Immediately upon returning home from our vacation we had to start searching for apartments in New York. We wanted to get something locked down, so we didn't have to stress out about it too much. The anxiety of finding a good apartment in the city was really weighing on our minds.
So we started looking on craigslist and other various sites on line for available apartments, and spent two miserable days calling people trying to set up various appointments for apartments that seemed totally nice online. Several of the apartments were also listed as no fee apartments (where you don't have to pay a broker fee). Fools that we were, we believed these postings, however, when you show up at the actual apartment you are told that should you wish to rent this apartment, a very hefty broker fee is required.
Anyway, we woke up before the sun on Wednesday, rode the train into the district and caught the bus up to New York. So basically, by the time we got there on Wednesday we were tired, and already behind schedule. Not a great start to the day.
However, we pushed on running up and down the Upper West Side to various appointments. It was really a horrible day. I had heard people talking bad about moving to NYC before, but I refused to believe that it was going to be that bad. I was convinced that if I had a good attitude it wouldn't be bad. I was naive, and I was wrong. It was horrible. By Wednesday night, we had seen probably 10 apartments, all of them horrible, and we were exhausted, I had blisters on all my feet. We were very discouraged.
We had planned on going to the East side the next day to check out apartments over there. But we were so discouraged that we scrapped that plan, rallied ourselves and decided to stay on the West Side like we had been planning. We made some more calls, set up some more appointments and headed out.
First stop, Absolut Bagels, for delicious, homemade bagels and cream cheese. It was just what we needed to fortify us against the day. At the start of the day I already had more than 4 bandaids on each foot. After going into several buildings and asking for the leasing agent, and getting very little information we met Don, for our only appointment of the day. His company was recommended by Joseph's firm, and he only charged you a low fee for the apartment so we went. We were hopeful, but only because we wanted the misery to end.
And, we hit the jackpot. We found an good sized, but by no means large, apartment with a dishwasher and nice kitchen appliances, in a small elevator building. After looking at so many horrible places it was like arriving in paradise.
We told the guy we would take it and then ran downtown to their office in midtown, to sign the paperwork and fork over our life savings (I kid, sorta).
They weren't to pleased with the fact that neither of us were currently working even though Joseph had a letter from his firm stating his start of employment and all the necessary details, so we had to get my dad to sign as a guarantor and provide some serious coaxing to get approved, but we got approved, so we were happy about that. And after all that, we found out our apartment building was a rent subsidized building, which is really good for us moving forward. So maybe it was just meant to be.
In the end we learned that getting an apartment in New York is actually a miserable process, one I am sure we will have to do again, but I am not looking forward to.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
What we have been up to
So we got back from our trip and have had a whirlwind month trying to get our lives together and trying to get everything in order for the move to NYC and the start of Joseph's job.
So in a quick review this is what we have been up to:
- We crashed at my parents house in and out while we were running around trying to get everything done.
- We had a very traumatic 4 days in New York City seeing apartments, finally finding one that would work.
- We spent a day in Charlottesville with Joseph's dad wandering around UVA's campus, thinking about how life might have been if we had gone to UVA, and then finishing the night eating delicious burgers.
- We headed down to Charlotte to hang out with Chris and Sarah for a few days. Where we carved pumpkins, and hit up really great thrift stores for some warnernance inventory.
- We redid some old furniture to update for the new place.
- Then we headed back up to Virginia to round up our belongings for our big move to NYC when we were delayed a whole week by the Frankenstorm. It was weird being in Virginia when this crazy storm was happening in New York, and we couldn't really get a good report of what was going on. Fortunately our apartment was not affected, but we couldn't get ahold of our movers to get our stuff out of storage (it was being stored in New Jersey), and we didn't really want to live in our apartment with none of our stuff and without the subways running and everything so we pushed back the move a week. We got lucky because out stuff didn't get flooded but a lot of other peoples stuff at the movers warehouse did. This is us playing Trivial Pursuit in the dark, when we lost power because of the storm.
- We got to celebrate halloween in Virginia, and experience trick or treating with my niece, I dressed up as a shark for part of the time.
- We found out that Joseph passed the Bar!!!! Wahoo!!! Party Time!!
- We drove a Uhaul van up to New York with the belongings that we had acquired at my parents house, along with some of the things that we had been storing there for the past 3 years while we lived in Philly.
- We spent a week unpacking and painting the apartment, furiously trying to get our life in order before Joseph started work.
- Joseph started work on November 12 and has spent the last two weeks getting adjusted to his new job. This is his first day of work photo!
So in a quick review this is what we have been up to:
- We crashed at my parents house in and out while we were running around trying to get everything done.
- We had a very traumatic 4 days in New York City seeing apartments, finally finding one that would work.
- We spent a day in Charlottesville with Joseph's dad wandering around UVA's campus, thinking about how life might have been if we had gone to UVA, and then finishing the night eating delicious burgers.
- We headed down to Charlotte to hang out with Chris and Sarah for a few days. Where we carved pumpkins, and hit up really great thrift stores for some warnernance inventory.
- We redid some old furniture to update for the new place.
- We spent a week unpacking and painting the apartment, furiously trying to get our life in order before Joseph started work.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Our Last Day
October 6th was our last day of vacation. Our flight was at 3:30 in the afternoon, so we didn't really have a lot of time to do anything in the morning.
We got up early, got all packed up, and ready to go. Then we watched the morning session of conference online, where we were completely shocked at the new missionary announcement.
After the first session we headed out to the airport, so that we could return the rental car and get there in plenty of time. We didn't want to risk missing our last flight of the vacation.
We had to pay a hefty exit tax at the airport, which always puts a damper on the vacation. They really should just change it to an entry tax, it makes it easier to swallow.
We had a short flight to Panama City and then onto Washington D.C. Dulles.
We arrived in Dulles at 12:30 a.m., and when we got to the immigration line in the airport, there was no one there to check in the citizens. The non-citizens had a couple of people checking them in and their line was moving along nicely. We citizens had to stand in line for a good 15 minutes before even someone showed up to man the desk to welcome us back into our own country. What are the benefits of citizenship, I ask you, if not speedy check in at the airport? They also asked us a lot more questions than any other immigration desk, making our foggy night brains a little nervous.
Our bags made it, meaning we officially made it around the world without losing any of our bags once, which seems like a small miracle in and of itself.
After making it through immigration and customs we gave ourselves some high fives, for having a trip completely free of any major incidents. No lost passports, no major illness, no getting pickpocketed; I think that is pretty successful. Since we got in so late, my parents had just left a car in the parking lot, so we drove ourselves home and let ourselves into the house. Sort of an anti-climatic ending to the trip, but oh well. We got home and just went to bed, it was weird after traveling to be home and it was incredibly sad to know the trip was over. We had been looking forward to the trip for so long, and it was such a fun trip, I think we were both sad that it was over. I miss vacation already.
We got up early, got all packed up, and ready to go. Then we watched the morning session of conference online, where we were completely shocked at the new missionary announcement.
After the first session we headed out to the airport, so that we could return the rental car and get there in plenty of time. We didn't want to risk missing our last flight of the vacation.
We had to pay a hefty exit tax at the airport, which always puts a damper on the vacation. They really should just change it to an entry tax, it makes it easier to swallow.
We had a short flight to Panama City and then onto Washington D.C. Dulles.
We arrived in Dulles at 12:30 a.m., and when we got to the immigration line in the airport, there was no one there to check in the citizens. The non-citizens had a couple of people checking them in and their line was moving along nicely. We citizens had to stand in line for a good 15 minutes before even someone showed up to man the desk to welcome us back into our own country. What are the benefits of citizenship, I ask you, if not speedy check in at the airport? They also asked us a lot more questions than any other immigration desk, making our foggy night brains a little nervous.
