Upcoming for 2013

Oh, the fun never stops when there's vacation time to be had...

More trips are planned for 2013!

Feb. 2-15       -  Sri Lanka
March 29-31  -   Long weekend at Phu Quoc island (Vietnam)
April 27 - May 4  -  Malaysian Borneo

YAY!!!  : )

John and I also recently decided to extend our contract for one more year.  We will return to Canada in June after this school year is over, and then spend vacation at home.  In August, we will come back to Vietnam to complete one more year of teaching here.  We enjoy living here and have gotten some good teaching experience at our school.  We look forward to the new experiences we will have in the upcoming year!

Dubai City-Stay!

On the way home from Europe, we stopped over in Dubai again.  This time, we made sure to have extra time there so we could actually get out and see the city.  The UAE seems to be a very modern, wealthy country.  Dubai was an interesting mix of cultures and architecture.  There were modern skyscrapers (including the tallest building in the world - the Burj Khalifa), mosques, and huge malls all plopped in the middle of a desert that surrounds the city.

During our full day in Dubai we took a little cruise down the Dubai Creek, shopped at the "Old Souk" market, visited a few malls (including one with an indoor ski hill), and another with a huge aquarium and a TIM HORTONS.  Yes, that's right!  We found Timmy's in the desert.  It was pretty exciting and I think the workers there thought we were weird.

Dubai Creek

Old Souk

One of the many mosques of Dubai

Tim Hortons in Dubai... AMAZINGGG!

Anyway, next to the huge Dubai Mall is the Burj Khalifa.  Unfortunately we couldn't get tickets to go up it, but we got a nice view from the ground up at night.  There was also a large fountain show outdoors in the evening, right beside the mall and Burj.  After the fountain show, gorging ourselves at the big food court, and stuffing our faces with timbits, we saw the movie "Life of Pi" at the theatre inside the mall.

Burj Khalifa... I couldn't even fit it all in my camera frame!

In Dubai I also bought my new Iphone 5... it was comparable to prices in Canada, not like the rip-off prices in Europe and Vietnam.  Definitely a great purchase!

I really liked Dubai, even though we got just a small taste of the city.  Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Dubai and head back to Vietnam after a wonderful 2 week vacation.  Luckily for us, it won't be long before the next one!

Bye, Dubai!

Budapest & #30!!!

Budapest had that certain "je ne sais quoi" that Vienna didn't have for me.  I found it to be a very cool, relaxed city that seemed very liveable.  Budapest is actually 2 cities... Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube River.  The city seemed grungier than imperial, clean Vienna... and the buildings/subway were kind of retro-chic instead of grand and imposing.  I liked it!

Buda & Pest ... the big building on the left is the Parliament

We did a walking tour of Budapest which led us to St. Stephen's Basilica (St. Stephen was everywhere in Europe).  Inside was the right hand of St. Stephen himself, encased in glass and lit up if someone put in a 2 Euro coin!  Weird, but interesting I guess!

St. Stephen's Basilica

We also visited the hill overlooking the river and the gorgeous parliament building.  There were really cool views from a place called Fisherman's Bastion.  After the walking tour, our guide brought us to a cheap and delicious canteen where old Hungarian people eat lunch.  You will never go hungry in Hungary (haha) since there is quite a lot of good, cheap food.  John ate the famous goulash soup but I wasn't a huge fan of it!

Hanging out at Fisherman's Bastion

The best thing we did in Budapest was visit the Szechenyi Baths.  Budapest has several bath houses, but this one was the biggest and most popular.  It was built in 1913 (100 years ago!) and is actually the largest medicinal bath in Europe.  It is open all year round, and we definitely got some frosty feet running from the building to the outdoor bath area.  Not all the baths were outdoors, as the complex was huge and had a variety of pools indoors at varying temperatures (cold, warm, hot) and some pools even contained special minerals.  There was definitely one that smelled quite like sulphur!  The coolest thing was at night when they turned on some crazy coloured lights in the main outdoor pool and the centre of the pool became like a whirl pool.  You could catch the current and be whirled around the centre walled-in pool... the current was a lot more powerful then you'd expect!  It was lots of fun going around and around.  We stayed at the bath all afternoon and into the evening.  Good times!

