A few pics...

Legian @ night..

yummm... rice + chili chicken from the back of a guy's bike

Our bill for dinner @ Ku De Ta

Babi guling @ Ibu Oka in Ubud

At Monkey Forest in Ubud

Check out the amazing greens at the rice paddies

Monkey See, Monkey Do

What an amazing day today was! We headed over to Ubud to eat some babi guling (finally!) - and yes, all the hype is well deserved. The meat was so tender and juicy - definitely leaves you wanting more!

Afterwards, we walked down to Monkey Forest which is literally a forest full of monkeys. These little rascals are not shy - in fact, they'll jump on you and paw through your stuff. If you put your hands in your pockets, they think you've got something yummy in there and they will go searching for it. Ros was wearing her sunglasses on her head and monkey after monkey jumped on her head trying to get them off! One even started grooming her :D

Next we headed to a village that sounds like Lalalalalong to check out their famed rice paddies. They were absolutely gorgeous! The most vivid greens you've ever seen. I could spend a lifetime here just gazing at the paddies!

Not sure what the agenda is for tomorrow - after all, time does not exist in Bali... and I love it like that.

Living in Paradise...

**I wrote this yesterday but was unable to post it until today...

Selamat datang indeed! Last night was quite the introduction to Bali. We met up with Rollan and Allen at the airport and headed to Hotel Ramayana in Kuta. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in terms of our rooms since they’re relatively cheap compared to North American standards but was pleasantly surprised – our hotel is gorgeous!! Beautiful landscaping, sculptures, flowers, infinity pools, fountains, laterns etc. After a quick change, we headed to club row on Legian to do some club hopping. We must have hit 8 or 9 places but I lost track after M Bar Go, Sky Garden, Paddy’s, Engine Room, Déjà vu, Double Six… having a drink at each place will do that to you I guess. I can’t believe the prices here. You can easily live like a king for pennies! For example, the 4 of us spent around 650 000rp ($~65CAD) last night. To hit up the same number of clubs and have the same number of drinks in Vancouver would have cost us a fortune! Food here is also really cheap. Last night we ordered rice and chili chicken out of the back of a guy’s bike for $1.50 (for all 4 of us). Today, I had a huge rice, chicken, tofu, vegetable, beef lunch for $2.35. Don't worry though -there’s no danger of gaining excessive weight as you sweat out litres and litres every day (yuck)

Today we took it pretty easy. We wanted to go to Ubud for babi guling (roasted suckling pig) but we got lost on the way. So instead, we drove around Denpasar, Kuta and Legian to do some sightseeing with the comforts of AC (very important). Afterwards, we ditched the car and walked from our hotel to Discovery Mall. There, I discovered the delights of Roti Boy (a sweet bun filled with butter). For dinner, we splurged and headed to Ku De Ta, a gorgeous(!) open air restaurant. Twice a year, huge parties are held here and I could definitely see why. A huge lounge, beautiful artwork, huge patio, DJ set up, and a private beach all make for a wicked party. However, dinner doesn’t come cheap here. The 4 of us spent just under 2 000 000rp for dinner and drinks… when you consider that an average laborer’s monthly salary here is 1 200 000rp, we definitely treated ourselves!

Sorry for the pictureless post - internet has been a little hard to come by here but I'll upload pictures soon!

BaliBaliBaliBaliBali

Ros and I are sitting in the airport waiting to board our flight. We've got a long, long journey ahead of us - we leave YVR at 12:45pm and don't arrive in Bali until 10:25pm tomorrow night! Despite the long flight, we're super excited to begin our adventure. What are the things I/we hope to accomplish while in Indo?

1) Get our diving certificates (PADI)
2) Take a Baliense cooking course
3) Become better surfers
4) Get massages at least once a week (it's a hard life I know)
5) Visit the volcanos
6) Visit monkey forest
7) Visit the rice paddies
8) Not gain weight (might be tough)
9) Play lots of volleyball
10) Master a few Balinese phrases
..........

Honestly the list could go on and on.....

See you guys in paradise!!!!
(and no, we did not overpack!)

Less than 24 hours...

I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off. So much to do still - mainly because I'm a procrastinator at heart. Although I'm super excited for this new adventure to start, I'm getting slightly nervous and anxious. I've never been away from my life for so long - this will definitely be an experiment on my coping skills.