Our bags made it, meaning we officially made it around the world without losing any of our bags once, which seems like a small miracle in and of itself.
After making it through immigration and customs we gave ourselves some high fives, for having a trip completely free of any major incidents. No lost passports, no major illness, no getting pickpocketed; I think that is pretty successful. Since we got in so late, my parents had just left a car in the parking lot, so we drove ourselves home and let ourselves into the house. Sort of an anti-climatic ending to the trip, but oh well. We got home and just went to bed, it was weird after traveling to be home and it was incredibly sad to know the trip was over. We had been looking forward to the trip for so long, and it was such a fun trip, I think we were both sad that it was over. I miss vacation already.
October 5
Friday, October 5th was our last full day of vacation so we were determined to finish strong.
First on the agenda was Volcano Poas. The Dorseys let us borrow their navigation system to get there, but unfortunately, not being used to the navigation system I managed to get us more lost than I would have if we had just followed the street signs. So after some major detours, we finally got on the right road and made it to the volcano. You have to drive all the way to the top of the volcano, where you park, and then you only have to walk about a half mile to the look out point. Since we were so high up we had been warned that it can get pretty cloudy, which makes it impossible to see anything, but we were told to be patient because usually the wind will blow away all of the clouds and you can get a clear view of the volcano for a few minutes.
When we got to the top not only was it freezing, but it was also completely cloudy, you couldn't see further than a few feet in front of you. It was pretty interesting but also pretty disappointing. So we hung around and were wishing the clouds away. For a minute they blew out a little bit and we got a small glimpse of the volcano, we felt pretty lucky at that point. Pretty soon after that it started raining, this made me feel pretty disappointed in our volcano experience. We hung around under a tree, since Joseph had left his rain jacket in the car with the prophetic words "I don't need it, it's not going to rain" haha, I secretly love it when he is wrong.
After the rain, we were ready to just walk away, but I said "let's just go look over the edge one more time, maybe it cleared up." And I was right. All of the clouds had disappeared and we could see everything. It was clear and awesome. We just sat there and stared at it. You could see the steam rising from the pool, and you could smell the sulfur, it was incredible. The volcano was definitely a highlight of the trip and a good start to the final day of the vacation.
After the main lookout we walked on some trails to another lagoon, that used to be a volcano and is now just a pond, but it was really pretty, and the hike through the jungle was nice.
After the volcano, we drove to a nature park, that was expensive and touristy but also awesome. They had an aviary, with neat birds. We got to hold and feed Tucans, which was another major highlight. They also had a cool butterfly garden, with so many butterflies, we even saw some emerging from their cocoons. There were also some of the biggest butterflies I have ever seen. They also had, Jaguars, and some other exotic animals. After looking at all of the animals, we went on a little nature hike, to see some waterfalls. All in all, despite the expense the park was awesome.
On the way home, driving down the mountain, we stopped and bought a huge case of strawberries that were freshly picked off the side of the mountain where, because of the ideal climate, they are grown year-round. They were delicious.
After, our adventures on the mountain we headed back to the house for the evening to relax. Our last day of vacation was a total success.
First on the agenda was Volcano Poas. The Dorseys let us borrow their navigation system to get there, but unfortunately, not being used to the navigation system I managed to get us more lost than I would have if we had just followed the street signs. So after some major detours, we finally got on the right road and made it to the volcano. You have to drive all the way to the top of the volcano, where you park, and then you only have to walk about a half mile to the look out point. Since we were so high up we had been warned that it can get pretty cloudy, which makes it impossible to see anything, but we were told to be patient because usually the wind will blow away all of the clouds and you can get a clear view of the volcano for a few minutes.
When we got to the top not only was it freezing, but it was also completely cloudy, you couldn't see further than a few feet in front of you. It was pretty interesting but also pretty disappointing. So we hung around and were wishing the clouds away. For a minute they blew out a little bit and we got a small glimpse of the volcano, we felt pretty lucky at that point. Pretty soon after that it started raining, this made me feel pretty disappointed in our volcano experience. We hung around under a tree, since Joseph had left his rain jacket in the car with the prophetic words "I don't need it, it's not going to rain" haha, I secretly love it when he is wrong.
After the rain, we were ready to just walk away, but I said "let's just go look over the edge one more time, maybe it cleared up." And I was right. All of the clouds had disappeared and we could see everything. It was clear and awesome. We just sat there and stared at it. You could see the steam rising from the pool, and you could smell the sulfur, it was incredible. The volcano was definitely a highlight of the trip and a good start to the final day of the vacation.
After the main lookout we walked on some trails to another lagoon, that used to be a volcano and is now just a pond, but it was really pretty, and the hike through the jungle was nice.
After the volcano, we drove to a nature park, that was expensive and touristy but also awesome. They had an aviary, with neat birds. We got to hold and feed Tucans, which was another major highlight. They also had a cool butterfly garden, with so many butterflies, we even saw some emerging from their cocoons. There were also some of the biggest butterflies I have ever seen. They also had, Jaguars, and some other exotic animals. After looking at all of the animals, we went on a little nature hike, to see some waterfalls. All in all, despite the expense the park was awesome.
On the way home, driving down the mountain, we stopped and bought a huge case of strawberries that were freshly picked off the side of the mountain where, because of the ideal climate, they are grown year-round. They were delicious.
After, our adventures on the mountain we headed back to the house for the evening to relax. Our last day of vacation was a total success.
October 3rd - 4th
Today we left the villa and drove about 45 minutes down the road to another beach town, where we were going to be staying for one night on our way back to San Jose. We had an odd number of nights left, so we figured one more night at the beach with a change of scenery would probably be good. We cashed in some of our points for a free hotel night that we had earned from all our travels.
Once again, we were the only people in our hotel, so we had the place to ourselves, which worked out to our advantage since the owner ended up giving us an upgrade to the nicest room.
We toured around the town a little bit, but were sort of worn out from traveling at this point, so we just sort of hung around our hotel room, swam in the pool, and watched HBO. We went down to the beach for dinner in time to see the sunset which was pretty, and we got some traditional Costa Rican food for dinner, followed by some gelato, and some souvenir shopping. We were looking for a CR magnet, but didn't find any that weren't tremendously ugly.
We went back to the room in time to watch the first presidential debate. We were glad to get regular American TV at our hotel.
Thursday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and hung around the pool until it was time to check out. Then we packed up and drove up the rode to Playa Herradura to hang around for the day. We walked along the beach, sat on our beach mat, played some cards, and laid around for a while until we were too hot, and just decided we had had enough and we were ready to go to San Jose.
On the drive back to San Jose we stopped at the Crocodile Bridge. Under this bridge is one of the largest herds(?) of wild crocodiles in the world. The crocodiles were gigantic. It was cool to be able to see them from afar.
After the crocs, we continued on our drive and made it to San Jose a little earlier than we had planned so we figured we would go on a little tour of the downtown area. It was slightly frightening. The roads were crowded and narrow, and Joseph had read that it was a common scam people would run where they would slice your tires without you knowing, and then, when you had to change the tires they would offer to help and then just steal your stuff out of the car, so I was on edge the whole time hoping that wouldn't happen. Luckily it didn't. There wasn't a lot to see downtown, but I am glad we got an up close view of the city.
We were staying the next two nights with some family friends, the Dorseys, who are currently living in Costa Rica, in Escazu, right outside of San Jose. So, after our little tour of downtown, we headed back to the Megaplex mall where we were planning on meeting them. Since once again, it would have been impossible to find the house with only the street directions.
