Introducing....

Our new fur baby KIBO!!!!

After 3+ years talking about it, 1 year of talking with the breeder we are finally bringing home a new little fur baby - okay, well maybe not little. Arnold and I have been talking about getting a dog for ages, we could just never find a breed (or mixed breed) that we wanted. We would compare the dogs to little Oliver (my mom's dog - the one that was in our wedding haha) and knew that it would be hard to find a small dog with his personality. Last year while we were in NYC, I stopped this girl walking this super beautiful dog and asked her what kind of dog it was because it was perfect. She told me the name of the breed and the research began.

I contacted a breeder last year and told her that I would like to sign us up for a pup, but explained our situation. We have been keeping in touch over the past year and she told me that a litter of pups had been born on June 4th and would be ready to take home Aug 4. Since we were away until September, she kindly offered to hold onto her until we are back. Soo little Kibo will be arriving in Calgary right after we get back. (She is coming all the way from Ontario) 

Kibo is a Hungarian Viszla - super, super high energy, but very smart and known to be the velcro dog haha. I wanted a dog I could run with - that way she will get exercise and it motivates me to always run.  Win, Win situation haha. She will get to be anywhere from 40-50 pounds - so about a midsized dog. We are VERY excited to bring her home and welcome her to the Lee family. I wanted to wait till we had pictures to tell everyone :) So we are official proud parents to a pup. 

Love Melissa and Arnold

Olympic Grounds and last bits from Beijing

The Bird's Nest and Cube were the first things we saw when we got to Beijing. It was pretty close to our hotel and a big priority, so we wanted to tackle it first. I'm not going to lie, we were super impressed with the Nest. I know it sounds cheesy, but we got goosebumps when we saw it and again when we went inside.

It was sooo cool being on the grounds. They have a building that has pictures and video of the games as well as the process of building the facilities. Everyone remembers the Beijing opening ceremonies and the drums, the first glimpse of the Nest and Cube. Plus remembering Bolt and Phelps and the incredible games they had. It was trippy being at the exact location of where it all happened. Seeing the track that the Bolt dominated on, seeing the pool that Phelps broke records. I remember us just sitting inside the nest and watching clips from the Olympics that were playing on the screen and imagining what it would have been like to be in that stadium at the time. It was really amazing. It was almost like there was this weird energy surrounding the facilities - it just felt so peaceful and calm. Okay, I know I sound lame, but we were really impressed with the grounds. Arnold even said that the Birds Nest is his favorite modern building.

One thing that I was a bit disappointed in, was the upkeep of the Cube. You know how militant the Chinese were and are about the Olympics and their image, so I was shocked to see the Cube looking less then perfect. The competition pool and diving area are in perfect condition but the concourse and bathrooms are really run down - crazy considering that the building is only a couple years old. Now, I know that it's high traffic there, but I think they need to do a better job with the upkeep. I didn't know this until we went, but one side of the cube is a gigantic water park - so it is always busy and I think the reason for the wear and tear, but either way, they need to clean that up haha. Just my thoughts.

Okay, enough with the Olympics, but if you ever have the chance to see it, we highly recommend it. Now onto something funny. While we were on our tour, our guide told us something that was pretty funny. When Chinese want to get married and want to marry a "pretty" girl from Beijing they need to provide her with gifts. In the 80's they had to buy her a bike, a watch and a sewing machine. In the 90's they had to buy her a fridge, a washing machine, and a "color" TV (black and white isn't cutting it). And in the 00's they have to buy them a house, a car and an AC unit. haha ooh how times have changed - the have a lot of expectations now a days. A watch is no longer an acceptable gift. We thought the gifts in the 80's and 90's were funny. It was like "here is a watch so you know when I get home for dinner - it better be ready, here is a bike so you can bike to the store to buy me food (and stay in shape), and here is a sewing machine so you can make me clothes" haha I'm not sure if that's actually what happened, but that's what I think they were for ;)

I have one more random post about China coming, but I think that covers most of the big things. We are currently in Korea and LOVIN' it. I might not want to come home ;) haha. I definitely have some good stories about our Korean adventure coming.

Love Melissa and Arnold

The Great China Wall...

Is what Arnold called it once, so we decided to keep calling it that after LOL. But it was a pretty amazing sight to see. One of the huge reasons we decided to go to Beijing was to see the Wall. And it was definitely well worth it.

We hired a driver and tour guide for the day and learnt a bit about Chinese History and their culture. The last stop on our tour was the Wall. I don't know why, but for some reason, I thought that you would just walk up like 10 stairs and would walk along the Great Wall of China (oops the Great China Wall). And for some other strange reason, I thought it would be a flat walking path that we could just walk along. HA HA.

It is definitely not flat and not 10 steps long. I mean, I guess technically, I could have just gone up my 10 steps and said I was there and called it a day, but it's not REALLY how the wall is. It took us a full HOUR to make it to the top. Yes, one hour and a boat load of steps. It is steep and not easy - definitely not what I had originally thought. The crowds really thinned out about a third way up. I think people climbed a couple hundred steps and called it a day. But Arnold and I wanted to get to the top. It was AMAZING and beautiful. Such an incredible experience. We have a lot of amazing pictures and I promise to share them, but I need to get them onto my PC and then find wifi. But it was spectacular.

The worst part about the wall was coming back down. It took us about 40 minutes to get back down. By the end my legs felt like jelly and I didn't want to climb another set of stairs for a week after. I think I filled my quota for stair climbing for the year in one day. LOL

And one quick piece of info we learnt about the wall - is apparently, Donkeys and Monkeys were buried within the wall. HAHA I think our tour guide was having issues with English and couldn't make up her mind as to what animal was really buried there, but we got a kick out of it.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Beijing - Subway

Okay, last post of the day - still have a couple more things coming from Beijing, but I think this is a good start. Posted lots so happy reading :)

The Subway is really good - well thought out, easy to use (in English and very straight forward) and very CHEAP. The traffic here is pretty bad, so it only makes sense to take the subway. When we first arrived, we wanted to head to the Olympic area so we decided to test our subway skills and take a ride.

