Here in Hiroshima

It's late here on our first night in Hiroshima. We've had a busy day traveling from Hakone to here and then trying to explore the city before it was too late! We saw the Peace Museum, had a nice supper and spent some time in a tiny bar with a few fellow Canadians over some Hiroshima-brewed sake.

Well, off to bed! Tomorrow should be a fun-filled day so we'll let you know all about it very soon :)

Hakone and Hiroshima

We`re just about to check out of the hostel and head to the train station. We`re on our way to Hakone today and then on to Hiroshima tomorrow. Going to check out some hot springs and the Mt. Fuji view in Hakone and then onto all the history of Hiroshima. Can`t wait!!!

We may be offline for a few days but we`ll be sure to be in touch as soon as we`re back. Hope you`re all enjoying your holidays!

Cheers,
Meg & Sean

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday!!! We are having a great time here in Tokyo, an amazing city! Our Christmas has certainly been different...but being here with Michael has been great! We're thinking of everyone back home and hoping that you're all having a very Merry Christmas. As soon as we get back to Bangkok on Jan. 1 we'll start posting all the pictures and stories we're accumulating while here :)

Merry Christmas!!!!

Love,
Sean and Meg

Tokyo bound!

Meg and I are franticly packing as we prepare for our flight to Tokyo in a few hours. We'll be hanging with my brother Michael, checking out the sights in Japan. We won't be back until New Year's day and will have limited internet/phone access so we'd like to wish all our friends and family Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post stories as soon as we get back.

Love Meg and Sean

Scary things: movies and haircuts

In the last 24 hours 2 very scary things have happened. First, Sean took me to yet another horror movie without telling me what it was about and second, I got a haircut.

The movie, I Am Legend, seemed innocent enough. Just another Will Smith saving the world kind of thing. But no. Instead, I sat through two hours of horrible shrieking monsters attacking Will and his doggie (that was the worst part, obviously). Sean's punishment will involve the upcoming Disney movie Enchanted...starring McDreamy ;)

Then today, I finally gave in and admitted that I desperately needed a haircut. I'd been avoiding this due to some lingering bitterness over a haircut-gone-wrong in Toronto that I blamed entirely on the language barrier between me and the stylist. But I figured that if I had it done here in the hotel my head may stand a fighting chance. Luckily, it didn't turn out terribly. The stylist still didn't speak English well (although she'd memorized all the important compliments)...and she styled it with just a round brush and blow dryer (Adam, you know that can't be good), but all in all, the cut isn't so bad.

Whew! After all this stress I'm gonna have to go relax by the pool ;)

Elevated dining

Last night, we met up with Angus, Oh, and Trevor (who was in town for meetings) for dinner at the Dome in State Tower (check out their website). State Tower is one of the tallest skyscrapers in Bangkok with an amazing outdoor bar and restaurant sitting right at the top - 64 stories high! It has arguably the best view of Bangkok. However, our night was slightly dampered due to an alcohol ban put in place this weekend to disuade corruption in the upcoming election - i.e. prevent buying votes with alcohol.

Despite this, we had a great evening. It is a breathtaking experience and an absolute must see for anyone visiting Bangkok. Here is a picture of us in front of the Dome.



Here is Angus and Oh with the view of Bangkok in the background.

Oh Christmas Tree

We finally got around to putting up our Christmas tree this week. Maybe it's not much but we like it...even if the lights don't work and the snow is fake. We've been enjoying Christmas tunes and making regular stops at Starbucks for the seasonal drinks and red cups. All of this is only partially making up for the fact that we have neither family nor snow...single tear. But, we're going to Japan in a week so it's not all that bad. :)

Here's our Charlie Brown Christmas tree (note our excitement over the majesty of its beauty):

Dragon Fruit

Mmmmm...this is one of my new favorite fruits! It's called Dragon Fruit...you can see why! It tastes kind of like a watermelon, but not as sweet. Yum!




 

BKK Jazz Festival

On Sunday night Sean and I decided to take in a little live music at the Bangkok Jazz Festival. We'd been excited about it all week! I was especially looking forward to the relaxing atmosphere of an outdoor festival - I figured it would be a nice change from the hectic chaos that is Bangkok. We had a bit of an issue actually getting there.

First of all, the Ascott staff informed us (luckily) at the very last minute that the organizers had decided to change the venue. The new place was on the exact opposite side of town from the place they had advertised! Then we had trouble with the taxi (of course). The driver dropped us off in front of a hospital! We were very confused...but could hear the music in the distance. It took us about 10 minutes of walking up the expressway, but we finally found the venue.


But once we'd actually made it to the festival we had a great time! We set up a blanket in front of the stage and just enjoyed the music and the yummy food. One interesting thing was the fact that they actually had waitresses walking around the field serving beer. No long line-ups in a beer tent here in Bangkok!

