to your Delorean.

Well spaceman It has been 5 years since my last visit to Europe and this time I am responsible for 6 young lives...and by responsible I mean take attendance and confiscate any alcohol.

This guy. Responsible. No alcohol.

More to come.

Location:Jetliner Rd,Mississauga,Canada

Never too old for a onesie

2011-02-02T18:46:00.007-07:00

What else happened to me in 2010? I got old. Every birthday of mine for the past few years has been the same thing, "27 feels no different than 26"..."28 feels no different than 27"...."28 feels no different than 29" Well I can sadly say that 30 is a whole new feeling. Now I mean no disrespect to those older than me, quite the opposite as I now have more respect and understanding for you. This past year has been full of new aches, the increased desire to nap, and hair everywhere except where it should be. The moment when the thought of getting old came to fruition was during a hair cut a few months back. The hairdresser was sweeping away loose hair from my neck and made her way to my ear where she found some stubborn hair. She focused on the area and gave a few extra strokes but the hair would not budge. She paused and then...Bzzzzzzzt went the electric razor. Yup, that happened. Not convinced 30 sucks? How about me tripping over a hotel chair in the dark and flipping head over heels and fracturing my big toe. Better yet, I was bare ass naked at the time. Fun!

So my advise to those of you still under this turning point, don't ever turn 30. Do what you can. Now that being said, 30 is apparently not to old to not only wear a onesie, but spend a whole weekend in one. This past Christmas we spent the holidays visiting our friends Scott and Whit in Calgary. 4 days of eating, drinking and napping all in PJ's. Goood times. Apparently those 4 days of laziness and gluttony weren't enough as we then spent our last days of 2010 in Vegas. More food, booze and naps followed. Vegas for NYE was fun but freezing. It was colder there than it was in Vancouver. Regardless we made our way along the closed to traffic strip with frozen beers in hand to an all you can drink party. Huddled under a patio heater we watched the strip light up with fireworks as 2011 was born.

We had one last goodbye to the finer life of 2010 on New years day as we relaxed in a spa. 2010 was very good to me and included the finer things in life such as first class flights, front row concert and show tickets and 3-ply toilet paper. 2011 will be a little more realistic so to pamper ours selves one last time was nice. I have had friends tell me to go to a spa to work off a hangover in Vegas before but never thought much about it. Now I would never go there without at least paying the small fee just to use the facilities.

Our last night in Vegas we saw Zoomanity which was great. Flying little people! Wait, is that OK to say? After that we met up with Uy, an Aussie mate we met almost 5 years ago in Krakow. We had an interesting run in with a skin head in Poland AND he is probably the reason I met Erin. So to meet up and chat was great. We caught up over free (and not so free) cocktails in our hotel casino till 4 AM then met up again the next day at the Bellagio buffet. Fatty fat fat.

A modest 2011 to follow.

www.the-after-path.blogspot.com

2010. The year stuff happened.

2011-01-29T15:29:00.004-07:00

It is now the end of January which means it's time for my typical year end blog which is of course, typically late. New Years resolution of being punctual...Fail. 2010 started out with a blogging bang. The new move, the Olympics, (my stolen laptop with write ups that I never replaced aside) and an incredible trip through Asia were all well documented. Then my keyboard fell silent. A busy summer kept me outside and away from my computer. Erin and I made an attempt to get out and enjoy the area at least once a week which was great. We biked everywhere, hiked parks and mountains, and even had a weekend kayaking trip. Apart from a good hour of paddling in circles, Summer was good. It did not rain once in the month of July so why would we be inside?

Sunset in Kits

View from The Chief

Erin faking optimism 1/4 up the Grind

Celebration of Light 2010

Kayaking Indian arm

We also had a steady stream of visitors. It's funny how not many people came to visit in Edmonton...Now we are double booking.

Surprise visit

Then there was the annual fall wedding which included visits with family and a quick trip to Quebec City with a stop in Montreal just long enough to get a Schwartz sandwich.

Visiting Erin's past in Ontario

The wettest day in Quebec City's history

Once the Rain came I made the mistake of purchasing Xbox live which has pretty much consumed my free time since. Any creative outlet I had has taken a back seat to getting pwned by tweens across the globe. (Go ahead, look it up...I had to.)

So here's to 2011 and getting back to the basics. For me that is less xbox and more music, sports, travel, and an overall good time.

More to come.

One long and itchy month.

2010-12-02T20:31:00.011-07:00

Just like a bad mustache, Movember has come and gone. I am now left with a very cold and very naked upper lip. The upside, I no longer frighten small children AND I raised $600!!! That's almost double my initial goal of $250...wait...

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT DONATED.

That $600 is apart of a record breaking $19+ million raised by Canadian men. That is first amongst the 6 countries officially participating. Amazing isn't it? All that $$$ over being acceptably lazy. I barley even had to move my hairy lip to generate donations. I let my fingers do most of my soliciting via the interweb. My very first donation came from a friend on the 2nd place Australian team. He was doing the exact same thing (only looking worse if that is possible) on the other side of the globe! You know, this internet thing just might make it after all.

For those of you who did not donate, you don't know what you were missing. Well actually you were missing this video clip I was personalizing and sending out as a thank you:

For those with the larger donations, thank you thank you. Your reward is on the way.

Despite my mother insisting I looked like Inspector Clouseau (and for some reason liking it) and Erin's strange attachment to it, the stache is no mo. It was a bit odd today as I felt like I had "phantom mustache" I found myself repeatedly going to scratch or rub it. On a conscious level, It will not be missed.

Anyway, THANKS !!!!

Donation MO-tovation

2010-11-09T18:10:00.009-07:00

A little over two weeks into Movember and I am happy to say that my mustache is, as expected, coming along disgustingly. This thing is BAD. It's as if my nose hairs are taking over my face. Last Monday I woke up, looked in the mirror and said to myself, "You can not go into public like this." I almost took the life of my week old stache then and there. Thankfully for your enjoyment (or disgust) I let it live.

Why would I put myself and more importantly others around me through this you ask? Hairity charity. For those unfamiliar with Movember it is a month long mustache growing celebration to raise money and awareness for men's health issues. In Canada funds raised go to the prostate cancer research foundation.

Being a first time participant in Movember I am keeping my donation expectation reasonable. Next year I will single handily abolish prostate cancer. This year I will aim a littler lower, say $250.

Now I know what you're saying, "Hey douche bag, what's in it for me?" Well I'm glad you asked friend. To help achieve that $250 goal I have come up with the following Donation Mo-tovation list:

$10 or less - My stache will personally email you and thank you for your weak, low donation.

$10 - $20 - You will receive a retro picture of my retro stache.

$30 - $40 - a video clip of my stache enjoying a banana.

$40 - $50 - Video clip of my stache bathing in milk. For those of you who are vegan I will use almond milk. For those allergic to nuts I will use homo milk.

Note: My stache does not tolerate homophobes.

High Rollers

Now, I'm not gonna do anything weird (cause filming myself eating a banana is TOTALLY normal) So nothing like, I don't know, Umm $60 you can watch me touch it or $100 your friend can touch it...nothing weird like that...unless you bring cash. I will however consider the following:

$60+ - Video clip of 1 hair being plucked from the stache

$80+ - My mustache will serenade you

$100 - You will receive a decorative tile so you can remember the legend of the stache. Also it would make a horrible Christmas re-gift.

Highest bidder can shave it off December 1st (and keep the whiskers as a commemorative keep sake...no? Or not.)

Also, as this is beyond odd for some people, you can donate and pay me NOT to send you a clip of myself looking creepy and doing things that you flat out don't find funny. Your loss.

So there it is. Click the link below to donate. THANKS!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

The Puke List

2010-11-06T19:14:00.008-06:00

Where did the summer go? Last time I checked in Erin and I were racing through the Honolulu airport to catch a flight home. That was in May. An amazing summer has come and gone and now I am saying my goodbye's to the sun and hello to 3 month's or so of rainy, gray days. It's not that I didn't have much going on this summer, quite the opposite. It was a very busy few months with non-stop house guests and outings. I will get to that shortly. First I need to go back to a very messy weekend in May.

Let me first state that I am not a puker. Stomach flu aside, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have thrown up. I'm sure that everyone can agree that after every time you throw up from the drink, it was the worst feeling ever as it is now the most recent. Well this weekend with the Miller's in Seattle was the worst ever.

This got me thinking about the other 4 times I have been sick. Was this past time REALLY the worst or just the most recent painful memory? With that I would like to count down and rate these lowest moments in my life. To score I will consider the following factors:

Actions/Reactions - What stupid things did I do and what were the results.
Situation/Circumstance - How was my state effecting what I was doing the following day.
Messiness - How BAD was it?
Hangover Hurt - How much pain was I in the next day?
Embarrassment - How bad did my actions make myself or others ashamed. This is a tough one for me to judge as when I am in that state I am usually without shame.

Please feel free to enjoy my pain.

Summer 97

The last thing I remember is shouting "Someone hold my legs!" We were about to leave a party at my place and more importantly, a keg I had bought for the night. For some reason I was more concerned about the beer going to waste than being able to see or move my limbs. With that in mind I did keg stand after keg stand until I could not stand on my own. The next day I was tied to the toilet.

Actions/Reactions - 7

Apparently while taking turns doing keg stands I made out with an ex-girlfriend...although considering I didn't remember this I believe she made out with me. My girlfriend at the time didn't see it that way. She found out about it by one of her weaselly friends (who had a huge crush on her) Thinking back I'm not sure how he would have saw that as he had no reason being at my place. Was he in the bushes? Creepy.

Situation and circumstance - 2

Being a high school student and having a weekend to recover meant that this hangover didn't effect my responsibilities. I was a high school kid being a high school kid. The amount of booze may have effected my grades but that is debatable.

Messiness - 1

This was more of a quantity over quality kind of messy. I basically started throwing up on the ride leaving my house and didn't stop for what felt like a week.

Hangover hurt - 9

Being my first REAL hangover (throwing up, pain in places you didn't think was possible ie. finger nails) it was bad. I remember being in bed until late the following night because I physically could not move.

Embarrassment - 5

The throwing up was not an embarrassment as it was mostly private. Even when I threw up on the way to the bar I had enough sense to ask my friend to pull over. Explaining my actions to my girlfriend was a different story. For most of the following day she was taking care of me and felt sorry for me until she found out what happened. That took the hangover to a whole new level of uncomfortable.

Summer 98

Yet another keg party at my house. Looking back this was a common thing in high school which makes me wonder, Where were your parents and how did you buy kegs at 17-18 in a place that has a drinking age of 19? Kids these days. Anyway, this was a party thrown for a few friends going away to college/university the next day. That next day was a Friday and a work day for me. To make matters worse I was working for my girlfriends parents.

Actions/Reactions - 7

Although I didn't make an ass of myself the night before, I made up for it times 100 the next day. Showing up to a mindless desk job reeking of booze is one thing. Showing up to a mindless desk job reeking of booze with your boss/girlfriends parents shaking their heads in disapproval is another. I would have fired me...then probably gotten sued for wrongful termination.

Situation and circumstance - 8

Being the only one of my friends that actually had to be somewhat functioning the next day should have kept me in check. It did not.

Messiness - 8.5

I awoke in a crusty pillow that smelt like death and curry. Remnants of my mothers famous ribs covered my bed. For a short while I thought I had food poisoning. Like I said, I was no so smrt.

Hangover hurt - 8

Going to bed at 4 AM and waking up 3 hours later in your own throw up pretty much sets the pace for the rest of your day. I spent the first half of my "work" day trying to stay awake staring at a blank spreadsheet and loudly throwing up in the office bathroom. Note: this office was a small house converted into a work space. Me throwing up could be heard by all. I remember going to my friend Kathy's place at lunch so I could lay down. We watched Batman & Robin (horrible, horrible movie) which seemed to make things worse.

Embarrassment - 6

As awkward as it was violently throwing up while my girlfriends parents could hear me, I was not as embarrassed as you would think. Why? I honestly thought me showing up for work in that state trumped me making an ass of myself. I was not very bright and a tad naive.

Winter 2002

I never lived the college dorm life. The closest I got was renting a house with some friends for a couple years after college. There was some messy nights during those days but none as bad as our house warming party. I remember the house being jammed packed and things escalated quickly. I don't really remember drinking THAT much however my room would say otherwise the next day.

Actions/Reactions - 3

Although I don't know why, my girlfriend at the time was very mad at me before going to bed. I think it was a combo of both of us being drunk. She felt bad about her actions the next day. I felt bad about my actions 5 or so years later.

Situation and circumstance - 1

This was a weekend party and with being done school I had no tests to study for or homework to do. My calendar was clear for me to be hungover.

Messiness - 9

I woke up the next day with that now familiar feeling of a crusty stinky pillow. Confused, I blamed my girlfriend. Perhaps feeling bad about the way she acted the night before I think she took the blame even though it was clearly me. Somehow I had her convinced she climbed over me and threw up on my side of the bed.

Hangover hurt - 4

I was fine because, well I wasn't the one who threw up. I played it off even though I was in some pain.

Embarrassment - 0

Nil. I successfully shifted the embarrassment to my girlfriend. I'm not proud of this time of my life for things like that but it was a part of some much needed growing up. It would take until December 2007 to feel bad for this.

Minneapolis 2007(Click to read my write up on that trip)

While I was courting Erin (Ha!) I would meet her in exotic places like Winnipeg. When the peg didn't cut it for us anymore we decided to take a trip to Minny which turned out to be a great place. Our night started with an open bar at the worst basketball game I have ever watched. Drinking was definitely the entertainment there. We spent the rest of the night bar hopping our way across the twin city. We drank dirty martini's in an artsy bar downtown, tequila shots at an ice bar, and Manhattan's at a place called Manhattan. That was the first and last Manhattan I will ever consume.

Actions/Reactions - 2

We didn't get into too much trouble. Trying to get the most out of our free booze, the staff at the Target Center politely kicked us out as we were the last people in the stadium but that's about it. Oh, I did steal a pillow from the Hyatt because it was "evidence" of the night prior but my credit card was charged accordingly for that.

Situation and circumstance - 10

Being an 8 hour drive away from Winnipeg when you have to work the following day is bad enough. The fact that it was the middle of December and it was blizzarding outside and I was driving a Camery Hybrid AND I was hung over made it a very bad situation. After crawling to the outskirts of Minny and stopping for "breakfast" at McDonald's I actually said to Erin, "I don’t mean to be a downer but we are in a bad situation right now. A very bad situation"

Messiness - 10

When you have to destroy the evidence, its bad.