The first two days were a breeze - we found our way around no problem and didn't have any issues. The third day was a bit of a different story. We wanted to head back to the Olympic area to see the Cube and Nest lit up at night. In order to get to that area you have to take three different lines and it take about 35-45minutes. Which isn't really too bad and we have been on enough subways to feel at ease. This time was a lot different - it was soooo busy and crowded. It was like the whole city was sleeping for our first two days and now everyone was back out. If you want to take the subway in Beijing get ready to put your elbows up and push your way through the massive amounts of people. You honestly have to push and push hard to get onto the subway and to get off. There are that many people trying to use it.

Even at 9pm at night, it was busy and seemed to only be getting busier by the minute. We were amazed by how many people were underground using the subway. I mean, in a city that big, it isn't really that surprising, but for us it was. And we aren't talking about a couple hundred people, if we were to guess, we would say that we were among a couple thousand people at some of the stations. Now for the crazy part - this isn't even busy. We just learnt on our tour that once all the kids go back to school it becomes 10x as busy. I honestly couldn't even imagine going underground if that was the case - I don't do well with that many people around me in a confined space haha. AND elderly people can't use the subway - it would be way too hard on them if they did, so the city allows for them to take city buses for free after the age of 60.

So if you are looking for a good experience, take the subway in Beijing during peak time. I'm glad I was with Arnold because he would act like my body guard and do all the pushing for us (BTW, he was LOVIN' the pushing idea haha - thought it was fun).

Love Melissa and Arnold

PS. The traffic in Beijing is horrible in certain parts. The day we were leaving, it took us 15 minutes to move one block. But it was because no one pays attention to the lights - they will block the intersection and not care. It was the first time we had ever seen true gridlock traffic. Cars were in the middle of the intersection going in every different direction. haha

Beijing - People

The people in Beijing (for the most part) are sooo cute. I LOVED the servers in the restaurants. Not a lot of English is spoken outside of the hotels and department stores. English was limited in most restaurants, but you could always get by. Most menu's had pictures of their food which was a HUGE help for us haha. We did a lot of pointing. But any time we were in a restaurant the girls were so cute. They would all laugh when I tried to speak Mandarin (which was limited to Hello and Thank you) and were always as helpful as they could be.

We either walked or took the subway to get places, so taxi's were never an issue. But if you needed to take a taxi in Beijing, you would need to have your directions on paper in Mandarin, otherwise you wouldn't be getting to your destination.

The only thing I found to be odd, is when I would go into a clothing store. They would follow you and stand about 3 feet behind you - not because they think you are going to steal, but because they think if they do that you will buy something. It's high pressure sales and they pick out things for you for you to try on - it could be really ugly, but they would tell you that it looked "most beautiful". It was pretty funny.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Beijing - Food

I don't like Chinese food to begin with, so I was pretty worried about the food situation while we were there. I know that North American Chinese food is different then "normal" Chinese food, but I was still worried. Arnold was sooo excited for Chinese food - he LOVES it

It was okay, but I definitely didn't love it. You can only handle so much of it before you need some comfort food. It was definitely a big of a struggle for me. The Chinese do not understand the concept of Vegetarian and is not really Vegetarian friendly. They use this oyster sauce on everything. I don't care about the sauce because it tastes okay, but when its on everything, it becomes pretty gross. And the meat in China is definitely not a strong suit for them haah - even Arnold had a tough time with some of the meat dishes.

Now, don't get me wrong, we had some amazing meals and had fun trying new things, but I just wouldn't want to spend months in China. I got super addicted to these Onion pancakes - ugh, they were sooo good. And we actually ate street food the one night which was pretty tasty. (Yep, I keep going back there, I'm a sucker for pain haha). I only ate the street noodles in a boiling broth because I think it was the safest, but you can get some pretty crazy stuff from those vendors.

For our last night in Beijing we ate Western Fast Food - we were done with Chinese food and needed something from home.  I am never one to suggest McDonalds, but I needed a McFlurry.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Beijing - Internet

There is a lot I want to say about Beijing, so I think I'm going to break it into a couple posts like I did for Varanasi.

We have had friends that have gone to China, lived in China or worked in China, so we had heard things, but you never REALLY understand the internet situation until you are there. A LOT of stuff online is blocked in China. It's CRAZY. I had actually forgotten about websites being blocked until we landed there. My blog was blocked - haha I couldn't even log in to post stuff on it, which I think was the biggest shock for me. FB, Twitter, Youtube are all blocked. If you try and search certain things while you are in China, it won't bring up everything. Example, try searching Tiananmen Square while there and it will not mention ANYTHING about the protests that happened there. They censor out so much information and do not want their citizens reading anything negative.

China has their own version of Google - remember reading about the fight Google had with China a while back and it caused them to pull out of China?? See, you forget about these things until you get there. Even though we don't use some of the blocked sights regularly, I didn't like it. I didn't like being told I couldn't search for certain things online and having it taken away from me. I guess it's one of those things - you want to use it when you can't have it, but when you have it, you don't care LOL. But it was really annoying - another thing we can be grateful for :)

Love Melissa and Arnold

Beijing

While we were in Europe, Arnold decided that he wanted to go to Beijing while we were on our trip. He became a bit obsessed with seeing the Wall and learning more about their history. So we changed our ticket to stop in Beijing for 6 days before we headed to Korea.

