Monday, August 25, 2008
Where in the world is Lydia Chan?
So this concludes our Asia trip 2008 but stay tuned because we still have a bunch of pictures that we have yet to upload. Oh and Kyle you gotta send us your pictures cuz alot of mine suck!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Can I go home now?
Anyway this time its slightly different because this is apparently the strongest tropical storm that has hit HK this year and all flights out of HK were cancelled today which means that they are going to have twice as many people trying to get out of HK tomorrow. *Sigh* I wanna go home now please!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Home Sweet Home
Lydia is still in Hong Kong for another few days, and so we agreed that I would start updating the blog with more pictures and stories from our trip, now that I have free time and unlimited access to internet. So here I go...





So that's it for now. Sorry for the crappy selection of photos. My good memory card is still in my suitcase somewhere. I'll start unpacking...eventually.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Phuket and Bangkok

Taken from the balcony of our hotel room. Those waves are the reason we can't swim in the water.

Althea getting a special Thai massage.

Getting a ride back to our hotel.

Feeling a bit nauseous on the speedboat.

Maya Beach, better known as the location of where they filmed the Hollywood Blockbuster "The Beach". Don't feel bad if you don't know which movie, most of these people on the beach don't know either.

Me jumping into a lagoon with beautiful aquamarine water. Those three guys in the background are also in our tour which I guess makes it less creepy that they're watching us.


Monkey beach: The tour guide (in the cap on the left) joked that the monkeys may bite and if we get bitten, we can't get back on the boat. We were a bit freaked out especially considering the monkeys then proceeded to jump into our boat to get food.

Althea's psyched to go snorkeling.

A market in Bangkok with vendors selling everything from clothes to pets to local delicacies. Deep fried crickets anyone?

A thrilling ride on the local taxis or tuk-tuks.

Seafood market where you choose what you eat and they make if for you on the spot.

The many chefs at the market looking "busy".
Saturday, August 9, 2008
PHUKET!
We stayed at a beachside resort here in Phuket and enjoyed what I imagine is the life of a rich person. We were constantly waited on by hotel staff, which is in stark constrast to the hostel hopping life we were living in Japan. Actually, being waited on was slightly uncomfortable since we aren't used to this treatment and it doesn't help that neither Lydia nor I have any suave tipping skills. We kind of just stand there, arms awkwardly stretched out with a bill in hand.
Funny enough, we got a lot of questions from tour guides and hotel staff about where we are from, most likely because we look kind of Thai yet speak perfect English. We used to just say, "Canada" but they always looked so unsatisfied that we modified our answer to, "Canada, but she was born in Hong Kong and I was born in the Philippines" which seemed more pleasing to them.
Anyway, some highlights:





You can't tell from the angle, but in that last picture, Lydia and I are actually sitting on top of an elephant. We may be smiling, but that was one hella scary ride.
The elephant riding was part of one awesomely tacky tour we joined that I can only describe as the poor man's Thai version of African Lion Safari. In the span of 3 hours and all within in a 1-km squared area, we watched an elepphant show, a monkey show, rode elephants, took an ox-cart ride, sat on an ox, watched a Thai cooking demonstartion, learned aboout rice farming, and watched three minutes of "Thai boxing" (two skinny teenagers laughing and play-fighting). Despite how kitschy that all sounds, it was actually really fun. There are a lot more pictures that we may or may not upload, depending on how lazy we are.
We also did a day tour of speedboating and snorkelling which was crazy fun, but alas, the pictures are still in our memory cards and I only have 5 minutes of internet left. So we'll save that for another day...
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Didja miss us?
- Visited Kamakura briefly where we saw one of the largest Buddha statues in Japan and had lots and lots of ice cream.
- We hiked up (and back down) the highest mountain in Japan, Mount Fuji, with Kyle and Will. More on that later but lets just say that despite what other people say, it is NOT easy to climb Fuji-san!!!
- Arrived in HK with Althea where she got her first taste of how crazy HK people can get when they see Asian pop stars.
- Continuously got lost in HK. Just because I am from HK, it doesn't actually mean I know where the heck anything is!
Here are some pictures just in case you forgot what we look like:

Ready to embark on our hike up Fuji-san

8 hours later, freezing our asses off near the top of Fuji



Starting the LONG trek down the mountain

Street eats in Hong Kong
Thats it for now! We're leaving for Thailand in a few days for some relaxation on the beach. Hopefully we will post again before Althea goes back to Toronto.