Busy Beeeeeeee

I feel my life has been a crazy merry-go-round since returning home on Monday! Constantly on the run with different things that need to be done before Bali. My to-do list has spiraled outta control. On top of everthing, my poor Canucks decided to start their summer early last night. Sigh, bring back the run of 1994 people!!!

Only 2 more days...

Bonjour Montreal!

J'aime Montréal!! What a beautiful city with so much to do, see and eat! Despite only being there for 2 short days, I have fallen in love. If I was not able to live in Vancouver anymore, Montreal would be the my top Canadian city to relocate to.

After our flight from Cuba, we caught the 747 express into downtown Montreal and checked into Hotel Stay (near Mont Royal Metro station). Although it looks ghett-O from the outside, the rooms were actually nicer than the ones in Cuba! Go figure. With some time to kill before meeting up with one of my old roomies, we went hunting for our first real Montreal poutine at Frit Alors. Must say, the French sure know their poutine!

Frit Alor's signature Poutine

Afterwards, we met up with Jordana and her bf and headed down St. Denis to find a place to watch the Habs vs. Pens game. Twas very nice to catch up with her and her medical school adventures! It had been way too long.

Go Habs (and Nucks) go!

Friday was spent wandering around Montreal. First, we headed to the old port and spent some time exploring the various streets and alleyways. Definitely has an European vibe going. We then walked up St. Denis and headed to the #1 'attraction' everybody has been telling us to go to... La Banquise - home of the BEST poutine in Montreal. They have over 25 different poutines including the T-Rex (bacon, sausage, wieners and hamburger) and the Hotdog ones that we tried. Yummmmm

St. Paul Street in Old Port

My future home

One page of the poutine menu at La Banquise

The T-Rex and Hotdog

We then met up with Clout (met him in Cuba) and his gf Christelle who took us on a great tour of Montreal. We headed up to the top of Mont Royal, drove through Westmont, visited St. Joseph's oratory with St. Andre's heart on display, visited ETS and UQAM before walking along St. Catherines and through Chinatown. Definitely a great time as they knew a LOT about Montreal. Not sure that I would have as much to say about various attractions around Vancouver if I had to give them a similar tour.

St. Andre's heart in St. Joseph's Oratory. Just a little bit creepy

Afterwards, we handed over to Notre Dame to catch their light show in the basilica. Very informative and creative in its approach but I must confess I fell asleep. The stillness and the darkness of the church conspired against me! Nonetheless, the portions that I did catch was very cool. From Notre Dame, we went to have the coolest dinner experience ever! Mark's friend told us about this restaurant, ONoir, and after hearing about his experience, we made reservations right away. In this restaurant, you eat entirely in the pitch black!! All the waiters are legally blind and have memorized the layout of the restaurant to be able to serve you. You do all your ordering outside in the bar area - on the menu, is an option for a 'surprise' dish. Of course, we decided to try all surprise dishes for our 3 course meal. To get to your table, you need to put your left hand on the shoulder of your waiter who will then lead you to your table. It was almost surreal to realize that there is no difference between closing your eyes and opening them. Forget trying to use your knife and fork - I ended up just pushing my food around my plate and onto my lap. I'm not ashamed to admit that I gave up pretty often and ended up eating with my fingers. The food was delicious but hard to say if it was because all my senses were heightened because my sight was taken away or if 1 week of eating bland food in Cuban made anything flavorful overpowering. Overall, I definitely recommend this experience to anybody!

Notre Dame Basilica

After our dining experience

From ONoir, we walked all the way back down to the old port to meet up with our Montreal friends we met in Cuba. We ended up at Les Deux Pierrot on St. Paul - a Quebecois bar. It was SO fun! They had live bands play everything from old French cartoon theme songs to Beach Boys to French dirty songs to Backstreet Boys to French dirty songs to ACDC and everything in between. With $7 cover and $3.75 beers, twas a fun night indeed! The kids we met from Montreal definitely know how to have a great time and show some Vancouverites how it's supposed to be done. Although beware, when you guys come to Vancouver, I will show you what real Chinese food at 4am tastes like!

E-HA!

So although our time in Montreal was short, I promise you I will be back.