We definitely didn't know what to expect, but were excited to see The Wall, the Olympic buildings and Tiananmen Square. There is sooo much to do in Beijing so you can never really be bored. We decided to splurge and stay at a super fancy hotel - splurge as in, we got a smoking deal on the room, but was over my normal price range. The breakfast at our hotel for two people was almost as expensive as our room for one night - haha crazy, so we were definitely not doing that. I think the Peninsula Beijing was the nicest "city" hotel I have ever stayed in.  Plus our hotel was two blocks from one of the biggest shopping areas of Beijing (and I still managed to walk away empty handed haha).


When we were in our taxi from the airport to our hotel, we were a bit shocked. The sky was BROWN. A brown haze covered the city. It was a big suffocating actually - felt like the sky was right on top of you. We didn't know if it was pollution or clouds. The next day it was more of the same, but you could see a bit of cloud definition and then it started to rain later in the day. When we woke up the next morning we expected to see the brown haze, but was amazed to see BLUE sky - not a cloud in the sky.  It was like the rain took away all the pollution and clouds. We then read online that before the Olympics the government would shot something into the clouds to make them rain in order to clear the air/sky. Which is so cool - they are so advanced. Because we thought the same thing - how could they host the Olympics with all this brown haze and it must be hard on the lungs - I was ready to bust out a SARS mask haha. 


I think we might have gone a little crazy if the sky had stayed that way the whole time we were there. It was a bit depressing. Actually, it was funny because we had kept hearing how beautiful Beijing was from everyone who had gone there, but we were definitely not thinking it was beautiful.  BUT when you see Beijing without the Haze, it really is beautiful. 


Love Melissa and Arnold

How travel has changed ...

I remember when I went on my first backpack trip, I bought a lonely planet book and read about all of the places I wanted to go and planned our trip according to what LP had to say. (Arnold said it was the travelers bible back in the day when we backpacked his way through Europe). I stayed in places they told us to stay in (or if someone had a recommendation I would go there). I would go to Internet cafes to check my email and to make phone calls home. I was ALWAYS keeping an eye out for the cheapest
long distance rates back to Canada. And then you would sit in a little room/booth with a phone and timer and make your calls.

In just 4 short years, the way we travel is so different. It's actually shocking. We like the LP, but it's not our bible. We use the Net to do a majority of our research and the hotel reviews on Trip Advisor are our bread and butter. That is what we consult first. If a hotel doesn't have FREE wifi, we aren't booking it. I have a netbook and Arn has an Ipad. So now all of the sudden we are wifi snobs and shocked when places don't offer it. haha. We rely heavily on wifi to do anything and we get so upset when it doesn't work. If we can't get connected, it's like the world is going to end. We don't know what to do with ourselves. Sad, right?

And Skype - I can't even begin to think about life without it. It is probably the most amazing tool EVER. I don't know why it took us so long to get on the Skype train. If you aren't on it, get it now. As long as we have wifi, I can call home. No more going out to look for Internet cafes, I just turn on my PC and call whoever I want whenever I want. It's AMAZING. And cheap! We always laugh about how we traveled before and why we didn't travel with PC's a couple of years ago. Even on our trips last year we never thought about wifi and being connected. Now, I can't imagine not having my netbook with me. I even think when I am home, I will have it with me non-stop. Free wifi is the best gift haha. We are so excited when restaurants and airports have free wifi.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Energy Wasters

During our travels, we have come to notice how much we (and a lot of people in NA) waste energy and water. Okay, well maybe waste a lot of other things in general. People all over the world are very conscience of conserving power and water - which isn't really the norm in North America. In most hotels we have stayed at, you would have to put in a key card in order to get power in the room - and when you left, you took the key, shutting off all power. (Power conservation was really big in Europe - I think more so for the cost of electricity, but they are very careful about using power).

A lot of hotels have a switch for the hot water - so you switch it on before you have a shower and off after you are done. Sure, it can be a bit of a hassle, but I think it's a good hassle. We also saw a lot more use of solar power and recycling of rain water. Or sockets that required you to flip on the switch in order to get power to them. A lot of toilets we used would have the "half flush, full flush" option - I know, I know, people have those toilets in NA, but we don't at our house and our house was built like 7 years ago.

Now, I'm not saying I'm going to go all hippie style when I get home, but Arnold and I have both said that we would like to try and reduce how much we waste. Even when it comes to food - we would throw away a lot more produce then we should have - so it's something we are going to work on. It was an eye opener for us and something we can do to make a positive change in our lifestyle when we get back. 

Okay, I'm done with self reflecting now haha.

Love Melissa and Arnold 

One night in Bangkok

Just a quick note - we were in China and on Internet lock down (my blog was blocked haha) so I couldn't update anything for the past week. Have just added a bunch of new posts - so scroll down to get caught up. And more are coming. I think I will post a couple more over the next few days to get everyone up to date.  Trying to add pictures, but I need to find a wifi connection first - so I'll see what I can do.

After leaving Singapore, we headed back to Bangkok for the night so we could catch our flight to Beijing. So we had a full 24 hours to kill in Bangkok. I really like Bangkok, for the most part, but I really DISLIKE the taxi drivers there. (I'll get to that story in a moment). I have come to realize that Thai food is probably one of my favorite foods. I really, really missed Thai food while we were in Indo and Singa. I would go back to Thailand just for the great food.

Anyway, the past two times I have been there, I would stay near Khaosan Road, but this time we decided to mix it up and stay near the Metro Line so that we could take that to the airport instead of a taxi. I can't remember the name of the area, but it was weird (it's in a pretty good area for shopping with fancy hotels). It was all old white men with young Thai girls. It was a bit creepy. We didn't really like the vibe and Arnold wanted to head back to Khaosan to do a little shopping so we didn't spend much time checking it out.

