Blue Christmas

This past summer, when making the 13 hour drive from Tyler's hometown to mine, we stopped off at a campground in Quebec. By total chance (questionable luck..?) it was indeed the completely unecessary holiday 'Christmas in July'. As we sat around the campfire sweating, drinking beer and listening to Christmas carols, we both felt a little Scroogy McDuck, as we found ourselves not totally in the spirit of the trailerpark traditions.
Fast-forward six months; We are still sporting flip-flops, listening to Christmas music and trying to figure out how to get ourselves out of this perma-deja-vu funk and into the proper decking the halls, cookie baking, Bailey's drinking, candy cane spirit. Besides the fact that this will be the third Christmas spent away from our families and Canada, I can easily say that besides a broken heart (I've always been a  bit melodramatic) we are seriously suffering from seasonal depression. This is the first tropical Christmas we have ever had, and I can honestly say, the palm tree adorned with twinkle lights is not cutting it. Nonetheless, I'm not one to wallow..at least not too long. Here's some ways we have been trying to kick the 'winter' blues, and highly recommend to anyone who is not quite feeling the holiday spirit as of yet;

1) Find the Christmas lights. There's nothing more satisfying than hitting your favourite mall, only to realize that it has been blanketed with sparkly lights, over-sized Christmas trees and  mountains of fake snow. Although sometimes (often) tacky, no one can deny that an abundance of Christmas lights makes them feel some measure of glee. In a city where it seems like there are more malls than anything else,  Santa's villages are a plenty. That coupled with the blasting air conditioning, is the only place I can comfortably order a hot toffee nut latte and imagine that the winter wonderland isn't just a ploy. This really gives new meaning to 'retail therapy'!

'Santa's coming! I know him!'

2) Mention the word 'Santa' to a group of children. As a Grade One teacher I do admit that I have had to muster, encourage and put out some serious Christmas energy, in particular, in the lead up to our Christmas school concert. As we rehearsed our (spectacular) rendition of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', wrote letters to Santa, baked gingerbread men, made ornaments and erected our own Christmas tree, nothing, and I mean nothing winds my students up like the four simple words "Santa Claus is cooommmiinnnggg!". This instantly cues a jumping, arm waving, screaming reaction, and why not? Let's face it, Santa is a rockstar.

3) Help others. Recently, our friend Hutchy, Tyler and I headed over to a community centre in our neighborhood that feeds about 500 homeless and needy people. We spent the morning peeling, chopping, and in Tyler and Hutchy's cases working the woks. We met a couple of super friendly 'mom-types', Jackie and Jane. While the boys used their muscles to cook up over 200 chickens, and about 20 pounds of cabbage, I got to talking with Jackie; A spicy, 60 year old widowed Chinese woman. She had a great sense of humour, gave sage relationship advice and shared openminded opinions about all areas of life. She was one of those people that you find yourself having a deep and meaningful with, despite only knowing her for 5 minutes. In the course of our conversation she shared so much optimism and positivity. It was great to get out of our regular, self indulgent routine and connect with the community we are making our home!

4) Belt out the tunes. Void an embarrassing home video, you can imagine how this one goes.

5) Get together. I think the biggest difference between celebrating Christmas in Asia opposed to North America is it's only celebrated for one day. ONE! This is clearly not enough. To feel complete I need at least a solid two weeks of cheese platters, ugly Christmas sweaters, potlucks, eggnog, friends and family. This year, as we will be traveling over our Christmas break (to Sri Lanka and Borneo!) we won't be doing the makeshift Christmas dinner with all the other 'Christmas orphans'. Instead, we did it the best way we knew how; Santa hats and drinks by the pool...it is 40 degrees after-all.

If all else fails, draw the curtains, blast the air conditioner,and Skype yourself into a Christmas party!
When it's all said and done, that is pretty much it for us and Christmas 2013...We are off to Sri Lanka on Friday! Without a doubt, we will be thinking of all our friends and family throughout the holiday season with a big smile and lots of love in our hearts. xoxo

Bali Bali and Beyond ☀

As we had hoped our vacation to Indonesia was filled with beautiful sunsets, colourful cocktails, whitesand beaches and amazing people. The Land of a Thousand Kings did not disappoint!

We left KL almost two weeks ago heading to the island of Bali. After a quick flight and an hour drive through the countryside, we arrived in a village called Padang Bai. Padang Bai is very small, and only frequented by travelers who are into diving, or taking a ferry to the next island. As a seemingly random place to go directly, we did have a purpose; diving. Tyler and I have wanted to try it for awhile, and as some of the best diving sites in the world are in and around S.E Asia we decided to pull the trigger! I was a bit nervous, but the whole thing was awesome and as a result, maybe becoming our new obsession! The first day we got some confidence and spent the day getting used to the gear and learning some skills in a pool. The next couple of days we were out with our instructor on a boat and under the ocean! We dove (dived?) between 12-18m which sounds a bit scary, but once you are under water, everything is so calm and there's lots to check out, your mind is not thinking about the depth. I was seriously blown away with the colorful coral, creatures (my favourite was definitely the giant sea turtles!) , and the feeling of breathing and swimming under water! Needless to say, we loved it! If anyone is thinking about trying diving, go for it! (...and if you're in Bali, Indonesia, check out OK Divers, Elana was great!)