Hangover hurt - 15

Off the chart. I had to pull over on the drive home because I thought I was going to throw up while driving.

Embarrassment - 4

Tough one. It's hard to be embarrassed when all you want to do is die. I did feel bad for the cleaning ladies so there's that...

Seattle 2010

A surprise trip to Seattle turned ugly for Shaun. Erin, her friend Lauren and I headed down to Seattle to catch a Blue Jays game. What Erin didn't know is we were meeting her friends Scott and Whitney. Coordinating this kind of trip/surprise with two of Erin's girlfriends was enough to make my stomach upset however as per Whit, we "freaked her freak good." What did put me over the edge was a stop at Jack and the Box on the way down followed buy giant shots of Jagger and tequila. I'm talking 2-3 gulp sized shots. More ridiculously strong cocktails than shooters.

Actions/Reactions - 10

I may have gotten out of hand that night. I upset Erin but was too drunk to understand why or care. So instead of heading back with her and Lauren to our hotel at bar close, I ran after Scott and Whit to theirs. It was a short stay as I thought it was funny to try and steal things from them. A half naked Scott escorted me to the door. To be fair I wasn't the only one making an ass of oneself that night. Without giving too much away, Scott thought it would be funny to flash his, lets say...menitals, at everyone in the room. I managed to steal his wallet on the way out. So there I was stumbling blind drunk through a not so favorable part of Seattle with not 1 but 2 wallets on me. My sober self knew it wasn't a far walk however when you are walking in a zig-zag pattern it could take awhile. When I finally arrived I thought it would be best to disrobe outside of the hotel room so I wouldn't wake up the girls. To my surprise (and theirs) they were still up and now wondering why I didn't have any pants on.

Situation and circumstance - 6

Not as bad as Minneapolis as we were in no hurry to get home and it was not the middle of the winter. We did however have a game to catch. It was a bit sad how rough I was feeling because our seats were great and the game went to extra innings. It was won by Ken Griffy Jr's final RBI as a professional ball player. It was nice to sort of be there for that.

Messiness - 10

Bad. Bad. So Bad. Somehow I managed to throw up on not one but two beds. I completely ruined my new shirt from Japan and was pretty sure I would be charged for some industrial dry cleaning. We did the "sneak out of shame" as we left through the fire exit.

Hangover hurt - 16

Owwwwwweeeeewweewewewe.... I still shudder thinking about it. After we made our discreet exit from the hotel we came to the conclusion that I was in no shape to drive. We started walking along the waterfront towards the stadium, all the while I was complaining about how much agony I was in. Erin and Lauren stopped to get something to eat. No surprise I was not hungry at all. Instead I walked ahead and sat on a bench next to a popular clam chowder place. The smell of seafood pushed me over the edge. I threw up at least 5 more times...right in front of an outside eating area packed with happy tourists getting their chowder on. Awesome.

Embarrassment - 1

Wow Shaun, Really? No shame? Even while throwing up in front of people eating their lunch? You think the fact that I ruined Lauren's bed and made her sleep on the couch would make me feel bad but she acted like it was expected. What does that say about me?

The Totals:

Summer 97 - 24

Summer 98 - 37.5

Winter 02 - 17

Minneapolis 07 - 41

Seattle 10 - 43

Wow. Seattle takes top honors. I guess it was as bad as I thought. Interesting note, the older I get the worse it gets. No shock there.

Summer recap to follow...

Mad dash home

2010-07-11T17:53:00.003-06:00

This post is a long time coming. There are a few reasons for putting it off so long. Summer has finally arrived in Vancouver and with that, a steady stream of visitors. Being active outdoors has become a priority so that factors in. Possibly concluding this write up of our trip could be too much to bare. Also, I'm pretty lazy. Yes many factors however the truth just may boil down to embarrassment.

We slowly made our way to the Honolulu airport after having a long and enjoyable last meal with Justin and Allison. We stopped for gas on the way to the airport and chit chatted with the car rental attendant before taking a shuttle bus to our flights check in counter. We arrived exactly 2.5 hours before our flight to find the attendants at the counter packing up for the night. They were confused as to why we were there. "Are you here for the 6:00 am flight?" she asked. "No, the 10:30 pm flight to Vancouver..." I replied with a sinking feeling in my gut. She informed us that there was no such thing. As Erin started to convenience them that there was indeed a 10:30 flight I quietly realized what I had done. For some reason we had it in our heads that our flight was a red eye at 10 pm so when I lazily checked in online I had mistaken 20:30 as 10:30 pm. This realization was quiet embarrassing being seasoned travelers and especially sad when all my clocks and phone are set to 24 hour time. The staff working was doing what they could to get us on the flight (which was set to leave in 25 minutes) including annoy Erin. One of the attendants kept repeating herself saying that just because we checked in online didn't mean we didn't have to be there 2 hours early for an international flight. Erin finally said, as polity as she could under the circumstance, that we appreciated what they were doing however repeating that was not going to change the fact that we were an hour and a half late. With that out they seemed to work a little faster and after throwing our bags on the conveyor belt told us to run to our gate as boarding was on last call. We thanked them and made our way to security, pushing our way to the front of the line. Sure enough our gate was at the other end of the terminal. We ran (Erin in flip flops) madly to our gate. It may as well have been on another island. The whole time we were in disbelief that they actually let us on this flight. Memories of the only other time we missed a flight came to mind. We were an hour early and could not get on that flight. Ironically it was to go to the Dominican for Justin and Allison's wedding.

The only other time I missed a flight was after sleeping in at a friends place. He had set the alarm wrong. Alchool may have been a factor. It was Christmas time and I was going to visit my family in Ontario. I called my mother to tell her the bad news. "Ho ho ho, merry Christmas!" she said as she answered. "Ummmm hey" I replied. When she realized it was me and that I was supposed to be somewhere over north Saskatchewan by then she let out an "oh Fuck." Merry Christmas indeed. Thankfully this time there was no "Oh fuck" moment.

It was not the way we wanted to conclude our relaxing week in Hawaii and an overall amazing trip. Never a dull moment.

America - Food and beer, beer and food.

2010-06-25T17:54:00.007-06:00

...And by more active I mean more chicken wings and video trivia. We ended up at the same pub for the second straight night but not before packing in a busy sun soaked day. We headed south for some snorkeling at Hanuma Bay. This beautiful nature preserve has seen its share of visitors. Over a million people a year snorkel these reefs which is evident once you see the brown dead coral below the surface. Still, for a first time snorkeling experience it was very cool. There were many different species of fish and a few sea turtles that had no issues with you swimming next to them. It was pretty neat to lazily play in the surf with a sea turtle swaying back and forth with you. No pictures of this amazing time. As I learned the hard way, my camera does not like salt water.

We spent the majority of the day pointing odd looking fish. Waterlogged, we continued around the south tip of the island stopping at a couple scenic points along the way. We also watched locals play in the waves. It is baffling to me how they do not run over each other.

On the way back we cut across the island and stopped at Mona falls for a sunset hike. Returning through the jungle at dusk was not ideal nor the plan but was nice to see and do. Sweating out a weeks worth of over sized and deep fried portions became a necessity. It was also nice to see Allison bolt at the sign of darkness leaving us all behind. The friendship lines had been drawn that night as her true colors came out.

The next morning we headed to the flee market for some cheap souvenirs. So many bad flower print shirts in one place. After that we took a soggy hike up Diamond head. It was the first day of rain for us and was conveniently on our last day in town. The hike was great even though we were all wearing flip flops. Stairs are fun. At least it was neat to be inside a crater. Check.

The last thing on our Oahu checklist was to eat some local food. No, not spam. A roasted pig kept coming to mind. The place we had read about happened to be closed that day and we hadn't had much luck asking locals for their advice. The night before we ended up eating pizza and drinking in our hotels hot tub. Gross but fun. When we asked a clerk at the corner store for a local pizza place recommendation she said "Papa John!" in a high pitch excited squeal. "No, something local." we replied. "Papa John?" she said again, this time with a confused look on her face. "Nooo something local. Not a chain." She paused. "Ohhhh...I like Papa John." So when it came to recommending a restaurant most people suggested a chain or the same seafood place around the corner from out hotel. We gave in and feasted there. We took our time eating and saying our goodbyes. Our month long trip was coming to an end and I don't think we were ready to go home yet. We had, what I thought was, a midnight red-eye flight home so we had, what I thought, a lot of time to get to the airport.

A panicked and rushed trip to our gate to follow...

30 is the new 29

2010-06-17T08:50:00.012-06:00

Apparently turning 30 made me want to do really lame things. Things like visit a pineapple plantation. The Dole plantation came recommended from a friend (who is ironically over 30) so we decided to check it out. This meant we would have to venture out of our 4 block comfort zone. Thankfully we rented a car for our last few days to do just that.

After a nice drive through "Jurassic Park" country we arrived at the plantation and found exactly what you would expect, immigrant workers. Jokes. We found pineapple and pineapple related (and not in anyway related) things. We took a ride on the "Pineapple Express" train ride strictly for its name and learned a number of fascinating things about this spiky fruit. It grows out of the ground for starters and...that's pretty much it. One is still a number.

Erin and I found out the hard way that we would not be good contestants on the "Amazing Race" after getting lost and taking twice as long as Jallison to complete a giant pineapple maze. We even cheated and we still took forever. No million dollar prize for us. We shrugged it off with some pineapple ice cream and some pineapple flavoured pineapple.

Enjoying the maze

Enjoying defeat

From there we continued to the north shore in search of some big waves. We soon found out that the pipeline was a winter time thing and that the waves on Waikiki were just as big if not bigger. We stopped at a beach anyway and then randomly came across a sea turtle sanctuary. We took turns snorkeling with them but the water was too murky to see much. Still neat to see.

We continued on a little further to Sunset beach where we had some wine and watched the sun go down. We were rained out so finished our wine in some McDonald's sippy cups at a road side diner.

Ahmeric-uh.

The next day started off with a bang to my arteries. We wanted to try a local "delicacy" and were turned on to spam and eggs. Wow. What a combo. Apparently it is so popular that McDonald's even serves it up. We opted for a much classier dinner style restaurant, one where they call you "hun." The "worse than hot dog meat" meal was very tasty however I did temporally lose feeling in my left side and to this day I still can not see the color blue anymore.

We wobbled our way out of the diner and headed for Pearl Harbour. Going to Pearl Harbour had nothing to do with me turning 30. This was something I had wanted to see since I was a young boy with a borderline unhealthy fascination with WWII airplanes.

We first toured a WWII submarine which was very similar to the one I saw in Cleavland. Next we made our way to the Arizona memorial. Again, it was another place that was very eerie to be at. Over 400 men are buried in this underwater grave. Oil from the engines still bubbles to the surface adding to the reality of it all.

Next was the USS Missouri. This ship had many interesting things to see, most notably damage left from a kamikaze attack and the very spot that WWII ended. At the spot where the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed there is a plaque along with copies of the signed document. Erin noticed that on Japan's copy there are a bunch of lines crossed out and New Zealands representative was hand written in. We asked a volunteer why such an important document was like that he told us to blame Canada. Turns out Canadian Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave signed below his name and not on the line clearly provided for him. This set off a chain of mis-signing. Next to the document is a picture of all the Allied nations representatives as they signed. Sure enough theres Cosgrave looking confused while someone is standing over his shoulder and pointing at the paper. "Dumb Canadians" we sarcastically replied. We joked later that Canadians referenced as being slow in American TV shows may have been born on that very spot.

We toured the Air Museum on Ford island which was a little bit of a let down. I was bringing 25 years of expectations with me so that should be taken lightly. The collection of planes is small however they are expanding the museum in the next few years. what was more interesting was to be walking on the islands airfield where the aftermath of the attacks are still present almost 70 years later.

It was interesting to be able to visit both sides of the conflict in one trip. Both pay their respects nicely although Pearl Harbour was a bit "Ra-America" at times. One thing that was mentioned in several spots (and somewhat falsified in the movie "Pearl Harbour") was the Doolittle Raid. This bombing mission was an attempt to show the Japanese that the Americans were capable of bombing them on Japan soil. Although the mission did little damage it was considered a success for US moral. The doomed bombers all attempted to ditch in China as they had no fuel to return to their carrier. Some 50 US airmen were aided out of China by Chinese villagers. The little known or talked about fact is that Japan killed an estimated 250,000 Chinese villagers for this aid. 250,000 for 50? You may want to say thanks for that. Just saying.

We ended our day with bad pub food (bad for you, not necessarily bad) and video trivia to which I won. This should not be surprising as I now have 30 years of useless knowledge in my head.

A more active Hawaiian experience to follow.

And then there was Hawaii.

2010-06-12T13:43:00.008-06:00

Not that its a bad thing or to shrug it off but after being immersed in foreign culture for a few weeks, Hawaii was a little too familiar. After all it is Amerrric-uh...land of the free...and the chili dog.

We arrived at our Waikiki beach front hotel exhausted from a combo of an overnight flight and the past few weeks. Justin and Alision were without a place to stay as Allison's sister, who was supposed to meet us there and had a condo rented for them, was unable to make it. We snuck them into our room which was huge so didn't cramp our style...much. Erin and Allison were a little more exhausted then Justin and I were so the two of us headed out in search of good times. Justin, who was coming off his samanela meds, pulled a bit of a "Tokyo Shaun." Things may have gotten a little out of hand for him. Thankfully he was together enough to not go ahead with the tattoo idea he came up with when we befriended some Mexican tattoo artists in a seedy basement bar. Personaly I was fond of the traveling butterfly idea he had...

Within the first few days of being on Walkiki beach we did absolutly nothing. We ate. We slept. We ate some more. Amerric-uh. I don't think we even ventured beyond a 4 block radius. We ate and slept pool side at our hotel,we slept and ate on the beach. We played in the surf and watched amazing sunsets. It was an incrediably lazy time.

My 30th birthday rolled into this lazy period. Erin got me a great ukele made in Hawaii which provided a soundtrack to our lazy day. Later we managed to find great sushi and plenty of drinks within our 4 blocks. A tequllia fueled night followed when we ran into our new amigos at the same dank basement bar. Justin reconsidered his tatoo.

I said goodbye to my 20's as we drank on a full moon lit beach. It was ok I guess.

Resposibility to follow.