I know a lot of people don't like Khaosan, but I really love it there. It has everything you need haha. We spent the night shopping, eating street food - Yep, I got back on the street food train (well I had noodles and Mango sticky rice because you can NOT pass that up while in Bangkok). Plus I figured that I probably have a couple parasites after India, what more could I do. Thankfully I didn't get sick. But I know I'm pushing my luck. And of course, we made time for a good ol' foot massage. I think I just feel safe there so I keep going back, why mess with a good thing, right?

Now about those pesky cab drivers. They will NOT put on their meter. It's crazy. They will take you somewhere for about triple the price and if you ask them to turn on their meter they tell you to get out. It would take ages to get a cab that was willing to put on their meter. The morning we were leaving we needed to get a taxi to the airport train link, but the  driver dropped us off at the city line vs the airport line so we had to spend more money to get to the proper area and then wait for another train. I was soo mad and maybe was acting like a brat, but I was really annoyed with the taxi situation haha. That is my only issue with Bangkok, other then that, I think its a great city.

Love Melissa and Arnold

PS Sorry again for not being able to update, but I am back on track now. Hope you guys are enjoying the posts, its been one crazy adventure :)

"Barn"

Our friends that we were staying with in Singa have two kids - a little girl that is about 3 and a boy
that is just over a year (Sorry, I'm not good with weeks and months, but they are around that age). When we first got there, Isla was playing shy with us, she wouldn't really talk to us and wouldn't really venture to far from Meags or Ian. They kept telling her our names were "Melissa and Arn", but she was too shy to say them.

We figured that a great ice breaker would be to show Isla, Arnold's Ipad because we had a talking
dog on it that we knew she would love. Of course she thought it was the greatest thing ever and just wanted to play with it all night. The next morning, Meags and I are talking in the livingroom when Isla comes out and says "Mom, where's Barn" haha. She thought Arnold's name was Barn and she kept calling him that. So of course we were killing ourselves laughing and for the rest of our stay
there, he was refered to as "Barn". It was soo cute.

Love Melissa and Arnold 

PS. I can see why moms are so skinny - while Ian and Meags were at work one day, I took Isla down to the pool for a bit and the first part went well. But then things got a little crazy. She is fast (actually I think all kids are fast). I would have to chase her down and make sure she didn't jump into the big pool. I think I didn't stop running for 30 minutes haha. Stressful, but fun. They are the cutest kids. 

Teenage Date Night

We were in Singa to vist our friends who had moved there, but they were just getting back from Canada the day we arrived so we decided to check into a hotel for our first night so we could give them a night to get sorted before we crashed at their place. Arnold had been dying to go see a movie for ages, so we thought it would be a perfect night for it. And that is how our night turned into a teenage date night. We went for dinner, but ended up going to the food court to eat (I know, very romantic). I bought my dinner, he bought his. Then we had a lot of time to kill before the movie so Arnold treated to me a big night at the arcade - he threw down $10 and got us a bunch of tokens for the games. (What a sweetheart - he paid for my video games). I then proceeded to dominate him in a race game - I was actually in last place and came up from behind and ran him off the road. After a dominating display at the Arcade it was finally time for the movies. He bought the tickets and I bought the snacks haha.

Yes, it was cheesy, but so much fun. Sometimes you need nights like that when away from home.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Food Courts in Singa

I think the world needs to take notice of the food courts in Singa and copy them. The food in their food courts are THE best around - the most amazing quality and cheap. I would be happy to eat out every day at a food court in Singa because they know how to cook. You can get any type of asian food - Thai, Korean, Indian, etc etc and the quality is just as good (if not better) then restaurants in those countries. We couldn't believe it. Back home - our food courts are full of terrible tasting food and poor quality. In Singa, they have it on lock down. Next time you go to Singa, head to the food court and try it out. I had Indian food, which brought back all the memories of India and Arn had Korean, which reminded him of home.


Love Melissa and Arnold

Singapore

Is by far the cleanest city we have ever been to and I think actually the cleanest city in the world. Everything in that city is beautiful and kept so neat and tidy. The weird thing though, is that you never see anyone out cleaning. The road from the airport to the city is lined with these old beautiful trees and all the flowers and grass is perfectly manicured. It's definitely not as nice as the Deerfoot in Calgary, but a close second. HA HA.

Singapore is like Pleasantville. We learnt that the locals aren't rule breakers. If they are told not to do something they won't do it. No one  litters, J-walks, spits etc etc. Huge fines are given to those who break the rules, so I think it keeps people in line, but it works because the city is perfect.  They are also all about proper queues - no one cuts in front or pushes. It's pretty cool.

We went to Singapore to visit our friends that moved there earlier this year from Calgary. We weren't really sure what to expect because everyone had always just told us that it was nice and VERY clean. But we thought it was a great city and had a blast - I know it was probably better because we were there to see friends. We would have never have gone to Singapore otherwise, so I'm glad we got to see it while they were there. I was sad to say good bye to them and wished we had another couple of days to spend with them. They took us to some of their favourite spots to eat and drink and gave us a great tour of the city. It was nice to be shown around by a "local" and see some things we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Definitely a great vibe there and would love to go back for another visit while they are still there.


Love Melissa and Arnold 

Last bits from Bali

One of my top three places we have been. Love, love, love Bali. I want to go back and I definitely did not want to leave. I find that with all the places I never want to see or go to they end up being the best. I never wanted to go to South Africa, but it was so amazing. Never wanted to go to Italy, but of course I am so in love with everything there now. And now same goes for Bali. Never thought I would go to Indo - actually the thought of going to Indo scared me because I have always heard about plane crashes
and boats sinking there. So it just wasn't high up there on my list. But I am sooo glad we decided to go there. 

After leaving the Gili's we were back in Bali for the remainder of our time there. We booked a bit of a fancy resort after a lot of searching because we got it for a great deal. And I'm not going to lie, it was amazing. After spending 5 days in the Gili's it was really nice to come back to a super clean hotel that had a proper shower, a beautiful bed and fluffy towels. haha. Plus after the crazy ferry ride and salt water showers, I was ready for a place to relax at and do nothing. Added bonus, the breakfast at this hotel was the best breakfast I have had so far on this trip haha.