Luckily, we found a pay phone and were able to meet up with them, with very little hassle. So we headed to their house where we just hung around chatting and catching up all evening.
Once again, we were the only people in our hotel, so we had the place to ourselves, which worked out to our advantage since the owner ended up giving us an upgrade to the nicest room.
We went back to the room in time to watch the first presidential debate. We were glad to get regular American TV at our hotel.
Thursday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and hung around the pool until it was time to check out. Then we packed up and drove up the rode to Playa Herradura to hang around for the day. We walked along the beach, sat on our beach mat, played some cards, and laid around for a while until we were too hot, and just decided we had had enough and we were ready to go to San Jose.
On the drive back to San Jose we stopped at the Crocodile Bridge. Under this bridge is one of the largest herds(?) of wild crocodiles in the world. The crocodiles were gigantic. It was cool to be able to see them from afar.
After the crocs, we continued on our drive and made it to San Jose a little earlier than we had planned so we figured we would go on a little tour of the downtown area. It was slightly frightening. The roads were crowded and narrow, and Joseph had read that it was a common scam people would run where they would slice your tires without you knowing, and then, when you had to change the tires they would offer to help and then just steal your stuff out of the car, so I was on edge the whole time hoping that wouldn't happen. Luckily it didn't. There wasn't a lot to see downtown, but I am glad we got an up close view of the city.
We were staying the next two nights with some family friends, the Dorseys, who are currently living in Costa Rica, in Escazu, right outside of San Jose. So, after our little tour of downtown, we headed back to the Megaplex mall where we were planning on meeting them. Since once again, it would have been impossible to find the house with only the street directions.
Luckily, we found a pay phone and were able to meet up with them, with very little hassle. So we headed to their house where we just hung around chatting and catching up all evening.
The next couple of days
The next couple of days in Costa Rica were basically identical to each other, so I will spare you four boring posts.
Saturday - We had intended on going to a different beach just down the road, but after getting a slow start on the day we decided it wasn't really worth it. Especially since we knew the beach would look pretty much the same as the beach we had just a few feet away. So we just parked ourselves at the pool in the villa to relax for the day.
Sunday - We started the day by walking on the beach for a few hours. Joseph said he found me incredibly attractive when I said "let's go for a walk for exercise". Ha, just kidding, he said that was probably the most grandma thing I have ever said. We attempted to find church in a nearby town, but when we were there a few days earlier we drove around forever and couldn't find it. The church didn't have the exact address listed online, and Costa Rica doesn't really have very good street signage, so that was a bust, Joseph stayed down by the pool most of the day watching football on his phone.
Monday - We had planned on going horseback riding or riding ATVs, but since it is the low season none of the usual people around where we were staying were operating, so, once again, we just opted to go for a long walk on the beach and hang by the pool.
Tuesday - This was our last day in Parrita, and we just did basically the same things that we had done the other days that week. We started the day with a long walk on the beach, followed by hanging at the pool. We liked sitting by the pool since we had it all to ourselves, and it was really pretty with nice flowers and you could watch the monkeys running around. It also had Wifi, which our villa did not so it was pretty convenient for looking stuff up.
It was nice to sit around and not really do anything for a couple of days. We ended up playing probably hundreds of games of speed and solitaire. We learned how to lose and not get angry at each other - a giant leap forward in our marriage. We went out to eat at our favorite restaurant in town every other night, and then made dinner at our villa on the other nights.
Saturday - We had intended on going to a different beach just down the road, but after getting a slow start on the day we decided it wasn't really worth it. Especially since we knew the beach would look pretty much the same as the beach we had just a few feet away. So we just parked ourselves at the pool in the villa to relax for the day.
Sunday - We started the day by walking on the beach for a few hours. Joseph said he found me incredibly attractive when I said "let's go for a walk for exercise". Ha, just kidding, he said that was probably the most grandma thing I have ever said. We attempted to find church in a nearby town, but when we were there a few days earlier we drove around forever and couldn't find it. The church didn't have the exact address listed online, and Costa Rica doesn't really have very good street signage, so that was a bust, Joseph stayed down by the pool most of the day watching football on his phone.
Monday - We had planned on going horseback riding or riding ATVs, but since it is the low season none of the usual people around where we were staying were operating, so, once again, we just opted to go for a long walk on the beach and hang by the pool.
Tuesday - This was our last day in Parrita, and we just did basically the same things that we had done the other days that week. We started the day with a long walk on the beach, followed by hanging at the pool. We liked sitting by the pool since we had it all to ourselves, and it was really pretty with nice flowers and you could watch the monkeys running around. It also had Wifi, which our villa did not so it was pretty convenient for looking stuff up.
It was nice to sit around and not really do anything for a couple of days. We ended up playing probably hundreds of games of speed and solitaire. We learned how to lose and not get angry at each other - a giant leap forward in our marriage. We went out to eat at our favorite restaurant in town every other night, and then made dinner at our villa on the other nights.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday in Costa Rica
Today we started the day with a jungle hike, at a place called Rainmaker Park.
We had do drive up this crazy road with so many holes and hills (I thought we were going to get stuck) to get to the park in the mountains.
It was a hike through the jungle with some bridges through the canopy, and you pass several different waterfalls, which was pretty cool. We saw some poison dart frogs, some huge lizards and other cool jungle flowers. No tucans though, to Joseph's dismay.
Following the theme of this leg of the vacation, we were the only people there so it was nice to be able to take our time and take it all in.
After the park we headed back to the Villa to hang by the pool.
Have I mentioned that we have made friends with the gardener who totally thinks we speak Spanish, which is funny to me. Well we have, and he is all about chatting it up. Today when we were at the pool he was showing us the different fruits that were around the grounds, and he would just cut them open with his machete and give them to us to try. He gave us two different kinds of limes and grapefruits and coconuts.
He was really funny because he was obviously using a multi-purpose machete, and he just looked and me and rubbed it on the grass and said "it was clean" (in spanish, but I cant remember) it was hilarious, but I thought it would be rude to point out that it wasn't actually clean.
He also cut up a bunch of coconuts and put them by the pool and called in a bunch of monkeys. Within a few minutes there were tons of monkeys running for the coconuts, at one point we counted ten different monkeys, it was so cool, and they were so close to us. He kept trying to get me to feed them out of my hand, but I wasn't going for that.
It was really neat to see the monkeys walk on their hind legs, grab as much coconut as they could handle and then jump from tree to tree.
We had do drive up this crazy road with so many holes and hills (I thought we were going to get stuck) to get to the park in the mountains.
It was a hike through the jungle with some bridges through the canopy, and you pass several different waterfalls, which was pretty cool. We saw some poison dart frogs, some huge lizards and other cool jungle flowers. No tucans though, to Joseph's dismay.
Following the theme of this leg of the vacation, we were the only people there so it was nice to be able to take our time and take it all in.
After the park we headed back to the Villa to hang by the pool.
Have I mentioned that we have made friends with the gardener who totally thinks we speak Spanish, which is funny to me. Well we have, and he is all about chatting it up. Today when we were at the pool he was showing us the different fruits that were around the grounds, and he would just cut them open with his machete and give them to us to try. He gave us two different kinds of limes and grapefruits and coconuts.
He was really funny because he was obviously using a multi-purpose machete, and he just looked and me and rubbed it on the grass and said "it was clean" (in spanish, but I cant remember) it was hilarious, but I thought it would be rude to point out that it wasn't actually clean.
He also cut up a bunch of coconuts and put them by the pool and called in a bunch of monkeys. Within a few minutes there were tons of monkeys running for the coconuts, at one point we counted ten different monkeys, it was so cool, and they were so close to us. He kept trying to get me to feed them out of my hand, but I wasn't going for that.
