We had one of the best experiences of our lives the last time we were in Japan. So, needless to say after the earthquake adventure and several sleepless nights we'd had in China, we were very happy to arrive back in Japan. It felt like going home. The four of us arrived in Tokyo just in time for a great bowl of ramen for lunch. We stayed near Shinjuku which made seeing the sights a lot easier than when we used to live further out. We showed Johnny and Mike around Shinjuku and Kabuki-Cho before stopping at an Izakaya for some [View Full Entry]

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Beijing Next stop on our trip was Beijing. We planned to visit Bob and Gabrielle, two teachers that Travis taught with in Japan, for a few days. Gabrielle and Bob are now teaching at Hwa Bae Dien Li Da Xue, the power University. We arrived at the beautiful new terminal of Beijing airport and hopped in a taxi. We were given instructions to ask a student to borrow a phone and call to notify our arrival. We weren't sure if it would work, but the students were so nice and helpful. We arrived smoothly and had a nice time catching up [View Full Entry]

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We are posting this blog from Chengdu, the day after the big earthquake and wanted to let everyone know we are all safe. We had written most of this blog prior to the quake, and our travels sure seem insignificant compared to the events of yesterday. We'll give more details about the quake in our Chengdu blog when we get a chance. At this point we're still trying to process everything that happened. We feel really lucky since we were so close to the center. Thanks to everyone's messages of wishing us safely home. The blog below took place between April [View Full Entry]

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Hong Kong is a very cool place. We had planned on staying in Hong Kong for about 3 days, which used to be enough time to get a Chinese Visa ... before the torch relay protests made China decide to "send a message" to travellers not applying for visas from their home countries. We were very disheartened to find out that the regulations for getting a visa had changed about a week before we arrived - the price tripled and you needed many more documents than you used to. The torch will travel through Macau, Hong Kong and all over mainland [View Full Entry]

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Macau Getting from Kuala Lumpur to Macau was pretty easy, involving a monorail, train, airplane, and two bus rides over 8 hours. Macau is our first experience with one of China's "special administrative regions" (the other being Hong Kong). Macau is listed as the world's most densely populated region at 18,428 people per square kilometre! In contrast Canada's population density is about 3.5 people per square kilometre! Macau is a strange place, and it seems to have 3 faces: Portugese colony, Chinese Island, and Casino hotspot. It's strange how you can be in the middle of a beautiful cobblestoned square complete [View Full Entry]

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Our reason for the blog title goes back to our audio-guide of KL Tower in Kuala Lumpur. The lady speaking had a nice British accent, but every time she said the country she said it like "Ma-LAY-thee-a". At this time we were still travelling with John, and we all had a laugh over the pronunciation. It became a running joke between the three of us! Peninsular Malaysia feels like a different country than Malaysian Borneo. We really enjoyed our time in both parts of the country. As with most of our Asian cuisine experiences, Malaysia did not disappoint. We noticed that [View Full Entry]

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Singapore When we arrived in Singapore we were still travelling with our friend John from back home. All three of us loved our visit to Singapore. After so much travelling through Indonesia, Malaysian Borneo, and Brunei over the last few weeks, the clean streets and inviting atmosphere of this well-planned city felt like a breath of fresh air. We arrived and checked into a hostel in Little India and strolled the area, stopping for a few beers along the way. Michelle had a drink called a "Jam Jar" - a mystery recipe that seemed to contain Malibu Rum and some red [View Full Entry]

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We must immediately apologize for the blog title. After our quick jaunt through Indonesia to check a few destinations (never enough!) off of our list, we're back north of the equator in Malaysian Borneo. John, our good friend from home, is still travelling with us. Malaysian Borneo We flew from Jakarta to Kota Kinabalu (also called KK) on Malaysia's side of the island of Borneo. While waiting at the airport in Jakarta we were recruited by a man offering cheap accomodations and free pickup from the airport, who also happened to be flying with us. We decided to go with him [View Full Entry]

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Indonesia is a fascinating country. More than 17,000 Islands, and a population around 250 Million. Amazingly, more than half of the population lives on the country's biggest island - Java. We were also surprised to hear that it is the fourth most populous country behind China, India, and the United States. Bali Our time in Kuta, Bali was very different from the rest of our trip. We were staying at a beautiful resort (definitely above our normal budget), not doing too much sightseeing but just enjoying hanging out by the pool with a group of new friends all connected through one [View Full Entry]

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Udon Thani to Gili Trawangan was not easy. From Udon Thani, an overnight sleeper train to Bangkok. The next day a flight (delayed) to Jakarta, Indonesia. We had an overnight layover, followed by an afternoon flight (delayed) to Bali. We arrived late, had another overnight layover, and another flight (delayed) to Mataram on Lombok. On Lombok we arranged a taxi to the port and then a boat to Gili Trawangan. We arrived in a heavy rainstorm, with our rainjackets tied over our rucksacks to try to keep them dry and light we walked in ankle deep water down the middle of [View Full Entry]

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