Snakes!?! I HATE snakes!!!

Meg and I had our first encounters with a snake today which turned out to be quite frightening. We'd just come from getting massages (the legit kinds - nothing sketchy) and we're walking back to our hotel. As we passed a bus stop, a couple of Thais started saying something to us but we didn't understand and politely continued on, thinking they were the usual pushy tuk-tuk drivers. Then, another few Thais, including a policeman, started calling about 20 feet ahead of us. They were pointing behind us so I turned around and the same men we'd just passed were also still calling after us and were now too pointing. We finally clued into what they were saying as a man grab our arms and started pulling us forward - "Snake! Snake!"

Coiled in the bushes, less than a foot away from where I was standing oblivious to the apparent danger, was a enormous snake (probably 3 inches in diameter at its thickest)! Unfortunately, it was in the shade so we couldn't see the colour very well (seemed grayish) and no one understood when I asked what kind of snake it was but based on their reaction I don't think it was friendly. Even when I was about 3 meters away and tried moving in a bit for a closer look, they hauled me back. Angus seems to think it might have been a cobra....

What a week!

Like Meg said in our last post, it has been a busy week. Last Wednesday was the King of Thailand's 80th birthday so the entire nation celebrated for most of the week. We partook by going to my co-worker Angus' apartment for supper and enjoying the fireworks shows. Angus and his girlfriend Oh have the funniest puppy, Emma, who is very excitable and cute!



I went to Kuala Lumpur for meetings on Thursday and Friday, meeting up with another co-worker (YewCheng) who flew in from Singapore. During my flight from Bangkok, I was seated next to an elderly Thai man who was quite comfortable turning the pages of my newspaper as I was reading it. YewCheng and I spent most of our time in meetings so we didn't get much of a chance to look around but our hotel was next to the famous Petronas Towers, so we had time to grab a couple of pics.

A lot goin' on

I know our blog updates have become less than timely. It's been a crazy kind of week :) Here's what's been going on.

- As most of you know, our little kitty Gahnomee has gone missing. She's been gone for 6 days now. Crystal, Mom and Catie are doing everything they can to track her down and everyone we know has been forwarding her picture and keeping an eye out. Thanks everyone!!! We're very optimistic that she'll come home soon...and when she does we'll be able to let out a big sigh of relief and stop all this worrying. In the meantime, in case you haven't received her picture, here it is. Please keep your eyes peeled.

- Sean had to go away for business this week - he's in Kuala Lumpur right now but should be getting on a plane any minute now to come home. I'm sure he'll update you all on his trip soon.

- I had my first job interview today. Yay! So far I've been exploring the English teaching thing...I haven't really formed a final opinion on it all yet but I have two more interviews coming up so I guess I'll continue to get more information. Still on the lookout for marketing/advertising jobs...

- This weekend is the Bangkok Jazz Festival. We're going to check it out on Sunday - I even bought a fancy bamboo blanket thingy for the occasion! Some sweet tunes and relaxing outdoors-ness sounds like a good way to spend the day to me :)

Koh Samet

Meg and I had our first out-of-Bangkok excursion this weekend past as we ventured to the island resort of Koh Samet (the spelling of which seems to vary).  It started with a 3 hour bus trip from Bangkok to the small town of Ban Phe, from which we took a 30 minute ferry to the island.  We'd made a reservation with one of the resorts but, after talking to some other tourists, learned it would be cheaper to just go to the island and walk around to the various resorts until we found accomodations.  Besides, at least then we'd be able to see what kind of conditions we'd be living in - Meg was not too fond of the idea of a bug-ridden room.

However, in our haste to find accomodations before they were all taken, we decided on the first place we saw.  It was directly across from the local bar where music was blaring through our paperthin walls until 2am. And even though there only seemed to be a couple of flies, Meg was determined not to risk letting any insect close to her. Check out our attire in the 20 degree weather....



Anyway, the next morning we found a much nicer place to stay.  It overlooked the beach and we setup immediately outside on the beach.  Meg spent the majority of her time soaking up the sun while catching up on some reading.  I spent hours snorkling - giving Meg a good scare when I decided to disappear for 30 minutes to explore another beach without thinking to inform her first (my bad, my bad).  Unfortunately, I ended up burning and suffered nasty sunstroke just in time for the long trip back to Bangkok - let's just say it wasn't a pleasent 4 hrs.

Ok, now that I've made it sounds like our trip was horrible, I'd like to assure everyone that is was a great time.  Once we got settled into our new place, we were able to enjoy the fantastic weather and beautiful scenery.  We dined at a number of amazing restaurants with traditional Thai seating that overlooked the ocean.  The pictures don't do it justice but you can find more here anyway.