We booked a day tour to check out a couple sights on the island and  tried the famous "Cat crap" coffee. Arnold had been wanting to try this coffee for ages and we finally had a chance. He said it  was "strong" haha. I tried some of the coffee as well, but couldn't really tell if it was anything special. But I thought the teas and cocoa were nice. The resort we were staying at wasn't in a good location for sunsets, so we were told to check out the W Hotel and watch the sunset there while sipping on a mojito. It was pretty amazing - both the hotel and the sunset. I think I  would like to stay there next time we go to Bali haha. It was beautiful and in a great location for shopping ;)

We will definitely be going back to Indo in the near future - I was actually trying to talk Arnold into going back before the end of our trip, but he wasn't too keen on it LOL

Thanks for reading - lots more coming

Love Melissa and Arnold

T-Rex Arms

So sorry for the delay in posting, but I have been on Internet lock down in China - my blog was blocked while we were there so I couldn't update, but I have a BUNCH of stories coming. You will be caught up by this weekend :) 

On our last full day in Gili, we decided to hire a boat to tour the other islands and go snorkeling. I have no desire to snorkel (I hate the water), but I wanted to see the other islands so I was all for it. Two friends that we had been traveling with in Thailand joined us for a couple days in Gili and were coming as well because they were sooo excited to see the turtles.  We were on a mission to find turtles to snorkel with.


Of course everyone made me get snorkel gear "just in case" and said that it would be fun. Everyone got off at the first snorkel spot and I stayed on the boat watching and relaxing. Then we head over to Gili Meno to check out the baby turtle sanctuary - which, BTW, were so cute. Then began our hunt for the Sea Turtles. Just off the coast of Gili Meno, our boat guide spotted some turtles. So of course everyone got really excited and then came the peer pressure. "Come on Melissa, it will be so fun. You will get to see the Turtles. Don't worry, it will be amazing" etc etc. I had three people telling me that I had to do it, so of course, I caved to the pressure and put on my gear.


I have to tell you, I was terrified. I don't like the water to begin with - it creeps me out. And I don't really like seeing what's lurking below. The first time I went snorkeling was a bit of a gong show and then the second time I got stung by a jelly fish. So for me - I was happy to look through the glass bottom on the boat haha. The girls jump in and then start yelling that they could see the turtles. Next, it's my turn - I jump in and try and keep it together. I put my face in water and right away, I can see a pretty massive turtle, which was soo amazing but I'm freaking out. Arnold said he has never seen my eyes go so big and I'm breathing like I've just ran a 100m sprint. When you have fins on, you don't really need to move around lots to keep float, but I'm in such a panic that I'm thrashing about, meanwhile still breathing like I have been sprinting. We spent about 15 minutes in the water watching the turtles, but I still wasn't able to fully relax. At the first mention of heading back to the boat - I was off like Michael Phelps. Everyone was laughing at how fast I swam back to the boat.


We have one more snorkel spot to check out once again the pressure for me to come. So I get in and same reaction - I just can't help panic. But this time the T-Rex arms come out. I am trying to swim with my arms, but I'm keeping them close to my body because I don't want the fish to touch them so I am doing a modified dog paddle/T-Rex swim. Then I try and reverse if the fish are too close or look gross and that doesn't work so well. LOL The fish weren't even close to us, but I am just a big baby.


I'm still not sure about the whole snorkel thing, but maybe I will try it again.



Love Melissa and Arnold

"You want Thai Massage??"

Asia is amazing for massages - and no, I'm not talking about those kinds of massages. You can get them for so cheap everywhere. As you guys know, I don't like getting a back massage outside of North America - so I typically stay away from them (quick side note - we had a massage in Ubud at our resort and soooo weird - once again, one of those massages I left shaking my head haha). BUT my go to massage is the hour foot massage.

Where else in the world can you pay someone $9 to massage your weird, ugly feet for an hour. It's amazing!! If we have time, we get a foot massage. When we were in Ko Tao, we found the best place and went there every night while we were there. We have to go back to Bangkok to catch a flight and Arnold is already talking about where we are going to go for a foot massage. I think in the past month we have already had 7-8 massages. haha Bali was actually even a bit cheaper then Thailand - imagine that.

That's one thing I wish we could get in Canada - I love, love, love getting my feet massaged. I plan on getting at least 6 more of them before we have to go home.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Mojitos and Sunsets

Every night in Gili we would head down the beach to watch the sunset. Some of the best sunsets we have seen on this trip so far. Since wine is typically not very good and expensive I decided to give a Mojito a shot - I have never really liked them, but my options were slim. Well I am now on the Mojito bandwagon - love, love love them. I think they make them a bit different then the traditional ones back home, but I will definitely be making these when I get home.  

What better way to end your day then watching the sunset, drinking a mojito and relaxing after a hard day at the beach. ;)

mmm, doesn't that drink look soo good?

Horse and Cart

After spending some time in Ubud, we decided to make our way to the Gili Islands. Three Islands between Bali and Lombok. We had read about them and heard about them from a couple of people, so we decided to check it out. The first island is the big, main island and then you have a smaller island (which is apparently where the honeymooners go) and then you have the smallest island, Gili Air - the island we stayed on. There are dirt roads, no ATM's and regular power outages. But the best part about this island (well all three) is that there are no motorized vehicles - only a horse and cart. So to get to our bungalow from where we got dropped off by boat, we hopped onto a little cart pulled by a pony. It was hilarious and pretty bizarre.