Baseball, babies and men in diapers

2010-06-06T13:29:00.006-06:00

Heading back to Tokyo was an eye opener. This leg of the trip was sadly coming to an end. Wanting to stretch it out a little more we tried to make a stop in Hakone to get a closer look at Mt.Fuji. An unfavorable train schedule made it a little tricky to pull off so we continued on. Any dejection from the potential detour was washed away when we saw that the Tokyo Giants were playing that night. Seeing a baseball game in Japan was high on my list of things to do and seeing the Giants, Japan's most popular team, made it that much better.

We arrived at the Tokyo Dome just before the opening pitch and were able to get standing room tickets. I had been to a few NHL games with standing room tickets and it was always a designated spot with excellent views and had something to lean on or rest a drink on. This however was not the NHL. We spent a few minutes trying to find our "seats" then realized that the thousands of people in the hallways were looking for their "seats" too. It was pretty bizarre. Many of the people in the halls had setup nicely on the floors surrounding the in house televisions. Kind of defeated the purpose of being at the game. We figured with our height advantage we should be able to get a view somewhere so we circled the stands and settled on a spot in right field. None of us were really in the mood to stand and barley see the game for 3 hours so we decided to give it a couple innings then head out. Eight and a half innings later we were drunk, cheering and yelling God knows what, and high fiving locals. It was a blast. The crowd gets so into the game with animated and choreographed cheers and chants. It is contagious and impossible to not get involved. Mix in beer girls dressed in 1930's baseball uniforms with kegs strapped to their backs and you have got a great time. Replace hot dogs and cracker jacks with edamame and sushi and it becomes a truly unique experience.

We left the game in the 9th inning in an effort to beat the 55,000+ crowd. The Giants had tied it up at 2-2 with the Hiroshima Carps. It was hard to leave as the game itself was very good.

We made our way to Shibuya to find something to eat and ended up at a place sharing a large table with a group of locals. We ordered a feast. It was a nice last super. A brief game of quarters broke out but thankfully not enough to make me run off into the Tokyo night.

Another failed attempt at going to the fish market followed. 5:00 am was not appealing to any of us, especially to smell fish after a night of drinking. Instead we headed to the oddest Japanese tradition I am sure to ever experience...sumo wrestlers making babies cry. No joke. Giant, fat, men in diapers yelling and shaking new borns until they cry. It has been a tradition in Japan for over 400 years and is said to bring good health to the baby and laughter to the audience. There is even referees to judge which baby cries the loudest and longest. At some points the refs joined in, dawning scary masks and shouting a not scary at all chant which sounded like "Nuggie, nuggie, nuggie!" This was amazingly bizzare and great to see.

Being able to check off baseball and sumo wrestlers (sort of) was very satisfying. I was a little less sad to be leaving this strange and amazing place. We strolled the Senso-ji temple one last time before heading back to our hostel to collect our bags. It was odd that our Japan trip started and ended at the same spot. We had come full circle.

We finished off a bottle of plum wine on our train ride to the airport. The wine would help with the night flight to Honolulu. Perhaps sensing our sadness of leaving Japan Alison said "Anyone want to go to Hawaii tomorrow?" Yes, yes I do.

Kyoto - "We get it. You're pretty."

2010-05-30T19:48:00.011-06:00

Within minutes of arriving in Kyoto, I was already impressed with the place. We exited the Kyoto train station and were greeted by my favorite childhood robot, Astroboy. Yay Kyoto!

Our hostel was great and added to Kyoto's charm. Like our place in Hiroshima, it was a traditional ryokan however this time we opted to share a family room. The room and building was definitely traditional. Small hallways, narrow stairs, and sliding paper doors made this stop that much better. Sharing the room made it feel like we were 10 years old and having a sleepover with some friends. Gone were the sleeping bags, replaced with thin mats on the floor. It was cozy to say the least. We spent a good half hour trying to figure out what was the best sleeping arrangement...head to head, toe to toe, foot to face etc… Once that was sorted we enjoyed some green tea and then some great plum wine that we brought from Hiroshima. Yes just like a 10 year olds slumber party except with stronger booze.

If only these pillows existed when I was 10 years old...

We were told Kyoto is a beautiful city. We were told Kyoto has amazing temples and sights. We were told that 2 days would not be enough. For some reason all of that never sunk in. Being known as "the city with a thousand temples" should have clued us off. We set off on our first day not really knowing what to expect. After weaving up the very busy Matsuba street, stopping in dozens of shops along the way, we arrived at the gates of Kiyomizudera temple. This is one of Japan's most popular Buddhist temples and with good reason. From there you are presented with amazing views of the area and Kyoto. There are endless things to see on the grounds but what the temple is most famous for is the large expanding decks and a waterfall that is said to bring health, wisdom and longevity. Very cool.

One other very cool thing we did was Mother Buddha's womb in the Zuigudo hall. This self-meditating/reflecting exercise sees you walking down into the basement of the hall in pitch black and being guided by a rope on the wall to a large, dimly lit stone. Once at the stone you spin it and make a wish. This would have been an incredibly relaxing a self-fulfilling experience if it wasn’t for Hollywood. The entire trek through the dark filled my head of cobwebs, strange bugs, and booby traps. I was too busy being scared to really enjoy the experience. Thanks a lot One Eyed Willey. When we emerged Justin and I found out that Erin and Allison were too freaked out to even turn the stone. As soon as they saw light they were gone. We collected our nerves and carried on through the rest of the grounds then made our way back down the hill, stopping in a dozen more shops on the way.

After passing by a few other temples we made our way to Kinkaku-ji, known as the Golden Pavillion. This very pretty, very shinny temple was originally built as a retirement home. It was rumored that MC-Hammer was going to purchase the property prior to going flat ass broke.

While enjoying the views we were mobbed by school children on a field trip. Their assignment was to interview tourists to practice there English…or report to the government. They were very nice so we participated. When asked to write something in there journal Justin wrote “My name is Justin and I like to party.” Naturally I followed suit.

Children on field trips seemed to be a big thing that day as at the Kiyomizudera temple 90% of the visitors were school kids. At one of the bamboo pools I was swarmed by a group of schoolgirls wanting my picture. I think they mistaken me for Godzilla.

Next up was Ryoan-ji which houses the largest Zen rock garden in the city. The steps leading up to it gave me one of my favorite pictures of the trip. See right. The temple and garden is amazing and one of my favorite sights. The calmness of it all absolutely reeked. It burned the nostril…but in a good way. We sat and reflected in it for as long as the cool late spring, late afternoon, would let us bear.

We continued on around the grounds. More peaceful and relaxing green space followed. At this point the beauty of it all was really starting to piss me off. Where do you get off Kyoto? We get it. You’re pretty. Now you’re just bragging.

After frolicking in a field of cherry tree petals we headed out for some eats. For a late lunch we ate roman noodles that was ordered and paid for through a vending machine. What a country!

That night we polished of the plum wine and headed out in search of real Geisha’s. I was not (and still not) completely sure what a Geisha is. Traditional prostitute keeps coming to mind however Erin kept saying otherwise. I’m still not convinced. We walked through the Geisha district for a good fifteen minutes with out a “sighting” About the time I started to loose hope (and interest) Erin shouted “I see’s one!” and proceeded to point. Sure enough across the road a white-faced lady in full on traditional clothing shuffled her way down an alley and out of sight. It was as if we had seen a ghost. As we walked further we began seeing them in greater numbers. Some scurrying to appointments, some from. We even saw one with a group of drunken businessmen. It was strangely fascinating. I was unsure of protocol so I didn’t take any pictures. Part of me wondered if they would even show up in a photo.

As we headed back to the hostel we passed by another traditional Japanese sight, the love hotel. These hourly rental rooms are exactly what they sound like they are. They are scattered throughout Japanese cities so we had surely passed by them already. This one just happened to be called “Love Hotel” and we actually saw a couple walk into it. I was taking a slow shutter speed picture of the building as the couple was walking in. It would have been a cool picture as it would have shown a blurred trail going into the hotel however Erin was freaked out that I was taking their picture so she stepped in front of me. Best picture ever…in my mind.

The next morning we said our goodbyes Rin. She had become somewhat annoying to carry around and therefore was not the ideal travel companion. Truthfully I think Justin was feeling better so her job was done. That and she fell for the front desk clerk. When Justin said he was leaving her in the common area as a gift for the hostel the front desk clerk grabbed her and put her behind his desk. Hmmmm…

Before our afternoon train we made our way out to the bamboo forest, which is a series of trails through the woods. Again Kyoto, we get it.

After seeing the Togetsukyo Bridge we said our good byes to the city and headed for the train station. From there we were sped away from one of the most beautiful cities we will ever visit. Move aside Elk Point Alberta, you have been dethroned.

The two sides of Hiroshima

2010-05-23T17:56:00.012-06:00

Japan's train system is an amazing thing. Incredibly efficient, quiet and super fast. We zipped across the country in a few short, comfortable, and scenic hours. We had excellent views of Mount Fuji as we passed by it. Rin, Justin's new travel companion had never seen the country side before so that was nice.

After arriving in Hiroshima we checked into our ryokan style hostel room before heading out for something to eat. 70% of our meals while in Japan came from 7/11. No, we didn't dine on taquitos and slurpees everyday. Japan's 7/11's (and Hong Kong from what we saw) have an excellent variety of healthy and quick eats on the cheap. Steamed pork buns and seaweed rice triangles filled with salmon or tuna were a very common meal on this trip.

Our hostel was only a short walk to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial museum which is located in peace park, a few hundred meters away from where the bomb went off. It felt very odd to be walking there considering the whole area, including where we were sleeping, was reduced to nothing almost 65 years ago. It was very humbling and emotional to be there. I felt the same sickness and sadness when I visited Flanders’s Field a few years back. In both places you could feel death. We slowly walked through the museum, reading survivors stories and historical facts. We had taken our time then as we were being ushered out at closing time realized there was a second building full of articles to see. We rushed through that part as the museum was closing. Even if we hadn't been there at closing time I don't think I personally could have stayed much longer. The stories, pictures, and displays were too much to take all in. It seemed like it all should have been fictional or in the movies. Stories and images of living peoples skin melting off is not a fun thing. Obviously Hiroshima knows this. They want the rest of the world to know this as well. The museum and park not only serve as a memorial but as a dark reminder of what nuclear war brings. The city has unwilling accepted the task of promoting world peace and protesting the use of nuclear weapons. With that the mayor's, past and present, of Hiroshima protest countries that have said weapons and tested them.

Before and after the a-bomb

We somberly strolled the parks grounds visiting the various memorials. We made our way to the still standing A-bomb dome. This is one of the only structures that survived the blast and has been left standing as a memorial and reminder of the destruction caused.

Taking all of this in made us want a drink and appreciate it. We set out in search of a bar and found that Hiroshima is a very developed and modern city. No dwelling on the past here. We eventually found ourselves at a very small, very cool bar called Wao. The owner was happy to have us and chatted us up while serving us local plum wines. So good. We would later take some banana plum wine to go. After mentioning we were looking for a place to have okonomiyki, a Japanese dish famous in the area, the owner of the pub not only suggested a place but walked us there in the rain. Did I mention that we had fallen in love with Japan?

The place she brought us to was run by her friend and was another great little bar like restaurant. The owner prepared our meal in front of us while we watched, commented, and took a thousand pictures. Take that Japan. These Japanese style pancakes are amazing and became my favorite meal in the country. How great dose this look?

Full up on cabbage, we made our way back to Wao to thank the owner for showing us such a great place. Night caps of plumb wine followed. Justin, now on antibiotics enjoyed a nice coca cola and a game of brick breaker.

The next day we headed to Myajima island. This was one of the sights I really wanted to see in Japan and it did not disappoint. The island contains many shrines and temples but is most famous for its submerged bright orange tori gate and matching shinto shrine. The shrine is built out into the bay on piers. Walking the grounds and shrine was very peaceful and relaxing. This just added to our love for the country. The friendly island deer didn't hurt the experience either.

We grabbed some some tasty sweet bean paste filled pastries as we left the island. Another area specialty checked off the list.

We left Hiroshima wanting more. History, peacefulness, and a new hip feel made it a favorite spot for all of us. Do your best Kyoto, our expectations have been raised.

"...You win some you, lose some."

2010-05-18T14:11:00.012-06:00

Being in Japan over 48 hours without eating sushi once was a shock for us. Living in Vancouver we eat sushi like it's fish candy. Our intention was to get up early for the fish market and have sushi there however our night out put a stop to that. When we finally got moving the fish market was long closed. This did not stop Erin from wanting to get her sashimi on. Now I love sushi, I would be lying if I said it was not one of the factors in going to Japan in the first place. That said, raw fish and a hangover never mix well for me. Still, being the trooper that I am and feeling apologetic for the previous evening, I agreed. The gigantic seaweed miso soup made me a little green but the sushi I enjoyed. Apology retracted.

We headed to Akihabara, Tokyo's famous electronics district, in an attempt to get my camera fixed. I figured it was born in this country so surely someone could fix it. Before making it to the heart of Akihabara we stopped in a ginourmous electronics department store. I found the camera repair area where I was helped by the friendliest department store employee I have ever met. It is refreshing to not feel like you are disrupting someone by asking them to do their job. The kind attendant took my camera into the back and returned shortly after. He could not fix it in the short time frame I had given him but he gave me the address and directions to the closest Cannon repair center. He would have held my hand and walked me there himself if I had asked. With that I said "arigatoh" and then made the mistake of giving a slight nod. With that he said your welcome and bowed so hard I feared he would smack his head on the counter. I smiled and gave another slight nod and started to turn away. He repeated his aggressive bow to which I nodded again from a few feet away. I felt like I was stuck in a bow off. Japanese culture is a great thing. Very respectful. I would later witness a bow off between 2 business men on a subway car. After one of the men got off at a stop they continued bowing back and forth as the train sped away. I was now in that same situation as I backed away from the counter and the clerk working it. And so we danced.

We arrived in Akihabara to find endless electronic stores with Japanese comic book stores and video arcades mixed in. I was home. Erin and Alison went to buy freaky Japanese comics (which is like a religion in Japan)while I set out to replace/repair my camera. Although I had high expectations of the nerdy area it was still neat to see. There were no robot salesmen, no robot street sweepers, and no hoverbikes. There was also no one to help me fix my camera. There were however, Japanese animie pillows. These pretty things were brought to my attention after James Franco appeared on "30 Rock" where he played himself trying to cover up his relationship with one of said pillows. This was a spoof on a real life story of a Korean man who married his Japanese pillow. We tried to win one but failed badly. We walked away dejected. I turned back and I swear one of the pillows winked at me. Getting one was ineluctable. It was fate.