It was really neat to see the monkeys walk on their hind legs, grab as much coconut as they could handle and then jump from tree to tree.
Thursday in Costa Rica
Today we thought we would take a little trip to check out some of our surroundings. We headed to Manuel Antonio National Park, where you can go to the beach and also hike around in nature.
We were more interested in just going to the beach. We had reports it was very lovely.
Getting into the park was frustrating because there are a bunch of locals who have taken over the side of the road, dressed up to look like official park rangers and then try to scam you into paying for parking, a tour, and tickets to the park. After not being able to find any other parking we ended up just paying some guy who wasn't being too annoying.
After paying the legit park rangers to get into the park, we walked about 30 minutes through the jungle to the beach.
On our way to the beach we saw some deer, an amazing huge bright blue butterfly, and a sloth in a tree, along with other plants. But let's be honest plants aren't that exciting, but the sloth was.
The beach experience today was not as enjoyable as we had been anticipating. The beach itself was beautiful and not very crowded, which has the makings of a wonderful day, except for one small problem. Since we were in a national park we had the problem of wildlife, mainly overly aggressive raccoons, that weren't scared of us at all. So someone had to be on guard at all times. At one point I was laying on the mat and Joseph was in the chair and we had admittedly let our guard down, when one of the raccoons walked right up to the mat and grabbed one of our bags. I almost surrendered the bag until I remembered it had our camera, Joseph's phone and Joseph's kindle in it (I had removed my belongings from this bag but had left Joseph's to fend for themselves), so we had to run after the raccoon throwing sticks at it and hitting it until it finally dropped the bag and ran off. It was unbelievable. After that we were really careful, but we still had to be ready to scare them off every 5-10 minutes, which just made the whole morning less than relaxing. We spent the rest of the morning watching for the raccoons and watching them get into other peoples things who weren't paying attention. I think there were only 3 adults and 2 babies but they just stalked up and down the beach all day, and usually they would split up and so it felt like a lot f raccoons. I am obviously slightly scarred from the experience.
Plus since someone always had to be on raccoon watch, only one of us could go swimming at a time which is pretty lame.
We called the day a little early since we just weren't feeling it, which worked out in our favor, since it started raining shortly thereafter and that would have just been too much.
We headed back towards our town. But first we drove around from 30 minutes trying to find the church so that we could go on Sunday, but apparently it is either hidden or it doesn't actually exist because we couldn't find it. Although, in a funny little coincidence, the address and directions that you get from Mormon.org do lead you straight to the Kingdom Hall of JW's. So there's that option.
On the way back, we tried to find an ATM without a line of 10 people but failed at that as well, so we cruised on to Parrita. When we got to Parrita we had to go to the ATM and that one had a line too, which is crazy. I have never seen a line for an ATM before. Joseph waited in line. I sat in the car with the AC and listened to Spanish radio.
After showering and getting dressed we headed back to town to try and find a Restuarant that was showing American football, or had the capacity to show American football. That didn't work out either, although that didn't stop Joseph from scrolling through everyone's channels.
So to make up for not getting to watch football we went back to our favorite place, Soda El Tucan, which was delicious and the lady there totally thought we could speak Spanish which is fun.
Today was an adventure that's for sure.
We were more interested in just going to the beach. We had reports it was very lovely.
Getting into the park was frustrating because there are a bunch of locals who have taken over the side of the road, dressed up to look like official park rangers and then try to scam you into paying for parking, a tour, and tickets to the park. After not being able to find any other parking we ended up just paying some guy who wasn't being too annoying.
After paying the legit park rangers to get into the park, we walked about 30 minutes through the jungle to the beach.
On our way to the beach we saw some deer, an amazing huge bright blue butterfly, and a sloth in a tree, along with other plants. But let's be honest plants aren't that exciting, but the sloth was.
The beach experience today was not as enjoyable as we had been anticipating. The beach itself was beautiful and not very crowded, which has the makings of a wonderful day, except for one small problem. Since we were in a national park we had the problem of wildlife, mainly overly aggressive raccoons, that weren't scared of us at all. So someone had to be on guard at all times. At one point I was laying on the mat and Joseph was in the chair and we had admittedly let our guard down, when one of the raccoons walked right up to the mat and grabbed one of our bags. I almost surrendered the bag until I remembered it had our camera, Joseph's phone and Joseph's kindle in it (I had removed my belongings from this bag but had left Joseph's to fend for themselves), so we had to run after the raccoon throwing sticks at it and hitting it until it finally dropped the bag and ran off. It was unbelievable. After that we were really careful, but we still had to be ready to scare them off every 5-10 minutes, which just made the whole morning less than relaxing. We spent the rest of the morning watching for the raccoons and watching them get into other peoples things who weren't paying attention. I think there were only 3 adults and 2 babies but they just stalked up and down the beach all day, and usually they would split up and so it felt like a lot f raccoons. I am obviously slightly scarred from the experience.
Plus since someone always had to be on raccoon watch, only one of us could go swimming at a time which is pretty lame.
We called the day a little early since we just weren't feeling it, which worked out in our favor, since it started raining shortly thereafter and that would have just been too much.
We headed back towards our town. But first we drove around from 30 minutes trying to find the church so that we could go on Sunday, but apparently it is either hidden or it doesn't actually exist because we couldn't find it. Although, in a funny little coincidence, the address and directions that you get from Mormon.org do lead you straight to the Kingdom Hall of JW's. So there's that option.
On the way back, we tried to find an ATM without a line of 10 people but failed at that as well, so we cruised on to Parrita. When we got to Parrita we had to go to the ATM and that one had a line too, which is crazy. I have never seen a line for an ATM before. Joseph waited in line. I sat in the car with the AC and listened to Spanish radio.
After showering and getting dressed we headed back to town to try and find a Restuarant that was showing American football, or had the capacity to show American football. That didn't work out either, although that didn't stop Joseph from scrolling through everyone's channels.
So to make up for not getting to watch football we went back to our favorite place, Soda El Tucan, which was delicious and the lady there totally thought we could speak Spanish which is fun.
Today was an adventure that's for sure.
Wednesday in Costa Rica
After sleeping in like a bunch of teenagers on the weekend, we acquired some bikes from the friendly property manager Patrick, for a morning ride along the beach. We ended up riding for two hours on a gravel road and my hands hurt from the vibrations by the time we were done. It was a nice bike ride though, and the beach is beautiful.
After returning home and having lunch, we took it to the pool to work on our suntans. We saw some of the biggest lizards walking near the pool today, and there was a friendly little monkey that was hanging out right next to the pool and jumping between the palm trees. So that was pretty neat. I was a little nervous the monkey would jump down on us but thankfully he wasn't interested in that.
We hung at the house tonight making dinner, and of course making more flan and watching more BBC.
We also played cards, the game Speed, where after Joseph won the first two games, I ran off a streak of 4 in a row. Joseph was not thrilled and we didn't talk for about an hour afterwards. As it turns out, 1-on-1 games aren't very good for our marriage. We already knew this though, because of the Great Scrabble Prohibition of 2008.
After returning home and having lunch, we took it to the pool to work on our suntans. We saw some of the biggest lizards walking near the pool today, and there was a friendly little monkey that was hanging out right next to the pool and jumping between the palm trees. So that was pretty neat. I was a little nervous the monkey would jump down on us but thankfully he wasn't interested in that.
We hung at the house tonight making dinner, and of course making more flan and watching more BBC.