It took about an hour to walk around the whole island - that's how small it was. We did the walk on our first day and saw signs that would say "we do laundry with sweet water". So of course we were laughing and wondering what "sweet water" was - we wanted to get us some of that water. Well we came to learn quite fast what it meant. Almost the whole island uses salt water - meaning all of our showers while we were there were in salt water. Which is pretty weird - you don't really feel clean. I think only a couple of places offer "sweet water" showers. And getting a hot shower can be a challenge too, but it was well worth it.

Gili Air was amazing!! It took a bit of time to get into the rhythm, but once you get it, you don't want to leave. It is so relaxing - you just hang out by the ocean and read. No internet (unless you go looking for it), no TV and no stress. We would wake up every morning and have breakfast right by the ocean. What more could you ask for. Great people and a great vibe. We will definitely be going back.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Wow, I'm going all out with pics now haha...

Some pictures that we found funny

wow, I'm really taking going to town with the pictures. Guess I have to do it while I can...

Never can be too safe, right? haha Life jackets on land

This picture kills us every time we see it. Happy Bride, sad groom. I think Arnold wants this shirt

Okay, I know, we are being childish, but it was soo funny. I guess the part that I found funny was - how do they police that?? 

And by far, the BEST picture we have hahahahah .... this was the info booklet that they gave out to us for the Indonesian show we saw last week. We felt like we should have told them

Okay, we will grow up now, but I hope we aren't the only ones that found those pics funny.

Love Melissa and Arnold 

Pictures from India

As promised - thought I would upload some pics from India. This is by far the best wifi connection I have ever had on the trip, so the pics download pretty fast.

Have a couple more posts coming

 Yep, cow alley ... sick haha

It was so hard to pick and I can't really see the pics that well when i'm picking ... but I hope you like them. I have so many, I wish I could show you guys them all.

Ferry Rides

While we were in Thailand and Indo, we needed to take ferries to get around to the islands near by. I never really had an issue with taking the boats to get around, until recently. If you want to torture me, put me on a boat in rough seas. I have decided that I HATE ferries and if I can get around taking them I will.

First bad ferry ride was in Thailand. We were taking a ferry to head to Ko Tao (about 1 1/2 hours) and our boat left right in the middle of what felt like a tropical storm. Okay, it wasn't really a tropical storm, but it was raining, windy and the seas were rough. I thought I was going to pass out. Our boat was moving in every direction possible - it was like being on a ride at Stampede. And this was a big boat - we were getting tossed around like a rag doll. I had to focus on the horizon otherwise I don't think I would have made it. But I survived and prayed for better weather on the way back.

After spending some time in Bali, we headed to some Islands just off the cost (about 1 1/2 hours away). This time it was a speed boat though - so much, much smaller then the ferries they use in Thailand (about 30 people per boat). I honestly never thought that this ferry ride would be bad, but it was the worst boat ride I have ever taken. I was terrified and trying to keep it together and trying to keep my breakfast down. I remember thinking that I could see why there was so many ferry accidents in Indo - it's crazy. We were crashing around in really rough seas. The worst part about it though, is that we had to take that same ferry back!!!

I was dreading it AND we were going to a different port this time, so we had to be on the boast for 2 1/2 hours this time. The first part of the ride wasn't too bad, not nearly as scary as the first one. But then it turned ugly. I honestly thought that the boat was going to tip on its side. And then the waves were so large that I was actually coming out of my seat. At one point, I let out a bit of a scream. haha I was so nervous. I kept looking at the life jackets getting ready to pull one down. (FYI this boat ride is now the worst boat ride I have taken)

I have come to realize that I am terrified of boats (unless they are on a calm lake) and don't plan on getting on one any time soon. Forget about a cruise ship as well. I'm done with boats for a while haha. I was too focused on holding on to my seat to take pictures, but believe me, it was really horrible. Arnold has a fear of flying and I have a fear of boats - good match, hey. LOL He would rather be on the seas and I would rather fly.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Ubud

The first place we decided to head to when we got to Bali. We had heard a lot of amazing things about this city, so it seemed like a pretty easy choice. Not really knowing what to expect, we jumped into a cab from the airport and made our way there. 

Ubud is about an hour from the airport inland. It is really lush and green - very jungle like. We were totally blown away with Ubud. We actually wish we had more time to spend there. It is so BEAUTIFUL, but I think the big reason why we loved it so much was because of the people. The people there (an in Bali) are some of the nicest people we have met on this trip. I have fallen in love with them - we were both soo surprised by how sweet and friendly everyone was. Definitely made a pretty great first impression of the country. Since we had heard mixed reviews about Bali, we didn't really have high expectations, so Ubud was setting the bar high.

We spent 3 nights in Ubud going to markets, visiting the rice fields and relaxing in the city (or at our resort). The one night we went to see a traditional dance, which of course didn't disappoint. Since it was a bit in the hills, the weather was a lot cooler then by the beach, but I'm talking +29 vs +33 LOL.

On a quick side note about our resort, we had booked a spa appointment the one night and when we got there, they asked us if we could pose for a couple pictures to promote the spa. haha. It was pretty funny - Arnold had a good laugh about it. If they post the pictures I will send out the link so you can check out our super amazing modeling skills ;) haha.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Kuala Lumpur

The only way for us to get to Bali from where we were in Thailand was to go through KL, so we decided to spend the night there and check out the city. We had been warned that KL wasn't very exciting and that you only needed to spend a day there in order to see the sights - so that is what we did.

KL isn't a very exciting city at all haha, but I found it to be very pretty. I thought the city was nice, BUT would not want to spend more then 24 hours there. Arnold really wanted to go see the Petronas Towers while we were there, so first thing in the morning we got onto the train and made our way over to see them.

The towers are attached a BIG mall with a lot of fancy brand names. It's probably a good thing that we didn't have more time, otherwise I would have wanted to spend the day in that mall shopping haha. I didn't really like the vibe in the city, hard to explain, but I just didn't like it. After our brief stay in KL, I am really glad that we decided to head to Indo vs Malaysia.