After our failed attempts to repair/replace my camera and find love in an inanimate object, we made our way to the heart of Tokyo. When we emerged from Tokyo station we were surprised to find a very clean, modern and quiet city. Not what we had expected. In a final attempt to get Erin's bank card working we stopped in at a bank and talked to an employee who spoke better English then we do. More failure. We walked around the Imperial palace grounds until we realized that the area is huge then made our way to Tokyo Tower for views of the city at night. Tokyo stretches forever.

Upon returning to our hostel Justin became ill again and was down for the night. In an effort to cheer him up Erin and I headed back to Akihabara and pumped $30 into an arcade game in an attempt to win a pillow for Justin. After we spent all but our subway fare home we gave up. Seeing our dejection, an observer gave us his pillow that he had won earlier. When asked if he was sure he said "It is too big for my appartment." What a country! After watching grown men in business suits line up to play some kind of "Dance, Dance revolution" game we headed back to the hostel and tucked "Rin" in with Justin.

The next day we tried once again to go to the fish market however Justin was not right. He headed to a hospital while Erin and Alison headed back to Harijuko to shop. This left me to get my camera repaired. I arrived at the Cannon repair center with high hopes. The attendant led me on with his positive attitude and speedy service. When I say speedy I mean he actually took my camera and ran to the workshop area. I love this country. I learned however, that politeness should not be confused with positivity. When he returned he smiled and waived me to the counter. He proceeded to more of less say in broken English "how do you say...beyond repair...completely fucked?" All while smiling from ear to ear. I thanked him, bowed once and made sure not to look back as I left. I spent the rest of the day in Akihabara pricing out the same camera. Of course the cheapest one I found was at the very first store so I headed back there after seeing every possible option. I spent the next 2 hours trying to get my credit card to work which was fun. Can't wait for that cell phone bill.

I returned to the hostel to find Erin and Allison but no Justin. After calling the hospital and finding out he paid for some medicine only an hour earlier he returned. When asked what the doctor said he nonchalantly replied "I have crones." This was a bit of a shock to us as crones can be serious. A form of crones took one of my friends colons. His doctors note, which appeared to be written by Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs, said otherwise. Upon further review and following up online we found that it was actually salmonella. At that point Justin fessed up to eating questionable chicken and shell fish in Thailand...almost a month prior. Oh Justin.

I then explained my day and how I had to buy another $400 camera. Justin summed that up pretty nicely: "It's like drinking the water in Thailand, you win some, you loose some." Indeed.

"It's people like him that give American's a bad name"

2010-05-16T12:47:00.015-06:00

When we last left off a very drunk and some what obnoxious Shaun was smiling and waiving goodbye to Justin, Allison, and Erin as they sped off on the last train of the night. Still laughing out loud I suddenly found myself in a very dark, very quiet outdoor metro stop. Although I was stumbling drunk, had no money, and no idea where I was I felt safe and in no danger at all. This is how safe and peaceful Japan felt to us. This feeling changed when I heard a twig snap in some nearby bushes. Ninjas. I forgot about ninjas. I sat on a bench to collect my thoughts...all three of them. As I sat there I actually said out loud to myself, "How are you going to get out of this one Shaun?" Thought number one was to wait it out. This was Tokyo, people surely go to work at 5:00 AM. I could nap on the bench until the trains start up again. Thought number two was about how good dinner was. I snapped out of that and moved on to thought number 3, figure out a way to use my charm and good looks for good and not evil. This thought was interrupted when a metro employee approached. He told me as polite as he could in broken English to get out. He then walked me out on the street. "Such nice people!" I thought to myself.

When we emerged a taxi screeched to a halt some 25 meters away. Out popped Jallison and Erin. They had gotten off the train one stop down the line, ran (I must stress RAN) out of the station, flagged a cab and sped to my rescue. "Shaun!" they shouted in relief as I was escorted out of the station. Now most people would be lucky to have friends like these. This briefly crossed my mind however most people are not drunk assholes. So there we stood, 25 meters apart in a 10 second standoff while I processed these thoughts. Most people would have headed towards their loved ones in a slow motion fashion much like Bo Derrick in the movie "10" Well I'm certainly no Bo Derrick. So what did I do? I ran...in the opposite direction. For some reasson when I am in that simple minded state I find it hilarious to run away. Sober I never run. To be fair I don't even like to walk fast. I'm not sure why but when I drink to excess I become Usain Bolt. So as you can imagine, the three heroes stood in shock and confusion as I ran off and out of sight. Im sure I could be heard giggling into the dark.

I didn't go too far. I turned a corner, circled back around and flanked them from behind. At that point I stopped. Hugs and relief followed. We hailed a cab and headed for our hostel. In the cab Justin showed me video he had taken of the mishaps. First it was a clip of Erin and Allision laughing on the subway car to the point of tears. Such good friends indeed. Next was the three of them madly running through the following station while Justin yelled "Im sorry buddy! Your my best friend! Please don't die." Next was a clip of the standoff and me running away. All of this solidified how funny it was so when we stopped in our area of town I ran again. On that video clip you can hear a much less concerned Erin say as I disappear, "So...burger anyone?" A final dash occurred later on after we had sat down at a Denny's for some late night eats. I quickly browsed the menu and realized it was not the all day breakfast Denny's that is a drunken staple in North America. With that I bolted. I knocked over a high chair to throw off anyone in pursuit. The poor people working there were so confused. I left Jallision and Erin to apologize as they came after me. "It's people like him that give American's a bad name." said Justin as they left. This was an ongoing joke for us as someone had actually said that about Justin after he had done something to warrant that kind of response.

I was found at a nearby McDonald's eating my second cheeseburger of the night. After some grease we all headed home...peacefully.

Some kind of hurt to follow in the morning.

Hello Tokyo! Goodbye Shaun!

2010-05-05T16:38:00.022-06:00

We arrived in Tokyo a little less frustrated then how we had left HCMC. Spending our remaining Dong on foot rubs and having free Sapporo on the flight definitely calmed our nerves. Who knew epsom salts and rice beer could be so soothing? After picking up our bags my new sugar mama, whom was now supporting me, found she was having issues with her bank card as well. Fun! We carried on Yenless to the train station where we were reunited with Jallision. Hugs and relief followed. Erin showed off her new Vietnamese souvenirs while we waited for the train. On the 45+ min. ride into Tokyo we were surprised to see snow on the ground. This was a bit of a shock to the system as we had just left 2+ weeks of 36+ degree weather behind. Freezing, I changed out of my shorts on the train.

We arrived at our very nice but expensive Asakusa hostel around 8:30 AM. We were unable to check in until after 2:00 pm so as tired as we were we headed out to see some sights and get some eats. After some tasty ramon we made our way through the surprisingly quiet and clean streets of Asukusa. It was eerily quiet. We joked that it was probably because we just came from a country with more roosters and scooters than people. We were also in an older part of Tokyo on a Saturday AM. We would later find that Tokyo is an incredibly quiet and a very relaxing city. Japanese people do not honk unless needed, they do not talk loudly on cell phones in elevators and they certainly do not use their iPhones as boom-boxes on the subways...more on that later. Their cars are like ninja's, their cab drivers are like chauffeurs and even Japanese babies are polite, only crying when yelled at by sumo wrestlers. Again, more on that later.

We strolled the streets and made our way to Senso-ji temple, the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. It was originally built in 645 however the current structure was re-built after a bombing raid in 1945. When we arrived it was under construction leading us to believe that it is a 60 year + project. We wandered the grounds for awhile then headed down Nakamise-dori which is a long street lined with traditional shops and stretches from the Senso-ji temple to the Thunder gate.

With plenty of time to kill before we had a place to rest we continued on to Uneo park. Originally we picked our Japan dates to try and catch the cherry blossom festivals but sadly and we were a week or two late. Ueno Park is one of the best places to see the trees in full bloom. This was evident when we arrived to find the paths littered with pink petals. Much like my first girlfriend, there were a few late bloomers here and there.
At the entrance of the park we were greeted by the statue of Saigo Takamori, the last true samurai. I was convinced it was a beardless Zach Galifianakis but I was corrected. The huge tree lined park had many shrines, temples and pagoda's however the small Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the most interesting to myself. This memorial houses a small flame lit from fires started after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and is surrounded by hundreds of colorful paper cranes.

Exhausted we made our way back to the hostel in time for check in. At that point I came in first contact with a Japanese toilet. I can say it was love at first sight. This baby had heated seats, automatic scent dispenser, audible sounds to cover up your doings, built in sink that doubled as a tank filler, and various buttons with Japanese lettering on them. Curiosity set in 3 days later when I pushed the button with the odd bum spray drawing. Im sure loud giggling could be heard 2 floors down as the laser guided jets targeted my "no" area. Thinking it would shut off on its own I was too scared to stand up as it would have sprayed everywhere. A few hilarious seconds later I realized there was a cancel button. I promptly put an end to that ride. The next day I could hear Justin laughing in the bathroom and realized that he too found the bum spray button.

The next day we were up and out to see the freaks in Harajuko. Every Sunday people of all extreme fashion styles meet outside the Harijuko station. This was recently made internationally popular when Gwen Stefani captured 3 Harajuko girls and made them her personal dance slaves. When we arrived there were very few in costumes but the ones that we did see were great.

From there we made our way to Meiji shrine which is located in a huge (175 acre) forested area. The park consists of over 360 different kinds of trees and stays true to the peacefulness that we had come to like about Tokyo.

After passing through a huge Torri we arrived at the shrine just in time to catch a traditional Japanese wedding. Deciding to pass on crashing the wedding reception (even though I swear overheard someone say "open sake bar") we circled the grounds before heading back to the harajuku district. We made our way down the jammed packed harajuku street stopping in almost every other store along the way. Passing serval amazing looking crepe stands we opted for the healthier Yam on a stick. Not surprisingly it was delicious.

More shops and shopping followed as we made our way back to Shibuya and the famous Shibuya crossing. This is the famous intersection that turns into a flood of people once the walk sign is lit. We played in traffic for a little awhile and were not the only ones. There were people doing full on professional photo shoots in the middle of the street. Very cool.

Don't Walk/Walk

After crossing several times we headed down the Center Gai in search of something to eat. We randomly found a cool restaurant where you grill your own meet/vegetables etc... on your own table grill. Playing with your food always makes it better.

Feeling stuffed we decided to walk off the meal and maybe have a night cap before putting an end to a looong day. This all changed when we stumbled upon a row of tiny 4-5 seat bars. The novelty of the bar seemed to refresh all of us. A few drinks later we were teaching our personal bar tender how to play quarters. Several shots followed. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we literally drank the bar dry. With the keg tapped we took it as a sign and waived goodbye to our hosts and stumbled our way to the subway. Fueled by looser shots I may have become a bit rowdy. Not necessarily rowdy by North American standards but definitely rowdy in Japan. I also became stupid, both in America and Japan. Thinking it was hilarious I would run out of one car door and enter in another while the train was briefly stopped. The others were not impressed. They were less impressed when Justin pushed me as I tried to renter and the doors closed between us. Yenless and drunk all I could do was laugh and waive as the last train for the night sped away and left me in an unknown and dark metro stop somewhere in Tokyo.

To be continued...

Hanoid

2010-05-04T18:07:00.020-06:00

Iironically we arrived back in Hanoi with time to catch our original flight to HCMC. Wanting to give Hanoi a second chance we opted to stay and catch our second nonrefundable flight the next day.

After finishing off the twice paid vodka from Ha Long Bay we headed out to take in the Old Quarters. We attempted to get some culture by seeing a water puppet show however they were sold out for the evening. Disappointed as water puppets are unique to northern Vietnam, we decided to try our luck closer to when the show started. With a couple hours to kill we strolled a market area that resembled and sold the same stuff as every other market we had been to in Vietnam. I tried and failed to buy a pair of flip flops. The sales lady was adamant that I try their largest size. I humored them. Clearly size 11 does not equal size 11 in North America.

We ate some street meet and had curb side beer then headed back to the theater. Right before the curtain rose we were able to get 4 seats in the second row. The show was really neat. A live band played and did the voices as the puppets danced and swam in front of us. The water is a murky green color to hide the mechanics behind the puppets and to resemble the antifreeze coloured Hoan Kiem lake where the puppet story takes place. The puppets reenacted the legend of the lake which consisted of a magical sword and a turtle. Naturally I fell asleep halfway through...not because the show was boring. Nay. Vietnamese folk music always makes me sleepy...and perhaps a sign that 30 is not far off.

Not wanting to leave Vietnam without taking a rickshaw ride, we rode around Hoan Kiem lake after the show. Check.

The french influence finally paid off for us when we had the best breakfast of our trip at a small bakery. A 45 minute taxi ride to Hanoi airport followed. There we said our goodbye's to Jallision as they were off to Kuala Lumpur for a connection to Tokyo. We would not see them again for 17+ hours. Worst connection ever. Our connection was a short one hour flight back to HCMC. When we went to check in we found our Jetstar flight had been canceled. Awesome. At that point it was just comical. There were several flights on Vietnam Airlines a day that would get us in on time. Slight panic set in when we found out all other flights that day were sold out. We put our names on a standby list and waited 20 names deep. It was slightly less funny but still funny enough to keep Erin from calling her mom to come get her. Miraculously our names were called and for twice what we originally paid we were on the plane and laughing about what had just happened. The laughter was short lived as an hour and a half later my bank card was eaten by a HCMC airport ATM machine. I nervously laughed about it until banks call center asked me to stay in HCMC for another 2 days so they could recover my card. Angry Shaun had arrived in Vietnam. It wasn't just the bank card. It was a combination of our romantic night in in Ha Long Bay, my new cameras untimely death, our flights cancellation and the additional costs of the new flight. The bank card was the breaking point. On top of that my other bank card, my backup account, was not working either. Heading to an expensive country like Japan didn't help. Nevertheless we decided to make the most of our last few hours in Vietnam and headed into town where we bought silly motor bike helmets and had our last cheap foot rubs.

Goodbye Vietnam, please don't clear out my bank account.

"A hell hole in paradise"

2010-05-03T10:35:00.019-06:00

When we arrived at "The Real" Kangaroo cafe we were informed that we would be on a different boat then what we had booked. When asked if different equaled nicer the hostess paused then unconvincingly said she liked our new boat more. Off to a good start? On the plus side our boat consisted of a small group, ourselves and a family from the states.

The ride out to Ha Long City turned out to be very informative. After giving us the usual scripted spiel, our guide gave us his thoughts and views on communist/capitalist Vietnam, how things were, how things are, and how things may be.

