Goodbye Europe!

So...this blog was pretty much a major fail. Sorry about that.

On the bright side, the lack of updates just means that Lydia and I were having way too much fun this past month. This was definitely the trip of a lifetime.

We're currently at Patrick's flat in Manchester getting ready to head to the airport, where we're going to spend the night. (Airport adventure!)

We'll be home tomorrow afternoon, so if you're curious about our trip, we'll tell you in person.

See you all soon!

Olé olé Barcelona

After our restless night at the possibly haunted Chateau de Fontager, we had a long bus ride to Barcelona. By the time we arrived, it was already early evening but we had time for a quick city tour in which we were driven around town and shown a few of the city's famous sights so we knew where to find them the following day. That night, Althea and I headed over to the main busy street, La Rambla. It was already 10pm but the locals were just settling down to their dinner as we strolled down the busy street. We sat down and had some Spanish hot chocolate and Churros (Althea's favorite) before heading back to hotel to get a good night's sleep.



Although we had been looking forward to sunny weather in Spain, an unfortunately rainy day awaited us the next day. Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia designed by famous architect Antoni Guadi. According to the original design, this church would be the largest church in the world when completed by as you can see from the picture, it is still currently under construction.



The inside of the church is absolutely breathtaking as well.



We then headed to lunch where we had a delicious champagne sangria before heading out to the streets again to do a little shopping.





Later that night, we watched an intense Flamenco performance and then hit the town for a little bit of partying. We soon learned that the Spainards (and the rest of our Contiki crew) really did party hard which resulted in a pretty rough day after.



Up next: the beautiful French Riviera!

Climb every mountain

Following our 2008 trek up Mt. Fuji, Lydia and I decided it was time to climb more mountains. This time our target was Mt. Pilatus near Lucerne, Switzerland.

We reached the mountain peak on a train that is apparently the steepest tracks in the world, according to our Contiki tour guide Matt.

Once at the top, we were rewarded with some picture perfect views. The weather gods were also extremely kind to us and with the sun shining, it was pretty much impossible to take a photo that wasn't postcard-worthy.

Also at one point, Lydia decided to spiderman up some cliffs. Because she's crazy.

Later we strolled through the pretty little town of Lucerne, shopping for Swiss chocolates and Swiss army knives.

The Swiss have some pretty interesting items in their grocery stores, including Duff beer and trippy, tie-dye eggs. They also have vending machines featuring "Maybe Baby" pregnancy tests and sweet cannabis iced tea.

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We also made a brief stopover in Geneva (another beautiful city) on the way to Lyon--where we stayed in a haunted chateau! But more on that later...

Right now we're in Barcelona. Gotta brush up on our espanol...Una cervesa por favor!

Partying like the French

Greetings from Paris! Althea and I had a jam packed day today so we woke up bright and early and headed over to the beautiful Notre Dame cathedral by taking the local metro.


It unfortunately began to rain as soon as we got there so we didn't take any pictures of the exterior.
We then zipped along over to the Louvre museum.

Once we got to the museum, we went on a hunt for the world famous Mona Lisa painting.



Many of you are probably familiar with Mona Lisa so we decided that instead of posting a picture of it, we would give you a glimpse of what Mona sees on a daily basis. We paid tribute to some beautiful pieces of art and also checked out some famous sculptures.



We both wanted to stay longer but we knew we had to head over to our next destination which was Champs d'Elysees. Champs d'Elysees is a major street in Paris. Think of it as the equivalent to the Yorkville area in Toronto. It is home to the largest Louis Vuitton store in the world as well as the L'Arc de Triomphe. We had a quick lunch at one of the cafes before climbing the 284 stairs of the giant Arch to get a beautiful view of the entire city of Paris.








We then bought some tasty pastries at a popular local bakery, Paul, and headed over to the Eiffel Tower. It was a rainy day so the view wasn't the best but we did manage to stumble on a proposal that happened literally behind me.



After that we went back to freshen up so we could head out for a night out at the Moulin Rouge. The show was unfortunately less cabaret and burlesque than what we expected but it was a good time nonetheless. Our tour is filled with fun people and we partied the night away despite an early wake up call the next morning. Next stop: Lucerne, Switzerland!