A funny thing about our stay - we picked a hotel that was located in "Little India" (I don't know if that's the name of the area, I just made that up, but there were a lot of India people and food in this area). All Arnold wanted to do was get away from India and not think about India and here we are, back in India again. It was a bit trippy.  But the food was soo good - I had to get a Chai to go because it was that good.

So pretty boring post, but it was a pretty boring city.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Our next destination

As we sat around on the beaches in Thailand, we were trying to plan where we wanted to head next. For most of the trip, we had a general idea of where we wanted to go and knew we had to be in certain places at a certain time for our flight, but other then that, we have been kind of going by the seat of our pants. We pick countries as we go and reschedule flights as needed.

So this was no different. We knew we had to be back in Bangkok for Aug 13th for our flight to China, but other then that we didn't have any plans. We started asking around, researching online and looking at a map to see what would be the best bet. It's monsoon season in a lot of Asia, so we had to work around that and we wanted to go to Singapore to visit our friends, so another thing we had to keep in mind.

We finally decided to do either Malaysia or Indonesia. The last deciding factor was by Arnold. He didn't want to go back to a place like India - he didn't want to deal with people looking at me and me having to worry about what I was going to wear. BTW, when we were in India, there was no PDA between Arnold and I. We couldn't hold hands, hug or kiss while in public. Not that we are big hand holders or anything like that, it was still a bit weird that we had to be careful about touching. We weren't ready to go back to a country where I had to watch what I was wearing and not just be able to enjoy ourselves.

So with that being said, it was decided that we would head to Indo for two weeks and see how things went. A couple days before we left, we booked a flight to Bali via Kuala Lumpur and we were on our way.  So that is where we have been for the past little while. Best choice ever. Most posts coming about.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Backpack Update

While we were in France, we were going to send home a box full of stuff we didn't want to carry around anymore. Once we found out the price, we said forget it and that we would ask my parents in law if they could take some stuff home with them. Since we were meeting up with our family in Thailand in a months time, we decided to save the money and deal with the heavy bags.

After lugging all this stuff through India we were sooo excited to off load some extra weight. Just so you know, we filled a medium sized suitcase full (like jam packed full) of things. I think the bag must have weighed at least 20 pounds (if not more). Plus my mother-in-law is carrying on a small bag for me as well. haha. We had a lot of stuff.

The sad part though, my backpack still weights 16kg?!?! I'm not sure how that has happened either haha. I thought that it would have been a bit lighter. But I have lots of room now to buy things ;)

Love Melissa

me and my backpack

And Arnold sitting on his trying to close it haha .... he was sweating by the end of it. Mine might be heavy, but at least I could close it haha

One month to go and missing home

When we first left Canada - I had a lot of people asking me if I was homesick. Now that we are one month away from the end of this amazing trip, I am getting a lot of people asking me again if I miss home.

I am definitely NOT homesick. I am not tired of living out of a backpack and always being on the move. I am actually a bit sad that we only have a month left to go before we head home. Of course I will be very excited to go home and see everyone, but I don't know if I'm ready just yet. I have enjoyed everything on this trip and I still am enjoying everything.

I held a blackberry in my hand a couple of weeks ago for the first time in 5 1/2 months and I did miss BBM. I think it will be weird for me to go home and have a closet full of clothes haha. I'm so used to having a limited selection of clothing that I don't even really have to think about what I am going to wear. Sometimes, places aren't as clean as I would like them to be and I have to force myself to let go, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I think I could spend another couple of months away before I would get tired of being away an want to go home, but as of right now, I am definitely happy to be away. I think seeing our family in Thailand was really good for us. Also, our last two months of the trip is actually with friends and family. Our first 5 months was spent solo and now we are either traveling with friends or visiting friend in the places we stop.

But we will be back home in a months time (unless we change our plans) but still have 3 more countries to see and lots of things to do :)

Well, that's all I have time for this morning. Have lots and lots coming, but I want to go eat and get on with the day. Hope all is well in Canada and thanks for reading.

Much Love

Melissa and Arnold

Scooters

A popular thing to do in Thailand is rent a scooter. The first time I was there, we saw loads of people with road rash and were told that renting a scooter was a bad idea and to stay away from them. You didn't have to tell me twice- I had no interest in looking like half of the people we saw.

This time around, was a different story. Once we got to Ko Tao, we decided to rent scooters. I was terrified. First off, you always hear about how they will charge you small fortune if you put one little scratch on the bike and to be very careful when renting. Secondly, I didn't want to drive one or be on the back of one. But I was out numbered and had to suck it up. Arnold was going to drive and I was going to sit on the back. After everyone had signed the forms and inspected the bikes, we were on our way. Sort of. LOL

The roads in Ko Tao aren't the best, we were on a back road so it was in terrible condition. Not an ideal starting point for people who have never rode a scooter before. I think it took everyone about 10 minutes to get the hang of things and then we were off to tour the island. Thankfully no one crashed, no one damaged the bike and we all walked away unharmed, but it was pretty funny to watch. At one point, one of the girls we were with (who is 19 weeks pregnant) was being chased by a dog on her scooter, but she just kept on going. I wouldn't let Arnold go faster then 40km/hr. It was actually a lot of fun and now I'm looking forward to my scooter ride in Korea ;) haha.

Love Melissa and Arnold

$10 a night

After spending time in Africa and Europe - we were excited to get to Asia because it would be sooo much cheaper and we wouldn't have to spend as much money. So far on our trip, Africa is the MOST expensive place we have been - hands down. I think I have mentioned it before. It destroyed our budget for the trip haha. NOTHING is cheap there - not even food. Once, we had to pay $60US for a cab from the airport to the hotel - that is more expensive then a cab in NYC. Crazy, right.