Besides diving in the days, we did the rounds of the local night spots (we were on vacation after all..) Being a pretty small town, there are only a few bars and restaurants, and each night seemed to be happening at a different spot. Our evenings consisted of fantastic seafood dinners of Mahi Mahi (so fun to say), barracuda and snapper on the cheap and cocktails made with arak. Arak is local coconut liquor probably best compared to Korea's soju....but made in a man's bathtub in the jungle (or the Indonesian equivalent). Needless to say, we were easily able to kill some time when not diving.(Side-note and big UPS to our friend Danielle who wasn't diving; She was a trooper to hang around and got to know every vendor, bartender, traveler and spa worker) Our fav. was Sunshine Bar, who had some live music (with cameos from Danielle and I), fire poi shows, and the smiliest, friendiest staff! On the island of Bali, the Balianse are Hindu, and through chatting with some of the bar-staff, and asking a million questions, they explained that the Balanese Hindus live their lives with respect, and by respecting others. They even respect the demons, leaving offerings of fruit and flowers on the ground outside their doors each day, in order to show respect, and in return in hopes of getting respect. The philosophy sounded wonderful, and must ring true in some senses, as as a whole, every person we met while traveling was very personable, had the warmest smile, and most positive attitude!

Not quite as cool as the Ghost Rider.

Padang Bai

Dee entertaining at Sunshine Bar View from our first bungalows :) Downgraded slightly for our last night in Padang Bai...We all loved summer camp tho! After four days, we finally left this town, where most just stop for lunch feeling like we had really explored most nooks and crannies. We jumped on a two hour boat ride headed for paradise by the name of Gili Trawangan. Tyler spent the entire trip on the roof of the boat, and as the boat started rolling and rocking I was convinced I would see him flying past the window into the ocean. Of course, no need to worry, and he got some pretty great pictures on the ride over. As we were nearing the islands, he convinced Danielle and I head up top, only to get soaked! Wet t-shirt contest anyone?

We were instantly in love with this island! Since we hadn't done much beach lounging since arriving in Indo, we had minimal goals in mind for the island, but they did include tanning, diving, cocktails, shopping and spa treatments. Upon arrival, we quickly checked into a bungalow and hit the beach! The water and sand were amazingly clear and one of the most beautiful I have ever seen! On top of that, Gili T. had no vehicles on the island! This means, no honking, no exhaust, and no ducking out of the way for motorcycles on the sidewalk...for anyone who has lived/visited Asia, this is heaven. We were feeling pretty good! That night we hit up the obligatory reggae bar that is found in every tourist spot in S.E Asia...and even though cheesy, they never seem to disappoint! We watched a band, had some drinks and wandered home. The next day we walked past the bungalows, restaurants and bars and lounged at a beautiful resort on the edge of 'town' called 'The Pearl', taking in the again, beautiful scenery. That night we rented bikes and headed down the road (its a one road kind of island) to watch the sunset with a couple we had met, Hannah and Dan. From there the night progressed to a night market, and drinks on the beach, followed by night swims. 

Main street, Gili T.

Lounging at The Pearl

Sunset Bar

The next day Tyler and I biked around the island (which only took about an hour), checking out kilometres of empty beaches, stopping to marvel at the swanky resorts being built up and having a little picnic. That night we all prepped for a quiet night, lounging on giant pillows, and watching a movie on the beach. Just as the movie was finishing up, our friend Hutchy who lives in the same apartment building as us in KL showed up! We knew that he was heading to Bali, and a neighboring island (Gili Air) but didn't know if we would see him...turns out, through missed boats, and beverage-induced decisions, that we spent the next three days together! Our quiet night turned into something a bit different, as Hutchy decided to spend the night on Gili T. and go diving the next morning with us. 

After a morning dive (which is the best cure for a hangover), we met up with Hannah and Dan and all went out on a boat for some snorkeling. Since we had taken a boat and stopped at all three Gili Islands to do some snorkeling, we took advantage of the free ride and got dropped off at Hutchy's island to spend the night there with his friends. Turns out, Hutchy's friend&family were opening a bar and restaurant on Gili Air. They were having an opening party for their friends (and friends of friends in our case) so we tagged along! It was a fun night of drinks, dancing and the most incredible sunset! As small and unpopulated we thought Gili T. was, Gili Air was that much smaller. It still had the beautiful beaches, the dive shops, restaurants and bars, but on a smaller scale (instead of a two lane horse&carriage road, Gili Air was reduced to single lane traffic). 

The next morning, we dove again and got dropped off on Gili T. feeling a bit worn out and down a few pairs of shoes (?) Unfortunately (for him) Hutchy missed his boat back to Bali, so the boys went to do a 'night dive', and as I am afraid of the dark on land, Danielle and I headed off to catch one last romantic sunset. After we all met up again, we spent our last night together eating fish and drinking martinis. Before we left we all ran for the spa and got some treatments, hopped on the boat back to Bali and headed home dragging our feet a bit.
Although not the most culturally enriched vacation we have taken, we met our share of Wayans (Balanese only have a few names and regardless of being male or female, each person receives one of four names based on birth order), had the best time splashing about, getting into a new hobby, laughing it up, and soaking up the beautiful Bali sun! 