Szechenyi Baths

 The last evening in Budapest we decided to check out a "ruin bar" on the recommendation of the people who worked at our guesthouse.  Ruin bars seem to be unique to Budapest.  They are bars which exist in old, run-down buildings.  People decide to take these abandoned buildings and turn them into cool bars that are kind of secret.  From the street, it just looks like a random ghetto building with a small sign outside.  We went to the most famous one, and it was quite nondescript from the street.  Inside it was full of some interesting decor, lots of happy guests, and funky music.  We tried some Hungarian wine after our tour guide recommended it to us.  She said Hungarian wine is excellent but Hungary does a terrible job of marketing it, so no one knows about it.  It was great!

Hungarian wine!

One great thing about going to Hungary was that it allowed me to reach my goal of 30 countries before 30!!!  A few months back, I didn't think reaching this goal was going to happen.  I had almost given up, but a random decision to travel to Europe for Christmas (something I've wanted to do for a long time!) ended up allowing me to hit up a bunch more countries.  On this trip I visited 4 new countries:  United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary!!!  I love travelling!!!  :)

Vienna... a classy city!

Before visiting Vienna, I had images in my mind of opera houses, museums, charming beautiful buildings, and quaint streets.  Vienna was all these things, minus a certain charm and quaint streets (it was mostly huge boulevards).  I was a bit disappointed with the city since I had such high hopes.  I felt it to be a bit too imperial and impersonal for my tastes.  The buildings were pretty grand, ornately decorated, and HUGE.  I also found them to all look the same.  The problem with travelling so much is that you start to become jaded about certain places/things ... ie. "oh that waterfall is nothing compared to the one in Iceland" ... "those mountains aren't as high as the ones in Austria" ... "these beaches aren't as nice as the ones in the Philippines" ... I found myself a bit biased due to all the great cities I've been to, so Vienna didn't blow me away.

Hofburg Palace

Nonetheless, it was a nice place and I do not regret spending time there.  We saw a beautiful cathedral (St. Stephen's), a fantastic art museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum), and an excellent collection of famous paintings by Gustav Klimt (no photos allowed!) at Belvedere Palace.  I didn't know much about Klimt before this, but I can definitely say he's one of my top artists now - look out, Monet!

At the Kunsthistorisches Museum

St. Stephen's

View of Vienna from the top of St. Stephen's

During our time in Vienna we had some great eating experiences.  We tried the famous "Wiener schnitzel" which tasted exactly like nonna's fettine.  Not even joking.  We also visited a famous place called Cafe Central, where many intellectuals came to hang out ever since it opened in 1876.  I had some delicious apple strudel with vanilla sauce there.  In Vienna we also tried the famous "Sacher Torte" which is basically a rich chocolate cake with apricot filling between layers.

Wiener Schnitzel... aka nonna's fettine!

Apple strudel... mmm!

Hanging out with new friends and enjoying some Sacher Torte!

Since we were spending New Year's in Vienna, we decided to go to where all the action was... down near the cathedral and Hofburg Palace (where the royals lived).  We met some nice people from Korea, Japan, and Australia at our guesthouse and we all hung out on New Year's Eve watching an outdoor concert and waited for the countdown to 2013.

On New Year's Day, we headed to City Hall to watch a live broadcasting of the symphony playing the famous New Year's Day concert on a big screen.  Despite my slight disappointment with Vienna, I enjoyed the place and was happy to have experienced New Year's there.

Innsbruck... welcome to the mountains!

After a short stay in Salzburg, we took the train through the mountains to Innsbruck.  I found Innsbruck to be a charming little town with an "Old Town" area full of lots of cozy pubs, cobblestone streets, and great mountain views.

Golden Roof in Old Town Square

We didn't have a lot of luck with the weather when we first arrived.  It was overcast and rainy the first full day we were there.  We decided to take the cable car up the mountain to the "Alpenzoo" which we didn't have high hopes for.  After we failed to see one beaver at the beaver exhibit (first one after the entrance), and then couldn't see snakes or other critters due to hibernation, we were worried that we wouldn't see anything.  Fortunately, we kept going through and saw a bunch of interesting alpine animals - wolves, lynx, ibex, bears, etc.  The zoo had an open concept and none of the animals seemed like they were caged in.  They had lots of space to roam, and pretty natural conditions.  We ended up being impressed with the zoo after all!