Anyway, I always told Arnold how cheap Thailand was and that you could get cute little bungalows on the beach for $10 a night. After coming from India, Thailand actually seemed expensive - imagine that. But I think that is because we could eat dinner for $6 CND for two people in India. Whereas in Thailand, it would cost us $12CND. While we were in Ko Samui, we got a little spoiled by the places we were staying - places we wouldn't have gone to while on this trip because it was outside my "budget range" (haha Arnold hates my budget range - but I'm cheap). But it was for my sister in laws wedding and we wanted to stay where they were staying - so I dusted off our wallet and splurged on nice hotels for 5 nights.

As I mentioned before, we left Samui to head to Haad Yuan which didn't have a lot of hotel options. You had cheap bungalows and one "expensive" hotel. So on our first night we all decided to check into the cheap bungalows. There was 8 of us - who were all way past the days of being poor students. I couldn't believe it, we found a room for $10 a night - a cute beach bungalow. HA HA HA. All 8 of us lasted one night in the $10/night accommodations and decided we weren't cut out for it and checked ourselves into the expensive hotel for two nights. So yes, I'm proud to say that we spent $10 on a room for a night, but I will NEVER do that again. Last time we were in Thailand, my girlfriend and I stayed in very cheap places, but we thought they were great. How things have changed. LOL

I remember waking up in the middle of the night and Arnold said he got bite by a mozzie on the back of his neck and asked me to get the cream for it. So I took a look at it, realized that it definitely wasn't a mozzie bite, put a little cream on it for him and kept my mouth shut. I knew that if I told him it wasn't a mozzie bite he would freak out and not sleep. I finally let him in on the secret once we woke up. Needless to say, I was happy to break my hotel "budget" once again for a nice place to stay.

Love Melissa and Arnold

Island Hopping

We have been off the grid for the past 4 days, so I haven't been able to post any blog posts or get to emails. But we are back in civilization and have a bit of time to blog.

After Shelley and Agri's wedding we spent a couple more days with the family in Ko Samui and then we were off to the surrounding islands - but "kids" only. We left my parents in law in Samui and headed off with the newly weds and their friends for a little RnR. Much needed, might I add. All Arnold and I wanted to do was sit by a pool or beach and relax and regroup after India. And that is exactly what we did.

We headed to Haad Yuan which is only accessible by boat, has limited internet and only a couple of places to stay. So it was perfect!!! We got to spend a lot of time with my sister in law and her new husband. Plus get to know all of their amazing friends better. The first time I went to Thailand, my girlfriend and I took a boat to this beach and I remember telling Arnold how amazing it was and that if we ever went to Thailand together, that we would have to go there. So it was pretty cool, that I got to take him there and show him what I saw.

After spending a couple days there, we were off to Ko Tao. I was VERY excited to go there because I had never been there before, so it would all be new for me. So far, all of the places that we went, I had already been, so I was excited to see a couple of new parts in Thailand. Arnold and I both think that Ko Tao was our favourite island. It had a great vibe and lots to see and do. We actually wished we had more time there.

Breaking the rules...

Arnold and I were doing so good - we had kept the promise of being on time for our flights and making sure we had more then enough time. For two whole weeks - we would triple check departure times, triple check travel time to the airport etc etc. We were on a roll and then it came crashing down. Honestly, we get ourselves into some pretty silly situations.

Three days, three flights - so as you can imagine, we were on the go non-stop. We arrived in Bangkok on July 13th at 5:35am after a red eye from Mumbai. We were dead tired - normally it wouldn't be so bad, but the flight had so much turbulence that we could barely sleep (I think we got about 45 minutes of sleep). We get to our hotel that morning and thankfully our room was ready!!! woohooo, we crash until noon and then head out for a full day of sights. After an action packed day we get back to the hotel and sort of pack because we have another early flight out then next morning. I set the alarm for 6:35am and 6:40am. Our flight isn't till 9:45am and we are about 45minutes away from the airport. Lots of time

The alarm goes off and I wait in bed for the second one to go off before I get up. I boot up my PC and check my email and then I'm about to head into the shower. For whatever reason, something in my head clicks and I panic and wonder what time it is. I remember seeing the clock on my PC saying 7:14pm (my PC is still on Calgary time, but I still use it to tell the time). My heart is beating so fast - I grabbed the Ipad and freak. It was now 8:20am!!! I forgot to change the clock from India time to Thailand time and India is 1 1/2 hours behind. Holy Crap - we are never going to make this flight. I start running around the hotel room trying to jam as much stuff into my backpack meanwhile trying to get Arnold up. Here is how it works out

Me: "Arnold get up"
Arnold: no response - still sleeping
Me: "Arnold you have to get up" now in a slightly higher voice
Arnold: no response - maybe still sleeping or maybe pretending to sleep and ignoring me
Me: now very panicked "ARNOLD, GET UP!!! We are late for our flight, OMG, OMG, OMG" in a very high voice, frantically running around screaming. haha

Finally he gets up and thankfully we had semi packed and organized our stuff the night before because within 10 minutes we are out the door. By the time we finally get a cab it is about 8:35 to 8:40am. (remember still 45 minutes to the airport with no traffic). I honestly felt really bad for our taxi driver because we were one of those back seat drivers, telling him which lane to use and trying our best not to panic. I'm not sure how we did it, but we ended up getting to the airport at 9:20am. The traffic gods were with us that morning. I ran up to the counter while Arnold dealt with the bags and got us onto our flight (haha poor guy flying standby thought he was on that flight, but we showed up 1 minute before they gave up our seat). One bag made it and the other one came on a later flight - but we were just happy to have made the flight seeing how Arnold's sisters wedding was the next day - eek.

But now we are back on track ;)


Love Melissa and Arnold