Jungles, Beaches&Mountains

If it wasn't bad before, Tyler and I have gone into tourist overdrive in the last couple of weeks. We've spent less time working on our tans (to Tyler's dismay) and a bit more time ticking off tourist sights in and around the city. With that comes some cheesy tourist spots, the inevitable street-food induced sickness, and ultimately some cool experiences!

Last weekend, after both being sick, we thought we needed some fresh air (Stats say that due to the air quality in KL, it's like each person is involuntarily smoking 7 ciggies a day -_-). We jumped on a train, and landed in a forest reserve, FRIM, just outside the city. The reserve's main draw is that it has a canopy walk through the jungle. We arrived on a mission to get in the treetops, walked up the mountain to the canopy and realized we needed to get a ticket at the bottom of the hill...no problem. Anyone who is close to us knows that we are always game for a totally unnecessarily long and seemingly pointless walk (33 km midnight walking race comes to mind?) We walked up, wandered down, back up again, and back down once more. Pros: watching and hearing monkeys in the treetops overhead, getting a birdseye view of a jungle from a rickety canopy and learning that Tyler might not be so comfortable with heights. Cons: Well, who can complain about a day in the park!?

This past weekend was a busy one, as Tyler had a four day weekend, and although I had to work Monday and had Tuesday off, I was in full long weekend mode (perhaps subconsciously celebrating a Canadian Thanksgiving..who knows!?) We started Friday with a typical happy hour, dinner, drinks and as old habits die hard, a night of karaoke. Despite a bit of a headache, Tyler and I were up and off on Saturday to a nearby beach town called Port Dickson. Being as Port Dickson is one of the closest beaches to KL there are lots of resorts and lots of people. We checked into a VERY kid friendly resort and relaxed on the beach, watching the sunset and even caught a fireworks show. Although we both teach, and have quite the affection for children, the sound of 100+ screaming children fighting for a turn on the pool slides on Sunday morning was too much for us to handle, so we checked out, jumped in a cab and were off to Blue Lagoon Beach. Blue lagoon is said to be the cleaner beach area with less people...sounded ideal! Of course there were the mandatory landmarks we had to checkout when we arrived (we just can't resist). Trekking up a seaside mountain to snap a photo of the oldest lighthouse in Malaysia was a bit of a let down..perhaps because the lighthouse was closed, perhaps because we have seen one too many lighthouses being from (Tyler) the East coast..who knows? Quickly moving on, we followed a trail down the other side of the mountain, and through some questionable trails. When we felt we were never going to hit a beach, one just opened up to us...and the novel thing was (especially for Asia) no one was there! There was no one, and nothing; just a couple of kilometres of unmanicured beach all to ourselves! A perfect way to find some peace and relaxation on a Sunday! We later trekked out, avoiding the biggest, blackest snake we've ever seen, hoping we hadn't gotten Dengue fever from all the mosquito bites, but feeling ultimately like we had had a killer day! (Note- We didn't even make it to Blue Lagoon Beach..)

 

 

 

Once we arrived back in KL we met up with a couple of friends who had a visiting friend (always exciting for all those involved)! What was to be a quick bite to eat, then straight to bed kind of night, quickly turned into something a bit more full-blown.After a fantastic meal which, among others, highlighted tomyam soup, satay and bbq fish, we headed to a club called Sky Bar. Our friend Danielle had raved about this bar and had convinced me to check it out, if only for a minute, as I was still pretty committed to getting to bed early. Needless to say this is not how the night worked out. Sky Bar is on the 40th floor, has open windows facing the Petronas Towers and a huge swimming pool down the centre. I think it would be hard for anyone to check out early...So we danced, drank (20rm waters for those with day jobs..) and capped the night with a late night swim. After a pretty productive Monday at school, we got ready for a Tuesday vacation day celebrating Hari Raya Haji     (Feast of the Sacrifice- sacrifice of the best halal domestic animals (usually a cow, but can also be a camel, goat, sheep or ram)).

Since this is one particular holiday we were  not interested in (although I suppose millions of turkeys met the same fate in the West this past weekend), we spent the day out of the city checking out Genting Highlands. We had heard this was a place where we could see beautiful vistas, cool off from the heat in the city and gamble...add a little touch of Niagara Falls cheezzze, and Genting Highlands did not disappoint. We rode the roller coaster around the mall while taking in the sights of mini Big Ben, Golden Gate Bridge and Eiffle Tower, lost a bit of money at roulette and ate bad carnival-esque food. The highlight and redeeming factor was definitely taking the cable car down the mountain side. We came down at sunset, descending through the fog and mountains for about 15 minutes. It was beautiful and totally turned us around on the allure of Genting! We'll be back for the cable car (...and to put it all on black ;)

Although it seems like the long weekend just wrapped up, we are on the eve of a two week vacation from school! Needless to say, spirits are high! Next stop, Bali!