At the Alpenzoo

After leaving the zoo, we got a glimpse of the beautiful mountain views as some clouds finally cleared.  However, it didn't last long.  The next day we planned to go further up the mountain so we really hoped that we would be able to see SOMETHING!

Finally starting to clear up...

On our second full day in Innsbruck it was cloudy again, but the weather said it would be sunny.  We decided to fork over the money to go almost to the very top of the mountain by cable car.  The very top of the mountain had ski runs reserved only for experts, so we went to the second-highest stop called Seegrube on the Nordkette mountain.  The cable car was packed and we waited a lonnngg time surrounded by hardcore Austrian skiers and snowboarders with all their gear.  Miraculously, when we finally got our turn to go up, things started to clear, fast!  When we got to Seegrube most of the clouds had cleared and we had amazing views of Innsbruck surrounded by mountains.

What a view!

It wasn't as expensive as we thought to buy a ski pass and rent gear.  We ended up having beautiful weather and a fun time skiing!  It was only my third time skiing so I stuck to the easy slopes.  It was still a lot of fun, and the view was the best one I've ever seen... incredible!  They had deck chairs out facing the mountain view so people could just sit down and enjoy the scenery.

Skiing at Nordkette

Goodbye Innsbruck!

Another beautiful city, and on to the next... Vienna!

Salzburg... the hills are alive!

From Prague we took a bus/train combo to Salzburg, Austria.  Salzburg was a pleasant little town with cute shops, beautiful churches, a fortress overlooking the city, and a ridiculous about of Mozart and Sound of Music paraphernalia.  Our guesthouse played "The Sound of Music" every night on the TV.  Mozart was on everything... we even visited his birthplace.

Mozart everything...

Mozart's birthplace

Since we only had 1 day in Salzburg, we decided to cut costs and make the most out of our time by giving ourselves a free self-guided audio tour.  We downloaded Rick Steves' podcasts to our ipods and walked around the city, listening to the history of the place.  At the top of Salzburg Fortress was a beautiful view of Salzburg.

View from the fortress

Even though we didn't get to spend a lot of time there, I think it was a nice town that was worth a stop.  It also gave us a small taste of the beautiful mountain scenery that we would further see in Austria.  Next stop, Innsbruck!

A free night in Dubai, and on to Prague!

Our trip to Europe began with a flight on Emirates Airline to Prague, connecting in Dubai.  Emirates is a great airline and since we had over 8 hours in between our flights from HCMC-Dubai and Dubai-Prague, we qualified for the free stopover program (free hotel near airport including free breakfast, and complimentary transit visa).  Unfortunately, we arrived late at night and had to wait a long time in the lines in the Dubai airport to get through immigration.  By the time we got through and took the free shuttle to the hotel, we only had a few hours to sleep, shower, eat a delicious free breakfast, then shuttle back to the hotel for our flight to Prague.  Even for a few hours, it was worth it!

The flight to Prague was great... I had the most delicious meal I've ever had on an airplane (Arabian "mezze").  We arrived in Prague to cold temperatures and a few flurries.  Luckily we had stocked up on cold weather clothing at the Russian market before going to Europe!

Prague was a beautiful city.  We were staying at a guesthouse only a few steps away from the old town square, where a big Christmas market was being held.  At the Christmas market there were tons of delicious snacks, mulled wine, and touristy souvenirs.  There was even a manger complete with animals and a HUGE Christmas tree.  It was so festive!

Trdelnik... delicious pastry covered in sugar and nuts.  Yum!  This was all over the Christmas markets.

On our second day in Prague we did a day trip to Kutna Hora, just a short train ride away.  We visited the famous Sedlec Ossuary which exists under a small Catholic church.  The ossuary was built after the cemetery became overcrowded with bodies after the plague.  The place has bones of somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000 people.  The bones are even arranged into a chandelier!  It was interesting and creepy at the same time.

Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora

In Prague we also did 2 walking tours, one of the city and one of Prague Castle.  If anyone is ever going to Europe, I would highly recommend the tour company Sandeman's New Europe.  They do excellent tours in many cities across Europe, including free city walking tours.  Very informative and a great way to orient yourself to new surroundings.

Anyway, continuing on... Since we were celebrating the Christmas holiday in Europe, we went to midnight mass at St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle.  John and I walked back from the castle after the mass and he proposed to me on the Charles Bridge!!!  I was surprised and happy about it, and obviously I said yes!!!  Prague will always be a place we remember because we got engaged there!