We also played cards, the game Speed, where after Joseph won the first two games, I ran off a streak of 4 in a row. Joseph was not thrilled and we didn't talk for about an hour afterwards. As it turns out, 1-on-1 games aren't very good for our marriage. We already knew this though, because of the Great Scrabble Prohibition of 2008.
Tuesday in Costa Rica
We figured we wouldn't do anything too crazy today. Instead, we would stick to the pool and the beach at our villa.
We went first to the beach and were surprised to find, that one: the sand was black, and two: there wasn't a single other soul on the beach. The black sand actually looks really cool even though it gets really hot, and it was nice to have a beach to ourselves.
After a little while, when we got hungry, we packed it up and headed back to the villa for some lunch. Leftovers from dinner since we hadn't gone to the store yet.
After lunch we decided to just hang out by the pool, so as to avoid getting totally sandy twice in one day.
Apparently it is the rainiest of the rainy season right now (even though it hasn't rained at all, which the Gardner told us in Spanish was because of El Niño) so there is no one else here except for a couple of people who live here full time. So we had the pool to ourselves too, which is awesome.
Tuesday night we ventured into the town to find a grocery store and some dinner. The grocery store was small and you can't be too picky about what you get since everything is in Spanish, but it worked out. All of the American brand items were so expensive so we stuck with the local goods.
After the grocery store we headed to dinner for some traditional Costa Rican food, we found an awesome place that sells "casados" which just means a plate, which comes with rice, beans, meat, and salad. It was delicious. For some reason I was expecting to find burritos on the menu but am happy that there weren't.
The villa that we rented has a bunch of BBC movies on DVD that we have been watching at night, I have been enjoying them more than Joseph.
We have also been making Flan each night with these instant Flan mixes that we bought a the grocery store, so that is pretty much as exciting as it gets around here.
We went first to the beach and were surprised to find, that one: the sand was black, and two: there wasn't a single other soul on the beach. The black sand actually looks really cool even though it gets really hot, and it was nice to have a beach to ourselves.
After a little while, when we got hungry, we packed it up and headed back to the villa for some lunch. Leftovers from dinner since we hadn't gone to the store yet.
After lunch we decided to just hang out by the pool, so as to avoid getting totally sandy twice in one day.
Apparently it is the rainiest of the rainy season right now (even though it hasn't rained at all, which the Gardner told us in Spanish was because of El Niño) so there is no one else here except for a couple of people who live here full time. So we had the pool to ourselves too, which is awesome.
Tuesday night we ventured into the town to find a grocery store and some dinner. The grocery store was small and you can't be too picky about what you get since everything is in Spanish, but it worked out. All of the American brand items were so expensive so we stuck with the local goods.
After the grocery store we headed to dinner for some traditional Costa Rican food, we found an awesome place that sells "casados" which just means a plate, which comes with rice, beans, meat, and salad. It was delicious. For some reason I was expecting to find burritos on the menu but am happy that there weren't.
The villa that we rented has a bunch of BBC movies on DVD that we have been watching at night, I have been enjoying them more than Joseph.
We have also been making Flan each night with these instant Flan mixes that we bought a the grocery store, so that is pretty much as exciting as it gets around here.
On to Costa Rica
On Monday morning after an overnight flight, and a short layover in Panama, we arrived in Costa Rica.
We were pretty tired, after getting very little sleep on the plane. Joseph slept way less than me. After we arrived we took the shuttle to the car rental place. That's right, we decided to rent a car while we are here because it would be much easier than the buses and our hotel is kind of secluded so we were worried about getting taxis all the time. Anyways, we rented the car and started the drive to the coast where we would be spending most of the 13 days we are here. We had rented a one bedroom villa on a beach and planned mostly to sit around and take it easy as much as possible to hold us over for the next little while, aka years.
We missed one of our first exits and had a really long detour trying to turn around, that was made longer when we discovered that there were toll roads and we hadn't gotten any Costa Rican money yet because, amazingly there were not any in the airport. Couple that with the fact that we only had two American dollars on us, and we were off to quite an adventure right off the bat.
After we got the money situation sorted out, the drive was pretty smooth no other major detours, thankfully. It helped that it was just mostly a straight road that ran through all the towns along the coast.
We stopped at a grocery store on the way in and picked up some food for dinner, pretty much just some lettuce, a tomato and a rotisserie chicken and pita bread because we were both too tired to think straight, so we just had chicken salads for dinner and went to bed before nine. (Joseph went to bed before 8, but that's a secret). We were exhausted from the flight and from the drive.
Our place is nice, and on the beach, we considered going outside for the sunset but decided we didn't care enough.
We were pretty tired, after getting very little sleep on the plane. Joseph slept way less than me. After we arrived we took the shuttle to the car rental place. That's right, we decided to rent a car while we are here because it would be much easier than the buses and our hotel is kind of secluded so we were worried about getting taxis all the time. Anyways, we rented the car and started the drive to the coast where we would be spending most of the 13 days we are here. We had rented a one bedroom villa on a beach and planned mostly to sit around and take it easy as much as possible to hold us over for the next little while, aka years.
We missed one of our first exits and had a really long detour trying to turn around, that was made longer when we discovered that there were toll roads and we hadn't gotten any Costa Rican money yet because, amazingly there were not any in the airport. Couple that with the fact that we only had two American dollars on us, and we were off to quite an adventure right off the bat.
After we got the money situation sorted out, the drive was pretty smooth no other major detours, thankfully. It helped that it was just mostly a straight road that ran through all the towns along the coast.
We stopped at a grocery store on the way in and picked up some food for dinner, pretty much just some lettuce, a tomato and a rotisserie chicken and pita bread because we were both too tired to think straight, so we just had chicken salads for dinner and went to bed before nine. (Joseph went to bed before 8, but that's a secret). We were exhausted from the flight and from the drive.
Our place is nice, and on the beach, we considered going outside for the sunset but decided we didn't care enough.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The rest of the week in LA
Thursday: Mike decided he could go to work late on Thursday, so we all went to breakfast in Hollywood, where we commenced eating the largest pancakes in the world. We had three orders of pancakes, but we could have easily just gotten one and had plenty to eat. But they were so delicious, they are the type of pancakes dreams are made of.
Breakfast was fun, and we drove back the scenic route through Beverly Hills, which is always entertaining.
After breakfast (and a pancake/jet-lag induced coma/nap) we felt the need to move around a bit, so we borrowed the beach cruisers and headed towards the Santa Monica Pier, and rode along the beach for awhile. When we needed a break we hopped off, drug our bikes across the sand (since we didn't bring locks), and sat on the sand and looked at the ocean. It was lovely. Riding back was more dangerous as there was a lot of traffic at that time which was terrifying.
Friday: Friday morning Britney had a doctor's appointment so we volunteered to watch the kiddos so that Mike could go with her. We took the kids to the park, where we hung out and played, after Joseph and I got bored we headed back with the promise of ice-cream from McDonalds, which was way messier than I had anticipated, but the kids lover it. I have to say it is nice being the aunt who can curry the favor of little children with promises of $1 ice cream cones without a single thought to the consequences. After ice cream and an impromptu Jehovah's Witness lesson inside the McDonald's to which we were made unwilling participants, we headed back to the house watch some shows and wait for Mike and Britney so that we could go to lunch. For lunch we went to Tacos Por Favor. Joseph had been dying to "go to there" for weeks. Seriously, we would be in some random Southeast Asian place and he would say stuff like "You know what? I can't wait to order like 14 tacos from Tacos Por Favor." He didn't go that overboard in the end, but the tacos were as good as we'd been dreaming. After lunch, Britney and the kids had to leave for Arizona, so Joseph and I headed up to Malibu to Zuma beach, for some beach time where we relaxed until it got too chilly to justify sitting around in our bathing suits.
