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Showing posts with the label travel

OFF TO THE STEPPES (JUNE 14TH, 2013)

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Hey, how's it going? We'll fill you in with all the details when we speak on the phone, but we have accepted positions in  Ulaanbaatar,  Mongolia !! BY SHIP I have a black and brown leather jacket at home, a long black trench coat, thick winter socks, and a pair of winter boots.  If I am not mistaken, these are the following locations of the items: Boots, socks and trench coat: at Neil's Black leather jacket at Jim /Mom's Brown leather jacket at Jim/Sharon's We'll pay for the  SHIP ing, if someone can organize all the items (only brown or black leather jackets; we won't need both) and please send them to us.  The address will either be Taiwan or in  Mongolia ; we'll get back to you on which address it will be: most likely  Mongolia , so we don't need to bring them with us on the plane at the end of August. MICHAEL LESSER 40 WEN XIAN ROAD TAINAN CITY, 70300 TAIWAN OR Orchlon Secondary School C/O:...

WHAT'S NEW JAKARTA (DECEMBER 6TH, 2010)

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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...

BALI AGAIN (2010)

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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...

BALI WITH WU FAMILY

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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...

KUPANG, WEST TIMOR

PART 2.  KUPANG, WEST TIMOR We checked into a 6.50$ a night place with breaky included.  It wasn't the Ritz, but it suited out needs and saved us $.  Our mission on day 1 was to apply for an East Timorese Visa at the consulate.  Normally it takes 10 working days to apply for the visa online, so we thought we could get it quicker in person, and with 20$ passed to a man in an office, turns out you can get it in three days.  Later that day, Carol took a nap, so I went out for some exploring.  Turns out Kupang is Tainan 1998 on steroids.  In the words of Borat: "IT'S NICE!!".  All the Angkots (Indo Jeepenys) are full of paint jobs and music, unlike the boring ones in Jakarta.  I took one to the sea, where they had set up about 35 corn BBQ stalls (talk about killing the competition aspect??!!).  Then I walked back through an expensive night market where I found Lovona's Tourist Information Center and Bar.  There was a somewhat lethargic ...

EAST TIMOR (JANUARY 2010)

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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...

A RANDOM WEEK IN JAKARTA (MAY 14TH, 2010)

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...