View of Prague from Clock Tower in Old Town Square

 

Prague!!!

John and I with the Charles Bridge in the background!

Prague was one of the nicest cities I've seen in Europe due to its charm... old churches, cobblestone streets, cute shops, cozy Christmas market stalls... I hope we can visit again some day!!!

Happy new year, nearly 1 month late...

Happy new year!  It's been a while, but this is my first post of 2013.  I've been busy with work lately, but soon I'll have more time to blog.  This post will be an update of the past year 2012...

January

We ended 2011 in an awesome way, at quite possibly the most beautiful building I have ever seen...the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.  After seeing the Taj on the last day on Dec. 31, we attended a NYE party at our guesthouse, met some cool people, ate some delicious Indian food, and then headed back to HCMC.

The vacations didn't stop there... almost right after the Christmas holiday, we celebrated the lunar new year with a 2-week holiday in the Philippines.  John, Alex, and I went to Boracay and Palawan, where I saw the most beautiful beaches and became brown.  It was so nice to just relax after a crazy holiday in India.

February

Back to reality... aka work.  I don't remember what we did in February besides work, but my photos tell me that we did have some fun at the "trick art" exhibit in HCMC.

March

Long weekend... time for a trip to Singapore!  This was our second time visiting Singapore (and Universal Studios Singapore) but it was still a lot of fun.  We also saw the play "Wicked" and enjoyed walking around the nice, clean Marina Bay area.

March also brought us another fun weekend getaway, to Dalat for our friend Brittany's birthday.  We enjoyed some cooler temperatures, pine trees, winding roads, and abseiling down rock walls and waterfalls.  Crazy, but some great memories!

April

We seem to have discovered the Saigon Heat (HCMC's semi-pro basketball team).  Good times!

We also travelled to Chau Doc to attend our friends Andy and Julia's Vietnamese wedding.  It was so nice to experience a cultural event like this with our good friends!

May

We were winding down the school year nicely with a 1-week trip to Thailand/Laos.  We even spent a day in the "Golden Triangle" area and were allowed in to Burma for a day to hang out in a country that isn't common on most travellers' lists.  In Laos, we did the "Gibbon Experience" for a second time... ziplining through a lush jungle to our treetop accommodations.  Laos is pretty chill and I enjoyed visiting it again.  We also had our biggest celebrity encounter to date when we saw "Charlie" from LOST at the airport in Laos.  Weirdddd!  A little bit nervous getting on that plane with him (LOST fans will understand).

June

The last month of school!  I survived teaching grade 1 for a full year.  This month was full of assemblies, field trips, report cards, and goodbyes, as we had to say farewell to some great people who were leaving our school.  This was also the month where we said goodbye to Vietnam temporarily, and hello to our family and friends in CANADA!  After a lonnnggg flight, it was great to be back home.

July

Summer vacation in Ontario... happy and relaxing!  I was happy to see everyone after so long.  We had a lot of fun hanging out at home, and going to Pelee Island for some biking and winery tours.

August

After a fun time in Niagara Falls (more biking and more wine), and lots of hangouts with family and friends, it was time to get back on that plane to HCMC to start a new school year.  We also moved into our new place with new housemates - Greg and Tanya.

September

We barely started teaching, now another trip?  Yes, we do have our vacation spread out pretty nicely at our school.  We spent the September holiday weekend in Mui Ne, for the second year in a row.  This place is just nice... beaches, sand dunes, cool landscape, no crazy traffic... I could get used to that!

October

The thing that stands out most in my mind from this month, is the amazing week we spent in Korea, visiting our old friends and favourite hangouts there.  I felt very sad to leave, but I know that I'll visit again some day.  We also had a random stopover in Shanghai for a day which was a fun place to explore.

November

We attended the International Terry Fox Run during this month.  It's awesome to see so much support for this cause, even outside of Canada on the other side of the world.

December

School was busy with Christmas concert practices, assemblies, and holiday festivities.  We celebrated another year end with a trip to Europe, kind of pricy but worth it.  We visited Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and stopped over in Dubai for a cool city stay on this trip.  I ended up meeting my 30 countries before 30 goal on this trip, and John and I got engaged in Prague!!!  It was a wonderful holiday!  We ended 2012 in Vienna... where will next year bring us?