That night I finally ate at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. I always think about going when I am in LA but had never been, and it was delicious. Totally worth it, even though Joseph and I both had stomachaches afterwards.
Saturday: Saturday morning we woke up and headed straight to the beach with my brother to try and surf. None of us were very successful and the water was freezing but it was so fun. I almost didn't get in the water because it was so cold, but I am so glad I did. It was a blast. For some reason you just feel cool sitting on a surf board, even if every time you attempt to ride one you nose dive and get pummeled.
After a quick wardrobe change we headed down to Anaheim to meet up with some friends for a late lunch and Angels game. We met in downtown Disney, which I had not realized was actually a place you could go hang out and not only the amusement park. Then we headed over to the baseball game. The game was fun, the Angels won, and it was fun to catch up.
All in all a great Saturday.
Sunday: I slept in later than I had in years, I think the time change was finally catching up to me. We went to church, made burritos for dinner, watched tv, napped and got packed to go on to Costa Rica. It was a little weird leaving the country again, after we had been back. Our flight left at 2 am so we had to leave the house around 11 pm. Worst flight time ever, we were tired, plus the flight was only 6 hours so you didn't get very good sleep on the plane.
Breakfast was fun, and we drove back the scenic route through Beverly Hills, which is always entertaining.
After breakfast (and a pancake/jet-lag induced coma/nap) we felt the need to move around a bit, so we borrowed the beach cruisers and headed towards the Santa Monica Pier, and rode along the beach for awhile. When we needed a break we hopped off, drug our bikes across the sand (since we didn't bring locks), and sat on the sand and looked at the ocean. It was lovely. Riding back was more dangerous as there was a lot of traffic at that time which was terrifying.
Friday: Friday morning Britney had a doctor's appointment so we volunteered to watch the kiddos so that Mike could go with her. We took the kids to the park, where we hung out and played, after Joseph and I got bored we headed back with the promise of ice-cream from McDonalds, which was way messier than I had anticipated, but the kids lover it. I have to say it is nice being the aunt who can curry the favor of little children with promises of $1 ice cream cones without a single thought to the consequences. After ice cream and an impromptu Jehovah's Witness lesson inside the McDonald's to which we were made unwilling participants, we headed back to the house watch some shows and wait for Mike and Britney so that we could go to lunch. For lunch we went to Tacos Por Favor. Joseph had been dying to "go to there" for weeks. Seriously, we would be in some random Southeast Asian place and he would say stuff like "You know what? I can't wait to order like 14 tacos from Tacos Por Favor." He didn't go that overboard in the end, but the tacos were as good as we'd been dreaming. After lunch, Britney and the kids had to leave for Arizona, so Joseph and I headed up to Malibu to Zuma beach, for some beach time where we relaxed until it got too chilly to justify sitting around in our bathing suits.
That night I finally ate at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. I always think about going when I am in LA but had never been, and it was delicious. Totally worth it, even though Joseph and I both had stomachaches afterwards.
Saturday: Saturday morning we woke up and headed straight to the beach with my brother to try and surf. None of us were very successful and the water was freezing but it was so fun. I almost didn't get in the water because it was so cold, but I am so glad I did. It was a blast. For some reason you just feel cool sitting on a surf board, even if every time you attempt to ride one you nose dive and get pummeled.
After a quick wardrobe change we headed down to Anaheim to meet up with some friends for a late lunch and Angels game. We met in downtown Disney, which I had not realized was actually a place you could go hang out and not only the amusement park. Then we headed over to the baseball game. The game was fun, the Angels won, and it was fun to catch up.
All in all a great Saturday.
Sunday: I slept in later than I had in years, I think the time change was finally catching up to me. We went to church, made burritos for dinner, watched tv, napped and got packed to go on to Costa Rica. It was a little weird leaving the country again, after we had been back. Our flight left at 2 am so we had to leave the house around 11 pm. Worst flight time ever, we were tired, plus the flight was only 6 hours so you didn't get very good sleep on the plane.
Next we went to Los Angeles
Oh have you been wondering where we are? Probably not, but in case you were I will now continue my regular posts, to regale you with the stories of our travels.
We left Hong Kong at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, and after a 13 hour flight we arrive in LA at 2:15 on the same Tuesday. It was kind of weird. Joseph said the best way to beat the jet lag was to stay up the whole flight, which I mostly did, and it actually worked really well. I was sick of watching movies by the time we got there though.
After arriving in LA we got our rental car and headed over to my brothers house, where we were staying, to take it easy.
We spent the rest of the night hanging around, playing with their kids and trying really hard to not go to sleep.
We didn't really have big plans for LA, we just wanted to take it easy, so the next day we hung around and headed for lunch. I was in desperate need of a hamburger. We went to a delicious place called Hole in the Wall, that fulfilled everything I had been missing while we were in Asia.
After lunch we needed to mail our tailored clothes home so we headed to the post office, then walked around the 3rd street promenade and down near to the beach to look at the ocean. We were both feeling pretty slow from the jet lag, so we didn't really want to push it to hard.
We left Hong Kong at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, and after a 13 hour flight we arrive in LA at 2:15 on the same Tuesday. It was kind of weird. Joseph said the best way to beat the jet lag was to stay up the whole flight, which I mostly did, and it actually worked really well. I was sick of watching movies by the time we got there though.
After arriving in LA we got our rental car and headed over to my brothers house, where we were staying, to take it easy.
We spent the rest of the night hanging around, playing with their kids and trying really hard to not go to sleep.
We didn't really have big plans for LA, we just wanted to take it easy, so the next day we hung around and headed for lunch. I was in desperate need of a hamburger. We went to a delicious place called Hole in the Wall, that fulfilled everything I had been missing while we were in Asia.
After lunch we needed to mail our tailored clothes home so we headed to the post office, then walked around the 3rd street promenade and down near to the beach to look at the ocean. We were both feeling pretty slow from the jet lag, so we didn't really want to push it to hard.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Hong Kong - Day 4
Day 4 in HK was all about the panoramic views. I wasn't feeling very well, so we figured we would just take the day nice and easy.
We started the day by going to "The Peak" which offers pretty impressive views of the city from the top of one of the mountains in the center of Hong Kong Island. We rode the city bus up which was actually pretty cool because you got to see a lot from the upper deck on the way up and the way down. We really wanted a good picture of us from up there and we asked three different people to take our picture and they were all pretty bad, so that was disappointing, but oh well, what can you do. Apparently operating an automatic camera is to much for some.
Some people who live in Hong Kong told us that the sky was as clear as it ever gets so we felt fortunate for that. It was sunny and beautiful from the top of this mountain. After hanging out for a bit we headed back down to the hotel to cool back down and relax.
After a short stop at the hotel we walked around until we found the Star Ferry which will take you across the harbor, and gives you some good views of the city from the water. We had to go back to the tailor for Joseph's final fitting. Going to the tailor is always stressful leading up to it, hoping that the changes were made exactly as you hoped. I guess I should clarify; it is stressful for Joseph, not everyone. Of course everything was perfect except for a few minor changes.
Afterwards we walked around through some of the malls, because there is a lot of amazing shopping here. So many stores, and a lot of them we have never seen before, so it was fun to wander through the goods. Beyond the actual shops, the malls themselves are nearly works of art - air conditioned works of art with free, clean bathrooms.
We had an early dinner and then headed back to the harbor to see it at night when all if the lights on Hong Kong Island were on, and it was really pretty. We rode the ferry back in the dark and it made the harbor really pretty.
We called it an early night with some ice cream bars, since we needed to pack, because the next day we flew to Los Angeles. We are excited to be back in the states for awhile.