After stopping at a tourist trap rest area we arrived at our ship. Mixed in with 25-50 other Junk's, the "White Dolphin" would be our home for the night. We were happy to find that it was a nice ship and not a diesel tug boat from the 50's. Our rooms were surprisingly roomy although they did smell like a outhouse.

We feasted on a seafood lunch then toured a small island that had a look out some 200 steps up. From the top you get a spectacular view of the thousand plus surrounding islands. These islands appear to shoot up out of the water and take amazing shapes. Your imagination takes over as you look at them, much like it does putting shapes to cloud formations. My personal favorites are the drowning PAC-MAN island and the crocodile moving his 3 story house. I can honestly say I saw these shapes with out any alcohol in my blood.

After the climb we rented kayaks which was both amazing and tragic. We paddled our way over to a cave and passed through. On the other side is an enclosed sanctuary. It is amazing. We floated in silence and soaked in the scenery. Around the time of cracking my second beer my new camera tragically met its end as it fell into the bottom of the kayak and briefly sat in about an inch of salt water. For me, this was the beginning of the end of Ha Long Bay and perhaps Vietnam. More on that later.

On the way back we stopped to watch monkeys play and eat in the wild. Sadly no photos. When we arrived back at the kayak rental boat our sandals, which we were told to leave on the deck, were no where to be found. I spent the next 15 confusing minutes going back and forth between boats in search of our footwear. Thankfully they were recovered. Upon returning to the boat we were told that there was a charge for beer that we had bought while kayaking...beer we had already paid for and consumed. Justin was charged for a bottle of vodka that he never opened that trip. Now I don't want to take away from the beauty of the area, it truly is a unique and gorgeous spot. However, you can see how these events started to add up.

We sat on the deck drinking Hanoi beer and watched the sun extinguish itself. Its only a camera, its only Dong. Life is good.

Another ridiculous feast followed. We started to feel like all we were doing on the boat itself was eat so after dinner Justin got us some bamboo fishing rods. He had caught calamari in Thailand and New Zealand and said it was a lot of fun to watch the alien like squid squirt ink when caught. We quickly caught a few and it was hilarious. They shoot sooooo much ink. So gross. So fun. Again, no pictures.

A couple bottles of wine followed while lounging on the rooftop deck before we retired to our poo shacks for the night. When we checked in we noticed a few small cockroaches which we had become used to. When we returned to our rooms for the night that few became many and some were scurrying across the beds. That coupled with the fact that Erin had stepped on one earlier was enough for us to ask for a new room which of course they did not have."Oh no, you never step on them" said our new American friend. "That attracts hundreds more and the eggs that are carried on their backs can live on your shoes and follow you home." Awesome.

We spent a long time contemplating sleeping on the cold deck before moving our beds away from the wall, pushing them together, and dousing them with bug spray. We also slept fully clothed and with the lights on. I hadn't slept with the lights on since I was 10 years old after watching Stephen King's "IT". Worst night ever.

Naturally I was up as soon as the sun was. A rested and relaxed looking Justin appeared around the time breakfast was being served. "How did you sleep?" he asked. "This boat is a hell hole in paradise" I replied after explaining my sleepless night.

We were going to start the day off with a swim but as we found the day prior, 500 + boats a day can really take its toll on the surrounding environment. The water was a sludge like green in spots. It is several shades cleaner/darker than the antifreeze colored lake in Hanoi but still not a welcoming color. It was far from the crystal blue water we read about in the 2002 review. As I sat disgruntled in the morning sun I could see the assholes jumping off the roof of the boat, splish/splashing and having a gay old time. At that moment I loathed that reviewer. The next best refreshing thing was a shower but our outhouse bathroom and the boats "fresh" water supply was not appealing. Again, my experience is my experience. The place and area is GORGEOUS and a must see if in that part of the world. We would later meet someone who was there the same time as us. He said he had an amazing time on his boat. He also paid 4 x as much as what we did which only proves you get what you pay for.

After another grossly large meal we docked at the "Amazing" Caves. The name does not miss lead as the caves are truly amazing. This cave is huge.

Shortly after the cave tour we set sail for Ha Long city where we were bussed back to Hanoi. To recap, Ha Long bay is definitely amazing, the boat we were on was definitely an experience.

You stay classy HCMC

2010-04-27T00:15:00.007-06:00

After reading a very positive online review about a 2 day boat tour of Ha Long Bay we were sold enough to void our non-refundable flight back to Ho chi Minh. To make the tour work we had to book a new flight a day later which meant we had a day to kill in Hanoi. Unfortunately everything we had read about Hanoi made it sound like everyone there is out to scam you. This was evident with the Ha Long Bay tour company we booked as it was the “Real Kangaroo Cafe” and not one of the 10 others of the same name. The girl who was asking Justin and I for money to go to school didn’t help our view either. After politely saying no and after a sales lady who saw the situation violently shook her head no at us the sweet girl turned venomous, hissed at us, got on a man’s motorbike and sped away. So it should not be surprising that we did very little in Hanoi. We caught up on sleep, laundry and mailed a box of souvenirs and unwanted clothing home. Should see that box in 3-11 months.

This is a bit sad as the old quarter does have character which HCMC lacks. We had met a lady in HCMC that had been to Hanoi so we asked her to compare the two cities. She preferred HCMC as it is “more sophisticated.” That same night we were wandering down a street in HCMC and a cock fight broke out right in front of us. When the nearby authorities came over to see what the commotion was about they promptly put money down on the larger, less sick looking bird. You stay classy Ho Chi Minh City.

Thankfully we would have another evening on our return from Ha Long Bay to give Hanoi a proper chance. Till then Hanoi, till then.

Hoi An - Tailor Made

2010-04-22T19:28:00.010-06:00

A well rested and medicated group arrived in Da Nang bright and early. Our hostel shuttle (which probably cost us way too

much) took us to our very nice Hoi An hostel. I had not read up on Hoi An but was told it was a place to shop and get tailor made clothing for pennies. We let the hostel owner take us to his shop where we perused department store catalogs for some clothes to be made for us that day. A process that consists of pointing to an article of clothing in the catalog then picking your fabric. As simple as that sounds, for me it was a bit overwhelming. When I shop for clothes I tend to try something on, hum and haw about it, come back a week later, think about it some more, finally buy it 2 months later, decide I don’t like it, return it 3 days after I am allowed to get a cash return and end up with store credit. That is when another article of clothing catches my eye and the whole process repeats itself. Its a system. So for me to be sat down with a catalog with 4 Vietnamese women hovering over my shoulder all shouting “You buy something now!?” can be a bit much. The girls were having a good time with it. That includes Justin.

By the time the smoke cleared we had several dress shirts, dresses, suit jackets, and blouses between us. We were told “You come back in 5 hours” so we strolled the streets of Hoi An to kill time.

Established as the largest harbor in Asia during the first century, Hoi An became heavily influenced by the french. This is clearly represented with a walk in its old quarters. Amazing bakeries and restaurants along the cannel make it feel like your in a small European town...a hot and dusty European town but still, the feeling is there.

We also took in some culture as we watched how paper lanterns are made, took in some traditional dance, and ate quesadillas. We also went through the market area and one of the oldest houses in the area which for a century, floods every year!

Back at the tailors our fittings were hit and miss. Alison’s clothes turned out very nice as did Justin’s (minus a pair of unexpected short golf shorts) My dress shirts came out nice however my suit jacket was more dressy than I had hoped. Erin, wanting clothes totally different, was not so lucky. She got what appeared to be the reject pile at a fashion show. There was potential however with the quick turn around the complex pieces were clearly rushed. That said it was an experience...one we probably paid way too much for but an experience none the less.

After a dinning on the areas famous dish, chau lau, we ere done for the day. Another 6:00 AM flight in the morning.

Highway to Hoi An

2010-04-18T20:58:00.007-06:00

Not even an hour into the first leg of our 17 hour bus ride, Justin was not feeling

so hot. A deadly combo of burning garbage outside, bumpy/windy roads, A/C that blew hot air, and a bowl of road side pho from a less than clean truck stop all adds up to trouble for Justins digestive system. To be fair he has not been right for a few weeks. At the resort in Mui Ne he asked the frontdesk if they had any meds for upset stomach. The hostess smiled and re-appeared with an unknown cocktail of pills. When in Nam.

I have to give it to JB, for how violently ill he was he did not cause a scene thus not setting off a chain reaction of vomiting tourists. Hurling Russian in their short Russian shorts, spewing Brits with their caked on sun block, and red faced Germans filling their fanny packs were all spared. Justin very quietly kept to himself, softly vomiting, much like how I imagine a dove would vomit, in plastic bag after plastic bag. "The Puke Heard Around The World" was safely avoided. At the second truck stop of the trip Justin was throwing in the towel. "Leave me here guys." he said wiping the sweat of his sweaty face. "Go on without me." The driver told us it was only 2 more hours to Nha Trang which is where we were supposed to switch buses to a more comfortable sleeper bus for the remaining 12 hours. Unfortunately 2 hours turned into 3.5 hours which to Justin must have felt like 3.5 weeks. When we finally arrived JB B-lined it to the worst bathroom in Vietnam. On top of it being no more than a dirty hole in the ground, there was no toilet paper. Not good for someone in his state. When he reappeared we asked if he wanted to stay in Nha Trang so he could rest up and recover. A no brainier for him. "What's wrong with the Sheraton?" he said after seeing the first comforting site he had seen in weeks. We convinced him on something a little more budget friendly. After fighting off a mod of people wanting us to stay at there hotel or take their cabs or buy their drugs, we paid way to much to get to our cheap but beach front accommodations.

Nha Trang is no more than a busy Mui Ne. Noted as one of the 25 most beautiful bays in the world, Nha Trang is not without its charm. That said it was a tourist trap that we didn't really want to get caught in. Nevertheless we made the best of it as we always do. Justin sought medical attention while Erin and I spent another rough day on the beach. After first going to a "hospital" that had people dying in its halls, Justin got help in an S.O.S clinic where he was diagnosed with E-Coli. Time to start brushing our teeth with bottled water.

Never wanting to step foot on a Vietnamese tour bus again, we booked a flight in the early AM to get us to Ha Noi. The flight cost us $36 each. Why we would ever put ourselves through that torture to save $20 is beyond me. Never again.

Mui Ne - Trust the system

2010-04-17T05:47:00.021-06:00

With the short amount of time we had to plan for Vietnam we only picked where we would like to go and not nessecarily how to get there. Our next stop was the small resort beach town of Mui Ne which is only about 200 KM east of HCMC. Little did we know that the short

distance took a 5+ hour white knuckled car ride to get there. With this relization we hired a private driver (for way to much Dong) to take us from Saigon airport to Mui Ne the night we got back from Siem Reap. We also did not have a place to stay so we asked our expensive chaufer to call around to a few places we had picked out online/in our guide books. He was nice enough to do this on his smoke/beer break about half way to the beach. Like almost every other local we have or will meet on this trip, he tried to scam us into staying at a paticular place for way to much. We kindly declined his suggestion and said we would try our luck once we arrived. Groggy, tired and in no mood to haggle over price, we took our first option when we pulled in around 1:30 AM. To our pleasent suprise we awoke to our own little (and very private) paradise complete with beach, pool, and "Sex Samurais"

Don't worry, its just a hilarious typo...and a terrible drink. Gin and some sort of powdered coco. Ninja's love it though.

With less than a week to make it the north to Hanoi to catch our flight to Tokyo (via HCMC) we wanted to book our travel ASAP. Justin and I set out to find a travel shop...or at least a reputable one. We got about 15 ft then decided to rent scooters instead of walking in the heat like suckers. Justin was a bit hesitant as he took a bit of a spill on a bike in Thailand. I was a bit hesitant as I have the balance of a baby deer riding a scooter on ice. With that in mind we thought it would be best to stop for a little liquid courage before continuing. Makes sense.

Confidence restored we hit the road. Mui Ne is a long crescent shaped beach that has one road that follows along side it. This makes it a relatively scooter friendly spot for tourists in Vietnam...even though obstacles include goats, cows, tour buses and oncoming traffic.

After securing the next leg of our trip (a 17 hour bus ride to Ha Noi!) we cruised the strip once more then enjoyed a relaxing day of resort living. Pool side drinks followed by playing in the surf and a sunset on the beach. Rough life.

The next morning we were once again up at 5:00 am for another sunrise tour. For those keeping track that is two stupid early tours this trip which is two more stupid early tours that I ever thought I would do in my life time. Nevertheless we were up to enjoy some of Mui ne's unique sites. Our first stop was the white sand dunes. Walking on the sand during the day would be unbearable thus the early visit. Its a beautiful and totally random site in a country that is covered by jungle. As pretty of a spot that it is it doesn't warrant getting up at 5:00 am. No, the real reason for the early rise was to go sledding...in Vietnam. Who knew?

Next up were the Red Dunes and some various red sand gorges. After that we stopped and watched a small fishing village come to life with the morning catches. Most amazing are the small tea cup like boats that are used. I wanted to try one out but figured I would end up spinning in one spot.

Last up was a very enjoyable walk up Fairy stream. Although it goes against everything our travel doctor said about Vietnam (1. Don't walk bare foot in Vietnam. 2. Don't go in any fresh water in Vietnam) we pushed on as it looked to nice to pass up. Parasites shmarasites. The colors are amazing. Bright reds and oranges contrasted by lush green vegetation. For all we knew we were splish-splashing our way through a sewer drain but we didn't care. It was just that nice.

We arrived back at the resort with enough time to eat and hit the beach for a few hours. The down time was welcomed as we had a very long and rough bus ride ahead of us. The ride proved to be particularly hard on Justin. Hilarity ensues...for everyone other than Justin.

Holiday in Cambodia

2010-04-15T07:13:00.027-06:00

Getting to Cambodia proved to be more stressful than anticipated. After the suprisingly painful process of booking flights we were shocked to find out that Erin may be denied access into the

country. Her passport, although valid, expires in 5 months and 3 weeks...1 week short of the 6 month requirement by the Cambodian government. Because of this Erin had to sign a waiver saying that she was risking getting denied and may have to fly back to HCMC. Needless to say she was not excited about the idea. We all joked to keep the atmosphere light but I will admit that the thought of missing out on Siem Reap was upsetting. Jallison and I watched nervously as Erin put on her best poker face and went through the gauntlet of people that is Cambodian customs. The mood was intense. It was a series of highs and lows as each time she received her passport back she soon after had to give it to another customs agent. 3 stamps and a very anxious Erin later we were all in Cambodia and tuck tucking our way to our hostel. Thank Jebus. In a way it was almost better that we went through this little scare as it made us appreciate going to Cambodia that much more. That and it was entertaining to hear Erin say she was going to a Cambodian jail or work camp.

