Walking and Hiking Tours of Busan

I thought at first, no, I would not put this up here, but then, how could any travel blog be complete without Yoshi.  I met him in 2003, while backpacking in Northern Thailand, Pai to be exact.  We met up again in Bangkok, The Philippines, and Taiwan.  This is his last story. Man, I can feel Yoshi flowing through me right now.  I've got goose bumps as I write this like I've never had before.  I am not a religious guy, but whoa, there must be something in the afterlife... Yoshi is gone...  You can read more in the facebook group link I pasted below. Yoshi drowned in Vang Vieng while "tubing" on Aug. 2, 2011.  For those of us who have never been to Laos, tubing is riding in an inner tube down the river and having fun at different restaurants and bars in the river.  Some people jump off ropes like Tarzan or kayak the river.  I kayaked the river while there in 2003. I still have photos of him on my memory card...

Hi guys, After months of searching, Carol and I finally found jobs at Etonhouse International and Pre-school in  Singapore .  Here are the links, if you are interested (see below).  Carol will be a kindergarten teacher, while I will be a class teacher.  I don't know which grade, yet (this is not ESL, but a normal primary homeroom teaching post).  We really wanted to stay in Ottawa, more than you'll ever know, but money is important.  It is really hard for me to work in Canada without a Bachelor of Education.  This degree is a requirement for getting certification in Canadian provinces and territories.   The plan is to either earn a double major bachelor in geography and religion or  BA Edu. via distance learning (online) while we are in  Singapore . The latter choice would be difficult, as most of the course are not offered online and requires a practicum component, but I am still searching.  If I go for ...

What's new with you guys?? On  Thursday , we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary by having coffee at The Dharmawangsa Hotel, for 5 star prices, dining, ambiance, and 0 star service.    http://www.the-dharmawangsa.com/ .  As a result of the service, we decided to go to Ham Ji Bak Executive Korean restaurant instead for a dinner of sam gup sal (Pork Bacon) and dawayne Jang Gee Gay (Miso bean paste soup) and side dishes. http://www.urbanesia.com/profile/ham-ji-bak/photo/ On  Friday , we went to the Taiwanese Embassy, so I could apply for a visa, which was a bit of a drama, but rewarded ourselves with  Sizzler's salad bar for lunch (I also skipped breakfast in preparation for this!!).  They have a painting of a white Michael Jordan with brown hair there.  Then Carol went to her student's mom's (SM) house to watch another SM play the violin.  This SM is famous in Italy, whose concerts generally require people to pay ov...

We had a good time in the 1st half of our trip to Bali with Deb, Sung-Sook, Diane, and her son, Didier.  We were cleansed and blessed by a spiritual leader at a Hindu Temple Ceremony.  They also gave us holy water from the 108 different Hindu Temples in Bali, to spread/sprinkle on our guesthouse, when we have our opening ceremony there later in early 2011.  We had good food at some of Bali's more famous eateries, such as Ku De Ta, Hu 'U, Zanzibar, Made's Cafe (pronounced Ma-Day), Blue Canyon Coffee (where we had coffee with Rod), Italian, Japanese, just to name a few. Diane is a wealth of information on Bali, so we just followed her.  We also met Sam and Andrea on their motorbike on the way back to their villa from surfing.  Our villa in Seminyak had four bedrooms, each one costing 40$, with daily breakfast, including fresh daily baked German bread.  We walked on the beach for a couple of hours, and we ate seafood on the beach in Jimbaran and spent part o...

Carol and I both had an excellent week long vacation with Carol's Mom (May), and two nephews, Leo (17 years old) and Lee-Koon (Ken) (eight years old).  We went to a water-park, biked down a mountain for four hours, went white water rafting, played in the waves at Dreamland and Legian, checked out a zoo where an elephant kissed my cheek and put a wreath around my neck, witnessed a rooster fight, shopped a bit, went to a lounge-pub rooftop with Leo, went swimming a lot in our villas in Seminyak (near Kuta) and Ubud, saw a Hindu or Buddhist temple or two, went to the Monkey Forrest, watched Balinese dancing, ate and introduced international food to the boys (they liked Shwarmas, fries, steaks, burgers, and chicken the best; no surprise there, huh?).  Leo learned how to swim, while Ken tried his best to overcome his fear of the water.  Overall, it was an excellent trip.  Leo and Ken started to better understand the importance of English, since Ken made friends with kids...

MANADO / BUNAKEN ISLAND, IN NORTH SULAWESI We had high hopes for this place, the tropical island report we had been looking forward to.  Spending the last week of our vacation in a very classy place, drinking cocktails on the beach, blah blah blah.  Well, let me tell you that Bunaken is BLAH!!  For starters, there is no electricity on the island from 5AM to 6PM, so most places do not install AC in the rooms.  If you are not a diver, you need to pay about 20 Euros more per person, and even when we said we were divers, the rates for low end mid-range was U.S.$25 per person.  We stayed for one night at this place run by an Italian diver instructor, whose Indonesia girlfriend was a cheap person.   She found us a massage lady for 12.50$.  We had already found one for $7.50 (who is actually just a walking tee-shirt seller), so she told that lady to never come back onto their property.  We had to go to the beach at a hotel next door for our massag...

EAST TIMOR We went to Dili where taxis are either 1$, 2$, or 3$, depending on the distance, no meter.  (After a 5 hour journey from Mariana), we checked into the only backpackers in Dili, East Timor Backpackers.  Rested most of the day, then went to the beach to look at Aussie UN soldiers slather sun-block all over their friends.  Some over-priced terraced places catering to the UN salaried aid workers, which looked nice from far, but far from good, unless you are OK to pay 15$ for a 2$ meal.  Luckily, there are local places that sell the same food for 2$, which of course, is where we ate.  Anyways, on the beach, we saw local Timor men and families drinking two fours of Carlsberg, Heineken, etc., right on the beach. Some Portuguese hotties in bikinis, too!!  I said to Carol:  "Dewi, we aren't in Jakarta anymore!!"  I did some snorkeling right there, in a city beach!!  Visibility was "dusty", because when it rains, the dusty streets of DI...

On Sunday morning, we went to the gym and then met up with Wayne from Toronto, whom we had not seen for a while.  We had curry with him. On Monday I took it easy at the gym, and called people for Mother's Day. On Tuesday , I went to the gym for one hour in the morning to do sit-ups (600), push-ups, and stretching.  Then I went in to sub a grade 3/4 class.  After work, I went back to the gym to do one hour of cardio, a back/arms workout, and then Carol and I did a body-pump class. On Wednesday , I was back in the gym for 1 hour in the morning to do sit-ups (600 crunches), and stretching.  My arms were too sore for push-ups.  Then I subbed a class for the day, again.  In the late afternoon, I taught ESL to the school's security guards.  Then we went to the Librarian, Shelly's birthday party at T.J.'s, not far from our house.  I had the chicken, while Carol had a monster burger. Thursday was a public holiday here, so we went to  Coffe...