We started the day by going to "The Peak" which offers pretty impressive views of the city from the top of one of the mountains in the center of Hong Kong Island. We rode the city bus up which was actually pretty cool because you got to see a lot from the upper deck on the way up and the way down. We really wanted a good picture of us from up there and we asked three different people to take our picture and they were all pretty bad, so that was disappointing, but oh well, what can you do. Apparently operating an automatic camera is to much for some.
Some people who live in Hong Kong told us that the sky was as clear as it ever gets so we felt fortunate for that. It was sunny and beautiful from the top of this mountain. After hanging out for a bit we headed back down to the hotel to cool back down and relax.
After a short stop at the hotel we walked around until we found the Star Ferry which will take you across the harbor, and gives you some good views of the city from the water. We had to go back to the tailor for Joseph's final fitting. Going to the tailor is always stressful leading up to it, hoping that the changes were made exactly as you hoped. I guess I should clarify; it is stressful for Joseph, not everyone. Of course everything was perfect except for a few minor changes.
Afterwards we walked around through some of the malls, because there is a lot of amazing shopping here. So many stores, and a lot of them we have never seen before, so it was fun to wander through the goods. Beyond the actual shops, the malls themselves are nearly works of art - air conditioned works of art with free, clean bathrooms.
We had an early dinner and then headed back to the harbor to see it at night when all if the lights on Hong Kong Island were on, and it was really pretty. We rode the ferry back in the dark and it made the harbor really pretty.
We called it an early night with some ice cream bars, since we needed to pack, because the next day we flew to Los Angeles. We are excited to be back in the states for awhile.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Hong Kong - Day 3
Day 3 was a Sunday, and luckily there is a pretty big English speaking branch here that we were able to go to. It lacked some of the unique cultural attributes of Cambodia, but it was still church so it was good. Everyone kept asking us if we were new, and I kind of wished we were new and were staying to work there.
After church we went home for some naps and relaxation, before heading out to Chi Lin nunnery and the Nan Lian Gardens. These seemed like appropriate Sunday activities so off we went. We were too late to go into the actual nunnery but we spent quite a while walking around the grounds and the large park, which was beautiful and immaculately groomed and tended. It was one of the highlights of Hong Kong.
After the gardens we went in search of the Hong Kong Temple. The temple here is really small, but really pretty. I am glad we went to see it.
After the temple we called it a night and went back to the hotel to relax. If you can't tell we are big into the relaxing right now.
After church we went home for some naps and relaxation, before heading out to Chi Lin nunnery and the Nan Lian Gardens. These seemed like appropriate Sunday activities so off we went. We were too late to go into the actual nunnery but we spent quite a while walking around the grounds and the large park, which was beautiful and immaculately groomed and tended. It was one of the highlights of Hong Kong.
After the gardens we went in search of the Hong Kong Temple. The temple here is really small, but really pretty. I am glad we went to see it.
After the temple we called it a night and went back to the hotel to relax. If you can't tell we are big into the relaxing right now.
Hong Kong - Day 2
On our second day in Hong Kong, we decided that a beach day was in order. You know, since it had been a solid 2 weeks since we'd relaxed at the beach.
We read about a beach close by that was supposed to be nice called Shek O beach. After a little research we figured out we could easily get there via the subway and a short bus ride. So we put on our bathing suits and headed out, and it did not disappoint. When we had woken up in the morning the day looked like it was threatening to be overcast, but we pushed on, and were treated to a beautiful day of blue skies and sunshine.
We rented an umbrella and some chairs and commenced our day of beach lounging, where we alternated between sitting in the chairs, laying on the beach mat in the sun, and swimming in the water. It was glorious. Lucky for us we got there early enough that there weren't very many people yet. Around 3:00 it started getting more crowded (even though that seems like an odd time to go to the beach to me), and we headed back to the city around 4:00. We managed to get some sun without getting burned, which for our white skin, is something of a miracle.
The drive on the bus to and from the beach was pretty cool too, since you pretty much have to drive up one side of a mountain and them down the other side to the beach, you get some really awesome views from the upper deck of the double-decker.
We needed to get back to the hotel and shower to make it over to the tailor for Joseph's second fitting.
After the fitting, went back to the same place for dinner, since both of us are pretty tired of trying to find new places to eat, and there were these rice dishes that other people were eating the night before that we wanted to try, and they were delicious as expected.
We ended up wandering around and buying some souvenirs before heading back to the hotel to call it a night, and watch our nightly movie on Fox Movies Premium.
We read about a beach close by that was supposed to be nice called Shek O beach. After a little research we figured out we could easily get there via the subway and a short bus ride. So we put on our bathing suits and headed out, and it did not disappoint. When we had woken up in the morning the day looked like it was threatening to be overcast, but we pushed on, and were treated to a beautiful day of blue skies and sunshine.
We rented an umbrella and some chairs and commenced our day of beach lounging, where we alternated between sitting in the chairs, laying on the beach mat in the sun, and swimming in the water. It was glorious. Lucky for us we got there early enough that there weren't very many people yet. Around 3:00 it started getting more crowded (even though that seems like an odd time to go to the beach to me), and we headed back to the city around 4:00. We managed to get some sun without getting burned, which for our white skin, is something of a miracle.
The drive on the bus to and from the beach was pretty cool too, since you pretty much have to drive up one side of a mountain and them down the other side to the beach, you get some really awesome views from the upper deck of the double-decker.
We needed to get back to the hotel and shower to make it over to the tailor for Joseph's second fitting.
After the fitting, went back to the same place for dinner, since both of us are pretty tired of trying to find new places to eat, and there were these rice dishes that other people were eating the night before that we wanted to try, and they were delicious as expected.
We ended up wandering around and buying some souvenirs before heading back to the hotel to call it a night, and watch our nightly movie on Fox Movies Premium.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Hong Kong - Day 1
On our first full day in Hong Kong we got up bright and early to track down a tailor for Joseph. He really needed some new suits, and he is really particular about his clothes so getting a custom suit was really appealing (read: the only way to satisfy a man who likes to pretend he is easy to please, but who, when it comes to a few things, might be the hardest person to please in the universe - no exaggeration).
After walking around for awhile and talking to several different places that we had heard about we finally settled on one that seemed the best, and Joseph got his measurements taken.
They wanted us to come back a few hours later for another fitting so we decided to walk around the area and check out some of markets close by.
We walked around the Hong Kong harbor, which is really amazing. They have an area called Avenue of the Stars, with the same general idea as LA, but we didn't know any of the people on the stars. I just liked walking along the water looking at the city. The funniest thing about the Avenue of the Stars was that everyone of the stars' names was written with their Chinese name and then, after a coma, they had their English name like, Steve or Jack. It was funny.
While walking around a market up near the tailor we found a delicious and really cheap noodle house, where we ate to our hearts content in noodles. I am also getting pretty good at using chopsticks with noodles. Or at least I like to tell myself that to make me feel better (Joseph says I need to use the kiddie training chopsticks). He might be right because I am still failing at using the chopsticks to eat dumplings. As evidenced by the tsunami of soy sauce that slashed up onto Joseph's shirt when I dropped a dumpling all the way from my mouth back into the dipping dish.
All in all, a great start to our time in Hong Kong. I am obsessed with this place.
After walking around for awhile and talking to several different places that we had heard about we finally settled on one that seemed the best, and Joseph got his measurements taken.
They wanted us to come back a few hours later for another fitting so we decided to walk around the area and check out some of markets close by.