Arriving at our hostel we were greeted by the manager Sony, given cold towels and drinks and shown

our rooms. It was by far the best place I have stayed for $7.50 a night. The fact that is had its own crocodile farm didn’t hurt either. In Europe I paid over 35 euros a night for much, much worse.

After some great Thai food, and a $6 couples massage, we retired for the night. We booked a 5:00 am tuk tuk to take us to Angkor Wat for sunrise. Since Erin and I don’t do sunrises (unless a night of drinking precedes) we thought it would be best to get some sleep that night.

5:00 AM came very quickly. We were dropped off in the dark and like lemming or sheep, we joined the rest of the heard. It was our intention to hire a guide so we knew what we were looking at however in our sleepy state we just started walking towards the single largest religious monument in the world. Guide or no guide it didn’t really matter, this place is impressive in size alone. Most baffling to me is the 200m wide moat surrounding this 200 hector area. How? We walked in amazement towards a reflecting pool and waited faor the sun. I took 15 thousand pictures. Everyone that told us to go at sunrise did not disappoint.

We spent the next 2 hours or so wandering the ginourmous grounds. Guideless we made up stories and came to our own

conclusions on what the sculptures and stone murals meant. By our account Vishnu liked to party. When we arrived at the honeycomb looking towers we were not surprised to find that they were closed for cleaning for the entire day. Vishnu must have heard our jokes.

By 8:00 AM the heat was unbearable. +36 was 10 degrees more than my pale skin could bare. After watching some monkeys feed we headed for the tuk tuk and asked our driver to turn up the A/C which really meant go faster.

Next up was Bayon, the all facing, all seeing temple. This was my favorite of all the ruins and sites we saw that day.

Another favorite was the Ta Phrom made famous by the #1 blockbuster “Tomb

Raider.” For those not familiar with this instant classic it stars Angeloina Jolie and fallows her as she raids this tomb for cute Cambodian children. Jokes aside these trees are crazy. The roots appear to almost melt over the ruins like an Antonio Gaudi piece.

That night we showed our new friends at the hostel how to make a a caesar. I brought some Clamato for Jallison and the bar tender and cook was kind enough to let us raid their cupboards for ingredients. Drinking a ceaser in Cambodia is something I never thought would I would do. Dream big children. After dinner and a foot rub in town we headed back to the hostel for a mad game of Yatzee. We taught our host Sony how to play. He not only enjoyed the game but got two “Yah-tees” and won. If anyone out there goes to Siem Reap stay at the Golden Mango and challenge the reigning Cambodian Yatzee champion.

The next day we headed out of town to visit the floating village of Tonle Sap. Althogh there is a serious violation of “don’t crap where you eat” it is pretty amazing how the people of the village live. During the rainy season the water rises by 10’s of feet making it unsafe to live. So every year these houses are moved to higher ground.

We briefly strolled the market befor saying our goodbyes to Cambodia and thier very friendly smiles. Thankfully Erin had no issues leaving the country and was sad to go. “Goodbye Cambodia. You upset my stomach and warmed my heart.”

HCMC

2010-04-11T10:33:00.018-06:00

Funny thing happens when you stay up for close to 2 days, cross 8 times zones, then sleep for 2 hours on the short hop from China to Vietnam. You get dumb. You get disoriented. This is not a good thing when you have to deal with

customs and visa’s in a very forign land. Note: Do not try and pay a Vietnam visa fee with Hong Kong money and pocket lint. After struggling our way through what was at first a very strict procedure then suddenly became a shrug you shoulders and don’t worry that you put your last name where your place of birth feild is and your passport number is missing kind of procedure, we were on the streets of Saigon, honking our way to the hotel.

Another note on Vietnam customs: When Justin and Allison went through they did not know they have to cash to pay the entrance fee so they were allowed to go to the ATM machine to get money out. The ATM machine is located outside the terminal....past customs...past the luggage area...in Vietnam.

After paying 3x as much as we should have we safely arrived at our very nice hotel. (Thank you Hyuinh's for the tip.) In our room we were re-united with Justin and Alison Winnington/Boyd. For those not close to me our new to this blog, this is not our first trip with this couple. Vegas, San Fran, Sasquatch, Punta Cana...all great times. Some bordering on self control but all great times.

Justin and Allison (From her on referred to as Jalison...in an order to save internet time and put more Dong in my pocket) are lucky enough to be circling the globe. They have been off work ad traveling since July of 2009 and are now on their 4th contentent, X country and Xth t-shirt (more on that later) I am very jealous of their trip but am very happy to be apart of the tail end of it. JB said he was inspired by my trip in 2006 (4 years ago!) so I can’t hate that much. A night of catching up and drinking ridiculously cheap drinks followed. With 25-50 cent beer, this trip could be interesting.

With limited time in Ho Chi Minh we decided to book a private driver to take us to Cu Chi so we could tour the Viet Cong tunnels. After a breakfast that consisted of Pho and iced coffee we were off, once again paying way too much for the ride. The drive out of town was an experience on its own. The amount of scooter traffic is undescribable. I stopped counting at 4700. When I asked our driver where everyone is going he simple said “around.” That solidified my theroy that they all drove and slept in shifts. The rules of the road are as confusing as the crosswalks. From our drive out to Cu Chi we found that the car with the loudest horn usually got the right of way...usually.

Cu Chi tunnels are a fascinating glimps into the life of the people living in the area durring the war. Pride of their amazing

accomplishments is very evident throughout. At the begining of the tour we were shown a film that boasted many top fighters that were awarded “#1 American Killah hero.” Our guide continued this theme as with each demonstration of a bamboo trap a joke was sure to follow. The best (and worst) came after showing us a swinging door trap that attacked the lower abdomim. "Maybe he become lady boy and move to Bangkok." These jokes felt like they were in very poor taste as many American soliders died in these very same spike filled traps however living in North American we don't always hear the other side of the story. These were people that were hunted and heavily bombed repeatavily by a force with not only supirious technology but technology in general. These people fought with sharpened bamoboo and won. They destroyed tanks with land mines built from American bombs that didn't go off. They walked with sandels made from American Jeep tires. They made barbed spikes melted from scrap metal. They Shot guns acquired from the enemy. All of this while spending most of their time underground and not just a little underground. Craters left from B-52 bombers illustrated just how deep they had to go. A truly amazing accomplishment and definitely something to be proud of.

After seeing the various tools and traps used we were able to shoot actual guns and bullets from the war. Thoughts of jammed bullets and misfiring shots filled my head as the beer drinking gun “marshals” handed us worn out ear protection that was no more than a pair of airline headphones from the early 1980’s. Justin was up first and shot one of the larger and louder AK-47. The sound was piercing. I opted for the automatic M-16. Partially because I had shot AK-47’s before and partially because I wanted it over as fast as possible. It ws my first time shooting an automatic riffle and I have to say it was an exhilarating experience. The adrenalin was flowing after I squeezed the trigger and fired 8 shots in the blink of an eye. Truth be told I may have been a little aroused. Boys are weird.

Once my inappropriate display of excitement subsided we moved on to the actual tunnels. Justin and I barley fit and had to crawl hand and knee for most of the short distance we went. My knees burned from supporting my North American frame

. Once out we were sweaty, dusty and disoriented. That was only 300 meters. These tunnels go for miles. Upon exiting we were told that the tunnels were enlarged to accommodate tourists. An incredible feat indeed.

After another white knuckled drive we were back in the city. We headed for Ben Thanh market. Once there we stopped for Pho to fuel up before getting our shop on. As we dined on our second helping of Pho for the day we watched as the market doors closed. Not to worry, it would not be the last market we would see on our trip. We walked district 1 and took in the various sites, sounds and smells. We drank curb side beers in front of Duc Ba Cathedral and made friends with some colorful locals.

That night we indulged in the tourist friendly price of booze. Stupidity issued. This was highlighted by shot-gunning Birdy, a cold coffee drink. This was chased with Golden cow, a Red Bull knock off energy drink. Boys are weird.

That night I could not sleep. Chalk it up to a combo of jet lag and the ridiculously vast amount of caffeine consumed. Restless at 5:00 am I headed out to do some writing and grab a not needed at all Vietnamese coffee. Justin woke up and came along.

We got as far as the corner of our street when the scent of street meat took over. Powerless to its aroma we attempted to oder two skewers. Instead we ended up with two large bowls of vermicelli topped with pork, spring rolls and, fresh vegetables. All for under 60 cents. Breakfast of champions. We sat and dinned at the traditional tiny table and chairs and watched the endless stream of scooter drivers watch us eat their breakfast. These type of vendors are on every street. The great thing about them is they are not catering to tourists. They are a part of Vietnamese life style so you know it is a safe bet...even though the pictures may suggest otherwise.

Stuffed from possibly the best breakfast I have ever had we made out way to a museum on the Vietnam War. Much like the closing of the market the day before we managed to arrive just in time for the museum to close for lunch. We were allowed to spend 15 minutes wandering the halls which was plenty of time to read about the crimes committed by the Americans during the conflict. The pictures and stories of the still present effected victims of Agent Orange used is sickening. A tribunal in Paris last May outlined the crimes and found that $1.52 billion a year is to be awarded to the victims.

After a very sobering look at the countries somewhat recent past we made our way to the airport for a quick hop to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Did I mention we were going to Cambodia?

Kong Show

2010-04-04T21:45:00.025-06:00

$100 Canadian dollars went surprisingly far in Hong Kong. For some reason I had it in my head that it was an expensive city. Going forward I am sure that it will seem expensive however we certainly packed a lot in to those $680 HKD's.

The day started relatively refreshed and alert for us. The flight was not as bad as we thought and we actually slept between meals on the plane. The plan was to shower, change and head into the city. That proved to be difficult as our backpacks were checked straight through to Ho Chi Mihn. A rookie mistake. So as gross as we felt/smelt we headed into town to see what we could do.

Transit in Hong Kong is ridiculous. We literally circled the city hopping on and off with ease and on the cheap. Our first stop was an open aired market, one of thousands I am sure. Breakfast (and 3 other snacks during the day) was an amazing sausage bun. Little bakeries are littered throughout the city making them a cheap and delicious option. Peanut butter, pineapple, BBQ pork, curried beef etc...all so good. I love me some yellow buns.

After strolling through the narrow alleys packed with various vendor we found ourselves in a very modern downtown Hong Kong. Chain stores and

fashionable Sunday shoppers packed the streets. Although neat to see and

experience we promptly left in search of something a little more foreign. We found ourselves across town at Yau Tong which has an amazing fish market that stretches through narrow covered allies all the way into the water. For $8 we had an amazing lunch. Shrimp fried rice and large bottle of beer.

Next stop was Wong Tai Sin Temple. We randomly ended up with a guided tour by two elementary girls. They give free tours to help practice their English. It was great as we would have wondered through the temple not knowing what we were looking at or why people were burning so much incent. Bonus for us. At the end they hoped we would have a "very forgettable" trip through Asia. Too cute.

Next up was the electronic markets of Mong Kok. This visit was goal oriented as I was in search of a new camera. I had done some research prior to leaving Canada and found an article online that recommended a couple reputable places in the area. There was also a huge list of places to avoid as they often over priced and gouged tourists. Naturally the shops to avoid were easy to find as the streets were scattered with them. I compared prices at a bunch of these stores and indeed found that it varied from very expensive to ridiculously expensive. As we were limited for time, finding the only good store listed in that area felt like a task on the Amazing Race. We finally found the store tucked away in a corner on the 3rd floor of an electronics mall called Sim City. The building itself was amazing as every store sold the exact same things (cell phone accessories, printers, cables, cameras etc...) How they all stay in business is a mystery to me.

With new camera in hand we wandered back through some markets which sold every known brand name clothing article manufactured on this side of the globe. Prior to leaving Vancouver, Erin and I went to the outlet malls north of Seattle to replace some of the clothing that was stolen from me. In retrospect I really could have done that here as the same heavily discounted clothes I bought could be found at a fraction of the price I paid. Good to know for the next time I get robbed prior to heading to Asia.

One thing that was suggested to us to do/see by my mother was the tram ride up Victoria peak. Unfortunately the cloud/smog didn't agree with us that day so we opted for the cable car ride up to a giant sitting Buddha in Npong Ping village. The 25 minute, glass bottomed gondola ride up is very scenic as you cross over ocean and jungle before reaching the peak. Sadly the photos below show how close we got to the giant Buddha as we didn't anticipate the long line of people waiting for their return trip down the mountain. Getting off the gondola would have made us late for our flight so we sweet talked our way back down on the next car. Again, rookie mistake.

All in all a great lay over. We hit the wall once at the airport and ended up sleeping the whole flight to Ho Chi Minh. More to come, this was only day 1.

Noodles and a nice merlot at 36,000 ft

2010-04-04T05:27:00.001-06:00

Had a suprisingly nice flight. Row to ourselves and wine to help you sleep! Made 13 hours feel like 11.

Hong kong airport - huge, clean and has very soft toilet paper.

Off to explore for the day and hopefully find me a cheap new camera.

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Gascoigne Rd,,Hong Kong

Hong Kong bound

2010-04-03T03:03:00.001-06:00

So...I'm going to Asia for a little bit. As quick as the games came and went, so did this trip. Tokyo was always the plan but with a travel itch that needed to be scratched and a break between jobs, going two weeks earlier just made sense. So with little time to plan or think about it we are off to Vietnam via Hong Kong...Holly Shit.

The mad dash to pack was even more pressed as my work vehicle was broken into on my way back from spending a couple weeks in Whistler. Mad rush to get a new camera, laptop and underwear (they even stole a bag full off dirty underwear and socks!) followed.

Gone with my laptop was a write up on my second week at the games and my time at the parolympics. No worries, I have a 13 hours to make up for it.

More to come...

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Canada

Week 2 - Dahoo Dorray

2010-03-18T18:47:00.010-06:00

For me, the games came as quick as they went. A blurry 6 months quickly turned into a hazy 6 and a half months. I'm still pinching myself expecting to wake up. Canada's record setting 14 Gold medals was too perfectly written to believe it as fact. What we got felt like a story book or Disney movie with a Hollywood ending. How amazing was that?