City of lights

Quick update. Yesterday we did the tourist thing in Paris, hitting up Notre Dame Cathedral, l'Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

Lydia will do a real recap post later, but for now, we leave you with a video of the Eiffel Tower at night.

On the lookout for Great Tits in London

Lydia and I have just arrived in Paris tonight but we're a bit delayed with the posts because of dodgy computer access.  So here's a recap of our brief but busy day yesterday in London.

We arrived at at our hotel around noon and explored London for a bit. Here are a few pictures, but please excuse the crappy quality. We can't seem to get access to a computer to upload pictures from our cameras, so we improvised and just took screenshots with our iPhones.

We strolled through St. James Park in front of Buckingham Palace. There were many little animals scurrying around. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any Great Tits.





We also had some Earl Grey. Drinking tea in London is a must.



We rode the tube. London has tiny trains.

Obligatory phone booth photo. 



London was kind enough to put instructions on their streets so that we don't get killed by vehicles driving on the wrong left side.



We walked around Covent Garden Market for a while.



This photo is for our jewelry-obsessed lady friends in Toronto. Jealous?



Tomorrow we're going to be tourists in Paris so stay tuned. More to come...

And we're off!

In a few short hours, Lydia and I will be in London to kick off our European tour.

For now we're at an airport bar pre-drinking. Gotta get these livers ready...

We'll try to post as much as we can to keep everyone updated on our whereabouts. Stay tuned!

Countdown to 2 Girls 1 Trip: Europe

Where in the world is Lydia Chan?

58 days, 4 countries, 7 plane rides and over 12 hours spent at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport later, I'm finally HOME! My flight was delayed for about 6 hours getting out of Hong Kong causing me to miss my connecting flight from Chicago to Toronto. Then I spent 2 hours in US Customs and Immigration which caused me to miss the last flight out of Chicago and thus forcing me to spend the night at the airport. It was a very long night.

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!

Can I go home now?

Staying true to the theme of our trip this summer which is 'Nothing is ever easy', there's a typhoon in HK right now and the fate of my flight tomorrow is uncertain. There was a typhoon on the day that Althea and I left for Thailand as well but our flight still managed to fly out even though we encountered some crazy ass turbulence.

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!

Home Sweet Home

After 7 weeks, 3 countries, 9 cities, and over 40 hours of sitting in planes, I am finally back home. Actually, I've been home for like 5 days already; it's just taken me a while to finally post something. And while I'd like to say that I've been busy unpacking, settling in, and getting back to my life, the truth is I've spent the past few days downloading Japanese idol dramas and obsessively searching for J-Pop music videos on Youtube. (By the way, thanks, Lydia and Kyle, for introducing me to this stuff and turning me into a fob.)

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...

On our last night in Japan, Lydia, Kyle and I decided to treat our malnourished little bodies to some fresh fruit. That peach in Lydia's hands cost us 6 bucks, but oh dear god, it was worth it. Without exaggeration, it was the best peach I'd ever tasted. Ever since that night, I have thought about moving to Japan just for the produce.

I have no idea what the hell this thing is, but we saw various incarnations of this statue all over Japan. It's like some sort of cross between a beaver, a bear, and a rat--it's kind of freaky. I really want to know what it is, but I don't think that even my Google-fu can crack this case. A cookie for anyone who can figure it out.

Speaking of freaky statues, these are what the mannequins look like when you go shopping in Bangkok.

When Lydia and I were shopping in Mong Kok (an area in Hong Kong), we came across a store selling DVDs of one of the greatest films ever made: Commando starring Arnold Swarzschuwhatever. It also happens one of Kyle's favourite movies. I highly recommend that you all check it out.

Finally, our last picture with Kyle before we left Japan. We miss you Kyle!!!

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.

Phuket and Bangkok

We're back in HK thus concluding our one week trip of sun, non-stop eating and extreme heat in Thailand. Our one regret is that we didn't get to see a live Thai boxing match (so you can stop being jealous Luc) because you know no trip is complete until you see grown men beat each other up. Today is Althea's last day as she's jetting back to T.O. tomorrow morning while I'm going to visit some family (whom I have neglected this trip) for the next week. Enough babbling, here are more pictures!

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.

Looking tan and "healthy".

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".