We walked around the Hong Kong harbor, which is really amazing. They have an area called Avenue of the Stars, with the same general idea as LA, but we didn't know any of the people on the stars. I just liked walking along the water looking at the city. The funniest thing about the Avenue of the Stars was that everyone of the stars' names was written with their Chinese name and then, after a coma, they had their English name like, Steve or Jack. It was funny.
While walking around a market up near the tailor we found a delicious and really cheap noodle house, where we ate to our hearts content in noodles. I am also getting pretty good at using chopsticks with noodles. Or at least I like to tell myself that to make me feel better (Joseph says I need to use the kiddie training chopsticks). He might be right because I am still failing at using the chopsticks to eat dumplings. As evidenced by the tsunami of soy sauce that slashed up onto Joseph's shirt when I dropped a dumpling all the way from my mouth back into the dipping dish.
All in all, a great start to our time in Hong Kong. I am obsessed with this place.
On to Hong Kong
Our flight for Hong Kong left at 1130, so we had time in the morning to go back to the tailor to check everything and pick everything up.
I was so happy, with all of my things I wanted to hug my tailor. Instead I just asked if I could take a picture with her.
Luckily, the flight was only two hours so we were in Hong Kong in no time. Plus, since it was an international flight the plane was big and nice.
Once in Hong Kong we checked into our hotel and into the worlds smallest hotel room. The hotels in HK were so expensive and if they weren't expensive they had really scary reviews, so this place was the best we could find. It is clean, safe and in a good neighborhood, but it is tiny. There is basically only room for a bed. It is actually hilarious.
That night we walked around and rode the worlds longest escalator, that they call the Travelator. It wasn't as cool as I was hoping since it wasn't continuous, just a bunch of them sort of in a row, but it was a really cool way to see the city.
We found a delicious dumpling place for dinner, where we ate way too many dumplings. We just couldn't help ourselves, they were too delicious.
Hong Kong is an amazing city. I can't really figure out what I was expecting from it but it much different than anything I was expecting. Joseph says it is the only city he's ever been in where he forgets where he is. I think he's got a point. Even New York City, which is awesome, is still totally American. But Hong Kong is different. One street will feel English or European and the next street over will feel Asian. We've decided this city is totally awesome. It is clean, unique, safe, and the public transportation is incredible.
I was so happy, with all of my things I wanted to hug my tailor. Instead I just asked if I could take a picture with her.
Luckily, the flight was only two hours so we were in Hong Kong in no time. Plus, since it was an international flight the plane was big and nice.
Once in Hong Kong we checked into our hotel and into the worlds smallest hotel room. The hotels in HK were so expensive and if they weren't expensive they had really scary reviews, so this place was the best we could find. It is clean, safe and in a good neighborhood, but it is tiny. There is basically only room for a bed. It is actually hilarious.
That night we walked around and rode the worlds longest escalator, that they call the Travelator. It wasn't as cool as I was hoping since it wasn't continuous, just a bunch of them sort of in a row, but it was a really cool way to see the city.
We found a delicious dumpling place for dinner, where we ate way too many dumplings. We just couldn't help ourselves, they were too delicious.
Hong Kong is an amazing city. I can't really figure out what I was expecting from it but it much different than anything I was expecting. Joseph says it is the only city he's ever been in where he forgets where he is. I think he's got a point. Even New York City, which is awesome, is still totally American. But Hong Kong is different. One street will feel English or European and the next street over will feel Asian. We've decided this city is totally awesome. It is clean, unique, safe, and the public transportation is incredible.
Ho Chi Minh - Day 3
Today was our last full day in HCMC and it was a lot of fun. We signed up for a full-day Mekong Delta cruise/tour, and it was awesome.
We got picked up at 8 am (much too early) and had to drive about two hours out of the city into the countryside. We had some really nice people in our tour from Australia, so we had some good conversations on the way down there.
Before we got to the Delta we stopped at a local temple, where the people practice a local religion that is a mesh of all the major religions into one which is pretty interesting. The altar in the church even has a statue where the images of Buddah, Christ, Confucious, and Lao are all stacked on top of each other.
After we left the temple we finally made it to the river and got into a nice boat that we had for just the seven of us in our group. We cruised down the Mekong Delta for a while and up some little canals. It was awesome.
After cruising for a while we stopped for a little pit stop. We had some traditional honey tea and tropical fruits, along with some traditional music performances. The honey was really good, and they brought out part of the the bee hive and let us hold the bees.
After our morning snacks, we had a little tour of a coconut factory where they make this delicious coconut candy. We of course had to buy some, and then continued to eat it all day.
Next, we took a little horse trailer ride to another part of the river, where we got in smaller boats for a canal ride. Sadly at this point it started raining and little, even though up to this point in the day we had had beautiful weather. Thankfully the rain didn't last long and we were taken to our lunch spot.
I was totally skeptical about lunch, because with these day tours you never really know what you are going to get. We had paid a little more for this particular tour to have a nice one, and it really paid off throughout the day and lunch was so different. They served us a whole fried tilapia which was the craziest thing. They just dropped the whole fish in a deep-fryer. It was awesome. We used the fish to make spring rolls. They also had a ton of other food that was delicious. But the fish was just so interesting. Neither Joseph or I had seen anything like it before.
After lunch we rode some bikes around some rural towns.
After bikes we rode the boat back to the bus. By this point it was getting late in the day and I was exhausted.
But we made one more stop at a temple where they had some gigantic Buddha statues that were hilarious. We felt a little bad because everyone was totally into the Buddha statutes but we just thought they were funny.
We finally made it back to our hotel and were pretty beat from the day, but we had to go back to my tailor for one final fitting. Seeing my new clothes mostly finished was really fun.
This was one of the best days of the trip so far for sure.
We got picked up at 8 am (much too early) and had to drive about two hours out of the city into the countryside. We had some really nice people in our tour from Australia, so we had some good conversations on the way down there.
Before we got to the Delta we stopped at a local temple, where the people practice a local religion that is a mesh of all the major religions into one which is pretty interesting. The altar in the church even has a statue where the images of Buddah, Christ, Confucious, and Lao are all stacked on top of each other.
After we left the temple we finally made it to the river and got into a nice boat that we had for just the seven of us in our group. We cruised down the Mekong Delta for a while and up some little canals. It was awesome.
After cruising for a while we stopped for a little pit stop. We had some traditional honey tea and tropical fruits, along with some traditional music performances. The honey was really good, and they brought out part of the the bee hive and let us hold the bees.
After our morning snacks, we had a little tour of a coconut factory where they make this delicious coconut candy. We of course had to buy some, and then continued to eat it all day.
Next, we took a little horse trailer ride to another part of the river, where we got in smaller boats for a canal ride. Sadly at this point it started raining and little, even though up to this point in the day we had had beautiful weather. Thankfully the rain didn't last long and we were taken to our lunch spot.
I was totally skeptical about lunch, because with these day tours you never really know what you are going to get. We had paid a little more for this particular tour to have a nice one, and it really paid off throughout the day and lunch was so different. They served us a whole fried tilapia which was the craziest thing. They just dropped the whole fish in a deep-fryer. It was awesome. We used the fish to make spring rolls. They also had a ton of other food that was delicious. But the fish was just so interesting. Neither Joseph or I had seen anything like it before.
After lunch we rode some bikes around some rural towns.
After bikes we rode the boat back to the bus. By this point it was getting late in the day and I was exhausted.
But we made one more stop at a temple where they had some gigantic Buddha statues that were hilarious. We felt a little bad because everyone was totally into the Buddha statutes but we just thought they were funny.
We finally made it back to our hotel and were pretty beat from the day, but we had to go back to my tailor for one final fitting. Seeing my new clothes mostly finished was really fun.
This was one of the best days of the trip so far for sure.
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