Like the rest of Canada my second week of the games didn't begin like a fairy tail. Canada's loss to the USA in mens hockey capped off a less than magical 1st week of competition. However, unlike the rest of Canada, or at least the 21.5 million of Canadians that watched from home, I was lucky enough to be there. It was an amazing feeling being in that arena...or at least for the first 2 periods. 2nd intermission felt like we were at a funeral. Dead were the Ra-Canada fans. They were replaced by anxious, teeth clenching people who all wished Ryan Miller would just go away. When the final buzzer rang the USA fans could be heard loud and clear...and rightfully so. American fans were reading Canada's last rites. Some were over the top and tested many Canadians politeness, myself included. One such Canuck was notably fuming as he was taunted by a loud, drunk American. His face was as red as his Brodeur jersey. I watched as he approached the heckler...fists clenched. "Easy Brodeur" I said in an effort to calm him down.
"Will get them in the finals"

With the over pressured Canadian Athletes failing to take home the hardware they were expected to in the first week, Canada's loss in hockey was, to the media, icing on the FAIL cake. These "glitched" games were a failure for Canada. Even COC (Canadian Olympic Committee) CEO Chris Rudge threw in the towel. Nice acronym Chris.

Yes, everyone had given up on our athletes. USA Media outlets were taking aim at Canada's ambitious "Own the Podium" program. Sadly it was our own reports that truly blew things out of proportion. "Jennifer Heil, you just won Silver! Congratulations!...What went wrong?" Yes, it was time to pack it in and head home. Well, funny thing Bob Costa, OUR fans had not given up and OUR athletes were HOME. Much like the Who's in Whoville, Canadians took to the streets of Vancouver and Whistler in unimaginable numbers and celebrated OUR games. They cheered, they high fived and they sang. Perched on top of the peakieast peak of Grouse Mountain, the world listened in udder disbelief. "They sing with silver? They sing without snow?? They sing with faulty hydraulics, leaky Zamboni's and very few GOLDS???"

And just like "Dahoo Dorray" Oh Canada rang out loud and clear... With that the naysayers of the world hearts grew 3 times that day.

And maybe...just maybe Canada's athletes were inspired by the outpouring and pushed to the finish like no other Country has done before...or historically Canada is stronger in the second half of Winter Olympic competition. Personally I prefer my Dr.Seuss storybook rendition. Either way that second week was an amazing time to be Canadian.

Week 1 done.

2010-02-20T22:46:00.003-07:00

And what a week it was. We were able to get tickets to the Molson Hockey House for the opening ceremonies which was great. Next best to being at BC place and walking distance to home too.

As for the ceremonies I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a much more "Canadian" budgeted show and was happy to see they left out big international names like Celion and Nickleback. Thank Jebus. The other surprising thing about the show was how "Ra" Canada it was. It was very odd and very un-Canadian. I loved it. What brought that home for me and for most people was Yellowknife born Shane Koyczan and his poem "We are more" Shivers were present throughout the show and continued till the end. Steve Nash was a surprise in the cauldron lighting as was Gretzky on the back of a pickup truck. Now that was Canadian.

Once the outdoor light was lit Canadian acts including The Odds, Ed Robertson, and Collin Jams hit the stage inside the Molson tent.

A surprise show by Bryan Adams followed. An even bigger surprise was that my 2nd cousin was playing keys for him. It was a great show and was good to be able to chat with him.

The first event I went to was Russia's beating on Latvia. High school friend and Olympian performer Aaron was in town and came out for the game. It was a great game and the atmosphere was awesome...and it wasn't even a Canada game. Can't wait for the USA game.

Ovie!

After a 12 hour night shift I stayed up just a little longer to take in a live taping of the Stephen Colbert Report. Although I was exhausted for the next couple days it was well worth it as the show was hilarious. For those that took his Canada bashing seriously I can tell you that he was very appreciative for Vancouver and the response he got. From one "Syrup sucker" to the next, Canadians were lovin it. To top things off he actually rode the stuffed moose after being egged on by the crowd and then waved the Canadian flag after chants of "Grab the flag!" went out. Watch the show on CTV or Comedy Network next week. Good chance I will be on there as the cameras panned the crowds constantly.

The onslaught of guests at l'Hotel Sherin (thanks Whit) continued as Erin's friends from Oakville left and my brother checked in. Scott was here to take in a quick match of curling. Canada crushed Denmark in only 6 ends after some amazing shots by K-Mart and crew.

Dig that form!

After curling we made our way downtown to catch Aaron's Medal Celebration show at BC Place. We made it just in time. A great show and a great crowd. Congrats Aaron, representing NWT and making us proud.

One week done. One to go. Here is hoping Canada can pull off a better second half to these games. A good start would be beating USA tomorrow in Hockey. Can't wait.

As close to the flame as I could get!

Go Canada Go!

OTR

2010-02-14T01:50:00.005-07:00

The reality of the games hit close to home as the Olympic flame made its way through my neighborhood some 27 hours before the opening ceremonies. Nice of you to stop by...finally. From the roof of my new home I got a great view of the longest single country torch relay in history. The 105 day old fire flickered its way past a crowd of screaming children, beaming parents and one very proud 29 year old fan.

There was little time for me to take it all in. A few blocks down the relay line at city hall it was rumored that Steve Nash was to run with the flame. Being a huge fan I was not going to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. With city hall 9 blocks away, traffic routes temporarily jammed, a massive crowd, and 4 flights of stairs to head down I was very impressed that I made it in time. To minimize any delays I actually prepped my trip by unlocking doors, putting my shoes out and even Google mapping the short distance for the best route to avoid the crowd. It payed off as I made my way to the front of the line where the torch was to turn the corner at 12th and Cambie just minutes before the relay arrived. I was giddy. Absolutely giddy. Many sleep deprived months and caffeine filled days led up to this small but meaningful reward. As the flame turned the corner and came into view my heart sunk a little as a rather odd looking 2 time NBA MVP jogged her way past me. Rumors of Steve Nash's City Hall location were false. Thank you very much internet. This disappointment was short lived as I realized again how cool it was to be there and experience it...twice in less than 15 minutes. Plus the adrenaline from driving on a sidewalk to get there was still pumping...

Steve Nash or not I stuck around long enough to take in some of the ceremony at city hall which was great. The city was coming alive and you could see and feel it. Being able to hold a still warm torch was OK too...

Day 1 coming up!

What happened? I blacked out.

2010-02-08T16:48:00.005-07:00

6 months. Gone. Seriously. What HAPPENED? I must have blacked out. Last thing I remember is putting my home of 6+ years on the market. Now I'm sitting on a cafe patio in Vancouver (in February) scratching my head trying to figure out how I got here.

Usually at this time of year I look back at the past 12 months and reflect on the good times had and prepare for what's to come. Right now I'm having a hard time piecing that together. The last 6 months have been an absolute blur. Did I really pose with a statue of the Fonz in Milwaukee? Was i really there when Erin's father landed a 48 lbs lake trout on Great Slave Lake? The Millers? Did I have the swine flu?? Do I really own this amazing new place in Vancouver? Did I really get hit on by a tranny in Seattle?? What the eff is going on??

From Milwaukee - October 2009

Ehhhhh....

From Chicago - October 2009

Chi City

The Millers October 2009

Ontario visit October 2009

48 lbs and counting...

Milwaukee October 2009

What about the concerts? Games? Did I really see Angus Young motion his withered frame across a stage? Field level at Wrigley field? Xavier Rudd? Matisyahu? Folk on the Rocks? Really?? Those all sound great.

Angus 09

Folk On The Rocks 09

Wrigley Field 09

Seahawks 10

One thing I am clear on is that work has consumed my life since I got here. So much so that when I finally got a day to do literally nothing (today) I find myself lost and confused. I am finding it impossible to sit still. Why is my hand vibrating?? The past 6 months have been a blur but have been amazing. To be involved with the games and see the venues come alive has been an experience I will never forget.

Hard to believe that four years ago this week I was leading a pack of drunk Canucks to a small Turino bar after Canada defeated Germany in hockey. 4 years! Now I am living and working in these games host city. I think this will really sink in Thursday when the torch relay goes past my place. Can't wait.

Read about Torino here

After that? Would you believe Japan? I would like to say I can't wait but honestly now that I have a moment to focus I can actually feel myself getting caught up in the excitement of the games.

Much more to come...Happy 2010 everyone.

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:E 14th Ave,Vancouver,Canada

Shaun 1, Ikea nothing

2009-12-04T01:32:00.001-07:00

Goodnight!

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:E 12th Ave,Vancouver,Canada

2009-12-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

I am now at one of many sushi places within a 5 min walk from my new home. Movers done. Boxes everywhere. Feeling a little overwhelmed but the view from the rooftop deck is reassuring that this is all worthwhile.

Note iPhone camera can't really capture how great this is.

More later. My sushi is getting...cold?

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Brunswick St,Vancouver,Canada

The wait.

2009-12-03T11:43:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in my new favourite coffee shop drinking my new favourite coffee in my new favourite area of town with my new shiny keys to my new home. Life is good even though my new place is not yet shinny new. Minor touch ups are still happening as I type this...even though movers are coming in 35 minutes. This will be interesting. Time for a miricale?

The fact that I am off today is proof that miricales do exisit. I have worked more or less straight since moving to this city. A lack of life equals a lack of posts. I can lie some more and say that I will have time for this but that time right now looks like spring 2010...see you in May??

More to come as the day/night progresses

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Kingsway,Vancouver,Canada

VANOC PHASE 3 TICKETS.

2009-11-07T14:08:00.002-07:00

UPDATE!

5.5 hours the following Saturday got me quaterfinals, qualifications hockey and a Canada curling match. Not the best but happy with what I got. Too bad I work durring each of these games...minor details...

Three hours, 2 iPhones and 1 laptop = crippled thumbs and an overall unhappy Shaun.

Today at 10:00 am PST the Vancouver Olympic committee entered its 3rd and final phase of ticket sales for all remaining tickets for the 2010 games. As expected the demand for this last batch of tickets is overwhelming. So overwhelming that the the website is inaccessible and phones are a steady busy signal. Reading other online posts people are reporting the website is not set up properly and redirecting eager buyers to the wrong places. Even the phones seem wrong as I have had numerous recorded message saying that office hours are closed...which on a day like this they most certainly are not.

And so I re-dial and I refresh...

updates to follow including some seriously backdated posts.

UPDATE: http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-news/vancouver-2010-phase-3-ticket-sales-postponed-to-november-14_185406gg.html

Dear VANOC, I would like 3.5 hours of my hard-to-come-by time off back...and Men's Gold medal hockey tickets.

Easter 2009

2009-09-11T23:58:00.003-06:00

This years Easter weekend was very special. Not only was it the last family gathering of its kind in my house (for me anyway), it was Erin’s first time cooking. She was also cooking for very special guests as the company included my grandfather, aunt and uncle from Ontario.

The weekend started out with rink side seats to an Oilers/Flames game. Although by that point the Oilers were officially out of the playoff race, the fact that I was there as part of three generations of my family was pretty cool. It was also the Oilers last home game of the season and my last home game for probably a long, long time. The seats were amazing. Definitely a different perspective than my usual 300 section nose bleed seats. We saw some incredible saves and hits from those seats. Thank you to my mom for a great birthday gift. She made a very meaningless game very meaningful for me.

After the game we made our way to Whyte Av via the LRT (Edmonton’s light rail transit) In the 8 + years I lived in that city that was only the 2nd time I have taken it. Funny story, the first time I took it was this past St.Patrick's day. The line only goes in 2 directions and somehow we ended up at the University and not the Oilers game. I blame the green beer. This 2nd go around we almost went the wrong direction as well. I blame the stadium beer. Good times. We managed to make our way in the right direction and met up with the ladies at Julios and had some bulldogs. Those drinks will be missed.

Easter Saturday (is that even a day?) was gorgeous out. Shorts, T-shirts, and bocce ball in early April is now a must for me. I’m pretty sure that was the earliest the balls were out since I got them…insert bad joke here. Sunday was followed up with more bocce ball and some last minute grocery store errands for dinner. I got to spend some downtime with my grandfather as we dropped off Erin at a grocery store while we went to pick up desert at a bakery. We were supposed to just pick some cupcakes up but my Grandfather thought it would be best to sample some cupcakes while we were there. Wisdom does come with age so I agreed. How great is this picture?

An excellent turkey dinner followed which featured the moistestest (making up words and days!) turkey west of the peg. I like to think it had something to do with calculating the exact perfect cooking time. To get as accurate as possible weight to cook time ratio I weighed myself with and without the bird. As you can see I wanted to be very accurate. Juiciest butterball ever. The bird was good too. Hey-O!

Our short fun, food filled weekend came to an end Monday AM when I dropped everyone off at the airport. It was a great visit and it meant a lot to me knowing that the move was coming…although there will be a new home soon…

Shortly after having a house full of family and friends I had a house full of nobody but me. A day filled with video games, turkey leftovers, and the 1986 NBA eastern conference semifinals followed. All of it in my underwear and Homer Simpson slippers, all of it awesome. Best holiday Monday ever.

Back log.

2009-08-31T19:25:00.008-06:00

The past couple blog-less months have been more or less spent preparing for the official word on moving to Vancouver. Pretty much after my second trip to Vancouver in February Erin and I were sold on the move. Literally the day we got back to Edmonton we ripped out the kitchen and redid it. New windows were put in, fresh paint went on, and after sitting in an unfinished state for four years or so, a tile-less shower finally got tiled. All of this was done to give us a quick and easy sale of the house and allow us to get out fast. It’s amazing what you can get done if you have too.

Kitchen before

painted cupboards

Scott being a great brother

From House for Sale

Kitchen after

From House for Sale

The "5 year" shower

On top of the renos there has been 4 trips to Vancouver. The first trip out was work related however Erin came out for the weekend. We spent one afternoon looking at a place that backed onto Granville Island. Any doubts about moving were soon forgotten as we strolled the Granville market. It is an amazing place. I saw myself picking up fresh fish, meats and produce for great meals. Things that I would have had to cross Edmonton to find were all in one fresh and vibrant place. As we sat sipping coffee while overlooking false creek we both felt a sense of home. With that we booked a tour of condo’s for our following trip...which was a week later for Erin’s bday.

We started her bday weekend out with sake tasting on Granville Island. The tasting was great and resulted in Erins friends buying the finest bottle the store had. This expensive sipping sake was then quickly consumed out of a brown paper bag in a kids park on the island. 27 going on 16. Classy.

Another part of that birthday was great seats to a Canucks/Blackhawcks game thanks to Erin's friend Kevin. I'm gonna go off here for a bit and say that every time I go to another cities rink it makes me hate Edmonton’s barn even more. Aside from the obvious (location, size, age etc..) the Oiler's home hit a new low for me a few months back when Erin ordered a poutine at a home game. Why you would order poutine in the middle of the prairies at a hockey game is beyond me…but that is not the point. The point is that this $8 menu item resembled nothing like poutine or even food for that matter. It consisted of over done fries swimming in processed nacho cheese and covered with a brown substance that was supposed to be gravy. It was salty disgusting-ness. Naturally I finished it off …I am boarder line disgusting. The eye opener was not the $8 price tag. Nay. You get gouged at sporting events and concerts all the time. The eye opener was the quality of food (?) the Oiler's rink passes on to its very supporting fans. It was just plain insulting. Why am I bringing this up? $8.00 at GM place gets you real food. Anyway…

The game was awesome and the seats were great. Its weird being in another cities home rink and not cheering for either side. Horrible rink and food aside, the only thing I will miss about Edmonton as a city is the Oiler’s. Sad I know but there you have it.

From Vancouver - Feb 09

Our last night in town was spent dinning at SALT. I was first introduced to Salt by a co-worker (Steve) and his wife (Karri) on my first work trip to the city. It was/is definitely a dinning experience. Salt is a little funky kitchen-less restaurant tucked away in a dark and dank alley in Gastown. The walk to the restaurant itself is half the fun. For starters the alley is appropriately called “Blood Alley” as it once housed butcher shops. Walking down the alley raised some questions and concerns. There were sketchy folk scattered about, some off them mumbling quietly to themselves…others, loudly .At one point I swear another co-worker grabbed for my hand. I'm not going to lie, I may have grabbed back. Once in the restaurant it is hard to imagine the outside world exists. The menu consists of various breads, meats and cheese with accompanying sauces and wines. A very unique place. Thanks to Steve and Karri for the tour there twice.

Our next visit to Vancouver was to secure a place. More on that after I tell you about the best Easter I have ever had, followed by the highs and lows of selling my first house.

Its a beautiful day in the Gayborhood...

2009-08-29T13:18:00.006-06:00

yes a beautiful day in the Gayborhood...won't you be my gaybor?

This is just a quick update to say we have arrived and are enjoying our temp accommodations very much. For the next 3 months or so we will be in between homes. The place we bought in Vancouver is a new development and will not be ready until November at the earliest…more on that later. Originally we were going to stay an extra month or so in Edmonton and live at a friends place but that didn’t fly with my new job so they opted to put us up for a few months in temporary accommodations here Vancouver. Not too shabby. The only problem with that is we had already decided to breakup our homelessness by spending about 20 days in the fall couch surfing at family and friends places in Ontario. Work was accommodating and gave me the holiday time and covered my hotel before and after the trip. Not too shabby at all.

View from our apartment balcony. Soon to change to the ocean side as we upgrade tomorrow. Pics to follow.

So here we are in Vancouver at our very nice (but very small) apartment style hotel room smack dab in the middle of the Vancouver’s Gay district. Let me just say, for such a health conscious and trendy group of men in this area, they sure know how to eat. For the past week Erin and I have literally eaten our way through the gayborhood. Sunday night was Sushi, Monday was Thai. Tuesday was Indian, Wednesday Mexican and Thursday was Greek. All of it amazing and all of it within a 2 block radius from our hotel. On top of that there is 2 fresh fruit markets within a block (one in the hotel lobby) and a bakery…not that we will get much use out of those at this rate. Also there are trendy shops and cafes on every corner, cleverly named nightclubs + very close proximity to a beach and the sea wall. All and all it has been an amazing stay and I could really get used to this life style. If this is what being gay is all about then sign me up!

For just arriving to town we have a very busy few weeks ahead of us starting with a last minute visit by friends from Calgary. It’s odd that we have house guests with out actually having a house yet. Many updates to follow over the next few weeks however I must go back to before the whole move came about as it has been a very busy 2009. Posts dated back to February to follow...

Praise Jebus!

2009-08-23T10:16:00.008-06:00

Let me first say it has been a very tiring and busy past few weeks. Packing, moving and saying good byes are very exhausting things. The last 3 weekends included my last gig in Edmonton, a garage sale of mammoth proportions and deals, and a going away party I will never forget. All three weekends have been awesome how ever all three weekends left me hurting and swearing of alcohol...for at least 7 days.

Our last show went as good as 3 days of practice can get you. Being so busy with the move left little time for social activities. Being the professional musicians we are we still managed to play a great couple sets...tequila shots and all. After the last chord was strummed I realized that it could be a very long time until I am in the position to play in front of a crowd again. Sensing this I took advantage of that and continued to play a few songs on my own. It was a little hard on me...and possibly hard on the people that had to listen to just me. I am just thankful for that opportunity. Praise Jebus!

The following weekend was even more fun. With being put up in a hotel for the next couple months (more on that later) we decided to purge a lot of our junk. Kijiji made fast work of several larger items such as my dirty, stained couches and over sized/underused storage cabinets. Even "Big Shirl" found a new home through Kijiji. Praise Kijiji! The remainder was piled in the backyard for a garage sale. Friends of mine were in town and helped move the junk outside and setup on tables. My mother also came down to help out. She was/is a gift from God. Let me say when you are hung over/still drunk and have a slight case of the trots the last thing you want to do is haggle over a broken drying rack or some miscellaneous audio/video cable that you were going to throw out anyway. My mother, a seasoned garage sale veteran, handled these hard talking customers and, in some cases, got upwards of $45 out of stuff I was going to send to the curb. I am a very lucky son. Praise Jebus!

This weekend was the move and by far the most stressful and fun few days of them all. Packing your stuff is hard work...even when your not the one packing it. We were up late the night before the packers/movers showed up. We thought we would make the unpacking easy by sorting our stuff into piles...ie this corner of the basement is tools, this corner is camping stuff. Good intentions I know but once the packers arrived all the stuff got put into one large box labeled "Basement crap." Awesome. On top of the packing/moving I had work commitments and packing to do. Time was lost very fast and loose ends were tossed into boxes and shipped to my new office in Vancouver. Can't wait to up pack those. Once the house was emptied out all that was left to do was relax. We booked a hotel on Whyte av and met up with a bunch of friends for one last night of good times. My brother and mother both made the trip down to take in the festivities. It was a great night and was defiantly forever etched in my mind when my friend Jon blew out his flaming sambucca shot and covered the bartender in warm, sticky ouzo like booze. The best part is it didn't even phase Jon. The next (rough) morning was a lot of fun as we we able to play tourist in our own town before hitting the road. A night of Jagger bombs and Pizza 73 followed in Calgary at our friends Scott and Whits. By this point the last three weeks had caught up with me as I actually passed out on the floor. Like the trooper I am it was a short nap and I was back up 5 minutes later. Praise Jebus!

That night resulted in a late departure from Calgary. We rolled into Revelstoke around 9:00 pm where we met up with Erin's friend Kathrine for dinner. We pushed on for another hour or so then had to stop for the night. Being late August in the Shuswaps not much is available for rooms. Extremely tired and ready for a good 17 hours of sleep we took the only room left at this lake side hotel. Little did we know that the $180/night (discounted rate) came with an 8:00 am wake up call from a 7 piece Christian band practicing for Sunday mornings service. Praise Jebus!

So here I sit on my hotel balcony with the most amazing view getting filled with joy, the holly spirit and other good junk on little more than 5 hours of sleep. On the plus side if these guys were not practicing I would not have spent the time to finally update my blog. Praise Jebus!

So another sleepless day begins. Thankfully the final leg of this trip is not that long. I must go now as service is about to start...I have invested way to much time into their practice to not watch them perform. Updates to follow.

Go West.

2009-07-31T15:34:00.006-06:00

Yup. It’s Officially official. I'm heading to the west coast. The speedos and umbrella's are packed. Giddy up.

Although it may seem like a sudden move for some, this has actually been the plan for sometime now. I had thought about a job transfer 6 years ago after visiting my friend (and former Jackdicky front man) Cort. I remember sitting on his Beach avenue apartment balcony and thinking that he had the life. I sat there in 25 degree sunshine and was in awe of the view. Mountains, beach, ocean and bikini clad women on roller blades. As I landed back in Edmonton I was greeted with flat brown fields with a fresh dusting of snow. Needless to say there were no bikini clad women. This reality shock wouldn't have been so bad except it was May. It was at that point I asked myself “Why am I living here??” It was a great question. I really have little ties to Edmonton other than being an Oiler's fan and having (relatively) cheap access to my home town (Yellowknife) So why didn’t I pack my bags then and there? The cost of housing. The Alberta boom hadn’t quite hit at that point so selling my place would have done very little at getting me into the hot Vancouver market. Not wanting to rent a shoe box of an apartment I decided to travel Europe instead. (I know what your thinking, tough comprise right?) You should be familiarized with how that turned out by now...if not see here!

My first stop on that European trek was at the Turin Olympics. It was a blast. I remember going to the Canada tent and seeing all the promotion for the 2010 games in Vancouver. I decided at that point that I would make every effort possible to get there for that.

Fast forward to the booming Alberta market. Suddenly the ½ million dollar condos in Vancouver seemed less outrageous. Selling my place now became a viable option to getting into one of the best places to live in Canada, maybe the world. So for the last 2 years I have been looking into working on the coast and as of last April it has become official. So as "T.V". would say on the CBC drama, "North of 60"...Screw you, I'm going to Vancouver!

Much...MUCH more to come.

Sasquach!

2009-06-03T11:29:00.012-06:00

And by soon I mean never...but by never I do mean soon...

In the meantime what I can do is tell you about our recent road trip to the Sasquatch music festival and the odd curse I picked up along the way.

This years festival lineup was not as intriguing as last years (for me anyway) but the road trip was a much needed vacation away from home...and I will get to why soon I swear. The trip started out with a high five to Erin in the back of our friends Justin and Alison's packed Jeep. I quickly high fived the other two while innocently joking "I don't want to ruin this trip by missing someone." Fast forward 6 hours to a stand still of vehicles caused by some road construction. While stopped I spotted a bored-out-of-his-mind construction worker holding a sign that read "slow."Looking at him you could tell that he knew his job could easily be replaced by a $2 piece of lumber. As the line started to move I jokingly said that I was going to high five the poor guy. I half heartily stuck my arm out the window while admiring the scenery out the other side. This friendly gesture apparently woke this guy up as he ran to slap my hand. I however was lost in the view out the other window and didn't notice him running. Therefore my hand was held out limp wristed as if asking for the guy to kiss it. As we sped away Erin, Justin and Alison were shocked that I did that. Confused to what they were talking about I looked in the rear view mirror and saw one dejected looking sign post being left in a cloud of dust. All I had to do was cock my wrist to make that guys day. We then joked about what I had said earlier. The curse was on.

We Pulled into in Vernon around 7:30. Cort's beach front home was our pitstop for the night.

Although Cort is a Sasquatch veteran, he wasn't making the trip this year. He was kind enough to let us crash at his place and drink his booze though. Top class. We walked to a pub down the street for some eats and drinks on a lake front patio. On the way we passed some search and rescue crews. Turned out that just prior to our arrival a teenager fell out of a boat and presumably drowned. Now I am not suggesting a missed high five could lead to such a tragic event and I am by no means trying to poke fun of this tragedy...but we couldn't help but wonder...

The night continued on the patio with a slightly sobering view of flashing lights from search boats in the lake. None the less we continued on with drinks back at Cort's place. We put a good dent into a 60 of Gibsons Cort bought on his way back from Sasquatch last year.

The early morning was a little rough for Shaun. Green faced I said good bye and we hit the road. We didn't get to far, just south of Kelowna there was some major road construction. On top of that a worker was struck by some falling debris and had to be air lifted out. As we waited in a stand still I vowed never to miss high fiving someone ever again and that I would only use my powers to do good in this world...and possibly annoy. With that I reached out my hand to high five a guy selling ice cream in the lineup of cars. he was rushing back to his freezer truck as the line started to move and ignored me. I got a taste of my own medicine. It tasted bitter. Could that have been the reason why we were "randomly selected" for screening at the boarder? Possibly. Or it maaaay have had something to do with Justin telling the boarder agent that he was arrested for a bar fight ( but not convicted) while in college. At least he is honest. Several question, a probed Jeep, and an hour or so later we were finally State side. All that separated us from the festival campgrounds was a stop at Walmart for food (beef jerky and chips) and supplies (beer and Red bull) and a tourist stop at Dry Falls.

After Walmart

Note: this area was at one time the largest waterfall on Earth.

Also Note: Justin did not get bit by this small rattle snake. Curse shmurse...

At the grounds we quickly set up camp at our "premium" priced spot. Note: I have stayed at both premium and regular camping at the Gorge. Save your pennies. Great view though.

Our extended trip made us miss most of the Saturday acts however we did get down in time for the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and kings of Leon. Both were so good live and we were able to get quite close on the floor.

Sunday was hot. Drinking in the sun all day caught up to us as we were all spent that night. Justin, who naturally attracts attention (good and bad...but mostly bad) was thrown out of the grounds and missed NIN's and Janes Addiction. Erin and I left after the first few Janes Addiction songs. Dave Navarro makes my skin crawl. I don't get why people think he is so great. Maybe because he was married to Carmen Electra? Well so was Dennis Rodmen. Sadley, the gorgous back drop of the Gorge did not make them any better in my mind.

Learning a lesson from the Sunday heat we decided to go into town and purchase some shade. On the way back to the grounds were able to make our way down a trail to the Columbia River.

This is where Justin bet me $20 (US) to lick some dog poop:

Ewwwwww.

Relax. It was just a poo rock.

Back at the grounds things were much better in the shade. The heat really took its toll and forced us to play bocci ball from our lawn chairs. America.

We fought the heat on the hill and took in some afternoon acts such as Silver Sunpickups, and Erykah Badu before heading to the floor for an amazing show put on by Ben Harper.

The Ben Harper set was something special. Ben is playing with a new band and has switched gears to a rockier sound. I never thought he had such powerful pipes. A cover of Queens/Bowie's "Preassure" was a definet highlight. Add that to the fact that I didn't loose Erin this time around (see Montreal 2006) and you have one hell of a show.

With that we were spent. Packed up and headed 16 hours north. See you next year.

Soon...

2009-05-09T20:07:00.000-06:00

Updates. Soon. I swear.